A blog-worthy life!

Life moves on, stuff moves out.

2011-05-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

Today I'm putting the finishing touches on my garage sale stuff, so that I can be rid of a bunch of clutter and actually do things in the garage again. Posted the link a few different places, might as well do it here, too.

I used both Craigslist, https://post.craigslist.org/manage/2389445741/k7vkb and garagesalesearch.com. Find garage sales
in Austin, TX.

Stop on by. :)

Details about my surgery in 9 hours

2010-08-19T23:31:00.000-07:00

Alright, so my notes about the surgery have been few and far between, and for a couple of reasons.

1.) I've been trying not to think about it. I've been having personal issues lately, namely depression from a complete lack of ... I don't know. I think it's just that I don't feel like I'm accomplishing much in life these days? Who knows, but due to all of that... I've been feeling wretchedly terrified about the surgery. I've had the worst feeling that something is going to go terribly wrong, and that I'm either going to wake up A.) Maimed/Permanently Injured B.) Blind C.) Dead (Yes I know.).

Frankly, I'm over it. Yes I'm nervous, because people are going into my face with blades and tubes, and cutting away things. Ah, right. Details. I have polyps. Some of you might be thinking "Oh nasal polyps, big deal," but they are. I have them bad. If you see an X-Ray of someone's face, it's black and white. White for bone and heavy tissue, black for empty space. Sinuses. I have no black.

These things swell when they feel like it. Namely, when the Allergies I didn't know I had flare up, or when some other magical stimuli I have yet to identify properly kicks me in the happy. When they swell, I get migraines that put me on the floor, crying. Yes, like a little bitch. Just with less sobbing and more, "OhGodIfIdon'tmovemaybethey'llstophurtingohshitwhydoesitnotwork!?" Random nosebleeds happen, as well as a tendency towards sinus infections, which lead to lung infections, and SEVERE complications with my asthma. I've gotten insurance-benefit-style treatment of my asthma lately too, and haven't had an attack in like... what, 4 months? 3 months? Haven't even had to use my rescue inhaler.

2.) I didn't want to worry anyone unnecessarily. My own fears aside, there was no reason to overly stress out people who care, who really can't do anything BUT worry, which frankly, I'm sure they have enough of to do. I planned on doing a late "Hey by the way" for anyone who missed the smaller notes... hence why you're reading this. Chances are that by the time you're reading this, I'm either A.) Staying awake slightly nervous about said surgery B.) Sleeping so I don't HAVE to stress about it or C.) You're lazy, slept in, or aren't addicted to Facebook, and I'm already IN surgery or done.

3.) Details: Seton Northwest. 10:30 AM. 3 hour tour. (Surgery, duh) Austin TX, off of 183 North.

I'll get this out of the way, now.

Possible complications: Excessive bleeding, Blindness (*Due to working near optical nerve/eye cavity), Scarring, Leakage of Brain Fluid (From working right up near my brain), Other sensory loss (From working near my nasal sensory center, which is currently 100% blocked anyway), Brain Damage, Death.

These are of course small chances, and I've been through this once before... WITH a deviated Septum. They put freakin SPLINTS in my face, and stitched them to (Read: Through) my Septum! This shouldn't/can't be that bad.

I'm over being outright scared. Cassidy reminded me of something I always said when getting past other bad things in my life, such as literally life-threatning asthma attacks. "I'm hard to kill, ask anyone who has tried." Well, here's to keeping to that.

BONUS: Last time I apprently did funny stuff when going under anesthesia, and swore like a sailor in hell when coming out of it. I sleep-talk to begin with, so I have a very active, and VERY vulgar and vocal subconscience? Cassidy is going to film as much before/after as she can.

All that being said... I'll have a new message for everyone tomorrow, most likely.

O'Riley

Found it!

2010-08-18T09:46:00.001-07:00

First, I'll be frank. By "It," I mean myself.

There's something missing lately, and it has been for a while. What it is, what it was, whatever it may have been, was just plain gone. I've felt for the past 12-14 hours, something that's been missing for a while.

It's a sense of accomplishment. I've achieved several things lately, and I've finally settled down enough to think about them, and give them the credit in my life that they are due. Some seem small, or trivial, but they are there, and they are important.

I got my free shotgun to fully functional capacity. Only cost me $30 and a few hours. I now have a functioning (I think, I still need to fire it) Remington 870 Express Magnum 12 gauge shotgun.

I am no longer afraid of the surgery. Cassidy reminded me of something I always used to say, and remembering brought back to mind that I've been through worse. "Remember, I'm hard to kill."

I did some training with a friend, close combat tactics, and got my ass kicked in a most fun way. I had a great time, and feel ... capable again. I learn quickly, and learned not only some combat techniques, but how to disarm a gun or knife, and how to retain my own weapon in a disarm situation. Nice feeling.

I feel good today, and I think I'll go take a walk and take some more pictures on it again.

Much better.

Recent stuff + upcoming surgery.

2010-08-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a hell of a couple of weeks.

Highlights included the DA Birthday Bash, a trip to the range, and Cassidy finally coming home last Friday. Then I got her from the airport, and promptly took her home after eating, and I went to work. -.- Ugh.

Did the work thing, went home to Cass, spent some much needed cuddle time, and figured life would return to normal-ish. Right? Right? Wrong...

For some reason, both of us were literally plagued with fatigue. She has been for weeks, and now I am too. It's like we're on permanent low battery. She went to the doc's today, and there's apparently no glaring issues going on, so we kinda suspect stress, for lack of anything else showing itself.

At this point, I feel worn out. Somewhat optimistic, but also worn out. The stress is the worst, I think, and the most stressful bit is yet to come.

On Friday, I go into surgery. I'll be put under, and they will insert cameras and blades in through my nose, and get to slicing. I have polyps, basically noncancerous tumors up there, that swell when allergies bother me and cause HUGE amounts of pain and pressure. It's brutal. Getting them taken out is necessary at this point. I also have no sense of smell due to them. Like, ZERO. Cupcakes, cookies, or dogshit in front of my face, I wouldn't be able to smell any of them. Meh...

I've been through it once before, and everything turned out fine. Last time I even had splints in place, because they un-deviated my septum. The splints went so far back they threw off my equilibrium, and I couldn't walk more than three steps without falling over. It was ... bizarre.

So why am I nervous now? What point does stressing about the surgery and possible complications serve me? Side effects may include bleeding, leakage of brain fluid, hemorrhage, blindness, loss of other sensory functions, and death. Oh yeah... those.

I'm hardly making sense these days when I try to explain why I'm stressed, I argue myself in circles, and frustrate the hell out of anyone trying to help. It's silly really, but something I'm trying to get by and deal with, despite the fact that I don't even want to THINK about any of it.

So, there you have it. Trying the silly theraputic "Talk about your feelings" approach. I may post again before the event... but I'll definitely post after, provided I'm in a state to.

It feels like drowning...slowly.

2010-01-11T01:08:00.000-08:00

Asthma, that is.

The noise my lungs make as I do my best to inhale a deep, slow breath, is unlike anything I've really ever heard reproduced anywhere else in life. Or machinery for that matter.
I truly don't have anything especially realistic to compare it to.

Breathing in is a task, almost a chore.
Being able to take a true deep breath, enough to fill my lungs, is hard.
It's also unsatisfying. Kinda like some diet foods. You go through the motions of eating, and the blandness of it takes all the reward from the effort of chewing in a way.
In much the same way, I go through the motions of pulling air in, enough that should be satisfying, but I can feel after several attempts that I'm simply not getting anything out of it.

Staying calm, and letting myself relax as best I can helps keep my need for as much oxygen down, and keeps my heartbeat at the usual 60 BPM. When the attacks get bad and the nebulizer, inhaler, and pills don't seem to do the job they're meant to though, those labored efforts to make the lungs suck in the air at all feel like pumping a rusty-hinged bellows.
One that makes improbable liquid scraping noises of protest.

I go through cycles like this, it seems.
Living with low-cost public healthcare because I don't have insurance prevents me from affording tests, like allergy testing, and staying on known preventative drugs reliably, because they're hard to come by, and expensive. It's silly, really. Asthmatics are just one of the groups of people with chronic illnesses that will quite literally die without treatment.
Those of us without functioning alternative medicine techniques don't really do so well during an extended period of "Flare-ups", myself being one of them. When it gets bad like this, I usually end up back at the clinic, where they use prednizone (A steroid) to help with the swelling and symptoms, as well as normally an antibiotic, because when this gets bad I usually end up with a sinus/lung infection.

By usually, I mean almost every time.

Hopefully, this year will bring a lot of changes.
I should be going full-time permanent at my new job soon, which means health insurance.
Hopefully having a pre-existing condition won't keep me from getting it.

I will be starting the "Body-for-life" program, a sort of lifestyle guide centered around diet and exersize, involving portion control and training. It is a 12 week program, and I am making goals for where I want to be at the end of that 12 week period.

I wish to create things. DO things. Learn things.

I want to get back into playing my guitar and singing.

I want to get back into martial arts. Possibly Tai-Chi.

I want to make props and outfits for conventions and such.

I want to get better at my whipwork.

I want to complete the body-for life program, and get into the shape I want to have.

I don't want to make "Resolutions", but there are things I want to do. They don't have to have a timetable, other than the Body for Life thing, but that's because the health reasons for doing that are rather time sensitive. It's never worth waiting when it's your health, after all. Especially if your health is an iffy, fragile thing. Funny how that works.

Between my nebulizer, a lot of work forcing my lungs to take deep breaths, and the subsequent violent coughing to get the mucus out from inside my lungs, I have freed up a little space to breathe since I began writing this tonight/this morning. The trick is being able to take that deep breath, despite the lungs wanting to cough at the slightest intake of air. It makes me kind of shudder and convulse fighting the cough reaction, kinda like taking a breath after sobbing, or being pepper sprayed.

Yes, pepper sprayed. Been there a couple of times, both because of working as a security officer.
Once for training, once in a large brawl we had to take care of. I got caught in the cross-fire, so to speak. It's kinda like that, without the burn.

At any rate, I need to be tired to sleep. Otherwise I lay and stare at the ceiling.
I'm not tired. Part pain, part meds, and part plain old wheezy congestion = a coctail of awakeness that makes sleep a distant, elusive mistress of sorts.

Nighttime cold meds, if they worked, would likely make me late to my job in the morning.
Catch-22 of a sort. Vexing, to say the least.

I'll busy myself til sleep decides to visit, then take the equivalent of a nap before work no doubt.
Onwards, to the attempt at clearing my lungs, then my mind, so sleep may come.

-ORLY

Jerky Experiment

2009-11-17T23:53:00.001-08:00

Long story short... went to Buc-ee's (gas station on the way to ren faire). Got jerky. Loved Jerky. Realized Jerky is $30/lb. Wanted to see if I could make decent stuff.

Result so far... just put in the oven for drying at super low heat.

I shortened the story cuz blogger crashed on me after I wrote for about 20 minutes. -.- Dammit. Anyhow, I'll let you know tomorrow how it turns out!

Date nights, quiet nights, long nights, the best nights.

2009-08-29T14:56:00.000-07:00

Let's start today, with a scene.

I'll paint it for you.

Let's start with some happy trees... (Yes, that was a pop culture reference, who gets it?)

Heh, specifically, I'm sitting under the shade-bearing canopy of the trees in my backyard, hanging comfortable about two and a half feet off the ground or more, while a pleasant breeze blows, and some music plays in the background, and dog-tags rattle while Kieran walks about lazily.

Peaceful.

It's nice, really. Taking the time to sort my thoughts after a Benadryl-induced nap has given me a little bit of a refresher, and let me figure out what I would like to write about, and given me the space and time to do it, too. After all, I don't work until 9-10 or so tonight, and I have the days off this weekend, rather than working like I did a couple weekends ago.

My 25th birthday came and went, and left zombies and survivors in it's bloody wake! ^_^

To be clear... we dressed up, and horsed around looking like zombies, charred some meat, and I had Erik from "truth and beauty" blog, take some photos for us! He and Arlene - "Busy art girl" were guests at the party, and I'm super glad they came, along with all my other guests!

People came in and out over the course of the day, and it blended together into one fun night, which hardly could have gone better! Good food, good friends, good drink, etc. I'm finding it hard to find anything to say that doesn't end in "Awesome".

...well shit.

As I'm typing that, something wet hits my neck in a trickle, like someone dumped a couple tablespoons of water on me. There's not a cloud for miles, the trees are dry... but just watched a squirrel bound off through the branches.

Either the tree decided to weep a bit, or I just got peed on. *Rolls eyes*

Karma how I love thee.

Anyhow, where was I before I was interrupted by one of nature's practical jokes?

Oh yes, the past few nights.

So Cass and I have been making a point to do "Date-night" type outings lately.

It's been a joint effort, and taken a bit of back-and-forth work to figure out what to do, but I think it's something we've been missing lately, just to go out, even without spending anything, and enjoy our time out together.

Lately we've done things like catch a couple movies, (District 9, and Inglourious Basterds) find cheap-dinner specials, and basically wander around visiting where we can, and who we can.

Shawn and Alive saw one of the movies with us, made my birthday dinner, and have basically been the all-around great friends they always are, especially being patient with my lousy work schedule, and not holding it against me that I've not got much time to hang out lately during our usual weekend meet-up times.

Between them, Cassidy's constant efforts to be cheerful and make sure that between the two of us we don't grow complacent together and neglect one another, and all my other friends and even neighbors, I've been remarkably happy lately.

A lot of folks will say "It's the little things in life that stick with you, matter the most, or that make life fun." Throw that in with a billion different ways to say it, and it's still true. The past few weeks have gotten me into being able to see that more clearly, and I have my friends to thank!

As I wrap this post up, I'm going to download some of the pictures Cass and I took with her Imac, just being silly before going out one night, since the zombie pictures are still forthcoming, but will be done soon I'm sure. ^_^

Ah, the little things.

(Insert photo-booth fun times here!)

On work, life, and showers.

2009-07-25T14:39:00.001-07:00

As my last post indicated, yes I now have two jobs!

Let's suffice it to say, that especially in the given economy, that is Awesome!

But as everybody who works two jobs knows, there's a price. Heh...

So Monday through Friday, between the hours of roughly 9-6, I work at NCsoft, on the Aion project. It's a great job, with great people, and just an overall positive attitude and outlook that I find almost euphoric to be around. How cool is that for a job?

Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday nights, I work security. My hours usually run from about 9 PM-3 or 4 Am, give or take a few nights where I'll start at 11.... or end at 6 Am. (Groan)

So, assuming I get my 40 hours in during the week, I can almost always safely assume at least fifteen hours or work out of security as well. Normally it's more like twenty. so 55-60 hour workweeks. I know a lot of people work more than that, and most of them in only one job, and kudos to them! I am just not realizing the effort it takes to be awake, alert, and functional at both jobs in the same day. (last night/this morning)

I woke up today at about 10 Am, after getting to sleep about 6. The sounds of folks moving about the house and the warmth of the bed being too hot from daytime/me, combined with the usual morning protestations of the bladder woke me, and I tried to go right back to sleep.

Then the doggy training session began. People were over, the dogs were being played with and attempts at training were made, but to little effect it seemed. Ok, so more sleep is out of the question, and when I attempt too many times to go back to sleep, I inevitably get a headache. *Grumble* Hence, the bit on showers.

I don't know what it is about the relaxing effect of water pounding down on one's head that makes a headache go away, but for me, it's got something like an 80% success rate in banishing a headache. Intense headaches that make me want to curl up in a ball and die usually get better with very cold water, other ones I can take a relaxing hot shower and they'll disappear. Either way, I seem to have found my trick. So, aside from my regular showering schedule, it seems if this is how my "mornings" will end up after double-days at work(s), I think our poor water bill is going to go up a bit. Bleh...

On the upside, I still enjoy both of my jobs, and when I start getting paychecks from both, our financial worries should lighten up a little. Here's hoping.

The house is slowly taking shape after having friends of ours move in, with less clutter sitting around and more things in their respective "Places", which also helps with the winding down process. Say what you will about Feng Shui, I don't put much stock into it, but a clean house does wonders for the soul. I'll give it that.

Now, I have a book to return to with a tall glass of juice, and some relaxation for another three hours before I have to go to work again. Wish me luck!

A new job, and the musings since.

2009-07-20T19:17:00.000-07:00

Well, the title says the biggest news I have at the moment. I finally got a new job. A full-time job no less, to go on top of the job I also recently snagged a couple months ago, which is part-time night/weekend work.

On Friday-Sunday nights, from about 9 PM to 3 AM normally, I work security in the downtown Austin area, for clubs, a couple food places, things like that. I have different posts each night usually, and it changes regularly, so it's more interesting and doesn't get old as quickly, like some jobs tend to.

Sometimes it gets exciting, sometimes things get a little out of hand, but that's why we're there, of course. I have all the certifications I need to be armed with a few different tools, including the expandable baton, pepper spray, and a firearm. The trick, is not having to use them! ;)

So far I've had to use handcuffs once, and that's about it. Everything else has been handled verbally or with my hands, and I've not been hurt or in any danger at all, so for those of you whom I know worry (Hkb ^_^), I'm being safe and careful.

The new job, is to be frank, a dream job.

I work for NCsoft now, as a Game Master for one of their new games, Aion.

(Insert girlish squealing here ... >_>)

Yeah, it's pretty much awesome. The game itself is beautiful, especially for an MMO, with a beautifully rendered landscape, a super detailed character creator, and a living, stunningly described and vividly imagined world to boot. When I got to play on the beta before I was hired, I was simply floored. Mind you, I have played many video games, and seen some absolutely dazzling displays before.

This is among some of the best I've seen, and for an MMO, that's really saying something.

My team is fantastic, we were all hand-picked by the guys we'd be working directly with, and it shows. We've got this amazing, instant dynamic that I've not had so quickly at any other job, and it's the perfect work environment.

The game itself is still in beta testing, so I'm in on the ground floor for my position, and it's a position of seniority already, and if the game does well at launch and directly after, the position becomes permanent. I'm thrilled to pieces, and it's a great feeling to hop into the car in the morning with a grin, and smile all the way to work.

Strange, but great.

So anyway, my health is on the rebound again. I've got a long-term-preventative inhaler I've been needing, and haven't had an asthma "Attack" in weeks now. That, and the massive dose of Prednisone and antibiotics I also had to do a round of cleared me right back up again. I've still got the odd lingering health issue here and there, but I'm dealing with those right now as well, and slowly regaining more mobility almost daily.

On a separate note, I got my CHL finally (Concealed handgun license), which took it's time coming, but it's nice to have it now. The previous posts about Anita were one strong reason I got it, because unfortunately these kinds of things happen in our world, and sometimes being kind and careful is not enough. So many people have helped me in my life that if the time comes to repay kindness against the kind of crime that calls for force, I hope I can make the right decision someday, if I'm called to.

Separate note #2 - My friends moved into our spare room, with their pets too, so while the house is a bit of a zoo, it's a happy family with everybody mostly getting along animal-wise, and all of us friends getting along spectacularly. Again, friends who have helped me before, and I'm glad to return the favor.

Speaking of friends, I even made some new ones at Animix this weekend, and got to run a panel, and MC for some others. The weekend was busy, hectic, exciting, and a learning experience. I would do it again in a heartbeat, which I likely will next year anyway! ^_^

Anyhow, I think I've blown off enough literary steam for the moment, but hopefully I can build up more in the next day or two, and get back to posting regularly. I need to hold to this blog-worthy life thing, but it's funny how sometimes life gets too busy for it! Guess that means I'm in the right direction in a way!

Til then!

-Chris

(AKA GM Silverfang! Yay new job! )

Remembering Anita, and doing my part.

2009-04-30T15:01:00.000-07:00

It was two years ago this June, the 3rd exactly that it happened, and as it gets close to that month I can't help but get angry and sad all over again. I've been thinking a lot lately about family, friends, and the people in my life, and as I lost another friend earlier this year, my thoughts again turn to Anita.

She was my younger sister by foster relation, but to me that makes us no less related. I miss the kiddo like crazy, and wish there was something I could have done to keep her safe, despite the fact we were separated by half a country.

I can't get it off my mind today, so I'm writing again to see if I can't blow off some steam, as well as put the word out. I'm posting the article source for the history on Anita and her killing, but the second link is very important.

His name is Richard McNair, and he's suspected to have killed my little sister. I can't help but think that perhaps if I sent this to enough people, somebody might know something. Have seen something. Knows someone who has seen something. It can't hurt to try, and frankly, my family and I are going on a second year without a resolution. Not that a resolution will bring back my precious sister, but dammit, it's something, and can perhaps give us some peace of mind that someone else's kiddo won't be taken by whatever freak did this.

Sorry to drop a depression bomb on whoever is reading this today, but I can't help but nearly froth at the mouth at the idea of this not finding a conclusion in the capture of the sick freak who did this, and know others would feel the same in my place. If you have a moment, look over the links here, and see if there's anything familiar about the ... i hesitate to say "man" but the individual in the second link.

I can't do much, but I'm doing what I can with what we've got.

Thanks for reading, and taking a look.

Main link. - Anita Knutson Murder

Richard McNair - The Suspected Killer.

-Chris O'Riley

Big brother of :

Anita Knutson

Sep 22nd, 1988 - June 3rd, 2007

Books and Observances.

2009-04-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

So, this may not seem like a huge blog-worthy event, but it's caught my attention, and I thought I would share.

I've recently finished reading a couple of books, both recommended by my friend Shawn, as many of my books are, and I was thoroughly impressed with both, though one kinda blew me away. It is well written, marvelously thought out, researched thoroughly, and set before a reader like a favorite dish of food. If you ask me, that is.

The book I'm speaking of is "Little Brother", by Cory Doctorow. I think I read it over the course of three days, actually bothering to take my time. I read ridiculously fast, and can kill a couple thousand pages in a day if I sit down to it and don't try to multitask, but that's neither here nor there at the moment. Take a look at what other folks have said.

Little Brother

Just, wow.

The other book I read, since I'm a bit of a fantasy nerd, was called "Orcs", by Stan Nicholls. The best site I could find at a glance with a little info was at the author's site, here.

Orcs

Anyhow, Shawn and Alice are coming over shortly, so I'd best clean up the house a bit, and get the kitchen ready to make dinner.

A hard day's work and a well earned treat

2009-04-15T20:28:00.001-07:00

Kent and I worked for something to the tune of 9 1/2 hours today, moving boxes, bags, pallets, and various merchandise all over the stores today, thousands of pounds of product easily, and let me tell you... it's rewarding work.

Granted, we're just shuffling junk all over, but hear me out.

Yes, it's just fertilizer, and soil, and other associated lawn care products, and heavy packages etc. thereof, but at the end of the day when your muscles are screaming, and you're wondering why it's so hard to get into your truck, you figure it out.

You accomplished something.

You are getting paid because you did the task that was set for you, and did it well, and although it took all day (between two different stores) it was done, and done right, and dammit if the muscles don't remind you.

It feels nearly as good to work hard and be sore as working out at a gym, E-Rock, etc.

So, on to the treat.

A Guinness + a Cider (Alcoholic of course) = a Black velvet.

If you pour it right (Which I never seem to be able to do) they'll separate all neatly in your glass. Some prefer it separated, others mix it up for an evenly sweet touch to their Guinness. Either way, it's fantastic. Definitely one of my favorite beers/drinks.

Had one of those, and fired up the grill on a whim, because I became in the mood for a very specific snack! I wanted grilled onions. Not just any grilled onions, but grilled onions soaked in beer, and rubbed with baconsalt. Yes, bacon-salt. Mmmmm...

The first time I made it was at one of those impromptu parties at my place, where I used dark beer, mexican black hickory smoked salt, and threw it on the grill as-is.

This time I used Ace Cider, and bacon salt, and decided to put the whole mess in a foil cup of sorts in the grill to really soak it in, and threw in a bunch of minced garlic to boot.

Wow.

It really was delicious. I kind of preferred the first one, because of texture and the hickory making it a bit more tangy and bbq tasting. We sat there with those, some cheese from the block, wheat thins, and a couple slices of pepperoni, and took up space in the driveway like old men, both of us on folding canvas chairs (Mine was a canvas stool) with beer in hand, and snacking off the grill.

A rewarding way to end a hard day's work. Now then... it's been a couple hours since then (it's almost 11 pm) so I think I need some proper dinner.

Ciao!

Adventure, pt.2!

2009-04-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

So, my last attempt at updating my blog ended with failure on an epic scale.

Let's face it, together since you're here reading it anyway... I can be reeeaally lazy about this thing. I get preoccupied, or distracted in some way, and BAM, the window closes, and I let it go til someone bothers me about it next.

You would think with loyal readers I would be a bit more courteous, nevermind my OWN ambitions that I should be keeping to as well.

So, on to the topic, before I scare off said readers, eh? *Wink*

Not long after I wrote that previous post, I received a phone call. It was my friend Katheryn, asking if Cassidy and I wanted to go to E-Rock. That's the nickname for a place out past Fredericksburg by the actual name of Enchanted Rock, and it's basically a tremendous uprisen granite formation of one gigantic rock. Well, a couple of them, but the main highest one is the one we're speaking of.

The cast consisted of Me, Cassidy, April, Katheryn, and Katheryn's brother, Michael.

The trip started innocently enough... beginning with photographic evidence that my friends cannot sit still in a large space without doing something wacky while waiting for adventure. It's simply put... impossible. Photographic evidence will commence in good time, there's still a lot of up/downloading to be done on both ends, as both April and Cassidy separately had cameras for the event.

We debated bringing two vehicles to let the dogs come along, as we were preeeety sure Dogs are allowed, but not quite sure enough to act upon it and risk not being able to go after an hour and forty five minutes drive. No thanks...

So we make it into Fredericksburg, stomachs protesting the indignity of being left as empty as the brain of a modern-day pop starlet, to promises of "German Food." So, while soy-lent green, and long pork jokes abounded with liberal sides of Sauerkraut, we sat in anticipation of the place that April and Katheryn had visited before, unlike the rest of us.

Enter, The Auslander . Otherwise known as "The Outsider", it's a german place that caters to folk who want to know more about German cuisine, but are likely clueless tourists. Ah, good times. We ate merrily, with a sampling of loads of interesting dishes between the lot of us. You see, our group lacks cooties. We can share food and drink freely, and do so all the time. It probably looks like a bizarre family outing of sorts, but with ass-grabbery.

A small ice cream shop next door provided an after-lunch treat, and lo and behold, we were finally fueled up for our trip! Straight up the rock we went, most of it being a gentle enough slope to walk up, with some parts where you'd may as well be on a ladder. It's kinda ridiculous like that, but loads of fun to do. Given that the winds were going 40-50 mph in gusts, it made for some amusement watching lost hats and the like, and trying to keep your balance while teetering precariously on the odd ledge here and there.

Now, link time! Here, is Enchanted Rock .

It. Was. Awesome.

We crossed that giant granite daddy-of-all-boulders, and instead of doing what April and Katheryn admitted to usually doing, which was scale it, hang out, then head back down, we went around the back-face of it. We explored here and there, found new angles to look at the rock, and ended up amusing ourselves for hours longer finding all the neat stuff you wouldn't think to look for.

The Skull-in-the-rock formation pictures will come along eventually, as will the ones where we went past that, and found broken up smaller rocks, with tunnels you could go climbing around in between the rocks, and honest-to-God caves that you need a flashlight to explore.

We've already made plans to get up there ASAP, and I've got the climbing gear to help us navigate it all next time we go. There are spray paint markings to make sure folks go the right (Explored) way and don't get lost forever or anything horrid like that, so I imagine we'll take those paths first, then see what there is to see elsewhere. *Shifty look*

There's more pictures and such to post here, I might just make an entire flickr album of them and make you flip through yourself since I can only effectively post so many per blog page here, but worry not, in time they will come!

Til then, there's more to write about, so you'll hear from me again soon, since yes, it's that time of year again. Ren Faire season! As most of you know, that means more pictures by far, hilarious happenings, and the odd rant about someone I want to go Medieval on, depending on the year. Until then!

-Chris

BTW - A band I have known about since I worked at Guitar center 4 years ago, Dawn Over Zero , I lost the CD of a long time ago, and when looking for music today I happened across my Pandora station of them again, and this is again my favorite song. Circulation. Go have a listen.

Dawn Over Zero - Enjoy!

Adventure

2009-03-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

An adventure is an activity that comprises risky, dangerous or uncertain experiences. The term is more popularly used in reference to physical activities that have some potential for danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing, and extreme sports. The term is broad enough to refer to any enterprise that is potentially fraught with risk, such as a business venture or a major life undertaking. An adventurer is a person who bases their lifestyle or their fortunes on adventurous acts. - From Wikipedia

Ever craved adventure? Ever get that cabin-fevery restlessness that accompanies a lack of danger in your life, with a creeping complacency that threatens to take over?

Right now, I think that's the best possible explanation for the strange pace-the-house symptoms I've been having.

It's almost like I wish I could go someplace I've never been before, and try to find my way back to something familiar, so I wouldn't be taking for granted all the familiar things and places around me, I suppose. I get set in my routine, and bored with it, yet unmotivated to pick up something productive, which makes me feel lazy and useless.

It's like I'm waiting for something that I somehow know is supposed to be here by now, but hasn't yet arrived, and I know it without being told, and feel silly that my rational mind is telling me it doesn't exist.

My goal for the next couple of days is to find something adventurous to go do, so if I don't post for a week, I'm still looking ;)

Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T16:42:00.000-08:00

Alright, here goes.

Normally, I am not a big supporter of the corporate idea of "Singles-Awareness" day.

I won't go buy huge boxes of chocolate, and I don't feel that I need to set aside a day to treat my significant other well, because I should be doing that anyway. Despite all that, Cassidy expressed an interested in doing something today, just for the sake of doing something, so I decided that I would try to do a couple cute things for her.

I woke up earlier than usual, and went straight to the kitchen after a little puttering about online for a recipe, finding some nice applesauce pancakes to make.

I made them, and decided to grab an index card, a pair of scissors, and some powdered sugar.

Posted below, you'll see some cute pictures of heart-covered pancakes. Cheesy, I know (Despite the distinct lack of cheese in this dish) but it was cute. With that, eggs the way she likes them, and a glass of chocolate milk, I had her a nice breakfast to start her day with, which felt nice to do.

Then we went to IKEA, which she absolutely loves, because she absolutely loves it, and had fun testing out all the sofas and ogling the closet-inserts. Now, those of you who are familiar with Ikea know what they have a little restaurant in there, so we also decided to stop in there for a V-Day treat, and she got swedish meatballs, while I got a chicken wrap.

I even managed to break a glass at the counter! Oops...

Now to explain the photos!

The one with Cassidy on a sofa, reminded us both of a movie, The Neverending Story. Yes, this particular sofa looks like Falcor the Luck Dragon ... well, ran out of luck. He makes a super soft sofa though!

Faaaalcooooor! Why won't you Fly!?

So, today I had a good time, and am warming up the house and some coconut oil to give Cassidy a nice long relaxing massage, and then relax a while myself before I head out to work.

Remind me to post about my night job sometime, as I'm still looking for a day job, but this one's pretty cool and post-worthy.

So here's to you Cass. Happy V-Day.

By the way, you looked super cute today!

Ikkicon and onward.

2009-02-11T10:49:00.000-08:00

So, this past weekend I was lucky enough to be able to Volunteer at Ikkicon, the anime convention here in Austin Texas.

I helped about with staffing and supplying the Volunteer room where we volunteers go to get water, food, and rest and generally have a good time between shifts, so to speak.

For those of you that don't know anything about anime conventions, they're basically the same as any other convention but anime themed, with a huge focus on Cosplay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosplay:
Cosplay (コスプレ kosupure?), short for "costume play",[1] is a type of performance art whose participants outfit themselves, with often-elaborate costumes and accessories, as a specific character. Characters are usually sourced in various Japanese and East Asian media, including manga, anime, tokusatsu, comic books, graphic novels, video games, and fantasy movies. Other sources include performers from J-pop, J-rock, Visual Kei, fantasy music stories (such as stories by the band Sound Horizon), novels, and objects from cyberspace or the real world that are unique and dramatic (especially if they have or can be given an anthropomorphic form).
Cosplay participants ("cosplayers") form a subculture centered around wearing their costumes and reenacting scenes or inventing likely behavior inspired by their chosen sources. In some circles, the term cosplay has been broadened to include simply wearing a costume, without special consideration given to enacting characters in a performance context.

That's the Wiki definition of it, obviously. It goes in all directions from there, however, and you "Will" see things you've never seen before, things you'll fall in love with, and things that well... Okay, time for a lolcat explanation.

So, just like going to the beach, the park, or anywhere else, you'll see good, bad, and ugly.

I had a blast of a time, and got to meet up with several of my friends, as well as meeting several new ones, too. It seems everywhere I go I do that, and it's certainly great inspiration to get out even more. I can't really think of something better to walk away from someplace with, then a new friend, or several.

Speaking of new friends, I met a fellow in a Dick Tracy (The detective in yellow) outfit, carrying around a guitar and singing everything from sublime to the beatles. I sang with him for a few hours Friday night, and repeated the process Saturday night too, which was a total blast! Someone video'ed us, and said it would end up on YouTube, which I'm a little nervous about, but I'll probably post it anyway once I come across it.

Anyhow, here are a few pictures of the outfit I wore, and 1 of the event, the rest will be seen here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26081795@N00/

Hat Pictures and Texan Shenanigans

2009-01-21T14:13:00.000-08:00

Alright, so to the Narfell NWN community, I give pictures of various hats of mine, since apparently one of them is a subject of much envy and theft-threats! ^_^

Here's a couple hat pictures, with chainmail G/F (Cassidy) and myself, as well as the obligatory "Texan" picture.

Enjoy!

(And no complaining about having the same pose in most of them. They're hats, and I'm not a model. :P )

The straw style hat I wore about today. Yes, I drive a pickup. -.- Bite me.

Black hat and chainmail GF. Self explanatory. More on hat in next pic ~_^

Russian style cold weather hat. Mmmm warm and fuzzy.

The new Black Hat - Stevie Ray Vaughn style.

Obligatory Texan style picture here. Goodies! ^_^

A New year cometh

2009-01-18T19:48:00.000-08:00

January came in an airport this year, home from vacation in California, and ready to show me who's boss. I came into the New Year hungry and annoyed, as our flight was delayed by four hours to get home to Texas due to weather complications, so for the second year in a row my friend Shawn, Cassidy, and I, were in an airport for the 1st.

We got home to a clean house, a happy cat, and some time with our friends who were still around to greet us, which is a great way to lift my travel-dampened spirits.

The flight was fine, really. The sodas were fizzy, the seats were as comfortable as plane seats get (first class excluded), and there was little turbulence. My issue is that I'm a restless traveler. When i drive long distances, I prefer to do it with a fairly new person in the car, to talk and tell stories I haven't heard. I pull over and stretch often. I get out and run about a bit, or play a game of frisbee if I get the chance. And yes, there's almost always a frisbee in my vehicle.

When I'm literally stuck in the same position for 3+ hours, I kinda lose it. I like to eat when I travel, just decent snacks, or a small meal. When I can't stretch, there's no place to eat in the airport, and I've only got books to show me something new/interesting, I lose it. I just plain lose it.

Cassidy is a total angel for putting up with me while I'm like that, and she patiently read her book while I yawned, twitched, complained, growled, snarled, and was generally unpleasant.

Since then, we've been working on getting me a new job, and I have one, at least a part-time night job.
I'm still searching for a "Day job", but for now, I am a Zingo Driver.

It's a designated driver service where I (Or another driver) get a call from you, or find you somewhere downtown, and provide a service where I drive you home in your own vehicle, with a foldable little motorbike in the trunk that I then drive myself home from your place with.

I've worked all this week so far, and I absolutely love this job. Definitely hoping for a day job too, since we're having monetary issues at the moment, but we'll pull through so long as I'm able to get that new job.

New years resolutions -
Get New Job - No explanation needed really
Lose Weight(Fat) - If I work out and stay at this weight, I'm not concerned, so long as it's not fat weight.
Post more often in the blog - I've had requests for me to do so, which is nice to know people read this, so there you go (HKB)
^_^

More tomorrow I think. I feel like taking pictures of things again, so I think I will update my Flickr tomorrow, and take some more fresh ones as well. See you all tomorrow!

Back to posting.

2008-12-21T16:21:00.001-08:00

So, here's the update. Mind you, I'm on a new and different keyboard at the moment, so as you read this, know that what you're reading has likely been typed a great many times with painstakingly acute and practised motions, only to have been obliterated countless times by the delete and backspace keys.

Now, with my complaints out of the way, I suppose a good place to start would be the beginning... and since Genesis is overdone, and my childhood isn't exactly the topic I planned on writing about, I suppose that it's natural that this begins at our trip.

About 6 months ago, Cassidy's parents bought us some tickets to California, for about 2 1/2 weeks, during the Christmas season. We left on the 14th, after procuring a dogsitter (Her aunt) and making sure our pals would look in on our cat, who will surely freak out when we get back. He gets a bit annoyed when we take off like that, but he's quick to forgive if he's picked and and cuddled by Cassidy. That cat has a thing for pretty women. (Insert rolling of eyes here)

So after a rather uneventful pair of flights later, with good company when we had to share a row with another person, we arrived in California, to find Cass's parents in the airport. Her Dad looked the same as always, but her mother has lost a lot of weight, and was really hard to recognize til she turned around and we could see her face. She looks awesome! I am really happy for her, and glad she's happy with her change.

It's Sunday now, so we've been here a week, and it's been a lot of fun so far! We hit Knott's Berry Farm already, as well as Disneyland, on the first Tuesday and Wednesdays we were here, respectively. Wendesday at D-Land was rainy and FREAKIN COLD! That's no deterrent to us, though. We had a total blast both days, and even managed to snag one of my friends for D-Land day. Thankfully she bundled up well enough that she didn't freeze to death on our account, and we all made it back to the house soon enough for disney movies and hot chocolate. Yum!

So now Christmas is speeding up on us, and I'm needing to finish my shopping for a couple people, and in the meantime, have been calling up various friends and such who I would like to see before I leave California. Problem: I don't have hardly anyone's working # anymore. I'll continue digging, and I'm sure we'll have a few more epic moments before we leave, like my buddy John's ChristmaHannuKwanzoliday party. That, was, awesome. It all culminated in charades, which got ridiculous quickly, while still remaining a serviceable and competitive game!

So, now the girls (Cass and her Mom etc. ) are out shopping again, Her Dad is doing some woodwork, and I'm listening to Jamiroquai as I type, which is proving surprisingly centering, and perfect for focusing on one thought out of the usual 3 or more running simulatnaously in my mind, which can be the most horrid distraction when I'm trying to write, or read, or think.

And no, I'm no scizophrenic.

Yet?

At any rate, That's all for now, expect pictures soonish added onto this post of various holiday happenings!

It's been a while.

2008-11-26T08:33:00.001-08:00

So, I am fully aware that it's been quite some time since I posted, and I won't bother with excuses or reasons or rants about it.
There's not much of a point, only a resolution for me to get my act together, and start posting regularly again, since I am still living a blog-worthy life, and just getting preoccupied by it, and other things, and neglecting my projects.

Bad Chris!

So today is an interesting day, a special day for me and someone else, namely my significant other, Cassidy. It's her 21st birthday, today!

She has a past history of having people flake on her, or just having a fairly slow and uneventful birthday, so I'm busy contacting the folks I need to contact, and seeing what I can pull together! We've been fairly busy with the Texas Renaissance Festival, and keeping things together here at home, with the puppies and everything, too.

Below are some fun pictures of the birthday girl herself, and me, this last weekend. Hope you enjoy those, and expect more posting out of me, and soonish too. I'm doing too much lately to let it go un-posted, no metter how lazy I'm feeling. What better way to get un-lazy than to motivate yourself, right?

Also, stand by for pictures from myself and from Erik of The Truth and Beauty Blog, from dinner last night at Din Ho Chinese BBW. Our pals Shawn and Alice took Cass out for her b-day, and we brought a few friends with, including Erik and his lovely lady Arlene, and played "pass the camera" with mine, while Erik used his on the rest of us. It should be a fun set!

At any rate, enjoy, and you'll be hearing from me again soon!
You can count on it.
-Me

Here you can see Cassidy being thrilled about something at faire, and just generally having a great time! I figured this picture is a great one to say, "I'm 21! Whoo hoo!"

Another example of my beloved being her beautiful self.

This picture is classic Cassidy to me. Just smiling away at something or other, always glad to see one of her friends, even when they have a camera pointed at her :).

This picture is interesting, as I was really not feeling well, and she was busy taking care of me. I'm totally slouched against her, and not expecting this picture to look good at all. Surprise!

Some pictures of faire

2008-10-30T14:42:00.000-07:00

I decided to put up a few pictures of ren faire from this year so far, and this is from the Texas Renaissance festival near Plantersville TX. See you there!

Someone getting hurt in 3...2...1...

On a mission or something... probably mid-rant + Chainmail girl pic #2

Obligatory "chainmail girl" image #1 (My girlfriend Cassidy)

HAH I caught a gypsy!

Yes that is my chainmail girl again guys... and yes the rest of you, that is an eight foot bullwhip. And yes, I know how to use it ;) Thanks to Erik of Truth and Beauty blog for the whip, and my first lessons!

A lack of updates, an update unto itself.

2008-10-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted.
There is a good reason for this.

I have asthma, and a rather nasty "Case" of it, as i suppose it can be described.
Sometimes I get these bouts of sickness that travel straight into my chest, that may or may not be allergy related, but it makes me sick to the point of sounding like a dying smoker's death rattle as they let go of their last breath... 24/7. Disturbing, to say the least.

So the last two weeks have been quite without worth to mention, give or take a few things, but I'd much rather concentrate on starting fresh and getting some interesting content on here for everybody, rather than playing catch-up with the poorly-remembered last two weeks.

On that note, I'll be posting Monday about this weekend at the Renaissance Festival, so be sure to check back!
-ORiley

Yo-Yo's. (Yea, seriously)

2008-10-02T13:18:00.001-07:00

So, about 5 minutes ago here at work, I was informed via e-mail about one of the cool little things our work occasionally runs, this time being, "Free Yo-Yo Day".

No seriously, free yo-yos! This reminds me quite a lot of one of my previous posts about rollerskating.
Another youth-oriented pastime that sort of fades away with the inset of new interests, like girls, cars, and jobs.
I remember back in junior high and high school when Yo-Yos made a big comeback. All these different kinds would be seen around school, and there would be circles around people who could do the cool spin and aerial tricks with them. Other kids nonchalantly yo-yo their way across campus, while still others pretend to hypnotize their friends with their spinning hypnotically swirled yo-yo.

Now I sit at my desk with a sore finger and a content looking green yo-yo curled cat-like by my hand, I remember how much fun those silly things can be. I can still shoot the moon, and around the world, walk the dog, and flip a catch. The high pitched whirring sound of it brings to mind memories of seeing how close you could get the yo-yo to your friends face without hitting them, while they had to hear the death-trill of that high velocity piece of plastic, metal, and string hurtling at them.

Now that we have these office place "Projectiles-on-a-string", or "Entertainment Garrotes", I think I'll likely end up with some new and amusing anecdote to treat you all to soon. Again, I'm sure they'll be as blog-worthy as a child's toy related hospital trip!
Enjoy!

Insomnia strikes again. Bring it!

2008-10-02T00:47:00.001-07:00

As the title suggests, yes, tonight I'm having some trouble sleeping.
Actually, to be properly specific, I'm having issues getting tired at all, despite having woken up early and been at work for nine hours today. Mind you, that also included crawling into the back of my truck to upright my motorcycle, which had fallen over when I was cut off this morning on the way to work. Someone decided it would be cute to pull into the one lane I was occupying, and moving at the speed limit in, only to slam on their brakes and make a u-turn in the middle of the road...

Like I said, cute!

Well, I moved a bit to the side just in case I couldn't stop quickly enough, so I would have the sidewalk option. There were no pedestrians around, so that was bailout option number one. Thankfully, no bailout options were needed, as my brakes are trusty as ever and brought me to a quick and efficient stop, only for me to look in my rearview mirror quickly enough to see the cables holding my motorcycle in place go slack. This ended up having it dump over on it's side due to letting the kick-stand snap itself up, and denting the wheel-well section of my truck bed, as well as scuffing up my bike.

Not really a great start to the morning, right?

Aside from that, work was normal, but the morning incident stuck with me for some reason.
I usually dismiss careless/lazy/stupid drivers right out and forget about them, but for someone to jump in front of a large truck like that is moronic. Still, I normally would not care. I think the real issue came from the idea that I could have lost my truck AND my bike if this fool had cut that any closer, and then I'd have to pray to every deity I could think of to be able to take that to court.

Judge : "Let me get this straight. You slammed into the back of HIM, and want HIM to pay for your truck and motorcycle? "
Me: "Well, yes your honor. He did not pay attention to traffic already in the lane and created a hazardous situation which was unable to be avoided in time.
Judge and Jury: "Hahahaha, nice try. Do not pass go, do not collect insurance payment, etc. etc. "

I can see it now, and am busy thanking my lucky stars things worked out as well as they did.
I suppose that means my blog-worthy moment of the day involved not getting into an accident, right after my blog-worthy walk with Cassidy. Unintentional two-for-one deal? I'll take it, even if it did leave me stressed out.

I suppose I'll go finish my chai, and try yet again to get to sleep. Sweet dreams Austin, and the surrounding world. (That means you, internet! ) And I'll be back tomorrow with more interesting happenings!

An early morning walk in Austin

2008-10-01T10:11:00.001-07:00

Waking up at 7 or so in the morning has it's advantages. Cassidy tried to wake me up at about this time and I growled at her, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

Or I tried to. Suffice it to say, I was not asleep very long this time, and I decided on a whim that I actually "Wanted" to get up. She had suggested a nice walk with the dogs, and I had no good reason to refuse, other than the excuse that "I didn't sleep well", which in truth I did not.

That's no reason not to get up however, especially when it turns out Cassidy made me another wonderful breakfast to enjoy, which I did, before we went on our walk.

There's something ridiculously cute about an 80 pound Rottweiller, being trailed by two puppies of a different breed (1/2 border Collie, 1/2 Great Pyrenees), and looking for all the world like their mother or big sister with how they follow and obviously adore her.

Kieran, (The dark one) and Conall, both take every opportunity to jump around and lick her face when she stops, which she patiently sits through like a good mommy/sister/babysitter. I'd feel bad if she seemed bothered by it, but she seems to have not only accepted it, but come to expect it. We could not have asked for better companions for her since her brother died a few months ago.

We still miss him, and I know she does too, like when she sniffs his old leash, or the toys that still have his scent on them, but she no longer seems depressed or lonely with the pups around. Cassidy and I are a different story, and whenever we see pictures of Tiernan, we both have a quiet moment to think about him, and wish that things had been different. Don't get me wrong, we love life and the puppies that share it with us now, but no dog can replace Tiernan, just like nobody can replace a lost human family member.

All sad thoughts aside, the walk this morning was beautiful. The squirrels were making all kinds of racket, there were plenty of people on the paths, and we even got to meet up with a few folks also walking their dogs who stopped to say hi and play!

Rowan is a ridiculously social dog who loves everybody who wants to be loved, and it's great when people either don't consider her size and breed, or take a moment to get over it to give her some affection and attention. She loves it, and can't understand why some people flee in terror from her.
The puppies are being trained to be exactly the same, but they're fluffy and non-scary looking by most people's standards, besides being puppies, so that's going to be easier anyhow. I suppose I can understand a natural fear of a large animal with gigantic teeth and a jaw that can crush bones with minimal effort, but when folks go out of their way to show they're terrified, it's kind of... insulting?

I suppose I'm letting it get personal, as if they mean to accuse me of raising a dog aggressively or something, when they just don't know any better. Still, it manages to irk me. That being said, I always do my best to put people at ease around her, have her sit and say hello that way instead of an enthusiastic rush and lick session.

Between morning walks, Red Bud dog park, walking down by the river, and taking her to dog-friends restaurants and the like, I keep reminding myself how good we have it, living in Austin. There's just something cool about living in a place where, even though there are people who are going to flee because your dog is bigger than their slipper, there are more folks who are going to come give them a hug. Now, how do I go about getting them to give ME hugs....?

At any rate, I'll be trying to wake up early every day (Or every other day at LEAST) and take them on a nice morning walk with Cassidy. It's good for me, good for them, and more interesting than the huge backward we have. They deserve more attention than I've given lately, even if it's because I've been busy. if you're reading this, get out and take your dog for a walk! They'll thank you!

-Chris

Fw:

2008-09-29T13:29:00.001-07:00

> Date: Monday, September 29, 2008, 1:03 PM
> A weekend with friends! From left to right, Auriel, Blue,
> Raven, and Brent.
>
> -O'Riley

Again, making use of my camera-phone, it's blogging made easy. Raven and Auriel came to stay over for the weekend and hang out in Austin, and Brent and Blue made time to come hang out as well. We hit the mall down south, drove, hung out, went to Mongolian Grille for dinner (Awesome food) and had an all-around awesome day on Saturday!

Sunday morning I woke up our sleepy-headed houseguests, and made breakfast, to which Brent and Blue showed up again for, and then we basically had a lazy day again, til Raven and Auriel had to go home.

I finished off my night with Gaming at Shawn and Alice's place, brought Rowan, and came home exhausted to fall asleep immediately. Not a bad weekend, really.

Now to find something interesting to do with my Monday...

Brent and the Puppy-Pile!

2008-09-28T00:45:00.001-07:00

> Date: Sunday, September 28, 2008, 1:40 AM
> Brent/Puppy pile!
> -Saturday when Raven and Auriel showed up, they brought
> Brent and Blue with them!
>

Now things are winding down, it's almost 3 Am and we're all getting home from watching movies at Blue's place. Well, alright it was A movie, but it was "The Golden Compass", and I liked it even more the second time I saw it.

I started by seeing the first movie, then reading the whole 3 book series, then re-watching the first movie. I think they did a fine job with the continuity of the first book's story with the movie, with only a few glaring adjustments/cuts. Of course they can't show the last part of the book because, "The Church" would freakin lose it, but I digress.

We had lots of fun, and I might just wake up early (In a few hours) and make us all breakfast before we go do stuff.

G'night Austin and the surrounding world! Be happy, be free, be blog-worthy!
-O'Riley

Pretty Puppy

2008-09-27T10:41:00.001-07:00

--- On Sat, 9/27/08, Date: Saturday, September 27, 2008, 12:39 PM
> We have friends coming over tonight, so I had Rowan get
> prettied up with her flower collar!
> I'm sure she hates me now.... :)
>
> -O'Riley

-Sent from phone

Added later -
Now in the throes of house cleaning, I took a quick break earlier to show Rowan sitting pretty as if she knows company is coming, with her pretty flowery collar thingy. I have roughly an hour until they show up, or closer to a 1/2 hour since I've been editing my blog for a bit, but you'll get some pictures and commentary from my beautiful friends, Raven, and Auriel when they get here!

Don't say I never got you guys anything! ;)

Til then, I'm off to live my "Blog-Worthy Life! "

-O'Riley

Erik friday night

2008-09-26T20:52:00.001-07:00

Yay for Night-Owl friends!

----------
Sent from my Verizon Wireless LGVX9900 device.

For those of you that aren't familiar with this fine fellow, he is Erik Kuykendall (Pronounced Kirk-En-Dahl) of the blog Truth and Beauty. You can find him at

http://search4beauty.blogspot.com

Watch this one, he's got some interesting stuff! That being said, what are you waiting for? Shoo!

Blogger test #2

2008-09-26T11:37:00.001-07:00

----------
Sent from my Verizon Wireless LGVX9900 device.

Fw: Mobile blog workaround? testing...

2008-09-26T11:22:00.001-07:00

--- On Fri, 9/26/08

Okay, so I can workaround by sending a pic from my Verizon phone to my yahoo e-mail address, then forward it to blogger, but I end up with having to edit the post because the forward process involves a lot of advertisement/info about the post, which I don't really care for.

It'll have to do for now, and it's still quicker than downloading pix from my VZW site, then uploading them to blogger one at a time, so I suppose til they get Verizon playing nice with blogger or iPhones become available for Verizon, it'll have to do. I'll post something fun with this later!

On Mornings....

2008-09-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

I'll get the important info to you all first.
By most standards, opinions, and reports, I am NOT a morning person.

What is a morning person you ask?

My opinion is that a morning person is the person who is happy to be up and awake bright and early, regardless of what they have to do later in the day. They rise early, and like it that way, needing no extra motivation to be roused from bed other than opening their eyes.

Here is a morning through my eyes.

7:30 AM - The room is still darkish, made more-so by my lack of glasses/contacts, which is just another reason to keep my eyes closed. Cassidy may or may not still be here to cuddle, but is likely not. She's up and doing her morning routine, which includes opening the back door of the house. This gesture of course, lets loose the dogs of w....er, our dogs. Said canines then proceed with "Mommy's" urging to leap upon my resting form, regardless of whether I'm still asleep/trying to sleep, or not.

Puppy claws are sharp, and painful, and not the most pleasant way to wake up. Now I have to hand it to her. She's brave, or just knows that I love her too much to be mean to her for waking me that way. Either way, waking a guy who's said to be like a bear when woken at all, regardless of being woken in this fashion, is either brave or foolhardy.

Somehow it's hard to be mad, or try to retaliate in any way when this cute, smiling, giggling girl is on the edge of the bed playing with the romping pups. Damn. Oh well, I'll settle for grumbling to myself as I dress and stretch, and pretend taking the puppies for a walk on this beautiful morning is the worst idea I've ever heard, just for the sake of being grumpy about being woken. I can't get her used to being able to wake me whenever she wants, can I? I'll never get ANY peace! :)

Yes, I despise waking up when I'm peaceful and resting and comfortable. I LOVE to be comfortable, probably because it usually takes me a long time to get comfortable when I'm trying to get to sleep. Once I am, I don't want to be bothered. Here's the kicker though. I love mornings.

If I could have morning separate from waking up, or being woken, it would be perfect. There's something refreshing and clean and perfect about the morning air, sunshine, wind, and everything else around you when you take a walk before the sun's really out to get you. Truth is, if I didn't have to wake up to go to work, I'd probably wake up very early every morning. Waking up early to a desk looming before you however, is not what I call an encouraging thought while trying to roust myself from slumber. Needless to say, on weekends I'm more easily woken by far.

This morning was another successful attempt by Cassidy to get me up and walk the puppies, and it was a nice walk, overall. It can definitely be one of the nicer things about waking up. However...

At this exact moment in time, from the computer room, I can hear bacon frying. That, my friends, readers, and general followers, is my cue to go. After all, best thing about mornings is bacon. Everybody knows that! ;)

-O'Riley

The life and times of... a future stand up comic?

2008-09-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday on my lunch break I happened across a Myspace bulletin by one of my friends, Dick, or "The Duke of Austin" about a event at "The Velveeta Room" called Spite Club, where they get comics together and let them bash on each other for the prestige of winning the round, while best 2 out of three rounds wins the game!

Suffice it to say, things got interesting. As it turns out, at the Velveeta room on Thursdays, it's open mic night. Call in that morning to get your name on the list, and you've got a spot sometime in the night to perform. No qualifications/experience/talent needed.

I'll be honest, some of the folks there were former "Funniest man in Austin" winners, or runners-up, and other comics who actually tour who decided to pop in and try some material, and quite a few folks there were a treat to watch and listen to. Cassidy and I both went, and it was definitely worth it! We even stayed til the very end, through the good, the bad, and the ugly. That earned some free drinks for us folks who stuck it out, which was cool, and I decided to let the MC know he'd see me next week.

On the stage.

Something that almost anyone who knows me can attest to, I LOVE being up in front of a crowd, making people laugh, and having a good time. If I make an ass of myself in the process, I generally enjoy it anyway. What else can a guy do? I'm not the type to tuck tail and slink away, even if I crash and burn. I'll thank whoever I attempted to entertain for not throwing bottles, and move on from there.

On a brighter note, I've got material. I've got stuff I can entertain people with, at least earn a chuckle or two from I think, and pray for the best. If anyone wants to drop in, I think it's $5 at the door, and goes for a few hours. I'm going to add that info at the end of this post to be clear, and include directions. Leave a comment if you want to show up, so I can see who will be there to cheer me on or boo me! I have the right to face my accusers, don't I?

That'll do it for now I suppose, and with that, I leave a question for anybody who reads this.

Do you have any suggestions, tips, or advice for me before I go up there and put my comedic dignity on the line? By all means, drop me a line here on the blog, I'd love to hear it! Thanks guys/girls!

-Chris

Old-School Activities, and the joy therein

2008-09-18T15:35:00.000-07:00

Hello Austin, hello Texas, and hello to the rest of the world that revolves around our lovely state.

I've got to add another location/friend to my blog now, if they have a page, which I'll find once I've touted the wondrous qualities of this particular establishment! The place in question is a skate rink, located on HWY 183 south, off the access road just before Burnet.

http://www.playlandskatecenter.com is where to find it, and I'll go right out and say my favorite thing about it... there's ADULT NIGHT, meaning (As much as you may love or hate them) children are NOT ALLOWED. This means no kids screaming, yelling, crying, making out in the corner, or diving between your legs as you try to skate!

All that aside, adult night is an absolute blast. You've got everybody from the grandparents who still like to skate, to the 20-something Roller-Derby girls skating about, and people dancing on their quads all over the place. It's a totally different experience from going on any other night with kids, believe me. The added bonus of being able to flirt with anyone you see (Within reason, stay away from the HUGE guy's obvious girlfriend, duh) and not worrying about going to jail for them being, for lack of a better term, "jailbait", is quite the comfort as well!

Thanks to my pal Sean who clued Cassidy and me in on this, which allowed us to have such a fantastic time, then go for hang-outs/pizza/karaoke afterwards! We went to the canary-hut pub, which if I am not mistaken has Karaoke every night, and a great and friendly atmosphere to boot!

Overall, the night scored a 10, with fun, exercise, laughter, and beer to top it off! As for now, it's night night time, but look forward to when I post about what happened a few hours ago at "The Velveeta Room" comedy club!

Coffee, and my recent obsession

2008-09-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

Last week I was fairly sparse around the "on-line" areas of the world, I know. This week, I'll be digging into a few things I wanted to write about while I was sick, and never got around to. Might as well do coffee first, since I'd love some right now!

(Look for the line starting with ~~~~~ if you don't want to read what I have to say about coffee history and preparation, and get right to how I make it)

On Coffee: It's an American way. No, it didn't start here, nor is it even reliably grown here, so that's not what I meant. What I did mean can be spelled out in 9 letters. S-T-A-R-B-U-C-K-S. Or throw a city's name in there, and you've got "Seattle's Best" coffee. Or you can go to Mozart's down by the river here in Austin, and by some fair trade coffee there, and I don't remember if it's a specific brand. (Perhaps Rain-Forest Alliance has something to do with the brand, but I do know it's all organic and fairly traded)
However you spill the beans, it's coffee, and it's; "The best part of waking up..." according to Folgers Coffee. Maxwell house claims theirs is even "Good to the last drop", likely presuming you don't end up pouring grounds in your cup at any rate. Then it's just crunchy. "Bring on the day" with a cup of Starbucks, or stop and take a moment to ask yourself; "What is, the essence of coffee." as Yuban suggests.

For now, I think I'll take Yuban's route, and surmise my thoughts on coffee. First, let me get you some facts about me, so you know where I'm coming from with this.

2 scoops of sugar, and cream in mine, thanks. On ice? Even better.
I've made coffee from the pot, and I've made "Aeropress" coffee. I've had french pressed, instant, and slow drip coffee. I've been to coffee tastings at Starbucks, and I've had coffee that cost more than the burger I had at lunch. Light, dark, medium, rich, bold, and smooth. After all that, can I claim I know the difference between a lot of those by tasting them? Not a chance.

I do, however, know what I like. McDonald's coffee straight from the pot, I won't touch. I'd almost as soon drain my truck's oil with a straw. The odd Denny's, or IHOP, I can usually stomach but do not truly enjoy. Sit me down with a neverending cup at Mozarts to choose from their different flavored blends though, and I'll be there all night. That may be due to a number of different factors, least of all being my own personal pickiness and taste. When it comes to coffee, there seem to be a lot of factors contributing to how it tastes.

Coffee by nature is a seed, or bean, and has to be roasted and crushed to make the drink we've named after it. Depending on how you roast them, you can get different flavors out of the beans. There are even two different kinds of beans, Arabica and Robusta. There are others, but these are the most widely traded and cultivated. Their main difference is that, Robusta has about 50% more caffeine and is more bitter, while Arabica is more flavorful and considered better for drinking.

There are two taste variations right there, but not two I particularly care about. My main concern in the flavor of my coffee lies in the way it is prepared. There's your standard drip coffee maker which drips hot water onto coffee grinds held by a filter, which is fine and workable. We also have french-presses and my favorite, the Aeropress, which both let water go through coffee held by a screen or filter, like the drip method, but fully saturate all the grounds and then the water is pushed through. In the case of the aero-press, it's done with a bubble of air, depressed by a plunger with a rubber seal. I prefer the Aeropress by far.

~~~Now, onto my latest fixation, Coldbrewed coffee!
One of my pals, Shawn, clued me into this. The idea behind this is to let coffee steep in cold water for about 12-24 hours. The lack of heat to it is supposed to get the flavor out of the bean, without making it as oily. I've noticed that I personally can drink quite a lot more of this that I can hot-brew coffee, so I think there's some verity to that statement. The catch here, is that you end up with a jar/bucket/whatever implement you put the coffee/water mix in that resembles mud. I don't recommend drinking it at this stage. That brings to mind I should likely start with some steps on HOW to do this, and explain as I go along.

Step 1: Get your coffee.
If you're a coffee drinker, you might know what kind of coffee you like. If not, ask a friend who always gets a specific type of coffee, or likes to experiment with different ones, and ask them. Once you've found a coffee you like, make sure it's ground and go to step 2.

Step 2: "Just add water" Yes, I'm sure you've heard this before. Maybe as a child you had one of those toys that when you leave it in water it grows to "GIGANTIC PROPORTIONS!" ... cue the pictures of amazed children being dwarfed by an adult sized toy in a bucket, a small disclaimer in the corner reading; "Not actual size". This, I assure you, is more legit.

The combination I was informed of, and therefore tried, was a mix of 1 cup of coffee per 2 cups of water. It seems like a lot of coffee, and it is, but I'll get to that soon. I used three cups of coffee, and 6 cups of water, and let it sit in a pitcher after mixing it up thoroughly to ensure complete saturation of all the grounds. Stir a couple of times during the 12-24 hours you let it sit.

Step 3: Filter. Remember what I said about not recommending to drink the "Mud"? Keep that in mind as we proceed, no matter how excited you are to try it. Instead, go grab something to filter this with. This is thick stuff, so a coffee filter is certainly not going to cut it here, not even those removable basket types that last a while. I used a sifter, something anyone with a kitchen should have. Two or three layers of metal screening getting progressively smaller will do a fine job straining all but the finest of coffee grinds out of your drink. My sifter worked wonders!

Pour your "Mud" through one of these, and if you have a sturdy enough device, make sure to scoop the remnants at the bottom of your first jar as well, then press down with whatever you have handy (The bottom of a cup works great!) to extract as much of the precious liquid as you can. Strain this into a secondary container, not the one you'll have your final mix in, if you have another handy, as it'll help with the next step.

Step 4: The final strain. Unless you're using a super finely ground coffee, most of the muck should be out of your coffee at this point. This will be a good time to grab that coffee filter or cheesecloth you were going to use before. I used a replaceable basket filter ($3 at the local supermarket) for this stage. Pour slowly into the container you will be storing this in, and let the liquid filter through as slowly as it needs to. You will get some more grind here, so pouring slowly gives you a moment to stop, clean out your filter, and resume pouring.

Proceed until all of your coffee has been strained, and check out how thick it looks. If it looks thick, black, and evil, you probably did it right. If it looks crunchy, filter again. I put my final strain into one of those iced tea containers with the push-button pour spout thing near the bottom, and I just open the fridge and push a button to get to mine. I highly recommend it!

Step 5: Completion, so ENJOY! What you now have is a coffee "Concentrate", loosely known as expresso. I say loosely, because folks with expresso machines and other techniques which have been perfected for years and studied as a science, might not appreciate my cold-brew coffee stuff using the name of their exalted beverage. Hence, coffee concentrate. Want a plain ole cup'o'joe after all your hard work? Fill a mug with hot water, and leave some room for your mix in the cup. Pour some in, and not much until you get an idea of how you like it, and try it without milk or sugar first. You'll likely find it less bitter, and less acidic than the coffee you may be used to. If you find it too strong, feel free to throw it out and try again, or add more water. You probably used up about 3 tablespoons worth of the mix in that one mug, so it's no big loss.
Oh, and remember to refrigerate your mix. I don't know how long it keeps.

I made about 6 cups of the mix, which means I've got lots and lots of coffee to drink, especially to make lattes and the likes, as well. Here's my favorite mix so far.

3/4 glass of milk or milk substitute (Rice or soy milk as desired)
Sugar
Coffee-Concentrate
Ice

Fill your glass with the milk (Or like product), and sweeten to taste. One regular spoonful of sugar makes it sweet, 2 makes it dessert. Stir it in really well, and add roughly two to three tablespoons of your coffee, then stir well. Taste it from there, and see if you need more/less coffee or sugar. Once you seem to have it right, add your ice, and enjoy!

There's what I've been drinking a bit of lately, and sharing with my friends, including Erik Kuykendall from search4beauty.blogspot.com , who loved it as well. (With soy) That being said, it's your turn, let me know how it goes!

P.S. - I use coffee with chicory, which has less caffeine and tastes awesome. You know the flavor if you've ever had vietnamese coffee before.

"In sickness and in health"

2008-09-11T16:51:00.001-07:00

First off, no, I did not get married, nor is this going to be about marriage. To half of you reading, you're welcome for the relief. For the other half, sorry to disappoint!

I'm a few days behind so it's going to take some time to get things squared away and remembered well enough to put down, so expect some delays and updates to this post later when I recall things a bit better.
________________________________

Alright, time to sit down and get back to being up to date.

I suppose I can start with right after the Toy Joy day.
Monday, the new day of rest.
That's right, being blog-worthy Monday would have to reference a dream journal, since work was normal, and the rest of the day was sleeping, and nothing else, really.

Tuesday, there was not a terrible lot going on besides, again, work. The daily grind, the Monday through Friday shuffle, whatever you like to call it, there it is. This, however, is where the week degenerates a bit. When work ceases, so does most of the rest of life, because if work ceases, it's because I'm sick, which I woke up Wednesday morning feeling. I must have made it halfway to the restroom when I just about pitched forward on my face. I literally had to stop and get my balance, then everything spun hard again, like some demented carnival ride, and I almost got sick right then and there.

That right there was reason enough to stay home, but I did not. I've got work, and my attendance has been lousy enough that I shouldn't miss any more days, so I went TO work to request to be sent home so nobody caught what I got. Dizziness, a headache that set on, and that sickness of the stomach was something that would not be a pleasant thing to share, and I was sent home, so I was told to come back when I was well.

It's Friday now, and I haven't felt up to doing much of anything including writing, and when I thought I felt better this morning, I was sick again. I slept the beginning of the day away again, and took some cold meds, and have relaxed until now, where I finally put my fingers to the keyboard again to continue my quest of sorts. To live a blog-worthy life is hard when you're sick, and I don't want to blog the details, for worry of passing on a feeling like I've got to readers. Yuck, right?

So, consider this post an apology for not being available to write, with an explanation of why, and expect more complete updates from here on, providing I feel better soon.

The day at hand (Mozart's again), and into the night!

2008-09-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

After finishing (The first draft of) that last post, I added a list of links to the right of Austin Dog Friendly places I've been to, and their website or the appropriate yelp.com site for ratings, etc. Other recommended sites and events in Austin will eventually make their way to the sidebar area there, but til then, click on what I have!

As I sit right now, Rowan is sitting passed out on the deck, finally dry, and my empty (3rd) cup of iced coffee sits patiently, as if waiting to see if I will refill it again. (Which I probably will. Free refills, woo!) I've been here for several hours after tiring Rowan out at Red Bud dog park, and so far she's made me about 10 new buddies here, from a group of out of town guys to a couple college students who were all VERY friendly with her. As usual, everyone says she's beautiful and sweet, which is true, but it's nice she gets those compliments everywhere. It's basically like somebody complimenting my parenting skills, or saying I make pretty babies (Fuzzy, but pretty).

-----(Post finished Monday, continued below)-----

This post is continued, as yesterday was pretty packed into the evening, and I didn't get any computer time, but a day late isn't a problem for words that are being slapped onto the internet. So, on with the story!

I got home before Cassidy was free from her work at the library, and I took care of the pups before heading down there to meet her. For some reason, she loves when I make the TREMENDOUS effort to walk an entire 1/4 of a block to her work to walk her home. I am so lucky she's that easy to please! We relaxed a while, laid about, chatted about our days, and finally called Erik and Arlene. Plans were sort-of set up, with one basic destination in mind, Toy Joy.

I've been there once, yes once, in the four years I've lived here in Austin. A gross failure on my part to make sure that I live my life to the fullest and remember the "Joy" of "Toys". I know it seems silly and commercial, but seeing some of the whimsical little gizmos and doodads, contraptions and oddities, was really a treat. I was even reminded to look "Up" when I was there, to see 6 foot tall "Lego" style figures suspended from the ceiling. That was definitely a bit of a trip, just to see toys of such massive size, and I'll admit, I was easily entertained at the moment. These days, it doesn't take much, actually. I'm more easily amused, entertained, and excited. It's like enjoying life is easier when you're constantly about looking for something interesting to do, and finding it.

I came out of Toy Joy with some great pictures taken by Erik Kuykendall, even one of me being attacked by a 2 headed mutated baby-creature thing. I've already got it on my desktop at work. It is, in a word, awesome. Enough said. Aside from that, I also brought home with me, for the grand total of ONE dollar, a small contingent of undead. 5 little zombies that now adorn my computer at work. How I love my little undead minions! The only problem is now I have Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in my head whenever I look up a them atop my screen. I suppose there are worse things. It could be "The Smurfs" theme song, which I was trying to remember last night when we saw Smurf toys. I admit, I was trying to get that song stuck into the heads of my friends, for my own amusement. . . does that make me a bad person? (It should, really.)

Toy Joy time was complete, and we went next-door into the connected building, a small cafe/bakery area. Djaba-Joy Cafe is the name, and I'll admit, until recently I've been a real skeptic about vegan cuisine. I have been a meat eating, milk drinking, cheese sampling, fast food munching typical urbanite all my life, and have kind of been of the opinion that "Hippie-Chow" wasn't something I was interested in. Now I laugh at what a dork I've been, being closed-minded like that without a second thought. Erik and Arlene brought us over there, not to say "You have to try Vegan stuff" or "Switch! Do this! " or anything of the sort, but simply to say "We love this stuff, it's really great!" and leaving Cassidy and I to make our own decisions. All eating habits aside, that's something I love about Erik and Arlene. Their attitude towards sharing information, opinions, etc. with
other people is the most comfortable, casual, and easy to understand approach I've ever seen in a person/couple. Djaba-Joy is No exception to some of the awesomeness they've showed us.

I look around as I enter, and there's eclectic art and decoration surrounding us with a little bit less of the crowded cacophony of sights and sounds found in their neighbor building, but a simpler dose of color and fun that compliments the beautifully made food displayed in well lit glass displays. A plastic Godzilla was eating a moose-toy of a dark brown color, prompting a lame "Godzilla is eating chocolate mousse" joke from myself, much to the chagrin and general face-palming of my friends and surely, the girl behind the counter, Jenni.

She served Arlene and Erik some sort of "vegan expresso soft-serve", which I got to try, and it blew me away. I'd never had soft-serve of any kind that flavorful and fantastic! I believe they called it oat-cream (instead of ice cream) or something similar, and I will be looking this up soon, I assure you. At any rate, it was fantastic, and I will be going back there to sample much more of their stuff in a hurry, so look forward to that! When I requested some information about the establishment from Jenni, the super-friendly and fun girl behind the counter she informed me they have a myspace, which I have kindly linked to the right, and even consented to us taking her picture, which will be posted below. I suggest (And do so strongly) that you give it a visit, and then go see the real thing for me, and tell me what you think!

Cassidy and I hadn't eaten properly yet that night, so we went to "Magic Wok" for some eats, which Arlene and Erik had as well, (So what if they had dessert first, we're big kids, and this is Austin! ) which as always, was pretty good. Cassidy had the shrimp something or other, which was a tad spicy for her taste, but the cashew chicken I got was spot-on perfect, so we shared some of that. We got nice and full, spent very little, and the people there were very cool about serving us even though we came in RIGHT before they closed. Kudos to Magic Wok! I'll be listing them as well! After we finished dinner, we had just enough time to cruise on back to Djaba-Joy for Cassidy and I to get some of that expresso creamy goodness, and it was then that we chatted with Jenni a bit as I got their information.

We finished up the night heading home to get Cassidy's contact lens supplies and Macbook, so we could come over and she could teach Erik some Photoshop tips and tricks. We actually got through a lot of random stuff while we were over, looking over photos and Arlene's portfolio of work she's done as a designer, which yes, I will ALSO be linking to. Remember as I've posted before about her husband, Erik Kuykendall (Pronounced Kirkendawl), who is the author/blogger of search4beauty.blogspot.com . Give him a visit if you haven't already!

I learned how to clean up the bullwhips to keep them supple and good for cracking, since Erik has been teaching me how to use them, and came up with an idea that I discussed with Erik. It's a very good, very interesting idea. I'm going to withhold from all of you until we test it, but if it works, it is going to be awesome! (insert maniacal laughter here) It's given me a rather mad scientist feeling, to be honest. I love it.

All in all, we stayed out there until about 3:30-4 AM, like a bunch of silly teenagers sitting up all night talking. Sleep is for the week anyway, I'll sleep when I'm dead. And no, that sentiment did not stop me from going home and simply CRASHING into bed after Cassidy and I took care of the puppies, made sure they had enough food and water for the night, and took out my contacts and such.

Yesterday was a 10/10, easily, and yet another successful attempt at living a "Blog-worthy life" every day! I have to admit, it feels good. Have you tried it yet?

A couple days -recap. Whips and ... spatulas?

2008-09-07T12:45:00.000-07:00

First of all, I've got a few disclaimers. When I say whips, I don't mean BDSM use of whips, think more like cowboy whip-cracking fun. The second disclaimer has nothing to do with the title, as I won't explain what I mean by spatulas.... yet. The second is just a warning that this particular post will be edited quite a few times, I am sure. I've got a couple days to catch up on, and I plan on being caught up today, but I might need the input of a few people to get to where I need to be. That being said, I'll start with what I recall immediately, yesterday.

Yesterday was Saturday, and the day of a large "boutique garage sale" that Cassidy joined Arlene for. Then plan is to grab some great stuff at discount prices that can be used for modeling shots, for both Arlene and Cassidy. I don't have the details of that, but I'm going to interview Cassidy about it tonight and get her recollection of the afternoon, and maybe post some pictures of their loot too!

What I can write about without assistance, is my own recollection of the day, which I spent with Arlene's husband, Erik. I drove Cassidy and myself over to their place, where Cassidy and Arlene grabbed the respective wallets/cash of Erik and myself, and went on their merry way. Erik and I then went to the apartment, and spent a while poring over photos of the "Angels on the Runway" shoot for the heart house runway show, and discussing his various art pieces.

Erik's got some really great stuff if I do say so myself, which I don't say as a shameless plug, as much as a genuine appreciation for the work he does. (I don't have time for false pleasantries, and I don't get paid for pretending to like people's stuff either. )

There's one thing in particular he made, a piece that is a print of a picture he took of his friends, after he edited it to his liking, that looks like the whole thing was taken in the middle of a sunset. No, I don't mean bathed in the light of sunset, but more like a part OF the sunset itself, which is very striking, vibrant, and just plain neat!

No, we didn't know it yet, but it was also the day Erik's dad was coming down to bring him some stuff, namely pictures frames and a nice, big, badass drafting table. We got that set up, hung out for a bit, then went to lunch with his Dad to this great little vietnamese place, where I had some pho (Pronounced fuh), while Erik and his father had a crispy noodle dish. The place was just plain amazing. Smallish, with attentive and patient wait-staff who endured our questions with a smile about the name of the restaurant, and joked around with us a bit. Again, I'll have to grab a reference for the name of the restaurant, so expect that in a later edit, if you get to this before I'm finished.

All three of us were happy, full, and having a good time by the time we were done, despite the lunchtime mishaps we had encountered before we got there. Originally, we planned on hitting Koriente, and awesome little Korean place off of 7th and Sabine. We walk right up to the door (After some directionally challenged folks, Erik and me, giving directions) only to find, lo and behold, it's not open til 5.

Drat.

It was then that Erik decided on the other place, which ended up being a great choice. So we ate, chatted, told dirty jokes, laughed a lot and had a general great time, before heading back and saying good bye to his Dad. His brother and his girlfriend showed up just before his Dad left, and there was some computer fixing involved, then it was just me and Erik again, looking for something to do.

if you didn't remember from a last post, "Downtown Dalliance and Whiptricks, Erik cracks bullwhips for fun. He offered to show me how, so today I took him up on it. It was easier than I thought to pick up, and there's just something very satisfying about the "CRACK" noise you hear when you do it right. Imagine for me if you will, spinning around with your eyes closed, like you used to as a child to get dizzy.

Now put out your arms. Remember how you could feel the blood rush to your fingertips as your arms got heavy and carried themselves outward from your body? Now extend that feeling so you're feeling the end of the whip, where it's at, how fast it's moving, and when the right moment is to reverse the direction of it, resulting in the satisfying crack noise made by the loop you created reaching the end of it's length and breaking the sound barrier. Simple as that. Mental trigonometry of sorts is required to be able to judge the angle at which you need to do it without hurting yourself, and yes, I striped myself something fierce across the back of my leg, but other than that, no injuries from my first whip-cracking experience.

Roughly an hour of that passed before we went back in for water, and then the girls came home. (See above for a review of that experience from the girls themselves) They had bought some clothes, and ran to put them on and model for Erik and myself, wielding kitchenware like weapons as they donned their adorable aprons to pose for us. We brought out the camera of course, and got several shots of the adorable kitchen-ninjas and their antics, which ended up with all of us in front of the camera at one point, moving and laughing too much to get many clear shots easily, but somehow we managed.

Overall, the entire day was fantastic, and I plan on adding interview segments later from Cassidy, Arlene, and Erik, about the boutique, whips, and maybe some photography and fashion as well. More to come soon!

Insight on friends, and making it through the day.

2008-09-05T16:59:00.000-07:00

It's Friday.
I wasn't late to work today, since an alarm was set and Cassidy was about to coax me into moving my lazy butt, and I'm really looking forward to the end of the workday.

I was having a little bit of trouble today thinking about what to write. "Why write today, then?", i know some might say. Heck, "I" would say that if I were listening to/reading somebody say that. It was only then that I realized I've got something to write about.

Recently my life has had a lot of changes. Changes as small as new puppies. Changes as large as new jobs to do at work. Changes that when it comes down to it, are pretty much worth mentioning to anyone who will listen, so that they not only have meaning but purpose as well. Sharing something like these changes, thoughts, desires, motivations, inspirations, and the occasional recreation (Or stories thereof, I was just having fun with the... you guessed it, alliteration!) makes me think about other people, and how may, just maybe, they might find something useful in my ramblings. Perhaps they may find some way to enjoy their own life in a new way, or even just spontaneously plan a day, or an after work trip to say, "Let's go see what this guy was talking about!" and go to Mozarts, or Red Bud dog park, or any of the other places I have and surely will mention in my time on this blog.

Speaking of which, I mentioned having something to write about. There's another important fact in this whole post, and that being the all encompassing question. Why?

The main reason I am doing this, or more importantly, why I'm doing this with such regularity, is this.

"I want to do something Blog-worthy every day."

That's my mission statement of sorts, I suppose. Allow me to explain.
Have you ever been jazzed about something, (Stoked for your California types) and explained it to someone, only to have them throw a "Well that's nothing to write home about" at you? Talk about killjoy. You know what's worse? When they're RIGHT.
A lot of us, myself especially, slip into a cycle where our lives become boring. Personally, I HATE that. I pace my house, unmotivated to do anything worthwhile, even as I am bored to tears with having nothing to do. It's a vicious little circle of sorts that any reasonable individual should be able to break themselves of. I like to think of myself as one of those people, reasonable, that is. Who doesn't? It doesn't change the fact that I still do it, and find myself sitting at home on a perfectly good day ending in "Y", with nothing more interesting getting done before I wake up than watching a movie or playing a video game.

I'm done with it.
No more.
Starting with this blog, I want every day to be something not just to write "home" about, but to share with everyone who cares to chance a peek over in my little corner of the net. Who knows, maybe this'll catch on.
Gotta go for now, but I'll be back.
You can count on it.

Downtown dalliance, whip-tricks and the police.

2008-09-04T12:13:00.000-07:00

First off, yes, I know the title of this blog sounds odd.
Believe me when I say that this is for a reason. A good one even. Believe me or not, you'll really only find out if you read on, so without further ado, let me explain the happenings that prompted me to post this blog.

Picture if you will, downtown Austin, Wednesday night. It's not too busy, a few bands are rocking out in the local clubs, and four people are walking around down by Fado's Irish Pub after having some dinner. I'll further paint the picture with some descriptions, myself first. I'm about 5'9, 180 pounds, with dark brown/black hair, blue eyes, and a goatee. I consider myself fairly innocent looking, I'm no Marilyn Manson after all, out to get a shock out of people. I am however, on this particular night, wearing a black Guinness shirt, and a Kilt. (The Tartan is Black Watch, for those of you who may be familiar)

This gets comments wherever I go in it, since people are naturally curious. I've got no problems with that, but back to the topic at hand. Next person is Cassidy, my girlfriend. 5'10, dark haired, blue eyes, and very pretty. Wearing jeans and a simple shirt with straps over the shoulders, and a really neat shawl thing over it. The picture of innocence, unassuming yet stylish.

After Cassidy is Arlene, Erik's wife. Yet another pretty girl, brown hair, about 5'5, green eyes, wearing capri's, heels, and a T-Shirt. She and Erik are older than Cass and I, but hardly noticeably so, therefore so far, we're a very ordinary looking group of friends, besides the whole "Me in a kilt" thing. Now, things get to be interesting.

Erik, is Arlene's husband, which I'm sure you've figured out by now. Erik is a bit shorter than myself, with long reddish-blonde hair, and a goatee. Looks a trifle norse, even. This fellow is the one in the crowd who really stands out. he is wearing a white, vaguely western style button up shirt, with a red silk kilt with designs across it. Cowboy boots stand out below the kilt, and attached to those are a shiny set of spurs as well. Complete the outfit now with a shite western style hat with band signatures on it, and you have Eric's ensemble.
Needless to say, he stands out. A lot.
I know what you're thinking, that this may cause problems with people deciding to give us trouble for being dressed interestingly, or some awkward situation comes from it, but here the story takes a slightly different twist.

Erik is also carrying a whip. A bullwhip to be exact. The kind of bullwhip, mind you, that when cracked can be heard for several city blocks. He is standing at the corner where we are hanging out talking on some steps above him, while he is twirling it about him and tossing it about, basically performing/dancing with it, having a good time. This man, let me tell you, has the soul of a street performer. Hell, he's got the soul of a performer period. People walk past and can't take their eyes off of him, and he's ALL smiles. Occasionally he cracks the whip, when there's plenty of room nearby, and no chance of anyone getting hurt, or anything getting hit, then goes back to spinning it and being innocent and quiet.

Well, apparently he wasn't quiet enough, or somebody took it upon themselves to decide he was less than innocent.
A couple of police officers on bicycles were riding by, and slowed almost to a crawl to watch him, finally riding past without incident for about another half a block or so. *CRACK*

Yes, Erik cracks the whip. Sure enough, two police officers on bicycles turn around and take their time meandering about the street as if they're not purposely heading over for him, and comes to a stop nearby and just sit and watch, not saying anything for a few moments. For some, this would already be an awkward situation, but Erik keeps it spinning about him and dancing until one of them calls him over.

Being the gentleman that he is, he obliges with a smile, wrapping the whip up like a guitar cable, loosely and out of the way while he wanders over to have a chat. This is where things get really interesting, and we (as a group) come to a realization that is must really be a slow night for the APD. A truly, really, VERY slow night indeed.

I'll have to estimate that about 2-3 minutes into them speaking quietly with him while the girls and I sit about 20 feet away still conversing, one of the officers speaks into the mic clipped on his shirt. He's a shorter fellow, shorter than Erik and looking decidedly uncomfortable in the situation. Sure enough, a few moments later, more bicycle police show up. A commanding officer takes over the conversation from the short fellow, and asks Erik for his whip, and they continue to speak. Not five minutes later, more show up. I believe that by the time all was said and done there was a total of 6 bicycle police, and 2 cop cars gathered around while Erik conversed politely with the police. Anyone would have sworn Eric had been walking about with a Barrett .50 cal on his shoulder or something equally menacing.

So, time to find out what Erik was charged with.

"You're not allowed to do that". "You're panhandling" "You'll hurt someone" The accusations went on for a while, as Erik calmly and peacefully explained that there is NO law against cracking a whip in public, and that no, he is NOT panhandling, as nobody has been asked for money, and nobody has tried to offer him any. He has broken no laws, no ordinances, and despite one officer's comment that "Somebody complained", as a person has a right to know their accuser, the police did not have anybody or their name to back up that claim. In short, another lie.

It strikes me as odd that a fellow performing on a corner, not obstructing a path, not endangering anyone or breaking any laws takes more precedence for a city police force than watching out for the actual dangers of downtown like drunk drivers or folks who are legitimately up to no good.

I wish I had the camera with me last night, but there were no batteries for it even though we brought it, so it was essentially a paperweight. That might be for the best as police generally don't approve of their pictures being taken while they're conducting business, so I may have avoided involving myself in the "Discussion".

All that aside, we had a great time between the four of us, staying out til 3 Am or so, walking and talking and enjoying the pleasant scenery and weather in general. Can't wait to do it all again!

Erik can be found here at his blog - http://search4beauty.blogspot.com/

Go give him a visit, he's got a lot of great stuff to say. As for me, I'll get back to work here in just a minute, and figure out what I'll do tonight, so I have something blog-worthy to share. Enjoy!
-O'Riley

An Evening at Mozart's Coffee shop

2008-09-02T20:37:00.000-07:00

It's Tuesday, September 2nd.

Work was over at 7:30, and I got home to my girlfriend, and three puppies whose only joy in life at that particular moment was doing their best to leap up and trample me where I stood. Honestly, I can't say I mind. There's nothing quite like coming home from a slightly stressful day to find four people/animals who are absolutely thrilled to pieces to see you. You should try it sometime!

At any rate, on to the good stuff. Mozart's. Located all the way down famous 6th street, keep going until it turns into a road called Lake Austin Blvd. You'll pass the Loop 1 (Mopac hwy) and keep traveling on just past the dam. It's on the left, in an area called "Oyster Landing". It's has dock-style patio deck the size of a large parking lot for seating, and a lot of great features about it. I'll go into a little detail about them now.

1.) Free Wi-Fi. I'm on my girlfriend, Cassidy's Mac. Lil white iBook G4, free internet access, and a convenient outlet to plug into. Perfect so far, and here I am sitting while Cassidy draws. The lighting outside is decent (A few lights are out) and I've got plenty of space of the picnic table seating. So, we arrived, I sat, powered up, and lo and behold... 169.xxx.xxx.xxx IP address! (Those of you who do tech support know...) Oh noes! The only real viable way to fix this situation is to reset your modem/router or both. Obviously, I'm on a private computer in a public location with hardware that is NOT mine to play with. Luckily, Cassidy went to the folks who run the place and asked about it, and they volunteered to reset it, since everybody else was having the same issue. (It usually happens that way with "169 issues") So, KUDOS to Mozart's for a quick, easy, and painless fix to what may have prevented me from posting. (A good or bad thing depending on how much you like/hate my writing! )

On to the next topic!

2.) Food/Drinks! - First, food. Cassidy was really looking forward to one of the "Cup of parfait" style desserts they serve, but alas, none were to be found in the new glass fridge-displays they have, and upon asking, it turns out they simply sell out far too fast to get one at 10:00 at night. Even on a Tuesday. The price for the smallish slice of cheesecake she got was a decent , $3.40 and for like I said, a smallish slice. MY iced coffee was a far better deal, at $3.10 for an unlimited refills cup. That price goes for hot OR cold, so you can get the same great deal in any season, and it beats the hell out of Starbucks and the like. I think we can all agree on that one.

Now that we've gone over price, we'll hit quality. The desserts are really tasty, even for the price. Cassidy had cheesecake with fruit topping, fresh strawberries and blueberries, and yes, I mean Fresh. (Complete with Captial "F"). Add a little drizzle of white chocolate on top and some white chocolate shavings on the side completed the decadent treat, and it earned the approval of Cassidy, which says something. She is fairly picky about things like dessert, which is good. Keeps us enjoying our meals as we don't repeat mistake meals!

3.) Atmosphere - Picture lots and lots of 2x4 wood planking. Sturdy, well built decks stretching out over the water at the top end of the dam, with a covered boat docking section just off to the side, under a clear Texas night sky. Now add some light music playing over inside speakers, the quiet chatter of other coffee-goers interspersed with the occasional bout of raucous laughter, and you've got a quiet Tuesday night at Mozart's. As always, weather is subject to the finicky state of Texas's mood, but there's covered outdoor seating as well, in addition to the standard indoor seating which is very spacious and has great big windows all throughout.

Overall, this is one of my very favorite places in Austin, and I bring all my new-to-Austin friends here to check it out. I made some of my first friends in Austin, here as well. As much as I love those memories, they're not enough to make me come back to a place time and time again, but Mozart's in and of itself is reason enough, hence why I'm here tonight.

Oh, let's not forget one important thing! Rowan is here with us too! Rowan is our beautiful 80 pound Rottweiller puppy (16 months old) and dogs are welcome here on the deck, so we make a point to bring her every time we go. Also, remember the dam I mentioned that this place sits near the top of? At the bottom of it, just on the other side of the road that crosses in front of it on the low end, is a small island. It's called Red Bud island, for the road it's on, called (You guessed it) Red Bud. That island is a leash-free dog park!

Overall, yet another one of my dog friendly Austin, favorite places.

So, here I am, about to go get myself a refill on my iced coffee, and debating on making myself a podcast/video here to put up, so assuming I can get it to work, enjoy!

(Edit: The lighting is lousy outside for the iSight camera to work, so I'll see what I can do in a bit, maybe grab a spot inside in a while)
-Chris O'Riley

September 1st, 2008 - Labor Day!

2008-09-01T22:01:00.000-07:00

It's a Monday.

I'll admit, I've got a touch of Garfield's syndrome when it comes to Mondays, and I'm not ashamed to say so. Coming off of a great weekend, relaxing after having lots of fun, there's nothing more dismal than the thought of waking up and going back to the grind, whatever your particular "grind" is, even if you like your job.

(Some people may disagree with above statement, that's cool, I'm just generalizing and you know it *grin*)

This Monday however, was different.

Wake up.... stretch lazily across the bed, lounge about for a bit, and then let the puppies (The two 10 pound ones AND the 80 pound one) onto the bed to play and cuddle. Somehow I ended up with 80 pound Rowan snoring under one arm, and my cat curled under the other, both content and snoozing away while I just relaxed and dozed in and out of sleep like that for a bit.

Now THAT, is a way to start the day, but I digress.

At about noon Cassidy and I had picked up a little around the house (I mostly minded the animals, cassidy did most of the cleaning, bless her) and decided it was time to hit the dog park. Red Bud dog park, specifically. The pups are still too young to go (Only b/c they haven't had all their vaccinations yet) so they got to stay home and entertain themselves today.

I called a few people, and Chelsea was able to make it down with her dog, Riley, which was great. Rowan and Riley get along marvelously with one another. It's rather impressive for Riley to be doing so well as she is a rescue, and was VERY shy at first, and none too confident around Rowan when they first met.

Cassidy, Chelsea, and I ran around and watched the dogs swim, talked to dog owners, played with their dogs, and had a general good time for several hours at the park. The day was crystal clear weather with a few puffy white clouds, with a beautiful breeze blowing through that upgraded the forecast from pretty to perfect!

Rowan swam quite a lot while Riley mostly waded, and I took a LOT of pictures while Cassidy played in the water with Rowan and Riley. I'm posting them to Flickr and hoping it doesn't bomb out on me like it did with my last attempt at uploading. This time i won't also try to upload a video to here at the same time... oops.

Red Bud dog park is hands down one of my favorite places in Austin. Almost everybody there is friendly and has friendly animals, and those whose animals aren't too friendly around other dogs/people and normally very conscious of the fact and take measures to ensure everyone's safety. After all, the only way to make a non-social dog social, is to expose them to situations with other dogs and praise them for their good behavior!

Once we were done playing, it was definitely time for some food. We were all hungry, and wanting to go somewhere fairly close, so we headed over the the "Flying Saucer". I wrote a bit about it in a previous post, but I'll state again here that it is Great! (Yes, complete with a capital "G") Cass and I shared a Chicken Caesar Salad wrap, and Chelsea had a Balsamic Chicken Salad or something, which apparently was pretty good too.

A couple gallons of water, a couple french fries (No I will not call them freedom fries... ever) and some chips & queso later we headed to let Rowan use the doggie facilities, only to find a special place JUST for that. The Triangle is a restaurant area/housing area in one, complete with a dog field stocked with poop-scoop bags and a little cement area with a button by it. "Push for fountain" it reads. *Push* is just what I do, and jets start shooting out of the ground, which Rowan goes absolutely berserk for!

We play at home with her and the hose, and she LOVES attacking the water. With 6 upward spouts and three slanted jets firing off water at different intervals, she was out of her mind with excitement trying to get them all, and I held on to the leash just in case anyone wanted to cause issues with a big dog off the leash, resulting in some difficult maneuvering for me. Despite my best efforts, I got shot directly in the back with a stream of water, which was actually rather refreshing, and REALLY funny. We must have stayed there for 20 minutes or so before we finally dragged Rowan off, which was difficult to say the least. A true waterdog indeed!

From there after a few calls, we decided to hit the "Drag", which is a long section of Guadalupe st. right across from the U.T. campus with lots of shops and other cool stuff for some shopping and to meet up with buddies. First to meet up was Keith and his wife, then Rod and his girlfriend, Allyson. (Both from Dallas) We hit up Coco's for some bubbletea/coffee drinks, then when Keith and his wife left to go take care of homework the rest of us continued up the drag to go check out some vintage stores and the like.

I walked the dog while the girls and Rod went in, when much to my surprise they waved me in too, complete with dog. 80 Pound rottweiller dog, mind you. The staff came up and greeted Rowan, and everyone remarked on how pretty she is (She's got to have an Ego the size of mine now!) and petted her while she was there, while she behaved like a perfect lady out on a shopping trip the entire time!

I'll need to look up the name of this place to give them some major props for being super dog and people friendly, which brings me to my next point. The next stop was Buffalo Exchange. Again, I waited outside. I have NO issue with this at all, since I KNOW I brought the dog, and most places aren't made for dogs. I've come to grips with that, and I'm perfectly happy outside with Rowan, chatting up strangers and convincing folks she won't eat them so she can get some lovin!

Buffalo Exchange, you rock! Yet again, I get waved in, with one condition! "You have to bring her to see US too! " is the comment from one counter of girls who "Ooh" and "Aah" over the cute gigantic puppy when I bring her in, and give her the obligatory lovin she adores getting.

Sidenote: Rowan LOVES women. If I were ever single, I would take her out with me anytime I wanted to score a date. Hands down, chicks dig the cute dog. (Of course, the date's stipulations would involve including Rowan and dinner and the romantic walk later, but I'd be flexible!)

We spent HOURS in there, looking at al the clothes and accessories, and met up with another of Rod and Allyson's friends, Brittany. She's a cute redhead (My Kryptonite, redheads!) who also loved Rowan, and was promptly deemed my "2nd girlfriend" because of how helpful I was out of common courtesy when she had too much stuff to carry and I decided to help out.

And here I was not even trying! :)

At any rate, we had a total blast the entire time, the staff was VERY friendly and attentive to Rowan which was fantastic, and the whole atmosphere was really cool. Again and again this town surprises me, in great ways each time. I'm posting pictures to Flickr, which I'm adding a gadget to the blog here to scroll through those, so people can see just how beautiful it is for a start, but you've GOT to come experience it to not only get the full effect, but to be able to believe what I'm saying.

So, back on topic. A decent walk back to the cars, a pile-in to Cassidy's car to get the rest to theirs, a couple hugs and goodbyes later, Rod, Allyson, and Brittany began the long drive back to the Dallas area. We had a lot of fun, and miss them already, but it's been decided that we'll be doing this again, which I'm really looking forward to, and I know Cassidy is too!

We got home with an EXHAUSTED Rowan, only to let the puppies in and discover they were SO happy to see us they couldn't stand properly with their little tails going like helicopter blades! Sickeningly cute. Seriously.

We played with them and tired them out, and now here I sit trying to cram and entire day of thoughts and experiences and fun into one condensed post... and here it is overflowing like too much rice in the boiling pot.

If you've read this far, reader I commend you! And with that, I'm posting some pictures, and I'll update again tomorrow or sometime soon with more adventures or general ranting! Good night for now!

Rowan "Can we go yet!" (or loldog reference, "Invisible Chin-up bar")

Cassidy and I at Red Bud dog park.

Cassidy and Chelsea at Red Bud dog park.

The "Other Girls", Rowan and Riley

What you see when leaving the "Flying Saucer"

And on that note, Good Night!

Labor Day Lunch Fountain Video

2008-09-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

Rowan and I decided to go play in a fountain by a dog park in the "Triangle", where the Flying Saucer was located. Watch at about the 30-35 second mark to see me fail at dodging a blast of water that gets me square in the back!

(Had to upload video via youtube. Check elsewhere on page!)

Labor Day Lunch & Play

2008-09-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

Here is the park where we played in the fountain.

Here is the name of said place where we played.

The cross-streets of where we were at.

Us in mid-play.

"Can we go again!?" (Actually taken before, but you get the idea)

Needless to say, I highly recommend heading over to the "Flying Saucer" for a quick lunch, a beer (A choice out of some 200 or so really isn't bad...), and some first class dog friendly service! We'll definitely be back, so long as it's before 9Pm. They close the restaurant at that point to anyone under 21, as if it were a bar at that point, so you can't even eat on the deck with your dog without ID after that time. Just a heads up for anyone out for a late-night snack who's under 21!

Pictures from Batfest

2008-08-31T09:28:00.000-07:00

Figured I needed some pictures of batfest up, so here you go. I only got a few, since I only had my cameraphone on me, but these will give you a couple glimpses, starting with a view of the 1st street bridge, totally blocked off for the festival.

Next, here on the "Robin" stage is the band who was playing when we showed up, a very cool "Muse meets Avenged Sevenfold" kind of sound.

Last, the end of the night's "Bat costume contest", with the winner of the grown-up costume contest, the girl in the glasses got the $100 prize. Not bad!

I'll definitely be going back next year!

Sunday, August 31st + Filler content

2008-08-31T08:33:00.000-07:00

Woke up late today.

By choice of course, as it IS Sunday, and Cass and I spent the majority of yesterday unloading those clay molds, and then walking around Austin Tx's "Batfest", a local celebration of all things batty. For those of you who weren't aware, we have the largest urban bat colony in the world under our Congress street bridge during "bat season" in the warm months, and every night people gather to watch them fly out in black cloud-like flurries to go eat several tons of insects around the river area.

I got some pictures of the batfest, and the local area around it to give non-Austinites a feel for the flavor of Austin, and I'll include in this post some shots Cassidy took of the Austin skyline at night. I think you'll like them!

First, some details about the batfest. Admission was $5, and it spanned the length of the first street bridge, which was totally closed off to traffic, and was jam packed full of food, novelties, artists, and games, with two stages. The stages, "batman" and "robin" were at either end, and featured lots of local talent, the names of which I'll have to look up.

The food, as with any street faire, was high priced but classic Texan faire. Brisket, roasted corn, sausage, Lemonade, and of course, more beer than you could shake a bat-on-a-stick at.

Glass blowers, glass fusers, jewelers, metalworkers, painters, bead workers, wood/antler carvers, and yes, Dish network was there too. If you've never been to a street faire, you've really got to see it. It's incredible how much stuff you can pack into the space of one bridge, and how friendly and fun the atmosphere is.

We went back for our dog, Rowan after we saw how many people had our dogs, since we'd already bought our wristbands, we could just walk right back in. Little did we know, we were going to get stopped on our way in. "Did they let you guys in at the other side?" we were asked, much to my surprise. I stopped to give the guy an incredulous look, as if to say "What, do I have a Velociraptor on this leash? " But I was quiet for a moment, and let him come to his own conclusions.

The fellow said "Well I guess it's fine if they let you in on the other side, but we normally don't let aggressive breeds in, safety you know. " yet he didn't really sound convinced of this, and confessed "I actually had a rottweiller, they're great dogs. I've got no issue with you bringing her in, but you know how it is."

Apparently management has asked them not to let aggressive breeds in.

If there's one thing I hate more than people that don't use their turn signal when getting into my lane, or any lane for that matter, it's breedism. The doggie equivalent of judging somebody by their skin color, hair color, clothing choice, or tattoos. (Or piercings, or any other number of "Not the norm" descriptions) Drives me... well, batty. (Sorry, pun intended) They said nothing about the Doberman we had seen earlier, or the fact that more people get bitten by chihuahuas and the like (A LOT more) than by large breed dogs. it's just that, if your chihuahua bites Johnny, Johnny gets a band-aid. If my rottweiller decides Johnny needs to be bit, well, he's going to the E.R. so it's not like it's a question of which dog is more dangerous, but the "Aggressive breed" bit, well... if they want to stop people with certain breeds of dog coming in based on "Aggression" then they'd better have someone who can judge the temperament of people too, to make sure "Dangerous types" can't come in, or just test the dog.

All that ranting aside, we had a really good time. We made some new friends with a Weimerainer mix who we'll go to the dog park with sometime soon, and lots and lots of people who came up and played with Rowan (Our Rottie) which was nice.

Batfest gets an overall "Thumbs up" from me as a very cool local Austin event.

It even had a "bat costume contest" which I got a couple of pictures of, but they're only 2 megapixel cameraphone pictures, so don't expect much from this batch of photographs. I'll bring a proper camera next time I go out.

Til then, enjoy the pictures!

Post # 1, August 30th, 2008

2008-08-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

Today started off just like any other day lately. Puppies stomping all over my face and trying to lick me to death. Not a bad start to the day.

Busy, but not bad.

Today Cassidy and I headed out to pick up some molds used in claywork, from a place down where we got our puppies a few weeks ago. (Pictures soon to come)

Little did we know we got in a bit over our heads, as there were a LOT of these things, and they were BIG. Not too heavy, and didn't cost a thing but they took a bit more work than I had bargained on when I got up this morning.

We brought the puppies with us, and I left the truck running with the ac on for them, and they went right to sleep as we worked. Nothing more peaceful than sleeping puppies. Some would argue that sleeping cats are more peaceful, but a sleeping cat isn't really sleeping... it's waiting.

So, here I am with the sound of the frying pan from across the house inducing a very Pavlovian drool reaction in me, and typing away while Cassidy experiments in the kitchen with some battered chicken for lunch. Frankly, I'm excited. She's discovered her liking for the kitchen and it's wonders within, and surprisingly, has a talent for it.

Okay, so it's not THAT surprising. She's good at lots of stuff. Hopefully this lunch is just another little notch in her belt of things she's good at.

Suppose I'll follow up later!

-4:53 Pm "Lunch"