Austin

My wife is telling me I should be writing about last weekend’s trip to Austin.  I’m sure Wolv is sitting by his computer waiting for my post to hit.  Even Mrs. Wig might like to hear my take on our encounter with her craft club.  So what is taking me so long?  I’m a listless writer, but it is time to get off the dime.

So Unc and I flew in to Austin a couple Thursdays ago to meet up with Wolv.  His flight was a little delayed so he joined us a couple hours later.  This gave Unc and I a chance to spruce up the condo and go get $30 worth of groceries for $60 at Royal Blue.  When the hell was the last time you paid $12 for a six pack of IPA?

When Wolv arrived, we hit the road for dinner.  Uber was our sole means of transport for the entire weekend.  We all became major Uber fans because of cheap rides with great people. Dinner that night was at the Salty Sow, but we had about a 45-minute wait so we went across the street to La Cantina for a martini.  You might question our judgement regarding getting a decent martini at a place called La Cantina, and you’d be right.  However, the hipster bartender lulled us into a false sense of security.  But when he gave us a short pour in a jar and stuck a straw in it, we knew we were screwed.  Since they didn’t have Tanqueray, we chose some gin we never heard of, and were immediately disappointed.  This was complaint fodder for the rest of the trip.

We then headed over to sup at the Salty Sow.  The food was very good but we had to wait quite a while.  We voiced our concerns several times and at one point someone who was playing manager that night came over with an apology.  The boys may have said I was going DeNiro on the waiter, but I felt I voiced my displeasure in a reasonable manner.  Bottom line, they comped us $45.  We got over it.

Friday brought us to the capitol building, with a submachine gun wielding security guard and some statues of Houston and Austin. We did a quick tour and then headed over to The University of Texas.  We were there for research purposes and did not ogle any coeds.  I was going to ask one if I reminded her of her gampy, but changed my mind.

Friday evening, we were invited over to the posh side of town by Mrs. Wig, who had joined up with her erstwhile NJ craft club compatriots. I’d have to say that they were quite crafty as they convinced us to watch the Congress St. bridge for about 45 minutes for an alleged bat show which never materialized.  I can see them snickering now after we departed for dinner at Black’s BBQ.  I never said my pals and I are not rubes.  But we were not the only suckers. The bridge was full of people watching and there were even a few boats in the river.  If the bats did come out, I think those folks might have gone batshit crazy, if you know what I mean and I think you do.

Saturday brought a little rain but nothing that tough guys like us couldn’t handle.  We went over to the LBJ Museum.  Unc is a Vietnam era Navy vet but Wolv and I were just kids at that time.  The war and the civil rights struggle were well represented along with Johnson’s life.  This was the educational portion of the weekend.

That afternoon brought us to Buffalo Billiards for a few pints and my introduction to nine ball.  I grew up playing eight ball so I actually managed to win one game. As we were researching a place to shoot pool on the web earlier, we encountered one whiner who said this joint did not accept Samsung Pay.  We came up with a few vulgar jokes to make fun of that dipshit, which will not be repeated here as this is a family blog.

All the great food and other Austin sites made for a great weekend, but some the best times were just sitting in our condo gabbing away, telling old stories and catching up on new ones.  I’m thinking New Orleans will be our next destination.

The Evolution Is Coming

It appears KFOG is going kaput.  They shitcanned their on-air staff last week and you can’t listen for ten minutes without hearing about their evolution.  It is happening on 4/20, so maybe they’ll be launching a reggae station.  I’ve been listening for 30+ years so I hope they don’t mess too much with the format.  Yes, wishful thinking.

The Wig is telling me Trump is supplying a lot of material, and he’s right.  The capitalist bastard formerly known as a real estate developer remains at the top of the news.  Jason Linkins came up with a couple good descriptions recently, those being “caramelized Weisswurst” and "Stygian homunculus” I got an email from the word of the day folks at Merriam-Webster that they got a boatload of lookups on Stygian.  I was one of them.

I read about one of Trump’s foreign policy initiatives today, the Mexico wall.  He’s clearly put a lot of thought in to that one.  His plan is to block money transfers from poor immigrants to their even poorer family members, until Mexico cries uncle and pays for the wall.  It’s amazing how Trump can be such a man of the people and a statesman at the same time. With all his time spent on a tanning bed, he’s well prepared for his stay in hell.

We had a dinner party on Gull Saturday night.  Unc and his wife joined us along with a couple of their Belmont compatriots.  The #1s joined in to add some Foster City balance.  I made my Osso Buco, which has been referred to as “restaurant quality”.  I believe that compliment came from 4M’s wife.  I think the only thing 4M cooks is boiled meat.

The day after the dinner party my wife abandoned me to go to Oxnard for a couple days.  As I write, I anxiously anticipate her return.  And the girl headed to Chicago so I was all alone for a couple days.  SB2 and I hung out on Sunday.  He loves my grilled cheeses out in the patio sun. 

Unc and I fly off to Austin Thursday for a reunion with the Wolv.  His flight gets in about an hour before us.  He said we could find him in the bar.  I’m looking forward to our time with the Wolv.  We did a lot of hanging out in the 80s, before maturity kicked in fully.

One helluva ballgame last night. Congrats to Dr. Joe, who took first place in the extended village pool even though his employer lost.