Last weekend, trip to Portland (with pictures!)

january 2008 - Atlanta, Portland, Brett's Show at Tilt

So last weekend, I went to visit Lindsey rockstarling in Portland, and we had a fantastic time!

We ran a lot, we rebuilt Lindsey's desktop machine lightnin, we went to the gym, we saw Paul stereotype441's orchestra concert (he plays viola), we cycled out to Powell's. We ate delicious food, including with sndc. New Rock 'n' Roll Boots were worn, and a magic hybrid Flexcar was driven (both by Lindsey). We visited FreeGeek, which is this wild organization that refurbishes and recycles computers, so people who wouldn't otherwise have them, can! (they do training, too.) ... It was an action-packed three days! Hooray Portland, and hooray Lindsey! (hooray!)

Powell's, by the way, is flabbergastingly amazing -- they have a whole separate bookstore for Technical Books, which has an AI Section. Andrew sault points out that they also have a whole bookstore for poetry.

Paul, thanks for the use of your bike! Also, thanks to Martin samarin for being awesome and reminding me that I didn't have to work on Monday (MLK Day) so I didn't have to fly back Sunday night.

Things:

• Jack Kaufman -- a man who looks like he might be named Jack Kaufman -- works at Fry's just south of Portland. And he has this awesome silver hair, combed back, a very strong jaw, and deep lines in his face. And the most helpful salesperson in the computer parts area is a young lady who goes by Tish; she knows what's up with current hardware and has cool bracelets.
• We want to build a gym where all of the machines are set up to capture and reuse the energy output to generate electricity to power the gym. You could easily imagine this working for exercise bikes -- "weights" might be a little tricky, but it could work more as "resistance training". A Treadwall (which is like what it sounds like -- continuous rock-climbing, in place!) would work out really well for this too. At the point when the gym has generated enough electricity to be self-sustaining for the day, we throw confetti and give everybody a free vegan-organic smoothie, then start selling electricity back to the grid!
• We also want to install, in your favorite bar-or-coffee-shop, a ruggedized, fairly people-proof Wii, where fun party games can be played. Like Rock Band or Guitar Hero or Wii Sports. These sorts of games want to tend towards being kiosks, we think.

(also in this set of photos, you'll find shots from around Atlanta, and Brett's art show at Tilt -- he's got pieces up for sale over in Castleberry Hills!)