10 Thoughts for January 3, 2014

1. Foodie: 525 food carts in Portland. Portland is Cartopia (I think it should be called Cartlandia, but Cartopia is reference to the first pod). I've dug through all sorts of websites that have collated data and labeled different cities in the US as the food cart capital of the US, and have noticed that some appear to use faulty information, or utilize sketchy metrics. The bottom line is, Portland has far more food carts than anyone else, and if you take into account the population size, hands down Portland rules. The Portland Food Cart Blog has a handy map of all 40 pods of food carts. If you want to be in food cart heaven, Portland is it.
2. Foodie: Sticking with reasons why Portland is awesome, not only does Oregon have more craft breweries -- 6.3 per capita -- than any other state in the US, but Portland specifically has more breweries -- 58 -- than any other city in the world!
3. Transportation: Sticking with reasons why Portland is awesome, Bicycling magazine lists Portland as the second-highest bike-friendly US city. 
4. Weird: Portland's "Worst Day of the Year Ride" is a bicycle ride that is scheduled on what is meteorogically the day most likely to have the worst weather of the year. Except, last year it was called off because of snow. That was amusing.
5. Football: The internet had a big laugh over Jameis Winston's self-inflicted fall and fumble. It was a moment of schadenfreude felt around the world.
6. Football: The internet is also abuzz with the reality that, for the first time in a decade, no SEC team will be involved in a national championship game. The last time no SEC team was involved in a national championship game, was the 2005 Rose Bowl, of course!
7. Football: The Ducks' resounding blowout win against FSU, no doubt, fed into their early 7.5 point lead in the odds against Ohio State. I think it'll be another blowout, though. Ohio State just has no means to replicate the speed at which the Ducks execute plays, and they will not be able to keep up with the foot speed of Mariota. Whereas Oregon has more than enough foot speed to keep up with Ohio State, and the Ducks will rattle the Ohio State quarterback. This team, even absent Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, is a more complete team than Ohio State.
8. Football: The PAC-12 is 6-2 in bowl games, excluding the final championship game between Oregon and Ohio State. Pretty good.
9. IKEA: Portland's IKEA has fish and chips for January. Mmm...fish. Will need to find the time to go there, soon.
10. IKEA: A few years ago, IKEA stopped carrying the Traby line. I was bummed, because I never finished building my wall of Traby units. It turns out, they're still being sold...in Japan. Man, I'm jealous.