You know the day is going to be mysteriously awesome when at least 15 people come up to you and say “Hey! I didn’t know you were real!”

blogs Matt Jones of Jonesin’ Crosswords on his LiveJournal, mlstrm.livejournal.com. His take on Friday night’s events …

On Wieden + Kennedy

“There was a giant DJed reception on the rooftop, and the building was really stylish and swank, along with great accommodations and perfect weather. This was my first actual mass meet-up with other attendees. Arianna Huffington, a guest speaker from earlier in the day, was rumored to be at the party. Apparently, she was there early and left early. A small group of us wanted to form a “Let’s try to find Arianna” mission, but we all missed out. No matter, since I’m not very political, and don’t often get to read her columns. But it still would’ve been cool.”

On Dogfighting

Off to the Portland Mercury-hosted party at the abandoned Portland Cleaners, now an empty space for gatherings and art exhibits. The Mercury concerned me with big advertisements to “come see a dog-fighting match.” I knew the Mercury had a reputation for the ultra-sarcastic, but I didn’t know what lengths they’d go to. Fortunately, it was a DVD screened on the wall of a bandana-and-sunglasses-disguised presenter. He presided over a fake dog-fighting match in a small fenced off area, between three tiny dogs and a dog toy. It was less violent than any of the Animal Planet Puppy Bowls. Big sigh of relief. The venue itself was OK, with framed covers of the Mercury gracing the walls. The music was way too loud, and we’d arrived pretty late. Tables were covered with empty and half-empty glasses, but no one to clean them up.

On 2020

Finally, an informal party was thrown in one of the 20th floor suites. Met more WW staff and interns. Blair tried to stump the room on what a Brannock device was used for, which I knew right away. That seemed to blow his mind (and mine too, since that’s a good trivia question). MG tried to guess an intern’s first name by having her give him the number of letters and the vowel-consonant pattern. I thought it was cool she didn’t hesitate giving him the CVCCVV. I joked her name could be Tattoo for all we know; MG said, “No, that’s probably her middle name.” We finally got to “Maggie” and moved on.

Want more? Matt Jones’ take on Saturday’s parties.

Here are just a few of the moments I haven’t posted from this weekend’s AAN convention.
Thanks for everything all you AAN’ers. You were simply the best.
Love, Byron Beck (aka Mr. Portland)

Journalists from around the country kicked off the AAN festivities by chasing down the elusive white ball at Portland’s Great Blue golf course at Heron Lakes. The course ain’t easy, so folks were instructed to bring their A-Game by our WW hosts Andrew Shenker and Trevor Solomon (who traded his last few holes for the promise of post-round cocktail healing.)

Bruce, the Editorial Director of SF Weekly, and Tom, an editor for the Memphis Flyer, kicked off the first group. After being warned by the Heron staff of the merciless nature of the Great Blue, Bruce hit for par on his first hole, saying “This course aint shit.”

Tom decided he better “start playing smart” if he was to get into Bruce-scoring territory, and had a nice long drive for the third hole to finish with a bogey. By the time they hit the eight hole though, Bruce told Tom that “smart is for wussies,” which perhaps inspired him to hit a mean drive and beat everyone else to the only par score for that hole.

The second group saw the first birdie of the day with Lazlow hitting two in a row on the third and fourth holes. Linda enjoyed a two-hit kicker at the sixth to beat everyone by at least one shot.

The tournament was filled with colorful and lively expressions surely familiar to the Great Blue, and quite appropriate to our alt-weekly crew. But it looks like Tom, the champ of the day decided to play cool-headed and smart after all, winning with an 84 - just 12 over par and nine shots less than the runner up: WW’s own Andrew Shenker.

Have Pictures of Golfing?

Add your pictures from the golfing to this slideshow by emailing your pictures to photos@aan.org with “tag: aangolf07″ in the body of your email. ((Photos@aan.org is a branded redirect for our upload-to-Flickr email address.))

Add your pictures from the tram party to this slideshow by emailing your pictures to photos@aan.org with “tag: aan07tramparty” in the body of your email.

NERD NOTE

Photos@aan.org is a branded redirect for our upload-to-Flickr email address.

Have pictures from the Wieden + Kennedy party or the Merc confab? You can add them directly to this slideshow by emailing your pictures to photos@aan.org with “tag: aanconventionday207″ in the body of your email.

NERD NOTE

Photos@aan.org is a branded redirect for our upload-to-Flickr email address.

Have pictures from last night’s event? You can add them directly to this slideshow by emailing your pictures to photos@aan.org with “tag: aanopeningreception07″ in the body of your email.

NERD NOTE

Photos@aan.org is a branded redirect for our upload-to-Flickr email address.