I don’t know when I was first exposed to comic books. Sometime in the early 80’s, I ended up with a box of mixed comics. I dog-eared issues of Conan, The Fantastic Four, Archie, The Uncanny X-Men, and who knows what else.

I can’t recall what happened to that box of comics. It disappeared along with my interest in comics until I was a sophomore in high school, when a buddy loaned me several X-Men related issues. This sparked a 10-year comic buying spree. Then I quit again.

Fast forward to 2010. My habit got another jump start, thanks to my good buddy Bryan, my fiancé’s son, and Austin Books and Comics.

 

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Some of the best memories I’ve made in my lifetime have been on the water. Though I’ve spent many years out on the open ocean, I’ve arguably enjoyed my time on lakes and rivers just as much, if not more.

Thinking back on my childhood, there are few memories that compare with catching my first fish with my dad on a lake in the Pacific Northwest, or the seemingly endless summers spent on an inflatable raft with friends, pretending we were explorers. [Read more…]

This guest blog post is by Kelly Love Johnson.

Let me start by saying that I’ve been a regular at Dirty Dog’s Mesa location for about three years now, beginning a few months after I moved to Austin in January of 2010.

My Pomeranian, Lulu, was just a year old and no longer small enough to bathe in the kitchen sink, so I had been torturing both of us with bend-over-the-tub baths and 45 minutes of blow drying (with my not-professional blow dryer).

There was also the issue of her toenails.

Her vet clipped them for me before I moved. My one attempt to trim them myself resulted in one of us bleeding (dog) and the other in tears (me). [Read more…]

Whether you’re a casual lake-goer or a hardcore water sports enthusiast, we’ve discovered an exciting new resource that’ll make your next local lake visit more enjoyable.

Slades Wake is the entrepreneurial venture of University of Texas graduate, Courtney Slade. Following graduation, Courtney took a hiatus to travel across the continental United States and abroad. A large part of her adventuring included sports like snow boarding and surfing. But when she returned home to Austin, she realized that there was no comprehensive resource for outdoor enthusiasts who wanted to enjoy lake sports and activities in the Austin area. [Read more…]