AUSTIN

We left 6 hours later than we had planned, but Jeth and I are easygoing people so we had only reached Bitter Divorce stage as we pulled out of the driveway.

Once on the road, the tension dissippated somewhat. I tried to call my sister in Austin, but I ended up calling Trashman by accident. I'll try to explain the mistake, but I may fail. I don't have my sisters' #s programmed into my phone, but they had been calling me so I hit the list of recent calls so I could get in touch with one of them. I don't have their numbers memorized, so I called the first number with the correct area code. Apparently, Trashman had called and I didn't pick up my phone since I was too busy slamming my head into a shelf in my haste to get out of there. If I had known it was Trash's number, I would have called it sooner. I know I sound like a flake as I write this, so I can only imagine how I sounded to Trashman when I called him asking for my sisters.

I probably sounded even more flaky when I squealed like a gay man at a Justin Timberlake concert after discovering that I was talking to Trashman (after he told me that I had the wrong number and then called me back). I found out his real first name, and he found out Jethro's. I know I'd feel weird calling him 'Trashman' if I ever met him in real life, but I can't possibly think of him as his real name.

Anyway, he told me that he was trying to talk Jack into meeting us too, which, for some reason, instantly made me wish I'd stuck to my diet and lost 10 lbs.

We chatted a bit about how there was a possibility that we knew more about each other than actual live friends did, and then he told me he and Jen had gotten married. I felt so priveleged to hear about it firsthand, and once again offer my congratulations.

We made tentative plans to see the light show, but if you read his blog you'll know that it was not meant to be. Damn flu season.

Austin Night One

If you've never been to Austin and you like to travel, I suggest you put it at the top of your list. It's a small, quaint, bohemian city. Very artsy with a lovable weirdo on every street corner. It's hard to find your way around at first because the streets are referred to as two different names. By the way. Would someone please tell me how one is supposed to infer from a sign that says TX-1 that it is really Mopac? And while you're pondering that, please tell me how one is supposed to know that Research is really 183?

We finally made it to Austin. As prearranged, one of my sisters babysat and Jeth and I hit 6th street. We went to pub called BD Riley's. They had the best Texas Irish band I've ever heard. I know our family is Irish somewhere in the Euro-soup. My sister and I couldn't keep from jigging. Jethro thought we were nuts, but was so hypnotized by the jig my breasts were doing that he didn't say anything.

I ended up pretty well smashed and left, but Jethro stayed out with my sister who hooked him up with free Mojitos all night. I was pretty gone by the time I left, so I can only imagine how drunk Jethro was after drinking free Mojitos all night. When he got home, I was still kind of bombed. Things happened. Jethro will blog about it.

to be continued....