Tweets for Today

• 20:01 Tweets untwittered from yesterday: 1) yay for free pizza @ student talks. #
• 20:02 2) Yay for nice weather and cheap beer @ Valhalla. #
• 21:09 3) Tollhouse pie @ the Chocolate Bar is surprisingly disappointing. Not substantial enough. Should be more cookie and less pie. #
• 21:12 4) Drinks with Grambo and Angela at their place. First time in a year. Char & Alison there too. Always want to play Graham's speakers louder #
• 21:13 5) Dexter back at home. Bed. #
• 23:02 6) Leftover Indian + more Dexter. #
• 23:04 7) Shoe shopping at shoes.com Saturday sale, spent an hour, found good stuff, didn't have my size. FAIL. #
• 23:05 8) Symphony was good tonight. Violin concerto played on a Stradivarius & a nice organ piece. #
• 23:06 And... caught up. #

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The mysterious ways of tipping

Here's a fascinating article on subtle (or not) rascist tendencies in tipping.

Tipping is a curious practice. The logical side of me says the whole thing is silly; that people should just be paid appropriately.

The sycophantic part of me, however, likes the opportunity to curry favor. In some situations where I know the person who is providing me service, but it's not a business where tipping regularly occurs, it feels downright weird not to tip—like at the comic book store where I see the same people week in, week out. Or sometimes I'm tempted to say, "keep the change" in the weirdest places, even if I'm not familiar with the person who's helping me.

So strange...

W00t!

Helles lager. What will 100 be?

Cecil's; Steak & Sopranos; Happy hour & farewell

6/11

A good old-fashioned Monday night at Cecil's.

6/12

Cindy and I had, independently, concluded that we needed to experience "The Sopranos". So I joined up with Blockbuster's by-mail program (at the time, clearly a better deal than Netflix, though I'm considering a switch), and we prepared for a night in.

Cindy found some cheap steak, which we decided to dress up with a chimichurri sauce. Now good steak is its own reward, but sometimes you want steak for cheap, and in those cases it doesn't hurt to dress it up. And chimichurri seems to be good on just about anything that's been grilled, particularly beef. On the side, we put together a nice salad of corn, avocado, tomatoes, peppers, and cilantro. A nice, south of the border-style meal all around.

As for the Sopranos, well, we enjoyed it thoroughly and found it and its characters compelling. I question how well it held up over the course of the series, and as such I think that, taken as a complete work, it's not as good as some of the very best of television such as "Lost". But it's still some of the best TV around.

Actually, this whole TV-on-DVD experience has highlighted for me the way I watch television in the DVR age. The best shows are the ones that have the same sense of scale as movies, and I think to just refer to them as "television" just connotes too many images of yokels slack-jawed in front of the idiot box. I almost never watch live TV now; to sit down in front of something I don't care for when there are so many other rewarding things going on is just boring. I watch the shows that I want to see, and avoid other things. Sometimes I am guilty of having it on just to have it on, but even then it's something I was at least interested in enough to record.

So, perhaps calling the Sopranos "TV" is doing it a disservice. "Serialized cinema", perhaps?

6/13

From here on out, if I skip a day, Cindy and I probably just stayed in and knocked out a few episodes of the Sopranos.

6/14

At the genetics department retreat every year, a contest is held and monetary awards given out for skits and videos. The money is administered by the school, though, and must be used for something that is ostensibly "educational" in nature. Used to be you could at least get an iPod, but it's apparently getting harder to swing fun things.

Except, apparently, beer. One pair of winners decided to share the wealth and throw a departmental happy hour. And there was a lot of beer. And when 5:00 rolls around and you've already had a few, the sensible thing to do is to just call the day "over", which Cindy and I did.

So after that, we had a little "good-bye" party for the grad student in lab who always managed to get on my nerves. Beers were had at Gingerman and then dinner at Nit Noi. After that I think Cindy wanted to watch some sort of televised sporting event and I may have snuck a nap in after all the beer.

Work; Parking; Goofing off

OK, holidays are over, I'm returning to routine, so that should mean I can squirrel away some time for writing.

5/29

Work on the paper continued...

5/30

More work. I had to redo a figure for the Not My Paper because the primary author was too fucking stubborn to follow directions. Afterwards, Cindy and I went to have dinner with her friends Jim & Nikki, who would shortly be moving to Las Vegas.

5/31

Part of my ability to work harder over the past week had been due to the freedom afforded to me by Jeff's sweet, sweet, sweet parking pass. It was very hard for me to part with it, but I did return it to him. On the way home, to assuage my sad, sad soul, I picked up another round of Jimmy John's. Later, I ended up at the Volcano with... um... some people?

6/1-6/3

My notes for these days just say "goofing off", but specifics elude me. Honestly, I have no idea. I don't think I managed to take Friday off from school, but I might have claimed to have been "working on the paper at home". Remembering to 6 months ago is tough.

Chinese; Eggplant pasta; Car + No Boss; Rebecca; Louisiana; Cookout

Apparently I was on a kick. Here's another entry written in real time...

5/21

After a long, drawn-out bout of indecision, Cindy and I decided on Chinese take-out from the conveniently located Jimmy Wok. The garlic chicken was a little bland (though that seems to be the nature of the dish), but she also got a dish served over fried egg noodles which was nice and different.

Then, the Heroes season finale, which was a bit anticlimatic. They really let a lot of their big reveals happen too early, and with nothing all that suprising left, there just wasn't much to fill up the hour. Still, that can be overlooked in light of some great episodes in the first season. And the horrible second season makes it look even better in retrospect..

5/22

Jeff was going out of town for a little over a week and, in return for looking after his lizard and their fish, I got his parking pass to use while he was gone. Sweet.

5/23

I'd been wanting to try Alton Brown's clever take on eggplant parmesan, so we started by going to Fiesta, which is Cindy's grocery store of choice but which has never seemed sufficiently cheap and interesting to justify its... eccentricities (like the general dirtiness and bad smells).

But anyway, mission accomplished and all that, so we came back and made this dish, which was nice and clever and simple. Chop the eggplant into strips which, when cooked, will resemble pasta; sautée with oil and a little seasoning, add in some fresh tomatoes, some cream (fat free half and half works surprisingly well) to make a sauce, some fesh basil, some parmesan, and then garnish with bread crumbs. Quick, tasty, reasonably healthy.

Serve with the season finale of your choice; we went with Lost, which, despite loud and frequent complaining that nothing ever gets resolved, was both satisfying and intriguing. I'm looking forward to the next season, but that's a long way away.

5/24

No boss and a parking pass. The world was my oyster. I showed up when I wanted and left when I wanted. It was grand.

5/25

After I grabbed my car from the garage, I drove out west to meet the family and pick up Rebecca. I had yet to buy Becca a birthday present, so we stopped by Microcenter to get her an external hard drive for all her data storage needs (and a flash drive for Cindy's). On the way back we called Cindy, and after another prolonged period of indecisiveness, we settled on Mo Mong. We ordered some spring rolls as an appetizer that had feta and chicken that were decent; Cindy got some fried oysters that failed to imrpess me (but oysters in general are not my thing, except the metaphorical kind), and then we got some noodle soup, a stellar lemon grass beef (lemon grass does not get the respect and attention it deserves), a round of sake shots (a usefully low $2 each), a Tiger beer for me, and one of their signature lychee nut martinis for Cindy. It all added up to a very satisfying dinner with two of my favorite ladies.

On the way home we stopped off at the overcrowded Davenport for a round of martinis. Becca had a rasberry one, which was good but curdled; I had a "grasshopper" chocolate mint one, and Cindy had the classic "tilt a whirl" chocolate martini.

5/26

My Louisiana relatives are best handled in small doses. That somehow resulted in me not having seen them in 3 years. Mom and Dad had talked about going for Memorial day, so Becca and I tagged along. We drove through the wastelands of East Texas and on in to the wastelands of south Louisiana, through the cursed borough of Lake Charles, and on to Crowley. We stocked up on cajun groceries, saw the town, and then an impromptu Ward family reunion (some 15 or so of us) began.

We went to a cajun restaurant, dance hall. Becca and I got a ride with cousin-in-law Dawn, who, in Rebecca's words, was "cool as shit" (well, if she didn't say it, she probably thought it). We arrived there first and started in on the drinks. I discovered it's definitely easier to connect with the LA Wards with the power of alcohol. Sitting down for dinner I ordered an Abita Amber and was first asked by them if it was "root beer" then if it was some "imported shit" before finally convincing them that it was, in fact, made in Louisiana. They tasted it, and apparently the lack of Coors Lite blandness was a bit much.

Once everybody took off, Becca and I convinced our Aunt Mona and Uncle Charlie to take us to Coushatta to do some light gambling, and, surprisingly, Mom and Dad came along. $20, a couple of hours, and a couple of free drinks later, it was time to get the parents to bed, so we called it a night.

5/27

We went to lunch at the local café/gas station/truck stop the next day and I had some very good cajun BBQ before we got back on I10 to head back to Houston. If you're ever going that way, the Texas rest stop at the border is actually pretty cool; there's a nice boardwalk through the marsh, and it's very pretty. When Mom & Dad dropped us off back at my place, we ended up picking up some sandwiches from Jimmy John's and took them to Woodrow's to eat with some cheap draught beer.

5/28

I took Rebecca to Susan and Jerry's to meet Mom and Dad so they could get on the road after we had lunch. I headed over to Graham and Angela's for a Memorial Day cookout; there was food, beer (my first Shiner 98, which was good, but not Shiner 97 good), and a piñata left over from somebody's birthday. The candy inside was no longer edible, but we had a stick from hitting the piñata, so... candy baseball! Junior mints boxes are, apparently, quite fun to hit. So are Reese's peanut butter cups. And who knew I could actually hit? Certainly not me.

Cooking; Symphony & Clientele; Ghostland Observatory; Car bullshit & Woodrow's

Once again, we have a post written, but not posted, within a reasonable time after it occurred. Maybe that means it contains something interesting...

5/14

Since the last time the Good Eats episode on garlic came on, I had been wanting to make Alton's recipe for chicken and forty cloves. So, after a long overdue trip to the store, Cindy came over and we made dinner.

We started with a chicken, cut into pieces, salted and (lemon) peppered, and then browned. Tossed it a pot with some olive oil, the 40 cloves (actually, more, because you can never have too much garlic), and some sprigs of thyme. We added a little white wine for good measure. Baked it for a while.

Garlic gets its sharp flavor from a chemical reaction that occurs when cell walls break; if you cook it whole, the the enzymes denature before teh cell walls break, the compound doesn't form, and the garlic has a nice, sweet flavor, so the dish doesn't end up being all that garlicky. The olive oil picks up a lot of flavor from the chicken, thyme, garlic, and wine, and if you put it on some toasted french bread along with the garlic cloves and some fresh cut tomato, you've got some nice bruschetta.

We also cooked some fresh green beans. We steamed them first, and then cooked them up with a little olive oil, some more white wine, a poblano pepper, some tomato, lemon juice, and more garlic.

All in all, a great dinner, accompanied by some good TV: the penultimate episode of Heroes for the season.

5/15

Band practice; the first one in a while. We were a little rusty...

5/16

I heated up the leftover chicken and, once again, had a nice dinner. Cindy came over and we watched Lost.

5/17

Our final set of tickets for the symphony was Gershwin. They played a Cuban piece, a piano-based something that I wasn't familiar with, "Porgy & Bess", and "An American in Paris". Good stuff all the way around, but it didn't top my favorite part of the season, the Sibelius piece they did.

Afterwards, a quick jaunt over to Walter's for a concert. We missed seeing Beach House, which was a big disappointment, but made it just in time for the Clientele.

Unfortunately, the audience was horrible. Wouldn't fucking shut up. I'm afraid it pissed off the band, though I hope it didn't. It was hard to get past that to enjoy the show, but I guess the band was good, if not as good as the last time I saw them there. It was nice being back at Walter's. If I've been there since the Two Gallants show, I can't remember when.

5/18

I'm convinced that my now former funding organization requires me to go to these conferences/symposiums/retreats to pad out their numbers. This one was in Galveston, on the UTMB campus. I showed up a little late, put up my poster, ran out to my car to get my laptop during a break, sat through talks, and then headed on back to Houston.

Back in town, I dropped a labmate off, gave Cindy a ride to pick up her car, and then dropped by home for a little while. Cindy had brought me some leftovers from a lunch she had been to, so we had dinner and some beers before heading to the Warehouse to meet up with Greg and then girlfriend Jessica to catch Ghostland Observatory.

Although the security staff were characteristically dickish (and I had to walk back to the car to drop my pocket knife off, though it had never been a problem before, and I probably could have snuck it in but decided not to fuck with it further), the show was great. I'm still not a big fan of the group, but I have to say that for once, being in the big room made a show better. The band seemed energized by the crowd, and they put on a fun show with their crazy dance disco.

After that, Cindy and I picked up some Taco C and then caught up on the season finales of Grey's Anatomy (reaction: WTF?) and the Office (expertly done as usual).

5/19

One more day of conference. I showed up just in time to join Char, Angela, and Char's labmate Jilian at the Mosquito Café, which was cute, but a bit yuppie. During my 15 minute wait to order, I had to listen to the past-her-prime twenty-something in front of me ramble on about wedding plans. The interior had that same all-wood, house feel as, say, Café Azul in Austin. I opted for the pulled pork sandwich with fruit chutney and a house salad. The salad was a little plain, and the pork was bland, but it was good with the chutney. The balcony we sat at overlooked the patio, and it was all lined with various well-kept plants. On a beautiful day, the fact that I may not have picked the best meal in the place didn't matter; it was nice to be there.

After that, back to the conference for a while and then we cut out early, got some beer, and walked the strand, which is, in my estimation, a tourist trap.

So eventually I headed back to Houston, stopped for gas, and noticed that some fucker had backed into my car at some point, leaving white paint and some deep scratches, a couple of which went through the paint.

So after picking up laundry and heading to Susan and Jerry's, I got a car wash (which was on my agenda anyway) and then went to work with the wax. It looked better, definitely, but there was some paint I couldn't get out, and of course the deepest scratches I could do nothing for. I fumed about that for the rest of the weekend. Damn my luck with cars.

Anyway, I got home, had some time to chill, and eventually met up wtih Char, his siser, and Angela up at Woodrow's where Will was working. Cindy joined us eventually and we had a nice night there.

5/20

Which brings us to what is, at the time of writing, today. It's been a quiet day. I'm still pissed off about the car, considering my options, but other than that it's been nice and restful, with a sprinkling of productivity here and there.

More work; Cooking and TV; the Davenport; Art Car parade and 28 Weeks Later; Day of Rest

I'll note that this post was written on 5/16. It'll probably still be six months (try seven!) before anyone reads it, but at least it was written when everything was still fresh on my mind.

5/7

Continued working on the paper. Got in on time, stayed late, came home, ate a quick meal (veggie burger), got back to work, stayed up late working. Wow, how dedicated of me.

5/8

The "deadline" artificially imposed by the boss having come and gone on the paper, I was free for the evening. Cindy picked up a couple of New York strips, which I seasoned in the manner passed on to me by my father (lemon pepper and steak seasoning) and grilled up in my grill pan. I'm still getting the hang of doing steak on the thing. It's tough because it seems to hold heat and the steak keeps cooking more than one would expect after I remove it. So my steak was a little too done for my taste, but Cindy fixed us up a nice lemon butter sauce for it which covered my mistakes. She had also picked up a whole bunch of vegetables: zuchini, eggplant, bell pepper, and a big portabello muchroom. We tossed them in some balsamic vinegar, olive oil, habanero tobasco, garlic, and maybe something else I'm leaving out, and then grilled them in the grill pan. The veggies came out a little better, particularly the mushroom and eggplant. The zuchini was a little bitter.

Anyway, there was some Heroes and 24 to keep us entertained during our meal.

5/10

Another night of cooking and TV. This time we fixed Bo Kho, a Vietnamese beef stew. It didn't turn out as well as what I'd had at Mai's, but hey, it was my first time cooking Vietnamese. I don't know what Cindy's excuse was!

Grey's Anatomy (where, once again, everyone does infuriatingly idiotic things) and the Office (beach party episode, great) were watched.

5/11

I snuck a nap in after getting home. Cindy and I didn't make it in time to catch a showing of 28 Weeks Later, so instead we went up to the Davenport and had a round of martinis. I had the Dixie, which contained SoCo (always reminds me of Rebecca and my trip to Europe) and Disarono. Tasty. Cindy had a dreamsicle, which really didn't taste all that dreamsicle-ish.

The tamale people came by, and Cindy intelligently took advantage. She had a couple then and there, but we saved the rest for...

5/12

...breakfast the next morning. Not much better than tamales and fried eggs. Mmm. After that we packed a cooler and Cindy's fancy new DSLR camera, and took off for the Art Car parade. We had both been concerned about finding parking, but we called Jeff, who was there with his friend Chandra, and headed for their location, finding plenty of parking lots with entirely reasonable rates. A short walk later, we caught the parade.

Some of the cars were cool, but overall, I was a bit nonplussed. Maybe if there had been alcohol, or maybe it was that things would have been better if you could see the fine details in the cars they would have been more impressive. It was fun and I'll do it again, but maybe not as wonderful as I had been lead to believe. We went over to Chandra's well-appointed and very moderne townhouse nearby, hung out for a while, and then headed home.

I made for Susan and Jerry's, stopping to pick up some peach tulips for Susan for Mother's Day. A little later, I headed back home, Cindy came over, and we went to the slightly ghetto AMC 30 theater out west to catch a late showing of 28 Weeks Later.

I saw the original film with Thom at the old Waco Square Six that had been turned into a second-run theater, on the occasion of one of my first weekends back in Waco after moving to Houston. I remember enjoying it.

The sequel, however, was torture. Very technically impressive and artfully done, cleverlyh relevant to current events, etc., etc., but also extremely scary, violent, disgusting, and, worst of all, cynical and hopeless. I guess I'd recommend seeing it just because it was all so well done, but where the first movie ends with a note of hope, this one (spoiler) teases hope and then destroys it.

If nothing else, the political parallels are deftly handled. Great film making, but I felt dirty afterwards. That, and I had recently had a nightmare involving being in a big house at night, with floor to ceiling windows, and zombies outside trying to get in. Both experiences made me want to invest in a blunt, heavy object, if not a gun. Still need to go to Lowe's to pick up that crowbar.

5/13

The Sunday I had been waiting for for three weeks had finally come. No obligations, nothing pressing. Absolutely wonderful. I read, I played video games, I framed posters which had been waiting a month on me.

Cindy and I went up to Rudz and met Dan for some cheap Lonestar. A Miller rep was there handing out samples (samples? what happened to a free bottle?) of Miller Chill, their "chilada" beer. Now I know a good michelada, and have even been known to make a good one on occasion, but this, this was some sweet lime flavor in very weak beer. The beer was just a hint of flavor, really, compared to the lime and the sweetness. A good analog would be the most bland beer you can find mixed with Rose's sweetened lime juice.

But it got me thinking, hey, this would potentially be a great base for a margarita. In fact, hell, I'd drink one with a shot of tequila mixed in it, particularly if it was a double shot of triple sec and tequila. That would be pretty good, actually. And I think I will buy a six pack before it goes off the market (this shit is not going to last, seriously; too malt beverage for the beer drinkers and too beer for the malt beverage drinkers) and construct a margarita around it. It will be interesting.

I got home, a little buzzed from the Lonestar, and, in a very unneighborly gesture, finished hanging my posters (actually, I'm not even sure I have neighbors in that apartment right now). Then it was time for a late dinner.

There is something to be said for taking food and charring the hell out of it. I applied that method to my quesadilla that night in a drunken orgy of cooking. I defrosted a chicken breast, seasoned with jalapeño seasoning, garlic powder, salt, fajita seasoning, and jalapeño tobasco, gave it a nice sear on the grill pan and the cooked it through while also cooking some garlic cloves, chopped it up, put a tortilla down on the grill pan, spread some salsa on, sprinkled on cheddar and the seasonings I used for the chicken, dropped the chicken on top (all of it), and let the tortilla brown.

With all that chicken on top, there was no way I'd be able to add the top half and flip the thing; instead I cooked the top half sepparataely and then put it on top.

Served it with some sliced pickled jalapeños and damn was it ever good. Best quesadilla I've ever had. My drunken cooking was an exercise in excess, but a successful one.

Rockets; Sabrina; Spider-man; Dinner and bars; Mexican martinis

4/30

Cindy had gotten games to one of the Rockets playoff games (against Denver, if memory serves). In the spirit of being adventurous and sharing in her interests I agreed to go, but once again I'm reminded that sporting events are just not my thing. Combine large groups of annoying people, bad parking, over-priced beer and food, and you don't get a very happy Ward.

I seem to recall going to the Proletariat afterwards, but for the life of me I can't remember why...

5/1

Jeff had started his new job at school, so we went for lunch for the first time in the year or so since he'd last been employed there.

5/3

Sabrina and I hadn't hung out in a while, so we hit up Chuy's. Afterwards, it was the release night for Spider-man 3, so a group of us went. The movie had some cool bits but was ultimately disappointing, on the level of X-Men 3. Actually, come to think of it, the entire trilogy and the X-Men trilogy were parallel, quality-wise. Decent opening chapter, spectacular sequel, then tanked the third time around. Wonder why?

5/4

A colleague of Cindy's was moving away so a big group went to dinner at Pico's in Bellaire. Their "authentic" cuisine was good, though it hasn't exactly blown me away. Afterwards we hit up Gingerman to meet up with another friend of Cindy's, and then went to Poison Girl.

5/5

My quest for the perfect margarita recipe has never really gotten off the ground. I've tried a few variations, and once again we came back to the recipe we had found online for Trudy's Mexican martini. It's never quite right, though. Never quite smooth enough...

5/6

Despite the fact that my committee meeting was behind us, the pressure was on to get two papers out, so I put some work in Sunday afternoon (though I can't remember the exact reason).

Grindhouse, Recruiting, Art takedown, More chili

4/9

Since the reviews came out, I had been quite intent on going to see Grindhouse, so at first opportunity Will, Cindy and I went on an Angelika Monday. Robert Rodriguez's half was entertaining, and had nice portions of violence. The "intermission" was thoroughly enjoyable and might have been best distributed amongst the start, middle, and end of the entire experience. As it was, I missed some of the wonderful faux grindhouse trailers to take a much-needed bathroom break.

The highlight was Tarantino's Death Proof, which, in my opinion, could have stood on its own as a film. Not a particularly big or ambitious one, but I think that directors should feel free to make "side project" albums the way, say, Beck handled Mutations and Sea Change, or the way some bands do nice, compact EPs. The movie itself was lots of fun, from the beaming celebration of the city of Austin in the first half to the fun of doing stupid and dangerous shit with cars and turning the tables in the second half. I probably have no reason to ever revisit Rodriguez's Planet Terror, but I can imagine buying the DVD just to be able to watch Death Proof and the faux trailers from time to time.

Afterwards, a quick round a little Woodrow's.

4/10

Band practice...

4/11

More recruiting, more free drinks. Probably another night at the Volcano?

4/12

More of the same, though details escape me.

4/14

Rebecca was in town to disassemble her installation. We did lunch at Mai's, which I think has gotten Becca on a bit of a kick. I took off to catch Levi at guitar center to get myself a keyboard case and to get Jeff a digital recording interface/Pro Tools combo. After that (which took forever), I stopped by the gallery and helped clean up some tape. Once I became a third wheel, I went home and played a bit of the newly-arrived Paper Mario for Wii. Later that night, we grabbed dinner and drinks at Rudz.

4/15

Becca, Ali and I hit La Mexicana for brunch, which was good as always. That afternoon I did some shopping and went round two for perfecting our chili recipe, with Cindy's help. We corrected some problems we found with the original recipe, ending up with more of pretty much everything except the meat. In particular this batch ended up hotter, and we significantly increased the amount of beer to give us more liquid to work with. It was a success.

Afterwards Cindy and I watched Stranger Than Fiction which was a surprisingly clever and enjoyable film. The ending was sentimental and by the numbers, maybe, but I am a sucker for happy endings.

Kurzweil; Ted Leo; Easter

4/2

Dan DJs at the Prole...

4/3

Got a hair cut in advance of my return home for Easter, and yes, that does qualify as news, since it happens, oh, thre times a year. Band practice that night...

4/4

Ray Kurzweil, inventor, futurist, and post-humanist, was speaking at U of H, so Cindy, lab-mate Martin, and I went to check out the talk. It was good and Kurzweil makes a compelling case, except... well, he doesn't really seem to be a detail guy. Which I suppose is true of most people predicting the future of humanity. But in this case I think a lot of the details that he leaves out and presumes can be easily overcome probably can't. For example, he mentioned RNAi as a way to inhibit individual genes, except it doesn't work consistently or predictably. It may never. There may be other approaches, but just because there are a few examples where we can selectively control the action of genes doesn't mean that we're guaranteed an age where we exercise complete control of our genomes. Nothing is guaranteed until it's working.

As a corollary, he tended to rely on volume of evidence rather than quality. Still, it's hard to deny that the evidence he presented made a compelling case that the human race is on the brink of a singularity, a time where technological progress happens so rapidly that our very nature could change. It will be interesting to see what happens, but just remember, futurists: where are our flying cars and underwater cities? And why can't we teleport yet?

We return to find Cindy's car has been towed, despite previous experiences where U of H didn't tow in the evenings. Handily (?), their tow lot is on site and a walkable distance away, and the fee is a comparatively reasonable (?) $60 or so, far better than the $250 my last towing experience cost me.

We drop Martin off, I call Dad to wish him a happy birthday, and we pick up some Whataburger and watch some TV.

4/5

We go to #s to see Ted Leo play. It's good, high energy rock, but I never quite figure out why I'm just not all that crazy about him. Enjoyable show, but I'm not inspired to buy more Ted Leo & the Pharmacists albums. I do buy a t-shirt with a sort of caduceus on it which I thought was cool, and which, at a med school, seems to frequently confuse people.

4/6

Headed to Waco. Establishing our new tradition, we go to the Claypot with the Hoffmans. I enjoy my tea, spring roll and jalapeño clay pot.

Mom & Dad had recently completed a remodel of the house. Closed off a door from the kitchen to the dining room, added a pass through, all new appliances, new countertops and extended counters, new cabinets, new tile floors in the kitchen/den, and hallways, new hardwood floors in the dining room, new carpet in the bedrooms, new paint everywhere. It's definitely a bit disorienting. Still recognizable as the house I grew up in, but it certainly takes some getting used to.

4/7

Mom and Dad haven't yet unpacked everything that had been removed for the remodel, so we worked on that. Amazingly it was snowing, which made the trips to and from the storage shed cold and wet.

That's right. Easter snow. Never had a white Christmas, but we get a white Easter. Some since of humor that God fellow has.

Steak for me and Dad for dinner, some kind of shrimp pasta for mom and Rebecca. Becca and I head to Cricket's for a couple of beers.

4/8

Church for Easter, a quick Easter lunch, and then back to Houston for me...

Susie; Shoes; Symphony; Jana Hunter; Chili

3/26

Band practice came a night early due to plans on Tuesday night; this may have been our first time attempting to record.

3/27

So right before South By, Dan had found himself a new girl. She's out of the picture now. But back then it looked serious. She was from San Francisco and thought she was moving to Houston, but then (oh, a couple months ago), she decided she wasn't. But in between, things seemed to be going well.

Anyway, she was in town for a visit, and Dan wanted all his closest friends to meet her, so we met at traditional Sharber gathering point Mi Luna (thankfully on happy-hour-priced Tuesday) for dinner.

The Proletariat was hosting a meet & greet with David Arquette, promoting his new film, with the Black Math Experiment, who had written a song about him, performing. We showed up, but it was too crowded and not really all that interesting, so we left for Poison Girl instead.

3/28

Char had recently gotten some Chuck Taylors, and Cindy was looking for shoes too, so we went shoe shopping. I ended up buying a pair at Urban Outfitters before we dashed off to Goode Co. Burgers for dinner. I've covered it before, but I really dig that place...

3/29

I realized that my size 11 Chucks didn't fit. The boss was out of town, so I took that chance to return them to Urban since they didn't have a size smaller. That and some school stuff made me feel somewhat ineffectual, so I made a run to Target to kill a few birds with one stone (new plastic cups for water, a record crate, presumably something else as well). Then I got back, found out that my friend from the MM list that works at shoes.com had sent me a nice coupon code, so I ordered a pair of Chucks in size 10.

Turns out, they're a bit tight. I can wear them, but prefer to do so when alcohol is involved because I don't notice how uncomfortable they are. I guess I can suffer for fashion sometimes.

3/30

I had to give my yearly talk to the students in our program, which was, as usual, a lame situation. Thankfully, almost no one showed up.

Afterwards, Cindy and I went to the symphony. I honestly don't remember what they played. I seem to recall enjoying it, though, as I usually do.

3/31

Jana Hunter played a good set up at Rudz to promote her quite good new album. Cindy and I were in attendance...

4/1

An e-mail had gone out from my funding agency that the local health sciences trade group was having a chili cookoff. Since I'm rather proud of my cooking, I quickly got in touch with Char and then got us in charge of things.

The fact that the event included lots of free beer didn't hurt.

Anyway, the budget allowed for a couple of test batches, so Char and I started our first one, basing it on Alton Brown's recipe. We did the first batch pretty much by the numbers, browning stew meat (beef, pork, lamb) with peanut oil and salt, then deglazing with beer, adding salsa (although we did a mix of salsa and pico to get some freshness in there), crushed tortilla chips to thicken it, tomatmo paste, homemade chili powder, smoked paprika, canned chipotles, and fresh peppers. Since this was a test batch for our consumption only, we also included some corn and black beans, which is heresy for a contest (a rather silly attitude, I think), but quite nice in my opinion.

Anyway, it turned out well, and Char made some honey cornbread to go with it. We had a good start on the contest...

Expensive drinks and meals with recruiting; Sabrina's birthday; house party

3/19

Another recruiting dinner at school, followed by more free drinks at the Volcano. I don't know why I didn't think about going to an expensive bar on somebody else's tab sooner.

3/20

We had one recruit who ended up staying an extra day, and Merry-Lynn and I were asked to take him to dinner. Since it was only a few of us, I figured it was a good time to go somewhere nice, and selected Benjy's, which I had wanted to go to for a long time, but due to the expense had never actually done so.

It was nice, and had good service. I was most impressed with the appetizer we ordered, tuna steak spring rolls. My steak was enjoyable, as steak always is, but unremarkable. I'd probably try to order something more adventurous if I went there again.

3/23

In celebration of her birthday, Sabrina got a group together to go to Lupe Tortilla. After struggling through the throngs of children that had infected the place, and wandering around its maze-like interior, we eventually found Sab & co. at (where else?) the bar, and so started in on margaritas.

Dinner was good; they had pretty good fajitas. The menu seemed to be making fun of Mexican accents, which struck me as odd.

After that, we moved to Absinthe, down Richmond from the Proletariat. The interior was nice; the bar itself hard little to recommend itself and the crowd seemed fairly midtown. A nice time was had, and perhaps the bar would be appropriate to return to for certain situations, but it's not somewhere I see myself going often.

I do remember there was a beautiful car in the parking lot, though. Either a Ferrari or a Lambo; I can't remember and I don't really pay much attention to car models that I'm very unlikely to every be in the market for. But it was beautiful.

3/24

Dan had lined up a house party for us in a neighborhood near me. It was a benefit for someone; maybe medical bills? I dropped a ten and sort of forgot. Seemed like a fair exchange for access to the keg. It was a pretty cool house, and a pretty cool neighborhood, and a pretty cool party. Thumbs up all around. And Cindy drove so I cut loose a bit. Also cool.

I want to go to more house parties. Maybe I need more friends with houses.

3/25

I continued my 24 DVD addiction, something which would soon fall by the wayside, despite the fact that I have a couple seasons to go, at least.

Will's birthday; New toy; Seminars, drinking, cigars; Half Nelson

2/27

So. About six months prior Will's green iPod mini got swiped out of his lab (he thinks by a scruffy looking college student that had a temporary position). I decided that nobody who has lived with an iPod should have to go back to living without one, so for his birthday I endeavored to gather a group of people to buy Will a new iPod.

After some exploratory fundraising, aided by Char, I settled on a 4 GB nano, the same size as his previous iPod, again in green. Which is what I was doing at Best Buy the previous saturday.

So I got everyone that contributed and could join us together at Woodrow's, and somebody made sure to get Will there. While we were waiting we let everybody sign a card.

Leroy had picked up a miniature Spider-Man lunch box which we were going to present to Will as his "present" with the iPod hidden inside.

In the end we managed to genuinely surprise him, and he was appropriately thankful. I was glad to have organized such a fun favor for a friend, and was excited about getting back to giving Will good music.

2/28

Will needed to fill up his iPod, so I hitched a ride with him. We decided to make an evening of it and started by hitting the comic store, then grabbing dinner (the traditional Double Dave's), and then back to my place to get that iPod filled up.

3/1

Somebody had been working on putting together a med center-wide happy hour for the students, but whoever planned them must not have been a grad student, because they didn't realize that to get grad students to come to things, you need cheap drinks and free food. The happy hour was held at the overly fancy Trevisio's on the top floor of a med center building, and featured the usual in lame appetizers (crackers, cheese, fruit tray, vegetable tray), and $4 beers. An assortment of people from the lab went, and I decided to go too, using the opportunity to sneak out of lab early to also catch the early bus home so that I could retrieve my new networked digital music player that had been delivered (see previous post about my bedroom system).

I had just enough time to get it up and running before Cindy and I went to meet Shawn and Sabrina at Spaghetti Western, where I'd been once before with Lauren. Three of us started with a round of margaritas (decent, though I might opt for the additional amaretto floater next time), while Shawn had a beer. We ordered some cheese bread for an appetizer, which is hard to mess up, but that's not to say it wasn't enjoyable. For my entree I selected the tombstone chicken, a grilled chicken breast held vertically by being wedged between two pieces of eggplant parmesan, topped with greens and sauced with marinara and their chipotle alfredo. Clever plating, and tasty. I think I talked Cindy into the Italian enchiladas; always good.

3/2

Drunk early, dinner, cigars
Will and I headed over to Rice for a physics talk. It was some interesting culture shock; everything was, dare I say, much more scientific than the usual biology talk. Of course I couldn't really keep up with the theory, but it was still an educational experience.

Afterwards I went to the usual Friday seminar while Will hung out at Valhalla, and then we started drinking the free after-seminar beer and chatted with Jeff and some professors. Will gave me a ride home, but we stopped off at the village for a beer... which became two... which became a trip across the street to Baker Street for more beer. Will went to retrieve his car from the garage while I walked over to the Briar Shoppe to pick up some cigars.

I got home and started sobering up, Cindy came over with some Chinese takeout, and after dinner we met up with Char and Angela for cigars and beer. It was a nice night, and we sat alone out on the other patio whose existence I was completely unaware of. All very pleasant.

3/3

Cindy and I decided to rent (or maybe borrow) a movie to watch, and ended up with Half Nelson. I guess it was competent enough, but it didn't leave much of an impression.

Little Children; Valentine's Day; Dan & Modest Mouse; Bowling; Chinese New Year

2/12

Will and I resumed our Angelika Mondays with the viewing of Little Children, a tale of suburban ennui, extramarital affairs, and child molesters. It was certainly an interesting exploration of its themes. It's been a while so not all of my impressions are still remembered, but I think I was a little iffy on its conclusions. I could go back and read up on it, but movie reviews aren't exactly an emphasis of mine.

One thing I will comment on is this: if you go into a nearly empty theater, do not sit directly in front of the other people in the theater, particularly if seating options are plentiful. Sometimes, people like to put their feet up, or not have to listen to your idiotic chattering. It's not a big deal, exactly, except that it doesn't hurt you to fucking sit somewhere else. It really doesn't. All things being equal, if you have a choice between inconveniencing someone you dont' know, and not doing it, just don't. It's that simple.

2/13

Cindy and I decided once again to cook our own Valentine's Day dinner, so I spent my time going to the grocery store, etc.

2/14

There was morning run to pick up flowers and some last minute items from Central Market.

And then I ironed a shirt, got dressed up fancy, and started on dinner.

I had decided to try out Alton Brown's take on meatballs. The recipe includes the use of beef, pork, and veal; parmesan cheese for flavor, bread crumbs for body (I used the Italian-seasoned variety because hey, you can't have too much flavor), spinach and egg to bind it, and some various herbs and seasonings. Cooking them in a miniature muffin tin helps heat them evenly.

With this we had some fettucini and (just a little) marinara sauce, a salad (Cindy), tomato and white bean bruschetta (the secret is slicing open a piece of garlic and rubbbing it on the freshly toasted bread) (again, Cindy), and creme brulée with real vanilla bean (again Cindy). And a bottle of wine.

It turned out really nice. The meatballs were great and I would enjoy them a lot over the next few days. I'd love to always have a batch in the refrigerator.

The entire evening was nice as well. It was probably the first meal eaten on my dining room table since, well, last Valentine's Day.

I think we ended up watching TV instead of renting a movie, but as good as TV was this spring, that worked well.

2/15

Cindy came over for TV and then left early because of a conference the next day, and then Char called and invited me out for a beer. Details escape me.

2/16

The receiver was fixed and I went to pick it up but the guy wasn't there. Whoops.

Went over to Rice for seminar, but Char and instead opted to hide out in Valhalla and drink cheap beer until seminar was over, when we could move on to the free beer.

Cindy was away at her thing, so I enjoyed a relaxing evening at home before catching up with Dan online and deciding to pick up some beer and go hang out over at his place. We listened to music (including the new Modest Mouse, which had leaked out in an event almost as big as the Arcade Fire album), had beer, chatted. It was a pretty nice evening.

2/17

Picked up the receiver in the morning and everything was in good working order. More on that shortly.

Char and I ended up going bowling with BT and her friend whose name I can never remember but was Helen Humphrey's roommate at Baylor. We opted to get some beer at the closest non-bowling alley bar to the bowling alley, Bellaire Little Woodrow's. It's a quaint little place, right next to the railroad tracks. I liked it, but drinking in the Bellaire/Southside/West U area scares the fuck out of me.

Bowling was OK. I bowled a decent game though I discovered that my Wii bowling skills didn't exactly transfer over. For the second game I decided I wanted to try to learn how to put spin on the ball.

That didn't go well.

2/18

Cindy got back from her conference and since she had decided not to go to her parents', we grabbed some brunch—I think we hit up La Mexicana again.

Later on, we went to Dacia's girlfriend Lorien's Chinese New Year party. They had put out some nice vegan springrolls and potstickers, and there was plenty of beer. Everyone was glad to see Cindy as she brough an air of legitimacy (as well as legitimate foods) to the proceedings, despite not actually being Chinese. Cindy ran into somebody she knew. We talked to Lorien's roommate who it turns out had done some PR work for Baylor and interviewed Cindy's boss. Kristin was there, as was Dan, which was a little awkward, but it didn't stop Dan from chatting up a German girl whom he seemed to get on pretty well with, although it turned out she eventually stood him up. I know how that one goes.

Anyway, great evening all in all. As I often say, I miss parties and don't get to go to enough of them.

Lab meeting and new toy; BBQ; Vinyl Edge and Jana Hunter

2/5

Did the lab meeting thing. I had new data which covered up any inadequacies in my presentation quite nicely.

Took off early to get home and grab my new toy, a Roku Soundbridge M1001. Of course, it ended up not really working. But more on that later.

Later: Cindy, TV, and Dan DJs at the Prole.

2/8

Once I had, new toy in hand, listened for a while to the receiver that Oliver had given to me, I noticed the right channel going in and out, and after confirming that the problem did not lie with my speakers or my subwoofer crossover/amp, I decided that I liked the receiver well enough to see about getting it cleaned, etc. At least I thought that was what it needed. Some of the switches made some noise when they were flipped, so I figured that was what it needed. And the backlighting seemed to be dim in one place.

So I first called up the one stereo store in town that I had any amount of faith in, Audio Concepts, who had previously been very nice about showing me some Magnepans and some Vandersteens (speakers). I asked if they did service or could refer me to someone. After telling them about the vintage Pioneer receiver, they referred me to somebody that did warranty work for Pioneer gear.

They were assholes. "Well, we don't have time to be wasting on old gear, so we'll do it when we can get to it, and it'll probabaly cost $400." Fuck you, you pretentious dicks.

So, on to polling through the "TV and radio repair" (how quaint!) section of Citysearch. I made about 20 calls. There was "no, we don't do that". There was "yes, we can do that; is it under warranty"—I said it was from 1974; your asking if it's under warranty clearly shows that you were not listening, or that you're an idiot, neither of which results in you getting my business. There was "yes, we can probably do that". And finally, there were two "Don't those old Pioneers sound great? We'll go over it with a fine tooth comb. All we do is service, so we want to earn your business." Bingo. One was west of the loop and the other was in Clearlake; and so I went with the one that was closer, Houston Audio Video.

Anyway, once I had found a place, I took Thursday morning and drove out and dropped it off to be, hopefully, well cared for.

Over Christmas, Dad, Becca and I had smoked some more ribs. We backed off on the rub too much, and they weren't quite as good, but that's nothing that heating them up slow in the oven drenched in BBQ sauce wouldn't fixed.

So to enjoy that, Cindy came over and she made potato salad and I made baked beans, and we had a nice little BBQ dinner together.

After that, a little trip up to Woodrow's to meet some people for some beer.

2/9

Got a ride with Char to seminar. At Rice, all visitor parking is paid, and fairly steep at that. However, there seems to be some sort of understanding that you can park along the interior streets, if you leave your emergency flashers on. I'd certainly done it before, and Char was in the habit of doing it for Keck.

Except he forgot to turn his flashers on. So when we got out, he had a ticket. Under the comments section, "no flashers". That's right. Flashers equals no ticket; no flashers equals ticket. There's some kind of internal logic there, but nothing that can really be considered logic in the strict sense of the word.

2/10

Detour to Vinyl Edge; Jana @ Rudz

Despite the fact that Susan and Jerry had warned me against going there after dark, I took the jaunt from their place over to Vinyl Edge not too far east of them, which Cindy insisted was perfectly safe. And, well, it was.

Anyway, the point to this excercise was to buy a few concert tickets without the service fee. But I checked out the shop while I was there. Small place, lots and lots of records, a lot of which weren't really... organized. If I was a real record collector, I could imagine the place being very exciting. Still, interesting to check out, and mission accomplished.

Afterwards, Cindy and I went up to Rudyard's to see Jana Hunter play. She seemed glad to see us there, but quite nervous: when onstage, "I like it when you guys are quiet. It makes it feel like I'm not performing for an audience". Anyway, good show.

New Toy; Shopping; Dan, Wii, TV; Lamb Stew; Dacia's Birthday; School

1/29

Got a cool vintage receiver that Oliver was getting rid of. I'll talk more about it in an upcoming post.

1/30

My hi-fi habit necessitated some new furniture. In the living room, I'd long had the crossover and amp for my subwoofer leaned up against my TV stand, the Mac mini and Wii hiding to the left and right of the TV, and the record player that Cindy had bought me was sitting on my floor in front of a plant.

In the bedroom, the subwoofer amp/crossover was also on its side up against furniture, and now that I had a new receiver I didn't have a place for. Ideally these things would go on an audio-grade stand (spiked feet, high mass, stable), but the rest of my gear isn't, and honestly there are probably better things to put money into.

So, off to IKEA for cheap furniture. I ended up with something that was either a very small TV stand or a minimalist night stand. Either way, it had two shelves appropriately sized for audio components and looked sturdier than some of their other options. They only had a light-colored finish, which wasn't ideal, but I was eager to get something accomplished, so I went for it and grabbed two.

After that, on to the grocery store, then home to assemble and set up the new furniture.

1/31

After a trip to Whole Foods, I dropped by Dan's place. Dan had managed to break his mp3 player, so I loaned him my old 4th generation iPod until he could buy a new one. Cindy was picking up sandwiches for dinner so we invited Dan to join us.

Back at my place, we indulged in some wonderful sandwiches from Jimmy John's, newly opened in Houston, and played some Wii. Dan took off and Cindy and I watched some TV.

2/1

I had, for some time, been wanting to check out Alton's recipe for lamb and barley stew. Check out the link for more, but it turned out well, and it was only a pain to clean the fat off the roast and cut it into chunks. Next time I'd just buy lamb stew meat and save myself the trouble.

2/2

Dacia's birthday @ the Mink, Dan DJs, we eat

Handily, Dacia decided to have her birthday party at the mink, and Dan happened to be DJing upstairs. I got him to guest list us so that we could move between the two. Caught a "band"/DJs who did video game remixes called Extra Man; they were awesome and I bought their CD. Dacia's girlfriend made some surprisingly good vegan cupcakes.

Dacia and co. eventually left for lesbian bar Chance's, and, curious as I was, I was also tired and hungry, so instead Cindy and I walked a couple doors down to Tacos A Go Go. It's a charming little place: appropriate decor, high ceilings, only slightly expensive, simple menu, taco-focused dining experience, appropriate late-night ambiance. Go with the corn tortillas if that's your thing; it's that kind of place.

Afterwards, we went back to the Mink and bid Dan adieu. I spared Cindy the experience of listening to my brand new Extra Man CD.

2/4

It was Super Bowl Sunday, and though there weren't any big parties in the picture, I had many things I would have rather been doing, some of which actually involved watching the game, than preparing a lab meeting presentation. Yet there I was.

Cheap date night; Sabrina & Ghostland Observatory; Arcade Fire leaks & blues; Pool; Car show & school stuff

1/22

It had been a while since we'd taken advantage of cheap date night (actually now it may be "student night" which isn't as good of a name, though it may be more accurate) at the Angelika. Cindy had been wanting to see Pan's Labrynth, so she, Will and I went and enjoyed the cheap ticket, free popcorn and soda.

The movie was, I guess, a disappointment. It tells of a girl's escapism, using a fantasy world to avoid and confront the problems she encounters in living through the Spanish Revolution. But the fantasy world really wasn't the focus on the movie, and it didn't complement the film's plot as well as I would have liked. Not a bad piece of flimmaking, but not spectacular, either.

Afterwards, we drug Will out to the Proletariat to see Dan DJ. Will eventually got a little bored and Leroy came by to pick him up, but I think we all enjoyed the beer and tunes.

1/23

Band practice, except I forgot my laptop. My keyboard plugs into it and is basically just an input device; the laptop turns the button presses into music. But the keyboard is USB, and there shouldn't have been any problem plugging it into Jeff's home theater PC. Except there was. So we messed with it for an hour or so, our efforts confounded by the week wireless signal his PC was receiving.

Eventually we gave up. I played on Jeff's Moog instead, but I realy a lot on chords, and analog synths only produce one note at a time. It wasn't half bad, though, and I certainly wouldn't deny that the Moog is a nice piece of gear.

1/25

Sabrina and I had not hung out in quite some time; the last time I had seen her was probably after the Joanna Newsom show (and her finals), so we caught up over Mexican food and margs at Chuy's; see Sabrina's account of the evening for more information. Needless to say, it was some much-needed hanging out time and a lot of fun.

Afterwards, Cindy and I met up with Greg, who had recruited us to go (for free!) to the Ghostland Observatory show. I knew next to nothing about the group. Turns out they're a duo; one wears a cape and works the electronics, while the other, at least at first, appears to be either a slim, flat-chested girl with pigtails, or a very slim boy with pigtails. Turns out it's the latter. He does the vocals, dances around, and provides the charisma while the other guy provides the beats.

The music is, perhaps obviously, dancy. Not quite my thing, but they're good at what they do, and I enjoyed it, particularly once I was a few beers into the evening.

They managed to sell out the Warehouses' small room, which surprised the hell out of me since I hadn't heard of them. Cindy reminded me (and reminded me again last time I brought it up) that they had been big on the festival circuit and that not every band blows up because of Pitchfork.

1/26

I'm sitting in Friday afternoon seminar when I get a text from Dan: the new Arcade Fire album has leaked.

In case past posts didn't make it clear, I'm a big fan. They're great on record, they're great live. They rock, they have complex, multi-instrumental arrangements. They're emotionally touching. They're sad but hopeful; enthusiastic, even.

So I've been waiting very impatiently for a follow-up to their 2004 debut album, and when I had a chance to get my hands on it, it became a priority. I stuck around for the beer after seminar, but as soon as I got home I threw the copy that Dan had sent me on the stereo and had a nice listening session. And then fell asleep on the couch.

Oliver and I have this thing. He invites me to blues shows and I never come, and I invite him to rock shows and he never comes. I decided to break the cycle, and so when he invited me to come see Texas Johnny Brown at the Big Easy.

I'd never been to the bar. It's divey but by no means intimidating or scary. Oliver and crew had a table, and pitchers kept coming, so after providing one of my own, I grabbed a seat and soaked in the blues. The blues are one of those genres like jazz and classical that I enjoy but don't claim to know anything about, so I certainly won't attempt to critique this old African-American's art. But it certainly sounded good to me, and a couple of beers in with those soothing sounds hitting me, I felt like life didn't get any better.

Plus, I had the Arcade Fire to return home to!

1/27

Cindy and I hit up Mai's for a late dinner, and then Joined up with Char, Angela, BT (that's "Black Tiffany") and a friend of hers at Slick Willie's for some pool. As usual, Cindy schooled all of us and I sucked. But I don't have to be good to enjoy it.

1/28

Char picked me up and we went to the Reliant convention center to check out the Houston car show. For what was essentially advertising, a $10 entrance fee seemed a bit pricey, but it was fun. I enjoyed checking out the "obtainable" cars more than the exotics, particularly things like the Mazdaspeed 3, RX-8, and CX-7; the VW Golf GTI; the Subaru Impreza WRX wagon and WRX STI rally car, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, and, slightly less realistically, Audi's various A and S offerings (I'm particularly fond of the A3) and some of BMW's stuff. Of course, looking at the exotic stuff was fun too, but it's more fun to play the "what car do I want to buy when I have a nice job and am out of grad school" game than the "if I could pick any one car, what would it be game?".

Afterwards, I had to get up to school to get some work done and get some shit done.

MLK; KILLER ICE STORM OF '07; El Tiempo & Bukowski

1/15

In a cruel twist of fate, I spent my day off mostly sleeping, as I had some symptoms that some would think might indicate that I was sick. So I slept it off, had some green tea, some emercen-c, some fruit juice, slept it off some more. There were better things I could have been doing, but at least I wasn't at work.


1/16

Things got cold, as in below freezing, which means, of course, that civilization is at risk of grinding to a halt. And, God willing, no school.

Dan called me up and he was braving the apocalyptic weather for some drinks at Rudz. At the time, the weather hadn't quite worked its way below 32, and the precipitation was minimal, so I figured I'd risk it. We also made a stop off at the Proletariat before calling it a night.

1/17

Of course, God was not willing (or at least school wasn't), so I was greeted by this message:

Weather Update: College open
posted 01/17/2007

Update: 5:30 A.M. - Jan. 17

The College is open and conducting normal business operations. Employees who live in northern, western and 290 areas, where there have been higher accumulations of ice, should contact their supervisors about arriving late to allow time for roadways to be sanded, ice to thaw and travel to be safer.

All employees are encouraged to be cautious in traveling to work. Employees unable to come to work due to personal situations must contact their supervisor and arrange for time off.

Dicks.

1/19

Cindy came over for Grey's Anatomy and we attempted to make snake bites, but we never could get the Guiness to layer properly on top of the cider. One day I will learn...

1/20

I was lazy Saturday afternoon, then ran around taking care of some errands, in the process finding some bargain GameCube games. I gave up on going out to Susan and Jerry's, and instead came home.

I stopped off to get the mail, and, moments later my phone rang; apparently Oliver was in the complex. He was going out to dinner with some friends to El Tiempo, which I had only been to the one time, and he invited me along, so I decided to join them.

I ended up not really knowing anyone, which was definitely awkward, but hell, them's some good fajitas.

They were then going to meet up with some people (including ones I actually knew), but I figured I'd try to catch up with Cindy.

We were going to go to the MFAH for one of their shindigs, but we arrived late and the line was around the block. Some people were buying museum memberships to jump to the front of the line, but they were pretty expensive and it just wasn't worth that. I had lobbied against it from the beginning, feeling strangely antisocial, but Cindy had told her roommate we would meet them there. But you can't argue with the facts, so we left.

Instead, we went and rented a movie and then picked up some ingredients for sangria. The sangria turned out decently, but I think I can probably do better in the future.

The movie was Factotum. My familiarity with Bukowski is only really due to Modest Mouse; their previous album had a song named after him, and their song "Long Distance Drunk" was based on a short story (which I actually read). The movie was pretty good. The story arc wasn't particularly strong, but the acting and dialogue were good and I'm guessing it gave a pretty good feel for Bukowski's style.

1/21

Not much going on Sunday. Did some cleaning up and such, and played some DS.

School; Farewell Kristin; Genetics Retreat; Etc.

1/8

Preparration for my journal club talk. I could elaborate but that would bore all of us.

1/9

Did the journal club thing. There's this idea that some idiot came up with somewhere, that people are expected to defend and explain the articles as if we wrote them. I sidestepped that neatly. Turns out the article I picked was pretty crap, since I acknowledged it up front, I didn't even have to try to defend the article.

I figured there's nothing to get a bunch of sharks going like some fresh blood, but, well, apparently nobody cares about journal club.

I'm sure Kristin wanted to sneak off to Austin with as little fanfare as possible, but Dan put together a little good bye party for her. As we so often have, we gathered at Mi Luna for dinner.

Afterwards, continuing Kristin's trend toward the new and different, we eschewed the usual bars and went to Dirt. It's just south of I-10, not too far from Walter's. Their Tuesday gimmick is that for every drink you order, they flip a coin, and you can call it to get the drink free. After thinking about it, there's no real way for them to maniuplate it to their advantage (except for, say, doubling the prices, which is a distinct possibility). Cindy and I not only failed to beat the system, but lost to it, getting one drink out of four free. The bar itself was dark and uncrowded, and, well, I wasn't overly impressed, but I think I'd go back just for the coin flipping.

Dan's got some photos up on his Flickr page.

1/11

The boss, as usual, wanted all of us at the genetics retreat. As usual, I showed up late, skipped the talks, snuck in a nap in the hotel room, and showed my poster before starting a solid evening of drinking. I managed to obtain quite a few spare drink tickets, which helped, because the department cheaps out at two tickets per person.

As with the retreats, the party's the boring part; it's the after party where the real fun starts. I showed up with my cooler o' beer at the room of a couple of genetics girls. The girls were smart enough to realize that if you don't want to get in trouble with the hotel over the state of the room, you tip the maids. Of course, why put your own cash down when you're young and attractive and have men around to do it for you?

So the girls offered to wrestle if we could come up with $20, which wasn't too hard. Which was pretty nifty.

So the party was good. The girls had managed to get whoever was in the adjoining room to contribute their room, too, so for once we had plenty of space to spread out, and no noise complaints.

I met a nice girl named Katie, who not only had good tastes in music but was in a band too. Of course, neither of us being single, this wasn't as exciting as it could have been, but it was nice to have someone to converse with. It's funny how you can be in a place for four years and still meet cool new people whom you had no idea existed.

By the time the girls kicked everybody out, I was thoroughly drunk and went back to my room, which, due to a snafu in my registration (apparently the registration e-mails went to a different Robert Ward), I had my own room. Bizarrely, while I went to sleep in the bed by the window, I ended up waking up in the other window. No explanation for that one...

1/12

I slept in, went to lunch, and then we had to have the traditional superfluous lab outing. I took of as soon afterwards as possible, and then, I think, opted to take a nap and skip the seminar.

Cindy and I went up to Rudz for dinner after an aborted attempt to try out Goode's Armadillo Palace. Then we found out that Kristin was out at Poison Girl for her last night in town, so we joined up.

1/13

Cindy and I (eventually) made it over to Dan's to help Kristin pack up the moving truck. I was surprised to see how much of the stuff in the apartment was hers; it looked a little barren afterwards. The highlight of the experience was getting Dan's Yaris up on the trailer; he was driving the truck to Austin and needed to be able to drive his car back. The first time, we realized the trailer wasn't hitched properly and it started to tilt as soon as he started to drive up on it. After that, we realized that the wheelbase of the car was so narrow that it barely fit on the tracks of the trailer. I'm surprised no damage was inflicted.

My parents were in town, so I went to catch up with them at Susan and Jerry's for while.

I drove back, and then met up with Char for beer and pool.

1/14

I drove out for lunch with the parents. Later that night Cindy and I met up with Will and others at the West Alabama Woodrow's, and then we took off to Late Nite Pie for some belated dinner.

NYD; Day off; Two Rows'; Children of Men; Monster Trucks; Work

Spurred by a friend request from Erica Shatford on Facebook, I begin pilfering profiles to find (well, I could keep this aliteration thing going, but I won't) people (OK, couldn't resist) to add to my friend list. Facebook is so much more pleasant than the blight that is Myspace. Anyway.

I spied a quote in Lindsey Bacon's profile that now has me listening to a junior year of high school staple, Everclear's fun So Much For The Afterglow. Ahh, memories.

Speaking of memories...

1/1

New Year's Day was nice and quiet. I took the opportunity to finish settling back into my apartment after my holiday absence, got some good DS time in, made a nice pot of slow-cooked black beans (leftovers from salsa), and generally relished my free time, as I am wont to do.

Cindy was supposed to meet me up at the Prole to see Dan DJ, but as I was about to leave I got a call from her saying she'd had a flat, and though she could change it herself, she was feeling a bit isolated, so I jumped in the car and headed up to meet her and provide security service.

After that, on to the Prole. All the Prole nights are running together, but doubtless there was beer and good company.

1/2

In a brilliant stroke of strategery, I had told the boss that I would be getting back in town on the 2nd and would return to work on the 3rd, and thus managed an extra day off without incurring any difficulties. It was glorious.

1/3

Another night up at Two Rows', probably organized by the kids in the program. The problem with writing these entries 4 months out is that things like Two Rows', the Prole, Woodrow's, and (formerly) Cecil's all blend together. But it's unlikely that anything particularly distinctive happened.

1/5

Cindy and I went to join her brother for the pre/post-apocalyptic Children of Men which had been getting good reviews. The film was technically impressive (though the whole apocalyptic London thing may be overplayed; see 28 Days Later, V for Vendetta, and, most recently, 28 Weeks Later), with appropriately weird atmosphere, great acting and camera work, etc., but I found the overall plot disappointing. No real payoff, no real explanation of anything.

We dropped by Woodrow's afterwards, presumably meeting up with Will and others for beer...

1/6

I'm pretty sure this one was Angela's fault. She and Char decided that it was worth checking out the monster truck rally, and, deciding it was a perspective-expanding experience, Cindy and I opted to join them. Coming back to civilization from Susan and Jerry's, I met Char, Angela, and Char's friend whose name I can't remember at Angela's place, chugged a beer, and then took off to pick up Cindy and park at an apartment complex near Reliant. Char had some mini bottles of Cuervo; I quickly polished mine off on the walk over, figuring a buzz would only improve the experience.

It's funny that something as simple and common as a monster truck rally could sell out the fucking Reliant stadium. But it did. We got there, got beer, and settled in.

I have to say, the "race" section of things blowed. Completely boring. Well, the truck races. The ATV races were reasonably entertaining. But once the races were over (really, how much racing can two monster trucks do on a football field?), the "freestyle" event began, and that's where we got to see big ass trucks with big ass tires destroy other vehicles, and that's where things got good.

You could tell who had money because they were the ones that let loose. The ones who didn't may have crushed a few cars, but the ones who did made sure that they rolled their trucks, blew things up, etc. And if you can't see what's great about watching a truck jump over a mobile home, clip the top, roll a few times, and then burst into flames while the driver walks calmly out, well, I don't know if I can still be your friend.

(pictures coming later for proof)

Afterwards, some dinner. I think it was Cindy that suggested 59 Diner, which was apparently an old high school hangout for her. Nothing special, but I had a decent burger.

1/7

Notes say "dinner"; that's not very descriptive. Presumably I ate something. Maybe Cindy cooked? I dunno. Anyway, I had to put together a presentation for our lame journal club at school, so afterwards I got to work hunting down a paper to review.

Christmas, Robyn, poker, the obligatory night of nothing, bar hopping, return to Houston, NYE

12/25

We awoke, had a nice breakfast, and then opened presents. I got my Nintendo DS and some games, plus some comics, CDs, a nifty vintage shirt from Becca, and a set of cutting boards. Becca liked the fancy remote I got her, Dad liked the presents that he had pretty much picked out. Mom was taken aback by the pottery lessons we gave her, as if she was scared of actually taking them, but I think she ultimately enjoyed them.

Lunch was good too, particularly the Turkey that had been the source of so much contention.

Eventually the evening rolled around, and David, Thomas, Win, Bennett, Goates, and myself all piled into Thom's grandparents' Buick. Someone (*cough* David *cough*) insisted on going with his intellectual "let's slum it with the common man" bullshit and we went to some small bar on N. 19th not too far from MCC, got weird looks when we came in, had a round and played a game of pool, and left for the next spot just up the road, which was, thankfully, closed. From there I think we went next to the bar (Shooter's? Booter's?) on Valley Mills near New Road, which had seen a bit of a country western face lift, had a couple rounds there, and then on to the sister bar on Lake Air (which could also be Shooter's or Booter's), which still looked like it used to be a strip club. Next to Chapter 11, which I'm actually kind of fond of.

There was a girl there who spotted my "Remember the Alico" t-shirt and introduced herself. She asked about the shirt, and after my brief explanation of living in Houston, etc., she summarized it by saying that I was "representing", which I suppose was accurate. We chatted a little more; turned out she was an art person and trying to do something for the art "scene" in Waco. She compared herself to a Buddhisatva (which I think was just meant to be humorous rather than arrogant/condescending) in that she had found "enlightenment" (i.e. moved away from Waco) but come back to teach the unenlightened (i.e. the Wacoans). Also, she mentioned that she had dated two girls I knew. Huh. She invited me some art show she was putting together (which I wouldn't be in town for) and insisted I track her down on myspace. Check.

Anyway, there was lots of drinking that had been done by that point, and thankfully the driving was not my responsibility. As was pretty much inevitable, Two Minnie's (right down the block) was settled on as the next destination.

Two years prior when we went, it was basically deserted, but this year the "joint was hopping", as the kids say. I wasn't particularly excited about Waco strippers, but the beer kept flowing which was good enough for me. David kept handing me dollar bills to use, and I kept redirecting them to Jordan and Bennett.

By closing time, we were even drunker, particularly Bennett. We went on to IHOP to get something to soak up the alcohol.

So, another nice, debaucherous Christmas night. But, thankfully no emergency room trip this year.

12/26

As is also traditional, we tried to catch up with Robyn. We ended up meeting her, first trying Cricket's (too fucking crowded) and then heading next door to Bogart's (formerly Malone's). Robyn had Cara Beth in tow, much to my surprise (they tend to go in and out of speaking to each other). After a round or two, we migrated to Scruff's (which had rearranged, much to my shock and consternation), I had my "Ziggy Jack" (Ziegenback and Jack Daniel's, a creation of one of the bartenders), and then we made a second night of IHOP.

12/27

David decided to host a poker night at his father's place in Temple. A lack of planning meant that Win had already gone there without giving us the chance to carpool, which briefly pissed me off, but really going to Temple is no different from going to visit my Aunt and Uncle (except perhaps not as visually interesting), so it wasn't a big deal.

So there was beer and poker. Despite Win's online poker activities and David's frequent mocking of my decisions, in the end it was down to me and Bennett, with me leading substantially. But I tire of poker quickly, so we negotiated a truce. But hell, I won $15.

12/28

As always, there was one night when shit just didn't happen. In this case, David fell asleep. So, it was a night for me with the DS. Which is not all bad.

12/29

The last night in town. David once again pushed the blue collar bars, and we compromised on Fred & Wally's. Beer and pool were consumed and played. We tried to catch Kacie McClain but no such luck. David was leaving the next morning, so I picked that day as the time to...

12/30

...go back to Houston. I left in the early evening, car packed up. With my new phone complete with screws, and leaving Waco where it got crap reception, I oficially called and got my number transferred to the new phone. Which meant I incurred a $150 charge with Cingular for breaking my contract (and was also charged sales tax, what the fuck were they selling me that got taxed!), but that would later be mitigated by Ebaying the old phone, and since the new one was free, I ended up getting teh whole deal done for $50 or so. Not bad.

Anyway, I got back in town, got unloaded, and caught up with Cindy. It was good to be back.

12/31

I saw a post online that Toys 'R Us had a nice clearance special on DS and Gameboy games, so I went for the first time in years. Actually the last time I went was sophomore year of college in Waco, when I was having some difficulty tracking down the Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Anyway, I ended up finding a couple of good bargains. After that I made a comic store run, and then met Cindy back at my place.

We decided that for NYE we would make some fresh salsa and then cook dinner. The salsa turned out well. Dinner was some NY strip steak that Dad had sent home with me, green beans, and mashed potatoes. We learned a couple of lessons from that dinner.

First, if you don't have something to mash with, don't use a food processor. The potatoes will resemble library paste. Second, if you combine garlic, butter, and lemon juice, and heat it up (as in making a lemon butter sauce), it turns a strong shade of cyan. Strange but true.

One option was to join Dan at the Proletariat for the NY party there (it turns out that things had gone south with Kristin and that she had decided to move to Austin after all). But since we don't hang out with Cindy's friends much, we opted to go to Jim and Nikki's place to join them, Tyson and Louisa for a relaxed evening. There was beer and the salsa was a hit. By the time we considered leaving, Dan was already gone from the Proletariat, so we stuck it out there.

It's not quite the wild party I really want for NYE, but it was nice enough, and we still managed to stay out pretty late.

P.S. I want it noted that I stayed up late just to finish this post. There's a token of committment there for you.

Joanna Newsom; Thai; Car Bullshit; Bars; Jim's Birthday

12/11

The Prole, probably.

12/12

Pitchfork liked Joanna Newsom's first album of harp-based folk, but I didn't. I can only recall making it through the thing once, and I'm pretty sure I compared her vocals to a "retarded chipmunk", and not even favorably. So when her new album came out, I was prepared to pass it up, but for three little words/one big name: "Van Dyke Parks". The man apparently orchestrated Joanna's latest, and, knowing what he did for Brian Wilson's Smile, I gave it a chance on those grounds alone.

I wasn't convinced. It had potential, but I didn't exactly like it. But Cindy caught wind of her coming show in Houston and suggested we go, and as it was at the fabled Orange Show, which I had heard of three years previously when Dan, Kristin, Toni et al went to see Bonnie Prince Billy there and spoke of the place in hushed tones. It also helped that they're associated with such Houston ventures as the beer can house and the art car parade.

We arrived at the Orange Show, which was located off I-45, a little east of the U of H camps, a part of the city which I'd only been near to a) go to a law school party and b) collect my car after it had been towed. The neighborhood seemed nice enough; in Waco parlance I might draw comparisons to certain Hewitt neighborhoods. I wondered how the residents felt about having such an attraction taking up all their street parking.

There were people. Lots of 'em. The show had sold out; thankfully Cindy had been committed enough to the show to buy tickets for us and her friends Tyson and Louisa. We gave them their tickets and ventured in.

The venue gave an impression that was equal parts circus/carnival and paddle-wheel dixie-land boat. Inside was quite maze-like, with hallways carved out of the space between different buildings, stairs going off in every which direction to balconies overlooking the