Rockin' the Rock Rose
The other day I wrote about how the unglamorous reality of business travel is cookie-cutter office park hotels, chain restaurant food, and long days that preclude going out for nightlife. See Dullsville in Austin, TX and I'm busy. Well, the reality is that occasionally it's not like that. I had one such brief occasion on Thursday night when a few colleagues and I went bar hopping on Rock Rose Avenue in Austin.
Of course, Austin's Sixth Street downtown is the classic place for bar hopping, with plenty of clubs featuring live music. The action down there is a big part of why Austin claims the title "Live Music Capital". Compared to downtown, Rock Rose is a like a safe-for-yuppies variation with bland high-end chain restaurants, high-end chain fashion stores, plenty of free parking (and valet service!), and no crime or homelessness. A few colleagues and I decided that after our team dinner at one of those bland high-end chain restaurants (not at all our choice) we'd go visit a few of the bars in the area since we were right there.
We visited 5 bars over the course of the evening, though we only spent time and money in two of them. The others were all too loud. Yes, all of us are old enough that we care about things like "too loud". Though it was one of our younger colleagues who showed us an app he has that rates restaurants, bar, and clubs only by how noisy they are.
One of the clubs we walked out of was not only too loud- the music was thunderous despite the place being only about 10% full- but the clientele were also... trying too hard. They were all goths / "nonconformists" - a term I quote because they were all sporting the same 3 or 4 fashion choices. You know, the uniform that says, "I'm a nonconformist!" And none of them even looked comfortable in their own (tattooed) skin. They all seemed to be grimacing in pain from the weights dangling on their piercings and being poked in tender spots by the spikes on their leather collars and bracelets.
At least it was a fun night out with a few colleagues. The bonding we did is actually one of the important part of these face-to-face get-togethers. Now a few of us have a strong relationship, and in particular I now have a relationship with a leader in project management who now knows who I am and respects my knowledge and insight. That means he'll reach out to me when he has questions about how a new feature is working in the field, and he'll be receptive when I reach out to him to offer feedback or ask questions.
Of course, Austin's Sixth Street downtown is the classic place for bar hopping, with plenty of clubs featuring live music. The action down there is a big part of why Austin claims the title "Live Music Capital". Compared to downtown, Rock Rose is a like a safe-for-yuppies variation with bland high-end chain restaurants, high-end chain fashion stores, plenty of free parking (and valet service!), and no crime or homelessness. A few colleagues and I decided that after our team dinner at one of those bland high-end chain restaurants (not at all our choice) we'd go visit a few of the bars in the area since we were right there.
We visited 5 bars over the course of the evening, though we only spent time and money in two of them. The others were all too loud. Yes, all of us are old enough that we care about things like "too loud". Though it was one of our younger colleagues who showed us an app he has that rates restaurants, bar, and clubs only by how noisy they are.
One of the clubs we walked out of was not only too loud- the music was thunderous despite the place being only about 10% full- but the clientele were also... trying too hard. They were all goths / "nonconformists" - a term I quote because they were all sporting the same 3 or 4 fashion choices. You know, the uniform that says, "I'm a nonconformist!" And none of them even looked comfortable in their own (tattooed) skin. They all seemed to be grimacing in pain from the weights dangling on their piercings and being poked in tender spots by the spikes on their leather collars and bracelets.
At least it was a fun night out with a few colleagues. The bonding we did is actually one of the important part of these face-to-face get-togethers. Now a few of us have a strong relationship, and in particular I now have a relationship with a leader in project management who now knows who I am and respects my knowledge and insight. That means he'll reach out to me when he has questions about how a new feature is working in the field, and he'll be receptive when I reach out to him to offer feedback or ask questions.