Portland??? (Dallas: to live in, statistics, area)

[checar]

Suncat's last post is right on. People in SF would've walked on by without even thinking about the doll dude because they're used to all kinds of weird there, not just the "good weird" they tout here in Portland.

Doug's post was a good read. I agree with all of it, having been here for 3 years. Way to jump on the guy for not seeing Portland your way. I've lived in 3 major cities and 3 medium sized towns (all over the U.S.) before living here and I've never seen a more defensive bunch than Portlanders, both in person and on this board.

About the weather (again): There is no argument, just look at the stats. Don't just look at inches of rainfall, you also need to look at the number of sunny days per year (about 144) if that matters to you. It is gray quite a bit - 9 months is pretty accurate. My dentist and her assistant were just talking yesterday about how Summer starts on July 5th in Portland. It's kind of a joke, but it's true. Yeah there can be nice days before that, but it doesn't get consistently "Summery" until July. That said, yesterday was lovely and as I walked my dog I thought about how Portland is just about the prettiest place I've been when the sun is shining.

[GB1]

Originally Posted by checar

Suncat's last post is right on. People in SF would've walked on by without even thinking about the doll dude because they're used to all kinds of weird there, not just the "good weird" they tout here in Portland.

Thanks. You said it better than I did.

Saw this morning that Portland did another "weird" thing -- there's a mayor's race going on, so what's more weird than a midnight donut-eating contest? Everyone running for mayor showed up at the downtown "weird donut" shop to see who could eat two donuts the fastest.

At midnight! Weird!

The forced whimsy in that kind of thing goes right over my head; in fact, it's inseparable from the sort of embarrassing election stunt that makes Hillary Clinton down boilermakers for the press or Barack Obama go bowling in a tie. But one local reporter called it "a prime example of keeping Portland weird."

[EnricoV]

Originally Posted by DougD

Just checked in to see if there's been any added posts. All that commentary I offered and all of those observations I described and the only thing you have to offer is a multi-post weather fixation? Dude.....let it go.

Sorry, But I'm about factual material. I tend not to let wild generalizations go unchecked. If I feel the need to prove, using quantifiable facts, that your "it rained 75% of the time" was an exaggeration, what's wrong with that? You were wrong. Admit it.

Of course it rains more often here to achieve the same number of inches of rain. However, it does not "rain for nine months." There are nine months in which it may rain. But those are two different things. Yes it is often cloudy. But that doesn't mean it's "dreary" or "grey" or "depressing."

As for the rest of your commentary. I said what I felt about it, you rebutted it, and I don't have any issue. So why should I mention it? I have drawn my conclusions (incorrect though they may be) about what your experience and attitudes are, and I know I'm not gonig to change them. So why comment on them? You came off as being naive, and "small-town," you said you're not. Okay, I accept that. You said you smelled pot. Okay, I accept that. Your post said you were in a car. Is that enough comment on your commentary that you'll accept me proving you were wrong about the amount, and frequency, of the rain?

[oldtintype]

Forget it Enrico--it's Ok to exaggerate and say it rains 9 months of the year and if you disagree you're being a "typical person from Portland." It's like the pot calling the kettle black.

[oldtintype]

[quote=checar;3656150]Suncat's last post is right on. People in SF would've walked on by without even thinking about the doll dude because they're used to all kinds of weird there, not just the "good weird" they tout here in Portland.
>>>


Actually, it depends what SF neighborhood you were in. Just like Portland SF is full of different types of people used to different types of thing. And who is the "they" that touts "good weird" here? It's like the whole city is full of one type of person. It's not. Portland consists of a lot of different people but people who tend to not like it here harp on a small percentage and make huge generalizations.

[checar]

Re-read my post; I said it's gray for nine months, not that it rains for nine months. And of course that's a generalization, but one that is often used by locals/natives to describe the climate here.

[checar]

Yes it would have depended on the neighborhood in SF. Of course! But in a similar setting, it would have gone almost unnoticed. In Pacific Heights the police may have shown up. Of course it depends on the neighborhood.

[oldtintype]

Then why all the constant generalizations on what Portland is like? Only a few neighborhoods are full of hipsters--most neighborhoods aren't. But everyone in Portland is a hipster or trying to be weird according to this board. Lets think of some extremes--The Pearl, West Hills, Hawthorne, Lents, Rockwood, Killingsworth area, etc. All those areas are very different yet it's only the areas like Hawthorne people focus on. I don't know if people need to get out more or if they just focus on the hipster part because it bugs them. It's certainly not representative of the city to focus only on one part of the population.

I guess a comparison would be the dot com thing in the late 90s in SF. Everyone complained that the dot com people were ruining the city with over inflated prices etc. and that SF was now nothing but dot com hipsters. While it's true that the dot com crowd influenced the direction the city was heading, the city of SF was still an extremely diverse place full of all types of people. Many of us (myself included) just chose to focus on the dot com crowd because we didn't like some of the changes. I look back now and realize it was stupid, for lack of a better word, to decide one group of people "are" the city because they're not, nor do they really influence everything. I wish people could get a grip on that here.

As for the gray--I can't speak for Enrico but the whole 9 months of gray thing bugs me so much because it can be sunny for days and weeks at a time during winter but people will swear on their life the sun doesn't shine here for a solid 9 months. I have even seen people on here complaining about the weather when it's gorgeous and sunny outside. I can't figure out why they're not outside enjoying it instead.

[roneb]

Originally Posted by oldtintype

As for the gray--I can't speak for Enrico but the whole 9 months of gray thing bugs me so much because it can be sunny for days and weeks at a time during winter but people will swear on their life the sun doesn't shine here for a solid 9 months. I have even seen people on here complaining about the weather when it's gorgeous and sunny outside. I can't figure out why they're not outside enjoying it instead.

This is why the defensiveness is so annoying. People haven't said that the sun never comes out. Heck, it's pretty nice out right now. I can recall a few times in February over the past 20+ years that it has been gourgeous and 70's for a week straight. But that is not the norm and doesn't change the fact that it IS consistently gray overall for a long period of time. It's not opinion, it backed up by statistics on Portland weather and is being honest. Why do some posters feel the need to try to refute this?

[oldtintype]

If you look on here you'll find multiple times where people state that it's gray or rains 9 months of the year. They'll swear they never see the sun. People who don't live here take that statement at face value--as if for nine months it's solid gray all the time. If it's being defensive because I don't agree with that statement then perhaps you should reevaluate what defensive means as your stats also show we don't have 9 months of gray.

I don't think anyone thinks Portland is the sun belt. I mean that's obvious!