Suround Sound

We now have suround sound in our house and on our patio. If I could only figure out how to use it, I could be watching a movie, t.v. or listening to music in suround sound.

Yippeeee!

We're pleased to inform you that you've been accepted to The University of Texas at Austin. We recommend that you contact your graduate adviser as soon as possible. It's a pleasure to welcome you as a graduate student.

Manor Downs

We love to go to the horse track. That is one of the things we miss about the Dallas area. We found out that there is a small horse track in Manor, so we had to go. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Lone Star Park does, but the horses run around in circles just the same. It's almost like being at a minor league game. My husband won about $250 on an exacta, so he didn't seem to mind!

South By San Jose

The Small Stars at Jo's.

SXSW sort of

Here are pictures from concerts I went to this week. These are from Roky Erickson's Ice Cream Social. Favorites from this concert include Black Lips and Spoon.

The Domain

Austin is finally turning into Dallas. They've now opened a shopping center that just REEKS of Dallas over on Mopac and Duval called The Domain. It's a nice outdoor mall with a Neimans and Macy's. You can buy high end purses, clothes and much much more. We ate at the restaurant Kona Grill that was good but very "corporate". I'm excited about a new place to shop and eat, but a little saddened over what this place represents. So much for keeping Austin wierd!

Furniture needed!

I need the following pieces of furniture in order to have things the way I want them: coffee table, kitchen table and sofa table. I went to a couple of stores today and didn't find anything. Where are the good discount furniture places? I want nice furniture for a good deal.

Mean-Eyed Cat

Johnny Cash seems to be the central theme of the Mean-Eyed Cat on 5th and Mopac. He's on all the walls and on the Juke Box. When I was a little, Johnny Cash was my favorite singer. I loved "A Boy Named Sue" because it was such a silly song. (It was written by Shel Silverstein, so that kind of explains it for me now!)

The Mean-Eyed Cat is one of my favorite places to go because it has a nice patio that's not so loud that you can't talk. However, their picnic tables are pretty uncomfortable and I felt like I was hunching all night. I liked that they have Mexican blankets all over the place that you can sit on or wrap yourself up in if you are cold.

I saw a sign out front that said someone was moving, but I'm not sure if it was them or another business nearby..

There's no crying in baseball!

It's been a long time since I went to a girl's softball game. Probably the last time I went to one, I was playing. Hmmm...That's been about 30 years or so... Anyway, I think they must've changed the rules or something. We used to have to pitch to the other team and they pitched to us. At this game, our coach pitched to our team and the the other coach pitched to his team. When did that happen? Why did that happen? When do the girls start pitching for themselves? It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I went.

Ready to break free!

I haven't had much of an opportunity to go anywhere in Austin lately. I moved two weeks ago and then last weekend I went out of town. Next week is spring break, so I need something fun to do. I would love suggestions from anyone that would like to share. I'm going to be on my own a lot, since Mike has to work, so I need thing to keep me busy. If anyone wants to volunteer to help keep me occupied with things to do, give me a shout out! :)

Tollway

This weekend I had my first opportunity to go on the new tollway (with my toll tag.) I rode on it one other time without the toll tag. At that time, I was amazed at how expensive it was! In Dallas it's $.75 per stop and a discount if you have a toll tag. (I don't know what the discount is, though.) Having a toll tag gives you a 10% discount here in Austin. Even with that, it's REALLY expensive. $1.35 per stop is the discounted rate.

I'm still not sure how far the tollway goes. I hopped on in Georgetown and got off on 290. I don't think it goes much further than that. The sign says it goes to Austin or Waco. I don't know why it says it goes to Waco, because it doesn't. It goes to Georgetown. False advertisement.

The only thing really nice about the road is that no one else was on it. I paid to have the road to myself. I guess that's worth something.

grooming

I'm going to Dallas this weekend. Jack needs a good grooming. His hair has gotten so long and he is kind of shedding in my new house. He's going to get his summer cut in March. I'm sure he'll be fine. We are in Austin. I really don't expect any deep freezes or anything.

I called the Pet Boutique in Dallas to set up his appointment. When they heard his name, they said, "That's Mr. Brown Dogs brother, no I mean cousin." How do they remember that kind of stuff. I've seen his file. It doesn't mention Mr. Brown Dog. Why does everyone like Mr. Brown Dog? What's up with that?

Obviously, I can't take him to Dallas everytime he needs a haircut, so if anyone knows any good pet groomers in the Austin area, feel free to share!