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In Minnesota, you go to Target, or Walmart, or Shopko, or something else. In Portland, you go to Fred Meyer (wikipedia). Fred Meyer is a grocery store type Walmart but nicer type store. It usually has a Starbucks, electronics area, organic section, etc. There is one a few blocks from my apartment, and there are stores [...]

I have really never been to a Starbucks before, aka “I hate coffee”. Well, there are tons of them around my apt, and since I have T-Mobile hotspot on my phone plan, I might as well use it. Today I ventured out to a nearby Starbucks, laptop in hand.
Since I don’t really like coffee, [...]

Since I moved into my apartment here in Portland, there is one thing I noticed. They make it really easy to recycle. All the places I lived at in Minnesota, none of them offered recycling. Here, when I moved in, I was given instructions on how to do it, etc.
One small difference, but really [...]

As I mentioned in a previous post, I met up with some guys that I met through Craigslist on the musicians forums, and we jammed on Wednesday night.
We met up at Audio Cinema, in the an area full of warehouses on the SE side of Portland. At first I couldn’t find the place, it was [...]

Around where I live in Portland, the Northwest District off Burnside Street, between 21st and 23rd avenue, it is filled with shops and restaurants and bars.
This is great for walking around, and even better when the block sizes are half-size city blocks (200 feet vs. the standard 400-foot).
My only guess is that when designing the [...]

Last night, we headed to the Cheerful Pit Stop in Beaverton, Oregon for some food and it was open mic night. The backup band was 24/7.
I had my guitar, but no strap, but I sang a few songs. “What I Got” by Sublime, “Hound Dog” by Elvis, and “Red House” by Jimi Hendrix.
It was a fun time, [...]

To continue on my last Portland Differences post about gas stations, there is another thing different about gas stations. Booze. Well, not booze, but wine and beer. And it ain’t 3.2%.
Every gas station, 7-Eleven, or whatever store, they have tons of beer and wine for sale, pretty much like a liquor store.
In Minnesota, you [...]

In Portland, and I think in Oregon, it is illegal to pump your own gas. Here is a good article I found from the Seattle PI the does a good job of explaining it.
It really reminds me of being very young in Minnesota where all the gas stations had pump jockeys. You paid more for [...]

Ok, so last night I didn’t do much, well, watched Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions. I think I have only seen them once, where the first Matrix I have seen like 1000 times. Around 12:10 AM, I start hearing screams and hollers and honking and craziness outside my window. I had the blinds closed, so [...]

Today I set up my electricity at my apt. Well, one thing that was different than the past was that I did it all online. Instead of calling and waiting for 30 minutes on hold and giving out all my info, I filled it in online and submitted a start request. Pretty easy and convenient. [...]