black out
The region in which Virginia Tech sits, according to the demarcation of Apple Higher Ed, is sometimes called South and sometimes called Southeast. So, SXSE, if you don’t mind. To gather the region’s campus reps together, a Marriot in Tampa was chosen to host the whole hoopla.
A mere 24 hours of effective working time was available given the restrictions imposed by everyone’s flights. In fact, I only spent 30 hours in Tampa, myself. So the sessions and activities were as fast-paced as is practical. (For the record, the only appearance of Steve Jobs was a viewing of the D5: All Things Digital video interview with Walt Mossberg, from this past week - which I had already watched, twice.)
Safe to say, the highlight was the lavish food that was tossed our way. I had been to The Cheesecake Factory before, but not for a full meal. And this time, desserts were mandatory. I ordered Black Out cake - the richest, most-chocolatey cake ever to make contact with my lips. It was so dark as to blend in with the black to-go container it arrived in; the whipped cream appeared to either float above a chasm or bravely resist being sucked into the blackness itself. Each bite was an adventure, aging my internal organs by five years but granting me the pleasures of previously unbeknownst euphoria.
The food helped us cope with the sometimes unnecessarily quick trot of the entire weekend. It was impossible to fathom that, when Erika, the other VT rep, and I were leaving Tampa Saturday evening, we had only arrived Friday at lunch. Rocket-fast. I usually am not fan of the typecasted “networking” aspect of these training events, but it was seriously important to hear other’s comments and past gripes about internal issues. Hearing complaints about a job allow me to anticipate those situations and then respond to them with the experience of someone who has already wasted time because of them.
Anyways. Back to light work and heavy cycling in Blacksburg. Also, congrats to Nik & Tara for completing their from-Blacksburg move; thanks for setting me up so well while I queu for the ever-looming house down the street.