I’ve got a friend coming in from out of town next weekend. The owners at his favorite Vietnamese restaurant in his hometown (who used to live here in Portland) told him today that he had to go to a certain place here for dim sum. Only thing is, he doesn’t remember exactly where they told him to go.

I’ve had dim sum at Legin, but not anywhere else here in PDX. Is that really the place to go, or are there other options we should consider?

And – while I’m at it – I’ll take suggestions for the three things you’d show a visitor to PDX that’d best give them a good idea of what Portland is all about…

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions!

Is this for real?

Mental Health Assoc. of Portland says the cremated remains of over 5,000 patients unclaimed by their families sit on shelves in an abandoned building on the grounds of the Oregon State Hospital.

Wow. That’s weird.

Yay! JetBlue announced they are starting flights from Portland to NY on May 17th. Why is JetBlue worth getting excited over? Well, number one, they are cheap! And number two, they have comfortable seats with TVs in them where you can watch 36 channels of digital satellite.

And I didn’t realize that Continental was the only carrier with flights directly to New York (well, Newark, but it’s the same thing).

OPB, BizJournal, Oregonian, Koin.com, and JetBlue

Walking home from work I saw a truck in an odd position. The shipping container had slid off the truck, probably as it was turning. The driver seemed pretty embarrassed, he was inside covering his face, and their was a crowd of people all taking pictures with their camera phones! I’ve seen so many camera phones, and it made me kind of excited. If their was a good way to share these images (Flickr?), then no event in America would go undocumented. While that raises a few concerns, it’s also a gives a lot of power to the people.

It would seem that the Oregon State Hospital (no no no, not that Oregon State Hospital) has discovered a whole bunch of patient remains left unclaimed by their families. Volunteers need help with planning and realizing a fitting memorial. You can help them. Find out how.

I have been told by trusted sources that Chopsticks now has Tenacious D for your karaoke pleasure.

You have been warned.

I’m a fan. But depending on which publication (or weblog) you read, people either love her, hate her, or question her motivations.

The Tribune and The O had dueling and dissonant versions this morning – she’s got a cadre of defenders in the Trib’s article, subtitled ” New schools superintendent praised for her bold decisions.” But in The O? She’s apparently ‘at odds’ with our Portland-style moves, with folks annoyed about being cut out of the decisionmaking process.

And the comments are already swirling online as well – see Jack Bogdanski’s You go, girl” take on The O’s story for just one example. (I’ve also had some interesting comments on an earlier Metroblog post here as well, and BlueOregon’s had several conversations in recent months about PPS moves and pending decisions – see this post co-authored by City Club Wendy Radmacher-Willis foreshadowing the potential effects of closing smaller neighborhood schools as just one example.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I’m thrilled and relieved that she’s making the tough decisions, and appears to be ready to take the heat for them. And of course, I’m pleased to see several other people – from S. Renee Mitchell and an op-ed by Lewis & Clark law professor Stephen Kantor (both in the hand-wringing O, no less) to Commissioner Randy Leonard (in the comments to my post below and to Isaac Lacqudem’s post on his site) – standing up to applaud her decisiveness.

I’ll add a ‘bring it on! cheer to Jack’s own ‘you go, girl!’ What say you…?

Austin Powers said it first, and I feel the same way… a shoe? Who throws a shoe? Well, apparently not only does that little hitman in Austin Powers, but also Portland resident Bruce C. Charles. But as opposed to a comical villain assigned to kill Austin Powers on his honeymoon, Bruce got riled up listening to Howard Dean and Richard Perle debate foreign policy.

It seems odd that a man would throw a shoe. Was Bruce really that angry with what Perle said? He barely had a chance to speak before the man “flipped out”. If this was a planned protest, in was ineffective and embarrassing. If it was just his first reaction to hearing Perle speak then he’s acting crazy. The question is, why does a 52 year old man charge the stage screaming “Liar! Liar!” and throwing a show during a debate?

Yesterday b!X pointed out that Portland Stories may be coming back to life! Portland Stories has always been a fun read, and in the age of blogging where everyone online is writing maybe they can get more content.

When people write a story, as opposed to just a quick blog entry, there seems to be more thought and energy that goes into it. And rather than another link to the same old thing, or a post about what someone had for dinner you usually get an interesting look at someone else’s life, even if it’s seemingly mundane tasks, it can be interesting (especially if written well).

So I encourage everyone to check out Portland Stories and contribute to it!

The Business Journal reports that Google has purchased 30 acres of industrial land in The Dalles and is planning “to move some of its technology infrastructure” to a new facility they will build there.

I wonder what part of Google they will be working on? According to the BizJournal, “Google representatives were not available for comment Thursday morning.”