spacekadet blog

Had lunch at El Chile yesterday on E. Manor Road (across from Hoover’s).

I wish I had found this place sooner.

The place definitely lived up to its name. Their Bloody Mary was delicious, and very spicy (apparently they use the “Brazos” mix). So good I had to have two.

My veggie tacos (sans cheese, plus guacamole) were AMAZING. I expected some veggies in a tortilla. That’s what I got, but in a melange of tomatoes and spices that was absolutely delicious. Oh, and nestled in a double-layered corn tortilla. Their rice was really well done - I think they put saffron in it.

They also had a nice deck with fans and it was very pleasant to eat and drink outside, despite the heat.

I think it might be my new favorite Tex-Mex joint in Austin.

Curra’s is good, too… but El Chile had a better atmosphere - more conducive to drinkin’ cold alcoholic bevvies on a hot summer day! I often run into a problem in Austin - I sometimes feel like going out for a meal at a place where I can also hang out and have a few drinks on a nice patio. Opal Divine’s and Trudy’s has the deck, but the food isn’t exactly top notch.

Yay El Chile for making my dreams come true!

Things are getting pretty fucking interesting around here.

I had the first installment of my garage sale today, an endeavor which I’ll deem a success. My evidence? The equivalent of 5 benjamins in my pocket.

Things are clearing out, slowly but surely. I’ve experienced little to no panic or loss at letting go of my belongings - I’m doing the right thing.

The sale started at 9am, so I got up at 6 to set things up. The night before, I didn’t get to sleep until around 2am, so a box of Peet’s coffee was acquired, which carried me through the morning. Then lunch at 12:30, and finally, I could feel the fatigue setting in. A nap? Never!

See, today at 5pm was the day of the Keep Austin Weird 5k! But I was seriously doubting my capabilities as 2pm rolled around and I started getting that can’t-keep-my-eyes open feelng.

Once I got to the race, everything was crystal clear. Tim and I found Mike - quite astounding given that 6000+ people were slated to attend.

This was my first 5k, and probably not my last. My fatigue was a distant memory as we started, and all I could feel was the fun. The whole experience pumped me up, and I did better than my 35min goal time.

In the end, I finished in 33:42.90, which on average is 10:53 per mile. Since it was a race, I should also mention that I finished in 580th place overall (out of 889), 42nd (out of 75) in my age group. I’m happy with myself - I really had my doubts of being able to run in 90+ degree heat in the middle of the day. But in the end, I made the 5k my bitch. I’m looking forward to the next one - in the UK!

A Picture Share!

Originally uploaded by doctor paradox.

Been playing with Flickr tonight. I found someone else who apparently has an interest in hydrants.

I know I’m way late on the bandwagon here, but, flickr is starting to reel me in. Aside from its generally pleasant user interface, they have an OS X app for batch-uploading photos from iPhoto or the Finder. I can also post photos to my blog from flickr, such as this one by the aformentioned hydrant fan.

i got up before 7am this morning. absurd, you say!

this whole balancing running 4 days a week and going to the gym 4 days a week is kind of awkward. i don’t follow one after the other, which perhaps i should. but it doesn’t usually work that way. commitments and all. like the keep austin weird 5k - it’s at 5 pm on Saturday. that’s right, 5pm, in the heat of the dread austin sun. so i thought this week i’d run at 5pm, get acclimatized or something. but i didn’t want to go to the gym at 4pm, so i thought i’d go as early as possible so as not to be too tired for the run.

so i got up at 6:30am to catch the first IF shuttle. an impressive feet for someone of my nocturnal nature.

it was all a bit of a blur, and a bit distracted by the onset of an allergic reaction i’m having to something. it’s manifestation is in the form of a rash (the dreaded ‘r’ word) and it’s causing me hell from my wrists to my shoulders. so my uninsured ass headed over to a general practitioner’s office to get reamed just for a prescription for some mega-roids. it turned out to be fairly painless and pleasantly cheap. they warned me that the drugs could cause me to feel “wired”. i guess this is it - physical fatigue paired with an inability to keep my eyes closed.

ass!

and yet not, given my nocturnal nature and all. it’s nice and dark and quiet (oh, except for my ridiculously loud a/c that rattles everything in the house).

i took the hundreds of dollars i thought i’d spend on doctor’s bills, and bought a suitcase. one week! i can’t wait to get a job and a place and a new bike! i really want a street bike - i loved the Trek but it was so heavy! and now, no one wants to buy it because no short people are looking for burnt orange mountain bikes at the moment. let’s hear it for ebay, let’s hear it for pain. let’s hear it for poison tears that wash your dreams down the drain.

let’s hear it for love!

there’s going to be a garage sale cum bake-off this weekend at my place. hurrah! brownies and good deals!!!

played my last game of Fireball Island tonight over at Marcella’s and Ginger’s new digs.

oddly enough, neither Marcella nor Ginger were in attendance.

oh, about that 5pm run this evening - i bombed it. 23 minutes and i was out like one of my sweat droplets sizzling on the pavement. this saturday, it’s going to be all about ice cold bottled water, team spirit, and a prayer for cloud cover.

In Washington, a black bear recently guzzled three dozen cans of beer before passing out at a state campground.

It turns out the bear was a bit of a beer sophisticate. He tried a mass-market Busch beer, but switched to Rainier Beer, a local ale, and stuck with it for his drinking binge.

Link to CNN article.