Chris Walsh (chris_walsh) wrote,
Chris Walsh
chris_walsh

Books and ballots

Author event last night: I went to the Lucky Lab on Hawthorne to see Laura Anne Gilman for the latest time, and author-archaeologist Rhiannon Held and artist-author Todd Lockwood for the first time, each read from their work. That work's of a science fiction/fantasy bent, apt since the event was put on by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), and they had an appreciative audience eating pub food and drinking beer. The book segments the authors read dealt with magic, dragons, and a darkly funny dysfunctional employee-employer relationship (in Held's new book Hound & Key; Held said she had NEVER had as bad a boss as the main character has).

Voter event this night: I finished my ballot, a vote-by-mail ballot as most Oregonians use, and decided to do what I've done in multiple elections and take it straight to the County Elections building. It's too late to mail it; you ensure it arrives by either dropping it off at a library drop box or going to Elections. I liked the idea of going to the room where it happens*; at the building I had several drop slots to choose from, as did passing cars (yes, you can deliver your ballot by car), and I dropped it in a wall slot near a corner of the building.

Then I asked a question I'm glad I asked: I went in and asked if I could see what was going on inside. I hadn't in fact ever gone into the building, just skirted it, and decided to change that. And when I asked, an employee was nice enough to get me a Visitor badge and lead me on a quick tour. Ballots were being delivered and sorted, while volunteers observed. In the front room, some people booth-voted, which you can opt to do. There was a good vibe in the place.

I felt better about doing that trip.

With that done, I walked around: up to East Burnside, across the Burnside Bridge to downtown, and onto a bus because I decided spur-of-the-moment to visit the hospital campus (OHSU on Marquam Hill) where I'd worked until 2008. Yes, I'll visit a hospital just to visit a hospital. Then late dinner at McDonalds and home.

Noted!


* I haven't heard more than a bit of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, but I know lots of fans of it.
Tags: books, peregrinations, politics, portland
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