Saturday

July 7, 2001

a family restaurant where babies can appear

a restaurant with enormous portions

and a Pope room

with the pope on a lazy susan

I wanted a dog walk. SuRu said she was convinced it was already entirely too hot outside.

FFP volunteered, however. And we headed out to Hyde Park and parked near the Avenue B grocery. Hyde Park is a place where historic Victorian-style homes exist cheek-by-jowl with hippie crash pads, poorly-maintained garage apartments, soulless apartment complexes and a few of the remaining Austin independent businesses.

The trees shade the streets we walk on and it doesn't seem that hot. The neighborhood still seems largely desserted as we settle into a table at Julio's, outside in the shade. We have a cup of coffee and a taco. Then we head down by the historic fire station, the neighborhood post office (not historic but old and, unlike most in our town, not abandoned for newer structures) and back to the car. A man and a woman are in the front yard of the house we are parked in front of. They wave in a friendly way. But I always feel guilty about driving to another neighborhood to walk. Not too long a walk but nice enough. Chalow places her face in front on the AC vent. The heat got to her, but she enjoyed it.

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At home I watch the maddening rain at Wimbledon. Sure...rain when I have time to watch on the weekend. I've now seen bits of Agassi/Rafter a bunch of times.

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I play around with my computers, surfing, e-mailing, writing, doing what I feel like. It's good to do that although I alwyas feel slightly guilty about it later.

We go to the Arboretum area, dropping off something I bought over the Internet for my mom. They are off visiting friends. We go to the Barnes & Noble. We have hours before our dinner engagement. We consider going to a movie at the Arbor but are afraid that it will get out too late to make dinner. So we spend a while in the book store. I glance through an interesting book on designing experience, with an emphasis on the WEB but a discussion of all kinds of experience. Very interesting book. I don't buy it. I also consider what looks like a very good book on Dreamweaver. But I figure I should make it through the other books I have before buying it.

We finally tire of the store and go home for a hour or so before dinner. I read the paper and take a whack at some crosswords.

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Then we went off to dinner at Buca di Beppo. We had some time to sit in the bar because our friends were late. It sunk in that this place (recommended by Virginia Wood of the Austin Chronicle) was a chain. It seemed like a good place and was decorated in an amusing fashion with all kinds of pictures and mementoes. They took us to our table through the kitchen. We ate giant, family-style dishes. We considered coming back with a large group and reserving the Pope room.

And we are WAY TOO FULL. Even though we took some home. Sigh. It wasn't a good day to read in The New Yorker, Annuals of Medicine department about "The Man Who Couldn't Stop Eating." About the morbidity obese and the gastric surgeries that they undergo to help them stop. Stop eating. I'm at peak pig wait myself (180-182) and keep trying to cut back and then we are at this Italian place with gigantic portions. Or we are eating burgers and apple pie for July Fourth. Oh, well. Maybe tomorrow!

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