I learned the other day that one of my favorite restaurants in Portland, Genoa, closed last November after 38 years, a victim of the bad economy. I remember my first (and, unfortunately, only) meal there about 10 years ago. It was my indoctrination into truly excellent service and food. The hefty bill kept me from going back, but I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless and always vowed to go back and treat myself to a meal there every so often. I guess I won't get the chance now. A good lesson to take advantage of things you like before they're gone forever.

With the rising temperatures, the heavy rains are quickly melting the once-in-a-generation snowpack that has coated Portland for the past two weeks. As the snow melts, I find myself a little sad to see it go. Here are a few highlights, most of these are first-timers!

• Skiing down my street and around my neighborhood (pictures)
• Cross country skiing with Aimee across town to Ben and Annie's house (pictures)
• Sledding down the big hill by Chapman Elementary School, including a 7-person "sled train" with the Big House gang (pictures)
• Hiking through a blizzard for dinner at Macaroni Grill downtown
• Meeting neighbors and other fun-seeking indivudals while doing everything listed above
• The universal camaraderie all around town in dealing with nature's adversity
• Having an actual white Christmas (complete with fresh snow fall)

We enjoyed a nice snowy walk to East India Co. yesterday for lunch. My Indian friends at work say it's currently the best Indian food in Portland. I had the $6 lunch special--it was good! Nice ambiance, good service. I'll be adding it to our regular restaurant rotation.

The other day, while waiting for my train home, I spent the idle minutes reading the fare information sign at the station. Portland's public transportation uses a three-zone system with different ticket prices depending on how far you travel.

Due to reasons unknown to me (but undoubtedly involving politics and gerrymandering), when the light rail was extended to Hillsboro several years ago, everything west of the zoo was put into zone 3. There are no zone 2 stops between the last stop on the west side (Sunset transit center) and the zoo stop halfway through the west-side tunnel (which is in zone 1).

What this means is that anybody buying a ticket out in Hillsboro is going to need either a one-zone ticket or a three-zone ticket. There are no possible destinations from Hillsboro that would require a two-zone ticket.

However, the ticket machines at these stops only sell two- and three-zone tickets! I hope there's some other explanation, but it certainly seems like Tri-met is ripping people off. The amount is small (the one-zone ticket is only five cents cheaper), but the principle of over-charging is the same nonetheless.

I need to purchase a three-zone ticket anyway so this doesn't affect me directly. But I am curious as to why such a blatant error/oversight persists.