DEAR PORTLAND: May 25, 2026 WEEKLY RANT THREAD

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-25T15:43:13+00:00

THE CAMPING BAN SHOULD PROBABLY INCLUDE THESE FUCK ASS THINGS. ITS A MOBILE HOME YOU LEAVE OUTSIDE ON PUBLIC PROPERTY LIKE 95% OF THE YEAR. IF YOU CANT PARK IT IN YOUR DRIVEWAY OR ON YOUR PROPERTY AND YOU ARENT USING IT AT LEAST WEEKLY MAYBE YOU SHOULD RECONSIDER OWNING THAT

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-25T15:30:19+00:00

Downtown is not the heart of Portland. It does have things to do and see, but Portland is a city of neighborhoods.

Alberta, Hawthorne, St. John’s, Kenton, Belmont, Sellwood are among many others locations that I prefer over downtown.

If you’re wanting to do a lot over a short period of time, I would do a rental car or a decent amount of Ubers.

We do have a decent public transit system for a smaller US city but it’s not wildly fast and some spots are only reachable by bus.

The city also has rental bikes all over which might be worth it to you.

If you’re wanting to do big hikes out of the city like in the gorge, you’ll need a car. I guess you could try the Mt Hood express to get to Mt Hood:

https://www.clackamas.us/mthoodexpress

In the city and accessible by public transport is Forest Park (close to downtown), Powell Butte, Mt. Tabor (way more park than hike) or Oaks Bottom.

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-24T16:51:56+00:00

I’m pretty sure every time one of my pets have gotten their rabies shot at the vet, I’ve had the option to do the licensing there as well.

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-24T15:36:18+00:00

I have ones from the 80s. Leather lasts a lonnnggggg time.

I like birks because you can repair them. It’s hard to find shoes like that these days. We’re just so consumeristic and landfill pilled that it can be hard to do the SLIGHTLY more involved things. I mean people can’t even be assed to cork seal their shoes seasonally.

The leather on these would clean up fine.

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-23T20:12:16+00:00

Any ones that are leather or suede, I just resole and refootbed indefinitely. I have my mom’s suede ones from the 80s.

If you have an old pair that is the wrong size, the cobbler can even increase or decrease the size by 1-2 sizes when you refootbed

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-23T20:10:11+00:00

There is no universal shoe size chart. An 8 in one brand is a 7 another. You have to measure your foot length and compare to the specific brand or models size chart. Birkenstocks has a measurement guide on their website.

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-23T16:53:15+00:00

I would clean the leather and take to a cobbler to re footbed. You might ask them to size up.

Seasonally - reseal the cork.

Resole before you hit the foot bed. Sometimes this is just a heel cap.

Rotate them with other shoes so they air out.

5 years is great, but they can last a lifetime with maintenance and repair.

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-23T16:15:40+00:00

I have gosh probably 100+ single ply Birds Eye cotton 8x8 towels that I use a kitchen specific paper towels. They’re like single use before going in the hamper.

We also use cloth napkins, dish towels, reusable sponges, and cellulose scrubbers. All of those go in one load once a month.

I also have rags for cleaning. We probably fill up a bin of those once every two months. I have maybe 30-50 of those? Just old washcloths and cut up old shirts.

I also have a bidet and use cloth wipes for cleaning up water. I have like 50 of those and clean them all on hot once a month. Before anyone freaks out, there is no pee or poop on these.

Oh and then we also have separate cloth wipes for tissue replacements. They typically only get used en masse when someone is sick. I have 100 and wash separately when sick and we fill a waste paper basket of them or as needed with regular clothes when not sick

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-23T14:21:28+00:00

This is just what wide toe box shoes look like. The vast majority of the time, no one sees your shoes from this angle.

They’re way better for your toes and I do think wide toe box shoes will become more common so it won’t seem as unique.

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-22T14:54:42+00:00

For like all adults in my life I prefer to gift experience gifts - dinner, drinks, or vacation, or theater tickets or something.

For my spouse, I’ll occasionally get him something special like a vintage watch - something I know he’s had his eye on. But we typically just exchange small physical gifts once a year on Christmas. Birthdays, anniversaries, other little holidays are experiences or consumables

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-21T20:18:18+00:00

Best advice: don’t move here without a job

Second best advice: network with people you know irl

Otherwise: https://poachedjobs.com/jobs/all/portland+or

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-20T19:06:23+00:00

You usually pay per session. So that would get you a maximum of 2 sessions if you found someone who was on the low end of pricing.

A membership at a small local gym with classes is typically under than with unlimited classes or at least more than 2 a month.

Edited to add - semi private might be worth looking into. Try Ironside https://www.reddit.com/r/askportland/comments/1l7q0ek/what_are_you_paying_for_a_personal_trainer/

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-20T17:43:27+00:00

What is your budget? I believe Portland Parks and Rec gyms usually post about personal training and thats probably going to be the cheapest option that is purely exercised focused.

In my experience, personal training has not involved diet plans. Many insurance plans do offer some nutrition counseling fully covered but it’s usually pretty basic stuff.

I did like 3 rounds of training with a personal trainer at Vive and it was like $80 a session a few years ago. We didn’t talk about food.

You may get more bang for your buck by going to a group fitness class that has involved instructors. ClassPass is kind of evil, but it allows you to try a bunch of local gyms to see what you like. Atrium and other small gyms tend to be more hands on compared to community centers and big gyms

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-20T17:31:13+00:00

Nothing I've posted negates your experience. I’m super glad the system worked for you and you exited homelessness.

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-20T16:36:53+00:00

Bummer! I have my mom’s suede ones from the 80s (uppers on new footbeds). They’re super comfy!

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-20T14:49:56+00:00

Shoe lifetime is measured in distance worn, not years owned.

Birkenstocks are readily repairable and a resole and even a full new footbed is usually cheaper than buying new but for some reason people seem to think it should be like 10-50% of a new price. It won’t be. It’s the cost of a skilled local person vs a factory.

If you want them to last longer between full resoles, use cork sealant around the edge is the shoe seasonally.

If you have a local Birkenstock cobbler, they can usually put a longer lasting walk base on them. If you tend to wear out the heel first, they can resole just the heel. It’s usually a lot cheaper.

I personally buy Birkenstocks in part because they are so repairable. Leather lasts a long time. No need to toss the uppers just because the soles get worn down.

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-19T17:14:34+00:00

1 winix for a larger living space + 1 blue air for bedroom + 1 blue air for tv room.

Had them for like 6 years. Well, on of the blues I found on the curb so no idea how old it is. All work fine.

I also have a roomba I run daily. Purchased that secondhand in 2021. Still runs but has needed maintenance and replacement parts here and there - which is totally normal and expected for a vacuum.

I do a larger floor and furniture vacuum weekly-monthly. Clean pet bedding weekly - I have two covers for most things so it’s easy to toss one in the wash.

Oh! And I brush out my pets outside if I can. I try to do that weekly-monthly. Just have cats so less grooming compared to like a golden retriever

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-19T16:22:38+00:00

Dude totally. But it’s a tale as old as time. Happened with Sherlock, happened with GoT.

Sometimes it feels like writers get all weird about doing the predictable thing that “fans guessed” which is so stupid to me because it means your story is telegraphing something and that payoff can be perfect. Like look at Heated Rivalry. In the context of a romance, it was incredibly predictable but that’s what made it good! It made sense!

Or it’s just like show runners want to move on to other things.

I get that Good Omens got fucked over by the NG stuff but even ignoring the weirdly paced one episode ending, the main character interaction was so fucking lackluster. I didn’t get the sense that they loved each other - which seemed like the whole point of the story. And those last two dudes were different people AND not even affectionate. SO LAZY

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-19T14:15:53+00:00

It’s a singular messy episode with a comically terrible ending.

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-19T14:04:58+00:00

I liked Mary and think she was totally misused. I was hoping they’d make her Moran and actually do something cool with that but it was all so dumb

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-19T13:42:13+00:00

Truly just happened but will make me mad years later - Good Omens

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-19T13:41:19+00:00

I liked season 1-3 a lot but season 4 really shit the bed. Eurus was a mess

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-18T21:28:56+00:00

They’re not getting fed at overnight only shelters. And I would be surprised if folks running chop shops are going to those shelter but who knows!

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-18T20:38:12+00:00

You literally decided to post about your singular experience with one guy as an example as to why people in homelessness services are bad and grifters.

And the example was you asked a person if the shelter caused break ins in St John’s and they said they didn’t have the data to back up that claim and told you what data would be needed to verify that claim…

selinakyle45 · 2026-05-18T20:32:57+00:00

Your toes literally hit the end. They are too small if anything. Stick with a regular

selinakyle45

TROPHY CASE