travel

Flash Flood Warning… and not all from perspiration The tone for Wednesday’s episode of the trade show was foreshadowed by the two Mexican brown-tailed bat carcasses on the sidewalk of the Congress Avenue bridge. Dead. The printed schedule said the show was going to run until 6pm. Morning attendance at the plenary session was about […]

SPF: 45, It’s not Chicago This morning was very slow. One of the other exhibitors set up his laptop to display a live feed of the space shuttle Discovery launch. The new cameras were cool, but everyone was wound up about it and nearly flogged a woman who made lame attempts at humor with comments

SPF: 50+, Hotter’n’Houston It hit 97°F outside with 80% humidity and an “Ernie” UV rating yesterday, with the same forecast for today. This is normal for this time of year. Inside the exhibition room, possibly in anticipation of throngs of conference attendees heating up the place, near-winter conditions prevailed as the fifty-megaton air conditioning array

SPF: 45+, I just saw a tree melt! I’m in Austin most of this week for an industry trade show. It sure is weird coming back as a visitor. For example, the airport is new, having been fully converted from the former Bergstrom Air Force Base. What hasn’t changed is the disposition of Mueller, the

I had a technical seminar this afternoon in Kirkland. Since I biked into work, I planned to avail myself of the bus system. It took a few minutes to figure out the nuances of address specification in the King County Metro trip planner, but I found a rare “direct” route. Getting to my seminar was

I was in “The Greater Houston Area” during the holiday to visit my parents. Although I have previously lived in Texas (twelve years in Houston, four in Austin), I lack a discernable accent and, when I’m away from it long enough, a full appreciation for the Texas mystique. The name Texas is a derivative of