Give me a O-B-A-M-A!

Where I work, on the edge of downtown Portland, has many advantages. I get to work quickly as my bus doesn't have to go through all the downtown traffic and the restaurants are cheaper that in the center. Another advanatage is that the Benson Hotel, the place where the elite rest their weary bones when the visit Stumptown, is about 100 feet away. Bush, Cheney and the other two horseman have all stayed there. Whoopie.

But on Friday the office was buzzing with the rumor that his Obamaness was close by and would soon be leaving the building. Since potential future democratic presidential nominees outweigh brick details we all trooped out and waited in the equinoctal chill for Barack to show up. And, 20 minutes later, he did.

As a man of the people he moved straight toward the area I was standing and started pressing the flesh. I was a few rows back and didn't want to mow anyone down so I contented myself by shouting, "Fix our healthcare system." The picture was taken by a coworker standing next to me.

The visitation was over very quickly as Barack was whisked away to accept Gov. Bill Richardson's endorsement at the Portland Rose Garden. We went back to work, doing our best to ignore the economy unravelling around us.

Vegas!

Ponti di Vegas

Two weeks ago I was in Vegas for a conference with the grand title of AutoDesk University. Autodesk is the company that produces the software my office and thousands of offices around the world use when designing, analyzing and documenting their work (i.e. buildings). AU, as it is know to the nerderati, is attended about about 9,000 people each year and has been held in Vegas for the last two. The mass of people was pretty overwhelming as can be seen below between class sessions.


You might ask what kind of space can feed 9,000 people for breakfast. Why an endless space, of course. Deep in the bowels of the Venetian Casino is this cavern staffed by sleepy butlers.


The classes were quite good and the tools to facilitate more sustainable design (e.g. low energy consuming buildings) are finally rolling out. A plus is that these tools finally have a good visual component and don't require a degree in mechanical engineering to use.

"Ecotect" application being used to analyse
energy use relative to building orientation

With all the classes and events there was little time for gambling but I did manage to leave about $40 at the blackjack tables. I caught some pros playing for a television audience (and got yelled at for my pains).