Austin 2005: Better Late than Never
This is one for the memory books. I had a blast, Austin is great. The people are nice, the food is rich and the everything seems like it's in motion. Anyways, my boy Mahesh and his wife Hema are great hosts. And their friends are all very fascinating characters. Great slice of the community! :-D
So a quick recap. Friday relaxed, grocery shopping then laughed at Kill Bill vol.2. Had some drinks then made fun of Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men. Next morning we did a little Telegu socializing. As you can guess I was a bit out of place, but I was still better at dumb charades (man you should see these guys). Anyways, that night we went to Chuy's a popular TexMex cuisine in Austin. In fact we went to the very place where one of the Bush twins got busted for underage drinking. I felt like I was seeing some historical landmark. ... After that we hit 6th Street. What a site! What a site! A huge stretch of bars and clubs and party places with nothing but beautiful girls in every direction. We went into Spill (what an odd name) and got a feel for the noise and dance. What a party street. I remember one interviewer telling me to make sure I visited that place. Oh well 4 yrs too late. ... Next day we went to the famous Chez Zee breakfast house. Apparently they have a dish that Matt Lauer prepared on the Today Show! ("Matt. Matt, Matt, you don't even-- you're glib".) So much food. I think I ate the most and I think I ate crab meat for breakfast?! Later saw a nice coffee shop on the river, but no one ordered coffee. Bummed a little then the guys went out for a few drinks and laughs. Met some nice people but got a little tipsy. Slept it off. Next morning head on back.
Good trip. Good times. Can't beleive I didn't take any pictures or buys myself a t-shirt. Anyways in summary:
Hema: So Mauriat are you having a good time?
Me: Ohhhh yeaahhh.
Now I'm sitting here wondering what life would have been like had the IBM thing worked out. Who knows?