Hunter and his first portable, obviously an Apple

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Steve
Uncle Steve has good taste in armor.

Uncle Steve has good taste in armor.

What started out as a relaxing Saturday afternoon before our vacation in a couple days ended abruptly with a phone call from my sister-in-law Anje. Somehow her brother received a free MacBook Pro through another person who insanely didn’t want it anymore. Anje was trying to reset the computer and having a hell of a time. The original owner didn’t have its 10.6-baed media, there were food stains, a couple dents and although she is a teacher by training, I could sense the frustration. I quickly seized the opportunity to meet up, clean it up and turn the computer into a kick-ass tool for Hunter.

When you have an uncle at Apple who is a 14.5-year veteran with 22 years of Macintosh experience, it’s like having a n IT angel in your corner. OK, I’m bragging. Sorry. Actually I love to this kind of work. Flex my hands-on muscles. The Apple Store at Barton Creek also had these great cleaning pads from Bausch & Lomb to remove the gunk. The armor selection wasn’t as good. Hunter wanted green or blue. Black was it for the vulcanized/rubbery surface. He did like the X-Men theme I gave the computer. I will find an appropriate sticker to put on the armor over the Apple logo to complete the effect. Make it similar to mine: I have the Flyers on my personal and Batman on my work units.

I have to admit to being jealous. When I was 13, computers were far from portable and cost about as much as a used car. Rather ironic we never had one at home when I lived with my parents because my old man was a systems analyst plus he constantly harped on me to go into CS/CE/IT throughout high school.

Hunter is ready to go and keep in touch more easily before and after the move to Qatar. Well, once he finds out his e-mail password. I’m hoping Hunter will keep in touch via the MacBook Pro, flex his creative muscles via iPhoto, iMovie, Garage Band or a personal blog. There’s more to computers than games, social media and homework.

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Vegas 2013: Day One, Arrival!

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Steve
Nice view from the new hot tub and modified with a filter Somara recently acquired.

Cool view of Tahiti Village. This was modified by a filter Somara bought.

This year’s Las Vegas Pilgrimage, dubbed LV 2013, is my ninth trip here, our seventh together, and fifth stay at Tahiti Village. So far it’s off to a great start, especially with the flight. Southwest moved the departure time up to 6:05 AM recently which is awesome. Neither of us can sleep the night before a major trip: I hate flying (acrophobia isn’t helped when cooped up in a cramp space, plus “control” issues) and Somara goes into a cleaning frenzy. Not this time. I was drained from work, I ate an entire pizza to induce the itis (pronounced EYE-tis), put on my latest Regular Show DVD…managed to take a nap from about 8 PM to midnight. What a relief it was! The nap gave me the boost I sorely needed to retrieve my iPad I left at work (trying to read at least most of a book by our return), finish some laundry, minor chores, discover the neighbors’ puppy barking in our yard (poor guy is starved for attention), pack and have the wherewithal to stay awake until settling into our room. Gotta’ find a way to repeat it every time.

Thanks to the whole car debacle, we had to turn in the rental car and get a ride to the airport from my in-laws. It’s nice of them, but I hate owing favors to relatives I have a uneasy relationship with. However, they got us there in record time. The lack of a line at Bergstrom’s TSA gates really helped.

The flight was smooth…up to our approach. I knew it was in for bumps after the pilot said there was gusts coming from the South in Las Vegas. I didn’t panic too much because Southwest has a solid reputation, the plane has less fuel and we’re almost at the destination. Takeoffs suck! I loved the departure time. When you factor in the two-hour gain with Pacific Time, we arrived at 7 AM! Most people are leaving, few are landing so getting the bags and checking out the rental car was lightning quick plus Enterprise finally gave us the compact car we keep asking for; we just need wheels, nothing fancy. We also had incredible luck at the timeshare, they let us take our room early.

Everything was good to go by 8:02 AM!

Yes!

Las Vegas 2013, aka LV2K13 is off to an awesome start and in the running for best vacation ever.

There was a little bad news. Our favorite concierge guy Mike left for another venue down the street. Maybe we’ll go visit him, say hello. Mike was great at his job and it was a big loss for Tahiti Village in our opinion. It’s always cool to see a familiar face.

I’m not going to elaborate much more. Then the post will be a verbal version of some obnoxious Instagram post showing what I had for dinner.

We stocked up at Albertsons, looked in horror what the residents here pay for groceries yet left with envy over their ability to buy hard liquor (Texas forces you to go to a liquor store Monday-Saturday, close at 9 PM). Recharged with Denny’s and a nap. Celebrated Somara’s birthday at Munchbar in Casear’s Palace due to the long line at Gordon Ramsay’s Burgr place in Planet Hollywood. Squeezed in some gambling (see below). We are trying to figure out how to get an iPod to work correctly in the car. MS Sync is crap. The Ford Focus is fair. Enterprise certainly fine tuned the brakes a bit too much. I thought I was going to give Somara whiplash.

Before I forget, Tahiti Village is a hundred times better now. They added a second hot tub and installed site-wide WiFi! I can update from the room with less hassle. The Clear dongles were cool yet 4G isn’t as fast as they claim.

Wish you all were here!

I close with the traditional gambling report and a new poll.

Gambling Report:

  • Video Poker: Steve 2, Somara 0 ($26.25, $0)
  • Somara: No idea, I guess -$40
  • Steve: -$13.75, all VidPoker.

Steve will go to Vegas and…

  • …end in the red (100%, 1 Votes)
  • …come out ahead (0%, 0 Votes)
  • …break even (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 1

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Seriously? A Classic Vehicle?

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Steve

classiclebaronSpotted this while walking through the Planet Hollywood (formerly the Aladdin) parking lot last night. A Chrysler LeBaron, aka a K-car, with ‘classic vehicle’ plates. I guess Nevada has a pity category for any of these still functioning. The designation is reserved for cool vehicles from the past like Sixties-era Mustangs or a Model T.

Now if this were pink and had Homer Simpson-esque modifications, I could behind the plates the car bears.

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Happy Birthday to Somara, my wife of 10 years

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Steve

Is it a stereotype, fact or a mix of things about husbands forgetting their wives’ birthdays? Same for anniversaries. In our household, it’s actually the opposite. Yes, I, the man, always know when Somara’s birthday is, what day we got married and the day we met in person for the first time. I do need to tighten up on the birthdays of the Aggie nephews. Oddly, Somara forgets her birthday about half the time.

So this year, we kick off the annual Las Vegas pilgrimage on Somara’s birthday but this is a combination celebration. Our tenth wedding anniversary shindig, our birthdays and before we flew out, we received our raises from work. I won’t post them, it would be rude and it’s probably a corporate secret. Let’s just say, Somara did great and mine was incredible.

Wish Somara for the remainder of the week and onward with Vegas updates.

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Tiny Elvis’ Las Vegas Adventure Book

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Steve

By the time you’re reading this, the plane should be in the air or we’ve arrived for what is my ninth trip to Las Vegas. Woo hoo! I thought the day would never come with how long the Summer of ’13 has been, namely the work element. What will we be doing? I’m not sure because we’re hitting the city during a lull for touring musical acts, unless I can scrape up the energy to catch Jimmy Eat World at Mandalay Bay tonight. I think we’ll be emphasizing the taking it easy element. I plan to do more gambling, especially on sports.

Meanwhile, to get everybody in the spirit, here is the long, overdue comic book I made of Tiny Elvis (part of Playmobil’s random series 3) checking out the sites from last year. Some of you may recall the raw photos I posted on FaceBook. Sometime after trip, namely when I had recuperated enough from Molly’s passing, I put the photos together into a little book. I shared the work with Terra Toys too. The employees said it was a minor hit but there was an unexpected consequence, people thought the Elvis figure came in a special set.

Enjoy! Oh, to download, hold down the Option button on your keyboard, then click on the link. It will appear as a PDF in your Downloads folder. Windows users, I’m confident you know what the equivalent button is.

Tiny Elvis Goes to Las Vegas

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September ’13 for this week…1998!

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Steve

This week’s header came from a lucky burst of inspiration so it didn’t take too long to put together. Normally when I get started, I do a Google-based search for the year and see which images appear. Often it’s nothing very solid: class photos, random magazine covers, cars, who knows. Somehow 1998 pulled up the original iMac within the first page. Perfect! While 1983 and 1988 had back-to-school themes and 1993 went with the breakout characters responsible for a million imitators (me included), 1998 has an underlying mood about my return to Austin. I owe a sizable debt to the iMac for making it possible. Kris is owed a much larger portion yet this “affordable” Mac paved the beginning of Apple’s comeback.

When the iMac was announced in May 1998, my future employer was willing to forgive those of us who defected to PowerComputing, Dell and elsewhere since our experience was vital to making the product launch smooth. Apple got burned with the Consumer market pretty badly through the Performa line. Never heard of them? Exactly. After retreating from Best Buy, Circuit City and other retailers for a year, the iMac was the return. It was a pretty successful product too: the price, the configuration and its ease-of-use, I recall there was an infomercial with a race between a college graduate (standard PC) v. a boy and his dog (iMac). Price wise, the iMac was still more expensive than the common PC in 1998 but c’mon, Windows 95 or 98? The missing floppy drive wasn’t a deal breaker, it many ways Intel was grateful because iMacs spurred their floundering USB technology the Windows eco-system kept putting off.

So while I was saving up money, counting down the days to quit my dead-end job at PSW/Nortel I received an opportunity to be a temp again at Apple. Mainly to get ready for the spike in calls the new iMac would generate. Hence the banner. Thanks iMac.

Would I ever own one? I have owned a couple. My Indigo model gave up the ghost in 2005 (first), I gave away the Blueberry to Toby my mechanic (can’t remember when) and the Barbie iMac keeps on going as our alarm clock. We’ve considered the latest due to their American-made DNA. Jose purchased one through me recently, we should all ask him now it’s doing.

This concludes the varying headers week/month thing. Maybe I’ll try again in the near future. October promises to be more stationary with Italian Heritage Month. Bella!

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Miette escaped or wasn’t real?

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Steve

mietteismissingSomara groomed our long-haired cat Miette recently and this was just a fraction of the fur she collected. Due to this cat’s skill with her claws, there is a time limit on how long you can comb.

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Kenny Rogers

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Steve

kennyrogersI had the opportunity to meet another member of Pop Music Royalty and History at Book People. My Midwestern memories wouldn’t have been the same without this man. The days involving our numerous drives between Springfield, IL and Champaign-Urbana, IL in preparation for moving were peppered with numerous listenings of “The Gambler.” Dad was a huge WMAQ-AM fan during its Country period. Kenny had many crossover hits too.

So Kenny was in Austin to promote his first novel What Are the Chances, not an autobiography. What’s it about? I have no strong idea yet but I will read it. I did take some time skim through the beginning. Chances appear to be set in the mid Seventies, there’s a mention of Gilley’s and poker. My friend Pablo said he heard it was going to be a sequel to the many fictions based around Kenny’s song character. Neat.

Kenny was in great spirits and really awesome to meet in person. I let him know how his music was a part of my childhood. He answered, “Is that good?” I laughed, of course, they were unforgettable times (in the car traveling with my parents). Too bad it took me at least a decade to realize I would miss those days. I also let him know my doctor saw him perform in 1969 at a festival in Louisville with his original backing band the First Edition (I said the Rotary Club). Kenny lit up there, said he and his new band do a new edition of “Ruby.” I immediately got a solid, greatest hits collection from Waterloo Records. This will help me get the ear worms of his duet with Sheena Easton out of my head!

Thanks Mr. Rogers for all the cool stuff you’ve done! The Muppet Show; crossover duets with Dolly Parton, Sheena, Kim Carnes, the Commodores, Alison Krauss and Ronnie Milsap; made-for-TV movies and having such a smooth, distinctive voice. His hit “Coward of the County” created a funny anecdote I wish I remembered to tell him. One night as the song was playing, my brother asked Dad what the bullies did to the character’s wife Becky. I noticed the hurried discomfort in Dad’s voice, “Uhh, they beat her up really bad Brian.”

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Exactly how I feel with some minivans and overpopulation

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Steve

deathtostickpeople

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New glasses! Finally

Posted on September 21, 2013 by Steve
Maybe I should wear them when I shave so I can get my mustache even.

Maybe I should wear them when I shave so I can get my mustache even with my beard.

Years of procrastination finally came to a head this week when I lost my only functional pair of glasses. Just what we needed right before our pending vacation, as if the car bullshit weren’t enough. No glasses isn’t the end of the world: I can still drive adequately, watching TV/movies sucks.

Fortunately, my glasses were in the gym locker where I suspected I left them that morning. I couldn’t check during lunch because somebody else was using it.

I kept the appointment though, use the opportunity to get a couple emergency pairs made out of fear.

I’m incredibly relieved that my aging peepers haven’t declined much! The prescription the doc gave me is 1.75 for both. Phew! I used to be 1.50.

Lenscrafters didn’t carry the frames I had for years but they had something fairly close as you can see above.

Here’s to hoping I can put off 2.0 until I’m in my mid fifties. At least I’ll look good for Vegas and see all the action on the craps table.

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The ultimate Metal band!

Posted on September 21, 2013 by Steve

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Our interim set of wheels

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Steve

rental13carTuesday was the day Somara took off from work to start sorting out getting our car repaired. The body shop said the Honda was “undrive-able” based upon the damage their guys saw. How soon will the work be completed? So far the guess is three weeks.

Meanwhile, the hitter’s insurance is covering the rental car, a rather blah Chevy Cruze sedan. It’s bigger than the Honda on the outside but on the inside, the Cruze is an inverted TARDIS. Fighter cockpits have more legroom. Yesterday I banged my shin really hard getting in. In its defense, the car does have a more elaborate instrument cluster. Somara likes the stereo’s ability to give more details on the songs the iPod is playing.

I do hope we get our Honda back after the vacation. We both keep finding our left feet wanting to step on something and expecting the shift down when coming to a stop.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The American car makers aren’t doing themselves a favor when they sell their mediocre lines to rental companies. Every US-designed vehicle I’ve rented has underwhelmed, especially the Alero. The Cruze (sedan) has many shiny doohickies, yet it feels like driving my grandparents’ cars. The dealmaker to make me change my mind would be fuel efficiency…not a prayer with GM.

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More fun with Legos

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Steve

A favorite little activity I love to do at the Lego Store is go through the build-your-own-figures bin and try to create three funny people with the random pieces found there. It’s a great treat kids for a mere $10 while being a creative exercise. Sometimes I can make proxies of celebrities, like the Joe Bob Briggs I made long ago or…

Not the sunglasses to hide the ravages of booze, drugs and general stupidity.

Note the sunglasses hiding the ravages of booze, drugs, stupidity and starring in “I Know Who Killed Me”

Lindsay Lohan!

The store is constantly refreshing the stock with new accessories, torsos, “legs,” heads and tops. Recently there was a slew of awesome stuff, namely mermaids, Napoleonic-era soldiers, ninjas and (always) pirates. Thus I was inspired to generate…

I gave him the Tommy Gun so he can be another villain for a co-worker's Lego Batman

He has a Tommy Gun so he can be another villain for a co-worker’s Lego Batman to face.

Russell Brand

The two are a stretch but at least they’re funny on many levels. Lego Batman and Iron Man won’t have much trouble defeating these femme fatales.

Ugh, my serum has made me green in the gills.

My serum will make you green in the gills!

Dr. Alba Core

legoraver

My garish attire and postmodernism will enthrall you!

Lady Dada

Can’t wait to go back in October, see what I can come up with next time. Who wants to join me in the challenge?

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Ahoy! Happy Talk Like Pirate Day 2013!

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Steve

Me favorite holiday in September mateys! Course you can’t use such manner of speakin’ with the customers at me job.

Sadly, I don’t own any pirate garb. I had to settle fer objects that were a real stretch: Clash Chucks (there’s a jolly roger on them) and a Princess Bride shirt, the Dread Pirate Roberts did outwit Vizzini. The real piece de resistance was having a scallywag taco from Torchy’s in Austin.

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A belated birthday to Elvira with her shoes!

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Steve
The spiderwebs are a nice detail.

The spiderwebs are a nice detail.

Yesterday was Elvira’s birthday, it’s not nice to reveal a lady’s age, even when she is a Horror icon.

To celebrate, I finally broke out the special Chucks Somara bought me for my birthday a couple months ago. These are not made by Converse specifically. Elvira has a licensing arrangement with a store over in Venice Beach. The nice people there have a special setup to print the design on a black pair.

What I like best was how the webs aren’t symmetrical on the shoes like other Chucks Converse makes with licensed designs.

There's her logo!

There’s her logo!

Should I get another chance to meet Elvira, I will definitely be wearing these Chucks to show my support.

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