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BIG MOMENTS CHANGE LIFE DIRECTION

The first thought I have when I hear someone complain about their life going nowhere fast? ‘Then do something to change your life direction.’ Do I give advice on what to change? Oh, hell no. My advice to boomerpdx readers follows the same line of thinking: Don’t offer advice to someone complaining about their life […]

WRITE A BOOK, THEY SAID, IT’LL BE FUN

    Long form writing is like a walk in the woods with no map. In the dark. With animal noises. And cliffs on both sides of the trail. If that isn’t a picture of adventure, what is? And all you need to do is sit down and write. And stay down. For a long […]

FAMILY TIES OVERCOME SOME THINGS, NOT OTHERS

    Everyday I wake up I see a little gold tree with small family portraits hanging from the bare branches. Maybe you’ve got one that looks like the top image? That’s not mine. Mine used to be on my childhood fireplace mantle beside my grandfather’s railroad watch. Now I’ve got them both, and they’ve […]

Funeral Feelings Expressed With Shovels And Sweat, Salt And Sea Water

“My father always wanted to be the corpse at every funeral, the bride at every wedding and the baby at every christening,” said his daughter.   My father had a cowboy funeral. Instead of the nearest Boot Hill, his ceremony happened in the veterans section a big cemetery. People from every part of his life […]

BETTER SELF? IF YOU HAVE A BETTER SELF, WHO WERE YOU BEFORE FINDING OUT?

    Life mysteries usually get solved by our better self, the part we hope others notice because it’s better than the usual.   The mystery solutions usually fall between ‘Wow, I didn’t think I could do that’ and ‘Oops, I thought I could do that.’   One shocking example was Det. Mark Fuhrman during […]

FATHER’S DAY REMINDER: WHO’S YOUR DADDY?

  When my kids were young we played a game of ‘Who’s Your Daddy’ one Father’s Day.   It started and ended with one question: “Who would you rather have as a dad than me?”   I had their answers all planned out. Of course they’d favor me?   Instead of a simple “You” as […]

How Teamwork Is Supposed To Work In Real Life

    A team is a temporary group with the same goals. Whether it’s sports, school, work, or family, it’s important to know how teamwork is supposed to work.   The biggest element of teamwork is cooperation, which is in shorter supply than most expect.   For example, in the armed forces all entities compete […]

PORTLAND HEAT: HOW TO CELEBRATE BREAKING RECORDS

    Last August one of my partners in crime (aka one of my sons) and I worked on inventory inside a few Arizona warehouses in record breaking heat. At least it broke the record for heat outside a sauna.   Yesterday’s record breaking heat was about thirty five degrees cooler, which was a nice […]

FATHERS DAY, LIKE A BIRTHDAY BUT NOT A WEEK LONG

Ten years later our sister showed up for family pictures. Until then it was all boys. Fathers of an all boy family have problems with their Boys Club. If the boys grow up to be bad men, it’s on the them. Good men? Lucky they had such a good mom. Does that sound right? A […]

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 […]