A minivan you can't refuse

This thing is perpetually parked just north of Hawthorne on 16th. Not sure about the back story, but the van pretty much speaks for itself.

PDX Lost & Found

No, not at the airport, Graham's blog.
Mostly Portland history, but he's only got a couple posts up so far, so we'll see where it goes.

From the Portland Streets

On a long walk in SE last weekend, I spotted this first generation Plymouth Valiant. Built somewhere between '60-'62, this one still looks pretty pristine, considering it sports Alaska plates.

In the story I've made up about this car, its driven daily by one of the sisters from the nearby convent. In the top left of the picture is the front archway of the Sisters of Reparation of the Sacred Wounds of Jesus.

The rear is pretty interesting. The car definitely has a lot of personality. Those brake lights are like condescending eyes, and that tire cover...

Love this front grille emblem. That logo is more fitting for a pack of cigarettes, or maybe a brand of gum.

Made in Oregon

Via Matt Davis

D'oh!

The City of Portland has recently been upgrading many street signs, especially out in the far east areas of the city. It seems to be a bit of a hasty job though, as per this pic from ZehnKatzen Times.


If you're a Portlander who pays attention, you'll immediately realize what's wrong with this sign. For the rest of you, Stark St. never enters NE Portland, as the NE 148th sign suggests. It just can't be! Anyone got a big green-out pen?

Sassy Jack's

I finally made it back to my old "Cheers bar" over the weekend. I used to live three blocks from Sassy Jack's Pub in Montavilla, but moved out of the neighborhood about four years ago.
I started going there with my housemate soon after it opened, they took over a sketchy meth-den bar that I had only stepped foot in once. The new owners gave the place a lot of love and made it a quirky little bar with cheap beers and homemade mid-western food.
(SOS Monday, Hell yeah!)
I've only been back there a handful of times since then. Montavilla is off my usual path anymore, and the place was really smokey until the smoking ban. Now the place is all aired out and expanded with more pool tables and more room for dancing on weekend nights when they have a live band.

The mural of all the original regulars, with unfortunate flash blowout.

Oregarus and I still hold our positions in the upstairs windows.

From The Portland Streets

A 1990-ish Dodge Monaco, a rebadged Eagle Premier, designed in France, built in Canada, sold in the US. I haven't seen one of these in years. Very few were ever sold in the first place, so stumbling upon one parked on the city streets is kinda rare.

Seems to have been abandoned here since January, or maybe they just keep the chains on, "just in case."

They only made these for a couple years in the early '90's. Seems I remember it being rated the most unreliable car sold in America at the time. Still, there's something I love about it.

Random phone pics

Bathroom chalkboard at the Mash Tun, in praise of the Zombies. This picture was taken ages ago.

Bizarre fruit box. Grizzled prospector firing a gun that shoots oranges? wtf?

Drawn in the grime on the back of a truck making a delivery at work. Reminds me that I need to go toss a few, brush up my skills, and actually make a trip out to McIver soon.

Retro cereal boxes

At Target, and perhaps a few other stores, General Mills have rolled out these reproduction cereal boxes. Pretty cool. Somehow that box makes me crave Lucky Charms, even though I hated them when I was a kid. What's up with that?

From the Portland Streets

This poor little Sube met its fate parked along Williams Ave just up the street from la casa. Sad to see a smashed up Impreza, even if it is that horrible 1990's teal.

"As if"

The Oregon Income Tax instruction booklet explains how the state recognizes your partnership for tax purposes.

Registered domestic partners (RDPs): To correctly
determine your Oregon tax liability, you must complete
a federal income tax return “as if” you were
married filing jointly or married filing separately. Use
the information you calculated on the “as if” federal
return to complete your Oregon income tax return,
unless otherwise indicated.

You have to figure out your federal taxes twice, one copy, the one where you file as single, you actually file to the IRS. The second copy (or as the Oregon Department of Revenue quite amusingly calls it, the "As if" copy) is the version where you get to pretend the federal government considers you a full citizen. You figure out how much you'd save by filing jointly, then use that information to fill out your state forms.

Domestic Partnerships are cool, I'm glad I'm in a place where there's that option. However taxes are just one of the instances where it becomes glaringly obvious that the whole idea is still a "separate but equal" compromise. That, and that handy list of "RDP's" that'll make it easier to round up the queers when the time comes. (Sorry, just a little conspiracy theory freakout.)
There's so many more issues that are so much more important to me, I really wish the polarizing push for "marriage" could just take a back seat for a little while while we fix the really big things, like equal legal protection for gays in that huge chunk of the country where one can still be fired or lose their apartment for being gay. Yeah, that would be a nice start...