Friday, August 11

Back in black

Hi all,

I'm back, and so is my little lappy :) Mostly fixed and raring to go. I say mostly because it's still turning itself off, but after another fruitless interaction with tech support I've given all hope of SONY fixing it and I'm doing what I can instead. I'll spare you the details, but new bios and graphics settings will hopefully help! I'm also thinking of getting one of those fan pads to sit it on. They circulate cold air under the laptop. It seems the vaios are notorious for getting too hot, but I'm not surprised given the specs of the thing!

Anyhow, all is well. I had a good weekend of shopping, cleaning and gaming. On Sunday Tom called and invited me on a tour of the West Side of San Antonio, so that was a lot of fun. Aside form the fact that it was, of course, stupidly hot which restricted us to short hops out of the car to take snaps instead of really being able to wander around. We briefly retired to La Tuna for an intermediate beverage, and later hit the saucer for another beverage and some food. I tried their bratwurst platter (excellent - included a mustardy potato salad and a tonne of sauerkraut) and Tom had their chili which was also delicious and stuffed inside a cobb loaf. I'm having wing withdrawals though since it's been about a month since I last had any!

Last night Tom and I went to dinner at a little Belgian place that we'd heard good things about and had driven past on our Sunday tour. It's called La Friet and it felt a little like somewhere small on Lygon St, Melb. Of course we both had a huge bowl of mussels and fries, and the food was wonderful! The broth for the mussels was perfect. From the options of curry, tomato and "normal" we chose normal, which was white wine and cream with lots of garlic, shallots and herbs. Delicious. Even the fries were good and tasted like they were hand made from real potatoes. We had a half decent French red to go with it and topped the whole thing off with an incredible chocolate tart that was bittersweet and smooth and simply wonderful. Go San Antonio!

On the other side of life here... Within hours (or less) of the latest terrorist threat that saw the orange globe get replaced by a red one we were issues a travel safety notice for work that states:
NO LIQUIDS OR GELS OF ANY KIND WILL BE PERMITTED IN CARRY ON BAGGAGE. SUCH ITEMS MUST BE IN CHECKED BAGGAGE. This includes all beverages, shampoo, sun tan lotion, creams, tooth paste, hair gel, and other items of similar consistency.
Exception: Baby formula, breast milk, or juice if a baby or small child is traveling; prescription medicine with a name that matches the passenger'’s ticket; and insulin and essential other non-prescription medicines, which all must be presented for inspection at the checkpoint
One thing that has always surprised me is the sheer volume of baggage that you are allowed to take as carry on on US flights. One of those big roller cases and a smaller (slightly) duffelbag. No wonder it takes an hour or more to get through the screening at the airport here! Oh well, at least I won't have the problem of my moisturiser leaking all through my bag and laptop again, but no toothpaste? No waterbottle? It goes on to say that drinks purchased in the airport have to be consumed before getting onto the plane, but does this throw a spanner in the duty free market? I guess we stay tuned. But I'm so glad I'm not traveling today.

Miss you all ^_^

Oh yeah, I also have photos from our Sunday tour...watch this space.

1 comment:

CupKate said...

hehe - Darryn was talking today about going to a themed party as a 'song' and he'd gone as 'back in black'! Glad to hear computer is back in action. Its nice to feel like you are connected with the wider world - even through a cable. And you're getting more good food... all sounds great!
Miss you too.
Hugs
Kate