Exploits in Austin, Texas

Man, I really enjoy a turkey pot pie fresh out of the oven. And an ice-cold can of coke is the perfect chaser. Coldplay's latest album is exactly what I want to hear right now. Something smooth, something cool; but more than anything, something that makes you feel your heart in your chest.

I've settled in my chair, thanks to a broken spring or two. I'm happy now that my apartment is no longer a refuge for flies. The dishes are done, the trash taken out, the laundry in the wash, and various surfaces shine gloriously. There's nothing else I'd rather do than tell you all about Austin, Texas; and the adventures of two wily kids, Jennifer and Josh, during their stay there.

The recording of the vacation is over due. A week and two days have passed since we returned to Boise. We've been back in town long enough to engage in other blog-worthy activities like hiking through the colorful fall foliage of upper Hulls Gulch, consuming fantastic Italian food at Louis', enjoying time at the Flying M parking Garage in Nampa, tasting wine at St. Chappelle and Sawtooth Wineries as part of a road ride near the Snake River, and shaking our collective booties at the Balcony's Halloween party. The "tour de wine country" and Halloween party were the highlights of the weekend for sure. Wine buzzes make any activity better, especially bike rides. Thankfully, traffic was almost non-existent, the sun shone like it was April, and the scenery was simply amazing (despite several layers of Canyon County smog). That night, Fern and I became "Purple Vixen" and "Scary" respectively, and proceeded to "raise the roof" and "burn down the house" on the Balcony's dance floor. We had a great time. Given the scene and company, I don't think it was possible not to have too much fun.

Speaking of fun, did you hear that Jennifer and I spent a week in Austin, Texas? We totally did! The first awesome thing you've got to know is that Fern kept the destination a secret for months before telling me in the airport on our way to the gate. Kudos to her for being such a great secret keeper! I don't know who doesn't like surprises, so if you've never done anything like this for someone else, I'd highly recommend it. Handing over all decision making authority to your significant other allows you to feel what its like to escape yourself, so to speak. We're so much into individual autonomy in western culture that some of us rarely get to experience the joy of giving up control.

The decision to go to Austin doesn't need to be explained. Its a hip, liberal town in the heart of Texas. I think most people know that. Its the live music capital of the world. If your favorite band hasn't played Austin City Limits, your favorite band probably sucks. Lance Armstrong lives there, its warm, its bigger than Boise, yada yada yada. What is most significant about Austin is that before two and a half weeks ago, both Fern and I had never been there. I simply love the feeling of getting "lost" in new places. Feeling far from home is one of the best sensations I know. I suppose I'm not the only one who thinks so.

The flight to Austin was bearable. I actually paid $5 to watch TV on the plane. VH1 was available, and they were playing videos from the 90s, which got me feeling all sentimental, so I paid the big bucks to have the privilege of watching artists like Tori Amos and the Counting Crows and Depeche Mode sing my favorite songs; but as soon as I settled into my seat, VH1 switched programming to something lame like a music game show, and that really sucked. We had a layover in Denver for an hour. There, we enjoyed Quizno's sandwhiches and some luke-warm brocoli-cheese soup.

Walking off the plane in Austin reminded me of walking off the plane in Honolulu. It felt like walking into a tropical rainforest the humidity was so high. I loved it. After finding out that nobody seemed to know anything about their own inexpensive mass tranportation system, we managed to hop a bus into town. The bus delivered us to the State Capitol, several blocks from the Super 8 motel in which we were booked for a week. The walk to the hotel was a slippery one, as the sky was full of low, feathery rain clouds which had recently let off some moisture. We made our way past the capitol building. It didn't impress us much, having read earlier that the capitol was one of the biggest and best in the country (like everything in Texas), but in person finding nothing about the building that set it above Idaho's own Statehouse. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful buidling of pinkish granite, and the grounds were full of big, black, twisted oak trees. Apparantly Texans take homeland security seriously. Police cars were parked at every gated entrance to the capitol.

Our room was very clean and came equipped with a mini-fridge, microwave, and TV. The king-sized bed was large enough to allow two finicky sleepers several good nights sleep. After stocking up on supplies at a drug store conveniently located across the street, and after zoning out on the bed for several minutes to rest our travel weary bones, we walked outside, ready to embrace the city of Austin.

Our wandering took us down Congress Avenue from the Capitol, past the city's most impressive sky scrapers, into the warehouse district where we decided to take a break at a Halycon Coffee/Alcohol house. There I had the first of several mediocre to poor mocha's I'd experience on the trip. Keep in mind, a mocha has to be very poor for me to NOT enjoy it; so all in all, my mocha experiences were good, despite the fact that they didn't match those of Boise.

After Halycon's, we walked down 6th street and marveled at the seemingly endless strip of clubs. At one point, what I saw in the window of a club stopped me in my tracks. Inside was nearly a dozen table hockey tables. Of course, we took advantage of their drink special and engaged in some furious competition. It was a lot of fun. This left me satisfied except for a rumbly in my tumbly telling me it was time for supper.

Soon after we hit the streets again, we approached an establishment that displayed a sign listing upcoming shows. My excitement quickly grew as I realized that the bands listed were indeed playing this small venue in the next few days. Built to Spill, Ani DiFranco, and Dwight Yokum were all slated to rock the house. I could care less about Dwight Yokum, but I was amazed that such big names, including two of my favorite artists, were going to be there. Upon entering the establishment, I quickly arranged the purchase of two tickets for Built to Spill on our last night in Austin, Friday night.

So, it was an amazing night for several reasons. I found out that a favorite band of Fern and I's was going to play less than a mile from where we were staying. Also, that band, Built to Spill, is from Boise.! And finally, the venue was a restaurant named Stubbs, which is the birth place and source of an excellent BBQ sauce that my friends and I have glorified (jockingly) for years. It was like visiting Graceland! I took several pictures of posters of Stubbs before sitting down to eat a juicy chicken sandwhich smothered in the sauce.

The evening ended rather badly for Fern. She tripped and fell down some steps at the restaurant while a private party was going on downstairs. While telling me about this trauma, she swung her head back and hit the wall. Finally she stubbed her toe (again) on the step leading up to our hotel room. We were both glad to get horizontal on our beds. Gravity would play no more dirtly tricks on us that day.

On Monday morning we woke up, had a bowl of cereal, and headed out in the rain with our umbrellas in search of a bus that would deliver us to a coffee shop somewhere north of the University of Texas. After waiting in the rain for some time, we finally caught a free ride on a "dillo". It took us about 5 blocks further north. From there, we began walking on Guadalupe, or the "strip" as UT students call it. We quickly spied a bike shop. Inside, we inquired about renting bikes for the week. The helpful salesperson offered us a great deal on an older, cheaper, Giant mountain bike and a bran-new Specialized with a front shock. We said we'd think it over (we wanted to see if we could get a better deal somewhere else first-and we were desperate for coffee).

Up Guadalupe we walked, passing all kinds of promising-looking clothing stores. We missed seeing one coffee house and another no longer existed. Finally, after several blocks of walking, we came to the Spider House.

Ah, the Spider House-our home away from home. It was so eclectic and funky and expansive and, yes, weird (people say Austin is "weird"). Most importantly, it was a hip, comfortable hangout, with good coffee and good food.

More to come...

Hey you! There's a plethora of new entrees on "The Reconstruction of Disbelief". Read, understand, and comment. Please! Click on the "Disbelief" link...

I deeply apologize to the two or three people who check my blog on a regular basis. For the last few weeks you've read the same cheezy opening line, "Hi great big world!", over and over and over again, in the hope that maybe this day, or the next day, you'll finally be rewarded with exciting new material. I can only imagine how you feel upon reading that line for the gazillionth time. I am so, so sorry. If my present intention rises above a mere hope and become deliberate action, you will be delighted almost every morning by Josh's Deep Thoughts and Affirmations. Read on...

You see, I've been pretty successful sticking to my morning routine-the routine that's going to make me a Super Josh! I'll be bigger, stronger, longer, faster, smarter, and WAY more concerned about the children thanks to my morning routine. At the start of each weekday, I work out for 20 minutes; make and enjoy a high-protein breakfast of eggs, toast, and milk; read the paper; and clean my apartment for 20 minutes. In 3+ weeks I've failed to do this only twice.

The time is right to review what it is I'm doing in order to see if it is the best use of my mornings. By "the best" I mean the activitiy that most effectively stimulates my mind, body, or psyche (ego); as well as most effectively decreases stress in my day to day life.

Working out:
I'm definately seeing some filling in or plumping up of my chest, shoulders, and arms, but I'm a little dissapointed in the rate in which its happening. Its not that I expect much more when I'm working out only 20 minutes a day, but still, I think I've put weight on faster in the past. Yes, I can still incorporate a mass-building, healthy protein shake and an even healthier diet into my routine, and I plan on doing so soon.

Breakfast:
The increase in the quality of my life that I get from eating a substantial breakfast and not being in a hurry while doing so is huge. I have been addicted to toast ever since Fern and I's hostile experience in San Fransisco. That's a good thing given that bread is cheap and healthy, especially if its whole grain, whole oat, or the like. The only problem I have is trying to eat breakfast and read the newspaper at the same time. When I had a TV instead of a newspaper subscription, I had no problem shuffling food in my mouth while being informed and entertained. Now its a little more tricky. However, I'm not really complaining.

Reading the Newspaper:
Here's where I'm having a few doubts. In just a week or two, I've read stories about: 1) A Nampa woman who was stabbed by her husband and crammed into the trunk of his car where she was able to call police on her cell phone and tell them her general location before dying. 2) A man who barricaded himself in an Amish school with the intention of raping little girls for hours, but was confronted by police and ended up shooting the girls execution-style instead. 3) Another derrainged man shot a school girl in the head after sexually assaulting her. 4) A Florida Representative sent lewd text messages to young aides. 5) A local school teacher, a hero to many, was pinned in his car after being hit by a pickup. His car caught on fire and he died. 6) 8 U.S. soldiers were killed in one day in Iraq. 9) 3 motorcyclists in less than a month died in crashes around Boise.
And the list of tragedy and negativity goes on and on. Do I really need to spend a big chunk of my time reading about stuff like this? How is it making me happier? The short answers are "no" and "its not". Its also costing me money. So, I'm thinking of cancelling my subscription to the paper and using the time I'd normally spend reading it every morning to write a short blog. I'm excited about this. Because I'm running short on time, lets move on....

Cleaning the Apartment:
Its hard to believe, but 20 minutes cleaning a day does not ensure a pristine living environment. Dishes pile up every day, my desk becomes messy easily, and I've yet to engage in any real deep cleaning. I have little choice but to up the time to 30 minutes a day. My goal is not to come home to a "neat" apartment after work, but to enter an immaculate setting. I'm committed to making that happen. Its good for my soul.

So, the idea is to, each morning, take care of the very basic things I need to be happy, healthy, and confident so that when I go to work, my stress level is low, and when I get off work, my time is completely free. After work, since anxieties about how I should work out or clean up or write or whathave you are not present, I'll enjoy myself much more and will be free to do whatever I feel like doing.