Well, Austin was great. The wedding was wonderful. I really enjoyed spending time with friends AND family. I've been in my new apartment for about a week now. Some of the furniture I purchased arrived yesterday. The rest will be a couple more weeks cause they're still building it. I could really use a woman's touch with the decor now that I have most of the furniture. Any takers? :-) Parking is really difficult at my place. The first night I drove for about 20 minutes and finally found a place 3 blocks away that I had to pay for. The parking has gotten a bit easier, but only because of my perception. The second night I parked the only space I could find was about 2 feet into a pedestrian walkway. I guess I still think I'm in Austin, cause I thought that might be a problem. The next morning I walked out, wondering if I light have a ticket. To my surprise there was someone parked in front of me, completely in the walkway, and someone else parked beside me on the curb. None of us had tickets. So with my new perception, parking spaces are now a bit easier to come by. I did my first grocery shop. I have been told once before, but completely forgot that you are supposed to bag your own groceries. I waited till she was done rining everything up, then paid the total. Then it hit me, no one had been bagging my groceries, and she was staring at my waiting for me to do it. Luckily I didn't buy that much, so it didn't take too long to do it. The other people in line had to wait for me, cause she couldn't start checking the next person's items or they would get mixed with mine. On my trip back from Austin I saw something very interesting in Paris. I went into the bathroom at the airport, and it was one of the old kind. It was a flat porcelain rectangle on the ground with a hole int he middle, and textured places for you to put your feet on either side. I've seen these before, so that wasn't too surprising. The surprising part was that it used one of those laser sensors to automatically flush when you leave. That is probably one of the best examples I've seen of the juxtaposition of this country trying desperately to hang on to their old traditions and culture while eagerly inviting new technology and the EU. Well, I'm off to dinner, taking some friends to Le Mat Faim. Bonne weekend!
Posted by Brian at April 25, 2003 12:09 PM