Hardly worth it, now was it?

 Austin  No Responses »
May 032004
 

Yet another embarassing incident in Austin has made national news. Coming on the heels of the Ozomatli arrests and the Jason Patric arrest (whose charges, I might add, were quietly dropped recently), we have a boat capsized by a group of people who were apparently a little too enthusiastic about viewing naked sunbathers at Austin’s infamous Hippie Hollow.

I heard about the barge capsizing on News8 last night and they mentioned that it occurred near Hippie Hollow, but I didn’t put two and two together until CNN spelled it out for me. When I first moved here in 1989 for college, I was dragged to Hippie Hollow by a misguided friend. He was certain that we were going to be treated to a bevy of naked bathing beauties. Reality set in before we even got halfway down the path to the shore when we passed a middle-aged man who hadn’t yet covered himself.

Let me go ahead and spell it out for any new Austinites or tourists: Hippie Hollow is mainly populated by fortyish or older white men, probably over-the-hill hippies who feel the need to maintain their ideals, but haven’t maintained their bodies. If you’re looking for a cheap thrill, I suggest the Internet (at least until Ashcroft and his cronies take that away from us).

P.S. How slow of a news day must it be for CNN.com to list this as one of their top stories?

 Posted by on May 3, 2004 at 8:43 pm

No Pants Day

 Austin  No Responses »
May 032004
 

No Pants Day is this Friday. Be sure to check out the No Pants Day song penned by my former co-worker, Stinky Del Negro. What are the odds I can get work to participate?

 Posted by on May 3, 2004 at 6:24 pm

Monday Morning Traffic Rant and Bad Car Weekend

 Miscellaneous  No Responses »
May 032004
 

Based on my commute to work this morning (and taking the kids to school/daycare), I have a couple of tips for Austin area drivers:

  1. For those of you driving east on Oltorf, just before Pleasant Valley, it’s generally a good idea to take a glance to your left before changing lanes from the right lane. There might be another car in that lane and you don’t want to force them into the center lane and give them a mild heart attack.

  2. For those of you driving north on San Antonio from Cesar Chavez, the people travelling west on 3rd street don’t have a stop sign. You do. I know it’s a novel thing to be able to travel north on that particular section of San Antonio, but try not to let your excitement cloud your judgement. It’s a lucky thing that some of those people on third are already leery of other drivers after having almost been sideswiped 15 minutes earlier.

I’d also advise that if you happen to notice one of your tires is showing steel on the inside tread, it’s probably a good idea to go ahead and get that replaced right away. Best to do it as soon as you notice it as opposed to waiting through an entire workday, going home and having dinner, and then coming back out to the car to go get your mother from the airport, only to find that the aforementioned tire is now completely flat.

Finally, what is up with equipping cars with tires that cost ridiculous amounts of money? Is there a reason why my 5-year-old, $16,000 Mazda Protege comes with tires that cost $150 each and seem to be pretty difficult to find? Sure, these two lasted 5 years (the others were replaced for the same odd wear pattern 18 months ago), which isn’t too bad for a tire, but it’s not like I’m driving a Porsche or something.

 Posted by on May 3, 2004 at 6:16 pm