It's the middle of the night,

I'm in Portland, I ate an amazing dinner at Castagna, and I am falling asleep.

That's all I got.

"Another solution"

is the name of a short story of mine that will appear in an upcoming Baen anthology.  I can't give you more info yet, because I don't believe Baen has announced the book yet, but I'll tell you more when I can.

Yes, I'm being a tease.

I heard this song earlier today,

sitting in a McDonald's because it had bandwidth and was near where I needed to be an hour later, and I had to stop and sing (quietly) along.  Now it's stuck in my head, so I figured the easiest way to get it out of mine was to put it into yours.



Enjoy.

Oh, yeah:  you haven't lived until you've seen my hand-dance version.

Well, maybe I'm wrong about that.

A hint that you might have stayed in a hotel too many times

You ring the late-night operator to place a wake-up call for eight hours from that time.  After you tell her when you want the call to occur, she says, "Sleep in!  Nice.  You never get to sleep that much."

Yup, that happened.

Pro tip:  I didn't get to sleep that long.  I just placed the call earlier than usual.

COUNTER 3. FIVE. VII amazes again

I've written about this great restaurant many times before, and each time I say the same things:  the food is fabulous, the team is wonderful, and it's the best restaurant in Austin, period.  I'm too tired to do a full post on my meal earlier tonight, but it was one of the best yet from Counter, and that's saying something.  Not a single bite was anything other than delicious.

I hope to return to this meal with pictures and more info, but for now let me close with a simple but truthful admonition:  if you care at all about food and can possibly eat at Counter, do so.

Brain food making me crazy smart

Eating Cooper's BBQ

Click an image to see a larger version.

(no, I didn't eat it all; I was sharing) and finishing the evening with a small cup of Amy's ice cream (in this case, half rhubarb and half mango-strawberry)

is a sure way to boost your brain power--or at least to convince you for a short time that you're smarter.

Oh, yeah, I am a lucky man.

Heading on out

I'm going to be on the road for five of the next six weeks, so I need to focus today on trip prep and taking care of bills, etc.  I'll be in Austin and Portland over the next two weeks, then home a week, and then off to Europe:  three cities and three countries in three weeks.

I need to become a more efficient packer!