The folks over at "appfog":http://appfog.com/ have put together an extensive argument for why Portland could be the best city in the United States for developers.... and covered a lot of compelling things related to the local developer ecosystem.

Having said that... they missed everything around Portland that makes me stay in the area. All the hiking within "60 miles of Portland":http://www.amazon.com/60-Hikes-Within-Miles-Including/dp/0897329759 (there are even several trails within the city limits!), all of the rivers for kayaking, windsurfing, the snow resorts, all of the camping and backpacking that we can explore... etc.

Outside of getting immersed into your craft, it's nice to get out of the city to ponder those technical challenges while on a hike.

What a novel idea: Put a ton of effort and creativity into the task of advertising an open position, and I guarantee that the caliber of the applicants will be higher. And man that penguin is cute.

I’ve been fascinated by some recent blog articles (like the The Best Interface is No Interface) that force you to step back and think about what you’re really doing. What are you really designing? And why?

This article in UX Magazine takes a look a the impact of designing for the experience vs. designing a memory.

Awhile back one of our clients asked us to review and audit their checkout process. While I agree with the writer’s sentiment at the end that forms can be dull design work, it was still a fun and interesting process to go through and provide some possible solutions for the future.

This article would have been perfect timing back then as support, but I suspect that it will come in handy in the future, as well.