No Excuses

No, not the brand of jeans...
(Although, I like the way you think...)

Ok, so there are no good excuses of where we've been with the blog, except that we've been busy.
Yeah, yeah, I know! Everyone gets busy!

So, just to get back on track, I should say:

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY, CORK!

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, JODY!

And, Boy! I cannot wait to tell you about this cutie pie!

Tagged by Mouse Tails

So, my friend, the Mouse Asthmatologist tagged me with a "six word memoir meme." The instructions were these: Write a six word memoir, then tag six others.

So, here's what I've got so far...

"Staggeringly indecisive, yet optimistic there's hope."

Or how about:
"Support our troops, Mice for Cancer!"

Wait, wait!
"Too old for Late Night Drinking"

Or:
"Happy Hour Hero more age appropriate"

Or, on an election night:
"Full onset Voter Anticipation Fatigue, *sigh*"

This is kind of fun, Mark, thanks!

I think I shall tag Jono, Emma, Danny, The Wagners of Rock, The LaCrowes, and the newly preggers Loopty Lou, who I am convinced is the first person to NOT do this.

Ahoy!

Overheard in Texas

3.11.2008, KUT traffic report, 5:30pm

"Loose cattle, rather, one large bull, in the road on Highway 71E. If you are traveling towards Bastrop and are anywhere in the vicinity of the Hog Wild Bar & Grill, be on the lookout for a few hundred pounds of pot roast on the hoof in the median."

What's the Point?

How do I know that New Year's Resolutions are meant to be broken?
Girl Scout Cookies go on sale the 3rd week in January.
Blerg.

Commuting Sentence

I drive 16 miles to and from work, and while the majority of the trip is on the MoPac Expressway, it often takes me almost 45 minutes to get to work and 45 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes to get home. Some folks in Austin have taken to referring to MoPac as MoPark. Clever.

MoPac, on a Sunday morning, I imagine.

I'd use the bus if I didn't have to transfer twice and have it take an hour and 40 minutes. A MetroRail project is underway. I'd use that too, but it won't expand to our neighborhood anytime soon.

So for now, unless we move to another part of town or I change jobs (which may well happen if the wrong person reads my last post), I'm stuck on MoPark.

On the bright side, there's one good thing about being stuck in traffic: You're not alone.

Ramblings from the last day of November

So I work in a 7-story building with about 500 other people. Most of us are in cubes. The people in the cubes want a cube with a window. The people in the cubes with a window want an office. The people in the offices want a bigger office. The people in the bigger offices want a corner office. The people in the corner offices want to retire.

I wear a badge which I sometimes leave at home. When I do that, I have to sign in at the front desk, because somebody needs a record of the people who forget their badges. There's been an armed security guard in the lobby the last two days because someone in the building had been threatened by somebody outside the building... somebody without a badge. Today, I left my badge in yesterday's pants.

My cube is full of tabloid-sized printouts of pages from the Student and Teacher's editions of my company's Elements of Literature textbook program. They call these printouts digitals because printouts doesn't sound jargon-y enough. In fact, my spell check doesn't even recognize digitals as a word.

I use a Dell at work. It's great for spreadsheets, word documents and email. I get a lot of emails. People like to send emails. Emails cover your @$$. If you want that corner office, you have to cover your @$$. My spell check recognizes @$$ as a word.

I don't use my home computer much lately other than to pay bills and check more emails. Tonight I'm finally using it to blog. So there.

The Fans' responses have been overwhelming! Your calls have been heard! And we shall post again!

HERS: Is October almost over, ALREADY?? What the?!?

Our New Autumn's Resolution is to try to post at least once a week.
Just one lousy post--how hard could that be, right??
Today's Fall-ish weather (it's about effing time, Texas) has re-invigorated me.

In the news, the DiSabantonio's have greeted a new baby girl named Anna Isabella--pictures, hopefully, forthcoming.
And now that we have officially vacationed just about all we can this year, the Holidays fast approach.
(Really? Seriously??)
The above pic is from the Furlong Family Vacation in Indian Shores, Florida--halfway between Clearwater, to the North, and St. Pete, to the South, on the Western Florida coast.
Check out that gorgeous sunset!

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.