Based on the link and the name of the poster, I was really really sure this was spam. BUT, they seem to have taken the time to actually read the post, and the comment is “in context” so…I approved it. But I will be watching this address like a hawk.

Yeah, the umbrellas crack me up. What’s better is to see one in other random places around Portland. I considered a photoblog of just Bridgeport umbrellas in non-Bridgeport places…but I figured it’s appeal would have been REALLY limited. So I satisfy myself by just pointing and saying “Hey Look! They stole an umbrella from Bridgeport Village!!!” Which at first make’s me sound like a prick, until I finish by saying “I WANT ONE!!!”

At one time, I heard discussion of enclosing the whole thing in some kind of retractable glass roof; sort of like Safeco Field, except transparent. I just figured they should enclose the whole thing in one of those big glass bubbles from 1950’s Sci-Fi posters. It would be just as practical, and it would look really REALLY cool…

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah…Several of you “IM com padres” pointed out that friends were just a log-on away. Still, I’m not sure I would have been much of a conversationalist before Monday. The guy in the mirror wouldn’t even look at me for a while.

It’s a method I intend to re-test as the need arises. So far, so good!

I have never had Gelato. Or written with a fountain pen.

I can’t really decide which absence from your life is worse…gelato is heavenly…but fountain pens are the singular mating of written expression and art. Drawing up ink from an inkwell and then gently dispensing it back onto rich, creamy paper is the sort of therapy I’m not sure I could survive without.

I strongly recommend you try both in short order.

Six months from now we’ll have to eat it inside the Cafe, that’s probably true. And it will be mid January, so we both know that the weather will be so heinous that we may well need an Ark to get there…but at least we know they cater to really large vehicles in the parking lot.

Yeah, depression kinda numbs my potty-mouth filter. I’m sorry about that.

I will second everyone on the return – because I, in fact, couldn’t and wouldn’t live without you. I love you!

I love you too!

I KNOW I’m not supposed to like Bridgeport. It’s so egregious in it’s excessive consumerism that I feel bad somehow shopping there. But I figure Borders is Borders and I love the food…so screw it. Where else can I find this much cool stuff in one place? …what’s that? The Pearl District? …oh…yeah…

AND BY THE WAY…how is it that you were within a few measly miles of my desk and I DIDN’T get the chance to meet you for white birthday cake gelato? Next time EMAIL ME. I’ll buy.

Glad you’re feeling better and you’ve returned to the fold. Wouldn’t be the same without you!

Thanks!

I agree on both counts.

P.S. I was indeed wondering where you’d hidden yourself. From time to time I fall into a world of depression and I know it’s incredibly hard to pull yourself out. I’m glad you did.

Yeah. I almost had to start reading Cosmo with muppet voices in Borders. And yes, I did think of you.

Sadly, when I walked out of the Apple store, I did NOT have a Sur La Table bag in hand. BUT, I wish I would have. I also didn’t have an Apple store bag in hand, as they were out of 16GB iPhones in white (or black).

MMMMMMM…steaks sound SO good right now…

As for the conspicuous consumption, I once was driving down the interstate when I saw, headed in the opposite direction, a Hummer H2 pulling a near-mint late-model Harley on a trailer. I turned to my wife and said “Wow. He must have a TINY dick.”

A guy who worked for the company next door to my last company bought a “pickup” that was built by Peterbuilt. It looked like a tractor-trailer cab, and it was a giant bright-red thumb sticking out in the parking lot. I looked at it and said to one of the guys who worked for me (and who’s sense of humor I trusted) “If guys who drive Hummers are compensating for a small penis, that guy must have an innie.”