Nobody Cares What You Ate For Breakfast

Wyld Carrots!

2010-07-18T22:56:00.000-05:00

Back around Memorial Day I stumbled across a field of wild carrots (or Queen Anne's lace) while I was on the way home from shooting something else. Around that time this stuff was everywhere around here. I was actually lucky to stop when I did, because a couple of days later it had been mowed. Never pass up a photo op!

I'm always intrigued by that little purple bit in the middle.

I liked how the ladybug was hanging out right in the middle.

What It Do?

2010-07-06T21:49:00.001-05:00

Things seem to have been really busy around here of late, leading to not much time for blogging. I guess that's a cliche, right? But cliches are cliches for a reason, you know?

I pretty much have a new job with a new boss, and my workload has increased a lot. Which actually isn't bad, because there was an awful lot of downtime in my last job. I say I "pretty much" have a new job because at the moment it's technically a temporary detail. Seeing as how the prior holder of this job has moved to another location, however, I think it's mine if I want it. There's also a possibility of working for someone that I have worked with before and liked, but I haven't heard anything official on that one yet.

Aside from work, I'm taking an accounting class this summer. I've been spending lots of time on the weekends reading and doing homework. Having a background in accounting could possibly help me move up the ranks where I work. Like a lot of people, I have always associated accounting with math, and I thought since I'm decent at math that accounting would be a snap. Now I know why everyone I have ever known who's taken an accounting class tells me "It's not math!"

Accounting is definitely weird. It's like learning a foreign language. And words that you've heard before like "debit" and "credit" don't necessarily mean what you think they mean. And a lot of the concepts are not intuitive to me at all. I dunno. I think I can do alright in accounting classes, but I don't think I find it all that interesting. I generally feel like life is too short to do uninteresting things, but I also have a stubborn streak that wants to prove I can finish things that I start. So we'll see what happens.

Hopefully I can squeeze in some camera time (or at least photo editing time since my backlog is enormous) soon.

LCD Soundsystem

2010-06-16T21:35:00.000-05:00

Last week I saw LCD Soundsystem in concert. I was expecting a good show based on things I've read about them, and I wasn't disappointed. Having a full band makes for a pretty heavy live sound. I find it somewhat amusing that James Murphy kind of looks like an average schlubby dude, or at least not like a "typical" lead singer of an indie band. He's got a great voice though.

And speaking of voices, probably my least favorite thing about LCD Soundsystem's records is Nancy Whang's backing vocals. They just seem a bit shrill or too far up in the mix for my taste maybe. However, I thought she sounded just fine live. Although at one point near the end of the show James tried out her mic and said something about it being much quieter than his, so maybe that explains it!

Altogether a highly recommended show if you like their albums!

Setlist:
Us V Them
Drunk Girls
Get Innocuous!
Yr City's a Sucker
Pow Pow
Daft Punk Is Playing at My House
All My Friends
I Can Change
Tribulations
Movement
Yeah

Someone Great
Losing My Edge
New York I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down

I could read this setlist when I zoomed the image on my camera to its max.

The Garden

2010-06-01T21:15:00.001-05:00

Baby steps. Baby steps back to blogging. You know the drill - not enough hours in the day, yadda, yadda, yadda.

One of the things I've been doing instead of blogging is getting my garden up and running again. I got kind of a late start this year, but things are starting to look pretty good.

I couldn't find grape tomatoes this year, so I went with sweet cherries. I've had a hard time getting larger tomatoes to do well here, and I like to put the little ones on salads. This past weekend I picked a bunch of caterpillars of the tomato plant, including 4 hornworms. I'm hoping that I got them all. I'm going to be watching like a hawk for them this year (they're so hard to see since they're the same color as the plant). Those hornworms can eat a plant down to nothing in a hurry. Anyway, my fingers are crossed for better tomato results this year.

Oh, and I forgot to get a picture of the okra plant that I planted in the ramshackle remains of my raised bed in the yard. Something to blog about later.

I couldn't find any Thai basil to plant this year, but then I noticed that new sprouts were coming up from last year's plant. It's growing great now.

The garden

My first ripe tomato of the season!

I love the fuzz on tomato plants.

A Tale of Two Peppers. These were about the same size when I planted them. I have no idea why one is so scraggly now. I've watered and fed them equally.

I think it's funny that the scragglier pepper plant has the biggest pepper on it. Maybe all the plant's energy went to producing it.

This is the other Thai basil plant, which also returned from last year.

More fuzz!

Team Coco Hits The Road

2010-05-17T21:34:00.001-05:00

Last Thursday night I went to see Conan O’Brien’s Legally Prevented From Being Funny on Television show. I’ve been a Conan fan for a long time, so I was really excited when he announced this tour.

This show sold out crazy-quick. It was kind of weird how the tickets went on sale – they started selling them in the morning and announced the tour right before lunch. I was lucky to see the announcement in a blog posting before the show sold out. 15 minutes after I got my ticket, there were no more to be had. So I felt pretty lucky.

I wanted to be surprised by the show, so I didn’t read much about the prior stops on the tour. I figured that there would be a lot of stuff that carried over from show to show.

It was kind of like an old-fashioned variety show, but with cussing. There was music, standup, and some taped bits. I guess you could describe it as a live version of Conan’s television shows without the interviews. I really enjoyed it, and the rest of the crowd seemed to as well. I wish they had been able to do some kind of live action taped bit that was filmed around town, but I understand that they probably don’t have time for that kind of thing with their schedule. Overall, a big thumbs up!

Andy Richter does a fake commercial for a local liquor barn.

Conan claimed that this was the actual bat from Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell tour.

Conan in his Eddie Murphy "Raw" suit.

Conan demonstrating how flat his butt is. "You could iron a shirt on that thing!"

Don't ask.

Andy Richter performed a number on horseback.

One of Conan's writers did a brief standup bit.

Conan broke out his guitar for a few songs.

Return of the bat.

The masturbating bear made a cameo.

The big finale.

The Conrad Bain cutout was not for sale, alas.

Here are a couple of videos that I shot. The Triumph one probably isn't as funny if you aren't from Dallas. The Walker Texas Ranger stuff owns, though.

A Trip To The Country

2010-05-05T22:04:00.001-05:00

A couple of weeks of ago, the bluebonnet flowers in this part of Texas reached their peak display, so I decided to head out to the country to take a look.

Indian Paintbrush

I'm not sure what kind of flower this is.

There were a few white (or light blue) bluebonnets mixed in.

I didn't notice that this one had a little guy on it until I looked at the photos at home.

Closeup of the "little guy".

The aroma was wonderful too.

These donkeys were very photogenic.

There were also baby horses. Aww.

Again, not sure of the name of these flowers. Something to do with daisies, I'm guessing.

Yes, don't forget "Vote Day"!

The Flaming Lips

2010-04-18T18:24:00.002-05:00

Last month I finally got the chance to see the Flaming Lips in concert. I’d wanted to see them for a few years now, but they haven’t played Dallas since 2006. A nearby town held its second annual music festival this year, and the Lips were the biggest name act to play the festival. The fact that the show was free was a nice little cherry on top.

Nobody was sure how many people were going to show up, so I wanted to get there a little bit early to make sure I could get in (people with festival wristbands were given priority over those without). The show was held outside at a fairground, so it was capable of holding a pretty large number of people. Upon arriving about an hour before the show was scheduled to start, I was able to walk right in and get a spot that afforded a decent view.

Two acts performed before the Lips. They were Stardeath and White Dwarfs and Midlake. I think Stardeath and White Dwarfs may be the most confusing band name ever. They are fronted by Wayne Coyne’s nephew, whose voice sounds a lot like Wayne. How awesome would it be to have Wayne Coyne as your uncle, and have him let you use his stage setup? I thought they were pretty good. One of the highlights was their offbeat cover of Madonna’s “Borderline”. I also enjoyed Midlake, who hail from Denton (where the festival was held).

Anticipation was high by the time the Lips were ready to hit the stage. They didn’t disappoint upon entry, as the video screen was used to make it look like the band was emerging one by one from a woman’s nether regions. Wayne broke out the human hamster ball and gave a big speech about how he wanted everyone to play nice. Wayne hadn’t taken more than a few steps into the crowd when the band launched into their first song…and the power went out. Wayne headed back to the stage, and after a brief delay the band started again. But no more hamster ball. The power would go out one more time in the middle of the show. I’m not sure what the deal was with that, but I thought it was handled rather good-naturedly. Wayne attributed the outages to a woman who lived nearby using her toaster, and the crowd seemed to take it pretty much in stride. Although I think it maybe cost us a couple of songs from the setlist since the end time seemed to be set in stone, I didn’t feel ripped off. I mean, how can you when the show is free, right?

Overall, I really enjoyed the show. And hearing some of the new songs live gave me a greater appreciation for them. I bought the Lips new album last fall when it came out because of the great reviews. Although there were a couple of songs that I really liked, after listening to it a few times I was feeling a bit underwhelmed. But after seeing them live I like the album a lot better. Some of these new songs are incredibly heavy live. The combination of getting walloped by that heavy-osity, an adoring crowd, and Wayne’s enthusiasm changed how I experience this music when I hear it now. I guess that’s one of the reasons that people go to live shows in the first place. And it might sound kind of hokey, but there were a lot of good vibes at this show. It was a feel-good, party kind of atmosphere, and you got the impression that the band really has an appreciation for their audience.

I came very close to not going to this show, but I’m really glad that I did. I can’t wait to see the Lips again.

It was a beautiful day, but it got a bit chilly after the sun went down. Had the concert taken place one week later, we would've been snowed upon.

Stardeath and White Dwarfs. Most confusing band name ever?

Midlake.

On the left you will see Recyclosaurus Rex, who is the mascot of the city of Denton, Texas's recycling program. He danced onstage for most of the show.

The dancers were dressed like DJ Lance Rock from Yo Gabba Gabba.

Teh aftermath.

Here are a couple of videos that I shot. The audio ain't the greatest in the second one because of the heavy bass, but it's worth watching for the ending.

Setlist:
Worm Mountain
Silver Trembling Hands
Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
In the Morning of the Magicians
Watching The Planets (acoustic version)
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt. 1
Waiting For a Superman
See The Leaves
Convinced of the Hex
Do You Realize?

Vampire Weekend in Dallas

2010-04-12T21:42:00.002-05:00

Sunday night I went to see Vampire Weekend. I didn’t go as a fan, but more out a sense of curiosity. Being the contrarian that I am I was pretty anti-VW when their first album came out. There was something about that East Coast-preppies-playing-Afro-Caribbean-flavored pop music aesthetic that kind of rubbed me the wrong way. There was something a bit too “precious” about it. But then I really grew to love Grizzly Bear, and it doesn’t get more East Coast preppy than those guys. And then Vampire Weekend’s second album got great reviews. I think I also got a sense of a certain ironic detachment from VW that made me question their sincerity a little bit.

Eventually, the backlash to Vampire Weekend grew large enough that my contrarian nature began to question that. I mean, something that gets so much love has to have something to it, right? I’ve grown to feel that music is usually better live (funny, I used to feel completely the opposite), so I thought I would give them a listen in person to decide for myself.

The verdict? I think these guys have something. The songs are incredibly catchy. I don’t have either of their albums and I’ve only heard a few of their songs, and I think that lack of familiarity kept me from really loving the show. I did enjoy it though. It seemed like they did a good job of pulling off their sound in a live setting, and it made me want to listen to more of their stuff.

I kinda felt like grandpa as I surveyed the crowd, although I think things were marginally closer to my demographic up in the balcony where there were seats. When the guy came around with wristbands as people were lined up to get in I was a little taken aback by the fact that maybe only 7 or so people out of the 50 in line in front of me were over 21. Am I getting too old for this?

I had my point and shoot camera with me, and at one point someone from the venue came over to hassle me over whether it was a video camera or not. I think this was because of the LCD screen that flips open to the side. Number 1: It does have video capabilities, but the mic on that thing is ridiculous for recording anything other than really quiet stuff, so I wasn’t shooting any video. And B, if I was shooting video, I might have had the thing pointed at the stage more than 40% of the time. So take that, jerkface. He said I could use it as long as I didn’t have the screen off to the side. Whatever. Have fun watching the hundreds of videos on Youtube shot by other people who were there.

All in alI I enjoyed the show, and I’m now interested in listening to more VW. So I’m glad I went.

This is the opening band - Abe Vigoda.

The San Antonio Museum of Art

2010-04-05T21:39:00.001-05:00

While I was in San Antonio, I spent one evening at the San Antonio Museum of Art. The Museum is housed in the old Lone Star Brewery building, which is quite interesting in itself. The Museum collection is primarily made up of 3-dimensional art objects from various parts of the world from a number of different time periods. There weren't too many paintings.

The gray areas represent restorations. I'm curious as to why they decided to repair his right testicle but declined to give him a new penis.

This is a bust of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. I found this likeness fascinating, I guess because it is so lifelike. To me it's as close as you can get to staring into the face of someone from almost 2000 years ago.

Again, no new penis.

I'm also fascinated by old coins. I think it's amazing to think that a person handled this actual coin 2200 years ago. And it's in such beautiful condition too.

This ceremonial golden wreath was really cool.

San Antonio

2010-03-28T22:11:00.000-05:00

My trip to San Antonio last week was a success. At first I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to see everything that I wanted to, but when I thought about it a little more I think I did pretty well considering that I had to sit in a meeting room from 8-4:30 on Tuesday through Thursday. I got overstuffed on barbecue, saw the Alamo, went to the art museum, went on a ghost tour with a group including one seriously stoned chick, had the best homemade corn tortillas I've ever had, went to both local brewpubs (can you believe there are only two? But that beats Dallas by two!), and saw four mission churches from the 1700's.

I also squeezed in a couple of workouts, and the work part was fairly interesting. It was also interesting to see how much more that Spring has sprung down there, but I guess being 300 miles further south will do that.

Bird Time

2010-03-24T14:16:00.001-05:00

In addition to pear blossoms, I also got to see a couple of cool birds last week. The first was a pair of bluebirds. Unfortunately in the photo you can't really see the blue color since I was pretty much looking at him from the front.

A split second after this photo, the bird took off in a big hurry. I wasn't sure why until I saw a hawk come swooping low overhead. Don't worry, he got away in time.

Then last Friday morning I heard an owl behind my house. I hear them from time to time, but the only other time I tried to get a photo of one it flew away as soon as I opened my back door. This time I was able to get a photo. Made me late to work, but it was worth it.

Snow Redux

2010-03-21T14:15:00.000-05:00

This was quite the surprise - we got more snow last night. Actually, they had been forecasting snow on Saturday for a couple of days, but seeing as how the high temperature on Friday was 73 degrees I really wasn't expecting much more than flurries or a dusting. It turned out to be several inches! I was actually mowing my yard on Friday night because some of the weeds were starting to get a bit tall. I've actually seen snow falling here on April 1st, and one year it snowed on Easter, but I've never seen this amount of snow so late in the season. Weird.

Pear Blossoms

2010-03-17T22:55:00.001-05:00

Damn I'm having a hard time keeping up with posting to this blog. But I'll keep on trying.

There's a blossoming pear tree that I've been wanting to take some photos of, and today I finally got around to snapping a few.

The Gorge

2010-03-07T22:17:00.000-06:00

Another place that I knew I wanted to visit while I was in Oregon was the Columbia River Gorge. I drove through there on my one prior visit a number of years ago, and it left a big impression on me. It's an impressive place, especially to a flatlander like me. I find the geologic history of this area fascinating as well.

The whitecaps are a clue as to how windy it was up here. I was very glad that there was a wall keeping me from blowing away.

Hoyt Arboretum

2010-03-01T21:49:00.000-06:00

One of the things that I wanted to see when I was in Portland was big trees. Big evergreen trees to be exact. We have some big trees in Texas, mostly oak and pecan trees, but not many evergreen trees (at least in this part of the state). And what better place to see trees than at an arboretum, right? So I spent a little time at the Hoyt Arboretum, where I got to see some really big trees (including no less than Giant Sequoias) as well as some other botanical delights.

Snow Aftermath

2010-02-23T13:55:00.002-06:00

On the Saturday after the snow the sun came out and the big melt began. I went for a walk to catch the last of the snow before it disappeared.

I love the look of pecan tree bark.

We like to keep it classy around here.

The iceman melteth. And his face fell off.

Dog O Rama

2010-02-21T20:20:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday I went to a dog parade. That's right - a dog parade. I thought there would be some good photo ops - and there were.

Miss Piggy

Umm...

Texas Snowmageddon

2010-02-18T21:24:00.000-06:00

Last week we had a snowstorm that was extremely surprising in its magnitude. At DFW airport, 12.5 inches of snow were recorded! Now, I know that that doesn't compare to the big snowstorms that have hit the Northeast recently, but it's pretty much unprecedented here. The previous 1 day record for snowfall in this area was 7.8 inches, and that occurred way back in 1917 or somesuch. We average about 2 inches of snowfall per winter.

Another surprising aspect of this is that even up until the night before, the forecast only called for 1-3 inches of snow. Usually when that much snow is predicted here we get nothing, so I was actually not even expecting that much. It pretty much snowed steadily for almost 24 hours straight. Despite all this, the roads were actually not too bad because the temperature was hovering right at the freezing point most of the day. The roads were pretty much just wet. In fact, I've had commutes in the rain that were worse than my Friday morning snowy commute.

It was quite the spectacle, and something that I may not see around here again in my lifetime.

This was the view from my office window as the snow was coming down.

Believe it or not this photo was taken at 10:30 PM.

Northern flicker

The view from my office the next day

The Grotto

2010-02-08T21:19:00.000-06:00

One place that I visited while in Portland was The Grotto, which is a Catholic shrine and botanic garden. The grotto of The Grotto is a cave carved into a cliff. You can ride an elevator up to the top of the cliff, where the main part of the garden is located. It's a really pretty spot.

Portland Plane Ride

2010-01-31T19:02:00.002-06:00

I like to look out the window on plane trips. On my flights to and from Portland I made sure to get window seats, and I was even more impressed with the view than I thought I would be, especially on the flight up there.

Departing DFW. Talk about "little boxes all the same".

It's Pacman. Totally.

Denver

Mt. Rainier & Mt. St. Helens.

Um, "aft" means "behind". So apparently you're not supposed to step behind the line. You know, the area where you see this GIANT FOOTPRINT! Gulp.

Portland

2010-01-24T00:43:00.002-06:00

I really enjoyed my trip to Portland. I had been there once before, but for less than 24 hours, so I was looking forward to being able to spend more time looking around. Not to mention that I was going to meet one of my bestest blog friends, Michelle.

I spent most of the plane ride up there reading Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon by Portland author Chuck Palahniuk. It's a rather unorthodox combination of a travel guide and a memoir. It was fun to pick out things to do from reading this book, and I'm sure Michelle got tired of me saying "The Palahniuk books says...".

I saw some amazing scenery of the type that I rarely get to see, saw some great art, went to an amazing Chinese garden, went to the largest bookstore I've ever seen, arm wrestled a woman, and I had some really good food. I got to see a couple of good bands (one of which was from Texas of all places. Texas!) Hell, I even got to see a bald eagle!

And there was beer. Oh was there beer. I'm now obsessed with Rogue beer (Soba Ale, anyone?). You've got to love a town that offers growlers of beer to outgoing travelers at its airport (save room in your bag). I didn't get as much of the great Portland coffee, with a couple of exceptions, as I should have due to my difficulty in getting out and about at a reasonable hour. I did have my first ever Spanish coffee, though.

All in all it was a fun trip, and one that I hope to make again some day. A big "thank you" goes out to Michelle for being a good tour guide and drinking buddy, and for putting up with me for five days. Thank you!

I will post more about some of the things I did on this trip, but here are some photos to start with:

A Leaf

2010-01-16T10:01:00.001-06:00

When I looked out my back window the other day and saw this leaf, I knew I had to take a photo of it because it immediately reminded me of m. heart. So this one's for you, m!

I'm leaving on my trip to Portland today. To meet Michelle, drink some beer, see some sights, and get rained on!

Mission San Xavier

2010-01-14T21:58:00.000-06:00

After the fam and I checked out El Nacimiento, we headed to Mission San Xavier Del Bac. It is located on the Tohono O'odham reservation near Tucson, and was built between 1783 and 1797. It's a really beautiful building.

It is unknown why one of the towers was never completed.

The mission is currently undergoing a restoration process. You can clearly tell which side of the exterior has been restored and which hasn't yet.

I love this nativity scene.

Although I had been to the mission before, I had never noticed that the door handles were a snake and a mouse.

Exterior door handle

Some of the local Native Americans cook and serve food underneath these shelters in front of the mission. Although the weather looks really nice, it was unbelieveably windy on the day we were there. We bought some frybread with cheese on top, and the wind would've blown the cheese right off if we hadn't folded our plates in half.

El Nacimiento

2010-01-07T22:20:00.001-06:00

I spent Christmas vacation in Arizona with my parents. One of the things we did was take a trip to downtown Tucson to see El Nacimiento.

Nacimientos are traditional Mexican nativity scenes that are usually displayed in families' homes. This particular nacimiento is huge. It was started 32 years ago by a woman as a way to honor her mother's memory after she passed away. She used to make changes to it every year, but this year after some cleaning and spiffing up it is being installed permanently. There is an article here that gives a bit of background on the artist and the project.

I could've spent an hour looking at all of the intricacies of this display.

Here is the devil playing a fiddle. Just like Charlie Daniels.

You can get an idea of the size here.

Blue Moon

2010-01-03T20:53:00.001-06:00

This New Year's Eve there was a blue moon. Which nowadays means that it was the second full moon in a particular month (if you're interested in what a blue moon used to be defined as, this article explains it). I wasn't sure I was going to get to see it because it was cloudy and rainy most of the day here. But it finally started to clear up a couple of hours after sunset, so I did get to see it. When I looked at it, it was covered by some light clouds which gave an interesting effect to the light. I know I just did a post with some similar photos not too long ago, but this was of historical significance!

In celebration of the blue moon and New Year's Eve I picked up a special beer brewed for the occasion. I have to say I was a bit skeptical since Blue Moon is owned by a large brewing company, and the regular Blue Moon beer is a decent but not exemplary example of the Belgian White beer style. That said, though, I really enjoyed this beer (which is good considering how pricey it was). I love Belgian beers, and this one had lots of spiciness, tang, and yeasty goodness. Once I started drinking it though, I kind of forgot that the alcohol level was a hefty 8.2%, and maybe drank it a little bit faster than I should've.

Love that orange color

I think I'm in agreement with the general consensus that 2009 wasn't the best of years. On the other hand, it could've been worse. In any event, here's to a great 2010!

California Neon

2009-12-30T21:46:00.000-06:00

These photos actually go back to my Thanksgiving trip to California. I'm always on the lookout for interesting signs.

The Hotel Del Coronado got their Christmas lights up and running right after Thanksgiving.

Christmas tree in the Hotel Del lobby.

Not neon, but a cool sign nonetheless. This is in Koreatown in L.A.

I saw this old-school Denny's sign in San Clemente.

The Wiltern Theatre in L.A.

Season's Greetings

2009-12-25T07:47:00.002-06:00

Happy Holidays! I hope you have a wonderful holiday no matter what holiday you celebrate.

I actually put up my Christmas tree this year for the first time in 3 years. I rather enjoyed the atmosphere it brought to my living room.

A lot of these ornaments are ones that my grandmother bought for me. She would buy me one every year and put it on her tree until I had a tree of my own to hang them on.

Watching The Birdies

2009-12-22T12:30:00.000-06:00

My brother-in-law is a big bird watcher, as are my mother and I, so none of us objected when he suggested a trip to a nature reserve during the Thanksgiving holiday.

There was a tree full of cedar waxwings.

A hummingbird. A black-chinned, I believe. I still can't get used to hummingbirds in fall and winter. We only have them in the summer here.

This was the only shot I got of a hawk that flew right over my head.

I watched this pelican for a while. He would dive into the water after fish and then take back off and do it over again. And again and again.

Black phoebe

I actually took this shot in my sister's back yard. It's another black-chinned, I think. There are several hummingbird species that are hard to tell apart! Oh, and notice it's raining. It was the first rain in over 5 months!

Seaworld

2009-12-20T20:41:00.000-06:00

One of the things we did in San Diego was go to Seaworld. My sister was somehow able to get free tickets, so we decided to take advantage of them.

I hadn't been to Seaworld since I was a child. To me it has always seemed a little bit cheesier and more touristy than the zoo. Maybe because it has more of a focus on animals that are trained to do tricks? I kind of don't like the idea of training animals to do things that they wouldn't ordinarily do in the wild. But I can also see that maybe seeing these animals up close could possibly help inspire more conservation efforts. So I have some mixed feelings about the place. That said, I did enjoy getting to see some beautiful animals.

Orcas certainly are beautiful creatures.

They had a show that consisted of various animals performing, including this pig. This type of show doesn't bother me as much, because these are domesticated animals. And they said that all the animals in the show were rescue animals, so I think it's great that they were saved.

Dogs on a date.

After the show the gulls walked through looking for food.

They had some Clydesdales because until recently the park was owned by Anheuser Busch. Creeping corporatism!

Beluga whale

He am the walrus

This is an uderwater view of the same whale that was popping up out of the water.

This seal looks like he's making a concerted effort to ignore me.

These egrets were trying to steal fish that people were feeding to the seals.

You can even get a Shamu pretzel.

On The Waterfront

2009-12-14T21:57:00.001-06:00

I spent the Thanksgiving holiday in San Diego at my sister's house. I don't need much of an excuse to go out there, especially when it's cold here. One day I spent some time down at the bay. I'm always fascinated by large bodies of water, maybe because I don't get to see them very often? It was about 60 degrees, but everyone was bundled up like there was a snowstorm coming.

This sculpture was titled "A Sea Word Tree". I have to admit that there were some new words for me on there. A kelson, anyone? What can I say - I'm a landlubber.

Blog Worlds Will Collide!

2009-12-07T21:47:00.001-06:00

I'm starting to get pretty excited about a trip that I have coming up next month. I'm going to Portland, Oregon (is it Or-uh-gun or Or-uh-gone?) to visit one of my first online friends, Michelle. Michelle found my blog by chance one day not long after I started blogging. I've enjoyed reading Michelle's blog over the years, which often features her wonderful poetry. I've only been to Portland one other time, almost 12 years ago, and I spent less than a day there so I'm looking forward to seeing more this time.

Last night we spoke via the wonder of Skype. I don't know why it's taken me so long to get hip to the Skype scene. It was fun to actually see the person I was talking to! I felt like Heywood Floyd in 2001 when he used the videophone to wish his daughter a happy birthday. Technology!

I haven't had much time to get any posts together about my Thanksgiving trip to San Diego, but I hope to get some of my photos up soon.

The moon looked really weird last Thursday night. There was a thin layer of clouds which was causing a band of light to appear above and below the moon. It looked more impressive in real life - it was hard to capture but you can kind of see the effect.

I like this one because you can tell it's the moon. Makes the light bands look less impressive though.

Texas Capitol

2009-11-23T12:19:00.003-06:00

Since I wasn't in a huge hurry to get home, I decided to stop by the State Capitol building in downtown Austin. I hadn't actually been inside the building since I was maybe 7 years old or somesuch. It's quite the impressive edifice.

Six flags over Texas! Not the amusement park. Can you name them?

This is the Texas Senate chamber.

John Krasinski

2009-11-22T16:47:00.000-06:00

The day after the Crumb event I went back to the bookstore that I had been to the night before because John Krasinski from The Office was making an appearance. I figured since I was in town, why not? He was in town to promote a movie he directed, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, which is based on a David Foster Wallace book of the same name. He read a few passages from the book, took questions from the audience, and then he signed postcards advertising the film.

There were tons of people there. And about 90% of them were women. I had no idea, but apparently JK is considered to be quite the hunk. It might've been a great place to pick up women if I had any semblance of game. But I don't.

Mr. Krasinski seems like a pretty good dude. He was funny, and it was apparent that this film was a labor of love for him. In the signing line, he was enthusiastic and shook hands & engaged in small talk with everyone in line. And it was a big line. I guess his appearance worked, because now I want to see the movie.

How Last Friday Night Went Bad

2009-11-20T22:00:00.000-06:00

I mentioned that there was some pre-show drama before the Crumb event – here is the story.

I left work early so I could make the 3 hour drive to Austin, have time to check into my hotel and get something to eat, and still make it to the event that night. Everything was running on schedule, and I got to the venue about 25 minutes before the 8PM start. It was at this point that I started making some mistakes that would lead to my disappointment.

I had read that there were going to be a limited number of signed copies of Crumb’s new book available at the event. I definitely wanted to get one if I could, but I didn’t want to skip dinner to arrive early or pay through the nose for one, so I guess my thought was “if I get one, great, if not, thems the breaks”. So when I arrived, I figured they would either be long gone or I would still be able to get one if I went straight to where they were selling them.

The website for the venue seemed to indicate that they didn’t allow cameras at their events. I wondered how strict they were going to be, so I went up to the entrance, sans camera, to see if they were checking people for them. They weren’t, so I walked back to my car to get my point & shoot and stuck it in the front of my jeans under my untucked shirt. (As it turned out, this was a total waste of time because they were pretty serious inside about not taking pictures and I ended up not risking even trying to take any).

I walked back to the venue, tried to look casual, and I got in no problem. It was now only about 10 minutes before 8, so my first order of business was to try and locate the book table. There was a table set up on the right side of the lobby that was serving as a will call pickup area. There was another set of tables set up on the left side of the lobby. I didn’t see any signs or anything, and I thought it was another will call area. Since I had to go to the restroom, I thought I would see if I saw the book table on my way there. Nope. When I came back out I once again went looking for the table. I walked to the other side of the venue and still didn’t see it. Maybe they had already packed up?

It was then that I realized that the tables on the left side of the main lobby were the book selling area. I tried to work my way up to see if I could tell what they had and how much they were selling them for. They had sheets of paper taped to the surface of the table with the titles available & their prices. Holy shit – they were selling signed copies of Genesis for $27.50! The cover price is $24.95. I never dreamed they would be that cheap. I have a signed hardback of a Crumb book that was released in 1998 that I paid $50 for when it came out.

The setup of the table was a little confusing to me. When I see a table (or counter) selling stuff, my natural inclination is that the line flows from the table straight back. You know, like when you buy merch at a concert or a corny dog at the fair. So I got behind a couple of people standing in front of the table. At this point one of the people behind the table asked someone else behind the table how many of something (I didn’t catch what) were left, and the guy said 4. Ruh r oh. The woman in front of me asked for a copy of Genesis, and then it became clear to me that that was what they only had 4 more of. Ruh roh 2! Then it became clear to me that they were expecting the line to flow left to right in front of the table – person 1 took your order, person 2 took your payment, and person 3 gave you a wristband so you could pick up your book after the show. Ruh roh 3!

So I moved over to the left of the table and got in line with a queasy feeling developing in my stomach. There were now 2 people in front of me, and I heard the guy say there were 2 books left. “Please let the guy in front of me be a Spiegelman fan, please let the guy in front of me be a Spiegelman fan” He bought the last copy of Genesis. SHIIIIIT!!!! I actually did say “Son of a BITCH!” out loud. With disappointment I ordered a copy of the singed Spiegelman book they had.

I gotta tell ya – it was a huge kick in the nuts to miss out on that book. I think the thing that made it so bad was that I just barely missed getting one. If they had sold out an hour earlier it would’ve been much easier to take. To think that I did all that screwing around – going back to get my camera, going to the restroom, not checking out the lobby more thoroughly the first time – and still only missed it by that much made it a very bitter pill for me to swallow. Not exactly the frame of mind I wanted to be in as I entered the theater. I did my best to swallow that giant burrito of disappointment and enjoy the show, and I was mostly able to while it was going on.

After the show was kind of tough again, since that was when everyone picked up their books. I went through the line to get my Spiegelman book, and I had to pass right by that box of Crumb books that was sitting there for those with the right wristband. Ugh. I (jokingly, in a dark humor kind of way) thought about grabbing someone’s copy and running like crazy. You know, kind of a Seinfeld/marble rye scenario. I would’ve paid someone $100 for one, but I only had $20 in cash.

My last hope was to go to the bookstore that was responsible for selling them to see if they put aside a few to sell there. They didn’t. A worker mentioned that he had seen one in the back, but it wouldn’t be signed. I told him “That’s OK, don’t worry about it”, but he went and got it and handed it to me anyway. I figured if I was stuck with an unsigned copy I’d save $10 by buying it on Amazon. Only later did I find out that Amazon (and just about everyone else) is currently sold out of it. In fact, Amazon says there’s a 1 to 3 month wait! I forlornly went over to the graphic novel section hoping that maybe, just maybe, there were some signed copies that the employees didn’t know about (of course there weren’t).

As I was standing there with the book the employee had given me, a couple that was standing next to me asked “where did you get that?” I told them that it was a random one found in the back. They had been at the presentation too and presumably missed out on the book there as well. When I saw their disappointment at my reply I (admittedly not knowing the scarcity of even unsigned copies) asked them if they wanted it. They asked if I was sure, and I said “yep” and handed it to them. They seemed so happy, which in retrospect makes me glad. I was able to find one online from an Amazon marketplace-type site, I just hope I actually receive it.

I really have no one but myself to blame, although I do think the bookstore could have done a better job. Like making it easier to figure out where their table was, how the line worked, and limiting people to one copy per person. But them’s the breaks, you know? Sometimes you eat the b’ar, and sometimes, well, he eats you. Don’t get me wrong - I know that if this is the biggest problem I have in life, then things are actually pretty good.

Crumb, Spiegelman, and Mouly

2009-11-18T22:01:00.001-06:00

The Crumb/Spiegelman event was pretty good, despite some pre and post show personal drama, which I will be whining/writing about in another post.

The stage setup consisted of a trio of comfy-looking living-room-type chairs, a table with a MacBook on it, and a large screen to the rear. I had a pretty good view since I was dead center in the 8th row. I had snuck my point & shoot camera in hoping to snap a couple of shots, but the response to a guy in the row in front of me kept me from attempting to do so. Someone who worked there said something to this guy as he was futzing with a small video camera before the show, after which he stowed it for good. I also didn’t see anyone with an i-phone try to snap any photos. So I didn’t either, which will be deeply ironic when you read about my pre show drama.

At about 8 or 9 minutes past the scheduled 8PM start time, an announcer kicked off the proceedings by introducing the participants, who all walked out together. The format of the presentation would be a “conversation” with both Art Spiegelman and Robert Crumb, hosted/facilitated by Francoise Mouly. Mouly is an artist & designer who co-founded the influential RAW comics anthology magazine with Art Spiegelman and is the art editor of The New Yorker. She is also Art Spiegelman’s wife.

It was strange to see Crumb looking a bit older and with a beard. I still picture him as he appeared in the documentary. Mouly sat in the middle chair, with Crumb on her right and Spiegelman on her left. Spiegelman asked if we minded if he smoked, which I didn’t since I couldn’t smell it, and he lit a number of cigarettes throughout the evening.

The conversation began with Mouly touching upon some of the details that were covered in the Crumb film, such as how he became interested in comics and how his brother Charles influenced him. Both Crumb and Spiegelman were influenced by Mad Magazine as kids, in particular the work of Harvey Kurtzman, with whom Crumb would later work. They both shared some recollections of Kurtzman, as well as Hugh Hefner (whom Kurtzman had worked with). Crumb mentioned that his drawing style was in some ways a reaction to the minimalist style of drawing that was popular in comics in the early ‘60s, such as Peanuts. Crumb and Spiegelman both mentioned that although they were both really into comics as kids, neither of them were into superhero comics. They both gravitated more towards Disney-style comics that frequently featured animals or titles like Richie Rich.

I thought one of the more interesting things mentioned was what life in France was like for Crumb. As seen at the end of the documentary “Crumb”, Crumb and his family moved to France in 1991. He said that he likes it there, but even after living there for so long he still doesn’t speak the language, and he makes no attempt to understand or comment on French culture. He mentioned that he doesn’t have a lot of friends there - “maybe one or two”. When Mouly asked him why he moved there, he mentioned that his wife Aline “comes from a long line of salespeople” and that she talked him into it eventually. Crumb and Mouly made note of the fact that they went in opposite directions, with her going from France to the U.S.

A good bit of time was spent talking about Crumb’s latest project – an illustrated version of all 50 chapters of the King James Version of Genesis. The text of the book is straight out of the Bible, and the drawings are not intended to be humorous or taken as a joke. Crumb attempted to illustrate the words in a straight up fashion, but as you might expect these are not the sanitized drawings of say Adam & Eve that you might see in Sunday School. There’s a lot of sex & violence in Genesis, which Crumb doesn’t shy away from portraying. This realistic portrayal of source material that is often romanticized in the popular imagination is what makes this project interesting to me.

It took Crumb 4 years to complete the book. He mentioned that he thought it might take 1 and a half to 2 years when he started. As such, he unequivocally stated that he would not be illustrating any other books of the Bible. He mentioned that he did all of the drawings in pen, and that he wished he had used a brush because it would have been much easier - “All that cross hatching is a pain in the ass!” He dedicated the book to his wife Aline, who rented a cabin in the mountains of France so that Crumb could work in solitude for the final 2 years of the project. Crumb’s love for his wife came through in several of his answers, and I must say that was somewhat touching to me. He doesn’t exactly seem like a romantic, but he genuinely seems to love her deeply.

Crumb used screen shots from several movies as references for drawing clothing, buildings, and even food preparation techniques in the book. Some of the movies that the screen shots came from were D.W. Griffith’s “Intolerance”, “The 10 Commandments”, and “The Last Temptation of Christ”, with “Intolerance” being perhaps most important. He said that these photos were invaluable to him in completing this book, and it really shows in the detail present in Crumb’s drawings. He is a very detail-oriented artist, and this latest work is no exception. If you’ve seen the documentary, you know that Crumb likes to get his mundane details accurate, like with his reference photos of telephone poles and electrical lines that he has used as background in many of his drawings.

Another part that I found interesting is that Crumb did a small portrait of each of the people that is mentioned in the “Begat” portion of chapter 5. You know, the part where it says “And so and so begat so and so” seemingly ad infinitum. A couple of pages of this section were projected on the screen, and you could see that each small portrait was a distinct and unique image. Mouly asked Crumb why he did this, and he said “I didn’t want people to skip over the ‘begats’”.

Mouly showed images of several New Yorker covers, with a particular focus on ones done by Crumb, Spiegelman, and covers that generated controversy such as the 1993 cover that depicted a Hasidic Jew kissing a black woman in the wake of the Crown Heights riot (in which a Hasidic Jewish man who hit some black children in a car accident was beaten and robbed when he left his vehicle to try and help the children he had hit) and the Obama “terrorist fist jab” cover from 2008. Some time was also spent discussing the article and images that Spiegelman produced in response to the controversy over the Muhammed cartoons that appeared in a Danish newspaper in 2006.

At the end of the main presentation, time was allotted for audience members to ask questions. The majority of the questions were targeted to Crumb, which he answered in his typical acerbic style. When someone asked the notoriously reclusive Crumb why he decided to go on this 5 city tour to promote Genesis, he replied that he “was railroaded into it” by the publisher, and that he was very happy to be going home the next day. Someone asked all the participants whether they thought there were certain images that should not be drawn, and Crumb jokingly said that now that he has drawn images of pretty much any depraved act known to man, he thinks they shouldn’t be allowed anymore.

I didn’t know much about Mouly and Spiegelman before seeing this presentation, but it is obvious to me now why they made a good fit with Crumb. All three of these artists have produced controversial work and strongly believe in their right to do so. I thought it was an interesting evening, and I am interested in seeking out more of their work.

Be A Pepper

2009-11-15T22:44:00.000-06:00

I don't have time to write too much about this weekend right now, so I'll just post a quick photo. I stumbled across this neon sign last night as I was driving home. It's a sign from the Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco, Texas. I'm a sucker for a great neon sign.

Remodeling On A Budget

2009-11-12T22:19:00.000-06:00

I saw this sign a couple of weeks ago, and I thought it was brilliant. Apparently this gas station used to be a Phillips 66, but it isn't any longer. Instead of replacing the old sign, the owners decided to just 'X' out the old one. I'm not sure why they chose to just cross out the '66' part instead of putting one big 'X' over the whole thing, but there it is. Out of curiosity, would you buy anything at this place?

Tomorrow after work I'm heading down to Austin for this:

I hope it's going to be an interesting presentation. Crumb is one of my all-time favorite films, and I love his comic work. I can't wait to get my hands on his illustrated version of Genesis. I'm less familiar with Spiegelman's work. I know about Maus, but I haven't read it. I hope to rectify that soon.

Sunset 11-08-09

2009-11-11T21:51:00.000-06:00

On Sunday evening I went to a nearby park. I thought there might be a decent sunset because there were some clouds around, but as the sun started to go down it didn't look like anything special was going to happen. I was actually in my car leaving the park when the sky turned to pink. I pulled my car over and got out so I could take a few shots.

State Fair Animals - Miscellaneous

2009-11-10T23:49:00.000-06:00

OK, I'm finally wrapping up my State Fair animal series. It really was one of my favorite things about the Fair - a city slicker like me getting to see some animals up close. Some unusual, some not-so-unusual.

Check out the baby kangaroo's arm sticking out!

I was glad that it was sunny on my second trip. On my first trip it was on the cool side, and the mama kangaroo was huddled under a heat lamp. Obviously teh kangaroo likes teh heat.

I like the way the neck feathers look.

I'm obsessed with bison. I think it's because they're like a link to the past - they are essentially the same as they have been for thousands of years. And I'm also fascinated by the fact that they used to roam freely around here. It blows my mind that someone who lived around here 200 years ago could just see bison roaming around. What can I say, I'm weird.

I felt the bison's coat - it was so thick. I can see how it makes for great insulation in winter weather.

Highland cattle

Alpaca

State Fair Animals - Dogs

2009-11-09T21:15:00.000-06:00

One of the things I always like to see at the Fair is the dog shows. This year they had a stunt show as well as a show where dogs and their owners did dance/stunt routines together.

This red heeler caught most of those frisbees.

After the show you could get up close to some of the dogs. They really seemed to love the attention.

This was the dog that was balanced on the lady's feet in the 4th photo. From what she said he is a mix of a bunch of different breeds. It's hard to see, but in the background she had a piece of paper showing that his mom is a Tasmanian Devil & his dad is a weasel.

I had to use a flash, and I corrected the red eye on the computer. I think it looks kind of weird. Maybe I'm just used to seeing dogs with the reflections in their eyes?

This poodle was really sweet. Her coat was so thick and soft. She's a rescue dog and her and her owner are just starting out in the program to learn how to develop a "dance" routine.

State Fair Animals - Camels

2009-11-08T14:04:00.000-06:00

There were a couple of camels (dromedaries) at the Fair - one juvenile and one full-grown. They were really fun to watch because they interacted a lot with people. Their upturned mouths make them look like they're smirking to me.

I love the look on the face of that little girl.

The way that the camel's upper lip would move to scoop up food was pretty funny-looking.

State Fair Animals - Goats

2009-11-04T21:37:00.000-06:00

The tour of the Ark continues with...goats! The baby goats are really fun to watch. Like the piglets, they are very playful. They'll headbutt each other, run around, and they love climbing on stuff. There were some tires in their enclosure, and they loved climbing into the middle of them.

State Fair Animals - Pigs

2009-11-03T21:34:00.000-06:00

I also saw pigs at the Fair. The little piglets were really playful.

State Fair Animals - Sheep

2009-11-02T21:09:00.000-06:00

One of the things that I spent a great deal of time doing at the State Fair was looking at the multitude of animals that one can find there. I think that's appropriate considering that most fairs started as events for showcasing and selling livestock. On the second day that I went to the Fair I managed to find my way to the area where they were showing sheep.

Good Lord, those are some tremendous bollocks.

The guy in the blue shirt was the judge. And he did cop a feel on those sheep bollocks.

I really wish I had stayed to see who won, but I had to leave before the ribbon was awarded so I could make it to a scheduled bird show across the fairgrounds.

State Fair - Food

2009-10-29T22:30:00.001-05:00

I went to the State Fair of Texas this year. Twice actually. Originally I was just going to go on Columbus Day since I had the day off from work and I thought it would be relatively non-crowded. And it wasn't since it was a cool and drearily-overcast day. However, I found that I just didn't have enough time to see everything that I wanted to see and eat everything that I wanted to eat. And so many photo ops! So I went back on the last day of the Fair the following Sunday. And spent about 9 hours (!) there.

I have so many photos that I thought it might be a good idea to break them into categories. For the first category I have chosen "Food".

One of the biggest draws to the Fair is the wide variety of exotic foodstuffs. Due to the hectic schedule that I maintained while there I didn't get to try as many things as I had planned, but I had enough.

I didn't try any of the alligator stuff. I've had alligator before, and it was OK although a bit chewy for my tastes.

Chicken fried bacon was new last year, and it won the 2008 "Best Taste" prize in the competition that is held before the Fair every year. Last year I thought it sounded awful, but the more I thought about it this year the more I thought it might actually be good. I had decided to try some on the second day that I went, but I ran out of time! You can literally spend all day in line for foodstuffs if you want to try lots of things. Maybe next year...

You can also see a new item on the menu board in this photo - fried pork chips. They were very thin pieces of pork battered & fried. I don't think they sounded all that great.

The corny dog is the granddaddy of Fair foods. It's more commonly known as the "corn dog".
The Fletcher people claim to have invented the corny dog right here at the State Fair of Texas, although there is some dispute over this assertion.

There's no comparison between freshly-made corn dogs and frozen ones.

This is my day 2 dog. Mustard seems to be the preferred condiment in Texas. I got laughed at as a kid for putting ketchup on a corny dog. I actually think ketchup tastes pretty good on them too though.

See it glistening in the sun.

This was my day 1 dog. This one was actually a bit better because there was no line, therefore it hadn't sat around long after coming out of the fryer. It was piping hot perfection. Look at that golden brown color!

I didn't get any cotton candy - I just liked the way this stand looked. I also like that the girl buying CC is wearing a hooded jacket & gloves (!), meanwhile the kid in the background is wearing a short-sleeved shirt (as was I). I mean, it was cool, but it wasn't cold.

Here's a guy slicing "Tornado Taters". They're very thinly sliced and then fried (of course).

I posted this photo the other day for comedic effect. This was the fried butter stand. Fried butter got all the attention as the craziest new food item this year. I didn't try it. The lines were absolutely mammoth. From what I understand it tasted like a really buttery biscuit.

This is the winner of the 2009 Best Taste award - Fried Peaches & Cream. I thought the lines were long for this on day 1, but I had to wait in line for close to an hour on Sunday night. The stuff in the cup was a creamy vanilla icing. It was pretty good, the fried coating went well with the peaches. I was really impressed with the presentation considering how many of these they were churning out.

Up In The Air

2009-10-26T21:40:00.000-05:00

I spotted this at a nearby construction site. I like the strangeness of this usually earthbound piece of equipment being so high up in the air.

Wilco Plays Dallas

2009-10-22T21:49:00.002-05:00

The Friday before last I went to see Wilco in concert. I have to admit that although I was aware of Wilco & Jeff Tweedy, I really had never been exposed to their music before. I'd heard good things about them for years, but somehow never got around to checking them out. In August a friend of mine told me about this show and asked me if I wanted to go, and I immediately said yes.

I wanted to try and get as close to the stage as possible, so we showed up about an hour and a half before the doors were scheduled to open. The wait went by quickly, and we were able to get a spot up front on the right side of the stage.

The opening act was Liam Finn. I didn't know this until the next day, but Liam is the son of Neil Finn of Crowded House fame. Liam's "band" consisted of him and a woman named EJ. Liam mostly played guitar and sang, although he also switched over to a drum set at a couple of points (even in the same song in which he started on guitar). He would often record a guitar or even bass part and then loop it so he could switch to another instrument. He is a high energy performer, and he had a couple of "spaz outs" for lack of a better term. I rather enjoyed his set. During one of his spaz outs he flung his guitar pick and it landed right in front of me, so I now have it as a memento.

After the break in between sets, Wilco came out to the strains of the "Price Is Right" theme song and launched into "Wilco (The Song)". They played about 7 songs before any type of between song banter materialized. After that Jeff Tweedy addressed the crowd quite a bit, and seemed to be having a pretty good time. At one point an audience member wearing a gold lamé shirt traded shirts with Jeff. The audience member actually wanted the drummer's shirt (which had all these patches on it), but the drummer wouldn't part with it.

I really enjoyed this show. The band was top-notch and the sound was good. And I think we definitely got our money's worth because they played 27 songs over 2 and a half hours. I think I would've liked it even more if I had been more familiar with the songs (I couldn't participate much on the sing-alongs). The crowd was really into it, and I can tell that Wilco has developed a very devoted audience. Seeing this show definitely sparked my interest in tracking down some Wilco CDs. If they roll through here again I plan to be there.

Setlist:
1.Wilco (the Song)
2. A Shot in the Arm
3. One Wing
4. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
5. Bull Black Nova
6. You Are My Face
7. Company in My Back
8. Kamera
9. Handshake Drugs
10. I'll Fight
11. Cars Can't Escape
12. Impossible Germany
13. Sonny Feeling
14. Hate It Here
15.Walken
16. I'm the Man Who Loves You
17. Hummingbird

Encore 1:
18. Theologians
19. Jesus, Etc.
20. Can't Stand It
21. You Never Know (with Liam Finn)

Encore 2:
22. The Late Greats
23. Heavy Metal Drummer
24. Kingpin
25. Casino Queen
26. Hoodoo Voodoo
27. I'm A Wheel

Liam Finn

Eliza Jane, AKA "EJ"

Spazzing out

After trading shirts

Wearing Liam Finn's sweater

Here are some videos I found on YouTube:

Wilco (The Song):

Trading shirts:

Jesus, Etc.:

Something For Everyone

2009-10-19T21:26:00.000-05:00

I went back to the State Fair again yesterday. I didn't get to see everything that I wanted to when I went last week, the weather was beautiful, and yesterday was the last day of the Fair. There was definitely no shortage of photo ops. I haven't had time to pick out all the ones I want to post yet, so for now I will just post one that cracks me up. Because apparently I have the sense of humor of an 8 year old.

They haven't quite resorted to this yet, but at the rate things are going I'm sure they will.

Stuck In The Mud

2009-10-17T16:58:00.000-05:00

I know this post is too long, so feel free to skim if that’s your thing.

Last Saturday evening didn’t turn out the way I had planned.

I was planning to drive out to a little cemetery about 40 miles from my house to do some more research for a family member who’s into genealogy. Like I did here. In fact, this cemetery is pretty close to the one I went to in May, and I wanted to go back there too to take some photos of the bison herd that is across the road from it.

The cemetery I was heading to is very small and is located along a small country road. As I noticed that many of the county roads I was seeing were dirt or gravel, the thought crossed my mind that maybe I wouldn’t be able to drive down them because we’ve been deluged by rain for the last month. However, when I got to my turn-off, the road looked to be fairly hard-packed gravel, and although bumpy it was easily drivable. I took a right turn at a T in the road, and the gravel continued up to a driveway on the left that led to a house about a football field-and-a-half away. Beyond the driveway the road was dirt. Only it wasn’t dirt – it was mud. Lots of mud.

I thought I would be OK if I drove with my tires out of the ruts in the road. I was wrong. The going was very rough, and my car got stuck and wouldn’t go any further. An initial bout of panic set in as I realized that I was stuck. After getting out and looking at the situation, I decided to try and see if I could drive in reverse back to the gravel road. The road wasn’t big enough to turn the car around. I got back in the car, put it in reverse, and after some hesitation the car started moving backwards. I went maybe about 20 feet back towards the gravel road when I got stuck again. My tires were spinning so fast that they started smoking. Crap.

The passenger side of the car was in a deep rut that was filled with water. The front end was lodged up against the raised spot in the middle of the road (although I didn’t know this until later). I tried to go forward and backward several times, but the car wouldn’t budge. Not good.

At this point, I still thought I could get myself out of it. “I’ll just get something under that tire to get some traction, and then I’ll just haul ass backwards out of here” I thought. Um, not so much. I put all kinds of crap in that rut – long grass from the side of the road, gravel from the good part of the road, some brick pieces that I found by the driveway to the house, my passenger-side floor mat – but nothing worked. While I was doing this, three dogs appeared from the area of the house and started making their way towards me. When they made it out to the road they gave a few half-hearted barks, but when they sensed that I wasn’t a threat they came over to me.

This was a pretty motley dog crew. There was a little one that looked to be part Pekingese, a lab that was either pregnant or nursing, and a large dog that was part boxer and part something else. They appeared to be farm dogs and thus were not exactly the cleanest animals. I didn’t mind them being around, but I was hesitant to pet them because I didn’t want them jumping up and getting mud on my clothes (I still cared about staying somewhat clean at that point). Which two of them did anyway. So I mostly ignored them and eventually they got bored with my doings and they headed back home.

It’s amazing how even in the direst of auto situations a man can be hesitant to ask for help. Or maybe that’s just me? I really didn’t want to have to walk up to that house and beg for help. I think I was hoping that someone up there would see me and at least let me use their phone to call for help. Oh yeah, did I mention that I didn’t have my cell phone? After a while though I got the impression that no one was home at the house, an impression which turned out to be correct.

I actually wasn’t too far from the two lane highway that I had turned off of. In fact, when a semi went by I could see the lights on the trailer from where my car was. I was hesitant to go up there and stand by the road because I was doubtful that anyone would stop since I didn’t have a broken-down car right by the side of the road.

Since I had gotten stuck about 5:30, I knew that eventually it would be getting dark. It was this point that I began thinking that I might have to sleep in my car. At least it was relatively dry and warm in there. By the time I got done trying to dig canals in the mud with a piece of PVC pipe that I found and a screwdriver to try and channel water away from the rut, I was pretty worn out. And I had blister on my office-soft hands. And I was getting kind of dirty. I was thankful that I had brought along a bottle of water to drink.

I noticed at one point that I could hear cardinals and other birds in the trees by the road, although I was much too preoccupied to pay them any mind.

After night fell, I turned on my hazard blinkers, grabbed my flashlight, and decided to head up to the highway to see if I could get anyone to stop since it was now pretty apparent that nobody was in the nearby house. There was a hawk in the field next to the house that started issuing the freakiest screeches every so often. Good thing I like birds or I might have been freaked out. The dogs must have seen my flashlight because they came back out to the road. Eventually two of them wandered off, but the lab followed me as I went up to the highway. It was actually nice to have the company.

There were plenty of cars passing by on the highway, but none of them even thought about stopping as far as I could tell. Can’t say that I really blame them. If I saw a guy standing on the side of the road in the dark trying to wave me down with a flashlight I don’t think I would stop either. It seems way too dangerous. Although my car was relatively close to the highway, you couldn’t see it from there even with the hazard lights flashing. I didn’t stay long because the dog didn’t know enough to stay out the road, and I was terrified that it was going to get run over. I tried to shoo it home, but it wouldn’t go. So I walked back down the road towards the house.

I did some more digging under my car’s tire to see if I could somehow wedge a brick under there or something. That’s when I found out that the car’s frame was pretty much wedged up against the middle of the road. The dog stood watch for a while in front of my car. It must have picked up on my distress because occasionally it would give a whine and come over to me as if to see if I was OK. Gotta love a good dog like that.

Eventually I gave up digging again and got in the car for a little bit to ponder my next move. I have an air compressor that I carry in my trunk that has a light on the front that can serve as a hazard blinker. I thought I would carry that up to the road and maybe it could persuade someone to stop. I just wanted to use a phone to try and get in touch with the county sheriff.

After a while the dog had gone back home, so I thought it would be safe to head back up to the road. I turned on the blinker, stood in front of it so I would be silhouetted, and waved my arms when vehicles drove by. Nothing. I decided to try and see if I could find some piece of civilization somewhere where I could get access to a phone. I started walking along the side of the highway with the blinker in my hand. I hadn’t gone too terribly far when someone finally pulled over!

As it turns out, this guy had seen my car because he lived in that nearby house with his parents. I think he had come home and seen my car, and maybe went looking for me. He let me use his phone and I dialed 911 because I wasn’t sure how else to get in touch with the police. The dispatcher told me that the sheriff didn’t have any towing equipment, but she gave me the numbers of two local towing businesses. I dialed the first one and got an answering machine. I got a hold of someone at the second number, but he pretty much blew me off by telling me that the roads were too bad even for them. Sorry. I don’t have any friends who have trucks that could’ve pulled me out of there, so I really didn’t have anyone else to call. So I guess it turns out that even if I had had my phone it wouldn’t have helped much. The guy who stopped told me that his parents were gone for the day, but that they would be home about 10 (it was 9:30). I thought that sounded promising, but my hopes took somewhat of a hit when I could hear his mother tell him that she wasn’t sure they would be able to help me.

He gave me a ride back to my car, and I settled in and tried to go to sleep. I was kind of resigned to the fact that I would be sleeping out there, but at least there were people who knew I was out there. I had been listening to the radio with the seat reclined for about half an hour when I saw some lights behind me. It was the kid’s parents getting home. I saw the truck drive up to the house and I thought “Well, that was that”. But soon I saw lights again and a truck pulled up behind me. It was the kid’s father.

He agreed to try and help pull me out of there, but said that he couldn’t be responsible for any damage that might occur. I agreed and he tied a piece of rope to the hook under my rear bumper so as to try not to damage it, and then he tied the rope to a thick nylon strap which he hooked to his truck. I got in my car to drive it in reverse as he tried to pull me out. When he started pulling, there was a snap as the rope broke. He re-tied it with a stronger knot and we tried again. The rope snapped again. He said he would go get a chain and we would try that. He came back a few minutes later and said he didn’t have a chain, but he had a bigger nylon strap that he hooked directly to the hook on my car. This time it worked! He pulled my car all the way back to the road in front of his driveway. I got out and it looked like my rear bumper didn’t rip off or anything. I told him “Sir, I can’t thank you enough” (truer words were never spoken) and shook his hand. Then I got back in my car and started the drive home.

It was 10:30, and I couldn’t have been happier to know that I now had a pretty good chance of sleeping in my own bed. The car drove OK except for the fact that I could tell my front end alignment had been totally hosed. I decided that I would wait for the roads to get nice and dry before I try to go out there again.

I had my camera with me since I planned to take some photos at my original destinations. I really wish I had had the guts to take some photos of my predicament. I knew that I had my camera, but I was kinda pissed off and stubbornly refused to consider using it. In hindsight it might’ve been kind of interesting to take a few photos. This one is of a clump of mud that came off my car the next day.

Little Kids

2009-10-12T22:04:00.001-05:00

I have so much to write about, but not enough time to write it! Maybe I can sneak in a little post writing at work. Don't tell my boss.

Today I went to the State Fair of Texas. Which deserves a post of its own. But for now, I leave you with this. Cute baby goats.

Griffith Observatory

2009-10-07T21:06:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite spots to visit in L.A. is the Griffith Observatory in Griffith Park. I love the Art Deco look of the observatory building, and I love the views of the valley below. Since I went there on the first of my recent trips, I probably would've given it a miss on the second trip 8 days later, but the sky was so much clearer on the second trip that I just had to go back.

Amazingly enough, this last trip was also the first time that I had been inside the observatory. Pretty much every other time I had been the building was closed. It was closed for nearly 5 years while undergoing an extensive renovation, and it just re-opened in late 2006. In fact, I was so used to it being closed that I was almost ready to leave until I realized "Hey, I can go inside!" The inside of the building is well worth seeing too. There are lots of cool exhibits and a wonderful mural painted on the inside of the main dome.

This was the view on the first of my recent trips. There was lots of smoke, haze & ash from the Station Fire.

And here is the view on the second visit. Much clearer, although you can see the smog layer.

First trip

Second trip

I love that little vantage point in the lower middle of the photo, and how the streets seem to go on forever.

Dome mural

These are famous physicists & astronomers.

Fire Alarm

2009-10-04T20:45:00.000-05:00

One of the things that I got to experience, but thankfully not too closely, was the fire that was burning near L.A. in early September. The fire started a few days before my trip. I heard a lot about the fire on the news in San Diego in the days before my planned trip up to L.A., and I read a lot about it on the internet. Let's just say I wasn't thrilled to be heading in that direction. If I had had a choice about when to go to L.A. I may have put off my trip, but since I had concert tickets I didn't have a choice about when to be there.

I wasn't worried about the fire actually burning into the areas that I was going to be, but I was worried about the air quality since I anticipated having to spend some time outside. Luckily that aspect of it didn't turn out to be as bad as I was worried it might be. I didn't experience burning eyes or coughing. I was actually surprised that it didn't really seem to smell like a weenie roast either, since I have experienced that here when we had some fires burning in the region. It was disconcerting to see ash floating around in the air, though. And I was worried about what it might do to my lungs.

I can't imagine having to worry about fires burning down your house all of the time. It's got to be such a helpless feeling knowing that you have no control over what's going to happen.

This was the view from my hotel in Pomona, about 30 miles east of L.A.

This was the ash that accumulated on my rental car overnight.

Looking northwest towards the fire the next morning. From photos that I saw in the days before this, this was a big improvement.

Fall Is Here (At Least For Now)

2009-09-28T21:31:00.000-05:00

We're finally being blessed with some fall temperatures. It actually started last week - we had a couple of days that topped out in the 70s. Today the high was 80, but that feels really cool considering that yesterday it got up to 92! I think autumn is my favorite time of year because of the weather. The coolness is so refreshing after the hot summer. Between about mid September and mid October there are a good number of days here that I think could stack up with the best weather anywhere. Bright sunny skies, the summer haze chased away by the north winds, and cool enough temperatures so that you never even think about breaking a sweat.

Another indicator of fall that I love is listening to the owls in my backyard. I often hear them this time of year, and in fact I can hear one right now as I type this. I need to get on putting up a screech owl box in the big tree back there.

I watched the first part of the new Ken Burns documentary "The National Parks" last night, and I watched a little of part 2 tonight before switching to the football game (I'm recording TNP so I can watch it later). Great show. The history, anthropology, and nature nerds in me are totally geeking out over this show. The nature shots are stunning, and it's jam-packed with amazing old photographs. I'm ready to leave for Yellowstone tomorrow. Ken Burns is a dadburn genius. He could make a miniseries about paint drying interesting. If you have any interest at all in history or nature, I think you will like it. It runs through Friday on PBS. Highly recommended.

Sunset 09-22-09

2009-09-24T20:54:00.001-05:00

Tuesday evening there were some really beautiful clouds that eventually turned into a beautiful sunset.

Attack of the Vine Women

2009-09-21T20:30:00.002-05:00

My sister works at the zoo in San Diego. While I was out there visiting her, we happened upon a photo exhibition in Balboa Park that featured a photo of this woman in green makeup with vines and leaves on her head. My sister was telling me that this was some kind of dance performance that they did at the zoo, and that she thought it was really weird.

The next day I was at the zoo, and by chance found myself standing right in front of the area where these dancers were about to do their show. I thought it would be a good chance to see for myself just how "weird" this trip would be. I'm always up for weirdness.

And? It was a little weird, but it didn't creep me out like it did my sister. There were two vine-bedecked dancers with stilts on both their arms and legs. They did these dance moves and poses together before wandering off in separate directions and doing some "blending in" with the surrounding foliage. I thought some of the dance moves were rather nifty. However, there was kind of an odd sensuality about some of the moves and poses that I thought seemed a little out of place in the family-friendly environment of the zoo. And one of the dancers had quite the low-cut outfit.

I think this element of sexuality is what freaked my sister out about these dancers. As a guy, I think that didn't bother me as much, but I do understand where she's coming from.

I mean, it's hot chicks in metallic green paint and low-cut vine outfits - what's not to like?

Just Like LL

2009-09-15T21:27:00.000-05:00

I pulled an LL and went back to Cali. Really. I knew it was a possibility if I could somehow get a ticket for the rescheduled final Nine Inch Nails show, but I considered it a longshot. On Labor Day I was by my computer when I happened to see an update saying that a limited number of tickets were currently on sale. So I clicked through and to my surprise ended up with a ticket. So I decided to fly back (using frequent flyer miles) a mere three days after returning from my previous trip. You only live once, you know?

So I had a bit of a vacation redux. And in the time I was gone my sister and brother-in-law finished moving into their new (old) house. So I stayed in a completely different place than I did the previous week, which is kind of a neat trick to pull off when you're staying with the same people.

I'm still trying to get back into the flow of the real world.