I must say, the more I visit Texas (particularly Austin) the more I like it.
I have a first cousin and her family in the city and they put me up when I visit. I've gone a bunch of times now, having had a romantic interest in Austin as well as the SXSW festival.
For a "small" town, it's got a good number of good restaurants that I've been able to explore, across a lot of different cuisines. Plus a good movie culture (my cousin is the president of the Polish-American society in town and they even have their own film festival).
Of course, I've only visited in spring and fall, not winter or summer yet but the temperatures don't seem that much different than California.
At least I would be able to leave my convertible top down most of the year if I lived there. If I don't move back to SF, it will likely be to Austin if I can find the right firm.
Currently, I'm looking at Frog Design (first choice because of their brilliant industrial design), GSD&M (wonderful creative talent), and Avenue A/Razorfish (my deepest skillset, the Web).
SXSW has reminded me that I need to exercise the creative part of my brain to get real satisfaction. I think that's possible here at Microsoft too, it's just much harder to find a role in such a large company. I'm trying now but there are no guarantees I'll find anything before my contract is up in a couple of months.
Posted by artandscience at March 14, 2008 08:00 AM