I’m happy to be home, very happy, but spending a decent amount of time in a new (for me) part of the country was refreshing and valuable. It also kind of pissed me off … specifically about the town I live in, Charlottesville. Don’t get me wrong. I love living in Charlottesville, but I just can’t agree with those people who feel that Cville has the best places to eat, drink, and be merry.

Being away from Cville the last week reminded me how damn expensive it is to live here. I enjoyed tastier meals and a week without seeing (and most importantly drinking) Starr Hill at a much cheaper price in Austin. I still feel that Cville is a great live music town - an awesome one for its size and I’m thankful for that, but Austin is on a whole another level. Wow. That was fun. If I could go every year to SXSW music (not Interactive), I would. I love the variety, the short sets, the focus on technology and the open bars.

While this post has conveniently turned into an Austin v. Charlottesville rant, I don’t want to move. I don’t know the first thing about Austin. I just loved SXSW and occasionally you hear us locals compare our town to Austin. So as I re-enter the pretentious Cville atmosphere, can we drop the “best whatever” bullshit lines and be a bit more rational and critical of what we have and don’t have here?