A reader just informed me that you can get QuickBooks Pro free after rebate at Staples. The offer is good today only. Go to Staples.com for more information.
Thanks for the heads up, Stone!
Add comment December 22nd, 2008
*Update* Check the comments for more events!
Looks like the weather is going to perk up in time for the weekend. Gotta love that.
Admission is free for all events below. Have a great weekend!
All weekend (August 22–24)
Festa Italiana: Portland’s annual celebration of Italian-American culture includes live music, entertainment, kids’ activities, food and more at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Visit the event website for more information.
Friday, August 22
Pete Krebs Jazz Trio will perform at Press Club at 8:30 pm. Press Club is located at 2621 SE Clinton St., 503.233.5656.
Mary Kadderly (website) and Dan Gildea will perform at RiverPlace Hotel (1510 SW Harbor Way) at 8:00 pm. Visit the PDX Jazz website for details.
Concert at Tualatin Commons: The Sugar Beets will perform at 6:30 pm. Visit the event website for more information.
The Cowboy Heroes (website) will perform at Rock Creek Tavern at 9:00 pm. Visit the Rock Creek Tavern website for more information.
Concert in Vancouver: Norman Sylvester Band will perform at 6:00 pm at Tech Center Park (172nd Ave & Mill Plain). Visit the event website for more information.
Portland Movies in the Park: “The Mask of Zorro” will be showing at Irving Park (NE 7th Ave & Fremont St) at dusk (between 8:00 pm and 8:45 pm). Pre-movie entertainment starts at 6:30 pm. Visit the event website for more information.
Flicks by the Fountain in Beaverton: “Goonies” will be showing at Beaverton City Park at dusk. Pre-movie entertainment will begin at 8:00 pm. Visit the event website for more information.
Outdoor Movie in Vancouver: “Bee Movie” will be showing at Tech Center Park (172nd Ave & Mill Plain) at sunset (around 9:00 pm). Visit the event website for more information.
Movie in Wilsonville: “Barnyard” will be showing at Memorial Park. Lawn opens at 8:15 pm; movie starts at dusk. Visit the event website for more information (click on “Movies in the Park” under City Seasonal Events).
Masque Alfresco will perform Goldoni’s “Servant of Two Masters” at 6:30 pm at Shute Park Amphitheatre in Hillsboro. Visit the event website for more information.
Author Win McCormack will talk about his new book “You Don’t Know Me: A Citizen’s Guide to Republican Family Values” at 7:30 pm at Powell’s City of Books on Burnside. Visit the Powell’s website for more information.
Saturday, August 23
Oregon Symphony Festival and Concert: At Mt. Scott Park (SE 72nd & Harold), this family-friendly event starts at 2:00 pm with performances by local entertainers, instrument petting zoos, art displays, and more. At 7:00 pm, the Oregon Symphony will perform music from the worlds of opera, ballet, television, film and Broadway. Visit the event website for more information.
Mocha Moms Back-to-School Education and Health Fair: This event includes entertainment for kids, free food, and information on kids’ nutrition, education and more. Reflections Coffeehouse & Bookstore (446 NE Killingsworth), 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Visit the event website for more information.
Geek Fair 2008: Free Geek Community Technology Center is celebrating its eighth anniversary with a street party including live music, kids’ activities, and more. 1731 SE 10th Ave, noon to 6:00 pm. Find more information at the event website or here.
Electronics Recycling Event: Bring your unwanted electronic products to the Portland Expo Center (2060 North Marine Drive) to be recycled for free. 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Find more information here.
Crocheted Coral Reef Community Project Celebration: This event celebrates the creation of a crocheted coral reef by more than 35 artists. The project’s purpose is to increase awareness of the world’s endangered coral reefs. Gossamer (2418 E. Burnside St), 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Visit the event website for more information.
Portland Zine Symposium: This two-day event (August 23–24) will be held in the Smith Memorial Ballroom on the Portland State University Campus. The symposium includes workshops, panel discussions and information on zines and zine culture. Visit the event website for more information.
Matt Dishman Community Center “Block Party”: This community event includes refreshments, music, arts & crafts, free swim, and more. Noon to 4:00 pm. Visit the Portland Parks website for more information.
Far Southwest Uniting Neighbors Picnic and Ice Cream Social: Bring your lawn chairs, blankets, appetites, and favorite food. This is an event for all ages and will include ice cream, games and activities. PCC Sylvania (on the field above the track), 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm. More information can be found here.
Ceremonial Opening of the Vancouver Land Bridge: To celebrate the completion of the Vancouver Land Bridge, the public is invited to participate in an inaugural walk, and listen to speeches by artist Maya Lin and others. Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, 9:00 am. Visit the event website for more information.
Dedication of the Bird Blind at the Sandy River Delta: The public is invited to take a family-friendly one-mile walk to the completed elliptical bird blind on the Sandy River Delta in Troutdale. At 4:00 pm, there will be an ice cream social and speeches by artist Maya Lin and others. For more information (particularly about parking), visit the event website.
Portland author Lance Kramer will present activities for kids from his book “Great Ancient China Projects You Can Build Yourself” at Airplay Café (701 E. Burnside St) at 11:00 am. Visit the event website for more information.
Portland Concerts in the Park: Providence Stage Band (40s big band) will perform at Laurelhurst Park (SE 35 & Oak) at 5:30 pm. Visit the event website for more information.
Gordon Lee will perform at RiverPlace Hotel (1510 SW Harbor Way) at 8:00 pm. Visit the PDX Jazz website for details.
Jon Garcia (website) will perform at Edgefield at 7:00 pm. Visit the Edgefield website for more information.
75th Anniversary Hoedown at Rock Creek Tavern: The Tavern is celebrating with performances by The Brothers Jam, Old Elbows and 2 Licks 2 Many; kids’ entertainment by “The Balloon Guy” Joe Mishkin; and food and drink specials. For the schedule of events, visit the Rock Creek Tavern website.
Portland Movies in the Park: “The Princess Bride” will be showing at Lents Park (SE 92nd Ave & Holgate Blvd) at dusk (between 8:00 pm and 8:45 pm). Pre-movie entertainment starts at 6:30 pm. Visit the event website for more information.
Portland Movies in the Park: “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who” will be showing at Hazeltine Park (5416 SE Flavel Dr) at dusk (between 8:00 pm and 8:45 pm). Pre-movie entertainment starts at 6:30 pm. Visit the event website for more information.
Outdoor Movie at Tualatin Commons: “Hairspray” will be showing at about 9:00 pm. Visit the event website for more information.
Outdoor Movie in Troutdale: “My Dog Skip” will be showing at dark (approximately 8:40 pm). Visit the event website for more information.
Portland Actors Ensemble will perform “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” at Fernhill Park (NE 37th Ave & Ainsworth St, on the NE 41st Ave side) at 3:00 pm. Visit the PAE website for details.
Masque Alfresco will perform Moliere’s “School for Wives” at 6:30 pm at Shute Park Amphitheatre in Hillsboro. Visit the event website for more information.
Author Jill Malone will talk about her book “Red Audrey and the Roping” at 4:00 pm at In Other Words Women’s Books and Resources (8 NE Killingsworth St). Visit the event website for more information.
Author Kelli Stanley will do a book signing at Murder by the Book (3210 SE Hawthorne Blvd) at 2:00 pm. Visit the MBTB website for more information.
Sunday, August 24
Portland Zine Symposium: This two-day event (August 23–24) will be held in the Smith Memorial Ballroom on the Portland State University Campus. The symposium includes workshops, panel discussions and information on zines and zine culture. Visit the event website for more information.
Collector Car and Wooden Boat Show in Lake Oswego: The car show will be held at George Rogers Park and will include about 200 cars. The boat show will be held at the Lake Oswego Corporation docks and at least 30 classic wooden boats will be on display. 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. More information can be found here or here.
Lents Folk Festival: Misty River, Anne Weiss and friends, and Chico Schwall and Dick Weissman will perform at Lents Park (SE 92nd Ave and Holgate) at 2:00 pm.
Pickin’ on Sunday at Doug Fir: Portland Cello Project and Chris Robley will perform at 3:00 pm on the patio. Visit the Doug Fir website for details.
Forest Music in Tryon Creek State Park: Sweet Thunder (jazz) will perform at Tryon Creek Park at 2:00 pm. Visit the Tryon website for more information.
Lake Oswego Concerts in the Park: Misty River will perform at Millennium Plaza Park at 6:00 pm. Visit the Lake Oswego website for more information.
Jack McMahon (website) will perform at Edgefield at 5:00 pm. Visit the Edgefield website for more information.
”Raising Arizona” will be showing at Press Club at 9:00 pm. Press Club is located at 2621 SE Clinton St., 503.233.5656.
Portland Actors Ensemble will perform “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” at Fernhill Park (NE 37th Ave & Ainsworth St, on the NE 41st Ave side) at 3:00 pm. Visit the PAE website for details.
Masque Alfresco will perform Goldoni’s “Servant of Two Masters” at 6:30 pm at Shute Park Amphitheatre in Hillsboro. Visit the event website for more information.
If you know of any other free events happening this weekend, please write a comment about it. If you’d like me to include an event in a future round-up, please contact me.
5 comments August 22nd, 2008
From kgw.com:
Intel Corporation and KGW invite Oregonians to recycle their too slow, too old, unwanted electronics on September 22nd.
People may bring entire computer systems to recycle, including peripherals, desktop and laptop computers, keyboards, mice and monitors. TVs, phones, DVDs and other electronics will also be disposed of at Intel’s Hawthorn Farm Campus in Hillsboro.
A shredding truck will be on site for paper waste.
The event takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 22nd at Intel’s Hawthorn Farm, located at 5200 NE Elam Young Parkway in Hillsboro.
Items accepted for recycling:
•TVs
•VCRs
•Computer monitors and CPUs
•Phones
•Cellular phones/PDAs/pagers
•Inkjet/printer cartridges
•Keyboards/mice
•Rechargeable batteries
•Scanners, printers and fax machines
Items not accepted:
•Microwaves
•Smoke detectors
•Air conditioners
•Major household appliances
Most items will be recycled at no charge. There is a $5 fee for each computer monitors and televisions up to 27. Monitors and Televisions greater than 27 inches will not be accepted.
1 comment September 21st, 2007
As if on cue, the latest issue of Intercom arrived on my doorstep with a cover story called “Free or Open-Source Tools for Technical Communicators, Part I: The Software” by Charles Curley — just a couple of days after I posted “Saving on Software.” Intercom is a magazine published by the Society for Technical Communication and is available to members.
The article features several recommendations for free software, software useful to anyone who touches a computer. I haven’t tried any of the programs yet, but I’m very excited about them, especially the…you’ll see.
Some of the recommendations include:
OpenOffice, an office suite that includes programs for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, etc., similar to the programs in Microsoft Office. Compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac. You can work on Microsoft Office files with OpenOffice, and save files in Microsoft format. You can also save files in PDF format without a separate PDF program.
AbiWord, a word processing program, similar to Microsoft Word. Compatible with Windows, Linux, QNX, FreeBSD or Solaris. According to the AbiWord website: “AbiWord is able to read and write all industry standard document types, such as OpenOffice.org documents, Microsoft Word documents, WordPerfect documents, Rich Text Format documents, HTML web pages and many more.” You can also save files in PDF format.
GIMP, an image manipulation program that includes photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. An alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Compatible with Windows, Unix and Mac.
Nvu, a website authoring tool. According to the Nvu website: “A complete Web Authoring System for Linux desktop users as well as Microsoft Windows and Macintosh users to rival programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver. Nvu (which stands for ‘new view’) makes managing a web site a snap. Now anyone can create web pages and manage a website with no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML.” According to Curley, the claim of rivaling FrontPage may be a bit of an exaggeration, but Nvu is an impressive program, good for one-off or light websites.
Scribus, a page layout program. From the Scribus website: “Scribus is a cross-platform open source page layout program with the aim of producing commercial grade output in PDF and Postscript. Originally developed on Linux, Scribus also runs natively on MacOSX and Windows 2000 and XP.”
PDFCreator, a program that makes PDF documents from Windows programs. This is the one I’m most excited about trying. I hope it works with Publisher.
To learn about more free, open-source software, Curley recommends:
http://osswin.sourceforge.net/
Add comment December 17th, 2006
I’ve been thinking a lot about software recently. I have a long list of programs that I love and don’t have. But it’s amazing how expensive they can be. Photoshop, for example, retails for $649 on the Adobe website. That’s nutty.
So I’ve been brainstorming ways to save money on software…legally.
1. Use someone else’s computer, a computer more software-blessed than yours. With the owner’s permission, of course.
2. If you need a program for a limited amount of time, say a project for school or holiday gifts, check whether the manufacturer’s website offers a free trial version. Typically these trial versions last 30 days, then become unusable. These trials are also a good opportunity to learn a new software program for your resume or an impending job interview.
3. If you’re a student or a teacher, or know someone who is, ask retailers and manufacturers about educational discounts. Often these discounts are 50% or more. For those in college, check out the college bookstore.
4. Try freeware. Freeware is free software that can be used for an unlimited amount of time. Depending on your needs, it can be a great alternative to traditional software. Of course, please ask people you know for their advice or check reviews before downloading unfamiliar programs to your computer. CNET provides reviews of freeware, as does PC Magazine. (And if anyone knows of a good freeware alternative to Adobe Acrobat, let me know!) Update: Found some great recommendations in Intercom magazine here.
5. See whether your employer has a policy that allows employees to buy personal software through the company. Sometimes special relationships between companies and software vendors can mean deep discounts.
1 comment December 13th, 2006
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