Sean Henri

Back from Portland!

March 13, 2007 // 1 Comments  // Add yours »

Sean thought he'd want to come back home after 5 days in Portland for a journalism convention, but he was wrong.  I'm just kidding I love CT.  But I had so much fun in Oregon that I wish it lasted a lot longer.  I had a blast while I was out there, and got to know some really great people.  The trip was a 50/50 mix between boring but useful lectures and intensely fun nights spent bar-hopping around America's self-proclaimed Beer Capital.  Here's a video and a recap of how the trip went down:

• Thursday - Everyone was still exhausted from the previous day's traveling, so I spent the morning by myself roaming around downtown looking for things I might want to check out during my time there.  I had wanted to update my site so I stopped in at a Starbucks, but soon found out that free-wifi is hard to come across in the city of Portland.  I stopped in a few more locations, hoping I'd be able to avoid wasting time sitting in the hotel, but had no luck.  By the time I got back people were finally up so I met up with everyone and we went out for a walk.  A few people had suggested we check out Powell's Bookstore on 10th and Burnside so we made our way down there.  I wasn't in much of a shopping mood so I avoided exploring the city-block sized bookstore with the intention of coming back another day.  From there we stopped in Henry's Tavern for lunch, where I had the best cheeseburger I've ever had in my life.  The waitress was somewhat of a bitch, and gave Patty and Eliza a hard time for having the old version of the CT license.   With 100 beers on tap, it was hard to avoid having a few before we left.  Thus began a night of insanity.
  
• Friday - We all decided that we'd dedicate the day to attending our required 3 workshops and one of  the keynote addresses.  The first workshop I attended was called "Getting the most out of your on-line newspaper".  It was run by the guys at College Publisher, who were absolutely terrible at giving presentations.  It was highly uninformative and a complete waste of time.   The next workshop focused on newspaper design - not exactly my area because web-based design works very differently.  But I still got a few good pointers out of it.  We all gathered for lunch and had a quick meeting with our adviser to discuss whether or not we should run a controversial story.  I had strong opinions on the matter but decided to keep my mouth shut due to my lack of journalistic credentials. 
• Friday Afternoon/Night - Took it easy for a while following the convention.  Stopped down for a swim in the pool and then watched the movie Just Friends with Patty.  At night we all gathered and ate dinner at a place called Lotus  and then went out to a bar/club named Barracuda (a.k.a. "Barcelona").  I'd say it was the best night of the week.
• Saturday - Went on my walk up to Washington Park and the Japanese Garden in the AM and then went with the group back to Powell's Books.   I spent a good hour navigating through the countless rooms in this place.  I heard it's the largest non-chain bookstore in world - but I don't know that for certain.  Either way, the place is massive and if you have any interest in books it's a must-see. We were all still worn-out from the night before, so we called it an early day and went back to the hotel to relax, encountering a few local-nut jobs on the way.  At night we went to Romano's Macaroni Grill for our last dinner of the trip. 
• Sunday - Left the hotel at 4:30 AM, ate lunch in Chicago around 2, made it back to Hartford at 6:45, and then made it home around 8:30.

I loved Portland.  I never made it to Mt. Hood or the Oregon Coast like I had hoped because of the time restrictions, but I found more then enough within the city limits to keep me satisfied.  Now that I've gotten a taste I know I'll be going back at some point in the future to see the rest.  Check out the ACP National Newspaper Convention in Portland album for more pics.

Posted in:  A Day In The Life, Photos, Portland, Travel, Videos | Permalink |  Digg This | Share on Facebook |Comments (1)

A View of Portland

March 10, 2007 // 0 Comments  // Add yours »

This is a shot I took of downtown Portland from the Japanese Garden in Washington Park.  You can see Mt. Hood in the background.

Posted in:  A Day In The Life, Photos, Portland, The Outdoors, Travel | Permalink |  Digg This | Share on Facebook |Comments (0)

Washington Park

March 10, 2007 // 0 Comments  // Add yours »

I was really out of it this morning.  I woke up and had way too much running through my mind.  It was around 6am and everyone was still asleep, so I decided that I needed to head out for a walk to clear my head.  I grabbed my camera and a bottle of water and started heading north with no exact destination in mind.  I went up to 2nd Ave, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 15th, 20th, and then finally the area started to get interesting.  I came across a neighborhood that was filled with beautiful homes, all of which was very unique from one another.  One home had a bamboo garden and another had a MASSIVE tree in their front lawn.  Then aroudn the corner I came across the Vista Ave. Viaduct, which gave me the fist glance at Mt. Hood acting as a backdrop for downtown Portland.

Another block or two north brought me to the entrance to Washington Park, home of Portland's famous Rose Garden.  The park was exactly what I was looking for.  I did some walking on a trail though the forest, swung by the reservoir, and then came up to the Rose Garden. There weren't any flowers out because it's off-season, but from parts of the garden you had amazing views of downtown Portland and Mt. Hood.

I kept on making my way farther up Washington Park, and soon came across the Japanese Garden. If you ever visit Portland this is a place that you should absolutely see.  It's ranked as the #1 most authentic Japanese Garden in the world outside of Japan itself, and is simply amazing to see.  Spending time there really helped me clear my head.  I'm feeling much better now.  The walk back drained me of most of my energy, but I'm sure I'll be headed back out tonight.

Posted in:  A Day In The Life, Portland, The Outdoors, Travel | Permalink |  Digg This | Share on Facebook |Comments (0)

My First Day In Portland

March 07, 2007 // 3 Comments  // Add yours »

I'm in Portland, Oregon for the the week for the Associated Collegiate Press National College Newspaper Convention.  I recently signed on to become the online editor of my school's newspaper so they offered me a free trip to come out here for the convention, and I couldn't refuse.

The trip out here was kinda rough.  I had to get to SCSU by 4am to catch the bus, and I had decided not to sleep the night before.  The temperature this morning was brutal.  It couldn't have been more then a couple of degrees above zero, and we had to wait outside for the bus until 430 so it really sucked.  The plane ride was like any plane ride, minus any type of movie or visual entertainment.  We transfered in Chicago, and by that time I was so tired I could hardly stand.  We finally made it to Portland around 4:30 in the afternoon and grabbed a taxi to the Marriott Downtown Waterfront Hotel, where we all unpacked and took it easy for about an hour.

Once everybody was settled in we met up in the lobby and went out to find a place to eat dinner.  We ended up going into this small restaurant/wine bar down the street from our hotel.  I made the mistake of getting a pizza, which was tasted alright but was NOT what I'd call a pizza at all.  I should have learned by now that I should never get pizza out of NYC metropolitan area or Chicago.

From there we walked around for a bit, and split into our own little groups to go do some shopping.  I wasn't really in a mood to spend money on stuff I could buy back home so I walked off on my own and explored the city a bit.  At night we all just hung out in the hotel and went swimming in the pool and hot tub.  Now I'm just taking it easy and I'm gonna head to bed soon.  I'm really exhausted from all the travel, and I'd like to get a lot done tomorrow.

Portland's an interesting city.  It's about 80 miles in from the Oregon coast, and it's nestled in between evergreen covered mountains on both it's North, South, and East side.  There's tons of parks within the cities boarders, and lots of trees and vegetation.  There's many restaraunts/Starbucks/bars and theaters.  I've noticed a lot of young homeless/run-aways hanging out all over the downtown area.  I'm assuming that Portland must be a very homeless-friendly city because it seems to me like they flock here.  It's not that they bother you, you just can't help but notice them everywhere.

Portland's known for it's abundance of micro-breweries.  But I haven't been to any just yet, I'll try and go visit some tonight.  Some of the other things I'd like to do while I'm out here is visit the Oregon coast, and either take a trip up to Mt. Hood or Mt. St. Helens.  I'm limited on time because I have to do some things at the conference during the daytime.

I shot some video but unfortunately I forgot to bring the wire I need to get it online.  I'm going to try to find one while I'm out here so check back later.  I also didn't get to take too many pictures today.  We were moving around at a fast pace and urban settings don't excite me all that much.  I'll shoot a lot more tomorrow.  Check the Newest Pics album.

Posted in:  A Day In The Life, Portland, Travel | Permalink |  Digg This | Share on Facebook |Comments (3)