Happy New Year!

Heyo...

That's right: a little bit of the South in the middle of a New England snowstorm.

Game Day Parking

This is from the Fall. These signs go up before every home football game. Don't Mess With Texas.

Merry Christmas!

Snowysnowy New England

Greetings from the cold & snowy Yankee north!

Since I'm up here, it's kinda tough to post new Austin photos so I'll probably be pretty quiet for the next 3 weeks.

I'll leave y'all with this for now:

Things I've Noticed Since Leaving Austin
1. Okay, okay, it is so true: we New Englanders are much ruder to and inconsiderate of people we don't know up here. Scary: I may actually prefer the Austin manners in this area better.
2. Similarly, I have become more polite. I now say "excuse me" far more often than normal here.
3. Bostonians & Cantabrigians walk faster than Texans.
4. Without noticing, I've come to expect different treatment from Southern men than Northern ones. No, seriously. Down there most men open or hold the door for you. They let you go first, they move aside so you have space in a crowded area, and ones you don't know frequently say "ma'am".
5. During both trips Austin-Boston, I noticed changes in the way people act, dress & communicate upon boarding the Boston-bound plane (I have 1 layover each flight, generally somewhere south).
6. New Englanders = truly more direct, blunt & sarcastic. Result = I do not offend people when I open my mouth here!
7. Boston drivers... need I continue?
8. I see more bookstores here.
9. Far less is in both English & Spanish here.

Boots

Note that the Texas seal & flag get the center spot in this photo, not the US flag... typical!

Snow

Snow, Texas-style.

It was a flurry. People were WAY EXCITED. Pretty much anyone who was awake (it was late last night) was outside.

Old Currency, Texas-Style

Howdy Texas Winter!!

IT IS SLEETING/HAILING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I had a working camera, I would take photos.

It is NOT WARM OUT!!!!

I keep going outside to stand in it. It keeps turning to rain then hail then rain then hail….

Today & tonight it has been:

a) sunny & 80+

b) totally overcast and 65

c) 55 & thundering with 25 mph+ gusts

d) 38 and hailing, and,

e) all of the above.

I heart Austin.

esp. South Congress Ave. Just sayin'.

PS: Eff Y'all

Dear BCS/Coaches Poll/Etc,

Eff all y'all. 45-35!?!?!?!

Hearts,

Yankee in Texas



PPS: Dear blog, I will try to include something other than college football tomorrow.

The Eyes

We have to sing The Eyes of Texas after trailer-loading at any away regatta. This video is from the TX-OU(sucks) Game aka 45-35. The first 25 seconds are just people cheering & soforth, you can skip ahead.

Bubba

Okay.

What are the chances you would find a personalized keychain for "BUBBA" in the North?

(its 2nd from Left, top row)

Football.... Grrr......

Damn you, Mizzou, for not beating OU.

Damn you, Florida, for not beating Alabama sooner.

Damn you, own damn team, for not beating Tech.

Y'all better crush Tech next year.

Texas Band

The band spelling out TEXAS on the field at half-time on Thanksgiving

Longhorn....

I found this online and was amused.

Note that I've been sick and am easily amused at the moment.

Turkey Day 2008

Our Thanksgiving table! The turkey is on the far left. None of us knew quite how to carve it ("Well, I saw my grandma do it like this...." said one rower. He was handed the knife.) and we didn't have a sharp or large knife so it was, well, interesting...

All day long it was, "Come on! You're from the North! This is your holiday! You should know how to cook XYZ!"

Stadium

This is the stadium where UT rocks at football.

Taken on Thanksgiving! (I'm sorry, how much did we school A&M by? 49-9? Correct! Eff you BCS. #3... puh-leeze.)

(And yes, this really is me writing this.)

Boo OU

Because I've got no better images, and because this is who the BCS should rank #1 for the Big 12 today....

UT crushing A&M

Sorry for the falling off the planet for a few days there. Tough to keep up without a camera!

This is a photo stolen off the internet (thanks google image search!). It's also not really the A&M game. However, this is a view from where we were in the student section.

Microhorn?

Microsoft has software called Longhorn Reloaded.

This is their logo.

Hi Longhorn with spikes!

Bevo Blanky

A teammate's Longhorn blanky went to Tenn. with us

(because orange Long horn hats, racing tanks, t-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets and spandex are not enough)

Back in Chattanooga....

Since my camera died, I'm going to be pulling out photos from the past few months. Right now, we're back in Chattanooga pics. Woo Tennessee!

Trailer rats

Texas Crew trailer in Chattanooga

One Way

I'd like to claim that most of the (very, very many) ONE WAY signs here are all as well disguised as this one and blame that as the reason I have so often gone the wrong direction....








However, most of them look more like this.

Wooden Flag

A decorative Texas flag made out of wood.

Autumn Plants

Look! It's kinda fall-ish! Well.... maybe?

Pool o'.... Badness

Our pool was condemned by the Board of Health. Oops.

Sky & Rain

August sky & plants in Zilker Park














A waterfall. Yay waterfalls!

Hmm, I wonder if it's still running since we've barely had approximately 4+ of rain since September began.

Coca Cola

Chattanooga: World's First Bottler of delicious Diet Coke


It's on sale at Target this week, by the way.

Blooming

Flowers are still blooming!!

Apple-icious

Texas-grown (re: enormous) apple. Honeycrisp. It's enormous. And DELICIOUS. Like apple cider n every bite.

Basically, heaven in fruit form.


I ate the whole thing. I rock.

Cold Warning

This makes me amused.

From weather.com

FREEZE ALERT:

EXPECT TEMPERATURES IN THE HILL COUNTRY TO FALL TO BELOW FREEZING AFTER 9 PM THIS EVENING WITH SEVERAL HOURS OF BELOW FREEZING TEMPERATURES POSSIBLE.

TEMPERATURES ACROSS MUCH OF THE REST OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS WILL FALL BELOW FREEZING FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS SEASON... WITH A FEW HOURS OF READINGS IN THE UPPER 20S AND LOWER 30S EXPECTED.

Cowboy

Cowboy Bean Cafe.
Middle of nowhere, East Texas.

Candy (?) Series: Part 5

Stage Planks?!? Weird name, weird food?

Candy Series: Part 4

Munch on this?

Candy Series: Part 3

Part 3: Chick-O-Stick.

Texan rower (Gasps): You've never had these before?!

Cait: Um... no?

Texan rower: Oh my god. It's like the inside of a Butterfinger.

Candy Series: Part 2

Part 2: Sifer's Valomilk: "The Original Flowing Center".

While driving to Louisiana for Marathon Rowing Championships this past weekend, we stopped in some tiny hick town in East Texas (population: 317) at a gas station & convenience store.

The four Texan rowers I was with had never seen this candy before either.

Candy Series: Part 1.

This week: A 5-Part Series of Foreign Candy.

And by foreign, I of course mean, Texan. Or Southern. Or Not-Massachusetts.

Part 1: Cherry Mash.

Titty Bingo

This one's for Ashley.


Street sign near Dean Keaton.

Town Lake

Town Lake aka Lady Bird Lake.

Aka, the place where we row.

Well, we don't actually row in the area pictured (too shallow). But we do row in the water beyond this little inlet. This inlet is Barton Creek. Anyway. A little cleaner than the Charles, perhaps?

TXC Blade

So remember how I mentioned the state flag being everywhere?



These are the Texas Crew oars.




photo stolen from a friend on facebook

White Gravy

On Friday afternoon after practicing on the race course in Chattanooga, one of the other men's varsity coxswains and a rower and I went to Chili's for sides/appetizers because we were starving.

Being at a familiar chain restaurant, I managed to forget we were in the South. I ordered 2 sides: mashed potatoes and cinnamon apples. Fool.

In the South, mashed potatoes always have white gravy on them.

White gravy tastes fine, but dammit, it does not belong on this Yankee's mashed potatoes.

President Elect of the USA: Barack Obama.

Obamanos

So these aren't photos I've taken myself (I found 'em through google image searching) but they are logos or slogans I've seen around Austin and they're appropriate for today.