Letter from the Editor.

Hello surveyors!

Hello mayors!

Hello anybody who does or doesn't have hairs!

I made it out of California. Whew! The last time I wrote a proper newsletter, I was very cutesy about being under a blizzard warning...then the storm hit. I'd seen monsoon-like rains on my high school orchestra trip to Disneyland for spring break when we travelled to California on a 30-hour train ride but I had not seen anything like the storm that hit two weekends ago. Not only was there wind and rain but there was also thunder and lightning. Oh my!

The wind wrestled one of my windows open twice. And when the wind wasn't breaking and entering, it was directing sheets of water at and through my windows. I had water coming through the panes and under the frames of my windows. I hardly had enough towels to stop up everything.

The wind subsided around midnight, which coincided with 1) when I needed to go pick up my friend from the airport and 2) flash floods! Because the Burbank Airport flooded, my friend's plane had to go back and forth between Phoenix and Los Angeles a few times before finally settling in at LAX around 3 am. I braved the streets on my Razor scooter and Honda Accord wearing my best rain pants.

The thunder and lightning continued for another day and the rain stayed until I left town. In fact, it might still be there, although hopefully not making itself comfortable in my apartment while I'm gone.

I'm gone! I'm in Oregon! I landed and it was snowing. Nothing is as it should be! I'm back in Portland for work and completed a very important work assignment: getting my coworker to the covetous 500 connections mark on LinkedIn. In return, he gave me a cupcake. There are definite perks to working in the office.

I'm considering pulling a prank while I'm in the office. Maybe something similar to my cake-prank last year. Who would ever expect me to strike twice in the same way?

Before I came back home, I was starting to have fun in Los Angeles. I had an improv pal come visit me and we bopped around town eating brunch and exploring the inside of the Griffith Observatory.

I also went hiking to Escondido Falls. I have been hiking with groups via the Meetup app and I feel like every time I mention that, I should get some sort of payment. A group of 40 of us went hiking to a set of waterfalls in Malibu. It was the perfect time to see the falls because of the recent rain but I almost got too scared to go because the trail report was full it: "It's real muddy." I had to decide it if was muddy by tried and true hikers standards or if it was muddy by California-standards. It was the latter.

There were a few stream crossings that seemed to blow everyone's mind. People were trying all sorts of innovative ways to bridge or ford the stream while I just kind of hopped in my mostly waterproof hiking boots. My way definitely beat the people who were putting trash bags over their shoes.

I went to a grocery store last week on my walk and began checking out three dinner items without any money. I had to walk home, walk back, ring up my items again, and walk home. My odometer was off the charts!

Who is ready for the Oscars? You? Me? I guess I'm as ready as I've ever been for them. I don't watch all that many movies but I do hope Marcel the Shell with Shoes On wins something. That was in my top two movies of last year; right up there with Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.

Who is ready for the Met Gala? Not the Kardashians! They are not invited! Last year, of course, I celebrated with my long-time collaborator the Homewood Suites by Hilton. Interestingly, the Homewood Suites by Hilton haven't reached out to me...yet. There is still time!

Maybe attending the Met Gala is one of my bucket list items. I have two now: Walk the red (or blue) carpet at the world premiere of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and attend the Met Gala (hopefully as an invited guest, but I'll take what I can get).

There was a screw in my tire for two weeks but it isn't in there anymore.

I'm not even sure I like being a car driver anymore. Driving around town sucks. Driving along the ocean is cool and road trips are cool but driving around town can really drain me.

I want to give a big thanks to everyone who took the survey I sent out last week. It was fun to see all the responses and get a gauge on how many of you understand wavelengths. I will probably update this newsletter soon with some fun new ideas but I didn't this week because I've been busy living a jet-setting lifestyle! And also because I was busy getting a screw removed from my tire.

A lot is going on in this world and I am so happy to be celebrating Women's Month. I love being a women and I love all the cool things and not cool things women have done. What's harshing the vibe is the anti-transgender legislation being introduced and passed in this country! Transgender people should have the same rights as anyone else. This supposed fear of transgender people is unfounded and an attempt to direct people's focus away from real issues impacting the safety of our communities like gun reform, the housing crisis, clean energy, and more.

Remember to love your neighbor because as these laws and bills are introduced and passed, hate crimes against the transgender community have increased. In the wise words of the sign at the mechanic shop near my house in Tigard: "Hate creates a lot of problems. It never solves them."



Rachel