I have always liked Multnomah County Vote by mail and their Track Your Ballot" service. They send…read moretexts when your ballot is sent, received, and counted, and give you a virtual "I voted" sticker. This June, I gave a car to a relative who lives in Washington County, and let them put my name as second owner. Unfortunately, that caused the DMV to put in a change of address for my Voter Registration, even though I never moved, never changed my Drivers license address, and I still own a car in my Multnomah county home (for the last 23 years!). Well I called their office and the nicest person, Deloris, took care of my issue, cancelling Washington county and sending me my Multnomah Ballot. I even got the text telling my my ballot has been sent. Voting is important, the DMV process could have disenfranchised me, so I thank this office for fixing what the DMV screwed up. If you are registered to Vote in Multnomah County, try their service to Track your Ballot! https://multco.us/trackyourballot

"A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to…read morevote in a national election." --Bill Vaughn, American columnist i can happily state that this election proved the lie to this ofttimes sadly poignant quote. you see, record numbers of voters came out & expressed their opinions & hopes for this country. South Carolina, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, the list goes on & on & on. 136.6 million Americans came to the conclusion that, "My vote counts." compared to only 122.3 million in 2004 with more minorities & as well as younger voters chiming in. what does this have to do with the Multnomah County Elections Office, you ask? this well-organized entity "conducts all local, city, county, state and federal elections for the citizens of Multnomah County." they register you to vote, check signatures on initiatives, keep track of your addresses which is pretty impressive since some of us rival the migration patterns of the common swallow, send out your ballots with their handy-dandy voter's pamphlets, & of course accept & collate your ballots. did i mention that they also keep track of campaign finance for the local politicoes & work their magic on your passport applications? well, sure, isn't that what most county elections offices do? should we expect less? you see, not all offices are created equal. the elections office we had in King county in Seattle while also with an online presence is not as easy to navigate. did i mention that you can get pretty much any voting-related form online? and more importantly, no painful standing in line to use a machine that may go berserk & invalidate your political voice. fill out your ballot in the comfort of home while googling all the non-partisan candidates & initiatives, seal the envelope & either drop it in the mail or trot on over to the elections office & drop it in the slot outside the building. no lines necessary. unlike Oregon, there are 19 states that require a notary to witness you sign your absentee ballot. boo Texas! "The ballot is stronger than the bullet." "Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people." ---both by Abraham Lincoln so, can we say 349 electoral votes? 52% of the popular vote? hell yes! new world order starting 1/20/2009!

I had to visit the elections office in person to verify that the signature on my ballot matched…read morewhat they had on file. The county employee that assisted me was very polite and helpful. I wish I would have asked for her name so that she could get credit. My experience when dealing with employees from various Clackamas County departments the last few years have been very positive as well.

It's a huge building, well ordered and with lots of light. You sign in and are given a special tag…read moreto wear with the room number. Parking is a breeze even if you have to pay for it. Besides, the workshop I attended was free of charge. And taking public transportation, depending on where you live perhaps, can be fun in Portland. Back to the Metro Regional Center. I attended a social media workshop for marketing your own business -- in case you missed that from my pictures. Interestingly, Yelp was mentioned a number of times as far as getting more testimonials written about your business. Unfortunately, being an editor and writing coach, I am not sure my business fits the Yelp model, but now you know! And you can always shoot me a DM. Even though I had been asked to bring my own lunch -- this class being offered from 12:30 to 2:30PM -- the SBDC hosted the event with plenty of vegetarian options to snack on (yay, Greek wine leaves with rice) and the water was nice and cold. Definitely will try to attend more meetings here.

Metro, Metro, Metro...how I love you…read more I once felt overwhelmed with the thought of decreasing my day-to-day footprint on the Earth. I like to lead a healthy & low impact existence but it isn't always convenient. Sure, now we have the big blue bin that I can throw my paper, plastic bottles and cat food cans into, but where do I recycle my block styrofoam or my old computer parts for free? Where can I get some info on how to compost my food scraps at home without buying some $15 book on home composting? How about a list of DIY at-home green cleaners made with ingredients from my local Freddy's? And then, there was Metro. Not only does Metro have free pamphlets on all of this info plus more, you can also get all of the info off of their website at: http://www.metro-region.org/ and save trees (if your a hippie like me and can't help but consider those lovely trees) They have info on: - nature & local GreenScene activities - garbage & recycling - sustainable living - getting around Portland w/o a car - planning & conservation For those of you with families out there they have "Story & a stroll at Tryon Creek" geared towards kids in nature. If you are a novice green-thumb like me in the spring/summer they offer FREE classes on natural gardening. Or even if you don't recycle at all, but your neighbor asks you what they can do with their old car tires, you can give them Metro's recycling # 503-243-3000, and you have just done your good deed for the day. Overall Metro gives me good balance. I can be lazy, yet proactive. I let them gather the info and then I take advantage of it. Thanks for doing the legwork Metro, now I can feel better about myself! ; )

Drop your ballot here! They never have a line and are so efficient. It is so easy to drive in an…read moreout of it. They prepare for crazy lines so they end up not having any and the people out helping mae it a breeze with a smile.

Yesterday Gladstone DMV turned me away at the intake desk telling me my Handicapped Parking…read moreapplication was invalid for a number of reasons, which didn't make any sense to me. I took that VERY SAME application to this DMV branch where I was treated with understanding, kindness and quick friendly service. I now have my Handicapped parking permit. Kudos to Lake Oswego DMV! Thank you for your reasonable, kindly staff and accommodating atmosphere.

Dropped in for a quick form pickup. This place is tiny -- I couldn't even tell if it was open ---…read moreand has very limited seating. Clerks seem nice enough (six windows to serve you) but it seems like you'd need a reservation to guarantee being seen. Lots of parking outside, as part of the greater mini mall this is a part of. Feels very much like an uber-local office.

Until I started working here I couldn't have told you anything about the VA and how it operates…read more Now that I've been working here for a year, I can tell you how some parts of the VA work but it's still mostly a mystery to me. Let's start with what I know and I know is a very important position with the VA, and that's my position as a Veterans Service Representative (VSR). So I work with claims in various states of completion. The VSR's ultimate goal is to make a claim Ready for Decision (RFD). Some claims take longer than others to get there. All decisions need to be made following specific rules and procedures in the M-21. The M-21 is so vast it's easy to get lost in there. It's so big imagine what a NYC yellow pages would look like; then stack about 10 of them. Then there are the US codes (USC) again with the phone books. Being a VSR is hard. Once a claim is sent RFD a Rating Veterans Service Representative (RVSR) will review the claim and hopefully will rate the claim, meaning assign percentages to the claimed disabilities which means how much money the veteran, his spouse, or children may be entitled to. There are other areas of the VA that I'm not so knowledgeable about. Such as the unit that does Higher Level Reviews, Pensions, and the Quality Review team. I hope this review does justice to how complex the VA is and specifically how complex the role of a VSR is. The rule that comes first is we are here to serve veterans and their families. Whenever making a decision, if there's a 50/50 decision situation we always choose on the side of the veteran. The VA also provides physical and mental health care services. You've probably seen the advertisements on television about suicide prevention sponsored by the VA. The VA had a bad reputation years ago. Claims were backlogged and favorable decisions weren't as common. I can tell you that we are working claims the same day that they were filled. We bend over backwards to assist the veteran. I've been working from home since I started on 09/28/21, so I just had my year anniversary. This is the toughest job I've ever loved. 2021 - Review #48

The workers are overworked and under appreciated. It's no wonder that veterans aren't getting the…read morefull service or assistance they earned. A lot of red tape and too many obstacles to navigate when trying to apply for benefits. We deserve better!

The new courthouse is modern for sure. Elevators only open on certain floors. They have a kiosk for…read moreselecting elevators depending on where you're going which makes it easier to navigate. Security is onpoint. Beautiful views and great staff. Everyone has always been helpful

Without revealing too much about why I was here, it was in support of a friend. They had a VERY…read morequick courtroom session, sentence, them everything after pretty much flowed seamlessly. The only suggestion is moving booking photos AND fingerprints to the same place. It was weird and time wasting to do that and have to go between two buildings. Everyone we interacted with was friendly, kind and made the entire experience seamless and as painless at it could be. Not one person treated my friend differently with a felony sentence. No one looked down on them, was anything but kind. I was very impressed with our court and staff. I do hope to never visit the courthouse in this capacity again but I am thankful for the experience I had as well as for my friend.

So let's face it. Nobody wants to go to the DMV. I had been putting off getting my REAL ID for a…read morelong time. Knowing that the (current) deadline is May, I had to make an appointment just in case I had a reason to fly somewhere...hey it could happen. My appointment was at 10:30 am. The line was wrapped around the building. I was pretending like I was ok with it, but when someone came out and said everyone with appointments could jump the line and move up, I kicked it up to fourth gear. Unfortunately this excitement didn't last long. I got to the front of the line, and then an announcement comes over the intercom. "Entire state of Oregon has outage. License printing is down." I know I wasn't the only person upset, but it kinda killed my buzz. The woman who verified my information was super nice though. She was very impressed that I had all of the correct documents. Well since it opens tomorrow at 8 am, I am gonna take the trip out there and pray that the system is back up. If I am smart I will call before I go.

I've never had an issue with the workers here except one. He was not helpful plus was very…read moredemeaning ,and just shrugged when asked about getting my car title (since it's originally purchased in california). And continued to tell me to call the DMV. I'm at the DMV...he all of a sudden had an answer then continues to crudely draw a map of the west coast to tell me where I go get my title. Told me I had to fly back to California. The bowlcut k-pop reject obviously didn't want to give me the time of day. If you don't want to be there, then don't work there. I WISH I could show you the video I recorded. He obviously toned down his catty attitude when the camera was on.