We went to two parties in one week, which is a lot for us! Last Sunday was our church party - lots of barbecue and dancing - and this past Friday was...well, I have to go back a few years to explain...
When we decided to move to Austin, Tom started combing the want-ads. He lucked into a position with a small engineering firm formed by three ex-IBM guys. It was a great job and Tom really clicked with (most of) the people. But eventually the three guys had different ideas about the company - feeling the ground shifting, many people jumped ship (including Tom.)
One of the partners, Al, formed his own company, but every year he invites all of the 'old' employees to the company Christmas party - Tom calls it his class reunion - that's how close he feels to a lot of the people. He usually goes straight from work - without me. But this year I got to go! And I'm so glad I did - not just because I enjoy seeing all of those people, too, but because one of the chemical engineers he used to work with, Dennis Livingston, is in a band, the Relentless Jones, and they played in a tent set up in the parking lot. They are really, really good! (The next night they had a gig at Carlos 'N Charlies.) Definitely not your run-of-the-mill office Christmas party. But then, Al is a 'Deadhead', so I didn't expect anything less!
(Dennis is the one on the left below - he doesn't look like your average chemical engineer, does he?)
