The Quest for Fire-y Chiles

Chuy's Hatch Green Chile Festival is almost here...
...complete with a Primitive Man advertising campaign.

The Bat at the Grove

So the little Honda from East Tennessee has a new nickname:
The Black Bat.
Fitting for a little black car that now resides near the home of the world's largest urban bat colony, no?
Here she is just hanging out at Shady Grove.
I had a Hippie Sandwich and a cup of Airstream Chili.
Jamye had a Turkey Sandwich and a cup of Green Chile Chicken Soup.
I assume that the Bat had a few bugs.

Nuts

So laden with pecans is our little tree next to the driveway that not one but two branches took a tumble last week.
These are exciting times here in Austin.

Adios, Red Ryder

October 26, 2002 – July 20, 2007
38,430 miles – 115,319 miles
Nashville, Tennessee – Austin, Texas

She was a good car. We'll miss her.

Did we mention...

that our friends, Chelle and Christian, were in town from California for a long weekend in June.

We ate, drank and were merry. Here are C&C making merry with us at the Hula Hut on Lake Austin.

For those of you who may not be aware of some of the current hair stylings for telecommunication experts who occasionally moonlight as drummers in Los Angeles, Christian is sporting a what is commonly referred to as a fauxhawk. The fauxhawk, while generally rare in Texas and Tennessee, can be spotted from time to time in Austin.

Old Crow Medicine Shows

For the second time this year, Jamye and I got to see Old Crow Medicine Show in concert. Ironically enough, we never caught these boys from Nashville before we moved to Austin.

This time they're in town to play a couple of warm up shows at The Parish on 6th Street before they tape an episode of Austin City Limits tomorrow night. The picture above was taken by yours truly at last night's performance. Click on the photo for a special video of David Rawlings and Gillian Welch and OCMS performing a classic rock hit from 1968.

And keep your eyes peeled for OCMS on ACL. Time and date TBD. 'K?

Is anyone else watching Battlestar Galactica???

Frakkin' A!
This is the best show on television!

Oscar Update, 8:43pm

Ok, I've already dozed off twice.
Even though I really, really enjoyed Will Ferrell, Jack Black, and John C. Reilly...and that dance troupe is pretty cool, I do believe that this is the most boring. Oscars. EVER.

Didn't they used to sprinkle the technical and Shorts, etc. throughout the evening?
I mean, it's a quarter till 9 and we've only seen one major category: Best Supporting Actor. And upset Eddie Murphy, Alan Arkin did.

Oscar Update, 7:23pm

What the??
Granted. For the past 5 years--busy with an actual PARTY--I guess I haven't noticed what a waste of 30 minutes this opening part to the Oscars is.
WHY ON EARTH do they have a huge yellow signature board for nominees?
This isn't a wedding where the guests get to sign the engagement anouncement photo so that the wedding couple can fondly recall who attended.
I mean, WE ALREADY KNOW who's showing up, right??

But, I must say, Cate Blanchett and Helen Mirren actually GLOW.

It's the 79th Annual Academy Awards and [what would be] our 6th Annual Oscar Party!!

And you're invited!
Gonna be there??

Jono's declared an ass-trouncing again this year, as I have only beaten him once--in 2003, our 2nd Annual Oscar Party/Tracy and Jody's wedding shower at the Blue Moon (a moment of silence...). And speaking of Blue Moon; Jono wore his Blue Moon closing-night-tee last night to La Zona Rosa to see Old Crow Medicine Show.
A concert which, indeed, trounced ass.

We'll see you tonight!

When Austin Freezes Over

Austin Can Hold its Water

Note the level of Shoal Creek behind Chelle and Jamye in the picture above. They're standing outside Shoal Creek Saloon, one of our favorite watering holes. The picture below was published in the Sunday morning edition of the Austin American Statesman. That's the Shoal Creek Saloon in the background... and Shoal Creek in the foreground. Yeah, it rained a lot on Saturday.

Introducing Loryn Elise O'Neal

The O'Neal family's latest addition arrived the day after Christmas. That's her big sister, Morgan, above holding her the day she got to come home. Below is big sis bonding with Loryn in the hospital.

I look forward to making a trek to Tennessee to see my newly expanded family soon.

2006 Year End Review--In Brief

Well, just after we left off in mid-September with the ACL Fest (which still rocks, by the way!), my parents made a spontaneous trip to Austin to--yes, ladies and gents--purchase a Corvette.

My parents, who live 40 minutes away from the Corvette Capital of the World, flew 2 hours to Austin, Texas to prove they are the Baby Boomers With Expendable Income of legend. Yes, it took a low-mileage, very reasonably priced, C5 Torch Red with Oak Top and Interior Corvette Convertible to get my parents on a plane and into Texas, but we did it by gawd! And we couldn't have been prouder of them--for hopping the plane, for jumping in with both feet, and for doing something for themselves, finally, after 30 years! Congrats, you deserve it!

Shortly thereafter, Jon Michael came for a visit and he and Jono had a wonderful, football-indulged, catch-up weekend. They even got to go see the Longhorns beat up on Baylor. AND we had the opportunity to see the Old 97's play at Stubb's (which is by far--so far--our favorite music joint in Austin). And let's see, that will make for my 4th time seeing them and the guys, well that's like...5th, 6th? Something like that.


THEN, a couple of weeks later, we trekked back to Stubb's with Tracy and Matt to see Broken Social Scene just before heading to the airport to pick up the Crowe's from beautiful Southern California. When they got here--and after I had picked my jaw up off of the floor at the news that they were expecting--we had a great time hosting them around town, eating well, and drinking near-beer over card games at the dining room table. (Did Jono abscond with those photos?) We love you guys! Congratulations!!!

Then the Holidays came flying at us and shortly after Thanksgiving, Kate and young Jackson Standish came for a weekend visit. Oh, we had fun--not only did we eat well and lounge around, but we got Kate hooked on Battlestar Galactica.
Hoorah!

What a face!

Finally Christmas came, as did a new niece in Memphis (photos forthcoming) and Jono's parents for a little R&R. For Jono's mother's 60th birthday, we celebrated at Fonda San Miguel, and basically ate our way across Austin. Queso shall be near-forbidden in 2007...

And with that, we also resolve to not wait so long to post such fun events!
Thanks to all of our family and friends for making 2006 such a great year--here's to 2007!!

Drats!

Tonight's trip to Amy's Ice Creams – where they have the guess-the-movie-quote and win-a-free-Crush'n-for-your-ice-cream-game – was a bust. (Except for the ice cream, of course. Mmmmmm Mexican Vanilla!) You see, Jono's been a victor in this realm before, and tonight, I felt I had it.

"I've sold my soul to a bunch of Swatchdogs and Diet Coke heads," was the quote.

Heathers? I asked our server.
"Hold on," as she ran back to the back to check with (I assume) a manger.
"Nope, sorry."

DRATS.

Au contraire mon frere:
a) it IS from the movie Heathers. AND:
b) the full quote is actually:
"Betty Finn was a true friend and I sold her out for a bunch of Swatchdogs and Diet Cokeheads." You can check out the script here.

SOMEBODY owes me a free Nutter Butter Crush'n!

(Thank you, Internets!)

I CALLED IT!!!

I called it!

By now you've probably heard about Time Magazine's 2006 Person of the Year: You.
And I think I might have to agree with Heather Orne that the Time Magazine employee in charge of choosing the Person of the Year must've called in sick that day...but, anyway.

What are the odds? Jon and I were just having this conversation not too long ago. About the "Information Age" that we now live in and how people actually aquire said information--how much that process has changed. While Wikipedia is a great resource for many things it still can't be cited as a relevant source of knowledge. (My co-worker's grad-student husband has had a multitude of undergrads try it in one of the political science courses that he's TA-ing. How funny is that?)

Whilst we used to take pen to paper and log a personal file of feelings, emotions, and events, we now have weblogs--where we publicly fill virtual space with the same (usually--but no offense fellow Bloggers!) fodder.

At the same time, I get it, I get it: it's nice to have a voice and know that somebody, somewhere out there might actually be listening and might actually agree. But mostly it's just a nice way to stay closer in touch with those loved ones that are further away.

Where all of this becomes slightly dangerous (and I get slightly agitato) is when people can sit back, voice an opinion, and because someone else sees it in print form, takes it for the truth.
(Trust me, I'm guilty too. "2007 New Year's Resolutions...")
Which is why our socio-political Sensei Stephen Colbert's Wikiality (where "if enough people believe something is true...it is!") is so vital to our new way of Information Gathering. A lot of it has to be done tongue-in-cheek. Most of us at home, slackers and non, have the opportunity to just keep adding to that vault of "knowledge" and there's no bouncer at the door. It's "All Skate." And it's all just OUT THERE for us to stumble upon. (Why do I have to know about Rosie O'Donnell's blog? Oh yeah, because I read about it on another blog.)
And you know it's true, you just read it on the internets.

Ok, so like it or not, Congratulations YOU!
The Dude approves.

(p.s. -- Download "Vigo Bay" by Minotaur Shock!)

Merry Christmakkah!

So, we picked out our Christmas tree last weekend and when Jono got the lights on it, he told me of his childhood wish to have simply a Light Tree. No ornaments. Just lights.

It didn't take me too long to realize just how energy efficient this actually was...because, you know, it had never occurred to me...so, this is your year, Jono!

Merry Christmas to all of our loved ones!

Scene from a Texas Turkey Day

So Jamye and I pulled off an honest-to-God Thanksgiving dinner last Thursday. We were so impressed with ourselves that we could barely eat for patting each other on the back.

It was our first Thanksgiving for two, and even with the unmitigated success of our inaugural turkey day in Texas, I'd be lying if I said we didn't miss being with our families. When you cut through all the mashed potatoes, dressing and cranberries, I know that's what Thanksgiving is all about.

We hope they know how thankful we are for all of them, and that I really could've used a large slice of my mom's homemade lemon pound cake and ice cream with raspberry sauce that afternoon, and by used, I mean eaten... and by that afternoon, I mean that afternoon and evening.

Insert additional "having your cake and eating it too" joke here.

Apparently,

I am Spider-Man.
I am intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.
CLICK HERE to take the Superhero Personality Test

Also, click on the picture ol' webhead above for a blast from the past.

Election Day 2006

Everything's bigger in Texas... including the field of gubernatorial candidates.

It seems odd that someone who only gets 25% of the popular vote can become the governor, but in a race that has 5 candidates, it's very possible. Preliminary polls show incumbent Rick Perry retaining his post with about a third of the vote. But you never know.

Did you know the Spanish word for Governor is Gobernador? Try saying that without thinking about California Gobernador "Ahnuld" Schwarzenegger.

The odd thing is that the governor's race has consumed so much of the local media's attention that I actually had to do some digging to check out the candidates for the House and the Senate. . . . . . . . . That was fun.

Also, I was unaware until I stepped into the voting booth that you could make a selection that would automatically cast votes right down party lines... you know, without being bothered by the candidates themselves. How mindlessly convenient!

So, yeah, I voted. I like voting. Even though I know very little about politics, I like to push the buttons and get my "I voted" sticker (which is now in the trash can since it had been removed and reapplied twice to a couple of different baseball caps). It's like I'm part of a club. Plus, I reserve the right to have an opinion about the state of affairs in my little corner of the world, and if I don't vote, how can I do that in all good conscience.

"The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government." -FDR

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." -Ronald Reagan