Me, Kory, Kelly, Bob, Derek, and Chris fist to something though I can't for the life of me remember what. Kory made the trek to Austin this weekend for his first exposure to this fabulous city. We started the night at a URS friend's Christmas party, where Kory fit right in. He works in the Raleigh URS office and knew some of the same people as the Austin crowd.
Jerimi (in the blue shirt on the left) and her husband Brian hosted the Christmas party well stocked with spiked egg nog, peppermint shots, a Live Oak keg, and a full bar.
There was a suggested party theme of tackiest Christmas sweaters. A few people took it to heart and dressed in spectacular style.
After the party, we headed downtown for a taste of 4th St, West 6th St, more 4th St, and a general run around the city. I was on a mission to show Kory the heart of Austin, and somehow we entirely side-stepped the famous part of 6th St. Oops. We did however join my hotel staff friends for a beer at the Gingerman, my favorite Austin pub with over 100 beers on tap. Sadly, the Gingerman is soon to be relocated to a building with inevitably far less character and fewer memories. Dang the downtown development!! They're destroying all the local flavor. Kory's night was made when he spotted a character from the latest season of Big Brother. Being the TV lacky that I am, I had no clue who he was or that Big Brother is still polluting the TV airwaves. Seriously? We later met up with a mutual FEMA friend Adam, who'd been on a Christmas bar crawl and barely crawled back to our mutual hotel at the night's end.
