February 21, 2005
For Reals
So I've been a little out of touch lately. I've taught 8 classes in the last 4 weeks, which for a trainer, is quite a bit. It's even more so when I'm taking a time-intesive class and working a full-time job and a second job. And I'm sort of depressed. Just busy and feeling lonely lately.
My boss and friend Beth ran in the big marathon in Austin. She had been training for months for this, so Holly and I showed up to support her (at 7:30 in the morning!!). Beth's fiance Brian made shirts for us to wear. Unfortunately, the pictures of Beth were all blurry (stupid digital camera!). Here, Holly, Holly's husband Woody and I proudly display Brian's handiwork in a shower of support for Beth.
Me, Holly & Woody
After the long run, Beth invited her family and friends to P.F. Chang's for post-marathon grub. The downtown P.F. Chang's is next door to the Real World Austin house.
The Convention Center and architecturally-uninspired Hilton in the background
Austin's new Frost Bank Tower can be seen in the background
This is the side, but I like the time-delayed brake lights whizzing by.
These pictures are for Chase. You're welcome to send Evan over at any time for my massage!
Then last week, I attended the world premiere of John Corigliano's Symphony 3 "Circus Maximus". The University of Texas Wind Ensemble commissioned the work and premiered it. Words fail to describe the awesome work. The concert hall's orchestra seating was ringed by buglers and trumpeters playing throughout the piece. A small ensemble was also in the upper balcony. The full ensemble power and tender moments combined to make this one of the outstanding works for wind ensemble.
Before the concert began, Corigliano was running around, jetting through the audience to meet whichever Austin dignitary happened to arrive at that time. At one point, he was standing directly behind me. I turned around to have his ass right in my face. I thought about biting it, but decided against being thrown out of the hall. I will say this, he had an awful lot of hotties in his posse. (Pssst! He's family.) I decided then that I should change professions and become the world's greatest living composer... it gets better ass than "technology trainer".
I then spent the last part of last week at the Educause conference at the downtown Radisson Hotel. Nothing too terribly noteworthy about it, other than I thought of several good ideas to implement at the office. It was fun being downtown for 3 days. And there was one hottie I eyed the entire time. Alas, he worked for the University of Oklahoma, so very undateable.
Today, I pulled out my 5 Year Plan document. Reviewing the past year shows I accomplished quite a bit of the things I set out to do. I'm updating the document and figuring out what to do the next 1 - 5 years. It's helpful to keep track of, and keeps me aiming in the right direction.
OK, that's it for now. Hopefully, I'll update more frequently. For reals, yo.
Posted by Ben at February 21, 2005 05:20 PM