Today is going to be a very busy day. No way around that. This week begins a long string of being very, very busy.
Work was quite busy today. I was scrambling to keep up and to try to get everything possible wrapped up so that I would be able to get out of town at a reasonable time tonight.
At lunch I came home and Dominica and I worked to try to get me as ready as possible to be able to go. I had hoped to have been able to have had the car packed and ready to go but that did not work out. Too much to do and way too little time.
I was in the office all afternoon and instead of being wrapped up, in the car and on the road at four thirty it ended up that I didn’t even manage to set foot out of the office until after six and then I had to run home, finish packing the car and set out from there. It was more like seven by the time that I actually made it away. Dominica did a ton to get everything ready and get me onto the road. There is always so much to do when you have to travel and work.
So I was dramatically later getting onto the road than I had planned. I needed fuel immediately too. I mean the car was completely empty.
So I stopped at the station just down the street and grabbed food while I was there too. I discovered that they have an awesome tunafish salad sandwich on wheatberry bread there. Who would have guessed that there would be great sandwiches at the gas station but it was really tasty. I will go back there again for sure. Not the type of gas station that would lead you to believe that their sandwiches would be so good.
I was barely south of Dallas on 35E when Watson, Souder and Dave were looking for me. The whole day has been a fury of emails as people that I know from all over the country begin to head down to Austin. The guys who were already there when I was setting out met up with Grey and headed out somewhere for barbecue.
I was very late getting into Austin. I knew that I was going to miss the bulk of the party at the Speakeasy on Congress but it really could not be helped. I was very proud of myself making the drive from Irving to downtown Austin, finding the Speakeasy and getting parked without missing a single turn the entire way, without a map or GPS. I am rapidly becoming a Texan.
I arrived after most of the official festivities and free food were gone. When I arrived Dorfman was outside which caught me by surprise because I did not think that he was coming this year so seeing him there was quite unexpected.
I got to meet lots of people before I even made it into Speakeasy. I was outside for more than an hour talking with people as they exited the bar before Dorfman and I even made an attempt to go inside.
Once we got inside we realized that pretty much anyone with SpiceWorld had already disappeared. We searched around for a while and finally discovered that crew and about half a dozen others up on the rooftop terrace having drinks. We joined them and hung out at Speakeasy until we shut down the bar.
We had a really good time tonight. It was good getting to meet lots of “new” people – people that I have been talking to on SpiceWorks for years but have now met in person. Just like opening night last year, it is so cool getting to make personal contact with all of these people that we talk with every day.
Unlike last year where everyone seemed to stay somewhere on their own, this year most of us all got rooms at the same hotel which made life far easier. Not only is the transport situation easier but everyone is able to share hotel rooms, find out what is going on easier, coordinate, etc.
It was around three in the morning when Watson and I finally got to sleep.