Sheep Guarding Llama

This is it, our final day in the USA for the summer of 2015.  We will not have another full day in America until we return from Nicaragua in December to celebrate Christmas with everyone, including my dad, in Texas at that time.

We got up very early in Austin at the Hampton Inn, got everyone up, loaded up the Spark and drove the three and a half hours east back to Friendswood.  We were on the road just after eight.  We had to drive quickly and had no time to stop for snacks or anything as we were in a bad rush to get to Friendswood High School’s field so that we could see Madeline and Emily march today as there was a field show competition there today and this has been the one and only opportunity for us to see them march this year.  So we really did not want to miss it.

We literally made it to the high school with only minutes to spare.  We ran to get into the stadium.  Ten minutes of delay and we would not have made the show.  As it was our timing was just about perfect as we were even able to get a good parking spot and everything and did not have to sit out on the painfully hot bleachers a minute longer than necessary to see the girls’ band perform.

From the marching band competition it was straight back to the Toccos’ house and the rest of the day was spent doing packing and getting all of the last minute stuff done and prepped as tomorrow we are traveling!  I had thought all this time that we were flying out in the wee hours of the morning but it turns out that I was off by half a day and we are actually heading to the airport in the middle of the afternoon which is not nearly so bad.

We do not have anything large left in the house but there was a load to take to the storage unit today that had to be done with the little green car.  I am going to have to take one final load there tomorrow as well.  We had to get all of our stuff out of the Toccos’ house because they are beginning major construction work on the upper floor the moment that we are gone and all of our stuff is going to need to be out of the way so that they can do that.

Quiet day otherwise.  Tons of packing, quiet might be the wrong word.  The night before an international relocation is never trivial.  Although as this is our sixth major move this year (NY to Texas, Texas to Spain, Spain to New York, New York to Panama, Panama to Texas, Texas to Nicaragua) I think that complacency is starting to set it and while we are getting better at the processes we are also getting to be far, far more casual about doing it.  We can’t let that happen when we do the next big change from Texas to Argentina in January as that time we are going to be “gone” for so much longer and there is just so much more to go wrong during the time that we are gone.  The ante will be far larger, so to speak.

Today is a big of just plain exhaustion.  There is the overwhelming about of work to do today.  There was the mad rush this morning, the short night last night, etc.  We are worn out.  And, of course, there is the post-SpiceWorld decompression processes.  It has been a crazy week, as the Austin experience always is, and we just need some time to relax but we are not going to get that until we have been in Granada for a few days.  And, on top of all of that, there is the stress as well as the excitement of our major life changes.  Just so much going on, it is all very hard to believe.

This is it, our last day of the conference.  This morning I was going to be a guest “speaker” in one of the sessions so I had to be over to the conference nice and early.  Karen was going to come over and watch the girls for us so that Dominica could go to the conference today but she was not there yet when I left this morning so Dominica was still getting ready.

I had enough time to get casually to the conference and talk to people for a little while before going to my session.  On my way to the session I ran into a group of people wearing matching t-shirts.  Steven had shirts made up celebrating the Dr. Pepper Parking Garage story just for me!  People were trying to be sneaky and get into my morning session with them and try to surprise me with them there but the cat was out of the bag just a little bit early.  Dominica actually had one, they had managed to get one to her without me knowing, and that was why she was waiting to get ready this morning so that I would not see her with it on.  I did not notice her wearing it until I saw her sitting in the session that I was speaking in this morning.  It was really cool that everyone had those shirts.

I tried to attend another session after the one that I was in but I was caught in the hallway by someone who needed to speak with me and I never made it into the session.  Not a huge thing but I wanted to either hear one talk on storage or hear Lauren presenting and I did not manage to make either. It figures that the one time that there was any session that I wanted to attend that there would be two at the same time and someone would need me during most of the session in the hallway right in front of the session doors and I would never make it in anyway.

Dominica and I did manage to do lunch together today which was nice.  We try to do that at the conferences but it is always such a challenge.

Dominica had to go back to the hotel for a while and was unable to attend an ethical hacking session that she was interested in.  So I headed over there with Kim and we ended up sitting with Rob and Lauren.  But the talk was so bad that Kim and I left after no more than fifteen minutes.  It was ridiculous and a complete waste of effort.

After the conference had wrapped up Dominica and I were both on the Scale Boat Cruise on the river.  I had done the cruise last year but Dominica had decided to skip it because she was worried about getting sea sick.  But she had missed seeing the Austin Congress Street Bridge bats which is a big deal and she has always wanted to see that so she made a big point to be on the boat this year.

We had a great time on the cruise, it is always fun.  Afterwards most people rode back on the bus but Dominica and I walked back ourselves and went to the hotel to check on the girls.  Paul and Karen had taken them to the Austin Children’s Museum this evening and they had had a great time.  They were very happy that Karen and Paul had been with them all day.

Dominica relieved Karen and Karen and I walked to the Hyatt, collected Paul and headed out to Touche on sixth.

The party at Touche was pretty tame tonight.  After a while it migrated to Maggie Mae’s but there was an issue with people getting in with bags so we had to skip that.  Ended up walking and losing Tony and Lauren from the long way, to The Ginger Man, which ended up being a great, quiet venue for wrapping up the week.

I was home before one thirty, we have to be up early tomorrow.

This morning we took shifts.  I slept in while Dominica went to the conference.  She had the morning shift and I had the afternoon shift, which was nice.  I did not like having to miss things but the downtime was appreciated.  So the girls and I got to sleep in late and relax.

I did some posting and watched the girls, who were happy to just play in the hotel, until Dominica was done with lunch and returned to the hotel.  So my day was rather short.

I went over to the conference center in the afternoon.  It was pretty busy.  I attempted to attend one session, Dominica had looked into it and thought that it would be interesting, and it turned out to be standing room only and utter garbage.  This is why I never bother attending sessions.  Total waste of time.  Completely non-technical and nothing like the session described.  It was like a high level survey of computer security for a nursing home.  No place in a tech conference.

So Kim and I ducked out of there, leaving Rob and Lauren who had been sitting right behind us, after about fifteen minutes and realizing that this wasn’t the warm up but was the actual talk.  There was a continuous stream of people leaving the talk.

I avoided any more sessions of the afternoon.  I just spent time hanging out with the vendors and other SpiceHeads.  I stayed for the happy hour and then returned to the hotel to tag Dominica in as she was going to attend the evening’s party while I watched the kids.  This works out well enough since we both get breaks from the conference, both get time to relax, both see the kids and things like the official party tonight is loud and not something I have an interest in attending or business value in going to but she enjoys it and being an introvert likes the fact that it is loud and there is no ability to talk to people – so it works out well for her.

I ordered delivery dinner from P.F. Chang’s, which I have never had before.  That was cheap and fast.  I did not get to eat it right away, though.  As soon as my food arrived AJ came to the room wanting to hang out.  My food was nearly cold by the time that I had managed to get him to move on elsewhere.  I need downtime and I need to eat my dinner.

P.F. Chang’s for dinner was delicious, much like a very upscale Panda Express.  The girls enjoyed their dinner from there as well.

Late this evening Dominica led people from the main party to Touche and then returned to the hotel and spent the evening with the girls while I went out to lead the party at Touche again.

I was in by two tonight.  Trying not to be out too late.

Slept in a little this morning, today is a light day.  I was out the door first and Dominica stayed to watch the girls.  I had breakfast with Art and Danielle in the Hampton and then we went over to the convention center to get checked in to the conference.  As always, my badge was missing.  I cannot remember a year that I had a badge.  And Dominica’s was there but had the wrong info, no avatar and her job was misspelled.  I picked up all of her gear, though, and brought it back to the hotel with me.  Every year the haul gets bigger.  More and more swag.

Back at the hotel we opened up the backpacks, pretty nice ones this year, I can see us using these, and dumped out the swag on the bed to see what there was.  Way better than in London, where Danielle and I literally put it all straight into the trash including the bags, and probably better than nearly any Austin year that I can remember.  Nothing super outstanding but some nice flashlights (StorageCraft), USB adapters from Western Digital, etc.

Dominica could not stand the misspelling on her badge so I stayed with the kids for a bit and she went to the conference center to deal with that and took care of getting me a badge which they had not had one for me while I was there and had to print it later.  So we are all set with registration stuff after that.

This afternoon we had the “Straggle In Brunch” at Max’s Wine Dive across the street from the Hampton and Hyatt hotels.  This is year two of the brunch and it worked out really well again.  The food there is excellent and everyone seems to like it.  I got the fried egg sandwich thing that they do for the second year in a row.

That went all afternoon until people had to go to other events and do things.  Then we went back to the hotel for a while until it was evening.

Dominica just got room service and stayed with the kids.  Paul, Kim, John (that I had just met) and a new guy that Paul found on the street went to Uncle Julio’s for dinner.  Paul and I were both looking forward to getting their salmon, but they were out of that.  So I tried the fish tacos. They were out of that too.  Argh.  They ended up being out of every fish item on the menu.  Kind of frustrating as that was a big part of their menu.

After dinner it was off to Touche to start the SpiceWorld parties!  Tonight’s Doctor Pepper extravaganza was sixty eight!  A new record to be sure.  It was amazing as they had to send runners to several other bars around Sixth Street simply in order to have sufficient glassware to handle us!  That many Flaming Doctor Peppers means that one hundred and thirty six glasses have to be set up on the bar all at once.  They don’t have anywhere near that many glasses at the one tiny bar.

It was a good night.  Rob and I had stalkers follow us around Austin, which was a problem, and had to duck into the Hampton, where they kept following us and hide first in my hotel room, which they tried to get into, and then in a stair well until we were finally able to ditch them out on the streets.  This is a first for SpiceWorld.  Actual Spiceworks stalkers.

Rob and I hit IHOP for a late night snack and huge hot chocolates staying out till after four in the morning.

This is it, time for SpiceWorld Austin 2015, my seventh year in Austin and my eighth SpiceWorld.  We spend all year looking forward to this event.  We have so many friends at SpiceWorld, it is rather like a big reunion, more than anything else.

This morning it was more packing and getting ready.  We hit the road midday and it takes about three and a half hours to get out to Austin.  So it was evening by the time that we got there.  Luckily that made it easy as Danielle and Art were already there and had taken care of the rooms and stuff so I did not even have to check in.  They just handed me my keys and we were right in.

We got into the hotel, showered and relaxed a little.  Then I left Dominica and the girls in the hotel and went to the HandleBar to meet up with everyone for the pre-pre-party going on there all evening for the people who had gotten into town a full day ahead of schedule.  There are more and more people arriving earlier and earlier now.  You really need to be there tonight to be part of the in crowd!

We had a good time at the HandleBar up on the terrace.  Sadly it was way too warm.

After we were there a group of us went to a pizza place and got some slices and some pitchers of beer and sat in the back room for a while.

By after one there were just three of us, Watson, Slava and I were wondered over to Touche for a quick look at where the party is going to be this week.

It was two when I got back to the hotel and got myself into bed.