My daily commute takes me across town two times a day. It means that I see a lot of things. Here’s a small sample from this week:

• If you were wondering why South Lamar was a nightmare this morning, here’s your reason.
• It took them a week to get Zilker Park back to normal after this year’s ACL festival. Everything looked back to normal yesterday morning, except for the old guy combing the deserted fields with a metal detector. I wonder if he found anything?
• Oltorf’s a total nightmare right now between South Congress and South Lamar. Avoid it at all costs. As if that damn train crossing, which gets me every time, wasn’t enough incentive.
• Not sure if it’s over yet, but I-35 in central Austin has also been blocked down to one lane for several nights out of the past week or two.
• Eastbound Cesar Chavez between Mopac and Congress was particularly backed up yesterday evening for no good reason that I could see.
• Everybody and their brother seems to have figured out the exit ramp shortcut between 45th and 35th on southbound Mopac. I think it’s actually faster now if you don’t use it.
• If you’re picking something up in the Brodie Oaks shopping center at the NorthWest corner of Lamar and Ben White in the morning and you’re going to head west on Ben White, don’t forget to cut through the parking lot past Toys R Us and down that steep road to the light at the office park. It’s much faster taking a right from there than dealing with all of the traffic that’s backed up at the light at Mopac, especially if you’re then heading north on Mopac.
• Looks like the new Specs location at Arbor Walk near 360 and Mopac is close to opening.