Behind the Ironic Column

The first step in fixing a problem is admitting there is one.  And the next step seems to be getting a book about how to fix it – or, in more advanced cases, writing a book or article about how to fix it.  Or, for those of us in desperate ...

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Went to the North American Organic Brewers Festival yesterday – here in Portland on a bright sunny Friday afternoon.  They moved it to an outdoor site this year – and everybody I ran into said how much nicer it was than being cooped up in a building.   Of course, they ...

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It only makes sense, and it’s probably been happening for a while in places I don’t usually visit,  but I was still surprised to see the graffiti in the ladies room at the mall across town.  Notes, comments, and phone numbers are often scrawled on the walls in places like ...

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Making my usual quick dash through Safeway on my way home, I tried to remember what was on the list left  lying securely on my kitchen table this morning.  I’d been organized enough to make the list but not quite enough to actually bring it.  So I proceeded, listless, through ...

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Just the thought of it makes my stomach clench.  Better Tusko than me having extreme dental surgery.  I’ve been through plenty of that kind of thing myself and have the scars to prove it, but my periodontal escapades are nothing compared to what Tusko, the Asian bull elephant at the ...

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This time of year in Portland I often make the mistake of looking out the window, seeing bright spring leaves and flowering trees, and assuming that the temperatures are somehow as mild as the view.  It’s even more deceptive if the sun happens to be shining (as it does all ...

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Maybe brackets were made to be broken.  Or maybe I just should have known better – after all, I’ve never been in the habit of drawing up bracket forecasts.  For those who are oblivious to “March madness” or didn’t grow up in a basketball-obsessed state, what I’m talking about is ...

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“Many highbred compensation plans today have elements of Binary plans in them" I confess to being easily sidetracked into other areas of research when I’m exploring something on the internet.  I’ve always believed in serendipity and you have to be open to happenstance to let serendipity enter your life.  So this ...

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M&M days are fun and hectic and inspiring.  You might think I’m referring to M&M’s because it’s February and Valentine’s Day has just passed.  I admit to knowing in a vague way that there *was* a Valentine’s Day but only because somebody mentioned it to me while I was ...

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The first weekend of the new year is devoted to bluegrass – in the unlikely location of the Portland, Oregon, Convention Center.  As it turns out, this is a really good location for a bluegrass festival/jam.  Large spaces for performance stages, small spaces for workshops, hallways and corridors for impromptu ...

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