Tag Archives: austin

Barton Hills Farms

Two weeks ago we headed to Barton Hills Farms at the suggestion and accompanied by the Aguilars. I was skeptical: what the hell do you do in a farm in the middle of nowhere?

Turns out there’s much to do. Besides photo ops with pumpkins, which people seem to really like, they have lots of games and activities including Ilan’s favorite: little trains you can ride.

This post is a bit late: they’re closed since November 5th. Make a note for next year.

Austin Zoo Review

The mighty Austin Zoo.

I knew it existed, but in 15+ years of living here I never went. I had heard too many times that “it’s just some rescued animals, like goats and stuff”.

It’s true, but the place is a lot nicer than I had pictured. And while there were some goats, they also had some pretty good animals: bears, lions, a senile tiger, wolves, alpacas… and by far the most enourmous, impressive, mutant pig I’ve ever seen. That alone was worth the 45 minute drive (yeah, it’s far from my house).

And for those of you who have two year old kids obsessed with trains: there’s a little train you can ride!

Two thumbs up.

Selfie from the train. The ride is pretty long, as far as little train rides go. About 10-15 minutes.
It’s hard to tell by the photo, but that pig is basically the size of a smallish rhinoceros.
Ilán and Lucas looking for the missing tarantula.
A bear.
Lion (left), myself (middle), Ilán (right).

Capitol 10,000

cap-01The Statesman Capitol 10,000 is the largest 10K in Texas and the fifth largest in the nation.

As one of my two 2013 New Year Resolutions (sadly, the other one is a carryover from 2012 and shall remain secret), I decided to run in the Capitol 10k on April 7th. For some people running ten kilometers is no big deal, but for me it is, as I’m not particularly fond of running after anything that isn’t a soccer ball or a toilet.

So now the cat is out of the bag, although technically it left the bag on February 5th. And I’m not alone in the suffering: one-time The MKX® author Shlomit is going to do it as well. Feel free to hold us both accountable.

Back in ATX

I finally got sick of the perfect East Bay weather and insanely high rent prices: I moved back to Austin, TX this week after a year in sunny California.

While I will surely miss all the perks of living in the Bay Area a few minutes away from San Francisco, it sure is good to be back. I hope to get settled quickly and meet up with all my friends soon.

Austin fires

As you probably know by now, some serious wild fires are raging in the suburbs of Austin.

As you probably also know by now, from my former office in Austin I had quite the view, which allowed me every now and then to catch a glimpse of events around the area: a mall fire, a plane crash, etc.

I just received this photo of the smoke from the nearby wild fires, taken from the top floor of MoPac C. Let’s hope they are controlled and extinguished soon. It can’t hurt to do a little dance for Tlaloc, either.

Austin fire as seen from National Instruments

Momentum

I attended the Momentum dinner a week ago. Hosted by Ken Herman, columnist for the Austin-American Statesman and with featured speaker Dan Senor, co-author of Start-up Nation: The History of Israel’s Economic Miracle. Oh, and kosher BBQ by Kogan.

Mr. Senor’s talk was not about the book. It was about the recent developments in the Middle East – the toppling of the Tunisian and Egyptian governments, the uprisings in Syria, Yemen, Lybia etc.

Ken Herman at Momentum

This guy knows what he’s talking about and it was an extremely interesting and engaging talk. If you attended, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Dan Senor at Momentum

SXSW – Vicente Gayo

Vicente Gayo at SXSW 2011

Vicente Gayo is an interesting band from Mexico City. They put on a good show with a lot of energy but their sound was mostly noisy, not that melodic. They were giving away cool Speak n’Spell stickers and were selling really nice t-shirts. Also: Many extra points for using a Commodore 64 (the computer I first learned to program on) during their show.

The star of the show: Commodore 64.