Tag Archives: Downtown

Austin City Hall – The People’s Gallery

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Today’s mission was to go and enjoy The People’s Gallery at Austin City Hall.  From the literature, “Each year the Cultural Arts Division of the Economic Development Department presents the People’s Gallery exhibition, designed to showcase regional artistic endeavors and to encourage public dialogue, understanding, and enjoyment of the visual arts.  Since 2005, Austin City Hall has been an annual showcase for works by Austin area artists.”  It was super enjoyable to see all of the great artwork on display.

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Burger Bar

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There is a new hotel that has sprung up on Congress Avenue, between Second and Third Streets.  It is the JW Marriott, and they have a cool concept called the Burger Bar.  Yep, you just walk right up and get yourself some grub.  I think this is their nod to the food trailers that used to be in the area before they decided to plop down a fancy new hotel.  I must say the lobby bar on the first floor, and the Starbucks on the second floor were quite nice.  I ordered the Bacon Burger tonight and it was awesome.  Here is how they make the Burger Bar sound just as yummy as it really is on their website.

“Burger Bar serves up mouth-watering, Texas-sized burgers in a refreshing al fresco setting on Congress so you can people-watch while chowing down. Using premium locally bred beef and regional ingredients, these burgers in downtown Austin are not just delicious, but memorable. Be sure to try our signature Big Mouth Burger, topped with blistered peppers, jalapeno jam, bacon and zesty cheddar. Order a side of cheese fries and wash it all down with a peanut butter pretzel milkshake.”

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The Belmont

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I attended an event after work today at The Belmont, downtown on Sixth Street.  It is billed as a “state-of-the-art music venue and private event space”.  My event was relatively small, so I wandered around a bit and took some photos so you could get an idea of what the space looks like in case you have the inclination to see one of their upcoming concerts or maybe to attend a SXSW event there in March.  Cheers!

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Gourdough’s Public House

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I went to downtown Austin tonight for a DJ Concert and decided to give Gourdough’s Public House on Fifth Street a try. Of course, this place is awesome. I had the Cubano Donut Sandwich, Fried Yukon Chips, Warm Cream Corn, and a Vanilla Porter to wash it all down. They have a daily happy hour, and the staff is super friendly, so go check it out if you have the opportunity.

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Robocup Soccer Exhibition

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One of my most anticipated events at the Artificial Intelligence Open House was to witness the Robocup Soccer Exhibition. One of the teams was from The University of Texas – The Austin Villa Robot Soccer Team. The goal is to “build fully autonomous cooperative multi-robot systems that perform well in dynamic and adversarial environments.” How much fun it was to watch these little guys roam the soccer field, chase the ball down, tumble around and get back up on their own, pass the ball, and score goals. The robots are all a Standard Platform (identical except for programming and jersey color) and “Aldebaran Nao” robots. They receive no programming assistance while on the field, but must find the ball and play soccer on their own. Too much fun!

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Hyatt Regency Austin

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I had a fun opportunity to visit the Hyatt Regency this afternoon for a conference on Artificial Intelligence. The host organization was the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). I sat in on a talk by Moshe Vardi from Rice University who spoke on the topic, “If Machines are Capable of Almost Any Work Humans can Do, What will Humans Do?” Thought provoking…

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