New to Portland

Talent Show: Aaron Rayburn

Aaron Rayburn is the most unexpected friend I have made here in Portland. I never could have expected my path would eventually cross with a man that grew up in a middle of nowhere magical logging town, who now is a designer seeping with knowledge, inspiration, enthusiasm and experience from every pore. This dude is a wealth of information of the history of design, and it shows in his writing, photography and documentation of art, travel and culture in his blog (done along side with Ben Vickery, who I owe a post… soon).  Aaron is an amazing designer with all kinds of tricks up his sleeve, and someone I am very lucky to call a friend. 

www.fortport.com

curator of http://www.bureauoftrade.com/

Talent Show: Anastasia Aizman

Oh Portland, how such a small city is full of so much talent, I still havent figured that out. I’ve had the fortune to work with Anastasia for a few months here at WK. Anastasia is one of the most eager and inspired young designers I have ever met, so full of inspiration and somehow unclouded from the insanity that is the creative industry. She’ll earn her twitches soon I’m sure. This mid-winter Anastasia is onto some new adventures, and more greatness and creativity is sure to come from this one. Keep an eye on her. 

http://iamanastasia.com/

Nerd life: game night

A while back I posted about gaming and nerd stuff here http://newtoportland.tumblr.com/post/7572616799/nerd-life-game-night

I FINALLY visited Guardian Games and it was awesome. I highly recommend stopping in and playing a board game when you can (every other sunday for their game nights). I had dropped in to buy my own copy of Catan, and the nice dude behind the counter said if I played a game at all that day I would get 20% off my purchases! I had come alone, but found someone willing to play a game with me. Matt was the guy, sitting there going through his Magic cards…and while I dont play Magic, he was willing to play me in chess. It was so nice. Matt gave me the lowdown on the 21+ area which is where people can drink and play board games. I told him my apprehension and he reassured me it doesn’t get rowdy, (in fact he doesnt drink either), and that the best part about that room is when the main game room gets full of rowdy kids, you can always go just hang w adults. nerdy adults. Good times!

Just when you can’t take it anymore

The sun came out. Holy shit. The grey weather here is such a burden sometimes, Ive occasionally started using a vitamin D light and have begun planning some mid-winter trips to sunnier places. But today the sun came out, and it made me feel intoxicated. Oh sun, how I miss you. See you again in July. 

Uncommon incidents of niceness.

I got on the bus yesterday and the money machine on it was broken. So they let everyone just get on for free. in Philly they would have pulled over and made everyone wait for a technician OR gotten a new bus. This was nice. Riding the bus sucks, but this made it $2.10 better!