Kevin's Weblog

Whenever I read these sorts of articles about terrible childhood games, I have to wonder: was I the only nerd who actually liked dodgeball? Admittedly, the clear explanation is that I was actually quite good at the game. Yeah, I was a nerd, but I was also small and fast, and had good hand-eye coordination. Any ball that I couldn’t get out of the way of, I could usually catch and get the other kid out.

Measure 41 would allow Oregon taxpayers to take the larger federal deduction for dependents rather than the current credit given on their state income taxes. Personally, I like the idea of simplifying tax codes, and all the wierd discrepencies between state and federal taxes have always bugged me. However, this measure also creates a tax cut, and I’m not yet familiar enough with how things stand in the state to be willing to support it. If the measure were rewritten to be revenue-neutral, I’d go for it, but not this version.

I first encountered this old Victorian house two years ago when it housed the Calendula Cafe and we were supposed to have dinner there during OSCON. However, even though we had made a reservation the day before, the restaurant was unexpectedly closed when we got there. Looking over old news articles, it sounds like that day might have been the beginning of the end of that restaurant. Walking down Hawthorne in our first week here, I saw that it was slated to be reborn as Chef Tucker’s Patisserie.

The building is an excellent example of the Victorian style that’s common around this part of Portland. Naturally, most of the houses aren’t this big, although it’s not completely out of line with the rest of the neighborhood.

As for the pastry, it’s not as frighteningly expensive as Pix, which is also close by, but it’s not cheap. It’s about in line with EuroPane, I guess, although I would say maybe slightly not as good. One of these days, I’ll try them out for lunch or breakfast, but I haven’t had a chance yet.