Super Happy Fun Land; iPhone; Wedding in Austin

I'm just barely squeaking this one in under the 1-year mark. Going to have to work on that...

7/16/07

Our then-recently-acquired new friends Katie (from genetics) and boyfriend Neil had their first gig as Lazy Horse at Super Happy Fun Land (which I believe sold their location and moved). So, notably, I guess the last time I was there.

Anyway, SHFL is awesomely BYOB, so we loaded up a cooler and enjoyed its contents while we sat through the first few bands. Lazy Horse had a good first show, we thought; they play rock but I can't quite figure out how to describe them.

We hadn't had dinner yet, so Cindy and I went to check out Heights establishment Spanish Flower, which Cindy had some sort of history with. I wasn't overly impressed with the food, but any late-night Mexican establishment is a good time.

7/18

I finally got up the nerve to spend 600 freakin' dollars on an iPhone. After picking it up from the galleria, I couldn't get the automated setup process to transfer my T-mobile number, so I then spent a couple hours fighting with AT&T to get them to do it for me after hours. And with that, I had my iPhone.

7/19

Cindy's friend Matt (well, one of them, anyway), was getting married in Austin, and the ceremony was to involve grilling, picknicking, and swimming, so I picked up a swimsuit and Cindy and I hit the grocery store to pick up some items to grill and/or picnic. Ended up with the makings of a salad and a nicely marinated pork tenderloin. Then watched some TV.

7/20

Eventually, we grabbed some Jimmy John's and made our way out of town, getting in late to Cindy's friend Sarah's place in South Austin. We hung out for a while, had a few beers before calling it a night. Tried to catch up with Becca but Austin people have weird conceptions of distance...

7/21

The wedding was outside at Krause Springs (couldn't find a web site) in Spicewood, TX, about half an hour west of Austin. After taking the Mazda over a low water crossing, We showed up, nattily attired in our swimsuits. The ceremony was short, sweet, and a bit hippy-ish/new-agey, which was apparently appropriate to the couple. Also ran in to a professor I knew from school, whose fiancé was apparently a college friend of the bride.

Afterwards, it was lunch time. Cindy and I had smartly grabbed some cans of Shiner Bock (no glass in the park, of course). I ended up helping out with the grilling, and Cindy and I enjoyed our pork and salad.

We went for a swim after lunch, violating my rule about swimming in non-chlorinated bodies of water. The water was nice and cool and the scenery was beautiful, however. And as hippy-ish as the wedding came off, I have to admit I admired the couple's commitment to a small, informal, and relatively inexpensive event.

I finally got to catch up with Becca for dinner. We went to a sort of Italian-ish fusiony-gourmet place on Congress that turned out to be quite good and reasonably priced for the quality. Sat on their nice back yard-ish patio. Can't remember what I had for the life of me.

Cindy & co. were across the street at Guero's, so I rejoined them and bid Becca adieu.

Cindy, Tisen, Sara F., and I had gotten tickets for the conveniently-scheduled Wrens show at Emo's. It happened to be the last show of their tour for The Meadowlands, which was released all the way back in '03. They seemed thrilled to be playing Austin and Emo's for the occasion and

7/22

We drove up from Sarah's place the next day to catch lunch with Rebecca and my parents at the new Ward favorite, South Congress Café. Finally sampled their carrot cake french toast and... wow.

Tweets for Today

Daily Twitterings:

• 11:35 Vegan cooking is like trying to drive somewhere only making left turns: you can do it, but it's sort of silly. #
• 11:36 I was referred to last night as a beer expert. I'm honored but it's overstating things quite a bit. #
• 12:18 Papa John's thin crust is ~5x better than their regular crust. But regular *does* have garlic butter. #
• 12:37 "Acquired" very nice pilsner glass and wheat beer glass from bar last night. Brought them $300 of business so I don't feel guilty. #
• 15:14 Take that link and rickroll.it ! #
• 15:15 Sadly Nick and I have discovered that fuck.it is registered. #
• 15:44 Ah, crap. Thao & Xiu Xiu are playing tonight at the Orange Show, but I'm already commiteed to hosting a Battlestar Galactica viewing party. #
• 16:14 Thank God for webcasts. Too rainy to walk to Rice today. #
• 16:15 Stupid QuickTime player won't stay maximized on my second monitor. #
• 16:40 OK, too much math in this talk. #
• 17:30 Battlestar Galactica is back tonight! #
• 02:39 Playing around with Pwnage. Nothing exciting so far, except that I've proven to myself that I won't brick my iPhone. Living on the edge! #
• 04:00 iPhone does look awfully sexy displaying terminal text while booting. Wonder if there's a verbose booting option hidden somewhere? #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter.

Fleet Foxes

Just a quick shout out to recent Pitchfork laudees Fleet Foxes.

Not only did they put on a kick ass show at Walter's last night opening for Blitzen Trapper (who were also good), but they get some extra cool points as well.

I went to buy their new EP, sound unheard, on the strength of their vocally harmonious 70s-ish folk rock, and the band member that sold me the EP not only offered to negotiate the price (thankfully I had no problem spending the $7 asked), but told me that if I was internet-savy, I should download the leak of their new album.

Which I would have done anyway. But it's good to see an artist recognize that I just want to hear the music, and have faith that if I like it, I'll buy it when the product itself.

Nice job, guys.

Two Gallants; Niko Niko's; Resident Evil; Packing

6/18

After their previous, disastrous show", Two Gallants were kind and upstanding enough to make it up to the scenesters of Houston by playing a free make-up show.

It maybe wasn't as good as their last one (well, the part of it they were allowed to complete), and it was certainly less exciting, but hey, what a great thing to do for your fans.

6/19

Band practice...

6/20

For the first time in months, there was a new Wii game worth buying. Sure, it was a re-release of a previous-generation game, but I had missed playing Resident Evil 4 the first time around, and the new Wii controls, which included point and shoot aiming, made for a compelling buy. I managed to (barely) swing by Best Buy to pick it up (I have to say, they've certainly gotten extra business from me thanks to handy in-store pickups and 90-days no interest on my Best Buy credit card) before joining Dan and Cindy at Niko Niko's for a $1.75 gyro in celebration of their many years in business. The line was out the door, and the wait was long, but that's not all that unusual for Niko Niko's. And the gyro tastes sweeter when you barely pay anything for it.

I started Resident Evil that night and would be fairly addicted to it over the next few weeks. For my non-gamer readers, the RE games generally involve zombies in some form or fashion, this volume in particular was, unlike its cinematic counterparts, critically acclaimed.

Certainly, firing it up for the first half hour or so, on the big screen with the surround sound and the lights out, it scared the crap out of me. It takes place in a Spanish village, and, as you make your way into it you discover that the villagers are a) homicidal; b) possessed or otherwise zombie-like; and c) surprisingly resilient to being shot, and you are armed only with a pistol. After taking out the initial one and having a crowd of villagers drawn to you, death seems inevitable until church bells ring and, suddenly, the villagers file away.

As you gain firepower, things get easier. Thankfully. The pacing manages to keep you on edge for attacks that aren't constant but do feel as if they could occur at any moment. And there are some amazing set pieces. Like when you find yourself barricaded in an old house, surrounded by zombies, and they start coming in through the windows, through the doors. And you try to hold them off, but they keep coming. So you have to flee upstairs. You knock the ladders away from the windows, you throw grenades down the stairs, but ammo is running low. I must have played that part of the game 5 times or so before I managed to outlast the things.

Did I mention I seem to have a fear of zombies? Something to do with claustrophobia, I think. So the game manages to be particularly effective, but also therapeutic. Sadly, there are some points at which the game feels too easy, and the emphasis on gunplay takes away from the horror elements. But for every level with such issues, there's another one where ammo is limited, and fuck, how am I going to make it out of this?

I'll confess I never actually finished it. I seem to have formed a habit of making it 95% of the way through a game and then getting bored. When you get too close to the end, the need to find out what's around the next corner goes away, and with it the drive to play the same damned sequence 5 or 10 times. I certainly don't have the patience I had back in the old NES days.

But overall, Resident Evil 4 is a great piece of work, and well worth playing. Even if you loathe the undead.

6/21

I helped out with the grad school night for the college summer students, as per usual, and pilfered some food to repurpose for dinner. After some ugliness with somebody who parked in my parking space (which usually results in only a strongly-worded note; as much as I hate people parking in my space, I hate more a) tow truck drivers and b) having my car vandalized), there was dinner and Sopranos.

6/22

After staying a bit late at work to wrap up a few things before going out of town, Cindy and I got some Tapatia for dinner, I snuck in some Resident Evil, and I managed to pack ahead of our unnecessarily early flight the next morninng.

Well, I forgot to make notes for this week. I've reconstructed it as best I can. If it's not on my calendar (the two concerts were), not on my credit card bill, not in my e-mail, and not in my notes, it's lost to history, I suppose.

6/4

Thanks to Bryan's IM logs, I now know that I saw Knocked Up. I remember being entertained. Not a brilliant film or anything, but funny enough. Thanks Bryan.

6/6

I'd been wanting to try Alton Brown's meatloaf recipe, which verges on the untraditional, so Cindy and I tackled it. Despite some geometric issues due to my lack of a loaf pan for shaping, the loaf turned out moist and tasty. I had many a meatloaf sandwich in the ensuing days.

6/7

Since I had last seen the Hold Steady, their album went from being something I'd listened to once to my favorite of the year. So, needless to say, I was excited about the show. And I had a plan. Obviously, music that revolved so heavily around drinking required much drinking to be properly enjoyed, right?

I had recruited Will to join Cindy and I, figuring that he would enjoy both the drinking and the blue-collar-rock-as-tool-for-literary-analysis-of-blue-collar-teens-and-young-adults. He came, we drank many beers very quickly, and the world's best bar band took the stage.

It was absolutely perfect. The drunken community of the crowd, shouting out lyrics and such ("who-o-o-o-ah"; "gonna walk around and drink some more" etc.). The band's beyond enthusiastic performance. It's one of the few times I'm glad a show was packed. All the elements of that night worked synergistically. And I had made Cindy drive.

6/8

OK, so I may have been not at the top of my game the next day. But it was worth it. And it was of little significance; the boss was leaving for his big summer sabatical. He took a few of us out to lunch, gave us a pep talk, and the smell of sweet freedom was in the air.

That night, Cindy and I had tickets to see Calvin Johnson (of Beat Happening, K Records, the Halo Benders, a fuck-ton of cameos, etc.) at the Aurora Picture Show up in the heights, taking a break from its usual role of screening underground and independent films to serve as a music venue. I'm pretty sure the building is a converted church; I'm too lazy to check the, but at least take that facts, but at least take that for its descriptive value. I'm pretty sure we sat in pews. I had been told that it was kosher to BYOB, but I'll tell you that regardless of context, it feels weird to slip your cooler up under a pew.

The opener, a young lady who played solo, was good if I recall correctly. But I'm too lazy to look up her name.

Calvin took the "stage" primarily solo with some occasional instrumental assists, but the format was of little concern, because even without a band the man is an electrifying performer. His commanding yet awkward boom of a voice, combined with his theatrical stage presence kept the audience quiet and rapt. I particularly enjoyed the Halo Benders (his project with Built to Spill's Doug Martsch) songs that he played. I don't think he played any Beat Happening but I'm not sure; I'd imagine that most of his material came from his solo work, but it could also have been from other bands of his with which I am unfamiliar. In keeping with the indie pop/twee tradition, his songs were sparse, prescious, funny, and surprisingly affecting and powerful. It was an interesting counterpoint to the night before, and a genuinely beautiful show.

The man himself was personable afterwards, guiding me in my choice of CD purchases and t-shirts—I chose his "Impeach" t-shirt, which he explained was what he would rather see people wear than something with his name on it.

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.

Committee meeting; chili cookoff; Jeff's party; Voxtrot; Cindy's company

4/23

More committee meeting preparation.

4/24

The committee meeting went well. Good data, good progress, etc. Afterwards, either band practice or some well-reserved relaxation. Can't quite remember...

4/25

Cindy and I made a Central Market run to get chili supplies. I'll tell you, spending someone else's money at Central Market is a wonderful, wonderful feeling.

We also picked up some dinner supplies. We tried a Good Eats recipe for eggplant, basted with steak sauce, broiled, topped with a nice crisp layer of parmesan (we used the good stuff and it was totally worth it). Add a nice salad and we had a great meal to accompany our viewing of Lost.

4/26

I snuck away from school for a while to get the supplies to Char. Except there was a little car mishap (on his part). So things took a while longer, and I had just enough time to run back into work to make sure my absence hadn't been too conspicuous (it hadn't) and collect Cindy before heading out to Char's place in BFE.

Our brilliant last-minute inspiration was to smoke the meat. That and adding bacon and bacon grease. The girls were working on decorations for our cook-off booth and on tie-dying t-shirts. We were under a bit of a time crunch, though, and after we got most of the three gallons of chili assembled, Cindy and I took off to catch Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at Warehouse.

Given my long-time hatred of the Warehouse (particularly its acoustics), and my not being overly impressed with their new album, I wasn't expecting much. But damned if they didn't turn it up a notch live. It's amazing what a little more energy and a live setting can add sometimes (or take away sometimes, but that's another story).

After that, back out to BFE to finish up the story. By 3 or so, it was done, and it was good. We packed it up to take to the even the next day.

4/27

So the big day had come. I had worked hard, prepared, and was ready to lay an Iron Chef-style smackdown on the representatives of the Houston biomedical health industry on behalf of my generous funding agency.

After some minor emergencies (leaky camp stoves necessitating the purchase of a new one; forgetting the cumin), the final batch of chili was on and the beer was flowing. One of my committee members was there and proved to be a pain in the ass, culinarily (and he later talked smack about our chili), but he ultimately let us do our thing. Lunch time came around and we started dishing it up. The feedback was good. Many people either said that this was the best chili they'd had all day, or that they had been told to come over to our booth for the best chili. Also, the judges came over to steal our superior beer, which we figured mean they owed us something. Also, I tried some of the other chili. One batch was burnt. One batch, I'm pretty sure, was repurposed Wendy's chili, another Wolf brand. One batch had crayfish, which is wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to start. So I had high hopes.

We prepared the official samples for the judges and sent them over, and then waited to get the official bowls to send to the finals round. Except they never came. We got passed up in favor of, for example, the Wendy's chili repurposers. Apparently the beer we let the judges have did us no good whatsoever, and, insult to injury, we were out of beer. I mean, you can insult a man's chili, or take his beer, but hell, don't do both!

So in the end we concluded that either a) this was entirely a political game or b) the judges had no tastes. But the feedback I got from the general populace was good, and in the end I have a chili recipe that I'm damned proud of.

Afterwards I went home for a nap before Cindy and I headed up to Jeff's for his housewarming/going away from U of H party. A good time was had by all, particularly one of Jeff's lab mates and her husband who apparently got drunk enough to earn themselves a lifetime ban from future Jeff/Jim parties.

4/28

Cindy's good friend and Austinian Sarah and her (now ex-) boyfriend John were in town for a visit. Voxtrot had been signed on for a free show (promoting the Yaris) at the local Urban Outfitters. After fighting for parking in the Village, we all met up and got to see a nice, free show (though one that was, quite obviously, an all-ages show). We next (including Dan and his daughter Emma) walked down the street for a beer (or two) at the Gingerman. I'd always thought Dan and Sara would get along well if not get along well, and though both were spoken for at the time, having them meet was a good first step. Post-beer, Dan took off to get Emma home by a decent hour, and the remaining four of us went to the two doors down Istanbul for dinner before going back to Cindy's to hang out.

4/29

We headed up to Empire Cafe the next morning for some breakfast/brunch/lunch before Sarah and John left town. I had some decent penne rustica.

But it was no chili. Throughout the next week I'd use the leftovers in many forms. In a bowl, as part of a frito pie, on hot dogs; all spectacular. Those judges... there's just no conceiving of what the hell went wrong there. Maybe the cups were mislabeled.

Recording; Bill Callahan; Science of Sleep; Tapes 'n Tapes

4/16

Another Monday at the Prole. These come to an end soon when Dan gets tired of the DJ gig.

4/17

With Jeff's new toy, we had our first recording session. I've got some rough mixes from that, and though they're far from perfect sonically or musically, it's pretty damned cool having recordings of us. Vincent will be graduating soon. I'd like to have something akin to an EP finished before he goes, but that takes time. Lots of time.

4/18

Back in December we were fortunate enough to attend Joanna Newsom's magical performance at the Orange Show. You might recall that Bill Callahan—formerly of (smog)—opened the show. Well, he had another show booked here to kick off the tour for his new album, Woke on a Whaleheart. My friend Zach, owner of Austin's Backspin Records, had sent out a request for someone to shoot video of the show, a request that came from Bill to Zach through Zach's wife, who was touring as part of Bill's band.

So, sensing an opportunity, I passed the opportunity along to Greg, who likes to do the whole video camera thing. In doing so I managed to get he, myself and Cindy on the guest list. Sweet.

So we show up at the Orange Show. First act is Astronautalis, whom I might have realized sooner that I had actually seen before had he still been called MC Astronautalis. Turns out I saw him when he played a Polyphonic Spree Christmas show in... 2001? Anyway, I recall him wearing a t-shirt that said "World's Greatest Lover 1981" and he did a freestyle about that. Maybe he did some breakdancing too, or maybe that was somebody else.

Regardless, I wouldn't have expected what I got at the Orange Show that night. Astronautalis (or Andy, which I have less of a tendency to misspell) has a rap background, but hearing him that night, indie rock was the first thing that really came to mind. I mean, hip hop, in general, bores me. I think a large part of that is due to repetitive production, and with Andy, I don't have to worry about that. Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, Explosions in the Sky, lo-fi, K Records; these are all influences. Sonically and lyrically, you get something that's dense, intense, and emotionally evocative. I violated my "don't buy before you try" policy and bought his CD right then and there. Apparently he's a huge Bill Callahan fan, as are his parents who had flown in from Florida for the show that night, hence Andy having the gig. (As a side note, I saw him play this weekend and it was phenomenal. But more on that in... six months?)

So anyway, Bill Callahan was up next. I found his folky songs much more enjoyable with his full band (mostly culled from Austin act Shearwater), but ultimately I wasn't crazy about it. I 'd be interested to hear how it compares to his older (smog) material, though.

But the Orange Show is so great that you don't have to be crazy about the act to have a great time, and we did. Yay Orange Show.

4/19

Committee meeting time, and I wanted to be able to work in the Tapes 'n Tapes show on Sunday, so I worked late...

4/21

I worked on a Saturday. That's how committed I was to having everything ready so that I could go to the Tapes 'n Tapes show. Yep. Dedication.

After calling it quits at work, Cindy and I watched The Science of Sleep. It was cute and quirky in that Amelie sort of way. But ultimately it was sort of tragic. It would have been easy for it to have ended well, but it just... didn't. I'm a sucker for happy endings. I readily admit it. So my suggestion is if you watch this, stop it ten minutes before it's over. Make up your own ending.

4/22

More working on the weekend. But it was all to get to see Tapes 'n Tapes play at Numbers. The show was... maybe a little disappointing. But it'd be hard to top the intimacy and energy of that show at Super Happy Fun Land a mere day or two before they blew up at SxSW that year. Maybe it was subjective, but they just didn't quite translate to the bigger venue very well.

In Real Life...

Busy week ahead. Revisions on one paper, trying to figure out what to do with another paper that got rejected (well, that's a negative way to look at it; we'll say they "declined our offer to allow them to publish the article"); trying to get some programming done that will yield another paper (hopefully), and then putting a poster together for retreat in the latter half of the week. Busy busy. But at least I'm not Cindy, who has not one but two papers that have to be rushed out lest they be scooped...

Other than that, things are good. Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze a couple of entries in this week.

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...

Stuffed burgers; SxSW

3/14

Due to incompetence on somebody's part (City of Houston?), I had no water. But I was going to the store to buy dinner supplies anyway, so a couple gallons of water solved that problem.

Cindy and I had, for some time, been discussing our idea of stuffed burgers. To offset the massive amounts of grease, we started with a salad. For the burgers, we cooked up some mushrooms and bacon. I split two 1/3 lb. burgers in half, making two patties of each, and put the mushrooms and bacon on top of two of them, along with some bleu cheese. Then put the unused patties on top and seal the seams.

In retrospect, I didn't get the seams quite right, because they opened up a bit during the grilling. Despite some scary moments in flipping them, I managed to keep the topping from spilling out. We put them on some nice hefty whole wheat buns, and I garnished mine with some steak sauce.

We consumed them in front of an episode of Lost. Suffice it to say they kicked ass.

3/15

Despite an unhappy boss, I took off Friday so that Cindy and I could head to Austin to catch some of South by Southwest. So that night there was some packing, and, since I was in the throes of an addiction to the season one DVDs of 24, I stayed up a bit late watching that.

3/16

We got a bit of a late start the next morning, much to Cindy's displeasure. We arrived in town and made straight for Waterloo Records to catch an instore by Peter Bjorn and John. We were initially quite concerned about the line, but it turned out that much of it was for a later act that Waterloo wasn't forming a line for, so we were soon toward the front. The show started and we were still outside while they were doing one in, one out, but we made it in and caught over half their set. Not bad for free. They were pretty straightforward live, but enjoyable.


After that we dropped my car off at Becca's and caught the bus to her place of employment. From there we went the the ACL studios, from which place KEXP was broadcasting for the week. When we arrived they were interviewing the Good, the Bad, and the Queen, and Beirut was setting up, which was the main attraction for us. We were there maybe half an hour early and there was hardly anyone there, possibly due to the (short) distance from downtown.

Beirut were great live, and once again, free. I think they definitely benefited from the live presentation, though I still find that their music is... well, not soulless, but not exactly meaningful. Maybe if I could understand the words...

Dinner was next on the agenda, and Becca suggested the new Salvation Pizza. The pie was excellent; very well seasoned. I need to eat there again so I can try to replicate it.

After that, back to Becca's to let our stomaches settle. Then we went to the nearby Ms. Bea's to attend what we thought was a free Architecture in Helsinki show listed on the 'net, but it didn't materialize, instead filled with bands I'd never heard of. We stuck around for a couple rounds of beer, before heading back to Becca's for the evening.

3/17

After some leftover Salvation at Becca's and a run by the liquor store for some purse-sized whiskey, we headed downtown to try and get into the filter party. Unfortunately Dan didn't show, and we were left without a way to get in. Toni showed up and figured she could get one of us in, and since it was the Pipettes performing, the girls graciously let me go in while they went in search of refreshment. The Pipettes were fun live, as the visuals definitely accentuate the girl-group revival sound. The weren't anything unexpected, but a competent reading of their material was all that was really required, and I certainly enjoyed it.

Becca had noticed that McCormick & Schmidt had a special on appetizers for St. Patrick's day, so we went, had a few cheap beers, and a lot of cheap appetizers, including corned beef sliders, chips and salsa, a burger, fish and chips, and some other stuff that I forget.

We wandered around in a slightly drunken haze for a bit, and happened to be walking by Club DeVille when we overheard the door guy say "Yes, the Polyphonic Spree is playing here." I didn't take any further convincing, so we hooked an immediate left turn into the club, got some drinks, and got in position for the show.

Having not seen them in four or so years, they were once again a revelation. Their new militaristic uniforms and slightly darker tone was effective and complementary to the current political climate, but their was still plenty of bright optimism and I got completely into the show. It was incredible.

Afterwards, in line for the bathroom I chatted with a couple of members, asking about their lack of a French horn player. He had been gone for a while, apparently, and they asked if I knew someone. I mentioned that I played, but was in school in Houston, and they told me that if I ever wanted to relocate to let them know.

Certainly, the idea was intriguing. I'm sure it would be an incredible experience, being part of such an incredible group, but in the end, I let it be a daydream. Somewhere there's a Ward that went for it, and I'd love to sit down with him and hear about it, but I've got a great life here and I've got a degree to finish. And I just may not be cut out for touring, anyway. I certainly like my comforts.

After the show we started a slow, tired walk back towards Becca's car and after a laborious negotation process managed to get Cindy's brother and her friend Sarah to meet us at Thai Passion up north. We had a nice Thai dinner and Steve nicely picked up the check.

We headed back to Becca's place and then walked over to Courtney's, picking up some beer on the way. We had a great evening of beer drinking on Courtney's porch. Good beer, good friends, good times.

3/18

We had brunch at an Italian market sort of place, and I enjoyed my breakfast panini with trouffled eggs.

We walked to a nearby record store and looked around a bit before meeting up with Kristin at the unveiling of a mural at a South Austin music store before returning to Becca's place. On the way out of town we saw Becca's piece for the Texas Biennial, which I hadn't seen in person yet, and then made for home.

Becca's Art; Concerts; Lab Dinner

Updates resuming soon my ass. The past six weeks or so have included two (2) trips by air, two (2) trips by car, two (2) weddings, two (2) weekends of company staying at my place, one (1) paper almost finished, and a whole lot of good times.

It has also left me nearly six months behind. So expect to read about those events in, oh, February. For now, I've got to get back in the habit, so in between loads of laundry I'll get at least one entry in before moving on to a late birthday present for Cindy.

3/5

Rebecca arrives in town so that she can do her installation at the Lawndale Art Center, but sporting a minor Wii sports injury on her foot which is starting to look a bit infected. Cindy and I point out our proximity to a minor emergency center before leaving to catch a film at the Angelika.

We see Zodiac, which is quite enjoyable at the beginning, but slows toward the end, and the fact that the real case remains unsolved makes the ending... unsatisfied.

Rebecca opts not to get her foot treated due to the $100 co-pay.

3/6

Cindy and I head off to see the Shins at the Verizon. As is often the case, the show proves less than satisfying, with the sterility of the venue infecting the band's music. I enjoy seeing them, but the most fun is just hanging outside with the smoking crowd, where we find Dan, Nick, Mandy, and, randomly, Bryan's brother Evan, and Katie (that I met at the genetics retreat and her boyfriend, with whom we talk about music, both listening and making.

Afterwards, given Becca's and our proximity to it, Mai's seemed like a great place to meet for a late dinner, and was satisfying and refreshing as usual.

3/7

Hui, who had not felt like much of a part of the lab since long before he graduated, had finally found a job (or at least a post-doc) and so is leaving. Consequently, Olivier arranges a a goodbye event for him. We meet at the Ginger Man for a couple rounds, and for once I arrive early enough to get the free glassware. After that, we amble over to Nit Noi for some Thai. Cindy joins us and meets the lab and Olivier. Olivier orders for us (soup, curry, pad thai, eggplant) and does a good job.

Afterwards, a quick trip by home and then off to numbers for the Explosions in the Sky show, which is characteristically enjoyable. Greg has a new ladyfriend with him...

3/9

Art, Tafia, "the taco train", the Mink

Becca's art show opens Friday night, so she and I head there and immediately grab beers: me for refreshment and her for that good ol' "liquid courage" because she has to give a brief artist's talk. There were a few pieces I liked. The best ones not by Becca are some very intricate paper cuttings attached to the walls that are somewhere between internal organs and flowers, a flickr group called "Never Been to Houston Before" where people that had never... you know, been to Houston posted pictures of what they thought Houston was like; a clever idea, but maybe one that could have done with some editing and focus.

There is also the guy who constructed skateboard-style ramps in a room and used them to run up and along walls, creating patterns of scuffs and documenting the process with his camera. It's a nice combination of performance art and other media, but better in principal than in practice.

Becca's work is, as usual, brilliant. She had covered the floor with white vinyl to give the room a unified look, and then her tape was various shades of blue and worked in clever ways with the doors and corners of the room. Cindy shows up with her brother, as did my parents, aunt and uncle, Dan and Emma, Jeff and Jim, and Will. It's nice for my parents to get to meet some of my closest friends here (particularly Cindy), and I am glad to have brought out support for Becca.

Afterwards, due to familial constraints, Mom and Dad take off. Becca and I go to Tafia to crash an art party, and take advantage of what free food was offered there, although we foolishly buy a round of beers before moving to the free wine. After that, around the corner to Tacos-a-Go-Go for some food with Becca's crew, then to the nearby Mink for some drinks before calling it a night.

3/10

I head out to Susan and Jerry's to catch Mom and Dad for lunch before they head back to Waco. Later that evening, Cindy and I meet up with Molfese, who had moved away with his lab but is back in town for his birthday. We catch him at BW3's, have some wings for dinner, but then have to pass on a Wii session in favor of catching Deerhoof, who put on a good show but whose music I'm not sure I'm arty enough to "get".

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.

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.

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 performance space, two bars, a screen and projector in a separate seating area, and benches immediately surrounding the performance area.

The "stage" itself looked like it might have been a fountain at some point. There was a circular wall a foot or two high around it, and the band's equipment was set up inside this circle.

We got some beer and then decided to stake out a position, settling on the smallest of several balconies (well, really a roof top) with no seating unlike the rest of them.

All in all, the venue was incredible. I guess the capacity is relatively low, so people don't play there often, but man, I wish that weren't the case. The whimsical architecture was flat out fun, and on a crisp December night it was wonderful to be sitting on top of a roof, drinking beer, spending times with friends, and listening to a concert.

Bill Callahan of Smog opened. His music, at least on first listen, was nondescript folk, but it was very serious, he had a nice voice, and maybe some good songwriting chops as well. Apparently the lucky bastard is dating the beautiful Ms. Newsom, this after previously dating Chan "Cat Power" Marshall. Nice pull, man.

Joanna came out and playe da few songs off her first record solo, some of which she usually opens with and some of which normally comprise her encore, which couldn't happen, presumably due to noise issues (and you know how we handle noise complaints in Houston). She requested that we restrict picture-taking to the first song, which seemed reasonable.

Then the band came out. One guy playing a Bulgarian tambura (think loot), which added some nice flourishes; another on accordion, which covered a surprisingly large amount of the backdrop that the orchestra provides; another on banjo/guitar; a drummer, who played percussion that was more orchestral in nature than the typical trap set and also sang harmony; and finally, a girl whose job must have been a bit boring, with some very occasional vocals and mallets.

As much as I liked what Van Dyke Parks did with the arrangements on the album, this bad fit the music much better. It was a little more folky and country; more live-action and less Disney animation. If we're lucky, she'll release a live album; the performance was nothing short of brililant. I was sold.

Jeff absolutely hates this album, and I can see why. But I can't imagine anybody that was there could have come away from the show not sold on it. I wish I could relive that night. And I hope I get to see more shows that brilliant at the Orange Show.

Afterwards, the best way to conclude such a perfect night was to grab a good dinner and some beer at Rudz. The only thing is that the Rudz burgers aren't quite what they used to be, as Eatzi's, which used to supply their delectable buns, is no longer in business. But to compensate for that, Sabrina, fresh from finishing finals, joined us for a couple rounds.

An absolutely great night. I'll add pictures later.

12/13

One of Cindy's friends had the unfortunate luck of being hit by a car while crossing a street in the med center. She'd been out of the hospital for a while, but was going back in for more surgery, and wanted a "last meal", so Cindy and I joined her and other assorted BCMers for some Thai at Nit Noi.

12/14

For some reason I drove my car in on Thursday. I left a little early with the goal of doing a little bit of Christmas shopping, in particular looking for a waffle maker for Cindy, and looking into a new cell phone for myself.

But it was not my day. The decision to drive into work and then drive straight from work to go shopping and then to take 59 to get where I was going ended up screwing me over. There was some debris on the highway, and in the dark it was hard to see. As soon as I hit it I thought I had blown a tire. I took the first exit I could, pulled off on the first side street I could, and called my roadside assistance to come change the tire for me (hey, I pay for it, you can be damned sure I'm going to use it when the opportunity presents itself). During that time I saw no less than 5 cars pull onto the same street I was on and change tires, and one guy told me he had seen ten more on the highway. Whatever I hit, it was bad, and, apparently I'm not a complete idiot.

I got the tire changed and went home, frustrated. The rim was bent. The tires are fucking expensive. It looked bad...

I think Cindy came over after that and we went for beer. I won't deny it, that helped.

12/15

Deteremined to get my car back to normal as quickly as possible, I started at Sam's Club and worked my way north, not finding any partiuclarly good deals on tires, nor good news about the rim. Eventually I ended up at Discount Tire (which isn't all that discount). They pointed me towards a place that could reshape the rim. Without driving on the highway (compact spare), it was a long drive, but I got there. Somewhere along the way, though, I had the brilliant idea to call the nice hispanic people at Rollo's Racing to see if they had a used rim they could give me. In the end, I decided it was safer to just replace the rim rather than risk having one that wasn't perfectly shaped. No sense having my year-old car not performing up to its potential.

So I went by. First they too offered to reshape the rim, but told me it woudln't be perfect, as I suspected. It turned out it wasn't quite the right rim, aesthetically, but they could get me the right one, and were even willing to loan me the non-matching one to drive around on for the rest of the day. Not only that, but the tire wasn't in fact blown; it just lost air when the rim bent. It wasn't even flat. I'm still a little paranoid that the steel belting was weakened when I hit whatever it was, but I'm trying to keep an eye on it.

So, my car fully functional if not quite matching, I finally got to stop by and look at the cell phone I wanted, confirmed that they didn't want my business enough to match Amazon's free price (and mand did they give me some bullshit about why), and then went in to work for a little while before going to get my new wheel once Rollo's got it in.

Later that night, Cindy and I met Will, Char and Angela at Little Woodrow's for some much-needed beer.

12/16

After visiting my aunt and uncle, I did some quick shopping for Cindy at Barnes & Noble and Target.

Once I got home and hid the stuff, Cindy came by and we met up with the Dan crew for some beers at the Harp. Darts were thrown as well.

12/17

Jeff and Jim had been wanting to throw a party at their swank new place ever since they had moved in a month before. The occasion was Jim's birthday, so Cindy and I grabbed some beer and went over for some drinking and socializing. Good times. Awesome townhouse.

Cindy ended up a bit drunk, so we came back to my place, I got her put to bed, and then got some good Zelda time in before taking the plunge and ordering the phone from Amazon.

I'd never been entirely satisfied with my Motorola that I'd bought in February of '05. The form factor wasn't particularly impressive, the features weren't compelling, and the interface was complete crap. A smart phone seemed to be the only way to get something that was actually useful. Palm's ran on an OS that was essentially 10 years old. Others ran Windows Mobile, and I'm pretty sure daily use of that would end with a loss of sanity or happiness. That left Blackberry, and their new Pearl was the first smart phone in a compelling form factor that I had seen. So, I went for it. More on that later...

Wii and Beach House; Errand & Cindy; Waco & Thanksgiving

11/20

Cindy came over for a little Wii Sports and then we went to the Prole to catch Beach House.

Beach House's debut had just hit Pitchfork a week or two earlier, and it showed in the relatively small turnout. Regardless, it was a wonderful show.

If we are to take Beach House's name literally and use it as a metaphor for their music, then this figurative house is decrepit, and long abandoned. Not condemened, because that would imply that someone actually gave the thing some attention. A thick layer of dust is on everything. The door hangs on one hing. The floor boards are rotten, the furniture and upholstery tattered. Sunlight, peaking in through the grey clouds outside on the beach (which is desolate), trickles in and scatters as it hits the dust in the air. Sand litters the floor. Everything is sepia toned.

This structure, as with the music, is all that's left of some sentimental memories, memories that belong to ghosts.

That's the sound of Beach House. Old, wheezing, ghostly, sentimental. Quiet organs lay a backdrop for soft, slow guitar.

And the effect came through even more in person. Great little show.

11/21

I usually take the liberty of skipping out on school for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and so this Tuesday marked my last night in town. As such, there were things to do. At the time I thought I might take the Wii home with me, and so I made a Best Buy run to pick up a copy of Excite Truck, using some gift certificates I had earned in buying my TV. Then, off to Whole foods to pick up a few items from the grocery store for Dad, on to CVS to refill some prescriptions, and then finally home to spend a little time with Cindy.

11/22

I think I may, actually, have gone into school for a half day, or something at least passing for one. Then, on to the road, stopping off at Wendy's for a second attempt at that bacon jalapeño cheddar melt thingy, which was certainly enjoyable (man I'm hungry). The drive back to Waco was, maybe, a little busy, but nothing major.

When I arrived, Dad had a good dinner for us: curried pumpkin soup and bruschetta.

11/23-5

The rest of the holiday was pretty quiet. There was a minor skirmish over my accusations that Dad had screwed up the turkey. We broke out the smoker on Saturday to do the Christmas turkey, and I proved that I'm not wrong, I'm just an asshole, when we properly brined the turkey and it turned out delectably. We also did some pork roast and ribs which were wonderful as well and provided me with meals to return to Houston with.

Becca and I went to Cricket's on Saturday night and had a couple beers before we were herded out in the rudest, most assholeish manner possible. I was waiting for Rebecca to come out of the bathroom, was told to leave, asked if I could wait for my sister and was told that, "There's only one exit. She'll figure it out." This was all well before 2:00, by the way. I shot the guy the finger and left, wishing that I could take my tip back.

But anyway, all in all, a nice, quiet holiday. Good food (mostly) and good times with the family.

Justice League, Disturbing news, the Prole; Pizza score; Hans'; Jana Hunter and Lola's; Valhalla, Tapatia, the Petrol Station; Borat; Wii

11/13

Will came over and we watched some Justic League. Which was good.

Amidst that, Bryan sends me an IM and mentions he had gotten an e-mail from Rachal, who, apparently, is now married. I could list many reasons why this should have meant absolutely nothing, and they're all pretty much true, but at the time, it was like being punched in the stomach, having the wind knocked out of me. It took a good week or two to process. In the end, all is well, but hell, we're over three years past this and it still stings a bit. Maybe it always will, maybe it won't. But the worst is long past over, and that I'm thankful for.

So shortly after that I went up to the Prole for the usual Monday activities. I was more than a bit distracted, but good company, good beer, and good music improve any situation.

11/14

I only stop here to note that after journal club, I managed to snag a whole Star Pizza to take home. Yoink!

11/16

Jana Hunter, whom Cindy and I had met in Austin, was playing her first show in Houston since I'd met her. I only knew her musically through her affiliation with Devandra Banhart and the "freak folk" movement.

What she played was nice, light, pretty folky acoustic stuff. It was really good, actually, and I really enjoyed the show. It's funny, hearing her voice, it was like hearing a different person from the one I knew.

Afterwards, I caught up with Merry-Lynn and some of the other youngsters from school at Lola's for some cheap drinks. After paying the homeless guy a couple bucks to not deface my car, I walked into the ultra-divey place. I liked it a lot, actually. A few parts Scruffy's, a few parts Mary Jane's. Dan later would ask if I went there to buy drugs, but it didn't seem that shady to me. I thought it was rather nice, though nice as in pleasant, not nice as in high quality.

11/17

Cindy, as usual, was working late, so Kim from Keck and I went to get some dinner at Tapatia since we don't always get to hang out much, and it's a good time.

Cindy and I had made arrangements to hang out with her friend Tyson and his maybe-maybe-not girlfriend Louisa. We me them at their place up in the Heights, or, actually, in their neighbor's backyards where we were promptly offered food and beer. We took them up on the latter, noticed how nice and neighborly they were, (The Heights: Houston's Canada), and then drove a little ways to the Petrol Station, which was, gasp, outside the loop.

It was a charming little place. Equal parts neighborhood coffee shop and neighborhood bar, there was tastefully mismatched furniture both inside and outside, and pleasant-seeming people both inside and outside. Even some playground equipment out back (you know, for the kids), and a fire, which sadly we did not sit around. There was a nicely chosen selection of beer available. I'm not exactly wholly comfortable with Tyson, and his situation with Louisa was pretty strange, too, so it wasn't the most socially at-ease evening, but seeing this hidden gem of a bar was reward enough.

11/18

It was t-minus 12 hours and counting until Wii-day, and I was determined to do what I could do get one. I knew Toys 'R Us was having a midnight sale, so I called them to see what the deal was, and apparently there were already 60 people in line for 100 systems. That option didn't look good.

Cindy had made plans for us to see Borat with her brother. I made sure that it would be over in time for me to hit Amazon at 11:00 PM when the system would theoretically be available.

The film was, frankly, awful. I liked the wonderment at the cultural differences of the Americas; I hated the naked fat guys, the other gratuitous nudity, and other low-brow humor that was neither clever nor particularly funny.

Anyway, we did a sweep by Toys 'R Us just to confirm that there was, in fact, a long line, more to witness the spectacle than anything else.

We got home, I started hitting the reload button on Amazon, and Cindy went for Whataburger. Amazon never put the systems up for sale, or, rather, I missed the 15-second window in which they were up for sale. I resolved to hit one Target location for an 8:00 opening, the next for a 9:00 opening, a Circuit City across the street for a 10:00 opening, and Sam's for an 11:00 opening.

I stayed up a little longer, until 2 AM, still thinking that Amazon might put the Wii up for sale. No such luck, so, to bed.

11/19

Up at 7:05, threw some clothes on, and Cindy and I took off for the South Main Target. We got there and only saw a few people in line, and I knew that it couldn't be that easy. Apparently they had already given out the tickets for all available Wiis and that the people who had them had gone for coffee, breakfast, and/or bathroom breaks.

The remaining people politely filled us in on the situation. I quickly made for the Meyerland Target store, arriving there by 7:30. I was told by the nice ladies waiting in line to get systems for Christmas for their kids that there were 34 systems available. I think I was something like 35th in line, but not everyone in line was buying one, so I figured I was safe.

Cindy's brother wanted us to pick one up for him, too, so just to be safe, Cindy went across the street to Circuit City and was second in line after a hispanic family, who apparently was buying them to sell on eBay, and had other family members in line all over town. A fucking racket, apparently.

Anyway, turns out the store was opening early (8), so soon the manager came out and passed out tickets. As he got closer, I got nervous, as the stack rapidly seemed to diminish. Turns out, I had reason to worry, because the bastards only passed out 30 tickets (I later saw two spare Wiis sitting out).

But I got the last ticket, #30. I couldn't believe my luck. I had maybe five minutes to spare between my arrival and the arrival of the people behind me. One of the guys behind me stayed in line because he was special or something. The rest went across the street to try CC. I chat pleasantly with the ladies in front of me, some of whom wanted iPod advice for Christmas presents.

So they open up the store, and we walk to the electronics section in the back and line up. Basically, they let people walk down the aisle one at a time to pick out games and accessories. I grab Zelda, the primary impetus for the entire outing, consider picking up two more games to get a free gift card but decide it's probably not worth it, as there aren't really two more games worth buying and I already have some store credit to use at Best Buy. I also grab an extra remote, so that Cindy and I can play Sports, and, against my better judgment, grab an extra "nunchuck" attachment, which at the moment only allows for two-player boxing, and also against my better judgement, the "classic" controller for playing more traditional games with more traditional controls.

I then get up to the register and get one of the last three Wiis. The guy behind me asks to make a phone call, puts the sales associate on the phone to talk to whoever it is on the other end of the line, and is given a system to buy, just like that. Nice that he didn't try to take one of the vouchers from the unconnected customers.

So, bag o' Wii in hand, I wander through the store to the built-in Starbucks and get beverages for Cindy and I, walk out, stow the Wii safely in my locked car, and go over to Circuit City to wait with Cindy.

There's a rumor that the store will also open an hour early, but they don't, nor do any of the employees entering offer up any additional information. The wait's a bit long, and slightly cold, but a bit before 10 vouchers are passed out. There's some bullshit about having to show a driver's license so that they only do one per household, which is completely silly but not important. Then they say that if multiple people came in the same car, but of course there's absolutely no way to enforce that. Idiocy.

I briefly consider buying one to sell on eBay but decide instead to let somebody else in line have one in hopes that it will go to a loving home. I ocasionally regret that decision...

Circuit City is a bit short on games and accessories, so I'm glad that I bought my system at Target. Cindy and I return to my place, I quickly hook the thing up, and we play some tennis. It's great, though most of you reading this already know that. Cindy leaves to go visit her parents', and I take a nap.

Later I'll get up and get started on Zelda...

Austin; More Ben Folds

Real-time interlude: I started this entry, well, a couple weeks back, and just haven't gotten back to it. I realize everyone is tired of being three months behind on my life. I'm trying. Really.

It's a nice Sunday afternoon, and Dan's on his way over to teach me to drive stick. I'm pretty sure this is an experience I should have had about 8 years ago, involving my dad yelling at me, but I suppose Dan can be the surrogate for that.

11/3

Cindy and I got a slightly late start on our trip to Austin, but not too bad. My primary purpose in going was to catch Ben Folds doing a proper rock show at Stubb's; Cindy was going to celebrate her friend Sarah's birthday. Cindy had considered picking up an iPod shuffle for Sarah's birthday; I insisted that we get the sexy new clip-on one, and this just happened to be its first day on sale. We took a slight detour to Best Buy, and walked out with the player with minimal fuss.

So, back on the road. Saw the very sexy Cadillac XLR on the way to Austin for the first time; it's a nice combination of sports car sleekness and interesting angularity—shame it's made by GM.

We got into town, hitting a little traffic on the way in due to a wreck, and consequently we were running a bit late. I had to get Cindy dropped off in Southwest Austin, which, as I've probably mentioned, isn't that far away, but it was a bit of a pain. Then I had to go by Becca's place to pick up her friend Ali because, hey, Ali doesn't like to drive (I don't get those people). Then downtown, to find Becca, who didn't answer her phone the first 57 times we called. Then, finally, parked, and we started the walk to Stubbs, stopping off at Mug Shots for a drink so the girls could use the bathroom (a little counter-productive, I suppose), before reaching the venue, getting more drinks, and finding a spot in the crowd. We caught the end of opener Corn Mo's set; I had previously enjoyed his Meatloaf-They Might Be Giants-Freddie Mercury-Weird Al shennanigans, I wished we had caught more of the set, but he at least won over the girls.

Ben came out and played a good show. He kept going on about an expensive new red keyboard he had bought and worked very hard to incorporate it into the songs to prove its usefulness. The backing band was sufficient but barely notable. A highlight was hearing him cover "Such Great Heights", which I had previously only seen via YouTube.

The show was good, and, though it couldn't match the earlier Houston show, it was hardly a disappointment.

Afterwards, we crossed the street to Club DeVille, whose cool back patio bounded on the back side by a rock cliff gave it a nice atmosphere, and it was a good place to be on such a crisp night. Drinks were had, etc. It struck me as a good place to see a small show, potentially (SxSW?)

We stopped by Jimmy John's on 6th and got some food (and here I shall note that, thank God, Houston has a Jimmy John's that opened up this very week), enjoying the theater of the drunk people trying to use the restroom without purchase, or with bribe. I remarked that seemed like a pretty good deal to the cashier, who reminded me that he had to clean up after the drunkards. Point taken.

Back to Becca's, where there was some wrestling with an uncooperative futon before going to sleep. Becca doesn't turn her heat on, which is just how I like it.

11/4

After a leisurely morning, thoughts turned to food, and Becca and I debated between eating in or going out, finally compromising on a light snack at her apartment and then a walk down the street to Azul. Like so many great places, it was in an old house, very homey. But we weren't inside long; just enough to order some kind of egg muffin sandwich to split and two Shiner 97s before we went out to their wonderful patio. Old, rusted furniture and tables presented themselves for our use; our food was brought out on an antique tray, and the friendliness of the place, the interesting landscaping which just barely cut off the outside world, and the warm fire conspired to make me want to stay there for the rest of the afternoon.

We didn't, though, and decided to go music shopping and then to get beer. Cindy wanted to join us, so once again we went out to Sarah's place to pick her up, and then back to down town to do some shopping at Waterloo records. Apparently our timing was perfect, as Waterloo was having a spectacularly good anniversary sale. I stocked up on a number of CDs I'd been meaning to pick up, and notably the DVD of Ben's first orechestral performence with the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra, which featured a number of the same songs/arrangements from the show earlier in the week (though it omitted some material that, well, wasn't written back when the show took place).

I wanted to swing by Lovejoy's for some bizeer, but it was getting late and the littlest Ward was getting hungry, so we went to the barbecue joint she had picked out, Artz Rib House.

Let me first point out that Rebecca taking me to a barbecue place would have, up until a year or so ago, been a minor miracle. Becca came back from a trip to France in high school a vegetarian, and remained that way. I have Taco Cabana to thank for providing Becca's meat gateway drug: bacon.

So anyway, barbecue it was. Beers were ordered, and most of us settled on some variation of... (wait for it)... ribs. Their specialty was "country-style" ribs, that is, the biggest damned ribs you could imagine, which really had a lot in common with pork chops, at least in terms of size. I lobbied for combining that with an order of baby back ribs, but Cindy wanted her own order (which I knew she couldn't finish), so Becca and I split an order of the country-style ribs and a sausage wrap. The sides left a bit to be desired, and our service was... iffy, but there's no denying that those ribs were a nice cut of meat.

It continued getting late. We made for HEB to pick up some beverages and the necessary supplies with which to wrap Sarah's gift. They had gift bags, sure, but you know what was even better? Red & white striped popcorn bags! Yep. It was inspired.

I also learned that HEB will not sell beer to you if you have only a passport and not a driver's license. Who the fuck came up with that one? If anything a passport is even more valid identification than a driver's license? And isn't it even better to be buying beer if you don't have a driver's license, because that means you're less likely to be driving drunk? Suck it, HEB. And also, can I have more of your awesome fresh salsa? Thanks.

So we made for Sarah's friend's place over in Austin, which was in reasonably familiar territory.

We got there and Rebecca and I, at least, felt a little bit out of place. Most people there had kids. I think Sarah knew a lot of them from some kind of single parents' group. But after a beer or so, the conversation shifted to Built to Spill and I suddently felt not so out of place.

Courtney returned my earlier call and invited us to her place, so Becca and I took our temporary leave and headed south to Courtney's, which, it turns out, is just a couple blocks back from Becca's.

We walked to the corner store for some beer and Courtney's very well-behaved dog (who didn't even give a sidelong glance when a very angry and scary dog behind a fence along the route barked very loudly and charged the fence). And then we hung out, drinking beer. That's it. It was nice.

Courtney had to be up early for a bike ride the next morning, so we left, I dropped Becca off, and I rejoined the party. And then Cindy and I went and spent the night at Becca's.

11/5

We got up for lunch at Hoover's, as it was Becca's friend's last day working there. We were a ways back on the list, and probably wouldn't have made it in time for breakfast, so Becca's friend suggested we comandeer the table she had just cleared. This was blamed on us, for her sake, and we got a dirty look from the host, but hey, it worked.

I had the honey-drizzled chicken tenders and biscuits, which were quite good.

Anyway, after that it was time to make our way back to Houston. Which we did.

The Prole; Real Halloween; Best. Concert. Ever.; Bowling for Shawn

In real time, it's the end of another weekend. The new Arcade Fire album leaked and I was ecstatic. I've listened to it probably close to 10 times already. I put this entry off for a while just because I wanted to do justice to the Ben Folds show...

Maybe I should start doing these introductions like a syndicated TV show. I could be like Leonard Nemoy on "In Search Of" or the Cryptkeeper on "Tales From The Crypt"...

10/30

Another Monday night at the Prole...

10/31

Cindy had decided that she would go as Yoko Ono for her Halloween costume, and I thought that it'd be nifty if I went as John Lennon. So I