A family weekend

We were invited to a birthday party on Saturday night. Frank's Dad, Frank Sr., celebrated his birthday with a family gathering. Three generations were there. We're so lucky to have an Austin Family! And, a great family it is too. Where's Norman Rockwell when you need him? Here's the youngest, Brandon. Yes, that's a boy. Hey! Do you think you could cut off those beautiful curls if he was yours?! And a yummy Brazilian dinner by Carol (she lived there once). That's black beans and rice with homemade salsa and a fried egg and a dark green leafy vegetable that I can't remember the name. And a slice of mango. It was wonderful. Here's Grandpa reading his card from granddaughter Emily. A great evening. Thanx so much for including us Frank and Frank! Then Sunday, we paid some attention to our own family and got Odie a haircut! Do you think he needed it? Ohhh, poor scruffy Odie. Doesn't he look better after his PetSmart haircut? And, he feels so much better too.

Oh! What a Beautiful Day

Really ... after suffocating heat, hurricanes, then a cold front yesterday - rain, wind and cold. Today we are settled in a new RV park on the outskirts of Austin and the weather is P E R F E C T! Not a cloud in the sky. No humidity. Light breeze and 74 degrees. It's the first time we've opened up the windows in *months*. We're really happy with this park too. It's an easy drive to the office - get on the road that's right outside the park, head west and in 8 miles we're at the office. No turns. And, we go right by the Texas museum of History and near the capitol. We will have to stop there one day. They're a Passport America park which means half-price. And ... there's a really nice hot tub and a big woods for walking Odie. We're set here for a couple weeks.

Of Bridges and Ladders

'Bridges' are a part of a Wi-Fi hotspot that Jim has questions about. He hasn't worked with that many and he's a real hands-on learning kind of guy! (I like that in a man :-) So - when a park outside of Austin needed a new bridge installed, he volunteered. What's a 'Bridge', you ask? It's a way to get the network (Internet) signal from one point to another without having to string cable. At least, that's what it does in this case - it can actually mean a few different things. Here, it is 2 radios transmitting directly to each other to make a wireless connection. Not all Wi-Fi hotspots need it - only when the Internet connection comes into one place, and the Wi-Fi Access Point Antenna needs to be in another. Here's Jim, up on his new ladder installing one side of the bridge. And, here he is putting up the other side. He's been wanting a bigger ladder. He will definitely need it in order to do Datastorm installs. Check out the photos of when ours was installed. Actually, I think he may have voluteered for this job just to give him an excuse to buy a bigger ladder! Like Tool Time Tim, Jim loves tools, and the bigger the better! So, how do we carry this monster in our motorhome? Guess what?! It's chilly today! 58 degrees when we got up, and now, at noon, it's still only 61. brrrrr Now, where is that sweatshirt that I neatly stowed with 'winter clothes'?

I wanna write for a winery

I've never seen a wine section in a grocery store ... or even in a wine store ... like they have in the Whole Foods store here in Austin. We found a bottle from our favorite winery in California - Folie a Deux! It's called 'Menage a Trois' (red) and it's a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet. The description is: "Take a walk on the wild side and explore the pleasure of our Menage a Trois. Surrender to the seduction of dark, rich berry with a hint of pepper, a lush lingering finish leaving you wishing for more." yum

The City of Austin

We're back in Austin now, and we thought we'd try a downtown RV Park this time so we could get a feel for Austin. Take a look at where the DatastormUsers map shows us. We're right in the middle of some really cool stuff. We went for a walk yesterday and within a half-mile we found Barton Springs. A place where city dwellers can go for swimming, kayak and canoeing, playing frisbee and just hanging out. On the road right in front of the park are lots of trendy food places. We had Cappuccino and Breakfast Tacos at Austin Java, and we had dinner at Chuys Tex Mex. The RV park is just another establishment on this street. It's been here since the 40s. We understand that some famous people keep a trailer here. The manager pointed out Matthew McConaughey's airstream with a Datastorm on top! I think they would come here to hide out, not to show off. and here we are You might notice a major problem ... too many trees for the Datastorm to work. Well, we decided to stay for a couple days to get the experience of the city even if we can't get the Internet. We just couldn't stand it! I used my Verizon cell phone to connect on Saturday - but it's just agonizingly slow. Jim took his laptop down to Austin Java and used their free WiFi there. But, my computer is a desktop. Well, I plugged in a more powerful adapter, and, voila! I'm able to attach to a couple of free WiFi hotspots nearby. We follow our own advice, "If it doesn't work, try another adapter!" The one I'm using at the moment is made by Parkervision - unfortunately, they don't make it anymore though. Anyway - today there was a free concert downtown. We just walked in the other direction about a half mile and we were at Auditorium Shores where Lance Armstrong was throwing a 'Thank You Austin' party and his fiancee, Sheryl Crow was performing. What a wonderful scene. It's not surprising that bicycles were the primary method of arriving at the park! I just wonder which came first? Was Austin a bicycling city that attracted and created a Lance Armstrong? Or did Lance's hometown of Austin pick up on the sport to follow him? Bet you didn't know he could play drums too? Odie and I were starstruck!