What I Did On My Autumn Vacation (Part I)

Really, it's been how long? Mid-September? Geez, I'm surprised that any of you remember where this thing is... or else you are terminally bored and the cable is out. So, to fuel your ennui, here's some of what's been going on in my world:

 

Divorce

Probably the biggest thing that happened to me last year (and to some extent is still happening) is that Paula and I divorced after almost 18 years... and yeah, divorce sucks. There's no two ways to put it. I really feel that we were both ready to take our lives in new directions, and it was a mutually amicable divorce; but still, it sucks. If you've been there, you know what I mean, and if you haven't — well, it just sucks, take my word for it. After all the legal stuff is done, there's still the moving out and the dividing of stuff and who gets the dogs, and a million other details that no one ever thinks about till they are staring you right in the face. No one ever gave me the "divorce" speech, either — you know, like the "birds and the bees" speech or the "it's time to move your lazy ass outta the house you bum" speech or the "hey look what I found underneath your socks in your dresser, how long have you been smoking this" speech... it just isn't one of those topics that parents seem to talk to their kids about. Now mind you, I'm not blaming them - the big "D" in our house was not an option, and my folks are still going strong after 42 years. Just sayin' that invariably there are certain things that one must face with little-to-no preparation, and you can learn a lot about yourself in how you deal with those situations.

 

Goin' to the country...

I am moving in with my girlfriend, Dawn... waaaaay out in BFTX. Okay, actually just a few miles northeast of Seward's Junction, near Liberty Hill, but you get the idea if you check out the map. It's 9 acres of Hill Country, and I love it! It's far enough away from the city that you can actually see stars at night and hear the neighbors in their backyard, half a mile away – yet close enough to main roads to allow you to make it to South Austin in 45 minutes to an hour. I love not being able to see any of our neighbors from the porch, and since we are not part of any housing addition, there are no HOA's, restrictions, etc. — no crazy neighbors to call the cops when the dogs bark or I want to put an antenna up. The only real drawback is that there are very few options when it comes to network connections... and brother, I mean few! In another year or so, there will probably be fibre pulled out there, since the area is growing fairly quickly, but right now the options are: dialup (gag); wireless DSL (okay, but the local provider has a lock on the market and knows it - and charges accordingly) and satellite (HughesNet) - which sucks for anything other than email and some browsing, since there's a huge lag built into the system due to the distance to/from the satellite in geostationary orbit 36,000 km above the planet. Try playing Quake with a 1/3-second lag time built in, on top of the normal lag... teh sux0rz.

Suffice to say that I am suffering thru 'Net withdrawals... but, the benefits far exceed the discomfort :)

 

How much wood...

Its a good thing that this winter has been mild thus far — we haven't had to burn an excessive amount of wood in the fireplace, although it's probably a bit cooler in the house than we'd like it to be. I'll trade that for skyrocketing electric bills any day of the week, though! Plus, I love the smell of a nice wood fire...

 

CAUTION: Bike Season Ahead

Thanks to a fantastic Christmas gift (a bike repair stand), I was able to finish repairs on my mountain bike (see this post) and just in time - I really need to get myself ready for the Muddy Buddy event this May, if I hope to be ready in time... guess I'll just have to ride in the cold. As long as it holds out like it has been, I should be fine. I am really ready to get back on the trails, and there are plenty of good places to ride out here, if you don't mind sharing the road with folks that drive 75mph on roads built for 30mph...

 

Where's Godzilla when you need him???

The Humiliators have been taking some time off for family, but we did manage to almost play a Halloween party with The Whoremoans (the music got shut down by the cops before we got on stage... ask one of us sometime), and we got to play a Christmas gig with Grub Dog, "The Island of Misfit Toys" at Trophy's... another fine night of hilarity and music was had by all! Look for us at mile 25 of the upcoming Austin Marathon — we were chased out of our Mile 1 spot by Steeler Jacket Dude from last year, before we even had a chance to play! Some folks just don't want to rock, I suppose. We have some new material in the works, so keep your eyes on the band website for upcoming show dates.

 

-- To Be Continued

Seriously?

Oh. My. Gawd. An update to the blog?

No, really, false alarm - I'm just testing offline publishing tools.

I'll be updating the blog soon.

Seriously.

ACL weekend update

ACL 2007 Weekend

This weekend I went to my first Austin City Limits Music Festival... what a blast! Three days, 130 bands and lots of fun! The weather was hot but not as bad as in recent years, so that was a plus... and I only bought the Saturday pass so that I could see what it was all about without having to worry about not using the whole pass. Next year I'll do the full weekend - it was really fun! I got to see a number of great bands, plus the people-watching is a sport in itself :)

Friday night, Dawn and I picked up Jessica and the gang at their hotel and drove to Opal Divine's on 6th St., where we met Dawn's friend Mando and had a great time with much food and drink... our server, Anna, really did a great job keeping up with us :) Then it was time for bed, to get ready for Saturday...

Saturday started off right - by sleeping in till noon(ish), and then having a leisurely lunch and drive into Austin... Dawn dropped me off at the ACL Shuttle dropoff and then was off running errands, while I got on a shuttle bus and was carried over to Zilker Park, and then the fun began!

While there were a lot (!) of people, there was none of the massive crush of humanity that I had expected after hearing some folks' descriptions... It was really well laid out, I had no problems finding anything and the only real problem was the fact that with so many people in one place using cellphones to locate and keep track of each other, the local cell nodes were so overloaded that sometimes you had to send a message five or six times to get it through! However, I soon met Jessica at the WaMu stage and we hung out there, listening to Beau Soleil, before going over to the AMD stage for Arctic Monkeys and Arcade Fire. It was a great time, and I will definitely be going next year! I left ACL early, however, because my brothers from SuperCrash were playing at Hanover's in Pflugerville at 10.30p... and I wasn't about to miss that show :) (Can you say "free beer"? I thought so.)

I made my way to the exit, and stood at the top of the hill for the first couple of songs of Muse's set (and light show - wow!)... then made my way to the shuttles to be carried back downtown. I was really impressed with the efficiency of the shuttles, but then I wasn't riding at peak times, either :) Once I got back to the shuttle dropoff, it was a short wait before Dawn picked me up and we headed north to Hanover's... I think I have found a new favorite watering hole! I can't believe that it's taken me this long to find this place! It's your basic rock bar; since it's in Pflugerville you can smoke (if that's your bag), and the staff are friendly and it just has a great feel... plus there are tables, volleyball courts and horseshoes/washers pits in the Biergarten out back. SuperCrash put on a great show, as usual! Following them was a Hendrix cover band called Stone Free that really put on a good show as well. As the bar was closing, we made our way home and crashed.

Sunday was a day for sleeping in, and then it was off to grab some lunch, run some errands and generally wind the weekend up in a nice way :) I'm looking forward to next year's ACL already!

Randomness (is that even a *word*??)

Dawn... wow, just... wow! I had no clue... yeah.

This will be the best birthday I have ever had...

WST, FTW!!!

I'm looking forward to getting my bike fixed so I can get back out on the trail (and kill myself again :) )

This is a year of transition for me, for sure... how do I know?

• I'm getting divorced
• My Dad has retired after 29 years in law enforcement
• My old National Guard unit has deactivated
• I've started biking and quit smoking

The Humiliators have been taking a break, but we are back in the practice room and I am glad! It's been waaaay too long since we played....

Sunsets are nicer when they are shared, even if it's by phone...

Always give a good handshake - you never know what might come from it...

A lot of good things happen in kitchens, especially at parties ;)

Fact: I can run the radio on my Suburban for over 12 hours and not need a boost.

Homebrew beer is better than any beer on the planet, for it is made with the soul of the brewer.

Chris's Alaskan Amber is some potent stuff!

I discovered Haruki Murakami this summer (thanks, Jes!)... omg this guy can write!!!

I can brew up a fair batch of beer, if I do say so myself... :)

Footprints on the ceiling? How'd those get up there???

Local bands to see: SuperCrash, The Whoremoans, Red Line Riot, Steamroller, Killer Crocs of Uganda, Ghosts of Nitheria, Butcherwhite, Drifter... and of course The Humiliators!

It's a damn good thing I have an unlimited text-message plan...

The Return to BCG and the Hill of Life

Saturday Chris and I returned to the Barton Creek Greenbelt - after months of rain, it was finally open to bicycles! I was particularly excited since the last time I rode this trail was with the "TBS" bike... see previous posts for more about this wonderful piece of machinery. I was looking forward to a great ride, and so we parked at Zilker Park and unloaded our bikes.

We left the parking lot with me in the lead, and it was awesome - I was riding over rocky terrain that had totally stumped me on the TBS, I felt good about the pace and I was enjoying the morning on the trail... we continued our record of meeting new people on the BCG, talking to a guy named Chuck at one of the water-crossings. Everything was going great until shortly after we had crossed under 360 and passed the spot where I had crashed after bonking on our third BCG trip...

>snap<

Oh, great! The @#?&!! chain broke!! And neither of us has a repair link (of course)... so we decide to just take the broken links out and ride on. Since we are still pretty green, it took about an hour to get the chain back on the bike :) Next time, it will be much easier, plus we both realized the importance of having repair links. During the repair process, I noticed that my shifter lever for the rear derailleur was not functioning properly. Wonderful - stuck on one sprocket... okay, no worries, I'll just ride out like this, using only the front chainrings to shift. I mean what else could go wrong? Once we got back on the trail, we actually made pretty good time considering I couldn't speed through the flats; then we arrived at

THE HILL OF LIFE

I had heard tales of THoL; tales of punishing climbs and technical descents... but nothing prepared me for the reality. As we started up the hill, stretched before me was a steep climbing slope, strewn with rocks, ledges and gullies, that stretched on forever (in reality about 1/3 mile)... suffice to say that I was totally unprepared for climbing THoL and it Totally. Kicked. My. Ass. The climb took forever, and I ran out of gas about 100m from the top, fell twice and generally bonked despite a good breakfast, Clif Bars and plenty of water/electrolytes. Once at the top and after a bit of rest, we rode the asphalt back to Zilker Park - plenty of nice long downhill runs, a couple of hills that were gnarly only because I couldn't get into the proper gear and no rocks to climb! :)

Once we were on Capitol of Texas Highway, I noticed that I had a wobble in my rear wheel... oh that's just fine - one more thing to fix. Fortunately it was not so severe as to prevent riding. Looks like Murphy was my ride buddy for sure this day... so I pulled off the road and adjusted the chain onto a smaller sprocket to get away from the wheel and get some speed on the pavement... The capper on the day came only about 1/4 mi. from the Jeep - we had made it that far when I heard a loud BANG from my rear wheel - blowout!!! It was the final blow... I was done. We pushed our bikes back to the jeep, loaded up and headed for Whataburger for some comfort burgers.

I learned a lot that Saturday morning:

1. Always have a spare chain-link in your kit, along with a spare tube and, if possible, a spare spoke... never assume your chain is too new to break
2. When things go wrong, there is always a way to limp home - be creative
3. When things go wrong, they often do in bunches - don't be frustrated
4. The Hill of Life is a cold-hearted life-sucking bitch. Period.
5. I can be positively unpleasant when I am down to my last energy reserves (okay I knew that already :) )
6. Biking the BCG is still my favorite trail in Austin!!!

Until next time - andiamo!

Riding the dirt roads...

Cooperton Valley Mud Ride

I finally got some time to go up to Oklahoma to see family; the band is taking a break, so I loaded up the Suburban and headed north. One of the goodies I loaded was my old bike, the faithful Titanium Boron Steel beast that I've posted about previously... Justin is becoming quite handy at refurbishing old bikes, and he needed a bike for town use - exactly what this bike is made for, despite its outward appearance (heh). Justin's legs are shorter than mine, which means he'll probably fit the bike better, once he gets a new seat post installed.

Above is a link to the test ride we did on Saturday morning - not bad, we did four miles (one trip around the section) and only had to walk one mile, and that only because the road was a sticky mess of wet clay! If it had been a bike trail, we'd have turned around so as not to damage it, but these roads see more abuse than a pair of bicycles can hand out so we pressed on... actually we probably should have turned around and gone back the way we came, but that's no fun!

Once we got past all the mud, it was pavement for the last mile so we had no more problems. After we got back, we got the hose out and spent some time getting the mud off the bikes before it set like concrete! Then, with the bikes all clean and loaded in the back of the truck, we went in to spend time with Dad and Mom.

*** GEEK ALERT ***

After lunch, I followed my brother to his house in Altus to spend time with his family there... his son Paul introduced me to my new time-sink: LEGO Star Wars II - The Original Trilogy. This is the Best PS2 Game Evar! I haven't spent so much time laughing at a game since my brother Jacob and I started playing "tank soccer" in Operation:Flashpoint :D The cutscenes are hilarious - they are true to the movies, with just the right touch of irreverent humor that really makes it worth the $20 I spent on the game... as soon as I got home and unloaded, I tossed the disc in and spent the next 5 hours on the console - I haven't done that since The Legend of Zelda! If you only have room for one PS2 title, this would be a good choice.

It's getting close to time to brew another batch of beer; I'm down to my last 8 :) Chris's Amber and WTF Beer should all be bottled soon, so I need to get another batch started - I love my beer LOL

Dearly Beloved....

Purple Pain

This was a busy weekend - but it's more fun that way :)

Thursday night The Humiliators shared the stage at the Troubadour Saloon with Red Line Riot - and if you have never heard these cats play, then you better get with the program! Playing a mix of original tunes and Jimi Hendrix covers, they are guaranteed to get you moving... check them out this Saturday night at Room 710, along with Drifter (Iron Maiden tribute) and Big Balls (AC/DC tribute) for Tribute Night!

Friday night SuperCrash played at Headhunters... I stopped by and chatted with Jaime, Kay, Jim and Steve on my way to Games & Dames at Emo's Lounge - poker, blackjack and burlesque acts from some very talented and beautiful performers, headlined by the incomparable Miss Maulie... definitely a nice way to spend a Friday night! Only one problem - Emo's poor A/C unit was not up to the task of cooling the house in the August Texas night... it was cooler outdoors! After the show was over, I headed back to Headhunters with Todd and Michelle to catch up with John and the SuperCrash gang for some ass-kickin' rock... then off to bed to recharge for the next day's fun.

Saturday was a full day indeed - a friend of mine from work (Lee) was throwing her annual pool party / birthday bash... I showed up about 3.30p for pool volleyball, Rudy's BBQ and strawberry daiquiris (w00t!) With the temperature in the high 90's the pool was *the* happenin' place to be :) Around 8ish I left for downtown, because The Humiliators were playing in the Purple Pain Festival at Trophy's on South Congress - Grub Dog, the man who brought you the Freebird FU, put together another fun show for us! Every band had to play Purple Rain, and one other Prince tune of our choosing; we chose to do a lounge-version of Kiss :) Everyone had a great time, and the highlight of the night was when all the bands (and some extras) got onstage for the Purple Rain Extravaganza Jam - Collin got a free purple shirt, we got money thrown at us, and best of all, Grub Dog didn't taco someone's ride cymbal this time (probably because there was no community bottle of Jack Daniels), so everyone left a winner!

Sunday was a day of recuperation and (oddly enough) blowing things up with artillery, courtesy of Operation Flashpoint and my brother Jacob - this is one of our favorite ways to release the day's tension and frustrations! After the artillery battles, we went head-to-head with helicopter duels - yeah, we're geeks - deal with it!

The Humiliators are taking some time off for family, plus we have a number of new tunes that are in various stages of completion - keep your eye on the website for scheduling!

I'm not dead yet - I'm feeling better now...

(Author's Note: I realize that I have been derelict in my duty to provide you with insight into my fabulously exciting and meaningful existince - many thanks to those who reminded me that I do not exist in a bubble - that indeed, as John Donne wrote, "No man is an island"... --jnk)

Wow - I can't believe that I let the dust grow this thick! Holee Cats! Where's my duster? Hmm....

Where to begin? A lot has happened since I last posted; I'll try to remember it all...

Kay's Birthday Bash

A house-full of people turned out to wish Kay a happy 30/10 birthday, and it was a rockin' party indeed! Plenty of food, drinks and a karaoke machine! We sang and partied all night, and exercised our remaining brain cells with Kay's Birthday Quiz, a multiple choice quiz designed to find out just how well we knew our Guest of Honor... I didn't get the highest score, but at least I didn't get the lowest score, either! I just about ruined my voice singing, but it was fun as hell - especially doing stuff like Metallica and Megadeth :) The secret is out, though - the guys in the band know I can sing now... Good times!!!

TODDFEST 2007

This mega-party has fast become one of the places to be seen in Austin - Michelle always puts a great show together, and this year was no exception! We invaded Sixth Street this year, Uncle Flirty's being kind enough to host the festivities - thanks, guys! Musical entertainment was provided by partners-in-rock The Whoremoans, with Todd playing harp on "When the Levee Breaks"; The Humiliators, in our 1-year anniversary show; and the annual headliners, Austin's Loudest Party Band, Steamroller... between the bands, Miss Maulie "unveiled" two new numbers, especially for Toddfest ;) First was a tantalizing feather dance, and the finale was a sexy take on the "Snow White" tale... definitely not the "Disney" version :) Head over to our pix to see what you missed, or to refresh your memory (if you partied too much)!

Jury Call

On Wednesday, 1 August 2007 I was summoned to Round Rock Municipal Court at 1pm for jury call, to be part of the pool of potential jurors for a case to be heard that day. Being the civic-minded guy I am (and never passing up a chance to ditch work ;) ), I showed up at the courthouse at 12.45p and signed in... and by 2.30p I was back on the streets... apparently, the gentleman defending himself felt that I would be biased since my father and brother are both in law enforcement :) He needn't have worried, but it's hard to convince someone of that, if they've got a preconception in place. Oh well - at least I got an afternoon off...

In Other News...

I've been getting about 20 miles/week riding in, mostly asphalt/urban trails... then it finally quit raining long enough for Walnut Creek to dry out, so Chris and I headed out for some actual trail riding... nice! Here are some pix... Chris has been getting a lot of flats lately, so he's really learned how to change a tube quickly :)

We've also been brewing more beer - Chris has two batches going, and I have about half of my batch left... time to start thinking about the next creation :)

I finally got a new digital camera, so there'll be a lot more pix associated with the blog entries - you can see them all here on my Picasa page.

I'll be headed up to Oklahoma to see my family at the end of the month, since our gig at the Dirty Dog got canceled... it'll be nice to see them - I haven't been up there since Christmas, and a *lot* has changed in my life since then! Plus, I'm hoping to get some more flight time in the C17 simulator :)

Band News

The Humiliators have two shows left this month, one tonight at The Troubador Saloon with Red Line Riot and the other on Saturday at Trophy's Bar & Grill - Grub Dog, the same cat that brought you the Freebird FU presents Purple Pain - a tribute (?) to Prince :) it's gonna be fun as hell, if the Freebird FU is any indicator!

After these two gigs, we are going to take some time off to write new material - we have three in the works, and would like to come up with some more. Keep your eyes on the site tho - you never know when we might land a gig :)

Well, that's all for now - I'll try to keep the gaps shorter... I know I've left some stuff out, but that just gives me material for later :)

One Small Step for a man...

Apollo 11 Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
Became the First Men to Land on the Moon
July 20, 1969

Here's hoping we make it back soon!

If it ain't the hogs, it's the windmill...

Ever had one those days where everything you touch seems to explode spectacularly, every plan you make is doomed from the start, and getting out of bed this morning, in retrospect, was a really bad idea? I wonder who I pissed off...

beer = happy

This weekend we popped the tops on the first bottles of my Northern Brown Ale - and it's pretty damn good, if I do say so myself! Not bad, for my first batch :) It was really tasty after a six-mile ride around the neighborhood, including a trip up the Hill of Doom (well, it seemed that way to me)... last week I logged over 30 miles - not a huge total, compared to some, but for me it's huge - considering that a few months ago, I wasn't riding at all!

Fourth of July BBQ

The big bash over at Dave's place was a huge success! There were lots of folks, plenty of food and beer, and enough fireworks to demolish a small building. Thanks to Dave and Teresa for hosting the shindig, cooking the massive amounts of food and providing the launching pad for all the fireworks!

The weather held off so we had plenty of back-yard time, and with all the rain there was no worry about burning the countryside down. We had lots of fun and excitement, and the high point came when one of the mortar shells failed to launch and blew up in the tube! It was very loud, and very impressive - fortunately no one was hurt! Other than that, the display was really nice - thanks to Todd and the rest of the fireworks crew!

Don't forget that The Humiliators will be at The Troubadour Saloon on Wednesday, 11 July at 10:30p - come support your local rock stars!

Threescore and seven days to go...

...it's the final countdown!

Into each life some rain must fall.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow had it right... and brother, has it been falling - both literally and figuratively :)

Chris and I rode ten miles on Sunday - and it rained for most of it. This photo was taken at the North San Gabriel River in Georgetown - the trail we were riding crossed the river, but we weren't about to try; there was a tree that had been washed downriver and was submerged by the current, so we knew we weren't about to try that crossing. Farther downstream, we came across a pickup truck and a trailer that had been swept into a pedestrian bridge, and there was extensive damage to the banks from the flooding. People just don't give enough respect to the power of moving water - all you have to do is look at the Hill Country and the Grand Canyon to see examples of what moving water is capable of doing... the problem is that those are processes that occur on geologic time scales, so no one really pays any attention to them. We had a great time, however; we were practicing one of our favorite sports, Urban Commando Mountain Biking. Basically, it just means that you go pretty much where you want, taking shortcuts that would be impossible for any other modes of transportation (besides walking)... it's pretty cool to see a bunch of traffic stopped in the road, and realize that you can just cut through a parking lot, hop a curb, head down a ditch and then you are back on the street again :) Bikes rock!

Field Day 2007 (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Morse Code)

This year for Field Day, we hit the road - literally! We drove the BRDM* out to Marble Falls, and drove around the Lake Buchannan area, operating 1C (single-operator, mobile) as usual. We got to see a lot of the Hill Country, and we made 255 contacts for over a thousand points - more than double our effort last year! Even though the bands were supposed to be dead (since this is the bottom of the 11-year sunspot cycle) we found plenty of people to talk to... we had a mix of voice and CW (Morse Code) contacts, and a lot of fun! We got to witness the awesome sport of WalMart Parking Lot Truck Racing - apparently it gets very boring in Marble Falls at 10pm... breakfast at The Blue Bonnet Cafe was just as good as advertised... by the time Chris dropped me off at my house around 9am, I'd been up for 25 hours (!) and the Sandman was beating me senseless. Chris's new radio really made the difference - we heard more signals than ever, and if you can't hear them, you can't work them!

Sunday after I got home, I promptly crashed for 8 hours... then got up and stayed up until almost 3am :) I had taken Monday off to allow my sleep schedule some time to re-synchronize; a good thing, too - it took that long! Kudos go to Bob and Jessica Logan, operating NZ5A in the 2B-2Op (battery) category, with almost 400 contacts, over half on CW! We did not get to work them this year, but we did work the same contact right after they did :) Great job, guys!

* BRDM: Big Red Dodge Machine - you thought we had Soviet-era infantry vehicles in our garages? Hmmm... not a bad idea :)

It's raining and I have coffee... why am I at work, exactly?

Good question... I'm digging through the hundreds of emails I got while on vacation, trying to catch up on all the projects... when really, I'd much rather be leaping from tree to tree as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia! The Fir! The Larch! The Redwood! The mighty Scots Pine! Wait - that's not right...

Oh well... I'm working on the big weekend blog, so it should be up soon - lots of stuff happened over the weekend, and I'm trying to remember it all :) Check back later today!

The envelope, please...

Here are the answers to last post's quiz:

1. "One day, lad, all this will be yours." "What, the curtains?"

Who Said It: The King of Swamp Castle (Michael Palin)
To Whom: Prince Herbert (Terry Jones)
The Movie: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Year: 1975

Okay, so I took a little liberties with this one, but close enough. Collin gets points for immediately sending the King's response, "No, not the curtains..."


2. "We're off on the road to Judea..."

Who Said It: Comicus (Mel Brooks), Swiftus (Ron Carey), Josephus (Gregory Hines), Miriam (Mary-Margaret Humes)
To Whom: Musical Number, near the end of the Roman Empire section
The Movie: Mel Brooks' The History of the World, Part I
The Year: 1981

A great spoof on the old Bob Hope - Bing Crosby "Road" movies; it was a rare road trip in college that didn't start out with this ditty. Points go to Todd for sending in the correct answer.


3. "Sir, does this mean that Ann-Margaret's not coming?"

Who Said It: Private Joker (Matthew Modine)
To Whom: Lieutenant Lockhart (John Terry)
The Movie: Full Metal Jacket
The Year: 1987

I cannot believe that this didn't trigger Collin's FMJ archives... I guess he's saving it for the Red Eyed Fly... no points for anyone....


4. "No, Mr. Bond - I expect you to die!"

Who Said It: Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe)
To Whom: James Bond (Sean Connery)
The Movie: Goldfinger
The Year: 1964

Shirley Bassey's full-throttle theme song, girls in gold paint, a solid gold Rolls Royce, Oddjob and his killer bowler, and Pussy Galore... how can you go wrong? Plus, Connery's Bond set the gold standard... pun intended :) Points given to Todd for identifying the movie, but deducted for even mentioning Roger Moore in the same breath.

5. "Put... the candle.... back."

Who Said It: Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder)
To Whom: Inga (Terri Garr)
The Movie: Young Frankenstein
The Year: 1974

The revolving bookcase scene... One of Mel Brooks' best movies, right alongside "Blazing Saddles" and "History of the World"... no points for anyone on this one...


6. "Contemplate this on the tree of woe."

Who Said It: Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones)
To Whom: Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger)
The Movie: Conan the Barbarian
The Year: 1982

Part of what is arguably the best line of dialog in the entire movie, delivered by the incomparable James Earl Jones, whose Thulsa Doom exuded calm, quiet evil. Points to Kay for posting the correct answer in the comments...


7. "It's such an interesting concept, mixing mime and food."

Who Said It: Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner)
To Whom: Morty the Mime (Billy Crystal)
The Movie: This Is Spinal Tap
The Year: 1984

This was such a wacky quote, from such a wacky movie, I thought "why not?" No points for anyone here...


That's all for this time... keep an eye out for my Top 20 Favorite Movie Quotes - coming to a blog near you! Thanks for playing, and see Johnny as you leave for your lovely parting gifts!

One day, lad, this will all be yours... (what, the curtains?)

Ah, summertime! Warm, breezy days; little fluffy clouds floating across an azure sky; having an ice cold beer at the ballpark, listening to the crack of the bat and watching the ballet that is baseball... except, this is Texas - only one of those actually described this weekend's activities :) Let's start with the weather - fairly average temperatures for this time of year, but the humidity was through the roof, and the torrential rains reminded me of Miami - oh, did I forget to mention that I went to Houston this weekend? Ah, yes... that explains it!

Chris found out some time back that I had never been to a Major League Baseball game before - plenty of Minor League, but never the "bigs" - and decided to correct this glaring omission in my sports resume. We chose the Astros - Mariners series that played this weekend in Houston, since Houston is close and Chris is a die-hard Seattle Mariners fan... plus, Collin's sister Jessica lives in Houston, and she and a friend were coming to the game with us. Tickets were purchased and on Saturday we loaded into the mighty Dodge and hit the road... of course, it couldn't be that simple :)

We're off on the road to Judea....

The trip went rather well for the most part - most of the rain was waiting for us in Houston, so we just had the occasional sprinkle to deal with, and the number of Amateurs out driving was fairly normal. Once we hit Houston, however, everything got stupid. For one thing, you'd think that as much as it had been raining that people would have gotten used to it; nope. We spend a long time on I-10 creeping along, which gave the Amateurs time to get bored and start their favorite games: - Random Speed / Lane Changes. Oy. We almost made the move to the access road, but they weren't going any faster than we were. Just before we hit Loop 610, we found the cause of the traffic tie-up that had mired us for miles - there was a low spot in the road, and a 3 inch deep puddle had managed to terrify everyone with its awesome depths... that's the only explanation I could find, for once the brave souls had crossed the murky depths, each driver would pour on the speed in their desire to escape Charybdis. Within seconds, we were cruising at highway speeds again... go figure. We soon reached our destination (Jessica's apartment complex), and here's where the real fun started :)

Sir, does this mean Ann-Margaret's not coming?

As we pulled up to the gate, the security guard came out to meet us. Not a problem... until Chris cheerfully informs him, "Hi, I'm a burglar and my buddy here is an encyclopedia salesman!" Great fun, and I certainly appreciated the humor - our uniformed friend, not so much. Rather nonplussed, he simply chose to ignore the statement, and asked who we were there to visit. I'm sure he's heard it all before, and we're probably lucky he didn't consider us terrorists and call the cops :) Once the information exchange was completed, the gate swung open and in we went.

The sign on the gate said that we were supposed to park on the top level of the parking garage, but one look at the garage and one look at the Dodge was all you needed to see that that wasn't going to happen anytime soon - remember, the Dodge is mighty! Jessica gave us all the clearance we needed to flaunt the rules and park anywhere we wanted; of course the parking spaces were tiny, but that's just something you get used to when driving a Behemoth. Once parked, we grabbed our bags and went upstairs to the apartment.

No, Mr. Bond - I expect you to die!

Jessica has a number of pet rabbits, all doing pretty much what bunnies do: converting food into heat and bunny poo. They took a huge liking to Chris, and pretty much ignored me :) After we had killed a bit of time and had a chance to unwind a bit, Jessica's friend Bridget came by, so we all piled into Jessica's car and off to the ballpark we went.

We got to the park with minimal fuss, and found a pretty good parking spot, only a few blocks away. Once parked, we headed over to a sports bar directly across from the stadium - where we found out their power was out... bummer! Fortunately, the establishment next door had paid their electric bill (heh) and we were able to quench our thirst with some barleypop before walking over to the stadium.

Put. The Candle. Back.

I was duly impressed with Minute Maid Park, and we had great seats on the fourth level, on the first base side, even with first base; the view of the action was fantastic! Chris had gotten us seats in the first row of our section, so we had plenty of legroom and an unobstructed view. We were early enough to catch batting practice, so we found our seats and chilled out for a while; then we wandered about the stadium for a bit, grabbed some hotdogs & beer and headed back for the seats.

We got back in plenty of time for the National Anthem, which was preceded by a group of Marine recruits being sworn in - it gave me goosebumps as the oath was read, recalling my own induction into the Army in 1985. After the anthem, it was time to "play ball!"

The Astros had beaten the Mariners on Friday night, and it was no different on Saturday night - Houston hammered the Seattle pitching staff, and though they scored runs and Ichiro gave a brilliant display of base-stealing, it was not enough. It was never really close enough for the game to be very exciting, but it was still a great night at the ballpark, especially since it was my first.

Afterwards, we headed out for some dinner, drinks and conversation until the wee hours, then headed back to the apartment & crashed on the couch until 1oam. Jessica took us to Le Peep for breakfast - good chow and our waiter, Mike, was the best :) but the torrential rains continued all morning, so I wasn't really sure why I'd bothered to pack anything but swim trunks :) After breakfast (lunch?) we loaded the Dodge up and headed back to Austin, this time via US290 - but unfortunately, the Amateurs found us and made things pretty crappy until we got out of Houston.

Contemplate this on the tree of woe.

Once we got back to Austin, Chris dropped me off at my house and I spent some time unpacking and unwinding, checking email, that sort of thing - then I went over at 7p to do the next phase of brewing my batch of brown ale... we transferred it from primary to secondary fermentation, where it will stay for another week; at which point it will be time to bottle. It looks like it's going to be a good batch, if the intermediate taste test is any indication :)

Once that was done, it was time for a beer or two then off to the rack for some needed shuteye... except that I couldn't get to sleep after sleeping till 10a - my sleep schedule was all whacked out. So I stayed up till 0245 doing email and watching old movies... I still made it to work by 0915 :)

This weekend is the ARRL Field Day activity for Amateur Radio operators across the country - this will be the fourth year that Chris and I have teamed up in the Mobile category, and Jessica and her dad will be running their low-power station as usual... it's always fun, and maybe this year we will be able to put them in the log!

It's such an interesting concept, mixing mime and food.

Don't forget - Godzilla's Favorite Rock Band, The Humiliators, will be playing Saturday, 30 June 2007 at The Red Eyed Fly! We will be reuniting with the Killer Crocs of Uganda for the first time in months - don't miss this show! The fun starts at 10pm, but you will miss out on a lot of fun if you wait until then to show up... you have been warned!


Bonus Section (50 points)

For each of the movie quotes given, provide the following:

1. Who said it
2. To whom it was said
3. In what movie
4. The year of the movie's release

This post has been delayed by my boss

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Todd 2 - Jeff 0... WTF??

Last night, The Humiliators played at Room 710... before the show, Todd and I played a game of Galaga (only the most awesome video game ever); Todd kicked my ass.

This wouldn't be so bad, except I have Galaga at home and he doesn't... hmm. So when, after the show was over and the gear was loaded in the truck, Todd suggested we go for another game, I thought "cool, I'll smoke his ass this time!" and so we headed for the machine.

After the dude occupying the machine was finished, we dropped quarters and started the game... and, in a blinding display of double pwnage, he kicked my ass. Again. My only (feeble) excuse is that I'd had a few beers and 2 rounds of Jack OTR*... damn. Guess it's time to go into training mode - after work I'm gonna pick up a bottle of Jack and fire up the Galaga machine; I'm not stopping till I can hit 200k, or I can't stand up, whichever comes first... victory will be mine!

The Whoremoans Tonight @ The Troubador Saloon - 11pm

Don't forget to go to The Troubador Saloon (Sixth Street between The Dirty Dog and Coyote Ugly) and catch The Whoremoans' brand of ass-kicking ROCK! We will be out showing our support, so come join us! You can sleep at your desk tomorrow!


*OTR = on the rocks (duh)