Oh, and we found a Korean market here! Several asian markets, actually. And Whateley had his first taste of Choco-pie. And he'll soon have a taste of mabo-tofu, shin ramyun, chapagetti, and Home Run Balls. I'll turn him Asian yet!
And of course, we've found a couple of boba places, although only one with the barley that Whateley likes so much.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Wow, I've gotten some positive responses (okay, only 2) about my road trip description. Which is kinda funny since I described the worst of it and not the more interesting parts of it. :) So here's more about our drive to Austin:
When we made our first lunch stop, we were looking around for places near Phoenix, and that's when I realized that not only are the Phoenix freeways weird (similar to Austin's actually), they're elevated, so you can only see the signs that are high up like the famous golden arches, and you can't really get out without some careful planning. Oh, and MickeyD's is dead to Whateley, so there's no way we're eating there. (One day I'll post a list of the things in the world that are dead to Whateley, and a few that are just on notice.)
Anyway, so we stopped off on the edge of Phoenix and while we got gas, there was this Ma and Pa sub sandwich place, so we decided to eat there. I gotta say, that was one of the best sub sandwiches I've ever eaten. It was a big more expensive than a Subway, but it was pretty dang good. So Whateley and I decided to try to eat at only Ma and Pa places while we're driving. It didn't quite end up that way, since that night we just ended up getting take out from Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The next day, on our way through New Mexico, we thought we'd drive straight through and eat in El Paso, but then there was this giant thunderstorm over El Paso, so we stopped off at this truck-stop-y place where they had a 24-hr buffet restaurant/gas station/souvenir shop/fast food court, and so we decided to stop, get gas, eat lunch, and wait out the storm. Well, this place was interesting since it was probably some sort of chain but we've never heard of it before since it's only in truck stops. I ordered the chuck steak cuz I was having an odd Alton-Brown-moment where I remember his show on how to make chuck steak taste good, and I got curious about how chuck steak tasted. Well, there's a reason why it's cheap. And also I could think was, didn't I have this before in those elementary school lunches? Anyway, that was my last time ever consuming chuck steak, and I'm not sure if I ever want to again.
I wasn't sure how long we could wait out the storm before we'd lose too much time. I even called Bleusky just thinking I needed to wait out the time. That and Whateley and I were having a debate about what time zone we're in. Turns out I'm right... of course. :) (Hey, Whateley can post his own rebuttal if he so chooses.)
Well, most of the storm had passed so we decided to head out. Now El Paso is an interesting city. If you don't know, it's close to the border of New Mexico, but it's also on the border to Mexico. And if you look over the train tracks, you can see a fence and beyond it was Mexico. And y'know those "Save the Children" type infomercials where they show shanty towns of starving kids? They were right there on the hill facing El Paso! Weird!
Border security is tight there, and pasty-white Whateley and model-minority-Asian me got waved through. But when I talked to my co-workers who made the drive, some of them were pulled over and their stuff was searched. The main difference? They were either darker-featured white, or lighter-featured black. In other words, they looked Mexican. Wow, racial profiling in action.
So yeah, that night, I got icky food from a T&A cuz that was the only place that was open, although the lady who worked there said there was a Subway that was also open, but by that time I had already gotten my food.
So once we left Sonora, we soon left the Interstate and we were either getting spotty reception or we were roaming, so we didn't call each other much. We were driving through "country" so there were just fields of grass with the occasional ranch here and there. And trees were starting to pop up... a lot. We stopped off at this one location in the middle of nowhere to take a bathroom break, and it was weird cuz we were literally driving through a run down street with old, broken down buildings with an old "For Sale" sign and a few scrabbly people walking on the streets, and we stopped at a gas station that looked like it was the only business left in town. Kinda creepy.
So yeah, here's what we figured out as we're driving this highway: there are tons of trees in Texas! As we've discovered when we experienced the 4th or 5th thunderstorm in 3 weeks. So it was weird just driving down this four-lane road (speed limit 70 day, 60 night), and we pass mostly empty grasslands followed by clumps of ranches. Real live Texas ranches. So the stories are true. Oh, and whenever you had those westerns that took place in desert-like areas... well, that's probably because they filmed in the friggin' desert and not in Texas.
So when we arrived in Austin, the freeways were a bit weird (still is... but we're getting used to them), and then we arrived at our apartment complex, parked, and I opened the door... and was promptly met with a wall of humidity. Erg.
Yadda yadda, I'll just describe our first meal here. The lady who went through everything with us and gave us our keys, then told us of this Thai restaurant nearby, so we went over there. It was pretty good as Thai places go, though it wasn't by far the best. But we noticed there were some pictures on the wall of the owner with Keanu Reeves. (Which, of course, made Whateley crack, hey, see, there's at least one Asian person in this city.) Anyway, by chance we happened to rent A Scanner Darkly a few days later, which coincidentally was shot and produced all in Austin, and we think while they were filming it, Keanu Reeves ate at that restaurant a lot. Or at least once.
Anyway, if anyone wants to visit us, we are compiling a list of cool places to visit and eat (mostly eat), so c'mon, dust off that old planner and plan a trip to good ol' Texas!
When we made our first lunch stop, we were looking around for places near Phoenix, and that's when I realized that not only are the Phoenix freeways weird (similar to Austin's actually), they're elevated, so you can only see the signs that are high up like the famous golden arches, and you can't really get out without some careful planning. Oh, and MickeyD's is dead to Whateley, so there's no way we're eating there. (One day I'll post a list of the things in the world that are dead to Whateley, and a few that are just on notice.)
Anyway, so we stopped off on the edge of Phoenix and while we got gas, there was this Ma and Pa sub sandwich place, so we decided to eat there. I gotta say, that was one of the best sub sandwiches I've ever eaten. It was a big more expensive than a Subway, but it was pretty dang good. So Whateley and I decided to try to eat at only Ma and Pa places while we're driving. It didn't quite end up that way, since that night we just ended up getting take out from Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The next day, on our way through New Mexico, we thought we'd drive straight through and eat in El Paso, but then there was this giant thunderstorm over El Paso, so we stopped off at this truck-stop-y place where they had a 24-hr buffet restaurant/gas station/souvenir shop/fast food court, and so we decided to stop, get gas, eat lunch, and wait out the storm. Well, this place was interesting since it was probably some sort of chain but we've never heard of it before since it's only in truck stops. I ordered the chuck steak cuz I was having an odd Alton-Brown-moment where I remember his show on how to make chuck steak taste good, and I got curious about how chuck steak tasted. Well, there's a reason why it's cheap. And also I could think was, didn't I have this before in those elementary school lunches? Anyway, that was my last time ever consuming chuck steak, and I'm not sure if I ever want to again.
I wasn't sure how long we could wait out the storm before we'd lose too much time. I even called Bleusky just thinking I needed to wait out the time. That and Whateley and I were having a debate about what time zone we're in. Turns out I'm right... of course. :) (Hey, Whateley can post his own rebuttal if he so chooses.)
Well, most of the storm had passed so we decided to head out. Now El Paso is an interesting city. If you don't know, it's close to the border of New Mexico, but it's also on the border to Mexico. And if you look over the train tracks, you can see a fence and beyond it was Mexico. And y'know those "Save the Children" type infomercials where they show shanty towns of starving kids? They were right there on the hill facing El Paso! Weird!
Border security is tight there, and pasty-white Whateley and model-minority-Asian me got waved through. But when I talked to my co-workers who made the drive, some of them were pulled over and their stuff was searched. The main difference? They were either darker-featured white, or lighter-featured black. In other words, they looked Mexican. Wow, racial profiling in action.
So yeah, that night, I got icky food from a T&A cuz that was the only place that was open, although the lady who worked there said there was a Subway that was also open, but by that time I had already gotten my food.
So once we left Sonora, we soon left the Interstate and we were either getting spotty reception or we were roaming, so we didn't call each other much. We were driving through "country" so there were just fields of grass with the occasional ranch here and there. And trees were starting to pop up... a lot. We stopped off at this one location in the middle of nowhere to take a bathroom break, and it was weird cuz we were literally driving through a run down street with old, broken down buildings with an old "For Sale" sign and a few scrabbly people walking on the streets, and we stopped at a gas station that looked like it was the only business left in town. Kinda creepy.
So yeah, here's what we figured out as we're driving this highway: there are tons of trees in Texas! As we've discovered when we experienced the 4th or 5th thunderstorm in 3 weeks. So it was weird just driving down this four-lane road (speed limit 70 day, 60 night), and we pass mostly empty grasslands followed by clumps of ranches. Real live Texas ranches. So the stories are true. Oh, and whenever you had those westerns that took place in desert-like areas... well, that's probably because they filmed in the friggin' desert and not in Texas.
So when we arrived in Austin, the freeways were a bit weird (still is... but we're getting used to them), and then we arrived at our apartment complex, parked, and I opened the door... and was promptly met with a wall of humidity. Erg.
Yadda yadda, I'll just describe our first meal here. The lady who went through everything with us and gave us our keys, then told us of this Thai restaurant nearby, so we went over there. It was pretty good as Thai places go, though it wasn't by far the best. But we noticed there were some pictures on the wall of the owner with Keanu Reeves. (Which, of course, made Whateley crack, hey, see, there's at least one Asian person in this city.) Anyway, by chance we happened to rent A Scanner Darkly a few days later, which coincidentally was shot and produced all in Austin, and we think while they were filming it, Keanu Reeves ate at that restaurant a lot. Or at least once.
Anyway, if anyone wants to visit us, we are compiling a list of cool places to visit and eat (mostly eat), so c'mon, dust off that old planner and plan a trip to good ol' Texas!
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Okay, another post! I wouldn't mind talking about our drive here, actually:
So the day before we took off the movers were coming, so we had pretty much stayed up all night finishing up the packing. We crashed at 6 am, but fortunately, the movers didn't come until about 5 pm, so I was able to sleep 'til noon and get at least some sleep. But Whateley, as I found out, used to be a nervous, stressed out wreck all the time. He's calmed down in the past few years, but moving brought it all out of him. So while I got 6 hrs of sleep, he got 30 minutes.
So that night, when we were staying the night at Whateley's parents' house (since we had to move out of the apartment that day), we just crashed at 10 pm. Which was weird considering 10 pm was when we usually ended work.
So we got up, had some breakfast, and we got on the road! And that's when I found out that Whateley has never caravan-ed before, so after a tense phone call of me going, "where the hell are you?" we met up again, and then we were off.
Anyway, I had an iPod full of Morning Stories and the drive was for the most part uneventful. We only set out to drive about 8 hours, although it ended up being more like 9 or 10 since Google maps is a liar! We first stayed in a town right on the border between Arizona and New Mexico, and there wasn't much there. We crashed and woke up early, so when we took off before 10 am, I figured, hey, we're making really good time! We should end up at our stop tonight around 6 or 7 pm!
Well, y'see, that's when we discovered this one crucial fact. Arizona is in the Pacific Time Zone. New Mexico is in the Mountain Time Zone. Texas, for the most part, is the Central Time Zone. So our next stop, which was in the western portion of Texas, was two hours ahead of where we started off in the morning. So when we arrived, it was almost 10 pm (the extra hour, again, due to Google maps being a liar). And this place, Sonora, TX, is a hot tourist spot cuz of some caverns nearby. But apparently, you can't get something to eat past 9 pm. Our only option was food from a convenience store. :-6
Erg. But we arrived in Austin around 3 pm the next day, and thus began our Texas adventure!
One note, the humidity was incredibly thick that day and I had a panicked feeling that that was normal. Luckily, a local told us it was not, and after a few days, the humidity turned down. It's still more humid than SoCal, but it's actually very nice. I'm realizing now how dry the air was there. I haven't even used any moisturizer on my eczema-affected face.
Okay, more later!
So the day before we took off the movers were coming, so we had pretty much stayed up all night finishing up the packing. We crashed at 6 am, but fortunately, the movers didn't come until about 5 pm, so I was able to sleep 'til noon and get at least some sleep. But Whateley, as I found out, used to be a nervous, stressed out wreck all the time. He's calmed down in the past few years, but moving brought it all out of him. So while I got 6 hrs of sleep, he got 30 minutes.
So that night, when we were staying the night at Whateley's parents' house (since we had to move out of the apartment that day), we just crashed at 10 pm. Which was weird considering 10 pm was when we usually ended work.
So we got up, had some breakfast, and we got on the road! And that's when I found out that Whateley has never caravan-ed before, so after a tense phone call of me going, "where the hell are you?" we met up again, and then we were off.
Anyway, I had an iPod full of Morning Stories and the drive was for the most part uneventful. We only set out to drive about 8 hours, although it ended up being more like 9 or 10 since Google maps is a liar! We first stayed in a town right on the border between Arizona and New Mexico, and there wasn't much there. We crashed and woke up early, so when we took off before 10 am, I figured, hey, we're making really good time! We should end up at our stop tonight around 6 or 7 pm!
Well, y'see, that's when we discovered this one crucial fact. Arizona is in the Pacific Time Zone. New Mexico is in the Mountain Time Zone. Texas, for the most part, is the Central Time Zone. So our next stop, which was in the western portion of Texas, was two hours ahead of where we started off in the morning. So when we arrived, it was almost 10 pm (the extra hour, again, due to Google maps being a liar). And this place, Sonora, TX, is a hot tourist spot cuz of some caverns nearby. But apparently, you can't get something to eat past 9 pm. Our only option was food from a convenience store. :-6
Erg. But we arrived in Austin around 3 pm the next day, and thus began our Texas adventure!
One note, the humidity was incredibly thick that day and I had a panicked feeling that that was normal. Luckily, a local told us it was not, and after a few days, the humidity turned down. It's still more humid than SoCal, but it's actually very nice. I'm realizing now how dry the air was there. I haven't even used any moisturizer on my eczema-affected face.
Okay, more later!
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Dang, it's been such a long time since I posted!
Anyway, for those of you that don't know, Whateley and I moved to Austin, Texas. I know, why the frak would we do that? Hmm... why did we?
Well, our company opened up another center here, and we decided that the cost of living is much cheaper out here than in SoCal, and we have a decent chance of buying a house within a year instead of 5 years later like it would take in SoCal. So... we up and moved. We have no family and no friends here, outside of our fellow co-workers who also made the move. It was crazy and a part of me still wonders if we did the right thing.
At least Austin in the one spot of blue in a sea of red. I mean, sure our votes won't count for anything in any presidential elections, and any state-wide initiatives probably won't go our way, but this city is electic on its own. After all, the unofficial slogan is "Keep Austin Weird." We went into the comic shop the other day and one of the T-shirts they were selling showed Bush holding the Statue of Liberty like a vampire holding it's victim, and you see two red fang marks and blood dripping from his mouth. So I'm glad not all Texans are blindly pro-Bush.
Right now our work schedule sucks cuz we're setting everything up and hiring like crazy and training people like crazy, but it promises to get better as time passes. Hopefully Whateley and I can get a schedule where we can meet up with our WoW buddies and do raids. Now that we're in Central Time, we can better meet up with our Pacific Time buddies.
We just finally got Internet, so in the next coming days, I'll post about our drive to Texas and more about our impressions of this odd little city. Little, cuz geographically, it's actually smaller than Orange County.
More later, please feel free to comment!
Anyway, for those of you that don't know, Whateley and I moved to Austin, Texas. I know, why the frak would we do that? Hmm... why did we?
Well, our company opened up another center here, and we decided that the cost of living is much cheaper out here than in SoCal, and we have a decent chance of buying a house within a year instead of 5 years later like it would take in SoCal. So... we up and moved. We have no family and no friends here, outside of our fellow co-workers who also made the move. It was crazy and a part of me still wonders if we did the right thing.
At least Austin in the one spot of blue in a sea of red. I mean, sure our votes won't count for anything in any presidential elections, and any state-wide initiatives probably won't go our way, but this city is electic on its own. After all, the unofficial slogan is "Keep Austin Weird." We went into the comic shop the other day and one of the T-shirts they were selling showed Bush holding the Statue of Liberty like a vampire holding it's victim, and you see two red fang marks and blood dripping from his mouth. So I'm glad not all Texans are blindly pro-Bush.
Right now our work schedule sucks cuz we're setting everything up and hiring like crazy and training people like crazy, but it promises to get better as time passes. Hopefully Whateley and I can get a schedule where we can meet up with our WoW buddies and do raids. Now that we're in Central Time, we can better meet up with our Pacific Time buddies.
We just finally got Internet, so in the next coming days, I'll post about our drive to Texas and more about our impressions of this odd little city. Little, cuz geographically, it's actually smaller than Orange County.
More later, please feel free to comment!
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