Console Training In Austin, Texas

I have never been to Texas before, aside from many layovers in Dallas-Ft Worth airport (I'm starting to recognize locations of food courts--that's pretty familiar). I am now in Austin for a couple days, down at High End System's headquarters, learning to program the Whole Hog 3.

Princess Cruise Lines, which has recently hired me, is flying me down, putting me up in a hotel, and providing most of my meals, just so that I can learn a new programming language. Pretty sweet gig. And I don't even have a contract with them yet.

So all of my paperwork is in, and everything is in line, but still no start date. My life is still on hold as I await, with bated breath, the inevitable job offer. But I dislike my life being on hold. In fact, I'm recently coming off of a life-holding experience (college, anyone?), and wish to avoid it. Well, the cruise gig is worth waiting for, and I have confidence that I'll make the most of the hold.

Here at fixture training, I've met up with 3 other Princess employees, who are all terrific fun, and two have already completed contracts on boats. There are great stories being exchanged, as me and the other guy without cruise experience hungrily soak up all the details of ship life, and we all relate our past paths and future career trajectories. We're an international bunch, coming from Philly, Florida, New Zealand and the UK. I leave after console training, but there's fixture training next week, when more international hires arrive. They say that there won't be too many Americans on the boat. I'll probably be the only one in Production.

Awesome.

So I get a taste of my upcoming job, right in the middle of the Philly Fringe festival. Monday was a whirlwind day, starting with a work call at 9am in a theater in Philly and ending with a company-arranged van dropping me at a hotel in Austin. And I'll be back in Philly Thursday afternoon, just in time to resume house managing, and probably pick up more work calls.

Regular week.