In the Throes...

I'm on vacation until Wednesday and really enjoying myself. I've been hanging out with Uffe quite a bit and that guy likes to drink. A lot! He just recently moved back to Austin after a 19 year absence and we seemed to have picked up right where we left off. I am going to have to take some training classes to keep up with him.

I met Lisa D. (the girl who found Luke for me) this morning for breakfast tacos and coffee at the deli in the Crestview shopping center. Afterwards, I passed an 80's style barbershop (with a 70's style sign) and ventured in. I normally go to Birds for all my coiffure pursuits, but I had a run-in with one of their employees so until she is fired or quits, I have to look elsewhere.

The shop was empty but an old woman emerged from the back after she heard the bell ring as I shut the door. She was easily in her 70's and wore very thick glasses. No way was I going to let her cut my hair. I pretended to be lost and asked her where the nearest HEB was. That was pretty lame on my part, easily the worst moment of this vacation.

I am now taking suggestions for new haircuts establishments, so if you live in Austin and have a legitimate suggestion, go ahead and send me a Twitter.

Man of Leisure

Had a stellar weekend. I kicked it off Friday afternoon with some co-workers (and a couple of knucklehead friends) at The Flying Saucer. We hung out there for 6 hours and then some of us headed back to my house for pizza and wine. Somewhere around 3:00 AM, I remembered I had a board meeting in a few hours in Johnson City so I layed down on the couch. When I awoke, everyone was gone, but I made it to the meeting in time.

My friend Andy was hosting a cookout at his lakehouse, so I stopped by on my way home from the meeting. Andy has a beautiful home on the lake and he had tons of food and an open bar. He even hired a bartender to pour drinks.

He prepared the food himself. He served the standard cookout fare: burgers, hot dogs and barbecue. He also served up a rather weird offering: Lake Travis sushi. Andy's lake house is 5 minutes from Hudson on the Bend and he loves that place. Hudson's serves unorthodox food, like rattlesnake nachos. I am certain that is what inspired this unappealing choice. I had a burger instead.

I hit the Draught House Sunday afternoon with Buck and Loren. It was free beer Sunday (for me, anyway.) I actually only stayed for 2 hours as I had to head home to meet Uffe for a cookout and watch the mighty Dallas Cowboys play Green Bay. We had the best steaks that I have ever cooked and washed it down with several bottles of vino.

After the game, we wandered over to Lala's. Oops, they are closed on Sundays so we went to Blue Bar for several whiskey drinks. I love that place, especially after the sun goes down. All sorts of weirdos congregate there. They also have the best drink prices in North Austin.

We hung out there until Uffe's wife called and insisted that he come home (right in the middle of my Ms. Pacman game.) I now have the 3rd highest score on that machine.

So here I am at work, snapped back to reality. I do begin a vacation on Wednesday and will be staying in town, so if any of you daytime Austin barflies get bored, call me up.

Poot

Pirate Speak

I have never observed "Talk Like a Pirate" day in the past, but I intend to festoon my desk at work with baubles and parrot offal. I have some midi files that will loop through jaunty sea chanties throughout the day. Of course I will shout out pirate specific patois as coworker saunter by. "Arrrrrrrrrr" will be used as you might expect. "Shiver me tenders" is also on my slate. I will make bold references to ale and cider and the need for a strong willed lass.

This is my new Halloween, which hasn't been the same since '89.

Flawless

I realize I am on a bit of a video posting kick, but this is pure gold. Bookmark this entry. Refer to it often.

Uncle Muscles with Case Tatum.

How Cartoons Are Made

This is an excellent 10 minute documentary on how Walter Lantz cartoons were made.

Baby Mac

This caught my eye. It is a picture of Ronald McDonald as a baby. This is an ad for Zune's mp3 player.

Some people might use this image for uses not intended by the creator of the ad campaign. This is just creepy.

Monkey Toons

Go Here to find out more.

Paul Mawhinney's Record Archive

The Archive from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

Janitors and such...

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It's just that I can't understand why they can't contract the janitors to work after 5:30 as they are constantly closing down much needed restrooms on our wing at the most inopportune moments.

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Another Fabulous Weekend

I had a really good weekend and none of it was scripted, save the house cleaning that I performed (more on that later.)

The weekend started Friday around 3:00 as Loren and I convened at our sacred watering hole, Pluckers (where I am a member in good standing), on 183 & Burnet Road. Loren left after 2 hours and was replaced by Sturge, and a little later, Steve (Chapapotomus) joined the fray.

We then strolled over to Bagpipes (after I suffered a near concussion running into Plucker's front doors) for some beer, whiskey and sliders.

Finally, we ended up at The Veranda and were soon engaging in one bar bet after another over the music piped in through the bar's sound system. I headed home after that and watched Prison Break.

On Saturday, I drove over to Zilker Park to watch my neighbor's boyfriend (Nigel) play in a rugby match (Austin Lads vs. Clover City Mongrels.) The Lads (local heroes) had a keg hidden behind a tree and we drank in the park all afternoon. We stumbled over to Chuy's for dinner after that and I headed home to watch the Longhorns play.

I spent Sunday morning cleaning the kitchen (literally). I encountered a jar I had hidden in the pantry that had been sitting there for six weeks. The contents were an orange liquid with a cheesy, viscous substance floating on top. I was about to chunk the jar, but remembered that this was a project I started so I could produce some homemade bacon vodka.

I put the jar in the freezer and when I get home tonight, I intend to scrape of the fat. If all goes well, I intend to sell this at the Montopolis flea market next weekend.

And finally, I met Christopher and 3 other friends out last night at Flemings where I was treated to a delicious steak dinner, wine and whiskey. I must say, I was in rare form last night. I work-shopped a few gags and told some jokes. Judging by Christopher's reactions, most of my material is ready for the public.

It Doesn’t Have to be This Way

I am constantly amazed by the technology I encounter online. Mozilla labs has introduced a concept program, Ubiquity, that I am just now mucking with. This is fairly new and the potential is mind blowing, (sorry for the hippie slang.)




Click here for more info

John Cougar Mellencamp

Teabag the D-bag

Every year Lake Superior State University comes out with a list of words to banish (due to overuse or misuse.)

This year, I wish to nominate 'hater'. Etymology of this word can be wrangled from slang dictionaries found online. I refuse to mention any one of them by name.

The demographics of the people who use this word (in earnest or ironically) tend to skew towards the young, the urban, the stupid. So it was with great alarm that I encountered its use in Daniel Negreanu's Poker blog (a blog about Poker, ostensibly).

His blog isn't all that good. For one, his writing skills are 'challenged'. However, I read his blog because he is a good poker player and I like to see how he approaches the game, not because he can write like Nabokov (or even Rincon Phillips).

When he strays from Poker, I tend to not bother reading that entry. This is especially true when he writes about golf.

So a recent entry found him talking about politics. American politics. He is Canadian! Of course he has every right to write about American politics, but its relevance can be compared to the importance of Paris Hilton's opinion on, well anything.

He began this particular blog thusly: "****Ok, before I get into my opinions, et al, I'm going to address the haters right off the bat. If you don't want to read my political opinions then find another blog to read. I have every right to share my views just like anyone else.***"

Haters indeed. Douche-bag.

Paul Lynde (remembered fondly)

Paul Lynde was a childhood favorite of mine. I particularly liked him in Under the Yum Yum Tree which, to my dismay, has yet to come out on DVD.

In my AHDD mindset, I began reading about him online this evening due to some references from Robert Osborne of TCM after watching the retroactively overhyped film, Touch of Evil. He was notorious for his intolerance of children. Donnie and Marie chronicled his reluctance to be around kids while he worked on their show in the late 70's.

Paul was many things: alcoholic, racists (allegedly) and gay (most certainly), and I loved him.

The best story comes from Salon in an interview with Joe Florinski (and Steve Wilson):

Another notorious Paul story that turned out to be true was the time he was on an airplane and a little girl was running up and down the aisle, making a lot of noise. He grabbed her and then shouted at her mother: “You keep this little girl quiet or I’m gonna fuck her!”

A voice of reason.