Austin: Top Ten Things Newbies Should Know

I did an Aspen version of this Top Ten Things Newbies Should Know post, and it was so popular that it bears building an Austin one… which, with a few adjustments for climate, is more or less the same. See? There are so many Austin / Aspen similarities!

1. There will be opportunities for free drinks any given night of the week. Do not take advantage of all of them.

2. There are two seasons: hot, and not-as-hot. There will probably only be three cold days in any given year, but those three days will be deemed “THE BIG CHILL” and covered relentlessly by the media.

3. Check the bus schedule. You won’t understand it. You have to have a PhD to understand that thing. Bike instead.

4. Don’t drink and drive. Not even a little. Cops have plenty of other things to do, but they like the drunks the best.

5. Learn the local ways and the Spanglish pronunciations of the streets. Nothing says ‘tourist’ like asking where man-chack-a is (Man-shack) or how to get to Ceasar. It’s not a salad, it’s a two-named street. Cesar Chavez. Or First Street. But not South First Street–that’s different. And what Guadalupe (don’t you dare pronounce the -eh at the end) turns into as it crosses the lake. Town Lake, not Lady Bird.

6. Austin is dog-friendly. Scoop the poop.

7. You live at 105 degrees in the summer. You might think you’ve adjusted, but then you forget to drink your water and end up in the hospital. DRINK LOTS OF WATER.

8. True: it’s mostly about who you know. In business, relationships, and getting hooked up at bars. You can also make it with a lot of pluck, luck, and networking.

9. Summer sports: pick-up sand volleyball at Zilker and Krieg every weekend morning and most evenings, Pease always on the weekends. Aussie’s (pictured) Volleybar has pickup after leagues are over, at 11pm, but are VERY competitive. Pick-up basketball almost every evening. Ultimate Frisbee on Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon … (for the love, see #7)

10. Austin is a lot like Woodstock. Don’t get lost in the freedom!