TITLE: On the Roads Back in Portland
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: March 12, 2008  4:32 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
<A HREF="http://www.cs.duke.edu/sigcse08/">
   <IMG SRC="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog-images/sigcse08-logo.gif"
        ALT="SIGCSE 2008 logo"
        ALIGN="right"
        WIDTH="100"></A>

With the exception of my annual visit to Carefree for
<A HREF="http://www.hillside.net/chiliplop/">
   ChiliPLoP</A>,
I don't often get a chance to return to a city for
another conference.  This year brings a pleasant return
to Portland for SIGCSE 2008.
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2006-10.html#e2006-10-28T20_05_55.htm">
   OOPSLA'06</A>
was in Portland, and I wrote up a little bit about
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2005-12.html#e2005-12-03T18_52_29.htm">
   running in Portland</A>
as part of my first visit to town.  Because I was on the
conference planning committee that year, I made three
trips to the city, stayed in the same hotel three times,
and ran several of the same routes three times.  The
convention center is right in town, which makes it hard
to get to any nice parks to run, but Portland has a
3-mile loop alongside the Willamette River that provides
a decent run.

This time, I am on my own dime and trying to save a little
money by staying at a budget motel about 3.5 miles from
the convention center.  That meant figuring out bus routes
and bus stops for the ride between the two -- no small
feat for a guy who has never lived in a place where public
transportation is common!  It also meant planning some
new runs, including a route back to the waterfront.

I arrived in town early enough yesterday to figure out the
buses (I think) and still have time for an exploratory run.
I ran toward the river, and then toward the convention
center, until I knew the lay of the land well enough.  The
result was 4.5 miles of urban running in neighborhoods I'd
never seen.  This morning, used what I learned to get to
the river, where I ran my first lap through the Governor
Tom McCall Waterfront Park and the Eastbank Esplanade since
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2006-11.html#e2006-11-02T19_18_35.htm">
   October 2006</A>.
I ended up with about 8 miles under my belt, and a strong
desire to return Saturday evening for three laps and what
will be a 14-miler -- what would be my longest run since
the
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2007-10.html#e2007-10-28T19_03_25.htm">
   Marine Corps Marathon</A>.
Let's see how I feel in a couple of days...

The rest of this week I am at SIGCSE, and I'm looking
forward to seeing old friends and colleagues and to
talking CS for a few days.  Then on Sunday, four of us
fly to Phoenix for ChiliPLoP and some intense work.  This
is a long time to be away from home and to miss my family,
but the ideas should keep me busy.
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