Our major snow storm was pretty much a non-event. We did get about four inches in my neighborhood, but it was late in the day. So there was no break at all and it was yet another crazy busy work week. We had various high level briefings and, between preparing senior leadership for them and supporting the briefings themselves, that meant some long days. Things went reasonably well, but our deputy director brought up something that he really shouldn't have mentioned. This coming week won't be any better, alas, as we have two big decision meetings and a briefing to the most feared person we deal with all year.
I escaped a little bit early on Friday afternoon and headed off to Austin, Texas for the weekend. This is part of my obsession with state capitals. The actual travel was unpleasant, as United uses regional jets on this route. That means three hours in the least comfortable planes known to mankind. I had an exit row seat going out, which means lots of leg room, but the seats have no padding whatsoever. Oh, well, I survived.
As for Austin, my major activity was doing a Volksmarch through the more historical sections of the city, including the State Capitol. But, first, the Texas Independence Day parade was on and, given my rule of not missing local celebrations, I had to watch that. It was a mix of the normal marching band and beauty queen float sort of stuff with some very silly local things, like guys riding longhorns and a precision beach chair drill team. Then I continued the walk, seeing the Capitol (including the controversial 10 Commandments monument on the grounds), the University of Texas campus, and the LBJ Library. There was some sort of big open house event at UT, which meant that the campus was incredibly crowded. As for the LBJ Library, I did watch their film on his life and checked out the special exhibit on 60's pop culture. All in all, it was a good walk, though i can't really say that there's much to recommend about Austin architecturally. The only particularly spectacular building is the Driskill Hotel. By the way, the Visitor Center has some excellent walking tour brochures. For example, one describes a number of sites associated with O. Henry, while another gives the history of various buildings on Congress Avenue and East 6th Street.
One of the things Austin is known for is its nightlife, but the pollen count was doing me in, so I wasn't up to much. I did go and have dinner at Threadgill's, which is where Janis Joplin got her start. It rained more today and that helped with the allergens. I checked out a local artists' market, wandered a bit more around downtown, and stopped in at the Austin Museum of Art. The latter had an exhibit of modern art with a theme of color, grid, and pattern. There were a couple of pieces I particularly liked - sheet music annotated with blocks of color by Jim Hodge and an elaborate construction of blue blocks by Margo Sawyer.
The trip back was just as uncomfortable, though a bit faster, thanks to a tail wind. I was very fortunate on the ground connections and just caught the bus by seconds. And the metro came right away as well. All in all, it was good to get away for a couple of days.
Copyright 2005 Miriam H. Nadel