It is my birthday week and due to a variety of circumstances, I have decided that a trip to the Pacific Northwest was in order. I am currently sitting at the Austin airport using my Verizon MiFi (recently upgraded to the 4G edition and low and behold, the AUS is getting a 4G signal) and checking emails and decided to put up this blog post.
My trip is not a vacation really, just working from a different locale, a change of scenery as it were. I will be in Portland also doing some recon for one of my clients that plans to increase their retail presence out in that area. So checking out the competition, determining whom they should speak with, etc. Should be a nice change of pace from coding and looking at call detail records.
I won’t be able to really take Chicken Day on the road with me (which is Tuesdays) as I fly back next Tuesday and leave Portland at like 9am, whilst my layover is of a good length in LAX, I don’t want to think about where I might find edible chicken wings there.
But Taco day is a different story altogether, that is tomorrow. Several times when mentioning Portland, people (white people mind you, not that there is anything wrong with them being white, just a data point), have said how I won’t likely find any Mexican food or people of Hispanic descent. When I first heard this, I thought, you know what, I don’t know. Then a friend of mine said that “There are many of our peoples there you know.” (he is half-Mexican too), therefore not knowing what to believe (not that I don’t believe people out of hand, but I was raised to find the truth yourself, and not to always blindly follow people, even people you trust).
I looked it up….
* Per the 2000 Census, the population of Portland was 6.8% Hispanic. That means something like 30-36k Hispanics in Portland, per numbers from 11 years ago.
* Per the same 2000 Census, the population of Austin was 30.5%, meaning 215k Hispanics, which makes sense given the fact Texas used to be part of Mexico and general proximity to Mexico.
* Per the same 2000 Census, the population of Lansing, MI (my hometown) was 9.98%, which translates to almost 12k hispanics in Lansing, MI.
* Portland’s Wikipedia page states that in data collected from 2006 – 2008, the population of Hispanics in Portland is now at 8.8% or 48k, and it is Wikipedia, so has to be right, right?
So per the quick search for data, there appears to be more Hispanics living in Portland than my hometown, but on a percentage basis it is lower and both towns are lower than Austin. Note, in some areas of Austin, the billboards are in Spanish (not ingles and espanol, solo en espanol).
With all of that hard statistical data there, I am certain that Rachel can find us a place to eat Tacos in Portland that is fairly authentic (not necessarily Tex-Mex, but far, far from a Taco Bell, Taco Bueno or even a Taco Cabana [which for fast food tacos is actually pretty good]).
I am looking forward to seeing my sister’s town (yup she owns it now) as I have never been to Portland, ever, was in Seattle and drove east to visit the Douglas County PUD once, but that is as close as I have come to Portland. I have at least one CoWorking place (the Collective Agency) that I want to check out. I would like to visit at least two, maybe three.
I fly back to Austin on the 27th. I hope to have a great visit with my sister, I am currently cleaning out all the pics off my phone so that I have plenty of space available to take lots of pictures.
Oh yeah, if you are a runner or in search of a dog, go visit Gina’s Shelter on the 24th, they are having a 5k and of course always have cute puppies, kittens and great adult dogs and cats too.
Laterz!