GUD BLOG: SINGLE POST

Austin Dead Blog: Post 3

Saturday: On Which the US Government Ruins My Sleep

Saw some incredible panels today at the conference ranging from integrating better business measurements into design practices to a panel with Rainn Wilson about his upcoming movie, Super (the trailer for which looks fantastic). Walking between a couple of sessions, across the river, I ran into a parade consisting of an Irish marching band, virtually every firetruck in the city, a mounted division of some military or police unit, and a few police cars. Couldn’t really find any info online about it, but they were headed toward the capital building.

After all that action, some colleagues and I hopped a cab up to a restaurant called Fino.

Very cool little menu with lots of Mediterranean-inspired dishes. It actually felt a lot like a sexy, west coast-version of Ferndale’s Assaggi back home. Unfortunately, we were’t terribly hungry as a group, so we didn’t sample more than a couple small starters and some entrees, but my Wagyu beef cheeks were pretty awesome. Whatever they put in the sauce, presumably beyond the braising liquid, was delicious – very savory and herbal but smooth in terms of texture. They also had a killer cocktail (e.g., a fantastic Campari swizzle with rum and falernum) and wine (e.g., Occhipinti, R. Lopez de Heredia) program.

We rode the bus back, and I spent most of the rest of the night at a rooftop bar with some other colleagues.

Detroit needs rooftop bars. Spring, summer, and autumn with a nice cool breeze? Must happen. Must.

We ended the night at the Driskill Hotel, which gets an A+ on its old-school, classic interior design and a firm D for the Old Fashioned with a big ass chunk of orange peel and a pile of undissolved sugar in the bottom of the glass. It’s hard to convey just how many people were in the streets, which the city closed off to allow people to roam around a bit, and how many people were packed into some of the more popular area bars.

Everything came to a screeching halt for me when a colleague remembered that today was the switch to Daylight Savings Time. Some noise outside my hotel early on and an air conditioning unit that won’t quite ever get to the near frigid temperature I want conspired to wake me more than an hour early despite the time change, so I’m now running on about 5 hours of sleep. Thank you, time change. Now go to hell.

Before bed, I did notice that someone Tweeted to the entire #sxsw hashtag that the restaurant I went on my first night for cocktails, Haddington’s, was a good place to go. I fear a return there may be impossible if the word is out.

Finally, I leave you with this inspirational ad, posted on the wall in an Austin bar:

Posted on 2011.03.13 by Evan Hansen at 12:51 am
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