I slept the day away,

I mean the whole day, every bit of it, from five a.m. until after six p.m., and, wow, do I feel better for it.

That's all I got today.

On the road again: Portland, day 5

I'm home, and I'm glad to be here.  Today's travels went about as well as one could hope, with an exit row seat for the longer flight and a first-class upgrade for the shorter one, but it was still a ton of time in airports and airplanes.

Two items of note occurred.

The first was getting to eat in one of the new (since I was last there) restaurants in Terminal C of PDX.  I tried a vermicelli bowl from the Vietnamese place there, and the food was good, tasty and packed with fresh veggies.  That's a huge step up from pre-packaged sandwiches or boring sandwich joints.

The second was a classic DFW sprint between distant gates, the urgency courtesy of a long stay on the tarmac in our arriving flight, waiting for our gate to open.  This airplane dash is never fun, but at least I made it home--and so did my baggage.

I intend to sleep most of tomorrow.

On the road again: Portland, day 4

Another day, another long set of work hours I can't discuss.  Interesting meetings, to be sure, but all confidential.

The weather remained perfect.  It's simply lovely here.

Ava Gene's, a wonderful local Italian place, provided tonight's dinner.  I've enjoyed all my previous trips to this place, and this visit was no exception.  Everything I tasted was delicious.  The salads have always proven to be exceptionally strong.  The one I ordered, a dish that featured radishes and grapes and goat cheese, was flavorful and unexpected and quite lovely.

In the morning, I will work some more and then head home!

On the road again: Portland, day 3

A long day full of work doesn't make for a very interesting blog entry, but today was such a day.

That said, I must note that the weather has stayed stupendous so far, each day bright and clear and beautiful, as perfect a set of fall days as I've experienced.  I've been fortunate enough to hold several of our meetings outside, and to walk to lunch, so at least I've spent a bit of time outdoors.

Dinner tonight took me to one of my all-time favorite restaurants, Le Pigeon.  I've praised this place so many times that regular readers may well be sick of hearing about it, but it deserves the accolades.  My meal was, as usual, delicious, every bite flavorful and complex and delightful.  If you have a chance to eat at Le Pigeon, take it.

Time to crash hard, for I am a tired guy.

On the road again: Portland, day 2

As is typically the case on these trips, work filled almost all of my hours, so I have very little to say about them.

I've changed hotels for this visit, because the bandwidth at my previous hotel was so poor.  I'm happy to report that the bandwidth in this new establishment is quite reasonable, so the experiment has proven to be a success.

Dinner tonight was a very tasty meal at Little Bird, Gabriel Rucker's second restaurant.  I like this place enough that while waiting to be seated I sold it to a couple trying to decide where to eat dinner.  Its food is that good.  Definitely check it out if you live here or are visiting the Portland area.

Tomorrow, more meetings!

On the road again: Portland, day 1

I'm never going to love a morning that starts with me getting out of bed in the fives, as today did.  I'm going to dislike that morning even more when it dawns after a night of no sleep, my brain unwilling and unable to shut down for the four hours I was in the bed.

So, today did not begin ideally.

The flights proved to be the sort of experiences I'm encountering more and more frequently:  exit-row seats, thanks to my status on American, but no upgrades, just hours and hours of leaning into the aisle and feeling like a sardine in a slowly shrinking can.  The only fun break in the travel portion of the day was a fruit and frozen yogurt parfait at the ever-reliable Red Mango.

Portland's afternoon weather was lovely, so after settling into the hotel I went for a short walk and grabbed a snack from a food truck specializing in Asian noodle dishes of various sorts.

Work consumed the afternoon and early evening.  Dinner was a tasty meal at Bamboo Sushi, with dessert courtesy of the Salt & Straw establishment right next door.

A decent business travel day, as these days go.

The hardest part of traveling a great deal,

at least for me, is not the travel itself, nor the wear and tear on my body, nor even (though this is a big one) the calories that are hard to avoid at business meals.  No, the hardest part is dealing with all the household stuff that piles up while I'm gone.  The simple things that I address daily when I'm home--handling the physical mail, paying the bills, and dealing with other financial matters--pile up when I'm away.  They're not what I want to do first when I get home, so they continue to grow, until I find I'm desperately behind on them and must devote hours to them.

That was my situation today, because I'm flying out very early tomorrow morning, so that's where a great deal of my day went.

Tomorrow, Portland.