Recently in Austin Category

I was driving home today on Congress, turning right to a side street, when a person on a skateboard rode out in front of me. I honked and him, and he yelled profanely back that he was at a crosswalk.

For those unaware, it is illegal to ride a skateboard on the sidewalk on Congress Ave between the river and the Capitol, on 6th between 700 East 6th and 1200 West 6th, and on Guadalupe between MLK and 29th street.

I probably shouldn't have honked, but he shouldn't yell at me when he's the one actually illegally.

Capital Metro, the public transit authority for the Austin-area, has a blog entry about training the Austin Police Department's DWI unit to drive a new Breath-Alcohol Testing bus donated to the City by CapMetro.

The simulator is pretty sweet; would love to have a chance to see how hard it would be to drive a bus. I'm hoping there's an open house of the bus as well. I suppose they would drive it to a DWI enforcement zone (i.e. South 1st or South Congress around the time bars close) and test folks inside.

The video from Fox News 7 is below.

One thing I check every week is the City of Austin's website to see what road closures will occur due to special events. Living so close to downtown, the Palmer Event Center and Auditorium Shores, it is very common for something to be going on.

One thing I check every week is the City of Austin's Event Closure Page, listing road closures due to special events.

The week's press release, released yesterday, informed me that South 1st Street between Oltorf and Cesar Chavez will be closed between 7 am and 5 pm on Saturday. That's the street I live on and that's a long time for the street to be closed.

I placed a call to the City's 311 line to ask if this was a complete closure or if there will be a lane open. During the marathon, for example, one southbound lane was open, allowing traffic to make it to Oltorf westbound and back to the normal street system.

As the operator was aware, the street will be closed. Period. She transferred me to Special Events, who basically said she knew the same thing. I asked about the way the marathon had it setup and asked if that wasn't in the works. She wasn't sure and said she would do research, getting back to me later in the day. She asked me exactly what street I lived on so she could help figure out a route if South 1st was completely closed. Yes, my friend, I live on South 1st.

This wouldn't be a big deal except Vanessa and I have an appointment at 10 am and with the 10K's 4-mile point being right at our apartment complex, I highly doubt all of the racers would be passed us by the time we would need to leave.

Let's hope for good news.

More to come later, but the Diocese of Austin officially has Chrism and the other sacred oils to be used this weekend and for the rest of the year.

I'll put a value judgment on people in town for SXSW. They appear to have no idea how to drive in a city that is unfamiliar to them. SXSW takes over part of downtown Austin for a week with music, movies and conference events at all times of the day and night, except a few hours in the wee of night.

Last night, I was driving home from work along Guadalupe Street at 10 pm. Usually people are starting to go out around that time, traffic would decent, but most importantly, it is a rather thoughtless drive. Stay in the middle lane, pay attention to the lights and nothing weird will come your way.

Not during SXSW. I almost hit a crowd of people after they walked into the intersection against the light with traffic heading toward them at 40 MPH. The next block, a car had stopped in the second lane from the left waiting for the two lanes to the right could clear so he could make a right hand turn, cutting off two lanes of traffic.

This continued most of my way home. I love SXSW, but don't try to drive. Just walk or take a pedicab.

Today at 6:00 p.m, I'll be heading to the shore of Lady Bird Lake to enjoy some free music from SXSW. Grupo Fantasma will be playing at the Auditorium Shores Stage, a free venue, as part of SXSW 2008. SXSW is quite expensive, but it is the cream of the crop for what it is. If you read any blog that is halfway at all connected to the tech scene, you know everyone was at the SXSW Interactive festival.

I, however, will just be watching videos later and enjoying the free music.

Last night, I dined at Uncle Billy's BBQ & Brewery in Austin on Barton Springs Drive along the Restaurant Row for beers and an evening snack (ate a large lunch, so just needed a little to tie me over). The BBQ wasn't too bad—being from Texas, I have a high standard for anything related to BBQ, but the brew was mighty fine.

They have six brews made in-house along a standard list of styles—Amber, Blonde Ale, Hefeweizen, Pale Ale, etc. Brian Peters is the brewer, whose name you may recognize as one of the founders of Austin's Live Oak Brewery.

You can enjoy your beer and BBQ either inside or outside—including a view of a steep hill off of Barton Springs that I saw at least one cyclist eat it while riding down.

Specials include an all-you-can-eat offer on Mondays and $2 pints all-day Tuesday for any of their in-house brews. If you're in the Austin area and can't wait for Thursday's 99-cent Ritas from El Arroyo or are looking for some good local beer, check them out.