I enjoy decluttering (throwing away old useless shit). But I ran into a roadblock with my journals. Although all my writing is now electronic, I have sat on a pile of physical journals and notepads spanning about a decade.

 

The pointlessness of it is obvious. I store them in boxes for many months. During moves I pack them up and pay in time, money and effort to transport them. Then they remain in those boxes, unused, for many more months until the next move.

 

But I recently came across Google’s PhotoScan app and saw a way out. When I found that this app sucked, I turned instead to Microsoft’s Office Lens. This app allows you to scan in high resolution by aligning the screen with all four corners of the page. This is ideal for glossy paper such as photographs. You can also do a quick low-resolution photo with a flash, which is much faster and is optimal for regular paper journal pages.

 

Although I struggled to start, I am now about a third of the way through my old journals. I have broken this project down into three parts:

 

1. Scan each page.
2. Check that the scans arrived correctly in my OneDrive folder.
3. Throw away the journal for good!

 

Getting rid of this dead weight feels great. If I ever actually want to re-read those journals, I know where to find them.

 

If I run out of patience, I can always just throw these journals away without even scanning them. Mightn’t that be a little drastic? Well, no. Consider the following: the journals have already done their job. They were there for me when I needed introspection, thought and interpretation of what was going on in my life. They provided a place to record my thoughts, an activity where I could slow down and deliberately process many new places and events.

 

Much of my journaling was in special locations such as under an oak tree at the very far end of a nature preserve or inside a tent or on a train. Many entries included not just the time and date but also the place. Journaling there helped weave the place into my memory. The point of the journal has already been served. So throwing it away with no possibility of revisiting it is not necessarily a loss.

 

Whether scanning or simply tossing, shedding these old journals feels great!

 

I visited Portland, Oregon recently for pleasure and for practical purposes. I had a great time.

Airbnb

I stayed in an airbnb within walking distance of downtown. Since it is the slow season, the rate was very reasonable.

Weather

The weather was mild to me: highs in the 40s and 50s F with light showers once or twice a day. I felt very comfortable in a thermal baselayer, jeans, a tee shirt, sweater and light jacket.

 

I appreciated the fall foliage and the abundant flora. Trees, shrubs and gardens grow in profusion and do not die off by this time of year like they do in Minneapolis.

Transit

Transit from the airport and around downtown was similar to Minneapolis, but streetcars and light rail are easier to use and comprise a network instead of a crumpled V shape.

Homeless people, tweakers and criddlers

The homeless population is very visible in Portland but not in your face. I saw a lot of people sleeping in business entryways and camping in marginal public areas such as the lawns next to thoroughfares. I was never harassed, although two people did start long conversations with me under a pretext only to ask for money at the end. This is probably because I walked so many miles.

 

The homeless people are not just mentally ill older men, but also a younger group pejoratively called tweakers and criddlers. These are drug users who residents complain will steal bikes and yard implements and shout and follow you and behave unpredictably.

Walkability and beerability

I walked many miles in downtown, Pearl District, Lloyd District, Kern and Sullivan’s Gulch neighborhoods. I visited several brewpubs and took note of features of the parks system. When it comes to open green areas, Minneapolis may be a close tie. But since all that green dies off in the winter in Minneapolis and is mostly abandoned and devoid of people for much of the year, the comparison may be invalid.

Hillsboro

I visited Hillsboro, a suburb, because of a reason I had. It turned out to be much more remote than expected. Much like Minneapolis suburbs, there is little or no transit on the weekends. The private company Uber stepped in to fill this gap.

Weed gummies

I got some weed gummies from a dispensary downtown. As expected, a legal recreational cannabis system is safe, hassle-free and controlled. It’s funny to compare the moral hand-wringing that accompanies cannabis legalization debates with the laissez-faire attitude toward deadly and addictive opioid prescribing.

Book festival

A highlight of my trip was the 2017 Wordstock book festival. The event took over several city blocks, including the Portland Art Museum and the Oregon Historical Society. I attended a couple of readings and panels by authors I was totally ignorant of. Nonetheless I enjoyed it. Partly because of those potent gummies, no doubt.

 

I enjoyed my trip and I am looking forward to a more nature-oriented visit in the future. Mount Hood is less than an hour away. So is the Oregon coast. This is in stark contrast to Minneapolis where an hour’s drive in any direction presents you one thing: corn fields!