Another Sunday in Austin

After 11:45 am Mass at St. Albert the Great Church in Austin, we attended a church tour and luncheon for new parishioners. It was good. Later this afternoon we heard that the air conditioner broke this morning at the Austin Humane Society and they needed donations of fans and ice. We were bored in the apartment, so we took a few bags over to look at the dogs and cats. Turns out that the place was packed with people because the Society decided to waive the adoption fees today and tomorrow to move the animals out. We did not cave and get any of the cute animals. I said yesterday was the hottest of the year...well, Austin had the state high today at 112 F. This ties the all time high temperature record for Austin set in 2000. One way to beat the heat is to drink plenty of liquids. The Texans love their sweet tea, and for soda Dr. Pepper is quite popular (way more than Mountain Dew). One of the Dr. Pepper knockoffs at the local HEB store is called Dr. B.

Beating the heat

Last night some people that we got connected with here in Austin (the mother of the family is related to someone we know in Peoria) took us with them as they went on rounds to bring food and other things to a few of the underpriveleged in eastern Austin. This is part of a program called Mobile Loaves and Fishes, which started 13 years ago in Austin and has grown into a multi-million, multi-state operation. It was, well, I guess "fun" sounds trite, but it felt good to see that sort of thing in action. Today we drove into the hills west of Austin to a popular swimming hole called Krause Springs. The rolling western hills have their own sort of beauty, even in drought. The rocks, yellow grass and short junipers (they call them cedars, whatever they are they smell kind of nice) are not like what we are used to seeing Peoria. Actually, we were reminded of the area north of Beijing where we saw the Great Wall of China. People have built a lot of really expensive-looking homes along some of the ridgetops, a bit of a contrast with last night. I wonder how they will be decked out at Christmastime? We caught a glimpse of Lake Travis in the distance - even from far away you could see how the drought has significantly dropped the lake level (roughly a foot a week). The Pedernales River is maybe a trickle (I think we saw some sort of floating docks or houseboats sitting on the riverbed). Anyway, at Krause Springs the hot dry landscape opens into a small valley. Water trickles over a lush-looking waterfall made of travertine and flowstone into a big pool along a creek. The valley also features large cypress trees, prickly pear cacti, and a bit of small wildlife. The rocks on shore and in the creek could be slippery, and, well, hard as rock, but there were a couple of nice small caves to explore and a rope swing (Kris did it a number of times - see movie below - and I did it once). It was a pretty fun way to spend an afternoon on perhaps the hottest day of the year. The bridge pic is of the Pennyback Bridge, a sort of local landmark.

More School Beginnings

Katie rode the bus for the first time this morning - she gets on at about 6:45. We are very thankful that the bus did not misplace her like what happened to Kris on her first day of kindergarten back in 2004. This school bus has seat belts. The University of Texas started today. It did not look as crowded as I expected, but I was pretty much in my own little corner of this large campus. Yesterday was the earthquake in Virginia. I'm irritated at the local NBC affiliate for calling it a "monster" quake and talking about the large Austin-area faults in its news. (They did say on the news later that the local faults have probably not been active for 20 million years). Kudos to "The Daily Texan" (campus paper) for calling the quake "mild but surprising." The heat continues to be a challenge, but at least it's a dry heat - not Illinois corn sweat. The hottest part of the day is about 5 pm; the coolest is about 7 am. Of course the indoors is air conditioned! Actually, when the temp cracked 100 today it was be the 70th day this has happened this year - the previous record is 69 set in 1925. (August 13 has been the only day in my time here that did not break 100). Other data: the 2009 drought just missed the 100+ record at 68 days, and Texas experienced continuous drought from 1950 to 1957. What is scary is how tinder-dry the area is. Occasional grass/brush fires have been taking out houses. The buses are mostly air conditioned, but touching metal surfaces connected to the exterior can hurt. There was rain to the east of us tonight, but it missed us.

School begins

To swipe comments from Karen on Facebook: "The girls survived their first day of school! Katie said she had a fun day and is giving kindergarten a thumbs up. Kris said her first day was short and good. We had school from around 8:45-12:00 and then went to a homeschool "Not First Day of School" Party at a local pool....She [Katie] liked school, but she didn't like having to get out of the pool so she could go to bed to be ready for school tomorrow." The first pic is of Katie being dropped off at Kindergarten. The second pic is what I call "Attack of the Clones". I have been seeing lots of young female college students all dressed similarly and typically moving in groups on and off for the past few days - it appears to be some sort of sorority thing. UT starts on Wednesday.

Birthiversary

Today is my birthiversary (as my brother calls it)! I got married on my 24th birthday, and now I have been married 3/7 of my life. This morning after getting presents I made French toast for the family. Kris and I then went fossil hunting again. This time she amazed me by finding a sea urchin fossil (or similar echinoderm). This afternoon we went to Barton Creek Square (supposedly one of the better malls around here). On the way there, we drove a little ways into the hills to the west of the city - very pretty. The mall was busy (and one of the reasons we went today of all days) is that shopping under $100 is tax-free this weekend because school starts tomorrow. We got clothes. Katie enjoyed this interactive projection-on-the-floor activity. Karen observed that it was sort of like having animals chase around laser pointer dots. This evening Kris watched Katie and we went to dinner at the Salt Lick, one of the barbeque places we have been hearing about. Karen and I think the sides could have been better, but the meat was pretty good and the live music was nice.

Great Horny Toads!

...OK, OK, it was a Texas spiny lizard. Kris saw this outside on a rock outcrop at the Austin Nature Center this afternoon (there was also one inside in a cage). The nature center is nice - there is a "dinosaur" dig area and a little zoo type area (almost all the animals in the "zoo" are not capable of being freed - like they have wing or eye injuries). Kris's favorite was the coati (sort of a stretched out raccoon). There are a bunch of nature trails but we ran out of ambition in the afternoon heat. The center is pretty good, especially because it is free! They also have a sort of natural artifact swap program, so we are thinking of trading some our extra fossils for different fossils, or maybe even an armadillo hide (though Katie and I saw parts of one on the bike ride this morning...hmmm). Near the nature center there is a footbridge across the Colorado River. There were a lot of people on watercraft on the river - it looked like a lot of fun. This morning, before it got too hot, Katie and I went for a bike ride. Later in the morning we all went to an play-date-type event at the playground at her elementary school. We met some nice people, but nobody else from her class came. We had lunch at the Culvers in Austin - food tastes like the food at the other Culvers we have attended.

Going batty in Austin again

This afternoon we visited Katie's school at an open house and met her kindergarten teacher and her assistant. So far so good. This evening I dragged the family down to the UT campus for a quick tour (it was pretty hot today) and then to Jack in the Box for dinner. Not exactly a classy supper joint, but they had a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine. You can combine a variety of bases with different added flavors - for example, I had a raspberry Coke Zero. After that we drove south of the river to see the riverfront park and the the Congress Avenue bridge bats. We think the Texas capitol dome looks like it is made of chocolate. We got to the bat viewing area after they started leaving, but everybody got the idea.

Nanoparticles

The pic is a result of trying to synthesize magnetite nanoparticles. As you can see, they are nanoparticles (in the range of 1-100 nanometers). This is not really a huge accomplishment (I was following someone else's procedure, it is only the first step in a longer procedure, and I actually was surprised that it worked), but it shows that I am learning new things (slowly). There has been a kind postdoc who has been showing me the ropes, including taking this electron microscope image while I learn. Not a lot else to report and not many pix lately. Yesterday I left my cell phone on the bus, but a kind homeless guy recovered it and (long story short) got it back to me. This is not what I call a dangerous city, but there are people of all sorts on the bus (usually harmless, one loud one today was sort of frightening to multiple people). I usually just tune out the world with my MP3 player. Forgot to mention that someone stole the orange cones we set out this weekend to control parking around the moving trailer; happily the driver could still recover the trailer on Monday. The heat, I think I mentioned that I call it "the Texas toast" continues, so I think Kris and I will visit the pool....we did, and wound up playing pool volleyball with some girls - two will be high school seniors and a third graduated high school - I'm getting old, I thought they were like 14 or 15. They were nice and told Kris and I little tidbits about the area.

Bike ride

Had my first Spanish conversation this evening on the bus ride home. A mother was having a conversation with her small son. I said to her "Cuantos anos?" She replied "Tres." I nodded OK. I hope to actually learn some Spanish out here. This evening Karen and Kris went to the library and shopping, and Katie and I hooked up the bikes for a ride. It was over 100 when we left, but the sun was going down and it was dry and there was nice breeze and we took water. If you want to find where the hills are, ride a bike! We rode to church and back, then to the grocery store (H-E-B is named for Howard Edward Butt - insert joke here), and then of course we had to investigate the Baskin&Robbins! When we got back from our four-mile excursion we soaked our feet in the pool. Bugs, our bunny, seems to be settling in to Austin existence - his digestive tract took a hiatus for about 4-5 days after he arrived and had us concerned it would stay shut down. Ah, yes, a picture: this is a car that parks near our apartment - apparently it is associated with a local chicken wings restaurant.

Moving In

Guess I'm falling behind:

Thursday - Katie got registered for kindergarten at Pillow Elementary School, she starts a week from today; I worked on an NSF preproposal based on that idea that I had the previous Saturday (long shot, but I want feedback)

Friday - Katie got stung by a fire ant - now we know what those look like - she's fine and I brushed these off my finger before I got stung. NSF preproposal due, but thankfully got something submitted; skipped work because the moving truck arrived and we unpacked a good share of it in the heat; so excited to have a bed that I did not wait for a mattress

Saturday - got a couple local high schoolers (friends of friends) to help us unload the heavy stuff from the truck in the morning; the weather cooperated with lots of clouds and rain passing to the north (the high only reached the 90; the record-setting streak of consecutive 100 degree days in Austin ended at 27); Mass at St. Albert the Great

Sunday - the paper chain represents the number of days that we are here in Texas and a reminder to make every day count if possible; fossil hunting with Kris and Katie at Walnut Creek; Kris did very well, finding some impressive shells (including a sizable ammonite chunk); later in the afternoon we were visited by some old friends from graduate school days some 15 years ago; we went swimming with their kids and then went to dinner; high tempd back over 100, but saw rain, rainbows, and a lighting stroke in the area; we got a sprinkle at our apartment (first rain since I arrived)

Monday -much of the unpacking is done; Karen and the girls went grocery shopping and I went to work; Kris caught a gecko tonight - these things are so tiny we do not know what to feed them

My family arrived in Austin today!

Nuff said!

End of the bachelor pad?

Karen, Kris, and Katie are staying just north of the Oklahoma/Texas border tonight, so I hope to see them tomorrow. I ran my first reaction today here - it did not quite work as planned, but it is good to get into the lab. At lunch I walked down near the UT stadium. It is huge! According to Wikipedia: "The current official stadium seating capacity of 100,119 makes the stadium the largest football venue by seating capacity in the state of Texas, the largest in the Big 12 Conference, the sixth largest stadium in the NCAA and the United States, and the ninth largest non-racing stadium in the world." There are lots of cool statues on campus. I found the geology building so I took a look at some of the stuff on display there. The wall mosaic geology map of Texas is pretty neat. I took a couple pictures of my apartment tonight. Hopefully it will not look like this after tomorrow. It needs someone else's touch. :*)