I have to admit, I felt a little weird about driving to Houston for it. After all, Austin is a Lebowski town and I’m thinking our Lebowski factor outweighs Houston’s by about four to one. Why go to Houston to see a bunch of people dressed up like a bunch of Austinites?

I decided to say, “Eh, fuck it.” My sister is from Houston and is also a tremendous Lebowski fan and I wanted to check out the Caroline Collective anyway, so I figured it would be worth it.

I busted out my Maude with stoned Lebowski spawn costume and my sister rocked the Houstonian nihilist look complete with scissors necklace. I was close to winning the costume contest but lost to a very badass dream sequence Maude complete with viking helmet and bowling ball bra. There’s just very little competition for bowling ball breasts. A crowd favorite every time.

It was nice to catch up with some of the Houstonians I knew already as well as meet some for the first time that I’d only previously known on Twitter. A good group of people, for sure. 650 people showed up and they had to make a beer run because everybody drank all the St. Arnold’s. We listened to the Ton Tons, rolled a few even thought it was shomer shabbas, and then sat down and watched (and quoted) the movie. Fun times.

Anyway, many thanks to Jason, the folks at the Caroline Collective, and the sponsors for throwing this fun event. If you haven’t checked out coworking at the Caroline Collective already, you should.

I’m off to Austin again. The Dude Abides.