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.

Still there?

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.

Ice Storm 2007

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!