downstream

Today I went on a field trip to Portland with my computer teacher. I take Graphic Arts (which, by the way, is not too easy in my opinion) and it was required... Plus, I liked the idea of missing a day of school =)

So, we all got on a bus this morning and went up to Portland. The trip was about 2 hours up there to a place specializing in computers called "downstream". They were putting together videos and music and designs for business buildings... and even editing a movie. It sounds like that's what they do everyday.

First, we had to go upstairs... It was only 3 feet up, but my teacher thought the elevator would be quicker. So, the first group piled into the elevator and went up. Well, I was in the second group and we got into the elevator. The elevator was packed tight and the doors closed. Well... The elevator wasn't moving... And the doors didn't open when we tried to open them... We were trying to call people, but there was no service on the phones... So, we tried to open the doors again with the button and they worked... I think we exceeded the weight limit =(

We took the stairs after we got out and went into the main office. The guy in charge brought us to someone who was putting together a music video for someone brand new to the music business... He starts out with hours of material and has to shrink it to only a minute or so. He finds the best materials and cuts and pastes pieces of it... Kind of interesting...

Next, they split us into two groups. I went with one group into the sound room. He wasn't working on much (or at least it didn't look like it)... He showed us all these sound effects that he could add. They had a recording room next door and he told us they did about 85% of the sounds heard in the movie Coraline.

We went to the graphic room next, where they were using Google SketchUp to design some businesses. The things they showed us looked like they were pretty cool to someone into building design... but I'm not much for interior design, so that wasn't too entertaining...

One group piled into the elevator and the rest of us found out we weren't done. My teacher went down to get the group that went downstairs while we went into the movie editing room. They were working on a movie that we saw by the footage was named "The Runner"... Looked like a horror film based on one scene they worked on... They didn't talk too much about their jobs, like the previous people did... but that was okay...

After about 10 minutes, the group that went downstairs and my teacher weren't back... Within a few minutes, they got out of the elevator and said they got stuck... So, they checked out what we'd seen and then we went downstairs... NOT BY ELEVATOR! By stairs... couldn't risk getting stuck again.

We got back in the bus and went for Pizza for lunch... We got there and I was starving... I had only had a poptart at 6:30 AM and it was 1:30 PM... SO HUNGRY! So, some of the people I was sitting with had lots of money they brought... So, they ordered some breadsticks and wings for us while we waited for our pizza... Well, the pizza came first... then the wings 20 minutes later... then the breadsticks... We ate the pizza... and then I at a wing or two... and we took the breadsticks with us...

We ate the breadsticks on the way back... VERY GOOD =D And we got back around 3:20... Which is not too bad considering how much lunch and the elevator things took us... =)

~BOB~