I think that certain stoplights are a logistical engineering miracle. But other stoplights, not so much. I don't work in the field, but I know that when they are putting in a new stoplight, there is usually a two-stage study done, first one with the rubber tubes that count the number of axles that cross it, and the second study is usually performed by hand, with an actual person observing the situation. I think they mostly alright considering the traffic situation. They have to work with what they have, which is an infrastructure that doesn't support the population. I think some of lights that we think are terrible are actually planned to build traffic queues to get groups of cars though the light at one time. Again, I'm not a traffic light or a doctor so I don't really know anything.

I moved here from metro Detroit a couple of years ago having never been to TX and couldn't even tell you what part of tx austin was in. I could have ended up anywhere, but I chose the Austin job because it was the best bang for the buck in tech. I could make the same wage or more on the east or west coast, but at the cost of never being able to own a home. But here I can make a decent salary and have a 4 bedroom house. I don't miss the northern winters. In fact, I dislike it so much that toward mid-February I was starting to get depressed because it seemed like we had a month of overcast and drizzle. Sunshine and warm days make people happier. As for the road ragers, fuck them. There's always a few of them on the road from california lol and it's best just to ignore them because you never know what level of crazy they are at. Shots are sometimes fired. Coming from Chicago and me from Detroit, that's nothing new. But to take it to that level around here is more serious business, despite Texas' stereotypical relationship with guns.

Sometimes I wonder at what point I will call myself a Texan. For the first 6 months, I felt like I was on vacation. Northerners come to soils where palm trees grow to get away from the cold. A year into it, I felt like I was still from Michigan but just living here. Two years into it, I can navigate most of travis and williamson county like the back of my hand, have all my favorite spots, I know all the local pronunciations of rivers, streets, and cities, am well-educated in Texas history, etc. I feel disconnected from Michigan and I don't really know what's going on there since I haven't been back. But am I a Texan yet? I don't know. On this subreddit, nobody is ever a Texan unless they were born a Texan. But outside of reddit, those that have been here for 10 or 15 years consider themselves to be one. I like it here so much that when I die, they can just lay me down in a bed of tortilla chips and cover me with queso in the HEB parking lot, and let the grackles have me.