Here we go Austin!

Okay, so fell off the face of the (blog) planet, so here's the short version:

I now live in an apartment. By myself. In Austin, Texas. I work for National Instruments full time.

I have anticipated some often asked questions you may have:

• Yes, I own a truck. No, I do not own a gun rack nor have near-term plans for installing one.
  
• Yes, the barbeque here is absolutely incredible.
  
• Yes, Austin chicks are amazingly hot (especially when viewed through Tech goggles).
  
• No, I have not seen G.W. roaming around these parts.
  
• No, there is not an oil well in the back yard.
  
• No, there are no cities "Near" here. The closest thing is San Antonio, over an hour away.
  
• Yes, it is hot as hell here, but it's a dry heat (so far...)
  
• And finally, yes, Austin is cooler than whatever city you're currently in (with the possible exception of San Fransisco or San Diego)
  

Other tidbits:

• I am mostly moved in. I do not own a couch yet, but I need one (preferably one that isn't covered in beer stains and random holes from god-knows-what).
  
• I bought my first bed, first desk, first bar stools, first spice rack, first paper towel holder, and first bathroom floor mat ever. These were all interesting experiences.
  
• My current job duty is to sit in class 8 hours a day. We learn lots and lots and lots of stuff, in short amounts of time. In 5 weeks, we will have the equivalent seat time of a 13-hour semester. But, at least we can sit online and screw around all day.
  
• I am now a Mac convert. I picked up a Mac Mini (although I prefer my moniker, "MiniMac") on a whim from my dear friend Bela at a LOW LOW price, and I'm hooked. I haven't missed my PC one bit.
  
• I hate rebates. I'll save that one for later.
  
• Shiner Bock, the almost-locally brewed beer, is amazing and flows like water here.
  

So, to sum it up, I'm having a blast here, getting settled is fun, and who knows what lies ahead, hidden in the dark shadow of a texas cactus, waiting to devour me?

The only bad part is picking up and moving cities is I completely lopped off all of my friendships that I built up over the last 5 years in Atlanta. I won't get sappy, but dumping off everyone and starting fresh, while refreshing, is also difficult at times. But again, I'm not the melodramatic art-faggy-whiny-liberal-hippie-douche-I-love-my-dark-feelings-of-pure-destitute-solitude-rage-type that likes to whine about that kind of bullshit all day long and not do anything about it, so that's the last you'll hear of that.

Besides, the guys from work are pretty cool. If only I could convince the interns to bring me coffee.

I promise to update this thing more often.