I went to Ventana with Nick for lunch today and walked by this sight: the demolition of the IBM buildings on the West side of Burnett Road. How sad. These buildings were built rather differently than most. For siding, they used untreated steel. Which rusted of course. But, once rusted, that rust protected them from the environment. One of the unpleasant effects of this was that the sidewalks around the building were stained with rust.

I could have sworn that they had planted a small tree with a plaque to mark some anniversary. But I cant see it through the fencing. I wonder what happened to it…

I know there is construction going on, but which way do I go now?

It was cold out, for sure, but I didn’t think that it was cold enough to freeze water. So when I saw this ice sickle hanging down from the fire hydrant, I was amused. What better way to fight fire than with ice!

I am beginning to hate this new toll road. There are huge tie-ups on both ends of my commute. Now that Mopac is connected to IH-35, there are a lot more people dumping onto Mopac. And the breaking point has been reached. This backup started well north of the Parmer offramp. You are looking at the Duvall exit. All three lanes of the frontage road is sold, bumper to bumper traffic. This really screws people trying to make a right turn onto Duvall. Fortunately, I am not one of them. I am so close to my destination, though! The IBM buildings are just behind those buildings on the left!

Sigh, my truck is advancing through the years. Another milestone has been reached…

The sushi group went out to Sushi Sake today to try their world famous spicy Susan. We all agreed that Susan was creamy, not too spicy, and more than enough of her to go around.

The aftermath was not pretty. One lone voodoo wasabi figure in a sea of creamy sauce.

I stopped by the H.E.B. during my lunch break to pick a few things up. Normally, I like to get in and out as fast as humanly possible. Why spend more time in this place than you have to? There was a little bit of a congestion around the frozen food section today. It seems they were filming a commercial for the Super Bowl with Emmit Smith. There were a couple of policemen hanging around, so I was wondering why they were needed. And I only found out when I went through the checkout lane.

I did not drive into work today either. The winter weather advisory was still active until 10am. The toll-road was still closed (since it is entirely elevated for the majority of the road). I would be forced to take IH-35 and I imagine that it would be painfully slow.

All thats left of our little ice storm are these melting reminders…

And WTF is up with Austin running out of sand and de-icing supplies??? After two and a half days, both TXdot and the airport ran out stuff. They had to close the flyovers. I think it should be mandatory to keep at least 7 days worth of supplies!

Today was a real disappointment. Yesterday, the weatherman was showing a contour-map that depicted possible snowfall levels. Each line was supposed to be 1/2″ of snow. And Williamson county could get 1/2 to 1 inch of snow! Bah! Even one day in future, weathermen are still clueless. There was no snow this morning. Or sleet for that matter. Only a quarter inch of ice on the half dormant lawn.

Ugh, it is turning out to be quite the ice event here in Round Rock. Yesterday was icy. Today was even more icy. And tomorrow promises snow.

But the ice accumulation wasn’t as bad as in the past. I remember having to run my garden hose over a tree one day because it was bending down and touching the ground.

Interesting. When I went to home depot to get a refill on propane, I discovered that they have now automated the whole process. You either insert a credit card or scan in your receipt (wrapped around a credit card amusingly enough). One of those doors will then pop open. Your task is to figure out which. You place the empty container inside and close the door. Another door will pop open and you hunt again. You then take the full container from the spot.

Pretty easy and it beats having to wait around for an associate to show up.

Just saying…

All in all, ordering from Zappos was pretty quick and easy. As long as you know your shoe size, it couldn’t be easier.