Be The Pigeon

Apparently my fun with flashing lights wasn't enough last week in Portland. No sooner had I checked into my hotel in southern Cal tonight than the hotel fire alarm started going off. At first, the staff came on the PA and said to ignore it a couple times. Then they changed their minds and told us to evacuate the building. Hmphhhh. I'm tired. So a couple hundred people filed down the stairs (I was on the top floor), but at least it was still 70 degrees outside. Let's all be glad there was no actual fire, because the Fire Dept didn't actually roll up for about 20 minutes. Not sure on that one, but seems a little odd. I can't really trash firemen, though, cuz they're off limits. :-) Every few minutes, the staff told us to move further away from the hotel, perhaps just to keep us all interested. When the FD finally did arrive, the guys jumped out with their full gear and SCBA tanks and went inside. Funny. I decided I needed a drink and so went down into t...

It's been a couple weeks since I've come up with anything witty enough to be publicly shared. Even now, no wit is to be found between my ears. But I have to share something anyway. Tonight, however, I was walking around Portland when I stumbled on a Macaroni Grill. Yum, I thought, so I doubled back and went in. After ordering, I was settling into the page-turning USAA magazine (it's a freeby from my insurance company; just shows how pathetic I've become). I'd cleverly thought to bring along for some 8/5x11 dinner companionship when the waitress mentioned something going on directly across the street, directly across from my window. Some guy apparently had another guy in a sleeper hold, with a good 15-20 people standing by watching. Apparently, in Portland, that's a perfectly acceptable behavior. From my vantage point, it seemed like one of the onlookers was a security guard. Also, apparently, interdiction wasn't part of his job. A few minutes later...