What is up with the local NBC station?


Apparently they are in some pissing match with Time Warner so for the time being I don't get NBC shows like Saturday Night Live or Heroes, the only NBC shows I watch (i know, I should watch The Office and 30 Rock as well).

Fortunately all the good bits from SNL are posted on the web the next day, but I'd rather not sit and watch an hour long episode of Heroes in a browser or pay $2 to download each episode from iTunes the next day. The solution? Tonight I went to the Alamo where they show TV shows for free on the big screen. each Monday night they screen the previous week's episode of Heroes before the new episode, and they even cut out all the commercials for you.

To be honest I was kind of assuming the theater would be empty because the show's writers are having a harder time justifying the stupidity of the characters, but the dispute between Time Warner and the local station brought all the fans out. Apparently there are at least 200 people (including me) that want to see what the dumbest superheroes on TV will do week to week.

Is there a stupider genius than Suresh on TV? He figures out how to synthesize a formula to give everyone powers and injects it in himself without performing any clinical trials? Also how long was Maya, the hottest woman on the show, hanging around before Suresh decided he wanted to have sex with her? I don't think he would have even thought of it if he hadn't injected himself with the formula.

And how about Peter, who is the most powerful character on the show? How stupid is he? Faced with a group of bad guys he resorts to super speed. Hello. You can stop time completely, dumbass. Also, your future self is laying "dead" on a table. How about removing the bullet from his brain so he can get back to to screwing up everything just like you?

Between the shows there was a brief intermission and a woman mc'ing the event asked if there were any drinking games we could come up with. Someone suggested drinking every time someone used a power, while someone else suggested drinking every time Peter looks constipated. I thought the Alamo would run out of alcohol if we played the latter.

Okay, it's a stupid show now. They messed up by making a couple of characters way too powerful (Peter, Sylar) and now the creators have to find new and stupid ways to hobble them. Still, it's fun and the closest thing to a comic book on TV. A bad comic book, but a comic book none the less.

Also I had to get dinner somewhere and that's how I'm really justifying my spending time watching this show on the big screen.

I was worn out.


Jay and Nicole stayed over in the guest room last night so I could watch Nicole in the morning while Jay caught a flight, and I really learned a lesson. Don't stay up so late when you have to get up early in the morning to watch a six year old.

I woke up to the sound of them discussing how they were going to awake me and when I woke up I was feeling pretty good, but then Nic and I had breakfast at McDonalds and then when we got back to my apartment it was work just trying to keep my eyes open while we laid on the couch watching cartoons. As a matter of fact, if I was getting paid to keep my eyes open I probably would have been fired.

Still Nic had a good time staying over so perhaps she will again in the future. I just need to explain to her that we can always eat breakfast at 10AM or 10:30AM instead of 8:30AM. McDonalds serves breakfast until 11.

I should have it back tomorrow?


My car has been in the shop this week to get the left rear repaired but supposedly I should have it back tomorrow (hopefully). It's been fine being without it though because I've been tooling around in a rental car for the last five days. It's not a bad rental but it will be nice to have mine back. There's just a certain comfort driving in your own car versus a stranger's.

I also think I've settled in pretty nicely to the new condo. I've still got some tasks to complete, such as painting all the doors, but I'm slowly putting things on the schedule and knocking them out slowly, one by one.

For some reason it feels like it has been a long week. I'm sure part of that is due to working a bit of overtime and part of that has to do with my insomnia which is hitting me right now and part of that is due to not having any money, but I get paid tomorrow so I should be able to have a little bit of fun this weekend, and I should be able to sleep in, at least on Saturday, and when I wake up and want to go out, I should have my car again.

But if I don't I'l be okay with the temporary ride until Monday...

From ACL.


Here's a close up of Jenny Lewis from day 1 of the ACL Music Festival.




For most of the show she was parked behind her piano so I could only see the top of her head down to the tip of her nose, but very once in a while she would move over to the standing microphone and belt out a song. I got a couple of close ups of her but this is my favorite despite the lighting being all wrong. Sometimes it's a good thing I don't know how to work my camera.

For everything, apparently.


One thing no one mentioned before I bought my condo is that once I closed I would be placed on some junk mail list and be inundated with offers for all sorts of insurance programs. It's so many that I'm having a hard time signing up for each one before another offer appears in my mailbox.

So far I've signed up for half a dozen Mortgage Life and Disability programs, a second Home Owner's policy, and and two more death and dismemberment policies just in case those nightmares about Jason hunting me down come true. Apparently the more dismembered I am the more money the policy pays out.

I've also signed up for three of those programs to pay off your mortgage twice a month. By my calculations the mortgage should now be paid off in just nine years. Unfortunately that's going to put 100,000 on my VISA card, but at least this place will be completely mine then.

I've already imported all the music to MP3 anyway.


You know it's a bad day on Wall Street when you are talking to a stock broker and he just offers you an apology out of the blue.

Where are Louis Winthrop III and Billy Ray Valentine when you need them to shake things up at the Stock Market?

Hopefully after this financial debacle Randolph and Mortimer Duke will be finally run out of town again. I'm still trying to figure out how they made back all their money after they lost their seats at the stock exchange.

The last day, until next year.


Today was really only a half day because Jay and I spent the better part of the morning and afternoon driving down to Houston to have lunch with our mom who is helping with disaster relief as a member of the Red Cross. After a nice lunch Jay and I headed back to Austin to enjoy the final few hours of ACL.

Jay had a sponsors wristband so he got to spend time backstage while I wandered around to see the remaining acts I was interested in from the perspective of a paying customer that has no access privileges.

I had wanted to see Heartless Bastards because I'd only seen a little bit of them last year but I had liked what I had heard. Fortunately I got to ACL just in time to weasel my way up to the very front of the crowd so I could take some nice snap shots and listen to the music. The band put on just as good a sho show as I expected and the lead singer and guitarist Erika Wennerstrom has a great rock voice.




After the Heartless Bastard set I wandered over to one of the big stages to catch the Raconteurs. I was familiar with the name and Jack White's presence but I hadn't listed to them before. As much as everyone likes Jack White I actually preferred the vocals of the band's other singer, Brendan Benson, who to me sounded like he time travelled from the 70s.




After the Raconteurs there was really only one band left to see, The Foo Fighters, but I had to make my way from one end of Zilker Park to the other to get to them. As I neared the venue I took a few shots of the dust that was filling the air.



The Foo Fighters weren't going to let a little dust stop one of the best closing performances at ACL though. The band ripped through their hits and a few new songs while the crowd ate it all up until the band finally had to leave the stage due to the time (although they played well past the time they were supposed to end at 10PM).



And so after The Foo Fighters left the stage it was time to walk back to my car at Jay's condo building and head home to finally cut off the wristband that was driving me crazy all weekend, but not before I snapped this one out of focus shot of the ACL marquee as I left Zilker Park:




I'm not sure I learned any lessons at ACL this year other than to make sure I take at least two shots of the marquee from now on and make sure at least one of them is in focus and lit correctly.

Also, a bigger lesson is that it was all money well spent and I should plan on doing all three days again next year.

From a distance.


ACL was so crowded today and I spent all of my time at the bigger stages so I didn't get a chance to get up close and personal, however I think staying back will help slow the hearing loss, so it's not all bad.

I started the day late with the Fratellis. They have a few hits out but I would not have put them together with the songs until today. They sounded good though and if they play a smaller venue here in town I'll check them out.




Next up was Back Door Slam, who I think was the highlight of the day. They are a blues rock band from the isle on Man in the U.K. and they played a blistering set. The lead vocalist/guitarist was really impressive on the guitar and he had a good blues voice that reminds me of someone but I just can't place it. Suffice it to say, I was surprised by how well they sounded but I won't be surprised if they are invited back next year.




Next up was another blues band, Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears. It was probably a bad idea to stay for them not because they weren't good. In fact, they sounded great, but by the time they came on i was bluesed out I think. I'll see them again when they play Antones probably.




After Back Joe Lewis I headed back to one of the big stages to see Erykah Badu. Here's a funny fact about Erykah. She and I were both born on February 26. I like to think that if I was younger, black, female, attractive and talented, she and I might be twins. Unfortunately for the world it didn't work out that way for one of us, but at least she has done well for herself, and she and her hair put on a nice set in the middle of the afternoon.




Next up was John Fogerty, or as the writing on the drum says, the John Fogerty Revival. His set was mostly a greatest hits set with a couple of new songs that fit right in with his older material. Surprisingly he did not play Centerfield but he played enough old CCR to make everybody happy.




I ended the evening with Beck, who played a great and eclectic set, sometimes with a full band, sometimes with little hand held beat devices, sometimes playing his older hits, and sometimes playing newer material, including a couple of slow songs I didn't expect but sounded really good.

Unfortunately Beck's set was at night so I couldn't get any shots of the stage from where I was. The shots simply would not have come out, so instead I pointed my camera at one of the giant video screens beside the stage instead and got some interesting if not perfect shots.



Tomorrow will be only a half day at most because I'll be out of town in the morning but hopefully we will have a great end to this year's festival with a rocking set by the Foo Fighters!

Life at the WAMU stage.


Since WAMU went belly up this week I thought I'd spend the day at the stage they sponsored. My decision was made easier by the fact that they had a couple of acts that I wanted to see anyway.

The day started off later than I really wanted it to, but after a huge burger at Fuegos I headed downtown to look for parking, only to discover that other Austinites had already discovered the spot I had staked out last year. Fortunately I have a brother who lives downtown so I parked at his building and walked over to the Festival.

The first act I caught at the WAMU stage was The Freddy Jones Band. To be honest, I was there to wait for the next two acts, but the Freddy Jones Band called the audience up and got the place rocking. Not a hard rock or anything, more like late 90s softer rock, but still a good set.




I'd been wanting to see M. Ward ever since I listened to Chinese Translation. Since then he's formed a duet called She and Him with Zooey Deschanel and they have released a CD called Volume One. I was actually kind of hoping Zooey Deschanel would show up and sing a song or two but alas no such luck.




Still, it was a great set and after listening to his set you could really understand why so many critics are heaping such praise on him.

The other artist I was interested in seeing was Jenny Lewis, who is the lead singer of Rilo Kelly but right now touring on her solo album. I was mainly interested in Rilo Kelly because I'd recently heard on of their songs, Silver Lining. I was kind of hoping Jenny Lewis might play Silver Lining today, but it's a Rilo Kelly song and she is promoting her solo work so alas no luck. They did however perform a nice version of Love Hurts though, which was cool, as was the entire set. The only problem was that I situated behind the piano on the stage so I had to wait for Jenny to stand and sing on the main microphone to get any pictures.



After the Jenny Lewis set I was left with a bit of a quandary as to who to see next. I could see Alejandro Escovedo, or The Swell Season. Normally I would just go see Alejandro, but The Swell Season is made up of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, the leads in the movie Once, and chances are I'm not going to be able to see them again whereas I definitely will see Alejandro, but I really like Alejandro, so I flipped a coin and using the deductive reasoning of a tiny circular piece of copper I walked over to the AT&T Blue Room stage to see The Swell Season.




Unlike the quality of my photos, the music did not deteriorate as it got darker. The Swell Season played their more popular songs from the Once soundtrack and few other tracks and the crowd ate it up. In between songs Hansard seemed almost embarrassingly too nice, joking with an audience member one moment, apologizing to the crowd for an issue with the piano the next.

Lastly, after The Swell Season I managed to catch the last couple of songs of Alejandro Escovedo, although you can see I was pretty far back. I think he might have spotted me coming up late...




I'm sorry Alejandro. Next time I'll be front row.

This weekend it's music, music, music!


I moved to Austin shortly before the first Austin City Limits Festival and I've attended and thoroughly enjoyed each one since. Sure, some of the stages are overcrowded and it gets harder and harder to get close to the bigger acts that play later in the evening, but all the music you get to experience makes it so worth it.

This year Robert Plant and Allison Krauss will be headlining one night, and The Foo Fighters will close out the show. I'm looking forward to seeing Heartless Bastards this year mainly because I remember catching a little of their set last year an really liking them, and I'll probably stop by Alejandro Escovedo's set to support him just because he can never play Austin too many times. After that I'm not sure who I will check out. There's only about 120 bands to choose from. I have some friends going so perhaps I'll check out whatever music they want to hear or I'll just wander around until I hear something I like and sit down for a little while to enjoy it.

It's also nice to have a three day weekend to relax after working a lot of extra hours at work, something I am going to have to do a lot more of for the foreseeable future. It looks like it is going to be a beautiful weekend too. I briefly considered mopping the kitchen and bathroom floors and vacuuming the bedrooms this weekend but that stuff can wait. Isn't it enough that I take out the trash (well, most of it)?

The biggest issue with ACL is parking, and I found a great hidden spot last year that I'm hoping will be available this weekend as well. It's a bit of a walk but not crazy and it was easy to get out of at the end of the evening last year. Also, they overcharge for the beer which kind of sucks, but if you drink a lot of it you start to forget you are paying way too much.

All in all, I'm looking forward to a beautiful, warm, sunny weekend, and I hope you are too.

There is nothing behind the curtain but an old man who you think is going to help you but he doesn't because he is incompetent, leaving you with that stupid Glenda the so called "Good Witch" who should have told you to click your heels together three times when she first met you.


I'm suspending my blog until I can resolve my personal economic crisis.

Give me a break. I'm in debt up to my f@cking eyeballs and John McCain, who has admitted he is not exactly an expert on economics, is suspending his campaign for presidency so that he can run to Washington and try to take credit for whatever bill the Dems will finally vote on so he can look like he is crossing the political lines and look "Presidential." Or perhaps I haven't read enough Machiavelli to figure out the true intentions but I know it's not to put country in front of politics.

Give me a break. The real reason for this was probably to move the first presidential debate to next week and then "reschedule" the vice presidential debate, which so far the Obama camp is and the Presidential Debate Commission are against, because Palin can't even answer the most obvious questions. After stating that McCain would be the right president to regulate Wall Street, Palin was asked repeatedly by Katie Couric to name one other time McCain had been for tighter regulation and could not come up with one. Instead, she said she would get back to Couric. Most likely on November 5 (also that's probably when the McCain camp would like to reschedule the vice presidential debate).

Give me a break. Can someone please produce an ad showing McCain speaking about privatizing social security? Funny how he was all up in Wall Street's ass a while back and now I don't hear a peep from McCain about that brilliant idea today. My stock has dropped 75 dollars a share this year and nearly half of that is just in the last few weeks. Imagine how much retirees would have lost in just the last few days, and yet I don't hear anyone from the Obama camp bringing stuff like this up, or the Keating 5 scandal that is just a bit reminiscent of this present situation, because we shouldn't make this economic downturn political. F@ck that sh#t!

Give me a break. Of course it's political. Does anyone believe that if this happened under Clinton's watch the republicans wouldn't be hanging him in effigy right now instead of calling for bipartisanship? That if the polls were in McCain's favor he would be doing this? That if Palin were competent McCain would still feel the need to reschedule and rearrange the debates?

Give me a break. So if there's a crisis we should cancel the debate? There's f@cking war going on right now. In fact there are two of them. And yet instead of giving the soldiers a break to come home they get stop lossed. It's too bad they are stuck in Iraq and Afghanistan getting shot at instead of running for President here in the U.S. where there is a REAL crisis. They must feel pretty lucky right now.

Give me a break. I had no intention of watching the debate Friday because I am going to be at ACL but this just pisses me off. I think McCain is being pretty disrespectful to the american people who have to deal with all kinds of crises every day, some of which have been caused by the policies and actions of this administration and the people who have supported the administration, like John McCain. Why doesn't he stop his campaign for those people.

Please America (or at least the three or four people who read this), on November 4, give me a break and give yourself one too, stop falling for this sh#t and vote Obama. It's time for some new sh#t.

What have I learned today?


I've been spending so much time at home and it's actually been a little while since I've seen a complete movie that I decided I'd go see the Coen Brother's Burn After Reading tonight at the Ritz with my brother and Rock. I could have seen it closer to home but I figured the Ritz would be a good place given it's downtown, close to Jay's place, and they serve mixed drinks. Of course I completely forgot about the mixed drinks once I was there because I could have used one.

I enjoyed the movie for what it was, but it wasn't one of the Coen Brother's better comedies, like The Big Lebowski or Raising Arizona. Instead it was more of a dark comedy like The Ladykillers, which I think is their weakest film (at least of the films I've seen). I've not seen Intolerable Cruelty, but Jay said that film had more laughs.

Still, even a lesser Coen Brothers film is light years ahead of what some other filmmakers produce. There were plenty of funny moments in the film, but the problem is that the characters are all either stupid or self absorbed so ultimately it's hard to identify with or root for anyone. Instead we are just supposed to laugh at them as they slowly get drawn into a spider web of coincidences and stupid action taken by the other characters. Mostly we do just that, but I was caught a little off guard by the death of one of the characters and it's not the death most people would think. It made perfect sense in the movie, a character drawn into a situation he didn't fully comprehend and victimized by another when they meet at the wrong time, but it was a bit sad and I don't think the denouement, which is amusing in it's matter-of-factness, really balances out the proceeding darkness.

So at least for me since I haven't seen Intolerable Cruelty, I would rate the Coen Brothers comedies in this order:

Raising Arizona
The Big Lebowski
Oh Brother Where Art Thou
The Hudsucker Proxy
Burn After Reading
The Ladykillers

I could probably swop the three at the top and still be happy with the list though, and while I'd prefer to see the top three given a choice an evening watching any of the bottom three would still be an evening well spent.

All the little things you have to deal with.


This weekend Jay mentioned that he had just changed his address for his Rolling Stone subscription and it reminded me of all the things I still need to do. I still have to get my subscription changed to my new address, I have to get a new driver's license, a new set of checks from my bank that will probably sit in a drawer until I move again in five years because I do all my banking online now, and I still have to re-register to vote even though my vote is going to be cancelled out by all the people in this state voting for McCain.

I think that's one of the biggest reasons not to move: all the things you have to change after you are done.

Another reason might be that the economy is about to collapse, but the biggest reason is having to deal with all the minutiae, definitely.

The only winner is me.


A few friends had plans to see Skyrocket on Friday but I had already made a commitment to see a completely different cover band, Mysterious Ways, Texas' U2 cover band at Fado's Irish Pub. I'd heard brief snippets of their sound, or really a good impression of U2's sound, while walking around 4th Street but I'd always been on my way to see other bands (usually Skyrocket (I'm not sure if this is an ironic moment or not, I'll have to consult Alanis Morrisette and just assume the opposite of what she says about it) and so I'd never actually caught their entire act which is surprising given how big a U2 fan I am.

It turns out they were surprisingly and exceptionally good. The lead vocalist captured much if not all of Bono's sound and really captured his mannerisms and patter with the audience, including a trip to the roof to shine the spotlight on the audience like Bono in Rattle & Hum. He even looked a lot like Bono, which was to be honest, a little creepy. The guitarist also captured The Edge's look pretty well, but I think the drummer and bass player just half-assed it. Lose the facial hair, Larry Mullen, Jr. wannabe!

I was also impressed by the set list which included songs from all the albums including their most recent, and an assortment of B-sides, and they played my favorite songs from Rattle & Hum, Angel Of Harlem and All I Want Is You, the latter I don't think I've heard live from the real band.

Although I missed seeing Skyrocket, I couldn't let the weekend go without listening to an 80s cover band so I stopped by Cedar Street last night to catch a little bit of The Spazmatics, who put on a great show for a completely packed audience. It's hard for me to say which band is better. Skyrocket certainly does play a lot of cheesy music but I like 80s cheesy music (more soft 80s songs and 70s some disco, a few new wave) and they are so earnest that they can even get you singing an Air Supply song with them so you know they are good. The Spazmatics played a few similar songs but also had a whole slew of other 80s hits (less varied styles of music, more new wave, but some mixing of newer music in the comedy bits) I'd not heard sung by Skyrocket, and The Spazmatics really played up the comedy and had the crowd laughing as well as singing along.

You can get a taste of the bands by visiting their websites. Skyrocket's site for better or worse, has a huge sample of songs to give you an idea of what you are going to hear, while The Spazmatic's site features some amusing bios of the band to give you an idea what their stage presence is like. Mysterious Way's site gives you a bit of both, although I think they sounded much more like U2 at the show than they at the website, especially the lead's voice.

The nice thing is that these bands play Austin all the time, so even if you have to choose between them one night, chances are the band you don't see will be playing at a local venue the following week.

Here's to enjoying the ride.


After I got home and sat down on the couch I started thinking that I should have had something to eat before I drank that mexican martini while out with Jay and some other friends because it wouldn't have affected me as much, but then I realized i was literally being my own buzz kill.

For the foreseeable future I'm going to be working on little projects around the condo and hopefully I'll only need Kurt's help when I find I'm not able to do something myself and I can afford to pay him, and so I have begun to swop out a few fixtures in the bathrooms.

I found that removing the old fixtures was pretty easy. Also, picking out the new fixtures wasn't that hard given I only checked one store and the selection was pretty small. It turns out installing the new fixtures through hasn't gone quite as smoothly.

Basically these fixtures, and when I say fixtures I mean a towel bar and a toilet paper holder, come with the required screws and these plastic inserts that are supposed to be sunk into the wall for the screw. The plastic inserts though are extremely cheap and simply don't work as advertised. Half of the screws would seem to lock in place and hold the fixtures tightly, while the other half would be screwed into the insert as far as they would go and still spin because the cheap plastic was not holding it in place.

The solution, provided by Kurt, was to use the old plastic inserts that held in the prior fixtures. I had managed to pull enough of them out to take care of the fixtures in the "master" bathroom, but I didn't have any for the guest bathroom so I went to Home Depot to pick up some more.

I didn't find the kind of plastic inserts I had used in the master bathroom so I picked up a different kind that had been recommended by one of the guys that works there. I also got some spackle to fill in the holes I had created removing the old inserts. I got home and realized that I would never be able to get the old inserts out of the guest bathroom because they were of a different style and there wasn't enough to grab a hold of with any tool i had, so instead I pushed the insert through the wall. After that I filled the holes with spackle, let it dry and then repainted the areas I had spackled.

In the meantime I had to attach the toilet paper holder to the side of the vanity where the other toilet paper holder had been. Since it was made of wood I didn't need the plastic inserts, I could just put the screws directly into the wood just like the old toilet paper holder screws had been. Unfortunately, the screws that came with the fixture were too soft and so I had to use a different set of screws, but I don't think anyone who hasn't read this would notice or care.

After the spackle and paint had dried I was ready to try the new inserts. I started with a tiny hole and slowly screwed the insert in with a phillips head screwdriver until it was flush with the wall. There was only one problem. The insert was still spinning. Just to make sure, or to be stupid, I tested with a different insert and had the same results. I need different inserts.

So knowing that I won't be installing the towel bar in the guest bathroom tonight I decided to prep for tomorrow's work. I pushed the new insert through the wall and let it drop in the space between the walls, and then I broke out the spackle again and filled the holes in, and then I repainted the area again.

I'm tempted to pull the last two inserts for the previous fixtures out of the master bathroom and then spackle and repaint over those holes, but I would need two more inserts anyway so I'm just going to leave them painted over and I'll do a better job picking out the right inserts tomorrow at Home Depot or Lowe's.

Also, I'll be posting on Craigslist the remnants of the package of inserts and matching screws I picked up today. It's pretty amazing what you can sell there.

Time to get it fixed.


A couple of years ago someone backed into my car while it was parked in a parking deck and they left a nice little dent in the back left corner, and then the driver took off without leaving a note. My car hasn't been the same since.

Prior to the accident I kept really good care of my car, but afterwards I stopped working so hard to keep it clean and so it's not anymore. That's all about to change however because I'm going to take the car in this week to get the damage repaired. I didn't see the point in fixing it up earlier because in my old apartment complex the parking spaces were so narrow my car was constantly getting dinged by other cars anyway, but at the new place I've got plenty of space to park. Also, I've come to the conclusion that given my credit card bill is so high anyway, what's another $500?

The only problem is that I need to clean my car out before I take it in for service. Maybe I should plan on taking it in for service next week instead...

It's nice to have them.


Today for lunch Tee and Nicole came by to see the new place and Nicole seemed to like it a whole lot more than when she was here previously, but I think that had more to do with the fact that there was a TV than anything else. Of course while they were here the cable company sent a signal to update the cable box so Nicole wasn't able to actually watch anything.

Nicole left me a cupcake which I ate tonight after dinner although I probably should not have. For a few weeks I was losing weight probably more so because I was so stressed out than from all the late night work around the condo, but now that I've moved in the stress has been reduced and I feel like I'm starting to gain weight. Also, the scale in the bathroom tells me so.

Tomorrow I need to re-dedicate myself to start a new workout regimen, or throw out the bathroom scale.

Hurricane free weekend.


After all the doom and gloom heading up to this weekend, Austin was completely spared from hurricane Ike. Still, on Saturday morning it looked like it might come through so I spent the day doing what most people would do on a Saturday when they are in the path of an on coming hurricane. I went down to Third Base to watch my alma mater Virginia Tech narrowly defeat Georgia Tech. Given I didn't think we would win I was pretty happy, and I was even happier that I made it through the game without someone having to break out the defibrillator.

Since it was overcast I figured Ike would roll in that night so I planned on spending the evening in doors, at the Woody Allen retrospective at the Alamo Drafthouse watching Manhattan. As much as I like film, I haven't seen a lot of Woody Allen films, but the trailer the Alamo has been playing for the last few weeks was funny so I thought I'd catch the whole movie. I bought the ticket early thinking the movie would sell out, especially given the weather, but the weather cleared up later in the day and it was in fact a beautiful afternoon, so beautiful that I thought about passing up the movie, but I'd already made plans and some friends were going as well so off I went.

It was a funny movie but unfortunately I missed the ending. Not because I left the theater, but because the projector broke down and melted the film about 20 minutes to the end of the film. I've had a lot of strange experiences at movie theaters but I've never actually seen film melt on the big screen previously. The Alamo gave everyone a free pass for another movie. Perhaps I'll use it next week when they show Annie Hall. I've always wanted to see that film because it won the Best Picture Oscar the same year Star Wars was released and I have a hard time believing it's nearly as good, but I'll give it a chance.

Since it was clear that Ike had passed us by I spent Sunday doing what most people do on such beautiful days. I went shopping. Allison has been really helpful with the condo decorating so I borrowed her again today to pick up a few things like lamps for the living room and a blender for the margaritas.

After shopping I managed to squeeze in a round of golf at Butler and then I came back home to clean up the place and take it easy for the rest of the evening, but it turns out the two are mutually exclusive, so I cleaned up the place and I'll take it easy some other time.

Or so they say.


For lunch I stopped by Texadelphia and the manager asked me if I was getting ready for the hurricane coming. He said the hurricane's name but i forgot what it's called and I haven't been paying any attention to the weather. I've been so focused on work and fixing up the place I've completely ignored any weather related news.

I checked my fridge today and all I have is a case of Dos XX and a six pack of flavored water. In the cabinets I've got some Pop Tarts, about a dozen Zone Bars of various flavors, a package of Cappucino Chipotle Brownie Mix, some Smithfield Deviled Ham (no idea how old that is), some honey, a bottle of Tobasco sauce, and a bottle of Martinelli's Gold Medal Sparkling Cider I picked up from Jay's move a few weeks ago.

How about that. I was worried when I came home that I wouldn't have adequate supplies, but it looks like my innate nature just so happens to be predisposed to make sure I've got exactly what I need stocked up in case of inclement weather.

I've been thinking about posting my opinion of Sarah Palin but it looks like Matt Damon beat me to it:

I guess we go with the majority rule.


I noticed an odd thing about the cross street here at my new place. On one end of the street, the street sign reads Oceanaire Blvd, and on the other end it reads Oceanair Blvd. Since there are only three street signs for the street and the third one reads Oceanaire Blvd, I'm going to assume that is the correct spelling. I'm just surprised because I've never seen a misspelled street sign before.

I'm even more surprised however by the fact that this street comprises only two small blocks and yet it somehow manages to get the designation of boulevard.

Because people can't regulate themselves.


I was hoping to get ceiling fans that use standard light sockets so I wouldn't have to invest in different sized bulbs but it turns out that Lowe's and Home Depot no longer carry such things because of some government regulation. Apparently too many people were sticking bulbs with too high a wattage in their ceiling fans and so the government stepped in to force the ceiling fan makers to use intermediate or candelabra sized bulbs that max out at 60 watts instead.

I would think this would be a good way to initiate bullet control instead of gun control. Just make the manufacturers sell guns that use a different sized bullet from now on and people will have to buy the new guns and bullets after they use up their existing supplies of bullets. Apparently the gun lobby has a bit more power than the bulb lobby.

Tomorrow the ceiling fans are installed and my hope to limit the kinds of bulbs in the condo to a manageable two will have been destroyed. And then there's the ceiling light in the kitchen, which is eventually going to be replaced with a fluorescent fixture, so with the bathroom lights and the ceiling fan lights, that will make four different kinds of bulbs. And then there are the Christmas decorations...

Oh hell, I might as well use a different sized bulb for every light socket in the damn place.

Golf is a dangerous sport.


One of the unique and dangerous features of Butler Pitch And Putt is the placement of the tees. The other day while teeing off from the 5th tee, I took a swing and sliced the ball pretty badly for me, so much so that it ended up more on the fairway for number 6 than for number 5, so since we weren't playing a real game I decided to take a second shot, figuring there would be no way I would slice it that badly again.

It turns out I was wrong about that.

Instead, I sliced it much worse, so much so that the ball took a 45 degree angle from where I was standing and headed straight towards the number 7 tee box, or really just behind it by about 10 feet. The problem though was that number 7 was occupied at the time by a bunch of the Butler regulars, and one of the guys was down on one knee drinking some beer, about 10 feet behind the number 7 tee box.

My shot skidded along the ground so fast and the number 7 tee was so close, 15-20 yards away, that I didn't have time to say fore, and if I did, that might have made things worse. The ball took a bee line directly through the guy's legs and hit a tree just a few feet behind him, narrowly avoiding two other guys standing by the tree, and then it bounced off the tree and back across the number 5 fairway.

The position of the 5 and 7 tee boxes always concerns me but up until now it's been because I was worried about being hit, not about being the hitter. The guys at the 7 tee box had a laugh about it but the event bothered me for the rest of the round and I don't think I hit any of my remaining tee shots very well for the rest of the game because of that one bad shot.

The Butler regulars are always telling me that they play better with a few beers in them. Perhaps next time I'll bring a cooler with me as well, and hopefully that will help cut down on my slices and my nearing killing people on the golf course.

Forward, not backwards.


The other night I left my new home to pick up some food and while on my way I got distracted and drove right past the place I was going to get the food and found myself in my old apartment complex before I realized my mistake and turned around.

It was a weird feeling realizing I had been so distracted that I had forgotten I'd just spent the last few weeks moving to the new place, but it was nice to know that I can always count on my hunger to wake me from whatever mental fog I might be in.

That would be me.


I finally set up my computer again and spent a little while tonight entering in all my purchases in Quicken. Needless to say I wasn't happy to see how much I owe, but it's probably a good thing I haven't been keeping track of the money I've spent in the last few weeks or I would have had a heart attack by now.

Instead, I'm going to have a beer instead and worry tomorrow about how much overtime I'll have to work over the next year to pay for everything.

Well, to me.


At some point I am going to write about something other than fixing up the condo, but I'm not sure when. It will probably happen when I have a night off to do something else other than fix something here.

Today Kurt installed the baseboards and a couple of light fixtures and so tonight I got down on the floor and started painting the baseboards. I'm also putting just about all my clothes through the new washing machine and dryer.

The big news though was that I had to work today so I wasn't able to spend any huge sums of money trying to improve my living situation.

Speaking of huge sums of money, I'm staring at the print out of my 3-Day ACL ticket for Sept. 26-28 and it reminds me that I need to buy a badge for SXSW 2009 (March 13-22) before Sept. 26 since the price goes up then.

Let's see, I can buy the badge, or make my first mortgage payment at the end of the month...hmmmm...

Home sweet home.


Well, I'm finally in. It took a bit more time and a lot more money but the place is slowly becoming presentable. I had a lot of help from Kurt on Saturday who helped me move all of the stuff out of my apartment, and then Jay, Steve, Allison and Rock helped me move the furniture I bought from Jay on Sunday.

After the move, Jay, Steve, and especially Allison (who seems to love this kind of stuff) helped me organize my living situation and then we all went out shopping to pick up some stuff for Jay's new place and mine. I spent a lot more money than I ever planned to but I'm moving into a new place, and hey, it's just credit. If I use all of it up they just give me more.

I've still got a lot to do here though. I need to make a list of everything that needs to get done and start crossing things off it. In the meantime, I've made half of the place presentable. The living room is coming together nicely:




The dining room needs a little work:




One bedroom needs a little work but nothing major:




The other one may take a while longer:




Some things you have to leave for tomorrow...

Almost done.


There's still a lot of flooring to put in but it looks like the most difficult part, the hallway, has been finished. The living room and dining room are open and most of the area should go in much quicker. Here's a pic of the flooring heading down the hallway:




I'm thinking I may take my bed over to the condo and stay there tomorrow night.

As to the packing, I'm pretty much down to the dishes and some assorted odds and ends and of course the big furniture. Since the hallway is complete I should be able to take all rest of the little stuff over tomorrow night and then the big stuff on Saturday, but I'll probably take whatever stuff tomorrow later so I am out of Kurt's hair while he is installing the flooring.

I was kind of expecting to be moving in tomorrow but since I'm not and I have the day off I'll have to figure out what I am going to do during the day to relax my frazzled nerves from all of this. I figure if a couple of rounds of golf at Butler don't calm me down, the couple of frozen margaritas afterwards should do it.

But it's just a mirage.


Do you ever get the feeling that something is never going to end? You know, like life? That's kind of where I am with the renovation, except that I know it's not going to end. I feel like I'm in one of those "measure the distance to the wall and divide in two and then measure again until infinity" experiments.

I finished painting the living room and a lot of the trim work but there is still a little bit of trim that Kurt needs to finish up at the top of the vaulted ceiling, and of course the flooring needs to be installed. I think the pictures will look much better once the flooring is in but for now all I have are more shots of walls, ladders, painting supplies and assorted tools.

The tile on the chimney matches the kitchen and bathrooms so it's going to stay for a while, unfortunately. I still have to paint the mantle as well but that can wait until I've moved in.




Part of the last bit of trim in the living room that needs to be painted.

Still haven't moved in yet.


My internet connection was finally closed out at the old homestead so I set up the time capsule in my new condo. Unfortunately I'm still sleeping over at the old place until the flooring is complete (tomorrow? Probably not. Thursday?). New decking has to be installed to resolve some soft areas with the floor and it looks like Kurt has installed about 75 percent of the decking with only the dining room and a small area near the master bedroom. After that, the living room still needs painting and then the flooring can go in.

Here's a couple of shots of the decking.






With the decking installed I don't feel so bad about walking across the floor onto my new carpeting, so I started to move the smaller stuff in earnest tonight after I got home from seeing Hamlet 2 (very funny) with Jay and Rock. tonight I moved some clothes and assorted miscellaneous boxes, as well as my most important items, my collection of Spider-Man comics (as well as some Grendel and a few other titles). Part of the collection made it to the walk in closet while the rest landed in the spare bedroom/office for now: