The bird people have started again. There are an estimated 1000 Vaux Swifts now going into the chimney at Chapman school. I wasn’t out there to look but by my estimates and knowing the numbers they have, it’s probably more like 500. I’m not sure who is right, but I’ve actually sat around and helped a guy count. I dunno. In any case, if that’s the number then there’s going to be ten times that amount at the peak, if we’re lucky. And a whole lot of annoying people here watching the birds.

We spent a lot of time trying to get breakfast after working out at the gym today. It’s Labor Day, after all, and our first-choice restaurant, The Industrial Cafe, was closed. Our second choice, Stepping Stone, was packed. We went to our third choice, Roses, which wasn’t too bad food-wise, was a big loss because they’re not too organized. We got there around 11:30AM and we finally got our food at 1:30PM. Most of the time was spent standing around waiting for a table.

I’m not a big fan of waiting around. Portland’s “best restaurant” (and I’m not sure who decided that) is Pok-Pok and while it was pretty good, I think I’ve had better Thai food. I can’t remember where, though. Maybe downtown, maybe in Japan, maybe in Boston. In any case, it wasn’t so much better than everywhere else that I’d put up with the hassle of standing in line or having them run me out after I’ve finished. They’re quite rude there, as well, and they can afford to be because they’re so busy.

There’s a Japanese sushi place called Saburo’s that’s the same way. White people will tell you it’s their favorite, and the only explanation I have is that the sushi is huge and white people like that. And maybe white people have a hive-mind that all decided that standing in line for two hours for mediocre sushi from rude wait staff is what they like. I remember back in the day there were two sisters who used to work there and the chef married the one who actually owned the building. The other sister we called, “Slow Mo,” for her lack of speediness. In any case, I can’t list the places I like better because there would be most of the other places in Portland, a bunch of places in my old neighborhood in Japan, and even the convenience stores in Osaka.