This is a guest post from Marcel who loves taking night photos. All pictures are unedited.

Hawthorne Bridge

Portland Night Skyline

A plane was flying by

Night Portrait

The shutter was open long enough to catch the traffic

We found Furever Pets in Portland’s NE Broadway neighborhood. The coolest, friendliest pet store ever.

Furever Pets

Lots of goodies

Mulder enjoyed taking the "eggs" out of the penguin toy we got for him.

I did not like reading when I was growing up. No book could hold my attention. However, when I moved to the States, I started reading magazines. Somehow, the combination of text and pictures attracted me. Then I discovered I could read them for free at the library. I went from not reading at all, to magazines, then finally REAL books. The rest, as they say was history.

Today both Marcel and I use the library a lot. From DVD movies and documentaries to all kinds of books and even cultural passes, we use them all. For FREE. If they don’t have the book you are looking for, they can get it from another library NATIONWIDE, for FREE or almost FREE. So far I have been getting them for FREE.

Generally, I have 3-4 titles I am reading. All non-fiction. Fiction books do not appeal to me but I am always trying to learn something new. Here are some that I am reading right now. Do you have any book recommendations along these topics?

Dr. A's Habits of Health

Change Your Brain, Change Your Life

The Best of America's Test Kitchen Cookbook 2009

48 Days to the Work You Love

I finally decided on this one. I needed the best bang for the buck. For half the price of  a Mac, better specs than a Dell with the same price, better deal than most name brands, and most of all “instant gratification” at my local store, I felt this was my best option. It has 10 USB ports! Maybe they are all like that now but my last one had only 2. Laptops are out since I never used the one I had just last summer. Every time I need a new computer, I consider a Mac but the bottom line is we already have all the software for a PC. I seriously considered the netbooks. They’re so cute and great for travel but I do most of my work at home and I need something that is somewhat heavy duty. Cheers to my new computer!

Gateway Computer

It’s been reaaaally slow and the hard drive is making a funny noise. I ran a full virus and spyware scan, even de-fragmented the hard drive but no improvement. Marcel’s second opinion confirmed my observations. Time for a new one? Maybe.

This one’s been really good to me. Marcel bought it for $50 from work a few years ago. Despite its age, it is very reliable and quick.  It’s hard to let it go. It’s painful to start over and transfer my files but at least I will get a new shiny one.

Mac or PC or Linux? Desktop, Laptop, or Netbook?

Yesterday I had to “go the extra mile” to complete a project at work. In appreciation, the Project Engineer gave me a chocolate bar. I just did my job but it was a nice gesture. The chocolate was very good.