Austin and young single professionals? (Mart: best city, sales, houses)

[CUDavidBanner]

Hello,

I'm considering jobs in the Austin area. I would just like to know what is the culture like for single professionals in Austin? Please tell me Austin is free of the blue laws like in South Carolina. It's pretty lame that you can't buy things like staples at Wal-Mart on Sunday mornings and sports bars closing at 1:00AM.

Austin seems like such an awesome city. The major negatives I've come across are the traffic, flooding, and the HEAT. Thanks.

[deeptrance]

Originally Posted by CUDavidBanner

I would just like to know what is the culture like for single professionals in Austin?

Consistently rated as one of the top 5 places in the country for young singles. Your odds are better if you're female (check the city-data.com demographics and you'll see why, there are a lot of young men here!) but it's still rated very highly. Sperling's Best Places ranks Austin as the best city in the country for dating. One2One Living Magazine ranks Austin as the "4th best city to find a soul mate", whatever that means. Hard to imagine how you measure that, since nobody has ever seen a "soul" before, let alone measured how they mate.

Originally Posted by CUDavidBanner

Please tell me Austin is free of the blue laws like in South Carolina.

Yes and no. It's the south and it has a curfew on liquor sales after 2 AM. After-hours clubs stay open until at least 4 AM but as far as I know they can't sell booze. There are no other rules on when you can sell things. Plenty of all-night groceries and drug stores and such, and there are restaurants that boast that they never close (literally.)

You can't buy hard alcohol all day on Sunday and the liquor stores are only allowed to be open between something like 9 AM and 9 PM the other 6 days. Beer and wine are available only after noon on Sundays (cuz you're sposedta be in church in the morning )

Many laws are based on which county you're in. There are a couple of counties in the Austin metro area that still have laws banning the sale of anything stronger than beer, which is pretty lame because it just puts more drunks on the road between the dry counties and the neighboring ones. These laws are rapidly being voted out of existence and probably won't be a factor much longer in any of the metro counties.

Originally Posted by CUDavidBanner

Austin seems like such an awesome city. The major negatives I've come across are the traffic, flooding, and the HEAT.

Traffic and HEAT, yes. Flooding? No. Don't live in a flood plain. It's that simple. It amazes me that humans still build and buy places next to creeks and lowlands that are known to flood. Uhhh..... MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND! I've lived through several major floods in central Texas and none of them affected me in the slightest. They only affect people who try to drive through roaring water crossings or who have houses in places that flood all the time.

Now, the heat is a serious issue. You can't change the weather just by moving to a different neighborhood. It's freaking HOT here. Even today, it was in the mid-80s in the afternoon. Cold front coming through tonight, should keep it in the low 70s tomorrow. In mid summer, you have to drive at least 12 hours or fly a couple hours to get to a place that's below 90 degrees. I've been desperate enough to do that a couple times, driving to the southern Rockies in New Mexico, rushing to get up over 6,000 feet and then it starts to feel somewhat decent. At around 8,000 feet, it gets really nice. But that's a lot of driving just to cool off. So the best remedy is swimming and AC. If your car doesn't have AC, forget about it. Getting stuck in a 5 PM traffic jam with no AC will make you go postal. I think it's legal to use a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher in such situations, as nobody is expected to remain calm or sane at those times.

[Spookmeister]

Don't worry, it won't be long before you'll be voting to have things shut down at 10.

Traffic? How is that any different from other major metro areas? It's not like there's much of a choice anywhere else unless you live in Podunk, TX and three cars at the stop sign constitute a traffic jam.

Flooding? Honestly, some people make it seem like the second coming of Noah's Ark! It rains, and sometimes the creeks overflow. For some that's flooding, for most it's a minor inconvenience and they find an alternative route until the water recedes.

Heat? It's only preparation for hell!

Come on now,you're sounding like a delicate daisy in need of some watering and shade. You won't surive around here if you're that 'soft'!

[deeptrance]

Originally Posted by Spookmeister

Heat? It's only preparation for hell!

That's a good point. Maybe I should stop using my car's AC so I can gear up for the place I know I'm heading to when my time on this planet runs out.

[CUDavidBanner]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

The HEAT has always been my greatest concern about Austin. It gets hot in South Carolina too, but man it's in the low 70s here now. It can't be good for the women who soak up the sun either. With that type of heat at 35 they will look 55.

In South Carolina by the time you walked to class you were sweating. I'm scared to think what happens in Austin. Sadly, with global warming Austin will probably just get even hotter. But, gee everything else about the city seems almost perfect.

[AustinTraveler]

I grew up in Florida and the weather in Austin is way better! The humidity levels aren't as high which makes a world of difference. Currently our temps are in the 60's and it's sunny and windy.