Monday Meanderings - 11.8.10

Keeping Austin weird: In previous posts I have mentioned Leslie, a veritable Austin Icon known for his attire (or lack thereof) and frequent Mayoral candidacy. He's so well-known he even has his own Wikipedia entry. More recently there was the thong guy, and the Wal Mart guy. I now need to add Running Guy to the list.

On the corner of North Lamar and Rundberg there is a grassy median between the HEB parking lot and the street. We go by there often because our nearest public library is across the street. That median is where Running Guy is in training for the Olympics, assuming that the 25 yard dash is now an Olympic event. He's there every time we go by (which is pretty darn often, given our reading habits) ear-buds in place, sprinting up a slight incline for a distance of about 25 yards, then jogging back down the median and doing it again. And again. And again. Sometimes he sings and dances a little. But mostly he sprints. Gotta love this town.

It can be very disturbing to see a large man coming across the parking lot at you, swearing loudly. Fortunately, I saw the little Bluetooth phone gadget in his ear - just before I turned and ran screaming like a little girl.

He said, after running a couple of errands: "I can mark those places off my '100 places I gotta go' list."
She said: "But we go there all the time, and besides, isn't it a 1000 places?"
He said: "I don't know how much longer I have, so I'm making the list short and very easy."

Little known facts:  In most elevators installed since the early 1990s, the “close door” button has no effect. Otis Elevator engineers confirmed the fact to the Wall Street Journal in 2003. In 2004 the New York Times reported that more than 2,500 of the 3,250 “walk” buttons in New York intersections do nothing. “The city deactivated most of the pedestrian buttons long ago with the emergence of computer-controlled traffic signals, even as an unwitting public continued to push on.” I thought you knew.

Port A was at the top of its game this past weekend. The beach  was as clean and inviting as we've ever seen it - no sea weed, no jelly fish. Perfect weather and really nice seafood to boot. Doesn't get any better.

While sitting on the balcony of the condo we see this little red car zipping around the corner from the beach road to the street that runs beside the condo. A guy gets out and climbs up on a dune and the little red car drives off. In a minute we hear the car, really revving it. It turns off the beach, wheels spinning, and slides in the sand in a nice four-wheel drift while the guy on the dune takes pictures. When the dust settles, the car comes back, picks up the photographer and they drive off, mission accomplished.

Have a good week.