Monday, Strix and I had lunch at La Traviata. It was very tasty.
We saw this mailbox after lunch. I just like it. Feed your mail to R2D2; he's hungry.
After lunch, we made our way to the Hyatt on the other side of the Colorado River to register for the Slam.
The hotel was having a convention for Texas propane companies at the same time. There were a bunch of Texas businessmen there to sell "Propane and Propane Accessories," while the tatooed, freaky, hippy poets wandered the hotel looking for the registration room. I found it quite amusing.
After registering as a poet and getting Strix her audience wristband, we went looking for a couple more geocaches that were on that side of the river.
Check Bat Wit Me Later
This is a giant weather-vane piece of art, paying homage to the fact that there is a huge colony of bats living under the Ann Richards bridge. I can't help wonder if the fact that they chose this bridge to name after her was made by her detractors, thinking she was "batty." At any rate, there is supposed to be a geocache somewhere near this sculpture, but it's a bit public, being right on a very, very busy street. Note to those who plant geocaches: put them somewhere people can get to them without looking like terrorists.
More of the guitars from Austin's public art project.
Here's a closer look at the guitar on the right. It's decorated with bumper stickers, including one that says, "Austin Sucks! Don't Move Here." I suppose this could be interpreted two ways. Either the sticker means that Austin really does suck and they're trying to warn the tourists, or it means that they really like Austin and don't want it to be ruined by people moving in and overpopulating the place. Your guess is as good as mine.
View from the 1st Street Bridge, near another geocache.
Some odd grafitti from the walkway along the bridge.
So we found one out of two geocaches, and headed back to the hotel for the poet orientation. Strix enjoyed wine down at the hotel bar, while I went upstairs.
View from the 17th floor of the Hyatt.
Poets at orientation, several minutes into the "meeting." Worse than Mensans.
The meeting was mercifully short, and consisted of the organizers telling us not to make a bad name for the Slam by acting out of order. We were also told that there were seventy-five teams there, and seventy-four of them were going to lose, and the sooner we "wrapped our brains" around that fact, the better time we would have.
After the orientation, I joined Strix for some cheese and wine down in the bar, then we headed toward Ruta Maya coffeeshop, where the kick-off party was held. We wouldn't have walked if we had realized how far it was, but we had a nice, if hot, walk. There was also another geocache on the way we wanted to hit.
Yet another guitar.
Items in the window of a little shop that sold Dia de los Muertos and other Latin art. I couldn't get shots of it without reflections on the window.
Some stenciled outdoor art.
Yet... more... guitars.
A costume shop with a very fanciful sign. I think this was actually the movie poster from Star Wars Episode Two, Attack of the Clowns. Yeah, I know, but I'm not sorry.
An old-fashioned barber shop. No smokin', no cussin', and no horsin' around. That doesn't go for the people using the ashtray right inside the door or reading the Playboy that was in the magazine rack.
Another bout is about to come about, so I must head out. More later.
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