Oh How I Love My Sushi

Lunch with Kim in Portland.
I love it I love it I love it I love it.
I could eat it forever.

My Favorite Photo From PortlAANnd

Gord takes a dip in a bathtub full of beer in the Weekly Dig's suite during a late-night par-tay.

PortlAANd

So, this year's national AAN conference was held in Portland, Ore. It was my first time there, and I absolutely loved it. It is such a beautiful, progressive city. I was very impressed.

This is me with Gord from See Magazine, which is in Edmonton. Gord is a ton of fun. He is leaving his paper, though, to take a few months to travel. Jealous, much? I think so.

Here's Steve (my boss) chatting with Erin (my friend and the ME for Baltimore City Paper--and former ME for Metroland) after dinner one evening. No doubt he's trying to woo her back to Mland! :-)

Not only is Portland very bicycle-friendly, the bikes there are very stylish and cute. Here's one that caught my eye. Can you guess why? :-)

AAN Conference in DC

The weekend before last, I again attended the AAN East conference in DC; I caught up with some old friends, attended all the seminars, learned a whole lot and reviewed what I already knew, and so on and so on. But I also did a couple more notable things--I went and toured the International Spy Museum, which was wonderful and fascinating, and I could have spent all day in there, but we were able to spend the morning there before we needed to get back to the hotel for the afternoon seminars. Also, I had some superb meals while I was there. Really, every night we had fabulous food. But the staff and I went to eat at a restaurant called Tenpenh on Pennsylvania Avenue on our last night there, and it was so delicious--the meal was probably on my Top 10 list of favorite meals ever. I had the five-spice chili tea rubbed beef tenderloin with a kimchee-noodle cake and Korean chili Hollandaise sauce. And that was just the entree! I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Here, for your viewing enjoyment, is a pic of our pre-dinner cocktails.

. . . and here's dessert--spicy peanut and hot fudge sundae with flourless chocolate cake, ice cream and peanut butter cream. Mmmmm.

Flowers in My Hair

I'm heading to San Francisco today for a Web Publishing Conference. I'll be sure to take pics of all the alt-weekly cats to post here when I get back (I'm sure y'all didn't get enough of it from my pics of Little Rock). I'll be back on Monday. Til then. . .

Bitter Single People

You wouldn't believe it by looking at this pic, but we are three bitter single people. Nah, not really. But here Mel and I are posing with Greg, who writes the syndicated column Bitter Single Guy. He was an exhibitor at the AAN conference, and this pic (taken at the gala at the Arkansas Arts Center) just came through from Kim, our production manager.

Multi-Talented? Why, Yes, I Am!

Look! I got a photo credit in another alt-weekly! Read the column that goes along with it (it's by Steve from Exit Weekly about the AAN conference in Little Rock), it was hysterical! It's probably funnier to me because I was there and witnessed practically everything that he wrote about, but I think people who weren't there will find it funny, too, and very well-written.

Back From AAN 2006

I'm back from Little Rock and in the process of recovering from the late nights (and early mornings), parties, heavy food and general Little Rockdom. Good lord that was a good time.

Mel and I hang at the hotel bar Saturday night. (This is right before Melli had a big fat cigar hanging out of her mouth.)

Our new friend Steve from Exit Weekly. Such a great pic, I had to post it.

These peeps are Steve, Nick and Terry, the boys from the New York Press. They rocked the house.

Bill Clinton was our keynote speaker. He loved us, and we loved him. He's so amazingly smart. Fab!

Who You Callin' Little?

In two days I leave for Little Rock, Arkansas. That is where this year's AAN conference is being held, hosted by the Arkansas Times. The keynote speaker for the conference is Bill Clinton. That's pretty cool, I hafta admit. We won three awards, though our placement (1st, 2nd etc.) hasn't been determined yet--we'll learn that at the conference. Melli (M'Land marketing coordinator and old friend of mine) and I will be roommates at the Peabody Hotel. This spells t-r-o-u-b-l-e! We are going to have waaaaay too much fun.

Hm, what else is new? Aaron kicked my ass last night at Scrabble. That was embarrassing. But I went about four rounds with no vowels! How fair is that? Not very, methinks. Anyway, I'll have to show him who the Scrabble champ is next go-round.

Taking my Little Sister to see Cars tonight, I can't wait!
Pixar+popcorn+sweet little girl=Happy Kate

Off to Washington, D.C.

. . . where they have great mojitos, trendy bars, and a certain man called Dubya. Some of the paper's staff (including me) are off tomorrow morning to attend the AAN (Association of Alternative Newsweeklies) East conference. Lots of lectures, workshops, schmoozing and drinking to be had. Fun!