Adjusting

You know something's happened when that 80 mile drive from Austin starts to feel so familiar that you know that there's a Target at that exit that's coming up and you know there's a Shell station in two miles. How exactly does memory work? Why is there room for marginal information, like where the Whataburgers are, but it loses track of numerous passwords (Forgot your password? I'm one of the steady customers for those features).

There's the moment, usually around New Braunfels, when I can't get KUT anymore and I make the switch to KSTX, 89.1. During news hours, it's the same with different traffic and a different weather person (but mostly the same weather). At all other hours, this station must be one of NPR's best customers, playing news and talkie programs I have never heard or heard of. It's weird to hear Fresh Air or This American Life at night. Don't these people know these clear-headed shows belong to the daytime? Nighttime is for music, entertainment.

While I'm kvetching, what is with these garish rust-colored overpasses with arches and columns in bas-relief -- are they trying to evoke the Spanish Colonial era? A nice idea but a tacky execution. And with Texas in bas-relief, just like in Austin, but here it's filled in with that sick brick color. Tasteless.

OK, let's find things to celebrate in the built environment. How about the Riverwalk? They have expanded it and aren't stopping. Last week my colleagues met for dinner at Paesano's on the Riverwalk - the last place I'd choose to go (the Riverwalk, not Paesano's, which has other locations). But we had folks from Baltimore visiting who'd never been so, of course, you have to go. The weather was perfect, even into the evening, and sitting on the river was fun. OK, grudging acknowledgement that it's worth doing. It's impossible not to be charmed by it.