Heard about this on KLBJ this morning and thought I'd pass on the word. Mods, if this is considered political, please accept my apologies and delete.


"The Austin School District's Citizens' Bond Advisory Committee will host two community meetings to review and discuss its preliminary recommendations for a proposed bond program in 2008.

The meetings will be held on:

• Tuesday, January 15, 6 p.m. in the Covington Middle School theater. The school is located in south Austin at 3700 Convict Hill Road.

• Wednesday, January 16, 6 p.m., in the LBJ High School cafeteria. The school is located in northeast Austin at 7309 Lazy Creek Drive.

Chaired by Mark Curry, Geronimo Rodriguez, and Amy Wong Mok, the CBAC has been meeting since October 2007 to review facility needs of the School District. It is scheduled to make its recommendations to the AISD Board of Trustees on January 28.

For more information, contact the AISD Office of Facilities, 414-2667."

(Or check out the bond proposal links here: http://www.austin.isd.tenet.edu/newsmedia/releases/?more=1467&lang=)

I'm having trouble figuring out 
a. what to call the service I need
b. who to call to have it done. 

We have a roughly 2 acre piece of land behind our house that has been overrun with ragweed and poison ivy. (ragweed is more than 14 feet high) There are about 5 trees, and we do NOT want them cut or harmed in any way. In addition, the previous owners tossed a lot of crap back there, pieces of concrete, rail road ties, etc. 
I want to find a company that will come out to:
1. Haul off all of the trash
2. Cut down all of the ragweed / poison ivy / whatever else
3. Careful enough to not harm the trees (this part makes a traditional tractor pulled brush hog an issue) 

Ultimately we are looking to take this land and turn it into something of a mini-park environment. I can take care of seeding the grass and keeping it mowed once everything else has been dealt with.

I've searched for Lot/Land clearing, but all of the companies that I called are places that basically bulldoze the lot, trees and all. We definitely don't want that. I tried lawn mowing, but those places don't deal with anything other than yards. 

Just figuring out what to call the service I need would be a help, but suggestions on who to do it would be even better. 

Thanks.

The Bujinkan Ninjutsu Club at the University of Texas and Austin Area Bujinkan will be starting back up tonight in Patterson Park at 7:30 PM.

( more details behind the cut )

This one is strange. Saturday we went to start our 04 Tacoma, and found it dead. It had only been parked overnight. 
When I popped the hood to jump start it, I found a squirrel camped out near the master cylinder, just staring at me. Before I could do anything, he jumped down and out of the engine compartment. 
Then I saw the damage......the little sucker chewed up into little bitty bite size pieces, the master wire harness plus several other wires. 
The truck is at the Toyota dealership, waiting on the 3-4 week backordered master wire harness. 

All this depsite having 4 huge pecan trees between our yard and the neighbors, which have dropped enough nuts to feed most of the squirrels in Austin.

I've never heard of this happening, and oordinarily I wouldn't worry about this 1 in a million event happening again. But since this particular squirrel now knows where to go for a wire meal, it seems likely it will happen again once we get the truck back. 

Any suggestions on how to deal with this?  

You heard it here first: Austin's favorite local theater company, Salvage Vanguard Theater, has begun its search for a new Executive Director! Holy cow! Could it be you??

( Read here to find out! )

Please feel free to disseminate this information far and wide. This search is global, baby!

Does anyone have recommendations for a fence builder/handy person? It's a large lot, but an inexpensive area. I'm not looking for anything upscale and I'm open to different fencing options (bullpen or privacy wood type fences) .

Anyone have any ideas?? There's about 50 fencing companies in Austin, does anyone have a recommendation of a good, inexpensive one?

Thanks!!!

I'm having no luck finding an office cleaning service. It's a smallish office, about 1200 square feet, with five employees and just one bathroom. A couple of places I called will only do 5 day a week services and this is just way too much for us... we're thinking maybe once a week or twice a month.

Can any of you recommend a commercial/office cleaning service?

I seem to be coming  to yall for advice a lot lately! 

Anyhoo...  for Valentine's day (or the week of Valentine's day) my husband and I decided to do something we haven't done since our son was born... go on a date! Yikes! We got a gift card for Christmas for a really nice steakhouse so we are doing that for dinner, but afterward we want to go dancing. Considering we haven't done that since college, and we didn't go to college in ATX, we have NO CLUE where to go! 

We like to two step, but some romantic dancing might be nice too. We aren't too into poppin' n lockin' or grinding, and we don't dance to top 40. Im 24 and he is 27, so we prefer to be in a crowd more geared to our age, but we HATE 6th street and the 6th street atmosphere, so please no places where tons of college kids are getting wasted and trying to hook up... its just not our thing. We live in NW Austin, so we prefer staying in that area (183/RR/Pflugerville/CP/Leander). Also, not too pricey is a huge plus. I know I'm picky but if we are gonna do this, we are gonna do it right. 

I've heard suggestions for Graham Central Station, but I'm worried it might be too on the 6th streetish-atmosphere side for us... anyone have opinions on that place? Any suggestions or warnings are welcomed and appreciated!

Tickets now on sale.   Big Star Burlesque & Friends! It's like 15 pairs of boobs!!!!  thats less than 50 cents a boob ;)

Just $10 in advance.   If you purchase before Jan 30 and use coupon code "janpresale", you'll get 10% off.  

Come see me as well as aeryn42 !!!!!!

http://www.bigstarburlesque.com

How much do you guys pay for a one time lawn company to come out and trim hedges and pick up leaves?

How about what should one expect to pay for a lawn company to come every other week during growing season and once a month for winter lawn upkeep?

Sissy is missing. This dog is sweet and wonderful and if you've seen her, please let me know! Here's the message originally posted by my friend, Billy:

"Our dog Sissy has ran away from home. We are really worried about her. She is a little cautious of strangers, but offer your hand and she is a sweet heart. Please help us find her by reposting this. Maybe someone will see her. Thanks."



I believe she was lost in East Austin, near 7th and Chicon. I will update with more details. Thank you for reading this!

UPDATE!!

Edited to add this note from Billy: "She could be anywhere from 1st to Manor on the eastside. My hunch is she went south from 12th. Thanks for your help I really appreciate it. I'm about to lose it. I have been driving for hours. It makes me feel a little better to hear from someone who knows how special she is. I'll keep you posted."

The idea has been thrown around for a while and I know it was attempted once before but I want to make this happen and make it an AMAZING act.
I am looking for girls of all shapes and sizes who are comfortable with there body and who LOVE horror. You don’t have to be pin thin or some SUPER GOTH I just want people who want to work hard and want to have fun making an amazing show.
( Read more... )