January 27, 2009: The Adventures Of Dr. Kromm In Austin

I've worked for SJ Games since the summer of 1995 . . . or since the autumn of 1994, if you count the run of volunteer and freelance work that landed me my job. In the intervening 14(-ish) years, I've seen my coworkers sporadically at GenCon and GTS, but I've only been to Austin three times:

Summer 1995, just after I took the job, to meet the boss and coworkers. "Wherein Dr. Kromm learns the meaning of 'Texas barbeque' and sees where, in the words of Private Cowboy, Charles Whitman shot all those people from that tower."
Summer 2000, to touch base with what was by then an almost totally different office full of coworkers. "Wherein Dr. Kromm gets food poisoning on a plane and shoots a gun for the first time (not from a tower, and certainly not at people)."
Autumn 2005, for a series of serious planning meetings. "Wherein Dr. Kromm discovers that Texas is way too hot even when it isn't summer, and first gets to playtest an SJ Games product that isn't GURPS (Chez Guevara)."

Rather than wait until 2010 for the next visit, I'll be heading to Austin this month to engage in more planning. Who knows what adventures are in store for me there? One thing I do know, though, is that this will be my first chance to see the inside of the new premises. In 2005, I saw the exterior from within a car, after dark . . . er, that sounds creepy, doesn't it? And I've seen the place via remote viewing (okay, okay, on Google Maps). But I'm looking forward to seeing it from the inside!

What this means for you, dear reader, is that I'll probably be unavailable on our forums and by e-mail during my visit, which runs from January 27 to February 1. Yes, it's actually easier to reach me when I'm close to 1,700 miles away from the office than when I'm at the office. Such is the lot of the telecommuter – or at least that of the telecommuter whose electronic communications are almost entirely set up for home access.