My great friend up in Chicago celebrates his day, one he shares with Einstein, Pi Day and Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman. I’m way behind on a card for him but I’ll make it up to him, namely during his visit to Austin or if he lets his oldest son Nicolas come down for a while. Nelson has four kids, he could spare one for a week, I could use a servant to mow the lawn, clean the cat box, etc!
In all seriousness, I wish him the best and so should you!
I could always count on The Onion to make some great jokes (or slams) about SXSW, aka the Spring D-bag Invasion, with these stories here and here. I never expected the Guardian to out do them through a better dig at the pretentious attendees pushing their latest money pits. Orwell would’ve been proud.
What a Maggi-based coincidence! First, my next running goal is Brian’s house. Next, my cousin Dana comes to visit; what a great time! Finally, it’s Brian’s birthday.
I do hope he gets to celebrate, be King of Chicago just for 3/12 and his family gives him a nice treat. It could be a gift, a card, the day off, whatever. It’s the thoughts, intentions and execution that matter.
I did quiz Wyatt and his brothers if they knew what a Hipster was, they said they did but I don’t think they know the specifics. However since he’s only 10 I’m confident there’s a minimal age requirement before one is labeled as one. Anje (his mom) says Wyatt just digs porkpie hats (or porkpie-derived since most are more “flat,” like what Walter White and Popeye Doyle wear). As for the glasses, he’s a kid and they’re brutal on frames. Fear not, being his uncle I gave him a Roxy Music pin to put on the hat to raise his Indie Cred; all he has currently are Freebirds, a great burrito restaurant.
Wyatt agreed to this photo to humor me. Somara added the scarf, it’s the wrong type, Hipsters wear Keffiyeh Palestinian scarves and she wouldn’t let me loan him an ironic shirt to complete the look. I would never torture my nephew with skinny jeans and a man-purse…it’s not a purse, it’s a satchel like Indiana Jones carries!
…you thought could hide by driving a mini-van but I know you’re a little monkey.
Across America it’s Spring Break for numerous high schools and universities. In Austin it’s the annual invasion of d-bags from “the industry” peddling wares of varying quality. Not everything coming to town is bad, I plan to check out the Mavericks promoting their first album in eight years and maybe see the Zombies (yes, those guys from the Sixties who sing “Time of the Season”) because those are free shows at Waterloo Records.
I readily admit I had a reconciliation with SXSW (or South-by as locals may say). Taking the train made it more enjoyable since the annoyance of expensive parking was removed from the equation. The great weather helped. I was also hanging around during the day, it gets crazier and busier at night with the clubs and larger venues. You don’t need an expensive badge to have a good time…OK, maybe sometimes, comedian Eugene Mirman will be interviewing They Might Be Giants tomorrow and you need a music or platinum badge for a chance to see this.
Instead I’m going to print out one of these to be a wise-ass. I’ve lived in Austin for 19 years, I think I qualify for the title of Austinite.
My pledge to cut back on new T-shirts isn’t going too well thanks to a pair of mash-ups. In my defense, the Doctor Who/Futurama design was a gift. The Princess Bride/The Incredibles couldn’t be resisted yet who should’ve been the fifth member to cover Jack Jack? You say the artist is out of heroes. What about Miracle Max?
Meanwhile, I have at least one retired shirt going to a good home once its washed.
What began as a routine repair my father-in-law Tom attempted transformed into the opportunity to install a better, greener toilet for the guest bathroom. The builder did a terrible job since the original rocked a tad. I thought Tom was just going to fix the internal mechanism tied to the flapper because it didn’t leak. (Un)Fortunately, something happened cracking the “porcelain” at the base, making the old toilet unusable.
Somara and Tom headed off to Home Depot, did some comparison shopping and found this model. It uses less water than its predecessor which is pretty important in Central Texas due to all the droughts we’ve experienced for a couple decades. What makes this rock is you press the large silver button for number one and it flushes the waste with less water; you don’t need much to dispose of whiz. Press the bluish button, the silver goes down with it and the toilet uses more water for solid waste. Contrary to Sen. “Ayn” Rand Paul (KY-Teabagger), our lower-flush unit does the job; these don’t work for him because he’s full of crap. Even an old wasteful multi-gallon flusher would need several attempts to process his nonsense.
I’m actually looking forward to replacing the unit in the master bathroom now.
Correction, March 9, 2013: I had the buttons backwards. They’re corrected now.
I probably should re-organize D&D into a Game section with D&D and Video Games as subsections but my tribute to Mr. Calhamer falls under this because his game Diplomacy was a fave with gamers of all stripes.
Sadly, I’ve only played a couple times yet I’m very familiar with it. Whenever a D&D or Wargame group got together and there weren’t enough players, this was a common solution to pass the evening. If you read his obit, you’ll see Diplomacy was quite unique compared to what I consider its counterparts (Risk, Civilization and Supremacy), no dice! The outcomes were determined by the positions of a player’s forces after the “battle turn.” Plus everything was fair. I recall one player left his order sheet on the table to use the bathroom and the others peeked…all allowed. Thus, Diplomacy is well suited for people whose preferred alignment in D&D is Chaotic Asshole. You can win the game by being as honest as possible, it just takes longer.
It was nice to finally find a person behind a well-loved game. I regret I had to wait until his passing.
In today’s running (on a treadmill) news, I have completed the distance between my house and my Grandma’s house in Bloomington, IL. This would be 978 miles.
Since I ran a total of 3.2 miles today, I’m now 1.2 miles further north of there. If memory serves me correctly, this puts me near the original Steak n’ Shake in neighboring Normal.
Next destination? My brother’s house in the Chicago suburbs, 1118 miles away but you know I’ll be plugging the 1000-mile achievement.
At the rate I’m going, arriving at the timeshare is feasible this year.
…hopefully I’ll be “out” like a busy lamb.
I’ve been much better, Somara is having a harder time shaking off the illness we’ve had in common yet I don’t know if we had the same sickness.
I really wanted to write but as I say, life kept getting in the way so I apologize. This week was awesomely nuts, namely helping coordinate my team’s first off-site to Pinballz. I’m proud to say we were their biggest one-day token purchase. I hope the owners can confirm this.
Get ready for the loss of sleep too, daylight savings time kicks in tonight!
Me? We’ve been pre-occupied with hockey, getting Operation: Alexandria back on track (no, really, we have a storage spot rented out to make space), work (obviously) and the big event I should’ve changed the countdown to:
My cousin Dana coming to visit!
I have a dozen cousins from the Maggi side. Dana is the youngest daughter of Uncle Skip, the family prankster. She’s really cool and a score of stories about how Dana spoiled me as a kid. I’m just stoked about having the opportunity to show her Austin, the city I’ve called home for 19 years.
I do not plan to drag my ass posting the story regarding her visit. I promise!
Meanwhile, I’m going to push up a couple quick ones, then schedule a couple more while catching up on some overdue jazz:
…and contrary to the Republicans, Conservatives, Teabaggers, Paultards and Randroids, the area hasn’t transformed into a Stalinist state.
I for one support the ban because those annoying little plastic bags end up in landfills or blowing all over the landscape. We still have one stuck in a tree in the front yard. I can’t remember if it’s our tree or the neighbor’s.
The savings will take a while to show up but Target already gave people incentives months ago. They reduce your total bill five cents per bag you provide. Waterloo Records gave me a tote bag for my CDs because I spent over a $100 (a rather typical shopping day with them!). Normally I pass on the bag/sack since it just ends up making a mess in my house along with all the others we’ve accumulated. I wonder if includes those big paper bags we’d get for seconds/leftovers from Maggiano’s, those make great cat toys.
Koop was the first Surgeon General I ever remembered and the Eighties wouldn’t have been the same without him. He definitely had a memorable appearance because facial hair was out of fashion after the Seventies, especially for the Republican camp. I’m not sure why the Reaganistas selected the good doctor since Koop really pressed on health issues the GOP didn’t want to discuss: AIDS and smoking; and he didn’t participate in their pogrom against abortion despite his personal objections. I’m glad he proved Senator Kennedy wrong on being a partisan hack.
Thanks to his beard and penchant for wearing the uniform of a rear admiral (yet he was a general?), Koop became a comedic presence in cartoons for me. I’m sure SNL had some fun too.
A Simpson version of Koop appeared in the episode “Bye Bye Nerdie.” It’s the time when Lisa was being bullied by Kathy Griffin’s character Francine. Koop’s involvement was during Lisa’s demonstration of how bullies detect a nerd pheromone, prompting the bully-on-nerd violence. Koop stands up and calls Lisa a witch which is funny given the doctor’s scientific reputation.
King of the Hill used Koop to better comedic effect in “Hank’s Unmentionable Problem.” Due to Peggy watching a video starring Koop explaining digestive problems, the former surgeon general appears in her nightmare; everybody is at Hank’s funeral (he died from constipation) with Dr. Koop conducting the service. The gag that always makes me chuckle is Koop asking the characters to turn in their algebra homework after Hank is lowered into the grave.
A post-victory photo
March 2nd is famous for a couple things:
This year, national Marquette day coincided with the other events. The day fluctuates annually but it consistently happens on Saturdays when the Warriors (they will never be the lame, politically correct name to me) play on a good network like ESPN. That’s my guess, I’ve never been very “patriotic” and I try to go mainly to meet other people. Beating Notre Dame by eight was the gravy. I can’t completely dislike Notre Dame, my grandfather did attend there in the Twenties and told me some funny stories.
How are the other alumni? Quite nice. The gentleman who coordinates these shindigs is friendly and enthusiastic. Since we’re a thousand miles from “home,” there aren’t many and the graduation years are spread across the years. It’s cool to hear what their experiences after I moved away in 1991. Seems the neighborhood has become dramatically safer. Hopefully much fewer burglaries.
What’s next. Marquette’s victory gives them a double bye in the upcoming Big East tournament. I guess this will be a huge advantage for attending the humongous NCAA hoopla. Some games will be taking place in Austin this Spring and we all discussed going should Marquette get routed through the Southern division. It’s a slim chance: my alma mater is really a Midwest team and the NCAA Web site says $180/head. I’ll burn that bridge when I come to it.
Maybe depression is a bit much, the doctor last week said it was more along heightened anxiety according my recent testing results. I should’ve studied harder!
Somara and I have had a relapse with the flu/sinus issues. I recovered first this time, she is still at home recuperating. When I get ill, I stay away from the Internet and get afraid to leave the house because I don’t want to be in the uncomfortable situation of being “caught playing hooky.” The doctor even told me it was best I stayed home to recover before doing anything else. Now I just need to have something to keep my brain occupied during the downtime, keep it from going on the hunt which leads to the anxiety, sadness and despair. Matters haven’t been the same after Molly passed away. I continue to miss my little cat bully. Miette has filled the void as much as she can in her odd, flighty way. The bigger temptation is not to adopt the remaining child of Princess Buttercup but cuteness is a kitten’s best defense.
Other gloomy facts came to light I’ve had to pull through on. Don’t sweat them, I’m practically over those.
I didn’t want get writing again until I was feeling much better and more “solid” from a few days of getting back into the Austin routine. It was earlier but Chez Maggi is currently behind the eight ball: hockey games, a nice cocktail party, work became crazier, Somara remaining ill and my cousin Dana is coming to visit next week!
So expect a brief flood. A little will be past due, some don’t have an expiration date and who knows what else I’ll throw up there. I am closing in on a few milestones: my 3000th post milestone since July 2005, 500 legitimate comments and a million words!
I only regret not coming up with a better theme/header for March. All the shamrock shakes I’ve consumed, followed a day of leprachaunorrea, was the best idea I could come up with.
