I do live in Portland. I met a girl while I was walking my dog the other day. She was from Connecticut and she said that Portland reminded her of the way small towns back east used to be. Houses are expensive here compared to Clinton, NY, which is beautiful but kind of cold and lonely. Portland is hoppin, with lots of little walkable pockets around the city like Hawthorne, NW, and Albina. There's also a great downtown.

you make a good point about the cities being more expensive with goods, housing and services, but when I lived in the country and had a house with a gas furnace, that was just way too expensive for me, like a huge car payment during the winter.

Somebody came on here and told the people here to STFU, so I just want to point out that if you don't want to read other people's opinions, stay out of the letters section. Saying STFU discourages reasonable conversation, which is what is going on here. I believe Garrison made a point about discourse leading to recognition of others' humanity. That's actually a nice thing.

yes, you'd better take care of yourself because absolutely no one else is going to. Eating right and exercising, they're just great. But what if at the age of 14 (34 years ago for me) you start having seizures every month around your period? Should you have an apple? I took medication for seizures for 34 years that made me tired, depressed, weakened my bones and dehydrated me causing upper respiratory infections, dry mouth, sinus infections, bladder infections, kidney stones. For all of these conditions doctors prescribed different antibiotics, antidepressants (making seizures worse) and steroid inhalers which aggravate rosacea. Now I take Keppra instead of Tegretol or mebaral and I am much better. I haven't taken anything but an antacid in more than a year, and I don't have seizures either.

People aren't perfect by any means but neither are doctors, hospitals or drug companies. I also haven't had insurance in more than two years, and I still see a doctor and get my meds. Instead of waiting to get dumped by your insurance company, drop them. It would be interesting to see the whole population dump the insurance industry. I know no one will do that, it's risky. But really, how much worse could it get? We're paying for those stupid drug commercials.

you said what i wanted to without whining

And ahanson, have you been to the free clinic lately? I went just a couple of weeks ago. It is absolutely no worse (probably better) than going to someplace like Kaiser Permanente. I'm in total agreement that the health insurance industry is ruining health care. The best care you can receive is nonprofit. Shriner's Hospital is another great chronic care model.

are great in the snow, and it's not so much the deep snow but the new snow, so slippery

if you cut way down or out on sugar your cholesterol will lower and very quickly too. That's not most people's biggest problem, and you may not have heart disease now, but someday if you're 80 or more, chances are you will likely to get sick sometime. I read about a woman yesterday who was 94, and she had a list of illnesses a mile long, medications too, but she lived at home and was very independent. Whoever said that healthy people cost the system money was absolutely right.

And for the poster who had chronic hypothyroidism and epilepsy, I sympathize totally. Sometimes I get the feelings from doctors that if they have to treat you for a chronic illness your health is for shit anyway so--? But really, most doctors are nice and well meaning.

maybe you don't know what vitriol is because your letters are full of it. I don't know why you think parents should have to defend their doll-buying choices to you, but you seem to think they should. I have no interest in the doll argument. You highjacked this thread with your overlong letters and your judgments of people. I just like to read salon's movie reviews and this sounds like a good one. You have been just hateful since your first letter.

was so different in tone from her previous ones. I think she enjoys insulting and bossing people. What she seems to enjoy less is being called on her bullshit. You may correctly accuse me of vitriol.

so i don't watch weeds, but it sounds interesting. I did watch a couple of episodes of Jeff Lewis but stopped watching after the episode where he hadn't provided bathroom facilities to the people working on his house and then discovered they had used the crawlspace for a toilet. It was so gross and the thing that seemed to have him the most upset was that his hired garbage man refused to go under there and clean it. That's when (in my view) he went from mildly amusing fussbudget to complete sociopath.

you are so missing the point. You seem to insist that everyone wants to "shoot the messenger." No, I don't. I'm just totally not interested in your message. If you want to detail the merits of different toys, dolls and books, why don't you get a job writing for Consumer Reports. "Yes, it's based on a doll. But this gentle-spirited MOVIE makes the past come alive." She's talking about a film. How very generous of you to allow people to read the books they choose.

you're no erma bombeck--not funny, not insightful, just dumb

then your column goes on to say that you think at least some of his comments have merit, which they do. Ralph speaks up for poor people and beleagured small towns and is considered a raving lunatic. I've had it with the whole mess and the election. it's completely pointless

mustard, molasses and apple cider vinegar make a great glaze for a pork roast, mix it to your own taste. I know this stuff even though i don't need to anymore.