Fitting in. (Austin, Texas Edition) Part 1

Over the past few years, Austin has grown into as the city to live and travel. It may not seem like it if you’ve been living here, but you’re missing out of if you haven’t been outside in a while.

For starters, going downtown to check out the cool things that have been popping up around 6th street and SOCO would refresh your memory. Going into the fanciest hotels with friends is optional but, if you can get in without questions being asked, it’s easy after that.

The Paramount Theatre is somewhere you should go to for a certain reason. Not for a concert, even though that’s one of the best places to see one, but to see a movie that you’ve already seen at least 100 times. There’s always showings of good movies on the weekend.

 

Supporting your local businesses  is a big one when it comes to Austin. Even though you have that Whataburger gift card, Sandy’s is next door. Fast food isn’t really the sort of thing we’re aiming for when talking “local businesses”, but you can get the idea. Shopping for some cool clothes on SOCO is more of what we’re talking about, or even grabbing a neat snack at a food trailer will work. A way to get down there would be riding a bike. When it comes to riding a bike, some people feel that they can’t ride a bike or that they’re just not a bike person. Taking a pedicab would be plan B in a situation like this. So you can sit back and not worry about getting sweaty and riding around with your Walmart bike. Spending a couple hundred dollars on a new bike doesn’t hurt you in the long run, especially if you bought it from a local bike shop. How? They’ll always have your back when your bike isn’t working right. Maybe even if you’re a regular, they’ll fix it for free!

Prince Harry: A name to fear

Recently, Prince Harry has been bragging on his somewhat first kill.He arrived home today from Afghanistan and says he's "not normal" anymore.

Prince Harry had supposedly gotten a girl killed on his last day as an Apache gunner. The reason he's even in the helicopter shooting down Talibans in the first place is because he said he "plays Playstation a lot." In the video of him talking with abc news, he seems to be getting a lot of experience with guns while playing Call of Duty. 

The prince, says a lot on how he doesn't think anything is normal because since he's in that uniform, whatever they tell him to do, he has to do. He also points out that he wants to do this and is just like any other soldier and is just doing his job. 

"When I am wearing the uniform, I continue to be a soldier and I continue to be a soldier when I am not wearing the uniform," he said.

As for now, the prince is in the UK, being interviewed for doing his job, just like everyone else. 

This just goes to show, if you've ever played a videogame, you can be just like Prince Harry.

The straight dope.

              Recently, Lance Armstrong has been making a comeback into the media, rumored to confess his doping in pretty much every race he's ever participated in.

                       Oprah Winfrey has even gotten a spot to interview Armstrong about confessing, in his home here in Austin. Armstrong was against the charges filed by the USADA for quite some time. (USADA, not USDA) The reason he's doing this in the first place is in short, to get him back in racing.  Getting back into racing won't be the only thing that could happen if he admits. He could also get his sponsors back that he lost in October, like Nike, RadioShack and Trek. He could even go back to Livestrong if they open their doors to him, maybe not as a chairman but sweeping the floors is a start. Most people are already saying that he confessed and should just go home, others say that Armstrong should make a new start and "forget the haters".

                       Armstrong has already told many people he is thinking about confessing anyway because he really has nothing to lose anymore. 

                        "When, and if, Lance has something to say, there won't be any secret about it," said Tim Herman, just one of Armstrong's lawyers. As for now, the world must wait for Lance Armstrong to come out of the closet, of lies that is.

                    Some say they'll forgive him, just not for the continuous lying he did, denying his doping many times.

                      

                       
                     

In reality...

It’s the news that doesn’t impact your life at all, is the news you care about.

For example, the other day two big stories that blew up was that Kate Middleton was pregnant and the pope had made a twitter. It doesn’t affect you at all. Unless you live in England, which you probably don’t. But if you did, it still wouldn’t affect you for another twenty years or so. Even then it still wouldn’t change much. In the end, the only thing it will change is who you’re following on twitter. Why? Because you’re waiting for that day of a picture of the baby so you can retweet it. The pope’s finally making a twitter, maybe he’ll send some words of wisdom, in Latin. The Fiscal Cliff. Maybe you’ve seen it as a trending search on Bing a few times but were too lazy to click on it. That impacts you a lot. How? It’s a long story.

It’s also the dumb stories that you see on the news every morning that you won’t remember by 12:30. You like to watch it, everyone does because it’s interesting and easy to understand. You also like that sort of news because it’s something you can tell someone in class or tell a coworker to start a conversation. No one wants to talk about politics, they want to talk about the guy who won the lottery and how he doesn’t deserve it. I would rather talk about that than politics, anyone would because you also can’t take sides on dumb stories. It’s how much that will last as something you cared about until another story comes up. This blog for example, doesn’t impact your life at all, unless if it’s that you realized you spend too much time on Reddit, claiming you keep up with the news.

5 things you didn't know about competitive cycling

    
 

           Yeah, you've heard of Lance and the Tour. That''s all there is, right? A bike and someone on it to win.   Wrong. Here are 5 things you didn't know about competitive cycling.

1.   Steroids. Almost everyone in the Tour De France since forever used steroids. Don't argue, if they didn't, there's something really special in the water.
2.  Bikes. Someone who's really into cycling, and can spend the money doesn't just have two bikes (one for training and the other for racing). Usually they might have 4-6 bikes. Maybe two for training, one for road, one for trials and one as a backup. And maybe one more just because.
3. Water or Gatorade? You're not supposed to drink anything other than water or mixes when racing. By mixes, I mean Gatorade or some special juice. 
4. What are you good at? In a team, it's not one loses, all loses. Each rider has a different strength than someone else. Someone might be good at distance, speed, hills, turns, downhill. That's why they wear different colors on their jersey  to indicate what they specialize in. 
5. Carbs are good. The day before a race, or usually the day before any sport, eat as much carbs as you can. Not really as you can, but until you're full, sort of. The kinds of carbs not to eat would be pizza and cake. The good kinds of carbs would be bagels and pasta. It just helps boost your energy the next day.

   

How many years does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

           

            The Trail of Lights is back after a two-year absence in Austin. The cherished Austin tradition will now include attractions and experiences to expand this year.

        

            “The Trail of Lights is an iconic celebration of authentic Austin,” said Paul Carrozza, Founder and CEO of the RunTex Carrozza Foundation. RunTex Carrozza, Forefront Austin, and HEB are in partership funding the Trail of Lights this year. Some things that will be at the event this year will be going on every night like singers, carolers and different themes each night. Something new this year will be a spot for local businesses and benefiting charities can have their own booth.

               “H-E-B is honored to turn the lights back on again this year as the lead sponsor for the Trail of Lights," said Leslie Sweet, H-E-B Director of Public Affairs. The festival usually has about 250,000 people from out of Austin to visit.

                  There will still be the Trail of Lights 5K as there was every year, hosted by Humana. Carrozza hopes to keep this going next year by raising money with local businesses. 

                 "Trail of Lights is a piece of Austin’s history and a platform bringing together Central Texans to participate in a vibrant event and advance the community. Great things happen when we come together to celebrate," said Carrozza. 

                   The Trail of Lights will kick off on December 16, 2012 with a 5K run followed by the grand opening of the lights display. It will run through Dec. 23rd. HEB will also be providing a free book for every child who attend the Trail of Lights this year.

Don't blame him, he's old.

                  "I got the wrong Courtney," says Art Deaner when he was supposed to pick up Courtney Fetters, the daughter of Deaner's friend.

       Courtney Durr was waiting to be picked up by her mom's friend after school on Tuesday in Gloucester City, N.J. Both were supposed to be picked up at the same bus stop. When Deaner pulled up and asked for a Courtney who resembled the Courtney he was supposed to picking up. The girl said her name was Courtney and hopped in Deaner's car. The usual crossing guard had noticed that the car the Durr usually goes in didn't look like Deaner's. She wrote down  She was They talked for a while and Deaner asked her about a vacation that 6-year-old Courtney Fetters had taken. 9-year-old Durr denied ever staying with anyone on a vacation and ever going on the vacation. Deaner realized that he had the wrong Courtney.

      "I know Courtney was in Maine for two weeks," said Deaner. "I had to turn around and take her back. I got the wrong Courtney."

      "He was like, 'You weren't with Aunt Mary in Maine?'" said Courtney Durr. "No, I would never have been in Maine."

              As he was about to turn around to take Durr back, police had pulled him over and arrested him. They had gotten to him from the crossing guard's notice. He had gotten out of being charged with abduction after questioning.

        "I forgive them!" said Pam Durr, Courtney Durr's mother. "They didn't know any better because they haven't seen her in a while."

              Courtney Fetters was found safe but confused on when someone was coming to pick her up. Deaner said he just didn't recognize her because of the recent haircut and hadn't seen her in a few weeks. (A few weeks is a long time for Deaner)