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BASHING CIVIL DISCOURSE TO NEW HEIGHTS

How often do you catch yourself in civil discourse and regret what you’ve said?
It usually goes something like, ‘this would have been better if I had just stayed on topic.’
That’s the polite self-talk. The other?
Not so polite.
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THE RUBY ANNIVERSARY LANTERN

What’s a ruby anniversary?
We’ve all heard of the silver and golden anniversaries, but ruby?
Weddings are funny things, and now so are anniversaries.
You don’t want any missteps or mistakes, so in service to all matrimonial celebrations:

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CUVÉE MOTHER’S DAY WITH CHEF GILBERT HENRY AND COMPANY

Mother’s Day grows more importance when it’s part of a masterplan.
Add a road trip with a restaurant at the end and it edges toward epic.
It goes without saying that any two lane drive through rural Washington and Yamhill County is enough to make you want to sell everything and move into a dilapidated barn in the country, it also shows what pulled pioneers out of the midwest.
A forty minute trip does all that before you walk into Chef Henry’s realm of Cuvée in Carlton.
Cuvée?

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MAY 1986, THE LAST WEDDING

It was a cloudy, wet, day, in May 1986 for the last wedding.
Like so many raised on the Oregon coast, a cloudy, wet, day, is good luck no matter where you are.
Everything was done, everything set in Sandy, from rented morning coats to a rented preacher.
The preacher was a second choice.
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SHARING SPECIAL DAYS, EVERY LAST ONE

Special days have special meaning which don’t hit the same for everyone.
For some it’s repeating, “Why bother,” for the fortieth time.
Others like to say, “I thought we’ve moved past all that.”
But you still find those looking for something special in every day, and keep looking until they find it. Hell or high water.
The last line is the bell ringer.
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toughen up

VETERAN SOLUTIONS FOR VETERAN PROBLEMS

If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of veteran problems. The biggest veteran problems come when those who served say, “I didn’t sign up for this.” What is the ‘this’ in “I didn’t sign up for this?” The ‘this’ veterans talk about is the hard part for non-veterans to understand. Even veterans of […]

FOODIE vs eFOOD. WHAT TO EXPECT?

Foodie For Thought. You smelled what The ‘foodie’ Rock was cookin’? It was a metaphor, medium rare, foodie. In real life you’ve smelled food before it hits the table. You’ve sat in Portland restaurants watching plates fly by trailing a scent stronger than a pheromone cat collar. The next one’s got to be yours. Or […]

Boomer Gym: 1-1-1

Baby boomer numbers scare non-boomers. Most of the numbers you hear sound like this: 79 Million Baby Boomers in America. 10,000 Baby Boomers retire every day. Those are the frightening numbers. Number matter, but one of the most important is one hundred eleven, the old 111. But what does it mean? It’s a natural number. A […]

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boomer years

PICKING UP CO-EDS 70’S STYLE

Which One Was You? Before social media, meeting co-eds at college meant leaving the basement. Starbucks moved into the space on the opposite end of the block from the U of O bookstore. It the seventies it was a college bar, the best place on the street for 21 and over students. And everyone else. […]

INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN BOOMER

I hear you asking, “What’s a ‘proven’ boomer?” You know what a ‘made man’ is in the Mafia? They’ve taken an assignment from the boss and done good with it. Usually the assignment that makes you a Made Man also makes you a Button Man. You push the button, pull the trigger, you’re a made […]

BEAVERTON, PORTLAND’S EASTSIDE FOR ADULTS

  Beaverton sees Portland as a necessity of suburban life. They need a city nearby But it doesn’t work the other way around. Portland sees Beaverton in the same lot as Tigard, Lake Oswego, Gresham, even Vancouver. Suburbs feeding off the urban tube. You can defend any town, but a suburb takes more thought. Start […]

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buckle up

BECK’S IN PORTLAND BEER CITY

A Euro-problem For Portland Beer? Or Just Me. In the beginning there was Blitz, the baby boomer’s original Portland beer. You can still see the remains of that other urban brewery around NW 12th and Burnside’s Brewery Blocks. It’s a nice re-use of an area instead of complete tear down. What isn’t around is the […]

PORTLAND/GRESHAM SANTACON RUMBLE

If you’ve got friends who give you a Santa suit as a present, then ask you to go to SantaCon with them, there’s only one answer. Stall. When they ask the next year, stall again. If they ask to ‘borrow’ the Santa coat for someone else, then you have to go. This years real SantaCon […]

ONE BABY BOOMER’S MOUNT RUSHMORE

Greats, Near Great, And Who Was That?   The traditional list for Mt. Rushmore singles out the best of an era. The baby boom era is 1946-1964. Lot’s to choose from. Steven Spielberg makes most lists. So does Tom Hanks and Steve Jobs. Bill Gates is easy to find. Most recently NBA basketball players came out with […]

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