The Eye of Kris

Well, I fully intended to post more while I was in Texas, but things got so busy there and I barely had time to even check my e-mail. Not all of it was work, of course - we had some fun, too. Here's a brief (trust me, it could be much longer) synopsis of the trip:

Saturday night, we had dinner at Joe T. Garcia's Mexican Restaurant. This place was unbelievable. Even though they have seating for hundreds (maybe a thousand), there were a hundred or so people in line to get in. The food and atmosphere were great. They only have two items on the menu - the Enchilada Dinner or the Fajitas. We all had the Enchilada Dinner, which included enchiladas, tacos, beans, rice, and nachos. Good stuff.

Sunday, I went to Hope Fellowship and got to see some old friends. I also toured their new building, which should be completed early next year. I had lunch with Tim & Angie Raynaud, who used to go to our church here in Nashville. We had some good Texas BBQ.

Sunday night, our conference began with a welcome reception and then we watched football in the Texan Station Restaurant, which is inside the Gaylord Texan hotel. Texan Station is a sports bar that has rows of leather recliners in front of a 40-foot video screen. Now that's the way to watch sports...

Monday was the first real day of the conference, and it was pretty interesting. Chad (one of my co-workers) gave his presentation to a packed room, and it was well-received. Lunch was very tasty, and then we went back to Texan Station to watch Monday Night Football on the big screen again :)

Tuesday, I heard a great speech by Tim Sanders, who is the Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo! inc. I ended up buying his book.

Tuesday night was the big conference party at Texas Stadium. That was a lot of fun. There were games and events going on all over the field, with lots of food, and we got to take a tour of the locker room and the stadium club. The week had a bit of a football theme going at this point...

Wednesday morning was my turn to present. The room wasn't completely full, but there was a good crowd, and good responses. Afterwards, the chairman of the BO User Group in the UK asked if I would give my presentation for his group next month via videoconference, which I of course said I would.

Wednesday evening was laid back - just dinner and early to bed because we were all wiped out. Thursday we flew home, and Friday was "catch-up-day" at work, where I run around like crazy trying to make up for being gone the rest of the week...