Life in Portland, 2008

Click on any of the little pictures to see it at normal size. Click on the '=0=' after the picture to see it in giant size (about 2 minutes to download on dialup connection and larger than screen size). This could be useful if you wanted to really look at one part of the picture or to make a print.

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In June of 2008, Portland had its annual Rose Festival. Above and here are a Navy Destroyer and a slightly smaller ship which were open for tours. The ships had almost none of the weopons which were familiar from ships of their class in the 60s. All electronics and missiles now, which makes sense.	=0=
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The hotel that they are remodeling across the street from where I work is progressing nicely. They spent ages adding new plumbing but are now starting to add back the walls and interior. Above is the view from the stop where I get off on my commute in. That is from 5th and Washington and you can see the crane from the little building they took out and are making another entrance for the hotel (so that it will have entrances on three streets). Also above and here you can see a concrete pump truck going up 14 stories. Zowee! That is some pressure.	=0=
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Toward the end of June, Cynthia was not feeling well and I needed to do the program at Oregon State Penitentiary (OSP) in Salem, OR on my own. It was a smallish group, just me and four in-mates. It was a little stressful doing all the steps (no chance to regroup while the other person is taking charge), but it went wonderfully. OSP is an older prison from about 1870 or so. It is beside a stream and park, well inside the current capital, Salem. Above and here are pictures of the exterior from the main road, State Street, just across the stream.	=0=
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Above is a picture of the sign for OSP as well as the main entrance, part of one of the original buildings. OSP is a maximum security prison and below you can see the concrete walls you would expect of such a prison (and certainly well after the 1870's). There is also the abundance of concertina wire.	=0=
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In July Cynthia and I had our volunteer for Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC). It was a live video conference all across the state. It seems that Oregon DOC is quite focussed on reducing the return rate (or recidivism rate) of released prisoners. They have several directions for the efforts, but more involvement of volunteers both during and after incarceration is central to their efforts and they really want to insure their volunteers are well trained. As it was a state wide training, Cynthia and I could go to a closer prison, the Coffee Creek Women's Prison in Wilsonville, OR which is shown above. There was a nice suncet after the training which is shown here.	=0=