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I use the toll road all the time. I have to. I work at 183/Braker and live in Schertz. If I don't leave by 3:30pm I either stay until 7 or take the toll road to south of austin. I only make the trip a couple times a week but I-35 is terrible
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Apr 5, 2015 20:31
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I lived in DC for a while and while the traffic there was an order of magnitude worse than Austin, it somehow wasn't anywhere near as frustrating. I always get this strange feeling in Austin that things would be significantly better if only some small tweak were made. DC it was just jammed solid and there wasn't any amount of traffic light timing, dumbasses learning how to merge, or change in the turning lanes that was going to make a difference. Also you have to drive in Austin. The city is more a bunch of older suburbs that have merged together and that means single family homes with no businesses nearby to walk to. Biking can be a great way to get around but people get incredibly aggressive around rush hour so commuting would be nerve wracking and of course there are the 105 days in the summer. Even if you wanted to walk sidewalks are pretty much nonexistent in large sections of town. I visited St Louis recently and was just amazed at how even the not so good sections of town had better pedestrian facilities than you find anywhere in Austin.Xibanya posted:Don't believe nonsense about "cheaper cost of living," it's expensive to live here, especially considering what you get. Rents are soaring and you don't get much from the city in terms of amenities the way you do from a "real" city. And wages here are depressed by the glut of UT grads hanging around. I'm earning $20k less than I'm worth here (as you would know from the corporate thread) and the only reason why I haven't split yet is because my SO's career is going really well. No kidding. Holy hell is the cost of living skyrocketing. I don't see how most people make it work (I brought my salary with me from DC). Even homeowners that don't have to pay the spiking rents are getting slammed with property tax and appraisal increases. Also I've been noticing the quality of the limited amenities around town really taking a nosedive recently. It seems like parks and greenspaces are being allowed to get overgrown, no maintenance is done, and every single open area in them is absolutely covered in dog poo poo. It is sad because the outdoor space is such an important way to escape and decompress (from the traffic stress).
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Apr 6, 2015 02:46
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Two questions, 1 - Is the dating scene in Austin that terrible? 2 - How does San Antonio compare to Austin?
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Apr 6, 2015 02:56
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Tab8715 posted:Two questions, 1 - Yes. God is it awful. No matter what gender you are you will have a hell of a time finding someone if you standards include such things as "has a job of some sort". Always fun to get single people ranting about it at get togethers because the stories are normally amazing. 2- Dunno.
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Apr 6, 2015 03:14
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Oh yeah, Shifty Pony is a cool dude. I met him once, but the evening was overshadowed by the fact that Wafflehound's wife almost died of Chinese food. I have lived in more expensive cities than Austin in terms of rent but I always felt like I was getting something back. I don't feel that way here. I visited my folks in Georgetown today for Easter and my mom told me that single bedrooms in fuckin' Georgetown could go for $800-$900 for 500 square feet. What the gently caress, people!
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Apr 6, 2015 03:28
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If you are going to move to Austin TX, then PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF HOLY GOD do the whole state of Texas (and America  ) a favor and move to one of the Tom Delay gerrymandered Republican-voting districts.drat there are a lot of posts I want to comment on in this thread already; it's gonna take me awhile to respond to them all. I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Apr 6, 2015 |
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Apr 6, 2015 03:32
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Xibanya posted:Oh yeah, Shifty Pony is a cool dude. I met him once, but the evening was overshadowed by the fact that Wafflehound's wife almost died of Chinese food. It was really tasty Chinese food though. But yeah I no longer take anyone with any allergies there because of that mix-up. I felt so drat bad. I think that's a really salient point about Austin. You pay a lot and get nearly nothing. The most that can be say is that various things are pretty OK for Texas. I do like the city and have people I know and care about here. My hobby (biking) doesn't need as much in the way of city infrastructure and it has hit a critical mass of people doing it in the area that it is much safer than it would be in other cities. But while a few years ago I moved cross country to get back here now it mostly inertia and my friend network is what is keeping me here.
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Apr 6, 2015 04:02
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Also a bunch of goddamn loving hipsters approved a city-wide bag ban. So if you ever go to the grocery store and you don't have any reusable bags on you, you have to buy them now. Yay.
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Apr 6, 2015 05:14
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Dr. Gitmo Moneyson posted:Also a bunch of goddamn loving hipsters approved a city-wide bag ban. So if you ever go to the grocery store and you don't have any reusable bags on you, you have to buy them now. Meh, the bag thing I'm fine with. I've lived in cities with plastic bags getting caught all over shrubs and poo poo. That Austin isn't covered in plastic bags is one of the nice things I'll concede about it.
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Apr 6, 2015 06:37
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Dr. Gitmo Moneyson posted:Also a bunch of goddamn loving hipsters approved a city-wide bag ban. So if you ever go to the grocery store and you don't have any reusable bags on you, you have to buy them now. I'm sorry about the 9 extra calories it takes to bring your bags in with you. For the rest of us, it is nice to not have to see this poo poo everywhere:  muh freedum!!!!
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Apr 6, 2015 07:50
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40 OZ posted:I'm sorry about the 9 extra calories it takes to bring your bags in with you. For the rest of us, it is nice to not have to see this poo poo everywhere: Hey it wasn't my freedum they hosed with. I threw all my plastic bags away because I'm responsible and not a lazy littering rear end in a top hat like some other people. 
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Apr 6, 2015 10:53
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Dr. Gitmo Moneyson posted:Also a bunch of goddamn loving hipsters approved a city-wide bag ban. So if you ever go to the grocery store and you don't have any reusable bags on you, you have to buy them now. This is probably the least lovely part about Austin
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Apr 6, 2015 14:30
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Dr. Gitmo Moneyson posted:Also a bunch of goddamn loving hipsters approved a city-wide bag ban. So if you ever go to the grocery store and you don't have any reusable bags on you, you have to buy them now. That was like two loving years ago, sorry, "bring bag when go to store" is such a trial for you.
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Apr 7, 2015 00:32
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http://www.house.state.tx.us/news/press-releases/?id=4372quote:03/05/2013 Surprisingly, it did not pass.
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Apr 7, 2015 01:01
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You know what's really great? Purchasing separate plastic bags to put garbage in, instead of just putting garbage in empty grocery bags. So much better for the environment! Being against plastic bags would make a lot of sense if old plastic bags weren't at all useful, but since they are, it makes very little sense to me.
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Apr 7, 2015 06:41
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PT6A posted:You know what's really great? Purchasing separate plastic bags to put garbage in, instead of just putting garbage in empty grocery bags. So much better for the environment! This would be a good point if plastic grocery bags weren't trivially acquired way faster than you can use them, unless you're putting all your garbage in them, in which case I'm sorry for you/whoever deals with your garbage. We shopped for years with the bag ban, using old plastic grocery bags for small garbage tasks, and we still had a massive backlog. (Then we moved and now shop at an HEB over the Round Rock border, and we're back to getting bags faster than we can use them.)
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Apr 7, 2015 07:52
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Some of us even recycle our plastic shopping bags.
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Apr 7, 2015 18:46
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Alex DeLarge posted:That was like two loving years ago, sorry, "bring bag when go to store" is such a trial for you. I might bring some with me if my roommate didn't object to me keeping a supply of reusable bags in the kitchen, and I had another place to put them where I could access them quickly as I'm walking out the door.  Or if half the trips I make to the store weren't spur-of-the-moment trips I didn't think about until after leaving my place. I mean, the worst it is for me is an annoyance, so there's that. Although to be honest, I wouldn't mind getting a not-seethru bag at the pharmacy to put prescription meds in whenever I pick those up. Sardonik posted:http://www.house.state.tx.us/news/press-releases/?id=4372 Well, it's...... better than some of the other things they could've spent that time and money on instead, I guess. I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Apr 7, 2015 |
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Apr 7, 2015 19:16
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San Diego transplant, been here for about a year and half and I've grown to really like it, though there's definitely less palmtrees than I'm used to  .I have made many friends at my workplace, as well as apartment complex, that will be lifelong. They are a mix of people from Austin, places elsewhere in texas, and transplants. There's one who's from Houston who listens to TOOL all the time and is pissed at everything. Despite this, he is very generous. For example, he let me know I'm always welcome to use his expensive juicer and I have taken him up on this offer once or twice and juiced hard. Point of the matter is, nearly everyone here I've met has been friendly. Traffic sucks during standard rush hour times and gets insanely lovely during the numerous festivals held here. People also love to tailgate. There seems to always be something neat going on for free or cheap if you want to get out of the house. The lake is way beautiful, and kayaking or stand up paddleboarding (a.k.a. SUP Boarding) on a nice day is an experience every time. I personally love to drink, and if you like to as well, Austin has all types of bars to accommodate you. If you want to drink giant, tainted long island iced teas at a club, there's 6th Street and Rainey. East 6th is more low key, more hip, and more better for having conversations with friends or the other friendly people in Austin. Scattered everywhere else are plenty of other awesome bars, like The Wheel that recently opened on MLK, but both sides of 6th street are absolutely hot spots. Places are always getting gentrified so it's not hard to find a reasonable place to live, and everything's pretty drat safe. Absolutely have a car. This place is spread out. Move here
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Apr 8, 2015 01:00
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Tab8715 posted:Two questions, Your options are 1. Trust fund babies who don't work and you can't afford to date 2. Poor hipsters(they and #1 often overlap) 3. Young professionals that you meet at a bar which is the only 4 hours of the day they aren't working so good luck with that
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Apr 8, 2015 01:19
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go3 posted:Your options are ... No strippers? 
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Apr 8, 2015 07:51
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Dating is always going to be YMMV, but I'd actually say the scene is pretty healthy here if you're in the late 20s / early 30s range. We're a pretty young city, with a median age of 31 (vs. 37 nationally), as there's a constant influx of young people that stick around after college. The dating sites are populated.
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Apr 8, 2015 15:25
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The dating scene is fine. Does anyone think it is way better in Midland or Waco? Come on.
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Apr 8, 2015 22:29
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Yeah, bitching about dating in Austin is like bitching that someone pissed in your pool, while everyone else within 500 miles only has a mud puddle to flop around in. Dating in Austin is pretty much like dating in any other major metropolitan area: Way better than trying to date somewhere that's not a major metropolitan area.
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Apr 9, 2015 05:17
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Midland or Wac aren't a fair comparison, other cities like Minneapolis, Houston, San Antonio, Portland, etc
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Apr 9, 2015 06:18
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Minneapolis is pretty rad from may through october. We don't have as nice weather during the winter but there's a load of singles, people are nice, and we live in a blue state (says the guy about to move to salt lake city.) Oh and there's jobs.
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Apr 9, 2015 13:24
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Shine posted:I've never been there, but from what I've heard it's like Portland except somehow whiter. True. Mortley posted:The most unique thing about Austin is its residents' attitudes toward it. No place with housing that intensely segregated by race should claim to be progressive. Most of the hipsters and hippies are political moderates and frequently Rand Paul supporters. The live music scene is quite good, but be honest: you're not going to go listen every night. Austin is a very popular place to go to "make it" (no matter what "it" is), so competition is fierce. However bad you think the traffic is, it's worse. Also true. Tab8715 posted:Two questions, 1. I never had a problem with the dating scene in Austin. I literally went on dates 5x a week the first 2 years I lived in Austin and although the quality varied (you get a lot of people who moved to Austin to "have fun" and therefore work lovely jobs, TFA people, insufferable tech people, or grad students. And roller derby players. So many roller derby players), I never thought it was terrible. You sift through it until you find someone that sticks, or you bail out. Same as anywhere else, maybe a bit more obnoxious because if your idea of dates isn't going to a bar, going to a concert, or doing some "trendy" Austin thing, it can be pretty boring. Dr. Gitmo Moneyson posted:... No strippers? I've done it a handful of times. Austin actually has a lot of strips clubs for it's size and "progressive" reputation. That being said, you better know what you're getting into if you date a stripper. You might think you're cool with it, but whatever hang-ups you have about relationships are going to get a run for their money in that situation and no one wants to deal with that poo poo. 2. Never been to SA for more than a day trip, so can't ay. I lived in Austin for 4.5 years after getting out of the Army and going to school at UT. The first two years I loved it. The traffic was terrible (never take I35 if you can avoid it, never drive during rush hour if you can avoid it, pick a side of the river to live on and learn to love it), the lowkey racism and bigotry was disgusting, rent is overpriced, but I didn't care, because I was fresh out of an enlistment and just wanted to go to school and party every night, which I did. Around year 3 the luster started to wear and I found myself having to really work to break out of normal routines and really started to be annoyed with the rent hikes, the traffic, the terrible infrastructure, the weird local laws, the way the city shuts down for any kind of music festival or large event, the lack of actual amenities that you expect in a big city, etc. By year 4 I was ready to go for all those reasons and also the longer you live there the harder it becomes to ignore the local political and social issues. Once you begin to get even a sliver of awareness about the city's problems, it really takes the bloom off the rose and you realize that Austin is basically sticking it's head in the sand to avoid having to make any sort of drastic change that would actually help citizens, especially if those changes mean it might lose a spot on a "top 10 cities for X" list. Unless those changes involve building expensive high rise apartments and condos everywhere, those are a-okay. Austin has a lot of stuff going for it. You can literally find something to do any given night of the week. It's Neverland for 20-something (and 30-something) people who are still trying to decide on their career or grad school or who just want a comfortable holding pattern in a place with lots of distractions. It's close to Houston and Dallas (which I think is the better city, BTW). UT is (for the time being) still a very good school with very good programs that the state is trying its damnedest to run into the ground. But it's a city that refuses to actually grow in a way that improves quality of life for anyone making less than 75k a year, that is terribly segregated and that offers very few long-term options or prosperity for people who don't work in Tech, for the State govt, or for UT (and good luck getting those, because something like 40 people move to Austin every day and most of them want those jobs). Some goons will probably know who I am IRL from the details provided here and call me bitter or whatever, but this is honestly just my two cents. I enjoyed my time in Austin, but I'm glad it's over. It ain't for everybody. Move there for a few years, enjoy the hill country, suffer through the BRUTAL summers and the INCAPACITATING allergy seasons, get your fill of live shows and sixth street, and then move on somewhere else. And the allergies WILL get you. I never had allergies a day in my life until I moved to Austin. The first 2 years I skated by, and then they hit me like a truck in year 3. Learn to keep your house well-stocked with Benadryl and Claratin. Mat Cauthon fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Apr 10, 2015 |
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Apr 10, 2015 03:40
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amethystbliss posted:My main concerns are about race relations. Since we left TX, we're unexpectedly raising two middle-school aged boys after a family emergency (in addition to having a baby of our own). The boys are half black and have dealt with some awful racism in rural places they've lived previously, but luckily they've had no issues whatsoever in the Bay Area. Any insights on what life might be like in Austin? I've had a mixed bag of experiences with race and racism in Austin. On the one hand, I found (or sought out) very open-minded people who embrace diversity in my friend circle and generally when I meet people out in public everyone is pretty nice and no one says or does anything terrible. On the flip side: 1. Been called the N-word more than once by a passing car or truck while walking around downtown at night. 2. Been called the N-word by a group of kids (like, ranging in ages 6-12) while on a camping trip. 3. Had plenty of people tell me that the east side is the "bad part of town". That was in 2010. Now they say that the east side is cool, just "don't go past 12th and Chicon" or whatever the gentrification magniot line is these days. 4. Had a professor at UT joke that he loved how diverse Austin is because his housekeeper is Mexican. 5. Had bars and clubs pull the "dress code" thing more than a few times. 6. Got profiled on campus and around town a few times. So, yeah. Those are just the highlights. I don't know how it would be within the school system for middle aged kids, but UT for sure struggles with race issues. There's always an issue with frats and sororities doing racist poo poo, there was a spate of minority students getting beaned with water balloons a few years back, people get profiled by police, etc. Something to keep in mind. Austin is generally better than the surrounding areas, but it ain't perfect. And I've definitely felt unsafe in some places right outside of Austin. Like, to the extent that I don't stop in those places if I'm driving through and I don't go there at night.
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Apr 10, 2015 04:19
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Xibanya posted:Don't believe nonsense about "cheaper cost of living," it's expensive to live here, especially considering what you get. Rents are soaring and you don't get much from the city in terms of amenities the way you do from a "real" city. And wages here are depressed by the glut of UT grads hanging around. I'm earning $20k less than I'm worth here (as you would know from the corporate thread) and the only reason why I haven't split yet is because my SO's career is going really well. Rap Record Hoarder posted:, the lack of actual amenities that you expect in a big city, etc. Can you be specific about what's missing, or are you just talking about public transportation? In the cities I was familiar with growing up, it wouldn't occur to anyone that there should be free parks with playgrounds or splash pads, let alone about 40 of them in one town. Austin seems much more park-happy than average.
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Apr 10, 2015 04:41
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Captain Bravo posted:Yeah, bitching about dating in Austin is like bitching that someone pissed in your pool, while everyone else within 500 miles only has a mud puddle to flop around in. Dating in Austin is pretty much like dating in any other major metropolitan area: Way better than trying to date somewhere that's not a major metropolitan area. Rap Record Hoarder posted:But UT for sure struggles with race issues. There's always an issue with frats and sororities doing racist poo poo, there was a spate of minority students getting beaned with water balloons a few years back, people get profiled by police, etc.
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Apr 10, 2015 04:44
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Phyzzle posted:Can you be specific about what's missing, or are you just talking about public transportation? In the cities I was familiar with growing up, it wouldn't occur to anyone that there should be free parks with playgrounds or splash pads, let alone about 40 of them in one town. Austin seems much more park-happy than average. Public transit is one of them. Austin does have a lot of parks for it's size, but a lot of those are centralized around specific areas i.e. downtown, UT, Hyde Park, other older neighborhoods that are now more affluent. If you live near them, it's great. If you don't....have fun sitting in traffic 30 minutes to get to one of them on a weekend (if you can find parking). Austin isn't very walkable. Like, there are whole swaths of the city without sidewalks. The streets were starting to run into disrepair in the last year or so. Someone else mentioned that the parks are starting to be less kept up on. Things like museums and art exhibits aren't free, which was super weird for me because growing up on the east coast almost all of those are free or at least very cheap for students and kids. The city will hold events like the Kite Festival, which are great, but then an entire large portion of main throughouhfares will be shut down (Lamar, Riverside, Barton Springs) which is a very big deal. Especially when very few of the main arteries in the city have more than two lanes or turning medians. Maybe amenities is the wrong word, because of most of this stuff is more akin to basic infrastructure. It just feels like you're not getting out of the city what you pay into it unless you live in very specific areas, and after a while it grates.
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Apr 10, 2015 04:50
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Rap Record Hoarder posted:There's always an issue with frats and sororities doing racist poo poo, there was a spate of minority students getting beaned with water balloons a few years back, people get profiled by police, etc. The balloons were filled with bleach iirc.
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Apr 11, 2015 04:49
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computer parts posted:The balloons were filled with bleach iirc. Correct. And I still hear reports of that happening from time to time.
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Apr 15, 2015 04:12
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computer parts posted:The balloons were filled with bleach iirc. Actually they weren't, according to university findings. Still a lovely thing to do to someone, especially if it was racially motivated, but at least it wasn't full-on assault with a dangerous chemical.
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Apr 15, 2015 15:50
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