Austin Remembered, Fondly
As mentioned in previous posting "Austin on My Mind" my bride and I spent several days in Austin with Number-One Son as he prepared to vacate his apartment, put most of his belongings in a storage unit, organize his other belongings so he could carry them with him to Costa Rica and thus avoid the 50% tariff on imported goods, get his various important papers and documents organized for us to take home for safe keeping, and lastly bid a fond farewell for a year (or a week, depending on how you looked at it) to his wonderful group of friends. It was a wonderful three days. Some observations:
1. Car rental and pick-up at the airport is very convenient. No shuttle bus.
2. Tex-Mex at Chuy's as delicious as I remembered.
3. A SUV is almost as good as a pick up truck when moving boxes and small items, but a pick up truck is necessary for furnuiture. Thanks to a friend, a pickup was available.
4. Books and framed pictures are heavy. They, because of their various sizes, are hard to pack.
5. Boxes purchased for storage are better than saved boxes from the liquor store.
6. A roll of packing tape goes a long way, but don't lose the end, or you may not get it unstuck.
7. When it comes to organization, cleaning and packing, Mom knows best.
8. A Mom helping her son has more energy than a lioness protecting her young.
9. A 10' X 10' storage unit holds a lot of stuff.
10. Everything in Austin is a ten minute trip according to Number-One Son. Not so.
11. When it comes to good hotel accomodations in a busy, crowded city, it is definitely who you know.
12. The Texas relays the Urban celebration brought a bunch of people to Austin. Doesn't anyone go to church on Palm Sunday anymore?
13. Traffic in Austin is not small town.
14. Using a vacuum cleaner and a shrink wrap storage bag, a total bed set (pillows, coverlet, bedspread, etc) can be reduced to a package about 3' x 3' x 2". Tight and compacted and heavy.
Clothes can be similarly shrunk and stored in smaller bags.
15. The largest suitcase available (Ht. + Length+ Depth = 62") holds a lot of stuff, even more when many items are shrink wrapped. They can easily hold in excess of 100#.
16. Indian cuisine is OK, but I prefer Tex-Mex and Bar-B-Q, both eastern North Carolina and Texas styles.
17. Number-One Son was blessed in Austin with a wonderful group of friends. We enjoyed our evening with them immensely. As careers tend to send them to different parts of the country and the world, we hope they stay close. Funny how their paths seem to cross and recross over the years.
18. There is a 4 o'clock am when one is not on call, and flights do leave Austin at 6:30 am.
19. A taxi is the way to get to the airport at 5:00 am.
20. A post-script: Real Estate in Austin is obscene.
Austin, I enjoyed you. I hope Number-One Son relocates to Austin one day so I have a good reason to return to you. If not I may return anyway.
1. Car rental and pick-up at the airport is very convenient. No shuttle bus.
2. Tex-Mex at Chuy's as delicious as I remembered.
3. A SUV is almost as good as a pick up truck when moving boxes and small items, but a pick up truck is necessary for furnuiture. Thanks to a friend, a pickup was available.
4. Books and framed pictures are heavy. They, because of their various sizes, are hard to pack.
5. Boxes purchased for storage are better than saved boxes from the liquor store.
6. A roll of packing tape goes a long way, but don't lose the end, or you may not get it unstuck.
7. When it comes to organization, cleaning and packing, Mom knows best.
8. A Mom helping her son has more energy than a lioness protecting her young.
9. A 10' X 10' storage unit holds a lot of stuff.
10. Everything in Austin is a ten minute trip according to Number-One Son. Not so.
11. When it comes to good hotel accomodations in a busy, crowded city, it is definitely who you know.
12. The Texas relays the Urban celebration brought a bunch of people to Austin. Doesn't anyone go to church on Palm Sunday anymore?
13. Traffic in Austin is not small town.
14. Using a vacuum cleaner and a shrink wrap storage bag, a total bed set (pillows, coverlet, bedspread, etc) can be reduced to a package about 3' x 3' x 2". Tight and compacted and heavy.
Clothes can be similarly shrunk and stored in smaller bags.
15. The largest suitcase available (Ht. + Length+ Depth = 62") holds a lot of stuff, even more when many items are shrink wrapped. They can easily hold in excess of 100#.
16. Indian cuisine is OK, but I prefer Tex-Mex and Bar-B-Q, both eastern North Carolina and Texas styles.
17. Number-One Son was blessed in Austin with a wonderful group of friends. We enjoyed our evening with them immensely. As careers tend to send them to different parts of the country and the world, we hope they stay close. Funny how their paths seem to cross and recross over the years.
18. There is a 4 o'clock am when one is not on call, and flights do leave Austin at 6:30 am.
19. A taxi is the way to get to the airport at 5:00 am.
20. A post-script: Real Estate in Austin is obscene.
Austin, I enjoyed you. I hope Number-One Son relocates to Austin one day so I have a good reason to return to you. If not I may return anyway.
posted by the doc at 9:45 PM
1 Comments:
You are very right about everything on your list. The parts about mom remind me of the energy of my mother when it comes to packing, cleaning and generally getting things in order.
We're going to stay in close contact - no matter where we all end up.
Oh, and you're right about the real estate. I just got my notice of appraised value from the County - it increased by 45% this year.
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