In which I relate the remainder of my adventures in Texas
Since it’s been a week since I got back from Texas, I am going to focus more on the general impressions of the trip rather than a tedious blow-by-blow (much to the relief of any readers I have out there, I am sure).
I traveled with Brian (my boss), Scott (Unix guy), and Gary (phone switch guy). We settled into a routine of meeting in the morning at the (rather nice) breakfast bar. Next we were off to the Cisco campus, usually arriving around 8:40 (10 minutes late). Class until about noon, quick lunch, class until 5 or 6. Head back to the hotel for an hour or so. Gary and I would always go somewhere in the evening, at least to grab some food. Brian and Scott seemed to prefer staying in their rooms about half the nights. Late evening was spent online. Sleep, wake, repeat.
Working at Cisco would be a nice gig. All the free beverages you want (I settled on Mountain Dew, Earl Grey tea, and orange/banana juice); a recreation room with free ping-pong, pool, and Stargate Defender; and a fairly upscale cafeteria.
The class was an odd mix for me. I was actually advising the instructors during the database section but that was only one afternoon. The majority of the rest of the class was above my head, but I was able to keep up with some struggling. I was completely lost on Friday and the end of Thursday, however. The break/fix sessions were fun. The WCTC employees were split into teams of two (because Scott and I hadn’t had the prerequisite course) and given a working telephone system. Then the instructors would break something and we had to diagnose it and fix it. Gary and I made a pretty good team.
At the end of it all I got my certificate that I had completed the course as well as a little Cisco cloisonné pin. Whee… (This doesn’t mean that I am actually “Cisco certified” in any way, as near as I can tell. That would involve taking some sort of test. This certificate just means that I paid my money and sat in the class.)
Oh, the Belgian student’s name is Alain, not Alan. Not that he’ll ever know I misspelled his name…
Our popular hangout was a joint called Bone Daddy’s but it certainly wasn’t because of the food. We went there a couple of times and my coworkers seemed to have a lot of fun. Personally, I preferred Uncle Julio’s or the Texas Land & Cattle Steakhouse. Heck, even my first visit to a SONIC was more interesting than the second Bone Daddy’s visit. I have to admit that I ate very well on this trip. If Texas knows anything, it’s how to cook up a cow.
My most interesting excursions were one with Gary to the Galleria Dallas and the four of us stopping by the IMAX to see Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag on the way back to the airport. I really am regretting not striking out on my own for at least one evening. It would have been nice to get a feel of Texas that didn’t involve strip malls, restaurants, classrooms, and hotels. Maybe visit a friend or two. Ah well, next time.
The flight back was fairly uneventful. I managed to leave my copy of Angels & Demons on the Dallas-Milwaukee flight but luckily I had already finished it. We had a three hour layover in Milwaukee. We spent the first hour having a good old Wisconsin dinner (Friday night perch fish fry and cheese curds). The rest of the guys went back to the gate to wait but I gave JoAnn a call. She and Rob were actually only about a mile or two away at the local Blockbuster. They were nice enough to swing by and keep me company for an hour or so. The visit really rejuvenated me for the last leg of my flight.
The 19 seat plane seemed more cramped on the way back than it had on the way down. The cloud cover made looking out the widow a completely useless endeavor so I plowed my way through a Wired magazine until we touched down.
Endo gave me a call just as we touched down at 11:30pm. He had just gotten off work from Best Buy and wanted to know if I would join him at Buffalo Wild Wings with a coworker of his. Well, sure. I finally limped home somewhere around 2am, a very tired boy.
Epilogue: I found out on Saturday that my mom had been in the hospital for viral labyrinthitis while I was gone. She is doing fine and is back at work, but it’s always a little scary to find out what can happen while you are gone.