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Well we had a string of some really nice spring weather, even having a good weekend to take out the visiting [livejournal.com profile] bigmacbear to a party and then the Eagle. Overnight it turned rainy and cold. We had gotten rid of the comforter on the bed but Chris had to wake up and haul it out early this morning as the temperature dropped.

Here's a few more questions that I need to answer:

1. [livejournal.com profile] deanosota asks: Will you be seeing The Watchmen this weekend?

Well, that was a yes. I saw it at the midnight showing on Friday. It was a theater filled with nerds and geeks, so an audience that would know the material. I thought it was good, but didn't have the spark to really be considered great. Many scenes looked like they were taken directly from the comic, and that was good, but the movie lacks something as an adaptation.

Let's face it, Watchmen is a character study. Who are costumed heroes? What makes them tick? If we put them in a really desperate situation, would they really come out as heroic as comic books make out? Only Dr. Manhattan is really a superhero, per se, and his powers make him so different that he no longer connects with humanity. It's a cynical, but likely realistic thought.

The ending in the comic book is more there to finish the plot than it is to give a big action sequence, so it doesn't really translate well in a superhero move where people are looking for the big fight. I'm sure that will disappoint many casual viewers who are expecting something more.

Luckily the audience knew the story and knew what to expect. They expected penis. You could tell who in the audience didn't expect that coming. Frankly we really need to get over this whole "you can't show male full frontal". It's really silly. No one made a big deal of the breasts in the film. In many of the negative reviews of the movie the reviewers were more shocked by the big blue than they were the graphic violence and blood. Personally I'm squeamish, and I can't watch horror movies - this was coming pretty close for me as far as gore goes. I say less violence, more penis.

Oh, and the soundtrack. Yikes. i understand using poplar songs to evoke a time is to help the viewer, but man, could you try to find songs that were less clichéd. When I heard "Hallelujah" and "All Along the Watchtower" it really took me out of the scene. In fact "Hallelujah" got many unintentional laughs from the audience.

Lastly, since it is a character move, and the reasons for the heroes motivations are really deep in the book, it's sad that the Silk Specter wasn't really given as much depth. She's the whole reason for Dr. Manhattan's actions in the present, but it doesn't really connect on screen how she was pushed into the superhero life by her mother and how she's the last connection to humanity for Dr. Manhattan. Part of it is because her mother didn't seem like the sad character she was in the book. Nite-Owl and Rorschach were handled pretty well.

Worth seeing, but I think that more adaptation and less cribbing from the comic could have made the experience a lot richer in the end.

2. An Anonymous reader named Curious and Alone writes: How did you meet your husband?

We met right here on LJ. About six years ago I had just started here on LJ. Chris had been on for a while. In connecting with friends of friends here, Chris commented on a post or two and eventually wanted to meet with me.

Chris was supposed to surprise me and come down to the Dallas Diablos and Houston Roughnecks Rugby game where I said I was going to go. I instead responded to an invite to go to Austin that weekend and meet [livejournal.com profile] cristalskye, [livejournal.com profile] lostncove, and [livejournal.com profile] mattycub, who were there to see one of Randy's plays at the fringe festival.

So we missed each other that weekend, but Chris then messaged me about meeting for lunch one day before he would go back to Dallas, and we met. It was over chicken fingers at Skeeter's near my office in Greenway Plaza. I talked - a lot - because I was so nervous. I remember a hug and how I walked away back to the office in a bit of a cloud of excitement!

Chris and then met a few more times when I would visit my sister who was living in Dallas at the time. Eventually the visits to Dallas were to visit Chris rather than my sister, then eventually I moved in. The rest is history.

3. Another anonymous questioner asks: Why aren't you on Facebook?

I go back and forth on this, but really, I'm not too crazy about another site. I'm on Linked In, Flickr, and Twitter and sadly on MySpace (there's nothing to see there, really). I'm not sure I really want something else to look at. Besides, remember Friendster? Yeah, well MySpace is already going the way of Friendster and I think we can all say that Live journal is less vibrant than it once was (sadly - it was the one place you could find people who could write a whole sentence). I'm worried that Twitter and Facebook will be yesterdays news pretty quickly.

I guess I'm trying not to join Facebook because I know that will be the moment that Facebook will have become totally uncool. Not that I'm worried that much about cool, but I know that the parade would have moved on somewhere else. I just wish I knew where it was moving to.

Oh, and I love Twitter, but it's already reached the point where it is now being marketed to, and then it fills up with more folks trying to advertise than actually trying to connect. It's like when MySpace became more marketing tool for bands and media companies than an actual community. It's the one thing LiveJournal hasn't become. I guess it comes down to the fact that people want community, but don't really want to be bothered by what would actually make the site a sucessful ommercial venture.

That being said, I'll probably give in and join Facebook sometime soon, but I hate those little "sell your friends" games.

I'm out of questions. This may be a good thing, but we'll see. I'll still take them. If you have a question, comments are screened if you go to THIS post. Keep asking away.
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About 3:50 this morning we were woken up by the power going out. It’s rather easy to know when the power goes out when the CPAP stops working. The power flickered on and off several times.

The wind was howling, and the lightning show was pretty spectacular. Unlike in most thunderstorms where there are flashes of light, for about ten minutes the sky stayed lit. Unlike two days ago, we didn’t hear more hail, not even rain, but just the wind and thunder. It was quite a powerful storm. Seeing that the power stayed on, I reset the clock and went back to sleep.

This morning I woke up with the dog nudging me wanting to go out. It was already 7:15, an hour later than I normally get up, and the blinking clock showed that the power had gone off again. I quickly showered, let the dog out and got in the car.

When I left the garage I saw that there was actual damage, not to our house, but in the neighborhood. Branches were everywhere, and two of the trees had been split and were down in the drive. Getting out on the streets, trees were down, a couple of homes had lost chimneys, and the new traffic light fixtures at the nearby intersection were in the street. Dallas police were blocking the north-bound traffic until the large metal fixtures could be removed.

The power was still out west of our house, and all the cars were doing the dance, as so many people do not know how to react to a four way stop on a major artery. The sign at the local Sonic had blown down, causing some damage. There was no report of a tornado in the area, but apparently there was sustained winds of 75 miles an hour for a while this morning.

Everything is A-OK with us, but I already got a couple of calls from friends and family this morning so I wanted to tell what was up.

I wish I had watched the lightning storm a little bit more, but I’m already tired from being knocked off my sleeping pattern, and I barely made it into work this morning. I'll have to take a further assesment to the damage in our neighborhood when I get home.

We’re still under a tornado watch for a bit longer, but it looks like the worst has passed us and is headed to the southeast. The weather for the next few days here shows springtime sun. Perfect to pick up a few branches.
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The weekend was quiet. I turned down a trip to Six Flags because I didn't feel like doing anything. After two weekends in a row of travel and bears, i was ready to sit down and catch up with weeks of television.

At work, I've spent two weeks twiddling my thumbs as they have been slowly signing people off for the "phones with training wheels." Since we're in between the first and second of three training modules, we're to get on the basic phones for tax season, as it's generally the busiest time of the year.

There's 36 of us in training right now. Each one of us has to site with a mentor and take calls, and after a coaching period the mentor grades us and checks us off to fly solo. It's taken 2 weeks to sign off the first 12 people. Due to call volume there haven't been enough mentors to go around as they are all needed to take calls.

Today was my first day on the phones. I was initially nervous, not only to be listened to, but also that it's my first time on inbound phone calls in six years. I'm sort of phone-phobic anyway, and then add to that the randomness of customer service calls. My third call was for a customer wanting to take out a 401(k) loan (bad idea). Because of the legalese you have to spout out with it, all the rules and consequences, it's the most difficult call we are able to take. I managed to get through it rather well thanks to pages of job aids, and that was good enough for the mentor.

My mentor was told to get back on the phones just after lunch. The mentor, Chase, told my boss that I was ready to fly solo, the quickest release of anyone in the class. I was quite happy about it, even though it means much less internet surfing at work. Now after two weeks I actually have to work for a while. When do we go back to training?

Of course it wasn't all work today. This afternoon the tornado sirens went on and we were off to hide in the stairwell until the all clear was sounded. Everyone was on their cell phones trying to get information. Someone said that a tornado touched down at Garden Ridge. I wasn't sure if they meant the nearby road, or an actual Garden Ridge pottery store. If it was the store, I'm sure there was a giant mess of baskets and rattan furniture along it's path.

The office is a satellite of the main office, and hasn't been open long. It was interesting to hear management getting together after the warning was lifted going over the emergency plans which apparently haven't been used much so far. One of the things overheard was "Oh, everyone fit in the stairwells this time, but we'll need somewhere else to put people when we hire the next class."

I had to go back to the phones and listen to a guy who's father had died and needed help with completing his estate. I was trying to be respectful and empathetic about his loss, but I had to transfer the call to another area. I listened into the other rep speak to him, with no respect for his loss. He said "So, when did the guy die?" rather rudely, then proceeded to quickly give the son the information needed to process the transfer, doing it so quickly that the son wasn't able to understand and was very rattled. I left the call, knowing my work was all for naught. Oh well, off to another day.

Now On Ice

Mar. 6th, 2008 12:44 pm
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On Saturday it was 80 degrees and sunny. We had thunderstorms Sunday night, and a driving, wet snowfall on Monday night.

By Tuesday morning the snow was gone, and on Wednesday it was 70 degrees and sunny.

Right now it's sleeting and the roads are starting to ice, meaning a real bitch of a commute home. (Edit: They are letting us go home now!! Hooray for training!)

This weather is chicken fricken' sandwich crazy.
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*Stop with the Christmas ads already! It's too early for me. I'm a last minute shopper! I won't even start thinking of buying crap until your desperate 40-50% off sales the week before Christmas!

I'm not even in the Thanksgiving mood yet, certainly not ready for Christmas. I was up late watching nothing and I notices Paula Dean cooking stuff I'd never eat, but I appreciate that she has a lot of butter in it. She had Kermit the Frog on for no real reason and they were cooking fried Thanksgiving foods - certainly a good step. Ms. Dean said "I love Thanksgiving because there's not pressure to go out and search and shop like there is for Christmas." Amen.

*It's been a lovely fall. Yes, 75 degrees is fall in Texas. We're just happy it's not 95.

*I was getting dinner at Culver's last night (it's a bit of an extra drive, so I don't get to go there much - which is good because I love their fried cheese curd), and I noticed on the Diet Dr Pepper fountain there was a NutraSweet sticker. It's been a while since I've see that logo. What ever happened to that branding? You never hear that name anymore.

*Crocs are still bad footwear, and are made even worse with Ugg Boot lining. Just say no, people. Two things together don't necessarily make a Reeses Peanut Butter cup.

*As far as the new job hunt goes, despite the fact that there are people who need help managing their investments, is it really a good thing to become a financial representative at the start of a recession? I'm thinking not.
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This morning there was a gorgeous double rainbow that was hovering over SH 114. It was there all the way out to the Work Ranch before finally getting swallowed up by a deluge.

I took the picture above, hoping to capture some of it, but all I had was my extremely awful phone. The phone's camera takes terrible pictures, and the battery barely holds a charge. I so need to buy a new phone. Anything coming out soon?

As far as weather goes around here, it seems we can't go a few days without it raining. After last year's talk about the drought, this year it's raining buckets and flooding the town like I still lived in Houston. Al the lakes they said were down have filled up, and all the wetlands are wet again.

I blame El Nino. That kid causes all the weather problems.

Otherwise, after failing to get it done over the weekend, I finally did get my haircut - at the mall. Yes, if Supercuts wasn't bad enough, there's always the el cheapo mall haircut. It wasn't even that cheap, actually.

The stylist really made me wish I had our ADD bear cutting again. At least he's fun to listen to and flirt with. this guy, he could cut hair, but he kept going on and on trying to tell jokes. Here's a sample: "Why did OJ Simpson want to move to Arkansas? He heard they all have the same DNA." Theses are jokes they wouldn't let you tell on Death Row.

I've had a lot of different haircutters, most of them are good about talking, or better yet, not talking. Personally, I'm not there to chat. If I had a regular stylist, yes, I could see striking up more of a conversation, but when I don't know you, and I'm just looking for a haircut, I don't need your open mike routine.

Since I go to cheap places for haircuts, most of the staff revolves quickly, so you rarely get the same person. it would be nice to have a regular stylist. I think the one I had for the longest time was Ms. Mixon, who worked at the barbershop in Conroe. No frills, that one. Still, she retired after a couple of years when we moved there, and then it was on to any and every cutter in the Supercuts universe.

I've paid over $30 for a haircut once, and I was so upset that the stylist wouldn't actually listen to me, that I decided I didn't need to go there again. I don't think for $30 you're really giving away your rights as a customer.

My hairstyle is simple, and rarely changes, and I like it like that.
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I have to go in to work today. I've been working a lot of Saturdays this year, but I get paid for it, so 4 overtime hours each week makes up for it. besides, Chris had to go into work too, so there's nothing going on at home. It's also raining. I have a stack of papers to be sent out on my desk that I wasn't able to get through this week, so that's my morning enjoyment. I may work out here too, before heading home Here's a couple of oddities at the Work Ranch right now.

When you build an office building in the middle of what used to be Ross Perot's pasture, you're bound to get a few critters now and again. Lately all the buzz has been about snakes found in the cafeteria. Hmm, let's think about it. On the third floor where i work we've had mice, so it's probably going to be the case that the cafeteria might also have some. A snake, looking for a meal would likely go where the mice would be...the cafeteria. If you don't want snakes, work on getting rid of the mice.

Of course you could also let the Bobcat that lives in the woods come in after the snakes. Do cats go after snakes? I don't know. or we can get one of the hawks in to catch the mice.

When they start building the new building out here, it will be interesting to see what critters get shaken up from that activity.

As far as humans go, there's this one lady that I've never worked with, but has an office on our floor. She's a Director - a manager of managers. I often see her going to get water at the water and Sonic ice dispenser (Sonic Ice is a sort of crushed ice that is in little rounded, tubular nuggets like they use at Sonic Drive Ins). She has short, spiky hair and always wears a pantsuit, much like Hillary Clinton does.

Unlike Hillary Clinton she doesn't look frumpy in her pantsuit. She looks like, especially when she's wearing white, Sigourney Weaver in the movie Jeffrey. If you've never seen Jeffery, give it 15 minutes and it will be on Logo. Every time i see her, I just want to yell "THAT"S DEBRA!"
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❄ Other people in the DFW area have been talking about snowflurries today. I haven't seen any here, so I must be in the warm part of town. Still, there's predictions of more as we drop below freezing tonight. I doubt any will stick, but it is still strange. I'm guessing that this is going to put a big damper on the Easter Pet Parade in Lee Park tomorrow, which sucks. We always see some great folks and their pets out there. Last year temps were in the 90's!

❆ About a month ago I saw a story stating that gas prices shouldn't go to $3.00 a gallon this year (in Texas). At that time prices had risen to $2.25. Now the price is 2.75. I'm going to guess that we'll hit $3.00 right after April 15th. *sigh*

❅ So I've been catching up with episodes of 24 this weekend. It's the first season that I've watched this show as I've seen a few people rave about it. I have one question: Has the show always been this bad, or is this season just terrible?

It's not necessarily the acting, but it's just the writing that seems awful. They have an interesting scenario, a suitcase nuke goes off, and not only do we see how we try to get those responsible, but we also see leader's response to it. The problem is, they throw away characters all the time. Someone shows up for an hour or two and then they disappear, having little impact on the plot arch of the show. Then there's the need to give the series regulars something to do, so they look for moles and have office romances and suspect each other of drinking on the job, none of which is interesting or does anything to move the story forward.

I wonder if the writers are also writers of videogames, as there is a similarity of plot devices where you go from one situation to another on a path to the finish. There's several small bosses that must be defeated (or as Jack Bauer does, interrogate them) until you finally get to the big boss.

There's also a lot of M. Night Shamalan "Ohh! What a twist!" moments that aren't as big a reveals as they seem to think.

I'll watch the rest of the season just to see what craziness they pull out to show that it's not the Muslims or the Russians or even the Cheney-like vice president. It's probably Jack's Dad who was seen in two episodes early on and promptly forgotten. After it's over, it's getting deleted off the Tivo.

❄Otherwise, Chris and I were at the local mall last weekend and it was a little dead. We walked by center court and there was the Easter bunny sitting there waiting for children to come up and get photos. At this mall he's a overly large brown furry with a nice waistcoat and tie. He was sitting on a park bench and the area was decorated like it was New York's Central Park. Why this was, I have no clue.

We're looking at the rather-lonely bunny from the second level, and Chris asks me if i found the bunny a little creepy. I said no and asked him what he meant.

He says, "Well you have a guy in a bunny suit waiting on a park bench for kids to come and sit on his lap."

Yeah, when you put it like that, yeah, it's creepy.
eggwards: (Eggwards: The animated series)
"Gobblers Knob" *snicker*
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Yesterday I decided to test my car and actually run out on the ice, making the 25 mile trip to work. The car did alright, especially going over the Bush Turnpike, where a long stretch of it is elevated over the Trinity River. There was plenty of ice and snow, and there was more than a few cars on the side of the road, in ravines, and turned around the wrong way. the work ranch is pretty far out, so there wasn't much sand on the roads out that way.

Chris' car, which needs some new tires, didn't make it very far. After sliding across an intersection, he went back home.

After an hour and a half on the road, I finally made it to work. A good half of my co-workers didn't come in. Still, I didn't come the furthest distance, one guy drove 45 miles to get there. I worried about getting home, but enough of the ice and slush had evaporated, that i only had to keep it under 30 mph getting back on the Bush Tollway. Driving home took an hour.

Here's why actually braving it, and going to work was good. Today management made a decision and told everyone that didn't come in that they would be charged with an unpaid personal day. Besides the fact that many people stayed home because schools were canceled, I was amazed that they would penalize people for doing the safe thing and stay off the road. The moral of the story is: risking your life, or at least your property ,is what you should be doing for this job. This job that doesn't pay you enough as is.

there was a lot of grumbling, and so management decided that we would open Saturday to allow people to make up the time they missed. Given that it's optional is one thing, but still, it seems rather rude to ask people to give up another day when the reason for the missed time was not of their making.

To add insult to injury, another winter blast is due on Friday night/Saturday morning, so the roads may be iced up once again. Management will put people up overnight in a hotel some what close to work tomorrow night just so they can make it in on Saturday. I'm guessing the money they may spend for hotel rooms might cost more than actually giving people sick time for Wednesday.

It seems as though the company doesn't like to close sites for weather related emergencies, but a snow day in Texas is much different than a snow day in Boston. They need to know that we aren't prepared for this stuff, and productivity hours will be lost. Is it too much to ask for a little compassion on this?

Heck, I got paid for two days that we were closed after September 11th and for another four that we lost to Tropical Storm Allison when our building was flooded out - all in the same year. There were also two days lost to evacuations for Hurricane Rita two years ago. Luckily Dallas isn't susceptible to Hurricanes.

With the way things are going, weather-wise, I guess I'll need to make sure my tires are in good shape and inflated properly. There's going to be a few more slick drives before this winter is over.
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Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is the only holiday I know of that I get along with the bank tellers, but not with much of the rest of the world. Bank tellers get Columbus Day, but I do not. Most people don't get this day off because it is close to other holidays. Personally, I think we could honor Dr. King and still move this date to August when we don't have other holidays.

Still, much like the vacation day I took a month and a half ago, having this day off allowed me to miss the driver's pinball game that goes on in Dallas every time there is an ice storm. Chris was not so lucky, but he managed to get to and from work just fine. I got to sit on the couch and read comics and finally get through some of my Netflix movies while Joey the Dog harassed the Roomba cleaning upstairs.

We went out to Chili's tonight for dinner and the place was nearly deserted. I'm not sure if it was the cold, or the fact that the waitress who will not touch food was working. We've had her once, and she's horrible. Apparently we insulted her by not coloring a pepper for charity - you know, spend a buck for charity and color the logo to go on the wall to show how well the store has done getting people to fork over extra money. When we turned her down, I guess we ruined her percentage of sales or something, so her service for the rest of the meal was terrible. We call her "no touchy" (said like David Spade's character from "The Emperor's New Groove") as she has other people bring out all of her food and drinks, and has a busboy clear it. she never touches a plate, on out table or anyone else's. Very strange.

At dinner I told Chris that while watching the news in the afternoon, one of the weather forecasters said that he new that some precipitation would be coming down on Wednesday, but said we would have to watch the 6 o'clock news to find out what kind it will be. This was one of the dumbest teases I'd ever heard. For one thing, we can all check the internet to find out it's going to snow on Wednesday, but you don't tease the weather, you tease that something in your house can kill you, or that a celebrity was caught doing something. Personally I'm waiting for "We have video of children having sex. Find out if it's yours at ten!"

With snow in our forecast, that just means the local news can continue to train cameras on the freeway mixmasters to try to pinpoint when ice form. then they hope an accident will occur during the newscast.

Finally, Chris and I finally figured out what the cable channel LOGO needs. They need to take Lifetime movies and recast the leads as same-sex couples. I'm not sure who would play Valerie Bertinelli, or Meredith Baxter Burney, but think of the possibilities.
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Why is there no "e" in "Wintry Mix"?
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I was off from work today. I'm burning off my "use it or lose it" vacation days, scheduling the last two available days of the year. The entire month of December was booked before I ever stated with the company.

Today I did a little shopping and I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, enjoying the warm weather. Over the next two hours we're expecting a line of thunderstorms to come through and drop temperatures some 45 degrees from the 70's into the 30's. We're expecting sleet with the thunderstorms and possibly snow tomorrow as the temperature plummets into the 20's. It makes me long for no-freeze Houston weather.

Chris the other day said that he already had my Christmas gift, so now I'm worried about getting him something. I have no idea. I thought about getting the XBox 360 game Viva! Pinata!, but now I think it's looking a little childish. Of course we're both playing Lego Star Wars II.

We still haven't found a Wii. I looked around today with no luck. I think you have to get up early.

I did find some slippers at Khol's. Really, shoes and socks are the only things I can buy there. I wish they carried larger sizes. Still, I wish i could find some of those bear paws slippers. I know it's silly, but they're cute

I wish that more people would use BearLix or another chat service. Bear 411 is crap, but everyone's on it. Can we just all move to a new site and not tell the creepy people about it?

We've seen two movies at the theater this fall, Borat and Casino Royale, both were good in very different ways. Really, there's very few other movies this holiday season that are piquing my interest. Lord knows we don't need any more animated animals. We also could do without the bratty kids in Unaccompanied Minors.

I did have an interesting reaction seeing the first few minutes of the trailer for We Are Marshall when the team is on the plane, looking happy and the coach mentions Marshall...I remember gasping knowing what was coming. The rest of the trailer didn't excite me though. It was just knowing what the scene was leading to. I might go see the Matt Damon movie The Good Shepard.

I've interviewed a couple of times for a new position at work. I'm not really hopeful about it since it's not an area I'm familiar with, and I haven't been with the company for a year yet, but I'm at least trying to do something to make my situation better. I'm also getting back into the interviewing game.

Mall walking is boring and the people at the mall kiosks are getting more annoying. I don't want to try your skin cream, and I really don't want it if I was just asked by your other kiosk at the other end of the mall. Then you say I'm grouchy? Yea Christmas spirit.

Lastly, politics. Didn't it seem like President Bush was open to change a few weeks ago, when he found that the Democrats had won? Well, that's changed, and it seems like he's back to his ways of just being a selfish whiny fool, claiming that we'll stay in Iraq following the same stupid strategy we've been following the last four years. The guy is in a self-made vacuum and he's never coming out, is he?

What will be interesting is if the rumors of replacing Dick Cheney come true, and they really work on creating a candidate for President for 2008. I'm not sure anyone running would want to take the job if Bush continues to be such a doof. It wouldn't help to start campaigning in a pit.

Oh well. I should do a longer post about this year's television shows, but that will have to wait.
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I see that recent Austin City Limits headliner Willie Nelson and member's of his band were arrested for a possession of marijuana. Really, is this news? I remember as we went from Willie's set to Massive Attack's across the field Saturday, we went from the weed section to the ecstasy section. Well, hopefully Willie can pay for the band's fines and Willie won't have to serve time. Not that I'm a legalization guy, but really, in the big picture is this really important? I would suppose Willie makes an easy target.

After Willie and my early Sunday morning allergy attack, we loaded up and checked out of the hotel to spend our last day of the festival. Scott ([livejournal.com profile] xkot) called us and asked us out to brunch, and Peter ([livejournal.com profile] texaspenguin) suggested Trudy's which was good. Now I have another place to suggest when we meet new people in Austin.

As we were driving over to Trudy's the downpour began and I was wondering if it was going to be worth to to go out to the park. There were other people waiting for a table who were also unsure about the day. I also was getting calls from Nakia to say that they were probably going to sit out the first acts and wait for the big acts to come on later in the day. Still Nakia and Ben ([livejournal.com profile] qualitykill) had been jumping from stage to stage the last two days, including running backstage, so we were lucky when we did see them. Personally, I just can't run around that much in the heat. We're more park and listen people.

Chris checks the schedule

Luckily the rain had ended by the time we finished lunch, so Chris ([livejournal.com profile] f__k) andI decided to risk it and go see KT Tunstall. Peter gave us a couple of umbrellas just in case. The park condition was decent, with just a few soggy patches, so we took our place and watched.

Once KT finished her pleasing set, David ([livejournal.com profile] metacub) and John ([livejournal.com profile] gtijohn) came out of the heart of the crowd, finding the bear flag. They had gotten there early to specifically see KT. None of us had plans for a bit, so we hung out together again, which was certainly great. I could go on and on about how good it was to meet our Bay Area visitors, but you get the idea.

So, who did we see on Sunday?
KT Tunstall
Jack Ingram (he was there, we just didn't move)
Matisyahu
Ween
The New Pornographers
Greencard

Jack Ingram was just one of those things where we were parked, and he came on the stage. He wins the prize for worst stage banter as he went on and on about who he is, repeating his name ad nauseam, and telling everyone he plays country music. In contrast The New Pornographer's had good banter, especially when singer Neko Case, complaining that her monitors weren't working sing-songed "I'll give a blow job to anyone who can give me some reverb!"

Of course it was nothing like the banter of the heavily bleeding Ben Kweller the day before, asking and getting a tampon from the crowd to stop the flow from his nose. It was the most talked about event at ACL, even getting the Flaming Lips to to mark the incident with red paint and tampons on stage.

The last set we all saw was the Greencards at the small Austin Ventures stage, while most of the crowd was either listening to Ben Harper or the Flaming Lips. The Greencards is a British bluegrass group that had done the Austin circuit for a few years before moving to Nashville. They played a satisfying set, trying not to be drowned out by Ben Harper. I think all four of us were fine with ending our weekend with a smaller, more intimate performance by some talented musicians.

Since Chris had jury duty on Monday, we had to leave early. David and John joined us for dinner at another Austin institution, Chuy's. As we had dinner a large thunderstorm moved in drenching the town. We knew that Scott and Peter were at the park watching Tom Petty. I saw stories later that Petty had to stop, and much of the crowd ran for the buses, but that eventually he came back and finished his set. By then we were long gone, back up I-35.

David and John chill, ACL style.

I know Chris and I were sad to leave the company of David and John, and hope that they will come back in future years. We were glad to see Scott, but we did miss the other guys who were there the last two years. I hope that for 2007 we can bring in more folks, because the event is just fun, with some incredible acts and a great city. Chris and I plan plan to continue making this an annual tradition.

As Chris and I travelled back home, Sirius was playing several ACL artists on 18- the spectrum and 26 - Left of Center. They did have a person "in the field" so to speak, doing a few reports back, but it wasn't as if they were an event sponsor. I was very glad that for whatever reason someone was allowing me to remember the event in music through the rain, across the state.
eggwards: (Together2)

Chris in the Snow, originally uploaded by eggwards.

Today is Chris' ([livejournal.com profile] f__k) Birthday. (look, his username doesn't have a line through it anymore!) He's really the one thing that made me come back from Boston.

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Before I get into tonight's post, I'd first like to say I never want to hear this phrase again in my life - "The foreign DNA sample inside JonBenet's pants".

While Chris and I were having dinner, the television above us was featuring CNN's wall-to-wall coverage of the increasingly outlandish story, the "analyst" kept repeating the phrase over and over again, making me loose my appetite.

Alright, that's over.

Today I went to see my doctor, making it the first vacation day taken from work since I got there in January. The doc was pleased with the weight-loss, and that I'm working out. He didn't even give me a new drug, but I'm still on the old ones. Frankly I feel better and seem to be having less medical issues, so go me!

Since I had the rest of the day free, I did a few errands for my upcoming trip, and then picked up Chris who I convinced to take a half day off and go to Six Flags Over Texas with me.

What was great about heading to the park today wasn't just that the crowds were smaller, but the crowd was downright sparse because school has started up for most kids in the area. Of course the fact that it was 105 degrees probably kept people away as well.

Generally any ride we went up to, we could get on immediately. Sometimes there would be no one waiting for the next ride, and we could go again. Compared to the madness of the last days of Astroworld where I think we rode three rides for the 6 hours we were there, this was heaven.

I also managed to fit my big frame into almost every ride I wanted to be on. The notable exception was the Batman ride that required a shoulder harness, rather than a lap bar. Being big is one thing, but being big and tall makes it pretty much impossible to get that shoulder harness down, and the connecting belt affixed. I guess i still have a goal there.

Still, I was proud that i got to ride the other coasters, sometimes I was uncomfortable - like in the very bumpy Texas Giant - a wooden coaster that tries to cram you into a seat, and the hard seat dividers then slam your hips for the next 2-3 minutes. I was hurting there, and in my knees that were hitting the front of the car.

I need to loose the hips, I tell you! then I'll fit right into that small, designated area they call a seat.

Still, after the second time through on the Shock Wave, I found that I was getting sick and dizzy. Being jostled around, hot and a little dehydrated was not making me feel good at all. Suddenly I was feeling like the slow walking grandparent that only wants to sit down at the mall. Sadly most of the air-conditioned shows and restaurants were closed due to lack of teenage staff. Still, we made a go of it, continuing to slurp down water at each fountain we saw, then braving the heat. Had there been lines, I know we would have given up and gone home.

My clothes were absolutly soaked - and not from the infrequest misters around the park. When we went home, we needed a shower so neither of us would be mistaken for salt licks.

Still, a great day, and lots of fun riding rides I remember and seeing the changes in the park since I was last there - which I think was 1999. I bored Chris with plenty of recollections on how the park was in the 1970's and 80's, mostly dealing with the before PC usage of Indians attacking the French fort, scalping the settlers, and the fact they still called the southern area the Confederate area, with battle flags flying.

So we've gotten back in the coasters, now to work on fitting in them comfortably.
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✩A couple of people at work have stopped me and said that I look like I've been loosing weight. Maybe it's because I have to pull my pants up as my belts are getting loose, and I've been too cheap to get a new one (and I really like my brown belt!). Thank goodness that Texas Tax-Free weekend is coming up.

Still, two people have noticed, and that feels good - now I'm waiting for all the hotties to notice. Chris has noticed as well, but he's biased. :-)

✡Mel Gibson. What a stupid guy. If you're going to be drunk, shut up - and rent a limo. We know his thoughts on Jews, and we know that he's not really fond of the gays either, so if he pisses off the Scientologists and the Kaballists, then he's pretty well fucked in Hollywood, isn't he?

Luckily the heatwave is taking our mind off the trouble in Lebanon, which took our mind off of the trouble in Iraq, which of course took our mind off of the trouble that is Lindsey Lohan.

✪Cuba. I guess since it's been somewhat verboten for americans to travel there for the last 50 years, you really want to see what it's like. Of course I find the ads for Cuba that are in Canada interesting. Heck, they have nationalized health care - but you have to drive a car with fins (maybe not the worst trade off).

It will be interesting to see what happens as power shifts. I need to get with the couple of Cuban Americans I know to get their opinions, but is an Americanized Cuba better than just letting them finding their own path without our interference. Heck, they might not like the new Castro in town without the help of those who are now americans.

✦I'm positively giddy that there's a Hurricane Chris right now. Unfortunately Hurricane Mike won't come for a few weeks more if this global warming keeps going.

❁Dang that Angela! Will you just be Auf'ed already!?
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Chris and I went out to shop for a bit today. The weather here in Dallas, and in most of Texas is really great, so of course we stayed in the mall. Tomorrow I'll have a new look so I'm kind of excited. That means my glasses, normally ready in about an hour, will be delayed. Everyone else was out to get new glasses as well today, and insurance benefits are running out.

Tonight we'll be heading out to a party at Mark and Ami's. It's the same one we were at last year, so it is sometimes true that the place that you start the year is the same place.
you end it.

Last night as I drove up to Dallas there were signs all along the highways that announced a burn ban is now in effect. You may have heard about the wildfires here and in Oklahoma. Of course, people in smaller towns do still burn trash and leaves and such, so it's not surprising how these started. Luckily it's not colder. Strange enough, I still noticed several fireworks stands that were open as I went along.

I'm sure that will all of the dry weather here, we'll be dodging a few cherry-bomb lit infernos or some such.

Here's a photo that Chris took of me the other day. I'm so damn GQ.

Chris [livejournal.com profile] f__k also has another new one in his journal, and a pic of himself that I pushed the shutter button.

Have a good New Year's Eve, and stay safe out there.
eggwards: (Give Me Money!)

Look out! It's Tropical Storm Catherine Zeta-Jones!!!

Of course, it's in the mid 70's here, and will be for another week. It's doubtful, but couldn't you just see the Texas coast being hit by Hurricane Zeta in January? Crazy.

So will the next storm be Tropical Storm Eta, or will they got to the first name for 2006, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales? The actual hurricane season doesn't start until June.

Although Hurricane Eta sounds funny.

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