Monday Meanderings - 4.14.2014

Happy Tax Day Eve.  You still have a few hours left, but it may be time to buy that copy of Turbo Tax.

For some reason, someone has regularly been calling the house in the wee hours of the morning this past week. The phone has rung several mornings, consistently at 8:10am - an unholy time, as far as I am concerned. Strangely, it rings once and once only, insufficient time for Caller ID to identify the miscreant. "Give me a ring, Vasily. One ring only."

We regularly drive by a Christian school that proclaims proudly "Home of the Visionaries." Really? That would make for some interesting cheers: "Go, Visionaries,  Gimme a V, Gimme an I, Gimme an S, Gimme an... oh, wait. the games over."  Besides, shouldn't they know ahead of time how a game was going to end?

Saw a couple of news items about the home town this week: First, Gallup released its "U.S. Community Well-Being Tracking" poll, which charts given areas based on their overall health and well-being. Surprise, turns out Austin is the least-stressed place in Texas. I guess there is something to keeping weird.

The second item was that the Austin metro area has more toll roads than 43 entire states. It's to the point that you can't leave town in any direction without encountering a toll road, and we are building more as we speak. MoPac is adding a "flexible rate" toll lane; the fee changes based on the demand; the more cars on the road, the higher the toll charge.

Apart from paying for the privilege, toll roads probably contribute to the well-being of Austinites. I mean, there's nothing like cruising down an almost empty highway at 85 mph on your way to a good BBQ joint.

While we are speaking of traffic, how do you think the average daily commute was this past week with four, count 'em, four U. S. Presidents in town, all at once! Unfortunately there are no toll roads in downtown Austin. Yet.

Had breakfast at an eatery that I will not name (but Radisson Treasure Bay Grill in Corpus, you know who you are), and requested salsa for our eggs. When we got the bill, $1 had been added for the salsa! A Texas eatery charged us a dollar for half an ounce of salsa!! Get a rope!!!

Wait! You can download Turbo Tax from Amazon; I don't have to go to Walmart after all.