Patrick Gage Kelley

I am clearly a big fan of order.

So, as Danny and I had to present at IEEE VisWeek 2008: InfoVis (below), We thought we might as well make a weekend of it and hang out in Columbus.

Most Nobles are High.

So we stayed right downtown, and right across the street from the conference at the luxurious Red Roof Inn. And I say that sarcastically but the place was actually really nice and considering we had no room reservation until we walked into the lobby I think we did pretty well.

So we head up to the room to drop off our things, and as we walk into the room we notice they have left the microwave running for us. No seriously, the microwave was on. And on for some riduculous amount of time which may have been 13 minutes or 13 hours left, who knows. But the whole room smelled like a hairdryer had been running for too long.

So we turned that off, and left the microwave door open. And went out to explore the streets of Columbus. As we quickly learned, many exciting people hang out in Columbus, and many of them want to be photographed. We were twice (within fifteen minutes) approached by people who wanted us to take their picture. I don’t understand it. I just shoot the pictures.

The first man asked me to take his photograph, and then said he was a social worker, offering it up as a reason for his need to be photographed. Check.

Our second and more exciting subjects, asked us why we were taking pictures. Well, buildings? art? tourism? Then after checking to make sure we were not the po-lice they posed for us. Then after we took their pictures, they asked us what we were going to do with them. Here, we offered no answers … “umm, nothing?”

Right…

To see our photographs, click on my Nobel & High shot above for my full set, to see Danny’s click on his book lofts picture below for his full set.

We had dinner at Tony’s Italian Ristorante which I think I would only give three stars. The food was alright, but not spectacular, and probably not worth what we paid.

Then we went straight to the Book Loft. The Book Lofts are these old rowhouse type cottages that have all been merged together with seemingly just some saws and some bookshelves. The place is broken into thirty two rooms and there are maps in each room to help you find your way around as well as little yellow sticky notes on the floor to help you find your way out. It’s a maze. A maze of books. Heaven.

So I told Danny to cut me off at ten, and I think I only got nine! (And a stylish dark brown canvas bag so that I can advertize for them around Pittsburgh I suppose.)

Then we headed back to the hotel and we planning to you know, make some slides for our presentation the next morning, but instead got hungry and I convinced Danny we should go get a snack. Turns out I picked a restaurant that was, with no exaggeration twenty feet from the door of the hotel. I didn’t even need a coat! Flatiron Bar and Diner was a great pick. They specialize in southern, cajun/creole, and it was a neat building, good atmosphere, good food. Danny got the gumbo and I got fries covered in balsamic vinegar, red pepper flecks, and melted Vermont cheddar. So good. And my lips tingled with the spicyness.