Our Trip to Austin

The week before last (the last week in September) I went to the University of Texas Engineering Career Fair to do some recruiting for my company. Matt took 2 days off and flew down to join me...

Tuesday:
I woke up around 5am and my dad drove me to the airport. I flew to Austin in the morning, dropped my stuff off at my hotel room, and then met the rest of the group for prep. The actual Fair was from 1pm to 7pm. Recruiting mostly just involves standing up at a booth and talking to the kids who stop by, taking their resume, and trying to decide if they're interview-worthy. So after getting up at 5am, a 1-hour flight, and then standing for 6 hours, I was pretty tired. By then, Matt had flown in and he met all of us for dinner at Stubbs. Dinner was fabulous and plentiful, but to this day (2 weeks later) I can't even smell BBQ sauce without wanting to vomit. Oh well.

Wednesday:
Matt wandered around UT while I attending Day 2 of the Fair. The Fair was 9am to 2pm and they were kind enough to provide lunch - BBQ. After the Fair was over, I sat in on an interview with our Director of Engineering and then I was finally done. Matt & I took a little walk across campus, took a nap at the hotel, and then we headed out to Chuy's for a nostalgic Austin meal. To complete the day, we went to the famous (in Austin, anyway) Amy's ice cream and had a very small scoop of the richest ice cream around.

Thursday:
I took a vacation day so that Matt and I could wander around Austin and make a mini vacation of my trip (since it was paid for and all). First we checked out of the hotel and went to the new Blanton Art Museum on campus. They've been trying to build this museum since we were at UT and they just finished Phase I. It was very nice - it's airy and open and has some nice views of campus and downtown. We saw some European art, some Modern art, etc. The museum also had this really awesome round room with iMacs all around the edge and books about the art in the museum. Then it had seating the center. A really cool idea.

After the Blanton Museum, we went to Cantina Laredo (yum!) with my good friend Julie. I was glad to hear she's doing well. She recently got married and her and her husband just moved into a new house. We talked and caught up and had a really nice lunch. I miss her, but at least she's in Austin now instead of New York!

Next (to appease Matt) we went to the LBJ library. In the 4 years we went to UT we never made it to this museum. It was actually very interesting and I learned a lot. They have a little video that helps you better understand LBJ and Lady Bird and all the things they accomplished and their backgrounds. The museum contains a re-creation of LBJ's Oval Office:





The ceiling:


There was a section of the museum devoted to showing how LBJ brought electricity to the Hill Country:



The museum was only 2 or 3 floors of the building. The rest (about 5 or 6 floors?) contained the archives. From the main floor you can look up and see several floors of bookshelves of archives:



After the museum we drove to the airport and caught our flight back home. We picked up our puppy dog and went back home.

Friday:
I went back to work to find out that on the same day I took vacation, an edict when out banning our group (~100 people) from taking any more vacation until we can go 4 weeks without missing any deadlines. We're also back to mandatory 50-hour weeks (this was later relaxed). I spoke with my boss's boss's boss about Christian's wedding in a few weeks and I was told that if I can assure him I will meet all of my milestones for the next month or so, then I will probably get my vacation approved. So hopefully that'll work out because flights to Memphis are like $450. And that's not what I how I wanted to spend my overtime earnings.