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Friday August 25, 2000 "The part that's beginning to depress me is seeing all the hope people invest in those objects." Larry McMurtry's Jack in Cadillac Jack
window shopping
computer museum at Powell's Tech City
vegie mountain
apps Meta: Does it make a difference when I write this stuff? Yes, yes it does. Must catch up. |
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city of books Spent the early part of the day in a relaxing ritual of getting ready, making up the bed in a strange house, rustling up some coffee in a strange house, checking e-mail and working on the WEB page. Getting away focuses one's attentions. I'm in someone else's little den. It's comfortable and they have some books and knick-knacks around to soften it from the usual hotel room sterility. With the window open in this little room, I can hear tires being changed at the tire store down the hill. Geeeeet, Geeeet, Geeet, Geeet...pause...Geeet, Geeet, Geeet, Geeeet, repeat. Our friends take us for a late breakfast which we decide counts for lunch. They call the place 'Shakes' as it used to be decorated with a rather large collection of salt and pepper shakers. It has another name now, but it still has a collectible exhibit. Souvenir state plates and other souvenirs line the walls and View Masters on the tables allow you a 3D view of something...Niagara Falls at our table. I have the Vegetable Mountain which is potatoes and spinach and onions and such topped with an egg 'your way.' My way is fried sunny side up. Our friends go back to work and leave us to wander. We window shop some upscale garden and furniture stores and make our way to Powell's City of Books. This is, arguably, the best bookstore in the world. I've recently been to Tattered Cover in Denver. Which is a nice store. But Powell's. Wow. They have new and used. Side by side you find different editions. You find stuff they didn't send back to the publisher. No, they just left it until you were ready to buy. It's organized by color and number including the humor and audio tapes, Coffee color in the coffee shop. They provide a map of the store and of downtown Portland so you can make your way to the other two satellite stores...Powell's Technical City of Books. And the travel store. I have tests I submit bookstores to. They are my secret tests (wouldn't want anyone stacking the deck, would I?) but let's just say that Powell's passes. With flying colors. In fact, let's just say I pick up a copy of Larry McMurtry's Cadillac Jack for $1.95 so I can quote from it. That I select this copy from several available including several more expensive quality editions. I convince FFP, after we pay, that we need to visit the Technical store. Amidst old Ataris, originial IBM PCs and other computing collectibles, they sell all manner of technical books. Computers. (They pass the test of actually having several shelves of IBM mainframe books and a complete set or two of Knuth.) They also have pamphlets on bomb making and books on chemistry, math, physics and forging and other metal work. There are a few remaindered art and cookbooks to try to give the geeks a little culture. We discover a book of photographs by Mell Kilpatrick that are absolutely mesmerizing. We have them ship us this big heavy book and a book on the history of the abacus and a video production book for FFP. More downtown Portland wander takes us to Mario's, a clothing store, where most everything is black and where the guy who waited on FFP last time greets him warmly. Himself says, "I've got more clothes than I can wear." Wow. Never thought I'd hear that. Further wander reveals a Ballet Rehearsal on a stage set up in the park. We watch the end of that and then wander to the Portland Art Museum. They are having an exhibit called "Let's Entertain" or some such which includes some sexually explicit stuff but I find the fussball table for twenty two people the most amusing somehow. A call to our friends and they are ready to knock off and tell us to meet them at Oratalia. We have drinks and apps...Tuna Tartare, Calamare, Salmon. We regroup and then go see "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" at the Broadway Theater. This documentary is very revealing about all the infighting in the televangelist community. Money. Power. Infighting. But it does make Tammy Faye a fairly sympathetic character. We have a late dinner at Southpark Seafood. A delicious Australian wine accompanies the food. We have oysters from a place in Nova Scotia our hostess hails from.
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