Part 1 (Austin, TX): and the flipside...

And some not-so-shining moments in Ryan's Austin venture:

(1) Adam Keizer, a close friend, and I go to bar/music venue and are sitting down for dinner. I'm munching away and Adam gives me the saucer-sized "look over there" eyes. I do look over there, and sure enough Sandra Bullock is standing right next to Austin native Jesse James. Serveral minutes after my initial "whooooooaaaaaa", a dude with a Monster Garage t-shirt walks into the bar. Again excited, I proclaim my intentions to tell this man that THE Jesse James is in the bar and that he too should be excited. I walk over to the man and carry out my duty as a the bestower of happiness, and the man looks at me and says "Yeah? Uh, yeah, I know. I work with him eeevery (notice the peevish drawl) day. Nothing special." I wither, crumple and mumble out a "Yeah, man, cool man, I bet that's exciting." It wasn't exciting. Adam pokes at me for my good intentions, calls a Monster Garage enthusiast-friend from Cheyenne to tell him about the incident, and the next day more head-hanging ensues.

(2) There are 8 computers available for non-students on the University of Texas-Austin campus. Or were. Every day I've been using those computers at the library and not-so-slightly exceeding the 30-minute usage period. Once the library lady asked me to abdicate my electronic throne. The same lady asked again the next day, only to engage me in an argument that I was destined to lose. On the last days of my library follies, I decided to play again with the fates and use those computers for a time period no longer than 30 minutes. During that time, the lady sees me again, laughing in apparent incredulity, and walks away without a word of scorn. I finish my time, half-shouting after her "hey, but at least I haven't exceeded my 30 minutes". I leave, only to return two hours later to 8 computers freshly passworded. I've officially been blacklisted from the U.T.-Austin library. It feels like the freshman-year cafeteria incident all over again. All I ever wanted was free internet and bananas. Must the consequences be so dire that everyone must pay for my crimes? Will there ever again be free access to the world wide web and "all-you-can-eat" fruit?