antiquity in the hands of science

Over at Portland Monthly, we closed our April issue this week. After working for Drake Magazine and editing long into the night and then having a...what was it...a pin-up? at the end of it all, I assumed that close week at PM would be more exciting, a little more hoopla and then donuts at the end as a mark of congratulations. But with advertisers pulling out daily and a dwindling staff, close week is quiet, most weeks are quiet. Lest you think working at a magazine office is any more exciting than any other office, please note that Hollywood has got it wrong. We are a boring bunch (except for the editor who watches sesame street and wears dilbert-esque glasses and exudes irony). But, we closed April (hoorah) and have moved on to May. I've been doing quite a few write-ups on upcoming theatre productions and classical music performances, to the extent that I woke up dreaming about getting into the Portland Opera having used the Vera Katz pedestrian bridge. Portland is invading my brain. At the end of the week I was assigned a piece about a burgeoning partnership betweeen Portland's art museum and its university to conserve pieces of art through us of analytical chemistry. I stumbled upon the above photo on the Web site for a similar program over in Chicago. Poor little jade sculpture. Bet he didn't think the future would be like this. Antiquity in the hands of science. Thought it was worth sharing.

Last night Jon and I became "that couple" and went out on a date, to a barbecue place (to hold onto some credibility). We ran into our soon to be married friends Anne and Andy. It was remarkable that Jon and Andy were able to convince me and Anne that bbq was date food on the same night around the same time. In a more perfect world Jon and Andy would have been having the date night together at Clay's with combo platters and cackles to share. Jon and I left and headed down to Hawthorne to look for video games and button down shirts. Fifteen minutes later I felt the strange urge to visit a suburb. I've had my fill of pretension and hipsters and can't stomach another description of somethings' sustainability. I need a little break from Portland and want to get out of town for a couple days. Let me know if you know of a good place (on the cheap) or are interested in funding a mini-vacation.