Portland, People & How little I have learned

I actually started writing this about a week ago but never posted it. Guess now is as good as anytime.

Earlier this week I went up to Portland, Oregon for a business trip. A couple of quick observations; Portland people are pleasant and nice to talk to, everything is green, I can walk to just about any part of town I needed to be and the town is biker friendly. I often think about the places in the world I would want to live and I would now have to add Portland to that list which includes (Manhattan Beach CA, and Anywhere in Hawaii).

Interesting story; As I’m wandering around Portland and on my way back to my hotel I notice this guy sitting out front of his Hotel, its 2AM and the streets are empty. I’m up because I’m excited to be somewhere new, Tim, thats his name, I’m about to find out, is just killing some time. Hes a little amped on caffeniee, maybe. He asks me if I know of anything going on at this hour, I give him the 2 minute story. “I’m not from here”, “Just here on business”, “Don’t know anything.”

Ok – here is where it starts to actually get interesting; Turns out Tim Harman, thats his full name, is also a So Cal native, so we hit it off and start to shoot the breeze we exchange niceties. “What do you do?”, I ask and it turns out this guy is in the creative business. Tim is a producer/art director for some farily well know commercials, music videos and other types of marketing. We hit it off, sharing some geeky design stories and next thing you know I’m hanging out with Tim checking out his work on his laptop and just shooting the breeze till like 4AM. Here is a name drop for Cory; he is very close to Chuck McBride and has personally worked with him and several other notables in the design circles.

Bottom line – Tim is a truly inspired individual and if he should ever read this; Thanks Tim for letting me into your circle if only for a few hours. You are creatively inspiring.

Its late right now or early depending on how you look at it. Either way its 1:38AM Monday morning and I’m not really in that great of shape mentally or emotionally to be quite honest. Going through some ups and some pretty big downs right now. More on that later… maybe.