Dante Was A Punk

I'm working in Hell, Dante has nothing on me. I've got quite a few busy days ahead of me, fitting that this is my last week. I'm not doing a poster and hopefully I should have some semblance of virus actually built by Thursday if everything goes according to plan (like that'll work). This summer was nothing like it should've been and if I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, I need to get back to Austin.

I've been busy looking into the background of the coffeeshop that I'm interviewing for on the 15th (what? You can walk into an interview blind about the company but I'm a pro, son! I don't want to not know something even if I'm getting in at the counter-monkey stage). This is what I've gotten so far: Teo's (short for Matteo -Italalian for Matthew) is run by UT MBA alum Matt Lee. The shop is on its 2nd year of business and in its first few months was ordered a cease and desist order by Mario Batali ("Malto Mario" and "Iron Chef America") because the first name for Teo's was Babbo's (literally "daddy" in Italian) which is the name of Batali's restaurant, book company, and other business propositions, thus under his trademark. A contest was held and "Teo's" won the new name contest. Lee has two children and the interviewer, Anna is his wife. Teo's is considered to be one of the cleanest, well lit coffee joins in Austin and the coffee is imported from Tuscany by Lee. Lee studied in Italy under a family of gelato makers and makes all the gelato in-store. Lee also runs "Texas EXpresso" which is in the Alumni Center on campus. Teo's has very good WiFi access but is lacking in the number of power outlets (there's one by the bar) for laptops. There is a patio with a fireplace which would be good in Fall, but word is that it could stand to be colder inside the cafe (which is on 38th, just west of Lamar).

I think that should work for a good base knowledge, though I should really go there before my interview (or at least drive past) to see how it is, etc. The internet is such a great tool, and it's amazing what you can find if you look hard enough or dig deep enough (it's all about the Google). I'm aching to get back to spinning records at home (for some reason this is a driving thing with me now) and I want to practice and get new records to play (not really latest and greatest, but something to practice with). I went to Borders last night to find, much to my chagrin that the listening stations are gone from the music dept.! This is awful, as that was a main reason people came into Borders for music in the first place, because almost any record could be opened and played over and over until you were sure you wanted the record. Even Carrollton's "independent" shop, CDaddict, won't open the records for you (I don't give a flip about the top 40, you moron! Open the LP of the 1995 Tenaglia's Elements or I'll beat you with Brittany Spears new CD!) unless they've got a promo-copy. Just plain wrong, I tell you! I will make a run to Waterloo Records in Austin when I get down there.

I'm going to get back to work, and then run a few miles (I still need to lose some serious weight) then go home and play some records (then I need to start packing stuff up for Friday's trip). Post a comment or anything you want, or send me an email because I like getting those too! Have a better day than I'm having- I'm getting out of the ninth circle soon!


Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate