Yes, we all know there’s a recession. Yes, we all know Oregon’s in the toilet. Yep, we know that PDX retail businesses are giving up the ghost in masses; the empty storefronts in downtown, the Pearl and NW 23rd remind us of the ‘here on top today, gone tomorrow’ transient nature that even the most supposedly recession-impervious businesses are falling victim to.

It seems like every time I turn around, I hear of another business and/or government entity going up in flames. Worse, there are the companies silently moving to monthly furloughs, dropping full-time staffers to 75%, freezing raises/cost-of-living increases, or deferring needed capital expenditures until ‘later.’

Schools are slashing services… governments are prepping for massive layoffs… and social service agencies warn of upping the bars for those who most need assistance.

On a personal note, I can count at least 10 people I know in the space of 3 minutes who are either unemployed, under-employed, or tenuously holding on to a no-longer-sure thing.

But…then I watch smart people that I personally know in the technology sector, for example, hitting solid doubles (if not home runs), putting together strategic alliances that look like they’re based on substance, or start-ups pulling in venture capital money — yes, even now.

And I count at least 10 people I know in the next 3 minutes who’ve moved into exciting new gigs, or moved from that no-longer-sure thing into something that provides both monetary and emotional sustenance. Or who’ve tightened their belts, cut out the frills, and/or re-shifted their priorities — and are doing just fine.

Finally, I look around a bit.

While plenty of commercial space is still gathering dust, several of those formerly boarded up storefronts are now flipping over into vibrant new businesses.

Or I look at the crowds of people lining up to eat at restaurants all around town. The people piling vast quantities of disposable goods into oversized carts at Costco. Government officials who think that million dollar baseball stadiums and/or revamping a stadium for MLS is a higher priority than, say, social services, fixing potholes, or caring for the homeless.

Or those with decent jobs who have the modesty to duck and/or not gloat about their good fortune, even while their friends struggle to find new gigs (survivor guilt runs deep in PDX these days, I suspect.)

So, what’s up? Is it really as bad as it looks out there? Is it simply that the weaker entities are getting pruned out? Are we all getting sucked into the ‘doom and gloom’ media horror stories, so we’re willing to throw schoolchildren under the bus?

Or is it just another case of ‘all of the above’ — with no clear answers in sight?

I’m trying to figure this out — because I’m scared.

I’m just not sure if I’m dealing with a healthy fear or irrational skepticism…

Related Posts

• June 21, 2009 -- OurPDX shared links for June 21st (0)
• January 25, 2010 -- My Portland Timbers Tryout (2)
• January 15, 2010 -- Old Growth Timber? (1)
• June 29, 2009 -- Dear PDX Advice Guy (1)
• May 11, 2009 -- SLL: 100 Episodes, Vidoop & No Kind Of Rider (0)

Boy did we ever have a full slate Friday night. For our Tech Edition we were joined by Troy Harlan and Sam Alexander from Vidoop. Then we quickly moved into Afterhours where we were joined by No Kind Of Rider. Having a whole band in the studio meant all kinds of shuffling of guests, but we managed to hear from Jeremy, Joe, Wes, Jon and Sam, listen to some great tunes, celebrate our 100th episode and eat a delicious celebratory cake from Julie & Troy. It was a good night full of fun, I hope you enjoy it too!

On to technical matters. If DrNormal ever posted to the blog that he had me set up for him he’d tell you all sorts of behind the scene technical tidbits and goodies. But he doesn’t. This week there’s something he really wants you to know before you listen to the audio podcasts and since I’m a saint I agreed to take a few moments and tell you that starting this week the audio episodes will be released at a higher quality. That means the files are twice the size they used to be, but he swears that it’s worth it because the sound quality is at least twice as good.

Now on with the shows:

SLL Episode 100: Troy Harlan & Sam Alexander from Vidoop

Watch the Tech Edition

SLL Episode 101: Afterhours with No Kind Of Rider

Watch Afterhours

Want more No Kind Of Rider? They have an album almost ready to goand they’ll be playing this Thursday night at the Red Room on 82nd. You can check their Myspace page for more upcoming shows.

***

Join us next Friday May 15th to talk to Dana Plautz the woman behind Mrs. P.com, a storybook entertainment site that encourages literacy in a really fun way. Then in afterhours we’ll be back to our everyday shenanigans with a little help from our friends.

****

Are you attending WebVision 09? If you are stop by and see us. We’ll be there broadcasting live Thursday & Friday. A portion of our day will be set aside to talk to attendees and find out why they’re attending, we’d love to hear from you.

Related Posts

• May 6, 2009 -- Bob Log III and Willem Maker @ Doug Fir (2)
• March 1, 2009 -- SLL: A Night With John Nastos (1)
• December 8, 2009 -- SLL: Get Your Geek on With Foodgeeks (0)
• November 23, 2009 -- SLL: Back with Brian Westbrook (0)
• November 16, 2009 -- SLL: Duo Chronicles (0)

Here’s what we’ve found as we’ve traveled the local PDX web (complete with our comments) for September 29th

• WordCamp Portland (#wordcampdx) 2008: Ironically, words escape me » Silicon Florist – Rick's left speechless; while the rest of us aren't!
• Like WordPress and OpenID? wp-openid 3.0 to launch at Demolicious » Silicon Florist – Mark your calendars and show up on 10/1 at Nemo Design to see what Will Norris has cooked up for the next iteration of the WordPress openID plugin!
• Ignite Portland 4 Submission Opens! at Ignite Portland – Deadline's October 14th; will need to huddle with 10 year old to figure out how best to bring the bling…!

Note: you can share bookmarks back to our site if you have a Mag.nolia account – just join our group and then send relevant links to that group when you mark a site, article, or post!

Related Posts

• October 7, 2008 -- Tell a Story in Five Minutes or Less… (2)
• September 21, 2009 -- SLL: Martini Lesson for Matt Mullenweg (2)
• August 17, 2009 -- SLL: WordcampPdx 2009, Urban Airship and PIE (0)
• June 23, 2009 -- What’s Your $$$ Situation? (4)
• June 12, 2009 -- PDX in Your Pictures: Tickets to Ride (0)

Here’s what we’ve found as we’ve traveled the local PDX web (complete with our comments) for September 7th

• Cami Kaos: strange love episodes: betsy & ourpdx – How can I resist promoting this One. More. Time? Answer: I can't. Thanks again to Cami Kaos and Dr. Normal for a fantabulous evening!
• Pok Pok’s Andy Ricker to Open Chinatown Eatery | An Exploration of Portland Food and Drink – From OregonLive, Pok Pok owner Andy Ricker is teaming with John C. Jay, Wieden+Kennedy's branding guru, and his fashion-designer wife Janet Jay to open Ping (note that I’m spellling Wieden correctly here…!)
• Vidoop – The Oregon Trail! – The 42 new Oregonians are here to join the rest of the Vidoop staff – but first, they had to travel in an RV following the Oregon Trail to get here. See their travel log (complete with video) here…

Note: you can share bookmarks back to our site if you have a Mag.nolia account – just join our group and then send relevant links to that group when you mark a site, article, or post!

Related Posts

• November 10, 2009 -- Food Carts Portland on NBC Nightly News (3)
• November 9, 2009 -- SLL: Locketman (0)
• October 25, 2008 -- SLL: John Borroz (0)
• October 19, 2008 -- SLL: The Sexisode (0)
• September 3, 2008 -- Who’s This Week’s Guest on Strange Love Live? (3)

Here’s what we’ve found as we’ve traveled the local PDX web (complete with our comments) for July 21st:

• Vidoop will be lifting your spirits during OSCON 2008 | The Vidoop Blog – PDX technology company Vidoop seems to sponsor every social tech gathering lately – from three successive Beer & Blog to Lunch 2.0 to this from the Vidoop blog: OSCON 2008 by itself is enough to geek out about, but don't forget about the parties! Open bar *and* bacon-wrapped dates Thursday night? I'm so there…
• Flickr – Photo Sharing! – Halfway through changing the ladder from "Hancock" to "The Dark Knight". (editor's note – probably NSFW, but courtesy of a co-worker nonetheless…!)
• The Mighty 6 – A group blog chronicling the life and times on the buses of TriMet. Who couldn’t love posts that start like this? “I’m on the bus for five minutes and already I’m dropping down into everybody’s business like Spiderman on his thread…”. (hat tip to Jack Bog for the find…)
• Commissioner Jeff Cogen – Who's now got a blog *and* a Twitter account? Jeff Cogen, that's who…!

Note: you can share bookmarks back to our site if you have a Mag.nolia account – just join our group and then send relevant links to that group when you mark a site, article, or post!

Related Posts

• December 30, 2009 -- Worst. Commute. Ever. (12)
• December 7, 2009 -- Portland Police: The Problem is Perception (3)
• October 8, 2009 -- PDX in Your Pictures: Silver Dude on the Bus (1)
• September 28, 2009 -- A Green Line Redux (2)
• September 12, 2009 -- It’s Not Easy Being Green… (2)