Here comes the coda.

2007-07-28T16:01:00.000-07:00

What to do on a rainy Saturday afternoon?

After an unsuccessful attempt to mow the lawn during a brief pause in the precipitation, I chose to stay in, surf the web, and listen to music on Last.fm.

I’m a late-comer to Last.fm, but I dabbled with its cousin, Pandora, about a year ago. I probably would have signed on to Last.fm sooner, but the novelty of Pandora quickly wore off. I usually don’t like trying to listen to music while sitting at my computer. If I sit at the computer and listen, I have a tendency to hit the “skip" button if a song doesn’t hook me within 30 seconds. For better results, I think I should rig my laptop to my home stereo, sit down with beer, and let Last run wild.

My initial thoughts on Last.fm compared to Pandora: the Last.fm music well runs much deeper. I didn’t have to listen to Pandora for very long before I started hearing repeat songs during one sitting. Last tends to stray from the reservation when running through tunes from “similar artists.” Fugazi got linked with Blink 182. On the other hand, Pandora tried to slip some Def Leppard into my Television--and I‘m talkin‘ really bad post-Hysteria Def Lep [much worse than the already bad circa-Hysteria material]. To paraphrase a line from Short Circuit, computers don’t have feelings: they just run programs.

Of all the “stations” I’ve tried so far, I’ve had the best results with Sea and Cake, which has rolled out some Red House Painters, New Pornographers, Les Savy Fav, Shins, Thunderbirds Are Now, Yo La Tengo, Neutral Milk Hotel, and much, much more. [Sea and Cake came up on my Guided by Voices station.]

2007-07-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

This rainy summer is something else. Mrs. Coda and I had been planning on spending more time enjoying the outdoors this summer, but we've been in a neverending rain delay through June and July. We have managed to make it out to a couple of natural swimmin' holes in the area and hit the neighborhood tennis courts twice. But mostly, we've been stuck inside watching movies.

There is one upside to all of this rainy weather: it's late July, and the temperature has not yet reached 100 degrees.

One of the few highlights of the summer has been my summer Tour de Pizza. A few coworkers and I have been on a mission to find the best pizza in Austin, visiting one place each week. We've toured six places [or is it seven?], and we have too many more to go. Less than half way through our journey, I think we may have already hit four of the top 5 places. When I moved to Austin 8 or so years ago, there were scarcely any good pizza places within the Austin city limits. Sure, there's always been the good-when-you're-drunk places downtown like Hoek's [aka Death Metal Pizza] and Roppolo's. Now we have serious options for civilized pizza dining. It's going to be hard for me to pick a favorite.

Sadly, I learned recently that Hoek's closed down due to the renovation of the old Ritz theater to house the new downtown location of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. R.I.P. Hoek's. I will spin some Slayer in your honor.

Oh yeah. The movies. I've actually been to the South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse to see a few movies this summer: Hot Fuzz and Knocked Up - good; Transformers - bad. Transformers' suckitude was not surprising, but it was still disappointing. What more can you expect from Michael Bay? Big screen action for the Deuce Bigalow set. That said, I'm looking forward to promising stupid fun of Superbad. And The Simpsons Movie opens tomorrow. Even though I don't watch The Simpson's regularly these days, I still consider it my all-time favorite show. I feel compelled to watch the movie.

While I'm talking about cartoons, I must give a nod to The Venture Brothers. It's pretty damn good. And it's the first Adult Swim cartoon that the Mrs. and I both like. We almost watched the whole Season 1 DVD in one sitting--couldn't get enough. Check it out.

That's all for now.

Feel Good Hit of the Summer - Al Gore III Style

2007-07-04T12:49:00.000-07:00

Zanax, valium, marijuana, vicodin, and aderollllll!

No cocaine.

I didn't know a Prius could do 100 mph!!!

See the original feel good hit here.

Still there?

2007-07-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

I last posted over a month ago, so I guess it’s time to catch up on what’s been going on since the session ended.

Yard work, or: Kneel before Sod. We’ve had a ton of rain in Central Texas over the last month, and our yard is looking greener than ever. But that means that I’ve had to spend a lot of time mowing, trimming, clipping, etc. I really really want to take on some new landscaping projects in our yard, but just trying to keep the yard we have under control is more than enough work for me. Besides, we’ve decided to put yard projects on hold and focus on our home’s interior. I think we’ve decided to focus our time, effort, and dollars on remodeling our bathrooms and replacing the carpet throughout the house. Over the three years we’ve been in this house, our remodeling plans have changed several times from kitchen to living room to kitchen and living room and, now, to the bathrooms. While the kitchen would be a more rewarding project, the bathrooms actually need remodeling. And our carpet definitely needs to be replaced. Right now, we’re considering taking one of the bathrooms as a DIY project [it’s a good thing we have two]. I think we’ll have pros do the flooring, though.

Inspired by the French Open tennis tournament TV coverage last month, I talked the Mrs. into hitting the high school tennis courts down the street to swat at a few balls. I haven’t played tennis in about 6 years, and I think my wife hasn’t played in over 10. We were surprisingly not that terrible. However, we only lasted about 30 minutes running around in the June heat and humidity. I’m probably in better shape now than I have been in since I finished college, but I’ve got no legs. That hasn’t discouraged me from trying to play again. It’s all that damn rain that’s keeping us away from the courts.

Since the session started in January, I’ve been trying to read in the evenings to help take my mind off of work. I've mostly been reading books we have around the house--whatever looks interesting. I recently finished reading The Dirt, the Motley Crue tell-all sorta-autobiography. I’ve had the paperback for a few years, but I didn’t pick it up until a couple of weeks ago. I almost forgot I had the book until I read Chuck Klosterman’s Fargo Rock City, which I borrowed from a coworker. FRC isn’t any good, but all the Motley talk reminded me that a read of The Dirt was long overdue. It’s a real page-turner. And it’s got me wanting to listen to some good ol’ hair metal. Or any metal for that matter.

I’ve also been trying to play my guitar more. Last year, I think I went about six months without playing. And once session started, I was usually too tired or preoccupied to pick up the guitar. One afternoon this spring, I slapped some new strings on my acoustic and played until my fingers were too sore to continue. That didn’t really take long since my fingers were soft from not playing in such a long time. Now I’m trying to make it a point to play for at least half an hour every day. I think I’m getting some chops back. Maybe.

7 days left

2007-05-21T20:16:00.000-07:00

We're down to the final seven days of the legislative session. Rumors of the "insurgency" in the Texas House have everybody buzzing about the Capitol, watching and listening for a historic "motion to vacate the chair." I guess it would be exciting to witness history in the making. But it would most likely derail important legislation [i.e. the budget] in the process.

With one week left, only 556 House and Senate bills have been passed. Last session, 1,389 were passed. Around this time of the session, both chambers would normally work late hours and weekends to pass bills before end of session deadlines. They didn't bother working on Saturday, and they adjourned relatively early, this evening.

An amendment to temporarily stop the state motor fuels taxes during the summer was added onto another tax bill, a couple of weeks ago. The bill will be going into a conference committee between the House and Senate, soon. That's bad timing for any legislator fiscally responsible enough to remove this "gas tax holiday" provision. Regular gas is at its most expensive I've ever seen it in Austin, and I'm sure folks are seeing the same all over the state.

Who's counting?

2007-05-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

So . . . yesterday the Senate managed to get the "compromise" transportation bill out of committee, passed off the Senate floor, and delivered to the House. That journey took about 11 hours (it would normally take weeks). The House then reported receipt of the bill, referred it to a committee of the House, held a committee hearing at 10 PM, and voted it out of the committee without amendments. All of that happended on Monday! If I understand correctly, tomorrow is the earliest that the bill could be heard on the House floor. The plan is to get the bill through final passage in the House before the Governor is forced to veto the other transportation bill [Thursday at midnight]. This bill is getting railroaded through the process, and I doubt most members of the House have any idea what the bill really does. I wonder if the bill will make it out of the House without any amendments that are unfavorable to the Senate or, worse, to the Governor.

Aside from the race to avoid a special session on transportation, there's been some drama building behind the scenes in the House--rumors of an attempt to unseat the Speaker of the House. I seriously doubt that will happen in the next 13 days, especially now that the challenger [subject of the rumor] has formally announced his intent to run for Speaker in 2009.

I can't believe there are only 13 days left. With so much work left to be done--including finalizing the state budget, which is the only legislation that must be passed--two weeks still seems like an eternity. I'm so damn ready for the summer.

Actually, it tolls for me.

2007-05-09T18:55:00.000-07:00

The word around the Capitol is that the Governor intends to call a special session on transportation if the Legislature doesn't come up with an alternative to the big toll road bill they sent to him last week. I'm not sure if he's bluffing to get the weary legislators to concede and avoid having to stick around Austin for another 30 days after the regular session ends. Some of the Texas political blogs are saying that the chairman of the Senate transportation committee is working on a compromise bill. I certainly hope so. A special session on transportation means no summer time fun for me.

The kinda good news: there are less than 20 days left in the regular legislative session. The last few weeks tend to be hectic. Consider this. The Lege passed 1,389 House and Senate bills last session. With 19 days left in the current session, they've only passed 174 bills.

it tolls for thee

2007-05-03T19:13:00.000-07:00

There are 25 days left in the session, and it looks like we have our first real showdown between the Legislature and the Governor--a major transportation bill that flies in the face of the Governor’s transportation policy. Funny thing is . . . the Legislature’s offering is different than I expected. Since the last session [and over the campaign season] the message from the people seemed to say “we don’t want to sell our roads to private interests.” Or maybe it was more like, “we don’t want to sell our roads to foreign private interests.” The Lege heard the people and responded with a barrage of legislation to curtail or eliminate the state department of transportation’s ability to enter into long-term toll concession agreements with private entities. However, the bill the Lege sent to the Governor says, “we don’t mind selling our roads, we just don’t want TxDOT doing it for us.” The initial offering is a bill that, for the next two years, would prohibit the state or a local tolling authority from entering into any agreement with a private entity that allows the private entity to operate a toll road and collect the tolls, but with a number of exemptions for certain regional toll projects in the DFW area. The Governor doesn’t like this because the bill takes power to implement transportation policy away from the state [and the Executive Branch] and gives it to the locals. The Gov is expected to veto. With 25 days left, the Lege has the time and (it appears) the support to override the veto. The Governor has less time [less than 10 days now] to “influence” enough senators to block the veto [he only needs 11 of 31]. This should be interesting.

2007-04-23T21:15:00.000-07:00

A point that was reinforced today is that Monday is actually much worse when I’ve had a full weekend away from work. I also experienced this feeling after Easter weekend. I guess my body and brain have too much time to unwind before they have to rewind [?] and get back into work mode. The legislative session is heading into the home stretch with the last 30 days ahead. And these last 30 can be pretty intense days as we try to finalize the appropriations bill and the Lege tries to push other “important” legislation through before it dies on the vine. Last week was slower than normal, and it seemed sooo long. I would normally welcome a slow week, but it made me realize how fatigued I was. The session may only be 100 or so days gone, but my colleagues and I started the intense work back in September of last year. So it’s really been 7 months of long hours and late nights. I’m seriously considering taking off most of June if I can swing it.

The “long” weekend was worthwhile. On Saturday night I went to the Bill Callahan [a.k.a. Smog] show at the Mohawk on Red River [formerly the Caucus Club during the (thankfully) gone daddy days of the late 90’s swing revival fad; later Le Privelege; and probably some other club before and after that]. My two previous experiences at this location were an acoustic set by Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and a SXSW day party where The Wrens played. Both experiences were disappointing either because of the chatty crowd [former] or because of the chatty crowd and poor sound [latter] in such a small space. So, I was a bit apprehensive about the Bill Callahan show at this new club at the same old venue, imagining another crowd of chatty hipsters talking above the music. Plus, I don’t stay up past 11 PM much these days, so I was afraid I wasn‘t going to be able to hang. But my motivation for going was to see a friend perform in Callahan’s backing band, and I did not regret it. Saturday evening couldn’t have been better: 70 degrees with a light breeze; there was a decent opening band; several friends showed up; and I had plenty of beer money--all important ingredients for Good Times. It reminded me of why I still love living in Austin.

I wouldn’t call myself a Bill Callahan fan. I own one Smog album, which I do like; but I don’t really know the songs that well. That didn’t matter, since Callahan played mostly new material from an upcoming album. However, if your familiar with Callahan’s style, you know it’s not generally upbeat [“Rock Bottom Riser” isn’t really jumpin’]. But I really enjoyed the show: the sound was surprisingly good for the small outdoor space, and Callahan’s music worked much better live than I expected [thanks, in part, to the band]. And, even better, it seemed like the crowd was there for the music. I may have to pick up the new album [at Backspin Records].

The Mohawk has a lot of good potential if they can continue to book good bands. It seems like the previous clubs at that location always booked shitty bar bands. The venue has a nice terrace that overlooks the stage [where you can go if you don‘t want to mix it up with the riff raff], which is perfect for a spring night like last Saturday. I may have to check out another show there to see if it’s the real deal.

Freezter

2007-04-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

Unbelievable. It’s Easter weekend in Austin, and it’s 34 degrees outside an drizzling. I can’t really complain. This will be the first weekend in since February that I didn’t go in to work. Even better, I was able to take this Friday off. The weather on Friday was beautiful [high 60’s] , and Kim and I spent most of the day working out in the yard. Pruning hedges, pulling weeds, and mowing the yard doesn’t sound like much fun, but it was very relaxing compared to the long, stressful hours I’ve put in at work during the last couple of weeks.

During the weekend of SXSW, we had guests in town and we hosted a birthday party for a friend. Unfortunately, I had to work on Saturday and Sunday. But I would be damned if I didn’t get to spend some time with friends and eat some good food and have a couple of drinks. So, I went to work for while, came back home to party with friends, and then went back to work for a 7 PM meeting with some budget committee members. I ended up staying at work until 1 AM. Last week, I was at work past midnight, again, when the House took up the appropriations bill. Luckily, the budget work slowed down enough, this week, that our bosses were able to let us off on Friday. That doesn’t mean we’re not busy still. It just means the most important work has reached a temporary lull. We will be extremely busy, again, in a week or so.

The legislative session ends on Memorial Day. So close.

I don’t do album reviews . . .

Since I wasn’t able to take in any shows during SXSW, this year, I got a couple of new-to-me “album samples in advance of purchase (pending)” to listen to on my commute to work.

Peter Bjorn and John - Writers Block. It sounds like lots of stuff I’ve heard before. It sounds like indie rock. It’s poppy and DIY sounding, and I like it. There’s nothing groundbreaking here, but it’s working for me at the moment. I find myself whistling the tunes at work a lot. Currently on heavy rotation in the car and in the home.

The Shins - Wincing the Night Away. The Shins are among my Top 5 Bands I Discovered after College. I like every song on new the album, and if I ever do a Top Ten Albums of the Year, again [not likely], I wouldn’t be surprised if this was #1 or #2. Currently on heavy rotation in the car and in the home.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder. Simply because I got hooked by The Shins and PB&J albums before I played this one, I haven’t really given it a fair listen. So far, I’m a little disappointed. CYHSY’s first record hooked me instantly, and I liked every tune. Some Loud Thunder hasn’t held my attention on the first few listens. None of the songs have hooked me.

The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible. Also a victim of neglect, but I think it’s growing on me. After the first few spins, I still think Funeral is better. I think it’s because the new record has fewer hooks. It’s not the kind of album that I’m going to “get” while listening in the car. Actually, I was just listening while surfing the web, and it seems to be sinking in a bit. This one definitely deserves more of my attention.

No SXSW for the working.

2007-03-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

The SXSW music "conference" began, today. Unfortunately for me, I probably won't be able to check out any of the free shit this year. In fact, it's very likely that I will be working through the weekend.

Meanwhile, my wife (who does not have to go to work, tomorrow) has gone with a friend to see Les Savy Fav, tonight, at the Frenchkiss/Monitor Records showcase. Honestly: there is no jealousy here.

The worst part about the whole thing is that I work so close to all of the action. I could hear the music loud and clear when I left work this evening. But that's just how it's gonna be; how it's been for the last 5 years: I only get to take time off during SXSW every other year. The Texas Legislature doesn't give a damn if it's Spring Break or SXSW time!

There are 75 days left in the legislative session.

News Implosion

2007-03-10T20:08:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, the “Intel shell” in downtown Austin was imploded. The former Intel office building site will be cleared to make way for a new federal court building. Every day on my morning commute, I can see the rubble out of the corner of my eye as I pass 2nd Street on Lavaca. Folks in Austin have deemed the unfinished Intel building as the “symbol of the tech bust” (circa 2001). Between then and now, that area has changed completely. Now, we have the 2nd Street District with the AMLI apartments, trendy shops and restaurants, and several high-rise [higher-dollar] condo developments currently being built. I’m not sure who is going to buy and/or occupy these places when they’ve been completed. Or maybe that should be if they’re completed. Sometimes I wonder which of the downtown works-in-progress will be the symbol of the real estate bust?

The urbanist concept of the 2nd Street District is cool, I guess. But the place really doesn’t have any soul. Sure, they have the hip stores and restaurants, and I’m sure the living spaces are great. But the “District” lacks buzz; hipster/street cred: the kind you can get only after a place turns really poor, dirty, and sleazy, and then slowly gets gentrified. Give it 20 to 30 years, and it may finally attain hip status. Right now it feels like the “cookie-cutter mall experience transplanted from another city” that it’s supposed to not be. C’mon city council: let’s get some prostitutes and pushers out there, ASAP.

Work has been busy and crazy. The House and Senate budget committees both started moving at what felt like a frenetic pace over the past couple weeks. As hectic as it has been, I’ve spent fewer late nights at work this session [so far] that I did two years ago. I worked about 80 overtime hours in February. Two years ago, during the 79th Session, I worked 108 overtime hours in February. Actually, I worked every single day in February of 2005. This year, I got at least two Sundays off.

I’ve been too busy with budget matters, lately, to keep up with the bigger policy issues this session. Since it’s most closely related to my realm, I’ve been trying catch up on transportation issues. Earlier this month, the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security held an all-day public hearing on private sector toll road concessions and the Trans-Texas Corridor. Hundreds of citizens showed up: a vast majority of them in opposition of tolling concessions and the Trans-Texas Corridor. This is a policy debate that has been four years in the making, as the Texas Legislature has passed laws in the last two sessions that have established the framework for the state to enter into these types of agreements. And as one powerful senator has said, recently, each member of those past legislatures has paid a political price. Now, some of the same legislators who carried the enabling legislation are leading the charge to put the brakes on toll concessions and “comprehensive development agreements.” The proposed toll concession projects in Texas are different than the recent long-term lease-operate agreements for the Indiana State Toll Road and the Chicago Skyway, which were both constructed using public funds and then “sold” to private entities to operate and collect tolls for terms up to 99 years. The Texas projects, so-called “green field” projects, would be designed, financed, constructed, maintained, and operated by the private entities in return for the right to collect tolls for 50- to 75-year terms. The upside is that billions of private sector dollars would be available to begin highway projects, today, that the state would not have been able to finance and construct until 10 to 20 years in the future. The downside is that the private sector operators’ first priority is to generate profit for their shareholders. So, they would want to set tolls at a rate that would not only cover the costs of debt, operation, and maintenance, but at a rate that would also return a profit. That is what’s not sitting well with the voters. Well, that and the large swaths of land that would likely be gobbled up to accommodate the Trans-Texas Corridor, the segments of which would most likely be operated by private interests to make money. It will be interesting to see how this debate plays out by the end of the session.

Later this month, the budget committee work will slow down a bit, and I'll be able to listen in on the House and Senate debates. I kinda enjoy it: not because I’m a policy wonk [relative to many of my colleagues, I am not very wonkish at all], but because I get a kick out of the controlled chaos that is the Texas House of Representatives. It’s better than Jerry Springer, if only slightly more sophisticated.

8!!!

2007-02-11T19:08:00.000-08:00

Stat of the week: I have worked for the Texas Legislature for one-quarter of my lifetime. Last Thursday was my 8-year anniversary. I think I’m just starting to get the hang of it.

Last week was the first really busy week of public hearings before the House and Senate budget-writing committees. In the coming weeks, the real budgeting work--and the real long hours--will begin.

Two years ago, during the 79th Legislative Session, I had to work every single day during February and worked overtime every single weekday. This time, I’ve managed to have a couple of Saturdays off. Let’s hope that continues. I’ve even been able to make it home early enough on weeknights to catch my TV shows. I have a feeling that is going to end, this week. So, now I will bid a tentative farewell to Heroes, Veronica Mars, The Office, Scrubs, and 30 Rock [“jazz that you laugh at“]. Although . . . one of the few job perks bequeathed to yours truly is the sweet cable hook-up in my office. Lest you think I’m an irresponsible steward of the State’s resources, consider that I would likely be surpassing hour number 12 of my workday [at a bargain rate for my services, I might add] by the time I would consider tuning in to primetime TV programming.

Not much interesting stuff is going on with the Legislature this week, so the focus has been on the Governor. He gave his "State of the State" address, last week, and revealed his budget proposal.

You Bet Your Assets
As part of his budget proposal, Gov. Rick Perry laid out a scheme to sell the Texas Lottery for $14 to $20 billion for a 40-year private operating concession. The idea is that the proceeds would be “invested at a conservative return of 9%” per year, and the interest earnings would be used to fund cancer research, public education, and a health insurance premium assistance program for the state’s uninsured [the state employee retirement system trust fund earned an 8.8% return last year, so I guess that’s where the Gov is getting the 9%]. Illinois is currently considering doing the same. The big up-front payment seems attractive, and the benefiting causes are noble; but the devil is in the details. The state lottery is currently operated by state employees. Would these employees continue to run the games? What kind of input and oversight would the state have in the operation of the games to ensure the public trust? Who will be charged with managing and investing the new trust fund? None of these details have been revealed as far as I know. A deal like this should be approached with caution and warrants in-depth analysis. With only 106 days left in the session, I don’t believe there is adequate time to even consider this measure. And I imagine it’s not a popular idea among the anti-gambling conservatives in the House, who already don’t like the fact that we have become dependent on state-run gaming to support public education. They would much rather "stay with the devil we know" and maintain a modicum of control over the operation of the lottery.

And then there was the Governor’s “executive order” that would require all 11 - 12 year old girls to receive the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine before entering sixth grade. Here’s yet another idea that’s not playing well with Perry’s conservative pals [mainly because it will encourage kids to have the sex, just like providing condoms in school would]. Some Democrats are actually applauding the order. Sure, it’s another proposal that appears noble at face value. But when you think about who really benefits from this initiative [Merck], you become a tad skeptical about the Governor’s sudden concern about our female Texans' lady parts.

By now, the Ted Nugent rebel flag story is ancient history.

An Inconvenient Truth?
In Austin news, Mayor Will Wynn unveiled a ambitious [if not naïve] plan to cut the city’s carbon dioxide emissions to “almost nothing” by the year 2020. Here‘s the plan:

•Power 100 percent of city facilities with renewable energy by 2012.
•Reduce carbon dioxide emissions from entire city fleet by 2020 through use of electric power and nonpetroleum fuels.
•Achieve 700 megawatts in savings through energy efficiency and conservation by 2020.
•Meet 30 percent of all energy needs through renewable resources by 2020.
•Commit to lowest-emission technologies for any new power plants and carbon dioxide reductions on existing plants.
•Boost energy efficiency in new homes and other buildings.
•Require energy efficiency improvements in existing homes and buildings when sold.

Clean air is great and all, but that last one's the kicker. How much will it cost to upgrade older homes at the time of sale? Who will be held responsible for making the improvements? How will the cost of improvements affect the value of older homes [like mine!!]?

From an economic development standpoint: Would businesses reconsider Austin as a place to locate their operations when faced with greater facilities costs?

The plan sounds pretty expensive. I'm not too jazzed about picking up the tab. Maybe the goals should be scaled back a bit and given a more reasonable time table. Hopefully, the city plan will provide allowances for the citizens of Austin to exhale without restrictions.

Game Over

2007-02-05T19:53:00.000-08:00

The 2006 NFL season as come to an end. It's always bittersweet.

Who would have thought the Colts would be on the plus side of the takeaways? Who would have thought the Colts would be the team to establish a hard-nosed rushing attack in relentless Miami rain?

After the shaky start--Bears returning the opening kickoff for a TD and the early Colts turnovers--the Colts put together an impressive game. It was the same relentless no-huddle attack that rallied Indy back to a victory against the Patriots a couple of weeks ago. It was a maligned defense that pulled it together in the playoffs to become more than the sum of their parts. And it was excellent coaching. Now, the question is: do we have the makings of a new NFL dynasty?

They'd better look out for the Tennessee Titans next year. And don't count out the Patriots. They were able to beat the Chargers in the playoffs with a couple of wide receivers who were washing dishes only a month or so before joining the team [I'm exaggerating a little]. They are a few strategic trades from becoming really damn good again.

I have low expectations for the Cowboys. Have they found anyone crazy/dumb enough to take the head coaching job, yet? I'm not sure I even care at this point. It's time to close the book on football until next August [yeah, I know the draft is in there somewhere].

In Observance of the Sabbath

2007-02-04T12:13:00.000-08:00

Super Bowl Sunday is finally here. Since I'm a big fan of football [especially NFL football], you'd think I would be pretty pumped about the big game. But that's not the case. With the exception of the Cowboys Super Bowls of the 90's, I've never been very excited in anticipation of the "World Championship" match. Maybe it's the dead week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl that kills the momentum. Maybe it's because in the last few years, it seems like the AFC championship game is the real league championship game. Or maybe it's because the Super Bowl is really a rock concert where they try to sell you stuffed-crust pizza and auto insurance with the occasional interruption for a football game.

The premier of new TV commercials gets as much hype as the big game itself. Most times [for me anyway], the ads don't live up to the hype. For several years now, the commercials have been pretty damn weak. I think 2007 has to be the year the product pimps make good. I have high expectations.

I'm mostly looking forward to an NFL game during which I do not have to see/hear that damn Nissan truck commercial--featuring Black Sabbath's "Iron Man"--twice per commercial break, at least thirty times per game. Don't get me wrong. I love me some Sabbath. And, no matter how sick of that commercial I get, the end of that signature guitar intro always elicits an involuntary "blick-um-blick-um-blick-um" drumming motion from my arms [which is kinda embarassing in the presence of polite company]. But I'm ready for a new song. I don't want Nissan to kill "Iron Man" for me the way that Burger King almost killed funk and soul back in the 90's. Please pick a new song, Nissan.

In a few mintutes, I will be heading out to a Super Bowl party. In my estimation, there will only be three or four people out of ten who care about the game, and about ten out of ten who care about the commercials [and the performance by the artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince]. In fact the commercials and the half time show may be the only part of the presentation when everyone pays attention. But, in the grand scheme, does the game really matter? Super Bowl Sunday has become as much a national day of celebration as the Fourth of July. Football brings us together. Food and folks and beer make it a national holiday [maybe someday].

Stevie Nicks just performed on the pregame show. Are you ready for some football?

More after the game [?].

Stranglehold 2007

2007-01-24T18:43:00.000-08:00

More like sleeperhold.

Since I'm typing here, you can guess that Austin emerged from Ice Storm 2007 (heretofore, IS2K7) unscathed. IS2K7 was the second of two largely overhyped events on my radar screen since the year 2007 began.

On Tuesday morning, I was told there would be snow. I stayed home from work for snow. Something snowlike fell from the sky for five minutes. It stopped. And then there was ice.

It took me, my wife, and two tiny ice scrapers about thirty minutes to get my truck out of this mess so I could get to work on Wednesday. Hardly any of my coworkers showed up, since the roads were still a bit icy. I think I worked about four hours that day.

Most of the ice was melted by Thursday, and Austinites slowly returned to business as usual. IS2K7 is history.

Thursday was the only 8-hour day I worked, last week.

Friday was Confederate Heroes Day [?], an optional state holiday for Texas state employees. So I exercised that option and spent most of the day at the auto shop while my truck was getting new brakes and other routine vehicle maintenance. I thought about states' rights while I waited in the "customer lounge."

The 140-day Texas legislative session began about 15 days ago, with overhyped event of the year #1--a contested race for election of the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives; Republican vs. Republican, with the challenger looking like he had a good chance to unseat the incumbent. It was the most drama I've witnessed on the first day of the legislative session since I've been in the biz, and there was a palpable buzz all around the Capitol that day. The House gallery was packed with spectators. Folks at my office kept their eyes and ears peeled for any news on which candidate was gaining ground: we watched as long as we could on the House cable channel. And we waited and waited as the House members debated for hours just on the method by which they would nominate and vote for the Speaker candidates. At the end of the day, the challenger went down [in flames?], and that seemed to kill the momentum I felt was already building so early on in the session [generally, absolutely nothing happens on the first day or even the first week]. The Capitol complex was a ghost town, the next day. And our office lost all of it's buzz--and maybe we were hungover--not necessarily because folks wanted to see the incumbent Speaker to lose, but maybe because we just liked the idea of a "shake up" at the Capitol. As it turns out, there is still some political fallout that has yet to completely surface, and that should be quite enough drama to fuel the little political soap opera that keeps us entertained while we work many long days and late nights on less sexy legislative matters [e.g. the budget].

In the meantime [as we wait for that fallout], there haven't been many newsworthy goings on with the Lege. So the press has decided to pick up and roll with the story of Ted Nugent's gig at Governor Perry's inaugural ball, at which the Motor City Madman donned a shirt emblazoned with a Confederate battle flag and allegedly spouted some insensitive comments regarding non-English speaking immigrants. The Nuge proudly defends his right to display the rebel flag in shirt form but denies having uttered the alleged insensitive comments. At worst, he may have tried to lobby for crossbows for school children. But critics are still trying to make a big scandal out of Perry associating with a crazy, bow hunting, gun toting, rebel flag wearin' mofo. [I didn't know this, but apparently Rick and Ted are tight bros from way back]. The negative press should fizzle by the end of this month when the Lege starts taking up serious issues.

Personally, I think the zebra-striped cameltoe is way more offensive than the rebel flag getup.

Ice Storm 2007

2007-01-16T13:39:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, local weather forecasters predicted that freezing temperatures and wintry precipitation would hit Austin by Monday evening or early Tuesday morning. The forecast held true, and, today, Austin has shut down.

So, first thing in the morning, I checked my work e-mail to see if my office was closing. The Texas Legislature convened, last Tuesday. So for the following 140 days, there wouldn’t be any likely circumstance under which my office would “officially” close. But almost all school districts and state agencies had announced that they would be closed due to the icy road conditions. However, I received no official notification that my office would be closed, today. I only received an e-mail encouraging me to use my best judgment in deciding whether or not to come in to work. My best judgment told me to stay home. I’m fairly certain only a few fearless [crazy] souls showed up to work, today.

The Governor’s inauguration and celebration still went on at its scheduled time but was held indoors in the House chamber rather than on the south steps of the Capitol as originally planned. An outdoor barbecue lunch was also planned to follow the inauguration. Apparently, they still had it outside but moved the event into some heated tents.

It’s hard to believe anyone in their right mind would schedule an outdoor event in the middle of January in most parts of the country. But 9 times out of 10, you’re going to have decent weather in Austin. That’s why the city shuts down almost completely when we have weather like today’s “Ice Storm” [read: light to medium sleet/very light snow]. Austinites are just not prepared for these conditions. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been out in wintry weather and seen someone wearing a jacket, knit cap, and flip-flops! [Note: I’ve also seen young hipsters wearing fashionable knit caps when it’s 70+ degrees outside in January—because it’s winter, yo!] And almost no one here knows how to drive on ice. So most employers just shut down business and take one day of zero productivity, now, rather than having a few weeks of low productivity, later, because most of their employees’ cars are in the body shop.

The day off of work has been nice [second day in a row after the MLK national holiday]. I’m amazed how quickly it’s gone by since I haven’t really done anything. I woke up; made breakfast; watched the Governor’s inauguration on TV; stared out the window at the sleet and snow; made lunch; stared out the window some more—only sleet this time; checked e-mail/surfed the web, and now I’m blogging. But it’s been the most relaxed day I’ve had in months, and I’m soaking it up. In a couple of weeks, work is going to be balls to the wall and will probably continue that way until the end of May. [I think I worked over 300 hours of overtime during the 2005 session.] This impromptu holiday is a welcome surprise.

From what I’ve read on the local news and blogs today, it appears that at least half of the Texas Legislature made it to town for the inauguration, and they intend to stay put due to the icy conditions. The question is whether or not they plan to get back to work at the Capitol, tomorrow. And what does that mean for me? The weather forecast calls for the sleet and snow to continue overnight and through noon on Wednesday, and road conditions will likely be worse than today.

Bring on the 5-day weekend!

Be good to your kicker, and your kicker will be good to you.

2007-01-14T18:57:00.000-08:00

This weekend's NFL divisional playoff games turned out to be more exciting than I had anticipated: three of the four games were decided by three points. In all four contests, the kicking game was crucial.

I was predicting a Chargers vs. Saints superbowl at the beginning of the week, but the Patriots came to San Diego and really gutted one out. Tom Brady probably played the worst playoff game of his career [mostly due to the Chargers agressive D], but he was able to pull out one last drive to get the Patriots in position for Stephen "Vinatieri Who?" Gostkowski's game winning field goal. Players of the game: Gostkowski [obviously]; Troy Brown for stripping the ball and forcing the fumble immediately after a San Diego interception to regain the Patriot's posession; and Marty Schottenheimer for challenging the official ruling on the obvious Troy Brown strip and blowing a time out that would have come in handy later. With the game tied and time running out, that allowed the Patriots to play it safe--run down the clock to about 1 minute left and attempt the field goal with the worst-case scenario being a missed field goal and going into overtime. The kick was good. Maybe if the Bolts had one extra time out, they could have put their kicker in a better position to tie the game [less than 54 yards out would have been nice]. I feel bad for the Chargers' loss after having such a great season. At the same time, I couldn't have been more thrilled with the Patriot's upset win. Sometimes you wonder if that team is really ever an underdog.

Now the Patriots will head out on the road, once again, to Indianapolis to play the Colts, who just upset the Baltimore Ravens by the grace and glory of Adam Vinatieri's leg [formerly property of the New England Patriots]. Wouldn't that be something if this AFC championship were to be decided by a game winning field goal?! My prediction: it's anybody's ball game.

What about the NFC side? Weather permitting, I think the Saints should be able to handle the Bears at Soldier Field. The lukewarm Seahawks offense was able to move the ball on the vaunted Bears' D. The Saints' offense has way more weapons than the Seahawks, and their defense should be able to force the Bears' Rex Grossman into making some bad QB decisions. But...the Saint's showed against the Eagles that they can give up some big plays. Still, I think the Saints should prevail.

Superbowl: Saints vs. ??????

Romo is bleeding.

2007-01-07T09:15:00.000-08:00

In the most spectacular fashion, the Cowboys snatched defeat from the jaws of victory [yet again]. Going into last night's wildcard game versus the Seahawks, I had already decided that I was okay with a Dallas loss. My attitude: let's just put this season out of it's misery. So...why did I even watch the game? I didn't watch the 'boys last two regular season games due to my own dashed hopes for the team. I guess I was just hard up for some football on Saturday evening, and Cowboys vs. Seahawks was the only gig in town.

Damn it if the Cowboys defense didn't play just good enough to rekindle a faint glimmer of hope. And late in the game, the offense started to click with some big runs from Julius Jones. But the Seattle D dug in their heels, forcing the Cowboys to go for the "chip-shot" field goal in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter. I turned to Mrs. Coda and said something like, "I don't feel too good about this field goal attempt." And the rest is history the way only the Cowboys could make it.

Laces OUT!!!!

Bloop goes the hold, and the 'boys turn it over on downs.

Just over a month ago, Romo seemed to be ascending quickly to complete the Cowboys holy trinity -- Staubach, Aikman, Romo[???]. Then December got really ugly when the 'boys lost their last three home games, including a loss to the lowly Detroit Lions with three Romo turnovers. Now he's responsible for the bobbled snap that will live in infamy. Sure, it wasn't all Romo's fault the 'boys lost, last night. But all he had to do was take the snap and put it down--just as if it was an extra point attempt! Ouch! It'll take a while for that sting to go away. The trip to Hawaii probably won't help.

On the bright side, I'm looking forward to some good football in the next few weeks. Patriots @ Chargers! Eagles @ Saints!

Give me football or give me death!

2006-12-20T17:31:00.000-08:00

Our political heroes in the Texas Legislature have finally come through! Witness Concurrent Resolution 2, "urging the cable television providers of this state and the NFL Network to work out their differences regarding the televising of certain collegiate and professional football games."

The NFL wants cable providers to pay big money to carry NFLN on their cable TV packages. Maybe Senator Lucio can get the two parties together at Camp David to sign an NFL broadcasting peace accord. That would be his crowning achievement.

Here's some choice cuts from the legislation.

"WHEREAS, A dispute between cable television providers and the NFL Network has interfered with the ability of fans to enjoy and support their favorite football teams in the 2006 season, resulting in a Texas collegiate team playing in a major bowl game televised by the NFL Network but not carried by the major cable providers of this state and further resulting in one of the state's storied professional football teams playing in a Saturday night football game not scheduled to be made available for viewing in the majority of the cable television households in this state . . ."

"RESOLVED, That, if the private corporations are not able to put the interests of the citizens of Texas first, the legislature urgently request that the appropriate state and federal regulatory agencies intervene to settle this matter . . ."

I'll admit I was a bit miffed when I found out the Cowboys vs. Falcons game was a Saturday night game on the NFL Network. But I didn't dust off the Smith Corona and fire off an angry letter to my state representative. I took matters into my own hands and went to a bar that has Dish Network to watch the game.

The legislation, if passed by both houses of the TX Legislature, would not have the effect of law. But I don't think lawmakers should do anything to intervene at this point. Let market forces do their thing. I'll venture a guess and say that most football fans don't have Dish or any other TV provider that carries NFLN. As far as I can tell, there has only been one decent contest broadcast on NFLN this season [the afore-mentioned Cowboys/Falcons game]. According to the Tuesday Morning Quarterback, 15 of the 16 quarters played on the NFLN Thursday night games have been crappy. In other words, we the non-NFLN subscribers haven't been missing much, and we're probably not calling our cable providers to complain about the absence of NFLN. A few more crappy games this season, and maybe the league will be forced to lower its price before next season.

Of course, a concession by the NFL will do me no good since I don't have cable. I'll still have to go somewhere to watch that important Jets vs. Raiders Thursday night matchup [yeah, right].

Should I bother heading back to the bar to watch my alma mater play in the Insight Bowl?

WTF is a college game doing on the NFL Network?! I guess there are not enough ESPN's and FSN's to broadcast all 32(!) bowl games. That's right. 64 teams out of 119 get to play in a bowl game.

Did you know there is a Papa John's Bowl? South Florida vs. East Carolina = no pepperoni.

Who am I kidding? If I had cable, I'd probably be watching that shit. I'm willing to admit I have a problem.

Rollback Austin

2006-12-17T10:47:00.000-08:00

The "No Wal-Mart" protest of the "Responsible Growth for Northcross" movement here in Austin has been amusing. Wal-Mart wants to build a 220,000 sq.ft. ,24-hour "supercenter" on the site of the old, dilapidated Northcross Mall, which has resulted in quite a yuprising from the affluent residents of the surrounding neighborhoods. Over the last decade, these older neighborhoods have experienced a steady increase in their Volvo index, and they aren't about to let Wal-Mart throw down a roadblock. Now they are trying to turn up the heat on our city council.

The most legitimate beef of the "RG4N" group is the dramatic increase in traffic that would result at the already congested intersection of Burnet Road and Anderson Lane. However, I don't think the bitching would have reached its current fever pitch if it was Whole Foods planning to build a 220K sq.ft. supermarket at the site.

Anyway... some funny "discussions" on Austin360's "Talk of Austin" are here and here. Some of the comments are obviously sarcastic, but there are a few where it's hard to tell if the commenters are serious.

This one made me chukle, re: What would you like to see at Northcross Mall?

"I would like to see a drive-through beer store with a barbecue annex."

Many other posts are in favor of either Whole Foods, Central Market, Sun Harvest, or a mall full of local shops [no doubt, pining for the good old days when "mom and pop" shops paid a living wage and offered full health benefits].

I agree that Wal-Mart is probably not the best thing for the Northcross site. But if the local residents think it's a good place for more "upscale" businesses, I wonder why none of those types of business set up shop there?

Meanwhile in my neighborhood, an old run down building that previously housed a "beauty college" has been remodeled, revitalized, and turned into . . . a big, green pawn shop. Craptacular. I would have preferred a drive-through beer store with a BBQ annex.

DAL @ ATL on NFLN

2006-12-16T20:07:00.000-08:00

Romo arrigato, indeed. 22/29; 278 yards; 2 TDs to T.O., including a 51 yarder!

We decided to head out to a local watering hole with Dish Network to check out the Cowboys game on the NFL Network [wife's suggestion!]. The game turned out to be a barn burner as both defenses decided to take it easy in the 2nd Quarter [the Falcons scored three TDs]. What the hell was going on with the Cowboys D? Vick had four touchdown passes--two where there wasn't even a Cowboy defender in the same zip code. But they finally got their act together in the 3rd. Now the 'boys just have to beat Los Eagles de Garcia on Christmas Day and the Peugots on New Year's Eve, and it's on to the playoffs.

Romo arrigato!

2006-12-05T19:45:00.000-08:00

I've been reminded that it's been over a month since my last post. Work has been really busy over the last couple of months. During that time, I've almost missed Dallas Cowboys Episode IV: A New Hope. The last time I wrote in about the Cowboys, I announced my month-long boycott after the 'boys blew a huge opportunity against the Eagles. I'll fess up now and say that I broke the boycott as soon as Parcells benched Bledsoe and started Tony Romo in the Sunday Night Football game versus the Carolina Panthers. While that victory was sweet, I wasn't quite convinced that Romo was the panacea. The Panthers receivers developed an awful case of the dropsies, which helped the Cowboys out a lot. Still, the young Romo showed some poise coming from back from a two touchdown deficit for the blowout victory.

I tried to watch the Redskins game on the following week, but I was at work, so it was hard to follow the game. What I did see was T.O. dropping some crucial passes and the dreadful final seconds of that game that I'd rather not relive. I missed the Arizona game [you're supposed to beat the Cardinals] and most of the Indy game [I totally called the Cowboys' victory on that one]. Then there was the Thanksgiving Day massacre of the Buccaneers. Sure, Romo had a breakout game that afternoon. But the Bucs suck.

So, last Sunday's game was the true test--a road game against the N.Y. Giants who would be really hungry for a win after a huge meltdown against the Titans [go Vince!] and a three-game losing streak. What can I say? Romo did what needed to be done [in an overall ugly game] to put his team in position for the win.

I have the cup of Romo Kool-Aid in hand. I'm about to take a drink.

But maybe not until after they beat the Saints.

How 'bout that Gramatica?

On a Navajo [whoa oh] Radio

2006-10-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a long week and some days, and I'm just now catching up on world events --earthquake n Hawaii, "nucular bomb" test in North Korea, and football.

I've had enough of the really bad news, so I won't talk about that. But I will talk about football. Last Sunday, I watched Sunday Night Football featuring Denver vs. Oakland. With the exception of some good defensive plays for Denver, the game sucked. That's no shocker. What's shocking is how the NFL insists on featuring this AFC West division rivalry in a national prime time slot [or Oakland in any prime time slot!]. Sure, Denver vs. Oakland has been a perennial Monday Night Football matchup that has produced some high-scoring affairs and last-minute victories. But the Raiders have been absolute crap for the last several years and have shown no signs for improvement in the near or long term. It's time to put Oakland on the "Not Ready for Prime Time" shelf with the Houston Texans and the Detroit Lions [and Buffalo, who handed Detroit their first victory of the season].

So I'm checking out NFL.com and see this news piece: Raiders-Cardinals game broadcast in Navajo.

"'Ya'at'eeh Navajo Nation aa'doo' ahxe'hee',' (Hello Navajo Nation and thank you) said Raiders chief executive Amy Trask. 'We again embrace the opportunity to unite the Raider Nation with the voice of the Navajo Nation.'"

Thank you for the crappy football game, pale face.

Ain't no party like a racially offensive party.

2006-10-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

Why why why do college kids continue to throw parties with racially or culturally offensive themes? The "ghetto fabulous" themed party thrown recently [and, apparently, documented on the web] was mildly offensive and relatively harmless but still stupid. This kind of activity doesn't usually go over so well around college campuses, and college kids should know that by now.

During my first semester of college [early 90's], a Greek fraternity threw a party titled "Party in the Projects." The attendees dressed up and mimicked the same class of people as the aforementioned UT law students. But . . . several fraternity members showed up at the party dressed in Klu Klux Klan outfits! I heard rumors of scandalous photos from that party with the KKK guys pretending to torture other partiers in blackface. It was a pretty big controversy on campus for a couple of months. I don't remember what happened to the frat--probably just a slap on the wrist.

I would expect this kind of behavior from frat meatheads. You'd figure law students would know better.

I never "got" theme or costume parties. The whole idea of dressing up in a costume and going out is embarassing. That reminds me. Halloween is almost here. I don't like Halloween.

Send in the punt team.

2006-10-09T18:21:00.000-07:00

Long time no post. I don't think anyone's reading, anyway.

Not much going on with yours truly except work and watching football. Speaking of football, I think I've renewed my boycott of the Dallas Cowboys, effective last Sunday. Bledsoe is dead to me. If the 'boys can beat the Giants, the Panthers, and the Redskins, I may tune in to see them play the Colts on November 19th.

Also on the subject of football--I think I'll take a moment to talk about stadium rock. Pro sports stadiums have always had staple stadium rock anthems to play during timeouts [e.g. Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up"]. But lately I've noticed a lot of Guns 'n' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" and Ozzy's "Crazy Train." Certainly, these hard rock gems are not new to the sports arena. It's the implementation of these tunes that has peaked my interest. In two separate games in two different stadiums, I heard the opening riff of "Welcome to the Jungle" played every time the visiting team faced 3rd down inside their own 30 yard line. I've also noticed the intro to "Crazy Train" when a visiting team's offense takes over after a kickoff subsequent to a home team score. Is there some stadium rock custodian who sets the trend for all other stadiums, or does the NFL have a license to play a portion of these songs at specific moments in a game?

My suggestions for play-specific hard rock clips: third down inside offense's own 5 yard line -- cue main riff from Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath."

Is hard rock making a comeback? The Gap is using AC/DC's "Back in Black" to pimp pants. Volkswagen has Slash firing off a wanky bluesy riff in front of a "stack" of VWs. Apparently you can get a sweet axe for free if you buy a new V-Dub.

More YouTubery featuring Slash here. Is that a TLC logo in the bottom right corner?

Last Friday, I watched the Texas Gubernatorial Debate. That's right, a gubernatorial debate held on a Friday night during Fall in Texas. So much for Friday Night Lights. The debate was a joke. My opinion of the candidates remains unchanged. Perry won by a hair[do] simply by not losing any voters. Chris Bell posted second for the same reason as Perry. The only problem is, he doesn't have many voters on board. IMHO, Kinky and Strayhorn spouted the most hot air and probably may have lost some people who were leaning towards their candidacy. Considering how many people were likely to have watched the debate or are likely to read the transcripts, that probably amounts to 14 people who may just not register a vote for Governor at the polls. No doubt, there are thousands more registered voters who will just leave that ballot blank on November 7. Honestly, who cares? It's the Legislature, Speaker, and the Lt. Governor that are really running the show.

Highlights of Friday's debate:

Kinky Friedman called the Internet "the work of Satan." Al Gore invented the internet. You do the math.

Chris Bell got all Nipsey Russell on our ass and closed with a rhyme, "I'm a serious man [pause] with a serious plan."

Rick Perry [essentially] does not acknowlege either Strayhorn or Kinky as viable opponents by only differentiating himself from Bell in his closing statement.

Strayhorn stood on a box to see over the podium.

Lowlights of Friday's debate:

My lame ass sitting on the couch watching the whole lousy affair.

TMQ and Tube de la Boob

2006-09-12T20:02:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Morning Quarterback [Gregg Easterbrook] is back on Page 2 at ESPN.com. It's nice to get some football analysis and opinion from a somebody who's not an ex-jock. And he's entertaining.

With the arrival of Sunday Night Football to broadcast TV, I may not watch a single episode of The Simpsons or Family Guy this season.

I'm not sure if I miss Monday Night Football. For many years, it's been nice to come home after a gloomy Monday at work during the fall and just crash on the couch watching football. In the absence of Monday night gridiron, I think Monday night may become Netflix Movie Night for a while.

The new season of The Office [NBC recipe] begins on September 21. I think the My Name Is Earl season premier is also that night. These may be the only two shows I'll watch this fall.

I just asked Kim is she was looking forward to the new season of Lost and got a shoulder shrug response. Ditto.

Don't be a hater.

2006-09-11T19:13:00.000-07:00

So, NBC decided that Pink plays in Peoria. The new Sunday Night Football theme song is Pink's gridiron rendition of "I Hate Myself for Loving You" by Joan Jett, with the original [bad] lyrics swapped out for new [bad] football-related lyrics--the familiar chorus has been changed to "waiting all day for Sunday night." Here's what the suits at NBC had to say about it:

"We chose Pink as the signature voice because she is a tremendous talent with a crossover appeal that makes her relevant to all segments of our audience."

Okay. But what about the song choice? I wonder what other tunes they considered before settling on the Joan Jett number. Seems like they could have used Pink's own "Get the Party Started," although I'd bet her record label would have charged them a hundred times the royalties.

Whatever their reasoning was for performer and song choice, it's nice to finally get a break from Hank Williams, Jr's "Are You Ready for Some Football?" I don't have cable, so I'm not sure if they're still rollin' with Hank Deuce on ESPN's Monday Night Football. I assume Bocephus doesn't test well with the "18 to 24" demographic [or anyone with class for that matter]. If ESPN were to upgrade their intro, I suspect they would have P-Diddy or somesuch up in the hizzy.

Blogflix Update: We watched the first DVD of the Firefly series and like it a lot. We watched Serenity some months back without ever having watched a single Firefly episode, and we didn't feel like we were missing anything [AND we really enjoyed the movie]. The TV series appears to dip more into the Western genre than the movie let on. I can't wait to get the next disc in the mail.

deportes

2006-09-02T13:45:00.000-07:00

Cowboys - Jerry Jones got out his big check book this off-season and finally ponied up for an All-Pro FG kicker, Mike Vanderjagt. Unforch, Vanderjagt has been suffering from a groin injury and had not kicked for quite a while before last Thursday night's preseason game against the Vikings. Big Mike sailed two potential game-winning kicks wide right in overtime--each from shorter than 35 yards. He's got a little over a week to pull it together and earn his paycheck. I'm not going to even bother talking about Terrell Owens.

U.S. Open Tennis - Saturday matches are postponed due to rain, so CBS is playing highlights from Andre Agassi's first few matches from this tournament. This is some great tennis! It's amazing that he's been able to hang in these intense, closely-fought matches. He looks like he's hitting as well as ever. Supposedly, this is his last U.S. Open, which makes me a bit sad. It's been cool to watch him mature from the "image is everything" prettyboy into a true class-act champion. The fans love him. He truly loves his fans. He seems to be so humble and appreciative of the opportunity to make a living playing tennis. Professional American sports could use more stars like Andre.

Where was my Dew Action Sports Tour, today?

blogflix

2006-08-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

We've had 100-degree heat just about every day in August. So let's pull the shades, crank up the AC, and watch some DVDs.

Badlands - We really liked this movie. I can't believe I hadn't seen it before. It seems like most of my friends have seen it and recommended it. We both like it better than The New World--another Terrence Malick movie we watched a couple of months ago. Badlands clocks in at an economical 95 minutes, compared to The New World's 150 [?]. Check one in Badlands favor. Martin Sheen does his best James Dean and Sissy Spacek is pretty much Sissy Spacek [in scandalously short shorts] playing two kids on the run from Johnny Law.

Brick - Pretty cool little movie with Joseph Gordon-Levitt [that kid from 3rd Rock from the Sun] and Lukas Haas. Gordon-Levitt does a high school Phillip Marlow thing as he delves into a seedy adolescent underworld to find out what happened to some dame.

Weeds, Season 1 - Have you ever seen Desperate Housewives? Have you ever seen it . . . on weed? That's kinda what the Showtime series is like, except it's a little less catty when they roll up a fatty. [Yes, I wrote that.] The suburban satire thing has been done a few times over: this is yet another take, now with the trophy wife/soccer mom as pot dealer. It's entertaining. I can't remember ever liking Mary-Louise Parker in anything, but she's pretty good, here. And Kevin Nealon is as funny as ever in a role he was born to play--a pothead accountant.

Talkin' 'bout pop music.

2006-08-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

Acoustics, they are a-changin', complains unhappy Dylan

Bob Dylan rags on modern recording and studio production. This article isn't all that great, but this one excerpt sums up my general disdain for major label/big studio pop music production.

"[Dylan's] main criticism of contemporary CDs is the lack of sound clarity arising when producers try to make each strand of a recording as uniformly loud as possible. 'You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just, like ... static.'"

This is something I've noticed in pop radio tunes over the last 10 years or so. Most pop-rock songs seem to have this haze of background rhythmic filler that makes them all sound same-y. It's like the studio thinks a couple of guitars, a bass, and some drums are not enough, so they have to add a wall of tambourines and shakers to fill in any "black" space. The real problem is that what should be background filler is pumped up into the foreground creating the "static" that old Bob is griping about.

Black space is golden.

Maybe I'm just getting old.

the notebook

2006-08-23T19:15:00.000-07:00

Kim and I had been thinking about getting a notebook computer and going wireless for a while. Last weekend, we finally got hooked up--or unhooked up.

It's crazy how much cheaper notebook PCs are now than they were 4 years ago, around the time I built my desktop system. I'm guessing that increased production capacity for LCD screens is a big factor. [Check out the falling prices for LCD HDTVs.*] I was able to get a notebook with a faster processor, 4 times more memory, and a DVD/CD burner for about the same price or slightly cheaper than my old desktop [sans DVD burner].

It's really nice to be able to "compute" from my couch, sitting on the floor, at the dining table, or anywhere in the house other than our depressing office. But the best thing about the new notebook is that it's quiet. My old desktop is really loud: it has a fan on the power supply, a case fan, CPU fan, and a fan on the video card. The resulting noise is something like that of a harrier jet hovering two feet over my head.

I'm still getting accustomed to the notebook keyboard. It feels like it's a full size keyboard, but it doesn't have the concave key surface like my desktop keyboards at home and work. I definitely make more mistakes on the notebook keys. I suppose I could plug in a full size USB keyboard if I decide to work on a novel or something like that [not likely]. But I could see us phasing out the old desktop and having the notebook as our sole PC.

Now I have to figure out what stuff I need to backup or transfer from the old desktop. There's four years worth of crap on there that I could probably live without but for some reason I've allowed it to languish on the old hard disk.

* LCD and plasma flat panel HDTVs are still way too pricey for me. But they seem to be dominating the floor space at the big box electronics stores. I think you can buy new "standard definition" tube sets for half a song, now. In a couple of years when I decide to board the widescreen/flat panel bandwagon, I will probably have to pay someone to take away my old Sony tube TV. Or I could give it the old Viking funeral in Lake Austin.

entertainment

2006-08-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

A gracious friend has gifted me a 6-month trial of Netflix. I'm one week into the trial, and I think I'm liking it.

The first movie sent to my door was Quadrophenia. Why? The Who, that's why. For some reason I had The Who on my brain, and I thought I would check if Netflix had Quadrophenia. I'd never seen the whole movie. Of course they had it, so I decided to add it to my "queue." What I didn't realize was that, having no movies in my queue, it would be shipped to me immediately. So that was my first Netflix rental. And now I hate scooters and England.

Last night, we watched Metallica: Some Kind of Monster--a documentary film commissioned by the band. Unreal. Awesome. The film takes you fairly deep into some intimate shit with the band--bitter arguments in the recording studio, group therapy sessions with their quasi-therapist "performance enhanment coach", and much more. [I can only imagine the great stuff that got cut by Metallica.] It's so crazy to see how rich and arrogant these guys have become. They don't even bat an eye at the $40,000 per month that they pay their performance enhancement coach [who they employ for the better part of two years!]. Lars has a collection of million-dollar paintings and wears Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses. James has a different, custom hot-rod vehicle to match his every mood swing. Kirk owns a ranch with horses [WTF?]. But beyond that, it's fun to witness the group dynamic and watch egos clash as they struggle to put together some really awful material for their album, St. Anger. I'll stop there. If you haven't seen it, then go rent it now--even if you don't like Metallica.

We've also Netflixed The Matador [not too bad] and Brick [haven't watched yet].

Like I said--I like Netflix so far, but I don't think I've taken full advantage of the concept. I still feel like I should "ration" my movie picks. But the movies are essentially paid-for. So I need to get busy loading up my queue.

I wonder how much I'll like it when the free subscription ends, and they start billing me $18/month. That's approximately what it costs to rent 4 new-release DVD's at my local video place. Well . . . we've 'flixed four movies in seven days. And I like the idea of never having to go to the video store ever again. It's much cheaper than getting cable TV. I'd say there's a pretty good chance we'll continue after our 6 months is up.

November Foxtrot Lima

2006-08-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

This evening, I turned on the tube for some primetime opioids only to be blindsided by . . . Colts vs. Rams!

It's August 10th! I'm not ready for some football!

Or, am I?

I do love me some football--any kind of football but soccer [futbol] and Canadian football. I did enjoy the 10 minutes or so that I watched this evening. But pre-season NFL sucks, so I quickly turned my attention to other things. I don't want to spoil my appetite.

As much as I like the sport, I don't really keep up with the off-season or off-the-field wheelin' and dealin'. I just learned that Indy dropped Mike Vanderjagt and picked up Adam Vinatieri, the best clutch kicker in the game. But who cares? Apparently the Colts lost Edgerrin James to Arizona, where he's joined Matt Leinart and Larry Fitzgerald to become the Dennis Green Preservation Society.

And I'm reminded, Monday Night Football has moved to ESPN. I don't have cable. So that means I, your rowdy friend, will watch some PBS on Monday night. BUT . . . Madden and Michaels will be on Sunday Night Football [on NBC, no less], which I know is just going to throw my shit out of whack for about a month.

I have a bad feeling SNF isn't going to work out so well for me or for NBC.

"Boom! That's gotta hurt."

____ Adventures in HiFi: IKEA Edition

2006-08-08T19:28:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I discovered the IKEAhacker blog, which is all about tweaking IKEA furniture and other items for alternate uses. The concept is right up my alley. Too bad none of the stuff posted so far is all that great. Well . . . the use of IKEA wardrobe doors as a room divider looks pretty smart [if you're into that whole modern thing].

One of the hacks I've always wanted to try is this hi-fi stand made out of IKEA Lack side tables, sometimes referred to as the "Lack Rack."

So this particular job may not look all that hot. [I have seen much better examples of this hack.] But you should see some of the god-awful hi-fi furniture that's out there--lots of expensive, shiny metal and glass monstrosities. If executed correctly, the Lack Rack can be effective, inconspicuous but attractive, and relatively inexpensive. The few rack systems out there that are effective and halfway attractive to me [Hutter; Isoblue; Quadraspire] cost about $700 to $1,000. For the hardware and 3 of the style of Lack tables pictured above, you'd probably spend about $100. With about 2 hours of hacking and assembly, you'll have something that is about as effective as the high-dollar options.

So what do I mean by "effective?" I don't know how to explain it without getting too geeky. Let's just say that what you place your audio equipment on may have a negative effect on the performance of the equipment. This effect is most obvious with turntables, but it can also make a difference with CDP's and amps. The IKEA Lack side table has long been heralded as one of the best [and cheapest!] stands for Linn and Rega turntables. Apparently the light-but-rigid construction of these little tables allows them to quickly disipate extraneous vibrations that could mess up your tunes.

Beyond the alleged sonic benefits of the Lack Rack, I'm just looking for something small and not ugly [but cheap] on which to place my hi-fi gear in the corner of the room where it won't be noticed. Right now, I've got everything set up on this "cabinet" thing I got at Goodwill 6 years ago.

blah. I gotta get rid of that thing.

Here's a couple of pics of one of the Grete Jalk side tables.

2006-08-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

They need a good dusting on those slats underneath. I'd better get on that, now.

Is this thing on?

2006-08-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

Most of July passed with nary a peep from yours truly. What's up?

Not much time for blogging, that's what. What little time I've spent online has been focused on home remodeling and design-related stuff. We've been thinking seriously about a kitchen remodel for quite a while. Kim contacted our realtor who referred us to a contractor who then referred us to two interior designers. One interior designer charges $200 per hour and the other $50 per hour. Time is money! So I decided we should pull together a fairly specific list of ideas [needs and wants] before we employ the services of a designer.

The more we think about the kitchen remodel, the bigger the project gets--expanding to a possible three-room remodel. Also, with interest rates rising and home values in Austin continuing to appreciate, we're starting to consider our current house as more of a long-term residence [i.e. we'll keep our modest, low-rate mortgage, thanks]. So now we're thinking about remodeling options that would probably require an architect rather than an interior designer. I'm on the lookout for cost-effective ideas . . .

Right now, I have a lot of friends and colleagues who have recently sold/purchased a home, have moved, or are in the process of purchasing and moving. So there's been much conversation about all things home related. I'm very happy to not be purchasing, selling, or moving right now or any time in the near future. I get stressed out thinking about it.

Last month, we also went in search of furniture--seeking a replacement couch and maybe a chair for our den. I haven't seen much in my price range [or even outside my price] that I really like. I'm certainly not willing to spend a lot of dough on something that is "just OK." So it could be a long time before we find something we both like. Anyway, our search for seating culminated in the purchase of a cool pair of "Danish modern" end tables at a local resale shop. The mark underneath the table top indicates they're designed by Grete Jalk [I'm guessing circa 1960]. We will probably not use them for seating. Maybe I'll post some pics. I wish I could find some more cool, old furniture like that.

I also bought some old records at Backspin, last month: Gang of Four - Solid Gold; Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady; The Jam - All Mod Cons; Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind. I think it's pretty obvious I like to rock.

More to come . . . [?]

Where I been.

2006-07-10T19:33:00.000-07:00

July started with a visit from our friend, Brad, who's been living in L.A. for the last three years. There's not much a couple of homebodies like Kim and I can do to out on the town to entertain a kid from the City of Angels. Luckily, he had spent the evening with some other friends in Austin the night before and had overexerted himself. So he was in the mood for the kind of things we normally do on the weekend when we're not mowing the lawn and doing laundry-- dining out, shopping for records, and just chillin' [i.e. watching TV on the couch].

We had a late lunch at Home Slice Pizza, which has become one of my new favorite restaurants in town. This latest experience sealed the deal. Apparently the staff felt they hadn't turned out our pizza order quickly enough or brought us our pitcher of beer in a timely fashion. We hadn't complained or really noticed. But they told us they would comp our pitcher [one of the faster ways to this man's heart is free beer]. I've been to Home Slice about four times, and I've always noticed that the service is well above average for Austin [which means it's at a level we should all demand]. Keep up the good work, Homes.

For Saturday evening, we put together an impromptu BBQ and invited a few folks over for fajitas, beer & booze, and relaxation on the patio on an unseasonably cool July evening. I think everyone had a good time: it's hard to go wrong when you provide plenty of food and adult beverages. It does, however, make for a rough Sunday morning. And there begins the laziest several days I've experienced in quite a spell.

Eschewing our household chores for the remainder of the long holiday weekend, we opted to spend Sunday through July 4 watching some rented DVDs and a movie on the WB.

Dave Chappelle's Block Party was a surprise. The movie is shot like a documentary and follows Dave around on the days leading up to the block party--a massive hip hop show with Mos Def, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, Dead Prez, Big Daddy Kane, The Fugees, and more. I would actually describe a handful of scenes as "compelling." That was unexpected. And Dead Prez was cool. I hadn't heard them before.

Me and You and Everyone We Know. meh.

Failure to Launch. Mostly, it's everything you would expect from today's romantic comedy [not much]. For some reason they also threw in a bunch of cartoonish animal humor in which the male lead [greasy Matthew McConaughey] gets harassed and/or attacked by a dolphin, a chipmunk, and a lizard [I may have left out one other animal]. And then there's the inexcusable five minutes of Terry Bradshaw's bare ass. Why?

True Colors. Lies. Deceit. Betrayal. Law school. DC politics. John Cusack and James Spader. How could I have missed this flick? Oh yeah, it's crappy. That's why. But I couldn't stop watching it.

I think there was another movie in there. Can't remember.

And, somehow I made it back to work for a few days. Then we had a rare Friday out on the town, which was pretty much an evening at Crown and Anchor for burgers and beers [and beers and beers] with some old friends. I think I got an overdose of nostalgia there, complete with some indie rock, circa 1999. It reminded me of the first time I went to C&A shortly after I moved to Austin. I don't really miss those days. But I still like that place.

To Live and Die in NH

2006-06-23T14:53:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-14T19:14:00.000-07:00

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.

Dream Home Addendum

2006-05-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more links re: the Cruz family's dream home experience.

It appears that the Cruz family got a loan to pay the IRS, which will cost them about $8,000 a month. To the surprise of no one, they intend to get a book deal out of this whole experience.

Here's an older article that addresses the land lease and some zoning issues in Tyler, TX.

You can also read a few entries in the winner's diary from the HGTV website. And if you're really bored, you can check out the message board.

In conclusion: sell the house, take the cannoli.

Extreme Home Takeover

2006-05-28T07:06:00.000-07:00

This weekend I read an article in the June 2006 issue of Money, which tells the story of the family who won the 2005 HGTV Dream Home Sweepstakes. The prize was $250,000; an SUV and a 6,000 sq. foot, three story mansion located on one acre of lakefront property outside of Tyler, Texas [yuck]. The family decided to leave their modest home in Batavia, Illinois to live in this monster house. According to the article, the family are the only winners in the contest's 10-year history that have chosen to live in the "dream home." One year later, the family of three has finally realized that was a bad idea.

Don Cruz and his family thought they could live on that $25oK for at least a couple of years. As a matter of fact, the prize money doesn't even come close to covering their federal tax liability from the prize winnings [$672,000 federal income tax bill for 2005]. It's obvious that Cruz didn't even consider the costs associated with owning the home. The annual property tax alone is over $30,000. Add on the costs of utilities, maintenance, and insurance and it's easy to see that $250,000 won't get them very far. Now, they're trying to sell the place for $5.5 million. Local real estate agents say the actual market value is probably $2.5 million. But it will probably be hard to sell a house that expensive out in the middle of the sticks. One expert quoted in the article says they will probably lose their shirts if they can't sell the house for more than $1 million. By the way, they don't even own the land: it's on a 30-year lease.

I've often wondered what happens to folks like the Cruz's and the families on Extreme Home Makeover after "the bus" has moved on and the cameras have stopped rolling. You know--the family with the 12 kids who are allergic to the sun and a single dad living on disability? How in the hell do these folks afford the upkeep on those McMansions?

The Money article also notes that approximately 1 million Americans have overextended their finances to live in McMansions they could only afford through adjustable rate mortgages, and their mortgage payments could double in the next two years.

Fortunately for us, we bought a house we could afford and locked in a very low interest rate on a fixed-rate mortgage. However, I used to wonder if we had enough space for a family. Both of our spare bedrooms are already full: one is the guest bedroom and one is the office/library/music room. After two years, I've realized that having a dedicated office has actually caused me to be less organized [to paraphrase George Carlin: more space equals more shit]. And if/when we have a family, the office will probably become the nursery. That means the computer, the books, the guitars, and the record collection will have to move elsewhere [crap!]. I think we'd be better off with a smaller desk and computer in our living area. I could probably store the guitars in one of the spare closets, and I could give a damn about the books. My biggest problem is the records, which I think should be heard and not seen. So, I've got to find some creative way to store my vinyl. That one challenge aside, I'm looking forward to downsizing [everything but the records] and organizing in the next few months. The recent garage sale was a good start, but we still have much work to do. I think our 1,500 +/- sq. feet should be plenty of room. We just have to resist the urge to accumulate things.

Except records.

Far out, man.

2006-05-28T06:40:00.000-07:00

Crazy mushrooms I discovered in my back yard

...and Other Earthly Delights

2006-05-22T19:59:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've talked about two of my favorite things: beer and music.

Last time on the beer frontier, I 'blogged about our foray into homebrew and anticipation of the Belgian Summer Saison Ale. That brew turned out damn good and didn't last long at my house. It may be the best we've done so far.

After all of the Summer Saison was gone, I started to get a hankerin' for some hoppier, less sweet beer. I was looking for more of a "lawnmower beer" [LMB]. Over the past couple of years, my LMB's of choice were Lagunitas Dogtown Pale Ale and North Coast's Scrimshaw Pilsner. They're both relatively cheap, light, and refreshing while still offering full flavor. But I got kinda burned out on those, and that led to my lengthy, mostly exclusive love affair with the Belgian styles. After a few failed searches for a worthy replacement LMB , I've settled on a couple of beers from Mendocino Brewing Company--Eye of the Hawk and Blue Heron Pale Ale. Both beers have a nice balanced flavor with good hop character, but not so much that it tastes like DEET [e.g. other overly-hopped West Coast brews]. Both are also easy on the alcohol, so one bottle after an afternoon of yardwork won't send you to the spirit world for the evening.

In homebrew news, we brewed a Weizenbock and a British Pale Ale in the last month or so. The Weizenbock is just now officially ready after four weeks of bottle conditioning. I had one this weekend, and it's very good. But experience has taught me that a week or two of extra conditioning time yields tastier results. We just bottled the pale ale, and it should be ready in about 5 weeks. I was hoping for this beer to turn out similar to the Blue Heron Pale Ale, but it looks like it will be lighter bodied and less hoppy, which is disappointing. I could be wrong. I didn't think our Cream Ale would be worth a damn, but it turned out mighty fine. That's the cool thing about homebrew!

I almost forgot about music. Lately, I've been listening to the hell out of Gnarls Barkley. Maybe I'll have something about that, later. Plus, it may be time to talk about my not-so-new adventures in hi-fi.

Smoke up, Johnny!

2006-05-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

Break out the cigars! The 79th Texas Legislature, Third Special Session, adjourned sine die this Monday.

Normally, "sine die" means it's summer time and the livin' is easy. The Lege has finished their work and evacuated the Capitol [and Austin]. And along with them, their staffers generally take extended leave from the premises. In an instant, my workload goes from 100 to near zero [for a little while, anyway]. That's not the case, this time. Ancillary issues related to this latest special session kept me away from work I would normally be doing this time of year. So, now I'm about 1 month behind. Now I'll be busting my ass through the month of June to catch up. Summer dreams ripped at the seams.

At least the Legislature completed its primary mission: local property tax relief. However, the Comptroller of Public Accounts says otherwise [see fiery letter to the Governor]. Right now, I really don't care if their tax plan works. The members are gone, and we are pretty much guaranteed they won't be back until January, 2007. But if the tax plan is as out of balance as the Comptroller and other critics say it is, then we could be in for a rough session, next year.

Still, the lighting of cigars [or cigarettes, rather] is appropriate--now more than ever. About $700 million in annual property tax relief is supported by a $1-per-pack cigarette tax increase and a 13.6% tax increase on other tobacco products. If the other new taxes created by the Legislature are projected to fall short of the property tax reductions, then there's only one way out that potential quagmire.

Smoke up, Johnny!

Whatcha gonna do with all that junk?

2006-05-07T06:57:00.000-07:00

Kim and I held our first garage sale [ever], this weekend. Having never organized one of these little endeavors, I think we both looked forward the event with a fair amount of dread. However, I'm pleased to say that it went well despite some extenuating circumstances.

We had been talking about having a garage sale since we moved into our current house, 2 years ago, but we always found some reason to put it off. Our normal course of action for shedding dead weight was to just drop our old stuff off at Goodwill. Over the years, we've given some pretty nice stuff away, including gently-used clothing, furniture, and electronics--the kind of stuff that Goodwill sells for top dollar. Kim and I decided it was high time we got a piece of that action.

So Kim took the reigns of the garage sale operation. The original plan was to wait for our neighborhood's annual garage sale, which is held each May. One of our neighbors [not sure which one] organizes this annual event, and each household is usually delivered an informational flyer about a month in advance. With a $2 contribution per participating household, the organizer takes care of all the signs and newspaper ads. Well, we waited about as long as we could stand to receive notice of the neighborhood sale, but we finally gave up on it and decided to fly solo. Kim placed a classified ad in the Austin American-Statesman [$20], and there was no turning back. Two days later, we received the flyer announcing the neighborhood garage sale.

Kim spent the better part of last weekend rummaging through our closets, our garage, and her CD's and records [all of my discs are precious gems] to select and price items for sale. Picking the stuff we wanted to sell was easy. But I found the pricing part tedious. What is the ultimate goal of a garage sale? I believe the goal is to get rid of old stuff. The profits and the convenience of not having to haul crap to Goodwill are secondary benefits. But isn't it American to want to maximize profits? I couldn't help overthinking the garage sale pricing strategy. Books, music, and VHS tapes were easy to price. Generally, we weren't going to price anything below 25 cents. However, pricing of small tools and appliances can be tricky. Garage salers are looking for a deal, and the serious salers will always try to talk you down. So the challenge is determining the maximum price that market will bear and the minimum price at which you're willing to sell. My strategy was to aim somewhere in between those price points. From my own garage sale shopping experience, I know that setting the price at maximum can make the seller appear unreasonable and unwilling to bargain, and many shoppers will just walk away. Then you're left with all your crap and no profits, thus defeating the true purpose of the garage sale.

In the garage sale business, you can strategize and advertise all you want. But you can't control Mother Nature. Major thunderstorm activity erupted on Thursday evening, and was expected to continue throughout the weekend. But Friday morning was sunny and bright, so we remained hopeful that Saturday morning would follow suit. Not a chance. Thunderstorms rolled in during the wee hours of Saturday morning. Luckily, by 7 AM the storm had calmed down to a steady drizzle. We still feared that our shopper turnout would be low, and we contemplated cancelling and waiting for the neighborhood garage sale in two weeks. But I knew people would come by: our $20 newspaper ad ran daily from Thursday through Saturday, and I believed the hard core garage salers would eventually make it to our neighborhood. And right as rain, a few customers started to trickle in shortly after our 8 AM start time. By 9 AM, the flow of shoppers was steady but not heavy. I noticed a lot of cars curiously circling our neighborhood before they stopped by our sale. It turns out that the neighborhood garage sale organzier had already placed large signs at the entrances to our neighborhood advertising the upcoming event two weeks in advance! Of cource most people didn't read the fine print and thought the sale was occuring. We were the only gig in the 'hood.

We ended up selling more than half of our stuff and turned a decent profit. Tools were popular, and were the first items to go; and we sold most of our small electronics and appliances [including a cassette deck]. I'm not sure if we sold any CD's. We managed to sell all but one of our VHS tapes, which were priced to go at 25 cents a pop. Curiously, Swingers--starring Vince Vaughn--was the only tape left, though we were able to sell Blues Bass for the Beginner [?].

Most of the folks that showed up were fairly pleasant. It was the usual suspects, mostly. You can expect a few "talkers" and some people that just don't seem right in the head, but nice folks for the most part. The only disappointment was the discovery that someone had stolen a plastic grocery bag containing a few miscellaneous attachments and dust bags for our old Electrolux vacuum. Nobody even made an offer on the vacuum, which was also for sale, so I thought that was an odd bunch of items to steal.

Overall, the garage sale was a much better experience than we expected. A big wad of cash in your hand and some free space in the house: it's a good thing.

Somebody better tell Vince Vaughn's agent that he's not so popular with the bargain hunter demographic.

. . . nobody rides for free.

2006-05-05T17:14:00.000-07:00

I know I threatened to talk about the hysteria surrounding the recent hikes in gasoline prices. Because of the nature of my job, I decided not to post an opinion on any proposed legislation [state or federal] related to a temporary suspension of gas taxes. The Charles Krauthammer article that Eric pointed to in comment to the previous post just about covers that.

Krauthammer. What a name!

I think it's safe to talk about the silly civilian reaction to sudden spikes in gas prices. The expectation or belief that their legislative heroes can just wave a magic wand and make gas prices go down is crazy. As Krauthammer[!] writes, even a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax would cost billions. In other words, it's not free. Somebody must be taxed to pay for it. So why not tax the big oil companies? Well, if giving the big oil companies big tax breaks [reducing costs of operations] didn't result in cheaper gasoline, then I can't see how a "windfall profits" tax [increasing costs of operations] is going to help. But it still sounds like a good idea to most citizens, and they're going to be a bit sore when it doesn't happen.

I was listening to local talk radio, early this week, and I heard one listener [caller] complain that, due to the nearly $3/gallon gas prices, she was having to take time to plan out her errands to reduce car trips in order to conserve gas and save money. If you're a workin' class Joe [or Joann] with budgetary concerns, then shouldn't you be doing that anyway? Even if gas was $1.50/gallon, it would make sense.

There is hope. I've noticed a considerable change in driver behavior on my work commute: the number of motorists driving like assholes has gone way down. I know I've eased off the go pedal a bit [although I drive like a grandma, anyway]. If high gas prices encourage people to drive carefully to conserve gas, then maybe it's not such a bad thing. The potential benefits: reduced traffic accidents, improved traffic flow, reduced emissions--all good things.

Grass, Gas, or Ass . . .

2006-05-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

nobody rides for free.

Here's some cool blogs/discussions re: oil and gasoline prices; supply and demand; and "windfall profits." Warning: the discussions contain language of an explicit and economic nature. Get your geek on.

http://www.janegalt.net/blog/archives/005761.html

http://www.janegalt.net/blog/archives/005763.html

Marginal Revolution--Should we tax oil company profits?

I may opine on this topic later today if I get a chance. The public reaction and political response to this "crisis" has ranged from silly to down right ridiculous.

It's no fun being an illegal alien.

2006-05-02T19:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, May Day [and one hot ass Monday, at that], several thousand immigrants and sympathizers took to the streets of Austin as part of a nationwide "economic boycott" to demonstrate the impact of [undocumented?] immigrants on the U.S. economy, dubbed a "National Day Without Immigrants." As you can probably guess, many restaurants and construction sites sat idle on Monday. Judging from the lame local TV news coverage I saw last night, it was more like a "Day Without Breakfast Tacos" as they took time to interview some poor schmoes locked out of their favorite taco joint, looking like a bunch of junkies lurking outside a methadone clinic on a Sunday. Imagine that: Monday morning, 7 A.M., driving a bit out of your way to Taco Shack to pick up a bacon, egg, & cheese on the way to work . . . and the mofo is closed! That's rough. But that is only the first bitter taste of a day without immigrants, my friend. That's the kind of reporting that cuts to the heart of the matter. That's "coverage you can count on."

BTW - Taqueria Arandas #2 by my house was closed. "Day Without Tortas Cubanas." Mmmmm--I love their tortas.

The local news also interviewed a couple of sweaty Anglo protestors, who were also out marching on that unseasonably hot May afternoon in expression of their "solidarity" with the immigrant workers. And I wondered to myself how much "crossover" there is between the various demonstrations that seem to take place weekly at the south steps of the Texas capitol. It seems like some of the same folks are always out there protesting whether it's about gay rights, the death penalty, or the war in Iraq. Who has time for that? College students, I guess.

So, can we figure out the actual impact of this economic boycott? I asked one of our economists at work, and he said the best estimate would still be a wild guess. My best guess is it probably wasn't too big of a hit. It was Monday. How productive is the U.S. workforce on any given Monday, anyway? If the demonstators really wanted to show an impact, they should have boycotted on a Friday when restaurants normally see heavy patronage. But that would only impact a small segment of the economy. And how productive is the U.S. workforce on any given Friday, anyway?

Taxes Never Whisper

2006-04-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we sent out our federal income tax stuff. We had to pay extra this year.

A lot extra.

So I decided to sit down and figure out how much of our gross income we ended up paying in taxes in 2005. Here is the result: Federal/Other witholding [including Social Security, Medicare] + Property Tax + Estimated Sales Tax as a percentage of Gross 2005 Income = 33.7%

That's right. Over one-third of our income goes to taxes. After I calculated that percentage, I realized that I hadn't included motor fuel taxes [Texas + Fed = 38.4 cents/gallon]. There's probably a whole host of other taxes and fees I haven't considered. And that's fine. I'd rather not know.

The Texas Legislature has reconvened for the third time since the regular legislative session of 2005 to revamp our tax system for public school finance. Right now, local property taxes pick up the brunt of that burden, and middle-income homeowners like me are paying out the nose. State sales taxes [6.25%] mostly cover the rest. For the most part it's individuals, not businesses, that are paying the tab.

Our legislative heroes have been promising us property tax relief for the last 4 years. I'm hoping this time the political pressure is really on to get something done.

BTW - I'm back online after a week of no internet service at home.

Yup.

2006-04-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the two-year anniversary of the day we closed on our first home. It's hard to believe we've been living in this house for two whole years. I'm still getting used to the idea of being a homeowner and the accompanying responsibilities and obligations.

We've been talking seriously about remodeling our kitchen. We have no intentions of undertaking that project ourselves. I need to contact some contractors to get an idea of what we can and cannot do and how much it's going to cost.

Our yard is sloooowly getting back into shape after one Spring and Summer of neglect and a Fall and Winter drought in 2005. It appears the clover was not affected by the drought: it's back with a vengeance! Last weekend, I walked around the yard spreading "Weed & Feed" on the lawn with this little hand-cranked spreader. Results after 5 days: both the grass and the weeds look green and full. Hell. I guess green is good. I was actually worried that 90 percent of my yard would wilt and die. From across the street it probably looks okay.

Kim told me we needed some kind of fertilizer [preferably non-chemical] and some mulch for our plant and garden beds. So after work one evening, I headed to the nearest "big box" home center where I encountered a 50-yard long wall lined with stacks of bags containing countless varieties of crap [figuratively and literally] for nourishing your lawn and garden. After 45 minutes of pacing back and forth perusing the various products, I loaded a cart with some bags of peat humus. It met Kim's criteria and it was cheap. Now onto the mulch. I had my choice of pine bark mulch, black bark mulch, red colored mulch, organically grown Texas cedar mulch . . . and so on. At this point I decided to call Kim on my cell to get her opinion. I think we went with the fair trade, cruelty-free cedar mulch, or something like that. Our yard now smells like cedar.

One thing that caught my eye [and, eventually, my concern] was Dillo Dirt, a product of the City of Austin. The city uses lawn and tree trimmings and old Christmas trees collected at curbside, combined with "treated sewage sludge," to create Dillo Dirt. According to the City of Austin website, the composting process generates heat sufficient to "virtually eliminate human and plant pathogens." They also claim it meets EPA standards for "unrestricted use" in vegetable gardens. Uh huh. Well I read the little disclaimer on the bag of Dillo Dirt at the store. To summarize, it says even though the composting process "virtually eliminates" the crappy badness, you might want to wear some gloves and something over your head when handling Dillo Dirt. By the way, we really don't recommend it for vegetable gardens [!]. Don't worry about it, fellas.

Last weekend, I also picked up a gas-powered weed whacker/trimmer. With minimal assembly and a spot of oil and some gas, I had the thing up and running in about 15 minutes. And I quickly remembered that I never liked operating these things. When I was a teenager, my dad had a couple of electric Weedeater trimmers. I think he asked me to trim with them once or twice, and let's just say we both decided that was not the wisest or safest idea. They aren't as easy to operate as it would seem. There are no wheels to guide you or to maintain the trimming height. It's just a 15-pound wand with a mini-motorcycle engine on one end and a virtually invisible cutting line spinning at many thousand RPM on the other. It takes strength and finesse [and long pants and safety glasses] to operate these machines correctly. I am happy to report that I was starting to get the hang of it right about the time I finished trimming, last Sunday.

Eat your heart out, Hank Hill.

Early to Bed, Early to Work

2006-04-13T05:10:00.000-07:00

Between office work and yard work, I haven't had much time to post. There is a laundry list of crap I want to 'blog about, but I just haven't had time.

I'm at my office at 7 AM for Pete's sake! I normally wake up at 7 AM on a weekday. Why? The Texas Legislature will begin another special legislative session on Monday to address state tax issues, which doesn't directly affect my job. However, the members will usually conduct other House/Senate committee business while they're in Austin. And that's when my job gets busier. I'm working on a pretty important project this week in preparation for a presentation before a newly-created joint legislative committee next week.

I'm not complaining. This is what I signed up for when I took this job. As frustrating as it can be sometimes, I enjoy the added pressure and the challenge. I've always worked best under pressure. My brain kicks into overdrive when there is a perceived sense of urgency. I think more critically and creatively. The bad part is that I sometimes have trouble relaxing when I leave work. My brain doesn't know when to drop down into standby mode during these busy times. It actually takes deep concentration to get it down to cruising speed. It's like I'm talking my brain down from a ledge.

Anyway . . . Why the hell am I writing? I need to get to work!

One thousand three hundred thirteen libertarian quotes on the wall.

2006-04-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

http://www.lpboulder.com/quotes/

I don't know if I'll ever get through them all. I thought these were funny.

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. – James Bovard (1994)

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. – G. Gordon Liddy

And finally, because it hits close to home [work, actually]:

The single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence, because it's so rare. – Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1976)

Week in Rock

2006-04-02T17:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend I picked up a few new and a few old records and CDs.

Mates of State - Bring It Back
Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
The White Stripes - Elephant
Beulah - When Your Heartstrings Break

First impressions of Bring It Back: I like the new Mates of State record for the same basic reason I like all The New Pornographers records. There is an underlying, infectious AM pop influence that I find irresistable. Mates of State do it without guitar for the most part, and their musical phrasing and lyrics are more conventional than the New Pornos. But the male/female vocal harmonies are similarly sweet. It's a fun record [nice 180 g pressing, too].

I couldn't have bought Destroyer's Rubies at a better time. I need something new in music to obsess over [I've been listening to the hell out of some Belle and Sebastian, lately, and was starting to wonder if I was developing an addiction--more on that later]. Destroyer is essentially Dan Bejar, otherwise known around my house as the elf-sounding guy on the New Pornographers albums. I don't know what to say about this album. It's been in my truck CD player since I left the record store parking lot on Saturday afternoon, and I've listened to it about three times through. It may stay in the truck all week. There are stories in the songs, but what the hell is he singing about? What is he doing to my pop sensibility? How can I be hooked without any hooks? I am determined to get to the bottom of it. New obsession.

Low End Theory may be my favorite hip-hop album of all time. I had a dubbed cassette of this when I was in high school, and I'm pretty sure I listened to it until it wore out. So I'm very happy to have this album back in my collection--this time on glorious double vinyl LP. The product is dope.

We have White Stripes' Elephant on CD, but this is something I've wanted on vinyl for a while. It seemed appropriate since their entire recording process was analog from start to finish. Results are mixed. The packaging is pretty nice. Gatefold jacket; full color inner sleeves. Double LP: disc 1 on white vinyl; disc 2 on red vinyl. Unfortunately, disc 1 is warped and just barely outside my tolerance [slight pitch bending]. After spinning sides A and B, I thought I was going to return the album. Then I popped on side 3 [disc 2] and was blown away by how much better "Ball and a Biscuit" and "The Hardest Button to Button" sound on vinyl compared to the CD. The jury is still out. I think I'll keep it [but I know I could probably sell it on eBay for at least 2x what I paid].

I have one gripe about "premium" vinyl packaging: the glossy, full color inner sleeves are a pain in the ass. They always form a static cling/vacuum suction bond with the record that makes it a real chore to get the record in and out. It's almost as bad as trying to force my cat into the pet carrier to take him to the vet.

Beulah's When Your Heartstrings Break is a quiet indie-pop classic that I kinda missed the first time around, circa 1999. I've always liked the track, "If We Can Land A Man On The Moon, Surly I Can Win Your Heart", but a whole album of such lush, pop-hook laden tunes was a bit saccharine for me at the time. They eventually won me over at a show in 2002[?] at the Club Formerly Known as The Mercury. When I saw this album in the used CD bin at Backspin Records, I didn't hesitate to snatch it up. Beulah is laid back, good time rock in a similar vein to The Glands. They're not going to blow your mind, but they show tremendous respect for their influences [Beatles, Stones, et al] while adding their own signature sound to it all, crafting great sounding, quality pop rock.

Mow Better Blues

2006-03-27T20:07:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, my lawnmower saw the light of day for the first time since October 2005.

Saturday
I rolled my mower out of the shed and brought it into the patio for seasonal maintenance: drained old oil; poured in new oil; cleaned out air filter housing; replaced air filter; replaced spark plug; gave the whole mower a half-assed, once-over wipe down with an already dirty rag. I felt that was sufficient progress for a Saturday afternoon, so I rolled that sumbitch back in the shed, grabbed a beer.

Sunday
I mowed my lawn--at least the parts of it that were not still crunchy from last Fall's drought. We've had just enough interspersed rain [thunder storms] and sunlight recently to revive my little St. Augustine & Miscellaneous Weed-covered plat.

And so it begins--yard work.
I don't like yard work, but I'm too cheap to pay somebody else to do it. By the time I finish mowing, I'm usually too lazy or too exhausted to edge. And you can forget about hedge trimming and clipping. So our yard doesn't look as nice as the neighbors' yards. Well, I'm neither retired nor do I have a teenager or two to do that shit for me. But I do have a wife. And now is the time to get the Mrs. on board for some much needed landscape maintenance.

I can already count Kim out for mowing. She's mowed twice in the two years we've been in our current house. The first time, she managed to spill gasoline on the grass, killing a two square-foot patch of primo St. Augustine [we don't have too much of that to go around]. The second time, she mowed in July when it was hot and humid outside. I was at work on a Saturday [extremely busy], and she telephoned to complain how exhausted she was from mowing the lawn. I'm pretty sure that was the end her mowing career. So yours truly is the designated mower.

When Kim gets motivated to weed the garden or trim the hedges, though, she usually tears into it. The problem is that there's a ton of work to be done [our hedges are out of control], and we are seldom motivated to take on the task at the same time. And as Spring becomes Summer, and Summer becomes Hell on Earth, neither one of us wants to be out in the yard longer than the time it takes to check the mailbox. So we have to strike while the weather is cool. That means dedicating the next few weekends to our lawn. It won't be fun: there will be blood, sweat, and tears. And mosquito bites. But if we can get the bulk of the work done now, maintaining it for the rest of the season will be so much easier.

Right?

Van Halen I

2006-03-25T17:29:00.000-08:00

Damn.

About once a year, I'll throw Van Halen I on the turntable and just be amazed. This record came out in 1978!? Think about that time. There was nobody like Eddie Van Halen. There was nobody like David Lee Roth. Led Zeppelin hadn't put out a record in 2 years. The Rolling Stones put out a disco song. Most popular hard rock was just primitive [KISS, AC/DC, Foreigner]. I can imagine when Gene Simmons first saw Van Halen at that fabled L.A. club show in 1976, he thought to himself, "Holy fucking shit! Should I get these guys in a recording studio, or should I have them killed?"

I'm glad he spared their lives. Van Halen I is one of the greatest hard rock albums of all time.

New Austin Record Store - Backspin Records

2006-03-22T17:45:00.000-08:00

Backspin Records!

I’ll say it again. BACKSPIN RECORDS!

Backspin Records at 5247 Burnet Road [at North Loop]—nestled between the longstanding Asian variety store, Say Hi, and the Mi Victoria Bakery—is Austin’s newest independent record store offering up great new and used vinyl. Here is Backspin Records in their own words:

“We carry an amazing selection of affordably priced used and new vinyl in these genres: Hip-Hop (Old School, Golden Era, Current, Indie, Underground, and Commerial Rap) Dance (Old School Tecno, Electro, Freestyle, Disco, Italo Disco, House), Jazz, Funk, Jazz-Funk, Soul, R&B, Blues, Rock (Classic, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, Alt, Punk, New Wave, Industrial, and New Indie Releases), Soundtracks, Lounge, Exotica, Comedy, Spoken Word, and Country/Western. In general, if it is a type of music that has a beat to it, we carry it.”

I’ve been there, and, yes, they do have an amazing selection of quality vinyl at fair prices. They also have a small but excellent selection of used CDs.

Backspin records is co-owned and operated by my friend of many years, Zach, and his business partner, Eric—two work-a-day Joe’s who happened to both be vinyl junkies and, through a series of fortunate and/or unfortunate events, found themselves looking for another way to make a living. And they chose to open a record store in Austin? Are they crazy? Yes, they must be nuts! That’s what I thought, initially. That is, until I got a glimpse of the fruits of their labor. Backspin has arguably the best selection of used records in town when you factor in selection, condition, and price. Without question, they have the best listening stations in town with quality turntables and headphones: they’re not messing around with the craptastic plastic ‘tables and dollar store headphones you see at most shops. These guys care about the quality of the product and the pleasure of the vinyl-buying experience. What you’ll get at most other used vinyl places is dirty fingertips, a runny nose, and not much else.

Backspin opened last Thursday during SXSW. Among their first customers were DJ Madlib, J-Rocc [of the World Famous Beat Junkies], and the bass player from L.A.’s The Mojo Filters. And me. Last Sunday, Backspin hosted an energetic in-store performance and CD-release for the fledgling NGOK hip-hop crew, Public Offenders and Da 2-3 Mic Breakaz.

Hopefully, this is just the first of many great in-store events that will go down at Backspin Records.

So if you happen to stumble upon this ‘blog and you also happen to be in the Austin area, I recommend you check out Backspin Records. Be prepared to spend money. They’ve got the goods.

BTW - You can also visit Backspin Records on the web at http://backspinrecords.net/.

Insound Party @ Club DeVille - Friday, March 17

2006-03-19T20:57:00.000-08:00

Due to some technical difficulties going down with Blogger [and also due, in part, to my grandpa interweb skillz], I’m a little late posting about the [kick ass] Insound party at Club DeVille on Friday afternoon [which kicked ass].

Folks, this is what SXSW for Freeloaders is all about. Okay, there was a $2 cover at the gate. And we did have to wait in line for about 40 minutes to get in. But once you got in, you got free brisket sandwiches, all the free Lone Star and Shiner Bock you could stomach, and five really good bands.

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, so check out the Insound Party posts below. And if a thousand words don’t immediately come to mind, then just multiply “hell yes” 500 times.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Insound Party @ Club DeVille

2006-03-19T20:00:00.000-08:00

Serena-Maneesh - Insound Party @ Club deVille

2006-03-19T11:25:00.000-08:00

Pink Mountaintops - Insound Party @ Club DeVille

2006-03-19T11:19:00.000-08:00

Love Is All - Insound Party @ Club DeVille

2006-03-19T11:17:00.000-08:00

Boy Least Likely To - Insound Party @ Club DeVille

2006-03-19T11:10:00.000-08:00

SXSW Day 2 Boogaloo

2006-03-18T10:21:00.000-08:00

Thursday morning was rough, I gotta tell ya. Mind you, we made it home before 8 PM on Wednesday evening. It’s funny how one too many Lone Stars can make you feel like you just got off a long bus ride from LA to Austin [got mugged in Albuquerque]. We were lucky to make it out the door and down to Emo’s around noon on Thursday. It was immediately apparent that our fellow SXSW partiers had been overzealous on Wednesday as well. Red River and Emo’s were fairly quiet compared to the same time on Day #1. Beautiful Newborn Children were halfway into their set when we arrived, and there were maybe 20 people there watching. Live, the BNBC sounded more like the Pixies than their recordings reveal but perhaps a little more garage-y. They even have a chunky, bald frontman/guitarist.

Beautiful[?] Newborn Child #1

BNBC finished their set with 15 minutes to spare in their already short time slot [I’m not even sure they have 30 minutes of material]. Field Music was scheduled to play next, but not for another 40 minutes. So we headed to Emo’s outside stage to get some daylight and check out another band.

Emo’s outside was just as dead as the inside stage. The SXSW peeps were still nursing their hangovers, maybe just starting to order their migas or whatever. That was understandable: we were still dragging our feet, too. The first band scheduled, The Research, took the stage before an audience of 10. By the first note, we knew they weren’t going to provide the boost we needed [they suck!]. With little deliberation, we decided some Death Metal Pizza [Hoek’s] was in order. 6th Street was just beginning to bustle as the normal downtown lunch crowd and the late rising SXSW crowd collided and started to fill restaurants. The Iron Cactus was packed. The guy at Hoek’s told us a pepperoni pie would be out in about 5 minutes, so we hung out on the sidewalk and did a little people watching. Still with the ridiculously large sunglasses, people? Come on. Lots of unfortunate haircuts. You are going to regret that wool coat, later--this is Austin, Texas, kid. Ding! Our pepperoni slices emerged from the fires of Mordor. That shit is hot! But soooo good.

We returned to Emo’s inside stage in time to catch Field Music. Neither of us had heard them before, but we enjoyed their set. The three piece band from the UK plays quirky-but-not-jerky art pop. Some of their high-pitched vocal harmonies reminded us of early Who.

Field Music indoors at Emo's

Next, we went back to the outside stage to see Jason Collett [who’s lucky to be part of Broken Social Scene]. Jason Collett’s band is decent. Jason Collett is an ass. It sounds like he’s retreading the same American roots rock earth that Wilco has already slashed, burned, and salted . . . only he doesn’t do it very well at all. Plus, he looked like a jackass dancing around in his too-tight jeans and pointy boots.

At this point the crowd was still pretty thin, but people were starting to trickle in to the club. The Hidden Cameras were slated to play next. I understand they’ve gotten good press from the indie publications, and I remembered our friend Brad recommending them to us. Pitchfork described them as “flamboyant.” They are, indeed, flamboyantly gay. Their music is kind of poppy and spazzy: the frontman is equal parts David Byrne and Freddie Mercury. While it wasn’t my cup of tea, the Cameras put on a fun set and provided just enough of a jolt to resuscitate what could have become a dreary Thursday afternoon. They drew a small, adoring [equally flamboyant] crowd and they even invited a few fans to join them on stage to play tambourine.

The Hidden Cameras - flame on!

By the time The Hidden Cameras were done, the normal Emo’s day show crowd started to pour into the club. UK singer-songwriter, Richard Hawley was up next. We had never heard him before, so we didn’t know what to expect. This guy has style and charisma. With his crooning style and his witty Brit stage banter, I think he really charmed the 90 percent full house crowd.

Richard Hawley is fookin' boss, mate!

Up next: nothing says “Spring Break!” like Black Heart Procession, who hail from sunny San Diego, California. BHP played a good set, as expected. I’m really surprised the party crowd stuck around through their death waltzes and dirges. They opened and closed with songs from their last album, Amore del Tropico. I assume everything in between was material for their forthcoming album. It was par-for-the-course BHP. I’ll probably buy the new record. [Sorry, no good pics of BHP]

Of Montreal was next on the bill, but we decided to quit while we were ahead. We were still hurting a bit from Wednesday and were getting hungry. With our stomachs growling and our dogs barking, we hoofed it down to Mehkong River on 6th for some Vietnamese and Thai fare. The normally clean restaurant was a bit of wreck with paper chopstick wrappers strewn about like day old confetti. I don’t believe they were prepared for the onslaught of SXSW diners. Luckily our food and service were not affected, but it looked like the rockers at the table next to us had been waiting for their food for a really long time.

Day #2 took a long time to build steam, and, early on, it didn’t seem like it would live up to the promises of the day prior. We still had a pretty good time, but we needed to get rested for Friday’s Insound party at Club DeVille.

SXSWednesday

2006-03-15T20:37:00.000-08:00

As planned, we headed out to Emo's at around noon on Wednesday. We couldn't have asked for a more pleasant day--slightly overcast with temps somewhere in the low 70's and the usual high chance for precipitation that goes along with SXSW. But the clouds held it in long enough for us to get in out of downtown high and dry.
Not much has changed at Emo's: you can always depend on some free SXSW goodness to happen there, and it did. The first band scheduled to play Emo's outside stage [The Strays?] didn't show, so we had a half-hour to sit around and peoplewatch from the bleachers facing the outside bar. As you can see from the pic, the cool people had not yet arrived [unless you count Kim and me].

The first band to take the outside stage was What Made Milwaukee Famous. They hail from Austin, but I'm sure Milwaukee would have been proud to be represented by these guys this afternoon. Kim and I had seen them once before and they were, ehh...okay. Today, they put on an energetic show providing a nice kickoff for our SXSW 2006 for Freeloaders.

What Made Milwaukee Famous

You can also count on the band for all of your elevator repair needs [check the work shirt].

Zykos took the stage, next, and put on an impressive show. I had only heard some recorded stuff from them prior to this performance, and I wasn't all that impressed. What I saw today was very promising. Austin still produces some good bands! I'd like to hear some of their new material with better studio quality.

By this point, the bar had been raised for the afternoon. And I'll be damned if Sound Team didn't clear it by a mile. It seems like a couple of years ago Kim and our friend Natalie saw them open for Dressy Bessy, and they said this band was really good. I finally heard their EP, this year, and it's okay. But Kim and Nat knew what they were talking about. Sound Team far exceeded my expectations and put on the best show of the day. Their sound reminds me a little bit of The Walkmen, but it's a bit more diverse--maybe a little less raw energy.

Sound Team

BTW - Check out the cool Gibson Firebird geetar on the left with the PAF-style humbuckers [click the pic]. I wonder if that's original: I've only seen these guitars with the mini 'buckers.

Following Sound Team was The Ponys [pictured above]. I missed these guys the last time I did SXSW, so I was looking forward to this show. They were much tighter live than I expected--maybe even tighter than their recorded material. They've got their act together. We were a tad disappointed, though, that they only played one song from Celebration Castle.

We couldn't tolerate the next band on the outside stage, so we headed indoors to see what I thought was going to be a set by Dengue Fever. I guess I had this written down incorrectly in my schedule, because it was actually The Deathray Davies just beginning their set. I've seen these guys listed in the Chronicle music listings, but had written them off as a just another average band with a punny band name. They were actually pretty rockin'. I'm glad I finally got to see them--for free! I'd like to check them out again.

Next, we walked up the street to Red Eyed Fly to see Calla. It's been years since I've been in this club, and a lot has changed. The back patio that used to be a tree-lined terrace overlooking a creek is now almost completely enclosed. I kind of miss the campfire ambiance they used to have there, but they did a good job on the renovation. And, as you can see below, the place is still well ventilated.

Calla took their sweet ass time setting up. When they finally took the stage, we noticed something was missing--the second guitar player. When we saw them a couple of years ago, they were a four-piece. Today's performance was good, not great. We missed the texture that the additional guitar added. I haven't really heard their new recorded material, though. Maybe they were trying to get away from that layered shoegazer sound and needed to drop that guitarist in order to do so. Bad move. It sounds like they're writing the same style of songs they did as four-piece while leaving out piece #4.

Calla - flying in the missing guitar formation.

We left Red Eyed Fly and crossed Red River to Club DeVille to see The Drams--only, they played at the same time as Calla. Damn. So we decided to call it a day and go get some grub.

We talked over our dinner options while riding the bus back to my parking garage, and this guy sitting across from us says, "Hut's . . . it's 2-for-1 night." How could I forget about Wednesday night at Hut's? It's crazy to think about how many burgers I've downed at Hut's 2-for-1 night. I think we went there almost every Wednesday for a year [or more] back in '99-'00. Now, I maybe eat there a couple of times a year. But when we walked in to Hut's this evening, the little manager guy noticed me and said, "Tommy, right? Table for two?" Wow.

SXSW Music Day #1: I have to say today was a good day--didn't even have to use my A-K. We ran into some old friends and even met a couple of nice folks from Minneapolis. The crowd wasn't too bad. It's early on, and everyone is still friendly and full of energy and enthusiasm. Maybe the hipster plane has not yet landed. I expect the crowd will increase as we approach the weekend.

South by Spring Break

2006-03-14T20:21:00.000-08:00

Kim and I are taking the rest of this week off from work to check out some of the free and maybe not free parties and shows going on during SXSW. It feels like forever since I've done this. Last year, I think Kim and I made it to one day show on a Saturday; but I haven't taken off time from work to really experience SXSW since 2004. I've gotten married and a lot older and grumpier since then, so it should be interesting to see how we respond to the throngs of hipsters and hypesters.

I will have my camera, so maybe I'll post pics and snarky comments about the whole thing if I'm not totally beat down from the experience.

So far, not much on Wednesday is pinging my radar. A few decent local bands [Zykos, Sound Team, What Made Milwaukee Famous] will be playing along with The Ponys at Emo's during the day. We may also check out the new ex-Slobberbone band, The Drams, at Club DeVille, although it may require an invite. If so, we may check out Calla at the Red Eyed Fly or stick around at Emo's for I Love You but I've Chosen a Pretentious Band Name.

After that, we're probably going to want to go home, take some aspirin, and soak our feet.

Here goes nothin'.

All you see are 0's and 1's

2006-03-12T18:19:00.000-08:00

I finally picked up the Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs vinyl release this weekend [before this purchase, I had been enjoying this album in ill-gotten mp3 format]. It's a quality pressing with good sound and nice gatefold packaging: I assume the artwork and illustrations are the same as included in the CD release.

As happy as I am with the analog copy, I am even more surprised at the sound quality of the mp3 version. I'm not certain of the source of the mp3's [eMusic/iTunes; file sharing, etc], since I got them from a friend; but it is a very high quality rip--as good as any CD. I'm just shocked that the vinyl copy isn't clearly better. It's just slightly different. My new CD/mp3 player [Rega Apollo] probably makes a big difference in mp3 playback; but my experience with the new CDP vs. turntable usually ends up proving vinyl is better [provided it's a good pressing with no warps, etc.]. But I'll admit that the CD - vinyl gap has closed a bit with the CDP upgrade.

Regardless, Mysterious Production of Eggs is a great album, and you should buy it on whatever format you please. But now it's available on vinyl with bigger artwork. Check it out.

Homebrew!

2006-03-10T16:46:00.000-08:00

There's nothing like coming home on Friday afternoon after a long week of work and popping the top off of a cold beer you made yourself. This particular beer is a "cream ale."

I put that in quotes because we forgot the one ingredient that makes this a cream ale. No matter--this is still a very good beer. This batch was our fourth attempt at homebrew, and I think we got a little lax on the procedures since our first three brews turned out wonderfully with little effort. But that's the beauty of the homebrew process. If you have the equipment and you can follow a recipe [and be clean!], then you can brew your own excellent beer. And, apparently, there is a reasonable margin for error. In the interest of full disclosure, it doesn't hurt that we are brewing with friends that have been doing this for several years.

Here is a list of the homebrews we've made so far.

Duvel style - this didn't turn out much like Duvel at all. The color was darker, mostly because the homebrew store ran out of clear Belgian candi sugar, so we had to use amber. But beyond that the flavor was actually "darker" and it had more body--kinda like Orval, which is pretty damn good. This was a strong beer that probably shouldn't even be opened while operating heavy machinery. I think this is our best homebrew, so far

Chocolate Espresso Stout - I consider this one a failure. It was our first attempt to improvise a recipe. We started with recipe for Young's Double Chocolate Stout, and added about 12 double shots of freshly-brewed Italian espresso before fermentation. The chocolate was the tricky part: after [not much] researching, we couldn't find any concensus on when and how you should add cocoa flavoring. So we added powdered cocoa to the fermented brew right before bottling. The results were disappointing. Long story, short--we messed up a damn fine espresso stout with some powdery cocoa that never quite integrated into the beer. I think if we make this again without the cocoa, it will be tasty. C'mon . . . it's coffee and stout beer!

Belgian Witbier - Basically, Hoegaarden White, made with wheat and barley malt. This is one of our favorite styles of beer. Actually, anything Belgian is my favorite style of beer. This brew was a little more exotic with the addition of ingredients like bitter orange peel and coriander. Our attempt produced a slightly darker golden brew than Hoegaarden, but a better tasting beer with a slightly fuller body. This brew was low-alcohol and very tasty; so it was very easy to put away six bottles in one evening without batting an eye. It didn't last long.

Cream Ale - It's the beer I'm enjoying now. I'm not sure exactly which brand this is styled after, but I think it has a classic beer taste. As I mentioned, we omitted one ingredient, malto dextrin, that helps give the beer a "creamy" body. I really don't think we missed out on anything. The result was an easy-drinking, moderately alcoholic brew that would please beer drinkers of all tastes.

Last weekend we brewed a Summer Saison Ale, another Belgian wheat beer with a much higher ABV [alcohol by volume] than the witbier and flavored with lemon zest and paradise seeds. I have no earthly idea what paradise seeds are. A Google search of "paradise seeds" yields 99,800 [bong] hits. Umm...I'm pretty sure the paradise seeds we bought at Austin Homebrew Supply were 100% legal. So it remains a mystery. We'll bottle this beer in a week or so, and it will condition for a few weeks after.

The waiting is the hardest part--especially now that I realize I've just finished our last bottle of homebrew. Buzz-kill, dude.

Gimme Indie Texas!

2006-03-05T06:29:00.000-08:00

My family has been in and around Texas [Old Mexico] since the 1750's, around the time my ancestor Tomás Sánchez de la Barrera y Garza [yes, that's just one person] founded the town of Laredo on the Texas side of the Rio Grande River. I have lived in Texas all of my life, residing in South Texas, West Texas, the Panhandle, and now Central Texas. Along the way, I seem to have developed a hodge-podge accent that many people may not readily identify as or associate with "Texan." Not only do I not have a Texas drawl, I don't wear cowboy boots, either. But I do drive a pickup. And I do love football. I should emphasize: I am incapable of not loving football. But other than that, are there any tell tale signs that I'm a Texan?

Yes--it's the Texas independent spirit. But, what is that? It's our culture, our heritage: a love of food, drink, and music; a disciplined but profound love of liberty--the love of “earthly delights” balanced by the “fear of God.” These characteristics may not be unique to our state. But everything is bigger in Texas! Our culture, our love of liberty, and our independent spirit are amplified by the legacy of our Texan ancestors—the sons and daughters of the people who fought for independence from England and Spain, who later fought for independence from Mexico.

March 2nd is Texas Independence Day, an official state holiday--an optional holiday for all state agency employees. Some folks [e.g. my wife] think it's silly that state employees [e.g. me] may opt take a free day off from work for Texas Independence Day. I think it's silly that it's not a mandatory state holiday. We should all take time out of our busy lives to celebrate the independent spirit of Texas and to reflect upon how we got here and project where we are going.

I kinda like this example set forth by our Tejano forefathers who migrated far from the center of a Mexican dictatorship to settle in Texas:

"Tejanos fashioned an ethic of self-reliance, wresting their living from a ranching culture, improvising ways to survive in the wilderness expanse, and devising specific political responses to local needs despite directives from the royal government." -Handbook of Texas Online [emphasis mine]

It's all there: personal responsibility and local control. There's something to think about for folks on both sides of the left-right political spectrum.

While I did not opt to take the holiday off this year, "Mrs. Coda" and I paid a visit to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, this weekend. And, in the tradition of Texas' German and Czech ancestors, we will be making another batch of homebrew, today. Although it will be a...umm...Belgian style ale. But its the art of brewing-- and the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness it represents--that really counts.

CY 2006 New Music Inventory

2006-03-02T09:54:00.000-08:00

Here are the calendar year 2006 new music releases I've picked up so far:

Cat Power - The Greatest [I like it so much more than I expected. Can a (former) non-Cat Power-fan get away with calling it her best album?]

Robert Pollard - From a Compound Eye [Hell yes!]

The Plastic Constellations - Crusades [Really pretty OK anthemic guitar core on the French Kiss label]

Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit [Ranges from good to very good but still, somehow, not wholly satisfying]

The Minus 5 - s/t aka The Gun Album [: Skip it. Hardly worth commenting, so I'll stop here. Traded it in for The Life Pursuit]

I've got a lot to say about the Pollard, Cat Power, and Belle and Sebastian; and if it stays stuck in my craw long enough, I may regurgitate it here.

And last but not least . . . CY 2005 releases to be re-released on vinyl in 2006:

Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs ["Without question, one of the best of 2005," I declare in the direction of Pitchforkmedia.com with a wagging shame-on-you-finger on my right hand and extended middle-finger on my left]

The Deadly Snakes - Porcella -or- A Bird in the Hand is Worthless [Re-issue of 2005's Porcella, re-sequenced, +7 additional tracks in a vinyl-only release. Another overlooked album from last year.]

In honor of the Snakes' vinyl release, this week, here is the song "Gore Veil" for your listening pleasure. With it's 60's pop feel [flute-like melotron, trio of jangly acoustic guitars, and chorus of ba ba-da ba's] mixed with it's "gorey" lyrics, "Gore Veil" could have been the song Neil Diamond wrote after he killed a drifter to get an erection.

Don Knotts Fact of the Day

2006-02-28T10:23:00.000-08:00

A guy I work with is married to the sister of the wife of the late Don Knotts [so I'm told]. That's, like, three degrees of separation!

"Elizabethtown"? More like "Eliza-wish-for-my-own-death-town"!

2006-02-27T17:43:00.000-08:00

"I wanted to gouge my eyes out . . . and my eardrums."

I like songs.

2006-02-26T15:01:00.000-08:00

Song of the day: Belle and Sebastian's "Sukie in the Graveyard" from their latest album, The Life Pursuit.

I bought the new Belle and Sebastian about a week ago [double album on glorious 180g vinyl], and after two complete listens, Sukie is the song that has stuck with me so far. I can't say it's the best song on the record, but the song's relentless pace--propelled by its overdriven bass guitar groove--and quirky organ riff keep playing over in my mind. The lyrics? It's a song about this young, attractive, artistically gifted, goth chick [she liked to hang out in the graveyard, anyway] who ran away from home and took shelter in the basement of an art school in which she couldn't afford to enroll [but she was more talented than the "arseholes" who were enrolled]. She aspired to become, perhaps, a famous photographic artist [her "life pursuit"?]; but as time passed and seasons changed, she began to see the foolishness of her childish dream. Strapped for cash, she ends up posing for life drawing students at the school in order to make ends meet. But that's not really all that important. The bass line is on a continuous loop in my brain along with the lyrics, "Sukie was a kid. She liked to hang out in the graveyard."

Isle of Video: "This is Bombay, my boy!"

2006-02-26T12:06:00.000-08:00

And this is Amitabh Bachchan: Baliwood legend and star of the 1978 film "Don"--an excellent Movie Night selection if there ever was one. The Movie Night crew, unfortunately, could not make it all the way through before running out of steam [too much Mexican food and beer before the screening]. The Baliwood musical interludes, though they are the best part of the film, add about 33% more run time than your average Hollywood film. Lessons learned: start early and plan for an intermission. Oh yeah--eat something light beforehand.

In "Don", Bachchan puts in double [or triple] duty playing the title character, smuggler/all-round scoundrel Don, as well as street performer[?]-slash-Don look-alike Vijay [who eventually plays the role of Don] and does so by way of young Al Pacino wearing a splash of Eric Estrada's Old Spice. This film serves a heaping helping of 70's machismo, John Northrop-inspired lapels and collars, hot Indian chicks, and--of course--a boatload of booty-shaking musical interludes. Though it's not exactly a technically redeeming film in any respect, it's surely a blast to watch with friends. Recommended.

You'd make a great cop, you bet!

2006-02-25T10:40:00.000-08:00

What makes a person want to become a cop? What kind of people get hired to be cops?

These are some questions I asked myself after reading this post on The Agitator, yesterday, and watching the video from an undercover investigative report [Police Station Intimidation], which asked a bunch of different Florida police stations how a person can file a complaint against an officer. To quote Radley Balko [The Agitator], some of the officers' responses ranged from "dismissive to rude to confrontational to damn-near criminal." Check out the video, and you'll see what he means.

Local Joke, No Laughing Matter

I grew up in a tiny town in a geographically large county in West Texas. Our "police force" consisted of two or three sheriff's deputies and two state troopers. While the troopers were somewhat respectable fellows, the sherrif's deputies were pretty much the stereotypical small town "county mounties" you see on TV and film. They [all but one] seem relatively harmless in retrospect, but I got the feeling they really enjoyed intimidating us high school kids back in the day. I remember getting a bit nervous anytime one of the deputies would follow me driving down "the drag", or when one would pull into a parking lot where some friends and I had gathered to hang out. And I was a pretty good kid who stayed out of trouble [most of the time], so I really didn't have any reason to worry. But they did a pretty good job of intimidating me, and this apprehension towards cops stuck with me through college. As I grew older, I realized my fear of cops was irrational: if I'm not doing anything illegal, then I have nothing to fear. Well, that rationalization may work better for a clean cut caucasian like me than it does for some of my darker-skinned brethren.

My tiny West Texas town was once also home to the infamous Tom Coleman. Tom was one of the lil' deputies in my town and the most gung ho, for sure. He was a gangly, cockeyed character that was mostly a local joke [everyone called him "Barney Fife"]. Coleman served as a sheriff's deputy in my town throughout my high school years and slightly beyond [c. early-90's]. That is until--so I was told by a hometown friend--he went nuts and skipped town after his son was born with some sort of birth defect. That wasn't all that surprising to me. What was surprising was to, years later, open up an issue of the Austin Chronicle and read about his "crack" undercover drug investigation in Tulia, Texas (population, approx. 5,000). For those not familiar, Coleman was almost single-handedly responsible for indicting 40+ people (mostly black) on drug charges without any corroborating evidence or credible witnesses.

I'm sure a citizen's complaint form wouldn't have done much good in Tulia. But, had standardized complaint procedures and "gypsy cop" legislation been in place back then, Coleman may never have been hired as an undercover agent by the Swisher County sheriff's department, and the mess in Tulia may have never transpired [well, maybe not].

Standardized complaint procedures with anonymous complaint forms and public information regarding law enforcement officer terminations are a good start for after-the-fact accountability. But what standards do we have in place on the front end? How does somebody like Tom Coleman get hired in the first place?

Friday Lunchtime Listening

2006-02-24T09:28:00.000-08:00

Robert Pollard - From a Compound Eye. I picked this up a few weeks ago. The initial taste was bitter; but a few days of chewing revealed its sweet candy core. I may comment further on this album, here, if I have time.

The Sword - 3 track demo from their Myspace page. The Sword is a new-to-me metal band of the doom variety who hail from Austin. While they certainly aren't breaking any new ground, the riffs are still earthshaking. I'm currently digging "Barael's Blade" which has that heavy metal triplet swing for which I'm a sucker. FYI- Barael is the "bane of the demon lord/slayer of the spider-priests/spiller of the silver blood" and he wields a badass sword. But the song is still cool, I promise.

Have a Coke and a Smile, or Behead the Infidels?

2006-02-22T18:55:00.000-08:00

So, after reading all of this month's essays on Cato Unbound, it appears that the ensuing conversation did not really expound on Old Europe's ideas on social security. Instead, they took a broader look at the culture that allows the welfare state to subsist and [seemingly] hinders economic growth. To summarize, they've got fear of America; fear of capitalism; fear of immigrants (multiculturalism); and fear of losing existing jobs and wealth all at the expense of new job and wealth creation.

Here's an amusing passage from Theodore Dalrymple regarding integration [or assimilation] of immigrant populations in Old Europe vs. the U.S.:

"The idea that the French riots took place because the inhabitants of the banlieues did not speak sufficient French is absurd: they all spoke French. And I fail to see how embracing multiculturalism will do anything to inhibit Muslim extremists. As one Italian put it, multiculturalism is not couscous: it is the stoning of adulterers—and, as we have recently discovered, far worse than that. The United States has an advantage because it has a compelling foundation myth, which Europe does not have, and this helps to integrate new arrivals."

Emphasis mine.

I'm not sure the "compelling foundation myth" did much to grease the wheels of integration for the Chinese immigrants to the U.S. who helped build our railroads in the West or the Irish immigrants who became our cops and firefighters in the East [kidding]. Rather, I think these folks had to really pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. And they, like other successful immigrant populations in the U.S., realized they must adopt--or adapt to--American culture to succeed. Today, I think we are [or recently were?] much more accepting of new immigrants [partly because of our "foundation myth"]; and their barriers to success are more economic than prejudicial in nature. However, some more conservative pundits may argue that the new immigrants have become less willing to assimilate as a result of our growing acceptance of foreign cultures [but I really don't want to touch that issue]. As near as I can tell, the people most likely to get stoned in my neighborhood are the "sandwich artists" at the Subway down the street, and not some Muslim adultress.

Anyway . . . I believe Mr. Dalrymple is implying that, with respect to Muslim immigrants in Europe, there is integration resistance from both sides. What I can't understand is why any person would sacrifice everything to move to a country that offers him scant economic opportunity; and especially to a country in which he is not only particularly unwelcomed, but also toward whose culture he is bitterly resentful. I don't live in Europe, so I can't tell which side bears most of the blame. But lately I've gotten the impression that a portion of the Muslim immigrant population on that continent is not a very flexible or tolerant one.

"They got the metric system. They wouldn't know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is."

2006-02-22T09:25:00.000-08:00

Here's a money quote from one in a series of essays on the decline of "Old Europe" from Cato Unbound.

"The entire European project has become defensive in nature: its key purpose is to serve as a buffer against the apparent American menace. Meanwhile, nuclear weapons proliferate, civil wars smolder in Africa, AIDS marches through Asia… and millions of Europeans are more concerned about the spread of McDonald's and Coca Cola." - Timothy B. Smith in his "Reply to Dalrymple"

Perhaps it's a hasty generalization, but it made me chuckle.

In case you don't know [I didn't], Cato Unbound is a self-described "state-of-the-art virtual trading floor in the intellectual marketplace" where people smarter than me, er...umm...I, essay on various topics and welcome discussion from all over the interweb and from the good ol' paper and inkers. In their own words:

"Cato Unbound readers are encouraged to take up our themes, and enter into the conversation on their own websites, blogs, and even in good old-fashioned bound publications. “Trackbacks” will be enabled. Cato Unbound will scour the web for the best commentary on our monthly topic, and, with permission, publish it alongside our invited contributors."

This month's Unbound posits whether or not "Old" Europe's "progressive" social and economic policies, amidst immigration and changing demography, have sent the continent adrift on a slow boat to Craptopia. This should especially be interesting in light of the somewhat recent/ongoing debate on U.S. Social Security reform.

I have no comments at this time: I'm just relaying the information. If you happen to read this and feel compelled to comment, I - like Cato Unbound - encourage you to do so on your forum of choice [i.e. not here].

I promise - some DIY beer and rock'n'roll blogging is coming soon, but that's currently in the work-in-progress stage.

Here Comes the Overture

2006-02-15T16:42:00.000-08:00

To whom it may concern:

This is my foray into the realm of blogging. I know. I'm really getting into this trend on the ground floor, huh? Yeah, well, I've never been a fan of blogging and similar exercises in vanity.

So, then...

Why am I doing this? I've begun to realize blogs do have utility for someone like me. I think I'm doing this to improve my communication [interpersonal rapport] with friends, family, and the world[?]. I'm doing it to let people know I do things and I am interested in stuff [and I'm still alive].

Will it work? I don't know. Hopefully, I will be coming at you with music and fun. And if you're not careful, you might learn something before it's done.

Why "here comes the coda"? I don't know that either. A musician will tell you that a coda is the last passage of a musical movement or composition. The dictionary will tell you it's also the conclusion or closing part of a statement. While I could try to spin up a metaphor to tie the blog title to some deeper meaning [The end is near!], I'll just be honest: "here comes the coda" is a line from a song I like, and it's sung just before the song's coda. Brilliant!

If I can actually stay committed to this blog, I'll be interested to see what direction it takes. I do not intend on using this forum as a personal journal. I would even get bored reading about my life. But I think I [as well as others] might learn something about me through my commentary on the "things and stuff" that I find interesting. For now, I plan to focus on fun stuff and good times. Coming attractions include: new music [some good ol' indie rock and even some METAL!], homebrew, and SXSW. Buckle up, kids.

So, without further ado . . . here comes the coda.