Find Your Happy Place

Decided I will have to channel my inner Austin-self and find my 'Happy Place' more often...Haha, I sound like a bad version of Dr.Joel McGraw-Robbins already...

Made a little movie with Austin and San Antonio pictures (First time with this program, so bear with me...). And yes: I really, really liked it there...

Baby let's go...Away from here...Don't be confused...The way is clear...
And if you want it you got it forever...This is not a one-night stand, baby, so...
Let the music take your mind... Just release and you will find...

God Is Everywhere

No no, relax. No spontaneous religious conversion here. Not very likely to happen anytime soon...
I just noticed that I think and post about a lot of personal/mood/rant-stuff. Maybe I have too much time to be self-centered and narcissistic lately...

So I decided to put up more pictures and more 'observation'-type writing. At least every once in a while to offset the me-me-me posts...Haha.


I took this picture in the gardens around the State Capitol in Austin, TX, last month. There were a bunch of statues and stones commemorating a number of things. The statue of a cowboy, a frontier woman and other things related to Texas history ("The surrounding 22 acres (89,000 m²) contained 17 monuments and 21 historical markers commemorating the "people, ideals, and events that compose Texan identity."). Pretty neat setup and I enjoyed my stroll around the area.

This thing just got me thinking and quite frankly baffled me a bit. Why put up the 'Ten Commandments' in the grounds surrounding the seat of the state government? Is it meant to be a sign that Christianity and government are or should be linked? Well, just seemed weird to me. First Amendment, anyone? Oh, apparently not just to me:

A granite monument of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol was at the center of a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case, Van Orden v. Perry, in which the display was challenged as unconstitutional. In late June 2005, the Court ruled that the display was not unconstitutional.

Holding: A Ten Commandments monument erected on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol did not violate the Establishment Clause, because the monument, when considered in context, conveyed a historic and social meaning rather than an intrusive religious endorsement.

Huh. Go figure. Well, I guess I see the point. Still slightly weird, in my opinion. You could also display some kind of slave-owner-manual and claim it's a historical document, no?

Well, then I also found this:

A tablet in front of a very sad looking patch of land with no roses. Well, it was February after all. But look at the last sentence: "The beauty of the Tyler rose is an example of what happens when God and man work together." Oh really?

Oh well, I don't know...Here are a few more pictures of less controversial memorials and statues:

I really liked this memorial. Looked pretty awesome in the sun, with the shadows creating odd patterns. Neat. It reminded me a little of the Vietnam Memorial in D.C.
The aforementioned Texas pioneer lady and the cowboy:

The boy scouts sponsored a small replica of the Statue of Liberty:
Oh, all quotes in this post from Wikipedia (Don't want to be accused of plagiarism after all. But I am too lazy to post exact links. Hehe). Pictures by Me.

What's Not To Love?

So I always knew that I had a strange fascination with all things American...Not completely sure why that is, but I'll think about it a little more and come back to this topic...

Anyway, I seem to quickly develop a strange fascination with all things Texan...or Austin...or maybe it's still just a fascination with America...Hmm.

About Austin: There might be stuff that it is over the top or a touch too much Texas-pride...I haven't made up my mind yet. But seriously, how much can really be wrong with a city where you can get free copies of America's Finest News Source at every other street corner?
Yea. Not that much.
Also, a city that houses a awesomely named Hot Sauce Shop where I found "Fire Dust'd P-Nut But'r" (yea, Ok, stupid name, but what a concept! Blend peanuts, black pepper, garlic, chile caribe and halapeno peppers!) will always hold a special place in my heart...

Austin - A Few Pictures

Beautiful day today. Checked out the running trail (I was the only doofus with a jacket and...soon enough a beet-red face) and walked around the city and the University of Texas campus.

Just a few pictures. Comments later...

Well, two comments:
Texas apparently has the biggest state capitol in the USA (Oh really? Haha. Why am I not surprised?).
The "Lone Star" is everywhere (Seals, stars, flag...). Cannot say I mind though. Must be the Bavarian in me. I like people who show some pride in their state and are not shy about showing it...

Mark Twain Made Me Do It...

Yes, yes he did. It's not my fault...
I read a quote by Mark Twain a few weeks ago, and it inspired me to take this trip after all. My first-ever, all-solo trip. I've traveled alone before (most of the time, really), but it was always to go live somewhere or meet somebody...Never been on a vacation all by myself.

Oh yea, here's the quote:
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

I often feel as if I'm just a little too careful, a little too shy, a little too hesitant in the things I do. Not that nine days in Austin, TX, (of all places), will suddenly make me into a fearless explorer, but I guess I can call it a start...

I have nothing planned really, except for a 1/2-marathon race on February 17th. It's more an excuse for making the trip though, I guess. I really just wanted to get out of the Europe again...See if the U.S. still fascinates me the way it used to...See if I still like it here...See if I could really live here again...

Left the Netherlands yesterday morning local time. The non-stop flight to Houston took around ten hours, which is a long-ass time to spend in a tin-tube, I can tell you. I had two seats to myself, so I really shouldn't complain. Still, at about five hours in, I felt as if I should check my butt and hips for bed-sores...Haha.

Upon arrival, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security greeted me with a loudspeaker announcement of something or other about an 'orange alert' Please...After waiting in line for 15 minutes, I had to do a Mr.Spock-like-greeting to a finger-print-scanning machine. Right four. Right thumb. Left four. Left thumb. Picture. "What do you do here? How long will you stay? Where will you stay? Who is your employer?"
The officer was nice enough; still feels odd every time.

Flight to Austin went alright; picked up my rental car and found the hotel. I had completely forgotten how big everything is in the States, esp. the roads. Hmm.