Indianapolis--part 2

Place: downtown is pretty much what I expected, though I did see a public square last night that reminded me quite a bit of Madrid in that a memorial column thingy was in the center, people and bikes parked on its steps, and all around the square were restaurants with outdoor patios & people actually sitting outside enjoying the last of the warm (i.e. 60 degree) weather. There is a Hard Rock Cafe here, which I didn't expect at all, as well as a couple "Irish" pubs and some very nice restaurants downtown, one of which is in my hotel--called Shula's--and is horribly overpriced but the food tastes good. The hotel itself--the Westin--has a magnificent lobby but room doors that don't open on the first try and drains that don't drain properly and bath towels as rough as sandpaper and a 12-oz bottle of water that would cost me $3 to touch. Speaking of water, the water that comes out of the tap here is positively undrinkable (yucky yuck yuck!). Ah well. At least there's free HBO and a very comfy bed.

People: at the conference I met a couple colleagues from South Texas College and one from a community college in Western Pennsylvania. Had dinner last night with the STC peeps: it was very nice of them to invite me out and I was not completely neglected, bu they did spend quite a bit of time on their Crackberries and reminiscing to each other about past trips to other places with other people. Hmph. The guy from Western PA was a PhD in Higher Ed, married, originally from Rhode Island (where I lived for a short time when I was younger), not completely satisfied with his job and trying to figure out what would make both him and his wife happy ever after. At the pub next door to the hotel tonight (where I went for dinner, thank you very much) I met four fine gentlemen between the ages of 26 and 70 who kept me entertained until I no longer had the will to finish grading papers. One of said gentlemen is a bartender at Shula's, two are bartenders at pub-next-door, and one is a Vietnam vet who is a regular at pub-next-door and who complimented me several times on my cleavage. Hmm.

Indianapolis--part 1

I am off to Indianapolis for a professional conference. Am far more excited about the conference than I am about Indianapolis. I've never been there, but I've never heard anything about the city that would cause me to be curious about it either. And the tourism photos I've seen feature downtown modern glass skyscrapers, which doesn't particularly appeal to my imagination.

Then again, a lot of the Portland tourism photos feature our downtown skyscrapers, with or without the river and bridges included either in the foreground or background, and while it's a nice view, it's not representative of the Portland I've come to know and love.

So here I am at PDX, having arrived at the gate a couple hours before departure time, taking advantage of the free Internet and trying to imagine what Indianapolis will be like while knowing full well that I won't have time to explore more than a few downtown blocks around my hotel. At least I'll be staying in a nice hotel.

I realized shortly after arriving at the airport that I hadn't even thought to bring my camera, which might be an indication either of how rarely I take photos or of my assumption that there won't be anything worth taking photos of. We shall see.