Austin, TX – Highlights and Hill Billies (1/24 – 1/30)

Alright there were no hill billies in Austin, Texas – there are barely any hills for that matter.

Last Highlights

The majority of my time in Texas was occupied with one of two things: dancing or coffee.

My weekend was packed with partying, dancing and competing at Lone Star.  I carried away four trophies from the event, a first in the Strictly Fast and a third in the Strictly Blues with Teni, a third in the All-Star Jack & Jill with Karen, and a second in the All-Star Strictly with Gina.  One for each of the competitions I entered (go me!).

I’ve never competed in an All-Star division before.  You’d think it would be stressful or daunting – not at all.  Exciting, entertaining and fulfilling is more like it.  Watching Mikey & Nina rock it from the start and not worrying of dancing with someone I’ve never met before made the Jack & Jill a great experience.  Competing with Gina for the first time, feeling like we did well, and then winning second was very rewarding.  Aside from the All-Star divisions, competing with Teni is always fun – we have a good rapport on the dance floor both goofy and intense depending.

Coffee amounts to a lot of sitting in cafés and doing work on this site, Slacker Reform and DancewithCarl.com.  I spent more than 8 hours some days at my computer working on layout, SEO, content, and such things.  Slacker Reform has a plan, no launch date, but a plan.  DancewithCarl is basically done minus photos and photo credits.

I checked out Caffeine, Kick Butt Coffee and Genuine Joe’s in Austin successfully.  They were each quite unique.

Genuine Joe’s, where I spent the majority of my time, had a home reading room feel.  Chairs, tables, and couches were all hodge-podged together.  Staff were welcoming and talkative (especially when you are there more than they are), the coffee was good and their lattes were named in an aptly leftist fashion.

Kick Butt Coffee is owned by a martial artists and the whole café has a distinct martial theme with rubber ninja stars at the register (watch out Andrew), weapons on the walls and a kicking cartoon logo.  The coffee was quickly delivered and it feels good to support a local chain.

Caffeine was recommended by a friend of mine from Montreal.  It has a co-working day on Fridays where freelancers, entrepeneurs, etc. gather to work on their respective projects in a creative communal environment.  The environment is slick and minimal.  Coffee came with refills, WiFi was consistent and fast.

Other places I visited included San Francisco Bakery (an ironic prelude to the next destination on my journey) and Starbucks (the perpetual fallback).

The Wrap

Next time I’m in Austin I hope to explore south Austin more.  Caffeine was located in that neighborhood, as well as Freddie’s Place which Mike and I went for burgers.  South Austin has a number of local businesses, a really nice vibe, and it is on my list for next time.

While Austin didn’t meet all my expectations as a dense urban area it was filled with great stores, like Cream Vintage, great cafés, and great people.