About Oregon Expat
Sometimes the best view is from the outside, and an American expatriate living in Portugal is, in many ways, outside of both nations. The views can be spectacular. I’m also a science nerd, Mac dweeb, grammar geek, and science fiction author, so the posts in this blog tend to be eclectic.
Click the “About” tab if that wasn’t quite enough detail — or go to my official author website.
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Recent Posts
- Hope, an unfamiliar emotion
- Pompeii takeout and American assumption
- Far Enough
- I have an issue with Netflix’s “Away”
- Now, about *that* topic
- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
- Alsea Rising: The Seventh Star is in the wild
- Alsea Rising is out and #1!
- Coming soon: Alsea Rising
- On his terms
- Beyoncé: Homecoming
- UPRISING and balance
- The brain radio
- Alsea lovers: This is the one you’ve been waiting for
- The chicken church
Recent Comments
- Fletcher DeLancey on Porto’s most famous bookstore
- pablohaake on Porto’s most famous bookstore
- Alberto on Throwing flowers
- Rael on Portuguese idiom of the day: Lança perfume
- Rael on Portuguese idiom of the day: Lança perfume
- Fletcher DeLancey on Hope, an unfamiliar emotion
- Miriam English on Hope, an unfamiliar emotion
Categories
Monthly Archives: January 2010
Polish crew rescue dog from ice floe
Here’s a feel-good story to send you off into the weekend: the Polish crew of the Baltica, a ship doing oceanic research in the Baltic Sea, found and rescued a dog that had drifted out to sea on an ice … Continue reading
Posted in good news
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Let’s hear it for impracticality
One of the first rules you learn when you move overseas is, “Take as little as possible. Dump all the rest. Sell it, give it away, donate it, but get rid of it.” When I moved to Portugal, I got … Continue reading
Posted in life
7 Comments
Spring and cattle egrets
One of the most enjoyable adaptations I’ve had to living in southern Portugal is the fact that spring comes in January. Having lived at the very temperate Oregon coast, I was already used to early springs, but the Algarve puts … Continue reading
Posted in Portugal, science
5 Comments
The iPad is born (and Amazon is nervous)
If you heard a rumbling sound, or detected a slight shaking of the earth at approximately 18:10 GMT (10:10 Apple time), that was the simultaneous nerdgasm felt ’round the world. The iPad has been revealed, and it’s impressive. Looking like … Continue reading
Posted in Apple
6 Comments
The Jesus Tablet
Yes, I’m one of the geeks, though I really hadn’t considered that as a name for Apple’s new tablet. The rumor mill has seethed and frothed to an entirely new high these last few weeks. Tomorrow is the day we … Continue reading
Posted in Apple
2 Comments
“A Glorious Dawn”
This has been around for a few months, and become so popular that it’s spawned all sorts of follow-ups and imitations. But it’s still the best, and worth reposting for several reasons. First, it’s just beautiful. Second, it’s creative. (And … Continue reading
Posted in science
2 Comments
Oregon Macs
I spent several years working with a research group at Oregon State University, and enjoyed it. But it’s now very clear that I was working at the wrong university. Because look at what its state rival, the University of Oregon, … Continue reading
Posted in culture, Oregon
19 Comments
Graffiti
How do you know when a wall or vertical surface in Portugal is either newly built, or newly painted? When it doesn’t have graffiti on it. I give this recently repaired wall by our city park another month, two at … Continue reading
Posted in culture, Portugal
6 Comments
News flash: Older people can love
Yesterday, while driving down the highway, I got my socks blown off by this billboard advertising fireplaces. So blown off, in fact, that I immediately pulled over and took a photograph: Good lord! Older people can love! They can get … Continue reading
Posted in culture, Portugal
3 Comments
Mexican crystal cave
In 2000, a group of Mexican silver miners broke through a rock wall and stumbled into something out of a science fiction film: a cave filled with giant white crystals as large as 10 meters (33 feet) long. They’re the … Continue reading
Posted in science
7 Comments