I gotta pack!

Frank and Andy with Alcatraz in the background, San Francisco

Cambridge, England

In less than five hours...I've gotta leave on a bus for Brussels.

It's a class field trip to the EU and should be a great experience. I'm very much looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I've been totally swamped the past few days working on this dissertation (and fantasy baseball). It's fun, but time consuming. Right now I am working on a survey to send out (in a few moments) to my contacts in the video game industry. The goal of the survey is to see what factors people in the industry view as important when making location decisions (e.g., quality of life, salary, etc.). I've got a lot of qualitative research on that question, but need some quant backing. Fun.

FYI, in case you ever need to do a survey -- even an informal one for an office poll or something -- check out www.zoomerang.com.

I've really gotta run...there's the whole packing thing plus I need to send this survey out. But I did promise stories from Austin and San Francisco.

You'll notice the pic of me and Frank above in San Fran. Got a chance to see LBJ classmates Frank and Isabel while I was out there. We spent some good times in Berkeley, which really is a rad little college town. I could go to school there. Heck, there aren't many places that I couldn't go to school. (Still can't believe that I won't be in school for the first time ever...in a month!)

Good story from SF: I was visiting folks for my dissertation research, and ended up at IGN, which is *the* Web site for serious gamers. I was talking to my friend Brennan Ieyoub, who is a Web editor and is also a fellow '98 graduate of UHS, at his office. And what an office! Picture an office full of kids that love video games. Okay...there you've got it. There were video game figures and life-sized characteristics scattered throughout, and dazzling framed poster displays of all the big video game hits. Rooms for multiplayer gaming and a really tight room for presenting games that included leather couches, surround sound, and a huge plasma screen. But the best part was the breakroom. Wow. Arcade games lined the wall! Brennan whipped up on me in golf. I'll get him next time.

Okay, I'm really out of time. I want to tell an Austin story or two. But Sarah said that she never reads my blog, so I'm going to boycott Austin stories for a bit. Why? It's just like that Seinfeld episode...for spite. Sarah was in Austin, so all the stories would involve her. Guess she'll be my most avid reader after this revenge! (Okay, admittedly...maybe not. But really, I just flat out need to stop typing, send out the survey, and go to bed.)

But one more thing: I did see George Rivas. Man, that guy has a big head.

Oh, and Tex Mex never tasted so good .