Steve's Ramblings

Please indulge me while I reminisce a bit, will you?

I suppose it is time to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak. Only a few of my closest friends and family knew the truth about last Friday. Yes, I ditched work to mow my lawn. Oh, and I attended the 5th annual ACL Festival. But why would I write about that? Yes the Yankees played the Red Sox. I recall this being the 2nd time in my life they did this on the 15th of September (although it could be more).

Last Friday I had a birthday. Yep another one. This time it was the big 3-0.

I try not to make a big deal of it. I often will go out to dinner, by myself, and have a really nice meal. Last year I went to a local steak house called Reed's and they gave me a free desert. That was nice. This year, because of ACL, I have not made the same pilgrimage.

I did go see a few friends and do a few shots. I think 4 in about 2 hours. By the time I hit the pillow about 1am, I was pretty buzzed but was more worn out from sitting in the sun all day. There were a few phone calls and text messages. It is nice to here from family and friends although I didn't get to talk to anyone until I called my sister on Saturday.

All in all. Nothing Special. Just the way I like it.

Now for the past. I have done a fair amount in my 3 decades. I moved to college 700 miles from home and basically only visited on holidays. During college I worked all over including the sticks of Tennessee (is there anything else :-)) and the big cities of Washington and Seattle. I have an FBI file because I spent more than a couple of days working for them in the Hoover building. I moved to Seattle, Redmond actually, and working for the "Company" for awhile. I met some of the coolest people and some great friends- although I have not talked to them in eons. In the summer of 2000 I moved to Austin. I really like it here. It *feels* like home, even though I knew *no one* when I moved here-I even rented my apartment sight-unseen. 6 years now, two jobs, one IPO, one acquisition, one layoff, and one home purchase later I have no intention of leaving. The people here are just good, the food is great, the woman are hot (this *is* Texas after all).

The Future? Who the hell knows. I know I need a new job next year for starters. If that is an internal transfer, or a new company outright has yet to be determined, but it is inevitable. I'm sticking around. I'm not going anywhere for awhile. And I truly hope that I can keep the friends I have here. But where to go from here? I just want to keep going. I can't spout off life lessons because, although I have had a pretty good life, it isn't like I *planned* it all out. This is really all I want to do:

OK, I'm done spouting self realization shit now. At least until next year.

Oh, and how did I know the Red Sox/Yankees have played at least one other time on September 15th? My folks took me to a game on my birthday when I was in grade school on a Thursday back in the day. The Sox lost. At least they only got rained out this year.

PS: Happy Birthday Dad! and Happy Birthday Grampa!