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Our first-ever Newcomer's Handbook for Portland, this thirteenth title in the series approaches Portland with a sensibility appropriate to the city--with humor and a bit of delight in the quirkiness that exemplifies the Rose City. The guidebook features in-depth Portland neighborhood and suburban community profiles as well as chapters on all aspects of local life.

Welcome to Portland, one of the most livable urban areas in America! Call it Stumptown, Rose City, Beervana, Bridgetown, Puddletown, or PDX, it s your town now. (Just don t call it Portland, or-eh-GONE. The state name is pronounced OR-uh-gun. Practice before you arrive.) Portland is located at the northern end of the fertile Willamette Valley, roughly an hour east of the coast it s called the coast here, not the shore or the beach and an hour west of the crest of the Cascade Mountains. The high desert is a two-hour drive to the east, and world-class wineries are less than an hour southwest. Abundant recreational opportunities make the city a favorite of outdoor enthusiasts, and from the city s West Hills, and even from some downtown office buildings, it s possible to see the Columbia River Gorge and five snowcapped volcanoes: Mounts Hood, St. Helens, Adams, Rainier, and Jefferson. Top that, Topeka!

Of course, Portland s appeal transcends its spectacular setting. The city is known for its vibrant neighborhoods, progressive urban planning, environmental awareness, liberal politics, coffeehouse and brewpub culture, and, yes, for its rain. So what s it really like here? Well, though Portland enjoys more than its fair share of pleasant, well-preserved urban neighborhoods, connected to one another by bike lanes and transit and state law limiting the extent of urban sprawl it is also afflicted with strip malls, traffic congestion, ill-conceived development, and other assorted ills of the modern American metropolis. The key difference is that in Portland you can arrange your life so that you don t have to deal with those problems. If you want to live in a close-in neighborhood, within walking distance of cafés and food markets, and ride your bike to work every day, you can. (You won t necessarily be able to afford a house in such a neighborhood, however.) If you prefer to live in a suburban community, you can do that, too.

As for politics, Portlanders on average are more liberal than the citizens of the typical American burg when Money magazine rated Portland the country s best place to live in 2000, it warned conservatives to stay away but the city has a surprising diversity of political opinion, ranging from a strong libertarian contingent to a small community of Trotskyites. (The latter get nervous around ice picks.) Suburban communities are generally more conservative, and the region as a whole is probably no more liberal (or conservative) than any other large coastal metropolitan area.

If it s craft beer or coffee you re after, suffice it to say you won t be disappointed. There are 38 breweries in the Portland metro area, and locally produced craft beer makes up 11% of Oregon's beer consumption. (That figure may sound low, but it s by far the highest rate in the country.) And Portland's coffee scene is every bit the equal of Seattle's, with local roasters winning awards for both quality and sustainable business practices. Don't miss the burgeoning tea scene, either, based on well-established local tea manufacturers as well as an increasing number of unique tea houses. Many Portlanders consider coffee (or tea) essential for coping with the rain.
Ah, the rain. While it s true that Portland has its share of rainy days, much of the city's rainfall arrives in the form of a fine mist or drizzle. Often a day that starts out cloudy becomes bright and sunny by afternoon (or vice versa)..
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Extensively updated and revised for 2007, this 416-page new edition maintains its strong focus on Seattle proper, but expands greatly its coverage of the surrounding area.

From Ballard to Beacon Hill, this Newcomer s Handbook® provides readers with the most up-to-date information on housing styles and trends; new development; and all the must-know information about Seattle life, including education and childcare, transportation, cultural life, and much more.

In addition to being thoroughly updated and revised, this edition offers new sections. In the Shopping for the Home chapter, we ve added Wines and Make & Take Meal Assembly; in the Cultural Life chapter, a detailed section on Art Walks is included; and in Childcare and Education, we have added Online Schools. In the Neighborhoods chapter, there are new sections about Vashon Island, Bremerton, and Sammamish..
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Extensively updated and revised for 2006, this 504-page new edition maintains its strong focus on San Francisco, but expands greatly its coverage of the entire region, especially Silicon Valley. Of the 174 pages devoted exclusively to discussion of neighborhoods and communities, 52% describe San Francisco neighborhoods and North Bay communities, while 48% focus on the East Bay, Peninsula, and South Bay towns. This edition also includes a new, detailed map of San Jose designed to accompany the in-depth treatment of each of its neighborhoods, reflect the importance of the city, and complement the more broadly focused South Bay area map.

From Santa Rosa to San Francisco to Vallejo, from Walnut Creek to Oakland to Newark, and from San Bruno to San Jose to Los Gatos, this Newcomer’s Handbook® provides its readers with the most up-to-date information on housing styles, costs, and trends; redevelopment; and all the other niceties of Bay Area life, including education! and childcare, transportation, cultural life, and much more..
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The fourth edition of this #1 guide for relocating to Washington DC contains detailed information on neighborhoods, getting settled, helpful services, child care and education, cultural life, and much more. Written by Mike Livingston, its 432 pages provide useful information to help you decide where to move, to help you with your move, to help you settle into DC life, or just to give you the chance to get to know Washington DC better..
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Moving to Los Angeles has never been easier! Revised and updated, the fifth edition includes sections on Finding a Place to Live, Moving and Storage, Money Matters, Getting Settled, Helpful Services, Childcare and Education, Shopping for the Home, Cultural Life, Sports and Recreation, Greenspace and Beaches, Places of Worship, Volunteering, Transportation, Emergency Preparedness, Temporary Lodgings, and Quick Getaways. In addition, a handy calendar of LA events, area maps, and a directory of useful phone numbers and web sites round out this indispensable book..
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In Understanding Web Services, leading Web Services expert Eric Newcomer systematically addresses the core issues developers and IT professionals need to understand to make intelligent decisions about Web Services. Newcomer explains exactly how Web Services work, reviews each key standard for enabling Web Services, and previews tomorrow's most important products and technologies for Web Services development. Newcomer reviews the key goals and advantages of Web Services, the applications they are best suited for, and today's key standards for describing, sending, receiving, publishing, discovering, and utilizing them. He explains how Web Services are being built upon the foundation of XML technologies, then covers each key Web Services standard in detail: SOAP transport, WSDL services description, UDDI discovery services, and ebXML message exchange. Newcomer concludes with insightful, vendor-independent coverage of today's leading tools and products for Web Services development. For every IT manager, architect, developer, and strategist who wants a thorough understanding of Web Services..
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There is one card game that towers above all others as the most intelligent, intricate, and psychologically absorbing ever to be invented. It has a rich history. It's played and loved by some of the world's most famous and influential people. And it's not the one that's currently on television twenty-four hours a day.

In 1925 Harold Stirling Vanderbilt invented modern bridge, and a national craze was born. In the 1930s, bridge was even bigger than baseball. Its devotees would eventually include the Marx Brothers, George Burns, Wilt Chamberlain, Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill, and Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who played to unwind before the Normandy invasion. Today bridge players number about twenty-five million in the U.S. alone; current celeb-rity addicts include Warren Buffett (who goes by the online handle "T-Bone"), Bill Gates, Hugh Hefner, Sting, a sitting Supreme Court justice, and the guys from Radiohead.

In this spirited homage, Edward McPherson recounts the history of the game while attempting to master its deep mysteries in time to compete at the North American Bridge Championships in Chicago. Barely able to shuffle cards let alone play bridge, he sets out to discover why the game became and remains such a popular pastime, stopping in Dallas, Kansas City, Gatlinburg, Gettysburg, Las Vegas, and London. He focuses on a handful of professionals and eager but fumbling amateurs, and the characters he meets convince him that in a game that pits mind against mind, close attention to the cards often reveals much about those sitting at the table. He attempts to learn from bridge's devoted fans—from white-haired grannies and international playboys to teenage pros and billionaires—how its legacy can be preserved for future generations. And along the way, he picks up a playing partner of his own: Tina, a New York octogenarian with sharp card skills and energy to burn.

Insightful, funny, and steeped in respect for bridge, The Backwash Squeeze and Other Improbable Feats is an affectionate view of a grand game by an outsider trying to make his way into the inner circle.

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Newcomer's Handbooks are a terrific way to introduce yourself to your new city. Called "invaluable" and highly recommended" by Library Journal, these best-selling relocation books feature in-depth neighborhood and community profiles, as well as chapters on getting settled, helpful services, childcare and education, transportation and more..
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