White Yorkie

Either not enough time, or too much crap to do. In the mean time, enjoy some white yorkie pics courtesy of my parents.

Meetin Portland (meetinportland.org)

The idea of hanging out, drinking beer, and watching movies with friends sound alright to me. But old. I got involved with a Portland group called Meetin Portland (or MiPL for short) about three years ago. And most of the time, they feel the same way as I do.



MiPL is a part of larger group. The MEETin group was established by Mikey Heard on 14 March, 2003, in Washington, DC, to connect people socially in the city. As the DC chapter became increasingly active, another 16 chapters were founded in other US cities, which included many of the largest MEETin chapters to this day. Although MEETin began as a Yahoo Group, Heard soon constructed a new web site to deal with the expansion in membership and locations. This web site now defines the identity of the MEETin group and the infrastructure is still very much in use today.

The MEETin "Vibe" represents the general culture and attitude of the MEETin group. Each chapter is run by local volunteers with the main purpose of bringing people together to find new friends in their city. The MEETin group also help connect cities around the globe, and allows members to quickly re-establish their social network across various MEETin cities. As an integral part the MEETin Vibe, members are encouraged to organize and participate in social events in any given MEETin city, without the pressures of business networking or "pick-up" scenes. Further, members are also forbidden to organize events from which they can financially profit.

Events can be organized by any MEETin member, or co-hosted by two members. Leaders will assist in hosting of events as necessary. Interest groups can also be established on each local MEETin chapter to facilitate specially-catered events, such as film viewing, dinner nights, and book clubs. It was specifically designed to not be a dating service. Events are created by any member by posting it on the local group's web site, and events have no fees or dues.

So, if you happened to be in Portland, Oregon, or near one of the MEETin cities, check us out. We always welcome new people.

Silver Falls State Park

From Wikipedia:

Silver Falls State Park is a state park located near Salem, Oregon. It is the largest state park in Oregon with over 9,000 acres (36 km²), and is home to ten waterfalls.

The park's most visited waterfall is South Falls, a 177 foot (54 m) cascade.[2] Remote Double Falls, however, is the highest waterfall in the park, plunging 178 feet in a small tributary side canyon deep within the Silver Creek Canyon.

When we were there, I don't think I got to visit all the falls. The hiking paths are mostly flat, even some of them are paved. The best time to visit this place is in the summer time.

The park has hiking, biking, and horse trails, campgrounds, picnic shelters, youth camps, ranches, and a conference center, and a restaurant which also function as an information center. They also have a swimming area which I wouldn't recommend you jumping during cold weather. There was still a bit of a drizzle and the weather in a bit chilly when I visited this place back in May.

Greek Cuisina (Portland, OR)

www.greekcusina.com

Saturday night in downton Portland, Oregon. Temperature was around sixty degrees outside. I actually felt tired from driving around town that day, researching some video game prices and grocery shopping. But there's a group birthday party in Greek Cusina and that's where I was heading. I parked near Portland State University complex which was about ten blocks, less-than-a-mile walk from the venue. The nice think about Portland downtown is that the streets were formed into almost perfect grids, made up with small building blocks. Definitely not like Seattle.

Greek Cusina is not just a restaurant. The place is a three-story building. The restaurant is on the first floor, the dance club is on the third, and the second floor is a hybrid of the two with live entertainments. The entrance to the second/third floor is different than the restaurant. ID and body check are required as well. I got there around ten and about two dozens of my buddies were already there on the second floor, with at least a couple dozens more planed to show up later. There were also some bachelorete party group I noticed. Must be that "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" movie thing they got the inspiration from. The room was packed and hard to find seats. I finally found one near the center floor where they're doing the dances. Later I realized why those seats were empty because the MC started calling some men to dance with him. At around eleven, they stopped the entertainment, turning the place into a dance club.





Finally, I got to meet and greet with my friends before I checked the third floor. Something about Portland that I'm not a fond of is that smoking is allowed in the clubs and bars. I personally think that they need to work on that regulation like in California and Washington. When you come up to the third floor, you'll be greeted with dozens of smokers on the hallway entrance to the dance floor. Not too bad, I think. The dance floor got filled up very quick. But somehow, I didn't feel like dancing there. I ordered a Red Bull from the bar and moved downstair and start dancing there. I felt the music there was much better than upstairs.

It's around midnight. I was happy, but tired. So I decided to go home. Greek Cusina is a very fun place to go, and I haven't even tried the food there. Yet. For anyone who'd like to visit Portland or simply passed by, I really recommend this place for some evening fun.

NBA Playoffs: My Team is Better Than Yours!

Well, that's just my wishfull thinking. The Blazers is not in the playoffs this year. If you think NBA.com has way too much stats but not enough love, the following playoff teams have their own blogs:

• Blog-A-Bull (Chicago Bulls)
• Mavs Moneyball (Dallas Mavericks)
• Golden State of Mind (Golden State Warriors)
• Pounding the Rock (San Antonio Spurs)
• Bright Side of the Sun (Phoenix Suns)
• Bullets Forever (Washington Wizards)

10 Ideas to Get You Exercising

I've been looking whether to get myself a Wii or a used PS2. Why these two systems ? Because of their interactive games such as Wii Sports and Eyetoy Kinetic Combat. Plus I think exercise should be fun. People at Diet-Blog would agree with me. Though they don't mention either Wii or PS2, they do mention 10 ideas that might get you to exercise.

Disclaimer from the writer:

If - deep-down - you really don't want to exercise, then don't bother reading further. You will need to get to the bottom of those feelings before moving on. Ambivalence and double-mindedness will only lead to a constant cycle of disappointment. But - if you want to reap the many mental and physical benefits of exercise -- then read on.

Create more shower space with Showerbow

What is a showerbow ?

It is a flexible bow attached to a 1-pound pivoting weight. Like an invisible hand, it holds the curtain away and creates up to 25% more space at elbow and knee level... where you need it most.

$30 is very cheap for a practical solution like this.