- It was a happy 29th birthday! The celebration got underway at the office Tuesday with an ice cream break as co-workers sung Happy Birthday. After work, Lauren took me out to dinner at Contigo, a very trendy outdoor patio restaurant featuring unusual items such as ox tongue sliders (tried that) and homemade s’mores with sweetened lardo instead of marshmallows (didn’t try that). We split the crispy fried string beans and then I ordered the Dewberry chicken (mmm-mmm!) For a tasty drink I tried the Beekeeper, which was bourbon, Texas honey, and lemon. We were given a free dessert, the peach chiffon cake. I’m sure we’ll review it soon on our new Austin food blog (link coming soon). After that, we went home and watched Cheers on Netflix while drinking champagne and fell asleep at 10:30.
- Last night the birthday celebration continued with a party here at the house. We had a nice showing with six co-workers and three of their significant others, plus two friends from the Vikings bar. Between the 14 of us in attendance we put a pretty good dent in a half-keg of Shiner Blonde. We drastically overbought food for the BBQ, however. The event was certainly a success! Thanks to everyone who showed up, and especially those who brought presents!
- I am now the “voice” of Callaway, as well as Microboards. If you call our toll-free number, 1-877-CALLAWAY, you should be auto-greeted by my voice with a list of options.
- I think we picked a good time to distance ourselves from the Twins. This is already the most disappointing Twins team ever, and not far from actually being the worst. As bad and as injured as they’ve been, they’re still an astounding 12.5 games ahead of our new local team, the Houston Astros, for the worst record in MLB.
- Speaking of the Astros, temporary plans are in place to head 2 hours southeast to Houston over Labor Day weekend to take in an Astros/Brewers game. We may have to look up great uncle and aunt Larry and Sherry while in town. It would be our fifth stadium of the year to see a game, along with Target Field, CitiField, Fenway Park, and Kauffman Stadium.
- It rained Thursday for about 12 minutes at the office, the second time since I’ve been in Texas that we’ve seen moisture fall from the sky. One day last week there were trace sprinkles at the house, but barely enough to really count it as rain.
- Thursday night Lauren and I met up with her aunt, uncle, cousin, and other distant family from nearby Georgetown for dinner at Chuy’s, a local Tex-Mex chain. They had a special limited-time green chile menu and we all ordered from that. I ordered something called the Super Strength Sopapilla and it was a massive plate full of goodness. Thanks for dinner, Steve and Sue!
- This weekend we’ll be getting our first visitor in town! Liz’s co-worker Dan is in town on business and we plan to show him a good time. Temporary plans for the weekend include the Austin Hot Sauce Festival on Sunday!
- I participated in two fantasy football drafts in the past two weeks: the first one being our annual league which I’ve won the past two years, and the second being the first of two work leagues which was held live at a local sports bar. I’m drafting very Charger-heavy so far. I missed the Snooterville draft but my team was picked for me. Nick said my team was being mocked by the group.
- Also sounds like I’m on the company softball team. The league starts in October and runs through the winter. The very idea of playing softball in December outdoors in 60-degree weather makes the whole move worthwhile.
Ryan Glanzer Blog 
You are certainly “Mr. Sociable”! I would never have the nerve to make new friends so quickly. And it looks like you’re scoping out the best food joints for when we visit. I hope Lauren is having fun there, too. Happy belated birthday…hope you got your gift in the mail.