putting politics in perspective

OK. I confess. It was not just a Camaro. (putting the granfalloon to the test).

My two-night stay in Portland was a yuppie -- or whatever upwardly mobile GenXers call themselves these days -- holiday.

Because of flight schedules, it is difficult to fly from Manzanillo to Bend in one day. Impossible if I fly through Portland, instead of Seattle. So, I have become very familiar with the hotels at the Portland airport. My favorite is Aloft.

It is more expensive than the other standard brands, but not outlandish. One night costs about the same as my rental of The Car.

But I usually do not choose my hotels on the basis of their cost. Even if I am staying only one night, I like the place to not only be comfortable, but to have a certain ambiance.

The Aloft rooms are spare -- in a SoHo sort of way. All the amenities are there, but they do not bombard me with Annabel Elliot froufrous. They are the type of rooms that thirtysomethings like to remind themselves of university dormitory rooms as they wish they had been -- while retaining an edge of cool.
You know, the type of place where a 70-year old geezer looks as out of place as a Big Mac at Noma. But, as Felipe has pointed out several times, I do like being contrary.

To top off my age-inappropriate day, I wandered over to the Ikea store near the hotel. (And, no, the framing of the traffic control device is not a political statement on my part.)

But politics did come to mind as I was walking through the store. I am always a sucker for signs that are just a tad sardonic.

Because we are in another political season (not just in The States, but in Canada, and the United Kingdom), it would do all of us well to remember that government fortunately touches our lives lightly each day. Allowing ourselves to get twisted around an emotional axle is most often just a waste of our own psychic energy.

Plenty of politicians will soon be promising us they are the answer to all of our problems. It will not be a new dance. That vaudeville show has long been with us.

But Ikea had a far pithier summary than I could ever conjure. And at a price we can all afford.