I Left My Heart in San Angelo

Well, not yet. I'm still here! And when I leave, it seems fairly likely that I'll bring my heart with me.

Here are a few common misconceptions about San Angelo that I'm going to clear up for you. (Read: things that I thought about San Angelo which turn out not to be true.)

1. San Angelo is not in the Hill Country.
2. San Angelo is not quite the most happening night spot ever.
3. San Angelo is not the same thing as San Antonio. (Actually, I never thought it was; however, the hotel where we stayed last night was extensively, and inexplicably, decorated with San Antonio and Riverwalk travel posters. So apparently this was someone's misconception.)
4. San Angelo is not just an hour or so's drive from Austin. Ohohoho no.

Last night we stayed at the San Angelo Inn & Conference Center, near old downtown. It's a former Holiday Inn but did not quite live up to my coworkers' high standards, so we checked out and will be staying tonight at the new Holiday Inn Express. Now that we're here, I quite see their point. There's a computer here with internet, for one thing. And cave-in of the ceiling over the shower in my room seems much, much less imminent, which is always a plus.

I got to drive the Official State Vehicle™ all the way out here, which was great fun. I love driving and road trips, and pretty much any car is nicer than what I'm used to. And of course I don't have to pay for the gas, which is a great bonus.

Last night we went out to eat at Zentner's Daughter, a fairly nice steak place which another cow orker (not along on this trip) recommended highly. It was good. The waitress accidentally switched the doneness orders on my steak and my coworker's. Me, I'm okay with medium well (though I like bloody better), but my coworker got squicked out and had to send his back. Some people are just not as good at orking cows as others.

Then we went to a nice divey bar, where the locals were playing some pretty boffo tunes on the jukebox and the one cow orker and I discovered that the other coworker is a rapacious pool shark, cleverly disguised as a mild-mannered systems analyst.

At breakfast, back at the Holiday Inn on the Dark Side, my pool shark coworker and I were in for a treat: Mr. Exposition was having a Very Important Cell Phone Conversation at the next table. Hello! Does he not know how passé this is? Nobody who's anybody is loudly self-important on a cell phone anymore. That's, like, so 1994. He made lots of jokes for our benefit, and informed his caller that she works with him, that she's sick, and that they have been acquainted for 10 years. He went on and on about how he was having breakfast at a Holiday Inn in San Angelo. I'm sure she was tremendously impressed. (Psst. Buddy. It's not a Holiday Inn anymore.)

We go back tomorrow afternoon. I wonder if they'll still let me drive?