Austin, day 2

Sunday was as gorgeous as it gets and several locals reassured me that this is, indeed, the best time of year for weather in Austin. I figured out how to escape the whole crazy freeway system and drove around the University of Texas and then down along Duncan Park on North Lamar Blvd, where I saw lots of people out and about, dogs romping in the creek that ran parallel to me as I neared Town Lake. Dogs offleash enjoying a creek! It's a miracle!

I passed a huge REI and Whole Foods and then crossed a bridge to South Austin, where I had read that the 'weird Austin' lives strong.

There were lots of people out in kayaks and canoes on the lake having what looked like a purely delightful time.

South Austin looked like a lively, colorful mix of Chico (little bungalows) and South of Market (artistan things, funky restaurants) and Todos Santos (the color, the Mexican influence). I visited a strip of funky fabulous stores on South Congress and had a lovely lunch. I was hoping to buy some boots at Allen's, but the prices were serious, so I decided to wait until a later date. But the boots were divine. I think I may have drooled when I saw a tan pair with amazing pink detailing. I just couldn't justify $400 for them, despite their charms.

I think my favorite store was "parts & labour", which stocks things made by local artisans - handbags, melted LP bowls, jewelry. I like supporting that kind of enterprise. I fell in love with and acquired a vinyl messenger-style bag with a funny robot on it, but had to leave behind the purse with an authentic Dodge "Swinger" emblem on it. Sigh. The artisan who made my bag is Milinde Lawless.

Drove back up through downtown and saw what I found out later is the very recently imploded Intel building. (As in, they set off the explosives this morning!)

Got totally frustrated trying to navigate back to my hotel. I think the freeway up in North Austin should get a D minus on usability.

I had my lovely leftover ribs for a dinner with the Oscars, although I had to wait for them to thaw. Somehow my little refrig in the hotel room was jacked up high and froze everything. After waiting an hour or two and eating cold ribs and beans, I then of course discovered that all along there had been a microwave cleverly hidden in the cabinet above the refrigerator. Doh!

dust clouds, blues, freeway madness

Update from this week's trek to check out Austin, Texas (where my new company is headquartered): There was a massive swirl of reddish brown clouds over the Dallas-Fort Worth airport today, where I was supposed to land around 1 pm and then transfer on to Austin. It looked like the sky had spent a summer at Silver Lake and picked up that fine volcanic dust all over. I was reading Kinky Friedman's " The Great Psychedelic Armadillo Picnic: A "Walk" in Austin " which had me chuckling to myself. We circled DFW for about 1/2 hour but then my flight became just one of 400 that were canceled in and out of DFW today and we headed over to land in Houston. It was muggy and hot, but the people were gracious and lovely.
On the advice of the friendly locals, instead of sitting there for 6 hours waiting for a flight to DFW and then another flight to Austin, I grabbed my Hertz rental car at the Houston Airport (instead of Austin) and headed to Austin by car, which folks told me would be about a two and half hour drive. Houston has some seriously funky circle roads but I did find the highway heading west at long last.
The country-side looked a lot like California's central valley, although I saw more guns shops than I see at home and there was no friendly fringe of mountain range anywhere in the distance.
My favorite road sign was just a little green road sign with an arrow and the name of the town, to help one turn right to get to "Dime Box."
As I got closer to Austin, I started getting some stellar radio stations. I loved KUT (University of Texas), which was playing some fantastic old rhythm and blues music. Made me feel like I was in a movie, driving the big open Texas road and having a blue-sy funky day.
Sadly, I then got lost as I got into town and shot right out of Austin southwards toward San Antonio, but not before I got to see the lovely capital dome glowing in the night. They have some very weird freeway methodology around here. You can exit the freeway but you can only then (seemingly) enter a side road going the same way as you were going on that freeway, so if you pass some place you want to visit, god help you. It made me nearly scream. But I am finally here at the elegant La Quinta Mopac North, next to the glamorous IBM Building in the Austin neighborhood that most resembles Silicon Valley. I've ordered some BBQ ribs to be delivered to my room and that should help take the edge off the whole getting lost freak out.
I had this image of Austin being much smaller and never imagined these crazy freeways going every which way. Hopefully I'll find some nice walkable spots tomorrow.

They just delivered my baby back ribs dinner and it's like HALF A PIG! Seriously, no one could eat eighteen ribs for dinner, could they??? Dear Lord, I might be in Tejas.

(20 minutes later)

By the way, I almost ate that whole half a pig. I can now understand how the feeding frenzy based on the massive deliciousness could just take one over.

If only I was here with a buddy, here's where I'd go tomorrow - Stubb's for their "Gospel Brunch!" I've never heard those two words go together but it's bee yoo tiful.

I work with engineers

... and here is proof. Behold what happens to a big bunch of promotional cardboard coasters in their inventive and restless hands:

Also delicious fun on the tech front - the new "security" Mac ad. CANCEL OR ALLOW???

My favorite of all time is the networking one.

anthropology gets sexy

this is inspirational and makes anthropology look all sexy and stuff.

Funny freecycle posting

I just received this from a fellow member of Berkeley Freecycle:

The unopened notepad (70 sheets) is in the shape andlikeness of Hello Kitty’s discontinued friend, Keroppi. The green clipboard is 5” wide and 6” tall.

---jeffrey, near UCB in Berkeley :vJ

So sad to have a discontinued friend!

Double-dog dare ya!

So my sister and I were laughing about this blog challenge to list out a favorite ten things beginning with a given letter of the alphabet. She said something about how mean it would be to tag someone with the letter "Q". To which I said,

"No, Q would be easy and fun. Wait, no. It would be really hard. Don't give me the Q." And then a minute later:

"No, Q would be easy!"

So, sis decided I was simply ASKING for it to be tagged with that Q no matter what I said from there on out. And a double dog dare oftens works on me, I'm afraid to say.







1. Quilts of Gee's Bend
Every time I see these beautiful quilts. I remember one of the quilters saying, "We did the best we could with what God gave us and we enjoyed ourselves."


2. Quiet
Sometimes I think the reason I haven't had children is simply because I absolutely love peace and quiet when I get done with work, for time to regroup, meditate, read, draw.

3. Questions
Where would all the philosophy majors (like me) be without them? I ask you?

4. Queen Elizabeth
God bless her for encouraging theater during Shakespeare's time!



5. Quiche Lorraine

Real men eat it.

6. Quercus lobata - (a.k.a. Valley Oak)

This tree reminds me of many wonderful places in California and some stunning paintings of those enlivening spots.

7. Queue

This word reminds me of Britain and the endearing character of its people. In addition to being articulate and wryly funny no matter if an aristocrat or a lorry driver, they are also deeply civil and know how to queue correctly.





8. Quirky

My favorite type of person. Say, for example, Rene di Rosa.










9. Quail

Also a lovely reminder of childhood in California.




10. Quiver
...in anticipation.

Kick-@(*#& ad - God Bless the Boomers

http://www.doveproage.com/

They played just a teaser as the television ad and pointed viewers to this URL to see the full imagery. And spicy and lovely it was! Love the message that Dove is not "anti-age" but "PRO age!" It's like I've been thinking for a while: the baby boomers are going to make getting old the best thing yet and just in time for me to get there! I can just hear the Sex Pistols rocking out the cafe in the retirement home now. Although I'm sure they will no longer bear a name like 'retirement', which suggests being supine.

But again, I don't even need to worry about that. The best marketing Boomer minds will figure it out before I even get my first AARP magazine!

sadly, a Napa arts initiative a bit too late for me...whinge alert :)

I got this intriguing email from the Arts Council of Napa Valley today including a press release on an initiative to establish a cultural plan for Napa. Here is a key part of it (the emphasis is mine):

"NAPA, California, February 7th, 2007: In the last five years, donors and funders in Napa County have invested close to $150 million dollars in the arts – without an overarching plan. The result?

- World-class venues, but not enough local audience to fill them
- Numerous arts organizations, but a tough financial climate: at least 12 galleries and theater groups have closed since the fall of 2004
- A wealth of individual artists of all disciplines, but few who can make a living in Napa County
- Committed and passionate arts supporters, but significant fatigue and uncertainty within the donor pool
- 4.7 million visitors per year, but most of whom don’t know about all we have to offer in the arts

To address these problems and opportunities, Arts Council Napa Valley, in concert with arts organizations, community members, and civic leaders from across the county, is creating a road map for a healthy and vital arts and culture sector that represents what the community wants to see, hear, and experience through its local arts. This road map is called a cultural plan. Cultural plans, and the cultural planning process, have been successfully used in communities large and small across America to create strong, vibrant, exciting arts sectors. This plan will be by the community, and for the community. To accomplish this, Arts Council needs Napa County residents to get involved and speak out for the arts. "

I responded to Michelle (whose art planning blog is here), who I was fortunate enough to meet a few times in Napa and found to be lovely and bright.

Here is my email back to her:

Hey Michelle,
I checked out your blog (great idea!) and left a comment there. This initiative looks so exciting, but sadly a bit too late for me. I think that one way to better support the arts in Napa would be to encourage industries like software and high tech. Many of us can't support ourselves full-time doing art and are earning livings as programmers, project managers, graphic designers, animators. But those jobs are few and far between in Napa.
I would also say that Napa needs to lean further to the left and positively embrace / celebrate minorities and gay people before the tipping point to 'artist-friendly' county could happen. I am (as you know) fishbelly-white and straight, but really disliked living in a homogenous, conservative, old-boy-network-heavy community. When working as a fundraiser in Napa, any energy I expended that reeked of "new kid in town" was received with either hostility, derision or plain old passive-aggressive attitude of "let's ignore her until she goes away." The folks running government and key organizations need a serious shift of belief - they need to truly feel that new ideas might be a help instead of a threat, that a rising tide will raise all boats.
I gave it a serious try to stay in the county but just couldn't do it for the reasons noted above, among others. I would have LOVED to help out with this kind of effort but feel like Napa wasn't set up for me to make a success of it.
Just another two cents for your group to consider / forward to the powers-that-be.
Thanks and very very best of luck to you all,

hidden city

I'm all moved in to the new casa and loving my very much shorter commute! I will be happier still when I get all these boxes sorted out. I'm finding that there are a lot of things I must've packed out of sheer exhaustion (or I've had a shift in values), because as I open boxes, I think "Ew, I don't even like this thing - straight into the Goodwill pile with you!"

Apparently, my new little town of Point Richmond is also referred to as "the Hidden City" - when Tom and Laura visited me on Sunday, we strolled downtown and had an EXCELLENT meal at the Hidden City Cafe. As it turns out, the Pixar crowd enjoyed the cafe too (back when they were located in P.R.) and they put it into the movie Monsters, Inc., which I have now pushed to the top of my Netflix queue so I can check that out!

I had a Niman Ranch roast beef hash with horseradish sauce and eggs, Laura was able to select a 'vegan special' (which prompted her to tell the waiter that "Kate is allowed to stay here") and Tom had some great-looking eggs and bacon. The OJ was fresh-squeezed, too.

"Is that France or Mexico?" we asked the waiter, pointing to a large flag on the rear wall.

"France," he said, "Well, actually, that's a wall."



_____________________

Today I am grateful that enough crazy drama is settled that I could notice the geese on the bay this morning as I drove to work;
I am grateful for the kind lovely people at my work;
I am grateful that tonight there is a nice little meeting just one block from my new house;
Today I ask God to let me focus on the next right thing.
____________________


Great local raptor photography from Glenn Nevill: http://www.raptor-gallery.com/

____________________

Great foodie-licious blog entry from one of my FAVES, Anthony Bourdain: http://blog.ruhlman.com/2007/02/guest_blogging_.html

rain, fried chicken sandwich, boxes

After much trekking up and down the stairs (5 hours worth), the fabulous Layne and Juan got all my schtuff out of the POD and into my new home in Point Richmond. Toward the end, the skies really opened up and they got soaked. But I tipped well, so hopefully they are happy campers.

I can't believe how many boxes there are. Who bought all this? Why oh why? I think there will be another solid round of tossing stuff. Makes me feel a bit sad and wasteful, but better I send it along to its next owner and feel the pain of my past behavior than store it and be haunted by it hovering over me always.

Anyhow, I unpacked some of the stuff, read a few pages of a Dick Francis mystery and fell sound asleep around 4 pm. Woke up briefly at about 8 pm and enjoyed some breakfast cereal before zonking out shortly thereafter until 7 am this morning. Guess I was a bit wiped. Yeah, just a tiny weeny itsy bitsy bit. I'm sure part of it was the relief of getting the move finally done. It was lovely to discover that my new place warms up nicely with the gas heater and stays that way, thanks to the fab double-paned windows the landlords just put in.

Today, my lovely coworkers included me in on a lunch place secret and now I think I have found my new favorite food. I thought maybe I hadn't heard him correctly when Jim asked if I'd like a "Fried Chicken Sandwich" from Bakesale Betty's. But, lo, it was true. This little bake shop on Telegraph offers a sandwich to die for, stuffed with the aforementioned chicken and also some delicious coleslaw-type stuff. Heaven.

Point Richmond / mental maps and artistic takes on those

Moving on Thursday to Point Richmond, about which I had heard a bit but just got the best vibe about the place when I went in person last week. It feels a bit like a beach town. I guess since there technically is a beach, it is a beach town of sorts. Just one that is sitting on the freeway tucked in behind the oil refineries. But that’s how it’s semi-affordable, I suppose.

This photo is of the two churchs just a block from my new house. The one on the right hosts the Tuesday night meeting and the one on the left hosts the Thursday night meeting. Artists, alcoholics - we're everywhere, like mildew. (As Chester Arnold once said - although he was referring only to artists.)

More on Point Richmond:

good general everything page: http://www.pointrichmond.com/
visitor review from Daily Planet: http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?archiveDate=05-12-06&storyID=24125
arts guild: http://home.comcast.net/~point_arts_guild/

richmond arts center: http://www.therichmondartcenter.org/
smells great: http://www.gracebaking.com/GRACEBAKING/Default.htm
or sometimes not so great: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/01/22/18350759.php

and http://www.cccpointrichmond.com/updates.html

Rosie the Riveter memorial: http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/index.asp?NID\u003d603

local blogger: http://pointofview.bluehighways.com/

East Brother Light Station: http://www.ebls.org

Hiking / walking: http://www.berkeleypaths.org/walkhandouts/walk_Point_Richmond.htm/

Golden State Model Railroad Museum: http://www.gsmrm.org/

______________________________________________

And links about Maps from Memory and Mental Mapping, for some reason quite fascinating to me today:

Maps from memory

London by Ellis Nadler (his blog http://ellisnadler.blogspot.com/)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nad/380055005/

Susan Holderread http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/holderrd/map_from_memory/intro.html

Interesting student projects from Mount Allison University:
http://www.mta.ca/faculty/socsci/anthro/mental_maps/mental_map_page.html


Memory mapping
http://www.expandedfield.com/memorymapping/index.cfm

Article from V&A about Memory Maps
http://www.vam.ac.uk/activ_events/adult_resources/memory_maps/what/index.html

Memory Maps project by Smithsonian
http://www.localprojects.net/lp/featured5detail.html

Illustration Friday Night http://illustrationfridaynight.blogspot.com/