I wish I could find a better copy of this, but I have to share this hilarious local commercial:


I guess some parts of this culture make sense to the people here but just seem completely absurd to an outsider.

Maybe I'm living in a more densely populated area than I realize, but it sure seems like there's an abundance of fast food restaurants down here. Walking out door of my office I can almost always catch the oily smell of Dairy Queen, or is it McDonalds... or Sonic Burger? Despite all that I've been eating pretty well. I think I can count on one hand the number of fast food meals I've had since I got here.

Last week I spent a day at Nameless Vally Ranch, the summer camp the Texas Conference sold, but is still leasing until the new camp is finished. We spent the day setting up for several upcoming events. Outdoor school this week, youth festival this weekend and camp throughout the summer. It's a very nice facility in the hills just outside of Austin. The new camp has the advantage of being located on a lake, but in one afternoon I could see the nostalgic attraction to this came. I'll be back down there this weekend and maybe snap a few pictures if I have some time.

I'm kinda toying with the idea of getting a dog. Seeing all the pooches at the art festival put the idea in my mind and then on the way back from the summer camp everyone started passing around cell phone pictures of their dogs. One of my co workers even has Great Pyrenees puppies, but those are a little excessive for an apartment. Strangely, when I looked up apartment friendly dogs Mastiffs and Great Danes both make the cut. I thinking more along the lines of a dog that is not mistaken for a horse. One of the leading apartment-friendly candidates more closely resembles a frog:


We'll see what ends up happening. I'm going to do a bit more homework before I make any decision.