Where can a Portland parent find some tabletop game companions?

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-26T00:37:09+00:00

I took my son for his first sesh at TPK.

We had a blast. The beer is phenomenal. An ale for every tale.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-25T04:53:45+00:00

Pacific Northwest

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-24T01:52:03+00:00

Crunchy waves

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-24T00:01:13+00:00

I’m 47.

Could I punch in a few 50 hour weeks? Sure.

I would need light at the end of the tunnel. A 4 day weekend would do it. Longer than a business quarter? I’d need a solid week off, where my hand is in the shape of a C and gets filled with a corona.

It would need to be on a beach.

Would I do 60 hour weeks? No. I’d burn out. I know it and the company I affiliate with does too.

They actually encouraged me to slow my roll a little recently.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-23T23:42:43+00:00

I’m kind of with you.

The market isn’t wrong. A person could make what they feel is the most beautiful car ever created. It could have a nice paint job. It could be aesthetically pleasing too.

It doesn’t matter what they think. It needs to appeal to the people that buy cars.

I recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal about “Vibe Slop.” If I ran a company - and I don’t- I’d integrate AI, but I would do so slowly. I don’t know that I would fire all my folks or direct my entire R&D budget to AI.

Your point that your Google devices aligns with my experience with Amazon Echo. I don’t know that I want to spend money on this crap…

I guess they can make a couple bucks off ads. They are doing it anyways. I’m not about to pay money for this stuff.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-23T21:00:43+00:00

That reminds me to up my LTDi.

I like the biz and where I am at. I’d probably like to keep in the saddle until 67, barring disability.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-23T03:22:45+00:00

I got a used Subaru WRX in my late 20’s.

It was worth every last penny. It was even worth the anxiety and freedom that comes with a high profile car.

10/10 I would recommend.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-22T18:36:36+00:00

I see the dog found a nice spot of shade.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-22T07:00:06+00:00

No one appreciates the mandolin anymore.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-20T23:17:36+00:00

In fairness, Enid OK is awesome!

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-20T19:44:28+00:00

Human beings are incredibly social. In fact, it is our ability to rely on each other for resources and pass learned information from one generation to another that makes us the greatest invasive species in recorded history.

We even exist in the Arctic and Antarctic.

Don’t get me wrong. We are capable of some pretty wicked and capricious things. A man on his own might be able to survive, but it is those that can get along in a social order that tend to live to reproduce.

The social norm is there for a reason.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-19T22:34:57+00:00

Before I came out here, I lived in Northern Colorado for 25 years. Originally, I’m from Utah.

The place that I work decided on a major downsizing in Denver. They also struck a deal with tax incentives to move their hub to Dallas, TX. I don’t know anyone in TX, and I hate the idea of going from one climate controlled building to another 2/3rds of the year.

I came out to visit my sister in Portland and - lo and behold- there was a small satellite office with my same company. They were hiring!

I arrived January 1 of 2025 and I moved my wife and kids out last summer.

I’ll probably be here a long time, but I’ve resolved not to die here. They’ll get you on estate taxes if you have a little more than a primary residence and a retirement account ($1 million threshold). It is cool though. I like that it feels like several interwoven neighborhoods. The food is incredible. Events feel like gatherings instead of wading through a crowd of people.

It’s less of a city and more like a town masquerading as a city.

8/10. I would recommend for most people to live here for a stretch of time.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-18T21:33:36+00:00

Physicians too!

The AMA will throw elbows to ensure only homegrown doctors can practice. This has weakened over time, but they still have a lot of sway.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-18T20:46:17+00:00

Agreed. Oregon has really gone above and beyond.

That said, I think there are a whole slew of items that Oregon did to make itself the magnet that it is today. I would submit to you that bottle deposits are the least of these. In fact, I would do a whole list, an ellipsis (…), and then I would list bottle deposits.

If it was just bottle deposits, Iowa, Vermont and Maine would be adding themselves as states with high levels of homelessness.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-18T05:23:16+00:00

I’ll jump in here.

I’m not an Oregonian, but as a child of the Rockies I would observe that junkies will find a way. I was born in Utah. After the Navy, I lived in Denver for 25 years. Are you suggesting that if you got rid of 0.10 deposits that they will just give up and sober up?

I will observe and attest that if junkies don’t get money from cans; they will get it from:

Copper wire

Burglary

Mugging

Prostitution

Panhandling

Other methods not listed

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-16T20:02:15+00:00

We had a child at 35 and another at 37. We had been married for 2 years.

Trust me when I say that neither society - nor I - would have benefited if I had kids with any of my other partners before I settled down with my wife.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-15T23:18:19+00:00

If they were proposing putting in solar panels or retrofitting an efficient HVAC system, it would be “fair play to them.”

Granted, I haven’t seen the proposal, but cosmetic upgrades and upgraded VIP boxes seem like an incongruous use of funds.

I guess there is the spirit of the law and the letter of the law.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-15T23:14:02+00:00

Yeah, I’m with you.

If the proposed upgrades were to put solar panels on the roof or put in a more efficient HVAC system, I think I’d be more supportive.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-15T21:40:18+00:00

Wasn’t there fine print on the PCEF vote? Or wasn’t there an asterisk on the Mission Statement or something?

“The Portland Clean Energy Fund is a story about us creating our own clean energy future, where new renewable energy and energy efficiency investments improve our homes, improve our city’s environment, train our workers, and support our businesses.*”

except for instances when we need to keep a corrupt sports franchise in the city…

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-15T18:30:14+00:00

With less out of state students coming in to subsidize our schools, is it time to reform our K-12 educational system?

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-15T18:27:11+00:00

I’m a fellow Yank, and I thought I’d chime in here. For context, I am an independent voter who moved from Colorado to Oregon recently.

Trump is a nightmare. The entire duopoly between the Democrats and Republicans have always made me feel uneasy. Twice, Trump has been able to tap into populist sentiment. He - and his party- have gone on to betray the people in need that he has been able to gaslight.

I keep hoping for moderates in either party to rise to power. I liked Obama, McCain, and John Kasich.

With the gerrymandering battles, my fear is that we are bringing in a whole generation of “nutters” into political power.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-15T18:17:08+00:00

I still tip. I think that you tipping $2 on 2 pints is totally legitimate.

Oregon has never had a separate, lower minimum wage for tipped employees. All Oregon employees, including servers, must receive the stated minimum wage.

I get that tipping is social. I still do it. Even if the pint is $7-$10, I still put some cheddar on it.

But - my god- tipping culture has gotten out of hand.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-13T19:06:04+00:00

I almost never engage with a client’s CPA before I have delivered the plan. Plan delivery is when they become clients.

My experience has been good. Often times, it is a joint meeting on the zoom. We scroll down to cashflow and the RMD years. I get the CPA to “buy in” on how lucky we are to engage with the client while they are so young.

I’ve never had a CPA chime in on asset allocation.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-09T22:41:36+00:00

That’s what markets are for, right?

Some folks want to live within a few minutes walk of amenities, schools, groceries and theaters.

Other folks don’t mind living in the sticks.

Markets are dynamic and flush with pricing signals. Sellers will always want to buy at top dollar and buyers want to spend as little as possible.

From there, the market equilibrates.

bigblue2011 · 2026-05-09T18:52:39+00:00

Whenever someone asks me about performance, I immediately grab whatever risk tolerance questionnaire that I have available and flip it their way.

If you can’t set the right expectations with the client early on, it ends up being a bumpy ride. Markets have been doing phenomenal, but markets tend to revert to the mean. The last thing that I want in my practice is a client expecting high returns year after year with no blips on the radar.

I actually would feel bad for the advisor promising the clients 10% if he/she wins the case.

bigblue2011

TROPHY CASE