Bargains!

Twas the night after Christmas and all through the house
We searched for bargains... we searched with our spouse...
The shelves of WalMart and Target were bare
Because the hardcore shoppers had already been there.

So we picked up some stuff for next year's Christmas... garland with lights in it to line the fence... 125' should do it... I hope. A stocking for the little girl. Wrapping paper... stuff like that... the things that are magically only worth half of what they were worth 48 hours ago.

I always think about celebrating Christmas in January since everything will be chraper.. but then I'd appear cheap.. which I am.. but not that cheap.

Ate at CiCi's since I had the hankerin' for peperoni/jalapeño and my wife wanted BBQ... and I found out there's a roving gang of tagging cows... When I went to the bathroom, I noticed something scrawled on the wall.. upon further review, I'm pretty sure it was "512 Moooooo." Damn bad cows.

I'm on deadline for INsite Magazine.. I've got a few stories yet to edit, but after-Christmas shopping has rendered my mind semi-useless.

We've almost gotten everything washed from our trip to Ohio.. and hopefully soon the box with our presents will show up. (Instead of contending with 4 suitcases + carry-on luggage + daughter + box of Christmas Gifts from Ohio we decided to send it via mail to us... the best $41 you can spend if you ask me.. and I know you would.

Well, I've got to write one more CD review before I go to bed... and it's a CD I've listened to for a few months so it should be easy. The South Austin Jug Band's Dark and Weary World.

Happy Monday. I go back to work tomorrow..hopefully I'll find out I don't have to look for work on Friday.

Ho Ho Ho...

I drove around my neighborhood this evening looking at Christmas lights. Impressive. I kept thinking.. are these folks in it for the season... for the meaning... for the thrill of family... or for the need to outdo the neighbor?

You know.. the guy who buys a Land Rover when the neighbor obn the left comes home with a Rav 4... which is traded in on an H3 (and a second mortgage) when the neighbor on the right buys a Land Rover...

How much of life is spent trying to make the neighbors think you're perfect? I see a lot of that during this season. People putting their best foot forward and hiding the bitter truth...

I should blog about going to church last night and my 20 month old getting communion for the first time.. and opening presents this morning and the look of love my wife gives me and I return... but that is just one point of who I am.. I'm also the guy who got into an argument with his wife while looking at Christmas lights on Christmas night... don't even know what it was about.. I know I tried to direct her to park somewhere..I was misunderstood.. and next thing I know I was trying to keep from screaming at the top of my lungs at her... For a women who I love so passionately with all of my heart..we sure know how to push each other's buttons.

So I drove around and looked at lights by myself for an hour...listening to Christmas music... and taking photos of the cool houses.. their all just boxes and everyone decorates their boxes differently. Each has a story to tell and a fresh coat of paint and pretty lights are just outward appearances... who knows what's going on inside.

Well.. it is Christmas. Jesus was born today. Hooray.
I need to spend less time putting up lights and more time filling the house with love.
Merry Christmas.

Favorite Christmas Movies/Specials?

We were all snuggled on the couch watching Ruldolph saves Christmas or something like that (I fell asleep, honestly).. so it's 1 and a half hours until Christmas.. I thought it'd make a neat blog to see who watches what for Christmas... do you have a favorite Christmas program?

My favorite is Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas (1977).

From http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005OSJS/103-0614774-6300631?v=glance&n=130)

Originally a special for HBO, this Jim Henson production (he also directed) was one of the first real forays into the more realistic, less vaudevillian direction for the Muppets. It also included Frank Oz (Muppeteer), Paul Williams (songs), and Jerry Juhl (script), some of the Muppet Show's usual suspects. Emmet Otter and his jug band are trying out in the local talent show, but they face fierce competition from a gang of toughs, the Riverbottom Gang and their rock band. Perhaps the most notable thing is the creation of a sense of poverty and want that suffuses the little production. Even Emmet's mother, who sacrifices her washtub to further Emmet's cause, gets in the act. Fine Christmas viewing for all ages. --Keith Simanton

So... what was/is your favorite?
Merry Christmas to all and to all...
*snore*

Friday.. back in Austin!

It was a wonderful trip to Ohio... but I'm sure glad to be sitting at my own desk in Kyle, TX right now typing this. I'm too tired to really type much.. but wanted to say that there are three very happy and very tired folks in my house right now who had one of the best, most memorable Christmasas ever (yes, I realize tomorrow is Christmas Eve) and I've got the photos to boot. As my daughter and wife prayed a little bit ago (I was going through the mail and missed it... "Good night Grandma D, Papa, Great Grandma Soja, Great D, Great Papa, Ross, Nick, Uncle Tom, Aunt Peg, Christy, John, Sofia, Uncle Bob, Aunt Ethel, The Other Great Uncle John, Tom and Sherry at the B&B, all of the folks we met on the trip... the young man on Christmas leave from the Army visiting his parents and family in Austin and San Antonio...

Merry Christmas to all.. and to all a good night.

.... What is Papa doing right now?
*snore*

Wednesday..takin' off

We're leaving the Bed and Breakfast... found out the owners (The Hughes') have a 13 year-old son... so he now has a Quartershackle and Meyvn shirt and an Austin Indie Alliance CD compilation... since he'll appreciate them all.. see.. even on vacation I like to spread the word of good Austin music.

As I type this.. I hear our Christmas CD playing in the background.. we gave the Hughes' a copy.. they are good people.. and their Bed and Breakfast is awesome... highly recommended.

Anyhow.. we're checking out in a few minutes.. so I'm going to take my new Hughes Inn Bed and Breakfast t-shirt and take my family's happy selves to Loundonville for Christmas in Ohio.. part II.

Don't think I'll have computer acccess there.. so... Until next time.
Ho Ho Ho..

Tuesday Wrap-up

Today was a good day... We had breakfast.. got dressed up to take a family photo (me, my wife, daughter.. my mom and dad, sister, her husband and their daughter and my grandmother... nine folks in jeans and long-sleeve white shirts posing for the camera... and the photographer got it done..and done well and quickly (mor about him at the end...).

We went to a place for lunch and I had a fried bologna sandwich.. we're talking a slab of bologna that was like a half-inch thick. It sounds disgusting but DAMN... tasted good.

I got to hang with my 6-month-old neice a little more... what a cute amazing baby. My 20-month-old got a bit jealous when my wife was holding her... it was annoyingly great.

Got to hang out with my grandma for a little while. She's in assisted living and she's advancing with an Alzheimers-like situation...so she has trouble remembering things that happened yesterday... but she can tell you exactly what happened to her 20 years ago. I love talking to her about the "old days" and joking with her. I've been told not to joke with her... but she knows I'm joking and we have loads of fun.. really...like when I opened up a box of cookies from Wal-Mart and told her she better eat one since I spent all morning baking them... and I'd have made a cake too if I didn't have to fly the plane to get here... Me and Grandma understand each other. I know she's going to have to ask me the same question 5 times.. and I'm going to act like it's the first time I heard it each time.. because it is no fault of hers tha she doesn't remember. I also know that if I make something funny.. or answer something in a way that she wasn't expecting.. it may stick.

In other news I've done most of the editing for the January issue of INsite... we've got some awesome stories for January... inluding a great feature on the TXRD Lone Star Rollergirls... which you'll see on A&E and the covver of Rolling Stone (and INsite) soon... Pretty pumped about that!

OK.. as with last night.. my daughter is sleeping and I better close out...

So...If you're ever in Van Wert Ohio, and need a photo taken... visit this place first - Memory Lane Studio. The photographer, Gary Lane (hence the name) is an extremely nice person, takes fantastic shots, and gets it all done quickly and for a fair price. His stuff is digital.. so we took the shots...went and had lunch and went back and saw the "proofs" within an hour. Fantastic. We also talked cameras...so I think I know the next one I'm getting... yeah.

B&B WyFi

So, I'm sitting at a Bed and Breakfast in Ohio and I break out my computer to do some work... viola! I've got a wireless connection. So.. I'll blog about my day.

Went to bed last night about midnight...and got up at 4:00 in order to get everything and everyone (wife and 20 month old) onto a plane at 7:00a.m. flying out from Austin to end up in Columbus... We decided not to buy a ticket for the little one.. and Thank God she fell asleep just after we departed Dallas on our way to Columbus.. everything with the trip went smooth.

I did, however wake up this morning with a cold.. so I'm so stuffed up right now it's amazing... and I'm pretty sure I know now what it would feel like to have screwdrivers shoved into my ears...from the pressure I felt while the plane was making its descent into Columbus... but other than that.. life is peachy.

I met my six-month-old neice for the first time (she lives in Boston).. and I got to hold her for a good half-hour... She is amazing..beautiful...such a joy. Everything I would ever hope for in a neice...

Saw my Grandma, Great-Aunt and Uncle.. Sister, Brother-in-law, neice, and parents.. good times.

Well, it's like 11:00p.m. Ohio time and since my daughter's asleep I should be too.

Getting Ready

Leaving.. on a jet plane..

We step on a plane tomorrow morning.. so I'm going to have to be a bad Holidalies poster (I'm not sure if anyone actually reads my posts anyhow... If you're out there... do me a favor.. leave me a comment...

I'll provide a topic...
If you had to recommend one musician to me, who would it be?
There... discuss..

Talk to you on Friday.

If you're in the market for Christmas gift ideas... I did a story in the December issue of INsite that was a holiday gift guide of totally Austin things.. Feel free to go to my homepage and peruse... (Click on the banner below)

First Day of Vacation

Today is my first day of vacation and I woke up at 5:45a.m.
Fan-freaking-tastic.

At least I can get about 2 hours of freelance work done before my daughter gets up.
I hear her taking to herself right now..

Anyhow....I'm Methodist.. so I celebrate Christmas. So, I'm going to wish you a Merry Christmas. If you don't celebrate Christmas.. please don't take offense. If someone wished me a Happy Kwanzaa or Hanukkah I wouldn't get pissed.

So.. if Christmas offends you.. I'll take a cue from Kinky Friedman...
"May the God of your choice bless you."




Happy Saturday. I need a haircut.

Et Tu Cappuccino?

I'm in a good mood. I'm going to let this all flow off my back..but here's a small summary of my last 2 days...

Background: My full-time job is a grant position. We're a 5 year grant that just finished it's 6th year (it's complicated)... on December 31, 2005 that grant ends a 3 month no-cost extension. We're competing for a new 5 year scope-of-work...and the "winner" hasn't been announced yet. We're all hopeful.. but the prospect of being jobless in 2006 has people a little on edge...

Wednesday morning: We had a meeting of all staff members on the grant on which I work. We were told the status of the proposal (which we turned in 3 months ago) that would mean we have another 5 years of work... the status was.. there was no news yet.

30 minutes after that meeting: The Big boss of the institution where I work came by and dropped off the "letter" that let me know that if we don't get the new monies, there's no money available to keep me employed.

Noon Wednesday: I head home because my 20 month-old is sick (sent home from daycare on Monday) and my wife and I are splitting days so we can both work a little...

Thursday: I get a second letter detailing my severance package... I joked with the CEO asking him if it was my Christmas bonus. I'm not sure if he thought it funny or not, but I got a nervous chuckle out of him.

Thursday afternoon: Had meeting with the CEO and HR to discuss the "implications surrounding my employment" and went over all the scenerios...
1. If we get the grant, life is good and I have work
2. If we don't hear about the grant by the 1st of January, they may keep a few people around to see if a decesion can be made in a week or two.
3. If we get an answer and we didn't win... I'm suddenly only employed for 10 hours a week (I work 1/4 time on another grant position) and in order to receive my severance package I must work the part-time for a month while they find a suitable replacement.
4. Enter your own scenerio here... my other one consists of spending $1 and making millions.

Thursday late afternoon: Amongst all of this, Me and my family are flying to Ohio for a week starting Monday so I thought I'd better make sure all is in line for that..I booked the tickets on Expedia.com in September. I find out my flight number if suddenly flying into Boston not Columbus..and doesn't originate out of Austin like it should. 30 minutes on the phone with the airline straightens everything out... and I found out by booking early I saved a penny! That's right.. the price of the flight, had I booked it yesterday would have cost a whole penny more. Who says booking early doesn't pay?

Thursday night: my daughter has decided that it's not too early to enter into her terrible twos... and refuses to go to sleep.. so we get to listen to the sounds of a child SCREAMING for about 30-45 minutes until she gets tired of screaming and falls asleep. Ohio is going to be fun with this new development.

Friday: I stop to get gas this morning and pick up the Exxon Bengal Traders cappuccino... I don't like it as much as the generic gas-station cappuccino... it's a bit watery...

Friday at work: We have our Holiday party today (I'd call it a Christmas party... but it's not very PC to do so in this day and age)..and we do a gift exchange amongst our staff members (I orginized it..yea) so I was carrying a big box for the person I bought for.. and my coffee... and a bag of other stuff. Well.. I spilled hot cappuccino all over my shirt.

Damn... et tu cappuccino?

So.. if anyone is looking for a cappuccino-soaked Communuications Specialist in Austin, Texas... here I am.
Happy Friday.

P.S. (Happened after My original blog):
I got the coolest ornament at the office ornament exchange.. It was White Elephant.. and I was the #12 of 14.... so I got to take the one I wanted... then lost it.. then picked another one (which wasn't as cool as the original one I had) but then a co-worker took that one.. so I got the one I wanted back.. and ended up keeping it....it's an Indian Paintbrish wildflower done in clay on a barbed wire

....then I dropped it... and it broke.

So... it needs superglue but it's a winner.