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This past weekend was a 4-day weekend and I took a trip to Austin to see Conan O’Brien and enjoy the city. It was a long drive, but I like long drives sometimes. Austin is now the farthest west I’ve even been in the United States.

Because of the weather and the lack of time I didn’t get to do as many touristy things as I wanted to. I mostly tried to go to restaurants and stores that I wouldn’t be able to go to in Starkville. I ate some very good food and spent way too much money shopping. I enjoyed driving around and getting a feel for the city. Thanks to my iPhone I never got lost. I love my iPhone! I saw lots of cool sites and attractive people. Austin has a very nice, very diverse population.

Conan O’Brien’s show was hilarious. His opening act was Reggie Watts, who I’m pretty sure walked past me on the street before the show. He’s freaking hysterical. Conan’s act was a combination of standup, songs, and skits from his TV show. Once again, freaking hysterical. His special guest for the night was a musician from Austin named Charlie Sexton that I had never heard of. At one point during the show, I laughed out loud so hard and so suddenly that I got this very sharp pain in my side. I couldn’t move for a few minutes. I thought I had literally busted a gut. That spot was hurting me for a few days. It would be just my luck to injure myself at a comedy show. This show was definitely worth it. Can’t wait to see Conan on TBS later this year.

Overall, I had a great time in Austin. I wish I could have stayed longer. It’s a great city and I’m sure I’ll want to go back one day. I’ll probably be traveling by plane that time. I kept forgetting to take my good camera with me, so all I have are a few crappy pics from Conan’s show taken with my iPhone. I put them on my Facebook page.

I’ve been a fan of Conan O’Brien since I was in high school.  When I used to stay up late at night, I watched him on a lot on Late Night.  Over time, I didn’t get to see him as much because I was going to bed earlier or doing other things.  When he took over The Tonight Show, I watched whenever he had someone on that I was interested in.  I was highly disappointed when The Tonight Show was given back to Leno.

When I heard recently that Conan might be going on tour, I knew I wanted to go if it came anywhere nearby.  Yesterday, the tour dates were announced.  It took a few minutes to get on the site because of all the traffic, but once I got in I knew that I would either go to Atlanta, Manchester (TN), Dallas, or Austin.  I’ve been to Atlanta recently and I’ll be going again soon.  The Tennessee show is during Bonnaroo.  When I go to Bonnaroo for the first time, I want to stay for the entire festival and it seems like I should’ve already started planning for Bonnaroo if I were going there.  Also, both of those shows are in June and I wanted to go sooner.  I ended up picking Austin over Dallas because I still want to see Austin and I didn’t get to go last year like I wanted to.  It would take something major to stop me this time.  It’s on May 14 and I hope nothing at work comes up in that short of a time.  The tickets are paid for and the hotel room is booked.  I’ll finally get to see Texas for the first time.