|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wednesday June 27, 2001
"Pas de zéle!" Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, His Advice to Young Diplomats
window from the urban adventurers file
|
|
futile I felt useless today. Except when I worked on thinking about an idea. That was nice. If, um, futile because it probably won't be funded and probably shouldn't be. I drove to Houston. I had been pressured to have a meeting with a 'facilitator' for a project on diversity in the workplace. So I drive to Houston. My car could do it alone. I stop in La Grange and eat snacks for lunch in the car. (Not healthy, I know.) The meeting is a yawner. Then I have a meeting with a colleague. I am not very helpful to her, I'm afraid. But I enjoy the decoration in her office. At the hotel (I have a meeting tomorrow here so I'm spending the night), I spend a hour and change rooms to get the Internet access to work. It's a shame that I can't live without it. The service providers finally boot a server. I could work in a closet-like space at work (where I was earlier today stringing wires across the room) or I could work in a conference room at work, I guess. But it sure seems nicer to work with e-mail and such in the relative comfort of a hotel room. I fall prey to the Westheimer trap a little later. I decide to eschew the expensive restaurant in the hotel and the room service and just 'drive a little way down Westheimer.' But I can't decide on a place to eat. Twice I pick something from street appeal and can't find a parking place. Then I pull in to check out a Stars Cafe in the corner of a strip center. Up close there are tables outside where several people of Mediterranean origin are having coffee drinks. One guy is smoking a bong or hooka thing (I'm not making this up) and there is the smell of incense. Inside, the place looks dirty and dingy and, further, no one seems to be eating anything. I'm starving. My head pounds. So I go to Spec's (Houston's wine store with liquor too and some foods) and I get some Bousin, some crackers, some cookies and a 200 ML bottle of Jack Daniel's. I eat and work and watch some TV and read and sleep. I don't sleep well in hotels. But I have figured out how to do it and a tiny bit of Jack in your water helps.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
