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I spent the first few days this week in San Antonio, Texas in financial controls training.  While that sounds incredibly boring, it actually wasn’t bad.  Due to a social networking policy, that’s the extent that I’ll discuss the work-related aspects of the trip.

On the way out, I lucked up by having the row to myself.  There was plenty of room to spread out!

Flying to San Antonio all alone

This was the first trip I’ve been on without my family, so it was a little strange.  I really missed my kids, but I still had a great time.  Like other places I have been, I thought I would hate the city but now San Antonio is one of my favorite cities!

The Alamo!

The main event of the year, called Fiesta, just happened to be going on during my stay there.  The first night, there was a night parade on the cities beautiful riverwalk.  There were 62 floats like the one below.  It was one of the coolest parades I’ve ever seen and it even topped many of the Disney parades.  Clay Walker was the grand marshall.

The River Parade

The next night was NIOSA, which stands for Night In Old San Antonio.  It was the coolest thing I think I’ve ever been to. Basically you pay to get in and you purchase tickets.  There are hundreds of food booths where you trade your tickets for food or drinks.  Each area had a different theme.  For example, the “French Quarter” area had sausage on a stick, beignets, escargot, and various french drinks.  I had the beignets, the best churros I’ve ever tasted from the Mexican area, and some fabulous curly fries.

I was amazed at how many ways there were to fry up jalapenos.  I also bought some cascarones for the kids.  I’ll post pictures whenever they crack them over each other’s heads.  It was weird toting what appeared to be a dozen eggs literally half way across the country through two airports.

NIOSA!

I can hardly wait to return to San Antonio, but next time I’m taking the family!

In case you haven’t noticed, I have blogged nearly every day this week.  And some days (including today), I have blogged multiple times.  I still have lots of things to post, including Mackenzie’s 3K graduation from last month.  I think I’ll go have a cookie now.

If it’s not obvious, I’m clearly avoiding school-work by blogging.  (I have two more projects to turn in before Tuesday.  One is 75% done and I haven’t started the other.) I’m also considering promoting this blog more to my friends, etc. via facebook and twitter, so I need to populate it with lots of content.

Next week, I’ll be blogging live from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden, New Jersey.  Stay tuned . . .

When we found out we were going to Las Vegas, I thought I was going to hate it.  I loved it!

When we found out we were going to Baltimore, I thought I was going to hate it.  I loved it!

When we found out we were going to Boulder, I thought I was going to hate it.  But, I loved it, too!

So naturally, when Kimberlie’s class was scheduled for New Orleans, I knew I would hate it.  My vision of this place was people who eat weird food, drunks wondering between bars checking out strippers and ignorant people that don’t pay attention to hurricane evacuation warnings.

Of course, I LOVE IT HERE!

Yesterday on the way, I added two new states to the list of state that I’ve been to: Mississippi and Louisiana.  Today, after checking out the local mall (which is fabulous — better than any Atlanta mall), I took the kids and drove down to the French Quarter to take a steamboat ride up and down the Mississippi River.  The French Quarter was awesome . . . tons of history, interesting people, and beautiful architecture.  Parts of it remind me of Savannah but also reminds me of Nassau.  We didn’t have much time because we had to pick Kimberlie up not long after our boat returned, but I can’t wait to go back tomorrow.

After picking Kimberlie up, we went back to the mall so that the kids could get stuff from the Disney store and make an overpriced bear at the Build-A-Bear factory.  Then we hit Acme Oyster House.  I got the New Orleans sampler: jambalaya, red beans & rice, sausage, mojo potatos and gumbo.  I hadn’t tried any of it before and I’m usually funny about trying new things but all of it was delicious.  These people really know how to eat here!  Before I ordered, I asked the waiter to describe each item.  This would be the equivalent of him going to Georgia and asking what barbebue and bruswick stew is.  He even brought me some free oysters since I had never tasted them either.  They were great as well!

Tomorrow we hit up Storyland, which is a giant playground, and then chill for a while until Kimberlie gets out of class. Then its back to the French Quarter for some more culture!

Monday we plan to tour a cemetery before heading back to boring Macon.  My Day Two post may have to wait until I return home because I’m too frugal to pay this hotel another $13.00 for another day of internet.  I guess I can’t complain since I got the (really nice) hotel for $60 a night.

For the next six days, I’ll be blogging (or not) from Boulder Colorado.  I’m a speaker at the CALI (Computer Aided Legal Instruction) conference.  Its pretty much a conference for folks who do technology work at law schools.  This is my third time going.  In 2007 it was in Las Vegas and last year it was in Baltimore.  We usually work it out so that I can take the family with me.  My hotel and flight are covered so we just buy tickets for Kimberlie and the kids and end up with a great deal on a cross-country vacation.

In Vegas, we added 4 extra nights to the 4 that the law school covers and we explored sin city along with Los Angeles and the Pacific Coast (keep in mind Mackenzie was less than a year old then).  Last year we added 2 nights and I took the family on a quick tour of Washington D.C.  This year we only added one night because there’s not too much exciting about Colorado when the slopes are closed.  I do hope to visit Jon-Benet’s former home as well as Columbine High School — and of course the usual wonders like the Rocky Mountains.

This morning, I’m blogging from Butler Toyota.  I HATE car dealerships, but Kimberlie’s car needs an oil service.  I guess the economy has really hit these folks.

I can’t figure out why there’s so many car salesmen on duty at 10:00 on a Friday morning.  I’m no rocket scientist, but I would guess that most people who buy new (or used) cars have jobs.  On top of that, it’s raining.  I would guess there is some correlation between rain and the lack of customers.  One sales guy here has been to the coffeepot like 242355 times already.  It seems like all these people do is drink coffee.  If I had a job where I only made commission, I would only go to work when I thought customers would be there.

Maybe they should just have the service department open during normal hours with a limited sales staff.  It’s like they sell good cars but they have no common sense.