Lunch with my lawyer

Well, I went to Blue star and filled out paperwork (a W-2, not a W-4. I guess that one comes at the end of the tax year). and drove up to Vancouver to do the drug test. I hate those things, but it’s a fact of life nowadays, and this is a driving job. I’m done for the day. When the test results come back, I will continue with a driving test – it’s been a long time since I drove a big vehicle, and I have no way to practise, so… I hope it’s like a bicycle and I haven’t forgotten how.

That makes me think I should pump up the tires on my bike and go for a ride. Portland is rated as one of the best cities in the US for bike riding, and several trails go right by here – The Springwater Corridor, an old railroad line, goes right by my apartment building and goes all the way to Boring – my friend A used to live not far off that trail, and I rode over there a lot… before I got a vehicle of my own again in 2005. That poor bike has been hanging out on my balcony for more than a decade – A gave it to me because it was left behind by someone in his complex who moved and left it behind. (it was old when I got it 11 years ago).

Come to think of it, I could ride over to the Willamette River trail, that starts here in this neighborhood, and goes up along the river to the Blazer stadium, the home of the Trailblazers basketball team. Today is the beginning of Fleet Week – US Navy ships, US Coast Guard ships and vessels, and the Canadian navy and coast guard vessels visit Portland, and it will be good to see ships again. Nothing "big" is coming – the Willamette is near flood stage, and ships bigger than Frigates can’t get under the bridges downtown. A battleship came to Fleet Week, back in the early 90’s, but it tied up by Swan Island, where hundreds of ships were built by the Kaiser shipyards in Portland and Vancouver during WW2

Anyway, riding along the Willamette would give me a good view of the visiting ships, and I might do that, instead of driving up 99 and parking somewhere to walk on "the Esplanade" on the east side of the river. Because the river is so high, sections of that riverside walk are closed – the floating sections are high above the shoreline sections.

About the title of this piece: "Perry Mason" has been on channel 12 at noon for more than 40 years here in Portland. I still see episodes I don’t think I’ve seen before. "Perry Mason" is totally classic TV from the late 50’s and early 60’s. It’s fun to see cars that old, brand new on the TV, and it’s fun to see how society here has changed. It takes my mind off the drug test thing. I’ve been "good" and haven’t even had a drink in the last month or so, so I hope it’s just a formality, and that they’ll call me tomorrow and give me that driving test.

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