In which I attempt to ride all the yellow, green, blue & purple streets on the Bike There Bike Map while increasing strength, stamina, aerobic capacity and exploring Portland’s nooks and crannies.
Day 27
Weather: Sunny and HOT with little breeze
Time: about 1.5 hours
The Ride:
N Lombard & N Denver
Head south on Denver (towards Rosa Parks way)
L on Ainsworth
R on 37th.
L on Alberta Ct.
L on 52nd
R on Killingsworth
L on 55th
L on Ainsworth
L on 42nd
R on 41st
L on Holman
L on 6th
R on Ainworth
R on Williams
L on Rosa Parks
R on Denver to start.
Route comments:
I took two “Growing Fruits in Your Backyard” classes offered by the city of Portland and hosted by Glen Andresen who you can also hear on KBOO radio, or via your computer. During the classes, (which were fantastic) he told us where he lived, which I wrote down. I decided today to go take a look at his yard. I remembered his cross streets as being NE 42nd & NE Alberta Ct, so I plotted my route accordingly. When I neared my destination, I had the “uh oh” moment. Did he really live at those cross streets, or was I just making them up? I should have checked before I left the house. I also had to pick up the milk and that was done successfully.
How did I do?
Aside from my thrice-weekly 4 miles each way bicycle to work and back, I’ve not been doing much cycling. So I took it easy, partially because of that and partially because it was very hot and partially because it was my last day of vacation and I didn’t feel like a strenuous bike ride.
Glorious Bicycling Moments/Neat Things:
Apparently, I was wrong.
“Public Employees Get Free Ride” is the supposedly clever headline in the Metro section today, and the rest of the article isn’t much better. The gist: taxpayers are paying for some downtown public employees transit passes.
You know what? Taxpayers pay not only for that, but the public employee’s dental insurance, medical insurance and I would guess, life insurance and disability policies. Taxpayers are paying for public employees entire salaries! You know why? They are public employees.
I happen to be one taxpayer happy to contribute my probably three cents per year towards Joe Public Employee’s All-Zone Trimet pass. As far as I’m concerned, 80% of the people working downtown should have their employers subsidize the full price of their TriMet passes. Our downtown was purposely designed to be gotten to easily by public transportation. Why shouldn’t government lead the way by adding the benefit of a bus pass to the benefits available to the average public employee?
What gets me about articles like this, is that you never see its obverse about the business world. How about this sample headline: “WalMart customers subsidize WalMart executives’ five billion dollar fleet of corporate jets.” Businesses waste all kinds of money on things that I find unnecessary. The redecoration of executive offices being right up there with the inability by said executives to take commercial flights. But when business spends money wantonly, it is okay, because they need to spend the money to run their businesses efficiently, and besides, it is none of “the public’s” business because we don’t subsidize it.
But we do. We buy their product. You can’t tell me that some amount of pennies per item at WalMart doesn’t go to support WalMart executives’ travel habits. And you can’t tell me that business doesn’t receive public money. They do. From tax breaks, to zoning changes to build their business, to out-and-out bailouts for failing “essential” companies, we all pay.
The view in the US seems to be the following: taxes are squandered on superfluous items requested by overpaid employees who do nothing for their bloated salaries and taxpayer subsidized medical insurance. There is a huge disconnect, it is as if no one can see that the minuscule amount they pay in taxes actually gives them back amazing things, like infrastructure, social services police and fire departments and yes, transit.
A few years ago, unable to find a job, I took a “public employee” position in Washington County. I made just over $9.00 per hour and took transit an hour each way to get to my job. I paid for my transit pass myself, which was just over 5% of my monthly budget. My office was less than a mile from the Max line, serviced by three buses and I was the only employee in my sixteen person office who took public transportation to work. Every morning and evening I walked across a vast expanse of empty parking lot that was available for free to all employees, but cost visitors to park. Often, I wondered how much of a benefit this free parking cost, and why no one was throwing me any money for not taking up a space. I know why, of course, but it still made me mad.
Including TriMet passes in downtown public employees benefits package is a good deal for the employees and a good deal for the taxpayers. It’s not a free ride.
The Picnic Project.
Established 2006.
Each year, Patricia chooses five parks in Portland—one from each section of Portland: N, NE, NW, SE & SW. She plans food and invites people for a picnic, then records the festivities. By 2028 she will have picnicked in every park in Portland.
Date: 18 August, 2009
Park: Pier Park
Present: Patricia
Food: Big salad
Activities: Reading a fabulous book, exploring the park.
Comments: Pier Park has a skate park and a Frisbee golf course. My brother goes there weekly to play Frisbee golf. I thought I would check it out.
Pier Park is in the very North part of North Portland in the area where residential begins to change over to commercial. Several trucks were parked outside the park while, I assume, their drivers rested.
There are very funny parts and good things in this movie, but ultimately the middle is way too long. You also have to like boy humor. This movie left me with this question: when you are friends with a movie/tv star and you hang out with them, do you always have to watch their movies, as depicted in this film?
Bechdel score. Two women: nope.
(this is getting ridiculous)
Picture me sitting on the couch knitting while watching this movie. Then picture me staring at the screen, mouth open, knitting forgotten as I become absorbed by what is going on. This happened four or five times, a surprise, as I didn’t think I would enjoy this movie as much as I did.
Bechdel score. Two women: nope.
The first ten minutes of this movie I had the following thoughts: 1)I’m glad I didn’t grow up in Queens, and 2) these guys are assholes. But then I got sucked into the story and ended up really enjoying the movie, though I have a sneaking suspicion I would find the whole thing juvenile if I watched it in five years. I’ve never understood the whole Shia LaBeouf thing before, but I get it now.
Bechdel score. Two women: ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2006/guide_to_recognizing_your_saints.html
A slow meander of a movie, by which I mean I probably would have been bored if I wasn’t knitting. Brad Pitt plays a great, slightly unhinged Jesse James, but I was watching it for Casey Affleck, who not only believably plays a 20 year old, but also manages to perfectly convey the changeover from hero worship to ultimate betrayal. This movie is what my mother would call “old-fashioned” which I translate to “good acting, kinda slow.”
Bechdel score: Two women: nope.
This happened in June, but somehow got missed in the blogging queue.
Sunday parkways which took place on one Sunday last year, expanded to three Sundays in three locations this year. I volunteered at the North Portland one, for which I got to spend a lovely morning moving barriers for cars to go by, waving at people walking and on bikes and taking pictures.
I think this is a great movie if you want to view some awesome 80s fashions and hairstyles. It is not so awesome as an actual movie however, being a bit long and with an annoying, distracting performance by Jami Gertz. It did, however, prompt me to put the book on my Goodreads to-read list and Kelly and I spotted a very tiny Brad Pitt walk on before he was “Brad Pitt.”
Bechdel rating. Two women: nope.
