Busman's holiday

Yesterday, Otis and I made a kamikaze run down to Portland (actually, Troutdale) to see Lizzie in a production of Luv, a very sixties play (that was made into a 1967 film with Peter Falk, Jack Lemmon, and Elaine May). It was a dated but very funny three-person, unit-set piece about desire, hope, deceit, suicide, murder, and love. Good stuff.

The drive down in the morning was slick – even in the rain, it took less than two and a half hours to get down, traffic was so light. We had time for a nice leisurely lunch and a side trip to Multnomah Falls before the matinée.

The trip back wasn’t so happy: more rain, lots of accidents, lots of slow-downs because of accidents, lots of slowdowns for no reason at all, and, of course, the mother of all slowdowns at the Spokane Street closure. We shoulda took the train.

Today, Otis had a writing group so I set off for Cascadia to take care of some business. Originally, I intended to bike it, but the rain this morning discouraged me, so I took the bus instead. It was a pretty sweet ride – great connections and an easy trip. It makes me think this might even be simpler than I thought.

I did discuss bicycle commuting with a colleague at Bothell who does it routinely. He said there are two basic philosophies about commuting gear: one is to get good, waterproof stuff and ride without breaking a sweat, so you’re presentable upon arrival; the other is to ride hard, get wet and sweaty, and change at work. I’m beginning to think the latter makes more sense. It would certainly be cheaper.

An additional benefit to heading into campus today was lunch with Stella and Vente. We all got caught up, and I got to see Stella’s new apartment, which abuts campus and is about a ninety-second walk from my office. Vente (a librarian) also complained that I did not describe the novel I am reading, so: it is Magic Man by Ron Base, a bit of magical realism about a young man in Hollywood in the late twenties trying to find true love to stave off a curse that will otherwise kill him. The protagonist gets involved with young Gary Cooper, Clara Bow, and other historical figures as he moves through his adventure. Twenty percent in, I’m sort of lukewarm to it.

Now, off to begin preparing dinner for our guests tonight!