SXSW recap

Hard to believe, but a quarter of this year has already passed, and with that quite a few things have taken place. We celebrated our birthdays with some good friends at Flying Saucer this year. It was chill, it was fun, and it was easy. With this said we are way overdue for a house party, but this years is already looking super packed - more on this next time.

Right before SXSW we attended the SiteGoals 11th anniversary party at their new office in North Austin which was a blast. Oh yeah, and if you need some kick ass web development you want to hit them up as well - or if you have some mad skills, as they are hiring PHP and front-end developers.^[1]

Next on the agenda was the Circle Brewing 3rd Anniversary Party. Great times again with some good peeps, and of course some fantastic beer, which in addition to most pubs you can now find bottled at various stores throughout Austin including Whole Foods Markets and SPEC's. Speaking of which, what is up with that SPEC's rabbit mascot - anyone know the story?

Shortly thereafter it was time for some SXSW craziness. I did not manage to hit up any of the interactive sessions this year, but at least Clarice managed to squeeze in a single day. Talking to several people who attended, it really did not seem like I missed that much. Then came the music part and with my sister and her husband in town all hell broke loose as always. We attended various events but probably mostly enjoyed the Guitar Center sessions featuring Soundgarden and Damon Albarn. I have to admit the latter was sort of a sleeping pill, but Soundgarden was a blast, especially given the rooftop venue.^[2]

The number of people who congregating in Austin for SXSW these days is simply mind boggling - we are seriously thinking about skipping town next year to avoid the madness. Other than that, we came to the conclusions that the SXSW music wristbands are an absolute waste of money - we did not utilize them for a single event. If you know the right people and RSVP to the proper events, you will get in where you need to. It requires a little effort, but then so does anything worth doing.

We also did our regular BBQ binge, since we all know that people come down here not really for the music, but rather to feast on some of the great cattle inspired food that the great state of Texas has to offer. Anyhow, we hit up The Saltlick of course, and poor Martin stood in line for 6h+ to get us some Franklin Barbecue. Don't get me wrong, their brisket is amazing, but I don't see myself waiting in line for that long just to get some in the future. Also, if you find BBQ sauce a must, then I suggest bring your own favorite, as their sauces are really disappointing. Additionally we through in La Barbeque and Rudy's for good measure. Good thing the weather is improving so that I can get out onto the tennis courts to work off some of the newly acquired mass.

Much more to come this year, so stay tuned!^[3]