Rudy Rodarte's Journal: All over the USA

The ball starts moving
Interview for you!!
Back in Feb, I got the news that I would have an interview in Maryland on 12-Mar-2004. I had been preparing for it little by little in the weeks before. I felt good about it and was ready.
I haven't flown in the post 9/11 USA, but I heard from some of my friends that they got searched extensively. I was expecting the same thing, but nope. Let me go into that a little deeper, though:
I got to the Austin airport around 11:00 for my flight. I wanted to get there with plenty of time, since I heard the inspections could take a while. But nope, I checked in at the counter and got my boarding pass. I went through security and all I had to do was take off my shoes and put my cell phone, my game boy advance SP and wallet in little bin. They X-Rayed it, and having found nothing out of the ordinary, I went into the main area. Now, I got there super early, and I was looking at 2 hours of nada. What's a guy to do? Well, I had the GBA with the new Mario/Luigi RPG and some March Madness on TV. So those 2 hours went fast. The plane arrived soon enough, and being an A on Southwest airline is like gold. Since I was one of the first to board the plane, I got my window seat by the wing. I like to watch the wings move and operate on take offs and landings, as it still amazes me how they figured out how to get a 100 yard long tube up in the air like that. Yes, I know the physics behind it all, but its still cool to watch.
The flight was pretty OK. The plane was a bit cold, but when it filled up, the place warmed up pretty fast. Once we were up in the air and could turn on our devices again, it was more Mario and the Dell DJ. The flight was a little less than 3 hours, but no biggie. I didn't even notice the time in the air. The only unpleastantry was when the flight attendant got me regular coke instead of diet coke on the 2nd round of refills. But no biggie. I arrived in Baltimore in the afternoon, near 6 their time (I think.) You see, I think I set my watch back twice, so I had no clue what time it was until I turned on my cell phone. Thanks Sprint, you're a life saver. Once I found my way around the airport, I found my bags and took a cab to the Hotel. Baltimore is pretty nice and here are some things this Texan noticed as my cab drove me around:
1. Everything is (red) brick.
2. The Raven's/Oriel's facilities must cause some insane traffic on game days.
3. Your houses seem smushed together.
4. You don't have BBQ, at least around Hopkins Univeristy!!
Hotel, Chow and Showtime
I got to the Hotel and checked in. Some of the people from other towns were there too, but I didn't know when their planes had arrived so I had no idea if they were already there or if they were coming later. A lot of them were getting together for dinner, so I wandered about in the hotel to see if I could find any of them, but no luck. By this time, I was hungry and I didn't want to pay 19.95 for a crappy hotel meal, so I threw on my coat and decided to look for some chow. I walked around the hotel, and found nothing. So I just started walking towards the Baltimore museum of art on North Charles Street. I figured there would be something around there, and I was right. I found a place called Ruby Tuesdays, which sadly, I don't think has made it to Texas yet. They have tons of low carb stuff, which is cool. I had buffalo wings as an appetizer, and steak, broccoli and mashed cauliflower with a diet coke as the main course. Mmmm. Good stuff along with all the NCAA basketball tourneys on every TV. Good times!
I wrapped up dinner and started walking back to the hotel. But I realized I would need some breakfast to start the day off right. I was kicking myself for not bringing some Atkins bars, so I would have to suffer and find something. The Hotel menu had lots of stuff for breakfast, but nothing that was Lenten friendly or wallet friendly. So, I figured I could grab a salad from some place and eat it as breakfast. I wanted an Atkins wrap from subway, but there was none to be found. Instead, I found a Blimpie and ordered a tuna salad salad(Is that the right way to say it? :) ) with a diet coke. I finished the coke that night, and the salad was for my breakfast. I got back into my room just in time for tribal council. But I changed the channel as I was DVRing it back home. Once I was in the clear, I switched it back and watched CSI and Without a Trace. During both shows, I got the suit ready and packed everything up so I would be ready to go at a moments notice. I tried to keep everything relaxed like any normal night, but it was 11 when the shows ended, not 10, like in Austin. So I had to polish up the potential interview responses. before I went to bed. I picked Fiona Apple on the Dell DJ and jammed like I did in college, in preparation for the interview. After about 2 hours of practice, I called it a night and went to bed. Hasta mañana.
Is your game tight?
I woke up at 6:00 Eastern time and got a shower, a good shave, and at my tuna salad with water. I wanted a diet coke, but I knew the caffeine would have me going to the bathroom all morning long. I couldn't take that chance, so water it was. Everything was ready to go and my wife called. I was almost 7:30 and I asked her why she wasn't at work. She laughed a bit, and reminded me that it wasn't even 6:30 AM in Austin. Oops.
We hung up, but about 5 minutes later, the front desk called and said I was supposed to be downstairs, ready for the interview at 7:30, not 8 like I had been told before. I was very confused and didn't know what time zone I was in. Luckily, I had everything ready to go. I just zipped up the suitcase zipper and I was good to go. I was downstairs in less than 3 minutes. One of the people in charge told me the Hotel folks were supposed to let us know about the time change, but they failed to do so for all of us. No biggie, though, so that was a relief. They split us up into two groups. One would take the written portion first and the other group would take the oral interview. I was in the written group, which served as some relief. I was a little shaken by the news that I was a bit late, so having the written portion first was a blessing in disguise. After the written portion, we had a small break to hang out and get ready for the 2nd part of the interview. By that time, I was in the zone and ready to go. I felt really good coming out of the interview, but the other guys there felt nervous about it and some thought they didn't do well at all. But before we had time to talk about everything, it was back to the airport. I could have hung out a while, but the hotel's only shuttle left shortly after the interview. I would have to take a cab if I would have waited around, and I wanted to be sure I would make it on time for the flight. More details in the next JE