Dave Knows Portland

October 9-12: Wordstock Book Fair and the Friends of the Multnomah County Library 36th Annual Fall Book Sale

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WordstockThe Wordstock Book Fair takes place this weekend at the Oregon Convention Center (777 NE MLK Jr) from 10am-6pm Saturday and Sunday, October 10-11.

Other festival readings and workshops are ongoing, but good luck finding the information you need from the website, which just like last year, is thoroughly irritating (flash, awful navigation but at least they turned off the auto-play music this year!), and difficult to navigate and find pertinent information. I recommend visiting Reading Local Portland for information on the festival; they are doing a much better job relaying information about worthwhile Wordstock related (and non-Wordstock related) events.

The Friends of the Multnomah County Library 36th Annual Fall Used Book Sale 2009, Oregon’s largest used book sale, takes place this weekend at 1625 NE Sandy.

Over 100,000 books, CDs and DVDs, audio and video tapes, and maps and sheet music will be available. Kids’ books and small paperbacks start at $.50, large paperbacks and hardcovers at $1.50. Proceeds from the sale benefit the Multnomah County Library.

Members only Friday, October 9th from 6 to 9pm, but you can sign up at the door (memberships start at $30, $20 for seniors).

The regular hours for the sale are:

  • Saturday, October 10, 9am to 6pm
  • Sunday, October 11, 11am to 5pm
  • Monday, October 12, 9am to 3 pm (50% off Discount Day)

August 6-9: The Bite, a Library block party, and the Bridge Pedal

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It’s not just soccer festivities this weekend; there are a lot other things to do:

Bit of OregonFriday through Sunday the Bite of Oregon celebrates the food and wine of Oregon at Waterfront Park.

An impressive lineup of restaurants from all over the state will be preparing all manner of food, and of course craft beer and wine will be flowing. There are also several stages with live music.

Adults get in for $8.00 and children under 12 get in free. (General admission fee covers entrance and entertainment but does not included food and beverage.)

Multnomah_County_Library_logoThe Central Library Block Party takes place Saturday, August 8th from noon to 4pm on SW Taylor between 10th and 11th. This event is primarily for the kids, as you can see from the activities lineup:

Sunday morning the annual Bridge Pedal takes place on and around downtown Portland’s bridges. This is the one day each year you can bike across the Marquam or Fremont bridges without breaking your neck or the law.Register online or at a number of local bike shops. Not much of a cyclists? Then sign up for the Stride, and walk across the top span of the Fremont Bridge for some impressive views – views are much more enjoyable at a walking pace anyway! If you’re driving anywhere Sunday, sleep in until after 10am – all the bridges should be reopened to regular car traffic by then.

Library to Mac users: No video for you

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anti-apple-logo.jpgI’m an avid Netflixer and I don’t at present have a TV, so I rely on my Mac for all my video watching needs. Naturally I was delighted to read this morning that Multnomah County Library offers movies for free via the Internet. My enthusiasm waned a little after I perused the meager list of available titles (pdf), but I was looking forward, at least, to some Globe Trekker and America’s Test Kitchen episodes.

But even my modest enthusiasm was for nought; the service does not work on Macs.

(I’m aware I could purchase and install Parallels and a Windows OS, but it’s not worth the money and effort and I’m wary, through years of experience, of all things Microsoft anyway.)