The Stars Need Realigning

The plan WAS to be out the door at 8:30, parked at the building and on the train by 9:00 to be at the airport at 9:30 for my 10:20 flight to Austin.

However, the stars were not exactly aligned in my favor, starting right away this morning when I literally trapped myself in my bathroom and had to dismantle the door to get out.

That set me behind, then I hit some unusually heavy traffic, then I JUST missed one train and had to wait another 12 minutes or so for the 9:30 to depart.

That put me at the airport at about 10, 20 minutes before my flight, and I still had airport security to deal with and a gate to find.  By the time I got through security, it was 10:13, and I, for the first time that I can recall in a long while, I had to RUN to my gate.  I got there at like 10:19, the words "you're fucked!" running through my head, to find a long line at the gate to board.

They'd had mechanical problems, and were late boarding.

Praise jeeebus!

Then on my layover in Memphis, I chose a sitdown restaurant for lunch, and witnessed my food being delivered to the wrong table.  Luckily, he'd ordered something different than I and turned it away, but I had to literally whistle as the server went to two other tables asking, "Did you order the Southern Fried Chicken Salad?"

Good times.

The tides turned when Alamo upgraded me from a compact (they were out) to a midsize, and I got to choose from a line of cars parked in the lot.  I skipped over the PT Cruiser, already having one of my own to enjoy daily, and chose a deep red Dodge Avenger.

As I stopped at the booth, I asked the heavy set african american woman if I'd chosen wisely.  She suggested it would be to my advantage to refuse a map because when I get lost, some pretty woman will definitely find me in that car, not to worry.

So, yeah, I'm in Austin for the How Business Conference that I attend regularly. It is always a good experience, and the topics (and talking to other creative business owners) always provide a revelation of some sort to help the cozy little business I call HAM.

Tomorrow, I've got a little time before it starts so I think I'll head downtown and see what I can see in Austin.

Oh, and run.  I've been severely lax in my exercising now for almost a week.

That shit's gotta stop or I'm really gonna need to start blogging regularly again.

155, baby!

Tonight, I intend to take advantage of the Hyatt's "Just Missed TV" channel to watch the season debut of Heroes that I missed on Monday.

Then sleep.  Long, hard sleep.

Some L.A. Trip Images

Friday Night in Beverly Hills

NO idea what I weigh, and I can honestly say I don't give a shit right now.  However, I DID run today and yesterday. I'm not quite sure exactly how far, but I'd guess maybe 3 - 3.25 miles a pop, plus another half a mile walking. Oh, and 150/100 both days, thanyouverymuch.

After a productive two days of presentations in L.A., I've walked to an outdoor mall in Beverly Hills called, I think, Westfield (Century City?) and planted myself at the bar of a Brazilian Churrascaria called Umbra Grille.  Not wholly unlike Fogo de Chao, they have plenty of types of meat that they slice off of giant skewers for you, and lotsa sides hot and cold, but it is not really a buffet, and they don't bring the meat to you.  

You order 1/2 lb. of meat in whatever combo you want, and order two sides, and they bring it to you on a plate for $14.95.  Tasty, none-the-less, just less gluttoness.

So, on this trip we met with (in this order)Lionsgate, Focus Features, Walden Media, NBC Universal, and Paramount Pictures. Without going into too much detail, here's a few tidbits:

Best meeting: Paramount Pictures
Amount spent on cab fare (so far): $310
Meetings we were late to: 1 (frickin' cab dispatchers!)
Likelihood of getting project work out of the trip: 88%
Best food: tossup between El Chulo and Diddy Riese cookies
Number of people that asked where the name came from: 1
Meetings at which we had internet access: 1
Project most "already-known": Five Minutes to Kill (Yourself)
Project that seemed to impress the most: Funk Box

So, definitely a trip that has been very worth it.  People have been very impressed with our work, and no less than three meetings resulted in them asking for ideas about specific movies or marketing initiatives.  Granted, that's no check-in-hand project engagement yet, but the fact that what we showed them got them thinking about what we can add to their promotional efforts is GREAT! 

We're gonna do this again, but in New York.

So, I'm going to end my evening with a big-ass tub of buttered popcorn and Dark Knight at the AMC nearby, then walk back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.

I've got NO plans for the weekend yet, although I might have coffee with a fellow band geek from college that happened to be in town here the same time I am.   She actually invited me to accompany her and her friends to a play they were going to, but I politely declined on account of timing, and just not wanting to be "on" any more after two days of it.

A guy's only got SO much charm, ya know?

I gots to recharge with a relatively quiet night like tonight before turning it on again!

It Takes Time To Build An Empire

My train adventure is soon to come to an end. Perhaps not soon enough for my taste.

It certainly is affordable, but I'm not sure I'll do this again anytime soon.  The train, The Empire Builder, is running no less than 2 hours late!  I was scheduled to be in Minot at 8:30, and we just stopped in Rugby, ND which is still an hour away.

I had a lot of trouble sleeping.  I just could NOT get comfortable to save my life, and I'd be just about drifting off when the Catholic priest I was sitting next to would let out a loud snort -- nice guy, but a snorer!

So yeah. Glad I did it, but glad I only got a one-way ticket.

A Good Cab Driver Is Worth A Thousand Words

I am sitting at the St. Paul Amtrak station, waiting to board a train for the first time in some 20 years. This is the first leg of my 11-day trip, to Minot, ND to visit my Grandpa (Dad's dad), and then on leg two I drive my Grandma (Mom's mom) to Bismarck for her birthday bash.

Minneapolis to Minot, by train.
Minot to Bismarck, by car.
Bismarck to Minot, by car.
Minot to L.A., by plane.
L.A. to Minneapolis, by plane.

After work today I took care of a number of loose ends, then killed a few hours before having to head to the train station.  I opted to take a cab from work so my car will be there waiting when I get off the light rail from the airport, which drops me about 5 blocks from work, on the last leg of the trip.

Enter Karl, the cab driver, who's charge it was to get me to the station on time.

I struck up a convo with him by saying I was getting on a train for the first time in some 20 years.  Karl is probably about 50 or so, grey, olive skinned, with a mildly thick, indistinctive accent, and speaks pretty fluent English. 

He siezed the conversational opportunity and jumped right in with a great story about the last time he was on a train, from Madrid to Lisbon when he was "much younger" than I am.  He hooked me right away by saying he almost got married as a result of that train ride.

Reader's Digest version, he'd recently escaped his country, and was walking down the street in Madrid at 4 in the morning after a night out drinking with a friend, who'd taken it upon himself to teach Karl how to whistle.  After a number of blocks of this they tired of the whistling, and soon after came upon a girl who'd began questioning them in a spanish (which neither of them spoke very well) about why he'd given up so easily.  It took some back and forth, but he soon realized she'd been walking a block ahead of them for quite some time thinking they were whistling at her.

Long story short, after spending the rest of the night and into the morning talking with her, she told him she was getting on a train later that morning to Lisbon.  They said their goodbyes, but Karl, thinking he might be letting the love of his life slip away, grabbed a bouquet of flowers, and bought a ticket on the very same train to be with her.

In Lisbon, they spent 7 happy months dating, until things got a little complicated, and Karl decided to run.  He said, "To this day, I still don't know if I did the right thing or the wrong thing leaving."

"But," he said, "Portugese women get so fat after they marry, that I'm more certain that I did the right thing than not."

See, now THAT is why you leave a cab driver an $8 tip on a $22 fare.