Well if you’ve seen posters, ads or other such things that tell you that at this point you missed seeing Portland Center Stage’s performance of Cabaret – they’ve extended the date and you’ve now got until November 11th to check out the show.

I love Cabaret – I’ve seen the movie version and the stage production with two different professional casts – and it’s always amazing. The theme song was one of my friend’s favorite karaoke songs when we’d go out – and she did a pretty good job – but hearing Storm Large belt out those numbers – WOW. I wasn’t familiar with Wade McCollum – although he seems to be a legend around town – and shows why with this role.

Ticket prices are a little steep – they’re as much or more than touring Broadway productions at Keller – but at least your supporting a local company that does pretty consistently good work. And the fact that the run was extended proves that Portlanders are willing to pay for quality theater. This also gives you a chance to check out PCS’ sweet new digs if you haven’t yet.

What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret.

Over the last two weeks, Portland had lost 2 individuals prematurely in truck/bike accidents. Tracey Sparling and Brett Jarolimek were both killed in crashes with large trucks. Neither driver of the trucks – a fully laden concrete mixer and a dumptruck – were cited after the incidences. The most challenging part of this is that these individuals are driving huge vehicles. I make the wrong assumption that an individual who is licensed to drive such a large vehicle should be someone who takes even more caution when driving. Obviously I’m wrong.
The driver who drove the dump truck that killed Brett Jarolimek had 25 driving citations, yet according to the Portland Police, that isn’t a factor in deciding if negligence or fault is involved (BikePortland.) What crap is that?

Also, BikePortland pointed out that Oregon law states that vehicles MUST yield to bicycles. From what I see, neither truck yielded to the bicycle in these situations. Oh, and the “I didn’t see them,” is not an adequate excuse. And yet, after two people are dead, no one is found accountable.
When will cities and drivers realize that there are others on the road – pedestrians in crosswalks, bikes in the bike path – and make changes either to laws or infrastructure to protect these individuals. Cars and trucks are so much larger than people and bicycles.

My thoughts are with Tracey and Brett’s families at this time. Godspeed. And thank you Merc and WW for taking space in your papers for a tribute.

Did you mean to swing by the Green Dragon tonight and say hello? Maybe couldn’t make it because of a last minute commitment or just couldn’t deal with the weather and went home to drink tea?

Well boy HOWDY did you miss you! We met FOUR new (to meetups) reader/commenters, all of whom were lovely (though sadly, none of whom were McAngrypants) and we had mussels and frites and great conversation and superb beverages. I believe a good time was had by all.

We met shiny new (moved here four weeks ago) Tex who is on a not so secret crusade to get her friends to move here from the midwest, who was very pleased to meet us since she said she has been checking us out to find interesting Portland tidbits.

We met Rick, the man behind the #1 search result on Google for beer drinker, Beer Drinker dot org. He was awesome, and enjoyed perusing the vast menu at the Green Dragon. He was there with Nedra of Blue Deer Designs.

We met tODD who wasn’t entirely certain about meeting people off the internet. I think we managed to put his mind at ease, though. Since none of us were axe murderers or anything. (Well, I had the sense to leave my axe at home anyway…)

Plus we had an appearance from the divebarhubby himself! It was just for a couple of beers before band practice, and we had a lovely time polishing off the first batch of frites.

It was a VERY good time and I hope everyone who meant to come but didn’t is now having a little “V-8 moment” and wishing they’d showed up. We do it once a month, so keep a night in mid-November open and I’ll let you know when the next one is coming up!

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Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

Last weekend, we ventured out to the Pumpkin Patch on Sauvies Island. I have fond memories of heading out to the Pumpkin Patch, buying veggies, seeing farm animals and riding the hay ride out to pick my own pumpkin. I also remember doing that in the rain and cold (not always good memories.)
Well, on Sunday, I understand the call went out for every style conscious parent to dress their small child in the latest fall gear and head out to said Pumpkin Patch in the SUV. It was packed! Uncomfortably packed. Initially, we were able to get parking fine and wandered in, but when we saw the line for the hay ride 100 people deep, I think we began to rethink our decision. Then, when trying to look at the bunnies and goats, I was pushed aside by not one parent but three. It felt like Costco. Upon leaving the animal barn, we had decided we would not be getting our pumpkin there….but wait.
We did venture into the fresh veggie market and made a killing. We picked up 5 different kinds of squash, some cabbage, some peppers, some hot peppers (now hanging by our window), some onions, tomatoes and assorted other veggies. And the best part – only $19. I couldn’t do that in the city. And boy these veggies were fresh. Tasty and fresh.
In the end, we took off and drove an additional 3 beautiful miles on Sauvies Island to Columbia Farms to their pumpkin field and had the place essentially to ourselves. We picked up 3 large pumpkins for carving and about 10 or so little ones for display for only $16. Oh, and it was stunningly beautiful and relaxing. Note to self, memories of childhood do not necessarily translate into adulthood. Embrace the orange!

Is your office hacking and coughing? Sniffling and sneezing? Half of your co-workers home and the other half should be? Yeah – mine too.

Please people – if you’re sick – stay home – I don’t want your germs!

And if your kids are sick – maybe you should stay home then too – or disinfect yourself throughly before you come in – ’cause they’re even worse carriers.

And if these guys are in your office or your grocery store – take advantage!

Hey all! Just a quick reminder that tonight we are having our monthly get together at the Green Dragon (on 9th, just south of Belmont). Beer Geeks Rejoice. We’ll be there around 5:30, springing for appetizers-I’ll be rockin my Battlestar Helvetica shirt with a Raspberry Mead in hand. See you tonight!

In a fit of shameless self promotion I am going to link you to VanPortlander, a blog written by former Metblogger and current MB Buddy Aaron. He’s been doing this Meet A Portland Blogger series on Wednesdays, and today it is ME! So far he’s done interviews with Jack Bogdanski, Sarah Gould, Miss Lelo, and Chris Smith. Word on the street is that more Metrobloggers will be featured in the future. Plus Aaron writes about other interesting stuff there too, so you should take a moment and check out what else he has to say.

Thanks Aaron! It was fun to answer your questions. Watch for more local blogger interviews in the coming weeks.

…buried down in paragraph fifty gazillion of The O’s exhaustive and compelling epilogue (timelines! names! details!) of the ongoing Bernie Giusto investigation:

“He’s like, twice my age and a pervert.” (as offered up by the county clerk on the receiving end of Giusto’s alleged sexual harassment)

Please let’s hope that doesn’t become a recurring theme as people start digging into the seamy underbelly of Oregon politicos large and small…

Have nothing to do this Friday from 1pm to 5pm? Always wanted to visit the city archives but found yourself lacking a reason to do so? Just curious what the hell the city archives are? The doors are being thrown open on Oct. 26 [PDF] over at the Stanley Parr Archives & Records Center…and yes, root beer floats are back by popular demand.

The Stanley Parr Archives & Records Center will be offering tours at 1:30 and 3:30 so you can “discover the wonders of Portland’s history.” People can also test their local knowledge for a chance to win one of three framed,
historic images. The Archives contain about 8,000 cubic feet of material, including “reports and studies, correspondence and memoranda from city agencies, and elected officials, maps and plans, and nearly 750,000 photographic images of City projects and personnel.”

The Stanley Parr Archives & Records Center is located at 9360 N Columbia Blvd.

Apparently, if you’re Sam Adams (the brewery), you’re not too fond of having any other famous Sam Adams-es around mucking up your vaunted Trademark- with- a- Capital- T.

So Sam Adams (the brewery) has informed Sam Adams (the mayoral candidate) that he may NOT use either samadamsformayor.com or mayorsamadams.com, as it makes the beer folks angry (it’s a matter of serious concern, according to the letter two KEX DJs – who’d registered the domain names as a gift for Adams – received.)

What does Sam Adams the candidate say? According to this OLive news update:

“They say they’ve been using this name since 1984. I’ve been using it since 1963.”

What’s next? Steel cage death match between fictional character Harry Potter and almost-former Mayor Tom Potter?