Plastic Constellations; Boys & Girls Club; TV w/ Will; Shopping & The Corpse Bride; TV, Beer; Little Miss Sunshine, Poison Girl; Prole
The blog's been competing with Zelda lately for leisure time. And, frankly, the blog doesn't have an immersive 3D world with sword play and clever puzzles. Sorry, blog.
8/28
And student #2 from our lab makes it out. Good for him. Light at the end of the tunnel and all that.
The Plastic Constellations, whose rock/half-rap Mazatlan I had liked, were scheduled to open for the Fatal Flying Guilloteens at the Proletariat. I guess a highly-rated local band outranks a low-rated national band, even if on the absolute scale the national band is probably better.
Of course, since it was a Guilloteens show, Chris B. was there, as was Colin, and it was good to get a chance to see them both. Chris parlayed it into an occasion to do his bar column for the Houston Press, but didn't parlay it into free drinks for the rest of us, sadly.
The Plastic Constellations' new material didn't seem quite up to their '04 album that I was rather fond of, which was a disappointment.
Still, a nice night out.
8/29
I had first heard of it from Matt B, who did it. Large LCD TVs, without built-in tuners, are, technically speaking, monitors. Monitors happen to be one of the things that I can apply my equipment budget towards. And I didn't have a monitor for my Mac mini (except for my TV), or a big screen flat panel TV. So certainly, it was something that filled a niche.
After spending some time poking around the internet previously, I had pretty much settled on one of Westinghouse's 1080P displays. They were cheap with a good feature set, and though the brand was a relative unknown, they had certainly developed a large following on the internet.
Labor day weekend seemed like a good time to buy. I spent a good deal of time researching my buying options...
8/30
Boys & Girls Club is a nice occasional divergence; a good thing to do if you're up for more partying after starting your Wednesday night out slow, but it's rarely a primary destination for me.
Occasional special events, though, change that, and one was the opportunity to see Andy Rourke of the Smiths DJ at anonymous strip-mall club A38. So Cindy and I took off. Dan and Kristin told us things hadn't really taken off yet, so we stuffed them in the back of Cindy's car and moved over to the Mink for a few rounds, before stuffing them and Levi back in and heading back to A38.
Seeing Rourke DJ wasn't really anything special, but it was somewhat interesting. I was surprised to hear him play a solo Morrisey song. Guess there's not that much bad blood there. We stuck around for a while, but a few Lonestars later, we took off.
8/31
Lab Dan was fed up with his laptop and wanted to go to Micro Center for some RAM, inviting me on the field trip to do so. He had ridden his bike, though, so we first rode that to his place to pick up his car before going to MC. The motorcycle ride was less initially scary, but the trip down Braeswood had a few bumps that made the whole lack-of-being-strapped-down thing a little jarring. Still, it reinforced my opinion that a bike would be a supremely fun, if dangerous, thing to own.
After getting back to lab, Will contacted me, wanting to watch some TV. We stopped by the store for some snacks, settling on some of the more bizarre kettle chips we saw: beer and cheddar, and spicey thai. The beer and cheddar were nice, good authentic cheese flavor with a little extra something. The thai were also pretty good; lots of ginger and a few other things I couldn't put my finger on.
We watched Justice League. It was good as usual. Bless you, Paul Dini.
9/1
Ah, the Friday before Labor Day and midnight madness sales. I had previously missed out on an opportunity to pick up a cheap Logitech Harmony remote. These aren't anything special in terms of hardware, but the software is what makes them "I should have thought of that" brilliant. They download device codes off the internet, and then, based on some Q&A with you on a web site, configure macros automatically for doing things like watching TV, listening to music, watching a movie, or playing a video game. As such, they're great at replacing a pile of remotes, and great at keeping SOs who aren't intimately acquainted with your setup happy.
CompUSA had one for $50 after rebates (which I still haven't gotten; assholes), which was a real bargain, considering it went for $120 or so at the time. After a brief debate as to whether or not to leave work early to pick one up, I decided to be safe, and it was a good thing I did. I got there about 5:45 for the sale that started at 6, and they were already handing them out. I grabbed one and then killed time until I could check out at 6. I also found a wireless router for $10 after rebates, so I picked one up with the intention of giving it to Cindy (who it turns out didn't know she already had one), although it's ended up at my parents' place.
After that, on to Best Buy to check out the TV. I realized while there that it was only a couple hundred more to go from the 37" to the 42". I was still deliberating about that somewhat, and they didn't have either in stock, so I opted to wait until the next day and go by a place that did have it in stock.
Cindy and I went for dinner (Chinese?) and then ended up renting The Corpse Bride that night, which was an entertaining, pretty little fairy tail (and the last movie I watched on the old TV).
9/2
Robyn was in town with some of her Baylor folks for the Body Worlds exhibit and wanted to meet up for lunch. Sadly I didn't have the opportunity to steer them someplace good for lunch, so they ended up in the village, at Brian O'Neil's. The food's not so bad there, though, and I had a good roast beef sandwich, potato leek soup, and some beer. Plus the company was good. It was great to see Robyn, however briefly.
Then on to Susan and Jerry's for a visit, laundry, and dinner,
After that, I headed over to the I-10 Best Buy to buy my TV. Of course, nothing ever is perfect, and they wouldn't let me use my 12% off coupon because the TV was on sale. But I did get $100 off for agreeing to sign up for HD cable service, which was pretty much free for me anyway. So I got their last TV, loaded it up into the Mazda (perfect fit!) and headed back home.
Traffic was backed up quite a bit, and a look ahead showed why: a huge plume of smoke was coming up. Getting closer, a truck on the other side of the highway was on fire. As in, I could feel the heat from 50 feet away driving past it. Absolutely crazy.
Got home, Cindy helped me unpack the TV, and made a quick trip to lab to borrow a DVI cable for the Mac mini. Went up to Woodrow's for beer, then left to meet a very bored-sounding Kristin at Poison Girl.
9/3
Cindy and I put some breakfast together and then went to see Little Miss Sunshine at the River Oaks theater. The movie... well, it was OK, but didn't have the kind of richness that would lead to a purchase.
After I got home, I got a call from Dan, who was hanging out at Poison Girl with his daughter, so I joined them and had a drink or two, before returning to some quality time with my TV.
9/4
Spent the day enjoying the TV, and bet up with the usual crowd at the Prole later on for drinks.
8/28
And student #2 from our lab makes it out. Good for him. Light at the end of the tunnel and all that.
The Plastic Constellations, whose rock/half-rap Mazatlan I had liked, were scheduled to open for the Fatal Flying Guilloteens at the Proletariat. I guess a highly-rated local band outranks a low-rated national band, even if on the absolute scale the national band is probably better.
Of course, since it was a Guilloteens show, Chris B. was there, as was Colin, and it was good to get a chance to see them both. Chris parlayed it into an occasion to do his bar column for the Houston Press, but didn't parlay it into free drinks for the rest of us, sadly.
The Plastic Constellations' new material didn't seem quite up to their '04 album that I was rather fond of, which was a disappointment.
Still, a nice night out.
8/29
I had first heard of it from Matt B, who did it. Large LCD TVs, without built-in tuners, are, technically speaking, monitors. Monitors happen to be one of the things that I can apply my equipment budget towards. And I didn't have a monitor for my Mac mini (except for my TV), or a big screen flat panel TV. So certainly, it was something that filled a niche.
After spending some time poking around the internet previously, I had pretty much settled on one of Westinghouse's 1080P displays. They were cheap with a good feature set, and though the brand was a relative unknown, they had certainly developed a large following on the internet.
Labor day weekend seemed like a good time to buy. I spent a good deal of time researching my buying options...
8/30
Boys & Girls Club is a nice occasional divergence; a good thing to do if you're up for more partying after starting your Wednesday night out slow, but it's rarely a primary destination for me.
Occasional special events, though, change that, and one was the opportunity to see Andy Rourke of the Smiths DJ at anonymous strip-mall club A38. So Cindy and I took off. Dan and Kristin told us things hadn't really taken off yet, so we stuffed them in the back of Cindy's car and moved over to the Mink for a few rounds, before stuffing them and Levi back in and heading back to A38.
Seeing Rourke DJ wasn't really anything special, but it was somewhat interesting. I was surprised to hear him play a solo Morrisey song. Guess there's not that much bad blood there. We stuck around for a while, but a few Lonestars later, we took off.
8/31
Lab Dan was fed up with his laptop and wanted to go to Micro Center for some RAM, inviting me on the field trip to do so. He had ridden his bike, though, so we first rode that to his place to pick up his car before going to MC. The motorcycle ride was less initially scary, but the trip down Braeswood had a few bumps that made the whole lack-of-being-strapped-down thing a little jarring. Still, it reinforced my opinion that a bike would be a supremely fun, if dangerous, thing to own.
After getting back to lab, Will contacted me, wanting to watch some TV. We stopped by the store for some snacks, settling on some of the more bizarre kettle chips we saw: beer and cheddar, and spicey thai. The beer and cheddar were nice, good authentic cheese flavor with a little extra something. The thai were also pretty good; lots of ginger and a few other things I couldn't put my finger on.
We watched Justice League. It was good as usual. Bless you, Paul Dini.
9/1
Ah, the Friday before Labor Day and midnight madness sales. I had previously missed out on an opportunity to pick up a cheap Logitech Harmony remote. These aren't anything special in terms of hardware, but the software is what makes them "I should have thought of that" brilliant. They download device codes off the internet, and then, based on some Q&A with you on a web site, configure macros automatically for doing things like watching TV, listening to music, watching a movie, or playing a video game. As such, they're great at replacing a pile of remotes, and great at keeping SOs who aren't intimately acquainted with your setup happy.
CompUSA had one for $50 after rebates (which I still haven't gotten; assholes), which was a real bargain, considering it went for $120 or so at the time. After a brief debate as to whether or not to leave work early to pick one up, I decided to be safe, and it was a good thing I did. I got there about 5:45 for the sale that started at 6, and they were already handing them out. I grabbed one and then killed time until I could check out at 6. I also found a wireless router for $10 after rebates, so I picked one up with the intention of giving it to Cindy (who it turns out didn't know she already had one), although it's ended up at my parents' place.
After that, on to Best Buy to check out the TV. I realized while there that it was only a couple hundred more to go from the 37" to the 42". I was still deliberating about that somewhat, and they didn't have either in stock, so I opted to wait until the next day and go by a place that did have it in stock.
Cindy and I went for dinner (Chinese?) and then ended up renting The Corpse Bride that night, which was an entertaining, pretty little fairy tail (and the last movie I watched on the old TV).
9/2
Robyn was in town with some of her Baylor folks for the Body Worlds exhibit and wanted to meet up for lunch. Sadly I didn't have the opportunity to steer them someplace good for lunch, so they ended up in the village, at Brian O'Neil's. The food's not so bad there, though, and I had a good roast beef sandwich, potato leek soup, and some beer. Plus the company was good. It was great to see Robyn, however briefly.
Then on to Susan and Jerry's for a visit, laundry, and dinner,
After that, I headed over to the I-10 Best Buy to buy my TV. Of course, nothing ever is perfect, and they wouldn't let me use my 12% off coupon because the TV was on sale. But I did get $100 off for agreeing to sign up for HD cable service, which was pretty much free for me anyway. So I got their last TV, loaded it up into the Mazda (perfect fit!) and headed back home.
Traffic was backed up quite a bit, and a look ahead showed why: a huge plume of smoke was coming up. Getting closer, a truck on the other side of the highway was on fire. As in, I could feel the heat from 50 feet away driving past it. Absolutely crazy.
Got home, Cindy helped me unpack the TV, and made a quick trip to lab to borrow a DVI cable for the Mac mini. Went up to Woodrow's for beer, then left to meet a very bored-sounding Kristin at Poison Girl.
9/3
Cindy and I put some breakfast together and then went to see Little Miss Sunshine at the River Oaks theater. The movie... well, it was OK, but didn't have the kind of richness that would lead to a purchase.
After I got home, I got a call from Dan, who was hanging out at Poison Girl with his daughter, so I joined them and had a drink or two, before returning to some quality time with my TV.
9/4
Spent the day enjoying the TV, and bet up with the usual crowd at the Prole later on for drinks.
Labels: bars, electronics, movies, music, restaurants, school
posted by L. Maxwell Ward at 2:55 PM
