Potter redux

It's sad. People pass on, but are remembered. The living struggle to finish the greatest evil in recent history. Why is it that we must constantly struggle to demolish the most recent evil? Rowling doesn't say. She has written a Bourne Identity for book 7, a sprawling travelogue of pain and danger, love and redemption. Friendship.

Plus, Mrs. Weasley is a badass. Not that that's any freaking surprise.

What was possibly more interesting than the book (which is pretty damned interesting) was the line at the Powell's mothership here in Portland. We woke Claire up and wandered out into the night waaaaay too late. Both in the sense that it was, y'know, late, and in the sense that really, one of us should've been in the line starting at 6:00 pm. Long story short, I remained in the line and the ladies went home for bed. I was in line behind the Chudley Cannons. With, like jerseys and all. It was fairly nifty. Since I can't find Quidditch jerseys online, I'm assuming they had them custom printed, which is even more impressive.

Anyway, more to say once we're out of the spoiler zone. Y'all have a week.

The joys of walkups

So Carmen and I are in the NW neighborhood today, working at an amazing coffee shop on 21st (Coffee Time), and generally being pleased at the cutie patootieness of the whole place.

As I see it, the tradeoffs (vs. the Plaza) are as follows:

Parking - not guaranteed an actual lot, and street parking can be a challenge down here. Associated issue is parking for visitors - in the Plaza there's usually a spot free for folks coming to dinner, etc.

Access - the Plaza is sooo very central, but by and large the key thing about the Plaza is four blocks from the 5, both north and south. Less so NW, where my guess is you have about 15 minutes worth of puttering along before you get to a road that will take you to the freeway at more than 20 mph. So that's definitely a consideration.

Cost - obviously this is in NW's favor. When you have no view (or more specifically, no skyline-style view), you're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars off for the same space.

Amenities - Plaza wins. Still the best value in terms of perks of any condo building in Portland.

Cutie Patootieness - This has to go to NW. The shops, the restaurants, the same accessibility to the Pearl and downtown (i.e. you lose nothing that you had at the Plaza), and the streetcar access all make this a pretty good bet for adorable heart-of-the-city living. Plus, non-corporate coffee.

Anyway, it's not like we're moving, but any conversation about moving is dangerous for us. Our record to date is (I believe) 32 months. Poor Claire.

Slacker's Guide to Law School

So it's been nearly a month (dear lord) but I have an excuse - between job hunting and working up the first chapter of the above-titled how-to book, I've been all writinged out.

Speaking of the wise and magnificent tome that is the Slacker's Guide, if any alums (and who else reads this, really) have any awesome stories to share about the LSAT, I would love to hear them. That's the first chapter (obviously) and what I need to complete in order to start sending out queries to publishers. Full attribution and maybe a beer would be included.

I haven't had time to fully digest Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but it is my opinion that the film follows the trend of doing better and better with the spirit of the books as time goes on. Chris Columbus should be pilloried for making kid's films out of the first two, but I suppose I can understand the pressure. Now they're gritty, the effects are much more seamlessly woven into the work, and they do not skimp on story.

More on that and Ratatouille soon, promise. In the meantime, study your fallacies!