Tag Archives: Business

Austin Food Truck Tour: Dock and Roll Diner

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I am so in love with the food truck/trailer industry!! Some people don’t get the food truck boom, but I love it and think it’s brilliant. People working downtown don’t have time for a sit down meal, but still wan’t delicious food. They tend to push your limits to try new foods. You meet the most interesting people. The community. Etc. Etc. One of the many reasons I’ve always adored Austin and wanted to move here so badly, was because of the gigantic food truck market. Someday, I even want to open my own here. ;)

Since living here I have been doing a little Food Truck tour of sorts. Trying out various food trucks. I’ve yet to have a completely terrible experience at these neat little trailers, however I’ve only just scratched the surface into this tour! ;)

Last week I stopped by one that really stood out.

Dock and Roll Diner

Located at 1503 South 1st Street the cute little trailer leaves you not entirely sure what you’re getting yourself into…. However, the staff was incredibly friendly and helpful since I had never been there before. I had heard raving reviews, though so when I was on that side of town, I had to make it happen!

After a fun and lively conversation with the owners I decided on the “Maine Event” and Asian Slaw.

The “Maine” Event is Dock and Roll’s signature Lobster Roll. These are a huge east coast thing, and I was terrified and stoked to try them down here!

Deeeelicious, and incredibly fresh — which is just amazing in Austin!!! The lobster was sweet, buttery, tender. Served in a lightly toasted and warm roll. Closing my eyes and with each bite I could have almost transported myself to the east coast. The sandwich was seasoned beautifully and not too mayonnaise-y at all. (That’s the worst!) I was seriously in food nirvana. The flavors are absolutely killer, making each bite succulent, and rich, but the lobster helps make it light and refreshing.

The asian slaw was made up of red and green cabbage, carrot, pickled cucumber, and a Hoisin dressing.

All in all I give Dock and Roll an A-…. If it was more conveniently located it would be an A+++. The food and staff is incredible! They even accept ‘Go Local’ cards (Which I apparently need to look up) and if you check in on foursquare you’ll receive $1 off your next sandwich!! mmmmmm.

Oakley Prescription Glasses

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During my Oakley Women Ambassador Retreat in Napa Valley, California in June one of the coolest parts of the weekend was getting to go through the Rolling O Lab.

Now, I know what you’re all thinking. What in the world is the Rolling O Lab? Well, it’s a test lab set up to show the science and technology that goes into the Oakley glasses. Lenses and Frames. Designed to show you exactly why Oakley is the best glasses designer on the market.

First thing we learned was about the High Definition Optics (HDO) and boy did they put this to the test for us. HDO is the technology Oakley uses to give clearer and sharper images without any corruption. What does that mean? No headaches! Typically people blame headaches from glasses on the tightness of the frame, when in reality it usually comes from your line of vision created from the lenses in your glasses… The lenses tend to shift everything over. With HDO you see everything exactly where it is, NOT shifted…

This is when the really cool test happened. *pushes up nerd glasses* The laser prism test! A laser is fired through each lense in a frame and in theory, the dots should come together in the center to focus on a single image. So each eye sees the same thing. See, what we see isn’t actually where they are in most glasses. The typical lense will bend light…. Our brain is wasting energy trying to put these images together… Have you ever put on a pair of glasses and felt like the ground was closer to you than it actually was? That’s what causes that feeling. Hence the headaches!

Not with HDO! HDO pretty much eliminates any distortion. What we see, where we see it, is where it’s actually at.

After the HDO tests he did a series of impact tests. As the leading brand in the athletic field for eyewear, you never know what could happen. You could take a spill on your face. Get hit in the eye with a ball. Have a rock shoot up and smack you in the forehead. Athletes are constantly taking risks and sometimes things go wrong. The last thing we want to destroy is our eyes! So Oakley puts all of their lenses to the test to make sure they can uphold the worst of the worst.

The Metal Spike test compared the Oakley Dart lenses with the lenses of the leading competitor, where a metal spike weighing more than 1 pound dropped from over 4 feet up, directly onto the lenses. The Oakley lenses scratched a wee bit, but there was no cracking, no shattering of the lenses. The Competitor? Well, it shattered… Which could lead to some pretty nasty eye problems…

Needless to say, I decided then and there if I was going to be wearing glasses on my face all day everyday, they would be Oakley glasses for sure. Then I discovered that Oakley has some of the cutest Prescription glasses on the market. It was like I won the jack pot!

I was beyond thrilled to get my hands on a pair of Rx glasses from Oakley. In fact, I hadn’t even realized they made them! I mean, it makes sense… I just never looked into it before! Boy oh BOY am I glad they filled me in on that bit of information!

I had such a hard time picking out which ones to get. Literally every pair of frames are adorable! But finally with the help of Zack I narrowed it down and ordered a pair of cute little pair of wire frames! Meet the Oakley Noteworthy.

These adorable frames are super lightweight! I forget they are on my face just about every time I wear them! haha. (Other than the whole being able to see thing… ;) ) However have no fear! If these aren’t your style; there are a variety to choose from!

Women:

Men:

(DISCLAIMER: as an Oakley Women Ambassador I was provided a pair of prescription glasses by Oakley. However all opinions are my own)

Do you wear prescription glasses? If so, check out Oakley.com and click on the prescription link under the STORE tab!

Apartment Wars

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I need to ask you guy’s a question. I’m sort of at a loss as to what I’m supposed to do at this point.

We moved into our apartment complex at the end of August of last year. We signed a 12 month lease instead of a 2 year lease… We knew we wouldn’t want to stay in Owings Mills. It’s a snoozefest out here. Maryland is gorgeous, Owings Mills – is boring ugly commercial crap. (at least the part of town we live. right on the main strip)

By the time we moved in the weather was still considerably warm, but the peek of summer had died down significantly. The apartment is certainly SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE, but it’s in our price range and not at all ghetto. It’s brand new within the last few years. So – I completely tossed aside the few bad reviews we saw online. It appeared (at the time) the positive reviews outweighed the bad. && I have to say for the first 6 months we lived here all was honky doory. Then, seemingly 6 months TO THE DAY everything started falling apart. The sliding door do our hall closet/pantry fell off the hinges one day (perfectly easy normal use. We aren’t rough with our apartment at all) Another day, we were sitting in the livingroom and just watched 4 blinds fall to the floor. Just fall. I would love to blame the cat, but she can’t reach these particular blinds. I can barely reach them! We put in a ticket for the door to be repaired…. 2 months ago. Still nothing. (Yes I have called, resubmitted my ticket. etc.) I let it go, it looks a little tacky when we have visitors and there is a sliding door leaning against the wall of the closet – but it was only that. Not going to throw a fit over a door and a few blinds. Blinds we just replaced ourselves. No big deal. Doors  though – yea no. Those things are pricy.

Then Spring came, and with the rising heat bugs bugs bugs galore started coming into our apartment. Fun Fact; I CAN SEE THEM COMING IN FROM THE “CRACK” IN THE FLOOR WHERE THE HALL CLOSET DOOR IS SUPPOSED TO GO. I don’t just mean a few bugs here and there. I mean bugs to the point where we have BOMBED, we have set up ant traps. We have sprayed bug repellent to the point where I probably now have lung cancer from the toxins (kidding) and they are STILL coming in, in the masses. They are like super bugs that don’t die from anything (except when I spray bleach directly on them, then I watch them squirm. Yeah i know – how cruel. At first I felt really bad…. Now, not so much. I’m THAT irritated with this nonsense)

Then today I am cruising home from work and decide to call Zack to see what kind of side dish he wanted me to get stuff for, for our chicken dinner I was planning to make… Only for him to tell me the Fridge isn’t working. I shrug it off and tell him to make sure the dial is set to the coolest setting and go on my merry way…. Then I get home and discover that the dial was already on the coldest setting, and the fridge is ROOM TEMPERATURE (which mind you – in this apartment is about 70 degrees. Its warm in here.. Another thing on my list of complaints but that’s neither here nor there at the moment) All of my frozen meats are now spoiled. Zack’s milk ( I don’t drink the stuff, but it is still absolutely maddening) was so spoiled it STINKS.. Eggs, destroyed. Fruits/Veggies – a few survived – but a lot of them got so soggy and disgusting we had to toss them. Yogurt, see ya… Basically, everything had to go. Other than like – our bottled water, a couple apples, and of course or bananas.

Now we are at an impasse. The apartment complex is telling us they won’t help us until we pay our rent for the month (Which btw I had full plans of doing on my way home from work. Sorry, a girl had to cash her paycheck and we have a 7 day window in this complex) before they will fix the issue. I refuse to pay rent until it’s fixed, and on top of that I feel I deserve to either be reimbursed for the money I spent on groceries (look at that, Charlotte still has her receipt and all!) OR get $100 off of our rent. (this is actually an estimate that is UNDER what I spent. Was stocking up so Zack would be able to survive without me when I go to NYC Tuesday)

This is where I’m at a loss. My mom, my dad, and several other people agree with me that I shouldn’t have to pay until these problems that just keep getting worse are resolved. Zack, and a few other people I’ve talked to disagree. They think I’m expecting too much (Zack doesn’t think that per-se.. He just wants the damn situation resolved however it needs to be done)

But – NO… I’m not in the wrong am I? Isn’t that the BEAUTY of renting? When things break the company or landlord you are renting from have to fix it! THAT IS WHY I RENT. I’m not ready to take responsibility financially for everything in my house/apartment. I had neighbors when I lived in Dallas who called the office for EVERYTHING. I mean, LITERALLY would have them come replace lightbulbs..

On top of all of this I am so fed up I don’t even want to live here anymore. I know its only 4 more months but ITS FOUR MORE MONTHS. I do not want to be here for 4 more months and I am looking up all ways to get out of a lease to see if we have any way out. I’m about 95% sure we don’t… But – if you’re into real estate and know something I don’t let a lady know! ;)

What would you do in my situation? Am I in the wrong for expecting them to pay for the food that was destroyed?