Times in Austin

This is a parrot hanging out in the garden of the Cafe Mundi in Austin. There, I hung out with Andy Blum, Canadian of "Chain Break", and I also met a couple of girls traveling the country in a "Straight Veggie Oil" vehicle "with bikes on top". They get their fuel from restaurants getting rid of their used vegetable oil; the girls filter the fry grease, and put it in their modified diesel motor fuel tank, and off they go. They are living art. Their acronym is LAF--Living Art Fully. They will do singing telegrams, they sing their own songs (they performed at an open mic at "Trophies" in South Austin, and they do random acts of kindness! Go LAF--that is Kitty and Vanessa (Vanessa once wanted to be called Zoe or PJ because it made her feel like a little child who could do no wrong--interesting).

I also met Ezra there at the coffee shop, and we all talked about the "Barton Springs" natural pool that stays at a constant sixty-four degrees, located in South Austin. Andy went to swim there that evening.

At the coffee shop, I met a woman who lived near Corpus Christi. Andy wanted to know where Camp Casey/Bush's ranch was (it is just west of Waco) and she asked why we wanted to know--so we could go burn it down? Andy wasn't around to answer. I wasn't interested in visiting--though I heard Bush was making some bike trails out there on his property. Waco is north of Austin, so it would be far out of the way, anyway.

I saw a movie with one of the priests here at St. Austin Parish residence, Fr. Ed. We went and saw "Shut up and Sing" about the Dixie Chicks and their recent struggle with folks banning them for criticizing our president. They are now coming back strong as ever and are playing here in Austin on Monday night. Cheapest tickets are sixty bucks--anyone want to send me to the show?:) I have their song now playing on the Dixie Chicks myspace page. Check it out. The film was also good--get to know the Dixie Chicks, their struggle, and their rebound--the long way home.



So one day I visited the Austin Table Tennis Club, and got to play a loved sport that I hadn't played in a while. One guy, John Kim, shown in pick playing with his wife, is 77 years old and he still kicked my butt! He is going strong, rated at 1700 for those familiar with the rating system.

I played the manager there, too, Joe, and I took a game from him, even though he is rated over 1900. I also showed a thing or two to each of three highschool boys who came into the club for the first time--they weren't bad for first timers, though.



So one day after I visited my college mate's aunt and uncle to pick up some t-shirts that were sent to their house (thank you John and Mary Claire in Houston), I stopped at Austin Tricycle. Besides feeding me, they told me about their friend Drew who wanted to bike to Argentina. Everyone told him he was crazy, that it was impossible, and so when he heard my story (I called him right there from the bike shop), Drew was overjoyed as he had just had this idea like two weeks ago, he couldn't find anyone to join him, and now here was someone passing through town doing just what he wanted to do, (well, aside from the fact that Brazil isn't exactly Argentina). Drew (pic above right) works as a manager at a Tex-Mex restaurant, so he invited me over to the restaurant to enjoy a meal, and anything else I wanted, so we could discuss how to go about such a trip.


Wait, here's the image of the folks at Austin Tricycle and I.

Well, I had a great meal at Maudie's (pronounced "Mow-" (rhymes with "cow") "dees"), and I went with college mate Rebecca and her Aunt Mary Anne. (picture follows--you can see how full I got!--and she's wearing our Alma Mater's sweatshirt!)