I finally convinced my mom to sign me up for the Parent Taught Driver Education Program, although I had to do all the research. I had a hard time finding information and a course that I liked so I decided to make my own section about the parent taught program for parents and other teenagers who want to know more.

The first part is the hardest - doing the research. Although with my handy guide to Parent Taught Driver Education in Texas and my on-going thread on the forum where I post tips and report on my progress through the whole process it won't be as hard for you, lucky you.

Choosing a course, signing up, paying, and studying hard all come into play here.

At this point in time I'm several hours into taking one of the online courses. Far enough along, in fact, that I've gone ahead and received my learners permit so I can work jointly on classroom and in-the-car lessons. Join me as the adventure continues.

posted by lyla

Looking for something other than yoga, treadmills, and dumbbells for getting yourself into summer swimsuit shape? Try out pilates for free. Several area pilates studios, health clubs, and spas are offering free lessons and demonstrations on May 17, Pilates Day in Austin. The offerings vary by location but includes classes you can observe or participate in, cover both beginner and more advanced topics, and you can pick up discount coupons for future classes.

The participating locations are:

• JoyMoves
  Free Pilates Day Schedule
  2501 South Capital of Texas Highway
  
  
• The Pilates Center of Austin
  8229 Shoal Creek Boulevard #104
  
  
• Castle Hill Specialized Fitness
  1112 Suite B North Lamar
  
  
• Pilates Studio Ann Arnoult
  3016 Guadalupe Suite B-175
  
  
• reForm Pilates
  3110 Windsor Rd. Ste. A
  
  
• Pilates 360°
  3638 Bee Cave Rd. Suite 103, Westlake Hills
  
  
• The Hills Health Club and Wellness Center
  4615 Bee Caves Road
  
  
• Body Business Health Club and Spa
  2700 W Anderson Ln # 802 (in The Village)
  
  
• Mecca Gym & Spa
  524 N. Lamar Blvd

Want to brush up on exactly what pilates is before you consider going? Check out these explanations from our About.com Pilates Guide, Marguerite Ogle:

• What is the Pilates Method of Exercise?
• Preparing for Your First Pilates Class
• 8 Tips for Choosing Your Pilates Instructor

Times and types of classes for all locations on May 17.

Our family has a couple of those canvas bags from Wal-Mart and Walgreen's but we often forget them at the house or in the truck. When we do forget the bags or don't have enough bags for all our groceries we use paper bags and carry out items like soda bottles, milk jugs and big boxes. Many stores are trying to get rid of plastic bags altogether plus I hear that a tax may be added per bag, so we might as well get used to using canvas bags now before plastic bags are completely outlawed.

"The Austin City Council unanimously approved a Resolution to reduce plastic bags entering the solid waste stream by 50% from current levels by June of 2009.

Participants in the voluntary program including Wal-Mart, H-E-B, Randalls, Target, Walgreen's, and Whole Foods, will have plastic bag recycling at their stores, make affordable reusable bags available for purchase, and report their levels of plastic bag use every six months.

Additionally, the City of Austin Solid Waste Services Department will launch a curbside plastic bag recycling pilot program for customers in selected neighborhoods.

Local non-profit Keep Austin Beautiful will coordinate a public education campaign entitled "Austin's Got a Brand New Bag" to encourage Austinites to shop with reusable bags." says BagTheBags.com

Whole Foods has already set the bar high for all grocery stores trying to be enviromentally friendly, not only did they completely stop using plastic bags on Earth Day 2008 but now they are using compostable to-go containers.

Opal Divines Restaurants have gone green too. According to their website they are now using biodegradable and compostable containers, cups, bowls and silverware at all three Austin locations. Opal's also uses hybrid vehicles, energy saving light bulbs and vegetable based insecticides.

TV Stations are getting into the green trend as well.
KVUE.com offers Project Green with tips, impact calculators, helpful links and videos, a green glossary and stuff for the kids too.
The CW Austin has been showing commercials with our favorite CW characters giving helpful and sometimes amusing tips about recycling. The CBS 42 KEYE Go Green Project has tips for saving water, recycling, using solar energy and other green news.

June 22nd is the 12th Annual Cool House Tour sponsored by Texas Solar Energy Society. Visit energy efficient and environmentally friendly open houses from noon to 6pm. Get a guidebook, plan your personal tour and go at your own pace.

Have you made the switch to paper or canvas or are you clinging to your plastic bags until they pry 'em out of your shopping cart? If you have made or are in the process of going greener with your shopping bags, has it been a smooth transition?

posted by lyla

In case you're surfing the net on Wednesday evening instead of listening to the TV or radio and you're up in the Leander, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Pflugerville area it would be a good idea to go offline and look for appropriate shelter. At least one station reports that tornado sirens have sounded in Round Rock. Area TV weather reports are all tracking storms and a possible/probable tornado heading east/southeast through Cedar Park heading toward the Pflugerville area. Even without a tornado, there is a liklihood of damaging winds and hail right now. Power outages are quite possible. The path of the storm includes the far south parts of Williamson County and far north Travis County.

• 7 Safest Places to Go During a Tornado
• KEYE-42 Weather
• Dealing with Power Outages
• Texas Tornado Season

In the forum I posted about the construction going on at the old Albertson's location at 183 and Ohlen wondering if anyone knew what store would be there. Well Lyla dug up the answer -- which some folks knew back in December (until they actually start construction I tend to not notice a lot of the "new business" business news). The Hispanic Retail Blog tells me that "FAMSA, the large Mexico-based electronics, appliances and furniture retailer that caters to Latinos, plans to open a store in Austin in May at U.S. 183 and Ohlen Road." Must have been some delays. It's May now and construction is barely underway. Drove by on Friday and noticed a new banner saying they'll be opening in October 2008.

© J. James

A couple of the things I found interesting were:

The Austin store is expected to draw shoppers from as far as Marble Falls...
and
Store employees speak Spanish, and the company advertises in Spanish media only, especially on the television station Univision.

I've never seen a FAMSA store so I don't know if it is somewhere I might want to shop but what I've read so far makes me feel like it may be focused almost exclusively on the Hispanic population. In the few blogs I've found about it, they seem to focus on the fact that FAMSA customers can buy items here in town then have their products easily delivered to family or friends in Mexico.

Has anyone shopped at FAMSA in San Antonio or Dallas or California? Just curious. Sounds like it's going to be a big deal. According to the story about 60% of the store will be furniture. I remember there was a lot of hoopla when we got a new IKEA. I'd never seen one before so it didn't really click with me what the excitement was all about. It was a year later before I visited -- and I really liked it once I did.

Customers can work out individual payment plans, and FAMSA takes them at their word on what they can pay per month.

Wow. Don't see that often. Potential for trouble (from those who might get in over their heads) but a boon for those who might have less than stellar past credit history but are working to turn that around.

On an only slightly related note. In the blog where Lyla learned about the FAMSA opening, greg writes "I would've preferred a grocery store within walking distance of our house, but it would be tough going for a supermarket on that corner because of the elevated highway." Hadn't really thought about it before but that may be what has been killing the IHOP at that location. Noticed they recently cut back their 24 hour operation to weekends. Other IHOPs have a thriving nightlife but that one has been dead at night for years.

So, will FAMSA make as big a splash as the Round Rock IKEA or perhaps the proposed Northcross Wal-Mart? When Wal-Mart announced its plans for a store at Northcross -- not too far down the road from the new FAMSA store -- there was a huge outcry from some of the neighborhoods, including some in the Ohlen/183 area. A few of the blogs I read at the time included references to how the Wal-Mart would attract crime and "undesirables." A few people voiced fears that it would be another Wal-Mart like the one at 183 and 1-35 -- which has a heavy Hispanic and African-American presence.

Whether they came right out with it or not (and some did), they were equating higher crime and lower property values with a predominantly minority population. Reminds me of some of the continuing (negative) perceptions of East Austin. The residential areas (homes and apartments) immediately adjacent to this FAMSA store might be described as lower middle class and slightly rundown by some. However, there has been a noticiable change recently -- apartment complexes and individual homes getting major facelifts from new owners and more attention from Code Enforcement (for things like parking in yards). It will be interesting to watch how all these new businesses and other changes will affect the entire area.

What are your thoughts? Is FAMSA just another furniture store or something more? If you don't live in the immediate area, have their been similiar issues going on in your own neighborhood -- with Wal-Mart or other controversial new additions?

I've been watching The Amazing Race since the beginning and have wanted to try out myself, although I don't think I'm quite ready too. But if you are ready, here's your chance.

CBS 42 is hosting a casting call for The Amazing Race this Friday in Austin. Runtex will hold auditions on May 16th from 1pm to 5pm. An audition tape will be produced for you to send to The Amazing Race producers.

Runtex is located at 422 West Riverside Drive.


posted by lyla

Recently an Austin apartment-dweller blogged about car alarms:

I live in apartment full of people who love car alarms and love ignoring them. They’re pretty much unnecessary and completely annoying, especially in the morning during summertime. -- Steaksinthemail

Car alarms go off around here quite frequently. I imagine it is worse in apartment complexes where residents may live quite a distance from where they park and might not even realize it's their car alarm blaring. Just about anywhere the first thought that crosses most people's minds isn't "Oh no, someone is breaking into a car" but rather "I wonder how long before they go turn that *&)@! thing off?" False alarms are the norm it seems. Rather than stopping thieves, they are the thieves -- stealing our sleep, stealing our peace and quiet at all hours of the day.

Car alarms would be hard to defend even if they did cut car-theft rates, as their makers claim. But they don't. Professional car thieves can disable audio alarms in seconds. And the false-alarm rate—upward of 95 percent—means that nobody calls the cops when an alarm goes off. -- Brian C. Anderson

Several years ago I had a vehicle that came equipped with a car alarm. It went off for no real reason in our driveway once in the middle of the night. After racing out of bed, heart-pounding to go turn it off just as I turned to go back inside it went off again -- not sure what set it off either time but there were certainly no would-be car thieves lurking. My current vehicle has those special computer-coded keys as a theft deterrent -- no noisy alarms that would do nothing more than irritate the neighbors.

In the grand scheme of things, errant car alarms are a minor irritation. But in day-to-day life, they are one of those little irritations that can get under our skin and keep us from accomplishing all the big things we want to do.

As far as I could find there are no city noise ordinances that deal specifically with car alarms. Do you know of any that I missed? Do you live in an area where car alarms are more of a noise nuisance for residents than a real deterrent to car thieves? What (if anything) should be done? What are better alternatives against car theft?

No storms. The City just trimmed the trees. It's not peak usage time. Then why have my neighbors and I had two power outages in as many weeks? Squirrels, of course.

"Squirrels are often the cause of power outages. They can can readily climb a power pole and crawl across a power line. The animals will climb onto transformers or capacitors looking for food. If they touch a high voltage conductor and a grounded portion of the device at the same time, they are then electrocuted and cause a short circuit that shuts down equipment. " -- Wikipedia

There's a transformer in the neighbor's yard so we hear it loud and clear when it pops. And we've seen the fried squirrels. I must, however, commend Austin Energy for their prompt restoration of power. It never takes more than 45 minutes to an hour to get the power back on when the culprit is a squirrel-related outage. The city says that "In Austin, tree limbs are the most common cause of power outages." In the years I've lived here, in my little piece of the neighborhood it's been those squirrels 5 to 1 over tree limbs and weather.

I recall that quite a few years back they installed some sort of wildlife guard on our line (perhaps one of this type developed here in Austin at 3M, I'm not sure). If it's still there, it's not working anymore.

Are squirrel-induced power outages a problem in your area? Anyone have practical solutions that homeowners might use to combat the problem? Share!

Looks like Lee Leffingwell has held on to his City Council seat, while Jennifer Kim has to vacate hers in favor of Randi Shade. The Place 4 seat is still undecided and will head into a runoff election on June 14 between Cid Galindo and Laura Morrison.

Leffingwell, Shade, and either Galindo or Morrison will be sworn in on June 20.

• Statesman: Shade upsets Kim; Leffingwell holds on to Place 1
• Burnt Orange Report: City Council, ACC Trustees, AISD, School Bonds Election Results.
• Statesman: Austin school bond proposals pass
• Travis County: Precinct by Precinct Results for Austin City Council (PDF)
• Statesman: Rufus Honeycutt wins Round Rock City Council race
• Travis County: All Election Night Results throughout the county, cumulative and precinct by precinct

Random observations: A quick impression from skimming a few articles suggests to me that those reporting on or discussing the results attribute success or failue largely to how much money each candidate was able to raise. Leffingwell, for instance, far outpaced his opponents in raising money for his campaign. But the candidate sees the results as a statement of Austin voters approval of his Council record. A very quick pass through the precinct by precinct results also indicates that the faces on City Council might be quite different if Austin were to adopt a single-member district system for filling the City Council seats. For example, in Place 1 Meeker, and even Demling, fared much better in some precincts than the overall results would suggest. Presumably Meeker would have more name recognition in the precincts surrounding Northcross. Gather up the results for just that one part of town and a runoff would likely have been the initial outcome. The same is true for the Kim/Shade battle. Like I said, just random observations.

Anyone have strong feelings one way or the other regarding the outcome of the Austin City Council elections this weekend? Will you vote in the runoff?