Mnemosyne Muse has decided to grace the Pacific Northwest with her presence and wants to know if anyone wants to have a meet up. Here’s the details she sent across:
Since I have a milestone birthday this year, I decided to take the Coast Starlight up to Portland next weekend. Because I’m already pretty booked up with my spouse, the one time that would work for me to convene the jackals is Friday June 14th — maybe 7-ish?
To sweeten the pot, beloved commenters Yutsano and Opiejeanne are going to try to make the trip down from Seattle, plus I may have some swag on hand from the Giant Evil Corporation to celebrate Portland’s Pride Weekend.
My big restriction is that I am NOT renting a car, so any place we choose needs to be near downtown (I’ll be staying near Directors Park) or easy to get to via public transit (Red/Blue Line). Portland jackals, where should we go?
So if you’re interested, let her know if the comments.
Open thread!
Davis X. Machina
Oh. That Portland…
Adam L Silverman
He’s running!
Mike in NC
@Adam L Silverman: I’ve never gotten the point of wearing leather dress shoes with blue jeans.
Aziz, light!
Finally a PDX confab. Please count me in.
I’m a rare goer outer so hesitate to recommend a venue. PSU campus food carts?
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
I should probably know who that is, but I don’t. I see some Young Turks signs, so assume it is Kent Usgar or whatever his name is. But wouldn’t know him by sight if he sat down across from me.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike in NC: I wear cowboy boots with jeans. I wear slip on suede leather mocs – I picked up one pair of chocolate brown and one pair of black Duluth Trading Co wild boar mocs on a 50% off special a couple of winter’s ago. So two for the price of one. I wear my gym shoes with jeans. I’ve even worn tassel loafers. But I’ve never worn my really high end dress shoes with jeans.
Cenk is, however, not the strangest sartorial choice I’ve seen tweeted about today.
Right now they’ve got Tom Nichols heavily sedated and constrained.
hitchhiker
Since we’re open-threading, I’m sharing that I’m watching The Pelican Brief on Hulu. (I’m pretending it’s research b/c the book I’m writing is set in 1993, but really I just dig Julia Roberts.)
Anyhoo, there’s a bit around an hour and ten minutes in where two dudes high up in the administration are chatting about how the president tried to get the FBI to back off this possible suspect … Guy One mentions it happened and Guy Two says, “That’s obstruction of justice!”
They kind of nod and move on.
Our innocent youth.
J. Squid
Lurker that I am, I would go to a meetup in Pdx on the 14th. I never go out, alas, so can’t recommend a place.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: Cenk Uygur.
Adam L Silverman
@J. Squid: You keep this amount of participation up – a comment and being willing to go to a meet up the following week – and you’ll be a front pager in no time!//
More seriously, comment as much or as little as you like and are comfortable with. We’re just glad you’re here!
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
Yeah, him, whatever.
Mnemosyne
Thanks, Adam, and hello lurkers! Don’t worry, there will be other lurkers who show up who were too shy to even post.
Since no one else has a suggestion, one of the places I bookmarked is the Rookery Bar, which is part of Raven & Rose and about 1/3rd of a mile from where I’m staying:
https://www.ravenandrosepdx.com/
If we can get an approximate headcount, I can email them and see if they can reserve a table for us. Someone else will need to be in charge of getting the green balloons, though.
Mai Naem mobile
Man, Mnesomyne comes across as so mature for a 21 year old. Really well read in history as well. Must have paid attention in HS civics.
In other ongoings I just saw a Tulsi bumpersticker. WTfuckity fuck. I am hoping it was a leftover for her Hawaii House race but I don’t think so.
chris
@Mnemosyne: Would love to go but… google tells me it’s a 56 hour drive without traffic. Like that’ll happen. So maybe next time. Until that next time you might enjoy these otters. Lots of otters.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
Wish I could be there, but it’s a long drive from metro Atlanta. But one of these days, you and I will find ourselves in the same place at the same time, and create another fine BJ meet-up!
When is your actual ending-in-zero birthday?
Jay
Banned from guns, Texas gave him a license anyway. Citizens paid the price.
By Eric Dexheimer, Austin Bureau
June 6, 2019 Updated: June 7, 2019 2:38 p.m.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/Banned-from-guns-Texas-gave-him-a-license-13950790.php?
eemom
Speaking of menswear, this IS a joke, right?
Amir Khalid
@Adam L Silverman:
I’ve often wondered why he chose a name for his group that emphasises his ethnicity.
Mnemosyne
@Mai Naem mobile:
I told my boss’s new boss that I was celebrating a milestone birthday and she said (tongue in cheek), “Well, happy 30th birthday!”
@SiubhanDuinne:
The actual day is Saturday, which is the day that I will be communing with the sea otters on my behind the scenes tour, which makes it extra awesome. ?
Amir Khalid
@eemom:
It’s a joke that some among the tragically trendy will be taken in by.
Amir Khalid
@Mnemosyne:
Excuse my prying, but why are sea otters perched on your behind?
Mnemosyne
@chris:
True story: my BFF and I once drove up to Monmouth, Oregon, for Fourth of July weekend. From Los Angeles.
It was a fun road trip, but we really didn’t have any concept when started out that it would be an 18-hour drive ONE WAY.
eemom
@SiubhanDuinne: @Mnemosyne:
hmmm. According to my recollections of many threads over many years, I’m thinking this is an ending-in-five, not zero….?
Mnemosyne
@Amir Khalid:
No, no, it’s their behinds, not mine.
I seriously am assuming that the little bastards are going to spend all of their time as far away from me as possible, taunting me. Because they may be adorable weasels, but they’re still weasels.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
Short of leaping out of a perfectly good airplane, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate. Otters rule! Have wonderful fun with them!
Mnemosyne
@eemom:
Starts with five, ends with zero. ?♀️
Omnes Omnibus
@Amir Khalid: I presume it is some new fad – you know, like goat yoga.
SiubhanDuinne
@eemom: Could be. I know it’s a milestone.
Yutsano
I will TRY to see if I can take the half day off Friday. As of right now I don’t think I have anything scheduled. My big worry is that it will interfere with my trip to Baltimore the beginning of August. Oh yeah: I’ll be in Baltimore at the beginning of August. But I have NO IDEA what kind of time I will have.
chris
@Mnemosyne: Heh, you young’uns, it’s the next state, how far can it be? Been there, done that, too old to do it any more.
Ohio Mom
@eemom: I just saw a women in white lace full-length pants, very similar to the men’s shorts in your link. Maybe it’s a unisex thing?
It was last week at Whole Foods
— she was wearing black panties, and a white top and seemed to enjoy all the attention she was getting.
It was a startling sight for several reasons, the obvious and also because Cincinnati usually isn’t so cutting edge.
Jay
eemom
@Mnemosyne:
Ooooh. Guess I misremembered….thought you were a young ‘un like Cole.
In that case, welcome to the decade of “Middle Aged” Is Now A Mathematical Impossibility-dom!! ???
Ruckus
@eemom:
It looks like a joke. None of the “models” would show his face, so it’s difficult to decide if they got paid to wear this or made a personal decision.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: Get the sports car. It’ll be cheaper, in the long run, than the blonde.
opiejeanne
@Aziz, light!: I meant to tell you earlier, but you have one of the best nyms ever!
Lokahi
Veteran lurker and relatively new Portlander emerging to hopefully join the throng at the meetup.
Heard good things about the Rookery Bar, though have never been. Sheesh, I haven’t been many places here, actually.
Would be somewhat late, though, coming from the evening shift feeding and medicating special needs cats at one of the rescues I volunteer at.
opiejeanne
@Adam L Silverman: I figured out that it was Cenk, but what’s he running for? President?
Jay
@Adam L Silverman:
Depends on the sports car and depends on the blonde.
Bumper
Looks like Mr. Bumper and I can make it. It’s about a 3 hour drive but that’s only a little longer than our drives to the Seattle meetups. It’s also our anniversary so we might make it a weekend in Portland. Love it there!
Adam L Silverman
@opiejeanne: President of course. Brings the field to an even 672 people running.//
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: As long as the sports car isn’t English. Or an old FIAT, you’ll be fine.
Mnemosyne
@eemom:
The women on both sides of my family are very long-lived and my paternal great-aunt made it to 100, so this may actually be the midpoint for me. ?
@Adam L Silverman:
My older brother started with the sports car and ended with a blonde, so I’m going to stick with novel-writing as my midlife crisis, thankyewverymuchly.
(Ironically, his ex-wife became a blonde rocker chick after the divorce, so it’s pretty clear they were holding each other back.)
Mnemosyne
@Ohio Mom:
When I was at Target the other day, I saw that a whole new generation of young women is about to learn the hard way that the reason jumpsuits and rompers don’t stay in fashion for long is because you have to strip in order to pee.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne:
I’m pretty sure this is the second stanza of a Tom Petty song.
Jay
@Adam L Silverman:
Lets see, had a FIAT, not too bad, parts were hard,
Had both a TR6 and an Austin Healey, okay if you had an appreciation for modern wiring,
Had a Cabrio, problem there, everything was $500, oil change, spark plugs,…….
Had a Porsche, same problem x 3,
Married my blonde, it’s been great so far, ( 27 years and counting),
Had a Ferrari for 6 months ( Dino), got to drive it twice.
CaseyL
Oh, gosh, I wish I could. But I’m taking so much time off from work next month I don’t have any left for this month :(
I adore Portland and should damn well get down there more often. Maybe another time? – Though I’m sad to miss a chance to meet Mnemosyne
Odie Hugh Manatee
I would like to make it as this is in my neck of the woods (relatively, 320 miles away) and my wife has family there, but we are furiously getting ready for a trip in early August to visit family in Spokane, WA and Billings, MT, then a return swing through Enumclaw, WA to visit an old childhood friend/roomie before heading back home.
We’re taking our two cats, wish us luck. :)
BubbaDave
I’ll be there (says another mostly-silent lurker).
Jay
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
Luck.
worn
Hey Mnem & everyone else. I too live here in Stumptown. Hopefully nothing comes up this week, for I would love to attend.
cwmoss
Compulsive lurker/occasional commenter here. I’ll be there at Raven & Rose. Probably can’t stay super long as GF has tix to see Mudhoney that night and I’ll definitely tag along for that show.
Louise B.
Coming late to the thread – I would like to come.
cain
Coming late to the thread – count me in as well. At least a Balloon Juice meet up I can finally meet up having missed two of the Denver ones. I can help with venue selection. I might try to bring my friend who is in Democratic politics. Y’all can send me mail on it and let me know if you want me to handle it.
mostlygrey
Another lurker, rarely comment who will show up.
This will be great being able to put a face to all the names who don’t comment. /s
cwmoss – love that Mudhoney band. Always a good show, though I haven’t seen them in a few years.
Also, it really should be “mostly gone and what’s left is white.”
zhena gogolia
I was supposed to be there, but my hip has other ideas so I’m stuck at home alone.
Mnemosyne
@cain:
Are you okay with Raven & Rose or do you think something else would be better?
It looks like they’ll take a reservation if I email them.
Kent
I’m across the river in Camas, WA. Not sure if I want to fight bridge traffic on a Friday afternoon but I might decide to drive in.
Richard Wesson
I’m mostly a lurker but quite likely me and my wife can make it. Downtown (e.g. Raven and Rose or Rookery) would be fine for us.
Mnemosyne
Hm. Possible snag with the Rookery — they require a $300 deposit to hold a table for us. Do we want to take our chances or find someplace else nearby?
cwmoss
@Mnemosyne: I say fuck the deposit and take our chances. I’ve done HH there with 10-15ish people without problem. 7:00 is after peak HH time, so the after-work crowd should be thinning out by then.
pluviophile
Another lurker, late to the thread, but I’m going to try to be there if I can work up the courage to leave my comfort zone and head downtown on a Friday night.