We'd like to thank one of our sponsors, Deep in the Heart of Texas Realty. AroundAustin produced the virtual tour for their newest listing at 124 Birnam Wood Court, Austin, Texas. Their are more panoramas of this amazing home at
http://www.stratfordmountain.com
Go take a look
We are going to use the same virtual technology they funded to produce more panoramas around Austin. Stay tuned.
I had to go down to San Antonio for a business trip and had some extra time. What to do? Seen the Alamo, seen the missions, the River Walk....aha what's this...something I haven't visited--the San Antonio Botanical Gardens.
The San Antonio Botanical Gardens has 33 acres of gorgeous botanical gardens and indoor displays. Their are many different gardens including: Rose Garden, Kumamoto En Japanese Garden, Garden for the Blind, and a Herb garden.
The gardens are gorgeous and well worth a visit.
Continue reading "Day Trip: San Antonio Botanical Gardens" »
When I first moved here in 1984 I drove out Lake Travis and truly fell in love with Austin. The view from the area around St. Luke's church was just stunning. In 1988, I looked at lake lots on Lake Travis--found some for around $80,000 with cute little houses. Recently, I took a ride out on a friend's boat and snapped some pictures. These aren't $80,000 cute little houses are they--Here's a few snapshots of how the other half (well ok 1%) live.
Art Talk Austin is an education series aimed at buying and demystifying the collection of art. The goal is for the public to understand the importance of supporting artists especially local artists. Buying posters and cheap reproductions at the local big box store doesn't really reflect your personality--so go to Art Talk and learn how to buy real art. Maybe after the talk you'll buy your sofa to match the art, not the art to match the sofa.
I spend my days trying to figure out how to improve the productivity of the most valuable part of any organization--it's people. I'm excited that we're having a conference for like minded folks in Austin--usually I get to get on a plane and travel to these conferences. The elearning Symposium 2008 is on April 23, 2008 at the Doubletree Hotel in Austin. Speakers include Debby Kalk, Hiram Kuykendall, Hank Jones (yeah he's a lawyer but he's also a heckuva musician and a great speaker), and Chris Justice.
The symposium will focus on helping you create cost-effective e-learning programs that help make your folks more productive. So if you're an instructional designer, trainer, or just someone your boss is bugging about implementing learning programs go to www.elearningsymposium.com to sign up. You can save $100 if you do it by April 9th.
AroundAustin.com was invited to the sneak preview party for Spocal.com, the sports calendar site during SXSW Interactive Festival--thanks for the beer and muchies guys. It's a cool new website that lets sports fan add the schedule of their favorite teams to their own calendar--no more peering at the fine print in your local newspaper to figure out when the Longhorns are playing.
Today they anounced special functionality in conjunction with March Madness. At www.spocal.com/marchmadness you can see the March Madness game bracket and download the schedule to your calendar by clicking on the iCal link next to each game. Cool!
By creating an account at the Spocal website, you can choose to follow any of your favorite sports teams and be notified when their game schedule changes. "The idea for the website came to me when I got tired of entering games into my calendar by hand," said Deep Nasta, Spocal founder. "I thought it would be a huge time saver for me if I received an email message notifying me of playoff schedules and game time changes, and I could download those changes into my calendar as well."
The website is still in the "sneak peek" stage but what a great concept from well known two local entrepreneurs--Deep Nasta and Brian Menell.
CampLife! is a charity whose mission is to help families that have lost a parent to the Iraq war. Today we are interviewing John Gillis, Jr.. He is the the founder and president of CampLIFE!
John, How did charity start?
I enjoyed attending summer camp as a child, and believes that these activities contribute to self-confidence, relationship skills and overall health. I founded CampLIFE! to provide the camping experience to those who would not normally have that opportunity.
More than 10 million children attend camp annually, from recreational opportunities to the more complex theme camps that serve various groups of children with special needs. Any child can benefit from the summer camp experience, with children who share some profound loss benefiting even more. Unfortunately, with fees beginning at $200-$400/week, residential camps are unaffordable for many of the children that could benefit the most.
Continue reading "CampLIFE! A camp for Gold Star Families" »
Today we are interviewing Jennifer Repass, Executive Director of Austin Sunshine Camps.
Jennifer, can you tell me how did Austin Sunshine Camps start?
The Young Men’s Business League was founded in 1913 and in 1928, the Austin YMBL Sunshine Camps was founded to aid in the battle against tuberculosis and continued to serve at-risk and economically disadvantaged youths after the epidemic passed.
Continue reading "Jennifer Repass, Austin Sunshine Camps Interview" »
Today we are talking to Mason Arnold, "Cookie Monster" of Greenling Organic Delivery. Greenling is an Austin based company that delivers fresh organic produce directly to your door.
AroundAustin: Mason what does Greenling Organic Delivery do?
Mason: We deliver Organic and/or Local food right to people's door. Everything is done online. You browse just like you would at a grocery store, pick and choose what you want, then schedule it for delivery.
Continue reading "Greenling - Organic Groceries Delivered to your Door" »
Want to make life more pleasant and a whole lot safer in the kitchen? Make sure your knives are sharp. Graham Stuckey of Knife Sharpest has been sharpening knives for over 15 years and he will get you fixed up for a reasonable price (often while you wait). I took three kitchen knives in for sharpening on Christmas Eve, after the official closing time, and they were sharpened perfectly in just a few minutes.
Look around while you're waiting the store offers everything from kitchen knives to fantasy knives--even swords. If you really get ambitious ask Graham about knife throwing lessons.
One thing, this is a small business that often has one person minding the store. It's not an ultra-clean yuppified store. Cool stuff, cool service.
Knife Sharpest, 4703 Burnet Rd., Austin, TX 78756, Phone: (512) 791-9673
