And you can thank me for the inclusion of this paragraph:

When I heard that Beau Breedlove, the former intern who at the age of 17 began an affair with Portland’s mayor, Sam Adams, was signing copies of Unzipped magazine, in which he appears 98 percent naked, I hurried to Fantasy, an adult store, dutifully bought the latest issue ($8.99; no sales tax in Oregon!) and stood in line for my autograph — a piece of history.

I was introduced to the frugal traveler Matt Gross at the downtown food carts when he came to town early last month, and told him he couldn't miss the Breedlove signing, so he dutifully showed up the next day, digital camera in hand and backpack on, looking ready for anything. He asked Breedlove "what do you do in Portland when you're trying to save money?" and was told to go to "Blue Hour." I said, "that's not exactly the cheapest joint in town."

Spending time with Gross was pretty difficult because as far as I can tell he's about the same age as I am, yet has the best job in journalism—traveling extensively and getting expensed for everything! What makes it worse is that he's also an extremely nice guy, so it's impossible to be all "well, of course, you know what it took him to get that gig...he's like the male Anna Wintour, you know." Still, I'm glad to have at least been involved in the latest piece of the NYT's coverage of the Rose City. Next time of course, it'll be my byline in there. I know the world wants to hear about Randy Leonard's spat with Amanda Fritz last week, for example. That's a solid national pitch, if ever there was one.

There's a food carts video on the site worth checking out, too...