Austin, TX: Pretty city. Ugly newscasters

Yaaay! So three weeks in, I am nearly settled in completely to my new home (a couple more trips to Ikea are in order still I think), job situation is all good (and with a 5 minute commute, I am not mad before I even GET to work)and squared away. I have made a good choice.

With my short time here in the good ol' capitol of Texas, I have noticed many things that I used to think was just cliched stereotypes of Austin. "Everybody's so laid back down there.....a lot of alternative people.....hippies...etc".  I though it was just talk, but no,no,no.  Its all true, and maybe truer to the extent that some people don't even know.  For the most part, people that I have ran into have been disarmingly nice and chatty.  I think every third person here is on some really good weed or mellowed out to the max.  And yes, I have to admit that the Dallas pomp and pretentiousness is pretty absent, and it's refreshing. I went out tonight in a black shirt, BROWN sandals, and a pair of jeans two sizes too big and holes in the knees to boot, and I FIT IN ahahahaahaha.  LOVIN' it.

So I won't go on and on (or will I?). The sparkling clean streets; the rampant environmentalism (what the heck is a watershed???).  The topography of the hills and the lakes and the clear creeks running through town, the absence of a brown pollution cloud.  The same clean streets that are pothole-less.  All the independant non-chain restaurants.  The cheap, GOOD food everywhere. STILL....lovin' it.

What I DON'T get, however, is the BUTT-ugly newscasters! Granted, this is a shallow observation, but another friend who just moved down here too noticed the same thing.  Dumpy, frumpy, pudgy, bad-built, and just not camera pretty at all.  Their hair is not done...their dress is outdated. There just seems to be a little lack of polish in their presentation.  I guess that fits with the overall vibe of the city-come as you are, nobody cares what you look like-just have a good time. Although, their frumpyness (frumpy is the name of makes them less credible as newcasters hahahahaha.  "You're ugly-why should I listen to you praddle on about Iraq?"

Contrast this to the Dallas-area newscasters.  Fox 4 had to have the lock on the good-looking (or at least TRYING to look good) newscasters.  I mean, who had more botox lip injections-Steve Eager or Heather Hayes?  And who could outdress Byron James, with those pimp-a-rific suit and tie combos.  And Clarice Tinsley?? She's been in the game a LONG time, but sistah-girl is trying to keep it fresh. Can't be mad at her for that. Then there was Channel 8, which I believe got rid of two of their best newscasters because they were a little on the heavy side on Good Morning Texas, only to replace them with more attractive (read "thin") morning gabsters. That's my theory anyways (although there is a kernel of truth to that...).

So there you have it. Great city. Frumpy newscasters. Good times.