I managed to find a new angle on Whale Watching Week on the Oregon Coast: do it from an airplane. A little pricey, and you might not see them, but at least you get a plane ride on the Coast.
Neighborhood Notes Story on ZapHour
I haven’t tried ZapHour, but it sounds pretty cool. It’s like Groupon but free and with a time limit. Check out a this story I did on it for Neighborhood Notes.
Another Neighborhood Notes Story
Always fun to get paid for talking to business owners and entrepreneurs. I got to do it again with this piece in Neighborhood Notes, about business incubators for food-related businesses.
Part 1, by the way, was about social entrepreneurs.
Hike of the Week: Columbia Gorge Beatdown
Went on a booger of a walk today. 11 miles, 3,800 feet, 6.5 hours. Didn’t even know that what we were headed for. Yikes!
Thoughts on the Third Step
My experience with the Third Step started with a decision to take the advice of my sponsor and the people in the group. They were in touch with a higher power than I was, since they were sober and I wasn’t. So in those days it was a matter of going to meetings, sharing, hanging out afterwards, going to social events, getting a sponsor, working the steps, and so on — in short, following the suggestions of the program. Continue reading “Thoughts on the Third Step”
ADX Story for Neighborhood Notes
Another fun story about another cool idea in the making: ADX is going to be a collaborative space for designers, craftspeople, and folks who want to be either. Read all about it at Neighborhood Notes.
Food Carts Waste Inspires Eco-Groovy Solution
Maybe you’ve noticed that food carts create a lot of container waste; just look at garbage cans on downtown sidewalks! Well, a woman named Laura Weiss thinks she has a solution. It’s called GO Box, and I just did a story on her and the idea for Neighborhood Notes. Read it here.
Help Me Research “Peaceful Places”
I am working on a new project for Menasha Ridge Press, who published my 60 Hikes book. The book is called Peaceful Places – Portland. They’ve already got titles in the series on San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York.
So here’s what I seek from readers: suggestions of peaceful places around Portland. The categories are Day/Overnight, Enchanting Walks, Historic Sites, Museums/Galleries, Outdoor Habitats, Parks and Gardens, Quiet Tables, Reading Rooms, Scenic Vistas, Shops and Services, Spiritual Enclaves, and Urban Surprises.
So email me some ideas, or post them as comments here, and if you tell me something I don’t know, and it makes the book, I’ll thank you in the Acknowledgements and enter your name in a drawing for a signed book.
Thanks!
Hike of the Week: Eagle Creek
In keeping with my New Year’s Resolution to “go outside and play one day every week,” Friday I blew off almost everything and went hiking at spectacular Eagle Creek. Well, first I went to Bumblekiss for a yummy breakfast (photos here) and then I went hiking.
Here’s a trip report with photos from the hike.
Why can’t we let go?
Written to a sponsee:
“The reason you can’t let go of your behaviors and resentments is that they serve a purpose and give you apparent, short-term relief, coupled with a type and level of pain that you are used to, can manage to some extent, and which you have begun to think of as your birthright. Or birthwrong. In the long term you know this isn’t working, but in the short term you have no idea how you can change from a familiar pain to something unknown. That’s where faith comes in; it can act as the bridge beyond all the “yeah-buts” that your mind puts up in defense of the ego — which, ironically, is the source of all your pain.
I say this because it’s true of every human being, not you in particular. Maybe not the Dalai Lama or Jesus.”