It’s not easy being green.
Two games that were simply astonishing this past week both ended badly for Oregon teams. In the first, the Portland Timbers lost on penalties to a severely outclassed Atlanta team. The Silverbacks owe the goalposts of PGE Park the full salaries of their defensive line, as it was the goalposts and not the defense that kept the game scoreless. The loss is made somewhat less painful by the stellar season the Timbers had and by the recent announcement that rookie head coach Gavin Wilkinson was named Coach of the Year in the USL First Division.
And of course, today, we had a heartbreaker at Autzen, where it seemed as though the Ducks might be able to grind down what is arguably the best Cal team of the past decade. Alas, it was not to be, as the tying drive was stopped at the one. I’d link it but anyone who cares is probably watching College Football Final right now, like me 
Alice Is Lost!
Things are heating up over at Alice Is Lost!, a puzzle adventure by Eric Harshbarger. If you’re looking for a lot of puzzles (a la Valentine’s Day Massacre) for a small cost, you might want to take a gander at the prologue and the FAQ.
In other puzzling news, I’ve finally got the full plotline for the first Bosephus Jones mystery. Now I just need to weave in some puzzling opportunities and I’ll have a legitimate roadmap to writing the thing. Pretty exciting.
Written while waiting for the top 8 of a TPF Sealed PE to start on MTGO.
The geolinguistics of soda/pop.
So i was in an elevator recently (it happens), and I got into a conversation with my boxmate about La Croix sparkling water, a case of which I was holding in my hand. It’s basically club soda with a twist in a can. What I told the guy (who had professed to love the beverage) was that we could give it to our daughter – and she could think it was a treat – without actually resorting to soda. He immediately and enthusiastically agreed (it was kind of a weird little moment, two devotee dads discussing sugar-free options for kids). Only he used the word “pop.”
Now, I remember first hearing “pop” in the same way that I remember hearing the Southern universalism “coke” to refer to any carbonated beverage. But it got me to wondering about distributions – like, is it purely valley girl to say “pop?” Is anyone mapping this?
Thankfully, the internet is chock full of useless information.
Busy busy getting everything in order for the move. Come Thursday we’ll be in la Civic.
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Now playing: Silversun Pickups – Little Lover’s So Polite
via FoxyTunes
Civic Duties
So we’re moving to a new place, and the odds that I will be all that free to blog are slim and none. That said, I will definitely try to keep up.
In the meantime, I have an absurd amount of stuff to sell. Tiring. My mad craigslist skills have been pushed to the limit. 
Forest Park Guided Hikes for Kids
There’s still time to drop your kids in the wilderness, assuming they’re 10 or older (some of the hikes are for younger guys too, but most of them have come and gone). FFP.org is generally just a great place to learn more about Forest Park, its trails, and its troubles.
Found/remembered while looking for a decent day hike for the doodlebug today. Now if the sun would just burn off this overcast nonsense we’d be set.
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Now playing: Franz Joseph Haydn – Adagio
via FoxyTunes