Tag: Portland

Portlandia Again

 

So you remember I started watching this show ‘Portlandia?’ It’s all about an idyll world, everything easy in which people are free to do whatever they want.  So I’m not sure I explained it well: this guy comes to LA and says he was just in Portland, and while he was living there, it was “the dream of the 90s is alive in Portland” and you could just do whatever you wanted.  “Portland is almost like an alternative universe,” he said. The environment is friendly; people ride bikes, no cars, everything is peaceful and good.

But then, within a few minutes, one of the characters spirals with all his gadgets and gizmos and feels the need to text, watch all his movies, go crazy on the Internet, iPad, YouTube, etc.  He’s miserable and overwhelmed.  He needs to free his mind from all this stuff and go back to basics.  Ironically it shows how over-the-top going back to basics can be, which misses the point. 

It’s very interesting.  It’s about a bunch of totally weird people doing totally weird things and men wearing skirts locking innocent people in their stores; all which seem to be accepted in Portland!  Well now you know how much I love my city but I sure hope it won’t become an acceptable behavior to lock people in stores against their will!  As Daniel says, I must remember it’s just a TV show.

Taking Ethan “Swimming”

Since we took Jayden to a friend’s hydrotherapy pool when he was 5-months-old for swim classes (well, actually it was really more like water-appreciation classes), we felt bad we hadn’t done the same for Ethan.  He’s already 15-months and it’s always been a priority for Daniel and me to not treat him like “second best” being a second child.  Problem was however, her pool closed a couple of years back and it is a bit tougher to get to the Children of the Sea Swim School.  Which shouldn’t really be surprising since the friend’s hydrotherapy pool was on our block.

I was certainly glad Daniel did finally make reservations for the class however, since Ethan had such a great time at his first class last night.  We signed up for an initial four classes.  Daniel said it was pretty similar to what Jayden had done – dunking the kids under water; singing with them; putting them on plastic horses, etc.  At first Ethan – perhaps not surprisingly – was a little cautious.  I mean, it’s not as if we could explain to him as we were putting swim diapers on him where he was going or that he was about to be submerged under water for around 5 seconds four times in 20 minutes.  Still, Daniel said that after a while he really got into it.  Since I wasn’t able to go (I did some stuff with Jayden) we didn’t get a photo this time but hopefully at some point we’ll both take both the boys (to actually teach Jayden to swim; right now he thinks he can swim which is the worst scenario) and then we’ll make it a fun family activity.

Anyway the staff at Children of the Sea is really excellent – professional, child-loving, caring and enthusiastic about what they are doing – so we think it’s going to be a great fit for both our boys.

Portland Parking

Not that I’ve exactly ever been the world’s best parallel parker, but I’m not all that bad either.  However, now that there are new laws on parking in my city, I may start “stressing out” as my husband so lovingly and encouragingly puts it.  The new laws are only going to be effective over the weekend though which shouldn’t impact me too much as Daniel usually does the driving then.  I try to avoid getting behind the wheel as much as possible so only drive to work and back and to collect the kids from preschool. 

Still, when I heard about the Friday night-Saturday morning parking ban in the city I wasn’t exactly thrilled. If we want to go out on a Friday night that’s going to put a bit of a damper on things although Daniel says it’s really not such a big deal as he has always been a lucky parker. But if he does take his chances and mis-parks, he could risk being towed at a $135 fee ($70 towing fee, $35 impound fee and $30 ticket).  Parking is now forbidden from 10:00pm Friday until 6:00am Saturday.

But then I was thinking anyway, I usually like to be in bed pretty early – even on the weekends – so we could for sure leave the city after an evening out by 10:00pm.  We usually leave around 10:30pm, so pushing it back half an hour or so wouldn’t exactly spoil our plans (although Daniel always complains at how early we go home as it is). 

Meanwhile, our great city has kindly put out a list of the venues people can park in the city, at no cost.  These include the Hadlock Field parking lot, all of the Portland Public School lots (except Reiche School), Munjoy and Wilson Street parking lots; and more.  Still, like I said, it hopefully won’t affect us too much as Daniel doesn’t stress about parking and this is only over part of the weekend when I rarely drive.

As my wise mother would say, “this should be our biggest problem.”

More on Portlandia

 

I just downloaded Portlandia – the first season.  Last night I got the kids to bed early (Jayden can often still be up at 9 which is pretty tough for me as I like to be asleep by 10; but he is so yummy and cuddly at that time, but still) and started with the first episode.

I enjoyed it.  For a start, it’s definitely cool to have a show reflecting your hometown. That’s the only reason Daniel started watching it with me.  He didn’t think it would be “him” as he figure it would be a bit chic-flicish, but it turned out it wasn’t at all. Truthfully it was kind of surreal; the way it’s produced and directed is a little strange. It’s got dance/music and then sit-com so it’s a whole mixture of stuff and very different.  In the beginning they are singing a song with a chorus "The dream of the '90s is alive in Portland," indicating that truthfully in America today, with its economics and policies, come live in Portland as then you can live an idyllic life.

We also discovered that the name of the show – Portlandia – is a reference to the Portlandia sculpture (I never knew that big thing we pass regularly was called that) which is on the Portland Building on Fifth Avenue, downtown.  So a bit of hometown history isn’t too bad either.  I’m sure Jayden’s has asked me about that sculpture when we’ve driven by a million times and I have no answer for him.

Anyway, I digress.  I really enjoyed it because I love TV shows that feature couples and this one has Fred and Carrie as the main players.  The first one was about a particular bohemian couple whose priority it is to have the most humane and ethical restaurant. It seems it’s important to some people (especially Portlanders I guess) what kind of life the chicken had before it arrived on their plates at the restaurant.  Apparently the chicken they were eating had 4 acres in which to run around; and then they showed the somewhat weird couple a picture of “him.”  Oh well, as Daniel says, each to their own!

Portlandia

I just started watching Portlandia.  It’s in the second season right now, but I went back to the beginning to watch it from the start as my friend Amanda has been talking about it non-stop for the last couple of months.  Mind you, being 40+ and pregnant for the first time, there’s not all that much sense coming out of her these days.

It’s a fun show.  Fred and Carrie live an idyllic life in Portland.  The first episode of the second season was screened last Friday and I did take a sneak look at it (even though I promised Amanda I would go back to the first season to really catch me up to speed) and it looked fun. She tells me it was such a clever show that they actually coined phrases that are now popular in our area such as “Put a Bird On It.”  It certainly sounds like a good response to the next time my boss starts talking to me about something with which I am unfamiliar!  If nothing else, it will get a giggle!

There is one couple in the show apparently who are totally eco-conscious (typical of Portlanders) and love everything organic.  Then there’s the artsy couple and a feminist. And that’s just a few of them. It seems like the show is full of different and eccentric people. So it sounds like something I’ll really enjoy watching. Not sure if it’s for Daniel but we can at least start a few episodes together.