V. well phrased.

By the time Friday, April 15, rolled around, I was exhausted, and not from doing taxes. I had spent two days with a customer in Mexico City, then another two days commuting from my home in the South Bay up to a customer in Walnut Creek (more than an hour's drive away). I had spent almost as much time driving and flying as I had sleeping.

Normally, under those circumstances, the last thing I'd want to do would be to get back on a plane. Yet that is exactly what I did on Friday morning, as my fiance and I headed back to Texas for a quick weekend trip.

You know you're in Austin when the first thing you see when you step off the plane is a barbeque joint, and the first thing you hear is country music. A big smile spread across my face, and I could feel all the stress of the week leaving my body. I was HOME. That's a funny thing to say about a city I've never lived in, but it's the feeling I get every time I go to Austin.

To understand why this is so odd, you have to understand where I came from. I grew up in Washington, DC, and went to a famously liberal private school from kindergarten all the way through twelfth grade. The kids of many Democratic senators and congressmen went there as well (the Republicans' kids went to our rival school down the street). I remember in 1992, when I was in eighth grade, we teased this one kid named Will Alexander mercilessly. Was he geeky? Did he have bad acne? No, his crime was supporting George H. W. Bush in the election. We felt kinda bad when he didn't show up for school after Clinton's Inaugural, and we found out that his dad's name was Lamar -- as in Bush's Education secretary, who was now out of a job and had taken his family back to Tennessee. Oops.

After graduating from that school, I went on to Brown University, well-known for being the most liberal of the Ivies. I was considered a "Southerner" because I was from DC. Most of my friends came from New England, New York, or New Jersey, and most of them are still there. We embraced diversity wholeheartedly, except when it came to geography.

They all thought I was crazy for moving to Texas. They all think I'm crazier for actually liking it there. I mean, there are Republicans in Texas!

But I go to Austin, and I feel at home. I don't even feel that way in DC anymore. I still visit the Northeast a lot, since all of my family and most of my closest friends live there, but I don't particularly want to live there ever again. It never ceases to amaze me how my family and friends can speak out passionately against stereotypes of blacks, Latinos, gays, women, people with noserings, etc., but never challenge their own stereotypes of places like Texas. It makes me sad that they refuse to see past the fact that President Bush came there, that they cannot comprehend how wonderful it can be.

Anyway. After leaving the Austin airport, my fiance and I headed off to our hotel, and spent most of Friday just relaxing. Neither of us get the chance to do that very much, so it was a welcome change of pace.

On Saturday morning, I did my first triathlon of the season. As I mentioned in a previous entry, I'm training for my first Ironman, which is a 2.4 mile swim / 112 mile bike / 26.2 mile run. That race is at the end of June, so I wanted to get some "tune-up" races in ahead of time. When we planned the trip back to Texas, I noticed that there was race that weekend, so I figured I'd sign up. This particular race was Olympic distance, which is a 0.9 mile swim / 25 mile (40K) bike / 6.2 mile (10K) run. With all the training I've been doing for Ironman, a race of this distance was a breeze. I finished in 2 hrs 42 mins, easily my best time ever. Considering the kind of week I'd had, I was pretty pleased with myself for finishing strong.

After the race, I showered up, and my fiance and I met his mom at Rudy's for lunch. For those of you who have not heard of Rudy's, it serves some of the best barbeque in Texas. We always make a pilgrimage there when we're in town. Most of the stores are located in southern Texas, and they are, literally, inside gas stations, but don't let the exterior fool you. This is some good eatin'. I don't eat red meat (which makes me a "vegetarian" in Texas), so I usually get turkey with white bread and plenty of "sause," some potato salad on the side, and of course, some sweet tea. Mmmmmm... a perfect way to refuel after a race.

We then headed out to take a look at our wedding location. This was the first time my future mother-in-law had gotten a chance to see it, and she loved it, which made me happy. My parents will be coming out to Austin over Memorial Day to take a look for themselves (and meet my fiance's mom in the process). I hope they love it just as much, especially since they're footing a nice chunk of the bill :)

In the evening, we met up with my best friend from Dallas. His girlfriend lives in Austin, so he is down there just about every weekend, which worked out well for this visit. He is just a wonderful person, and it always makes me smile when I get the chance to see him.

On Sunday, we had a quick brunch with my future mother-in-law and then drove out to Giddings, which is a small town about an hour outside of Austin. My fiance's best man, Mike, lives out there, along with his family. Mike and his wife are like a second set of parents to my fiance; in many ways, I think he's closer with them than he is with his own family. They have three boys, ranging in age from 6 to 19, and a 10-year-old girl, who is going to be my junior bridesmaid at the wedding. The oldest son recently returned from over a year in Iraq with the Army National Guard, which was the main purpose for this whole trip back to Austin -- he hadn't met me yet (my fiance and I had been dating for less than 6 months when he left), and he wanted to make sure he "approved" :). For me, it was truly an honor to meet him, especially after hearing so much about him. I was so impressed. He is really a wonderful young man.

The two youngest kids attend a private school in the area, and they had a fundraising auction that Sunday night, so we all packed up and headed out there. I didn't really know what to expect, going into it. At my school back in DC, our annual auction was always held at an upscale hotel in the area. Students were most definitely not invited, except for the older students, who could only come if they worked "behind the scenes" as volunteers. The items auctioned off were, for the most part, ridiculously expensive, which was OK because many of the families at the school had ridiculous amounts of money.

The fundraising auction in Giddings was much, much different. It was held at the school, in an open pavilion, where the cool spring breeze could pass through. Kids of all ages were most definitely invited, and even provided the "live entertainment," ranging from junior cheerleaders performing a little routine to a wonderful young guitar player. The stew dinner and desserts were home-cooked. Silent auction items included a bag of homemade pasta, a potted plant, a DVD; live auction items included a tailgate-mounted deer feeder (which, I soon learned, was not as nice as it sounded, for the deer at least) and an enormous metal cooler. But the highlights of the auction, by far, were the "class projects" put together by each of the grades. These were all homemade, and included items such as a bucket of Christmas ornaments painted by the fourth graders, a "beach kit" that included a towel with the footprints of all the third graders, and a bench signed by all the eighth graders. There was also a huge quilt that had the handprints of every student in the school, as well as their pictures along the border. It had all been sewn together by Mike's wife, who is an incredibly talented quilter. It was awesome.

I was unprepared for what the live auction would be like. You know that commercial that's on TV right now where the family talks really fast so that they don't use up their cell phone minutes? Bingo. The auctioneer spoke in an unbroken string of words that, somehow, made sense to everyone (except me). I won't even try to reproduce it in writing, because it would be impossible. Even more amazing, the auctioneer seemed to know everyone in town. He used this knowledge to nudge them into bidding more, in a friendly way. "Hey Joe, this cooler sure would look great next to that hot tub of yours." "C'mon Mary, you know this chair would be great for rocking that new baby to sleep." There were two guys in the front who were responsible for spotting people's bids, and one of them, wearing a cowboy hat and a huge belt buckle, was actually named "Jim Bob."

I loved every minute of it. I left feeling renewed, ready to tackle the stresses and frustrations of my life again. Texas always does that to me.

We spent the night in Giddings and left on Monday morning for San Antonio. This was an add-on trip that had come up the week before. We had planned to fly back to California on Tuesday morning, but at the last minute, my fiance found out that he needed to go to a business meeting in San Antonio on Tuesday and Wednesday. So we decided to hang out in San Antonio on Monday, instead of staying in Austin, since he had a free hotel and rental car and everything.

Now, when my team travel, it's usually Hampton Inns and the like. When my fiance's team travels, they do it in style. On this particular trip, his boss picked out the Hotel Valencia in San Antonio. It is a beautiful hotel, right on the Riverwalk. When we arrived, I went for a quick bike ride, and then we ventured out together to find some dinner. We quickly discovered that there was a festival going on at that time, called (logically enough) Fiesta. During Fiesta, there are a bunch of "parades" (for lack of a better word) that are actually on the river, and one of them was scheduled for that night. It was cool, because there were people all over the streets, but unfortunately, many of the restaurants on the Riverwalk were closed for private parties. We eventually found a decent Mexican place (although it did not compare to the real Mexican food I'd be eating the week before). Since we had a riverview room at the hotel, we decided to eat quickly and then head back to the hotel to watch the parade. So we were able to kick back in our PJs, drink wine out of the minibar, devour some room service dessert, and wave at the floats as they passed by. It could not have been better. It was a great way to wrap up a fabulous weekend.

We stayed up way too late, drinking with my fiance's colleagues at the hotel bar. I eventually stumbled back to the room around midnight, to pack for my flight home. I didn't particularly want to leave Texas, but the weekend at "home" had given me the strength I needed to face the insanity that is my day-to-day life.

flyer23, thanks for sharing the whirlwind trip to Texas. I've only been there twice (both layovers at DFW) and I am looking forward to getting some of that hospitality one day.

Great to hear that your M-i-L approved of the venue and your "adopted B-i-L" approved of you...very important on both counts!

I can relate to the travel and the lifestyle. I live in Chicago and my fiance lives in Windsor, ON. I travel all around the southeast for work and this means my schedule for this month looks like this:

Apr. 30 - MDW-DTW
May 2 - DTW-MDW
May 2 - ORD-ATL
May 5 - ATL-ORD
May 6 - MDW-DTW
May 9 - DTW-MDW
May 9 - ORD-MIA
May 11 - MIA-ORD
May 13 - MDW-DTW
May 15 - DTW-MYR
May 19 - MYR-ORD
May 20 - MDW-DTW
May 23 - DTW-TPA
May 26 - TPA-DTW
May 31 - DTW-MDW

This means that I've spent a grand total of 5 nights in my own bed this month. I'm getting married in early September and I can't wait to stop those weekend trips. She often comes out to Chicago but since the wedding is in Windsor, I have to be there for the time being.

Believe me when I say, I know what you're going through.

Good read thanks :D

Great post as usual
Keep it up!

Ouch. Just ouch. I should stop complaining. That easily beats out my travel schedule :D

When I left San Antonio, I did not immediately return to the Bay Area. I needed to stop off quickly in San Diego, to work with the customer who I had visited a few weeks before -- the one where I was working side-by-side with the talkative consultants.

This turned out to be a pretty easy trip. I had purchased a ticket directly from San Antonio to San Diego, rather than taking my original flight back to San Jose and then continuing on to San Diego, specifically so I could be available for the weekly status meeting with the customer. I got onsite to discover that the status meeting had been cancelled. Oh well. I spent most of the day working on my deliverables, then headed back to San Jose that night.

I was at home for the rest of the week, preparing for my next trip, scheduled for Tuesday through Thursday of the following week. It involved a product that I have not worked with for several months. Unfortunately, no one else on my team knows it any better, and they were all booked anyway, so it fell on my shoulders. I had to take some time to re-familiarize myself with the product, so I'd be able to talk somewhat intelligently about it.

The only reason I was looking forward to the trip was because it was in Omaha. I had never been to Nebraska, so this would be a new experience. Plus, I discovered that Omaha is right on the Nebraska-Iowa border, and I had never been to Iowa either. Two new states on one trip! Not bad.

Other than that, I was pretty much dreading it. I didn't really want to help with a product that I'm rusty on, and I didn't particularly want to hit the road again.

I left the South Bay at 8:47 AM for a 9:55 AM flight out of SFO -- cutting it close, even for me. Maybe subconsciously, I wanted to miss my flight. After an all-out sprint from security to the gate, and a few nervous moments while the GA ensured that she hadn't given away my confirmed upgrade, I managed to be the last passenger onto the plane. This particular flight is the only daily 767 flight between SFO and DFW, so I always try to snag it when it works with my schedule. I was somewhat surprised to be served breakfast on this flight! It was served at around 11 AM PST, or 1 PM CST, both of which I consider to be "lunch" hours. Plus, when I took this flight back in March, it was a "snack" flight (choice of pizza or roast beef sandwich), and back in December, it was a lunch flight. Oh well, trying to understand the reasoning behind AA catering will drive you nuts.

As we pulled in to DFW, I saw the new airport Skylink train running and got excited about the possibility of taking it for the first time, but when we got to the terminal, I found out that it is not open to the public yet. So I chose to walk over from terminal A to terminal C, for my connecting flight to OMA. We boarded on time, but after settling into my seat, I noticed a bad sign: I could see carts full of luggage, but no baggage handlers loading it. Sure enough, the captain came on the PA to say that they had closed the ramp due to a nasty storm moving through the area. After maybe 15 minutes of pouring-down rain, the storm cleared, and we were only a little late taking off. The flight was uneventful, and we arrived in Omaha around 7 pm. By this time, I was pretty hungry from only having AA pancakes all day, so I got a nice big dinner (in Iowa!) and then headed off to my hotel, a lovely Hampton Inn on the west side of town.

The trip turned out to be tougher than I had anticipated, because the customer had just announced the week before that some fairly major layoffs were coming. As a result, morale was incredibly low among the folks I was working with. My main contact actually gave me instructions for what to do if he got walked out the door at any point. There were nervous moments when card keys didn't work, or when someone got called out of a meeting suddenly by a manager. Everything ended up OK, and no one was fired while I was there, but the atmosphere was unbelievably negative, and fairly uncomfortable for me as an outsider. I have never been in an environment like that before, where everyone is worried about whether or not they'll have a job tomorrow, and I hope to never be in one again.

Aside from that, the technical pieces of the trip actually went far better than I had expected. The customers were all relative newbies with the product in question, so my own somewhat-rusty knowledge of it proved to be quite sufficient. We worked through a number of questions they had, and they ended up feeling much more comfortable with the product. So despite the challenging circumstances, it ended up being a successful engagement.

We wrapped up early on Thursday. This worked out really well, because I was able to stand by for an earlier flight into DFW, and grab dinner with some of my good friends there before catching my original flight home. Better still, my fiance was on a business trip in Atlanta, connecting through DFW to get home as well (we had booked the same DFW-SFO flight, without consulting with each other or even thinking about the fact that we were probably both connecting through DFW on the same evening), so he was able to join us too. And to top it all off, our first-class upgrades from DFW to SFO cleared at the last minute, and we even managed to get two seats next to each other. I love it when things work out like that. It all made for a great trip back to the Bay Area.

I'll bet it did!!! Nothing better than being able to catch up on what's been happening in yoru respective business lives during the week, in the comfort of F - leaves plenty of time at home for other things... ;)

I'm now thinking of taking my wife with me on my next trip BNE/PER (similar distance to LAX/JFK) in a couple of weeks time, so I'm not lonely on the flights - I get brownie points as it will be just before her birthday and I'll make sure a weekend is there so we have some time together (rather than just in the hotel room each night).

*bump*

It's been a couple of months since we've heard from you Flyer23. Did you finally crack under all the travelling??

*ANOTHER SHAMELESS BUMP*

Flyer23, are you married yet??? We haven't heard from you for a long time...