Work, Golf, FNL, SoCo, Etc.

I’d say I’m getting pretty comfortable at the new job. 16 days I’ve gone in to the office so far and I’m starting to catch on. As I’ve said, my official title is Interactive Merchandising Coordinator; there is another guy who has the same title and he has been very good at showing me the ropes so far. I saw one rope that was really long and can be used for lassoing… crazy! Right now the bulk of my time has been spent setting up online promotions. For instance, this week we’re having a sale of 20-30% off select drivers, and it was my responsibility to program the promotion to run on the website. I also got hooked up with the VIP access to the site, meaning I can purchase anything from clubs to apparel for an extreme discount of 75% or more. I get a pretty good annual allotment for how many of each product I can purchase, so friends and family are welcome to ask for the discount! I already bought Walsh a pair of clubs.

Also at the office, the eight of us on the Marketing team headed out to the driving range for break on Thursday. We are allowed to check out any clubs we want from the warehouse, so I was able to practice with some good clubs for the first time ever, and it made a giant difference. In the 60 or so balls I hit, I think 10 went perfectly straight and over 250 yards, including a couple that might have left the driving range altogether. Of course for every one of those, there was a swing where the ball trickled sideways into the grass ten feet away. But I never swung and missed completely! We also had a putting challenge, at which I failed pretty bad. I plan on hitting up the range again today, perhaps. Next time I see y’all I’ll be closing in on the PGA Tour, I’m sure.

Since my first real payday wasn’t until Friday and I was desperately low on cash, I spent the nights after work in the house glued to my computer, watching Friday Night Lights on Netflix. The show, of course, was filmed right here in the Austin area. I cruised through the first season and half of the second… can’t stop watching! I am a big fan of the antics of the Buddy Garrity character, and have a little thing for the coach’s wife, played by Connie Britton. My only complaint is I find it annoying how the Dillon Panthers are such a great team but almost every single game comes down to the final play, but I guess that wouldn’t make for very good TV if they won in a blowout every game. Another fun factoid is I have a co-worker who had two episodes filmed at his house here in Austin.

Every weekend so far, I have set to the streets of Austin to do some exploring and find some new cool places. Yesterday was no exception as I drove down south of the river to the South Congress neighborhood. It was much like Uptown Minneapolis except way more fun and way more restaurants, food trailers, bars, and shops. I ate at a food trailer called Wurst Tex, which sold unusual bratwursts including some with rabbit and rattlesnake meat. I stopped in at Doc’s Bar and had a frozen margarita called the Hybrid which was made with everclear. They warned me one was enough to get a normal person pretty buzzed, and it was in fact very boozy, but tasty and refreshing on a sweltering day. I also poked my head in at the Continental Club, a hole-in-the-wall type of bar with live music. At 3pm the place was packed with a live band and a packed dance floor. Don’t usually see stuff like that in the day time. I even ran into an actor from Friday Night Lights, the guy who played the Swede in Season 2. At night I helped Mark pick up and move some couches, and was out cold by 9:30.

This coming weekend Lauren is flying into town to visit for the first time since my departure, and I’m busy coming up with a list of things to keep us occupied. Not that there’s a chance Lauren isn’t going to move here, but I feel like I should try my best to sell her on the city anyway so she doesn’t think we made a mistake!