[In order to help Doug move I decided to write up some thoughts on Austin. I have lived there on and off for about 30 months.]
What I like about Austin:
1. Great BBQ
- Ribs that melt in your mouth are hard to find outside of Texas.
2. Awesome community
- Most of my friends there were from the Austin Chinese Church. They are some of the most friendly and easy-going people. On any given week there are lots of fun activities.
3. Affordable housing
- Unlike the bay area, you can actually buy a decent house in Austin. A nice starter house around 2000 sq. ft. would cost about 150K. If you rent out a room or two, with the relatively low morgage rates, a house can easily pay for itself. If you need a realtor, I know a few!
4. Live music
- As the live music capital of the world, Austin has all kinds of bands playing all the time. If you like jazz, I recommend the Elephant Room and the Continental Club.
5. Outdoor sports (Sand volleyball, wake boarding)
- I spent so much time playing sand volleyball, my sand game is finally respectable. At a double B men's tournament at Auzzie's, Andy and I came third out of twelve teams. Matt and I also had a winning streak of 15 matches straight. We got fed up with the lack of competition at the Riata, and drove down to Zilker park one Saturday. Even there, we dominated.
What I don't like about Austin:
1. HOT HOT HOT summers
- The 100+ degree summers are hot, but I'd take that over Michigan winters any time.
2. Houses that don't appreciate
- With so much land, depending on where you buy, your house may not appreciate much in a five year span.
3. Mediocre Chinese food
- While much better than Michigan, Chinese restaurants there still has a lot of room for improvement. If Houston were a bit closer, all the Austin Chinese restaurants would shut down. One exception is Din Ho, which, despite its numerous health citations, is quite ok.
4. Too far from skiing
5. No professional sports team
1 comment:
hmm a couple of addendums to the comments about austin.
1) in addition to great bbq, there's also awesome tex-mex and a variety of independent restaurants to try out
2) it's a pretty young city - so you often meet people around your age
3) while there is no professional sports team, we have the Longhorns, which in my book, is good enough :P
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