Personal finance is filled with tough decisions. Prepay the mortgage or invest the money? Pay down high interest debt first or use a debt snowball to tackle the small balances? Roth IRA or traditional IRA? Sara wrote recently with another dilemma I think many of us have faced: is it better to pay down debt or to begin investing for the future? I'm 28. I work at a job with no...

Oi, oi, oi you need to watch this to see what the Pacific ocean is dealing with thanks to you and me....

I have more friends than you. Trust me.

Tonight's match left a nasty taste in my mouth. I stated that Rochester would be lucky to pull out a draw in May and that we weren't going to be the ones to give it to them, tonight I was wrong. I was proud of the defensive line who stepped it up and did a good job at stopping the attacks but I was a bit disappointed in the midfield and offense tonight who had a hard time getting back into the...

Here's one of those classic "WTF?" moments. Over at the Hollyrood-Fernwood School in the Grant Park neighborhood in the northeast part of Portland, a group of public-spirited folks recently raised a goodly amount of money to rehabilitate the baseball diamonds where the kids play: The work got done, all right, but where you would expect to see and hear kids playing the great American game,...

What is it?

It doesn't get much easier than this. Chop a couple veggies, dump, and go. This soup is wheat-free and meat-free. Go ahead. Spend 10 minutes on a pot of dinner. I dare you! Spicy Black And Red Bean Soup 1 1/2 cups chopped onion 1 1/4 cups sliced carrot 2 cloves garlic, minced 3 cups chicken broth 16 ounces frozen corn 1 can (16 oz) red beans or kidney beans, drained 1 can (15 oz) black beans,...

The speedometer on our van. No, I wasn't driving at the time. Just waiting in the parking lot with a kid in the backseat while dear wife was in the library. A perfect time to get the camera out and shoot! (Told ya--I never leave home without it! Okay, almost never.)...

Think paid family leave should be available to working families in Oregon? Good news, mamas, because our newly formed Parents for Paid Leave group is meeting for our 2nd time this Saturday, 5.10.08 from 9:30 to 11 AM. We'll be at Jennifer's house in SE Pdx - 4423 SE 30th Avenue (1 block N of Holgate) to be exact. Our first meeting was incredibly productive for three reasons: We named...

Portland Creative/Tech Event Review (PC/TER) 10: BarCamp Portland Bram Pitoyo writes "Personally, BarCamp Portland was one of the best events that I have attended in Portland. The atmosphere was both very collaborative and conductive to ideas. The people, extremely smart. And the most important thing of all was that, to me, it seems that participants were there because they wanted to be there,...

In August of 2007 District Attorney Joshua Marquis wrote to Steve Briggs of the Department of Justice (DOJ) asking that Briggs’ Criminal Justice Division investigate and determine whether the actions of Richard Lee, then a county commissioner, constituted criminal misconduct. In the letter Marquis stated he had resisted acting on continued reports that Lee was pressuring county employees...

My name is Goldie and I am a blogaholic and a hater. You guys I started a conversation that I will not be able to finish right now... I am friggin' TIRED. I haven't slept in 3 days and am having waves of nausea and heart palpations. I am 100% grateful for the huge and timely response from the HUMANS at Willamette Week, the elite people and the readers of this blog. What a POWERFUL and...

Remember the snow covered apple tree of the winter? It's currently filling the backyard with apple-blossom beauty. There's not a lot to report - most the seeds will go in this weekend, and there will be a trip to the farmers' market to get starts. The hoses will go down, the chicken fence will go up, and then things should really start to roll. The real garden excitement is our New Chickens!...

. I sorted out the bolts for the new bed this afternoon. I love to see them all lined up in a row. And I look forward to the assembly soon..

Why was it so awful that Teresa Heinz Kerry choose not release her personal tax returns in '04, but when Cindy McCain makes the same choice, no question. Nobody even asks about her private jet used by her husband while he's campaigning. Some perspective on financial issues related to the upcoming election. Some analysis on the candidate's healthcare proposals. A little extra on...

Yesterday night, Congressman Peter DeFazio endorsed Barack Obama, becoming the third US Representative from Oregon to do so. From the Oregonian: On Thursday night, Rep. Peter DeFazio became Oregon's third Democratic congressman to endorse Sen.Barack Obama, putting the Illinois politician one delegate closer to the presidential nomination. DeFazio said that Obama, who will begin a two-day...

We may be half a world away, but we at the Oregon Trail Chapter can still connect you with disaster relief in Myanmar. You can now donate specifically to Myanmar Relief and Development here. Also, this just in: The American Red Cross stands ready to provide $1.25 million in aid and supplies to the Myanmar Red Cross as they cope with the growing needs. The International Federation of Red Cross...

By Lisa Sedlar I’m a pretty happy go lucky kind of person, so it’s somewhat unusual for me to rant (my husband would probably dispute this however, so too would my daughter, friends, boss and well everyone who knows me, but that’s beside the point.) The point is that the time is ripe to rant about the future of our food and farming systems! In the past few weeks I have heard some...

I encourage you to consider attending this event! I will be hosting it, it is supported by our Sheriff (see letter below) and it is for a wonderful cause: The Clackamas County Peace Officers Benevolent Foundation is holding a Gala...

One look at our pudgy bodies and you can tell we don't ride bikes. We used to, but the cheap Target bikes we bought had the most uncomfortable seats in the world and never quite fit us right. Add to that my utter confusion over switching gears (you mean I can't just pedal and go?)...

Well, how cool! Thanks again to ever-watchful reader Donovan, I share with y'all a pretty nice article from the Portland Tribune about our wonderful neighborhood. (But WE knew it was wonderful before THEY did, neener neener!) P.S. I really must...

Take a tour of the property at SW 3rd and SW Oak. It was once the Police Annex which had been been vacant since 1984. A blighted structure if there ever was one - boarded up and with the appropriate...

A new theatre company is coming to Bend, Oregon. Founded by Brad Hills, former Artistic Director of the Central Oregon Literary Theatre, and Chris Rennolds, long-time Southern California producer and new Bend resident, Innovation Theatre Works (ITW) is the first...

I am celebrating a birthday soon, and as much as I love our city 'Portland" I will be travelling out of town for my celebration. Birthdays for most are a ritual that often times are a gathering that leverages...

I will use the restroom here at work rather quickly after someone else has shat it up now. Provided the smell is faded, even if they haven't quite flushed everything...flush that f---er, wipe the rim with a wad of tissue, throw the seat cover down and 1...2...SHIT! What's the relevance you say? Well, not much, except that there was a time when I could barely use a public restroom. True, this...

Almost an hour late, Clinton kicked off her evening rally inside the arena of the Jackson County Fairgrounds here in southern Oregon by apologizing. She'd been in South Dakota and West Virginia earlier in the day, she said, and only then had headed west. "I apologize that we were kind of flying against the wind," she said. "But, you know, that's the story of my life: fly against the wind,...

County Commissioner Ann Samuelson met with a representative from Representative Wu’s office today to send a message back to Wu. “Don’t wipe the slate clean,” Samuelson asked Stephen Marx, Wu's field representative and deputy communications director, to convey to Wu, “acknowledge all the work done in open, due process. Acknowledge the memorandum of understanding we made...

In 2006, Andrew Migliore, the man behind the longstanding H.P. Lovecraft Filmfest decided that there just weren't enough opportunities to watch the undead eat brains or immortals suck blood from necks on the big screen. So he created Zompire: The Undead Film Festival. If zombie and vampire flicks are your idea of a rockin' time (then you're like me) you might want to head out to the Hollywood...

They're getting ready to fire up the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland this year. Some people like to think that this thing will create microscopic black holes that will swallow the the entire earth, sooner or later. Back during WWII some people thought that a setting off a nuclear bomb would start a chain reaction that would consume the entire planet. Setting off the bomb didn't...

Sat 7:21.46 pm: Up, up, and away with my Trader Joe's balloon..., originally uploaded by andrea z. On JakeBouma.com, he had a link to the pictures on FlickR tagged with "God." Most of them were works of art. This particular one was my personal favorite. I don't get the "God" part, though....

Another amazing Senior session! Jakub and I have been trying to get together for this shoot for a while. Between the weather and my travel schedule - it took a while! But I was determined to get it done for him yesterday - rain or shine!! We started at the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens in SE Portland, and by the time the raindrops started falling - we ducked into a really cool Chapel on...

Go Natural Baby is offering free shipping on all of our organic cotton baby and children's clothes. Zah Collection is our boutique children's line. We use only certified organic cotton , low impact dyes, and fair trade practices. We also test all of the zippers and snaps to be heavy metal free! So enjoy free shipping on all of zah™ organic clothes until the end of the month! Happy Shopping...

Today was errand day. With the cost of gas going through that proverbial roof, I'm trying to take the "do it all at once" approach. First stop was Winco. I was a bit surprised to see their bins of rice completely empty. Six of their large bins--completely out. A green sign eerily letting us know the warehouse is completely out. I asked one of the bulk section workers when new rice would be...

We know how hard it is to find these highchairs but we have some in the store right now! Please call 503-227-8729 or email info@littleurbanites.com to find out what finished we have in stock. Currently we have Mahogany, Espresso, Natural and Cherry but not sure for how long!...