Houston, we had no problems

Howdy, y'all! I think we're getting used to this Texan hospitality. It's been a great trip. I'm kinda tired. So I'm going to bed.

---Thursday morning---

Ok, I'm back. Here's what we did yesterday.

We woke up and drove the two hours to Houston.

We had seafood for lunch at Goode Company. I had the shrimp gumbo. Ed had oysters and some shrimp, clam, avocado, and tomato concoction which had supposedly been labeled the #4 dish in Houston. (Ed likes lists.) A downpour opened up while we ate, but it soon cleared up.

We headed to the home of the Astros, Minute Maid Park (aka "The Juice Box"). General malaise set in. Maybe it was the fact that we were watching two of the worst teams in baseball duke it out to a 1-0 game. Maybe we were tired. Maybe we were unimpressed with the "just fine" nature of the stadium.

Whatever the reason, we did a good deal more wandering about than sitting in our seats. We talked about fantasy baseball a bit. One of my players, Carlos Lee, came up (in conversation) once or twice, mostly in regard to the supreme underachieving he had achieved thus far this season. Having apparently heard my complaints, he responded by belting two home runs. Too little too late, Carlos. With his help, the Astros stormed back to beat the other team 8-1, not that we were around to see the end of it.

Did I mention that the other team was the Cubs? Ed represented by sporting the appropriate garb: a hat and a Ryne Sandberg jersey. (Interesting cultural note: Ever notice how it's ok for Cubs fans to proudly wear their stuff in any city at any park, to cheer loudly for the visiting team, and even boldly modify the words to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"? Name another visiting team/fan so widely accepted. To wit: ask Ed if he publicly rooted for England against Germany while we were in Germany.) Anyway, the jersey got him a lot of attention all day long from Cubs fans both marked and unmarked.

We stayed awake on the three hour drive from Houston to Austin with the help of XM Radio's 'Hair Nation' channel. We amused ourselves by considering the merits of, and then categorizing bands such as LA Guns, Bon Jovi, Extreme, and Whitesnake. LA Guns were "perhaps the most underrated hair band ever" (Ed); Bon Jovi were "actually kinda legit" (Ben); Extreme "never really existed" (Ed and Ben). We tried to name all the guys in the bands. Guns 'N Roses was easy; Tesla was tough.

We checked into a hotel conveniently and expensively located in downtown Austin. We headed out to IronWorks BBQ for dinner.

It was great. It was also nice to subsequently hear from several people that that's the place to go.

For a little while last night, we walked around to check out the Austin scene. I'm fairly certain that I'm not cool enough to live in Austin. At least, it would appear that I lack the minimum number of tatoos and/or piercings. But it seems to be a happening city. We layed low last night, but tonight we're exited for Iron & Wine and Calexico.