Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC

The central grassy area on the National Mall in Washington DC, ringed by the various Smithsonian museums and monument and normally empty, is filled with tents right now as the Smithsonian sponsors its annual free Folklife Festival.

Each year the Smithsonian Institution picks some cultures from around the world to showcase, with the focus this year on three distinctly different cultures: Wales (or Cymru, pronounced "kum-ree" in Welsh); musical traditions from the Hispanic Americas; and oral traditions of African-American culture.


I made a quick stop there on Wednesday and it was a pleasant diversion, with some engaging musical performances and some interesting foods from the featured cultures. With that said it lacked the sheer ambition of the Silk Road-themed festival of 2002, the last time I attended, which spotlighted a large number of cultures from the Middle East to the Far Eastern Orient with a huge variety of elaborate exhibits and demonstrations.

Welsh Folk Dancing
After quickly scarfing down some Welsh stew and salad, we watched a performance of Celtic music where they talked volunteers from the audience through the moves of a simple Welsh line dance.

This cute little girl went through the dance with an accommodating lady while her family watched from the audience:



Afterwards we went quickly through the Welsh crafts exhibits, where it was interesting to watch Caitlin Jenkins, a ninth-generation clay potter, create a pot in a matter of minutes from a lump of clay on her potter's wheel.


Las Americas: Salon de Baile
The only thing we had time left for was to watch part of a performance by a Tejano band, Los Texmaniacs from South Texas. While I prefer country music, the music had an infectious beat and would have been fun to dance to.

I made a short video from a clip I recorded using the HD video function of my new Canon digital SLR. The song here would have been a fun polka; conjunto is an accordion-based fusion of German polkas with Northern Mexican rancheros.



The Verdict
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival this year has some fun elements and is worth an hour or two of your time, or perhaps more if the exhibits and music particularly appeal to you. Otherwise they make a nice addition to a visit to the museums and monuments on the Mall, depending on the weather, and the food is tasty if a little expensive.

The easiest way to get there is by Metro, as the Smithsonian station will land you right next to the tents.

2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
National Mall
Washington, DC
Dates: Wed. June 24 - Sun. July 5 (closed Mon-Tue/June 29-30)
Times: 11am-6pm daily, with some special evening performances after 6pm [schedule]
http://festival.si.edu/

Read the Full Post

CF Folks Restaurant in Washington DC

I ran into Washington DC for some sightseeing on Wednesday and I decided to try CF Folks, a small eatery that is only open at lunchtime on weekdays. This quirky place near Dupont Circle serves soup, sandwiches, and salads on its regular menu, but is best known for its daily specials that draw inspiration from different ethnic cuisines each day.


Influences For Each Day
The weekly rotation is currently as follows:

• Monday: Foods of New Orleans
• Tuesday: Latin American
• Wednesday: Italian & Indian
• Thursday: American
• Friday: Mediterranean

Eating At CF Folks
The restaurant has a small covered outdoor patio in front, which is where I ate. Inside the place is dark and somewhat cramped. You can seat yourself and order in either location (a waitress brings the food outside) but you pay inside at the counter.

There's no bathroom. The restroom is next door, going through the lobby to the third floor.


What I Had
A vegetarian Indian dish, Urad Dal (Indian black lentils seasoned with garam masala, cumin, and ginger) served with Saag Paneer (spinach and cheese) and accompanied by a rice and a side salad.

But I almost always like to have meat with my meal, so I also ordered a roast beef and turkey sandwich with Russian dressing. The staff all seemed to find this peculiar and kept asking me if I was expecting someone to join me.

The Verdict
The sandwich was decent but not particularly unusual. I think what makes CF Folks interesting is the opportunity to have a nice fresh meal that changes on a daily basis at a moderate price (the sandwiches run about $6-$7 and the specials are roughly $10-$14). I found the lentil dish to be good but not that distinctive, probably a result of their lack of specialization.

I liked the spinach side dish better because the cheese had a sharp flavor. The salad was also good, topped with a tangy vinaigrette.

The staff is all very friendly and if I lived or worked in the area I'd drop by occasionally for lunch. As it is I came in via Metro, as it's just a couple of blocks south of the Dupont Circle station.

CF Folks Restaurant
1220 19th Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 293-0162
Open Mon-Fri 11:30am - 2:15pm
Read the Full Post

Marathon Deli in College Park, MD

After buying some accessories for my new camera, I wound up at Marathon Deli in College Park, MD next to the University of Maryland campus, one of my favorite spots for gyros.


Then afterwards I took a quick walk around the campus to test out my camera and the sling-style bag I bought to carry it. I was pretty happy with the results all around.

About Marathon Deli
Marathon Deli has been in business for around 25 years, and the original owners were crusty old Greek guys who had a sign under the Gyro Value Meal that said, "Pronounced Yee-Row." A Greek friend introduced me to the place, and though it was my first exposure to gyros it's been my touchstone for this dish ever since.

The gyros at Marathon Deli are a mix of lamb and beef cooked on an auto-doner, a rotating spit from which the seasoned meat is trimmed and then placed into griddled pita bread. What's always made Marathon's version so great is the simple yet tasty combination of onions, tomatoes, feta cheese, tsatsiki sauce, and spices that they top them with.


For some reason, the thin, crisp fries -- hot out of the fryer and sprinkled liberally with Greek seasoning -- also taste better than any I've had elsewhere.

At about $8-$9 for the Gyro Value Meal, it's a typical college eatery -- good, fast, and cheap.

I've also had the Kronoburger there too, where the gyro meat on the pita is topped instead with grilled mushrooms, onions, and melted provolone cheese. But I keep coming back to the gyros every time.

Marathon Deli
4429 Lehigh Road
College Park, MD 20740
(301) 927-6717
Mon-Sat: 10am - 9pm; Closed Sunday

Pictures Around UMD
Here are some of the test shots I took around the University of Maryland campus with my new Canon EOS 5D Mark II, a high-end digital SLR, which I was carrying in a Lowepro SlingShot 200 AW.

In some cases different settings led to dramatic differences in the results, though I have a circular polarizer on order that should make it easier to get good results with outdoor shots.




What a dramatic difference selecting a different autofocus/metering point made in these pictures of the church:




As well as for the sign at the Rossborough Inn:






Read the Full Post

Georgetown Cupcake and Good Stuff Eatery in Washington DC

I'm expecting my sister to visit me with my nieces in a couple of weeks, so I've started scouting locations in Washington DC. The twins at 10 years of age are getting interested in museums, and if there's one thing Washington does well it's museums -- world-class facilities that are almost all free of charge.

With that said, I've learned from bitter (or at least disconcerting) experience that kids have only so much stress they can take before they melt down, and they're not real good at managing their own needs for food and drink.


So as part of this exercise I'm trying to find places to eat in DC that would be kid-friendly, ideally relatively quick, and yet tasty. Saturday I explored Good Stuff Eatery (opened by Top Chef's "Spike" and known for their burgers and toasted marshmallow milkshake) and Georgetown Cupcake (which sells specialty cupcakes).

Good Stuff
I started with a late lunch at Good Stuff Eatery, which is on Pennsylvania Avenue on the back side of the US Capitol. Good Stuff was opened by Spike Mendelsohn, a contestant on TV's Top Chef show in Season 4, and according to a sign he derived the name from his grandfather's habit of saying about food he liked, "Now that's Good Stuff!"



I ordered one of the Colletti's Smokehouse burgers (Applewood bacon, Vermont cheddar, fried Vidalia onion rings, and Chipotle barbecue sauce); Spike's Village Fries with fresh thyme, rosemary, and cracked pepper; and of course a toasted marshmallow milkshake.


The burger looks a little unprepossessing but it was really pretty good. The meat was nicely cooked and the toppings added flavor without overwhelming anything. The fries were interesting but a little dense and messy (because of the oil and herbs). I think the next time I go, I'll try the Blazin' Barn Burger (kind of a Thai burger with pickled daikon, carrots, mint, cilantro, Thai Basil, lettuce, and spicy mayo).

What I liked best were the specialty mayonnaises which I used as a dip for the fries: chipotle, mango, Old Bay, and Sriracha (the fiery red chili sauce you see in Vietnamese restaurants).

The milkshake was topped with 3 or 4 toasted marshmallows, and while it was good it was a little too sweet for my taste. I think I'll try a different one next time although the other recommended shake, the Milky Way Malt, sounds like it would also be too sweet.

Georgetown Cupcake
I then jumped into my car to drive to Georgetown, the upscale neighborhood along M Street along the river. Georgetown Cupcake opened up early last year to huge lines for their designer cupcakes. I wasn't sure I'd have time to wait if there was a long line when I got there, but the line was relatively short (only 4-5 customers can fit in the tiny shop at a time).


I ordered a small selection of cupcakes: chocolate squared, mocha, coconut, vanilla chocolate, and red velvet. Unfortunately, because I wasn't able to get them into a cool environment on a hot day, by the time I opened the box the frosting had begun to fall off the tops like a glacier sliding into the sea.



The cupcakes are gorgeous and the frosting is creamy and buttery, but are they worth $2.75 and a wait in line? I think if the line is reasonable it'll be fun to take the kids there, perhaps after eating at Pizzeria Paradiso a few blocks away. And if they run out of cupcakes or the line has more than 20 people, we could fall back to Baked and Wired which is nearby.

The key, as I learned when I took the kids around Dallas, is to manage their expectations. If we go to Georgetown for pizza, I'll just suggest after dinner that we take a walk (if the weather is nice) in search of dessert.

The Verdict
Both Good Stuff Eatery and Georgetown Cupcake are places that would be reasonable to take kids in DC, with some caveats.


Neither is cheap (my meal at Good Stuff cost $18) and Georgetown Cupcake doesn't have any seating inside, so it's not a good place to go with kids if the weather is cold or wet.

Also, while Good Stuff is just 4-5 blocks from the Capitol South Metro station, Georgetown is perhaps 10-15 long blocks from the closest Metro, Foggy Bottom-GWU. So it might be better to try driving there (though parking isn't the easiest thing in Georgetown).

But my goal is to prove that I can eat well in DC even with a couple of kids in tow who are still in the "if it's not chicken fingers, I don't want it" stage. We'll find out in a couple of weeks whether this is hopelessly unfounded optimism upon my part. :)

Good Stuff Eatery
303 Pennsylvania Ave SE
Washington, DC 20003-1148
(202) 543-8222
M-Sat. 11:30am-11:00pm, Closed Sunday

Georgetown Cupcake
1209 Potomac St NW
Washington, DC‎ 20007-3212
(202) 333-8448‎
Tu-Fri 11am-7pm, Sat. 11am-9pm, Sun. 12pm-5pm, Closed Monday
Read the Full Post

My New iPhone 3GS: Signed, Sealed, Delivered

My new 32GB iPhone 3GS, which I ordered on-line 10 days ago, arrived at my doorstep at high noon via UPS. I signed for the box, opened the iPhone and connected it to my MacBook. Activation only took 5 minutes.


I then started the process of restoring the new phone from the back-up of my old iPhone on iTunes, a process that took 40 minutes. The new 3GS then restarted, but after that the lengthy process of actually installing my personal apps and data on the phone began and took about 55 minutes.


A small surprise (one I didn't remember from last year) was that the software asked me for permission to anonymously send CrashReporter logs to Apple. Most of my crashes come from the NYTimes Reader; Safari; Maps; and GasBag.


The true test, of course, will come when I actually try to use my new iPhone, but so far this is a vastly more civilized way to buy one.

More later.

Read the Full Post

Pixar's Up

I love Pixar's movies for their focus upon the stories, and their craftsmanship and attention to detail. I finally saw their latest release, Up, this weekend, and I found it to be one of their warmest and funniest movies, one I'd rank just behind the Toy Story movies along with The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo.


Last summer's Wall-E, while a tour-de-force technically and for the amazing dexterity of the virtually silent first half hour, was a little too ham-handed in its (admittedly pertinent) eco-message during its second half.

Up, in contrast, has the feel of an improbable 1930's cliff-hanging adventure, with many funny touches and sometimes poignant moments. It was much better than the trailers had led me to believe.

The Story
The story is probably familiar to most people by now:

78-year old balloon salesman Carl Fredericksen (Ed Asner), clinging to his house and memories after the passing of his beloved wife Ellie, is forced by circumstances to sail his house using a huge mass of helium balloons to South America. He's determined to see Paradise Falls, an unfulfilled dream he shared with his wife.


To his consternation he accidentally brings along young Wilderness Explorer Russell (Jordan Nagai), and once they land he finds himself saddled with a talking dog named Doug and a giant South American bird that Russell names Kevin.



There Carl's determination to reach the falls is challenged by a hair-raising encounter with Doug's master, who had equipped Doug and his pack with a collar that translates his thoughts into speech.

Along the way, Carl discovers that he can re-open his heart to his motley collection of companions, and that maybe, his wife Ellie didn't regret not seeing Paradise Falls as much as he thought.

The Verdict
The audience was very appreciative of the movie, including the many kids in attendance. (One cute 3-year-old girl sitting next to me has clearly been inculcated in all of the Disney movies, as she exclaimed in delight during one of the trailers, saying, "Aladdin! Simba! Ariel!" as those characters rolled across the screen.)

Like all Pixar movies there are adult ideas and humor that go over the heads of the kids. Several children were openly puzzled during the opening montage at Ellie and Carl's grief when they find out they can't have children. The behavior of the talking dogs has some jokes that kids may find funny, but only adults will understand.

But the movie is such a dazzling, gorgeous cornucopia of beautiful animation, pitch-perfect voicework, and both action and jokes that everyone can appreciate, that the entire audience is swept along for the ride.


The true test for me is that even though flying a house to South America on thousands of helium balloons is impossible, as is the idea that an old man with a walker can drag it across rugged terrain by hauling on a garden hose, for 90 minutes you willingly suspend disbelief because, goshdarnit, you want it to be possible.

Other Notes

• I saw Up at Arundel Mills' Muvico Egyptian 24 because with so many screens, it's almost always possible to get a seat at the time you want to see a movie. I've read that this theater sells the most movie tickets in the US.
• Like all recent Pixar movies, Up was preceded by a Pixar short, Partly Cloudy. This is a cute story of how baby animals are made by giant thunderheads in the sky and then carried to the new parents by storks. For one unfortunate stork, his thunderhead seems to be intent on making all of the dangerous animals.
• I bought Disney (DIS) stock when the company acquired Pixar, and both Up and Bolt were a test for me of how well Pixar's John Lasseter will be able to remake the famed animation studios. I just watched Bolt on my iPhone during my last trip (using my FastMac iV to supply the battery juice), and that movie was also much funnier and better executed than you'd think from watching the trailers.
• With that said, The Princess and The Frog, shown during the opening trailers (is that an oxymoron?), struck a jarring note with what seems to be over-the-top humor. My only hope is that this movie, too, will be much better than the promotional trailers.

Read the Full Post

The Amazing Bandage: Band-Aid Activ Flex

Every now and then a product comes along that, although it fills just a small niche in the grand scheme of things, works so much better than anything else that it has a greatness of its own.

Band-Aid Activ Flex bandages fit into that category.

Simply put, while they're a little bit pricey, they're well worth it because they don't just work better than regular bandages, they do things those bandages can't. They're waterproof and germ-proof, they speed and enhance healing, and they stay on for days.


Like A Second Skin
I keep a few Activ Flex bandages in my sports bag, and while playing outdoor volleyball over Memorial Day weekend, one of the other players, Ian, cut open the sole of his foot on top of a blister he'd gotten the day before.

We used a little water to wash it clean and then some antiseptic wash, and then he applied the Activ Flex bandage. Shortly afterwards he had re-entered the game.

These bandages are both waterproof and seal to your body like a second skin. While they can't take unlimited abuse, they stay on for days under ordinary circumstances and so are particularly good for areas like your hands which are constantly being washed.


Ian's bandage came off partly because of the blister and partly because of the wear and tear from running and jumping on it, but I gave him a couple more and he was sold on them, planning to go out and buy some himself.

Advanced Healing and Less Pain
These bandages were actually first developed for hospitals by Compeed, and Johnson & Johnson brought them out about 10 years ago under the trademark "Advanced Healing." (Competitors have since come out with similar products, but I think these work better.) I suspect their hefty price (about $5 for a pack of 10) discouraged people from trying them.

So a couple of years ago J&J rebranded them as "Activ Flex" with the implication that they would work better for active people. That's true, but they also make wounds heal much faster and with less scarring. Also, the Activ Flex bandages dramatically reduce the pain from the wound.

To me the price is justified because they both work better and stay on for days, so you don't need to replace them anywhere near as often.

Other Products: Blisters and Liquid Bandages
The same flexible, stretching colloidal material has been adapted for other purposes, too. For a while they had a similar scar treatment which I used to fade the scar where a mole had been removed, and they still sell a blister healing product. (I've also used these bandages to prevent blisters from forming, such as when I'm breaking in new boots.)


A different product, but one that also has its roots in the hospital products division, is J&J's Band-Aid Liquid Bandage.

They've revamped this product to make it a simple one-step process with a Q-tip style applicator, as opposed to the former method which required you to squeeze a liquid onto an activator. I'm not sure it works as well for larger cuts, but it seals small cuts very well, and again that's most useful on your hands which flex and get washed constantly.

The other advantage of the Band-Aid Liquid Bandage is that it doesn't sting when you apply it, unlike competing liquid and spray bandages.
Read the Full Post

Dining in Portland, Oregon

When it comes to dining in Portland, the city seems to have a relatively large number of good places to eat, and I was most interested in finding places with local character.


I tried a couple of local brewpubs, a "haunted" pizzeria, the airport outlet of a place that claims to be a Portland institution, went to a fine-dining Andean restaurant, and finally did a drive-by of a doughnut shop.


Quick summaries of the places I went to:

Peruvian:

• Andina (1314 NW Glisan Street, Portland, OR 97209): This Peruvian establishment in the Pearl District was by far the priciest and most upscale establishment where we ate. But the food was excellent, ranging from the rack of lamb to the elegant canutos de quinoa y maracuya dessert (cannolis with passionfruit mousse, mango-lemongrass sorbet, and caramel). To my surprise, I also really enjoyed the lime-juice "cooked" ceviche (raw seafood).
  

Micro-Breweries:

• BridgePort Brewpub (1313 NW Marshall Street, Portland, OR): Portland has a number of micro-breweries and BridgePort in the Pearl District was the first that we tried. The beer was good (I had their signature India Pale Ale) and the food was decent. It was happy hour and a lot of the dishes were offered for between $4-$6, which was a pretty good deal.

• Widmer Brothers Brewing Company (929 N. Russell St. Portland, OR 97227): Another microbrewery, but with a German Gasthaus theme in a historic building on the east side of the river. I had the pork schnitzels and spaetzle as well as a weisswurst. I loved the spaetzle (small extruded German dumplings) and the schnitzel was tasty but a bit too thick of a cut. The weisswurst was all right but it was grilled instead of boiled as I expected and they also served it with spicy mustard instead of the traditional sweet mustard. The sauerkraut was surprisingly bland. I decided to try their handcrafted root beer which I liked a lot, though I did also sample an interesting (but very spicy) experimental beer.
  

Korean:

• Number 1 Bento (SW 10th Avenue, Portland, OR 97205): This Korean cart is parked in an open paved lot with about 10 other trailers, which were open for lunch on Saturday. I had some fresh and tasty bulgogi with kimchee and potstickers (though the latter were fried a bit too hard).

Haunted Pizza:

• Old Town Pizza (226 NW Davis, Portland, OR 97209): The pizza here is pretty good if you like it with a lot of cheese and I really liked the hazelnut Italian soda I got at the bar, but the real attraction here is the building, which was built as a hotel in 1880. Old Town Pizza occupies the former hotel lobby and supposedly is "haunted" by the ghost of a lady of the evening who was thrown down an elevator shaft there. Tunnels also lie underneath the building, where sailors were Shanghaied to the dock (perhaps after being dropped down a trapdoor elsewhere on the block, now another restaurant called Hobo's).
  

Doughnut Drive-By:

• Voodoo Doughnuts (22 SW Third Avenue, Portland, OR 97204): I didn't actually sample the famous doughnuts at this downtown establishment because the line was too long and time was short, but I did get a picture of a Froot Loop doughnut. They're supposedly open 24 hours.
  

At PDX Airport:

• Rose's Restaurant and Bakery (Portland Airport/PDX): I ate at the airport location of this local Portland chain. I had their signature reuben sandwich, a huge triple-decker of corned beef, turkey, cheese, Thousand Island, and sauerkraut on rye bread. It was pretty good but a lot of food.
  

Places I'd Like To Try
A couple of other places were recommended to me but I didn't have time to try them.

• Portland City Grill (111 SW Fifth Avenue, 30th Floor, Portland, OR 97204): This Pearl District place supposedly has good food at a moderate price, but the real attraction here is the view from its 30th Floor location. They supposedly also have a nice happy hour.

• Jake's Famous Crawfish (401 SW 12th Avenue, Portland, OR 97205): Opened in 1892 and now owned by McCormick and Schmick's, Jake's is a downtown institution that some say has the best seafood in Portland.

Related:

• A Quick Trip To Portland, Oregon (6/5/09)
• My First Video: Multnomah Falls, Oregon (6/6/09)
  
• Country Dancing in Portland, OR (6/7/09)
• Dining in Portland, Oregon (6/9/09)
• Waterfalls: Columbia River Gorge, OR

Read the Full Post

I Want My iPhone 3GS

The rumors were right, and today Apple opened its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) by announcing that a new iPhone 3G-S will go on sale on June 19th (the "S" stands for "speed"), while cutting the price of the current 3G model in half.


It's a pretty significant upgrade, and I've already started plotting how I'll replace ordered a replacement for my less than 1 year old iPhone 3G. While all iPhones will benefit from the simultaneous release of the new iPhone 3.0 OS software, the new hardware offers certain capabilities that aren't available on older models:

• 32GB maximum storage (I have 16GB of music alone)
  
• A much improved 3 Megapixel camera with auto-focus and video
  
• Improved battery life
  
• A digital compass
  
• Voice recognition (including voice dialing)
  
• 2 times improvement in speed
  
• The ability to use the faster 7.2 Mbps HSPA cellular network when available

Everything else being equal, the first three items would have been enough for me to pull the trigger, but these other upgrades are important ones too.

Other Announcements
Otherwise, the most interesting of the new announcements today were the enhanced MobileMe capabilities. Previously MobileMe's primary benefit to me was its over-the-air syncing of my calendar, e-mail, contacts, and bookmarks.

But now Apple has added some remote management functions that allow you to log in to find the location of your lost iPhone, say, to cause it to beep in sofa mode if you've dropped it between the cushions; or remotely wipe the data in case it's been stolen.

Mac OS X Improvements
After finally watching the WWDC video, a couple of other things struck me. First is that every iPhone and iPod Touch in existence is going to get an appreciable speed increase of 2-3 times simply from getting the software upgrade (iPhone OS 3.0, which will be released two days before the 3GS on June 17th).

The second is that it feels as though the optimizations they've done for the next Mac OS (Snow Leopard, due in September for $29) seem ideal for the iPhone, and watching how similar the video editing in the new QuickTime is to the iPhone 3GS video reinforces my suspicion that the iPhone was a big driver for Apple to make the Mac OS much tighter, faster, and smaller.

My Options
I'm not ordinarily a bleeding-edge early adopter. But even though the iPhone 3G remains a great device, this upgrade addresses what for me were the three biggest weaknesses of that model (capacity, camera, and battery).

I didn't expect the camera to become so important to me, but when you always have a camera with you the photo opportunities abound, and of course it's handy when you have a blog. But with the old fixed 2 Megapixel camera, pictures in anything less than direct sunlight were usually blurry and unbalanced in a way that I couldn't correct with post-processing software.

Since I'm in the middle of a 2-year contract, I believe I have three or four main options:

• Pay the "early upgrade" price, which according to Ars Technica would be $399 for 16 GB or $499 for the 32 GB model;
  
• Add a new phone on a family plan ($130/month) and give my old phone to someone in my family;
  
• Wait another 7 months until I'm eligible for the subsidized iPhone 3GS at the 18-month mark, at $199 (16GB) or $299 (32GB);
• Buy an iPhone without a contract (without the subsidy) at $599 (16GB) and $699 (32GB).

I don't think I can wait for the third option so I'm going to look into the first one. If possible, I'll also try to pre-order since waiting in line like the last time is not an experience I'm anxious to repeat. (But that's another story...)

Note that people who bought their iPhones within the last 30 days (I understand that this applies back to May 9th) have a price protection guarantee -- they can get either a rebate or trade in their phone for a new one.

Update (6/9/09):
After looking at the upgrade plans, I decided to order the iPhone 3G S online and have it delivered on June 19th. For the 32GB model it cost me $499 plus $29.94 tax and another $36 that will be billed by AT&T for activation and an upgrade fee ($18 each).



It also reset the clock on my 2-year contract.

I could have have gotten a regular subsidized upgrade in December at the 18-month mark, but this is one of the few times when I'm not willing to wait.

The interesting thing is that among my co-workers, there are at least 3 who plan on getting it right away too (and the wives of two of them want them just as badly, despite being initially cool to the idea of an iPhone when they got the first or second gen models).




Read the Full Post

Country Dancing in Portland, OR

Last month I made my first trip to Portland, Oregon in years. With more time and mobility on this trip, I found the time to go country dancing at a couple of interesting clubs and along the way, I unexpectedly ran into an old friend.


The Clubs
In researching country dance clubs on the Internet prior to my trip, I found four clubs listed, all within a half hour of central Portland:

• Bushwhackers (8200 SW Tonka St, Tualatin, OR 97062, 503-692-3982)
• Duke's Country Bar & Grill (14601 SE Division St, Portland, OR, 503-760-1400)
• Ponderosa Inn & Cascade Grill (10210 N Vancouver Way, Portland, OR 97211, 503-345-0300 Ext. 4459)
• Outlaws Bar and Grill (722 E Burnside St, Portland, OR) - closed

However, Outlaws Bar and Grill has apparently closed and reopened as Bossanova and I was told that Ponderosa is really just a truck stop, so I tried Bushwhacker's and Duke's Country Bar & Grill. Bushwhacker's is just west of the city while Duke's is on Portland's east side. The atmosphere at Duke's is much more lively, but the level of dancing is a lot higher at Bushwhacker's.

Bushwhackers in Tualatin, OR
I first went to Bushwhackers on a Wednesday night, where they were teaching intermediate level two-step lessons. There was a pretty good-sized crowd there when I walked in at 7:30 pm, but virtually everyone was in their 40's or older. This may have been because it was an intermediate (not beginner) level class.


The dancers were solid but with a sedate style, and after the two-step lesson the open dancing was a mix of two-steps, waltzes, and swing (both east coast and west coast). No one came in after the lessons were done and I left about 9:30.

The floor is fairly large (I'd estimate about 50' x 70' or 3500 sq. ft.) and has a perfect surface -- silky smooth without being slippery. A railing runs around most of the edge.


The instructor, Randy Shott, was very good, and though I was originally going to sit out the lessons I jumped in when they rotated partners and a lady needed a partner. Although in a sense the moves he was teaching were simple, I had trouble with them because I'm not used to turning to my left, and I didn't have a strong sense of the lead.

At several points he discussed proper footwork; how to maintain frame; and how the lady should "spot" during a turn (look at a point down line of dance, or reverse line of dance, and only whip her head around when forced to by the turn).

He taught us how to:

• take the lady through a full outside turn (to the right) from the closed position;
• wrap the lady to the left with three half turns;
• unwrap the lady to her left;
• perform a hand change and using the man's right hand turn the lady to her left, ending facing reverse line of dance in a cape or sweetheart position;
• and finally, wheel as a couple to the left and get back to closed dance position with a free spin of the lady to her left (with a small prep move in front of the free spin).

(When I looked him up I found that Randy is a former Masters Division competitor -- the highest level in C&W competition, comprised of people who've been national champions multiple times -- who used to teach full time in California, and who helps sponsor the Portland Dance Festival.)

The big surprise was when a lady came up to me and said, "You look like..."

As soon as I heard her voice I said, "Barbara!"

I had met Barbara years ago in Germany, and she credits me with really launching her into country dancing. She's a German who had moved back to Germany for a while after living in the US, then moved back to Seattle and then Portland.

Duke's Country Bar & Grill in Portland, OR
Although Barbara had warned me that the floor is small at Duke's and there aren't too many serious dancers there, I went to Duke's on the east side of Portland after work on Friday. The floor was smaller but still reasonably large by East Coast standards, probably about 25' x 35'. There was a mechanical bull in the corner that several people rode.


As I'd been told, the level of dancing was pretty low, but it was pretty fun (though quite loud). The crowd was very young and mostly female, and they danced almost exclusively line dances. One youthful couple though stood out from the crowd, as they danced some fairly advanced west coast swing and couples dances with competition styling.

It was a lively atmosphere and I would have stayed a little longer if I hadn't been with some non-dancers. (I felt guilty about dragging them out there even though they were pretty laid back about the whole thing.)


I danced some line dances, trying to pick up a few of their dances there (including one peculiar one where they virtually walk in a semi-circle). They also danced some familiar line dances (Swamp Thang, though I'm not used to doing it in contra lines; Slappin' Leather; Tush Push; Watermelon Crawl; and Cotton-Eyed Joe).



The Bottom Line
I may try Bushwhackers again if I get the opportunity. I know pretty well that a club can change dramatically from night to night and Barbara told me that Thursdays would be ideal for me (lots of line dances and lots of good couples dancers), but I was committed to some other events that night.

Duke's has a very young, attractive crowd and is very line dance-oriented. If the Friday night that I went is typical it's probably best-suited if you're in the mood for a really loud, energetic environment and either want to line dance or else come with a good partner for two-stepping and swing. I had fun there because of the atmosphere.

Getting There
The two clubs are about half an hour apart if traffic is light. From Portland's airport (PDX):

• Bushwhackers (less than a mile west of Exit 289 of I-5 S): Take I-205 South to I-84 West, and then to I-5 South for about 12 miles to Exit 289 (Sherwood/Tualatin). Turn right at SW Nyberg St. to go west a short distance, then do a quick jog by turning left onto SW Martinazzi Ave., right onto SW Warm Springs St., and then a right onto SW Tonka St.

• Duke's (about 10 miles southeast of the airport): Take I-205 South to Exit 19 (Division Street). Turn left to go east on SW Division Street. The club is about 2.5 miles on the left, between SE 145th Ave and SE 148th Ave.

Related:

• A Quick Trip To Portland, OR (6/5/09)
• My First Video: Multnomah Falls, Oregon (6/6/09)
  
• Country Dancing in Portland, OR (6/7/09)
• Dining in Portland, Oregon (6/9/09)
• Waterfalls: Columbia River Gorge, OR

Read the Full Post