armadillos and accountants in Austin

Just returned from the HITEC show in Austin, Texas. First time for me in Austin. Seems like a decent enough place and the locals I met only had good things to say about living there. Mind you, any city with a campus of 90,000 or so students should have plenty going on. My usually quiet jog before breakfast was anything but...I've never seen so many other people out running at 7am before. To continue the sporting theme, Tuesday night was armadillo racing night. The biggest challenge with armadillo racing is getting the creatures to stay put at the start line. The trick is to grab them by the tail with one hand and then push down on the back of the neck with the other so their feet can't move. We employed similar tactics next day at the show with hoteliers passing by the booth. Worked a treat. It's only when you survey the massed ranks of supplier exhibits at HITEC that you really appreciate the overwhelming number of technology products & services available to hotels today. It's a pity that so many hotel groups only choose to send their IT and Finance directors to the show because smart, creative technology solutions are frankly wasted on techies and bean counters. Operations, Revenue, Sales, Marketing and Distribution folks would walk away with their heads buzzing with innovative new ideas for improving performance and guest experience. And besides that, who wants to watch an accountant wrestling with an armadillo? Then again....