Just took an uber to the airport leaving the hotel at 3:10am. Never woken up at 2:44am that I can remember. This uber driver literally was one of the nicest people I've ever met. Such a gentle spirit. Former football player at a college here in Texas. Super friendly and super honest. He did make me chuckle quite a bit though. When I told him I was from South Carolina he proceeded to go into a wonderful sales pitch about sc and how beautiful the water is and everything is there. I agreed. He then told me he traveled through there a lot to visit his fiancé when she was training in NY. I was thinking it may have been a little out of his way to go through the carolinas to get to NY, but who am I to judge. He brought the conversation back to the lakes and asked, "Isn't Lake Tahoe in SC?" I'm not sure I had ever been more confused in my life than I was at that moment. I gently mentioned that Lake Tahoe is in Nevada (turns out part of it is in California so we were both wrong) and then he mentioned the Great Lakes. So yes, my confusion level went up again. I mentioned that the Great Lakes are up near Michigan(he had mentioned Chicago earlier so things were starting to make sense in a weird way). Then he said, "Aren't the Great Lakes near the carolinas?" At this point I had to take a step back, a deep breath, smile a little, wish someone else was there to here this, and then say, "Well, no. SC is above Florida and Georgia if you're familiar with those states." I'm not sure he was, so we moved on. When he mentioned this was his second day ubering I began to get a little concerned I would make it to IAH on time but I did. Like I said, great guy. Just a little geographically challenged, but who isn't? Well at least I know I am.
Ok back to Houston. I think it's a decent city for a final four. If I was ranking the cities in my rankings, and I am, here are the current standings for best final four cities:
1. Indy
2. New Orleans
3. Atlanta
4. Dallas
5. Houston
6. Minneapolis
Indy is by far my favorite. Still my favorite city in the world too.
Anyway, my experience in Houston provided a lot of good memories. I saw former co-workers, walked in the middle of the street with one of the winningest coaches in college basketball history, made new friends, listened to great men speak about leadership and their rise in the business, and I was strengthened by being around first-class people throughout the weekend. This was a different final four experience than others. I was in bed at decent times and I'm not completely exhausted as I stand in this security line. Yep still here. Ok now at the end. Maybe I'll write more later.
