Picky and Healthy

Greetings from Austin, TX! I’m here this weekend for work and so far I’m having a great time. Minus getting here.

Getting here was a trial! Here’s what happened:

• When I got to the airport my flight was 20 minutes delayed, not normally a big deal, but I had to be in Austin by midnight to get my rental car. The 20 minute delay meant I would be there at 11:30 which was cutting it close.
• The plane didn’t arrive (that’s why we were delayed) until right before our delayed leaving time.
• Our pilot had a medical emergency and had to go home. So they had to find a new pilot. New pilot was flying in from Syracuse so we had to wait for him to land.
• My carry-on (all I bring) wouldn’t fit on the plane so I had to check it.
• We took off an hour and a half late.
• My TV (I flew JetBlue) wasn’t working, BUT it meant I got to move to the front-row, extra-leg-room seat.
• For most of the trip we flew through a giant lightening storm. The whole cabin was lighting up inside and the turbulence was insane.
• We landed at 11:45, were at the gate at 11:52, and I was the first one off the plane (with the seat change). I skipped baggage check and SPRINTED across the airport to the car rental place. Many, many thanks to the nice people at the Enterprise booth at the Austin airport who stayed a few minutes late for me.
• The GPS unit couldn’t find the hotel’s address so I had to call the hotel, apparently the address is too new for most GPS units.
• I’m a moron at reading GPS units and I still got lost several times.

I finally made it to the hotel a little after 1am Texas time and I was exhausted.

I got an amazing night of sleep and woke up feeling great. The hotel is really nice, check out my room.

(Excuse my disheveled appearance and messy room.)

My view is better than the one I had in Amarillo, but still not quite picturesque.

I checked out the hotel gym and ran 3 miles on the treadmill. Then I did a few errands. I had to buy sunscreen so I went to Walgreens and then I decided to check out the mall across the street and went to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch.

After lunch I came back to the hotel and went to set up my booth for the show that evening. Luckily that didn’t take long so I had plenty of time to sit by the hotel pool and do some reading and swimming.

Finally it was time to come back upstairs and shower. You know a hotel is nice when they give you comfy bathrobes.

I ordered room service for dinner and got ready for the show.

And then it was time to work. The show was from 6-10 and it was like a huge celebration. Everyone, vendors and attendees, got 2 drink tickets, and there were tables with carved meat and a giant dessert table.

I didn’t plan on drinking, but those shows are just soul-sucking so I went with 2 glasses of white wine over the four hours. Plus a small rice krispie treat with chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

Oh and there was a beer pong table. I didn’t participate.

I’m off this morning (scheduled this post) to explore the actual city of Austin. I have some places and addresses jotted down so hopefully my GPS won’t lead me in the wrong direction!

I’ll be back to let you know how it goes!