the scatterbox organized

01.20.09

I love this man.

And I've never felt more patriotic than I do today.

 

Barack Obama Inauguration by Gemini Studio

Photobama

I just came across a couple links of photographs of Mr. President Obama (hee hee!).  Things of note:

a) The crowds... GEEZ.

2) Political hoo-ha aside, I love the normalcy of this man and his family and their closeness.  I want to invite them over for dinner and Scrabble.

iii) So proud.  And I love how much he is admired around the globe.  I can only hope that those who object him on the simple grounds of color (and HALF color at that!), or because he doesn't have a starchy-white name (he's NOT Muslim, people), or who fail to realize that being "pro-choice" does NOT equal "pro-abortion", can put aside invalid fears and realize they are standing distressingly idle in an evolving world.

Boston.com - If you can, read some of the comments and stories left by readers, both here and abroad.  You just can't deny his influence, something I've never seen before in my lifetime, and that surely can only last be compared to with Kennedy.  In just skimming, the simplicity of this one stood out to me:

Congratulations Mr. President.  I may not be American but you make me proud to be human.  You are an inspiration to all.

With love from Canada.

Callie Shell - Personal insight from one of the campaign photographers.  Very candid.  Keep clicking the "show more pictures" link at the bottom of each page to view all.

And please, people, by all means - BEWARE or you might get recruited like this unsuspecting young soul!  ;)

PDX-ing it

The City of Roses, Portland, Oregon.

I hear there's a nice-looking mountain there, but I wouldn't know.  The entire three days we spent in town was typical of what people east of the Mississippi think of when they think of the Pacific Northwest: cloudy, rainy.  The forecast was just that for the entire week and then some.  But to be there and explore the city, you almost don't notice that you haven't seen or felt the sun.  We'd never been to this part of the country, and we still have yet to visit Seattle, also on our to-do list.  (For the time being, I'm feeding off of my friend Abby's description, as she was there just prior to our arrival in the next state below.)  I've heard nothing but wonderful things about both cities, and it was time to find out why.

Prior to flying out, I happened to catch that the PDX airport was voted #1 in Conde Naste Traveler.  Very interesting, given it's size and location, but I'd have to agree.  Cute shops, lots of local flair, and honestly, the freaking nicest TSA people I've ever seen in my life.  Made you almost want to hide a screwdriver in your pocket just so you could spend more time chatting with them.  But I digress...  One of the top things on my list that every major city should have is a well-used and well-planned transit system, and I don't mean just buses.  Portland is no exception in this area.  It was nice to be there the entire time, see what needed to be seen, and not have to worry about renting a car because of their fabulous rail system.  Given a few more days, we'd have explored even further.

 

That's Mike with the black eye I gave him.  Just kidding!

Maybe.

The first day was pretty short.  We arrived in the afternoon and just decided to wander around the streets of the downtown and surrounding areas aimlessly, thanks to the trusty map purchased at the airport-edition of the infamous Powell's Books.  Since we were just getting familiar with things and hadn't even checked into our hotel yet, we only stayed out until dusk.  After a crantastic bowl of mac & cheese at a noodle joint (perfect on the drizzly cold day that it was), we headed back to our hotel on the north side of town.  We figured we'd slum around the room for the rest of the night, mainly to watch the election results.  We had gotten in line shortly after 6am that morning to vote before hopping over to the airport for our 8am flight. 

I still can't get over the ginormous sea of people in Chicago to greet Obama (YES!!!) when he made his winning speech.  Definitely a proud time in our history and one that, if only for a moment, put a shine on the turd that is our country's appeal right now.  Even with the speech over, we stayed tuned in waiting for our current home state of North Carolina to declare a winner.  Waiting.  And waiting.  And waiting, like watching for a color change on some political pregnancy test.  Eventually we passed out, seeing as how results had been posted for the entire west coast AND Hawaii, while NC was still sitting in the gray, all alone in the sea of red and blue.  I still don't know what the hold-up was.  Yes, it was close, but when you're posting 100% return and one number is bigger than the other...  Either way, the Tar Heel state eventually turned a nice shade of blue.  Even if it was close, I think it's nice to see that the state has become pleasantly mixed rather than predominently red, especially for a confederate state.  Times, they are a-changin'.

SO!  Back to Portland...

Day 2 got us up early since we were still a little messed up on the time change, but it gave us a chance to hop into the Columbia sporting goods store to get some coverage for our chilly heads and ears.  Right after our purchase, we jumped across the street to meet Brad, our tour guide from Portland Walking Tours.  We were signed up for the Best of Portland tour, which had apparently won some awards.  Brad was great, very patient with certain members of our group, and we definitely learned why so many are flocking to this area.  The city's focus on being green is phenomenal in every aspect.  Did you know that they voluntarily, and without government support, MOVED a highway across the river to reduce the number of cars in the downtown area?  Now you do.  One of the other tours the company offers is the Epicurean Excursion.  We would have been totally signed up for that on the same day, except it's only a Friday/Saturday thing.  I can't even imagine -- walking around town for four hours straight indulging and imbibing on the city's finest.  We have to go back for that tour alone.

Despite the temperature and the weather ("just like a Portland winter" we were told), it was still nice for fall.  We now understand why coffee boomed in this part of the country, as we drank a lot of it.  And judging by the sight of a Starbucks on every other corner, I can't even fathom what Seattle looks like.  Our first culinary stop was the downtown location of Old Town Pizza, the "it" spot for a quality piece of pie, and so it was.  We could have definitely taken care of a few more personal pizzas, but we had other stops to make.  The next one was Cacao, a most wondrous all-things-chocolate boutique, which is straight up my alley.  After being mesmerized by the different arrays of bars and beans and truffles from all over, I settled on balsamic vinegar ganache topped with pear jelly, covered in dark chocolate.  Uh... YUM.  To "wash" it down, I opted for a shot of what had to be their most hard-core drinking chocolate.  And by drinking chocolate, if you've never had one, we're not talking hot chocolate.  It's literally like someone just put a bar in the microwave and you drank the results.  I can't imagine what drinking a whole cup would be like, because even I was struggling towards the end.  Part of it was the chili and other spices added that actually gave the back of your throat a little burn.  But it was soooo gooood.

 

Our other culinary must-see that day was the infamous Voodoo Doughnut, often featured on Food Network.  Known for their crazy-awesome toppings (Tang, bubble gum, assorted breakfast cereals, etc.) and alternative style, it was sure to please.  This is me being a dorkus outside wearing my fabulous new hat that looks like I should be doing an advertisement for Swiss Miss cocoa.  Or at least speaking in a bad Swedish accent.  Oh wait, I did...

Though I do wish ours were a little closer to the fresh-from-the-oven timeframe, it was a good gnosh.  First we downed the No Name (Rice Krispies/PB/chocolate), then the Dirty Snowball, the Cap'n Crunch, and the grand finale, the Maple Bacon Bar.  Yes, we split them.

 

 

It was a good day of exploring.  We hit up the aforementioned landmark of Powell's Books, found the great shops of Buffalo Exchange and Billy Galaxy, and fell in love with the hella-priced Pearl District residential area.  At night we ate some locally-grown grub, went to a beer sampling (have you figured out yet that we like to eat and drink?), and snapped away at the numerous new and vintage neon signage.  We had an afternoon flight the next morning, but still found some time to cruise around the downtown a little bit more.  Despite the weather, you can't beat the offerings of this city (tax-free, WHAAAT!), and the region in general.  The people are all phenomenal, and we had more than one person offering us help when we seemed lost.  We decided it has the feel of a great mix of Asheville, Boston, and Baltimore.  Can't wait to see more.  And maybe that mountain, too, next time.