Dave Knows Portland

Archives for October 2008

A Blazer fan reports from Elko, Nevada

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My brother Steve, a Portland native and lifelong Blazer fan, moved to Elko, Nevada a few years ago. But he’s still a Blazer fan. He blogged yesterday about Tuesday night’s preseason game against Sacramento, which he was fortunate to track down on Northern Nevada cable:

But the team we have now is HOT! Greg Oden is playing for the first time after micro-fracture surgery that kept him out last year and just looks like a monster, like a young Shaq. The rest of the team has matured over the last couple years, and Spanish rookie Rudy Fernandez is a baller. I watched the first preseason game last night and he had 5-6 completely SICK passes and alley-oops/dunks. That guy is going to be a star, mark my words.

Read the rest at his branch of the DaveKnows.org empire: Dave Knows: Elko.

Portland Transit Blogging

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Portlanders are lucky to have some of the country’s best transit and one of the more active blogging communities.  It should come as no surprise that we also have some excellent transit bloggers.

I’m something of a transit nerd myself, but these folks lift transit-blogging to another level:

Light rail and I: a love story 28 years in the making . . .

EMS, the blogger, explains it best:

I love light rail, trams and anything else that moves on rail tracks. While growing up in Norway, I used trains and light rail daily. Years ago I turned down a light rail operator job in Oslo, Norway. Now, finally, I am a light rail operator in Portland, Oregon, and love being at the helm of this 109 ton monster that I am supposed to be in control of… Happy reading!

Portland Transport

This blog bills itself as a conversation about access and mobility in the Portland/Vancouver region. It’s a good starting point for those interested in transit issues in the region.  There are many contributors, but the founder of the site, Chris Smith, is the heart and soul and most voluminous poster.  The discussions in post comments are more intelligent than your average fare.

Rantings of a Trimetbus driver

Al M does exactly that, plus posts lots of videos.

Transit Sleuth

Adron Hall does lots of thing,  including write about transit.  From the Transit Sleuth about page:

I named my blog to “Transit Sleuth” because of the amount of researching I do in relation to transportation.  I also did so because I strongly believe that decisions made with the factual knowledge of historical events and operations of transportation all over the world and especially the United States is critical to one day acheiving what can be possible.  The future of the US Transportation network; rail, air, road, river, and any other form, is hanging in the balance in these modern decades of being either a mediocrity among the world, or striving forward with a strong and capitalistic thrust as only our transit systems of the past ever displayed.

TriMetiquette

TriMetiquette is a relatively recent addition to local transit blogging, but it’s already one of my daily reads (for what it’s worth).

Besides having a clever name, what is TriMettiquette?

TriMetiquette covers personal TriMet stories, “TriMet riding etiquette” as well as any bus or MAX service alerts, coverage of TriMet in the news along with general TriMet news & other public transportation and C-TRAN issues in Portland, Beaverton, Gresham, Milwaukie & Vancouver.

October 3-5: H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and Cthulhu Con 2008

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Cosmic horror returns to North East Portland, specifically the Hollywood Theatre, this weekend:

The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival promotes the works of H.P. Lovecraft, literary horror, and weird tales through the cinematic adaptations by professional and amateur filmmakers. The festival was founded in 1995 by Andrew Migliore in the hope that H.P. Lovecraft would be rightly recognized as a master of gothic horror and his work more faithfully adapted to film and television.

It’s much more than a film festival. There will be live musical and theatrical performances, readings of Lovecraft’s works, an accompanying Cthulhu Con for H. P. Lovecraft nerds from all over, and even a wedding!

The event website has all the details.

Oh, and just for fun: Hello Cthulhu!

October 3-5: Greek Festival 2008

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Update: 2010 Greek Festival details here!

The first time I tried to attend the Greek Festival, several years ago, a friend and I surveyed the scene upon arrival and calculated that between standing in line for tickets, then drinks, and then food we’d be there for hours before we’d have a chance to breathe, much less enjoy our spanakopita.  Heaven forbid we want a second beer.  I suppose some people might be fond of standing in line, but I’m not.

So we went to the the nearby Horse Brass Pub for beers and fish and chips.

So that’s the extent of my personal knowledge of the Greek Festival.

But if I learned anything from this past weekend’s Polish Festival, good weather can be the difference between well attended and fantastically attended.  And the forecast for this weekend is crap.

The 47th Annual Greek Festival runs Friday through Sunday at the grounds of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox church (3131 NE Glisan).

There will be rain, but there’s also a huge tent, and come on!  we’re Portlanders!