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.

Bryan's visit

6/29

Something I've learned: when you don't have actual vacation days, you have no reason not to a) stretch the days you're going to be gone on either end and b) just be generally vague. So it was that I had a day off in time for Bryan to come into town.

He, Sabrina and I hit up Reggae hut for lunch (I think there were some bad "Jamaican" puns made, and jokes about a nearby funeral home). Food was great, as always. After that, we went and saw Evan Almighty, although I don't know why, because it was pretty bad.

The entire day, I was resisting the impulse to jump in line for an iPhone. Instead, we headed back to my place for some Wii.

We met up with our respective better halves for some Star pizza that evening, and then hit the Davenport for some fancy martinis. We capped the night with a traditional night swim at Sabrina's apartment complex. With alcohol.

6/30

Bryan and I hung around my place and played some Wii before hitting Central Market for dinner ingredients. We got an artichoke, and made Bryan's famous tomatillo chicken tacos.

After that, show at the Proletariat: Voxtrot. It was filled to capacity when we showed up, but in half an hour, enough of the jaded hipsters got bored that we were able to get in. The band kind of got screwed; didn't go on until after 1:00 and played only a short set. Good show regardless.

7/1

Bryan and I decided to catch Ratatouille Sunday afternoon (great flick), before having Indian food for dinner at Khyber. I always enjoy Khyber when I go; it's a little pricey but it was a good meal.

Tweets for Today

Daily Twitterings:

• 13:17 So Walt *doesn't* know when the next iPhone comes out? tinyurl.com/3pausx #
• 17:22 Feeling patio-ish. #
• 17:31 Signal is always bad in this one room... #
• 23:55 So *that's* what rancid peanut butter tastes like. Date on the jar said best if sold by 10/06. Which, to be fair, it probably was. #
• 02:37 3.5 years later, I finally finish Pikmin. Now back to all the other games I haven't finished. Zelda, you're next. #

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Tweets for Today

Daily Twitterings:

• 14:13 Patio or balcony? Light or dark? Flood risk or no? Slightly cramped or slightly spacious? Decisions, decisions... #
• 14:14 Not sure why, but I *love* leftovers. Maybe because they're already prepared and paid for. Yay Pappasito's grilled platter. #
• 19:43 Finally, somebody addresses the question of new iPhones and the FCC: tinyurl.com/4jycry #
• 19:45 Accomplished: picked up comics, went by Sam's. Did not: pick apartment, sign lease, wash car. Pending: school stuff. #

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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? #

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

The Hold Steady; The Thermals; The Bound Stems; iPod; Conference, Two Gallants and Police Brutality; The Departed; Cooking (Wings)

It was the super hardcore week of concerts, the last the most shockingly hard of them all...

10/9

I had first listened to the world's greatest bar band's (the Hold Steady) newest album on the way to the retreat the previous Friday and liked it immediately. Songs about drinking and drugs and hooking up and romance and the revelations that come about as a result of the above are featured prominently, and the entire thing wrapped up in easy to listen to mainstream rock hooks that wouldn't be out of place on a Counting Crows album.

So obviously the ideal way to see the band is at a place like Walter's—a dingy, low-lit dive with cheap, crappy beer. As luck would have it, that's exactly where they played. The cheap beer gave me the perfect buzz with which to appreciate the music, and, well, the concert was pretty much exactly what I expected—great rock, a great band, a great show.

10/10

Honestly, I barely remember this one. I'm not that familiar with the band, and I recall enjoying the show, at least. I do know it was at the Proletariat, and as it was a Tuesday, I probably had a Sparks to wake me up a bit.

10/11

Dan really loved these guys after catching them at SxSW, and while their EP didn't hook me, their album did. So I was excited at the chance to see them, which I also have to thank Dan for as he apparently suggested that the Prole book them.

The music is... difficult to describe. The bound stems are all about moments. Good moments. Moments that you could build a whole song around. Instead, they stuff a whole bunch of them in one song. Some work, some don't, but all you have to do is hold out a little because a good one is bound to be around the corner. There are elements of normal indie rock, some electronic manipulation, and maybe a little math rock.

Despite a relatively positive review on Pitchfork (maybe they're not the tastemakers they used to be, especially as evidenced by their bizarre best of 2006 list), the crowd was sparse. But god bless 'em, the band was very appreciative of the crowd they drew. Dan got a shoutout for his mad skillz behind the mixer, which, if it wasn't enough that the band was playing, completely made his night. The show itself was great, replicating their album well with the added energy of a live show, but removing some of the ponderous spoken samples that weighed their album down a bit.

At the end of the show, their female vocalist announced that we could support the band in one of two ways: buy their album, or give them a place to sleep. I attempted both, and succeeded in buying their album, but they got a better sleeping offer. I just can't top a guest room, but that was ok; everyone involved was better off. But at least I offered, right?

Anywyay, everyone should check them out. Great music, great, super nice people. What more can you ask for?

10/12

It was the night off from shows. Apple had, not too long before, announced the new generation of iPod nanos, which managed to increase storage space, and offered improved durability in a scratch-resistant aluminum shell. Despite my slight guilt over my past tendency to run out and grab any new iPod which was available (although in my defense, I skipped generation 2, the color version of generation 4, generation 5, the iPod mini, and the new iPod shuffle), once I found a buyer for my old nano in Angela, I braved the rain and went to Best Buy to buy the new nano with some gift certificates and the cash from the sale of my old one in hand. In addition, they had an insanely cheap price on the new Decemberists album, and the new Beck albumw as available as well, so I picked both of them up to add to my Best Buy tab.

10/13

The Agency That Funds Me (TATFM) had their annual retreat actually in the med center this year, which minimized driving, and even had free parking for us, which allowed driving in the first place, and God bless 'em for both those things. I showed up a bit late, because I could, put up my poster, hung around a while, and then Graham, Tiffany, Char, Jeff and I took off, first for a coffee shop (as I had some things I had wanted to work on and once again was at a conference without wireless), though the internet wasn't exactly working in the traditional sense, and then went to another coffee shop to work (which, it turns out, didn't have internet at all). Lunch at Brasil was good. Tiffany and I split a pizza, though it may have been a bit granola for her.

After that back to the conference for a bit, then I grabbed my car and went home for a while (it was so nice to have that option) to "get some work done" before returning in time for the happy hour with the free beer, and dinner, catered by Treebeard's. I wasn't overly impressed, but, hey, free meal. Dinner over, I snuck out during the keynote, went home, and grabbed a nap.

Char made arrangements for a whole mess o' people at a wine bar (the Tasting Room, maybe?). I think Graham and Angela had actually made the choice, as it was within walking distance for them. In addition to them, Cindy, and myself, other Angela was there, some first and second years, Kim, Oliver and Oliver's New Girl, and Char were there. We filled up a big table, and started putting away the bottles.

But Cindy and I tooke off to go see Two Gallants. Having been super impressed with them the first time I saw them and liking their recorded output subsequent to that, but not being overly impressed with their next show in Houston, I figured they'd at least be worth catching.

I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen.

Cindy and I got there. Dan and Kristin and a whole mess o' other people were there. The show was going great. It was great music and exciting and the duo was executing flawlessly.

Then I looked out the door of Walter's and saw a police car pulling up.

This was odd, of course, so I kind of kept an eye on the door. A young, large, latino officer with a shaved head came through the door, exchanged a few words with the door guy, and then started making his way to the front of the room, shining his flash light. I thought maybe he was lookin for underage kids there or something? At the time, that was the best guess I had.

But then he got up to the front of the room. And climbed on stage. He exchanged a few words with the Gallants' guitarist, who continued playing the instrumental bridge of the song they had been playing when he arrrived. The cop then grabbed the guitar, and the guitarist pulled back on it.

In the blink of an eye, the guitarist was on the ground, taken down by the cop. I backed up, because God knows what was going on there. A woman's voice authoritatively told us to toss our drinks and get out, and for some reason I thought maybe there was some weird liquor license thing going on, so I exited immediately.

In my absence, apparently crowd members tryed to pull the cop off the band, which was dumb but maybe justifiable, as it probably looked like he was going to kill them. It was then that the cop broke out the tazer. A guy that was taking pictures (and would later be arrested for something vague like "interfering with an officer's duties" got shoved by the cop into a century-old upright bass belonging to the opening band. Various members of the audience were harrased. a 14-year-old boy, there with his parents, got tazered. At some point the cop started chasing the guitarist with a tazer. The guitarist went behind the bar, hopped it, and then took off running out the front door.

Meanwhile, I was outside; Cindy, Dan and Kristin were still inside. More cars had showed up (four or five at that point). I saw the guitarist take off running out of the front door and off down the street. It was probably around this time that some audience members got arrested, some of whom were just asking what was going on, though undoubtedely not in the most respectful of tones. I was hanging out off to the side, about to go in looking for Cindy when she came out. We hung around for a while when we were told we could go inside and close tabs, and since I'm rather fond of my credit card I opted to do so, noting the broken bass on the floor.

We walked across the street to our cars, wondering aloud what the fuck had just happened, but taking off rather quickly rather than risk being singled out by any of the 20 or so cops that were swarming the place, opting to wind down at Rudz.

The story of what happened would come out over the next weeks and months. Apparently there were pretty much nightly noise complaints from some assholes who had moved in behind the bar and were shocked that they would be able to hear the music from the fucking rock venue adjacent to them. And apparently that particular cop had harrased Walter's patrons before. And there were all kind of other stories:

• Chronicle Handstamp blog entry with video


• Chron blog entry with e-mail criticizing the Chronicle's coverage of the story


• Chron blog entry referencing Chron story on Walter's and noise complaints


• Pitchfork interview with the band


• Interview with the band in Rolling Stone


• Two Gallants forum thread on the incident


• Heavily linked-to account on Dan's blog

It was, really, a fairly traumatic experience to see those tasked with keeping law and order escalate a situation into violence. I hope the band gets some justice in all of this. I hope this doesn't scare too many bands away from Texas, though certainly there's evidence it already has. Finally, I hope that, whatever happens, life is a little worse for that asshole of a cop and that he regrets abusing his power the way he did. Of course, a lot of this hasn't been taken seriously because the people who were there were a couple of hippy musicians from San Francisco, a bunch of kids who don't contribute much to Houston's coffers, and a whole bunch of cops, and everyone knows rock and roll is lawless, rebellious, troublesome music anyway.

Fuckin' a, man, fuckin' a.

10/14

Cindy and I met her brother up at the I-10 Edwards to see The Departed which was certainly well-acted, if a bit... opaque.

10/15

I decided to try my hand at making buffalo wings (of the boneless variety). Some breaded and fried chicken breast chunks, some melted butter, some Louisiana hot sauce, some celery sticks, and some bleu cheese dressing, and I was in business. Not bad for a first effor, though I could probably improve on both the breading and the sauce...

Pappadeaux's & the Ginger Man; Practice; Batman Beyond; Khyber & Snakes on a Blog; Minty drinks; Woodrow's; Cooking

8/14

We were interviewing a postdoc candidate in lab, and I was asked to take him to dinner, which seemed like a good idea at the time.

This was right around the time of all the "heightened airport security" bullshit, so after I ran home to get my car and picked up the interviewee, I had to take him to get bubble wrap so he could pack his laptop in his luggage. Then I had to run back up to school to pick up my lab mate that was joining us.

The trouble with dinner was, our interviewee he was (originally) from Algeria, and because of the culture he was raised in, didn't "like to be around drinking". So no beer on the lab budget, tragically. I took him to Pappadeaux's, as he seemed willing to try something new. Lab Mate (who happens to be a little dense) managed to order the cold shrimp and raw oyster plate—without realizing that the oysters were raw. Smooth. Seemed like such a waste. I tried one, but I wouldn't necessarily say that I enjoyed it. Thankfully, I had ordered crab cakes for us as an appetizer, which were good. Our interviewee went with fried crawfish; labmate went with some kind of plank grilled fish, and I tried the blackened catfish (which was actually disappointingly bland). Lab Mate also has an annoying habit of hearing things, misinterpreting them, and spitting out the misinformation at a later point, so I spent a good portion of the evening correcting some of his notions about the US, Texas, Houston, BCM, and the lab for our guest.

I talked them into getting the sweet potato pecan pie for dessert, though, so it wasn't all bad.

Then I had to take interviewee back to the hotel, and then David home, and finally, finally, made it back home to enjoy the rest of my birthday. Cindy came by and picked me up to take me out for beer at the Gingerman.

8/15

Band practice. I continue to suck less. We pick up a few cool covers. Jeff has a nice original called "Satellite" that's a waltz. Rocking occurs.

8/16

At some point I had borrowed a DVD with the first few episodes of the animated Batman Beyond on it. I had not long before that rediscovered my love for the excellent DC Comics animated TV shows (Batman, Superman, Justice League) and so was glad to get to fill in this missing piece.

I think I had previously watched the DVD, but since then I downloaded a bunch of episodes off of BitTorrent and so I spent my evening working my way through them. The show was entertaining, but probably the least so of the four cartoons. It seems to be a bit far from being a masterpiece, but I can't help but wonder if the feature-length movie corrects some of that—particularly, darkening the tone a bit, which is a bit kiddie because of its teenaged protagonist.

8/17

Graham and Angela hadn't made it to my birthday party, and offered to make that up to me by taking Cindy and I out to dinner. We ended up at Indian restaurant Khyber, which was quite tasty.

Afterwards, we had a date with Will to see Snakes On A Plane (seems overly pretentious to capitalize that). The movie delivered what was on the tin, and did so in a completely entertaining manner. So, surprisingly not criticisms from me.

Well, more tits wouldn't have hurt it. I mean, it was just that kind of movie. Oh, and that music video at the end was just awful.

8/18

Despite the best efforts of Kristin to get us up to the Prole, Cindy and I opted for a cheap night in. Cindy brought over some mint leaves and we made mint julips (which were good but would have been better with seltzer instead of plain water) and mojitos. TV was probably watched.

8/19

Matt, who had previously left school, was back in town for the weekend and wanted barbecue. He, Graham, Char, Will and I hit up Goode's for some sauce-drenched goodness before wandering across the street to Goode's Armadillo Palace for a round.

Notes indicate that I went to Woodrow's that evening. No more details available.

8/20

Notes would seem to indicate that I spent the evening cooking. I think (think!) that was probably the evening that I tried a couple of Alton Brown gazpacho recipes. One was sort of a dip that used Bulgar wheat in addition to the traditional tomato and bell pepper flavors. The other was fruit-based, but in the more traditional cold soup form. The tomato-bssed dip one didn't really turn out very well; it just never quite tasted good.

The fruit one, on the other hand, was pretty good. I should have cut the cucumbers, and I was short on walnuts, but the grapes, white grape juice, and apples combined well with everything and it ended up being tasty—especially after I added my own touch, one (carefully) seeded habanero.

The next night I would try an Alton Brown macaroni and cheese recipe, which turned out badly thanks to my managing to fuck up tempering the egg into the sauce. A suggestion for the recipe was to take a bar of the final product, chilled, and batter and fry it, which redeemed it, though I would imagine it would redeem just about anything.

Dallas; Waco; Car Bullshit

7/14

The drive to Dallas was farily uneventful; some rain, some music, and a stop for caffeine and gas were among the highlights. I rolled into town, checked out Bryan's new place, and soon Phil joined us and we took off for Lower Greenville. Phil suggested Stout (Thanks to Bryan for the assist on the name) where we started the beer drinking and ordered a few appetizers (though they were disturbingly seafood driven).

The hour rolled around for the concert du jour, so we made for Deep Ellum (where I hadn't been since... oh, maybe the Guster show of 2003). We were there to see Camera Obscura do their best Belle & Sebastian impression at the Gypsy Tearoom/Ballroom. Phil and Bryan were confused by the number of people in full punk regalia going into the ballroom, but I figured there was no way a bunch of alternateens were showing up for a twee pop band. Turns out that Rancid (Bryan confirms) were playing in the ballroom (the larger of the two), whereas CO were playing the more intimate tearoom (which I preferred anyway). The two halves of the venue did share a bathroom, though, which made for an interesting juxtaposition of P!O!P! kids and punks.

I opened a tab and got to work. Phil had brought some cigaretes along so I indulged (haveing reached that level of drunkeness). I picked out a new t-shirt. The band was solid live; pretty much reproducing the album. It was enjoyable, but didn't really add anything to the experience.

Phil took us back to Bryan's, and then Bryan, Lisa and I made a TC run.

7/15

Slept nice and late before Bryan and I started the lamb we were going to have for dinner. The next order of business was lunch, so we went once again to Lower Greenville for some good mediterranean at Ali Baba, the highlight of which was the creamy humus and crispy falafel.

Good Records' new digs were nearby, so we went in to check out the space. Space was one thing there was plenty of, particularly around their new stage, which I'm sure makes for great in store performances. As usual, the selection and curation