For Rox

I am from Oregon. I have lived in the greater Portland area my whole life...I was born in Portland. So I don't know if I can talk about Oregon but I can talk about Portland. This is MY take on OREGON.

Some things people think about Oregon


You throw an aluminum can in the trash and feel guilty. Yes, I feel guilty throwing away an aluminum can in the trash. Yes I fish out my office mates cans that don't make it into our can bucket. One big time offender and he has only lived here two years. There are two trash bins outside my office door, one for recycling the other for trash. Do I think this is a common thing of the state....erm yes I think we are a state of recyclers. Could we do better yes I think we could.

Most of your friends are from California. I would not say most of my friends are from California but a wide majority are not from Oregon. The queer community especially. I am sure I'm the only Oregonian whose partner is also an Oregonian. Portland is really diverse I don't think that is true of all places in Oregon.

You've ever ordered a half caff/decaf, nonfat mocha grande with sugar-free cranberry whip (or you know what it is). I like coffee shops but not really coffee. I order from a chain coffee place (which is what this blurb is referring to) a grande chai tea with soy on ice. I do know what the drink order above is. I have probable stood next to the anal person who ordered it, actually I am related to them only they said can I have a half caff/decaf, nonfat, no foam, three swirl caramel, mocha, grande, with sugar free cranberry whip, and the temperature they wanted the drink heated to. There are lots of little coffee shops both chain and small business ones. There are also lots of organic and natural food stores. Blue Sky Soda...Yummy

You know a bride & groom that registered at REI. Who doesn't know some one registered at REI? However the people I know registered at REI are from Wisconsin. I can only think of three REI's and one is a outlet store. I have never bought anything there. I am not an uber outdoor person and I think there are lots of Oregonians that are like me ... we enjoy the outdoors but not overly so. Oregon is beautiful and green its hard to spend a lot of time here and not encounter its beauty.

If someone ran your car off the highway, you might drown. I can swim..I had to learn in elementary school but have known how to float since pretty much birth. We have water here but not so much that chances are you will be run off the hwy and into a river. I can think of people going into the river in a car but I think it was there own bad driving.

You'd be miffed if the store was out of your favorite brand of water. I personally think water tastes like water. However my house does buy a certain brand of water because a certain some one can taste the difference. I don't know if this is just us or the state but I do know Trader Joe's has a huge selection for water brands.

Every day is casual Friday. You might go to a wedding and see suits and you might go to the same wedding and see jeans and tee-shirts. Really

Know at least eight people who work for Intel or Nike, or used to work for Tektronix. YUP. I also know a hand full of farmers and organic farmers.


You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit under a raincoat. IT rains here.... It rains here a lot. But it feels good. There is really not a lot of humidity just a lot of rain. Which were in a dry spell right now but it will be back very soon. I look forward to it. That and when it rains people have a tendency not to water the sidewalk so much.

You never go camping without waterproof matches, ponchos, and mattress pads that double as flotation devices. This is all true except for the flotation device things. It would be just silly not to go without all these things anyway wouldn't it.

You own more than 10 articles of clothing that have the names of microbreweries/brewpubs printed on them. I don't but I am not a big beer kindda girl. However I do like a few but not enough to own a tee-shirt. But I think you are pretty safe to say lots of Oregonians do. Or they own a collection of indi band shirts. But this might only be found on the East side of the river and only in Belmont, Hawthorne, Laurelhurst, or downtown. The rest of us on flip that way ever so often.

You think downtown is "scary" because you were panhandled there, once. I live in Portland and I love Downtown. It rocks my socks to the core of earth and back. You have Saturday Market, theater, art, the max, all sorts of little shops and all the majors. Who would not love down town. If you were from Malla and never been to DT you might have some issues with it but for the most part I don't think of downtown as scary day or night. It has the waterfront the beautiful if not yicky water of the Willamette (pronounced Will am et) I however don't think of Portland as a big place.

You replace your hiking boots with Birkenstock or Teva sandals when the weather gets above 60 degrees. You replace them when did you take them off?

You believe people who use umbrellas are wimps or Californians, or both. I own three umbrella's. One is in the car I may need to bean someone while driving. One is in my locker at work because it has a flashlight on the end the other is in my closet I may need to put on a musical of Mary Poppins. People in Oregon use umbrella's... Some of them even to keep the rain off... I however am not one of them unless it is an outdoor wedding in April or May.