To Live and Die in NH

I know very little about the state of New Hampshire: there's the New Hampshire Primary; low taxes; lax gun laws; the state motto "live free or die," which is printed on their license plates.

Earlier this year, I was informed about their state run liquor stores. So . . . one is not so free that they can open their own liquor store, eh?

Today I learned that New Hampshire is the only state without a safety belt use law. I wonder if that has anything to do with their love of freedom.

A colleague pointed out to me that NH's "Live Free or Die" license plates are made by prisoners.

Ski New Hampshire!

File under: What the F

By now, everyone who has turned on a TV or a radio this week has heard about the $30 million lawsuit that alleges MySpace.com is to blame for the sexual assault of a teenage Austin girl by a 19-year-old guy she met through the site. Well, this morning I heard that the 19-year-old alleged assailant is also suing MySpace because he wouldn’t have ever met this girl if it weren’t for the site, and he didn’t know it was illegal to have sex with a minor. What the f . . .? Please tell me both of these cases will get thrown out and fast.

This year, someone sued Apple claiming the iPod is responsible for a user’s hearing loss.

Starbucks has joined the fun food folks at McDonald's on the obesity scapegoat flogging post.

Has anyone sued Merck, maker of Viagra, for ending a marriage? “Your Honor, my client would not have been physically capable of boning his secretary--and breaking his sacred marriage vows-- if it were not for the effects of Viagra.” If it hasn’t happened, then just you wait.

These days, the McDonald’s hot-coffee-in-the-lap lawsuit doesn’t seem so frivolous. Sue you, sue me. That's the way it should be.

Weakened Update

It's been two whole weeks since my last post, so I thought I should just type a little something to grab the attention of my 5 casual readers.

Over the last month Kim and I have had a visit from her parents, a trip to Houston to visit our newest niece [and her mom and dad], and a visit from my mom and sister. And in between all that, it's been all nose to the grindstone at my jobby job.

Needless to say, I haven't had much time for the internets these days. No internets means no news and no blogs. I can't even remember the last time I looked at Pitchfork. I think it's been long enough that I may have lost the last shred of indie rock cred I had left. It's been over a month since I bought any new records [not like I've had time to listen].

Anyway . . . here are some more words and some pictures to help you kill a couple of extra minutes at work after you've already surfed the good sites.

I took Kim and her folks on an exclusive tour of the Capitol and showed them a little place I like to call "the bunker" in the Capitol Extension, underground. I spend a lot of time in the bunker during the legislative session [you can tell when a guy's spent a lot of time in the bunker, 'cause he's got the thousand-yard stare].

View from outside the Bunker

Obligatory shot to tha dome

After the tour, we made the long, hot, sweaty trek down to Las Manitas for some Mexican grub. Then we made the longer, hotter, sweatier trek back up to the UT campus to visit the new Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art. It's a nice facility designed with room to expand. The permanent collection is housed on the 2nd floor, and it appears traveling exhibitions will be displayed in the first floor gallery.

Sorry--no pictures of the Blanton.

The following day, we drove out to McKinney Falls State Park for a hike. That probably wasn't the best idea after walking all over downtown the day before. This park is really close to our house: I don't know why we've never been. Too bad it was so damn hot out that day. We'll have to go back when the weather cools down.

Some holes in the ground at McKinney Falls

A couple of weekends later, we headed to Houston/Baytown for another family visit. We decided to stop by the Rothko Chapel and the Menil Collection museum before we headed back to Austin. The Menil collection is pretty cool. Houston is unsafe at any speed [everyone on the road could tell we were from out of town because we used our turn signal (instead of a gun) when making lane changes].

Hanging out in front of the Menil

We also ate at some Greek restaurant in Montrose, and I burped gyro all the way home.

My family's visit to Austin was much more laid back. We made another trip to the Blanton museum and ate some dinner at a hip South Congress joint, and just hung out. We also revisited some pictures I took during our cruise, last December. In honor of the start of hurricane season, I will leave you with some pics of hurricane-ravaged Cozumel, Mexico.

They're lovin' it.