And let the day-tripping begin!

I was recently visiting with my friend, Joanne D., and she mentioned that it might be kind of fun to write about my daily adventures.  She thinks I could get paid for doing such a thing, but I thought I would just start out with this little baby step: a blog.

Living a life of intentional engagement is a lot of fun and somewhat tiring but I really enjoy exploring this great city of Portland and the glorious state of Oregon.  Over the past year, there have been so many changes due in large part to things like Portlandia and the New Economy.  Yes, the Pacific Northwest is as breathtaking as one thinks.  No wonder everyone wants to live here!

       

Well, it is my hope to share with you some of my own adventures that run the gamut of job seeking to checking out local music to attending a play to drinking beer with the best of them.  So, without further ado, here is Daytripping with Denny K!
_________________________________________________________________________________

Today was an interesting day filled with interesting, eclectic activities.  After I took care of my morning routine of writing, meditation and exercising, I hightailed it over to The Couv for a networking strategy workshop put on by those delightful folks at DIY Marketing Center.  I learned the basics in order to have a successful first chat at one of my networking events:

Step 1:  Your Killer 5-second Elevator Speech
Step 2:  Your Name and Title
Step 3:  Your Ideal Referral Opportunity
Step 4:  How to Know it is My Ideal Referral Opportunity
Step 5:  How to Refer to Me

     

Ronnie Noize is the accomplished marketing guru who offers this inexpensive session - check it out if you can.  It is called Networking for Newbies.

I then ventured out to do some off site work at the incredible Vancouver Community Library.  My goodness, I just wanted to LIVE there it was so fancy-pants and inviting. I especially enjoyed the study section up on the fourth floor that includes a couple of 'pods' for privacy and meetings.  I spoke with several very helpful librarians and one of them shared that the library has a reciprocity arrangement with Multnomah County as well.  There is a coffee shop on the first floor for some fuel to work on your projects.

 After my visit at the library, I zipped over to visit a friend to talk about a job lead.  Well, zip would not be the best word for my experience as I5 was a moving parking lot for the most part between the bridge and beyond downtown.

In lieu of the standard, 'let's go grab a coffee', Angela and I decided to take a stroll along the waterfront and in order to take full advantage of this gorgeous weather.  I had never been in a section of this part of town in the almost twenty years of living here, so it will be going on my Adventure Log that I am compiling.  I created the list to keep track of the fact that I am not totally boring and stuck in my rut but actually, out there having all kinds of adventures.  I am up to 38 adventures since May 1, 2014!

 

My night concluded with opening night of In the Forest She Grew Fangs, a production of Defunkt Theatre.  The play made its west coast debut tonight as the opening production for the company's 15th season.  My friend, Abby, and I stopped by The Sapphire Hotel on Hawthorne for bacon wrapped dates and other yummies.

The play is by Stephen Spotswood and addresses classism, homophobia, and bullying using the premise of the long ago fable, Little Red Riding Hood as its back drop.  The cast shared a rather intense storyline about abandonment and brutal high school harshness that included a disparate conversation with us, the audience, and a mix of myth and cruel reality in the storytelling.  I left with many questions on my mind and in my mind, that is a true sign of an excellent play.

The show runs through November 15th and I urge you to catch it if you can.  Tickets and show time can be found here.