The GoLiNiel Monkey

Text from the Oregonian article dated 12/4/2011:

Perhaps Scandinavian heritage isn’t required to scarf a sandwich bag of pickled herring in a matter of seconds, but for ScanFair’s three-time eating champion Marcus Waage, it helped. Waage’s father is Norwegian and his mother is Swedish, so the Hillsboro man grew up on the tiny pickled fish. He calmly shoveled them into his
mouth Saturday while his opponents looked frazzled, declaring victory by sticking out his tongue to prove he swallowed.
We had pickled herring in the fridge pretty much year-round,” Waage said.
The contest was the noon entertainment at the 27th annual Scandinavian Heritage Foundation’s ScanFair. The fair runs through this afternoon, and the 56th Lucia pageant winner will be named at noon. The event, at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, is a celebration of Scandinavian Christmas traditions, and isn’t all pickled fish.

The contest was sandwiched between local folk dance groups, such as Nordlys Folkdancers, who performed Swedish schottisches and Norwegian mazurkas.
Vicki Biermann of Sandy joined the group seven years ago, despite her lack of Scandinavian heritage.
“I’m probably the only one” without a Scandinavian background, she said.
Dressed in traditional garb, she perused the vendor booths set up throughout the exhibit hall selling sweaters, handmade clocks and imported knickknacks. At Jean’s Hardanger & Scandinavian Gifts booth, Biermann felt the delicate Norwegian embroidered ornaments on a miniature Christmas tree.
On a visit to Norway, booth owner Jean Akre of Kalama, Wash., admired the embroidery, called hardanger, but abhorred the cost. She took one class and started sewing it herself.
“I saw a piece and said, ‘I’m not going to pay that much,’” she said. “And here I am selling it for that much or more.”

The connection between Scandinavians and Portlanders doesn’t stop at holiday wares. Greg Nielsen, 29, tended trays of aebleskiver, a Danish pancake puff, at the Himmelbjerget Danish Camp fundraising booth.
The camp takes kids 11 to 18 years old camping in the Columbia River Gorge
for two weeks each July.

Nielsen started going in fifth grade, then became a counselor. He knows it’s not the usual youth wilderness adventure, but his family follows Danish traditions and camp immerses him more in his heritage.

“It’s really hard to explain to people,” he said. “I get laughed at a lot when I say I go to Danish camp.”

But surrounded by people in traditional dress munching on foods with hard-to-pronounce names such as varmkorv (long Swedish sausage), and lihapiirakka (Finnish meat pie), he fits right in.

“It’s been fantastic to experience and learn about another country’s traditions,” Nielsen said.

– Molly Harbarger

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(Taken from OregonLive.com: http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2011/10/post_62.html)

A longtime local roaster will open its first coffee shop Sunday in a spot that carried Starbucks’ logo for a decade.

It’s Portland Roasting’s first step in taking on its biggest retail competitors by selling itself as a green alternative. The company will compost its cups, deliver coffee beans by bike and sell nearly all local products at a pair of Oregon Convention Center coffee shops that it won away from Starbucks during a bidding process earlier this year.

Portland Roasting spent 15 years quietly building a $6 million business by buying coffee direct from growers and selling to wholesalers and restaurants. Now it’s targeting licensed stores — the small shops and kiosks that already brew coffee under a different name — to build its brand without adding hefty operating costs.
“In order for our brand to grow, we need to have some store presence,” said managing partner Mark Stell. “The opportunity for us is to go after Starbucks.”

After almost a year of planning, Portland Roasting’s first licensed store opens in days, introducing convention goers from around the world to its sustainable mission.
“It’s opening a door where there has never been before,” Stell said.
The coffee industry is already taking note. One of its top trade magazines, locally based Roast, named Portland Roasting its large roaster of the year last week.

Licensed stores like the convention center outlets also allow the company to build its brand without assuming the biggest risks of brick and mortar businesses. The local roaster pitched the idea earlier this year to Aramark, the convention center’s food vendor, and Metro, the regional government that operates the convention center. Stell and others spent months lining up local vendors, such as Umpqua Oats, to showcase in the store.
The second store will open in December.

Portland Roasting will control the concept and products, down to the coffee beans delivered by bike from its Southeast headquarters. But it won’t own the store itself, and Aramark will employ the workers and handle operations. Other bidders couldn’t beat Portland Roasting’s focus on local products and its sustainable practices, said Teri Dresler,  general manager for Metro’s visitor venues including the convention center.

“It’s exciting to have a home-grown business that we’re doing a big business with at the convention center,” Dresler said. “National conventioneers will be here and be able to taste Portland, literally.”
Although Aramark operates the stores, Metro helps manage the partnership. Dealing with a local business made sense from a financial perspective, she said.
Aramark will pay Portland Roasting $300,000 to operate the stores over the five year contract, Metro spokeswoman Stephanie Soden said.

The food vendor had already budgeted $150,000 worth of coffee shop upgrades as part of its agreement with Starbucks, but it spent the money transforming the spots into Portland Roasting cafes instead. Aramark stands to save $150,000 during the new five-year contract, Dresler said, because Portland Roasting doesn’t charge certain annual fees that Starbucks does.
Together, the two stores generate about $450,000 every year in sales, Soden said.

Still, Portland Roasting’s retail share will remain relatively small. The 26-person company earns about 40 percent of its revenue from wholesale customers. It also has strong office distribution and institutional sales, such as hotel chains.

It’s high volume sales are rooted in its founding. Portland Roasting became one of the first coffee roasters to buy direct from buyers, giving Stell and other a chance to check fair practices first hand. But that meant the company had to buy large amounts of beans to make the process pencil out.
This year, the company expects to roast 840,000 pounds of coffee, Stell said. The Convention Center stores likely won’t drive up the volume by a noticeable amount.

The real value is in the branding opportunity. About half of the Convention Center’s foot traffic is from out of town. And the company plans to model future shops after the convention center stores. In addition to regional stores, Stell is discussing licensing opportunities in Saudi Arabia and Japan, where it already has a big exporting business.
“What we focus on is great coffee and selling that message,” Stell said.

Portland Roasting
Headquarters:
340 S.E. 7th Ave., Portland
Employees: 26
Founded: 1996
Revenue: $6 million expected in 2011, an 11 percent increase from 2010.
What they do: Distribute coffee beans that they buy from growers and roast in house. They also sell other coffee related products, such as flavored syrups.

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(Taken directly from the BTA’s Blog:  http://www.bta4bikes.org/btablog/)

Editor’s note: We’re excited to welcome new BTA business member Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) as the first contributors to the Business Member Guest Blog series. Businesses and “super advocates” (as NWEA refers to their biking champions) keep pushing the bar to encourage more bike commuting and better serve customers and workers who ride bikes. Enjoy! -MM

Guest author: Paula Funatake, NWEA

Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) moved December 20, 2010 from Lake Oswego to downtown Portland in to the former Port of Portland building at NW 2^nd & NW Everett. While this is Team NWEA’s 3^rd year participating in the BCC, this is their first year at their new location. Bike commuting growth has been phenomenal, to say the least!

Super advocates at NWEA helped add more bike parking to keep up with the growing number of bike commuters.

What bike facilities are provided at NWEA?

We were fortunate that the building already had a secure, indoor bike storage room and we had full support from Operations and Facilities during the build-out to preserve this space. Within the bike room there are lockers and rack space for 15 bikes.

Post-move and as the weather began drying out, we were starting to run out of space for more bike commuters. Working with Facilities we were able to re-purpose an old, fenced storage area for a new overflow rack. Staff now have access to this overflow area during the week, and they can use it to keep their bike on-site for weekend riding. With the increase in bike commuters plans are in the works to expand our bike parking capacity.

The NWEA facilities include additional lockers and showers for all staff, including bike commuters.

How are cyclists supported at NWEA?

This has been the fun part. Tom Orth and Paula Funatake could spend hours just talking about bikes, cycling, bike racing and the fun of bicycling. Their enthusiasm along with the new building sparked a cooperative effort to encourage more staff to try bike commuting as well as just making connecting with each easier. Through coordinating an organizational event for the Bike to Work Week and Day back in May, they held an informational bike commute brown bag and arranged a breakfast for bike commuters on the Bike to Work day. There were a few first time bike commuters and that was really great!

A NWEA Bicyclist email list was created for people to ask questions, share stories and expertise and just have some fun around the general topic of cycling, not just commuting. Over the past months Tom and Paula have become the informal bike advocates and contacts when questions, issues or concerns come up. Many of our cyclists are also roving advocates encouraging and helping other newer or interested bike commuters.

Recently, one of our VPs has done some bike commuting and has become our Super Advocate, Anne Udall. Together we have had a great time looking into expanding bike parking and we have been able to have NWEA become a business member of the BTA. We are very excited about the possibilities and helping to increase bike commuting even more at NWEA.

NWEA’s Bike Commute Challenge wall recognized employee bike commuters.

Adding to the fun of the Bike Commute Challenge, we developed a major bike tour race game that includes jersey competition for overall leaders, weekly stage winners and we recognize those who have a 100% commute rate for the week. We hold weekly stage awards ceremonies and have a BCC Wall of Fame where we post all the award winners.

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This morning on my bicycle ride to work on the Springwater Corridor just north of Oaks Bottom, I stopped to watch this doe, chewing on the ripening blackberries.

Don’t know how he got to this spot, as its bordered by the Willamette, and heavily trafficked Mcloughlin Blvd.
But the little guy did look hungry, and perhaps not as afraid of people as he should be if he is to survive this far in to the urban environments.

UPDATE:

Now its 4 days later, and riding at the same stretch of the bike path and theres the doe again, though this time there are three of them. I was able to get a shot of the last, and smallist deer as they headed back into the bushes.  They must be bedding down in this spot right off the trail.

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The ROAM ride (http://web.mac.com/josef.janning/Roll_over_America/Home.html) started out of Portland.
I stopped by to check out the 50 bikes and see them off on their trip across the country.

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Wandering around on my lunch hour I came across the set of Leverage filming some shots on NW 3rd Street.
Christian Kane and Beth Riesgraf were hanging out between short takes. I watched him go over the same outburst of indignation 4 times.  Cranes and tents and cameras and cables, chairs with actors names on them,  and lots of people on headsets.  They even had a couple of bicyclists hired to ride back and forth on the street during each take, although none of them had helmets!
Interestingly each biker went back and forth about 3 times during each take, so wonder how thats going to work?
I only managed to take a few shots before they ran me off.

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Some time ago, work was finished on a temporary bridge on the Springwater trail that crosses over the route to the approach of the TriMet bridge.

Barges and pilings and machinery have moored off the banks and have started work.

Today, it starts to look like a bridge.

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These guys might do a good job with the sewers, but they sure aren’t repairing the pavement of Umatilla very well. Looks like I picked the wrong route this morning.

A few weeks ago, part of the Springwater by OMSI was closed for a few days while they removed this dirt conveyor used in The Big Pipe Project to get dirt out to the barges.

I  took this photo in December of 2006 as they were preparing the conveyor for use.

The conveyor has since been removed, and shortly after the next notice of closure was given for prep work for creating a temporary path to carry bikes over the construction area for the new bridge.

The detour is nice and not a problem at all.

So, let the bridge work begin.

For more information on the Tri-met bridge.

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Our tile guy has been great. He has been here about every other day for weeks, it kind of feels like he is family. The counter tops got installed on Friday and Mark was here all day Saturday installing and grouting the glass tile backsplashes. He used epoxy grout which is much more difficult to install but is durable and mildew resistant. While we will miss his smiling face when we come home from work, we are glad he is done.

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Portland Parks & Rec staff work with each neighborhood to discover the music they would like featured in their local park, then area businesses lend sponsor support to make the concerts possible.

These concerts are a perfect place to stop and relax in the middle of the bike ride home from work.

2011 Summer Concerts in the Parks Schedule

MONDAYS

SELLWOOD RIVERFRONT PARK 6:30 pm
July 11 – TooLoose Cajun/Zydeco Band
July 18 – La Descarga Cubana
July 25 – Soul Vaccination
August 1 – The Strange Tones

TUESDAYS

MOUNT TABOR 6:30 pm
July 12 – 3 Leg Torso
July 19 – Jujuba
July 26 – Kevin Selfe & the Tornadoes

KENTON PARK 6:00 pm
August 16 – Norman Sylvester Band
August 23 – Rob Stroup & the Blame

WEDNESDAYS

DAWSON PARK: 6:30 pm
July 6 – Obo Addy & Okropong
July 13 – Hillstomp
July 20 – Dirty Syncopators
July 27 – Lisa Mann and Her Really Good Band

WILLAMETTE PARK: 6:30 pm

July 6 – Tony Furtado
July 13 – Linda Hornbuckle Band
July 20 – Vagabond Opera
July 27 – Malea & the Sapphire Band

VENTURA PARK: 6:00 pm
August 17 – Chata Addy & Susuma
August 24 – David Correa & Cascada
August 31 – The Midnight Serenaders

THURSDAYS

WALLACE PARK: 6:30 pm
July 7 – Padam Padam
July 14 – Stringed Migration
July 21 – Shelly Rudolph
July 28 – Signatures

COUCH PARK: 6:00 pm
August 11 – Conjunto Alegre
August 18 – Rich Layton & the Troublemakers
Bonus Concert for Kids: August 4, Mister Ben

FRIDAYS

FERNHILL PARK: 6:30 pm
July 8 – The Stolen Sweets
July 15 – The Quadraphonnes
July 22 – Melao de Cuba
July 29 – Lisa & Her Kin
National Night Out Concert: Tuesday, August 2, Ty Curtis Band

ELIZABETH CARUTHERS PARK: 6:00 pm
August 19 – Water Tower Bucket Boys
August 26 – Blue Cranes

SATURDAYS

POWELL BUTTE NATURE PARK: 7:00 pm
July 30 – Toque Libre
August 6 – Rich Halley

SUNDAYS

McCOY PARK: 6:00 pm
July 10 – Cool Breeze
July 17 – Tezeta Band
July 24 – Connie Bieberach & Armonia Latina
National Night Out Concert: Tuesday, August 2, Home Brew

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Honey is out of town, and ‘Mark the tile guy’ wants an answer.

Just how are we going to address the top of the ledge leading to the shower in order to most closely match the differing grout lines of the bath and shower floors.

Option 1 is a large tile on top to continue the lines of the bath floor and baseboard, then adding a small piece to the end to continue the grout line. It makes the ledge look sort of like a solid step.

-or-

Option 2 is to make smaller pieces (that are slightly longer) to match the grout lines of the shower floor. It resolves the issue of having one smaller piece added on.

I am accepting your votes, but vote early, I have to have an answer by morning.

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