Dave Knows Portland

Best of the Blogroll: Portland Event Guides

by Leave a Comment

Best of the BlogrollOn a daily basis I try to spotlight the more interesting, and dare I say offbeat Portland area events.

But my event roundups are far from comprehensive.

The newspapers all have their event guides, but they primarily push the events they sponsor, and otherwise just publish inscrutable catalogs that are only useful if you’re already looking for a particular event (one notable exception however is OregonLive‘s Oregon Events).

So where would I recommend you find Portland area events? Well first of all, my blog 😉

But I do have some other recommendations.

Portland Simple Living Advocate Tammy Strobel Featured in New York Times

by 3 Comments

Tammy StrobelPortlander Tammy Strobel‘s simple living story is featured in a New York Times article today about the consumer trend towards simplicity – Consumers Find Ways to Spend Less and Find Happiness.

A two-bedroom apartment. Two cars. Enough wedding china to serve two dozen people.

Yet Tammy Strobel wasn’t happy. Working as a project manager with an investment management firm in Davis, Calif., and making about $40,000 a year, she was, as she put it, caught in the “work-spend treadmill.”

So one day she stepped off.

Read the rest of the article to find out how she and her husband, Logan Smith, overhauled their spending habits, got out of debt, and simplified their lives.

Tammy blogs about social change through simple living at RowdyKittens. She’s also a photographer, designer, and author.

Her story has been an inspiration to Heather and me, as we just recently got out of debt and have begun planning a simpler future together. Read my April interview with Tammy to find out more about her work, tiny houses, and the origin of her blog’s quirky name!

Dave Knows Turns 3!

by 8 Comments

3rd Birthday at Farrell'sThree years ago today this blog was born. Over 1024 posts and 1871 comments later, there’s no end in sight – seems like there’s something interesting going on all the time in Portland, and I have yet to run out of opinions!

Fittingly, the first post was about beer. Later that first week I blogged about the Timbers for the first time. As long time readers know these are recurring themes at Dave Knows Portland.

In the blog’s inaugural year, I averaged 4.9 posts per week. Last year I got that to 5.1, and now it’s up to 6.5. The last few months I’ve averaged close to two posts a day. Visitor traffic is up too, of course, but the frequency of posts is the most interesting statistic to me personally. It’s an indicator of how much I enjoy researching, writing, sharing, and interacting with readers. This blog provides plenty of opportunity for all of these.

So on that note I want to thank you for reading, commenting, and linking – this blog would be rather pointless without you!

Win Free Tickets to Timbers vs. Manchester City on July 17th

by 41 Comments

UPDATE: The contest is over; and a winner has been selected. I will announce the winner once I have successfully contacted him or her. Thanks!

Timbers vs Man CityOn Saturday, July 17th 2010, I’ll be dressed in grey slacks and a long sleeve white shirt, probably sweating in sweltering heat, at an undisclosed location on Sauvie Island; one of my best friends is getting married. I’ve known the guy since first grade. I don’t think I can get out of it 😉

But my obligation is your gain – I have a pair of tickets I can’t use to the Portland Timbers friendly against Manchester City at Merlo Field on the campus of the University of Portland, on the same day.

Merlo Field is tiny, so as you probably already know, tickets to this match are exclusively available to season ticket holders. Behold, I am a full-season ticket holder, and I possess a pair of Game C tickets. And I want to give these two tickets to you.

The mechanics of this contest are simple:

  1. Leave a comment below* before midnight (Portland, Oregon time) on Saturday, June 26th
  2. In the comment tell us who your favorite Portland Timbers player is (a player on the roster as of the date you post your comment)
  3. On Sunday, June 27th I will randomly draw a name from the pool of commenters who followed the rules above

After the drawing I will deliver the tickets to the winner. (Hopefully at a Timbers match before July 17th, but I will Fedex or mail the tickets if necessary.)

* You do not need to use your real name when you comment, but you must leave a valid email address so that I can contact you if you win. I won’t use the email addresses for anything else. Ever. Also, don’t panic (or re-comment obsessively) if your comment does not appear instantly; the first comment per email address goes into moderation. I will try to approve them in a timely manner.

Good luck!

Biggest Trailblazers Fan in Elko, Nevada?

by 1 Comment

My brother Steve and his family moved to Elko, Nevada a few years ago. But despite keepin’ it rural (as the tagline of his blog succinctly puts it), he has stayed true to his Portland roots in at least one way: he’s a huge Trailblazers fan.

As I’ve mentioned before, he secured a personalized license plate as soon as he moved to Nevada: BLZRFAN. Well recently he and his wife bought a second car, so of course they needed to get another personalized license plate declaring their allegiance:

Blazer Fans

Steve is also an entertaining (if infrequent) blogger at the confusingly named blog Dave Knows: Elko. And though he only started Twittering recently, he’s a natural; follow him at @ElkoSteve.