Mark L. Van Name's Blog, page 145
January 30, 2014
On the road again: Austin, day 4
Today's weather was the nicest of the trip so far, and tomorrow's looks to be even better, so of course I'm flying home tomorrow. No complaints, though; it was a good trip.
Nothing I can discuss, of course, except to say that it's always great to get to meet with our clients.
Dinner tonight was at a fun local place with an emphasis on local-sourcing, Jack Allen's Kitchen. Sean had said the pimento cheese was world-class, and it was yummy indeed. All our dishes were good.
Though I've had a good time, I am really looking forward to getting home and staying there for the week and a half before my next trip.
January 29, 2014
On the road again: Austin, day 3
The sky was clear here today, the weather brisk but only seasonably so. Meanwhile, back home, snow fell and left many people stuck in their homes.
Our meetings were interesting, but of course I cannot discuss them.
Dinner was a delightful meal at a new Austin stand-out, Qui. The first time I tried to go there, the wait time was unbearable. Now, Qui accepts some reservations, so I was able to be sure I had a seat. The food was light and delightful, with lots of flavors from many different types of cuisines. I recommend it highly.
Now, back to work.
January 28, 2014
On the road again: Austin, day 2
The morning shows on local TV stations were all weather all the time. Ice had coated cars and many streets, and accidents abounded. As a result, we lost a few of our scheduled meetings, but I can't blame anyone for being sensible and staying home in the morning.
By about noon, though, the roads were generally fine, so we had a couple of good meetings.
Dinner was with clients who are friends/friends who are clients at Congress, one of my favorite Austin fine-dining restaurants.
Work filled all the holes in the day and the after-dinner hours.
Tomorrow is packed and begins quite early, so I'm outta here.
January 27, 2014
On the road again: Austin, day 1
Lots of flying, no upgrades, and rough landings made for a typical winter travel day. Didn't love it, didn't hate it, just did it.
Working whenever possible filled most of the trip.
The early evening went to my usual first-night-in-Austin ritual: dinner at County Line by the Lake, and ice cream at Amy's. Both were delicious, as usual.
The rest of the evening belonged to work. A playlist of my own creation is rolling on my soundmatters portable speakers, I'm in the flow, and I could work all night. Instead, soon, I hope, I'll stop and get some sleep.
January 26, 2014
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
is a perfectly serviceable thriller that I enjoyed as long as I didn't let myself think about the plot or the ludicrous computer tech. It moves along, maintains suspense, and does a decent job of keeping us from thinking.
All the lead actors are also completely serviceable, if in no case breaking any new personal acting ground. Chris Pine keeps his smirk percentage in the low teens, and he's a decent action hero once there's action. Keira Knightley remains in desperate need of a sandwich--could they not afford catering trucks on this set?--and you can almost hear someone say, "Give us the cute look!" as she turns on that trademark twinkle. Kevin Costner looks happy to have work. Kenneth Branagh brings his usual pursed-lip intensity to his Russian bad guy.
Okay, I'll stop with the snark.
Seriously, I had a good time watching it, and if you're in the mood for a little mindless action, you will, too.
January 25, 2014
Delta Rae is coming back to the Cat's Cradle
and this time, I won't miss them. Though the concert isn't until early March, I'm already psyched.
Enjoy the first song from their last album.
January 23, 2014
On the road again: Portland, day 4
A list of the various ways in which this travel day sucked:
1. Up at 5:35 to shower and begin the trip. Why the odd number? Wake-up call was late, which led to rushed shower and general grumpiness.
2. Window seat next to a 6'2" woman with the sharpest elbows in the world, one of which she kept in my space until we finally had this conversation.
Me: Please get your elbow out of my space.
Her: It's not in your space.
Me: It is when it crosses the armrest between us.
Her: It doesn't.
Me: Look down. It's over the armrest now by two inches.
Her, after looking down: Humpf.
She then moved her elbow so she was merely taking up the entire armrest.
3. Woman who came out of the plane rest room I was about to enter saying, "Oh, it's not good in there. I tried, but it's not good in there." She was right: it was not good in there.
4. No time for lunch.
5. Middle seat on the second flight.
A list of the various ways in which this travel day did not suck:
1. Sped through security thanks to TSA PreChek.
2. Breakfast at PDX was a pre-made egg-salad sandwich, the sort of take-your-stomach-into-your-hands food roulette I love to play.
3. Bandwidth on both legs, so I landed nearly caught up on today's work.
4. Exit rows both legs, so though my back ached from shrimping up the whole time, my legs were fine.
5. Both flights landed on time.
6. My bag arrived.
7. I'm home!
Overall, number 7 makes this a very good travel day indeed.
On the road again: Portland, day 3
Very interesting work meetings that I cannot discuss filled the day. Sorry about that.
The evening was work, packing, work, a lovely dinner at Le Pigeon, one of my all-time favorite restaurants, and work.
I have a 5:30 a.m. wake-up, so that's it for today.
January 22, 2014
On the road again: Portland, day 2
Up early after very little sleep, email and meetings, more work, a nice dinner with colleagues at the hotel's quite decent restaurant, and more work until very late.
A typical work day on the road.
No more from me today.
January 21, 2014
On the road again: Grand Cayman, Cayman Cookout, day 6 / Portland, day 1
I awoke earlier than I wanted by far, but later than normal, to another perfect day in Grand Cayman.
Click an image to see a larger version.Sorry about the blackness of the overhang in the upper right corner.
Flying to Portland is going to provide quite the shocking change in weather. As best I can tell, the weather back home is even worse.
Again, though, it's impossible to complain given that I got to enjoy so much time here. I certainly understand why some folks who can afford to do so spend the winter in places like this. I don't know if I would, but it would certainly be tempting, were I ever to have that much money (which I won't).
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I wrote the above section of this entry while still on Grand Cayman. I'm writing this piece on the plane to Portland. So far, the travel day has gone reasonably well, but it certainly hasn't been fun.
Due to the flight schedule, lunch was at the Grand Cayman airport's one food stand. The airport's free Wi-Fi connection worked, so I could catch up a bit on email.
The flight to Miami was splendid, a trip in first class that was productive and gave me all the water and Diet Coke I wanted.
Going through customs and baggage handling in Miami, however, was a nightmare of incompetency and long lines. I did a reasonable impersonation of a calm person when necessary, and I made it to my gate on time, though just barely, so I can complain only so much.
Of course, I now have to hope my bag is waiting for me at PDX. If not, I'll be in trouble.
My next layover was in DFW, where I met a colleague who's joining me on this trip and spent a little time in the Admiral's Club. Sadly, this flight was late to take off, so we're not due to hit PDX until just before midnight Pacific time. Oh, boy.
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I hit my hotel room, as I expected, about one a.m. PST, so it was a very long travel day indeed. Still, I and my luggage made it, and I had first class the whole way, so I'm not complaining.
Sleep beckons.
