As a native Portlander, there's a little bit of a thrill every time the Rose Festival starts. Every June, it's a celebration of living in Portland.

There are 3 parades but the Grand Floral Parade is the big one. It's a Portland tradition that people tape out space on the sidewalk to sit or stand and watch the parade go by. And people basically respect those pieces of tape.

What seems a little ridiculous, though, is companies like Azumano Travel taping out the sidewalk in front of their offices, the restaurants next door and then taking half a block across the street. You might think that people would think that was excessive and ignore it ... which is why Azumano has a security guard patrolling "their turf".

Hmmm. I've bought tickets from Azumano before. There are times it's nice to deal with a person rather than a computer when things change. Even if it does cost extra. But this is not very nice.