The Austin Affair

Rocking Out!

2011-01-14T12:39:00.002-06:00

So the band has hit the road for a series of South Texas shows. Well not really. We do have a bunch of shows ahead of us spread out over the next month. Tuesday we played the Austin famous Emo's. A great turn out by all our friends and family and thank you so much to those who came out in the Austin cold on a Tuesday night.

Hope to post some video soon and certainly a link to the t.v. show we'll be playing in San Antonio in a few weeks. Check out our website at: www.shinyempire.net.

Thanksgiving in Avon

2010-12-06T09:23:00.004-06:00

Mindy and I made to trek up to the Vee farm for Thanksgiving this year. Leaving the 82F and sunny Austin, it was 7F when we got off the plane in Minneapolis. Waiting for Cindy to arrive, we set up shop in a booth with some nachos and beer at 10am. "Happy Thanksgiving!!!" Arrived at in Avon to find some fresh snow and a fire burning. Spent the weekend eating, drinking, 4 wheeling, and generally having a kick-ass time. Looking at the weather today in Avon its snowing with a high of 13F and a low of 0F. Maybe there is something to these Texas "winters".

Fresh Veggies

2010-11-24T15:37:00.003-06:00

Its November 24th and I just pulled this bounty out of the garden. Year 'round gardening here in Texas. There are a bunch of small bell peppers and egg plants still coming in and I'm hoping some forecasted cold temps (its 84F today) don't kill everything off while we're in Avon, MN this weekend.

Oh.. and high temp in Avon on Thursday, 19F! Awesome! I can't wait for some cold and snow. Mindy is not thrilled but did find her long johns.

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

WWW Ranch

2010-11-13T17:52:00.003-06:00

what a wonderful couple of days it has been. more to come...

Turtle Time

2010-11-05T10:15:00.004-05:00

So I had an escapee from my pond when a turtle that I had raised for 8 months disappeared. So i've taken to going down to the local retention pond to hunt for turtles. I snagged a real small one and relocated him to the pond. I've caught and released two others, one of which was full of eggs and I saw her digging a hole to lay them. Seen a couple of BIG snakes down there too, but they are more scared of me than me of them.

Still looking for another small turtle for the pond. The hunt continues....

Another Halloween

2010-11-01T10:30:00.004-05:00

we had two trick or treaters yet bought three bags of candy.

at least we had the best pumpkin on the street.

Press

2010-10-26T21:01:00.001-05:00

check it out!!!

http://austin.thedelimagazine.com/

"Riding in my '64"

2010-10-19T14:38:00.004-05:00

Check out the new ride on Eldorado Trail. A cherry 1964 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia.

What a Long Strange Trip Its Been...

2010-10-17T14:01:00.004-05:00

Six years and we've managed not to stuff each other in a 55 gallon drum in an abandoned storage locker.

Thanks for always being there.

I love you!

slp

ACL Fest!!

2010-10-11T13:41:00.005-05:00

Another long sun and beer soaked weekend in Zilker Park for the 2011 ACL Music Festival. Highlights include SPOON, Sonic Youth, The Strokes, The National , TV Torso, Trombone Shorty, and The Sword. Colby and Kris came down from Seattle and while Colby and I were rocking out Mindy and Kris had a leisurely weekend of pedicures, wine tasting, movies, and talking. Who do you think had a better weekend? It was great to see them and now its back to reality.

Shiny Empire

2010-10-09T09:54:00.003-05:00

And now for your listening enjoyment....

http://www.shinyempire.net/music/

ROCK'N'ROLL

2010-10-05T20:46:00.003-05:00

Just got done recording some more tracks at Public HiFi last week. On to mastering this week and then to the Interwebs for your listening enjoyment. I'll post all the details soon.

This weekend ACL Festival with my brother. Should be great weather and some good bands. TV Torso, Chief, SPOON, South Youth, The Strokes, Broken Bells, The National. Most excited to see Sonic Youth Saturday night at an after-festival show. Almost all the bands play additional shows at clubs downtown for those who want a non-festival experience. So i'll get to see them twice. Who knows maybe yours truly will be gracing the stage at ACL 2011.

Stay tuned to the left of the dial....

Making Babies...

2010-10-03T10:34:00.002-05:00

Guess I can expect the frog population in my pond to explode in about 20 days.

Lucky little guy...

Opening Day

2010-09-03T13:57:00.002-05:00

Well its that time of year again when the doves are flying. The opening of hunting season starts with Doves which is a nice way to get back in the groove. I managed to knock down 10 the first day and will be back out this afternoon. Conditions today are much better with cloudy skies and cooler temps. It's bag limit time!

Maybe One Mile High

2010-06-21T17:47:00.005-05:00

Another stellar trip to CO. Got to spend time with old friends whom I haven't seen in awhile and meet some new friends. Highlights include the Rockies game (don't ask me the score), the FRUN- which is a good way to realize how old you actually are and that heavy drinking at 10am could take a toll on you for the rest of the day, and of course SUPERCHUNK. They still got it! Oh yes. Lots of gems in the set list and a pretty good crowd. If you could see through the medicinal haze.

My first SUPERCHUNK show was in 1992 and I have seen dozens since. And they have usually always involved FRAZ, Dave, Opel, Harris, and the like. Now that we are older and SUPERCHUNK is older and don't tour much, shows tend to revolve around random dates in random cities. Making it even better. The music is still great, my friends are still great, and this weekend was a great time. Kudos to those of you that made it happen.

See you in Omaha!

Beach Bust

2010-05-15T09:07:00.003-05:00

well i should be waking up on the beach inside my tent this morning. however with a 20 mph wind, high seas, and kelp in the water, fishing was a no go this weekend. as soon as i got out of the truck i was covered with that wind blown salt spray and everything had a fine layer of sand covering it. mmmm, maybe i should turn around right now. but i didn't. casted three times, lost one hook setup and called it a day. showered at the visitor center the next morning and high tailed it back to austin.

better luck next time.

Pondly Yours

2010-04-29T13:23:00.004-05:00

so i've wanted a pond for a very long time and here is my first attempt. a 300 gallon horse water trough with a filter/pump and some plants. its been running for a few days and i added some big gold fish yesterday and today went down to the local retention pond in our neighborhood and scooped up some minnows. i found a place that has small turtles, which i hear will eat everything in site, so that will probably be the next addition. some day i hope to have an in ground koi pond but this is a start. and its easy. you could do it on a much smaller scale on a deck and just grow plants. there are all types of "marginals" that have to be submerged just below the water line that have amazing blooms.

Range Life

2010-04-12T09:42:00.004-05:00

yesterday i spent the morning at my gun range and entered in a rifle/pistol silhouette match. this is knocking down metal targets off a rail from 40, 50, 75, and 100 yards. very challenging especially with a scope that is broken and guessing that i had to be left and low in order to hit something. but nothing beats the "ping" and watching the target fall off the back of the rail. most people were using target pistols (all .22 caliber so its not that loud) and i had to use my rifle because i don't have a target pistol. but i will soon! it was a lot of fun and since it takes two people, one shooter and one scorer, i'm hoping mindy will join up with me for the next one.

saturday we spent the entire day working in the yard and buying plants to replace what we lost during the winter. i also finally got a 6' round galvanized steel water tank to use as a water garden and hopefully koi pond. hoping to be able and get it up and running soon.

friday night we went down the street to our new friends the konetski's for a grill out, fire pit, pool and ping pong tourney. great fun until i ran home and got some dvd's to play. they have a ton of tv's all throughout their house and are always playing some music/concert dvd as background. we have a little different taste in music so i tried to broaden their horizons with an old school led zepplin concert, burn to shine chicago (alt. rock), and something else i can't remember. not big zepplin fans, burn to shine was a little to punk rock, and the third failed as well. good thing i left my "hated: g.g. allen" dvd at home.

work has been crazy busy the last two months as people try to cash in on the first time homeowner tax credit. that ends at the end of this month, so i am expecting a slight slow down, but its sure to pick up again this summer. so far a great year work wise! great i just jinxed it.

Les Savy Fabulous

2010-03-20T12:43:00.003-05:00

spent the yesterday afternoon at SXSW with good friend paul custer and crew. saw LIONS (a bar band probably from new jeresy or PA), TABACOO (house music with videos on a screen "do you want to see ET get fucked?"), Frightened Rabbit (Scotlands Okkerville River), Jason Collet (from Broken Social Scene), had way many drinks and waited some 5 hours to see LES SAVY FAV. i knew who they were but had never seen them or heard their music. I expected a chaotic scene ala JESUS LIZARD and got want i wanted. for some reason i thought it would be a good idea to rush the stage when the lead singer jumped into the audience and was trapped there for the entire show. i couldn't hear anything clearly but the crowd was in frenzy, and overall it was fun. i didn't have a wrist band so i paid $15 at the door and was the last non-badge person to get in. excellent. and apparently LSF doesn't tour much and this was the not-to-miss show of the festival. boo-yea.

Still Giving...

2010-02-25T08:24:00.004-06:00

I am still enjoying the fruits of my labor. Last night Alex and I relived the hunt and enjoyed some venison sausages with kraut and mustard and a side vegetable hash. It was mmm, mmm good.

Hoping to get out soon to Bill Whitaker's place for an Axis deer hunt. Alex and I are putting together a turkey/hog hunt for the end of March. Gotta fill that freezer!

Global Warming Texas Style

2010-02-23T11:25:00.003-06:00

Yea sure its been a terrible winter where ever you live, but snow in Austin, Texas? And perfect timing since I was already off today. The dogs were quite surprised when I put them out this morning since they spent most of the day outside yesterday in the 70 degree weather as I worked in the yard in shorts and a t-shirt. Ooohh and i got a new backpack style blower like the pros use, and it is awesome. Good day today to look out the window and stay inside. Mindy is out of town for work and then to see her Mom in snowy, cold Amarillo. I know she can't wait for that.

Do you Rock'N'Roll?

2010-02-16T22:48:00.002-06:00

If you've heard of this band, slap yourself on the back.

You rock!

LOVE AUSTIN 2010

2010-02-15T22:18:00.003-06:00

I took this picture of the capitol building as KDub went running by, oblivious to her. Ansel Adams I am not. But it was a great race day for her, as I slept off a hang over in the car. It reminds me of a story my brother told me, i think it was about Chaco Canyon. A photographer from the USGS or some other society had set up a camera and was waiting for this huge piece of rock to fall off a cliff that would certainly crush the ruin below. The guy went for a piss or something, the rock fell and he missed the money shot. Only to get a photograph of a huge dust cloud.

I got a new (used) camera and am enjoying trying to take more than quick snaps. Its been a long weekend and have got some business lined up this week. More work to come on building the shed as soon as it gets a little warmer. Mindy has a Four Hands sale coming up this weekend and then off on work trip and to visit her mom in snowy Amarillo next week.

I better get hold of the Netflix queue...

Carrots!!

2010-02-07T21:34:00.003-06:00

We finally pulled these from the garden in order to till up the soil for the coming spring. They were actually sweet tasting. Looking forward to this year's bounty.

Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

2010-02-04T17:51:00.001-06:00

I've always wanted lake front property.

I didn't do it...

2010-02-01T17:29:00.006-06:00

today i volunteered for the Austin Police Department during the new cadet class training program. i was paired with two off duty officers and we had a mock crash set up at an intersection in an east austin neighborhood. six groups of cadets came through our scenario and we tried to make it as real as possible for them to learn what to do. i learned that the cadets are roughly half way through their training and this is the first day of real world practicals.

it was very interesting to see how they reacted (with no prior knowledge of the crash scenario) and how some were completely lost, one even said "shit!" over the radio and how some were right at ease dealing with the public in this everyday encounter. since it was the first day, they wanted us to take it easy on 'em. but every time the cadets came up to our crash site, i wanted to take off running just to see what they would do. the officer evaluating them welcomed by enthumasim, but said that situation is reserved for the last two days of this week once the cadets have had time to adjust being on the spot. damn it! of course i am booked up already, but there's always next time.

even though is was cold and misty all day, it was very interesting and i plan to volunteer again as soon as i can.

Fire Dog

2010-01-30T20:12:00.003-06:00

for some reason my dog is obsessed by the fire. if the screen weren't in place he might jump right in.

Saturday Night

2010-01-30T20:10:00.001-06:00

Clean Living...

FREE-ish SPOON!

2010-01-25T21:09:00.004-06:00

Spoon played a FREE show today in the parking lot of Waterloo Records at 6th and Lamar. Probably the best (may be the only) major record store in town. Perfect day with sunshine, 65F, cold beers, and rocking tunes. They played some of the new stuff as well as some old hits. Good times. And i say FREE as the concert was FREE. However, I spent $22 in cab rides and $15 on 7"s.

Black Veil Choir

2010-01-24T23:08:00.003-06:00

Is the name of a music project that I am involved with these days. Justin Marler is a friend and co-Home Inspector and has been in a few bands over the years. He had written a bunch of songs that he wanted to record and asked if I'd be interested in taking part. Hell yes! I answered and went out and bought a bass guitar. I've been playing guitar almost everyday for 22 years, so the bass wasn't that much of a stretch. "I'm more Adam Clayton, than Les Claypool" I told everyone as not to get their hopes up too high about a bunch of notes or bass slaps. We got together a couple of times to go over the songs, Justin found a drummer, we had three practice sessions and hit the studio. Last Thursday and Friday we recorded at Jim Eno's studio, Public Hi-Fi, here in Austin. Such greats as Spoon, Black Joe Lewis, Okkervil River, Ben Kweller and yes- Justin Timberlake have recorded there. It is a top notch, "top notch!" studio. It was a hella good time.

A friend of Justin's is coming to town to play some guitar parts and then the whole thing will get mixed down. But just from the rough mixes it sounds really good. A super well-done job to Brad Bell who did the engineering and humored my jokes for two days. Not sure what Justin has planned for the songs once they are finished, but there's talk of shows, more practicing (practice? are we talking about practice? practice? not the shows.. but practice?) and hopefully more recording. It was great to get back to doing what had occupied almost every Friday night back in Denver at the Reardon basement. More to come soon...

OUCH!

2010-01-17T20:28:00.001-06:00

so we went roller skating today for a friend's kid's birfday.

i may not be able to walk tomorrow.

Everyone is a Winner

2010-01-16T10:34:00.000-06:00

it's that magical time of year again
when the Darwin Awards are bestowed, honoring the least evolved among us.

Here is the glorious winner:

1. When his 38 caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach, California would-be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder.
He peered down the barrel
and tried the trigger again.
This time it worked.

And now, the honorable mentions:

2. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland
lost a finger in a meat cutting machine and
after a little shopping around, submitted
a claim to his insurance company.
The company expecting negligence sent out
one of its men to have a look for himself.
He tried the machine and he also lost a finger.
The chef's claim was approved.

3. A man who shoveled snow for an hour
to clear a space for his car during a
blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle
to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

4. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that
the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then
delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies.. The deception wasn't discovered for 3 days.

5. An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds
received from an oncoming train.
When asked how he received the injuries,
the lad told police that he was simply trying
to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.

6. A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer... $15. [If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?]

7. Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly.. He decided that he'd
just throw a cinder block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinder block bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape.

8. As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, "Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from."

9. The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan at 5 A.M., flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. The man, frustrated, walked away.
[*A 5-STAR STUPIDITY AWARD WINNER]

10. When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline, but he plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.

In the interest of bettering mankind, please share these with friends and family.... unless of course one of these individuals by chance is a distant relative or long lost friend..
In that case, be glad they are
and hope they remain lost.

Remember..... They walk among us!

ATTACK!

2010-01-13T14:21:00.003-06:00

thanks opel!

Off with a Bang!

2010-01-01T16:16:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year!

We went to the range this morning to exercise our 2nd Amendment rights. I bought a Ruger .22 target pistol or actually Phillips Property Inspections gave it out to their employee as an end of year gift. I love being the boss and employee. Mindy agreed to go with me and appeared to actually enjoy herself. We did target shooting and then found some items in my truck- coke cans, ping pong ball, clay targets, and took turns "making it jump!" (when you shoot something and it jumps into the air). I have a .22 rifle with a scope which Mindy says, "is easy- all you do is line up the crosshairs and shoot". Damn right. She fired two rounds with my 9mm but it has a substantial kick v. the .22 and put it right down.

Mindy and I went to a friends yesterday evening for a party and we're at home by 9 pm. Watched a movie through our new bluray player that is a network device and streamed it instantly from Netflix. Awesome.... Struggled to stay up until midnight, which we only knew had come by the rush of fireworks we heard and then checked the Dick Clark to see we had actually missed the count down. Oh well, there's always next year.

Looking forward to a great 2010!

HOA's Suck!

2009-12-21T11:48:00.002-06:00

Well at least mine does. We live in an older neighbor with even older standards and rules enforced by a bunch of a-holes as a Board of Director's. The Shady Hollow HOA can't seem to upgrade the way access to the pool is made. Every year you have to write them a check for $100 which they cash in order to get a pool key. At the end of the year you return the key and get $100 back. Why they can't upgrade to a key-card which they could just log out someone who doesn't pay is beside me.

Well this year I was late in returning the key. The lady at the office said for me to write a letter to the board explaining why and to ask for leniency. OK. I did that. And that on 12/17 the board would make a decision. This morning I get a phone call explaining that a decision had been made and a schedule has been approved for those who turn the key in late. Subtract $25 for every week late and that's what you get back. Did they even read my letter? Do they really need another $100 to $25?

So now i'm pissed and go up to the board to return my key. There's one guy who's always in there who is a total jack ass always willing to make a comment even if your not talking to him. And i think great, here it comes. I return the key, sign the receipt and the receptionist says that they will mail be a check for the difference next week. To which I respond that I am not interested in a refund that if the board deems it necessary to keep my money and if they need it that bad, they can have it. Jack-ass chimes in with "well we have to send them out, I guess you can just not cash it?" in a tone like what kind of asshole doesn't cash a check? To which I said, so there's no way to not have a check sent to my house, I don't want a refund. "No".

The lady asks if I enjoyed going to the pool this year? I said "I don't go down there very often and actually wished that we had never joined the HOA for just this reason." We have some neighbors that built a very nice fence that they had to re-do because someone on the board figured out it didn't meet the requirements of the HOA when it comes to fences. Well my neighbors had to get a lawyer to keep the board from harassing them. They then went a changed the fence at an added expense. Next the HOA will probably try to take down some veteran's flag pole.

So i guess the check is coming, which i am going to return. Because this is about principle. If they want to stick to me, then do it! Don't humor me by sending some of the money back. Take it all you greedy jerks. Oh, and Merry Christmas!

Festivus is Among Us

2009-12-20T21:45:00.004-06:00

Here at the ATX Phillips house we don't really go down the Christmas-crazy road this time of year. I do have very fond memories of Christmas as a kid, probably more the tradition and anticipation of the big morning. Since I could remember, we would spend Christmas eve at the Fagan's with everyone we really knew at that time. Then off to church, home to open one gift and then the wait for Christmas morning. For many, many years we had one set or the other of grand parents that would come over to Roswell and spend Christmas, which would always add another layer of the familiness of Christmas to the event. But the reassuring of the season was always in the bonding of the family and those families that we were close with.

But now that we don't have kids or nephews/nieces, or really spend much time around people that have kids, Christmas takes on a different role. We have started to gravitate towards Festivus. As described by Wikipedia, "Celebrants of the holiday sometimes refer to it as "Festivus for the rest of us", a saying taken from the O'Keefe family traditions and popularized in the "Seinfeld" episode to describe Festivus as "another way" to celebrate the season without participating in its pressures and commercialization." Our gift giving takes place over a number of days and is always kept to a minimum, often without wrapping. We will of course have Christmas morning with my parents in Kerrville this year which will be followed by a brunch with some of their neighbors and friends. Again more of what I look forward to.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Festivus to all!

Whisky River Take My Mind

2009-12-16T11:04:00.007-06:00

Last night I took the Texas family to see Willie Nelson and it was awesome! 5 hours of music including Billy Bob Thornton's band The Boxmasters, who suck. Every song is 3 minutes long with 2.75 of nothing but repeating chorus.

Next was Austin's own Asleep At The Wheel who played a lot of Western standards and then Willie came out to play some songs with them.

Then the main event which started around 10 pm and kept going, and going, and going until 12:30a. All the hits of course with extended jams between Willie, Roy from AATW, Willie's son, Willie's sister on piano (Little Sister they call her)and Mickey (harmonica player). Willie is 75 and can still rock the guitar solo to no end. He can't sing the high notes like he used to but sounded great. I am very happy to have finally seen him, as I've been listening to his music since I was a kid. We had an eight track player with a bunch of tapes and one of them was Willie's greatest hits. I highly recommend that you see him while you can because some day he ain't gonna be there and you will have missed one of the most incredible singer/song writers and live concerts ever.

Thanks Willie!

Utah View Blocking Bird

2009-12-14T17:20:00.002-06:00

Utah View Blocking Bird

Posted using ShareThis

This is fantastic!

Coldness abounds on the plains..

2009-12-07T13:07:00.005-06:00

well the wonderful austin weather has finally turned for the worse. days of drizzle, a hard freeze, and cloudiness have us hunkered down. mindy has been out of town for a week and comes back tomorrow. thank god, the dogs are wondering why i am trying to carry on conversations with them. since its been so bad out, i haven't gotten to any of the outdoor projects I wanted to knock off.

i saw a story on the CBS sunday morning news show about how popular "ping-pong" has become and clubs and bars are popping up all over to cash in. well first let me say that its called "table tennis" and it is an olympic sport. AND that we have been rocking a table for years now. i even introduced it to mindy's work when i got a table for free and gave it to her warehouse. they had a nice room for a while where the table was the only thing in the room and from what i hear there was a lot of playing going on- after hours i'm sure. once again i am a head of the times.

christmas is looming on the calendar. it never seems to amaze me in this season of "giving and hope for all mankind", that people act as shitty as they do in their cars looking for a parking space, or running through an intersection because they are late or in line for fast food. most people i'm sure never even notice other drivers or what's even going on around them, but for those of us that keep the pulse on society by how many people actually use a blinker for its intended use or don't block traffic at a parking lot intersection so they can wait for the lady with three kids to pull out of the parking space at the front row- we see it everyday. am i right fraz?

texas squeaked it out in the last second to beat NE which was just one of a great weekend full of great football games. but now all the bowl crap starts and we have to wait a month to see who the champ will be. of course after the wedontcare.com bowl or the other made up bowl game brought you by somecompanythatisrapingthecountryweliveinforbiggerprofits.com. thank god it won't be florida. tebow, put your helmet on when you are crying on the sidelines! and you should probably get used to losing (ask matt stafford) because when your headed to the worse team next year, in a cold, wintery environment where it snows instead of sunshines, around fans that won't like you- its going to suck. good luck!

AWWWWW I'm Not Standing Here!!!!

2009-12-01T17:11:00.001-06:00

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120830261

When the cat is away....

2009-11-30T23:39:00.002-06:00

the mouse gets some stuff done around the house. Mindy is away for 10 days on bizness so i'm on the couch with the dogs. lots of work planned for this week and i've picked up a side job managing some projects for a friend's house. there's is also plenty of office work to do for PPI as year end (the slow time) is here. i've got a lot to get done in 31 days.

i'm starting back playing music again. first practice is this week. should be fun. and looking forward to some duck hunting this month as well. it actually has gotten cold here finally. the warm weather is great but i really do like the cold.

Turkey Day Re-Cap

2009-11-27T11:46:00.003-06:00

No turkey here. I roasted a ham and we had all the usual sides. The night before we went to our friends house for a birthday/holiday party and of course drank too much. So Thanksgiving morning was a little over shadowed by a familiar haze but we managed to bounce back enough to pull it off. My parents came over from Kerrville about noon and we sat down around 3:30p during the Cowboys game. Off to the living room after for some UT football, where they squeaked by A&M.

Woke up this morning with a stomach ache and got some breakfast down. Just chilling now waiting for the CU game to come on and maybe a movie later. Or maybe not. Options.

Happy Thanksgiving!

all i want for christmas...

2009-11-23T19:16:00.002-06:00

is a machine gun.

and i may need it, as mindy is on her way home from kick boxing.

hiiiiii ya!

Bucked Up!

2009-11-22T23:08:00.002-06:00

Got my skull mount back from the taxidermists this weekend. The rack is even bigger than I remember.

Great Dallas Cowboy's game today (well at least they won). Party at Alex and Kat's house was lots of fun. We grilled up some of the dove birds and venison from above buck.

A little bit of work scheduled this week and taking the end of the week off for Thanksgiving!

Sunny days ahead for Austin!

What's Wrong with the Kids These Days?

2009-11-19T12:20:00.003-06:00

So i got myself into a tiff with a You Tuber. I typically don't put much out there in a truly global environment like You Tube, but this jackass really pissed me off...

jtorres133 (1 month ago) 0 Reply | Spam
I like MIke Doty alot always have. Miss Soul Coughing. They broke up when I was still in highschool I think '98??... Or maybe after that. I saw them live back when I was in Highschool. They did the song Soft Serve from their Irresistable Bliss. Probably one of the best live songs I've ever heard.

I think he signed on with Dave Mathews. That's a shame.

scottlawtonp1 (1 day ago) 0 Reply | Remove
do you mean ATO records? why the hell does it matter who puts his records out? apparently your too cool to respect dave matthews and i don't like his music either but there are plenty of great artists on ATO. its not a "shame" that he signed with ATO, its a business. more people will have the chance to hear his music and mike will probably end up making more money and have the chance to put out more music. that's is what you like right? the music? right?

jtorres133 (15 hours ago) 0 Reply | Spam
Easy there killa...I'm not too cool for anything...No doubt Im all for the music...obviously you're a little more informed than I am so thank you for enlightening me...I only heard part of the story ...and all I remember was hearing Mike Doty and Dave Mathews in the same sentence and it made me cringe. My comments and more or less inquiries not to be taken so seriously just with a grain of salt.

jtorres133 (15 hours ago) 0 Reply | Spam
I don't know the whole logistics of record deals and who's on what labels anyways. I'm glad to hear his music will reach more people tho...rightfully so the guy is good, real good...Oh and sorry for spelling his name wrong Doughty I have a friend named Doty who spells it like that...Doty...Peace out

killa? peace out? jesus... I decided to not repost based on the fact that jtorres133 has no idea what she (i presume) is talking about. nor can she spell the guys name right or take the time do 27 seconds of research on the www. to make an informed comment.

I'm Back!!

2009-11-17T11:46:00.014-06:00

Yes I am back from a nearly 5 months without posts. My problem is work. Which I know is a lame excuse. But for roughly 8 months a year I work as hard as a coal miner 6 or 7 days a week and then this time of year comes around and I'm a part timer with a lot of chores around the house. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY- SCOFF! you might say. well yes i have had some time to myself and done a few interesting things. here is a run down of what the hell i've been up to...

in june, dave the muth came down to austin to do some work at jim eno's public hi-fi studio. i helped him with a couple of projects including this shelving unit. dave where are you????

in july, our girl gussie got to have ACL replacement surgery. that makes three total for our clan (pickle has had both legs done). she just turned 10 and is good as ever.

At the end of July it was MERGE XX. This marks the third time in a row (going back 15 years!) that I have made the pilgrimage to Chapel Hill for a week of hot rock and roll. stand outs of course superchunk, spoon, mat suggs, frisbee golf, private parking lot party, "new" firends, ordering a drink from Richard Stillwell at the OCSC, Fraz-isms, great times...

In August, Mindy, my parents and I flew to Sutton's Bay, MI for my brothers 15th wedding anniversary party. It was great to escape the 100+F weather in Austin at that point. Always a good time with Colby and Kris. Here's to another 15!

September starts with the opening of dove season. This is from a day trip with my friend alex to taylor, tx. got'em breasted and they are waiting in the freezer for just the right appetizer.

i am a member of the austin rifle club where i took a day class to learn about IDPA (international defense pistol association). its a competition of real life situational uses of handguns. to hide behind this barrier, run up to that barrel, kill the bad guys save the hostages. it was a lot of fun and i hope to enter some actual matches and get more involved at the gun club. good for networking and stress relieving.

October is Austin City Limits music festival time. with a brand new $2 million dollar lawn at zilker park that first day was great. and then the rain started and it ended up being a miserable mud fest. the music was great and overall i had a great time. look close at the picture and you'll see perry ferrell of jane's addiction singing "the moutain song" on stage with pearl jam. what?!?!

this was mindy's halloween costume this year. complete with micro-cassette recorder of the song. she took first place at work.

just last week i went deer hunting for the first time with alex outside of bullard, tx. shot this nice 9 point buck from 60 yards away. it was such a rush. we spent three days being still and quite and waiting. i mean dead quite, no movement. that's what most of hunting is all about. very peaceful and reflective to be alone and just listening to the trees and birds. those who know me would ask how could i sit still for three days, well i getting older and actually enjoy it. sure i still pace around the house at night looking for something to do as mindy works a logic puzzle or does some knitting. it was great to dial it down for a while. i look forward to another trip coming up with my dad outside of kerrville, tx to hunt axis deer.

well that's a quick run down of what's been happening. i vow to get back to the regular posting as i follow dogwood giRRRRL everyday and she spurs me to get back with it.

hope you're well...

Your Boy Hits the Big Time!

2009-05-29T17:34:00.003-05:00

Here's the story: http://www.myfoxaustin.com/dpp/news/local/05_29_09_New_Energy_Audit_Ordinance

Back Yard

2009-05-27T10:15:00.003-05:00

So we've finally got the backyard 95% finished to have a little party last weekend. Its been a total transformation and stuck pretty close to budget. We did a lot of the work and also hired some contractors to fill in the gaps. Or more like it, fill in the gravel. I am planning on getting one of those metal stock tanks to use as a water garden and i'm sure we'll put down some more plants. but its nice to go out and enjoy the yard. minus the heat and the bugs. oh well should be a great fall.

All in the Family

2009-04-24T08:38:00.005-05:00

My brother and his wife were here for a couple of days last week and we did what we always do when people come to town. Eat on South Congress, drink at Hula Hut, check out some art, and shoot some guns. Hey come on, it's Texas! Colby and I got up early Sunday morning and drove out to the gun club. It was perfect weather and not another person there, we had the whole place to ourselves. The above picture is of Colby shooting my grandfather's shotgun as we did some skeet shooting. Thanks again Uncle Bubba!

We also went to the pistol range, and "blasted some caps" as the kids say. We high tailed it home and met the ladies for some breakfast. All said and done before 11am. It was great having them here and as we dropped then off in San Antonio for their plane it was 78F and sunny. I wonder what it was in Seattle when they got up the next morning?

Oh, calm down!

2009-04-18T17:14:00.003-05:00

so today was "record store day" where there were exclusive releases from bands in various formats. I've had it on my schedule for months and after some tacos from torchy's we hit waterloo records on 6th street. after a brief moment of panic "they were right here..." i found what i was looking for. 9, yes count'em 9, 7" singles from the jesus lizard packaged just for this release. I got #557 of 2000 and couldn't be happier. now if i just had something to play them on. guess i'll start looking for a juke box that takes 45's for my ever growing collection that i've had since high school.

Rockin'

2009-04-04T10:49:00.003-05:00

does anyone want to help spread 25 tons of gravel? if so head on over.

we're getting close to being finished!

Backed Off

2009-03-29T16:06:00.001-05:00

Well the hope for the "new me" runner has been dashed at the point of my first race. last weekend mindy and i replaced the fence we share to the east with a new one. in texas you have to use a jack hammer to dig holes. there is so much rock in the ground that a shovel will go in about an inch. so after replacing 9 post holes, a full days work and building the fence (day 2 ) my back was rightfully sore. i was wearing my back brace but think its a little loose so it may not have functioned the way it should. struggling through the first part of the week, thursday i was crouching down in an attic to investigate why someone put some plastic pans in their attic, there had been a roof leak, and tore something in my lower back. spent the afternoon at the e.r. and the night on some pain pills. i got a massage, been using the heating pad, stretching, and aspirin- i'm not so fond of the pain pills, things are getting back to normal.

soooooo, long story short. i didn't run my race because i messed up my back. and before that it was my foot. i'm thinking running may not be my sport. is there a group that meets for beer drinking and hell raising- if so, sign me up!

hope you're well.
slp

Sunny Times

2009-03-17T14:59:00.003-05:00

well after some "seattle" type-weather the sun is back and its 80F today. just great. we needed the rain but 4 days is plenty. the wet weather and some mechanical problems have put the backyard project on a slight hold. i tried to empty the "pool we always wanted" this weekend but there was way too much water. however as i type this i can hear the bobcat running, so hopefully we'll have some progress this week. mindy and i are going to replace the fence on the east side of the property this weekend, unless someone calls me to work. the old fence materials we are going to recycle as above ground planter boxes and some siding for the shed i am going to build. whatever is left over i may cut up to use for fire wood as the backyard will be finished and sitting outdoors this fall should be great. wow, i'm talking about fall already and it hasn't even started to get hot.

we were thinking about going to mexico for mindy's 40th birthday, but with all the "drug war" related activities and the mexican government's inability to control their own country, i've decided that i'll spend my tourist dollars elsewhere. i'm open to suggestions if anyone has them.

we have started to play tennis again. we'll be back at it tonight. last night this lady and her teener kid were playing next to us and all we heard was, "james....this.... james....that.... no james.....you can't do that james.....what's the score james..... how many points have we payed james...." SHUT UP!!!!! i wanted to yell directly in her face. jesus! there are other people here. we couldn't get out of there fast enough. i mean this lady didn't stop yelling at this poor kid the entire time. when her husband showed up with the girl and the dog, he said "jeez, i could heard you guys all the way back at the house". no shit! i was standing on the same court as her! i can judge people pretty well and she is definitely a "run a red light on a left turn cause i'm in a hurry" kinda person. the worst.

Pace Bend Park

2009-03-09T10:25:00.005-05:00

Spent the weekend at a local park camping with friends. Got out there Friday afternoon with Ced and Char in the borrowed RV. If you have never RV'd, like me, its like taking your living room and putting it on wheels. Nice to have the comforts of home but also hard to leave at the end of the night and head back to my tent. The wind was blowing for almost the whole weekend and the we didn't see the sun until Sunday afternoon. But it was still good to get out in the woods. Mindy wasn't feeling well so she held down the fort with the natives. Spent some time on the boat, rode my bike, had steak for two dinners and one lunch, and drank me some beer. On and some Maker's of course. Looking forward to returning with Mindy and the dogs soon.

This week, the password is.... work.

Framed

2009-03-06T10:07:00.003-06:00

So as a cost cutting measure lately, I have been framing my own art work. Over the years i have collected many posters and prints, usually of the rock and the roll, and kept them in a long square box. The example above is the holy grail of my poster collection. This poster used to hang on my bedroom wall in Roswell, GA when i was 16. Purchased at Fantasyland Records in Atlanta, I have held on to this poster for over 20 years. From move to move, from coast to coast. Always thinking i would frame it. Well today is that day my friends. I'm sure you can see from the scale, its huge. Almost 6 feet tall and over 3 feet wide. All i need now is a heavy duty bracket and hanger and she's on the wall. Next piece up for framing is a Russian flag that my brother brought back from one of his trips to Russia. I am going to make a shadow box with an interior light and inside I am going to hang a Russian infantry rifle.

Limp Bisquit

2009-02-27T22:05:00.002-06:00

well the running career has been cut temporarily short. it appears/feels like i have broken the top of my left foot. after three successful days of running (total:6.8 miles) and feeling pretty good. i can't put pressure on my left foot for more than three minutes. which is great now that i am working a trade show for Energy Action, a business i am doing energy audits for, at the austin convention center this weekend. all weekend. if you've ever worked a trade show floor, you know my pain. literally. the floor of any convention center is as hard as a diamond and after 35 minutes, feels like your standing on broken glass wearing paper towel flip flops.

i need to hit the bike a.s.a.p. but with the trade show and helping dave at the studio over the next couple of nights, it may be difficult. the new concrete patio has been poured and looks great. grading to be finished tomorrow and then another bid from my contractor for a concrete retaining wall. then gravel, then sprinkler, then grass, then plants, etc.

oh and by the way, it was 91F today! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Day 2

2009-02-23T15:42:00.002-06:00

well today's run was better. didn't have to stop after the first mile and ran just over two miles before it felt like my lunch was going to come up. so i would consider that progress. mindy has said she would run in the morning before work, but i absolutely hate mornings and am not the most cheerful of persons. but if it will get her into it, i'll give it a shot.

and shot is what i'm going to have after i pick up dave from the airport tonight. he is staying all week to do some work at publi hi-fi studios here in austin. jim eno from super group spoon runs the place and it is top notch. looking forward to helping dave load in tools and hopefully run into the guys from okkervil river as they are they right now recording. opel sort of knows the drummer so i may throw that out there.

work is terribly slow right now, but that allows time to get work in the backyard done. i will post a large blog once there are enough photos to see the difference. i am working a booth at this weekends Green Expo at the austin convention center with a company i will be a part of called energy action. trying to get people to have energy audits performed so i can show them where they are losing efficiency and money and how to improve it.

Day 1

2009-02-22T14:20:00.002-06:00

age: 37

height: 5'10"

weight: 166.5

Waist: 33"

Gut: 36"

put down the first miles today. mile #1 ran in 10 minutes! whoa, slow down there its not a race. well it is kinda, but still slow down. mile #2 in 14 minutes. now that's more like it. the first half of mile 2 was almost enjoyable and was able to pace check myself a little better. i'm wondering when the 'runners high' is going to kick in. is that later tonight? or when? no don't tell me, i want it to be a surprise.

i've been working in the yard the last couple of days as well, so i'm counting that as a workout. moving rocks and pushing wheel barrows of dirt is good for some exercise.

more to come...

Run, Scooter, Run...

2009-02-16T14:44:00.003-06:00

Well I've been inspired by K-Dub's recent visit to join the ranks of the running. After picking up my first pair of actual running shoes, I have signed up for the Austin Statesman Cap 10k to be held 3/29/09 here in beautiful downtown Austin. This along with other races this year will culminate in the 2010 Austin Marathon held on 2/14/2010. I would like to invite, my soon to be, fellow runners (you know who you are) to join me, on my birthday no less, for the 2010 Austin Marathon. Get your 18 week schedules out and mark'em off as completed.

Stay tuned for updates and blogs about my new found, and hopefully to stick, running career. Thanks to K-Dub for the inspiration and the hook up on the shoes. And here's to getting my 37 year old ass in shape!

Dial S for Stink

2009-02-10T22:35:00.003-06:00

Reading discretion is advised......So today was an interesting day.The holy grail of home inspections is finding a dead body. I know it may sound morbid, but hey you see enough pee stained toilets and dirty laundry that something out of the ordinary is welcomed. Today I may have come as close as possible to the grail. I was inspecting a duplex, one side had two twenty somethings and the other side an older black lady and her son, who appeared to be mentally challenged. Or as we said in high school, retarded. Upon entering the son's bedroom there was a distinct smell of foulness. Okay, not everyone is as tidy as I, so moving on. As i opened the closet door, the smell; wait a minute.... have you ever smelled a dead deer on the side of the road as you passed by it at 65mph? That smell seems to stay in the car for miles, right? This stank hit me like a ton of bricks right in the nose. I immediately grabbed my shirt to cover my nose as I dry heaved under my shirt. Inside the closet, there was one of these plastic bins you store shoes or sports equipment in. All over the side was what appeared to be blood and "particulate matter". Now I've watched enough First 48 or Cold Case Files to know what a "scene" looks like. And this was one. I took two photos as quickly as I could. The first was of the bin and the huge stain under neath and that covered most of the floor in the closet. Almost like something had "bled out" from the tub. Now stay with me, this is an actual account of what i saw. The next photo was of the wall above the "bin" that was a 1' X 3' blood stained splattered wall. I mean if you zoom in on the photo in my camera you can see the splatter!! Absolutely crazy. So I reel back from the closet slamming the door shut, taking a quick look around the room to finish my inspection of that room and head for the door way. As soon as I enter the hallway the son is standing there looking all Norman Bates at me. I quickly say, "Oh, hello there.." and head for the next bedroom that has a bathroom, enter the bathroom and shut the door. "Holy shit" I keep saying. What have I've just seen/smelled? What has this guy killed or stuffed into that bin? Why is there blood all over the wall? Next thought, you know that tub stopper is missing. Always working...

So after the rest of the inspection, roughly 20 minutes, I got out of there as soon as possible. Hit the truck and called the real estate agent. The police were called to investigate and I have yet to hear anything or been asked to appear in court to recall what I saw. But we'll see. Moral of the story... always be prepared. Be aware of your surroundings. Always expect the unexpected. Know what to do. Be ready to act.

So coming up this week... #37 and then K-Dub comes for a visit to hopefully break the record at the Austin Half Marathon. GO K-DUB! Mindy and I will be eating breakfast tacos and nursing a hang over I'm sure, while K-Dub runs her race. Afterwards we'll celebrate at the Hula Hut with some fish bowls and lunch tacos. Gotta love Austin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Math, Smath.

2009-01-13T22:59:00.002-06:00

so i'm in ft.worth , tx this week taking a class to become a home energy rater and certified by resnet (residential energy services network). the city of austin has passed a new ordinance that requires certain homes when being sold, have an energy audit to make the potential buyer aware of the costs of operating, a most likely, inefficient home. the amount of information is over whelming and exciting. so much of what i am learning will help to make me a better home inspector, but its the math i could do without. i didn't like math when i passed it with a d+ in high school, and 20 years later its kicking my ass. the guys who are teaching this class are nice enough, but you can see the disgust in their eyes when you ask for the third time, "could you repeat/do that one more time". i know it can be as easy as looking at the formula, plugging in the numbers and then using the calculator. but its hard to wrap your head around that in the course of three days, after 20 years. i mean i could show these smarty engineer guys how to play stairway to heaven on the guitar, "heres the notes, heres the strings, read the music- now play it!" fat fucking chance they'd even get close...

Toys for the New Year

2009-01-06T15:17:00.004-06:00

well this year is starting with a bang, to my wallet. a new bike from TSA (thanks annie) and yesterday a new/used truck. after making the worse car decision of my life back in denver and selling my perfectly good F-150 for a Saturn VUE, commonly know as "the shitbox". I have redeemed myself with a RAM 1500. Because gas is going to stay this low, right? Its a business expense and we've got a lot of landscaping and camping coming our way this spring. its real nice and all my tools are stored away nice and neat with the ladder in the back. No more constant rattling of the ladder as I go down the road. When gas goes back to $4 a gallon, make sure to look for blog posts "why did I buy this truck?" i plan to offset my more pronounced carbon footprint (although the saturn didn't get that much better gas milage actually) by riding my bike as much as possible. daily rides through the hood, trips to the hatch's for dinner and maybe to the tennis court to run mindy through some drills.

so much going on, so little time...

2009-01-03T21:14:00.007-06:00

well i've been sucking it on the blogging lately. alot has happened and now that things are getting back to "normal" i should be in front of my computer on a regular basis. so since my last post about thanksgiving in seattle....

1. duck hunting trip to tyler: i spent two days in east texas with my frined alex and his brother rich, duck hunting on their land. it was awesome! i used my grandfathers duck gun (12ga. shotgun) and bascially camped out for two days. we got to tyler late in the night and got up early the next morning, like 5 am which i wouldn't normaly do unless snowboarding and now hunting. got out to the property, 230 acres with 2 large ponds- just awesome. got set up and as the sun was rising we got hunkered down in our blinds. we waited about an hour and then a flock of 5 or so came screeching in. and they make a real loud whirling sound as they pass over head. waited about 10 min. and then rich who was on the other side of the pond, shot at another group and our group took off. i got off two shots with the last a bullseye. i mean dropped this duck out of the sky like a hot rock. long story short- i didn't end up finding him, and got no other good shots the rest of the trip. it was a lot of fun and i wished that i had been doing this all my life. espically with my grandfather, but at least i have his gun so thats a good connection to him.

2. christmas: my folks, who live in kerrville, tx came over for a couple of days. good food and wine and a nice christmas. it was nice to relax and have nothing to do.

3. post christmas: i got really busy with work. which is great, however suprising. but i'll take it as it comes. work has been really good lately and i am excited about 2009. i was able to take off a couple of days when opel and christina came to town. always a good time when opel is around. we fixed curry beef at our house and played some scrabble. then the next morning we got up to go to the gun club for some shootin'. come on it's texas.

4. new years eve: annie came down from denver and at the last minute our new year's eve party plans got cancelled. a-okay by us. we went to dick and lorelei's for an early evening party. wonderful house and just as great hosts. we found out later that 17 bottles of champage were kicked. i think the count was up to around 11 when we left. yikes! we came home cooked some steaks and at 11:40am i was complaining about wanting to go to bed. i made it 'til 12:05am and announced i was going to bed. big time!

5. new bikes: we went to TSA with annie and loaded up on stuff. mindy and i got new bikes and have been on them everyday. its nice to spin around the hood. its quiet and low traffic around here. looking forward to biking the trails downtown at town lake and other areas.

6. coming up next: get the backyard project under control. need a couple more bids and then alot of sweat equity in my future to get the yard ready for spring. its a huge mud pit right now but i can see the future in it. adam and lynette are coming to town next week, so we are psyched for that. more shootin' to come. looks like i'll be taking a 5 day certification class for a new energy inspection designation in two weeks, should put me ahead of the crowd for work. so it doesn't sound like much fun, but i am excited about the opportunity it will bring. i'll be going to ft. worth with my friend and future co-worker justin. and then the week after that its off to amarillo for a visit with JB.

sooooooo, busy, busy, busy... i've got alot to do and work is busy. its hard to complain about being busy with work, but all this other stuff keeps getting pushed off. so time management and nightly wine/maker's mark will help keep the balance. happy new year to everyone and to everyone a good night!

Thanksgiving in Seattle

2008-12-04T11:26:00.003-06:00

Mindy and I returned this week from time in Seattle, after spending Thankgiving with my brother and his wife. We don't do the Martha Stewart Thanksgiving thing. This year it was Italian pot roast with anti-pasta and home made bread sticks. Yum. Good times were had all around, highlights include drunken karaoke at the infamous Rickshaw, daily intake of Maker's Mark, Joel McHale of The Soup stand up show, a ferry ride in the fog (so beautiful), grilled meat, and lots of Dicks. When we go to Seattle, its a non-stop Dicks affair. Questions like, "how many Dicks can you eat at one time?" and "its is wrong to put two Dicks in your mouth at the same time?". And the always pleasing, "Honey how were the Dicks you just had." and shouting at the top of your lungs, "I love Dicks!!!!".

Back to sunny, but cold Austin. Some work this week and some lined up for next week as well- there may be a christmas after all! I am having a dumpster delivered tomorrow and the Bobcat comes as well. We are starting in on our huge backyard renovation project. So its good to have some slow time right now to get as much work done as possible before business/housing market picks back up. It will pick back up right? Well with all the "Big 3" Ceo's now driving hybrid cars on their business trips and only taking $1 a year salaries, all our economic worries should be over, right? How ridiculous. Talk about some Dicks....

editor's note: http://www.ddir.com

Citizens Police Academy- Scott on patrol

2008-11-24T08:38:00.002-06:00

So the last couple of classes I am blending into one entry. We went to the CTECC which is the main communications center for all police, fire, ems, dot, fema, etc. for the greater austin/hill country area. They have one giant room which looks like the inside of the Denver airport, with all the 911 and dispatch call takers. HUGE screens with all the traffic cameras for the highways. Really interesting with a lot of action going on. We listened in on a few calls and toured the building.

But the greatest class so far was my ride along Friday from 4pm-2am. I met the officer at the South East Sub Station as he loaded up his car. Traffic cones, check. Bean Bag shooting shotgun, check. AR-15 assault rifle, check. Laptop, check. TASER, check. Loaded up, we hit the street. First call right out of the gate was two guys playing loud music and drinking in a park. Now this is East Austin, where parts are a little shady (nothing compared to Atlanta or other big cities). So we roll into this park and find two black males standing next to a G'd out Cady. As the officer directs the car in a manner that the dash camera will record the entire deal, he says, "you might want to stay in the car until the back up officer gets here." OK?. Without the play by play, the stop went well, they poured out their beer and everyone went on their way. One thing I found funny throughout the night, is that no one carries i.d. on them. Every time he asked someone, " you got your i.d." the answer was no. come on people! who doesn't carry i.d. on them? So we spent a great deal of time driving around a loop of his sector, waiting for calls to come through. We were back up on about 5 other calls, but all in all it was a pretty quite night. He did show me all the hot spots in Austin for buying crack! I wasn't ever sure that was still a big deal, but apparently it is. Its a huge problem in this particular sector. The officer was a really nice guy, who had been on his own (no field training officer) for about a year and a half. Not your typical cop or perception of what a typical cop is. No mustache, didn't boast about roughing up people. Wasn't there to prove he was in charge, however if you push him- trust me he is in charge. He gave me a great glimpse into his personal background and why he became a cop and what it takes to do the job day in, day out. All in all, a great experience and I thank him for that.

Almost every police department will allow civilian riders and I highly recommend it. You will come away with a much different perception of what the police do and how its done. A++++++

Gussie's Birthday

2008-11-12T15:51:00.003-06:00

Big Girrrrl is 10 years old and shares very well.

Citizens Police Academy

2008-11-12T15:24:00.002-06:00

Last night was another week of CPA. We had a presentation from the Mounted Patrol and 6th Street Division. For those of you who ain't been to Austin, 6th Street is 10 blocks of bars, bars and more bars. Every Thursday-Saturday Nights and special occasions they shut down the street for foot traffic only and people spill out of the bars and walk the street and fight and throw up, and fall down, etc. Pretty fun I guess, if I hadn't already done that in the greatest city on earth, Athens, GA. We've never been down there for it but you can only image the jackasses that show up and all the crap the officers have to put up with. Lots of funny stories from this crew.

Cold Case unit was next. Now this is the one I've been waiting for. An officer that has been on the force for 32 years gave the presentation. It was very impressive and he talked about a few high profile cases, one of which I had seen on the Cold Case Files t.v. show. Unfortunately he ran out of time, but it could have listened to that presentation for hours. Three separate cases 10 years apart ended up being related and they caught the guy in Mexico.

Next week we're back at the academy for car simulator and someone will probably volunteer to be TASER'd, it won't be me. I've taken enough shocks of electricity while working remodeling jobs. THEN, it will be time of our ride-a-longs. Mine is Friday 11/21 from 4pm to 2am. I can't wait!! Maybe I'll get to sound the siren....

Bang, Bang.

2008-11-06T09:09:00.005-06:00

Spent my first day out at the Austin Rifle Club on Super Tuesday. Its a semi-private gun club with 27 acres of land and 6 different ranges for all types of firearms. Ced, Alex, and I set up shop at the far right end of the range away from the hand full of people that were also there. One of the best things about ARC is that during the week and certainly in the morning there aren't a whole lot of people there. After a rough encounter with some yahoo in the sign up shack, AO was ready to throw some bows, we set up my target thrower and started some skeet practice. If you have never tried skeet/trap shooting it is a blast. Pun intended. After running through a box of targets, we did some pistols shooting from 3 and 7 yards. Ced's skills were impressive at both distances. Mine however ever not so good. The first 5 shots from 7 yards left the target blank. I don't think I was gripping the gun tight enough, because just a month ago I had a perfect score from 3, 7, and 15 yards to obtain my concealed permit. More practice to come..... The last was AO's 30.06 rifle. That thing packs a mean punch. It really jerks you back in your seat, however I was able to hit a bulls eye from 50 yards. Toot- toot.

There's a lot of talk about with President Obama in office, guns laws are going to tighten. I am a member of the NRA and believe that there should be some gun regulation. Most people would be shocked to know that if you go to a gun show (every city has them regularly) you can purchase a gun from someone walking around the show (not a dealer). And yes private citizens do walk around gun shows with duffel bags of guns looking for buyers. Here's the kicker- during a private sale from one person to another, there is NO background check required! I think that's ridiculous. When we were driving out to ARC we of course were talking politics and I asked "do you think there should be a limit on how many guns and ammo one person can own?" The response was "No, well how many are we talking about?" and I said "500 guns and 10,000 rounds of ammo". The response was "well yeah, who needs that much?" EXACTLY. There has to be a line between responsible gun ownership and "the stock piling of arms".

I personally do not think that the right to own a gun will ever be taken away, and that's one reason I am a member of the NRA. However, I do feel that there is a middle ground between responsible gun ownership and federal regulation. Now if Obama does pass laws banning the sale of certain types of guns, you can get that my gun collection is going to go up right before the laws are passed. Maybe I'll get that AK-47 I've been wanting for Christmas!

Halloweeny

2008-11-01T12:27:00.004-05:00

Happy November 1st! Last nights Halloween festivities were pretty tame compared to years past. The Dangle costume that was destroyed by Adam and then we stole (acquired) Rich's car, drove it home and then wondered how it got there. Or our first Fourhands Halloween party where my costume exploded in a fireball when I threw it into the fire. Who knew pressed insulation was so flammable? I still haven't seen those pictures...

We went to the Hatches and did the trick or treat thing with their kids. At 9:30p they were running around freaked out of their minds on sugar and we packed up our stuff to head home, "well our job here is done, enjoy getting to bed anytime soon". Batman, Supergal, a ninja, football and cheerleader, a bank robber and of course the KING!

Looking forward to the UT game tonight and getting to work next week as an independent, small business owner.

Big Day Out!

2008-10-26T12:40:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was a big day here in Austin. On Friday, Mindy won tickets at her office to the UT v. OSU game. It was a great day, sunny and warm as we headed down town to tailgate before the game. Great seats and a game that went down to the wire. We had a superfan behind us who was really into the chant "Texas..... Fight.....Texas....Fight!" That got a little old. Not to the mention the seating is very close and hard as a rock.

After the game, we changed clothes in the car and headed to the Austin Music Hall to see The Kings of Leon. We sat through two other bands, The Stills and We are Scientists, and if I was in high school without the knowledge of all music that has proceeded these two bands, I may have liked them. KOL were great and the crowd was really into it and KOL responded. Why do people have to take soooooo many crappy cell phone photos in a dark club from the back row? See my photo as proof.

We left the club and hit Home Slice the best pizza joint in town! Picked up some slices and headed home. All in all a great day spent with my lady and going to a game and a concert were part of the reason we moved to Austin. Mission accomplished!

Today, watching, err I mean wincing, the Dallas Cowboys playing. I going to cut the grass in the back 40 and plan out some meals for this week before going to the store. Life is good.

4 more years, 4 more years!

2008-10-16T10:05:00.003-05:00

Today is Mindy and I's 4th wedding anniversary. It has been a wonderful 4 years and I couldn't ask for a better mate. I hear people say being married is a lot of hard work. For us it's not. We seem to just go with the flow and genuinely enjoy each others company. The key to a good relationship: laughter. At each other and at others. I like to end everyday by watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Being able to laugh at the sometimes dreadful things that happen or are going on in the world helps me make it through. Also being able to say your sorry, I mean sometimes an arrant karate chop to the neck is actually landed! And compromise, too. Give and take people, not just take, take, take. Clean the house for your mate and see how happy it makes them.

So a big shout out to "Bennett" for putting up with me and here's to many, many more.

I love you.

Citizens Police Academy

2008-10-09T10:57:00.002-05:00

Last night was the official night 1 with presentations from the District Representatives and Cadet Training departments. DR's are the guys who focus on relations with the community- schools, block parties, community group meetings, etc. SPO Dunn was a good ol' Boy and a great speaker. He worked a really heavy drug area for a while and told us some stories about Big Tex who was a crack dealer he used to bust a lot. Dunn said they actually had a man to man relationship and it was understood that he was there to make arrests and Big Tex was there to sell crack. And that was just the way it was. Dunn said it had become personal when the cracks dealers starting asking about his wife and kids and he got transfered. TMI I guess.

The second presentation was from a trainer at the academy. I guess I've never give much thought to how smart cops are, I guess i thought it was something somebody did if they couldn't do anything else. I couldn't be more dead wrong. The training in Austin is 8 months, 5 days a week, 10 hours a day. Daily quizzes and weekly tests. A score of 80% is required to maintain status. The book they have to study is like two copies of War and Peace stacked on top of each other. Plus all the defense training, car driving, firearms, etc. Cadets are required to mentor a small kid from the local middle school near the academy and present a paper in front of a public forum regarding a community group they are required to join to learn about diversity. I was really surprised how intense and competitive it is.

One interesting tid bit. After the academy, with all the training, physical fitness etc., they are NOT required to maintain any level of physical fitness. Hence all the fat cops you see and wonder, how the hell is that gut a cop. Fat cop=desk job. Thin and physical fit cop=beat cop. Its just that simple.

Coming up next week is Office of the Police monitor? and Internal Affairs and then what I've been waiting for, Homicide and Cold Cases! I highly suggest if your local department offers this type of class, sign up its really interesting. Did I mention I get to ride along with a cop in a car for an 8 hour shift!!!

Losers!

2008-09-29T10:45:00.002-05:00

Well not a good weekend for the Dawgs or the Cowboys. I didn't waste my entire Saturday night watching the Tide Roll all over UGA, but "the black jerseys look nice" according to Mindy. And then the Cowboys, and they lost to the Redskins, BOOOOOOO! That's the worst, well at least they beat Philly, BOOOOOOO!

Nice weather this weekend for the ACLers (Austin City Limits Music Festival). 60,000 people caught in a dust storm for three days is not my idea of fun. No rain+Dry Soil= Misery. I watched a bunch of it on-line from the comfort of my office.

Saturday I went out to the Austin Rifle Club, they had their annual BBQ. I am thinking about joining their group. Nice people and a great semi-private range. You have to pass a 3 hour safety exam and a background check in order to be voted in as a member. Most ranges will let anyone, with any level of experience (none) rent and shoot anything from a pistol to an assault rifle. Scary. ARC had an exhibition from the Single Action Shooter Society, Austin Chapter. These are people who dress in "period" clothes and use old timey guns to shoot at targets. They had a few people on horse back and let the members and guests fire a couple of rounds as well. After the first shot with the black powder charge shotgun, I thought I chipped a tooth. Quite a bang and recoil.

Just waiting on the "Bail Out" to happen, as yet another bank was sold this morning. We are so screwed on this whole thing. I think the government should round up all these executives and have National Dunk Tank Day. Where 'we the people' could throw softballs at targets to dunk these idiots in a huge tank of water. Maybe set them up at a gas station or grocery store, so the inflated cost of goods will seem a little less of a sting. Without something like this, the normal, average citizen (you and me) are just going to get swept under the carpet and things will be back to "normal".

Sarcasm at Its Best!

2008-09-23T10:51:00.003-05:00

Look out world, Opel has joined the ranks of the blog. Check out the goings ons in Athens, GA at http://theathensblawg.blogspot.com. You may want to keep your impressionable children away from the screen during reading.

$700 Billion!?!?!

2008-09-20T21:47:00.003-05:00

So the government wants $700 billion dollars to bail out Wall Street, at the taxpayer expense?Give me a break! If I ran my personal finances the way the government runs theirs, well I guess I'd be $11 trillion dollars in debt. I know there are lots of complicated equations and reasonings why this has to happen and all those poor bankers and investors aren't going to make their bonuses this year and a bunch of people who were trying to get rich taking advantage of others and make a quick buck on a risky real estate deal are walking away from the problem THEY created. But how the hell are we (and your kids, if you have them) ever going to be free of this mounting debt? It seems like the bottom is going to fall out of this at some point and our money will be worthless. The government buying up all the bad debt (which will be worthless by some standards that I have read) and then trying to find someone else to buy it, seems like a band aid on a decapitation.

We are royally fucked on this one. The bridge between the rich and the poor just got a lot bigger. I see these people in their $70,000 SUV's wearing $400 a pair jeans, they could care less what the price of gas or anything else is. And they are happy to cut you off in order to get there first. The burden of this whole thing is going to fall on the middle class (the few who are actually there) and the poor. It always does. And boo-hoo if you make over $250,000 a year and are going to end up paying more taxes. I guess that third trip to Cabo this year will just have to wait. Taxes are going to HAVE to go up. How else can any of this (Bail out after bail out, Wall St., Iraq, probably Iran) going to be paid for??????

To Protect and Observe...

2008-09-03T15:31:00.003-05:00

I have been accepted as part of the 67th Session of the Austin Police Department's Citizen Police Academy starting at the end of the month. We'll meet every Tuesday from 5:30-9:30p for 10 weeks and learn about all the departments of the APD. Homicide, Cold Cases, Robbery, Sex Crimes, Forensics, Bomb Squad, SWAT, etc. and get to ride along with an officer for a 10 shift! Hopefully something exciting will happen during my ride along, you know like a shoot out at a bank robbery or the chance to rough up some hippies caught smoking grass. It's free and most Police Departments around the country have some sort of program allowing us tax payers to see what's really going on down there. More postings to come regarding this new adventure...

Yearbook Yourself!

2008-09-03T11:02:00.002-05:00

Uh? this isn't too far off from my actual senior picture.

And why do I look like John Sabol in this 80's photo?

Rain rain, come again...

2008-08-19T15:44:00.004-05:00

It has finally rained here. On and off for the last two days, with scattered showers over the next couple of days. We have not have a single thunderstorm this summer. Last year we had them regularly. The kind that shake the house with brilliant lightning that allows you to see the entire yard for a brief moment, and like in every horror movie where the silhouette of a serial killer holding a chainsaw is visible. It actually took a little time to get used to that type of storm again. Growing up in Georgia we had them all the time, but in 10 years in Colorado, I can't remember a single one.

Along with the brief rain has come a reprieve in the temperature. It was actually nice last night on the dog walk. Of course the hottest month here is typically September, so I got that going for me, which is nice...

Just Found This Beauty....

2008-08-11T22:41:00.003-05:00

Coming out from under the wall at the rear door. Yes, It was in the wall!! I hit it with a shovel and ended it's night. Kinda like that scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark with all the snakes. Hopefully it didn't just get done laying 60 or so eggs.

Sleep tight.

The Blue Screen of Death

2008-08-11T18:00:00.003-05:00

If you know what that phrase means, you can feel my pain. After over a year of loyal service climbing on roofs and banging into doorways, my work tablet pc is going through some tough times. Yes! I am actually using it for work as it has once again picked up and I'm out in the world protecting the interests of buying real estate clients in the greater metro Austin area.

TBSoD, as it can be referred to, is basically a complete shit-down of a system caused by one of 1.4 million different things. It renders the pc worthless, giving an infamous blue screen with way too much technical information, until it can recover or become the latest door stop. Well after some trouble shooting on the interwebs, I think I have an idea what is going on. Since I am out driving around all over the place every work day, I have been plugging my power cord into a "cheap" convertor that enables a regular grounded plug to receive power from the cigarette lighter of a car. Well apparently the pc/software doesn't like this and refuses to work in this environment.Tisk-tisk. It has been performing flawlessly for the last couple of hours, even through a couple of restarts and I am playing with the settings now and going to road test it tonight on the couch to see if it will behave.

So on this mornings inspection, I had to write everything down on a piece of paper on my clip board (gasp) and then transfer the data into the reporting software after getting back home. In a vain attempt to earn some brownie points, thinking I may be able to bribe the pc with them, I helped two old ladies cross the street, gave a panhandler some peanut butter crackers and didn't say "fuck" once today. Well it looks like my good deeds are going noticed!

You ask and you shall receive....

2008-08-03T23:18:00.006-05:00

This is the weekend trip to NC to see Pavement 7/28/94-5??. Were you guys fighting on the way up there?, shocker. Its dark and I have my sunglasses on, hey! at least I'm wearing my seatbelt. The elevator shot, a classic pose for Zach. I had to ride shotgun on the way home, due to uuummmm... some bad shellfish I had the night before. We are wearing the most uncool sunglasses in the world.

Rock'n'Roll will never die!! prt 2.

2008-08-03T12:57:00.004-05:00

So I couldn't stop... This time left to right from the top.

1989?- hollyfaith at Marist High School. I'm pretty sure Brant Rackley is the only person I know that had a hollyfaith t-shirt. It was probably mine until he took it.

4/29/97- Pavement at First Ave Minneapolis, MN. I was traveling around with the show producer gig in Greenville, SC and went to Minneapolis two days early to see this show. One many many solo shows in a foreign town. The Apples in Stereo opened and Pavement was great! First Ave is the 40 Watt of Minneapolis.

5/4/96- GBV in Portland, OR. I was living there at this point, but only lasted another 5 months. Call me crazy but I like the sun and its warming rays. A little known band from Austin, TX on their first west coast tour opened, I had never heard of Spoon. I stalked Stephen Malkmus all night, but he was too stoned to notice.

12/1/92- Smashing Pumpkins at the Point. The stub says $5.00 but I'm pretty sure I paid $50 from a scalper. They were in Atlanta recording Siamese Dream and this was a practice show full of new songs. They blew the place away. The Point used to hold roughly 200 people. Just awesome.

4/22/94-ish?- Mike Watt at the 40 Watt. I can honestly say this was the best show I have ever seen. Bull-hog or Tugboat is an amazing record full of guest appearances from the likes of Sonic Youth, Dinasour Jr, Frank Blank, Evan Dando, etc. all playing Watt's songs, he on bass and vocals. Check it out. Watt's band for the night was Dave Grohl on drums, Eddie Vedder on guitar, and on Watt bass. Super-fucking amazing. Who's this Foo Fighter's you might ask? The first FF record had not even come out yet! Hoovercraft was a instrumental group consisting on Eddie Veddar, his wife, and some other guy. Kinda noisy but cool to see Eddie Vedder. Mike Mills of R.E.M. stood right behind me the entire night. He was in this phase of wearing these sequenced suit outfits, ala Elvis & David Bryne.

6/2/97- Ben Folds Five at Bogart's Cinncianti, OH. This was another trip paid for by the marketing company. I was kinda out of my mind during this phase of my life and my actions this night proved it. I ended up with the reps from Baldwin pianos, what Ben plays, they fed me beers all night after realizing I was a superfan and alone and took a crazy cab ride through the projects on the way back to my hotel. I'll leave it at that.

2/14/97- Pavement at the Point on my birthday!! I hope I wasn't driving that night. Have no idea of the details of this show. Next.

7/28/98?- Pavement at the Cat's Cradle Chapel Hill, NC. They were recording Terror Twilight at Mitch Easter's Drive-In studio and played this show as practice. And I remeber it being just that, a practice. Very loose and trying new songs, stopping and starting, Still a classic.

9/25/92- U2 at the Georgia Dome. I was working at Turtle's Records when these tickets went on sale. This was back in the day of lining up outside the store in the wee hours of the morning with some Dunkin Doughnuts and waiting to rush the ticket counter. I was working the sale that morning and as soon as the computers came on line, the manager printed out 10 tickets and stuffed them into the drawer ,and then after wards divided them up. I took Todd Gallardo and we sat in the 12th row. This was a tour with cars attached to cranes and the phone call to the president's office. I had been a U2 fan for a long time and this was the first spectacle type show I had been to. Man those guys have made some money.

7/25/90- The Bob mould Band at the Georgia Theater Athens, Ga. This was within the first 2-3 weeks of moving to the dorm for the start of a college career. Looking back I should have probably been studying, but hey its Bob Mould! and I'm in college damn it!

12/29/88- 1988 what the hell am I doing out on a Thursday night? I don't have the stub I was looking for but previous to this night, John Sabol and I had sat on the floor of the Cotton Club (gross) and seen the Indigo Girls for the first time. I can remember thinking, "man there are a lot of chick here". Hey we were from Roswell, GA, never seen a lesbian before.

Well congratulations if you've stayed with me on this Rock'N'Roll of yester-year trip. The memories are all good. No arrests and no crashed cars took place during the living of these days. I'd say I was lucky. I'm curious to get feed back from anyone who was in attendance at these shows. Or hear of your concert past.

Keep on Rocking.

Rock'n'Roll will never die!!

2008-08-03T12:25:00.003-05:00

So Dogwoodgirrrrrl put up an old ticket stub and that got me looking through a box of treasures. WOW! I 've seen some good shows and some of them I can actually remember being at! A description of what you are looking at left column first:

8/9/92- Smashing Pumpkins at the Masquerade- I know Dave was there, this was probably after Gish and before Siamese Dream. I have a video of the show two nights later somewhere in FLA, so its kinda like remembering.

8/20/92- 2nd Lollapalooza: PJ, Ministry, RHCP, Sound Garden. The real emergence of GRUNGE music to the masses. Not the best Lollapalooza I would say. That would have been 1994, I think, Superchunk, Jesus Lizard, Pavement, Cyprus Hill, Sonic Youth. Anne please be discrete with your follow up comments- my parents do read this. j/k

4/14/94- Afghan Wigs at the Masquerade. This was one of those nights the good lord was looking after us. Dave and I, Kelly and Sharon drove down from Athens, it was a "strange trip" to say the least. I think My Bloody Valentine or Dinosaur Jr opened. And after a perilous trip in the car and through the new fangled toll plaza, the music was sooo loud, you wanted to throw up. Dave could probably give you the set list from each band, but I can barely remember being there.

10/7/94- Pavement at the Masquerade. There is footage of this show on their DVD release. It was as Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain was getting popular. I remember Stephen Malkmus was selling t-shirts, and I remember thinking that they should have had someone else doing that, I mean this guy is a rock star! Great show! The floor used to bounce up and down which was always ac reepy feeling.

9/11/96- Sebadoh at the Cotton Club- Didn't even make this show until the last song of the lst encore. Karyn, April, and I ended up at Harris and Leigh's place just down the street, unable to be around a large group of people in a small environment, we finally made the push to go to the concert and it was over. Damn it.

11/11/89- The fabled R.E.M. in Macon show. See Kite Chronicles and Dogwood Girl for subsequent comments about this show. I sure it wasn't even that good...

3/3/90- Kevn Kinney at the Roxy. Remember Kevn Kinney? neither does anyone else. I can tell you there were some D'N'C ticket stubs in this box as well.

9/15/89- Guadalcanal Diary at the Center Stage (no cameras. funny). They almost hit it big in the wake of R.E.M. and the southern college-alt rock scene of the late 80's. What was i doing out at this concert while in high school?? The official story probably was that I was at the library studying.

9/30/89- Not a bad two weeks for being in high school. If you can name 1 Fetchin Bones song without looking it up, I will pay you $1000 us dollars.

11/17/91- The Pixies at the Center Stage. Trompe Le Monde tour. Just awesome. The Drop Nineteens opened, again I know Dave was there but couldn't tell you anyone else. I saw the Pixies a few years ago in Denver on their "we still matter " tour. Not so impressive and certainly paid more than $17.25 for the ticket. Kim Deal is tasty.

No News is No News

2008-08-01T10:39:00.002-05:00

Well not to much happening here in the ATX this week. Work is slow, I mean dead. In the home inspection business there are always up and down periods of time. Things usually start off well at the first of the year until tax time, then there's the end of school, stays busy until school starts again, and then usually a good finish up to Thanksgiving and Christmas. However this year has been drastically different with the state of the economy and the housing sector.

So how do I fill my time.... lots of house chores, watering, yard work, laundry, meal preparation, dog walks, home repairs, etc.

Living the dream.

Saturday at the Lake.

2008-07-26T22:48:00.002-05:00

Got up early this morning and called Ced to jump start some needed repairs on the boat. The boat doesn't belong to me, but lives in my backyard, so I'm kinda First Mate. After four hours of holding the flashlight and saying, "yep that looks good to me..." we were off to Lake Austin. This "lake" is actually part of the Colorado River that cuts directly through downtown Austin. Known as Lake Travis further west of town, it becomes Lake Austin after a large dam. Winding through some amazing landscapes and gigantic houses to another dam, next to the famed Hula Hut, the body of water turns into Town Lake or Lady Bird Lake as it was renamed recently after the death of Lady Bird Johnson. Lake Austin is controlled by the release of water at the first dam so the water level doesn't fluctuate, making for safe and easy boating. Town lake is restricted to non-motorized crafts, so there are lots of canoes, kayaks, and sculls. Town Lake is what you would see in front of the skyline if looking at a brochure of Austin. This is really one of the great things about Austin (and yes, there's a long list). I did many canon balls and had many beers (soooo good when it touches the lips), hit Rudy's for some much needed BBQ, and pried myself off the couch to keep up the blog.

Happy to be working tomorrow, Monday, and hopeful for more work this week. I still have to dig a rather large hole in the front yard to fix the sprinkler system and may do some additional exterior work this week, if the temperatures can hold it for a while.

This house is protected...

2008-07-24T20:37:00.002-05:00

by Heckler and Koch.

Is it Christmas Yet?

2008-07-21T11:03:00.004-05:00

So this is what I want for Christmas this year. It looks like what the police in Germany carry around the airport. For those who haven't traveled outside the U.S., law enforcement in Europe has been carrying machine guns for decades. You see it now in the U.S. after 911, but the German made ones are much cooler. This H&k USC is a semi-auto rifle, so there's not much difference between this and a deer rifle of the same caliber. It just looks like something out of a Mission Impossible movie.

Ced and I went to a gun show here in Austin on Sunday. Quite an experience if you've never been. Lots of guns and knives (ninja outfits and throwing stars available!) and a ton of other crap. Beads, kettle corn, books, army/navy surplus, etc. Interesting mix of people as well, almost like the better to do cousins of the traveling carnivals. I did end up making a purchase, at a discount from my local gun store. Here's how simple it is to buy a gun.

1. Pick one out you like.

2. Fill out form a Federal form that ask questions like are you mentally stable, currently stalking someone, or a felon?

3. Salesman calls in the form to the FBI and they enter it in to a computer and accept or deny the application.

That's it. 10 minutes and I was out the door. Next up is a series of training classes and an all day CHL class in September and probably a range card at the local range for lots of practice. I've been thinking about joining the Army reserves where maybe I could use a rocket launcher, or a 50 cal. machine mounted on top of a tank, or repel out of a helicopter into a hostile enviroment. That sounds thrilling. Mindy is not thrilled and thinks that is a bad idea. She's probably right.

For the Kids...

2008-07-14T14:15:00.004-05:00

Spent time with two our friends and their kids this weekend. Friday night we went to the Hatches for some late afternoon swimming and cookout. Ollie requests, hourly, to go for a ride on the "motorcycle", its a Vespa, and donned a bike helmet for safety. We grilled and spent a nice time outside in good weather, which is a break from the oppressive heat as of lately.

Saturday was a birthday party for Tula turning two. Lots of other "breeders" and of course I hit the breakfast beer at 10:15 am. Hey I got Mindy to look after me, right? After all the festivities, it was nap time. Unfortunately, I slept crooked on a pillow and have been dealing with a sore neck for two days. Probably would have been better to sleep on a broken Heineken bottle. Dinner after the napage with the David's and Red, in town from Englehood. And off to bed. Worked Sunday morning. Mindy made a great asian (do-da-do-da-dat-dat-do-do-do) dinner and another restless night with Elliot and the scratching. He's on flea meds, but I keep finding them on him. We're off to the Doggy Alergey clinic Wednesday. They'll probably recommend a complete skin transfer or something. He better be worth it. He is.

YES, I am Finished...

2008-07-09T09:54:00.002-05:00

Well after recovering from the weekend, this week has started off pretty plain. Inspections are picking up and I done some more marketing with the Austin Board of Realtors. I am looking ahead to the fall when its time to start my own business and be THE MAN.

We had a very underwhelming dinner at a local restaurant on Saturday. The particular place we have been to many times and is (was) a local favorite to take out of town guest. Also a place where you just might find a celebrity or two upon occasion, ducking the mass of phototogs at the Ivy. The prices have gone up, the portions have gone down, and the dishes were just bland. A signature appetizer that we have had many times, lacked any real flavor. We were told 30 minutes for a table, o.k. its Saturday night I expected that. And low and behold after ten minutes and half a drink at the bar, we were seated in a 3/4 full dinning room. By the time we ordered and "enjoyed" our appetizer, the place was half full. It took quite a long time to get the main dishes and the manager came by for the usual "sorry 'bout that" of course waiting for a comp a piece of pie or cake , he said "enjoy your meal". Damn it.

Here's the thing that just pushed me over the limit (you can only take so much some time). When I have eaten everything on my plate, stacked my utensils, folded my napkin at the side of the plate, pushed my chair back slightly from the table and looked generally relaxed sitting at the table, ATTENTION WAITSTAFF!! Do Not ask me, "Are you finished with that?" Yes I'm fucking finished, what does it look like! is what i wanted to say, but i didn't. you know that's fine at a Chili's or Olive Garden. But at a meal that costs $150 for three people, the waitstaff should act like they know how to wait tables. Don't ask me, just pick it up!! Jesus.

Happy July 5th!

2008-07-05T12:18:00.002-05:00

Here's hoping everyone had a great July 4th. Mindy and I and our friend Ann from Denver hit the lake with Ced and Char with their dogs in tow. Good weather and cold beer always makes for a good time. I was struggling a little from the wine experience the night before, and sitting in the sun all day made for a short night. But up early for an inspection on a really neat house built three years ago. Looked like it came straight out of Dwell magazine (modern construction magazine) with plastic walls. Yes plastic. Its an insulated panel system with a steel frame. Allows 100% light penetration into a structure and apparently has a decent insulation factor. Lots of steel and concrete. Nice place.

The week ahead.... Monday is Ladies Night at the shooting range. I'll see if I can get Mindy in for some practice, pigs may start flying and hell may freeze over too. "So your saying there's a chance...."

Day 2

2008-07-02T09:33:00.003-05:00

O.K. One day off is good, two... probably greedy. I think its the 4th of July holiday week or something, but I have gone from 60 to 0 in a matter of two days. Oh well, time to finish up some projects around the house.

I spent an hour yesterday at Red's Indoor Gun Range blasting some caps. For those who have never fired a gun or more less never fired a gun in a small concrete reinforced "hallway", it can be very loud. It takes a little warming up to. You can feel the compression of the sound waves as they bounce off the walls. After 15 minutes or so, I stopped jumping out of my skin every time a gun went off. Until the guy with the AR-15 (what the guys in Iraq carry) started blasting a piece of paper to bits. Sounded like a bomb going off 15' away. Once in Denver at an indoor range, some guy had brought a .50 caliber rifle and was letting people shoot it if they paid for the ammo. That was like a cannon going off in your head and they were in the sealed room next door for rifles. Crazy. But hey you never know when someone may try to break into your house using a tank- better have your .50 caliber ready!

This brings up the whole gun thing. Latest headlines: D.C. gun ban, guy in Houston gets off after shooting two robbers in the back, just watch CNN for additional stories. I am pro gun. It was interesting that last night laying in bed the show 30 days (big fan) was about a woman who was anit-gun and lived with some gun freaks in Ohio and lived a gun culture fro 30 days. She was from inner city Boston and had a friend killed by a gun and hears gun shots where she lives. The gun freak guy was making the point that its not the gun that kills people- it the person firing the gun. I agree the gun can't hurt you if you don't pull the trigger. Now I do hold some liberal views on gun control. It should be WAY harder to purchase and own a gun. Simply walk into many a retail store, pick up some Gatorade, a rake, paper towels, maybe a new door mat, and oh, don't forget your 9mm. Just fill out a form (assume your a decent person without a felony charge) and walk out with your gun. That's a little ridiculous! It harder to register your car and get a new picture on your license than to own a gun. And the indoor range- just pay your money and your shooting away. No questions, no education, no license-just fill out a form that says if you kill your self or someone else it ain't the ranges fault. and your in business.

Two personal stories. 1. When i was about 7, I think, my dad was shot in a robbery by some asshole with a shotgun. It went through the windshield of the car, hit the rear view mirror, took a left turn and hit my dad in the arm. Messed it up real bad. But he was certainly lucky it did go straight through the wind shield or I'm sure there would have been a different ending. To this day you can see the damage to his arm and his has a pinky finger with a mind of its own. 2. Two years ago when Mindy and I were in Austin looking at houses, our friend Anne was watching the house and the dogs when she went by to look in on them and the big front picture window at the front of our house was broken out. Our house had been broken into. Long story short some crazy crackhead broke the window, changed clothes, slept in the guest bed, and left the next day. Didn't steal anything?? But this gets me thinking, if I had been home and had a gun, that story could have ended very differently. I would have been in a position to have to use my gun, it would have been within my right to do so. Its late at night, I'm asleep, a hugh window in my house is broken, I go up stairs and someone is standing in my house. Just watch an episode of "I survived..." to hear some horror story about someone who almost died during a robbery, rape, or break in. Crazy shit does happen to normal people. And if you have a gun and the proper training, you may be able to defend yourself and your family from something very horrible happening. Of course you may also win the lottery or be picked at random to go into space, but hey you gotta be ready!

If you have never done it or "are afraid" of guns- give it a try. But go outdoors first its not as loud. I think that most people who are afraid of guns, probably have never fired one. There's also trap, skeet and target. All of which can be a lot of fun. Well I guess I'll sit back and wait for all the hate mail to come in, however Anne may be the only person reading at this point.

Off to sand down and paint the beam in the kitchen, water the plants our front, keep up with work emails, and oh yeah, head to the range this afternoon.

Day Off

2008-07-01T09:21:00.003-05:00

Aaaaahhhhhh. All those working stiffs hitting it hard on a Tuesday. Not here in the ATX. Today is a day off. Lots of shouting at the doves that are raiding my feeders, followed by a walk through the garden with the hose, wash a scratching dog and maybe catch a movie. However there's nothing good playing (within 10 miles) close. Gotta conserve that gas. Which by the way is $3.98/gal. here in Texas. I remember the Racetrac on Mansell Road in Roswell at $.89 a gallon.

I have to finish watching a nextflix from last night. "No End in Sight" is about the sham of the Bushies and the invasion of Iraq. It amazing any of those people can wipe their own ass. I highly recommend this film- note to the watcher- you may punch yourself in the face repeatedly. Be prepared. I'll also be digging through the boxes for old photos ala Anne and Matt's recent expose of the yester years.

We finally got some rain here and are in a heat way of something like 24 days above 100F. I was inspecting an attic last week and took a temperature reading just for fun.....134.8F!! I felt like the nazi's in the Raiders of the Lost Ark melting away. Well my humming bird just came to the feeder outside my office window, and shoved his nose up at the spoiled nectar, I guess its time to change it out. Photo from a recent wine tasting Texas-Style. Jackets, pearl snap shirts and jeans- now that's a night out!!

2008-06-27T17:11:00.003-05:00

We adopted another Scottie last weekend. Elliot came from a rescue and is roughly 3 years old, with lots of puppy left in him. Snapping and biting (we call it the nibbles) and the random pee accident. Pickle and Gussie and are not so sure what to think and are wondering when Elliot will go home. My sleeping pattern or "the prime hours" has been out of whack this week. I don't see how you "real" parents do it. You must crate your kids every once in a while? Right?

Ready for the World

2008-06-27T09:52:00.000-05:00

Well after the myspace and the facebook and getting easily bored, and confused by all the trappings of those communities, I have decided to join the blog. Its my attempt to re-connect with those from the past and share with those of the present. I am very impressed by the couple of blogs I have stumbled upon from old friends who are incredibly more busy than I. Surely I can stick this one out.