AAN convention--Friday Evening (aka "Yes, I'm real")

You know the day is going to be mysteriously awesome when at least 15 people come up to you and say "Hey! I didn't know you were real!"

Matt Gaffney's attended the AAN convention for the last 5-6 years, each year in a different city. Meanwhile, due to work obligations, etc., I have not attended the AAN until this year. Matt G. has been the visible figure in promoting Jonesin' crosswords. And it's easy for people to assume because the two first names are the same, he must've made up the "Jones" persona because it sounds cool.

So goes Friday evening. Just leaving my work for the day, I left my car in my work parking lot, and took the Portland Streetcar for my first time ever.
I did have to get out two stops away, since an ambulance was blocking the tracks. That would be the first of a lot of walking I'd do downtown.

I met up with MG, where a bus awaited to go to Wieden + Kennedy, the advertising company behind spots for Nike, Coke and Starbucks, among others. MG and I decided we'd walk, but got lost halfway. The bus beat us to the event. Blah.

There was a giant DJed reception on the rooftop, and the building was really stylish and swank, along with great accommodations and perfect weather. This was my first actual mass meet-up with other attendees. Arianna Huffington, a guest speaker from earlier in the day, was rumored to be at the party. Apparently, she was there early and left early. A small group of us wanted to form a "Let's try to find Arianna" mission, but we all missed out. No matter, since I'm not very political, and don't often get to read her columns. But it still would've been cool.

I did meet Deb Aoki (Bento Box Comics), Keith Tucker (What Now Toons) and Shannon Wheeler (Too Much Coffee Man). Here is a picture of me with Keith and Deb. I was surprised that Shannon was local, and that Keith was in the process of moving near the area. Lots of mingling ensued. I also got to meet much of the staff from Willamette Week, the hosting paper who also happens to run the puzzle. From what I hear, that party had a much larger attendance than any previous parties.

A bunch of us walked to the Bridgeport Brewpub, which I hadn't been to since my last Portland TWoP mini-con. I had a pretty reasonable pulled-pork sandwich, but the appetizer, the charcuterie plate with pate was really good. I met two or three editors from Kentucky, all of whom wrote for different papers within a 100 mile radius, but never met on a regular basis until now.

By now I'd been walking with a pretty cool group of people, including Stephanie and Blair Barna, a husband-wife editing team from Charleston, SC. MG had known them for a long time (they're the longest-running paper to feature Jonesin'). Stephanie's also mentioned in MG's "Gridlock" book in the Jonesin' chapter. Blair, MG and I got into this massive trivia-question contest which lasted until Saturday evening. Funny thing was that MG would give hints by giving a first letter, or an enumeration.

Off to the Portland Mercury-hosted party at the abandoned Portland Cleaners, now an empty space for gatherings and art exhibits. The Mercury concerned me with big advertisements to "come see a dog-fighting match." I knew the Mercury had a reputation for the ultra-sarcastic, but I didn't know what lengths they'd go to. Fortunately, it was a DVD screened on the wall of a bandana-and-sunglasses-disguised presenter. He presided over a fake dog-fighting match in a small fenced off area, between three tiny dogs and a dog toy. It was less violent than any of the Animal Planet Puppy Bowls. Big sigh of relief. The venue itself was OK, with framed covers of the Mercury gracing the walls. The music was way too loud, and we'd arrived pretty late. Tables were covered with empty and half-empty glasses, but no one to clean them up.

Finally, an informal party was thrown in one of the 20th floor suites. Met more WW staff and interns. Blair tried to stump the room on what a Brannock device was used for, which I knew right away. That seemed to blow his mind (and mine too, since that's a good trivia question). MG tried to guess an intern's first name by having her give him the number of letters and the vowel-consonant pattern. I thought it was cool she didn't hesitate giving him the CVCCVV. I joked her name could be Tattoo for all we know; MG said, "No, that's probably her middle name." We finally got to "Maggie" and moved on.

I left at about two and shared a cab back to the parking structure (since I wasn't about to walk a mile by myself). I headed home tired, but ready to sit in on the Saturday trade show.

Another pic: MG at the Portland Art Museum on Thursday.