Majcher.com

So, as far as I can tell, Dave wasn't lying about that whole Austin thing.

I flew into Austin from SFO by way of Phoenix yesterday, and thanks to a little help from my friends, it was the smoothest and easiest flight I've ever taken. I never particularly cared for flying much, not so much because of the whole going 400 MPH in a tin can six miles off the ground thing, but because I get some pretty unpleasant physiological symptoms from it. I know intellectually that, even these days, flying is just about the safest way to get anywhere. Still, I get pains in my arms and hands, muscle spasms, dizziness, tunnel vision, panic attacks, the works. It seems that I've found the ideal way to make those problems go away, though, so the whole flying thing just got a whole lot more attractive to me. And good thing, too, since we're moving to a cool place surrounded by about a thousand miles of nothing in any direction.

So, I touch down, rent myself a swank little car, and head on over to Dave and Mel's pad in South Austin. I unload my stuff, and they whisk me away for some Tex-Mex - can't remember the name of the place, but it was close by, and the chicken fajitas were pretty darn tasty. Oh, and the Shiner Bock. My favorite beer, ever, and next to impossible to find outside of Texas. This was a big draw for me, folks. So, afterwards, we head down the street to the Continental Club to catch a band and have some beers. Country music, which is not my absolute favorite, but the band was good, and the dancing was fun to watch, so it was pretty enjoyable. Plus, more Shiner. Back to the pad, inflate the bed, catch some shut-eye.

Morning rolls around, and we mosey over to the Magnolia Cafe for breakfast; I had french toast, bacon, home fries, and coffee, which is the standard baseline test for a breakfast diner. The Magnolia passed with flying colors, I'm pleased to report. After breakfast, I head out to drive around a bit, scope out some neighborhoods, and check a few "for rent" signs. Hyde Park and central Austin, near UT, looks pretty okay, but there's a lot of cool stuff pointing South, too, so I scoured this neighborhood pretty well. I also drove up north to visit Grandma Majcher, which was pretty fun. We sat around and jawed for a while, then I headed back out, stopping briefly at the Krispy Kreme around the corner. Drove back through town, stopped at a pretty bitchin' game/comic/dvd shop to look around, and wound up picking up a supplement for my favorite zombie game. Back to Dave and Mel's, then back out to have dinner with Dave and my friend Kyra, who I haven't seen in a while. We went to Ruby's BBQ, which ruled. Mmmm....brisket. We followed that up with a visit to a toy store, and some ice cream, but communications got a bit crossed, and we lost Kyra along the way. Sad. But still fun. On the way home, stopped at a big old book store, and got more meat food in the form of tasty beef fajita taco thingers. I'm going to be so fat by the time I head home next week.

So, those are the highlights. I've got a full calendar of fun planned out for me here, in addition to the ongoing apartment search. I reckon I'll scour the webernets for stuff tonight, and go out with a full rack of places to hit tomorrow. Then, it's to the boxing gym, then roller skating. And pie.

So psyched.