3/2/17 Austin Is #11

    So much for calling Austin a little city as I thought of it.  Turns out that due to all the people moving in, it is now the eleventh largest city in the United States.  We are not alone, Houston is No. 4, San Antonio is No. 7, Dallas is No. 9, and we are No.11.  Texas is alive and doing well, if well means people moving into it.  It's either that or the natives are reproducing like cable television and the internet were never invented.
    I don't know that I am upset to have so many people living around me, what does bother me is that we have one ok mall, two if you count the one 30 miles away, Lakeline Mall.  As many people as are moving in, though, I don't see the housing boom of ten years ago.  I don't want to say that I want to move, but we do go and look at new houses and subdivisions now and then.  Most everything new is headed out of the city.  Easton Park which was touted as the Circle C of the east looks hokey as hell.  I wanted to like it, our first house was close to that area, but the houses are mostly wood and cheap looking wood on the outside.  We have been over there a few times and they have been slower than anticipated, but I think part of the problem is that they are overpriced.  Othere than that, there's a large community across the freeway from Cabela's, but that is Buda territory, huge communities by Salt Lick, but that is outside of Austin as well.  There is that Estancia place on 35, right before the toll roads, the community looks pretty good, but they are pricey, like upper $350's for an average house.
    What is keeping Austin so hip and popular?  There might be semiconductor jobs, but it can't be as good as it was in the 90's.  There are the various universities, but they don't pay well, I don't think.  The music scene is crap, back in the 90's there was at least Southpark Meadows for big open air concerts.  I don't know that the big names come to town, like Metallica or Aerosmith.  They usually go for San Antonio or Dallas.
    The weather is fairly mild, except for the summer when we stay above 95 for like 4 months.  The lakes are nice when we aren't in a drought and they are only half full.  The parks are fine, if you don't mind paying to hang out in a public park, at least Zilker Park used to charge on busy weekends, to park, in a park!  Traffic is a freaking mess.  Anytime, nowadays, I-35 is going to be crowded and full.  I leave work at 6:30am and nothing but white headlights headed into the city and red lights leaving the city.