Well, I just returned from a three-day business trip to beautiful Austin, TX. The pure nuttiness of a guy like me staying at a downtown Hyatt Regency and presumably networking with a bunch of business demographers reached levels quite probably beyond my ability to explain in detail. so I won't really chance to go down that aspect of the trip at all. I will simply say that Crocodile Dundee moments were indeed in full flower and, while I certainly made the most of the moments I could create for myself...God, business travel is not for me.I left in a flight early Wednesday morning to spend an afternoon doing "fieldwork" in the city (e.g. checking out location opportunities and noting progress of our stores under construction and those of our competitors). In a wonderful city, I was pretty much reduced to spending the entire day flying around from one nameless, faceless center of big-box commerce to the next. It would have been hard for me to tell I was in suburbian Austin, rather than suburbian Minneapolis, were it not for the towering, unbelievable overpasses that snaked their way around the edge of this rapidly-expanding city. I made sure I was back to the hotel in time for exploring the riverfront trail system via a four-five mile run (very cool!), and then changed and ready for hoofing it across the Commerce Avenue Bridge, just in time to see a few inhabitants exit the largest urban bat cave in the world, and swing into for some authentic Mexican fare along with my first Anchor Steam Lager (review soon to follow).
The next two days, I alternated attending conference seminars & sessions and skipping out on conference-sponsored meal events in the hotel, in favor of pursuing a personal agenda. I squeezed in another run; this time attempting to follow something called the Shoal Creek Greenway based on the directions from this guy who I suspect purposely sent me on a crazy spashing along a concrete girder that ran straight along the middle of a foul, cement-laden waterway until I finally reached an impassable point just before a bridge, from under which shambled a mountain of a bum with hair down to his back and a hump up to his ears. That was the end of that joyride. But upon returning, I did enjoy soaking in an outdoor hot tub with views of the Colorado River and downtown on the other side (it was 45 degrees, so I had the place to myself). Another trip into deep South Austin to eat at a second great Mexican restaurant, and sample a local micro brew (Shiner). I regret slightly that I didn't get a chance to check out the scene on world-famous sixth street, but I was extremely tired and (after meals each night) stuffed. I fell asleep in the room the first night after having just watched the surprisingly good movie, Spanglish; and the second night with a smile on my face, having witnessed the mighty Adam Morrison and Duke's entire starting five reduced to blubbering heaps as a result of their respective exits from this year's NCAA tournament.
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18 comments:
Starting to look a little like Adam Morrison there sonny.
Sounds like a reasonably decent trip, despite the work responsibilities.
Travelling for work sucks, and anyone that tells you different is someone to be wary of.
I guess, from my somewhat limited (but I must assume, typical) experience at business events, I could also add this: there is an entire subset of society out there; a type of business travelers-men that are no less than thrilled to be not be either in the company of, nor under the watchful eye of their wife. Likewise, there is a contingent of business traveling women that seem to enjoy the extra attention they seem to be getting.
Gibbons had a very interesting experience at a multi-day convention once that played out almost like some sort of controlled sociological experiment. He may have told you something about it, but in a nutshell it had to do with how these various men & women, married & otherwise, gradually started pairing off, the longer they were in each others' company and far from home.
It all makes me want to remove myself from the proceedings even more than I already would have...
I'm not in a line of work that forces me to travel. I do, however, negotiate time away to attend conferences, which don't take me out of the state, but get me out of the office. I welcome those times, I have to say. I hope that doesn't come off wierd. Granted, my brother jets off all over the country for a week here and a week there, and I assume that's the kind of sucky business trip you (Pat) are referring to.
As a grad student I did a 17-hour road trip with a few classmates to Austin. We stayed on the University of Texis campus there for four days. That, too, was a pleasure; we went downtown, did some sightseeing, that bit. I really liked that town.
I would definitely say that I am speaking only from experience in the for-profit world. Were I in a field in which I had a true personal interest, a conference to bring together others with a similar passion might be quite exciting.
I'd definitely put Austin in my "short list" of cool cities, though I the sprawl is out of control. I think if I lived there, I'd feel truly squelched by the growth, which seems to be to be threatening the character of the original city to a fair extent.
Interesting observation about the sprawl. The Rural Social Work conference I attended back in 2001 addressed that issue (among others). The memories are starting to get a bit hazy, but we spent one day in a town outside Austin that was also losing character (or being reshaped) as more Austin-based workers convert outlying towns into bedroom communities.
A thing that continually drives me nuts. What are the hottest cities in the nation? Seattle, Austin, Minneapolis, Portland, etc. etc., because of their artsy-fartsyness and unique character. So how do people choose to build their communities as they flock to the urban meccas? In obscene waves of faceless, culturally-void sprawl.
Same thing is happening on a more micro level within the cities. The good example in Minneapolis is our Uptown borough. It became a hotbed of activity and culture because of it's cutting edge progressiveness in-your-face anti establishment character. Now on the corner of the legendary Lake Street and Hennepin? Famous Dave's and early phases of construction for a tower of condos.
As with many things in this amazing world of ours, I find luuuunacy there.
As I said, people who really like travelling for business are to be wary of. I didn't say that there aren't people that do, just that their motives make them likely unsavory people.
As for 'trendy' places to live. All trends are inevitably destroyed by portions of society, by people who don't care to understand why the trend existed in the first place. They just see the demographic shift and jump on the bandwagon.
You could say something similar about middle class white kids adopting hip hop and the hip hop lifestyle. It dilutes or destroys the original intent of it.
Just wanted to let you know that the bridge in Austin, Texas is called the Congress not Commerce.
The Congress Ave. Bridge has the worlds largest urban bat houseing project. If you didn't get to 6th street then you probably didn't see the famous Walgreen's that Nancy Griffith sings about in the song titled, Five and Dime.
I knew that (Congress/Commerce), but just forgot and/or mistyped.
Get a flippin hair cut. You look like an old man trying to be hip with young kids. The shaggy look is in with middle and high school kids. Some college kids are even doing it. People are talking man!
The hair is a bit striking, but in my case my frame of reference is 18-year-old Dan, who kept his hair at a close buzz cut most of the time. I've been keeping my hair trimmed somewhat close since I was in my late 20s. I did the ultra- mullet in 1987, and that was as long as it got for me.
I think you need to worry less about other people's hair, Cory. Honestly, it's going to give you a heart attack.
Your hair is your own - do with it what you please, though you do look a bit like Billy Joe from Green Day. Some eye make-up really completes that look.
Mixdorf thanks for telling Dan that his hair is his own. I am sure that he now knows that. I feel as if I should give him the old Principal Jack Hylton hard time. I don't care what he does with his hair, but I am having fun making fun of it. Having fun at his expense. Might not be cool, but I get my kicks satisfied. Thanks Dan.
We have a symbiotic annoy-need to annoy relationship, but agreed-all in fun.
I may be looking at a serious haircut any day now, though. The reality (which I always seem to forget when I make the plans to let it grow a bit) is that longer hair takes more upkeep. I'm not even combing it, but it's taking a lot longer to wash, gets greasy faster, and makes it really hard to wear hats.
Try letting your mustache grow as long as possible. You can flip it over your shoulder to eat. :)
Takes a lot longer to wash? Dude, you're doing something wrong. It takes me maybe one minute to a minute and a half to wash and rinse.
That's too long.
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