[sharonpdx]

anyone know any good back to school sales?

looks like I'm going back to school!

I enrolled today at Portland State and registered for Principles of Training and Development, the first in a five-course series that results in a Management of Training certificate from the Graduate School of Education's Continuing Ed program.  I am looking at it as 1) the chance to get some solid T&D management training (and a piece of paper asserting I know my stuff) and 2) a toe in the water to see if graduate school is something I want to pursue.  All five of the courses articulate to the P.A.C.E (Postsecondary, Adult, and Continuing Ed)  Master's in Education, which has a thematic specialization in Training & Development.

blah, blah, blah.

my first class is October 18th.  which leaves me about a month and a half to cram in every fun thing i can think of. 

[kidding, sort of.  but i admit to a bit of nervousness in trying to juggle it all.  fortunately, it's only one class.  and i hear the instructor is fantastic.]

sweet summer days

ah, August in Portland.  there's so much going on, it makes my head spin - literally - as I pass another, and yet another wooden pole covered with fliers for this event and that.   and that's just on the 5-block walk between Doug's place and mine.  already this week I've been reminded that I missed the Geek Fair, and the Portland Distillers Fest, and about 80 dozen concerts.  I'm not going to this Footloose vs. Flashdance event tonight (even though there's a boys vs. girls dance off!) because I seriously need to do laundry.  and I've decided to skip the Portland Mercury's DNC Watch Party on Thursday (Barack!  Bingo!  Beer!)  in favor of dinner + drinks with Ben + Ziggy (Hamlet's parents). [although, if you knew how much fun Ben + Ziggy are, you'd watch Obama's speech later on the internets, too.]

and I woke up this morning to a cheery email from my friend Erica containing news of this weekend's Portland Pie-off. 

seriously, so much going on. 

which is just another way of saying I know, I know, I'm behind, because I've been busy sucking up the summer through a straw like every other Portlander who knows that cold, gray, dreary days are returning all too soon.

the sweetest part of my August was the very first four days, when for the first time both of my parents visited me in Portland at the same time.

what a blast.  on their first night here, my mom's favorite movie, and the one our family can quote from beginning to end (can, and does, incessantly) was showing at Pioneer Square for Flicks on the Bricks: The Birdcage.  we managed to catch that after dinner (always the good sport, Doug sat through the first half, and tolerated us saying the lines before the actors did).  we spent hours at the Rose Garden on Saturday, and went to the coast on Sunday where my dad decided to climb down to the beach after his sunglasses, and my mom decided to climb down after my dad - you know, just in case...  they were well-rewarded for their efforts:  check out those starfish.
 

 

         

            

proof that the best stuff happening in Portland doesn't always get a whole lot of press.

all dogs go to heaven.

jeez.  i've been a regular reader of the Portland Mercury's blog, Blogtown, PDX, since i discovered it shortly after i moved here - which means i've been reading long enough to know not to take every post title seriously.  [not that they don't post about serious stuff.  they do.  the PBA v. homeless people (a.k.a. the sit/lie ordinance), PBA/Adams v. Peterson's, bike helmets v. everyone else... thanks to Amy Ruiz and Matt Davis and (oh, how i miss you!) Scott Moore, I'm actually a pretty aware citizen of Portland.  but I digress.]

a few minutes ago, i was walking down the street toward my house, reading from Google Reader on my blackberry.  [yes, i do this.  frequently.]  i read the post title: "And Now You Will Cry," and the opening lines:

Nothing is as cathartic as a good cry, wouldn't you agree? And yet when you happen to be a soul-less bastard (such as myself), it's almost impossible to get my dry as dust sockets to produce anything close to tears.

THAT IS, UNTIL I READ THIS.

and i moved on.  i opened up something else entirely (i don't know - probably my Jezebel feed).

anyway.  a few minutes after i arrived home i found myself again perusing my Reader (hello, my name is Sharon and i'm addicted to the internets) and this time, I read the post.

GO.  go read it.

that might be the sweetest damn thing i think i've ever, ever heard.

[p.s. if this turns out not to actually be true don't freaking tell me because why, man, why would you do that?]

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stay tuned for pics & stories from my parents' visit to PDX this past weekend...