Took a trip to Portland, Oregon this past weekend.
Pyramid Hotel
We stayed at a Red Lion Hotel with a mildly Asian-inspired and lavish exterior and convoluted interior, where the elevator to our floor was so well hidden that we felt glad for the portability of our small bags and suitcases. We also noticed the presence of Latinos in matching black suits all throughout the building, passing us on every floor, every stairwell, hanging out in the lobby and parking areas, a few with their families (not in uniform), and mostly lined up in front of the hotel ballroom waiting to be let inside once the door opened. Obviously a convention of some sort was taking place, nothing so curious as, say, Mr. International Leather, though when you see endless people dressed up uniformly to each other but dissimilar to yourself within an opulent maze of a hotel, it does eventually feels like you’re a visitor on a planet in some sci-fi movie. We could hear the beat of dance music when we returned to our room late at night, and one afternoon while walking by the open doorway of the ballroom, I heard the enthusiastic voice of a speaker and saw the projection of a slide on a screen with the word “DISCIPLINO” and an image of troops standing in a line. It didn’t take long to guess the event (the Spanish branch of Amway is apparently called Equipo Vision) and for me to wonder, just how much was earned by those who recruited the overwhelming amount of people for this weekend event? At least everyone got to party this holiday.
Etc.
Pleasant things also happened. Attended the Portland International Raceway where I watched formula race cars buzz by the bandstand, sometimes spinning out or performing passes to elicit gasps and cheers from the small but loyal crowd. Matt and I hung out with Ben, who recently moved into town, to check out the Living Room Theater and Ground Kontrol classic arcade/drink spot. Fun hangouts, both. Other notes: Admired the exposed brick and faded business advertisement painted on the warehouse-to-loft conversions in the Pearl District. Walked alongside the river where an assorted variety of natives and visitors chilled in the park, while rows of bikes with front wheels propped up over railings facing the water looked as if they were watching boats go by and under the bridge. Music from the jazz fest was heard that evening. The weather stayed sunny all weekend. Felt like a proper vacation.
When work leads to new discoveries, it’s a cool thing. Been reading Mary Roach’s “Packing for Mars,” laughing and marveling quite a lot at the promised curiosities of the cosmonaut accounts, the monkeys, and the US efforts during Gemini and Apollo missions to maintain the astronauts’ sanity, waste products, and physical forms in space. Yesterday evening, I also attended the talk at NASA with Pascal Lee and Mary Roach. The talk focused more on the logistics and general feasibility of going to Mars, the next unexplored frontier, with Dr. Lee providing images from the humvee research conducted in the Artic by the Mars Institute that may help us plan for Martian terrain. Ms. Roach also had opportunity to insert a few anecdotes, like one about the sanitized pee water available at the NASA Ames cafeteria, from her book.
So, yay on Mars? Guess that depends on a lot: resources, the commitment and mental stability of selected travelers, and whether either the government or private companies will assume the risk for sending people out on an ultimately one-way trip, to name a few.
