Alexsandra Stewart, Broker -Portland Oregon Real Estate-

I'm really loving the web site Life Hacker! There's a huge amount of information and articles that are helpful, useful and sometimes just plain fun to read!

A recent article, "How Can I find Out if Someone's Stealing My Wi-Fi", is pretty technical - at least I found it to be --but has lots of tips on checking to find out if someone is piggy-backing on your signal. If a bit too techie for you, it would be great to hand the url to your personal, favorite techie and ask them to check out your securuty and encryption. I have had an open wi-fi, but am setting up a password as soon as I finish with this post!

There's also a great article on improving your google searches, "The Best Way to Tweak Your Search When Google Doesn't Give You What You Want." I am a little lame when it comes to putting in search criteria, and tend to use all the little words like will, do, and, what -- a definite no-no, not at all helpful for the search engine!

One of the fun articles has to do with carmelizing onions in half the time it usually takes. This results in a shorter time in the kitchen and still have tasty dishes like a yummy home made French onion soup.

Life Hacker also has tips for Windows and Mac users that are easy to find. They've set up tabs for each. There's a tab for Linus too, and one for Gismodo. I've no idea what Gismodo is all about as haven't had a chance to check it out yet.

Of course you can follow them on Facebook, catch their Tweets, and subscribe to their feed. Check the site out - you may love it as much I as I do!

Post first published at Alexsandra Stewart Portland Oregon Real Estate Blog

I've seen the photo of these trolley carmen many times.

Dana Beck, postal worker and member of the Sellwood History Committee, used it in the 2009 SMILE calender he put together. Dana has had it posted at the Sellwood Branch Post Office.

The men work for the Interurban Train Line and, according to Dana's research, "the car went all the way to Cazadero (Estacada), where the Clackamas River produced some of the electricity that powered the cars. It was also the site of a popular park and resort hotel," which, while still located in Estacada got great reviews for the view, but not so good for the food, on Urban Spoon.

Every time I see the photo, I wonder.

I wonder if one of the five men pictured could possibly have been my grandfather. He was a carman for the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company. He lived in Sellwood a few blocks from the Car Barns.

My father was born in 1909 while his parents lived on SE Lexington Street in Sellwood. By 1911 his parents were divorced. Our family research has placed his father living in Sellwood, after the divorce, in a rooming house on SE 11th Avenue. I've driven by, the house is still there. After the mention in the Polk Directory he disapears.

I look at the only photo we have of him, along with my grandmother, which was taken at Council Crest on the day of their engagement. And, I wonder.

I wonder if a facial recognition program would be able to see if there are any of the men's features that are similar to the features of my grandfather, or my father. I wonder if any of these men knew John Douglas Maxwell, or where he went when he disappeared from public records.

I really can't see a similarity between the men in the two photos. Yet, I wonder: if you put a cap on him, or add a mustache, would he look like the man second from the right? Don't the ears look a little similar?

They would have taken a trolley to Council Crest. Did he ride for free? or have a pass for them both? Did they, by chance, ride on one of the two cars that survived the dismantling of Portland's car system, 503 or 506?

I wonder if he'd be glad that trolleys are returning to Portland, and eventually to Sellwood. Or would he be indifferent now, as he seemed to be to the child he fathered then?

History Note: "The City & Suburban Railway of 1891 was not Portland's first interurban but it was the first to consolidate many of the smaller lines that had sprung up in the city dating back to Portland Street Railway of 1872. In 1904 the Portland Consolidated Railway came into existence when the Portland Railway and City & Suburban merged, the city's largest two interurbans up to that time. A year later the line became known as the Portland Railway and by 1906 this company had merged with the Oregon Water Power & Railway to form the Portland Railway, Light & Power Company, the last remaining interurban in the city. Over the subsequent years this system was known by several different names; the Mount Hood Railway & Power Company (1911); Portland Electric Power Company (1924); Portland Traction Company; and lastly the Portland Railroad & Terminal Division (1946). Streetcar service survived until 1950 when it was abandoned in favor of buses." (from the American Rails website)

For more information on Dana Beck's mission to preserve Sellwood and local history through photographs see the article published in the Sellwood Bee, July '07 and updated October '09.

Sellwood History Committee Photo used with permission.

Titled "Perseverance: Black Pioneers in Early Oregon" and presented by the Oregon Northwest Black Pioneers, a new exhibit opened January 14th at the Oregon History Museum in Portland.

Showcasing the presence of African Americans thoughout Oregon's history the exhibit will run through April 3rd.

The exhibit highlights the experiences of the early Black pioneers who lived in Oregon prior to World War II. As the Oregon Historical Society and Oregon History Museum website points out: "Throughout Oregon's early history, the presence of African Americans in all parts of the state are recorded in documents and photographs. They came to Oregon as slaves and free in spite of Black Exclusion Laws and worked and lived alongside other pioneers as farmers, blacksmiths, lumbermen, miners, bootblacks, cowboys and mid-wives. Their children went to school, they volunteered for local fire departments and they donated money and land to their communities."

I am especially looking forward to the film, "The Logger's Daughter" made in partnership with Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) and the Oregon Historical Society. It first aired in May, 2009 on OPB. The film will be shown within the Maxville exhibit on the first floor. Maxville was built in 1923 by the Bowman Hicks Lumber Company near Wallowa in eastern Oregon. In addition to the unusual situation that the logging camp housed entire families, another distinctive feature of Maxville was that 50 or 60 of the residents were African Americans. The film tells the story of Maxville's history and people through La Grande native Gwen Trice, who set out a few years ago to learn more about her father's early years in Oregon.

Additionally the photographs look amazing. Old photograghs are strangely interesting to me. I don't need to know the people personally or be related.

I want to know the stories, who the people were and how they felt about their lives, their families and their locations. Based on the photographs alone, I think this exhibit will be rich in story.

The Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday, Noon to 5:00 pm.

The Museum is located in Portland's Cultural District, at 1200 SW Park Avenue in Portland.

Maybe you aren't even thinking of buying a gas grill! But perhaps you should. According to Life Hacker, the first quarter is the best time to buy not only a gas grill but also an air conditioner. Of course, that makes sense as it is the off season for those summer season needed items.

The people behind the site - a great resource for lots of techie type and life style information - have pulled together a seasonal buying guide. They first published one last year, and this yea'rs is now ready. It's been pulled together from their research, comments from their readers and with additional information from the book, Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon: A Guide to the Best Time to Buy This, Do That, and Go There, by Mark Di Vincenzo.

The buying guide is broken into what's best bought for each the four seasons as well as with additional specific items for each month, and reasons why that particular item is best purchased in that month. Some of the reasons are obvious, as chocolates are a better value after Valentines Day. Guess that makes sense! Luggage is the best value in March because it's halfway through the traveling seasons. Stores often have sales to move their inventory at that time.

One less obvious, at least to me, best time was when to buy a wedding dress. Life Hacker says that would be after November 15th, before the cutsey December engagement season starts.

They even get into the best tme to buy a house.

That would be during the second quarter and say this about it: "It's a tricky thing, house buying, but if you do it early enough to see how the house survived winter, but not at the height of warm-weather open house season, a good deal can be found."

Seems like a good time to get your saver's hat on, and make your buying plans fit the seasonal guide's recommendations. Maybe you'll be able to take advantage of the cruise deals they say are great in the month of April.