Day Twenty One

Guess what? My dad's in town! It's so nice to have both parents here again, I've missed him so much. Unfortunately, this also means that they'll both be leaving soon (on Sunday), but I'm choosing not to think about that right now. We went straight to County Line from the airport and ate delicious barbeque and homemade bread. I love eating there, but I wish it wasn't so void of fruits and veggies. Sometimes, I just want some carrots. Is that so hard? I saw my first thunderhead on the drive home. And it was gigantic. Unfortunately it appears to have gone around Austin, so we didn't get any rain. Lame.

Crazy huge thunderhead. We saw some bolts of lighting come out of it,
I was impressed.

Another exciting part of today...I got to sleep in until 8:30! The second group of incoming grad students had their fire extinguisher training this morning, which meant I didn't have to be on campus until 10:30.  I hope they enjoyed putting out their gasoline fires, I know I did (seriously). Today we had an hour lecture from Library Information Services. The presenter is lucky that he went the day after safety training, because compared to the safety classes we took yesterday, his library presentation was riveting. My favorite library is still the one in the main building (the tower) though, because it looks like it could be in the movie Hogwarts, and there is no down side to that.

I also had my TA orientation today, which was exciting. I learned all the basics of TA-ing an upper division analytical chemistry class, and was relieved to learn that I don't have to deal with any students who want to argue over their grade or anything else that may come up, we just send them all to the lab director for that. You mean I have to deal with little to no conflict? I'll take it. But he did inform us that pretty much all of our students would be 21 or 22 years old. Fantastic, I'm barely older than any of them. Freshmen would be way easier to corral and force to pay attention.

And now for the second installment of "things I've learned in Austin"

1. People wear pants in 98 degree weather like it's a totally normal thing to do. Which it is not.

2. Washington State drivers licenses completely mystify anyone who sees them. "Why does your License # have letters in it? And a double photo? I don't understand."

3. Rush week is not a good time to go to the drag to get food. Sorority girls and frat boys are everywhere. It's like they multiply right in front of your eyes.

4. Driving 5 over the speed limit is not enough. You will get honked at, passed, and thrown angry looks. If you want to fit in, you have to drive erratically and way too fast.

5. Everyone talks about Interstate 35 like it's a death trap, when in reality it's like every other highway everywhere else. I felt like I was back home on I-5. Yet another example of Austin exaggeration. Just because trucks are allowed on this highway does not mean you will die. Just don't swerve in front of them.

6. Western Washington (in fact, basically the entire west coast) is way weirder and way more hipster than Austin, no matter how hard they try. It's time to just accept it.