We are currently trying to estimate the "niceness" of our neighborhood. At first we thought it was pretty nice. The neighborhood is relatively new, only a few years old, and it's a maintained by a master community HOA that trims the community lawns. Then, we noticed the disturbingly large number of Payday Advances store fronts around. Is that an indicator of ghetto? Than there are lots of pawnshops nearby. Than there is the drive through liquor store just a couple of blocks away.
Is this bad neighborhood, or just Texas?
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
What is Austin like?
This is a question that we get a lot from family and friend back in California.
[Note: None of these are complaints, just observations]
In todays edition of "How is Austin different?" we'll look at the roads.
You wouldn't think that roads could be that different, but they are. First off, all of the freeways/highways have frontage roads that run along side them. This is both a blessing and a curse. You can move pretty quickly with out having to get on the highway, but you may have to drive for 2 miles before you can make a U-turn. Then there are the people that are trying to exit the highway or get on the highway and they cross the 4 lanes of the frontage road in about 50 yards. It's a recipe for accidents, and I've already met two people at work that have been in serious accidents because of this.
Next, the roads aren't labeled very well. In Cali you come to expect large traffic poles with big green signs for the street names. In Austin you get small signs usually hidden behind a tree or a bush. This results in lots of missed turns.
Also, urban planning does not appear to have been at the forefront of the minds of the city planners in Austin. In California you can usually expect suburban area to be build on some sort of grid pattern sprouting off of freeways. In Austin, however, the city seems to have grown much more organically. It makes it much more difficult to get around unless you know where you are going ahead of time.
Lastly, are the drivers. I thought that California had some crazy drivers, but Austin beats them hands down. There are some CRAZY drivers in Austin. It's like driving isn't a form of transportation as much as it is some sort of combative exposition. Weaving in and out of lanes, cutting people off, crossing huge swaths of traffic. It's nuts.
[Note: None of these are complaints, just observations]
In todays edition of "How is Austin different?" we'll look at the roads.
You wouldn't think that roads could be that different, but they are. First off, all of the freeways/highways have frontage roads that run along side them. This is both a blessing and a curse. You can move pretty quickly with out having to get on the highway, but you may have to drive for 2 miles before you can make a U-turn. Then there are the people that are trying to exit the highway or get on the highway and they cross the 4 lanes of the frontage road in about 50 yards. It's a recipe for accidents, and I've already met two people at work that have been in serious accidents because of this.
Next, the roads aren't labeled very well. In Cali you come to expect large traffic poles with big green signs for the street names. In Austin you get small signs usually hidden behind a tree or a bush. This results in lots of missed turns.
Also, urban planning does not appear to have been at the forefront of the minds of the city planners in Austin. In California you can usually expect suburban area to be build on some sort of grid pattern sprouting off of freeways. In Austin, however, the city seems to have grown much more organically. It makes it much more difficult to get around unless you know where you are going ahead of time.
Lastly, are the drivers. I thought that California had some crazy drivers, but Austin beats them hands down. There are some CRAZY drivers in Austin. It's like driving isn't a form of transportation as much as it is some sort of combative exposition. Weaving in and out of lanes, cutting people off, crossing huge swaths of traffic. It's nuts.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Did you hear that noise?
So, we got in to our house, finally got our stuff from the movers, and we're currently in the process of getting everything unpacked. Monday and yesterday were the first nights we spent in the house and we started to hear something scratching and rustling. At first we thought it was someone or something out in the back yard. But I checked and there was no one there, and I heard it in the wall and I said to myself "Oh crap."
Now, we're waiting on pest control to get out to the house and trap it and then remove it. Yay for texas.
Now, we're waiting on pest control to get out to the house and trap it and then remove it. Yay for texas.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
The eagle has landed...in Austin
Our move to Austin is almost done. We spent three days, well 2 and a half technically, on the road to Austin.
Day one, we drove from San Diego to Yuma. Not a bad drive. It only took about 3 hours.
Day two, we drove to El Paso. We were pretty surprised about the state of the city in El Paso. As you drive east on the 10 and you enter the city, right when you pass a large smoke stack on the south side of the 10, there appears to be what we can only describe as a shanty town. We didn't think there were shanty towns in America.
Day three, we made it to Austin after about 9 hours on the road. The geography you drive through changes a lot over those 9 hours. You start out in desert, then grassy plains, then rolling hills, then verdant hill country. But, at last we're in Austin.
Now, we've been hanging out in a hotel for the past couple of days. We actually got a pretty good deal at a La Quinta inn for only $80 with a AAA card. We're waiting for out furniture to show up now. We hope that it'll get here in the next couple of days.
There are a lot of things that we've noticed about our new city and I'll be posting about them in the coming days.
Day one, we drove from San Diego to Yuma. Not a bad drive. It only took about 3 hours.
Day two, we drove to El Paso. We were pretty surprised about the state of the city in El Paso. As you drive east on the 10 and you enter the city, right when you pass a large smoke stack on the south side of the 10, there appears to be what we can only describe as a shanty town. We didn't think there were shanty towns in America.
Day three, we made it to Austin after about 9 hours on the road. The geography you drive through changes a lot over those 9 hours. You start out in desert, then grassy plains, then rolling hills, then verdant hill country. But, at last we're in Austin.
Now, we've been hanging out in a hotel for the past couple of days. We actually got a pretty good deal at a La Quinta inn for only $80 with a AAA card. We're waiting for out furniture to show up now. We hope that it'll get here in the next couple of days.
There are a lot of things that we've noticed about our new city and I'll be posting about them in the coming days.
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