I meant to put this up earlier this week, but the week just got away from me because I was in Portland, which is the genisis of this post. Somewhat circular, or redundant, or confusing. Or something. Anyway.

I was down in Portland on Tuesday and Wednesday to meet up with my coworkers and to produce a webinar announcing the Sustainable Industries Top 10 Green Building Products (pardon the shameless plug, but I am proud of the book). Tuesday evening, we all met up at this bar (I’ve now forgotten the name Update: it’s called Hedge House) for some beers and I saw a sight that perfectly illustrated what I love about that city:

Lounging on a restaurant lawn

Unfortunately, my minimal talent as a photographer lies in taking pictures of people’s faces, not scenes. But what is going on here is that a full restaurant/bar on a lovely summer evening, the overflow crowd (most of whom have ridden bikes there, natch) are simply lounging on the lawn, drinking beers, tossing balls, and generally goofing around as if they were in a park.

Portland is such a relaxed, subdued town, people think nothing of creating a third place whereever they may be. It’s a lovely place to spend time because of that.

To what do you owe this pleasure? Nudging that this time it’s coming from someone other than Zeke. That’s right! I now have at least three readers! Wa-Who! Yes, it’s true. We need to welcome Don, one of the wonderful people I met while in Alabama, to the fold. I know you all will like him because he does not hesitate to let me know when I should be posting here. Keep up the good work Don, and we’ll all be happier.

Oh, right I was writing a post wasn’t I? I should have pointed this out earlier, but the aforementioned Zeke (AKA Doug) wrote an article about why people abandon blogs for the Times. Sound familiar? It should because I helped inspire that piece. Yes. I inspire the New York Times. Or at least one of its freelancers.

If you’re new to this blog (and I know some of you are), you’ve just learned the hardest lesson about keeping up with me here: I’m not good at putting things up on a regular basis. But I generally do get there. I promise. Just keep my RSS feed in your reader and you will be rewarded with bursts of creativity, days of posts and even pictures from time to time.

Speaking of pictures from time to time, here’s my vacation pictures from my annual trip to the deep south for the Annual McBride Crawfish Boil. This year it was just me making the trip down South as my traveling companions from last year were busy with various and sundry activities like work and having a 2-week old baby. Next year, we all plan to return with a few extra folks in tow as well.

Alabama 2009

It was a great time regardless, especially because I got to spend so much quality time with my sisters Nina and Lisa. Although we didn’t grow up with each other (they’re older and from other parental combinations than me) we’ve become pretty close in adulthood and definitely have a tight bond that feels great to renew at least annually. I also had the opportunity to re-connect with some of my more spread out family, start talking about a giant family ski trip next year and to meet some really extended family in the form of by brother in law’s immediate families. I know there’s no blood relations there, but when your sister marries someone as amazing as Mike McBride, it’s pretty apparent that his family is also going to be full of good people and you’d be nuts not to call them family too.

Speaking of family, it’s time to head to my father in law’s to celebrate father’s day. Strange to now have to celebrate this holiday every year after never being able to earlier in life.

Y’all might remember when I went down to Alabama last year for my sister’s annual crawfish cookout? I’m back again this year, though without the entourage of my wife, two friends and Godson. It’s just me this time which makes for a very different kind of trip. For instance, yesterday I actually had the chance to do nothing, all day long. Nothing. Sweet.

The actual cookout is Saturday, but the party started last night when friends from up North (everything is from up north from South Alabama) started arriving and the drinking got started in earnest (I guess this doesn’t count the five beers that got poured down my throat on Wednesday night, but I digress).

Anyway, in the midst of last night’s festivities, we got to talking about my sister’s trademarked Mint Juleps which are apparently really good. And her husband, in true Southern fashion, told a story about her Juleps that cemented their reputation as “dick in the dirt” drinks.

I love the South.

Thank God I am married.

Nation’s Girlfriends Unveil New Economic Plan: ‘Let’s Move In Together’

<via 40licious>

This is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a long time. Some might think being a receptionist isn’t much of a gig, but being this receptionist would be pretty goddam cool. Check out Rotus: Receptionist of the United States at The New York Times.

A few weeks ago a few friends and I went up to Lopez Island in the San Juans for the annual Tour de Lopez. A 31-mile ride around this relatively flat and very beautiful island.

Here are some pictures.

I left The Onion for a few years. After a bit, it’s brand of fake news, while always amusing, generally seemed re-hashed. How many times can one read an article about “Local Man” and think it’s hilarious? Then they started Onion Network News and the variety of shows from morning news, to cable talk to a CSPAN spoof completely blew me away. High production values combined with smart jokes drew me back in. Now, they’ve added reality TV in the form of a clip on their morning news show. It doesn’t get much better than this

Autoworkers Compete to Keep Jobs, Livelihoods on New Reality Show

There’s something deeply disturbing about this as, well, it just doesn’t seem too far off the truth considering the day’s headlines. But man it’s funny, and smart.

A friend who noticed that I hadn’t posted anything here since April 7 asked me that question yesterday. It’s a fair one. If I were you, I’d sure wonder why I hate my blog so much. I haven’t posted in awhile, it’s true.

Now, I could come up with a litany of excuses having to do with being busy, having no time, and feeling uninspired to write in a timely manner about any of the real-life adventures I’ve had lately, but you’ve heard it all before. What it boils down to is this: I’ve used all of the above combined with the power of social networking, as one uber-reason to focus on Twitter. Yes. I know. Twitter. I feel dirty just saying it. But maybe it helps a little knowing that I had a Twitter account long ago, before it was popular.

Still though, Twitter is stupid. Ans it’s stupid because it’s easy. That’s probably why I’ve liked it so much lately. One does not have to think about what one is writing or linking to, one just has to throw together 140 characters and it’s off into the world. There’s no need for excuses about being lazy or uninspired there, because if you can’t find something interesting to say in 140 characters at least once a day, you’re likely just dead.

You know what the worst part of it is? I started a new category on this blog called Apropos of Nothing to hold posts that I was writing quickly about things I saw online that I would normally tweet because my blog feeds headlines to my Twitter. Then I quickly started ignoring it. (Actually, I forgot about it because I got busy, but that’s just another excuse.) Guess I need to try and get back to that at least because, you know what? I don’t hate my blog. I just get lazy.

But I can hear you all clamoring for more. At least in my mind’s ear I can hear that, so tell me if you give a shit. Do you care what kinds of posts I put here? Do you want tales of real life adventures? If so, do they need to be timely? Often I want to post pictures/video and thoughts about my weekend, but by the time Wednesday comes around and I have time to, I figure, “who the fuck cares anymore?” Is that true?

Or would you rather I just put something, anything, here and let you find it via my twitter feed, my Facebook page or my RSS feed? It’s a busy, busy world out there and I want to give you the amount and type of Charlie-related content you demand in the form you want it. So tell me dear reader, what do you want and how do you want it?

This is a refreshing breath of fresh air. According to the LA Times, a student in Utah bid on oil leases he couldn’t buy to run up their prices. Apparently, he was sick of the government selling leases to land in his state for oil exploration and extraction so he turned to a tried-and-true method to attack the problem: civil disobedience.

A college student was charged with two federal felonies Wednesday for what he contends were acts of civil disobedience — making false bids to run up auction prices on oil and gas parcels on public land near Utah’s national parks.

How great. How inventive. Yeah, this could cause some serious issues if everyone does it, sometimes, serious issues with normal operating procedure are what’s needed. For example, Birmingham, AL circa 1955.

It seems the guy isn’t the only one with a problem with these leases either:

Weeks later, new Interior Secretary Ken Salazar rescinded 77 of the leases, saying they were too close to national parks and never should have gone up for sale under the Bush administration.

But the real kicker is the end result of his actions:

“Tim DeChristopher is a guy who walked in the auction without a penny and cost our company $600,000,” Gunnell said.

via Student is charged with obstructing Utah land auction – Los Angeles Times.