And now for something completely different

So we returned from Belgium in September 1997. We bought a house a few
months later and settled in for what turned out to be a very small stretch
in California. In April 1999, we left for Texas so Paul could take a
two-year assignment at Motorola (in a joint development effort with AMD).
I was several months pregnant with son #2 at this point and agreed to give
it a go. Herewith is Paul’s initial assessment of life in Texas (part one
of five):

The Bessers’s Do Austin.
Chapter 1. The Prequel
Star date 51299.

So it has been only 1 month since a moving truck pulled into our driveway
and hauled our butts to Texas!

I swear it seems like 3 months. Let me check the calendar. Yep, not EVEN
one month! I can’t believe it. I think the heat and humidity slow down
time. That is the only explanation that I can come up with. There is no
way that it could be due to our annoyance that the traffic is actually
worse in Austin than the Bay Area, OR our frustration trying to find good
daycare for the boy, OR the stress of trying to unpack with one hand while
entertaining a needy two-year old with the other! It’s the heat.

It has been a very stressful month. I thought the commute to TX for 3
weeks prior to moving here would be stressful, but it is nothing compared
to actually moving here. But, I am happy to say that we are almost settled
in. We are down to 2 piles – one in the garage and one in the spare
bedroom. Kathy thinks it may be possible to start eliminating the one in
the spare bedroom this weekend. Allow me to translate that statement for
my loving, overachieving wife. The pile in the bedroom will be eliminated
2 days prior to our first house guest arriving. The one in the garage may
be here for some time to come. Most everything else is unpacked and placed
in a temporary and/or permanent spot. We should look around and be happy
about this, but we are both struggling to find happiness for an extended
period of the day. It is tough moving to a new area of the country,
starting a new job, going from a house owner to a house renter, finding
new daycare, finding new restaurants and stores, etc, etc. I think we both
underestimated just how challenging a change like this is.

The most humorous and depressing thing that we have done thus far was to
find daycare for Dane. We came across more UN- places than we ever thought
existed. UN- as in unnuturing, unsafe, unhealthy, uncaring, unorganized,
un-us! One of the places had a menu that featured chicken-fried steak one
day, fried fish sticks the next and hot dog on a stick the 3rd! The fruit
drinks were instant (like Tang) and the vegetables were canned! In
retrospect, it is just too funny! When asked about TV, one home daycare
provider said she limits the amount of TV. “They only watch Barney,
Sesame Street, and Teletubbies in the AM while all the kids arrive, then I
turn it on again at 3:00 as kids begin to leave.” That’s 4 hours of TV
per day, ya idiot! What is funny is that she wanted us to pay her $4 per
hour to have our son watch TV for ½ of his day with her!

We finally found a really nice place, and we are working Dane into it.
Carrie Holland (odd last name, isn’t it?) runs a home-based daycare out
of her house. She has 2 cats, a dog, and a rabbit full time. As of this
AM, though, she had acquired a snake, a fish and some crickets, too. You
can guess that she loves animals, but she really loves all creatures. She
is very good with the kids. We are easing Dane into her care, provided
that I pass the obligatory police background check (did I ever inhale?).
Dane loves the other kids, the animals, and the piano in the garage/play
area.

Speaking of the little boy, he is talking a blue streak these days, many
times in complete sentences. The other night at dinner he said, “I hear
birds singing.” He also said, “What happened to Dane?” over and over
again after he fell and slammed his head into the sidewalk. Recently, as
he was out on his usual bug stomping pass around the patio, he said, “No
stomping da wady-bugs” each time he crushed them beneath his sandals! He
thinks all bugs are ladybugs. Our frequent reminders to not kill the many
bugs are falling on deaf ears. Yesterday he asked us where some other bugs
were (we guessed that he meant “live” ones). Kathy told him, “Why
don’t you check over there for some. Do you see any?” and he responded
(indignantly) with an “I don’t think so!”

Dane gave Kathy the best Mom’s day gift, when, on her day, he sang a
complete verse of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” with us in the car.
He is close to singing “Pop goes the Weasel” while I am close to
sending hate mail to the bastard who wrote it.

Austin as a city is really nice. We live southwest of the city by 5-10
miles. SW is practically in “Bubba” country, so we have to beware of
inbreeding. Fortunately, our neighborhood does not appear to have many
bubbas. It is called “Legend Oaks”, named for the big Live Oaks that
are scattered throughout the neighborhood. They are pretty, and the houses
are OK. Ours is nothing to write home about, but it does have 4 BR and a
big play area for Dane that my mother-in-law insists is a dining/living
room. The only problem is proximity. We chose this area because the house
was big and has a nice neighborhood pool. But we are a little far (20 min)
from the good shopping (NW) and eating (downtown). Plus, we live SW, and I
work East. This would not be a problem in a city that embraced the idea of
having a traffic problem, but Austin is in serious denial. My best route
is to leave by 6:30 AM, hop on a freeway to downtown, and take surface
streets all the way across town, then cut through a neighborhood and onto
a highway. I go home a totally different path, due to traffic patterns! To
work is 25 min, home is 35-40. Oh well. If I leave after 7 AM, the drive
takes 45 min.

We have met quite a few of our neighbors. They are nice. One couple across
the street is really nice, and Kathy has had some “play dates” with
her and her children. She also joined the South Austin Mothers Club, which
is a great way to meet chicks. Yep, Kathy is trying her best to fit in.
It’s tough for her. She is one of a few career-minded moms in Austin.
Most moms are stay-at-home. I think the pressure of fitting in may be
getting the better of her, though: she brought me a Tupperware catalog
tonight! (No lie!) Whew! I tell y’all. She’s a changed woman!

There is a nice park in town – Zilker, and it is only 15 minutes away. It
has a great play area, a miniature train to ride, and a spring-fed
swimming area. It also has athletic fields and botanical gardens and more.
We are still finding more parks and outdoor activities. We have to get as
many outdoor events as we can under our belts before the REAL heat comes.
It is only in the high 80s and low 90s right now. We expect that the air
conditioning will be on for the summer. Summer will add a new dimension to
HOT, I assume. The humidity has been pretty high, too.

We have taken one trip out of Austin so far, and Dane loved it. We went to
a wildlife park near San Antonio (only 1.25 hours away). This is a
drive-through wildlife park. They advertise it as “wildlife,
Texas-style,” and it is cool. The animals are pretty tame and stick
their heads in your car for food. This was OK for the rams, sheep, goats,
gazelles, antelope, addax, oryx, donkey, wildebeest, watusi, giraffe and
deer, even OK for the zebras. But we drew the line on the ostrich, buffalo
and moose. The ostriches tower over your car and have necks that appear to
be able to reach into your trunk through the driver’s window. We were
worried that they would peck us, and they really scared me. I guess I saw
Jurassic Park too many times. The buffalo just plain stank, and had
tongues that were at least 8” long. All in all, it was a great
experience. We also went to the Riverwalk in San Antonio. This was nice,
except for the fact that our son just wanted to run for 3 straight hours.
So one of us had to make sure he did not jump in the river. Kathy and I
were both exhausted by the end of the day. Next trip to San Antonio will
be to go to Sea World – maybe next weekend.

We are planning our first visit back to California later this month. I am
teaching a class at U.C. Berkeley on May 27th and 28th, and Dane and Kathy
will accompany me so that they can visit with friends and family. We will
head up to Sacramento for Memorial Day weekend. We return on June 1.

There is so much more to discuss, but I will save some topics for the next
letter. Take care, and please call, e-mail, or, better yet, come see us.
We have a spare room and need a reason to make it presentable!

Paul, Kathy and Dane