So for those of you who didn’t know… or didn’t remember, Friday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Oddly enough, the boyo and I had learned at Guardian Games the night before where he learned how to play a large scale game of the Pirates Constructable Strategy Game that the Portland Pirate Festival was this weekend.

So we went to check it out today. I like to think of it as… the Ren Faire for pirates… with all sorts of pirate gear, pirate people, and yes… even pirate bands! If you’re going to go, take some cash! There are beautiful hand made things like clothing, pouches, and even leather tankards! Seriously, I could have spent a good amount of money. ANNDDD what’s a pirate festival without beer? The good people of Rogue Brewery were there providing good eats and great beer, as usual. If you stick around/ get there at the right time, you can even see a battle involving canons and a pirate ship.

Seriously, it’s at Cathedral Park, which is the perfect setting for this festival, and it’s on tomorrow from 10am to 6pm. Tickets are $15 at the gate and $8 for kids, with those 2 and under in for free. Yes, there’s a TON of stuff for kids to do and even a puppet show (which the boyo and I had to stop and watch).

So if you can, go! Take the kids, take yourself, just GO… and have a great time pretending to be a pirate. I DO warn you, though, there are a lot of neat things to buy there, so either be prepared to go and spend, or lock up your ATM card and go just to drool.

I’d go again but I’m trying NOT to buy a new coat, leather pouch and other odds and ends….

Belmont Station (4500 SE Stark St) is one of my very favorite spots for beer in Portland. It’s a great store and pub where the focus is on great tasting and unique beers.  In a move that shows the absolute difference between being a beer connoisseur and beer snob Belmont Station is having a Michelob Brewing Tasting on Wednesday September 17th from 6-8pm.

Here’s their blurb which speaks volumes:

We try real hard not to have an attitude. Sometimes it still creeps in, like when they told us the new line of Michelob beers are vastly improved and truly delicious. So we said bring it on. Let the people taste them. Here’s your chance to taste Michelob Porter, Pale Ale, Dunkelweisse, Amber Bock, Pumpkin Spice & maybe more. And take home 6 packs on sale.

Tastings are Free and open to all over 21.

I have once - many, many years ago. I was in New Orleans for a business conference. It was the early 90s when every trade show or conference event involved huge parties nightly for the attendees. This one was held on a casino riverboat and in addition to the free drinks, food and gambling - there was a tarot card reader, and I had her tell my fortune. What she said to me seemed pretty darned accurate at the time. Of course - what she said (and I don’t remember now exactly) had something to do with ‘my soul-mate, a man who was a friend and more than a friend…’ and probably was a pretty standard line for any single woman in their early-20s that showed up at her table. I’ll blame my gullibility on the free drinks.

So I’ve always seen fortune tellers, tarot card readers, palm readers - as just a fun party trick. But just recently I’ve noticed a number of signs all over Portland advertising palm reading or tarot cards…downtown, northeast, southeast - there are several on Broadway both in NE and over to SW. For a while there was a woman who regularly did readings at the New Old Lompoc over on trendy-third. Seeing the spaces in more downtrodden neighborhoods, places here rent is cheap and not many people go by doesn’t really surprise me. But to stay in some of the spaces I’ve seen - they have to be bringing in some decent business. Or they’re a front for some crazy gypsy scam.

I’m a bit of a cynic about this type of thing. Of course I also place hypnosis under that same cynical umbrella - and I have a friend who used to be terrified of fire - was hypnotized and says she no longer is - so who knows.

Portlanders always seems pretty intelligent to me - are there really that many out there who believe the lady with the scarves can really help them prepare for the future? Do they believe it’s actual ‘fortune telling’? Or is it treated more like a new age therapy session. ‘Cause that in Portland - I’d believe.

So my question is, have you ever had your fortune told? Did you do it just for fun, or were you truly looking for some guidance and enlightenment or hope for the future?

Powell’s on Burnside doesn’t need any press from a lowly metblog private eye like me, but have you heard of this deal? Buy 2 books from their hip summer reading list, get a 3rd free! What! (And yes, Dreams From My Father is first on that list; it’s hip to hope!) Hurry! Summer wanes irreversibly! Stock up on hope now, while supplies last.

I leave you along Tenino Street in Sellwood with an earnest, Cheshire-like sunflower and my gazing self.

We're all mad here!

This is a fantastic idea. I actually can’t believe that students had to pay for buses in the first place. Having grown up in a considerably smaller city than Portland I rode a yellow school bus in elementary and middle school - and then drove in high school. We didn’t have bus service for high school - and city bus service was relatively sparse, so nearly every upperclassman had a car… lots of beaters, but we almost all had cars. But those freshman and sophomore years were tough - you had to rely on older siblings or friends to drive you places. And since your high school friend base now spread much farther apart then when you were younger - it was much harder to hang out with them after school or in the summer. In a city with public transportation as good as Portland - allowing students to use it is a no brainer. Plus it frees up parents from having to play chauffeur constantly and gives the kids more freedom to get after school jobs, do extra curricular activities or just hang out with their friends who may not live near by.

Good work Tri-Met!

The boyfriend and I attended the adults’-only night at OMSI this week and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves - even moreso than I had hoped. This is a truly fantastic idea - the request came for those 21 & over (though I did spy some teenage-looking peoples) to enjoy OMSI without the presence of the younguns. The tickets were $10 per person (free for members), which is cheaper than the normal fare of $11, and local businesses offered free samples of wine, liquor, beer (duh), chocolate, and other misc. foodstuffs, plus there was a snacky buffet with cheese, crackers, fruit, and veg. Though I am fond of children, it was incredibly awesome to walk about without tiny-people shrieks and having to keep an eye out for knee-level heads. Plus, we were able to play with a lot of the stuff the kids normally monopolize, like the ball room (we spent a good 20 minutes in there). This is supposed to be a monthly gig, so we’ll definitely be going back when the next exhibit opens. I found out about this happening via the OMSI email list (which is actually quite informative and useful). I don’t see a site up for this specific event just yet, but hopefully there will be one soon.

One downside - being One Without A Motor Vehicle, I took TriMet to OMSI, a first for me. As OMSI is one of the big draws in the city, it seems strange to me that there isn’t a bus line or stop closer to the museum. There are stops on the Hawthorne bridge itself which are about 5 blocks from OMSI’s main entrance, but they put one who may not be at ease with the traffic and use of the Eastbank Esplanade in a precarious place. From what I understand, this will eventually be resolved with the planned pedestrian/streetcar crossing over the Willamette, but that’s not going to be started until lord knows when. Walking isn’t a big deal to me, but I can see how it would be a deterrent for someone with less mobility and/or children.

One of the many things that makes Portland great is fondness for beer, and the many festivals we have to celebrate it. In a single year, we’ve got the Holiday Ale Fest, the Spring Brewer’s Fest, the International Beer Fest, and the biggie - the Oregon Brewer’s Festival. Add to this the mighty Oktoberfest in Mt. Angel and a number of smaller fests and, well, it’s enough to make a beer lover proud to call it home.

Now in its fourth year, the North American Organic Brewfest is returning to Overlook Park in North Portland this weekend. The weather is going to be sunny, and there is easy MAX access, so there’s no reason for you to not come out and enjoy some fantastic beer. The list of brewers is impressive, and is presented by Roots Organic Brewing, one of my favorite local brewers. Me? I’m looking forward to sampling the locals, plus trying the Pinkus UR Pils from Germany, and the Sarah Buckwheat Ale from Belgium.

So what’s the difference between organic beer and regular beer, you ask? Well, according to the O Mama Report, “the ingredients must be grown without toxic and persistant pesticides, synthetic fertilizers and in soil that has been free from such chemicals for at least 3 years. No genetically modified (GMO) ingredients can be used in the brewing process. Studies show that organic farming reduces erosion and ground-water pollution and that it significantly reduces the impact on wildlife.”

Good beer, fantastic sunny day, a good cause. What’s not to love?

Yesterday one of my co-workers and I were walking down near the waterfront and the smell of corn dogs and fair food was in the air. Ah yes - the Waterfront Village - not my favorite part of the Rose Festival, but hey - the kids love it so I don’t have a problem with it. What I do think is lame however - is that there is an admission fee just to get in. Everything you would do inside costs money, to rides the rides, play the games, eat the food… but you still have to pay to get in.

If you’re going for an afternoon at the carnival - that’s probably not a huge deal - although it does add up for a family for sure. But we just wanted to pop in and grab a corn dog and some fried Oreos for lunch. We were more than willing to pay the inflated prices for the food - ’cause fair food doesn’t come along that often. But not when we would have to add another $5 on top of that just to get in.

I would imagine that the vendors could make a fair penny on downtown workers eating at the food stands if they were able to get in for free. Maybe not charge the admission fee until after 1pm on Mon-Fri, or even Mon-Thurs. Those who were are planning on staying all day can come early, get in free and probably end up spending more overall. And the rest of us can eat too much deep-fried goodness on a stick for a few days.

Hey PRFA - I think it’s a great idea - next year maybe?

UPDATE: So apparently I’m retarded. I thought I had looked all over the PRFA website and couldn’t find the fact that it is indeed free until 4pm - but I just missed it there somewhere.
Who’s meeting me tomorrow for corn dogs?!

Better enjoy that free Portland Wi-Fi while you can…the Oregonian and the Portland Business Journal are both reporting the network may soon be sold to the city or shutdown. Word is MetroFi has decided to walk from the deal and is offering to sell the network to the city for $894,000! The company said it will be yank its equipment at the end of June if the city or someone else doesn’t pick up the tab.

This really seems like a crap move by MetroFi, especially when you consider this word of news that the company will be selling its nine city networks across the country. This move casts doubt, I think, on the viability of metro-wide Wi-Fi. We still have all those Personal Telco network hubs out there, but if you aren’t near one and don’t have another way to access the Internet, you’ll probably soon be out of luck.

Now, I don’t want to become the “alternative transportation and cooking writer” here at PDX Metblogs, but hey, it’s what I pay attention to. The boyfriend and I are heading up to Vancouver, BC this weekend, and we’re going by train. I took the train a lot when I was a kid to visit my dad, but I am sad to say that I haven’t ridden Amtrak since I was at least 14. My last train ride, in fact, was in France in 2004. I absolutely love train travel, and since the last town I lived in had no passenger rail service, I was extremely excited to find out that a train goes all the way from here to Canada!

Oh, how I was mistaken. Oh, yes, there is a train that goes from here to BC, but it stops overnight in Seattle. The one and only train to Vancouver leaves from Seattle early in the morning and the only train from Vancouver leaves too late in the afternoon to take it all the way through to Portland. So we’re stuck taking the Amtrak bus on the Seattle-Vancover trip and back again, which I wasn’t too pleased to find out. Since Amtrak is really pushing the Cascades line, they included a free “companion pass” in the fantastic Chinook Book, which is actually why I purchased the darned thing anyway (though all in all, it has been awesome). My beef: Since the train does not go all the way to Vancouver from Eugene (where the Cascades line starts), the coupon in the book does not cover the entire route. The furthest one can go and use the coupon (in Oregon) is from Eugene to Seattle, and I really haven’t a need to go to Seattle. After finding out that the fare with the coupon is the exact same as the fare without the coupon (because of the way they bill the bus and train rides separately with the coupon in use), I’m keeping the savings for the next time we decide to take the train to Eugene (erm…). Thus, I call shenanigans on Amtrak. Why have a coupon marketed mostly to the Portland market (in the Portland Chinook Book) when it’s only useful to travel in a 3-hour radius, whereas the coupon offered in the Seattle-based Chinook Book would cover the full Cascades train lines?