Yesterday, Saturday, was a day full of tasks, and many are still undone. I am headed to Queens, NY, for the HOPE_16 hacker’s convention, my first, next weekend. I fly on Tuesday, and plan to have dinner with Cat in Manhattan on Thursday. I have Wednesday to find my way. Early registration starts on Thursday, too, which means I still haven’t decided what to do that day.
I have reviewed the speaker and workshop list, but I haven’t planned out my days yet. I will try to find some time when I start traveling. Among the items to resolve was how to get to my early, stupid early, flight at 7ish. I ordered an expensive room, for what it is, at PDX off the MAX line. I will do another adventure on buses and MAX on Monday (though I might order an Über to avoid the bus with luggage). At least the hotel is done.
Other tasks, besides finishing the blog, were to order a hotel for the first part of my visit in New Orleans for the Civil Rights trip the church is taking in November. I initially ordered, but then missed a day at the hotel and canceled it. The Andrew Jackson Hotel will not have me as a visitor. I canceled it all.
I re-examined the trip information and downloaded the brochure, which outlined the daily activities. I then added those to my TripIt plan, an event for each day with a copy of the notes on the brochure, and now I had a clearer view of what I needed. Also, my flight has changed, and now my connection is easy in Salt Lake. I looked at the trip hotel, Hyatt Central French Quarter, but it cost more than the price for Le Richelieu Hotel. I ordered a room with a balcony (though it only looks at their parking lot), but resisted getting my previous suite room. I added that to my TripIt plans.
I looked at Enterprise for a location in Alabama where the tour ends, and the price for a van from there to Atlanta airport is about $500 — if there are only three of us, a car will do. A drive to Columbia, where the Civil War Naval Museum resides, is only 87 miles. The trip to Atlanta is less than two hours by car. It looks like Saturday will be the Museum in Columbia, then a drive to Atlanta. Sunday in Atlanta. Monday for the Carter Center (closed on Sunday). A trip back to PDX in the evening, as there is an 8PM direct flight that will arrive late, but not too late. I will propose that to the few of us headed to Atlanta.
I also helped with a SPR/C document. For those unfamiliar with Methodist terminology, this is the HR committee. We had some happy work to do, but, as with all things HR, it must be precise.
I did the usual liberal coffee and my last banana with toast with marmalade. I did the dishes and folded the laundry that had been in a pile for a week. I drove to Barnes and Noble and paid too much for cards, but at least I had some and made one out to Mom Wild, stamped it, and dropped it off at the post office. I had brought a pen, stamps, and address stickers.
With all these tasks done, I headed to McMenamins Imbrie Hall for lunch and a beer. I had a Captain Neon burger, my favorite, which is a blue cheese and bacon burger with all the veggies. I had that with a salad, as I am tired of fries. There, I did some of the travel work. It was warm, and there were happy overdressed people everywhere. Lots of weddings are happening there today. That made me smile; this was the same weekend I was married — an excellent choice, I thought.
Air VW the Gray, fully charged before I left, took me home. The warm air, the food, the beer, and the peace of getting some things done sent me into a nap. I rose in the heat of the day, the AC keeping the house actually cold, and I decided I would head to Wildwood and play a solo game of Nemo’s War there.
(You can see that the top line, Nemo, is in red, meaning Nemo was lost).
Every roll and test I failed in the game takes some time to set up. I managed to get to the end before repeated bad rolls had the crew, Nemo, and the Nautilus in bad shape. I failed another test, and the damage was enough to end Nemo and the crew. Ugh! The solo game is challenging to win, but it’s even more frustrating not to finish. Next time!
I had one beer. I headed home, and Corwin was visiting (he has permission to enter the house at any time), and we watched (Corwin playing computer games at the same time) the new season of Wednesday Addams. It was a less complex story, I thought, but the jokes were fun. I watched just one episode.
Corwin headed out, and I was soon in bed trying to read, but instead just slept.
Thanks for reading!
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 