Portland is my home. I don't mean that just in the sense that my house is here, my family is here, and my stuff is here - although those things make living here much more comfortable and enjoyable. I mean that I am completely at home here. There's something about the people, the trees, the "weirdness," the overall feel of the city and the northwest in general. It's a sense I never had in other places I've lived. I feel like "me" here. Despite knowing only a...

I am not what you would call a "shopper" by any stretch of the imagination. To be more specific, I'm pretty sure shopping malls lie somewhere in the 4th ring of Hell. Should I be unlucky enough to end up there, I imagine my personal Hell would be to spend eternity in a fitting room at Banana Republic. "Who has legs this long and can actually wear these pants!!! NOOOOO!!!" Suffice it to say, I get around this problem by finding a few things I like and stockin...

Welcome to my mid-life crisis. Mine is not taking the expected form of a sports car or face lift. Mine is a gap year (or gap 5½ months, really). It's also not so much a "crisis" as it is an "adjustment." After working for 20 years and generally following the predictable path, I've chosen to veer off course. This is not in character for me at all. In general, I tend to follow the rules, stick to an established pattern, go with the flow. So far that "flow" ...