Otherwise Occupied

Karen and I were sitting around watching the news and it came to us that we should occupy something. We clearly were capable, we took up space, it just was a matter of determining what space to take up.

We felt it was important to send a message to the world. We were not totally clear on what that message was, but we know our house should be worth more, our retirement should be better and there has been a disturbing trend in our wine cellar where we were long on Red Diamond reds and short on Barolos and Amarones. It is a miserable existence we've been forced into. We were mad as hell and weren't going to take it anymore!

Of course, we started with "Occupy Lake Oswego." We took our tent, sleeping bag and Coleman stove to downtown LO and set up camp. It started out pretty idyllic with singing, shared wines and canapes. However, within a few hours, the inadequate parking and limited restaurant choices began to take its toll. More importantly, there is only so much wrinkling that tennis outfits can take, so Occupy Lake Oswego ended up as a bit of a bust.

So Karen and I tossed our gear into our SUV and headed to the airport, intent on going to the origin of the Occupy Movement, New York City. At PDX, our dreams were doused with buckets of cold water. The extra charge for all of our camping gear and the cost for last minute tickets were huge! We didn't need this treatment and we're still sore from our time at "Occupy Lake Oswego." We thought briefly about "Occupy PDX", but there seemed to be so many things that needed fixing in the world of flying, it was a hopeless cause, so we went back home to rest, regroup and restock our miserable wine carrier.

That's how we ended up heading downtown to join the ranks at Occupy Portland.

When we arrived, the city parks were already full of tents. It was clear that a reservation system would have been helpful. There was no room at the "outside-inn" and we were forced to look for alternative sleeping arrangements.

Fortunately, the Governor Hotel had available space. The receptionist advised us that they would prefer we not pitch our tents on the terrace, but we could put our sleeping bags on the bed, if we liked.

So, here I sit, in solidarity with the cause, occupying my space in Portland. The Revolution has arrived!

Thank God for room service.