A couple weeks ago we introduced new writer Ronald Quiroga and his real estate-centric column over on MOD, and today he's back with his first specimen.

If you were to split up the personalities of prospective homeowners, some would be the type who love big old houses with personality and weird details that need a shit-ton of work (me!). Then there are the smart people, who are looking for move-in ready, brand new everything, no pending problems or DIY money pits in sight. House #1 is for the latter mindset, one of those new craftsman-style houses that have been popping up all over town and, I think, doing a decent job of blending in with the existing architecture.

It's also amazingly priced, and while it does cross the 82nd-avenue "line of fire" for some people, it's half a block off Glisan, which is snap. And as someone currently typing this with flecks of oil based primer all over her hands, I can tell you that the fact that everything's done has its advantages.

• Ronald Quiroga
• 316 NE 92nd Ave

This morning on MOD we published the inaugural blog post of new contributor Ronald Quiroga, who's bringing his experience as a real estate journalist to the blog, with sneak peeks at properties that come to market. Some of them might be reasonable a first-time buyer to consider, some of them might just be cool/amazing/weird. But if you're anything like me (going to open houses is your idea of a good time), you'll want to look out for 'em. First up he introduces us to Erin Lolcama of Exit Realty with some basic advice on what to do and consider if you're thinking of taking the plunge. (Lolcama sold me my house last summer, and the woman can break some truth across your brain.) Go check it out.

Before the current issue disappears into the horizon and sails away, I'd like to encourage you to take note that in addition to our lengthy feature on mayor Charlie Hales, I devoted my little fashion column to his wife, and Portland's first lady, Nancy Hales, which sort of makes this the unofficial Hales Issue.

I didn't really think anything of the fact that he was married when Hales first took office. In the 15+ years that I've lived here Portland never had a "first lady" in any impactful way, so expectations were pretty nonexistent. It was actually Tito Chowdhury, Executive Producer of FASHIONxt who first alerted me to her in his contribution for our 2013 style predictions at the new year:

Our new mayor's wife, who's well traveled, outward looking in her professional capacity, and a fashion enthusiast, may play a visible role in promoting style. Unless the underachieving, vocal majority of Portlanders don't break her spirit just because she's showing fashion awareness, [since] that threatens their frumpy looks and living.

Man, I almost forgot how jerky he got at the end there. Anyway, it was enough to make me curious, and to notice when she kept being photographed wearing Portland-designed pieces. I was just excited to have someone in a visible role who was stylish—we could use a little glamour, guys, and I will never forget the time a supportive but hapless Sam Adams made his opening remarks at Portland Fashion Week wearing a tee-shirt and baseball cap (ugh, so embarrassing). And I was delighted to find out that her interest is more than just for show. She has a fascinating job in her own right, running the First Stop Portland program at PSU, acting as an ambassador of the city for international delegations coming to visit and study Portland for a variety of reasons, and it was through this work that she started to unpeel what the local industry has been doing, and she understands its significance within the overall culture of the city and its famous "livability."

Anyway, I think she's rather fantastic, and maybe represents the potential for more support and/or recognition from people in decision-making positions. Read it!

• ALANWEINERPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

Whatever you were doing yesterday afternoon was probably more boring, and most likely safer, than this:

• Ray Gordon

Just sayin'.

That's Thor Drake up in there air, there, co-owner of See See Motor Coffee Co. and probably Portland's most popular and well-documented motorcycle stuntman (see: every photo or music video filmed here involving motorcycles ever). I think that probably sans cape and mass human peril, this is just a typical afternoon for Drake, but in this case the jump was a reward for donations for a forthcoming book documenting the past two years of the One Motorcycle Show. Or, according to MotoLady:

…for science! Or… for the love of moto! Or simply because it’s fun to do things that aren’t maybe the best idea. Either way, Thor raised $50,000 to bring some amazing books to print… two years of the One Motorcycle Show. To entice investors, he said he’d jump over them for another 10k. He got it. Today, he jumped ‘em.

I'm glad that A) he followed through on his Kickstarter reward promise, and B) everyone lived.

The history of Portland's 24-Hour Church of Elvis has been marked by frequent closures and relocations, so it's not a huge surprise that its most recent incarnation in downtown's Goldsmith Blocks is now shuttered.

Stephanie G. Pierce's oddball vending machine/art gallery/wedding chapel is definitely a vestige of old weird Portland—not new weird Portland, which is not actually all that weird—and it's been located, variously, at SW Washington, Ankeny Alley, an upstairs storefront on Ankeny, and, since 2008, in the Goldsmith building at 4th and Couch. Most incarnations hinged on Pierce's interactive, coin-operated displays, though for a time she offered both real and fake weddings from the upstairs Ankeny museum. (I think I might've married a gay friend there when I was in high school?)

I don't have any info on the closure, aside from some unverified rumors; I'm gonna poke around a bit and I'll update if anything interesting turns up.

In the meantime, here's an awesome/adorable piece from KBOO's archives about Pierce's 1991 attempt to run a booth at the Rose Festival. It's pretty priceless.