What a fun week! Sarah, our new friends Abby and Sydney, and
I all decided to go on a last minute overnight to my favorite city… AUSTIN! It
was so amazing to return to this beautiful city. Austin really seems like a
large Burlington to me. It is clean, they recycle, they’re weird, there is
amazing food, amazing beer, and live music everywhere you turn. Being there
made me a little sad that I didn’t get a travel assignment in Austin. I do
believe, though, that everything happens for a reason.
It was a blast to be in Austin while not being there for ACL. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE Austin City Limits, but it was cool to be there and have free time to explore the city a bit more than I usually do. We found some cool new restaurants and an amazing little neighborhood of bars (Google Rainey St). It is this neighborhood of old houses that were slated to be torn down, and someone had the amazing idea of turning the houses into bars. So from the road it looks like your standard neighborhood, but inside every house is a bar with a backyard full of lawn games, hammocks, and other seating arrangements. It was really neat, and I was so surprised I hadn’t been there before. It was a whirlwind trip, but I will definitely be visiting a few more times during this travel assignment. I wouldn’t be surprised if I took an assignment there later on.
It was a blast to be in Austin while not being there for ACL. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE Austin City Limits, but it was cool to be there and have free time to explore the city a bit more than I usually do. We found some cool new restaurants and an amazing little neighborhood of bars (Google Rainey St). It is this neighborhood of old houses that were slated to be torn down, and someone had the amazing idea of turning the houses into bars. So from the road it looks like your standard neighborhood, but inside every house is a bar with a backyard full of lawn games, hammocks, and other seating arrangements. It was really neat, and I was so surprised I hadn’t been there before. It was a whirlwind trip, but I will definitely be visiting a few more times during this travel assignment. I wouldn’t be surprised if I took an assignment there later on.
Work is going well, I feel pretty comfortable with the
workflow and the expectations. The staff continues to be friendly and helpful –
which is really nice. I’m not sure if I had mentioned the cockroach infestation
we were dealing with at our new apartment… but after a few commercial grade
sprayings, some store bought sprays, and 20 or so traps later… we may have a
handle on los cucarachas. Instead of killing 10-15 per day, I have only
murdered about one a day for the last week. So, there’s some improvement.
As previously mentioned, it is becoming quite cold here (don’t
shoot). I can’t believe how quickly my body has acclimated to the warmer
climate. When I left work this morning at 7:15, it was only 49 degrees and I
had to turn the heat on in my truck on the way home. The good news is that it
warms up by the afternoon to about 70. I am hoping to go spend a few hours by
the pool this afternoon. Also, BIG NEWS: I went to the gym yesterday. I’m
hoping to make this more of a routine than I have in the past. Mostly because I
have been eating like a Texan since I arrived. While not everything might be bigger in Texas… my appetite definitely is. So
it’s time to burn off some of the queso that I have basically been ingesting
nonstop. All is well here; I am getting really envious of the snow on the
mountains at home… I can’t wait to ski. Everyone at work is sick of me talking
about how badly I want to ski. Perhaps if I get a long stretch of days off I
could fly home to make some turns. We’ll see.
