Home Improvement Tool and Toy Reviews

I am actually sitting at a table inside of Common Grounds Coffee Shop as I write this and have to say that this place is great. It has a very warm and friendly feeling to it. There is free wifi and they even have a Mac hooked up so that you can check your email if you don’t have your laptop with you.

On my first visit I ordered a poppy seed lemon bread slice (which they warmed up for me) and a small Cafe Mocha. I was informed that they make the bread themselves. The Mocha was absolutely delicious and was even delivered to my table for me. They also serve sandwiches and breakfast tacos. Finally they have several different wines that you can taste and/or purchase.

Finally one of the coolest things that I like about this place is that they have a play area for children. They have little tables and chairs for the kids and most notably they have a little wooden train set for the kids to play with. I will definitely be coming back with my son so he can play while I hang out.

Common Grounds is one of the nicest coffee houses that I have ever visited.

Technorati Tags: Coffee House, Round Rock TX, Free Wifi

Our oldest son is a “Christmas Light Junkie”. He wants to go Christmas lights every night.

One night my wife and I were watching TV when he ran in the room and start saying something that we couldn’t understand and was pointing towards the door. I thought that maybe he had seen someone outside of his window or something so I cautiously went and looked out side - I didn’t see anything out  of the ordinary. He was still talking and pointing so I opened the door. He ran over to the car and was saying “drive, drive - lights”. I finally understood what he was saying - he wanted to go see Christmas lights.

I can only imagine when he is older how his house is going to look with all the Christmas lights he puts up.

Technorati Tags: Christmas Lights, Round Rock TX, Christmas, Austin TX

The Texas 130 toll road from Highway 79 in Round Rock to Interstate 35 just north of Georgetown opened today.

This means that you can bypass all the traffic from Georgetown to North Austin and take the 290 into downtown now. I know that this is going to make a lot of people happy as I know there are several

people that are stuck in that traffic going to and from work.

Personally the toll roads have cut my commute down to a steady 25 minutes regardless of the time of day. I fell sorry for those are still stuck in traffic.

Technorati Tags: Round Rock TX, Texas 130, Toll Roads

AAAAHHHHHHH, The cold weather seams to have left as the temperature returns to the 70’s during the day. We are still getting low 40’s and some 30’s at night but it is nothing that a jacket cannot handle.

All-in-all I am happy to say that the weather here in Texas is not that much different then what we had in California.

Technorati Tags: ROund Rock TX, Weather, Fall

So last night we had our first frost here in Round Rock, TX. I came out to my car this morning to find it covered with ice so I had to let it warm up for a while before leaving for work. The picture to the right is what the roof of the car looked like.

The day before it was really cold and it had rained the night before so I decided to work from home instead of going into the office. I know that I can drive just fine in weather like that but I honestly do not trust the other drivers out there. Texas drivers as

terrible. I wonder if my driving will get worse the longer I live here .

Anyway, it is supposed to warm up a little more today and over the next few days. It is still a big difference in temperature though as it was 80 degrees on Wednesday and then 40 degrees on Thursday.

I have heard this quoted a few times around Texas and think it’s pretty funny:

If you don’t like the weather wait and hour and it will change 

It is not a cold front but an “Arctic Front” that is coming down from the north. With that we are going to go from almost 80’s weather today to 40’s weather tomorrow. Then on Thursday night is supposed to freeze.

I don’t know why it is such a big deal to me. When I lived in the Antelope Valley in California it would freeze on a regular basis. I guess it is just that it has been almost 15 years since I lived there.

The good thing is that this really does not happen very often so that is good. I am still lovin’ Texas.

Technorati Tags: Round Rock TX, Texas, Weather, Antelope Valley, Lancaster, Palmdale

Today I saw a story that J.C. Penny is now jumping on the Round Rock retail band wagon and is going to open a store next to the new Ikea.

I think that is really cool since J.C. Penny would not draw people to Rock Rock on its own but can gain business by being next to Ikea. Also, people that are coming to the Ikea would probably not come to the outlet mall but since they are already there for Ikea then they might just stop by.

It is nice to live in a place that is focused on the future and growing the local economy.

Technorati Tags: J.C. Penny, Ikea, Round Rock Outlet Mall, Round Rock TX, Austin TX, Central TX

I love Texas. It is so much better then California in so many ways, except one (well 2 if you count the way people drive around here).

That one way is the FM and AM radio reception.

In all honesty it reminds me of how bad the cell phone reception was in Cali.

It is just terrible here. I do not live far from downtown Austin (within 20 miles). I work even closer. But if I want to listen to the local radio I am bound to have some sort of interference in one spot or another. (more…)

I just saw on the Statesman.com that people are already camping out in front of the new Ikea in Round Rock that is schedule to open tomorrow.

I did not know this but I guess they are giving out prizes to the first 2,500 people that come in. These prizes will range from free yogurt to a $250 gift certificate. The first 100 people will get a free chair.

The craziest thing is that there is one guy that has been there since Sunday but the manager asked him not to camp until Monday. The guy returned at midnight on Sunday.

I am excited about the Ikea opening but not quite THAT excited.

Technorati Tags: Ikea, Round Rock TX, Austin TX, Texas

I would say that fall id really here in Round Rock. The reason for this is that there is not a cloud in the sky today but it is only 67 degrees outside.

I went to lunch with my wife and she had shorts on and was freezing. I reminded her that we were not in California any more and that she would not be able to wear shorts during winter.

If it is this cold now I can only imagine how winter is going to be.

Technorati Tags: Round Rock TX, Weather, Cold, Fall