Alien-e.com

2008-09-02T10:51:00.003-05:00

I intended to create a "Fun Fun Fun Fest Primer" for my friends (a few CDs with music from the bands and acts that will be performing in November) but, it turns out, I don't know even 1/10 of the participants. Not well enough to make good choices on a track listing for the sampler.

I'll keep plugging away on MySpace and each of the band's respective websites and hopefully I'll have something by the end of this month (it's September, right?). Seriously though, there are lot of bands to get through.

2008-08-08T21:14:00.000-05:00

Good news! Danielle got her car back. It turned up in Georgetown, with the weatherstip on the window removed and the ignition torn out. I think she ended up paying 200 bucks to get it out of hock.

2008-08-06T08:17:00.002-05:00

Earlier in the evening, Amy, Mariah, Cory and I went to Tomo's, a sushi restaurant up north. Just as the food was being served, Bo called and asked if he could get a ride. His car battery had died, and he was stuck in the parking lot of Whole Foods on 360 and 183. It turns out, Sam's Wholesale was right across the street, so Bo bought a new battery. He was getting back to his car as we were heading back from the restaurant. Fortunately, Cory was carrying his tool boxes and we were easily able to replace the battery, despite the large torx screw that was holding the battery in place.

We got back to my place and met up with Danielle who had been organizing her apartment all day. After a short time of just hanging out and talking, Danielle and I decided to go to Draught House and Mariah went home.

We returned from Draught House as Cory was leaving. After about an hour, Danielle had to go home as well. After I showed her to the door, I took a shower and then headed upstairs. I saw that Danielle was in the living room. She was looking up the number for the police because her silver 96' Honda Accord had been stolen.

So, in the hour between her and I getting to my house (about 1:00), and Danielle going home (around 2:00) her car was silently broken into, hotwired and driven away. Right in front of my house! Under a street lamp!

I am unsettled with the amount of crime in my neighborhood. Just a few months ago, someone walked up to my truckbox, opened it and walked away with a car radio that I had stashed in there. While we were away at Comic-Con (July 23rd - 26th), someone walked up into the driveway and opened Cory's car door, and stole all the change in the ashtray and rifled through the junk under the armrest. On Amy's birthday, (July 31st) my sister's SUV (which was parked under the same street lamp) had the back window smashed by a baseball bat. Now, Danielle's car was stolen right from in front of my house. Something must be done to take back my neighborhood!

2008-07-23T19:55:00.000-05:00

I'm here at comic-con in San Diego, awaiting the opening of "preview night". We've been shifted from line to line, and waiting for over 4 hours. So far, we've counted 6 Superman shirts. Updates to come...

2008-07-15T11:32:00.003-05:00

Matt's in Barcelona, just now waking up and getting ready to explore Spain. He will be moving in on the weekend of the 26th so, I decided that the upstairs bathroom should be rebuilt before his arrival. This way, Amy can live in the master bedroom and not have to share the bathroom with Matt and me (girls are funny like that). So, we started by tearing out the floor and the parts of the walls where the slate is going to be installed. After this picture was taken, the bathtub surround was removed as well. Cory started by planing down the joists so the new flooring can be installed and match up with the existing floor. Over the last few days, he and I have been adding reinforcement between the joists to provide a stable (and squeak-free) platform for the 3/2" treated plywood, cement board, mud and slate tiles (also known as a FSS). Hopefully we'll have all the work done by Matt moves in.

Unfortunately, the weekend that Matt will be moving in I will be in San Diego at the Comic Con. Well... not sooo unfortunate. For me.

2008-07-11T13:10:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, Cory brought over one of the Goldens from his pack, Bo. Bo was nervous as he had not been out of the house in Round Rock much, and panted most of the time he was there. He got along well with the Chihuahuas and Lexie (a Dalmatian). Danielle dropped by around 2:00 to go get lunch but, we were waiting on a Criagslister to come pick up Amy's purple couch at 3:00. Unfortunately, she didn't get there until 3:30. By then, we were crazy hungry for lunch. So, we went to Sushi Kyu and gorged ourselves on rolls. Yum!

We got back to the house and had a few beers until Danielle had to go (she's working today) so, she dropped Jared and I off at Flying Saucer and we waited around for Mariah, Tobin and his friend to join us. When we went back to my house my whole family was still awake, so I had another beer.

On an unrelated note, I woke up with a killer headache this morning.

I am celebrating Original Jen's birthday this afternoon at Fado's at, or around 7.

Before that, I'll be picking up my Z at Town North Nissan's service department. On Wednesday, a little light on my dash started blinking incessantly. It was the airbag fault. I could not stand the light, so I dropped the car off yesterday. By the end of the day, they said it was a bad airbag and needed to be replaced. I said "sounds expensive". Then the guy said, oh, it's under warranty. You bought this car in 07'. That was strange to me, since the car is an 05'. Was it sitting on a dealer lot for 3 years? Cool either way.

Finally, I noticed that I had a few "draft" blog posts that were written but, never published. I went back through and cleared them out or published them. See if you can find them.

2008-07-08T08:16:00.003-05:00

On Wednesday, I got home late from work and waited on a person from Craigslist to drop by and buy my washer and dryer. Sadly I got stood up (again). So, I waited until 8:00 and then headed on down to Flying Saucer and meet up with Jared, Tobin, Cory, Amy and (eventually) Mariah. However, since I'd been drinking while I waited, I decided to ride the bus. I got to Flying saucer pretty late and Amy had already left.

My July 4th weekend started on Thursday afternoon. Kelly invited us to lake Travis to hang out on his boat and watch the fireworks. So, Amy, Danielle, Cory and I met a few of his friends at his condo and headed out. I thought I had over-purchased on the beers (24 pack of Bud Lights, 6er of Corona, 6er of Woodpecker Cider, 4 big cans of Bit Burger, and 3 Mackeson XXX Stouts) but, by the end of the evening, most of my beers were gone, and so were the 2 other coolers worth of Corona.

Just before the fireworks started, I went to the back of the boat to get Danielle another beer. When I got to the cooler, I heard a splash. Then a few people were yelling at the person in the water to not swim between the boats. Turns out, Danielle fell off the boat and decided to sneak to the back of the boat so no one would notice that it was her that fell in. Unfortunately, she swam between the boats, and since the boats can drift towards each other, it's not a good idea to swim between them. Fortunately, she survived and I gave her that beer she was waiting for.

We had docked fairly close to the barge that had all the fireworks on it, so the show happened right above our heads. Danielle and I sat at the back of the boat and watched the show with our feet dangling in the water. It was really cool.We had anchored fairly close to the barge that had all the fireworks on it, so the show happened right above our heads. Danielle and I sat at the back of the boat and watched the show with our feet dangling in the water. It was really cool.

On Friday morning Danielle, Amy and I got prepared for the 4th of July party at my house. Jasmine and Brian came up with the BBQ idea, and even supplied the meat! We got started around 1:00. Amy made jalapeno poppers (wrapped in bacon) which Jared expertly grilled to burnt-fection (seriously, they were better with a little char on them). Mariah showed up with some really great chicken and couscous and Connie brought some excellent spicy guacamole dip. Jared manned the grill the whole time, keeping every meat at the perfect temperature. Towards the end, a few people burned off to go see the fireworks on auditorium shores on Town Lake (downtown Austin).

On Sunday, I decided it was time to brew again. Rachel, Danielle, Cory and Jared helped out as Cory and I explained the procedure. I decided to brew a second batch of Jen's American Amber in honor of Original Jen (my first official Austin friend, not including existing Austin friends). We started at 2:00 and (par for the course) ended after midnight. Mostly because the wort (beer before the yeast is added) was not cool enough to put the yeast in (70° - 75°). So, we put a few ice packs on the outside of the carboy and went to dinner.

2008-07-02T08:45:00.002-05:00

I wanted to get the pictures on the website, so I neglected to blog about it this weekend but, Cory and I tore out the floor and most of the walls in the upstairs bathroom. The floor was old and creaky and the plywood was too tall to install the slate on the floor so it would match up to the flooring on the landing. So, Cory and I pulled it all out.

Where the slate will be installed, the sheetrock needs to be replaced with a sturdier wall board (like hardi-backer). So, Cory and I pulled all that out too.

It's an ambitious project that needs to be completed by the time Matt moves in at the end of July.

2008-06-25T14:58:00.002-05:00

My parents, Rudy and Kitty came to visit for the afternoon. My parents are going to head out to San Francisco until the 7th. Rudy and Kitty will be staying with us during that time, bringing up the dog count from 2 to 2.2. So come on down and pet a chihuahua.

2008-06-23T08:31:00.004-05:00

I decided to take Friday off, since Danielle was moving in on Thursday and I wanted to help her. She had a few friends help her move the bulk of her stuff earlier that day in the 101° heat so, I figured it was the least that I could do. She ended up taking a second trip that same day to get a few more things and pick up her cats, Dante and Randall. I moved boxes into the house, while Danielle carried a makeshift cat carrier (taped up cardboard box with air holes in it) up to the third floor. When she came back down, she said that Dante had somehow escaped and he was no where to be seen. It wasn't until the next morning that she found Dante, nervously meowing on the stairs leading up to her apartment.

That afternoon, Danielle, Matt, Bill and Frank showed up at my house, followed by Dean. They had come down for a toobin' expedition on Saturday. The plan was to leave my place by 8:45 so, Jamie, Cory, Jared, and Mariah showed up at 8:00. We all packed the coolers with way too much beer and headed out, just after the prescribed time.

We met up with Amy and Kelly on the river, enjoying the cold water and the hot sun. Beers were rapidly distributed and the first hour flew by as we rounded the "horseshoe loop". On the second dam, Danielle saved Bill's head from hitting a rock while simultaneously flipping him over. Bill got pretty scraped up on the rocks and lost the ziplock full of IDs and cigars that he had hanging around his neck. When he came up out of the water, his glasses were missing. This was the same fate of his previous set of glasses many years before. The ziplock was recovered rather quickly, so it wasn't a total loss. I guess what the lady at the toob' rental place said was true. "Don't take anything onto the river that you can't live without".

After the third hour of toobin', the sun went behind the clouds and a few drops of rain fell from the sky. Then, just before the 4 hour exit (4th crossing) the sky opened up and the rain really began to fall. Since we didn't have the sun to balance out the frigid water below our toobs' everyone decided to get out and warm up a bit on the concrete. When the rain didn't stop, we got back on truck and headed back home (with too much beer).

The next day we went to Conan's Pizza for lunch. After that the Dallas crew went home and Danielle went back to her apartment to unpack a little more. I spent the afternoon watching TV and planting a water hose hanger next to the spigot in the front yard. I started on the second one but, ended up running out of concrete on the first.

Around 7 Cory, Jared and I met up with Mariah and her friend Casey for dinner at Hula hut. We waited for a table for an hour and a half in the bar, eating chips and drinking beer. By the time the table was ready, none of us were really that hungry. We went to Mozart's afterwards and had a few caffeinated drinks and looked at the lake. What an amazing weekend!

2008-06-19T11:08:00.003-05:00

Danielle is moving into her new apartment today! I planned on helping her unload the truck but, it's happening during the day and I'm at work. She has a few friends helping her and they will drive her back to San Antonio to pick up her car and cats (so she's making two trips). I'll meet up with her this afternoon and help her unpack.

This weekend, a good bit of my Dallas crew is heading down here for a toobin' adventure on Saturday. Everyone from out of town will be staying at my house on Friday and perhaps Saturday night. It's going to be fun on a bun!

2008-06-17T09:11:00.002-05:00

The ride at Walnut was AWESOME! Tobin took me down some trails that I had never been on before. I was out of breath more than a few times, and I'm a bit timid on some of the downhills but, I can tell that I'm on my way to awesome-ness. I weigh about 210 now, and I fit into the stack of size 34 jeans rather well now (with very little dunlop).

Living in Austin really agrees with me.

Also, AB, I didn't know you were in that line of work. What a very strange and interesting coincidence. Thanks for the congratulations, I'll pass them on to Danielle.

2008-06-16T08:22:00.004-05:00

Last Friday, I drove to work in my truck and ditched work early to pick up an engine I dropped off at a machine shop on Burleson. I purchased this engine a long while back to be used in my 73' 240z. I got a better engine that afternoon but, I didn't know how much better until Cory and I disassembled the old one to separate the steel from the aluminum (for recycling). One of the bolts that holds down the cam was totally stripped. Once we completed the tear down, we collected all the scrap metal in the house (including the kitchen sink) and filled up the bed of my truck.

We ran out of time to get to the metal recyclers, so we went over to Rising Sun and picked up the engine instead. It had a really nice assortment of extras bolted onto it and was easily worth the $300 asking price. Plus, I got a good radiator with it.

On Saturday, Cory and I went up to Avery Ranch to a poolside party at Jeff's and Kristin's house. We partied with a few of their neighbors, co-workers, 3 crazy dalmatians and the Hyers. After that, we drove down to the south side for Katy Fallon's birthday party. It was in a really great location, backed up to the green belt. If there was a house for sale in that neighborhood, I would seriously consider becoming a south sider. It was a really cool party, and I met a few cool new people, like Greg (two Gs).

I took it easy on Sunday at Bo's and Betty's house. Got to watch the mid-season finally of Battlestar Glactica and played a little Rock Star. We finished the day by seeing the Incredible Hulk, which was a really great movie. I had my doubts about a re-origin story after the 2003 flop "Hulk" but, it was really good. I believe that The Punisher is going to get the same treatment later this year.

2008-06-15T18:08:00.002-05:00

Danielle messaged me this morning and said that she passed the NCLEX-RN. Hooray! All that studying paid off. Congratulations!

2008-06-13T10:46:00.003-05:00

Right now, Danielle is in Lubbock, taking the NCLEX-RN. It's a required 6 hour test to become an RN. She's been taking classes in preperation for this for the last 4 years in San Antonio and now the day has finally come. Once she passes the exam, she will come to live in Austin, to work for Brakenridge. Go Danielle!

2008-06-10T11:53:00.003-05:00

I ditched the office at noon to monitor the Austin Tree Experts trim up my pecan tree. After installing the french doors, this marked the next step to creating a superior back yard environment. My sister has been getting bids on fencing from local installers, and I've been plotting out materials and designs for a deck.

2008-06-02T11:00:00.003-05:00

Last weekend was a real rush followed by sleep and then drinking then floating and drinking. I started out by attending the Real Ale Ride in Blanco, TX with Christine, and Jared. We chose the 50 mile course, since Christine and I hadn't ever gone much over 30 miles before. I went much slower than I was hoping but, I made it to the end. I did have to walk a few hills, though. Very good experience, I would definatly do that again next year.

2008-05-23T07:51:00.005-05:00

A few things I forgot to mention yesterday. First, Governor Perry's office called up Emo's to procure tickets for his kids, so I assume they showed up last night. Green day had their own security, Emo's had their own security and so did the Governor's kids, plus Emo's requested extra police. That place must have been seriously locked down last night.

Yesterday morning, on my way to work, my odometer rolled over to 19,000.2. I bought it at 17,000. On my way down Mopac, I saw a bright yellow Lancer covered with my brother's cyclegraphics flame package. It's the second time that I've seen my brother's product on a car.

When I got home, Christine was already on my couch, talking with Amy and waiting for me to get home. After I got ready, we picked up Jared (and met his wife Christi) and went out to Walnut Creek. The three of us had not been mountain biking for at least a month. We met up with Tobin, who knows the trails better than anyone I know and rode for about 8 miles.

2008-05-22T09:07:00.004-05:00

I'm sure everyone in Austin knows that Foxboro Hot Tubs is playing at Emo's tonight. Also, I'm sure everyone knows that Foxboro Hot Tubs is Green Day. Since I have an inside source at Emo's, I put in a request to get on the guest list for tonight. It was a long shot, since tickets were only sold at the door, and 101X has been getting everyone in the know AND giving out spots on the guest list.

Turns out, Green Day is playing the inside venue which only handles about 300 people. Apparently, they refused to play outside where there's room for 1,200. People started lining up last night, and the tickets go on sale at noon today which means the line is probably full already. Scalpers have been calling the owner of Emo's and offering $300 a ticket but, were unsuccessful. Emo's will probably make no money off this and neither will Green Day. I wonder what their motivation is for doing such a small show when they could easily sell out an huge music venue. Perhaps they're trying to re-capture their garage band days.

Good luck Green Day fans.

2008-05-19T08:29:00.001-05:00

Woke up a little late on Sunday morning and messaged Jared. I was planning on a simple loop down Shoal Creek and back up Woodrow but, Jared had a different plan. First, we passed up Shoal Creek and rode down a parallel road that's right up against Mopac. Then we looped back up Shoal Creek and went up Far West (a long daunting hill). This got us up to Mesa which got us over to 360 down a hill dubbed Soulcrusher which sits on a street called Mountian Ridge Dr.

While on Mesa, I got distracted and ran into the curb which filed down a few teeth on my crank and sent me rolling over a sidewalk and into the grass. No harm done to me but, now my bike is broken in. We continued.

We crossed 360, went up a long hill and circled around the Arboretum, came back down and got back on 360. Of course, we had to go down to the light on Great Hills Trails to circle back around. This meant, we had to go back up Soulcrusher, which we did. Jared (a skilled hand at hill climbing) stopped at the top to catch a picture of me struggling up the hill.

Once back on Mesa, we went back down Far West and back onto Shoal Creek. We went right (away from home) and down to Hancock and crossed Mopaq again. This meant that we were going to go down Highland Hills Dr. to get back up to Mesa. However, before we climb up, we get to coast down a hill that curves and does not bank.

It was on this hill that I took a second spill. As I coasted down to an unsafe speed, my instinct was to lightly grip the rear brake. As the rear wheel began to drag, it lost traction and began to slip out from under me. Jared was yelling "FRONT BRAKE!" but, I could not hear him with the wind rushing in my ears. Finally, my rear wheel gave way right at the apex of the corner and my poor Scattante was pulled out from beneath me. Somehow, I escaped the clips and found myself on my back in the soft grass. However, this was only after the street had taken almost the entire cheek off my biking shorts and gave me a minor road rash. The bruise, however, was not so minor.

I was still able to make it up to Mesa back down Far West and on to Shoal Creek for the ride home. After hours in the sun, climbing up some of Austin's most ruthless hills, and two wreaks, I still plan on biking again this evening. Thanks for the motivation Jared.

2008-05-15T08:42:00.002-05:00

Before tabs in browsers, I used to open up a multiple instances of IE (sorry, it's the default browser at the office). So, when I was referencing one window, and entering information into another, I could press alt-tab and jump between them without touching my mouse. Once I started using tabs in browsers, I had to use the mouse to switch between them.

This morning, I happened to touch control-tab while using my browser and something magical happened. I jumped between tabs! Try it, you'll like it.

Last night, there were terrible storms just north of my house. Huge chunks of ice were falling from the sky and there was talk of funnel clouds. Fortunately, we only got some rain at my house. I was going to move my Z up next to the garage to get it out of harms way but, the truck was in the way. So I grabbed the keys to move it, and it was dead. Apparently, the glove box had been left open and the light drained the battery. I just don't use the truck enough, I guess. I'm going to fix the steering column, give it a tune-up and put it back on Craigslist. Then, I'll search for a truck that's more my style (Datsun!).

2008-05-12T20:48:00.000-05:00

I'm at the the Saxon Pub with my sister watching Bob Snieder. Rock!

2008-05-12T08:02:00.002-05:00

My family showed up late Friday night with the largest trailer from u-haul, filled from end to end with a plants. Amy has a huge collection of plants and came to Austin with every one of them. While in Dallas, she bought landscaping plants for the purpose of filling my flower beds. With all the plants moved into place, the patio has really taken on a different feel.

Since everyone arrived so late, we had to wait until the next day to unload. I started my day with a quick Shoal loop on my new bike, which was less challenging than when I was riding my Cannondale. I will have to adjust the route to get the same workout. When I got home, Cory had arrived and the whole family unloaded the van, the SUV and the trailer. Linda invited her friends Kay and Ed from San Antonio up for dinner. We all went to dinner at Hut's then Amy and I headed over to Antone's to meet with Jenn for a concert. The bands started at 9:00 but, the headliner (What Made Milwaukee Famous) didn't hit the stage until 11:30.

On Sunday, I started my day by going to Target to get a Mother's Day card and a LCD picture frame as a gift for my Mom. She takes a lot of pictures on her digital camera but, doesn't ever put them on a computer. She just keeps collecting SD cards and fills them up with pictures, so I figured it was a nice way for her to enjoy the images she captures.

I returned home to pick up Amy and do some shopping for the BBQ at Costco. Then we decided to get a few more gifts so, we stopped by REI, grabbed some Crocks (Linda likes to garden), then went to Whole Foods for some Pick-a-Pepper sauce (for the BBQ), and finally stopped at Best Buy to get a satellite navigation device (Linda gets lost sometimes). Each time we stopped, we got really great parking. Somehow, when I drive around with my sister, we always get "Rock Star" parking. I'm starting to believe she has powers.

Jen, Jasmine, Brian, Atticus and Trixie dropped by around Noon to celebrate Mother's day with us. It was such a nice day to be outside. At 5:00, when the party was winding down, I went over to Nomad to see Christine, Jen (again!), Ben, Jared, Tess and Cathleen (Christine's Mom who flew in from Ohio). I had a few drinks but, ended up having to take off because my parents were heading out and wanted me to be there before they left. I intended to meet everyone at the Iron Cactus later that evening but, I got busy with some fence planning with Cory and Amy. It cooled off and we opened all the doors in the living room to catch the cross breeze. It was nice, except for the mosquitoes. I killed three of them in my bathroom this morning. Makes me itch just thinking about them.

2008-05-09T07:51:00.003-05:00

Last night, I met Jen at Flying Saucer for a few beers. We walked over to Flipnotics and met up with Connie to see Matt the Electrician and Southpaw Jones. Instead of doing two sets, they backed each other up on alternating songs and took a break in the middle of the set. It was a really great show. I highly recommend seeing these Austin locals. Matt the Electrician is going to be playing at the Parish tonight at 10 with Super Sonic Uke. Turns out, Holly's friend Jana is in Super Sonic Uke. So, go support local music and see this show.

Oh yeah, Amy and Breck are coming to live with me today!

2008-05-08T11:08:00.003-05:00

Hey Bill. Actually, I've been working on re-vamping my webpage. Just a technical re-design (I'm not changing the layout too much) but, it will include a picture viewing engine. Once I get it running, I'll start posting groups of images like this French door install.