The Park Blocks. Portland, Oregon.

#streetphotography

I love carrying my 40mm f/2 because of its unobtrusive size and weight, but I invariably regret not taking something with more reach whenever I’m shooting street.

Downtown #pdx this morning.

Good morning.

I’m loving the frequency improvement of MAX trains west of downtown Beaverton now that the Better Red extension is complete. Instead of 15 minutes, we’re getting trains every 7-8 minutes. It makes a difference when I’m deciding which mode to take when my morning is chaos.

#pdx #transit #urbanism

I have to keep reminding myself that Bluesky and Threads aren’t showing us ads yet. Even though their experiences are better than Mastodon, it won’t always be that way. Meta in particular is just training us to be addicted to the app.

I didn’t have “peeing next to a former female supervisor” on my 2024 bingo card, but this conference at the downtown pdx Marriott has fully genderless public restrooms, and here we are.

Me, an introvert, scanning the conference agenda for sessions that don’t have audience engagement components or group work.

Tech voyeurism: getting a sneak peek of someone’s pinned web browser bookmarks before they start their presentation.

As I leave for the OR American Planning Association conference in downtown #pdx, I’m reflecting on my commute from 7 miles out, on a light rail line cities twice our size wish they had, from a suburban area with 11k people per square mile, twice the density of many urban census tracts in the U.S.

Amazon is releasing Kindle colorsoft and I’m trying to deny my GAS.

I wish Apple would release a fitness tracker in a minimalist form factor with just O2 sensor, heart rate, blood sugar, GPS, and a couple function buttons. NO screen, apps or phone features. Give it to me for $100 and call it a day.

“Dad, why do these samosas smell like pumpkin donuts?”

He’s right, which probably explains why I love them so much.

Ten years ago (10/8/2014) I saw Sharon Van Etten at The Loving Touch in Ferndale, Michigan. Still one of my favorite shows of all time.

@sharonvanhalen #detroit

I need to change the pots on my Jazzmaster. This is starting to feel a bit like The Ship of Theseus.

We have limited options for nearby coffee places that I’d actually want to spend any time at. Haven Coffee on Murray in Cedar Mill is one of the good ones. Coffee is great, people are nice, and it’s easy for me to focus on work.

Took my son to Through the Veil yesterday. They sell these terrifying little monsters.

Hillsboro has the best parks.

One of the craziest things I’ve ever learned is that large areas of the Middle East are desert due to soil salinity caused by human activity — irrigation.

By far the best feature of both Threads and Bluesky is “Hide Reply for Everybody”. The fact Mastodon comments persist even after a block is a big mark against ActivityPub.