Spring Means Raptor Cam

The raptor cam is a sure sign that spring here in Portland. This is the fourth year for the KGW Raptor Cam. The eggs started to hatch about a week ago and there are 3 chicks in the nest so far. Things are starting to get pretty exciting...check it out!!

Coming Soon: Goonies Museum

Our loyal readers probably remember the post we did back in June about the Goonies landmarks in and around the Astoria, Oregon area (click here if you need a refresher). Well we have an exciting update...Clatsop County is giving the iconic jail from the movie to the county Historical Society, which plans to turn the old jail into a Goonies Museum! The museum is set to open in June 2010 just in time to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Goonies movie (wow, that makes us feel old). The museum will also pay tribute to other movies film in Oregon. Here is a link to the original KGW story that brightened our day, and was really like an early Christmas present. Thanks Santa for the Goonies Museum, it's just what we always wanted!!

Touring OPB

A few weeks ago, we had the privilege of touring our local PBS/NPR studios. Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) distributes all things PBS to TVs and NPR to radios all over the state of Oregon. For comparison, OETA (Oklahoma Educational Television Authority) provides the PBS while individual partners (e.g. KGOU) provide NPR in Oklahoma. Since OPB covers the entire state, their "station identification" takes a while. For TV we see a screen with:

• Baker City: 13.1
• Bend: 11.1
• Corvallis: 7.1
• Eugene: 29.1
• La Grande: 13.1
• Portland: 10.1

But when listening to the radio we hear: "In Albany - KOAC FM 91.5, in Astoria - KOPB FM 96.3, in Baker City - KOBK FM 88.9, in Bend - KOAB FM 91.3..." Well you get the picture, this goes on for nearly 30 cities.

But back to our tour...

A nice retired couple took us around the radio and tv studios of OPB. They have been volunteers for OPB for a while and know all the ins and outs of the station. We got to see master control, behind the scenes of one of the jazz stations, the volunteer phone banks (a fund drive was on while we visited), and some of the editing rooms. Since there were no video recordings going on that weekend, we were able to walk around in the main tv studio. The room was very quite, despite being right next to a busy road. We learned that the walls are filled with sand... interesting. Local advertising companies and even CNN occasionally use the studio space for commercials or news reports. We even found out the original California Rasins commercial was filmed in this very studio.

The station receives multiple PBS feeds and records many of the shows via satellite for later broadcast. They now have a multi-terabyte supercomputer for storing shows and other videos. I believe they nick-named the computer "Barney"... 'cause it's purple. OPB has more listeners during morning and afternoon rush hour than any commercial station in Portland. Pretty crazy huh?

TV!

We decided to do a post about television in Portland. We were going to have this great analysis of the differences between local news and programing in OKC and PDX. Actual 'local' programming is hard to find, and most programs shown are national broadcasts. So, local news was the only topic we could really discuss. However, in doing 'research' for this post we uncovered a simple fact - local news stinks, no matter where you live.


In the morning it is always weather, traffic, and stories from 'roving reporters' (the equation being # of reporters in the field X 1 = number of stories repeated in the morning). The evening news is a little more exciting ... possibly 3 to 5 stories (with half of them being new from the morning and the rest being updates). If there is a really big and amazing story, it will probably end up on CNN or MSNBC anyways.

Ok, ok, ok! You made us score the differences. Here it is:

For traffic, Portland wins! The channel we watch in the morning has its very own traffic helicopter!

For weather coverage, well OKC wins of course! The weatherman and women in PDX do not have nearly the celebrity status as their OKC counterparts (but PDX does commit quite a bit of TV time to winter weather storms).

In case you visit Portland, here is a list of the 'over the air' television stations in PDX. (as determined by our antenna; these are all digital stations, because by the time you read this the switch will probably already have happend)

Channel 2.1 KATU (ABC)
Channel 6.1 KOIN (CBS)
Channel 8.1 KGW (NBC and pretentious call letters)
Channel 10.1 KOPB (PBS)
Channel 12.1 KPTV (FOX)

Bad news for the sinus impaired

We admit, we have some sinus issues. The whole crackdown on meth-heads has impacted us, not because we like to make our house into a bomb, but because we have occasional nasal congestion issues. Sudafed has been our go-to to relief the nasal congestion. Unfortunately, states and federal bans (batteries are used in this horrific concoction, but you don't need a permit to buy those) have made buying Sudafed (containing pseudoephedrine) difficult. We know, we could get the Sudafed PE, but it just doesn't work the same.

So what the heck does all this have to do with okc2pdx? Well, this issue gives us a chance to compare Oklahoma and Oregon once again! In OK, you have to go to the pharmacy counter and ask for the 'real' Sudafed. Then they scan your drivers license (supposedly to go into some database), have you sign a book, and you have to pay at the pharmacy counter. You are limited to a certain amount of Sudafed (9 grams or 12 30-count boxes) per month.

Oregon takes the restriction one step further! In Oregon, you have to have a prescription from a doctor in order to get the formerly over-the-counter Sudafed. This makes Sudafed more expensive, since you at least have a copay at the doctor, then the cost of the product. This is not limited to Sudafed, any medicine with pseudoephedrine requires a prescription in Oregon. We found that out the other day when our sinuses were acting up. We were forced to buy the "fake" Sudafed.

Well, there you have it, our first gripe about Portland.

Going to the mattresses in Portland

Breaking update to the recent bike post: cars (and their drivers) strike back!

There has been some escalation in the bicycle vs. automobile conflict in Portland. It seems the car mob got mad about one of their own being bike bludgeoned by a member of the cyclist clan. The retaliation came swiftly and ... well ... the motorist picked up a hood ornament in return.

Now for the real story. Apparently when the heat is up and the windows are down, some fair citizens of Portland like to remind their fellow citizens how they should act. And as was the case last week, this instance ended up with the police being called.

The event began with a driver going too fast (at least for one person's liking) in a residential zone. A cyclist, miffed at the driver's speed, decided to yell at the motorist for speeding. So the (ir)rational driver decided his retort would be in the form of DRIVING OVER the biker. This action caused the biker to jump onto the hood of the car, and hold on for at least 5 blocks! When the car finally stopped, the biker rolled off of the car. Needless to say, the driver is now sitting in jail and the biker is ok. You want to know the best part? It was caught on video! It is not the best quality video, but what do you expect from a cell phone? Enjoy the music, too!

Moral of this and the last post: do your criticizing of others from an armored truck if you are yelling at drunk drivers/bikers!

(gashole is an awesome word!)

In Portland, bikes rule...

It is fair to say that Portland is a bike friendly (some may say obsessed) city. There are numerous bike lanes all around the city and surrounding towns. Now, these bike lanes aren't just a sign saying "Bike Route" with barely enough space for a car and a cycle to share the road. No, at times these bike lanes are almost as wide as a lane for cars (and out-of-towners may mistake these as lanes, so watch out!). To prove my point about the bike coverage, please see this link. This shows you one of the bike path maps for just the north downtown area. There are bike lanes, off-street paths, and lower traffic streets. To help bikers at traffic lights, they have added green areas where only bikes can stop. There are even some intersections with a special bike signal. They have event shut down some streets to cars - a bikers only zone. Portland goes all out for bicycles.

The way Portland has gone all out for bicycles has caused some tension between cyclists and their automobile counterparts. I have noticed that most people on bike obey the rules of the road. However, there are a hand full of bikers that feel that all traffic, even pedestrians, must yield to them. A few of the spandex wearing, people powered riders feel they own the road and forget this arithmetic as they blow through intersections: car + bike = car wins.

Just this past week a biker used HIS OWN BIKE as a weapon against a guy driving a car. You can read more about the altercation here. The short of it was the person driving the car was a long time biker and riding advocate. He did not appreciate they way the biker was conducting himself on the road, so the car driver followed him for a few blocks and tried to correct the cyclist. The cyclist, who was allegedly drunk, gave his response in the form of using his bike as a wheeled sledge hammer - he started bashing the bike against the driver's car. At some point the driver got out of the car (you never get out of the car!) and the cyclist started hitting the driver with the bike. When the cops got to the scene, most people were saying the guy in the car was at fault (how could a biker be at fault in Portland)! But the police worked it out.

Please check out this article from The Oregonian about sharing the road in Portland. And if you're in Portland, please watch out for bikes!

The Quirkiness of Portland

There was an interesting article on CNN.com Monday about the fun and funkiness that makes Portland unique. It definitely added several "must sees" (like the Velveteria) to our ever growing list. Check out the article it is pretty entertaining, and perhaps it will inspire you to embrace the quirkiness around you.