Teej's Secret Box

826 SW 2nd Ave
Portland, OR 97204
http://www.jaxbar.com/

Part of the iDine Reward Network program.

Buried in the heart of downtown Portland, near the World Trade Center (Yes, Portland got one too. No, it is still standing.), there are a series of well-aged buildings, harking back to the older days of Portland. It is difficult to peg the age of those buildings, as they’re brick-built, yet the age is apparent as you look inside at the gaudy motif. One special exception is the Bally Fitness Center — bright and shiny, and full of treadmill hackers bouncing up and down in perfect unison. Right next door is the perfect place to regain the calories you burn, Jax Bar & Restaurant.

Jax is actually three locations physically separated in several ways, a bar/lounge area rest prominently in the front of the street entrance, the restaurant is found across the hallway, and the rooftop patio is found three floors up, providing a lovely view of Mt. Hood — the Mountain of Portland as much as Mt Fuji is the mountain of Tokyo (although that one is difficult to see from downtown).

Labeled as serving American fare, two strikes against this restaurant led me to have a lower expectation of the food. The first strike is the incredibly poor motif screaming 1970 bar including well faded TVs that is difficult to watch at a distance. The second strike is the special meal of the day — meatloaf.

But there were hints. The menu was incredibly well designed. The food options were described with a special flair. For example, the ribeye steak boasted sides of wilted spinach garnished by Canadian bacon, and onion; au gratin potatoes; and demi glace. It was a choice that impressed me enough to order it, despite my policy of not ordering steak at non-steakhouses.

What a choice it was. The cut was your typical grocery store ribeye cut — nothing incredibly special, or well aged. However, what the chef have done with this steak is nothing short of remarkable. The steak was presented as properly prepared. It was clearly not frozen at any point in its life, a huge plus. The fat was so tender, indicating a sharp eye in selecting the cut. It was lightly marinade with demi glace, adding a nice touch in flavor. And on top of it all, it was cooked evenly, perfectly nailing the medium rare creed I requested.

The sides, oh the delicious sides, the spinach was wilted with the use of water and a little balsamic vinegar. The bacon and onion mixed through the spinach were a delicious addition, far surpassing my expectation. I did not eat the au gratin potatoes due to my appetite, but my co-worker took a few samples. This was layered in a cake-like structure, and cut like a slice and laid on its side. My co-worker remarked on the superiority in taste for this option.

Everything clearly was made from scratch, and it was a heavenly American fare. It is clear that the restaurant budget went to the food itself, which motivates me to eat there again.

This place is a great find.

With much thanks to my career, I have been generously paid for my service. With this generosity, I always feel a need to give to people I cares very much about. After all, it is the spirit of giving where I can do something, although it may seems to be shallow to many.

I have a friend I deeply cares about even to this day, having known her for almost a decade. A couple years back, I have come to a point where I thought it would be a mutual benefit for us to form a partnership in a consulting business for her. She is one of the rare people that are very driven, where any obstacles would be defeated, as long as she has the opportunity.

However, her confidence level was a major factor back then. There are many reasons for this handicap, some sounding like excuses, and some sounding like a woman lib rap sheet. Fortunately, this issue has mostly been addressed; as each and every day, countless peers continue to praise her incredible efforts.

After all, this is a woman living in a rural area that self-taught herself how to diagnosis major problems with her computer. She is a dream girl for any aspiring geeks out there!

Unfortunately, while the going was good as I continue to help her business get going, financially, lately, we have been very busy with our own lives. This is totally understandable, but I have noticed one thing. When it comes to money issues, she was very much willing to tell me about her life. No, not like that, but when there may be something that she will need to be able to afford, she would be making a comment one way or another.

My efforts to share my life with her have long since waned, so thus the birth of this blog. Why should I wait to tell her about my life, when I can just put it on here, and wait for her to read it?

Funny enough, she never read this, despite my prodding.

It has gotten to the point where we barely speak with each other the past few weeks. Then she started mentioning about her financial situation, and her move to a new (cheaper!) apartment, and more. The last time she has made payment on her loan was November of last year. Not have she even made any effort to even pay even a token $10 to keep the goodwill alive. Not have she discussed her financial situation in any depth.

I care very much for her, but this is a business decision that must be made. I told her that until something changes in a way that I know that I will be repaid, I can not make any further investment for her business. This was a very hard decision to make, much less share with her. So hard, it is hurting me as I am typing this.

The saying that business and friendship should not mix can never be more than true here.

I started by delivering newspapers. For two years, with the massive help of my mother, I delivered for approximately $100 a week. All that money went to that $3,500 computer (with bubble-jet printer!) that my Nintendo DS is far more powerful than (although it can’t print, but I can probably get one for free!) My friend used his money to get a nice moped. I wish I got a moped instead.

In high school, I bagged groceries for $4.35 a hour during the summer. I was one of the best around at that job.

In college, I was a labbie for several years, starting at around $5 and going up to $7 a hour, or thereabout.

My first major job was a programmer at a start-up at $7.50 a hour. I worked hard at that job, and got a handheld software application up and running on several different handheld. I left after a year, due to changing scope of the project, with absolutely no end in sight, plus I got offered a nice job (well, two).

I use the word major as in those jobs are part of my career path, and that they expect full time work (although a good number of them were contract-specific).

I worked on my third (second was contract) major job at $16.83 a hour. It was so nice to earn so much, but I got laid off six months later. Not doing much on that consulting job probably didn’t impress the executives, so they hired a 40 year old guy who’s a bit more of a pro at coding than I was.

My fourth major job was actually a pay cut at $15.38 a hour at first. The first few years were rough at that job, but after an Alaska trip where 9/11 happened, I bored down, and spent a large amount of time improving myself including working on a new method of programming. I was recognized for this effort, and was given several large raises that ends up with me at $22.60 a hour.

Not only were my efforts noticed internally, it was also noticed externally, and so I was offered a new career path as consultant at $38.46 a hour, with bonuses. It was especially nice to see such a large jump in recognition, this is my fifth major job. I currently make about $45.19 a hour, plus bonuses, and see myself sticking around for another few years.

Will I make more or less the next job? Who knows. But as I reflect on my past, it is quite remarkable how my nearly 20 years worth of working career have grown for me. The one special key in this whole experience is that I was willing to accept and embrace changes in many different ways.

I am willing to move. I am willing to work extra hours in key areas. I am willing to go beyond what most others are willing to do. Thus, I have been rewarded handsomely. I also know that the moment I stop being so willing is the moment I likely would lose my rewards.

But I can tell you this, it is hard work.

Sitting high above the tarmac at the US Airways Club, I’m watching a Mesa flight unload their bags after the flight, and over half of the bags were golf clubs.  I am now wondering where this flight at gate B5 came from, as it looks like a E170 plane (unless CRJ planes have winglets looking like the Boeing 737s ones.  It’s very small though, barely looking like it could fit 50 passengers.

But this amount of golf clubs (about 25-ish) coming out of that plane is simply insane.  But as I just noted this fact, I just saw another plane come in, same model, but much more of a stretch, fitting 70 or 90 folks (I need to bone up on the CRJ/ERJ planes, obviously), and there’s a decent pile of golf clubs showing up outside the plane.

I guess people do make a point to fly to Phoenix to play golf, after all.

For lunch today, several of my co-workers suggested that we go to Carl Jr, and indulge in some hamburger goodness. Carl Jr, for those on the East Coast, is pretty much an equivalent with Hardee’s, with slight menu changes and selections. They have a very delicious (yet incredibly messy) “Six Dollars Burger” options, which is so well received that The Palm’s of Las Vegas offers a $6,000 combo meal variation (Think combo meal with incredibly expensive wine.)

As with everything, it should be taken in extreme moderation due to the unhealthy aspects (calories for one thing — something Subway’s love to hammer fast food restaurants on). Unfortunately, that message seems to be lost.

While I was eating there, I took a good look around, and was surprised. Out of some 40 to 50 people eating there at lunch today, only five people were either slightly or non-overweighted. I included the word “slightly” to reflect those that may be a bit chubby on the stomach (like myself, who definitely need to shed 15 pounds, and I just got off my butt to work on shedding them once again) but not quite visible under clothings.

The rest are what doctors would call severely overweighted. No, they are not poor (at least most of them didn’t appears to be.) They are mostly well dressed in business clothings. Yet they are bulging around their neck, legs, and arms, not just around their belly. People who are earning more than minimal wage jobs are sacrificing their own bodies to excessive food and minimal exercise.

I just saw a friend’s pictures on her one-year anniversary of losing weight (by means of gastric bypass after 11 years of other means of weight loss efforts), and her eyes gave it away — she is so alive and happy to the point that she is turning me on. Being overweighted is one thing, but watching those people at Carl Jr, they have given up into the grind of life so much they are so entirely unattractive.

That’s sad.