Mark L. Van Name's Blog, page 116

On the road again: Portland, day 4

Today the weather said, "You will work from your hotel room."  It backed up its decree with freezing rain, rain, snow flurries, and ice.  So, I worked from my hotel room, as we lost all our client meetings.  Nonetheless, the day was busy from very early until quite late.

The one break was a delicious dinner at Le Pigeon, where Chef Gabriel Rucker and his team always create incredibly tasty dishes.  I hope to do a full review of this meal later, but trust me when I say that if you are eating in Portland, you need to eat at Le Pigeon.

Tomorrow morning, I must get up way in advance of the sun to head to the airport, so I am outta here.

On the road again: Portland, day 3

I feel bad about writing all of these short entries, but at the end of these incredibly long work days, they're all I have the energy to do.  Today was entirely work except for a lovely dinner at Castagna, one of the best restaurants in Portland.  Executive Chef Justin Woodward creates exciting, modernist dishes that evoke the area and rely heavily on local ingredients.  If you live here or are visiting here, do not miss the chance to eat a world-class meal from Woodward and his team. 

I hope to do a longer review of the meal later, but now I must finish work and finally crash.

On the road again: Portland, day 2

Wow, was today busy.  Work comprised interesting meetings, which of course I can't discuss, and a giant backlog of email.  So it goes.

Dinner was an excellent (as always) meal with colleagues and friends (same people; it's nice to be friends with your colleagues) at Ava Genes, an Italian restaurant I definitely recommend.  I've never had a bad dish there.  On a cold, windy fall night, it was lovely to be in a friendly, warm restaurant enjoying a bowl of warm pasta.

Now, finally, to crash.

On the road again: World Fantasy Con, Washington, D.C., day 5 /Portland, day 1

The bandwidth in the DCA Admirals Club at 6:50 in the morning was quite a treat.  By 8:00, though, it was merely tolerable.  I accomplished a lot in the 70 good minutes.

Flights took me from DCA to DFW and then to PDX.  No complaints from me, because I was lucky to receive upgrades on both flights. 

Work filled most of the latter part of the day, but I did walk around for a bit in downtown Portland, which was a nice break. 

Dinner was at Murata, where I consumed some of the best sushi I've tasted anywhere and definitely the best sushi I've had in Portland.  I very much recommend this place to sushi lovers. 

Dessert was at Salt & Straw, where I sampled two of the odder-sounding seasonal flavors:  spiced chevre pumpkin pie, and salted caramel Thanksgiving turkey.  Both were delicious. 

Now, to crash after a very long day indeed. 

On the road again: World Fantasy Con, Washington, D.C., day 4

Today the convention held its annual banquet and announcement of the winners of this year's World Fantasy Awards.  I enjoyed the ceremony, which is one of the more important yearly gatherings of the SF&F clan.  The food was even decent, which is both a bonus and a surprise at a banquet.

I worked for a time, chatted with some friends, worked some more, and then a small group of us headed off to see Interstellar.  I'll write a full review of it later--I now owe you two long entries--but the bottom line is that I very much enjoyed it.

I have to get up at six a.m., so I'm heading offline now. 

When I next write, I'll be in Portland, OR!

On the road again: World Fantasy Con, Washington, D.C., day 3

Today was, for a rare and pleasant change, more con than work.  I kept up with my various efforts, but I also managed to spend more time in the dealers' room and the art show, hit two panels, grab a quick lunch, and enjoy a dinner at a local Ruth's Chris steakhouse with a bunch of friends who also happen to be Baen folks.  I should be writing longer entries, but once again, it's late, I'm tired, and I have a bit more to do. 

So, I'm outta here.

On the road again: World Fantasy Con, Washington, D.C., day 2

Most of today's daylight hours went to work. 

I did get to spend a little time in the art show and the dealers' room.  The Virgil Finlay original art on display here really is fantastic.  I picked up a lovely book on his work, and I enjoyed getting to see so many originals.  I also found the rest of the art in the art show to be of a generally very high caliber; it is quite a treat to see such good work.

Dinner deserves its own blog entry, but it's three a.m., and I need to finish some work and crash, so I'm going to write that review another time.  I will say that the meal was at Jose's Table within minibar, and it was not only world-class, it was also one of the very best meals I've ever had the privilege of eating.

After the dinner, I spent time chatting with friends, both old and new, and then, as usual, worked into the wee hours.

A generally good day.

On the road again: World Fantasy Con, Washington, D.C., day 1

Busy day.  Awoke after way too little sleep, worked liked crazy, and headed downtown to apply for Global Entry.

The folks there were pleasant and efficient, and I'm now all set.  Excellent.

Grabbed an egg salad sandwich and some salad at a food court in the Ronald Reagan building.  Not bad.

Work.

Some more work.

Did I mention work?

Toured the art show.  Great show that included over a hundred original pieces of Virgil Finlay art.  Wow, was that guy amazing!

Did a quick walk through a very nice dealers' room refreshingly jammed with books.  Very tempting stuff.

Dinner was with friends and colleagues at a nearby Italian place, Portofino.  Decent food, service that could use some work.

Got back in time to do some work and then moderate an SRO panel on "Fantasy and the Reality of Law Enforcement."  I was there just to keep things rolling along.  The stars of the show were Griffin Barber, a cop for a major city, and Alistair Kimble, and FBI agent.  Both are friends, both are fellow writers, and both did a fine job on the panel.  It was fun.

A little time at the Tor party, more work, time chatting with friends, more work, and a jammed day comes to an end.

On the road again: World Fantasy Con, Washington, D.C., day 0

Driving in the D.C. metropolitan area sucks.  Most of the drive here proceeded uneventfully, the traffic never pleasant on I-95 but never horrible, either--until about 30 miles from D.C.  From that point on, it was unpleasant. 

Still, I'm safely at the World Fantasy Con in Crystal City, so I shouldn't complain.  The con cranks up in earnest tomorrow, but registration and the hospitality suite open today, and it feels like a good quarter of the people have already shown up.

Dinner tonight was a delicious meal with friends at Jose Andres' Jaleo in Crystal City.  We shared a wide variety of small dishes before waddling back to the hotel.  Any evening that includes Jamon Iberico de bellota Fermin is a very good evening indeed.

Work filled part of the drive and all the rest of my time except dinner.  Despite the timestamp on this post, it's after three a.m. in the morning, so I'm outta here.

Tomorrow, I will head into D.C. for some Global Entry paperwork, eat dinner with friends, and moderate a panel.  Oh, yeah:  I'll do a ton of work, too.

PT folks doing good in the world

As I've mentioned many times, I'm particularly proud of the sabbatical program at PT and all the good work that PT folks do while on sabbatical.  We just released today a video about the good work that my friend, Eric, did while on his sabbatical.



Enjoy.