A New Frontier

It's been about a month since my previous update on fortune and glory and in that time I have been keeping busy. I've packed up my things and moved down to Waco, Texas which coincidently happened to have its worst snow fall in 32 years while I was driving down. My first impression of Texas was kind of unique because the snowfall reminded me of New York minus salt trucks or any effective plow system. The weather has been shifting between temperatures as cold as 18, and as high as 70 all within a span of two weeks. The two instances of snowfall, one about eight inches, and the other about five inches both melted within a 24 hour period. Five inches of snow resulted in the school systems closing before the afternoon here, snowfall that would probably have not even caused for delay or early dismissal in New York. The concept of a snow day here must be a rare occurrence.

I've set my sights on Austin where I would like to move to in about six months. Several publications have put Austin high on their list for recent college graduates seeking employment so I'll evaluate this from the perspective of a liberal arts grad from New York. I'll try to put up some pictures of the more interesting sights in Waco and Austin as I familiarize myself with the city.

In some ways, Texas is as foreign to me as my last destination, and I've heard rumors that their governor is advocating secession from the United States. He's also coincidently planning a run for President in 2012 so I guess we'll see how that works out. Last week, a Texan decided to set fire to his own house with his family in it, they got out luckily. He then piloted his private plane into a building in Austin and there was a note apparently which suggested he did it out of frustration with the IRS. Last time I saw the news, they said he took down an IRS worker with him in addition to injuring a dozen or more people.

From the few people I've met here, I've discovered there's more than one perspective on this gentleman's actions. Most of the people I've talked to find it terrifying that someone would go to such an extreme measure to "stick it to the man" but there's another feeling that some have adopted. I've heard people in Waco say they're surprised it didn't happen sooner, and that this doesn't qualify as an act of terrorism, but rather an act of war. I was washing my hands in the bathroom of a famous restaurant in Waco called George's when the guy behind me noticed the newspaper framed in the window above the urinal. The headline read something to the effect of "Man crashes plane into IRS building in Austin". I don't know what the exact wording on the headline was because that building was more than just an office for the IRS but the gentleman commented on it, closing with "God damned IRS".

I wasn't sure what to say and being new to the area I wasn't going to flat out call this a cowardly terrorist act, for all I knew I was in the Cantina at Mos Eisley and this guy was a bounty hunter or maybe even a lobbyist, so I just told him what I'd heard and walked out. I finished washing my hands and I looked over and said, "I heard the guy set his own house on fire with his family in it". The guy answered "no shit" and I walked out of the bathroom. The pilot left writings in which he insisted "nothing changes unless there's a body count". He got one, and he's certainly changed the people of Austin who suffer the out cost of his cowardice.