Hello from Austin and SXSW
I’m in day… I’m not even sure anymore here at SXSW Interactive, which is one of the bigger conferences concerning the tubes of the internets and the lonelygirl15’s we send through them.
And after a few days here in Austin, I have a few things to say about Seattle.
1. The traffic has been nothing short of awful. Honestly, Seattle traffic is far worse, but you know, we’re actually polite about it. We line up to cross the Ship Canal and we’re all in it together and no one is really so stupid as to try to cross all four lanes from the NE 45th onramp to the 520 offramp… doing 70mph… in Saturday noon traffic. People here cannot drive.
2. The heavens opened up. Luckily, my REI jacket kept me dry (except for my jeans, sadly). But it really was the heavens opening up. Remember how hard it rained in November? It rains like that ALL THE TIME. And then it’s dry.
3. I’ve always wondered how strong the Seattle Freeze was and whether it even existed. And then last night, I discovered that it may just be true. I got intercepted by a twentysomething woman at a main party last night who was asking me all about Seattle, and then asked me if I wanted to go with HER FRIENDS TO ANOTHER PARTY. She had known me for FIVE MINUTES.
Now, let’s stop there for a second. When was the last time you met a Seattle native at a bar or club or event around town, and after a few minutes they asked you if you wanted to go to a party with their friends? And it wasn’t about getting in your pants, it was all about “Hey, we’re rounding up some people to go drink some beer and dance and listen to music?”
Honestly, now. Show of hands. One, two, three… I see about five of you out there, out of what, 30 or 40 regular readers?
Yeah, this happens EVERY DAMN NIGHT here in Austin. Meanwhile, Seattleites are, more often or not, going to be NOT inviting you anywhere until they have ten years of experience with you and a blood test OR they just want to get laid. Yes, I know it’s not 100% this way in Seattle, but it does seem like a common template.
(BTW, Carolyn, Marilyn, Jennifer, Marjorie… very nice to meet you. You’re all rad girls.)
Anyway:
4. Mentioning the viaduct problem brings lots of chuckles. The more I explain it, the more people think we’re idiots. “Why didn’t they tear it down years ago?” seems to be the most common phrase. Austin doesn’t have any moral high ground, really, with the years of light rail discussion that have led to massive five-level interchanges and freeways running 30 miles in every direction, but the problem there is very clearly polar — you’re either against light rail or for it. Last I counted, there were SEVEN ideas out there for the viaduct — tear it down, rebuild, tunnel, “repair and prepare,” bridge over the Sound, semi-tunnel with the partial cover, and just leave it be and let $deity sort it out. There’s no easy answers because we don’t WANT easy answers. Opinions in Seattle are like Lone Star beer in Austin — all over the place and just a quick way to make you feel self-important and look really stupid if you have more than three of them.
5. And those 5-level interchanges…. wow. They’re huge. I’m actually really happy we DON”T have them in Seattle. They’re 200+ feet tall and block the sun like so many cheap condos in Seattle.
I’m going to the Austin Metblogs meetup tonight at the Nuclear Taco party. So, if you’re in town, come see me (and the Houston/Austin/MPLS Metbloggers….)
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The five-level interchanges are way worse than the viaduct. BTW, best Seattle opinions analogy ever.
Thanks for bringing some rain with you from Seattle. We Austinites haven’t seen any rain since January so we are pretty thrilled. I’m sorry that I won’t be able to get to the Metroblog meetup but I’m going to be at the city zoning board of adjustment meeting, protesting against a proposed 180 foot building on a site zoned for a 60 foot building and around the corner from my one-story house.
The developer further endeared himself to me and my neighbors by saying that it was “OK for South Austin to have something nice”. We figured we did have something nice and that’s why so many people are dying to move into our ‘hood.
I might be the only person in the world who hates Austin. Don’t get it. Don’t want to get it. It will always be part of Texas to me. That said, no reason to go there ever. It is not as cool as people say or think. The people who say it’s cool haven’t been anywhere that really is. Have fun. Be careful. Don’t let anyone throw up on you during SXSW. It a regular occurrence down there.
The Seattle Freeze should really be renamed the Seattle Emigrant Freeze. The nicest people I’ve met in Seattle are the natives. It’s the people who move here that perpetrate “the Freeze”.