Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween

Had i spent halloween at my own home, i was planning on sitting outside with a bowlful of candy and a candelabra with red tapered candles, but it didn't happen; we ended up in Katy, with the singleterrys.

PBS Kicks ass

PBS Kicks ass

Rumfeld's War Online.

Its torture to wat ...buffering ..ch it on ...buffering...Windows Media Player ... but it is an excellent piece. So watch it anyway.

Photo iPod Thinking

Maybe it says something that I don't remember exactly if its the Photo iPod or the iPod Photo. Maybe it takes the third of so variation on a name to set the mold that the modifier comes after the name: iPod Mini, iPod Photo, (what next?). When I jokingly asked Killy if he was going to get one, he responds with some verbal force against the well received unit. I was kinda taken aback. What's the big deal?

The unit seems like a logical evolution of the iPod--color screen and more storage space. It's a matter of keeping up with or ahead of the Creatives and iRivers, etc. So with all this additional space, what are people going to do with it? How big are most people's music colelctions anyway? Okay, mine has grown to 18 gigs now, but is still far outstripped by my current iPod's 30 gig capacity, which is far smaller than the new biggie's capacity: 60 gig. Electronic photo album seems to be a logical next extension.

The iPhoto library I keep on my computer is 1.6 gig, so it is reasonable from a space perspective. One of the things my family enjoys whenever I return from a trip or am visiting is to check out pictures on my laptop, so photo display capacity within the iPod seems like it would be pretty handy. You just hook it up to the TV, clicky-clicky on the scroll wheel and presto, something handier than everyone squishing together in front of my laptop.

On the other hand, $600 for a music and picture player seems pretty excessive. For just $300 more, you can pick up an iBook and have a handy laptop that is far more flexible than the iPod. You can plug it into a TV just the same or show photos in 1024 by 728 resolution, much sharper than TV. You can play music with it too.

But would you really want to? The power of the iPod is how it leverages your current computer resources into spaces where using a computer is incovenient or practically impossible. The original iPod was dubbed too expensive at $399, and opened the way for larger capacity and more expensive versions. It also eventually lead the way to less expensive and more capable iPods. In some ways the iPod Photo is a version one, something to test the waters and see what it next.

Apple History Links:

• Original and second generation
• Third generation
• iPod Mini
• Fourth generation

Quoth the Phantom Menace

Quoth the Phantom Menace

We didn't find difficulty dealing with Bush and his administration due to the similarity of his regime and the regims in our countries. Whish half of them are ruled by military and the other half by sons of kings and presidents and our experience with them is long. Both parties are arrogant and stubborn and the greediness and taking money without right and that similarity appeared during the visits of Bush to the region while people from our side were impressed by the US and hoped that these visits would influence our countries. Here he is being influenced by these regimes, Royal and military. And was feeling jealous they were staying for decades in power stealing the nations finances without anybody overseeing them. So he transferred the oppression of freedom and tyranny to his son and they call it th e Patriot Law to fight terrorism. He was bright in putting his sons as governors in states and he didn't forget to transfer his experience from the rulers of our region to Florida to falsify elections to benefit from it in critical times.

From the Drugde Report Transcript
Other transcripts here and here.

Song of the Day

Song of the Day

Jumping someone else's train

The return of the canon sd-10

The return of the canon sd-10

today, i expect the sd-10 to arrive all sparkly black from canon's repair center.



in other news, i plan on casting my vote today for john kerry.

After I cast my ballot yesterday, I felt like I should have received some kind of receipt or confirmation, other than the "I Voted" sticker".

San Marcos Cinnamon Rolls

I was looking at this article on Engadget and started thinking about those San Marcos specialty cinnamon rolls--what were they named? A quick Google search brought me to a forum where people were chatting about their favorites and yes, someone mentioned the Manske Roll. Do they still make them? Does anyone care? If you can believe it, I actually found them to be too greasy.

Rock the Vote

Rock the Vote

Vote November 2nd

Rock the Vote ... or Not

Truth be told, there is more incentive not to vote in new york than most would like to admit. new york's electoral votes always go to the democratic candidate, even though most of upstate new york and long island vote republican. still, the voting power of the largely democratic city itself vastly overwhelms the votes of the rest of the state. so when you already know that the popular vote is not what wins the presidency, where is the incentive to get involved in the whole bureacratic process?

This atmosphere of voter apathy is worsened by the fact that registering to vote guarantees that you will be added to the list for jury duty summons to be mailed to your address on a highly consistent basis. and who can afford to take off from work for several days of judicial drudgery? most new yorkers simply toss their jury summons in the trash each month, until they get increasingly more threatening notices that the law will come and hunt you down and drag your ass into the jury box...

or you might avoid all of the hassle and simply not register to vote and just let the electoral college work its magic, counting on there being enough do-gooders on the democratic side to save your lazy ass from months of guilt and self-flagellation over a republican won presidency, especially when the candidate is a complete moron at best and a religious zealot salivating at the prospect of armageddon at worst...

but, hey, don't blame me, I didn't vote!

Fascinating Report

Fascinating Report

on NPR about the 1953 US Coup in Iran that toppled the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mossadegh. Read about it here...

Voter Registration Checker

Interestingly enough, this tool is a frame of a page on the accyes.org website. ACCYes is an organization dedicated to getting ACC into San Marcos. Here are the Trudeau's in Austin.

Roommotes!

The Statesman Endorses Bush

The Statesman Endorses Bush

Crazy.
Also, it looks like Elizabeth Riddle Sorensen voted on the 19th. But has Todd Serpa? Find out here.

Mambo rock

Mambo rock

I've been tooling around with Mambo after talking with todd about the mangum manor webiste; or, at least, what the mm civic club president wants to do with the site. Thanks, todd, by the way.

New York Daily News: Ashlee's star is sync-ing far

Amber and I caught this performance on Saturday Night Live this weekend. It got me thinking, why not have pop music front people that are just lip sync-ers? It isn't as if actors actually say all the words in a movie. After the film is cut, they re-speak everything, then this is dubbed onto the final product. Likewise, the value of pop music people doesn't come from their singing voices; there is this larger performance that they keystone that is part of a powerful participatory experience. In the NY Daily News, they quote half of Milli Vanilly saying that "the sincerity behind their performances could never have been faked."

Speaking of Tiger and FontBook ...

Speaking of Tiger and FontBook ...

has anyone actually tried using font book? i recently tried to cut down the amount of fonts that appear in ps. i was making my sister's engagement announcement and turned off all fonts with the exception of the few possible fonts i would use for the document, but when i tried to choose a font in ps, they were all still in the menu (and usable). i'm obviously not using it right, but does anyone know how to use it correctly?

10.25.04

10.25.04

today, i will probably cut my yard tonight. It rained most of the weekend here. as carol and i came upon houston from 290 we could see a huge rain cloud over houston. i could see, in my brainpan, the ground swelling and the dark mud in the long swath of what used to be a garden running along our fence.

from the kitchen window i could see that many of the petunias that i had planted last weekend, were blooming. i went outside to count: 12. Twelve petunias were blooming; four had 'double' flowers. I think this was the first time i've ever gotten my wife flowers. she always balked at me doing that for her before. (that is not exactly true, i did get her a dozen roses for v-day the first year the baby was born.)

meagan's son is really beautiful. translucent and bald with the brightest blue eyes. he laughed at carol and i. adolfo iv demanded that carol put him down. "mama! baby! down!" pointing his finger to the floor and grabbing at her legs all the while. i distracted him with a tub of toys that carlene keeps in the house.

adolfo and i also shared a batch of blueberry muffins. while the Ben the baby coo-ed and stared and spit up on my wife.

Meagan showed up after having had problems with her rental car.

We all headed to Frank & Angies for dinner and had a 'Chairman of the Board' pizza. I don't know what a chairman of the board and a buttload of red onion and bell peppers have to do with each other, but it was damn good. Adolfo IV shoved spaghetti into his mouth and ate the crust to one of my pizza slices.

Later, paul, todd, a girl whose name i forget and i walked down sixth, to west lynn, past Don's Depot to the Mean Eyed Cat Cafe for a pitcher of Dos Equis. We hung out there for maybe an hour and listened to a pretty good jukebox. And yes, there is a Johnny Cash song called 'Mean eyed cat'.

After a pretty fitfull sleep (three of us tried to sleep on paul's futon) we woke for breakfast at El Sol y La Luna. i can't remember if i've ever ordered anything other than the Huevos Motuleños.

We spent the rest of the afternoon with adolfo, taking him to the park so he could run himself tired for the trip home. We also managed to spend about an hour and a half at the Austin Children's Museum.

He slept the entire way home, thankfully.

AppleInsider | New Tiger builds reveal . . .

. . . That the Beatles' Rubber Soul is an album whose cover art is available somewhere? Looks like a Sosumi sound to me....
AppleInsider | New Tiger builds reveal smart font collections, security additions, more

Day Nine.

I am heading Home manana.
Cant Wait.
The plane lands at 4pm.
Whew!!!!!!
In the past 9 days I have Gone from Austin to San Francisco.
San Francisco to Crescent City.....about 1/2 an hour from Oregon border.
Back to San Francisco.
San Francisco to Sonoma. 1hr north of S.F.
Sonoma back to S.F.
San Francisco to Bodega Bay.
45 Minutes North Hard left then West for 30 miles till you hit Bodega Bay.
Bodega Bay is where Alfred Hitchcock filmed "The Birds".
Then back to S.F. Where I am today.
1500 Miles total on the Pontiac vibe.
Back to the Apple store to check my Email.

Recipe Swap

Ha! Everyone says having a baby gets easier after the first month or two -- after reading carol's post, I'm not so sure. Of course, it's all worth it!! I love my little honey boy bambino wiggle worm antonio. he just smiled at anthony for the first time today. and now he says "coo-coooo" a lot which is really sweet. i love how much he complicates my life -- it's the best thing being a mom ... I feel a deeper contentment now than ever before. Who needs sleep, anyway?! Sleep is for losers!!

Carol, can you give me your recipe for the shells and turkey? sounds soooo yummy ...

United We Stand?

United We Stand?

This is some scary shit.

Life in half hour increments

6 p.m. - I take off my work clothes and drop them on the floor in a puddle, baby still holding on to the skirt I just removed. I fish for the free hanger (that I try to keep at the front of the closet for such occasions) balancing myself on one foot because baby is climbing up my leg trying to either put my skirt back on me or on his head or something.
"Mama...mama...mama...mama...(infinity)!"

I can hear Killy in the living room unpacking his computer.

6:30 p.m. - Have changed Adolfo's diaper twice by now. He's smearing orange pulp into my hair and face from the freshly peeled fruit he just shoved into his mouth. I calmly explain to him that hitting mommy in the face is not nice. Killy gets up from his computer to sternly reprimand Adolfo for this attempt to show me love and trust.
"Mama...mama...mama...mama...(infinity)!"

7 p.m. - House is somewhat clean for a change. This means we managed to put the dishes in the dishwasher last night so all I have to do now is thaw the ground turkey in the microwave.
"Mama...mama...mama...mama...(infinity)!" I set Adolfo in front of the T.V. with Shrek playing and some select toys scattered throughout the living room. "Mama...mama...mama...mama...(infinity)!" I sit next to him for a few minutes to comfort him with my elbow (he loves rubbing my elbow with the metal rod in it). Then I sneak into the kitchen.
Ground turkey in the microwave thawing.
"Mama...mama...mama...mama...(infinity)!"
From the far reaches of the master bedroom emerge some scruffing/crashing/bumping sounds. "Mama...mama...mama...mama...(infinity)!" No crying. I add the shells and the cheese to the turkey, my boys LOVE this dish, chop up some fresh broccoli, add to the mess.
Adolfo comes around the corner carefully walking wearing my blue flat shoes with the flower on them. "See? See? See? See?" he pleads. I grunt as I lift his heavy girth to my waist and prop him, legs open, across my belly. My shoes fall from his little fat feet to the floor. I let him toss a few chopped broccoli chunks into the bubbling brew.

7:30 p.m. - Killy comes up for air and kisses me on the cheek. Food is ready. Adolfo is hitting his airplane-color-changing spoon onto the t.v. He's scattered his toys all over the living room, has thrown his Ikea train set into disarray, has crawled under the rug several times playing peak-a-boo ("Mama...mama...mama...mama...(infinity)!"), has climbed up and down and all around every couch, chair, table surface, etc.. "Mama...mama...mama...mama...(infinity)!"

"Come on baby, let's eat papa!" Killy pleads. Adolfo evades his daddy. "NONONONO!" I run after Adolfo, catch him, shove a piece of food in his mouth, "Mormormormormor!"
He eagerly sits in his high chair, two spoons in hand (where'd he find the other one?) Bowl is still steaming, corn on the cob has cooled significantly. He digs a clean spoon into his steaming bowl (I managed to pry the other two from his fat fingers). "Ooooh, it's HOT HOT HOT baby!" I warn him, he doesn't listen, shoving a spoonful of cheesy shells/broccoli/turkey into his FAT mouth. He doesn"t cry or scream, he just spits it right back out scrunching his little face. "Baby, it's HOT HOT HOT. You gotta blow on it." He blows...once...and proceeds to shove the steaming food into his charred mouth, regardless of the heat now.

8 p.m. - He's eaten 2 corn on the cobs and a bowl and a half of cheesy shells with broccoli. His shirt is smeared with everything and now he’s tossing his sippy cup on the floor. "Mama...mama...mama...mama...(infinity)!" Killy and I try to clean quickly. Adolfo tries to climb into the dishwasher.
NO!
He manages to make off with the utensil basket. "Mama...mama...mama...mama...(infinity)!"

8:30 p.m. - "Do you want to take a bath baby?"
"NONONONO!" I prepare the tub with his fishy matt and foam letters anyway. The sound of the water splashing entices him. He climbs in diaper and all. I manage to get the diaper off before it sucks up all the water but he wants to keep the shirt on.
"Buboos...buboos...buboos!" He slides back and forth on his belly making bubbles in the tub. He finds the cup and commences to pour the contents of the tub onto the bathroom floor matt.

9 p.m. - Newly diapered and powdered. Hair still wet (he hates to have his hair dried). We lay in bed and he counts "One dot...two dots..." He explains the circulation of the ceiling fan "Wound...wound...wound..." We read Gumby's Circus, Oppsy Daisy, Polka Dot, Bon-Bon on the Go Go. Flick the lights off. We sing songs
"I've been working on the railroad..."
"Go to sleep...go to sleep..."
"Los tres cochinitos estan en la cama..."
"Duermete mi nino..."
"Baby, baby,
baby, baby,
I love you,
My little baby,
baby, baby,
boy..."

10 p.m. - Killy comes to bed. We snuggle in the quiet of the night...

Voting Thoughts

Early voting is a pretty interesting initiative. In some ways, one of the classic assumptions of traditional democracy and elections is that elections are a one-day affair (in my head at least). However, every since voting was expanded past age of majority white male property owners, it has probably been difficult to get everyone's ballot cast on the same day. The problem is apparent enough in national elections across time zones where polls close at different GMT's because of local time customs.

However, the hype and national theater of democracy is the "exit poll" and the concession and victory speeches. Early voting completely bypasses this and makes your vote very convenient, un-newsworthy and un-sexy. It makes voting like paying your bills at the grocery store--some people pay their bills early, some on time, too bad so sad for the people who pay late in this case. What will happen when most people are using the far more convenient method of early voting? Will news coverage of an election crank up in the weeks before an election and update their exit poll predictions of who is winning?

I've been thinking about concession and victory speeches since the 200 election. What does the concession speech mean? I've grown up with democracy being this epitomized by this event hyped as one fateful day closed off by a speech that for all intents and purposes decides the election. After the concession speech the ballot counters may keep on, but at that point they are treated as a technicality. What would happen if a candidate conceded, but then won the ballot count? By issuing a speech, are they legally taking themselves out or the running?

An additional interesting aspect of early voting is that it breaks geographic barriers as well as chronological ones. Instead of having to go back to my neighborhood and vote in my "precinct," I took a walk down to the local Fiesta by the office and voted. I think that voting in a polling place other than your home precinct is a well established thing people can do in Texas, but early voting emphasizes this option because the limited number of polling places will likely bring you to a place other than your precinct. I wonder how long it will take for the precinct to become an absolute anachronism?

On a different note, I toyed around with the write-in candidate option of the polling software. Anyone who has made a high score on a video game will find the process easy. However, there are a couple of gotchas that I thought of on the walk back from voting and this morning. For one, if you enter "Bob Smith," how do they know which Bob Smith you are voting for? Second, although the voting instructions are in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, the voting software only supported roman capital letters. My recollection is hazy, but I don't think you could even put a hyphen in a name. Third, the only write-in option seemed to be for the presidential election; there were no write in slots available for any other office.

All of this has been directly affected by the one Republican I did vote for, Paul Bettencourt, who seems to me to be a very dynamic and progressive county tax assessor and collector. His office runs the elections and definitely lives up to his tag-line of "Smart Government through efficiency, technology, and customer service."

Day 7

I miss Elizabeth, I miss Bodie.
BUT I Am so glad I AM NOT IN THE HEAT.
Currently getting some time in in the SF apple store.
Have to run up to coit tower in the next minute.

Should one vote early?

Should one vote early?

Is it helpful to vote early? Is there more chance your vote will be counted? Does it help get out the vote initiatives if you vote early and are then taken off the lists for get out the vote vote getters?

X-Box Sims Time Capsule

Ethan had the remarkable idea this morning of having a time capsule of the The Sims playing on Xbox. Basically, you would set up a game and keep it running with no monitor for some period of years and see what happens. I'm not certain if the Sims will actually do anything interesting in the absence of player input, but the concept of a virtual time capsule is fascinating.

Disco Dumping

I saw the Galactika LED Toilet Seat on Gizmodo today and sent the link over to my office-mate, Ethan. What is it for? Disco dumping I say and do a quick google search for the term where I find the Village Voice column where I first read it, while looking at Anthony Freda illustrations!

It is amazing how the world recursively turns. How's the baby Amber?

Update: Wow, Amber posts in between me checking the blog and posting--craziness!

The Elusive Sleep

6 p.m. - I put baby Antonio in his sling, snuggled in close to my body where he can nurse and listen to my heartbeat. I hold his head up with my left arm so he doesn't fall down into the folds of the sling around my waist. We go to the kitchen and make dinner for Anthony, who has an illustration job due the next day and is busily working at his desk.

With my free hand, I pull out pots and pans and set about boiling water for spaghetti. I need Anthony's help to open the sauce. Suck-suck-suck. I look down at Antonio, who shows no sign of letting up anytime soon. I heat up some olive oil and fry some eggplant cutlets.

7 p.m. - Antonio is sleeping peacefully in his sling. Looking down at his sweet face, I feel my heart bursting with love for my little boy. I put the finishing touches on the photo album we've compiled of his first few weeks of life. He's gotten bigger already -- every moment of his metamorphosis is precious.

8 p.m. - Baby is still asleep. Looks like he may be down for the count. "I'm going to try and get some sleep," I tell Anthony, kissing him goodnight. I decide to try keeping baby in his sling and shifting him onto my chest to sleep, as he gets separation anxiety when we leave him in his crib for too long.

8:05 p.m. - WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! Baby starts crying as soon as I lay down. I get up and go to the living room, turn on the TV and start to nurse him again.

9 p.m. - Baby is wide awake and now he's kicking and screaming to get out of the sling. I look at his bright red face in amazement. What happened to the angelic picture of innocence from just an hour earlier? Is this the same baby? His forehead is all scrunched up, his mouth open wide, he can't seem to get the screams out fast enough.

9:30 p.m. - Baby is still fussing. I've tried everything - rocking, burping, changing, swinging, nursing. He doesn't want any of it. I set him down for a moment to think about what to do next, and he unexpectedly stops crying. He starts to peer around, wide-eyed and sweetly curious about the world again.

10 p.m. - Baby is in his swing, rocking, he starts to drift off.

10:10 p.m. - WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! I pick up baby and put him to my breast. He spits it out. Anthony stops working and comes to pick him up. He makes some formula so he can have a turn feeding baby and to give me a break. Antonio gulps down 4 oz. of formula and is still wide awake. I go to lay down but he keeps crying out in little fits so I go back to the living room and change him. His little belly is swollen up with gas. I burp and rock him awhile.

11 p.m. - Baby's still hungry so I nurse him. I fall asleep nursing him on the couch.

1 a.m. - WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! I wake up and realize I was only dreaming that he was crying. He's sound asleep in my arms.

1:30 a.m. - WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! Okay, this time it's for real. Baby is hungry again, so I put him on the opposite breast and we fall asleep again.

2:22 a.m. - BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ-BZZZZZZZZZ-BZZZZZZZZZZZ!! What the hell? A fly has gotten into the apartment and keeps buzzing past my head. It's dark and I'm too tired to turn on the lights to try to find the damn bug.

4 a.m. - WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! Antonio is crying and when I pick him up to nurse him he's all wet. The diaper leaked onto his clothes and mine. I get us both changes of clothes and nurse him awhile.

5 a.m. - We fall asleep.

6 a.m. - Anthony comes out of the bedroom groggy-eyed and scoops up the baby. He feeds him and plays with him while I make breakfast. We gulp down our coffee and get ready for a big day. Anthony has to go in to Manhattan to drop off his job and then Grammy and Grandpa are coming over to see Antonio and give us a break. Maybe tonight we'll sleep.

Working in the yard, and beyond

Working in the yard, and beyond

Sunday Morning 10.17.04

i don't think the day could get any more perfect than it already is. all three of us woke up at the same time. the sun was so gentle. carol made coffee. i had spent the evening cleaning up, so the living room was empty and inviting. i started watering the front lawn while adolfo ran around with one of the blue dodgeballs. carol started making chorizo and beans. every window in the house was open, and a strong breeze blew in houston. i could smell the coffee and chorizo outside.

wes and claire came over for breakfast. we ate and sat in the backyard watching adolfo run from one side of the yard to the other.

i ended up weeding the garden along the back fence, cutting back the outrageous rose bushes, and planting (late) a handful of petunias for my wife. even if they die next week, carol will enjoy the little pink flowers for the time being. I put down some winterizer in the yard and gave it a good watering. the entire week is going to be dry.

De La Soul

De La Soul

14 years after my sister came back from college one weekend with Three feet high and rising and introduced my brother and I to De La Soul, I finally got a chance to check them out live. I caught them at Emo's and it was worth the wait. The show was fantastic. They put on a furious set that had me hopping the whole time. And this was after Jedi Mind Trick had already run the crowd!

When Stewarts Attack

When Stewarts Attack

What an incredibly brutal exchange. I got my view at ifilm. Relentless! Adolph thinks he was 'pretty tame'.

????

he called the guy a dick.

I finally cut my grass today. If i had a camera right now, i would have taken dramatic before and after shots, but it's still out for repair. It just got sent out this week, so i'm sure i'll be camera-less for at the very least another two weeks.

Thank the Lord of Teriyaki Sauce and John Stewart

Thank the Lord of Teriyaki Sauce and John Stewart

This really is worth checking out ... read the transcript or better yet ( bittorrent ) watch John Stewart face the Crossfire policy wankers...

Plus, more from D3!

early voting for the Park Placers

http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/20041102/early.asp

I'll vote early, I tried to vote for Nader last time, but I was too late.
Apparently, it wouldn't have made a difference.
In this case, we know that Bush will win Texas, but I'll still vote for Kerry since I'm a hopeless democrat.

The Debate

The Debate

¿Armies Of Compassion?

the plane over the plains

the plane over the plains

I've been in the air just under an hour. There was a slight pocket of turbulence coming out of houston; the weather there was just turning to showers. It had started raining just as my mother and i were walking into the Hobby terminal.

If Houston were in the penant championships you would never know it at Hobby airport. Every t.v. was tuned to cnn (at least it wasn't FOX) and wolf blitzer's voice could be heard just under the din of the airport terminal. It isn't much different, you know, the buzz of an airport terminal and the dull hum of a plane in flight. you can hear every single conversation on the plane, but you can't make out even the closest one. There is a three year old maybe three aisles in front of me on the opposite side; he is periodically screeching, a normally unbearable sound even to those with children, is just smeared away with the rest of the sounds. it hardly resonates.

To the west the sun is setting behind a flat smudge of grey clouds. To the east, just a foggy haze. It is 6:50 p.m.

I imagine that right about now, carolina and adolfo iv are at krista's house chatting about the RenFest, or maybe about the prospects of carolina's future employment at the Regis School. Adolfo is running around like a madman, his hair matted to the sides of his head. On the television is either an episode of Survivor (A Ledman favorite) or maybe even Lost. I usually skip those nights over, well, that is after i had a piece of Kristas homemade pizza. I would love a piece of homemade pizza right now.

Having just barely gotten over a nasty flu-like virus, i am patently too aware of the people around me and what they are touching, how they are breathing, sneezing, wiping...

ugh...

speaking of ... nothing brings you back down to earth like standing in line with a bunch of strangers carrying your shoes in a tub. Imagine had that guy tried to light his underwear...

ewww ...

this is the biggest piece of shit hotel i have ever ever ever been in.

A couple of things

A couple of things

1) funny flash-o-mercials from Nike, of all places. I guess they do have a couple of funny, creative folks working there!

2) Even if you don't give a darn about programming I think that this next link is worth checking out because the author's brain and the writing that comes out of it is what the Good Lord calls funny. Check out the The Poignant Guide To Ruby

Headed to St. Louis

Headed to St. Louis

i'm headed to st. louis for a seminar on HP's 5500ps printer. Anyone have any questions they want answered?

Straight out of a Coen brothers movie

Staging a crime to save your marriage is never a good idea.

The Latest From D3

The Latest From D3

Debate!!!!

Bush:Of course I listened to our generals. That's what a president does. A president sets the strategy and relies upon good military people to execute that strategy.
Kerry:You rely on good military people to execute the military component of the strategy, but winning the peace is larger than just the military component. General Shinseki had the wisdom to say you're going to need several hundred thousand troops to win the peace. Military's job is to win the war. President's job is to win the peace.

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!!!!!!!!!!!

Couple of things...

Couple of things...

First, I saw the VP Debate last night. I found it to be horribly dull. Maybe I was in a foul mood, but I thought both debaters came off like jack-asses. Too many distortions, too much campaign rhetoric. Blah.

Fortunately, after the debate I sped downtown to catch Gift Of Gab at the Parish (formerly the Mercury). Man, oh man! I had never seen a show at the Parish before, much less a hip hop show .... and let me tell you that despite my comfy shoes I was ill-prepared for the bounce-bounce and the boom-boom and the around-the-room sounds that rocked and rolled and absolutely shook the non-sense out of every object, heart and mind. Gift of Gab was fabuloso and I left that show feeling good.

To switch gears, it looks like TextMate (code editor for OS X) has finally been released. I first caught a glimpse of this product in the Ruby On Rails intro video and thought, what is that sweet editor they are using? I have not yet had a chance to really evaluate it yet, but there are a couple things I have noticed right off the bat, like tabbed windows, a green button that really does maximize the app (green button behaviour has always befuddled me), and code foldings, to name a few. Also, at 40 bucks its quite a bit cheaper than BBEdit.

8:00 P.M.

NEED BEER.
Vice Presidential Debate @ 203a Nelson.

Three years ... and counting

Three years ... and counting

Last wednesday, my wife and i celebrated three years of marriage. Of course, most of you know that our relationship began much earlier in a small apartment in austin on June 30, 1996. What you may not know is that our on/off relationship began even much earlier than that in 1992 when we first met outside of what was then known in McAllen, TX as 'Klub X'

We ended up filling ourselves with a steak dinner and watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which, of course, got me thinking of the entire history of our long relationship; the path that has brought us to our little house and our little boy.

I spent the weekend cleaning out the garage; putting together some small wire shelves; weeding out around the azaleias in the front yard; but the real event was the dodgeball game on saturday afternoon. Turns out that the tennis courts in Mangum Manor park are the perfect dodgeball court. We had about seven people show up. A game of three on three was fun, but the court was a little big; a game of six on six would be ideal for the space.

Doones

Richard Avedon

Breson.
Now Avedon.
It's weird that he had a Brain Hemorage in San Antonio, because
everytime I am in that town I feel like I am going to have one myself.
I have seen this portrait a billion times but
I guess it has been awhile because now that I look
at it I can actually identify some of the equipment in the background.
The 4x5 is a F1 or F2 Sinar. I can tell my the edge of the railing that pokes out
from the shade bellows.
and the tripod is a gitzo because it has locking screws instead of clips like bogens.
I would even venture to say that the lens is
a Schnieder 90mm SuperAngular XL simply because of the size.


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Debates

Iheard the last part of the debates on NPR, so i was not privvy to the facial articulations and body posturing. But as far as on an aditory level, I thought that it was great that John Kerry was able to show directly and contrastingly that he was able to use his brain to fashion a debate that sounded as if there was something upstairs.

Bush I thought sounded abit confused and confounded.

This is what I took away from it.

For those that are not for Bush, It was great to hear Kerry confront him and handle himself well.

Those that are for bush, well by god damn it, for the first time in their lives, "politics ain't ruled by namby pamby fast talkers that caint do shit. And by god i aint gonna let go of this interest in american politics that ive never had before and once again feel as if it doesn't relate to me"
Bush has an amazing ability to be a regular everyday plain ole run of the mill asshole, and be president. This, I think is his strongest side. His ability to make every Joe on the street feel that The pres may just show up at his house and help him get out of whatever bind he is in, by the one good way anyone can understand, money+power. His ability to stammer over words and get a bit confused, a feeling almost anyone can relate to. Something that puts Politics and Political debate into a whole new realm. One that is not decided by high polish and concise thought. Almost as if it has the grit feeling of a football game. working it on a whole new emotional level.

Kerry has given all those opposed something to be hopeful for, a return to a more balanced and open view, one with more long sightedness and humanity. possibly. basically a return to something more evolved then likeable spoiled kid on the playground mentallity.