Brandon "Not the Book-y Kind of Librarian" B.'s Profile

An otherwise ordinary grocery store becomes exciting terra incognita to a foreign visitor. Ooh, unrefrigerated milk! "Organic" eggs still have feathers and goop on them! Great wine is less than 5 Euro!

Bonpreu was an easy place to shop for most of our list, from yogurt to vodka. I also picked up a few items that will be greatly enjoyed as gifts without breaking my budget.

Recommended, but bring your own bags!

Can Xabanet, an elegant family restaurant, sits on a quiet corner in Banyoles.

On the day after Christmas, our large group enjoyed the prix fixe menu. For our two vegetarians staff gladly provided an alternative to the typically meat-heavy menu. *Hello, Catalonia, there are these things called vegetables. They are not part of the pig. ;)

Everything from the traditional canelons to the veal to the crema Catalana was delicious, and service was excellent!  I hope to return one day.

The largest natural lake in Catalonia, the Lake of Banyoles (Estany de Banyoles) was the site of the 1992 Olympics rowing competition. It retains a sporting atmosphere as residents and visitors walk, run, and bike around the lake on a trail that varies from maintained to wild. People use the lake too of course, rowing, kayaking, swimming, and during the summer, partying in the teeny houses that dot the city side of the lake.

Christmas Eve day and plans are afoot. Making a feast tonight, for us, for the Caga Tio. We need supplies and Pere Roca is here to oblige.

Greeted at the door with samples and a glass of cava, it was fun to shop in the festive holiday atmosphere. We got everything we needed, at good prices, with quick & friendly service.

I picked up a few last-minute gifts from the excellent selection of wine, chocolate, and other foodstuffs.

Bon Nadal!

Time passes. The bangs stay the same. My high opinion stays the same.

I followed Donna to another salon, and back here to LL in their new location in Goose Hollow. It's a cute little pocket neighborhood that feels far away but is easily accessible by MAX and bus.

Vineyards can be forgiven for focusing solely on their crop of grapes and the attendant machinery necessary to convert the grape into the wine. First things first, no?

Though it leaves most Oregon vineyards looking somewhat dull and forgettable. At least the ones that haven't already succumbed to the Californication of outlandish tasting mansions, complete with pour bimbettes, massive parking for massive hummer limos, and bad bad bad art (made by the owner, or the bimbette-in-residence).

At this recent Yelp event, I learned that Red Ridge strikes a perfect balance between its wine and its experience. Good wine, good facilities, good -- no, great -- gardens, and a lovely little shop. I didn't see it, but there are some limited lodgings also.  And nary a bimbette in sight.

Ever go to a flea market and gamble $1 on a surprise grab bag? Maybe there'd be something really cool inside, and sometimes there was, but usually it was paper clips and old crayons.

Been here twice. First time, last week, was okay. My expectations of a reasonable wait, a hurried but competent doctor, and a satisfactory outcome (i.e. a correct diagnosis and treatment) were met. Fine.

But oh boy howdy, last night. My surprise grab bag was full of dried crap and dead bugs.

When she wasn't being incredibly rude, the check-in receptionist was too busy flirting with the security guard to get anything done. While nice and friendly, the assessment nurse couldn't spell most of my medical allergies, even with the help of the software's built-in medical spellcheck. "Bactrim" became "bacterium" for example. This is kind of important. And why isn't it already in the computer? I was here last week.

And then the surprise at the bottom of the grab bag, the man who wandered in blinking and stumbling as if he'd just woken from a nap.  He introduced himself by his first name only, in an odd sing-song voice, and plopped in a chair with a heavy sigh, "Sooooo, what's goin onnnn? Why ya heeerrrreeee?"

For a moment I considered that he might be some random lunatic who had donned scrubs and was sneaking into examination rooms during the long wait. He never explained  his role or why he was there. Apparently he's a PA-C, standing in for a doctor. Or, so I gathered from his name tag.

I stated the facts, succinctly. Diagnosed with an upper sinus infection last week, given an anti-biotic, had a bad reaction, called, and was told to come in for a different anti-biotic.

He opened with, "Well, you seem very confused." Hunh? Maybe that was supposed to be a joke?

He launched into a rambling speech, punctuated both with gross medical inaccuracies and odd philosophical statements ("It's all so fuzzy, y'know, you just can never really *know* anything, can you really? I don't know. Do you know, really? *Know*?"), and then he tried to prescribe a medication I'm allergic to. The one that was actually spelled right in my record.

I cut through the bullshit, told him I was confident in last week's doctor's diagnosis, that I only needed a different anti-biotic because I'd reacted to the first. I told him how to write the prescription and for what, since he for a second time suggested a medication I'm allergic to.

I have the blessing and benefit of intelligence and an excellent education. I'm a professional researcher and problem-solver. I have some small medical knowledge accumulated from living for 40 years so far. How do other people do it? What if I'm wrong?

High shelves and short staff made me feel like I was talking to a box of band-aids -- Why, yes, Band-aid Box, I do have some medical allergies. No, really, *I* am Brandon, no, really -- but that could have been the disorientation caused by a nasty upper sinus infection. Unless it's a brain tumor. "It's notta toomore!" Sorry, different story.

Friendly, fast, and CONVENIENT to both the Oregon Clinic and the Providence Urgent Care, I would go here again. Hopefully I won't have to.

It's party time.  How do I know? Because my rad red Yelp watch tells me so!

Quite possibly the most ambitious Yelp event to date -- Oh, yeah, no problem, let's invite 1500 people to a science museum and provide unending multi-level fun, food, games, and drinks -- was also quite possibly the most successful Yelp event to date. *Although I'll always have a soft spot for the bourbon-soaked madness of Davis St.

Good luck following this act.

When you run a successful sushi mini-empire, you order a lot of fish. You get good-to-great quality, at volume discounts.

Now we can get the same Mio sushi quality at great prices, for a fishy dinner or for rolling our own.

The small market is located in a garage roll-up in the light industrial part of Northwest, where the Pearl blurs into the Pylons of Fremont Bridge.