Days 8 and 9: Taking it easy #SXSW

One of my favorite songs is Jackson Browne's Take It Easy. I love his line "don't let the sound of your own wheels make you crazy". One of the easiest things to do. One of the things I wanted to accomplish in my time off is just that, take some time off, take it easy. (Now I know a lot of you know the song as an Eagles song and that Glen Frey was co-author...Jackson, gave Glen co-authorship as he came up with the line "It's a girl my lord in a flat bed Ford slowin' down to take a look at me" which was probably worth co-authorship).

So one of the things I have been doing is slow down a little. On Sunday, Karen and I finally ventured out late morning. We had of course lost an hour and we were out late the night before. We ended up at La Condesa for brunch. Great little crab appetizer (everything here seems to have a tex mex flavor to it). And we both had the chicken tacos. Soft tacos, with the tortillas freshly made. mmmmmmmm good. Highly recommended. Good margaritas too.

We wanted to get some walking in, so we walked across the river towards Allen's, the world famous boot (and hat) place. I immediately found a very nice western straw that Karen liked a lot. Then found a western felt that was just right. Shipping two more hats home!

Walked down to Guero's. Always love to eat there but the timing was not right, so of course we stopped off for a margarita and some chips and salsa. Cab back to the hotel for a nap, then out for the evening.

Went to the FastCompany party at Moonshine's. Like many parties here, loud and crowded. But we stayed for a while, then made our up to the Stephen F Austin Hotel, where the upstairs bar, the Stephen F is generally not crowded. Dinner at the bar. Our good friend Chris Redlitz happened by. Always nice to see him.

Karen left early Monday (again with limo to airport provided by Tagged.com--thanks again Steve Sarner).

I wandered over to the SXSW Conference and Trade Show. Saw Barry Diller keynote. BTW-if you want to follow me in real time, I am mediadls (same as my IM addresses) on Twitter and Foursquare. After Diller, I met up with Tom Finerty again and we walked the trade show floor. Really a mish mash. Would be helpful if they grouped similar booths together, but then they might not have the flow. Some interesting stuff though. I could see that my son Dale, a budding Sound Engineer would get a lot out of this.

Dinner last night was at Wink, a fairly high end experience. Tom Bedecarre (AKQA) and his nephew, Bruce Carlisle (Conference Hound), Greg Stern (BSSP) and Daniel Stein (EVB) all joined in. Most of us had the tasting menu which was very good. Highly recommended. Reservations a must.

Taking it easy has been doing things at my own pace, getting in some reading, some writing, some walking around town and connecting with friends. This is a great town. If they only had an ocean, I could live here.