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I got up today at 8:30, chilled in the room till about 10, and then met Chris for breakfast at the hotel resturaunt.  I got the buffet, which is everything, but it was really expensive.  Glad the university is picking up the tab on this one!  After breakfast, we headed over to the oregon museum of science and industry.  It was a really long walk, or at least is sure seemed that way.

The museum is geared a more to kids, but that didn’t stop us from playing with all the exhibits anyway.  They have the submarine there that was in the movie, Hunt for Red October.  I didn’t get a chance to go in, but I looked at the sub from outside, it looked pretty cool just sitting there in the water.

After the museum, we started walking back to the hotel, and decided to stop and eat at a restaurant called “Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery.”  The food was pretty good, and they had good root beer as well (what? you know I don’t drink.)

In 6 minutes we have the noob orientation, followed by the opening banquet…

I woke up this morning around 4:20am.  I didn’t sleep well last night.  I am always like this before I fly, I just get nervous or something.  So I got up, turned off my alarm, got my things together and headed out.  I caught the Metro-Link in Fairview at 5:48am.  It took a whole hour to get to the airport.  That really surprises me, but oh well.  I met up with Chris at the gate and after a little while, we were under way.

The flight to Chicago was the worst, not because anything happened, but because I had been so nervous.  When we got to O’hare, we walked around a bit, and then decided to grab some breakfast at Macaroni Grill.  I ordered the French Toast, but my nerves weren’t helping me get it down any.  After breakfast, we started walking back to our gate.  We got there, and I was about to go use the restroom, and Chris wanted to look out the window, when I heard, “Last boarding call for Portland.”  The last boarding ended up being about 20 minutes early.  I didn’t know that could happen.  The flight from Chicago to Portland was a lot easier, my nerves were settling down.  Around 4 hrs later we arrived in Portland.

The airport in Portland is a lot nicer than the STL airport; its also a lot bigger.  We probably walked a mile just to get our bags.  Then Chris needed to go check on a rental care he wants for later in the week.  After that, we hopped the Red Line from the airport to the center of Portland where are hotel is at.

When I first found out that this thing was going to be at the Hilton, I was all gung-ho about it….but as with all other “luxuary” hotels I’ve stayed at, I am kind of dissappointed.  I guess when you hear a name like Hilton, you expect your room to be above and beyond that of a normal hotel room, but this is probably the most basic room I have ever been in.  2 beds, a tv, a tiny bathroom, and a closet.  Hell, every Drury Inn room has a fridge, why doesn’t Hilton?

After checking into the oh so not very swanky hotel, we wandered aimlessly around downtown for a minute before finding a hole in the wall pizza place to eat at.  It was pretty good pizza.  Chris wanted to go check out a toy store, but they were about to close, so I guess we’ll check it out tomorrow.

As many of you already know, tomorrow I embark on my journey to Portland.  SLU is sending me up there to present a paper at the SIGUCCS conference about a different way to image computers that my fellow nerd-lingers and I came up with.  My flight leaves early in the morning, and should put me in Portland around 1pm (portland time) with an hour-and-a-half layover in Chi-town.

In a lot of ways I am really excited about the whole thing, but I am also a little apprehensive as well.  I don’t really fly well…I get nervous and anxious and whatnot.  Once I am in the air I should be fine, but until then…I have a few things to help keep my mind off of it: MP3 player, ebook reader, computer, oh and over the counter allergy medication that will make me loopy.

I’ll be up there till Thursday, so I am trying to come up with things that I can do while up there.  Obviously there is the conference, but there are some times when there is no conference stuff going on.  Portland is supposed to have a fairly cool underground attraction.  Tours are an hour long.  That is only like 3 blocks from my hotel, so I might check that out one day.  One of my friends recommended Columbia River gorge, which is only about 20 minutes from Portland.  I might rent a car on Tuesday or something and go check that out.

Here is a link to the paper if anyone is interested in reading it:  My Paper