Author: Andy

Tuesday in Las Vegas

I got up this morning intent on going to Red Rock before the conference started. As I was about to leave the hotel, I noticed several folks who were attend the conference and figured I should pick up a packet to make sure I didn’t miss anything important. I asked a fellow conference goer from Georgia where the sign up was and we ended up walking down to registration together. I told him my plans and he told me he was going to take part in a pre-conference workshop – something I had intended on doing before our department had a spending-freeze.

After picking up registration then dropping that in my room, I picked up some coffee and headed north looking for a bus stop. I still didn’t have the appropriate cash, but I stopped by the Rivera and turned a twenty dollar bill in to 2 five dollar bills and 10 ones. I asked a guy at the bus stop if I took the Charleston bus all the way to the end if I could get to Red Rock. He seemed confused, but said yes, that if I took the bus all the way out, I could easily walk to see Red Rock. The bus ride took nearly an hour and I saw more of Las Vegas than I care to recall. Suffice to say, I would rank Las Vegas even lower on the stankonia-ranking than Yakima, which while it has no popular destinations, at least isn’t as bad as LV. Riding transit here is vastly different than in Portland. For one, the transit stop and stop light alignment means that a giant bus must stop twice at each intersection. Once for the really long light, then immediately again for the bus stop proper.

As we got further away from the strip, I started to wonder if I was actually going to make it. The hills were getting closer, but something didn’t seem right. I asked the woman sitting next to me if the bus did get close enough to Red Rock that I could walk and see it and she said that yes, I could. The transit center was right at Red Rock so I could get out and see it then get back on for another bus when I was done. Whew.

When we pulled in to the Red Rock Transit center at the Red Rock Casino, my heart sank. I asked the driver, who was perplexed by me wanting to go to Red Rock Canyon, but that no, this was as far as the transit went. I did another check using my iPhone and I was still 11 miles from Red Rock Canyon. Too far to walk, and hell, too far to ride a bike with only 1/2 a liter of water and 100F weather. So I decided to eat my losses (I’m in Vegas after all) and catch the bus back to town. Stupid Me. Stupid Vegasans who thought I wanted to go to Red Rock Casino.

Anyway, after a late lunch (those Duece busses fill up quickly so I missed a bus or two) I headed down to the conference, checked my e-mail, then saw the keynote from Steve Wozniak. Sweet. The Woz. The keynote was OK, mostly a rehash of “the history” with some abrupt comments about education, then a reception where I got a Blackboard beer coozie. I’ll have to give my Canadian server admin grief about that when I get back. The exhibition was actually ok. I was able to see some cool posters, have some good beer and cheese and meet some of the vendors we do business with. The one I most wanted to meet and speak with was swamped with folks so I’ll have to catch up with him later.

Afterwards, I wandered back towards my room and dawdled above the gondolas in the Venetian mall and stopped at Mainland for dinner. The roast duck noodles jumped out at me and I have no regret. Just after I got back to my room, I got a call from Michelle and Ella. Getting a call from your daughter who says “Hi daadee” is just about one of the most incredible things ever. I talked to her for a while then Michelle for a bit before Ella wished me night-night. It was her bed time, but not mine.

Monday in Las Vegas

I recently traveled to Las Vegas for the Blackboard World conference. This is being posted a week later because of limited internet access.

I arrived in Las Vegas around noon. Caught the shuttle to the Venetian, but found out I was at the Palazzo; connected but separate. The shuttle ride sucked. I sat by the window, which was covered with a Bette Midler show advertisement so I couldn’t see where I was going. I did notice that we went by Hofbrauhaus, but lost context because of the windows and the weird geography. The two Japanese gents next too me were talking about their blackberry’s, Yahoo and golf. blah blah “intermittent showers” blah blah.

After I got to my room, and sufficiently scoped it out (awesome!), I walked to Hofbrauhaus. 2.4 miles in 102F. On crappy streets. With crazy people. By the time my sweaty self was seated, I needed a lager. I had the Nürnberger Rostbratwürst and kraut while trying to figure out how to get to Red Rock Canyon. I asked the waitress who had just moved for advice, but she couldn’t help me. She did say that I should just take the bus since it went right to Red Rock. I wanted to ask her why she chose to move to Vegas, but decided not to. It might have been a tragic story.

After lunch, I walked back towards the strip and was dive-bombed by a gray jay. It actually hit my head twice before I realized what was happening. It followed me for a few more palms, squawking. I warned the guy walking the opposite direction so he took a wide berth. I wish I hadn’t said anything so I could have gotten video of someone else getting pecked. I played some blackjack on the walk back and did fairly well for about 30 minutes then slowly lost my lead. Maybe I’m not patient enough.

After a humid walk back, I required a dip in the pool. It was really nice, floating on my knees looking up at Palazzo, Treasure Island, Wynn and Encore. Nice enough skyline. Afterwards, I sat in the room and sipped some tequila and watched the sun set. The worn thrust/fault mountains outside town really make me like the place much more. Suddenly there were cannon shots below and I discovered that it was one of Treasure Island’s many pirate shows. I saw it back in 2004 and remember standing on some concrete pylons across the strip by an empty lot. The room I’m in now didn’t exist just those few years ago. Freaky. There are lots of cranes all over the city and lots going on. Many of the casinos we passed last time no longer exist.

I went out for some dinner then came back to find my bed had been turned down and my ice bucket had been refilled. I could get used to this place. It’s a shame they haven’t embraced the internet. That would be nice. $10/day for wireless access is absurd. I just spent time in Nebraska where the hotel had free wifi. Get with the times.

iShould’ve foreseen this

My iPhone is mostly upgraded but needs to connect to the iTunes store for some activation type transactions. Said store is down, so my phone thinks it hasn’t been activated. I figured that I’d wait until the weekend to install the upgrade so this sort of thing wouldn’t happen, but after buying super monkey ball, I couldn’t wait any longer. Now I can only laugh at my predicament.

I wonder what time that meeting is this morning. If I’m late, I’m sure they’ll understand. At least 3 of them have iPhones and might be in the same boat.

First flight and Nebraska

Ella and I flew back to Nebraska for a wedding and for my grandparent’s 60th anniversary over the long weekend. It was Ella’s first time flying and her first time in either Colorado or Nebraska. Due to the cost of flying and lack of vacation, not only did we fly to Denver instead of Lincoln, but Michelle stayed home. My parents and sister who were driving back to Nebraska for the wedding picked us up in Denver, then we completed the last 288 miles with them.

I had kind of been dreading the trip because I was worried about traveling with a toddler, less than enthusiastic about going to hot & humid Nebraska during the summer, and all sorts of other little things that I associate with being in the Midwest. (i.e. no recycling, bugs, wal-mart everything, lite-beer, my family’s seeming need to out-religious each other, meat in everything, driving everywhere, etc.)

There was really no reason to worry though as I had a great time, and I’m pretty sure Ella enjoyed herself too. You see, I have 21 cousins (not all of whom were there) and as they are having kids, there were plenty of people for Ella to play with, or at least watch. She made quick friends with a couple of my first cousins, once removed. (that distinction was bugging me the entire time. “My cousin’s kid” wasn’t cutting it, despite being shorter)

The weather was even cooperative most of the time and we had several pleasant evenings outside with cardinal calls, lightning bugs, yard games, and a few mosquito bites. Ella even got to swim in the same pool that I swam in as a toddler some 28 years ago. When away from it, it can be easy to forget all the parts I like about Nebraska – family being foremost. Like the trip to Ontario last September, it was great to catch up with family (many of whom weren’t on the Ontario trip) and see how everyone is doing. It reaffirms how important the connection to family can be, and reminds me that we need to make sure we keep in touch for Ella’s sake. And ours.

Some photos

A nice swim

Yesterday we took Barley for an early swim at Cathedral Park. He was delighted and could sense what was going to happen even before we got to the water. Thrilled, he lunged in over and over after his tennis ball toy. There was a brief threat from another dog, but Barley decided an aging, three-legged Weimaraner wasn’t going to take his ball, and he returned to frolicking in the river. The rest of us enjoyed the trip too, though the river is colder than we all expected, likely due to the high volume of water and source.

Playing under the St. John’s bridge was pretty fun too. It’s such a lovely fixture on the river.

Playing in the river at Cathedral Park

Radon Free… mostly

We got our radon test back over the weekend and our current radon level is less than 0.4 pC/L, well below the 4 pC/L that the EPA’s action level. That’s great news for us since we dropped a bit of money on radon mitigation, and it means we can breathe deeply downstairs now. Basement is almost done too. More pictures soon, I swear.

Sunday Parkway

One upside to Ella having croup and our camping trip getting cut short is that we were able to take part in the Sunday Parkway event in North Portland today. After some early morning errands, we got on bikes and rode over to Peninsula park to meet for a led “family ride.”

The park was chaos, in the good way. Bicyclists and pedestrians were everywhere, and despite the early morning drizzle, people were out and enjoying themselves. We followed the led ride for about 3/4 of a mile before realizing the slow pace and the volatile nature of a sick daughter meant we wouldn’t finish the ride before nap time. Michelle and I sped up and enjoyed the route with other random people, all of whom seemed rather happy.

Seeing so many people on bikes warms my heart. This was the biggest crowd I’d seen since STP, but without all the stupid outfits and misplaced competitiveness. We wound through NoPo on many of the same streets I’ve been riding with Ella the past few weeks, but she didn’t mind because she’d fallen asleep. We cut the route a bit short though and retired home for lunch and a proper nap.

I really enjoyed the event, but I’m not sure how it worked for other folks. One of the ideas was to get folks out on the street who were otherwise intimidated by traffic. I never get tired of cars having to wait for me while I cross major arterials, but I’ll be interested to see how other folks felt about the event.

Michelle on the Family Ride Cooped up with Croup Interstate Bridge crossing

Ella’s first camping trip

Back in April, we scrapped a camping trip with my parents because it was 50F and raining. We thought it would make for a miserable first camping trip for Ella to be stuck in the volkswagen for two days. So, after aligning all our schedules (Hilary’s too) we picked this weekend. My parents, Ella and Barley went over to Nehalem Bay State Park on Friday morning, and Michelle, Hilary and I met up with them after work.

3 minutes after we arrived, Ella vomited twice. She’d woken up with a cough that morning, but was fine until around 4pm, when she started to slow down. She perked up a little after some tylenol, so we stayed the night, and it went fairly well considering. She didn’t vomit again, but woke up 3 separate times with the saddest, most haunting vibrato crying I’ve ever heard. But after 3 interruptions, we all fell back to sleep for about 4-5 hours.

The day was quite nice, though overcast and cool. We had a great breakfast then rode our bikes in to Manzanita for coffee and more children’s tylenol. The town has changed quite a bit since our first visit in 2002, but it’s still a charming place. After returning to camp, we ate lunch and goofed around a bit while Ella got a much needed nap. We tried some kite flying, reading, and relaxing.

The campground is about 1.5 miles south of town and is really pretty swank. We happened to be there at the same time as a Winnebago View/Itasca Navion Rally, so there was this erie twilight zone feeling because all the campers there were the same. Nice folk though, and they were quiet, so there were really no complaints.

After Ella’s nap, her coughing had gotten worse, and our prospects for a rougher night convinced us to head home after dinner. I know sounds like all we did was eat, but that’s a pretty important part of camping, isn’t it?

Having a physician for a father has it’s benefits, so we knew that it was in fact croup that she was afflicted with and how to deal with it. She sounded pretty rough for most of the weekend, and it was clear that she was in pain when coughing at times. Luckily, the tylenol and ibuprofen allowed her to enjoy herself and she would go from being morose and in pain to her busy self in cycles throughout the day.

Despite the illness, camping again seems promising. She was kind of confused by the whole sleeping bag thing, but we’ll get it down. I didn’t take any pictures because my camera was in Michelle’s purse, and I kept forgetting to retrieve it. Luckily, my mom, dad, and sister all had their cameras.