Marco, the manager (of the bar and of the adjoining Italian restaurant) was there as usual. The bar hostess was a slim, attractive young woman whose name I didn't catch. The crowd was already thinning out (it was around 10pm, and the bar closes at 11 on weekends) so it was pretty quiet.
I gathered that an apparently drug-addled man had been banging on the windows of the bar and of the Admiral lobby shortly before I arrived. Portland's Finest had been summoned and were having a chat with the fellow on the corner. (I would later see a pair of police cruisers parked on the corner of 16th and Morrison after I left the bar.)
I'd overheard the bar gal say she was moonlighting while pursuing a Master's in geography. That got me curious and I asked her about it: What did a Master's degree in geography mean to her? Did she study primarily geological data, or political/economic, or both? She said it depended on what type of data you were trying to map - for example, if you wanted to make a map of the best places to buy a home in Portland, you'd take into consideration things like median home price, soil types, and so on. I was immediately reminded of Mission Possible SF which I knew from my days of living in the Mission District.
I paid my bar tab and headed upstairs. I'm on a budget these days, now that the ghost of Uncle Fred is no longer paying my bills, but I didn't mind paying a few dollars for a couple of drinks, a change of scene, and some interesting conversation.
