Background: I got my driver’s license the day before I moved to Austin. I then learned about crappy highways and things that don’t make sense, roads that end then begin again farther down, and the like. It’s crazy there. Or so I thought.

First thing in the morning Tuesday (I know, I’m so far behind) I go to the little gym here and run. And I suck. Shockingly, I know. It’s been like two weeks. I get showered up and put on the most expensive outfit, jewelry, and makeup, and perfume, I can find. I’m a sell out to the pressure, I know. MK and I go hunting around a little to see if we can find a place to get a cord he needs for his computer. We got soooooo lost. The roads here are bizarre!!! They are currently digging up the underground bus system and putting in an underground rail system, so they’ve created special bus lanes, shut down lanes, closed ramps, put stop lights on ramps, extended HOVs, and generally made the biggest mess ever. Makes Austin look deserving of roadway of the year awards.

We fall into a Costco, I guess they started here, and go shop-happy. We get his cord at the Office Max that appears to be in STARBUCKS CENTRAL HEADQUARTERS. That was a crazy place. Then it’s time for our meeting with you-know-who. We only had to u-turn twice (instead of three times) to get home. We put the groceries away and head down to the lobby. You-know-who tells us stuff that we already figured out for ourselves and is only slightly pleasant, probably due to the rude glaring look I have, the yawns I keep faking, and the eye rolling and watch glancing I throw in for good measure. I address MK instead of you-know-who when I ask who handles the recyclables. Take that. I thought about psyching on the handshake, but he wouldn’t have understood.

I make us some lunch, and we lounge a little. The time difference shouldn’t affect us too much, but it is a little strange to call the east coast, and figure out the TV schedule. I tried so hard to get on the internet and say hi, but my computer wasn’t picking up any free wifi. Grr. We went for a nice walk three blocks down, where the mall and Nordstrom’s is. That is going to be good times.


www.rawseattle.com

I already know. There’s so much there! We browse the restaurants and look at the menus in the windows. We stopped at Seattle’s Best, which I learned is OWNED by Starbucks (I bet y’all already knew that) but wasn’t very clean. Or good. They took so long to make MK’s drink that we have a free coupon to use, if we ever go back. We found the equivalents to the Austin Chronicle and read those for a bit. Then it was home for dinner. Kind of a low key day, but the exploring was fun. MK does a great job figuring out where things are. I do not exactly have an excellent sense of direction.


www.istockphoto.com