This segment was shown last week on NBC Nightly News, but it’s worth a watch for those that haven’t seen it.  It’s about Portland, Oregon, which is widely regarded as the most bike friendly city in America.  6% of workers commute by bike, on over 170 miles of bike lanes.

Actually, Ras’ cousin Jake is in the bike business himself.  He and his partner own Daedalus Custom Bamboo Bikes.  There is an article about them HERE.

Building a bicycle infrastructure

The macro lens I rented came (Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM), and today I got a chance to play around with it.  I went to my mom’s house and tried to take pictures of everyting.  This lens is amazing!  I’m in love.  If I had $470 to burn, it’d definitely be on my list of things to buy.  These are just a few of the many pictures I too.  They are straight from the camera, except for cropping on some.  The focusing could be better on most of them, so I’ll try again tomorrow.

Tomorrow I’m going to a high school friend’s birthday party.  I haven’t seen her since we graduated - over ten years ago.  For the first time since being back in the States, I went to the mall (in search of a present).  I happened upon the grand opening of a Sephora inside the JC Penny.  Starbucks coffee and pastries were served,

as well as Miss Oregon Teen USA handing out roses.  She gave me her last rose.  I wonder how old she is.  17?  18?

I went a little consumer crazy and bought too much stuff today.  This included a Philosophy coconut shampoo, several products from Urban Decay, a MAC blush, Tweezerman slant tweezers, two Sephora make-up brushes, Dolce & Gabbana perfume (Light Blue), 6 shirts, two body butters in Satsuma and Pink Grapefruit, a hot dog pretzel with cheese sauce from Auntie Annes, a medium Orange Julius, and $2.00 worth of chocolate covered gummy bears from Sweet Factory.  Whew!!

I know I shouldn’t have bought so much, but I do what others in denial do… I reasoned with myself:

1. I’m worth it!
2. I just came out of a 3 hour root canal procedure, I should treat myself.
3. All the name brand stuff I bought is much cheaper here than in Korea.  For example, Estee Lauder’s Idealist, which costs $73 retail costs $130 in Korea.  (Although this wasn’t part of my purchase today.)
4. I’m the kind of person that might buy on impulse, but once I get it home and try it on again, I have no problem with returning some or all of it.
5. I spend like this once every one or two years.  I hardly buy any clothes in Korea.

To help me decide on my purchases, I ask myself:  Do I really need it?  Does it make me look and feel fabulous?
Ok, I don’t really need all the shirts, body lotions, or junk food.  I will say this though… the makeup makes me feel effin fabulous!  Just like one of my favorite Molly Ringwald movie, they’re “For Keeps.”

Philosophy’s delicious lotions and bath products.  (The top left is Margarita.)

I’ve uploaded my 4th of July firework pictures to Flickr. The firework show downtown was ok - good but not fantastic. Still, it was nice to get out and be festive with everyone.

The pictures turned out ok for my first attempt at firework pictures. This was despite the fact that I didn’t even have a tripod - couldn’t be bothered to buy one and then bring it back to Korea with me.

Not having a tripod (and a long exposure) has its advantages. I got this cool shot:

It’s titled: “Why the heck is my camera taking so long to snap the picture? Let me take a look at it. …Oh wait, there it goes.”

The Columbia Willamette River runs through Portland.

Mom and I had a really successful day of clam digging in Garibaldi, a small coastal town in Oregon.  We arrived to see people already busy at work.

[The large version has lots of details]

My mom raked the shallow waters for Cockles, while I dug for the larger Gaper Clam.

Supposedly, the bigger the hole, the bigger the clam.  It makes sense.

Most of the time, they’re buried pretty deep.  And the ground isn’t the softest.

For all the hard work, sometimes you get a big Gaper clam like this!

Do these pants make me look fat?