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February 22, 2004
SPRING CLEANING OF MY HEAD
Just gonna ramble a little today... a collection of thoughts that seem to be stuck in my head and need to come out. And I'll also introduce a new feature that will be making a mini-series like run on this blog for the next week or two. But first...
Your table is ready, Mr. Nader... Reservations for one... corner table... in Hell... for Ralph Nader. Hell of a legacy for you, eh Ralph? 8 years of a devastating George W. Bush presidency... and we have you to thank. I think my new reader Brenda is right - someone ought to check and see who's funding Nader; because the Republicans couldn't mount a more effective threat to the Democratic effort this year if they tried. Nader's a traitor - and I'll hold his sorry ass wholly responsible if Bush is still president a year from today.
Saturday night fun... A good friend from the office is leaving New York for an extended tour in Asia, and we had her going away party last night. I'll admit to you - when I first heard that the evening's festivities were going to be held in a private room in a karaoke bar, I was worried. (You should be, too.) But I have to say, it was really a lot of fun - and we had some really good sushi, too. I used to sing in a band way back in the day, so I usually don't feel too awkward at having to sing in public or be "on stage" - but there's a lot less pressure on everyone when it's just you and your friends in a private room. In front of your friends, no one cares if you can hold a note or carry a tune... it's all just good clean fun. If you're in the New York area, Second on Second is a fun place to spend a night with friends, and I suggest giving it a shot - both for the sushi and for the singing.
And now, it's time to introduce a new mini-series on my blog. Obviously, a top ten list can only go on for so long... so I can't say this will be a permanent feature. But it will be a recurring one. There... how's that? Anyway, I've been very fortunate in my career, in that I've been able to travel a lot. Not enough to be a diamond member of any frequent flier clubs, but I have qualified for platinum a few times. While work travel is not nearly as glamorous as people who don't do it often think it is -- you work very hard, and because you're specifically there to work, usually for some event or another, you usually work longer hours than when at home -- you do sometimes get the chance to stop and look around once in a while. And every so often, you even can take advantage of some down time and perhaps explore a little. I've been to about 50 different cities or places over the course of my career, over several employers. So for the next few blogs, I'll be listing and describing my top ten favorites. Starting with...
10. Austin, Texas. I have friends in Austin, so when I went down there I went over the weekend, before a work event on Monday. I suppose that part of the reason that I have such fond memories of Austin is because I went down there over Mardi Gras, and on the Saturday night that we all went out to dinner, by the time we left the restaurant there were 80,000 college kids on the streets... including many young women looking to expand their collection of beads. So yeah -- any town where I get flashed by college girls as I walk down the street has to make into the top ten somewhere.
But Austin is more than pretty girls showing me their chests. It's the birthplace of Stevie Ray Vaughn - one of my absolute favorite musicians of all time. They even have a statue of him. There's some great steakhouses and Tex-Mex restaurants, and of course BBQ. And the Congress Avenue bridge with its famous bats - which the citizens revere instead of fear - is something to see... all those bats (a million plus!) taking off each night from their home under the bridge to feed on insects - which earns them the gratitude of the locals - is really impressive. And from what I'm told (haven't been down there long enough to truly explore it), there aren't a whole lot of better places to see live music anywhere in the country. No matter your style - country, blues, hybrid, progressive rock, southwestern, latin - someone's playing it live somewhere in town. All these things make Austin my #10 favorite place I've traveled to for work. Stay tuned for #9...
