I posted this in my journal and realized it's pretty damn Portland related. Hope you don't mind the repost. Happy Saturday!
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This is the world's worst picture of the world's best afternoon.

It was 75 degrees in Portland yesterday. If you ever experience a 75 degree spring day in Portland, chances are you will find some way to move here and just wait for the next one.

I was going to go to lunch with my friend Dave, but I saw that the University of Portland Pilots were scheduled to play at 2 PM, and we changed our plans. We really didn't care WHO was playing... we wanted to savor that spring afternoon the best way possible... at a ballfield.

The field is a little gem... this picture does it no justice. It seats 1500 people, with every seat close enough to hear the players chattering in the dugout. The view from the stands is spectacular... pristine campus buildings, flowering cherry trees, rippling foothills next to the Columbia River. A really, really beautiful little park.

As we walked down the path by the side of the field, a cyclone fence afforded us a look into the park. We paused for a moment. Dave's like me, a Sentimental Old Baseball Guy. We're the worst kind, full of nostalgia and romance on a warm spring afternoon. The pitcher for the home team took the mound in the bullpen. The ball popped satisfyingly into the catcher's mitt. I looked at Dave and we both broke into wide smiles. Neither of us had to say it. That sound, that horsehide-on-leather smack, is a universal harbinger of spring. It's the sound of possibility, of warm summer nights with a beer in one hand and a scorecard in the other. In some way, we felt like we had returned home after a long winter.

Our seats were gloriously sun-baked, right behind third base, close enough to lob a ball underhand to the third baseman if such a situation were to arise. I could feel springtime returning to my veins. The sun warmed my soul. No one needed to say anything. I didn't care who won. My day had already been made.

When are people going to learn to give ACTUAL descriptions of bands and concerts in ads on DP? Telling me that you're excited about your show tonight at XYZ and that you think they're cool is REALLY not enough to motivate me to go to a local show, and I genuinely *like* local shows. In all likelihood, I don't know you and I have never heard your band, so throw me a frickin' bone here!

To be clear, I'm no promoter, but here are some commonsensical things to include if you actually want people to attend:

• What style of music does your band play?
  
• Ideally, do you have some sample tracks available?
  
• Do you have a website that will answer these questions?
  
• How much is cover?
  
• What time should people get there?

Example:
[No, I'm not associated with this band beyond being a fan and friend]

Lovely is going to be playing tonight at the Fez as part of their Ramones Tribute Night. They're an ass-kicking hard rock band reminiscent of Appetite For Destruction-era Guns N' Roses with just a touch of Kiss thrown in for good measure. They'll be there with 11 other bands for a Tsunami relief benefit show- good freaking luck finding a better deal showcasing Portland's local music talent! Doors open at 9, cover is $7.

( The promoter's blurb with the rest of the bands )

current state: busy
current tunes: Lovely - Million Dollar Hustle

This wasn't news worthy enough for KGW news [I tried calling them to see if they wanted my video, but no one was injured or died, so they didn't want it], and I also tried uploading the video to my server, but alas, the file was too big and I don't have the space...

...So I guess you'll have to be content with screenshots of the video.

Sorry about the crappy resolution, these are screenshots of a movie I took with my digital camera.

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I was walking by the Old Church/Ongford Parking lot Thursday night, and there were some kids I know that live at the Ongford walking around with their cell phones taking pictures and acting weird.

I looked over to the parking lot, and saw the reason why... Car on fire, so I whipped out my digital camera and took a video.

[click image for larger version]

...

for all you nerd/tech folks:

so I've got an old hunk-a-junk computer that basically is my music colllection, photo collection, and library of my life.....

therefore it's contents are quite dear to me. but i've come to terms with the fact that at any point this thing could self destruct at any moment and i've done pretty much nothing to back up any of my files.

so my question is.. what's the easiest way to do so? most time efficient? my two harddrives add up to a whole 9.5 GB and most of that is program files and useless crap - so i only have about 6 GB to back up.

i don't have a cd burner (infact, i have a tape drive and a floppy disc drive. how out of style is that?) and don't plan on getting one for this computer - figure i'll just wait till I can afford a new one.

thanks in advance for all your possible sollutions.