what i'm actually here for
Jun. 25th, 2006 08:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kismet09I made it through the opening of the conference. The speaker talked. I watched people fall asleep. It didn’t do much for me. I had had a mocha frap to keep myself alert, though, so at least I didn’t play the head bobbing game that other people were playing. I worked on my budget for work, which I’m supposed to turn in by next week. I looked around for familiar faces and saw very few. I noted a lot of pastel colors. The rest of my day was far more interesting than the conference part.
I headed back out to Saturday Market around its opening at 11, to try to beat some of the heat and the crowds. The first find there was pints of super-fresh cherries. These were my first cherries of the season and sooooo wonderful. I brought home a bunch and stuck them in my mini fridge for later. I also picked up a copy of the companion book to the Wordfreak movie, so I have some puzzles to work on, as seen in the film. Fun! The market is as I remember it – lots of families, dirty hippies, and tourists. Makes for good people watching. This is the second day in a row that I’ve wandered around in a top that shows off my tattoo. There are a lot of inked people in Portland, and I forget that I’m one of them most of the time, but I do remember when I’m wearing a tank top. I had a bubble tea and a gyros sandwich, and talked myself out of many other purchases, most of which were highly breakable and thus difficult to carry back.
Back to the hotel, fell asleep watching Food Network. Decided to brave the heat and took the street car up to Powell’s book haven. I could’ve spent hours and hours there, just wandering back and forth. I didn’t allow myself to take a basket, as I would’ve just filled it and had to tote an extra fifty pounds of books back with me. I did find an old Scrabble strategy book I’d never seen, so I had to purchase it for my collection. I also bought Jeffrey Steingarten’s food memoir, and a sock knitting theory book (Simple Socks Plain & Fancy). There is no way to go to Powells and not purchase something.
I took the street car one stop and had to hop off because there was a yarn store right there. It was a superfancy little shop, full of Habu and Koigu and Lorna’s Laces and other expensive lovelies. I found a toe-up sock pattern on sale, and added that, but no yarn, to my purchases for the day. Everything seemed a little more expensive than I know I can get it elsewhere, but the shop had a great layout, was full of natural light, and had lots of great samples knit up.
Walked the rest of the way from the yarn store as I couldn’t justify waiting for the street car to go about six blocks. Had a slice of pizza and sushi happy hour for dinner. I couldn’t choose just one restaurant. Back up to the hotel, showered, out to grab some caffeine, and off to the conference. Busy day. Probably around 4 miles of walking when all was said and done, so hopefully I worked off some of the rich foods that I ate today.
The conference will keep me busy – sessions start with a 7-8am breakfast, and receptions close each day from 9-11pm, with breaks and meals between sessions and sessions in between. I can’t believe we have sessions til 9pm – you wouldn’t get away with that at a student affairs conference – there’s way too much socializing (partying) to be done at one of those to have the educational stuff go that late. I doubt that I’ll make much of an appearance at most of the receptions – at least one night I have to go and play Scrabble (have to!) – but one is a dessert reception, so I’ll probably at least skirt the edges of that one. I really do have to get some writing done, so I will choose my sessions accordingly.
I headed back out to Saturday Market around its opening at 11, to try to beat some of the heat and the crowds. The first find there was pints of super-fresh cherries. These were my first cherries of the season and sooooo wonderful. I brought home a bunch and stuck them in my mini fridge for later. I also picked up a copy of the companion book to the Wordfreak movie, so I have some puzzles to work on, as seen in the film. Fun! The market is as I remember it – lots of families, dirty hippies, and tourists. Makes for good people watching. This is the second day in a row that I’ve wandered around in a top that shows off my tattoo. There are a lot of inked people in Portland, and I forget that I’m one of them most of the time, but I do remember when I’m wearing a tank top. I had a bubble tea and a gyros sandwich, and talked myself out of many other purchases, most of which were highly breakable and thus difficult to carry back.
Back to the hotel, fell asleep watching Food Network. Decided to brave the heat and took the street car up to Powell’s book haven. I could’ve spent hours and hours there, just wandering back and forth. I didn’t allow myself to take a basket, as I would’ve just filled it and had to tote an extra fifty pounds of books back with me. I did find an old Scrabble strategy book I’d never seen, so I had to purchase it for my collection. I also bought Jeffrey Steingarten’s food memoir, and a sock knitting theory book (Simple Socks Plain & Fancy). There is no way to go to Powells and not purchase something.
I took the street car one stop and had to hop off because there was a yarn store right there. It was a superfancy little shop, full of Habu and Koigu and Lorna’s Laces and other expensive lovelies. I found a toe-up sock pattern on sale, and added that, but no yarn, to my purchases for the day. Everything seemed a little more expensive than I know I can get it elsewhere, but the shop had a great layout, was full of natural light, and had lots of great samples knit up.
Walked the rest of the way from the yarn store as I couldn’t justify waiting for the street car to go about six blocks. Had a slice of pizza and sushi happy hour for dinner. I couldn’t choose just one restaurant. Back up to the hotel, showered, out to grab some caffeine, and off to the conference. Busy day. Probably around 4 miles of walking when all was said and done, so hopefully I worked off some of the rich foods that I ate today.
The conference will keep me busy – sessions start with a 7-8am breakfast, and receptions close each day from 9-11pm, with breaks and meals between sessions and sessions in between. I can’t believe we have sessions til 9pm – you wouldn’t get away with that at a student affairs conference – there’s way too much socializing (partying) to be done at one of those to have the educational stuff go that late. I doubt that I’ll make much of an appearance at most of the receptions – at least one night I have to go and play Scrabble (have to!) – but one is a dessert reception, so I’ll probably at least skirt the edges of that one. I really do have to get some writing done, so I will choose my sessions accordingly.
