Here are a couple of photos that Sharon forwarded us. Check out Evelyn whispering to the giant Bat Bike.

Now that we have a garage, Evelyn has a place to do more serious tinkering and workworking. The biggest hinderances at the old apartment were lack of space and inability to do “shop” work. The apartment was great for what we got it for — a ‘beach head’ in Austin, but it didn’t work for our business plans.

While at the Home Depot the other day we saw some cans of “mistake” paint. These are usually dirt cheap because they mixed the wrong colors, or someone didn’t like how they looked. We were lucky to find a nice shade of battleship gray, and so our work area became a lot less grimy:

Evelyn painted the walls (which probably hadn’t seen paint for 20 years) and it looks so much nicer. Like a place you want to work in, versus a utility room. Since we had some paint left over, we painted her new garage workbench.

The workbench uses 2×4 Basics Workbench Legs. It’s 6 feet long and 27 inches deep with 3/4 inch MDF tops. The MDF means that it weighs a ton, which is good for a workbench. It fits really nicely in the “nook” of the garage, completely out of the way of everything.

You can also see one of the two Rubbermade shelves we got the other day. They are for holding lighter, but bulky, project parts. Stuff like project boxes (in the blue bins), speakers, and all sort of other bits and pieces.

To the right of the fire extinguisher is a small wall where the small parts bins are. We might move that a put some more shelving there.

When did we do all this painting and workbench building? Christmas Day, of course!

Evelyn was able to perform a minor miracle last night and got me out of the house. We met up with Sharon, a fellow Austinite who Evelyn met while in the Galapagos. Sharon has been a great resource for Evelyn, as she has liven in Austin a long time and knows just about everything there is to know about the city.

We went over to Sharon’s house and were joined by Judith, another friend of Sharon’s, and headed downtown for First Night. It’s a celebration of the New Year, with a focus on family-friendly and the arts. This means no booze, which is a good thing. The drinkers have 6th Street, the families have First Street. (Note to Deb: There is one in Arkansas–in Fayetteville.)

The event covers part of Zilker Park, First Street, and Caesar Chavez. Those normally very busy streets are closed to cars, so you get to cross the river over the very large First Street bridge. For you Chicagoans out there, it’s like how they shut down parts of the Grant Park area for the Taste of Chicago (or, as Evelyn still calls it: Chicagofest).

There were events scheduled all throughout the afternoon and night. The kids-friendly stuff ran from about 3 PM to 7 PM., and then the more adult-stuff started.

What’s neat is that a lot of public buildings are open (since they host events). For example, in City Hall we saw these amazing aerial dancers. They climb up and do all sorts of ballet-like moves — while being 20 feet in the air.

It was also interesting to see City Hall, which we hadn’t seen before. The front area has an integrated stage and seating, fitting in quite well with the “Live Music Capitol Of The World” theme. The back has a part that sticks out like an armadillo’s tail. Now, if only they would quit raising our taxes.

While on the First Street bridge, we saw a whole bunch of custom made bikes in the shapes of different animals. These were similar to ones we saw at the Maker Faire, though Evelyn did spot a new one: A Giant Bat Bike. It looked very cool and Sharon was able to get a photo of Evelyn in front of it.

We also saw the Resolution clock. It was a big wooden “Big Ben” type clock on which people wrote their resolutions on. At around 8:15 the clock went haywire (an effect), started spinning out of control, and then burst into flames (with fireworks, no less). It was quite a sight to see. We must have been 150 yards away and felt the heat. The people up toward the front must have been scorching.

One commenter on the Statemen site felt that the burning clock was teaching kids to be pyros. (This coming from someone posting on a website at 9 AM on New Years Day — don’t party too hard, buddy.) The kids were pretty worked up, really wanting that thing to ignite (I felt like I was on the set of The Wicker Man). However, as soon as it took off, the crowd was hushed and transfixed, which I believe was the point. 

We also saw the Tesla guys again (ArcAttack), making music with their giant Tesla Coils. I think playing the Doctor Who theme did them in, as shortly after one of their coils went dead. It was very cool seeing them at night, near the river, as the sparks could be very clearly seen. (Better than I saw at the Maker Faire.)

There was also food, which we didn’t partake in, mainly because of the super long lines. (That part needs to be better organized.) And there was, of course, a number of live band stages (I counted at least 4), and an assortment of other odd things.

We didn’t stick around for midnight as we are all old and easily tired. Got back home around 11:45, got a Coquito and a beso at midnight, and fell asleep. 

Note: The photos are from the Statesman. Check out their slideshow here: First Night Photos.