Ok. It's gotten serious. I've started to covet cowboy boots, started thinking chaps are kind of kickin and, well, I bought a cowboy hat.
I need to get home. Now.
But this is what Austin does to you. It's Texas but it's not. It's everything that's kind of intriguing about Texas but without Republicans.
The last 24 hours here have probably been among my most fun. I had dinner with a bunch of friends at an outdoor restaurant called Shady Grove. All the tables were placed under the branches and leaves of this massive tree (hence, shady grove) and from the branches were strings of lights tied to long poles at the opposite end. The restrooms, well, they were in trailers. Are you getting my drift? But I had the best queso of my existence and fried chicken so good I wanted to cry. Oh, and the margaritas were pretty swell too.
I got a good sleep last night and awoke in time to enjoy a leisurely brunch at a fantastic local place called Moonshine. It was a buffet and offered the more traditional brunch fare along with some of the better Tex Mex I've had during my time here. I tasted mini-bagels with lox, a quiche of sorts with tortilla and cheddar cheese, a glorified pigs in blankets with melted cheese inside and chorizo sausage, oh, and did I mention the white chocolate bread pudding? Insane. I brought the paper and read an article comprising the entire front section about the spending habits of the UT Football program. Maybe I shouldn't have bought that shirt after all.
The two things I truly dislike about work travel are being away from those I love and eating alone. I used to be a lot better about it than I've been recently, I guess because my solo work travel was a lot more frequent a few years ago. As I've mentioned before, you're usually guaranteed sub par service and a that initial reaction to "Brunch for one, please!" is usually subconscious on the part of the reactor and rarely without a tinge of pity. Sigh. Still, it was fantastic and got me through a three hour college fair without any belly rumblings.
Tonight, however, I have turned down an invitation to eat with a former colleague and his family to eat room service and really get some work done. It's a downright necessity at this point. As ready as I am to go, however, I am grateful that this, the longest trip I'll have this travel season, has been in such a friendly city with so much character and so much going on. Though I'm very much ready to leave, I know I'll jump at the chance to return. It'll give me an excuse to buy the boots.
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