Tuesday, February 14, 2012

A Little Unplanned R&R

I'm in San Antonio for a work conference entitled "Bridging the Gap Between Reservoir Engineering and Facilities Design." It happened to be over Valentine's Day which wasn't ideal, but this place is really, really beautiful and peaceful and restful. It has the feel of an old Spanish hacienda nestled away in groves of rambling old trees. The entry way has gorgeous chandelers and a large fireplace, and somehow I felt like I could look out my window and see the mist surrouding the Sierra Madre. (Disclaimer: it's only 1/2 a mile off a major freeway, but somehow they managed to make it feel like you are going back in time haha).

On one of our coffee breaks (aka check your email and make small talk and hope you don't look too awkward or out of place, which is impossible for me because I'm one of the only women there and I look like I'm fifteen and with my grandpa's) I decided to take a walk around the grounds and stumbled upon this beauty. Yep, a hammock. How awesome is that?!




And it happened to be 70 and sunny so yep, you guessed it: mini nap time!

After the workshop ended for the day I headed down to pay my dues as a proud Texan. Behold, the Alamo. Only the best thing ever since sliced bread :).



Then it was off to the river walk. Okay this place is really beautiful!! And bonus, it's already humid and warm in February!!! Sign me up haha. I found a nice modern tex mex place where I enjoyed some delicious camarones a la diabla. Talk about an interesting social experiment, eating dinner out on your own on valentine's day. I'm not going to say it was my favorite thing ever, but it wasn't too bad. I did feel like I compulsively checked my phone and every time I started to think about something other than the fact I was out eating alone, the waiter came up to ask me if I needed anything. The food was delicious though :). And the little mexican band played me a song and then demanded a tip haha.




Now I'm suposed to be working on a decision tree analysis for a meeting on Thursday when I get back in the office but my brain is fried from sitting through presentations all day long. In case you're wondering, the conference has actually been pretty good :). I feel like I now have all kinds of questions to ask my production engineers when I get back to the office. I also feel seriously uniformed about some things, which always happens to me at these conferences. I go back feeling like I just know better how much I don't know!

2 comments:

  1. I love the pictures... that place looks awesome.
    Yay for awkward Valentine's Day meals! I almost went out by myself too because I was starving after seeing clients, but instead I ended up visiting and joining a gym for $10/month. Not sure it was any less awkward, it seemed to be full of intimidating and large men, who were probably angry and single... hahaha.

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  2. Sigh.... I miss San Antonio! Glad you got to go enjoy the sunshine and lovely Texas-ness for a wee bit. Missing you guys even more! :o)

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