Chris and I went up to Austin yesterday just to do something different and get away from the Alamo. As most of you know, Austin, Texas has evolved into one of the hippest places in the country over the years. It's the self-proclaimed, "Live Music Capital of the World." It may be true. SXSW and the Austin City Limits music festival are there each year -- that's a pretty good start.
There isn't much going on in Austin on Friday afternoons. I'm sure into the evening, things pick up, but we weren't there for that. We walked by Emo's and Stubb's to see if any good bands were playing later that night, but we didn't really see anything interesting. I was, however, accosted (is that too strong a word?) by a supposed drifter.
Chris and I stopped on a corner to wait for the walk signal, and this fella who seemed kind of homeless (he had a good sun tan), started playing air guitar and singing. He started talking to us, and where could we go? The signal said "DON't WALK"!! Then, sure, Chris' phone rang. He did what anyone would do, he answered it. That left me all alone with this dude. He said he'd been drunk for two days. "Not today, but yesterday." He claimed to be a Marine, or an ex-Marine, I don't remember. He showed me some battle scars on his arms (no, not from needles). He said he was about to catch a Greyhound (remind me never to ride a Greyhound, ever) and needed another $3. "A cop already gave me $5." I thought to myself, "yeah, I bet he did. The only five he gave you was in seconds. As in, 'you got 5 seconds to get the hell out of here.'")
He then went on to try and prove that he wasn't homeless and wasn't going to use the money for booze. Mind you, he didn't say any of that. What he did say was, "look at my shoes, these are $200 leather shoes." I looked down, they did look nice. They looked kind of new, too. He said, "look at my shirt, this is a nice shirt." And it was. Nice being that it was new. I could tell because black tshirts can look old pretty quick. It looked as tho he had just pulled it right from the rack. I did notice he had a Sharpie marker clipped on the inside of his collar. I suppose that's a tool he needs when he partakes in arts & crafts and makes his "homeless" signs. This wasn't making sense to me. He had on a new shirt, new leather shoes, could afford to own an air guitar and also pay for the licensing fees to sing a classic rock song in public, but he had a marker for a "homeless" sign and needed $3 for the Greyhound. See, confusing, right?
Anyways, I claimed I had just used all my money to pay for parking. Which technically wasn't true. Chris did. But, I didn't think he accepted Visa, so that's all I could think to say. By the way, Chris is still on the phone at this point. He finally pulled me away and we went in another direction at the next intersection.
During all of this, I got the second compliment in as many weeks about how blue my eyes are. One from a front desk clerk girl at a hotel in Tucson, AZ, and now from a supposed homeless guy in Austin, TX. Before that, it'd been many months, maybe more than a year since someone complimented my eyes. I don't blame them, my eyes are very blue, and deep like the ocean. You should look sometime.
After we got rid of this guy, we went to a pub and got some beer. And Irish nachos. I don't know what made them Irish. Maybe the green jalapeños. Then we walked 8 blocks to the best record store in Austin, Waterloo. It was pretty great. They have listening stations with iPods in them. The iPods then have the 6-8 albums on them at that kiosk. Very cool. Chris bought an Elliott Smith tee. I bought a Waterloo Records tee (it will be cool to wear NOT in Texas) and a black tee that simply says "CASH" on it in block lettering. I've wanted that t-shirt for a couple years, but I didn't want to appear on the "Johnny Cash is dead so now it's cool to listen to him" trendy bandwagon thing. Now that that's over, I feel it okay to wear.
Our plan was to check out Will Ferrell's new movie, "Blades of Glory" at the Alamo Drafthouse (they serve you beer and you can order from a menu!) but it was sold out all night. We decided to just head back to San Antonio early and hit up the theatre there...we really were set on seeing that movie. We ended up buying tickets for the 1015 showing. We had 2+ more hours to kill.
I haven't been to Pei Wei (asian kitchin) for awhile, so yeah!! After we sat down and began eating, two girls came by, each put their fortune from their fortune cookies on our table, say "here!" and leave. Well, there were phone numbers and MySpace addresses written on them. I looked over towards the door as they were leaving and one of the girls was looking back, smiling. Chris and I were both like.."what the..."
Turns out one of them is 16 and the other is 18.
"Blades of Glory" was silly, ridiculous, but extremely funny. Not Ferrell's best, but definitely worth seeing.
It was a fun day. I'm going to miss hanging out with that guy. California is calling. I am moving outta Texas six weeks from tomorrow.
Austin, TX...
I Finally Figured Out How to Honk My Horn
You'd think after having my car for four years, I would know how to honk the horn correctly. Well, I've always had a hard time finding the "sweet spot." Sometimes I feel like I'm about to sprain a finger after pushing the center of the steering wheel in feverish haste.
The other day, I inadvertently figured out where the horn likes to be pushed. I guess I was resting my hand on the steering wheel in a new and interesting way -- a way I'd never rested it before. I was sort of pushing a little bit, I guess, and the horn honked. It half scared me, I wasn't expecting it.
I always thought it should be easier to honk the horn in my car. At times I've even thought that since it was so hard to push that it might get stuck and my horn would be blaring until it wore out or something (there must be a fuse that can be removed?). Well, never fear. After hours upon hours of my fondling of the steering wheel, I found out how to use it in a different way.
The moral of the story is, just when you think you know, you really have no idea. This applies to more than just car horns. Yes.
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I just watched an old film for the first time ever, a classic. Kudos to anyone who can identify this line: "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she had to walk into mine."
I love cheese.
Hacked Again
I woke up this morning to 46 new comments on my blog. Of course, they were all about wee-wee biggification. I don't understand this. Does someone actually see this spam and think, "oh, that sounds great! if it weren't for the spam in this comment I may have never thought of this!"
So now, if you want to post a comment, you need to verify you are a person. You'll see when you try it. It will ask you to enter a random alpha-numeric combination. It's one more step, but alas, it's necessary.
NCAA Tournament; Sports in General
When I was a kid, specifically ages 12-16, I was way into sports. Watching sports, that is.
Almost anytime there was a live event on ESPN, ESPN2 (back when they called it "the deuce" and the "ESPN" was "espn2" and all xtreme sport-y), or basically any other network, I would be watching it. I stuck mainly to the four major pro sports and college sports. I knew everything about every player. I knew the names of all the stadiums and arenas they played in. It was really a lot of fun.
I remember coming home from playing baseball in 7th and 8th grade and watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the unfinished basement, in an old blue chair (probably from when my parents got married), in the dark. It was great.
I reminisce about this now as if it were something I will never have again. And that may be true.
As many of you know, the NCAA basketball tournament commenced last week. Some of you may know it as "The Big Dance" or "The Road to the Final Four." In the past, I would make it a goal to watch every single game that was televised. This often meant 3-4 games from when I got home from school to when I went to bed. On the weekends it was even more. I lived for it. As the great Dick Vitale says, "It was awesome, baby!" And it was.
I find it kind of sad that I can't reclaim that awesomeness anymore. I still enjoy watching sports, but since I don't watch very much, I don't know hardly any of the players, which makes it less enjoyable, which makes me want to watch it less. See how that works? It takes a lot of time and devotion to be into sports. Quite frankly, as I've grown up and really found out what it is that I like, music and film/TV have become more important ways for me to spend my leisure time.
I'd rather watch marathons of "Six Feet Under" or "24" than spend three hours watching a football game. It just seems like I get more out of it. I wish I could have it both ways. I wish I could relive a part of those innocent times, or at least escape to them from time to time. I don't see it happening.
One thing I look forward to doing now that was unrealistic back then, is to get season tickets to some pro sports team, preferably baseball. That's 81 home games for all of you keeping track. I think that would be the ultimate.
One thing I plan on continuing into my mid-middle age is to watch playoffs and championships and all that. So, we'll exclude the NCAA tournament, because that's just overkill for me. Bring on the NBA Finals, baby!!
Mission: Get a Job, Day 8
Okay, so this is going to be my last daily, consecutive type post about getting a job. I will keep the day count going until I've accepted an offer, but I'm not going to post about it every day. There's no need to.
I left Tucson, AZ at 615AM PDT today and was back in San Antonio by 815PM CDT. Right on. It went by quick for the most part. I had a couple hours in the middle of the afternoon where I was totally spacing out. A Dew and some peanuts fixed that. I don't even want to total up my receipts for the trip. Ugh. At least I can - I think - write everything off for my 2007 taxes cause it was job related. I'll have to see.
Mable is a few hundred miles shy of the 280,000 mark. I don't know how she does it! I think she's officially entered her "Golden Years." She's had so many miles on the road, that now she just does it for the pure enjoyment of it. Sure, she's got some "arthritis" and other old age kind of stuff nagging her, but overall, she can still keep up with the best of 'em. Now, let's just hope she can pull a small U-Haul trailer behind her in a couple of months (she did it the summer of 2004 just fine).
I synced my iPod for the first time in a week...I listened to over 400 songs on it since I left for California last Saturday.Not bad. 151 just today. That's a lot.
Next up is making some follow-up calls to all the people I interviewed with this past week. I'm hoping to get some more offers so I can really pick what I want. Hoping.
Mission: Get a Job, Day 6
I'm getting tired of doing these video monoblogues (I think I just coined a new term), so I'm pretty sure you're tired of watching them. I think I will reserve them for the more exciting things. I don't need to make a video to tell you how I had another interview today, and that I can't give you specifics, and all of that stuff.
It's been a pretty cool week. Going into it, I would have never thought I would get through it. But I have, tomorrow morning is my last one. I'm excited for it to be over, and I'm excited to see what's next. One things for sure, now I know how to conduct my future job searches, but I hope one won't need to be done for years. It's kind of exciting, but also a lot of work. Interviewing is draining. I've actually enjoyed the process, though. I wasn't even really nervous this morning, what's up with that? Shouldn't I be?
Being in Orange County all by my lonesome has been fun. I'm so familiar with the area that I can get around pretty well. I know where I like to go to eat, I know how to get everywhere I need to, and I know how to drive in the notorious L.A. traffic. Sure, it stinks when it's gridlocked, but it sure is fun when it's wide open and there's eight lanes to pretty much go as fast as you want to (and still get passed). It feels like a race car game or something. Love it.
I'm going to be realistic here and realize that there is a possibility that I won't get a job I want right now. If that happens, I do have a couple of other options, but I'm not really going to talk about them yet, because I'm hoping they won't need to be implemented.
I can't take another week of two-a-days.
Tomorrow night, I'll be in Tucson, AZ again. See you then.
Mission: Get a Job, Day 5
Again, too tired to be on teevee. I'd actually rather it be finals week or something. This interviewing stuff is draining me. And I only had one today!! The accounting firm I interviewed with today was amazing. I'm really excited to see what comes of all of this in the next couple weeks!!
Since my dream of living in California began to develop back in 2003, it's hard to believe I'm finally making it a reality. I mean, I'm staying 2 blocks away from Disneyland, the street is lined with huge palm trees, the weather is perfect, and I am loving every minute of it.
The line at Subway last night at 830 took 30 minutes to get through. It's right by Disneyland, so..you know...stupid tourists. Oh wait, I can't say that yet. :)
One more interview tomorrow and one more Friday, then I'm outtie. It's cruising. As much as I'm enjoying myself, it'll be nice to get back to some normalcy.
Mission: Get a Job, Day 3
I'm going to just do a normal old blog tonight. I'm way too tired to appear on tv right now. This daylight savings is killing me!
I had the first two of eight interviews today. They both went really well. One may not be a reality until after May. The other offered me a position already. I have until March 23rd to make a decision.
That certainly takes the pressure off of the rest of the week. Of course, I could just blow off the other six, but I think it's in my best interest to see what else is being offered out there.
I thought I'd have plenty of time to bust out some homework this week, but it already looks like I won't get to most of it. If every day goes by like today, all of my homework will have to be crammed into about two days right before class starts up again. Alright!!
This job hunting stuff is a full-time job.
Another Road Trip
It's 5:42AM on March the 10th. I'm just about to get in my car Mable and head out West. You see, I have eight job interviews this week over my spring break, It's beyond my wildest expectations.
My goal is to drive 12 hours to Tucson, AZ today. I plan on making video documentation of my trip.
I will see y'all in Arizona.
Time To Move
Besides the fact that this semester, my final semester, is winding down, my household items I purchased when I moved in two years ago are showing their eagerness to move, too.
My $9.99 Wal-Mart lamp is starting to flicker. And it's not the lightbulb. The switch is wearing out.
My Honeywell fan that I bought to drown out all the roommate noise is starting to make sounds when I turn it on, and they don't go away for about 10 minutes.
Little do the lamp and the fan know that their new home won't fix their ailments. I haven't told them they will probably both be replaced in the near future.
Wal-Mart lamp and Honeywell fan
2005-2007
Making the Switch
After several years blogging with WordPress, I am switching back to Blogger. Google owns it now, so maybe they have big things intended for it. I was just getting tired of all the spam posted in my comments. I have over 70,000 comments for sex stuff, casinos, and home mortgages. I don't want those types of comments. I want comments from people I know!!
So here goes. This is a test run for now. There's no way to import my 600+ posts from WordPress, so I'm not sure what I'll do about that yet. I have to save them somehow. It's a part of my life.
