While I'm telling you what to do with your leisure time, might I recommend that you NOT see Big Fish. The movie may have served somebody's self-serving agenda of releasing guild for never appreciating their father while they were alive, but it certainly didn't serve the agenda of entertaining me.

To anyone who lives in Portland, I would like to recommend the restaurant Lovely Hula Hands. It's gotten good press from both alterna-papers, as well as some blogs, I'd just like to throw my hat in the ring. It's really an amazing remodeling project as well as delicious food.

Portland's homicide rate rises in 2003...to 28.
Baltimore's homicide rate rises in 2003...to 271.

That's an order of magnitude! Keep in mind that the populations are roughly the same.

My New Year's Resolution is to be a better blogger. The transition from working full time to going to school full time challenged my time management skills. Now I'm in my second semester here at OHSU, and think I've got a better handle on things. Plus I've got a new laptop at home! Still, much of my posting may be over at the Informatics blog now listed conviently to the left.

I had my first experiences with Oregon and Washington casinos this week. I visited both Spirit Mountain and the Lucky Eagle. They were each depressing in they're own special way, although Spirit Mountain was less depressing, but it also could have been timing as 2am on Sunday is a far more depressing time to ge in a casino that 8pm on Saturday. The wierdest thing about both of these places is the complete lack of actual quarters in the slot machines. You put folding money into the slot machine, and when you cash out you get a printed ticket, while the machine plays the recorded sound of quarters "chinging" into the machine. This makes it alot more difficult to switch from machine to machine, and destroys a lot of the fun of slots as far as I'm concerned. I'm also used to the casinos getting you to lose more money by plying you with free liquor. I don't know if it's against the law or just against tribal practice, but while one could purchace and drink alcohol in designated areas, when you were actually gambling the only thing they wanted you drinking was soda or coffee. I'll be looking into this more.