Light rail begins in two weeks…finally!

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Steve

How I totally forgot about this development is a testament of how pre-occupied I was with a couple other things because last year CAMPO (Austin’s mass transit organization) finished constructing the Howard Lane stop around this time. I’ve been pretty excited to take a trip downtown with it since it’s fairly close to my house, I would say around three miles.

I already knew about its downsides:

  1. It only runs Monday thru Friday.
  2. It only runs seven sessions in the morning and another seven in the afternoon for the commuters, namely people who live in the Northwest (Leander, Cedar Park) and work downtown: lobbyists, bankers, lawyers and the few gov’t employees that actually own houses. Personally, I have rarely met anyone with a job near downtown unless it was with UT.
  3. It can handle just a mere couple thousand people.
  4. It’s probably cheaper to just drive into the city. I think a pass one way is over a couple bucks plus CAMPO has been cutting back and raising rates thanks to the (Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush) economy. Yet I won’t have to deal with parking!

There are plans to have it expanded to have a line to the airport. At the rate everything happens in America, I will be nearing retirement when it’s completed.

Which leads to me to this little tirade so forgive me now.

Of all the editorialists in the New York Times, the one I can’t stand is Thomas Friedman. He is one of the biggest corporate apologists (The Earth is Flat my ass) but I agree with him (and oddly so does his more liberal counterpart Bob Herbert) on America’s crumbling/lagging infrastructure. This tiny stretch of light rail took practically a decade to happen and it was built on existing rail lines, aka MoPac. Over 2000 years ago, the Romans built a ramp to attack Masada in six months without the aid of dump trucks, earthmovers or any heavy machinery; yes, I know the enslaved people to do it. My point is that the Romans didn’t sit around bickering for several years with committees, lobbyists and studies about population growth forecasts. Hell, many of the institutionalized systems in New York, Paris, London, Boston and Chicago were built faster than the debacle ours has been.

I hope to ride it soon and post my experience about it.

Posted in Austintatious | Leave a comment

Brandi Carlile

Posted on March 7, 2010 by Steve

Last night was my co-worker/friend’s turn to pick a concert and a while back she chose Brandi Carlile who always gives me a Johnny and Rosanne Cash vibe; this is a good thing. I’m not even sure how well known this singer is outside of the Austin and probably AAA radio circles (WXRT, KGSR and World Cafe stations).

It was good to take in a show at the Hogg Auditorium too. I haven’t been there since David Byrne in 2004 too.

Anyway, on to Brandi.

The evening was an entertaining set of hits from her three albums, primarily the current release Give up the Ghost with singles like “Dying Day” (done acoustically and without microphones, amplifiers and monitors) and “Looking Out.” Brandi must have been reading my mind regarding the Cash Family thing too because she closed up with a cover of “Folsom Prison Blues.” Besides Johnny, she and her very talented band did Dylan’s “The Times Are A-Changin’,” Tears for Fears’ “Mad World” and Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence.”

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What a game last night!

Posted on March 6, 2010 by Steve

The playoff picture is heating up in the AHL as well as the NHL for us in Austin. Our Stars remain in fourth place but they won a critical game agains the Rockford Icehogs (farm team for the Blackhawks) to stay in the running.

An overtime victory is always exciting yet what made it sweeter was the return of inaugural captain Landon Wilson returning to the lineup. He also scored two of the team’s four goals! That’s twice I’ve seen him in action with a pair of goals. Oddly, he got into a fight so I was hoping he’d get an assist to give us fans a Gordie Howe Hat Trick.

This weekend, Somara and I hope to have a dinner with our friends Tina and Jeremy to work out the season-ticket plan for next year. The Stars’ near future is looking so good we will have to include the playoffs next month.

To kick off the excitement, I installed a little poll plug-in on my site. Throw in your two cents. I included a category for the uninterested.

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Happy Ninth Birthday Jack

Posted on March 6, 2010 by Steve

The younger son of my friends Paul & Helen turns nine today. Unlike his older brother, it appears the weather has panned out in his favor; last month’s weather made DC resemble the South Pole for a while.

I spoke to Helen last night. We didn’t get around to discussing the festivities, I think the weekend is packed with sports to play.

Meanwhile, I just realized that his birthday coincides with the Battle of the Alamo; the infamous diversion which helped Sam Houston gather enough forces to beat Santa Anna later on at San Jacinto.

If you know Jack and/or his parents, drop him a line. Unlike Nicolas, iCal gave me the heads up to get a card out on time.

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Trade deadline passes uneventfully for Philly

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Steve

If you want to know and didn’t see me gripe in person or via FaceBook, the US loss to Canada in overtime sucked. Firstly, the US beat the Canuckleheads a week earlier so the game for all the marbles was just a repeat of their whining over the figure skating mess which resulted in both them and the Russians “winning.” The American team was superior anyway; they beat everybody in their division without any near misses at the end, same for the finals. Meanwhile the Canadian “superstars” struggled in the regular play (they needed a shootout to beat Switzerland) and almost were knocked out by Slovakia in the semi-finals. What chaps my hide the most is that the GWG was made by Cindy Crosby, the Michael Jordan of the NHL, a crybaby who the league promotes as the Second Coming. He’ll never be Gretzky because of his personality. The best he can aspire to be is the next Eric Lindros but he has the backseat driving mother built-in.

I’m over it now. The American program improved greatly since Turin and I hope the people in charge continue to pursue the more Herb Brooks-esque strategies on picking a team.

Meanwhile, my Flyers didn’t do anything before today’s 3 PM EST trade deadline. With Emery out for the season, Boucher having a horrible record and Leighton being unpredictable one would think another goalie was in the cards. Holmgren shocked everybody by not only refusing to fill the gap but also standing firm with the lineup he has. Shocking. This team is in sixth place for the Eastern Conference if the playoffs were tomorrow. Does the GM really think he can win the Stanley Cup with the current lineup? I’m definitely going to be more interested in how the Calder Cup goes since our team in Austin has a better shot regardless of the Hershey Bears being formidable.

Posted in Hockey | 1 Comment

Somara’s Third Place victory

Posted on March 2, 2010 by Steve

This is the overall arrangement Somara submitted.

Last weekend was Austin’s cake decorating competition thing. If you recall the year before, Somara took second place for taste on her tiramisu-based confection. This year she got more into the spirit of the Sci-Fi theme. Originally she had two entries planned, a cake based upon the famous French silent movie “Le Voyage dans la Lune” and some retro cookies from the old pulp novels. Time ran short so the cake was abandoned (even if it were edible, I’m on a diet lately) so she gambled on the cookies. Then through some weird accident (I was away watching the Stars clobber the Aeros), a big thumbprint got left in the thigh of the rocketlady. It was too late to fix it I guess because frosting on cookies is tricky, I have no clue, I’m only an expert on eating not baking.

Stressed, exhausted and frustrated Somara went through with her entry. I think she spent the day having fun displaying the kid entries we sponsored for our little friend Ryanne and Corin. She took the day off from work to do this, I figured she should’ve done her best to enjoy it.

xxx

Corin's Roy G Biv and the winner for Best Use of Sprinkles

Ryanne's winner for Best Rainbow

Taking the unconcerned route paid off. It made her third place victory all the better when she called me in tears (of joy). I had to cut it short because I was trying to drive out of the Costco parking lot (fear not, I pulled over first, I’m in the Car Talk opposition crowd) driving toward my destiny with two new tires…thanks again APD. Then Somara mentioned she could’ve taken second it if weren’t for the thumbprint, hence I modified the piece de resistance below with Photoshop.

Rocket girl burning out her fuse out there alone!

Somara is still sifting through the ga-jillion (not quite a Sagan) of digital photos she took from the competition. I hope to post a few more of the interesting ones, namely the Futurama tribute. Oddly, no chest-bursters, brain slugs or explosive decompressions but there was a facehugger egg.

Now to await next year’s theme and start the whole crazy cycle again.

Posted in Somara's Cakes | Leave a comment

174th Texas Independence Day

Posted on March 2, 2010 by Steve

It’s only a coincidence that it happened to be on the same day as the Texas Primaries for both of the major parties; the Teabaggers already had two gatherings elsewhere (Nashville and the CPAC thing).

Much like American Independence Day, the Texans weren’t out of the woods yet against their foe Mexico’s de facto dictator Santa Anna. The colonists decided to borrow a page from 60 years earlier to make their position against Mexico more legal, in the eyes of the US and probably Europe. It worked out in the end for the Anglos. I’m confident that even if Sam Houston lost, the US would’ve just picked its fight with Mexico ahead of schedule to secure the territory. The early Texans did share the South’s similar, cynical motivations for prying the land away from Mexico to spread the legality of slavery and balance out the growing influence of the North.

I didn’t have any opportunity to take the day off but I’m sure state employees like my neighbor Cristina got to kick back, drink a Lone Star in the alley and reminisce about the high school football glory days I tell you whut. Besides, I don’t really live in Texas per se. I live in Austin which just happens to be in the middle of Texas by some cruel twist of fate. Trust me, I’ve given a couple friends the tour and they had a hard time believing this place was possible given the state’s worldwide reputation.

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The ultimate D&D room

Posted on March 2, 2010 by Steve

My ex-girlfriends and parents thought I had too much D&D crap but they would’ve had a collective stroke if they saw this (courtesy of Jeremy).

It is rather impressive despite all the multiple copies of the same books and boxes the owner has. He is rather dedicated too. I can’t think of many people who’d want to collect anything from the rather awful Dungeons & Dragons movie from a decade ago; Somara and I didn’t know the definition of scenery chewing until we saw Jeremy Irons in action.

Personally, I prefer a practical, spacious room with a big, long table; how I miss the old Ponderosa table my family had in Illinois (once we got all the dried gum chipped off the bottom, it rocked). I’m not being negative or jealous. I have been a DM off and on (currently off due to work and being voted off the island) for 30 years and in my experience, function trumps fashion when it comes to this dying hobby. I’m sure within 10 years, it’ll be great for a LAN party of button-mashing WoW sessions.

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Happy belated birthday Nicolas

Posted on March 2, 2010 by Steve

It’s always easy to forget Nic’s birthday, he was born on February 29, 2000 which isn’t just any Leap Day, it’s the one that happens once every 400 years.

His unusual birthday helped me discover a shortcoming I need to report to Apple with iCal and Address Book. There is a field/value for a person’s birthday in Address Book which is then detected by iCal; you set the preferences to “show birthday calendar” which is really a local subscription to have them appear. His birthday disappears on years without Leap Days. Hence, why I completely spaced.

Somara and I quickly got him a funny card in the mail. I hope to hear from his dad (Nelson) about getting the little dude something nice. Not sure if he’s old enough for iTunes.

Should you know Nelson, drop him a line. I think it’ll cheer him up because Spring in Chicago is still a ways off!

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Drag Me To Hell

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Steve

Sam Raimi proves he still can do a humorous Horror-Action movie after spending about a decade on Spider-Man which was like all contemporary superhero franchises, it had diminishing returns with every sequel; in his defense, he did a  better job than Tim Burton did on two Batmans.

Somara and I really wanted to see this in theaters too, namely at an Alamo Drafthouse but only South Lamar briefly had it.

Normally, I avoid…no, I hate the majority of contemporary Horror movies. Ever since I was a kid, most were really Slasher movies involving teenagers/college students getting brutally murdered by Jason, Michael, Freddy or whoever. Many of my male peers found these flicks funny. I found them awful on numerous levels. Hence my reluctance to watch Evil Dead 2 one evening at a friend’s place in 1992. Despite the part with Ashe intentionally cutting off his hand (I have a personal fear of such a thing) it was clever, weird and funny. It made me look forward to Army of Darkness which was more of an Action/Fantasy movie. Raimi’s movies tend to have this signature with movement reminiscent of the frenetic stunts shown in silent movies starring Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd. I think it takes some of the stomach-turning elements away from his Horror work, making his stuff enjoyable while Eli Roth and his ilk stick with gorenography or Rube Goldberg plot contraptions.

Personal history and dislike aside, Raimi proved why he’s a great director on Drag as well as Spider-Man. Too bad his next upcoming film will be based upon the online game World of Warcraft; the button-mashing magnet for the socially retarded.

Drag kicks off with a quick prologue in 1969 to give you an idea what gypsies can unleash when you steal from them. Then fast forward to the present to meet Christine, a young loan officer vying for an assistant manager job. Her competition is an ass-kisser who likes to sabotage her through passive-aggressive moves: lunch orders, tickets for the boss, etc. Her love life is a little problematic too. Christine’s boyfriend Clay (aka Justin “I’m a Mac!” Long) is a sweet, generous college professor from a wealthy family. The contention comes from Clay’s mother who thinks she’s just a dumb farm girl beneath his social standing. During a typical day at work, an elderly woman walks up to her desk requesting assistance. Christine examines all the paperwork and realizes it’s a foreclosure notice explaining how the woman is six months behind, has received two extensions already and the bank will take the house pretty soon. Figuring this is her big chance to show the boss she can make tough choices, Christine makes the decision to not grant a third extension. The elderly woman isn’t a typical retiree living on a fixed income but a gypsy (obviously from the trailers/descriptions) who places a curse on the protagonist as revenge for a public shaming in the lobby. Now Christine has three days to defeat this or a demon will take her to the underworld.

Raimi’s execution is excellent and he did it so well with a PG-13 rating! Horror buffs poo poo’d the lack of an R with this. As The Onion once argued about the success of The Blair Witch Project, what’s scarier? The wolf you see or the wolf behind the door trying to get in? Those cheesy Universal Horror movies starring Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr. and Boris Karloff were frightening due to my imagination filling in the gaps! This is what Raimi does here, especially with the one scene the animal-rights crowd had a fit over. He also sprinkles in his trademark action scenes involving rather improbable yet darkly comical elements I hadn’t watched since Caro & Jeunet’s City of Lost Children. Finally, without giving away the ending, Sam and his brother Ivan succeeded in writing one of the best plot twists to deceive a rather observant movie watcher as myself: I’m not super perceptive but the majority of Hollywood’s product is frequently predictable when it comes to knowing who the real killer, thief, or whatever is. Case in point, the so-called Thriller/Mystery The Bone Collector from a decade ago. With Drag you may be kicking yourself for not seeing the Raimis’ sleight-of-hand sooner.

Posted in Movies, On the TV | Tagged | 1 Comment

New look for new month

Posted on February 28, 2010 by Steve

I grew tired of the previous theme choking on the font style every time I wanted to through the Archives by category. As cool as it was with the color and the modified banner with the Austin skyline, the font matter really tore it. So far no sign from the creator on a fix or tweak to address the issue. However, I’m not going to press because it was free.

Meanwhile, this new, simpler theme is called iBlog 2. It’s rather clean compared to some others that are available for free. The name is stupid though. I hope to tinker around with it and see if I can change up the colors, get a better banner and see if there are other plug-ins it will work with.

Tell me what you think.

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Happy Birthday Peter

Posted on February 28, 2010 by Steve

In all the hustle n’ bustle of today, I’m wishing my co-worker/friend some best wishes. I did find him a card that I will give him tomorrow. He’s off to a good year. His team, the New Orleans Saints, won the Super Bowl after being denied the big prize for decades.

Peter also shares his birthday with Broadway Bombshell Bernadette Peters. Coincidence? Peter…Peters, both born on February 28th? I have a CD of her singing the Beatles’ “Blackbird.” He’s a huge Beatles fan. It’s easy to connect the dots on these two.

If you know him, wish him well. Belated greetings are always welcome.

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One more story about the iTunes winner

Posted on February 28, 2010 by Steve

According to K-Geezer’s “music news update,” Andy Langer mentioned Rosanne Cash calling the iTunes winner to thank him for making the 10 billionth download a Johnny Cash song last Wednesday because last Friday would’ve been his 78th birthday.

Pretty cool I would say. I think it was nice to find out the winner is a 71-year-old guy which demonstrates how much easier Apple’s gear and software is to use. If he had a Zune, he probably would’ve had a grandchild or neighbor’s kid helping him out.

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The Bad News & the Good News for today

Posted on February 28, 2010 by Steve

Of course they happened to me in the other order.

As I was leaving Costco this afternoon, Somara called me to tell me she won Third Place on the cookie decorating division of the annual Austin Cake Competition. More about it later, last week has been a borderline roller coaster as she has been stressing out for the last couple weeks. I have no idea about the rest of what she entered. I know she bailed on the cake part.

Somara decided to call me while I’m in the parking lot, I pulled over, told her I would call her back when I got to my latest writing sanctuary. Yes, I am one of those pushy jerks who chews out people for driving and yapping on their phones. Sending text messages really upsets me even more, especially when I’m the passenger. Last time I think I almost tore the dashboard out in fear.

With the phone call completed, I pulled out of Costco and tried to get onto 183 North, just in time to drive over the wreckage of a recent accident. Thank you APD for not clearing all the damage from the damned road! I did try to avoid it but there was so much. I ran over a nasty piece of concrete. Within a minute the car began to make an odd vibrating noise. I pulled over, looked at the wheels, nothing obvious. Proceeded but this time it was loud so I hobbled over at the next exit, saw my rear hubcap rolling away and parked into the TASB parking lot. The rear tire was slashed in two places courtesy of the wreckage.

The short of it is this. Somara was able to interrupt her time at the cake show, give me a lift to buy some goop to get my donut operational again (it was flat after being never used for 12 years) and followed me to NTB.

Back to good news! NTB was open (I called ahead) and I have two new tires on the front (older to the back, I got those last year); all set for $155 and my Golf handles great again. I hope this will get its mileage back up to what I was doing until Christmas, 26 mpg which is better than my friend Bryant’s new 2010 VW GTI, hence why we’re getting a Honda Fit with 27 City/32 Highway, should make it 30-ish overall.

More about Somara’s results when I receive them after the Stars v. Rampage game.

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Alpha Centauri will have to wait…

Posted on February 27, 2010 by Steve

…another four years to see the Saints finally win their first Super Bowl. If there were only a Las Vegas there to place a futures bet on 2010 to win a small fortune!

Jeremy sent me this cool link showing a chart of how far Earth’s network programming has gotten by now. Many of the stars listed are for reference purposes on the distances. They’re not necessarily lined up as the two-dimensional drawing shows and most of them having habitable worlds are impossible; Arcturus is a Supergiant, Wolf 359 is a fraction the size of our sun, etc.

However, somebody better warn the residents of Alpha Centauri, Tau Ceti, and Zeta Reticuli about the shift to HD or they won’t know how Lost ends in 2015, 2022 and 2050 respectively.

Posted in Diversions | Leave a comment