Backporch.

A business trip of sorts recently took me to the lovely Californian-ridden town of Bend, Oregon. If you need a reason to experience a suburbia of an entirely different, more put-together sort, please visit at your earliest convenience. But while you're there, stop judging its residents just long enough to find and enjoy Backporch Coffee. Located on Newport Ave. on the way to god-knows what, it's a welcome, personable shop with fantastic coffee.



Dave Beach was manning the shop while we were in, discussing sourcing coffees and what was currently in his espresso blend. When I say his espresso blend, I mean he roasts. That is to say there's a fantastic coffee shop with roasting taking place in house in Bend. Who would have known that in the same town that houses the insane cult community of Sunriver (the community has its own police force to, um, settle disputes about whose hot tub is better?) there would be a rad, redeeming place to drink proper coffee?


Thanks Backporch! You rock!

Backporch Coffee 1075 NW Newport Ave.
Bend, OR 97701
Open Monday - Saturday
6:30am - 6pm

Sorry about making fun of Bend. I couldn't help myself.

Inspiration

Well. I wanted to kill this blog. But I'm not going to. Instead I'm going to not apologize for not posting. I'm going to post whenever I feel like it and you will like it. Ha!

Here goes...

This sandwich (Croque Madame with mornay sauce) at the Little Red Bike was made possible by the people who prevented me from killing the blog. So you have them to thank if this thing ends up totally sucking.

Designer Life

It's kinda strange how random people can help me put my life into perspective. Case in point: my middle aged Polish roommate just this evening pointed out to me that I appear to really like bikes (he's right) and also mentioned that I couldn't live carfree if I had different jobs. I realized, almost in that moment, that I have taken it upon myself to make sure that everything in my life fits into how I want my daily operations to proceed. I want to wake up in the morning and ride my bike to work. I don't want to wake up and climb into a freezing cold car after scraping ice off the windshield and have my car finally heat up just as I arrive at my destination. I want to experience my environment from my bike saddle every day. Warm up because I'm actually moving my body parts. Blame being late on bike traffic or running over a wayward shard of glass instead of car traffic and all that runaround bullshit. I work at two amazing places with fantastic people, I honestly couldn't ask for much more. And I've made sure that I live a brisk 3 mile bike ride away so that it's realistic for me to bike to work every day of the year. I feel like there are a fuckton of people who perhaps cannot live a bike-centric lifestyle, but at the same time, there's a contingent of people who are so afraid to take a chance on doing something different that they create traffic and road rage and flawed transportation funding. I want to do my part to live and transport myself in the best way possible, and hopefully be part of the solution as to how we get around town.

The other night I was aat a benefit show for a woman who started a Sprockettes-esque bicycle dance troupe in the bay area called The Derailleurs. She was hit by another vehicle while riding a motorcycle in India and is now in a coma. So this show was to hepl raise money for her care and transportation costs. Anyhow, someone hopped up onstage at one point to announce a misparked bike, somehting to the effect of "will the owner of the copper-colored cruiser please unlock your bike from the other bike it's locked to?" And I had yet another moment of clarity of how I had no only sought out my interests, especially in this bike themed event, but that I was finally feeling like I was in the right place. It's a strange thing not feeling like I belong in too many environments. I think church provides that comfort for many people, but I have a negative history with organized religion, so I've been trying to find my niche elsewhere. It feels pretty damn good to feel like I'm finally getting close. I'm learning more about myself everyday and what it takes for me to be content, so the least I can do is take my lessons to heart and fucking make myself happy.

Here's to being in the right place at the right time!

Fuck Taco Bell!!!

I don't remember the last time I ate at Taco Bell, fortunately. Unfortunately, as I have begun to watch more television, Taco Bell has been bombarding me with horrible ads. One campaign is the so called "Fourth Meal", as if I'm going to be hungry for shitty faux Mexican food at 2:00 AM. Don't get me wrong, I get hungry at 2 AM when I'm awake, but I have a really long list of food I'll eat before Taco Bell. Second is the "Waiting is overrated" ad, where some douchebag is on a date with a girl and when she says they should get together again soon. So the douche leaves the immediate vicinity, calls her immediately on his douche phone and says "how about dinner" and then proceeds to impress her with a steaming tray of the shit that passes as Mexican food. As they are eating their meal, the douche's parents show up and say "is this the girl"?

The point is, they've resorted to all sorts of annoying gimmicks over the years to sell their dreck, and it makes me want to puke on a regular basis. It also encourages everyone to lower their standards for the food they eat when there are plenty of delicious, cost-comparable options elsewhere. What about all the fucking food carts we have in Portland? You can get an amazing meal for right around $5, which would buy you a really depressing, gastrointestinal nightmare at Taco Bell. The bottom line is: Fuck Taco Bell.

The Best Things (I've Done So Far)

1. Left fundamentalist Christian church/cult
2. Went to College
3. Moved to Portland and fell in love
4. Became a barista
5. Realized how important it is to follow my heart

Vantastic

I suck at blogging. I'll start with that. I'm much better at Twittering and Facebooking. Also uploading pictures to flickr. That's more of a blog than this ever will be.

Anyhow, I recently purchased a 1988 Ford Econoline 250 van for $500. It was used by a hispanic gentleman as his construction/general contractor vehicle for 6 years and currently has Arkansas license plates. It's a beast. I have been carfree for more than a year now for the most part. Oc ourse I've gotten plenty of rides and occasionally drive a car, but I've primarily used my legs to get wherever I need to go since last September. Driving an enormous van is the only way to get back into driving mode. I'm totally the king of the road. I'm even bigger and meaner than an SUV. I'm a WTFEUV (What The Fuck Ever Utility Vehicle). I already have a request from CNW's Daniel to use it for moving stuff when I arrive in PDX.

So far, I have slated some seriously rad improvements for the van. First order of business? Music. $70 for a brand new iPod capable CD player and new speakers. Rockin'. Next order of business? Rough hewn, freshly cut (like effing waterlogged) pine planks to panel the interior walls and ceiling. Finally, indoor/outdoor green astroturf-ish carpet for the floor. I don't really know what's next, other than some decoration for the outside. That has yet to be determined. I'm open to skilled graffiti artists doing their thing.

Stay tuned to flickr if nothing else for updates and to follow me back across the U.S. I am leaving Atlanta on the 24th of December and hope to arrive back in Portland on the 31st of December.

4,3,2,1 Earth below us, drifiting falling...

floating weightless, coming , coming ho-o-o-o-ome, ho-o-o-o-ome.



I'm coming home. Like PDX, Portland, Stumptown, River City home. Fuck yeah! It's a bit bittersweet leaving behind what I've begun here in Atlanta, but I know now that Portland is where my heart will flourish.

See you soon!