There's Something About Portland

How terrible have I been at posting - oh well - I guess we're turning it into a weekly thing now....

Its hard to believe that one week ago, I was strolling downtown Chicago with my flipflops and short sleeve shirt in borderline toasty day on the Lake - being suddenly accosted by a horrific thunderstorm (but no rain) and then driving home with the sunroof open.  Beautiful Chicago spring weather!  I don't think we can often say that so say that I will!

This Friday, I'm sitting in the Seattle airport, chilled to the bone because after a week of freezing Portland weather - I can say I'm ready to go home to the Chicago heat!  Can you believe - we've barely had snow in Chicago and yesterday morning, I woke up to a thick coating of heavy white stuff on the ground.  This is Portland for crying out loud!

It had been chilly in the wacko state (as I fondly call it.... brother excluded.... ?) all week, but there was a sudden borderline warming yesterday.  It was like spring finally hit.  I know this because all of the homeless people came out in droves like little groundhogs looking for their shadows - or in the homeless' case, free money.  They literally litter the landscape - ever street corner has a homeless person assigned to it.  The highway on ramps are speckled with them.  They walk the streets downtown with creative signs like "Will take verbal abuse for $1" or "I'm too ugly to strip and too stupid to steal" and my new favorite "Scared of change - well give it to me".  They wave and banter to themselves with the jovial disposition of a man bitten by a rabid dog.  They're young and old, men and women, with pets and without - and usually always with a Northface jacket and Columbia hiking shoes - you have to make sure you gear up to be homeless in Portland!

Those non-homeless people of Portland sport jaunty tattoos and dreadlocks, some with nose rings and others with giant studs pulling their earlobes down to their knees.  They race around on bikes, walk in front cars mid-street (always well equipped with an active middle finger) and load up their Subaru Outbacks.  The streets are loaded with those Outbacks!  Seriously Portland - there ARE other cars out there!

Portlanders find out of date items vogue - give them a vintage bike or a pair of glasses from the 1950s and they've found their home.  Case in point, certain people I'm acquainted with carry cellular phones from the times when they called them cellular phones.  They are content to roam with a phone that looks like a mini brick and texting capabilities of a rotary phone - but, sometimes these people CAN change.  Every once in a while, a person from a land full of friendly, honest and up to date people can come and convince these out of touch po-dunkers that you needn't fear change....

And so - I leave Portland making one change.... one change that will lead to another ... and another ... and another... and I will reform a city --- one person at a time....

I have my work cut out for me -- so I better go home and rest for a while......