Back from Washington DC/Virginia

I'm back from the Rally, and a long weekend in Alexandria, Virginia.

We met many nice people- people in costume, people with interesting signs that were thought provoking or humourous or had a political stance, people who talked about conservative and liberal points with reason and were willing to hear each other's viewpoint and consider them, not just try to destroy them. We enjoyed music, becoming a human experiment of waves and orchestra, and reminding people all over who e 80% really are rather than what is covered in the "news" now.

Here's some photographic proof I was at the Rally to Restore Sanity with 200,000-250,000 other people who believe in compromise and facts not shouting and disagreeing just because the other person is on the "other" side need to be part of the government discourse and process:

My view:

Hard to believe only a few hours before it looked like this…

Since shortly it would look like this

I was there!

 

After the rally we met up with friends back from PA and went to dinner. We tried Clyde's but the 1.5 hour wait was too much, so thanks to Opentable for finding us a restaurant that can accomodate us with only a 15 minute wait: Zengo, Asian tapas. Highlights were the sake flight (a glass of Dassai 50 Junmai Ginjoand a tasting of three flight that included fFrom left to right, the Tentaku Kuni 'Hawks in Heaven' Junmai, the Hakushika 'Snow Beauty' Nigori Honjozo, and Genbai San No Oni Koroshi 'Demon Slayer) and crispy tofu dish. The Carnitas Rice Noodles, with pork shoulder / mushroom / cashew / soft egg / hot ‘n sour sauce was ok but Saucebox has just a good a noodle dish for significantly less, and the Braised Beef Short Rib (very tender but not juicy) with oaxaca cheese mashed potato / huitlacoche~shiitake / dragon sauce was ok but nothing outstanding.

The plus was if you want to try several Asian dishes, you could- that's the plus of tapas style- but I'm pretty familiar with a lot of Asian dishes and the pricepoint, even with the more higher end ingredients, didn't justify the price in my eyes. But, if you are looking for a hip atmosphere and to try several dishes that you might otherwise have to try many Asian restaurants to get a similar variety, I could see the appeal.

We also went to Mt Vernon and had colonial food- which I will cover in the next post.

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Going to Washington Dc…

I am not really a political person. But, I do believe in sanity. And, the way the news portrays the US now, it doesn't seem very sane. I hope that I can help prove that there are a lot of us sitting on the internet or in front of the TV, shaking our heads, at how crazy dominates the conversation, and how because of reactions to sensationlism and extremist positions that are spotlighted as if its mainsteam, it is taking pieces of our freedom that our country worked so hard to give so many generations and which other nations aspire to.

And, that we getting sick of takng it.

 

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Which sign do you want to hold up?

 

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I don't really like crowds. DC is on the other side of the country. But, I'm going anyway because I want to take a stand. If you share this belief, even if you can't go to DC, check and see if there is a local version of the rally happening near you- many cities all over the world are having local meetings to show support, and in the midwest/east coast even arranging day trip buses, so check out the Official Rally Site.

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Snow day in Portland!

Look, the snow followed me from Chicago to Portland… it's even sticking. People seemed confused- no one was driving, the Max line (train) was so cold and buses weren't letting people on because their chains were strained…etc. Heeee. I liked the patio area of Hotel Moderna- if I hadn't been hurrying to brunch at Mother's (a place that honors a new mom each month) I might have sat there like a fool in the snow, pssshing that this is nothing compared to Chicago. Today the city was empty- I hardly saw anyone walking, which I wasn't surprised at what with this flurry snow that no matter whether I was going north or east, or south or west, was always blowing in my face somehow… but no one was driving either.

It really isn't that cold- it's oh, in the early 30s, so at least it's at freezing, but I didn't see any ice, just slushy and fluffy snow. Since it's going to drop to the mid 20s Mon and Tues though, some people are actually going to work from home because of the "ice". They also closed all the schools- good thing, with the whole 3-4 inches on the ground, traffic that extended to a whole hour (oh nooos!), and the arctic chil of temperature below freezing in the 20s!

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And… look at this video admonishing a "fast" driver in the snow (within the first minute). Another video offers driving tips for the snow, on the Portland news. Is it wrong to just find this amusing yet cute, just like the message on the car below?

 

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Forget the car dad! It’s a small thing…

I can totally picture my dad and Steven having that conversation. Anyway, this was the talk of the town yesterday! This occured about 5 miles south of where I live.

Highlights of the article from the Oregonian:

West Hills home smashed in landslide

Neighbors come together to rescue the owner as her house literally falls apart around her
  
Thursday, October 09, 2008

JOSEPH ROSE, NOELLE CROMBIE and MICHAEL ROLLINS
The Oregonian Staff
 

A sound like garbage cans scraping across the street rattled Greg Sherwood from his sleep Wednesday morning.

The noise quickly became louder and more ominous, like wood snapping and concrete cracking apart.

Out the window of his home on Southwest Burlingame Place, Sherwood saw the house across the street slowly drop from the horizon. It was going down like an elevator, he thought.

In a blur, Sherwood and his wife, Debbie, raced into the predawn chill to see Kathy Hendrickson sliding down the hill, her house falling apart around her. She was frantic, riding a slab of debris, looking for a patch of earth that wasn't moving.

Next door, Sam Silverberg ran from his house and grabbed an aluminum ladder. Together, Silverberg and the Sherwoods were on their bellies, trying to extend the ladder to a still-sliding Hendrickson.

"Grab the ladder, Kathy!" Greg Sherwood shouted.

The 5:40 a.m. landslide sent the Southwest Portland home about 100 yards down a 45-degree embankment. Down the slope, along Southwest Terwilliger Boulevard, the sliding house — built in 1930 at 6438 S.W. Burlingame Place — hit two other homes, moving one off its foundation and bending it in the middle.

… [skip some content- if you want to read more see the actual article, but this is Pech's editing…]

Neighbors said Hendrickson initially couldn't open the front door, but eventually got it to budge as everything buckled around her.

As the sliding house collapsed into hundreds of pieces, Silverberg's wife, Anne Johnston, called 9-1-1 and told the dispatcher that her neighbor's house had just fallen down the hill.

"Your neighbor's house fell down the hill?" the emergency dispatcher replied in disbelief.

High-pitch screaming started in the background. "It's still going," Johnston said, before stopping her conversation with the dispatcher to repeatedly shout "come this way" to Hendrickson.

Johnston then told the dispatcher that she needed to put down the phone to help. She yelled, "Sam, get the ladder!" The line stayed open.

Reaching for the ladder as the silty soil continued moving under her, Hendrickson grabbed the bottom rung. On the 9-1-1 call, she can be heard sobbing after the trio hauled her up the hill to safety.

Downslope, in the 6300 block of Southwest Terwilliger Boulevard, the Chou family was in the middle of its own 9-1-1 call.

Yuan Chou, a researcher at Oregon Health & Science University, awoke to what he thought was the sound of rain. It was actually the first smattering of dirt to give way above.

"But then it started to sound like a crackling fire," Chou said.

Chou peered out the window and initially thought the Hendricksons' house was on fire because sparks were flying as the structure hit power lines. He shouted for his son Ben, 26, to call 9-1-1.

Ben Chou, though, realized what was happening. He told his parents to get out.

… [skip some content- if you want to read more see the actual article, but this is Pech's editing…]

From the street, Yuan Chou watched rolling gravel turn into a wall of dirt and cartwheeling trees. He noticed a neighbor backing his car out of a garage.

Chou thought about the expensive Honda that he had just bought. He told his son that there was still time to get the car. But as he started to run toward the garage, Ben Chou grabbed his father and held him back.

"No," Ben Chou said, "there is no time to be concerned about the car. It is a small thing."

Within minutes, the sliding house crashed into the Chous' two-story home, pancaking the second floor onto the first.

Photo slideshow of West Hills home landslide from Oregonian

You can watch this at your own pace (as well as read the whole article) at the Oregonian, or watch video aerials of what it looks like kgw (local news) website. Pretty crazy thing to wake up to. I'd be totally disadvantaged as a non-thinking, non-morning person. Also crazy is that anyone would think a video that teeny is that useful. Great user experience there, KGW…

 

 

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