Future blogs to write about

Ok, so I obviously still haven't figured out how to make my blog look better.  If you have any idea's or would like to help me out, please let me know at chickenromano@gmail.com.

Mental Note:  Things to write about...when you get the chance and squeeze this stuff in while doing daddy duties, work, and studies...

1.  Travel to Dubai
2.  Travel to Singapore
3.  Travel to Laoag:  Pagudpud
4.  Travel to Palawan:  Puerto Princessa
5.  Travel to Hong Kong
6.  Those restaurants throughout Manila that you've eaten at the past few months.

End of mental note.

The Great State of Texas!

So it's been a while since I last wrote something on my blog.  It's been a crazy few months...I now have a few more things to write about.  Busy busy busy.  Between work, class, and being a daddy it's hard finding time.  Anyways, I just got back home from a business trip (a few month's ago now) and I stayed a whole month in Texas!  Yeah!  I definitely enjoyed my whole stay there.  Texans were some of the most polite people I've ever met.  Always saying "hi", "hello", or something similar to that.  I'd definitely suggest you visit Texas if you have the chance.  If not for the food, at least for the hospitality.

There's a bunch of stuff I could write about but for today I'll be writing about my stay in Texas!

I arrived in the US around March sometime this year.  For some odd reason it was really cold.  I made a mental note that the first thing I would do is go to the local Target or Walmart and buy myself a jacket or something similar.  I arrived in Austin at about 7pm at night and I had to take a cab to the hotel.  My car rental didn't push through as I arrived during the time the SXSW music festival was going on.  No car rentals to be found anywhere.  I waited about three hours just to find out that no cars would be coming back for the day.

So I took a taxi to the hotel instead and arrived at the Hampton Inn about an hour later.  It is a small hotel in Round Rock Texas.  It's actually part of the Hilton family of hotels.  The hotel is located about 60 to 70 miles from the Austin Bergstrom International Airport.  From the airport, you will have to take the 183 North, then you will take the I35 North and if I remember it correctly, you'll have to take the 254 exit and then take a right on Dell Avenue.  It's actually pretty easy to find.

It's location on the I35 and right across from Dell headquarters, makes it a great business trip type of hotel.  You'll always find travelers from all walks of life there.  The hotel itself is a 6 story hotel, with a Texan motive.  The moment you walk into the hotel, you get that Texan feel.  Lots of wood and leather type of furniture in the lobby.

The front desk personnel were great!  Always fiendly and ready to help.  The first week I was there the nice lady in the morning shift showed me where I could go to do some great shopping and eating.  She actually took 15 minutes of her time to just chat with me and show me the ropes.

One night at the hotel was about $100.  This included free WIFI and breakfast.  Not too shabby for a 100 bucks.  The breakfast was your standard fare...eggs, sausages, pancakes, lots of juice and coffee.  But if you stay there a month, (even just one week) you'll get tired of the breakfast really easy.  I just wish they had at least some soup or something that could've made it more interesting.

But not to fret!  If you don't like the breakfast, you can always leave the hotel and walk across the parking lot and eat some crabs!  Now that was some delicious stuff!  There was this crab resto/bar infront of the hotel.  They had really good crabs.  If you are allergic to crabs, there are other foody places around the area.  If you have a car (which I really do hope you have if you're staying in Texas), there's the Walmart (you can do groceries), and several sports bars in the area.  To name a few, Hooters and Twin Peaks.  Ahem...

The room was comfy and carpeted (which I have missed having), it had one large queen size bed with fluffy pillows and comforter.  The bathroom was large enough to be comfortable.  The shower was a bit hard to figure out, but after a few tries I got the hang of it.  The internet was fast, it had some hickups but worked for most of the time I was there.  It was a good thing the hotel had wifi instead of just the hard wired connection at the desk.  After a few days I figured out that I should use my laptop on the bed instead at the desk.  The reason for this was because of the airconditioner.  For some really really odd reason of engineering by the hotel, the airconditioner was located on the bottom, right next to the windows and desk.  If you sit at the desk, the airconditioner would blast cold air right at your head every few minutes and it was really loud  After a few days I just stopped sitting at the desk.

So I spent most of my time just lying on the big comfy bed of the hotel and watching TV.  I've really missed that.  Just hanging around, lying on the bed and eating TV dinners.  I arrived early enough in Texas so that I had time to explore before my work week started.  Like my mental note stated, I was going to visit the local Target or Walmart.  Thankfully, there was a Walmart right across the street.  Well, at least I thought it was right across the street.  Apparently everything in Texas is big.  It took me10 minutes to walk to Walmart as the parking lot was huge.  I did some exploring and I really missed those big aisles when doing groceries.  I took pictures left and right of Walmart.  Can you imagine how weird that is if you're from Round Rock?  So I did some groceries and finally got myself a Dickies hoody.  It was on sale.  Great buy by the way.

So for the next few weeks after work I went shopping.  What else to do after work in a new place right?  I went exploring and shopping.  I was able to do this since after a few days my boss took me back to the airport to get that car.  Unfortunately, I didn't have my passport with me and I needed that to get the car.  Apparently something about not having info in their system so I needed my passport.  To make a long story short, I took another cab back to the hotel to get my passport, and then the same cab back to the airport.  That's like $70 one way.

One great thing about having a rental car is that I got to choose it.  This was my first car rental ever so when the attendant told me that I could just choose a car from the lot I was like a kid in a candy store.  I was like...this is so totally cool...(with a big grin on my face).  So I went down the lot looking at cars and there was this Ford that caught my eye.  The car guy told me the keys where in the car and so all I had to do was pick a car and drive it to the window thingy.  I took a seat in the Ford and I took one look at the dashboard when I realized I was sitting in a plane and not a car.  There were so many buttons and lights I told myself that this wasn't the right car.  Although it was a really nice car I decided to pick another one.  What I finally drove off the lot was a brand spanking new black 2012 Toyota Yaris.  It looked exactly like a Toyota Corolla to me though.  But it was exactly what I needed.  An automatic, with just the basic stuff a car needed.  Nothing that would cause me to crash the car.  And let me tell you, it was some great driving in Texas on the highway!  I was going at the speed limit but it felt great!  When was the last time you could do 60 to 70 mph on EDSA?

Like I said, I spent one month in Texas and every single day I was there and turned on the ignition of my car, I heard this song..."toniiiight we are young..." this song is now forever and ever engraved in my brain as my car driving song.  And I'm not kidding you...this song played every day of my stay there and every time I turned on the ignition of the car.

Anyways, there's no way I can put a whole month of experience on this iddy bitty blog of mine.  My whole point to this writing is I thought that Texas was a great state to visit.  I went out every single day after work and during weekends to explore what I could.  I ate at Rudy's...that's one great BBQ place...I'd definitely suggest you eat there.  I ate at that crab place in front of the hotel...I can't remember the name right now but when I do I'll mention it on a future blog.  I also went shopping at Old Navy...got some great deals from there.  And I was lucky enough to see the start of baseball season!  I drove all the way out to the Dell Stadium to watch the local college team get creamed by a California team.  Go orange local ball team...sorry!  Forgot the name... :)

So all I can say is I had a blast in Texas.  Austin and Round Rock will forever have a place in my heart.  Great people, great food, and some good shopping.  One example of the friendliness of people there was this:  one morning during breakfast, we had one dude in an army uniform getting breakfast...he had his BDU's on...and this totally random other dude goes up to him and shake's his hand and said "Thank you for the service that you provide our country."  Isn't that awesome?  I was like, that stuff only happens in movies...but apparently it happens in real life too.  Makes you kinda teary eyed doesn't it?

One thing I do would like to mention is that I had the chance to go shopping at the outlet mall about 30 minutes north of the hotel.   Bought some stuff and I saw this customer service place there...it said I could get back the taxes I paid on my purchases as a tourist.  I never did.  Why?  Because I knew that the great state of Texas does its job in providing for their people. I enjoyed the paved streets and security the police provided.  So why not pay taxes?  It was my way of saying thank you.  To Texas and its folks for a beautiful and great stay in Texas!  I will see you again someday!

Pictures to follow on next blog.