A long week.

This was the week I went to San Antonio. That’s really nothing new, at my level seminars are a fact of life. This one had its good and not-so-good parts. Some of that has to do with my seasoning. I’ve been around this stuff for a long time, and it’s getting kind of hard to show me something new. They managed it though.

One of the unexpected things is kind of telling. I’ve been to many a seminar, but the seats in those meeting rooms are starting to wear me out more than ever before. A day or two, no problem. Four days, and I think I need a wheelchair.

Add air travel into the mix, and it gets even worse. There is no such thing as a comfortable chair on an airliner. I wound up with the middle seat on all four legs of my journey. From Phoenix to Boise, the guy with the window seat never showed up. I moved over and it was wonderful just to have a bit of extra room.

I actually left my iPad Pro at the TSA check in stop in San Antonio. Fortunately, my employee spotted it and saved it for me. I’m starting to feel like I need a keeper.

As far as San Antonio goes, it rained. Then it rained some more, followed by rain, with an additional portion of rain. It stopped raining while I was at the airport to go home.

We braved it anyway. We wandered down the street to someplace called the Buckhorn Saloon for lunch. It’s one of those places that seems dedicated to taxidermy. Animals covered all the walls, and they call part of it a museum that requires an admission fee. Apparently, it was not dedicated to cleanliness. To make it clear, polar bears and mountain goats are white, not grey.

The lunch itself was pretty good, and I scored a local beer that came off quite well. Craft beer wasn’t easy to find, but Texas brands were in abundance. I wound up living on Shiner Bock. Not awesome like a craft beer, but you can live on it.

While we were there, a Ted Cruz Rally broke out. My co-worker took a photo, but I didn’t feel the need. Cruz is kind of an odd dude, and I sat on my hands, lest judgment be passed upon me.

My co-worker has several Army buddies in the area, so he went out with them most nights. The one night we wandered around didn’t turn out all that great.

We got to the Alamo just as it closed. I still snapped a photo, the only one I took.

I briefly considered storming the fortress, but that’s already been done, and seems so 1800s by today’s standards.

Note: It was raining.

Then we wandered down to the River Walk. I went through the Alamo years ago, and spent a lot of time on the River Walk. This time, the River Walk seemed like it’s lost some of its spark.

The last time I was here, there were shops, bars, and restaurants filled to overflowing. This time, very little was open, people were scarce, and some construction was going on. It does make for a lovely scene to put some vampires in and have them stalk the patrons stumbling out of the bars.

My co-worker said his buddy, a former Army Ranger, told him this part of town wasn’t a great place to hang out after dark. We took the hint and went back to the hotel. I settled for another Shiner, some poorly conceived bar food, and called it my birthday dinner. I went back to my room so I could watch the World Series. It’s hard to ask a group of Spurs fans if it would be okay to change from basketball to baseball. (Sounds like something for one of John’s top ten lists.)

Old What’s Her Face called me on Face Time, something I’d never done before. This was so I could talk to Otto. He missed me and was confused how I got inside the iPad. It was kind of fun.

When I got home, the house was dark. My wife had to work today. That didn’t stop the dogs, and they swarmed me. I had to stay up for an hour just snuggling them. (Mostly Otto.)

I have a big old list of things I should be doing today, but I’m kind of worn out. Spending a lot of time with my old friend, Mr. Hot Pad today. At least I got to spend some time editing while I was on airplanes. That and reading a mediocre craft book I bought. I’m finding that craft books are kind of like seminars these days. It’s isn’t exciting and awesome anymore, but there are small nuggets of information that I find valuable.

That was the week that was. I really do have a ton of things to do, but this whole month has been like burning the candle at both ends. I think I’ll take a day and see how I feel about it tomorrow. I wonder if John Wayne is defending the Alamo on television somewhere today.

Travels and travails

I'm home. Nothing spectacular about it, but it took long enough. When I flew to Louisville, I wore a sweatshirt. I thought I was going to have a heat stroke before I got off the plane at my destination.

Today I wore a tee shirt. It snowed in Denver, and not only that, we didn't get to use a jetway. We had to deplane outside and walk to the terminal through the snow.

Airport people are always fun. There was the bossy lady who treated a waitress like her dog. It really doesn't take much effort to say please and thank you, but it was beyond this lady. There seem to be a lot more of the big backpack crowd. They're always in a hurry or posing somewhere, just in case LL Bean might be watching. They're the ones who huff when someone in a wheelchair gets ahead of them.

Stalking a source of power in the terminal is a popular pastime. Gadgets need recharging, and travel can be an all day ordeal.

I saw many more paper books this trip than the last time. When I went to Atlanta, everyone was into YouTube videos. This time there were books, mostly paper ones. I saw a few Kindles and iPads being used for reading, but maybe I ought to take the hint. The video crowd seemed to all be watching movies this time. Have YouTube videos run their course? I doubt it, or after my last trip I could have declared books have run their course.

I read half a book myself, and will try to get the rest done with some priority. It is an ARC read for a friend, and I don't want her to wait forever.

I swear the stewardess from Denver to Boise said, “The CRJ 700 has had all the seat cushioning removed, and all the lumbar support removed for your convenience. United wants you to remember your trip for the next few weeks.”

These seats were plastic with leather, but no padding at all. I'm going to remember this trip by not being able to crawl out of bed tomorrow.

I never did get out to one of the tasting rooms in Louisville. Bourbon was tasted, just not in that format. Last night we had a hosted event by Michter's. They brought a bourbon, an American whiskey, and a rye. I sampled all of them, then had a glass of Bourbon and a glass of rye.

We went over to 4th street. This is a closed off street, and reminded me a bit of Fremont Street in Las Vegas. The crowd wanted to eat at a raw bar, but I already ate at the tasting. I had a nice glass of Angel's Envy, and it was lighter than the others, but very good. We walked right past the Jim Beam Place. I decided I was going there after the crowd finished eating.

I walked down, and they closed at 9:00. How strange is that? An alcohol producer, with a presence at party central, and they close at nine on a Friday night. I got to look through the window. It doesn't make a bit of sense to me, but that's what happened.

Other nights I dedicated myself to Woodford Reserve, several of the higher end Jim Beam products, like Booker's etc. It may seem like a lot, but I was there for several days.

Mom, if you're reading this, I got my vegetables on the road. All corn, and plenty of it.

I'm very close on my edits for The Enhanced League. I just don't think I'm going to get to them tomorrow. It's my only day off, and I kind of need it.