An evening of Loot, 49 auction won by David, and a bunch of dealer's choice poker games with David conquering all to be the big winner for the night
Octane Dealer’s Choice
Category Archives: Home Sweet Home
Portland Auto Show Favorites
Lisa and I both drive cars over 25 years old. So every so often, we check out new cars for What If possibilities. Here are the cars we liked.
Criteria…
– Good gas mileage
– Hatchback
– Back seats fold flat and Edwin can stretch out length wise and lay flat
– Good visibility out the back window and blind spots are manageable
– Bonus: heated seats, Bluetooth and USB ports
Our picks for the 2017 models…
Mazda CX3. We also liked the Mazda 3 but didn't see the hatchback model
Toyota Corolla iM
Chevy Sonic hatchback
Chevy Cruze hatchback
Honda Civic Sport Hatchback
We also liked the Toyota Prius C, which is probably our first choice because it is a hybrid.
One of these days we’ll make the plunge, but for now it was fun checking them all out in the comfort of all being under one roof with no sales people to hassle with. My top choice: the Prius C
Rip City Blazermania
Blazers vs Lakers with Mike and Scott, a special night celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Portland Trail Blazers lone world championship. We won tonight's game in a close contest.
An Icy Return Back Home
We left on Friday in icy conditions, and three days later we return to find the same. Our flight back to Portland was actually oversold and they asked for volunteers. We were seriously contemplating taking the offer, but the Portland forecast was for freezing rain Tuesday morning that was supposed to last through the afternoon. If that was the case, there would be a good chance that our MAX trains would be disabled and our walk home would be that much more treacherous. So we decided to stick with our original flight and hope that we got back to Portland on time.
We landed by 10:25pm and were able to get our 10:45pm train, which took is all the way to Elmonica
TriMet lot still covered in ice
With very little traffic, we walked in the street for half of our trek
We arrived at the MAX station by 12:00pm
Our walk took 30 minutes and we finally arrived home at 12:30am
Safe journey back fire another canceled school day tomorrow
Battling the Elements
A weekend in Phoenix is upon us, an early Saturday morning flight. With all the snow and ice, driving at 3:30am would be a dicey proposition, so we decided to go via public transportation and stay overnight at a nearby hotel.
We set off towards the Elmonica MAX station, walking carefully upon the crunchy snow and slicked over ice. A normal eighteen minute walk took us twenty eight minutes. However, when we arrived to the MAX station, it was but a two minute wait for our train! We rode until Gateway TC, then made the short walk to Izzy’s Pizza, where I had my free birthday meal!
Our simple plan was to then cross the street and take the scheduled 4:04pm bus #87, which would travel down 102nd down to Airport Way, and then we would get off and check into our hotel, perhaps as late as 4:20pm. However, we waited at that cold and windy bus stop for fifteen minutes, and still no sign. More distressing was that the TriMet transit tracker didn’t even display bus #87 — almost like it was cancelled or something. I called TriMet, and after a lengthy wait, was able to speak to a rep, who told me that it was definitely behind schedule, but she couldn’t ascertain where exactly it was. So it could be two minutes, it could be an hour.
We were pretty cold, so I decided that we walk back to Gateway TC and take the MAX Red Line to the airport, and from there we would call the hotel shuttle to come pick us up. Well, wouldn’t you know it — as soon as we arrived at the transit center, there we see bus #87 pulling up close its doors and start the process for leaving. I attempted to get the driver’s attention by jogging close and waving my hands — but he was in front and already in the process of leaving. And so we were left behind. It was another grueling fifteen minutes of waiting for our Red line MAX, which finally came and of course was crowded to capacity. We managed to finagle our way inside, standing for the fifteen minute ride into the airport, where we waited another ten minutes before our hotel shuttle came. We were able to check into our hotel for our less than twelve hour stay, but at least we are warm and we have a soft bed to lay on, instead of the hard carpeted floors of the Portland Airport. Now we just hope that our flight leaves on time!
