The next day — after Hatzi had called the police and reported the theft — she found the car in her driveway along with a note and $30 for gas money. It read: “Hello, So sorry I stole your car. I sent my friend with my key to pick up my red subaru at 7802 SE Woodstock and she came back with your car. I did not see the car until this morning and I said, ‘that is not my car.’ There is some cash for gas and I more than apologize for the shock and upset this must have caused you.”

It’s actually named after Portland, Maine as the result of a coin-flip. The other side would’ve seen it named Boston.

paleglanceaustereface said: There was an article in the WSJ a while back about how Portland was close to dying entirely as bulk port.

Other way around, it’s dead as a container port and only functions as a bulk and automobile port. The Pacific mouth of the Columbia is actually an incredibly tough passage, and the river isn’t really suited to modern oceangoing ships, while in comparison Puget Sound is ideal for shipping. It’s the rivers - originally the Willamette serving the fertile Willamette Valley and then the Columbia-Snake system all the way to Idaho - that make inland transit to the port efficient enough to stay competitive.

Aaand alright, back home. Transmission’s not in the best shape or the best gear and neither am I so a bit of a slog towards the end but good times.

Glad I took this trip. Went places I normally wouldn’t, saw some cool stuff that reminded me Portland is amazing and I love it.

Stopped at a red light and another bike came up behind me blasting hardcore punk, when it turned green and he passed it was an old greyhair in flannel with the countenance of a Prussian aristocrat.

Think this is just what I needed to lift my spirits. Life’s gonna be alright.

I-5 by the Eastbank Esplanade

Portland, OR

Bulk freight, Willamette River

Portland, OR

My bike came back with the levers and brakes stripped, the cables twined around to mount a multitool and a rubber duck, new seat and handlebars and tail rack, and honestly a better front tire

The police property warehouse is in the middle of nowhere, every single piece of literature is about the 1979-ass “WomanStrength” self defense classes, and there is an episode of Grimm staging in this parking lot

kontextmaschine:

“Hey kontextmaschine, what’s today’s Portland adventure?”

Riding the bus out to the goddamned industrial district to pick up my stolen bicycle from the police evidence room!

See I kept the serial number written down and that actually worked. Filed a report, and then a few months later a cop looking for a pretext to take in some bum ran his ride’s number and there it was.

Lost it in the first place because I biked back from a bar, left it outside my house intending to open the garage door and then totally blanked on it. Fair enough.

Now that I think of it I’ve had my last four bikes stolen, at least this one came back. Two bikes ago I think the guys got sent to federal by the fucking Secret Service though, that’s a trip.

Fucked up my transfer, walking around Portland State and getting an Uber. Crazy little parks with some amazing topography tho - Lovejoy, Pettygrove, the geometric waterfall at Ira Keller. Between the landscape architecture and the natural stone and tree cover all the modernism around here comes off impressively humane.

“Hey kontextmaschine, what’s today’s Portland adventure?”

Riding the bus out to the goddamned industrial district to pick up my stolen bicycle from the police evidence room!

See I kept the serial number written down and that actually worked. Filed a report, and then a few months later a cop looking for a pretext to take in some bum ran his ride’s number and there it was.

Lost it in the first place because I biked back from a bar, left it outside my house intending to open the garage door and then totally blanked on it. Fair enough.

Now that I think of it I’ve had my last four bikes stolen, at least this one came back. Two bikes ago I think the guys got sent to federal by the fucking Secret Service though, that’s a trip.

Huh.

Was downtown the other week and there were protesters near the courthouse with signs about jury nullification and I was like “oh yeah, that’s all going on here, right.”

One of the Vegas party girls from back when I hung with electro DJs in LA has moved to Portland to get a degree in social work

Clinton Street Pub
Portland, OR

The more historical context you know (i.e. that Portland was a mob town into the 60s) the more grimly hilarious this official history of the Portland Police Reserves gets.

“Like sure we started in the 1920s as ‘Vigilantes’ but that was just the custom of the time. The important thing was legitimate businessmen giving Christmas turkeys to the poor!”

“Not only did this ‘rough and tumble bunch’ of uniformed, armed, lightly trained but unpaid men offer flexibility and support on missions like prostitution stings, but they’re civically involved, pushing for things like higher police salaries!”

“Also since 2011 they can arrest anyone in Oregon”

Open mic night ends with a PSA about the currently growing mushrooms that are not psychoactive in themselves but good “indicator species” for psilocybin growing later in the season

In other news, it was just raining cats and dogs, and I was like “oh, better make sure the storm drains on the corner are clear, they were filling up with leaves”. So did that and looked up down the block downhill and it was turning into a goddamn lake.

So I trudged down into knee-high water with a stick blindly poking at the curb to find and clear those drains. Managed to get to them just before the water got high enough to flood the engines of the parked cars, but had to trudge back and forth for maybe 20 minutes as all the debris they flushed kept clogging them up again.

And I feel quite proud of myself.

Alberta Street
Portland, OR

Edmond Booth

Atlas Pizza
Dvision St.
Portland, OR

kontextmaschine:

“I mean, I can’t believe she said that, bitch we’re ALL poor, this is the restaurant industry”

- girl who on appearance and mannerisms has been to college before age 23

“our college is 30% from the Hawaiian islands, we – to take in students – ‘Asian’ – now totally in the old –”

- girl I am pretty sure was in the middle of telling an #intersectional history of missionaries

“Well I don’t know if— is that a drawing of a tiger going down on a chick?”

- me

“I mean, I can’t believe she said that, bitch we’re ALL poor, this is the restaurant industry”

- girl who on appearance and mannerisms has been to college before age 23

“our college is 30% from the Hawaiian islands, we – to take in students – ‘Asian’ – now totally in the old –”

- girl I am pretty sure was in the middle of telling an #intersectional history of missionaries