The Severed Cortex

Day One started out really, really early after the long World Series Game. After the game I was really jacked up so I couldn't fall asleep. When I woke up at 4:30 in the morning I was extremely tired.

We made it to the airport in plenty of time. Curbside check-in was fine, but it turns out I'm on the no-fly list so we have to get boarding passes inside. I curse my common name. Luckily the representative made a quick phone call, plugged my name into Ashcroft/Gonzalez personal database and we were off to the security gate. The line was long but moved quickly. Not quick enough to avoid the absolutely boring conversation of the guy behind us talking about mutual funds and managing his own portfolio, but quick enough where we weren't horribly inconvenienced.
We didn't have enough time to get a Starbucks so we just went ahead and boarded the plane for the first leg of our flight to Phoenix. The seats at Abu Gharab are probably more comfortable. By the time we land in Phoenix 3 1/2 hours later my ass is numb. Technically we only had 35 minutes to catch our next flight, but we got lucky that it flew out of the gate next to where we landed. They were running late and by the time we got loaded and taxied out to the runway, we were an hour behind schedule. The 2nd leg of the flight was more comfortable than the first and a shade over two hours later we touched down in Portland. The guy sitting next to us was from Portland and gave us some ideas for things to do during our visit. This was my first introduction to friendly Oregonians. The next was the guy who drove the rental car van. He certainly missed his calling for being a concierge. Even the front desk guy at our hotel, The Silver Cloud Inn was extremely friendly. When I asked where there was a bar with TV's so we could watch Game 4 of the World Series, he offered to mapquest it and print out the directions.
I digress a little. Since we missed breakfast and lunch we first stopped to get some food before checking into the hotel. We settled on McMenamins on 23rd in the Nob Hill area. (Our hotel is not far from here). Nancy had cream of mushroom soup and a grilled salmon sandwich. I had clam chowder and fish and chips. Both were pretty good.
We checked into our hotel and freshened up a bit. (OK, Nancy freshened up. I watched TV on the flat screen plasma in our room and set up the computer). We then decided to head over to the infamous Powell Books. This place is amazing. It's basically a whole city block of books, books, and more books. I found tons of books including an 1881 tome on fishing for black bass, which I did not buy. We noodled around here for a couple of hours, then decided to head over to On Deck to watch Game 4. Turns out it was rained out and I'm guessing that Thursday's game will be rained out too. Nancy and I had a couple of Stella Artois' and headed back to the hotel tired from the long day.