Waiting for Roy

3 more miles this morning before work. I’ve had to change my morning routine a bit. I set up the coffee maker the night before so I don’t have to spend time making it in the morning. I also set my alarm 6 minutes earlier, and only allowed myself one snooze. “Such discipline” I hear you saying! That way I had 45 minutes to get my 3 miles in and still have enough time to read a bit of the paper and drink a little coffee before jumping in the shower and hustling out the door. If only every day was a school holiday and we had enough parking spaces at work so I didn’t have to worry about not getting a spot. It was chilly (30 something degrees) this a.m. and I was not about to risk having to park across the universe and walk. On warmer days it won’t be such an issue.

When I got to work my usual neighbor had been replaced with this:

Pretty face, but not much of a talker.

Roy is coming to visit me this evening so I had to leave work a bit early. Roy is my UPS driver and he is terrified of my dog Topher. Who is very fierce you see.

Seriously, I have been at home before waiting for the UPS delivery and seen Roy pull up, observe the dogs lying on the driveway and then drive away. No kidding. I have chased him in my car when I was down to the “3rd and final” notice. I finally gave Roy my cell phone number and now every time he has a delivery for me he calls me to ask if I’ll be home. All of this because of Topher The Terrifying Chihuahua. Hahahaha. Tonight, Roy is bringing me wine. I just now at 6:30 p.m. chased a random truck down the street thinking that Roy had seen an imaginary dog in the driveway and fled, but it was just a work truck from up the street.

I neglected to mention the other day that on Saturday Mike and I attempted to go see James McMurty at the Cactus Café. James plays a regular midnight show on Tuesdays I think at the Continental Club, but that is like way to late for me to go to a show that hasn’t already started. If it starts at 10 and goes until 1 or 1:30 I can do it, but if it starts at midnight and ends who knows when, it would take me days to recover. Not worth it. By the line on Saturday night I’m guessing there are several hundred others who feel the same way and said to themselves “Hey, a chance to see James McMurtry at a decent hour – let’s go!” The line was crazy long and the person at the front said she’d been there since 6 p.m. For an 8:30/9:00 ish show! He is really popular! The venue only holds 150 people. We had already shelled out a whole $6 for parking and now had nowhere to go.

But wait! I remembered that my friend Kelly sent an email the other day saying she had reconnected with a friend of a former jr high school boyfriend via Facebook and did I know of either of two restaurant/bars he had opened in Austin? One is LoveJoy's which is a microbrew place just off 6th street that has been on Mike’s list for quite some time. We tried there on New Year’s Eve but they weren’t open at the time we went by because they were opening late that night. The other place, Drungo Ice House, is near the UT campus and I happened to remember the name and address and it wasn’t far from where we were. Too cold to walk that far so we drove the 6 blocks or so. Turns out it used to be an Italian restaurant that Mike knew and is very near one of Meg’s college apartments. There was live music and the menu was decent. Definitely Baltimore/Annapolis area influences on the walls and menu. Her friend Chip’s picture was on the wall advertising Trivia Night. I should have taken a picture of it. We’ll definitely go back, most especially to get the scoop on Kelly’s jr high school escapades.

Roy is still not here!