Side Yard Update: Spreading Sand.

To review. We’ve dug out four inches of dirt, we’ve put down two-ish inches of quarter minus crushed rock.  Now we are to the phase where we put down landscape cloth and spread the sand. Then we place the pavers.

Wish us luck.  I took no photos of the pavers being set into place. More photos coming soon.

Three sentence movie reviews: Spider-Man: Homecoming

I put off seeing this, due to superhero fatigue, but thank goodness I caught up with it, as this movie is an exercise in excellent storytelling.  As someone who loves a good high school film, I can say that this is an quality high school film, with bonus superhero elements. Tom Holland is a great Spider-Man, but special props go to Jacob Batalon as Ned, who aspires to be “the guy in the chair.”

Cost: $1.50 from Redbox
Where watched: at home, with Matt (his second viewing)

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2017/spiderman_homecoming.html

The end of the monthly pass and the beginning of Hop

My wallet was feeling overly thick, so I took inventory and found a lot of expired TriMet passes.
As reported in the Payoff! report, I’ve switched over to the Hop Fastpass Card. No longer will I see the monthly color and artwork.  It’s just that boring purple card for the foreseeable future.  Still, I am saving money.

Just in case you were wondering what the back of the TriMet passes look like.

Three sentence movie reviews: Victoria and Abdul

This starts as an amusing cross-cultural romp, but makes an abrupt and harrowing turn halfway through, making for an uneven (and unpleasant) film.  The performances by Dench and Fazal were quite good, and the costumes nice.  Overall, the uneven nature made for a very disjointed movie experience.

Cost: free due to Regal Gift Cards
Where watched: Regal City Center Stadium 12, with mom.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2017/victoria_and_abdul.html

Tiny House Expo

For my birthday, Matt bought me a ticket to the Tiny House Expo.  This was a very good present, as I love tiny houses. At the expo, people had a chance to tour several tiny houses as well as visit vendors.

I went early, which was a very good move. Tiny houses don’t hold very many people, which meant even at 9:30 in the morning, there were lines to get into each tiny house.

I loved the curved roof on this model.

Apologies for the blurry picture.  This model had just sold.  It cost $150,000.  (Yeesh!)

This person apologized because he forgot to bring his step.  This was fine by me, as I could easily take the big step up into the house.

Inside the step-less house.  I loved how the kitchen was not skimpy.

I liked the shed roof design of this house.  Plus, this company, Tiny Smart House, has a very fun Build-it-Yourself Program where you can build your tiny house on-site and take advantage of workshops, discounted group material buying.  So smart!

Here’s a tiny house camp trailer, which you can follow on Instagram @tinyhousecamptrailer.  They had a lot packed into a small space.

Here is a tiny house made out of a shipping container. It was very sleek.

I really liked how open and airy these big windows made this house feel.

Here’s the floor plan

A lot of houses were using this water system.

The teardrop camper people were there too.  I love me a good teardrop camper, especially one as nice as this one.

Hiddenbed of Oregon had a very good design.  During the day: desk.
At night: bed.  Nicely done. The desk stays flat, so you don’t have to disassemble and reassemble every night. Cost for a double bed? $2100.

You could also have your own geodesic dome.  I have affection for domes, as they were not uncommon in the landscape of my 80s childhood.

Overall, I had a great time.  Thanks Matt.

Also! The square lights at the Convention Center! So fun!  And my mind boggles at how all those things got into this building.  Convention center logistics must be no joke.

Different ways to park your bike

Let’s talk bike parking.  Here, we have two examples of bike racks you would see in Portland, Oregon: the wavy line and the staple.  You will notice that nearly every bike is parked perpendicular to the bike rack.
The reason that one should park perpendicular to the bike rack:  other people.  If we lived in a vast world with few people in it, then it would be fine to lock your bike parallel to the bike rack.  But we do not.  Bike racks get a lot of use, so you need to leave room for others.

This e-bike riders has not gotten the memo. By choosing to park their bike in this manner, they have denied another biker a spot on the rack.  Because these bike racks are full, this is a particularly egregious gaffe.
If one wants to lock up both wheels, this can still be done.  After my expensive back wheel was stolen (back in 1996) I started locking both wheels.  I lock the expensive back wheel to the rack and lock the less expensive front wheel to my bike frame. I figure two locks are better than one, especially with my economical bicycle.

New Building coming on NW 5th & NW Glisan

I spent some time staring at the photo accompanying this pubic hearing notice.  It didn’t seem to fit with the neighborhood.  After a time, I realized that it was an old notice–they had glued the new notice on top of it, and the rain had loosened the current notice which had slid and stuck.

So here’s what’s coming. And I found a great site: Next Portland: Architecture and Development in PDX.  Here’s what they have to say about this project. (Includes multiple renderings of the site with the new building.)

Here’s the site itself.  The green wall is a 1954-era building that would be removed. There is no mention of the removal of the Three Points Oil building, but that would disappear too.

Overall, it seems like a good use for this corner.  All other surrounding buildings would be preserved. Chinatown could use more residential units, so I’m calling this a win.

It will affect my walking route over the Steel Bridge during construction, though.  That will be annoying.

Three sentence movie reviews: Thor: Ragnorak

Chris Hemsworth is already quite stunning in the looks department,  is a fine actor, and thus, it seems unfair that he would also have great comedic timing.*  But he does, and this movie is delightful in a wacky way most Marvel movies aren’t.  Tessa Thompson is also fun to watch, as is the director as Korg.

Cost: free due to birthday gift cards
Where watched: Regal City Center Stadium 12, with Matt

*I mean really, must he be good at everything?

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2017/thor_ragnarok.html