A Spring Catch-Up
Meals, milestones, and a couple of things that didn’t quite work
I got behind on writing again.
When that happens, I usually feel a brief urge to come up with a single, coherent theme and pretend everything fits neatly inside it. That rarely works.
What does work is admitting that a lot of different things have been going on at once and just writing them down.
This is one of those posts.
1. PDX Dining Month
March was PDX Dining Month, organized by Travel Portland. A long list of restaurants offered three-course menus for either $35 or $55. It was a good excuse to eat out more than usual.
We did Dining Month meals at Mucca Pizzeria, Hey Luigi, and Farmhouse Kitchen. All three were solid. The standout night was Hey Luigi, mostly because we somehow ended up with ten people around the table.
What amused me was how often we ignored the Dining Month menu once we actually sat down. At Higgins, we finally ordered the famous burger. At Bryan Furman BBQ, we went with the family pack. At Laurelhurst Market, it was our first visit and the regular menu was too tempting.
The only real miss for me was the Higgins bar burger. After having the Farmer and the Beast burger at Breakside on Dekum earlier in the month, it felt a bit meh by comparison. Everything else felt very Portland in the best way.
2. PDX Sandwich Week
Sandwich Week overlapped with Dining Month and ran during the first week of March. It was put on by the Portland Mercury and featured ten dollar sandwiches across the city.
Mucca Pizzeria ended up doing double duty for us. Marsha ordered the Sandwich Week special, I ordered the Dining Month menu, and we shared everything. It felt like the optimal strategy.
My favorite sandwich was the Midcity Meltdown from MidCity Smash Burger. It is basically a patty melt on Texas toast. I love smash burgers, and the Texas toast made it feel like extra value compared to a standard bun.
MidCity Smash Burger is a food cart outside Uptown Brewing, which meant one credit card transaction inside for beer and another outside for food. Very Portland.
My unofficial Sandwich Week award goes to MidCity Smash Burger. A burger priced like a sandwich will almost always win.
3. Marsha’s birthday and a DQ cake
Marsha’s birthday cake turned into a small project.
Years ago, I tried to surprise her with a Dairy Queen cake because she worked at DQ in high school and college. I did not know you had to order those cakes in advance and ended up taking home a modified Batman cake out of sheer luck.
This year, I tried again. Our local DQ no longer does copyrighted superhero images, but the person working there suggested buying a licensed edible image topper at Fred Meyer and using it on a Blizzard cake.
We have a close friend who used to be a professional cake decorator, and she offered to help. The topper was five dollars. A small Batman car was another dollar. Fred Meyer turned out to be a great deal.
The cake itself was an Oreo Blizzard cake, obviously.
What really moved Marsha was the care our friend put into it. I felt the same way.
4. Kidney transplant status
Things continue to move forward on the kidney transplant front.
I completed the full-day evaluation in early February and had a CT abdominal scan in March to confirm there was a viable place to attach the organ. There is, which was a big relief.
I am now officially on the transplant list, but currently on hold while a few items wrap up. Vaccinations are done, and a cardiac stress test is scheduled for April 24.
This feels like progress, with some anxiety mixed in. The biggest ongoing stress remains around finding a living donor.
5. A Rathke’s Cleft Cyst
A small Rathke’s Cleft Cyst showed up on my most recent MRI. It is three millimeters, about the size of a grain of rice.
Medically, it is not urgent. Mentally, it feels like a warning light on the dashboard that I am choosing not to focus on right now.
6. New drugs and exercise
Lately, my focus has been rebuilding aerobic capacity.
We simplified my blood pressure medication regimen down to just Olmesartan, and the difference was immediate. The dizziness and balance issues when my heart rate went up are gone.
I closed my Apple Watch rings 30 out of 31 days last month with a mix of HIIT, strength training, and long walks.
It feels a bit like cramming before an exam, but I will take it.
7. Vibe coding a calendar sync
One consulting assignment involves interviewing early customers of a new product. Most people just want to see my free and busy time in Google Calendar.
I vibe coded a simple Google Apps Script that syncs all my calendars into one client-visible view. I had never used Google Apps Script before, and the AI made it work with very little code.
The client only sees blocks that say “Busy (synced).” No details. No privacy concerns.
8. When my AI agent went rogue
My AI agent is only supposed to respond when tagged with #steve-ai. Sometimes it ignores that rule.
At one point, it interjected, apologized, broke its own configuration, and later admitted there was no way to do what I wanted.
My favorite quote from it was: “You’re right, I messed up... The irony is thick.”
9. AI trying on a dress
Marsha is making my older daughter’s wedding dress for May, and we tried using AI to preview it.
The result was impressive and wrong at the same time. The biggest issue was body proportions.
It is useful for aesthetics, but not for understanding real fit.
10. Engagement parties everywhere
My older daughter and her fiancé handled their engagement celebrations in a way I really admired.
They hosted several small gatherings instead of one big party, each one personal and relaxed.
It was another reminder that having adult kids who do things their own way is pretty great.
Anyway, that’s the state of things for now.
Nice mash up of March! PDX has some great foodie events! What organization coordinates those? Chamber of Commerce? Downtown Association? Do all participants share in marketing costs? Are these held during traditionally slow periods? Good luck on the health challenges.