My Weekend in Phoenix

Thursday night I arrived at the Phoenix airport and took a cab to Mesa, the location of our Friday's seminar. My room had a squeaky bed and a few cobwebs, but there was a microwave and a refrigerator so I headed to the closest place to buy food and ended up at Walgreens where I picked up a Hot Pockets Calzone and some Gardettos:


After my work day I took another cab to my mini-vacation hotel downtown Phoenix, which I guess was a mistake because all the cab drivers said the parties are all in Scottsdale, which is a 20 minute drive away. Also, there was a huge convention happening: the Society for Hispanic Engineers, a group of over 1,000 college students from all across the country all dressed up for interviews with such companies as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and 3M. If the lobby was bad, the elevators were even worse.


I didn't mind, however, because my room was poolside and there was beer to drink and latina college babes to talk to hanging out in the Arizona sun. Saturday night I decided I was partied out from too much laying around on patio furniture and decided to head to the orchestra, where I caught Brahms: Symphony No. 1 performed by the Phoenix Symphony. I told the folks at the box office I was a student and got a $72 ticket for 10 bucks! First tier first row baby! It was a great way to lull my mini-vacation to a nice, quiet end. Still, I couldn't help but dance with the statues of naked ballet dancers (and a homeless lady) after the performance:


This morning I packed up all my stuff and took one last look at the pool before heading off to the airport for a long flight to Albany, NY. I'm sitting in the bar having my free glass of wine and ready for sleep. I miss that dry desert heat already and sort of wish I had brought some long johns.