Well the Race is On and Here Comes Pride in the Backstretch, Heartache's goin' to the Inside

Cruel and unusual torture, that's what it is. Going out to the pool where everyone has a swimmers body, hey nice back, hey nice legs, hey nice this and that. What can you say about me, ummm, nice belly sucka! Why hang your pride out there? Shit I guess its all about personal growth, turning your weaknesses into strengths and all that jazz.

Robert doesn't know how to swim, Queen Bee doesn't know how to swim, so Ashley and Sara are going to attempt to teach us how to be like a fish. Big Stacy, Austin's heated outdoor pool situated near Oltorf is the place for the magic to happen, we get there, there's all these professional lanes and such, yea, I'm going to get in this Olympic looking swimming pool and bounce around in the water playing with my rubber ducky, pfft! So, we get stage fright and not go near the water.

Instead we do what I do best, which is eat. H@i Ky is the place, east Oltorf is the location, great place, all things good. We've decided to kick up the gourmet eating club, inviting anyone who wants to come out once a week to eat at a different restaurant until we don't have one left uncovered in the entire city. H@i Ky gets two thumbs way up from me for quality of food, service and a badass selection and a quaint environment.

Our new plan of attack for getting our swimming lessons on is to go at 7 am in the morning, when the polite lifeguard said there aren't nearly as many people. Wish me luck, I still gag at the thought of swallowing some of that chlorine filled water. Excuses, Excuses, Excuses --

A Thousand Thundering Thrills Await Me, Facing Insurmontable Odds Gratefully

Holy shit, tonight I take a page out of Gumps book as he runs thru the desert, you know the part where he talks about the beautiful sunset.

Bob and I en-route to Saengerhalle spot a brilliant sunset, overlooking the fields of corn in New Braunfels surprisingly growing near I35. A picture simply doesn't do it justice.

As for the Bike ride, I rode a small chick bike, Bob had the regular bike. Bob did great (round of applause), no huffing and puffing and intense sweat dripping from his brow, nor the pit stop at a random bench on the drag this time around.

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"I had an epiphany a few years ago where I was out at a celebrity party and it suddenly dawned on me that I had yet to meet a celebrity who is as smart and interesting as any of my friends."
- Moby

It Takes a Worried Man, You Know, to Sing a Worried Song

Once upon a time there lived an OX, a beast, a butterfly, a queen bee and a dog. While Queen Bee works, the OX and the beast attend to the overhead of life. We make not just a target run, but a Greatland Target run.

Here, the list of items to pick up at target, one on the list being 'Target Girls.' Has anyone ever noticed there is about 5 million good looking female in target at once?

Later Jenny K, the Beast and I head to Town Lake for the long walk. There's the city behind us, as we are close to mopac and the park.

The Beast calls me an OX, and I'm going to take the opportunity to call him a skinny bitch. Put some meat on them bones boy! Yea the beanpole is standing on Lamar's walking bridge. Mr Beanpole, might I suggest a peck workout, now on hot or not dot com, come on give him a 10.

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"If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties."
- Sir Francis Bacon

"There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening." - Marshall McLuhan

Google Quotes on a custom homepage are the shizzle!

Come the Rainy Season, Surrender to Our Treasons, Can We Even Find Our Tears

A lovely sunny Saturday with the family in Shiner. We watched a bit of a Talking Heads DVD, I had to explain to my family what speed was, and what I believe to be the effects on the human body, well just check out David Byrn in the DVD. After that, The Eagles live in Australia was good family fun, especially 'Ordinary Average Guy' by Joe Walsh. Also the new Rolling Stones album is pretty decent, my brother Gery spun the new Tesla for me, not as good as their 80's efforts, VERY cheesy lyrics, but nevertheless excellent guitar work. Someone please kill the brotha who made and R and B version of 'More Than Words' too.

The floor is beautiful, the paint is wonderful, and the acoustics in this room are fantastic. It's great a great 'study room.' Studying, its stupid.

Main Bar, Moulton Texas, I saw this contraption, asked the barkeep what it was. He said it's a candle that doesn't burn, b/c the film from candles sticks to the top of your ceiling. Meanwhile, little attention was paid to the 20 or so smokers in the building and their cigs that were more than likely sticking to the ceiling.

My wonderful mother gave me 100 bucks for Christmas, and next post you'll see from Shiner is with my OX ass in a hammock.

Strangers Passing in the Street by Chance Two Separate Glances Meet

Damn, hard night's geekin. I consolidated my 'buckleyrules' ISP with my 'divineguitar' ISP tonight and found a killer 'temp' folder with some goodies in there, decided since I live a boring life, time to dig into the archives. First is an avi of the beast singing wicked game circa 1998. Check out the close-up on his face. In no particular order, the pics from the dead, finding a new home on the blog.

Robert and the Beast and others near skinny dippin' in Green Dickson Park circa 1998. I was bald back then, and yes I'm white as the dickens. Big time farmers tan. Not like we were swimmin' or in my case bottom jumping since I can't swim next to big ass nutria(which are big ass rats for people who don't follow the link) or anything.

The beast doing his grassroots thing on a vicious ATX, HTX, ATX, night full of instant tea. 104 in the Oldsmobile, no AC.

My friend Walker and I. Computer guru, a big man and a big heart. He even went canepole jumping with me once. We both liked the rentals song, 'the systems fail, all the circuits blown, and the message lost in this machine,' it was us, back in the day that had to find the message.

Dustin grazing amongst the cows. Yes that's his head sticking thru barbed wire, and yes that is hay in his mouth, and yes those are REAL cows behind him. It's wonderful to have friends that are up for a laugh like that.

The beast challanging D-Dog from Moulton to a game of one on one. Garaputo beat the beast that day, but the beast would come back another day for a rematch. One day that dude nearly killed me for tickling him.

The beast doing his best imitation of roadkill. It was actually effective enough for buzzards to start hovering over us. I think one of those buzzardheads even pecked the beast on the ass that day.

This is a tongue, a long tongue, one that can rival Gene Simmons of Kiss. This tongue belongs to the Poosman, or Papasan Pustka, my roomate and great friend my senior year at Bobcatland. Sorry ladies he's married

Jorge, Rolando, and I, Advanced systems 2000, stuck on a project, some hard shit, at least seemed hard for our tender college brains. Stressed out one night, working on presentation, 4 of us in the group decided to shave our heads. They couldn't wait till their shit grew back, and as friends who know me now, I'm still bald. Fuck I hate being compared to 'Bruce Willis' though.

Manuelabor and I on some big mountain in Italy, out of breath, walking around randomly, recall Macy Gray's 'I Try' playing up there for all the hikers. Can't get the picture of the nun singing 'Climb Every Mountain' out of my head when I see these sorts of pictures.

The Beast and I in the London Eye lookin' mighty fly.

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"My family is really boring. They have a coffee
table book called 'Pictures We Took Just to Use Up
the Rest of the Film.'"
- Penelope Lombard

Highway to the Danger Zone

Pick a random road on the east side, and you're sure to peddle the bike fast. Why is it that East Sides of cities are always the raunchy side? You'd be surprised at the amount of fast food places you'd see, especially chicken places.

Dan and Fran, Dan and Fran were once married, held the hamburger cartel under Dan's, when they divorced, half went to Dan, half went to Fran. Same badass burgers, just different names.

Austin's version of spaghetti junction, not as healty of a plate of roads as Houston, but probably as vast as the original in Birmingham, England. The 290 / I35 interchange is the highest in Austin by 3 feet, just edging the 183 / I35 interchange.

Finally, the 'news' place. If you haven't been in one of these which seem to be all around the country, they have a few Newsweek's out, and the 'special' large backroom has the rest of the goodies. Come on, what a cover, we know it's not about the news!?

I am getting some utility out of the city I live in by bike riding. Going on a 6 mile jaunt tonight, I had sidewalks all the way. Tax payer dollars hard at work, savin my ass from ganstaville and traffic.

Real gangsta-ass n*ggas don't run for shit -- Cuz real gangsta-ass n*ggas can't run Fast

Taking a page out of the office space book and doing some research on laws, Three revelant ones. Don't be sad, cause three out of three ain't bad.

Imhoff's Law - The organization of any bureaucracy is very much like a septic tank -- the REALLY big chunks always rise to the top.

Peter Principle - Employees within a hierarchical organization advance to their highest level of competence, are then promoted to a level where they are incompetent, and then stay in that position. (*sometimes they are promoted above the peter principle, how deeply sad)

Seagull Manager - A manager that comes down, makes a lot of noise, shits on everything, then leaves.

And If the World Does Turn, And If London Burns

True Love is Priceless, For True Love we Pay a Price

Before Sunset, watched it two years after it came out, even though I loved Before Sunrise. The movie enforces ideas of hope and mystery, as it applies to an American dude and a French girl. Watch the movie, it's short, but it's good. Below is what I believe to be some truth's as they apply to love, stirred from the excellent dialogue in the movie.

Dracula says, "The luckiest man who walks on this earth is the one who finds true love." It is certainly cliche when even hopeless romantics speak of true love and to power that arises out of the unity, but is it all just a bunch of horseshit? There are a handful of people I know that have found true love, and I don't have to tell them to hold on to and cherish what they have. Everyone seems to have to work at it, some cases a hell of a lot harder than others.

Did practicality, impatience, and lack of exposure take over the modern day relationship, leading to a 'need' love rather than a 'want' love? Is it true that the feminist approach (and believe me I'm in touch with my feminine side, so I'm not knocking it) is taking over culture, taking feeling over fact in quarrels among couples? Is it the norm to be sedate as a couple; passe to be a happy couple these days? Does this lead to Bunko parties and Monday night football for tolerance and escape? Can this allow you to see the sublime and the beautiful, like Celine and Jessie in the movie? Is this type of love necessary for security? Is it OK to love someone and not be in love with someone, and does this love inevitably lead to infidelity?

I once heard that a woman married her husband based on a series of calculations, 8 months later she was divorced. A quote says people forget what other people have said and done, but you don't forget how someone makes you feel. This type of love is a want love, you have the strength and stability to stand on your own, and you do what you want to do (selfless and selfish all at once), allowing you to work within a larger construct. It's a love of less compromise, on yourself and the relationship, because you are there because you want to be, and strong people can bail if the thrill is gone, as long as partners are honest about their intentions.

Need love is like nuclear fission, going on everywhere, producing energy, making babies, producing light, predictable, convenient, comfortable, and certainly nothing wrong with it. Want love is like nuclear fusion, much more powerful and sustaining, but it surely is harder to contain the energy produced (except in the stars, coincidence?, yea I'm corny, I know), and it doesn't come around often, if ever. Similarly, need love / fission (the puppy / 'society') takes a lot of stuff to make happen, whereas want / fusion takes a single glass of water to power a city for days. Expanding on the idea, I've seen both, and the spurt of want loves that I've had, although few and far between, have been exponentially more enlightening and inspiring than to grind it out.

Where am I going with this? True love, in whichever capacity you take to reach it, isn't necessarily easy, it's what lingers, and the movie conveys that well. As for myself, there's a chance I may die a warped frustrated old man because I'm a very picky mofo, but I'll hold out for the want love, because I just can't seem to get one of the Gucci Bag Girlfriends to look Good on me.

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PS -- In the movie, Celion sings Jessie a song, a beauty

A Waltz for A Night

Let me sing you a waltz
Out of nowhere, out of my thoughts
Let me sing you a waltz
About this one night stand

You were for me that night
Everything I always dreamt of in life
But now you're gone You are far gone
All the way to your island of rain

It was for you just a one night thing
But you were much more to me Just so you know
I hear rumors about you
About all the bad things you do
But when we were together alone
You didn't seem like a player at all

I don't care what they say
I know what you meant for me that day
I just wanted another try
I just wanted another night

Even if it doesn't seem quite right
You meant for me much more
Than anyone I've met before

One single night with you little
Jesse Is worth a thousand with anybody
I have no bitterness, my sweet
I'll never forget this one night thing

Even tomorrow, another arms
My heart will stay yours until I die

Let me sing you a waltz
Out of nowhere, out of my blues
Let me sing you a waltz
About this lovely one night stand

Ride Alone, Ride With Bin Laden - Bill Maher

The Pickle reviewed this beast before me, and I'll probably not be as cynical. We both appreciate the book, its interesting, funny, and full of common sense. Bullets, Bullets, Bullets, the best way I can highlight the points I remember.

For my right wing nutjob friends, yea Bill is quite cynical, but a role of a good critique is important in society, but he makes some really good points. I promise to listen to what Blowhard Limbaugh has to say too.

• We are a pain averse society! Anything that brings us comfort in time of pain takes top priority.
• Muslims need their own version of Chris Rock to point up fucked up things in their traditions without the fear of them getting their head chopped off.
• You should be more weary and fear decent people with the capacity to do shitty things more than shitty people doing shitty things
• Being aware of things, doing your homework, travelling, comparing, understanding that God Blesses the world, not just America, makes you a stronger patriot in this country than the uninformed / blind 'patriots' that slap magnets on their vehicles.
• Ignorance is the enemy, and not knowing why people hate the United States is exactly the reason why people hate the United States
• Drugs don't support terrorists, oil does, and the next time you drive your tank or hummer to the PTO meeting, you are supporting terrorists. Terrorists get money from the same place we get money, our families.
• What's the big deal about cultural hegemony? Pokemon is Japanese, Harry Potter is English, Soccer is boring. Just don't eat the fucking shitty fast food at Burger King, McDonald's, or Pizza Hut right across the street from Segrada Familia?!
• USA has carried the lightest stick of any superpower that's ever been.
• And when you don't carpool to work, the invisible figure of Bin Laden is riding with you. And yes, us Americans are in love with our automobiles.

"We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people." - Arthur Schopenhauer

The Millionaire Mind -- Book Report

Yea, so I'm a fan of self help books, and it's great to have 6+ hours in a car to catch up. The trip back from Houston featured 'The Millionaire Mind' by Thomas Stanley, also author of 'The Millionaire Next Door.'

Short and sweet, lots of common sense, Below I'll bullet point what I got out of the 2 cd set.

• Location Location Location - Buying a house in the right location means a lot. I suppose all houses appreciate in value, but its good to find the good neighborhoods, and your return on investment will be significant. I suppose that means I'll be a Hyde Park boy if I find a sugar mamma.
• Marry the Right Person - Find someone that's supportive, rational, and has the same drive and motivation. Common interests speaks volumes too.
• Drive and old crusty Mercedes or BMW and keep it till the wheels fall off, buy antique furniture and refinish, not your typical IKEA stuff, don't get caught up in trends
• Avoid credit, especially when starting a business. If you start a business without any money, you'll learn how to get by, if you have money you'll become sloppy
• Honesty, Discipline, People Skills and hard work should get you there
• Be wary of liars, don't tell even 1 lie, b/c one lie has to be covered with 15 lies, so on and so on
• Be generous, invite friends and family over for a good time, don't spend all your money on booze and bands. These are the people who you should be cultivating relationships with, and they are easily accessible
• Courage goes as far as brains, and 'the smartest in the dumb group' is often the people who accumulate wealth
• Be a finisher in a world of starters

Well that was it in a nutshell, or at least all I can think of off the top of my head.

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Patience has its limits. Take it too far, and it's cowardice. - George Jackson

Family Fitness / Lifetime Fitness

It's fun getting your workout on when you have someone to go with. My sister Debra and I have made it a tradition to go to Lifetime Fitness every time I'm in town. For those of you who have never seen one of these places, its got 1 million machines, a few indoor pools, all kinds of excessive stuff, if you can't get in shape here, you're fucked.

First of all gotta kick Gavin's purple tubby bear out of the way.

We entitled this shot, "Two Walrus's" as we go to pump iron and run on the dreaded elliptical machine and catch up on Top 40 tunes that help you push yourself. I even saw Chad Kroger's ugly lookin' lion faced ass on the big screen as my intense cardio session came to an end.

Houston Holocaust Museum - It's Killing Me Everyday, It's Healing Me Everyday

A pretty damn depressing afternoon visiting the Houston Holocaust Museum. I've heard its a moving experience, I suppose I left there with a feeling of amazement at the capacity of evil on such a grand level.

Vile pictures line the halls along with a detailed history of how the Holocaust effected a small town in Poland. The museum reinforced the idea in my mind that the Jewish people have always been mistreated throughout history, man even Switzerland got a few hits in there back in the day.

What can you say about it? Nazi Germany gives extreme power to the chancellor and shit hits the fan. The senate in Star Wars gives the chancellor extreme power, and shit hits the fan. Congress, the left and the right both vote to play "America, Fuck Yea" and kick the shit out of Iraq **(assuming intelligence wasn't faulty, if faulty, that's another story), to save political careers and engage in 'group think.' Whole point is, what has changed, seems the world has got a bit more civil, but the mentality remains the same. Whoever is carrying the big stick as the global power is going to smack in around for causes they see just, and time sorts it all out.

Houston, 5th biggest city in North America, now has a Metro Train! Whew, way to go Houston! The Red Line, extending thru the museum district and on to downtown. Does this mean the beginning of an end to the 8 Lane highways, the end of shopping for food with forklifts, soccer moms and patriots slapping stickers on their suv's.....well, hmmmm, ummmm, good job for the red line!

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"Though I have no faith in God, I wish for nothing more." --The Veils

She Was a Thin Girl but she had Substance

Blogging, just brilliant, thanks friends for reading these sentiments, it makes me feel special. I sat down for a beer with this college roommate, who never gets out, the other who still parties like its 99, literally, and my nephew and other compadres.

Little did I know I was fodder for conversation at Boehm Ford, between my college roommate and nephew who work together. They have a pot going, one says that Jenny and I are going to hook up one day. Hmmm, I can speak a little to this as I find it humorous. (She's only like this after a few stiff homeade cocktails)

Well, it's all about passion, it's what drives the world. There's nothing the chick can do that upsets me, most part being she's very rational, but there's simply no passion. I suppose if I live with her it could be common law marriage, in that case I need to put the VW in someone else's name in case she decides to bring a shit storm. Naw, she'd never do that, because there is a lot of mutual respect there (and my god that was hard to earn), and there's never been contempt in the 8 years I've known her. Jenny is great, the best thing about her is that she doesn't take any shit, a female other females look up to for strength, and I admire that about her.

Basically what I'm saying, Jenny is great, but its more of she's my sister great. Hence the thought of hooking up with her makes me feel incestuous.

But Marty / Timmy, keep that pot going, and I really enjoyed conversations. And Ryan, I'll see you next year when your wife cools down. Just tell her that one beer was a Strongbow and it was hard to choke down.

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Last night I dreamed I ate a ten-pound marshmallow, and when I woke up the pillow was gone. - Tommy Cooper

Heroes

If I follow stereotypes, I should be at home with all the other southerners celebrating Confederate Heroes Day drinking Sclitz and eating BBQ chicken.

Hero, a brilliant word, a term used to describe extraordinary individuals, or as google define says, "a man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength."

I think about Hero, and I have to think of the Mariah Carey song, Hero, and I think about this duface kid I went to high school (a dude I hung out with a lot, b/c I was one too) with bouncing around in slow motion in our senior memories video. First inclination is bad song, and what kinda hero is that?

Putting all cynicism aside and taking a more truthful approach, there is a hero that lies inside all of us. Each and every one of us silly human beings have to overcome personal strife in reaching for the stars.

Let's cake on the cheese now! It takes courage to persevere. So a toast, not to Confederate Heroes, but to all heroes, everyone and everywhere who's fighting their good fight. As I listen to the song, Mariah wrote, or whoever her songwriter is wrote, it puts a smile on my face and gives me a smidgen of inspiration. It's comforting to think that we're all in this together.

Cheese Part 2, The lyrics to Hero, Mariah Carey, Dorky but Powerful (and no, I'm not on drugs right now!)

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There's a hero If you look inside your heart You don't have to be afraid Of what you are There's an answer If you reach into your soul And the sorrow that you know Will melt away

And then a hero comes along With the strength to carry on And you cast your fears aside And you know you can survive So when you feel like hope is gone Look inside you and be strong And you'll finally see the truth That a hero lies in you

It's a long road When you face the world alone No one reaches out a hand For you to hold You can find love If you search within yourself And the emptiness you felt Will disappear

And then a hero comes along With the strength to carry on And you cast your fears aside And you know you can survive So when you feel like hope is gone Look inside you and be strong And you'll finally see the truth That a hero lies in you

Lord knows Dreams are hard to follow But don't let anyone Tear them away Hold on There will be tomorrow In time You'll find the way

And then a hero comes along With the strength to carry on And you cast your fears aside And you know you can survive So when you feel like hope is gone Look inside you and be strong And you'll finally see the truth That a hero lies in you

Take a Bow, The Night is Over - Bullfight, Madrid Spain

Madonna glamorized the bullfight, or deglamorized it, not really sure, sorta like my feelings for her, a love hate relationship. When leading a boring life, I resort to digging up bones, and posting about the past. This post is sure to raise a brow on the beastmaster, who loves all animals and hates to see them hurt, much less tourtered.

The site is Madrid, Spain, Plaza De Toros, 3 summers back. The fighters fighting that night are meant to be quite famous bullfighters.

The plaza is half empty (Madonna was right in the song) and it stayed half empty. You buy tickets based on the amount of sun / shade / half sun, half shade. So we could see a little of both, we purchased the half sun half shade tickets.

Here comes the madness. They let the bull out in the ring, and immediately it spies the 'stabber dude' on the blinded / padded horse.

The bull charges the horse and the stabber dude stabs the bull as it rams the horse. This is done to wear the bull down, to make it an 'even' match, because obviously the matador is no match for the bull. As the blood rushes out of the bull's back, this is when the touristy families, who had no idea of the blatant violence, leave the plaza.

OK, then the 'sheet dudes' come out and basically run the shit out of the bull tiring it further, about 4 to 5 of them toy with the beast.

If this isn't bad enough, the second set of stabber dudes come out and stab the bull in the back with these spears. When it's all said and done its about 6 to 8, depending on the aggressiveness and tenacity of the bull.

Then the 'mighty' matador comes out, after the bull has been stabbed, ran to death, and speared, with his dreaded red cape. He does some trademark bullfighters tactics and techniques that makes the crowd OOOHOHH! and AHHHH!

Then its time for the final face-off. Face to face with the bull, the bullfighter takes the sword and rams it down the bulls back. If it is a seasoned bullfighter and he hits the heart right away, the bull is killed instantly.

'Lucky' for us, there were some rookies there on the evening, and they didn't get the 'kill shot' the first time, so one of the matador's cronies comes out with a little bowie knife and pokes the bull in the brain.

If all this isn't inhumane enough, a caravan of horses come to drag the dead bull out of the plaza, while trumpets triumphantly sound.

The bullfight culminates with touristy Texans taking a picture while the ground crew cleans the 'field,' very much similar to that of a baseball game.

My sentiments on bullfighting, damn it's primitive, and to think the republic of rome during the roman empire did this to humans, as other humans cheered this debauchery. My how the times have changed.

74 Bands in the Picture -- Can you Spot them?

Click to Enlarge.

2006 - Project Crawl

Crawl -- Walk -- Run -- Fly

Two trains of thought, you can figure out the next big thing, or you take something that already exists and make it better. I've asked a million people the generic question, "If you had a music business, what would it be?" The answers range from a variety of retail stores, cd distribution, etc. Since the idea of the century hasn't come, the inclination is to re-invent the wheel, just perhaps make it a 50 series z rated wheel with a badass spinna in the middle.

Elaboration on ideas........ My mind still works in the TCP/IP realm where your audience is the world. If you can generate traffic to your website, the potential for profitability is there. I think about the services pop culture uses, I consider the browsing patterns of people, and think about what I search for on the web.

Tagging.... I catalogue the music I listen to on the web, I spill my life out there on the web, I slop my bookmarks out there on the web, and I also have my calendar out there on the web. There are ties that bind in music, even ties that bind Ashton, my niece, who loves Nickelback, and myself, who enjoys music that's more subtle. The tie is that we are both proud of what we listen to and what we like, and we are vocal about what we feel passionate about. We like to flaunt what we know, who we like, who we've seen, etc.

Here comes the idea, tagging concerts. Individual City Venue Artist . General concept, Billy Bob goes to the Britney Spears concert in Austin. Billy Bob can see who else went to the Britney concert, and he can see the other concerts other Britney fans have attended. This creates trends in what individuals go to what concerts, what venues are popular among what demographics, interactions about concert experiences and other cross referencing tricks for the consumer, which will more than likely generate traffic. I think it's a grand idea that would catch on and offer a slew of business options in the running and flying phases. Money comes later, first comes hanging the balls out there and providing a consumable services to John Q. Public.

To coincide with project management, the practical real life homework homework is to take this concept from start to finish (Envision -- Plan -- Develop -- Stabilize -- Deploy).

What's next envision, brainstorm, gathering Artifacts -- There are many unique challenges to this project, the first is coming up with the necessary information overhead to make the wheels start turning. The information that needs to be collected --still thinking about scope, but 1) A list of all venues, every artist, every concert, every night ((yea good luck with this, right?) ---OR -- you just let Billy Bob key in this information with a little help and polishing as the data enters, so your knowledge base is populated by the users, much like the popular Wikis, etc. 2) User profiles -- who's going to use what and who and how will things be maintained 3) The digital identity (keeping a close eye on this) Yea, another jacked up registration form. (Side note, who is going to drive digital identity (banks, big brother, free enterprise), wow what a touchy subject.) 4) O hell, I could go on and on about this, time to break.

As I proceed, I take the immortal words of high school football with me, "Make it Happen." And you can't forget there is no "I" in team.

------------------------------------
Random note,
The beastmaster has 47 pairs of pants and they are all dirty.

It's not Funny like on TV and it's not Smart Like it is in Books

A state of the union address Monday morning 4:15. There's some strange irony that we don't have to work today because of Martin Luther King Day, Thursday we don't work because of Confederate Heroes Day.

What can you say about the guy fired from Google for blogging about the company? I don't know the details, but this comes just after Forbes highlighted Google for having the open and honest policy. Blogs are tricky, and then can destroy a company's reputation, and they can wreck peoples lives. Just lace your blog with keywords these days, and what you thought was a close circle of your friends turns into 100,000 hits. But really who cares about reading personal journals online, like this shirt portrays (I'm going to buy this one or make one myself)? I'm finding out there are a lot of people who care. Try blogging about The Texas Rollergirls and see how many of them email you.

Fired from the company, hmmmm. It's healthy to expose elements of corruption, insider politics, favoritism, etc for the betterment of society. Problem is most people don't understand how to do it tactfully. My job has its pros and cons, the cons I just speak in generalities, for as it stands now, I could lose the job. However, when there's nothing left to lose on my part, I'll attempt to pop a tactful blog out there citing different concerns about the great state of Texas, and I definitely agree with Ronnie Reagan when he said the nine scariest words --"I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." Unless you've worked for the machine, you can't fully take these words to heart.

Employment is comical, it lacks imagination. What do you make of the dreaded corporate ladder, or the chain of command.....antiquated shit, that's what. Especially in a political enlivenment, work is done by groups of dedicated peers, indifferent of levels. When places promote based on tenure and not merit, you have the clusterfuck known as state government.

Epic environments help create enhanced individuals, this is difficult to achieve, but it can be done with intangible benefits (imagination), a damn good boss, and of course more benjamins.

I Just Might Get Drunk Tonight, and Burn the Nightclub Down

A progressive bar hop, first one in ages. Progressive Coffee , east 5th street was host to an intimate acoustic set from the boys from What Made Milwaukee Famous. Sarah B had the hookup on the low key gig. What can I say about these dudes, It took me a long time to get a feel on them, and after tonight I'm sold. The performance was great, and they guys are really nice, so go out and support them. Surprise of the evening came when the band covered In An Aeroplane over the Sea (video clip) by Neutral Milk Hotel -- go buy some of their stuff, you won't be disappointed. Also visit the moped shop next to the coffee house, the owner is a nice dude.

B.D. Riley's on 6th was next, situated near The Dizzy Rooster, the place frequented by those dumb fuck kids on MTV's the read world. Just take a look at the queue of these dumbasses trying to make it into this place. May the taste gods have mercy on their soul.

B.D. and Marge's 30th birthday celebration brought a ton of fun, the typical crew of the Beast, The Dizzle, Queen Bee, and the girl that talks with her hands all the time

Night lands at Fado, the unauthentic Irish pub in which most Austinites butcher and call "Fados." Insane 80's antics, music from AC/DC to Bryan Adams and everything in between. The wifebeater seems to have got the best of the beast.

A great night to be out.

Enchanted Rock -- You Got to Go To Boulder Child

The beautiful day granted us access to Enchanted Rock. Ashley >> John >> Sara B >> Me, scale the rock. While hiking to the top, for some strange reason I think of Steven King's 'The Stand' and the creepy old black lady summoning the good crew to go to Boulder. We scaled to the top, checked out the great views, got a bit confused on the way down. On the way back we sampled some extremely wicked Porters at the Fredericksburg Brewing Company . Only a few of these homemade brews will knock even a seasoned veteran on their ass.

Hiking to the top, the topography looks like the moon, Moon Patrol! It's funny the steeper the rock gets towards the top, all the fat people taper off, and Mr Fat Boy me is panting as we reach the summit.

I found a patch of cactus and decided to take a picture in the cactus. Hmmm, I don't know what I was thinking.

One thing is for certain, these crusty Globe shoes aren't good hiking material, and my feet are feeling the effects.

Good ol Ashley and John, the outdoorsy types that tell me I should learn how to camp. Hmmm, wonder if there is wifi and power out there?

Camping hmmm, definitely somewhere you go with people who's company you enjoy, or at least tolerate. The day trip to the rock was the shit, I look forward to going back again sooner than later.

PMP - Letters Behind The Name

Robert Bruns PMP --- Hell maybe I can throw an 'i' in there -- Robert Bruns PiPM... YEA!

Thru the years I've wondered about continuing my education, I wondered if I should pursue different certifications, thought it through critically and till now have taken the advice of a good friend that says "Don't waste your time with certs unless your company pays for them, they can't teach you the shit you learn in the real world."

Coming to you live Friday night, not from a bar killing brain cells, but home, where I plan to spend the year taking my life and career to the next level. I have decided to pursue the PMP Certification, which stands for Project Management Profession, given by the PMI Organization. The certification requires 35 hours of classroom time, for approximately 2,000 bucks, plus books at The University of Texas, starting Feb 24th - May 4th, Monday and Thursday afternoons. After completing the education requirement, proof of 3,500 hours of project experience is needed. Then, you get to take a wicked good ol' standardized test of 200 questions for 500 bucks. Get 170 of them boogers right, poof!, you are a PMP. That's the short version of navigating

What does this mean? There are always agendas in life, and I wish I could make this sound a little bit more elegant, but my agenda in life is to be versatile in my profession, be aware of the big picture, and make a lot of money. (I want to make money to facilitate world travel, create opportunities, and be generous to friends and family, not to say, "Hey look at my big house, and my Hummer that proves that I have the smallest penis on the planet.") The average PMP in the state of Texas makes around 85,000 bucks. This gives me the opportunity to go for the gusto and work on a project to project basis, keep things changing and interesting.

This also means steering myself in the way I see most beneficial to my career and future. I am making a judgement call on what I think I'm good at, and also what I can see as the most challenging job out there. It takes a lot of knowledge and experience to tweak that datagrid from a 15 second load time to a 3 second load time, but these sorts of details are not what I'm after in the perspective of things. Also, when to idea of a lifetime strikes me like a bolt of lighting, I will hopefully have the 'knowledge, skills, and ability' to carry out the idea.

The blog will probably get 'boring-er', but that's the price of personal progress.

Blink, The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

If I have to read another case study by Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink, The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, I'm THINKING I'm going to shoot myself in the head, as Mr Pickle concurs.

The book focuses on using the power of snap judgements and 'thin slicing' your problems into things that are more manageable. A good read, but there are too many case studies, and at times I find it hard to weave these studies back to the central point of the book.

What the 288 pages of 'Blink' mean to me.....Listen to what instinct tells you, employ some common sense, and you'll be in good shape. Break shit up into managable chucks in life, and you can accomplish a lot. It says the subconscious is a powerful thing, and experts in areas identify things without really being able to explain things.

The Tipping Point is much better, the books are somewhat closely related, and definitely not as winded.

Burn Baby Burn!

Tense up, ZAP, grimace in pain, tense up, ZAP, grimace in pain. The story of today, as a double pass on the chest and back at the American Laser Center Austin. It's crazy, this place has more turnover than DPS, new office manager, new chick with the laser gun, and a whole different environment.

The picture from the camera phone after the treatment. As you can see, a disgusting, white as a dog sickly looking chest, as exposure to the sun is not recommended. What you can't see is red, irritated skin spots in lieu of the double pass. The chest bone part right in the center of the chest almost brings me to tears, where there is no muscle or fat to guard from 'the gentle pulse of heat.'

The verdict, with one more treatment, shit magically should start falling out. I have a reduction of hair, and the hair is much thinner, but I still have a significant amount, which I'm assured will go away as more treatments may be required, how fun!

Don't the readers of this blog love it when i put sexy pictures of myself out there?!?!?

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"Those hair removal people are makin' all your hair follicles look retawded" -- The Beastmaster

Austin Moonlight Towers

Santa Claws (actually the loverly Melanie and the rugged Bob) brought me Weird Texas, a book that presents lots of unique things to do around the lone star state.

Cruising the ol' bike around Hyde Park, I see a few roundabouts and an Austin Moonlight Tower, one of the things listed in the book. These things are awesome, retro, etc. Is it a UFO? Supposedly Austin is the only city left in the states with these lights.

The historical marker reads 'This is one of 31 original moonlight towers installed in Austin in 1895. Seventeen remain. Each tower illuminated a circle of 3000 feet using 6 carbon arc lamps (now Mercury vapor). Austin's tower lights are the sole survivors of this once-popular, ingenious lighting system.

In Dazed and Confused, Matthew McConaughey actually climbed up one of these, hey, what a great idea!

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"That's what I love about high school girls: I get older, they stay the same age." --Wooderson

Every Nose is a Vacume Cleaner in the Loved Up London Arena

Queen Bee Jenny has returned from the land of frosty England. Gotta love those heated floors in the flats (and for the Shiner people, flats have a different meaning over there). Soho, London is so amazing, the best record shops, but be sure to bring a wheel barrel full of English pounds, as the shit ain't cheap. Random note, everyone do themselves a favor and check out the new Dylan DVD and buy the remastered Talking Heads DVD and watch it 40 times, just watch how symmetrical Byrne moves, I'm amazed. Thanks Jeannie and Rob, that's what I got from you for XMAS!

Every day my mind wanders to strange and wondrous lands, and thinking about all that there is to experience in life, meaning I have to get off my ass and create opportunities for myself to lead the most experienced life I can. According to this master of the google api , I've only visited 4% of the countries on the planet. Hmmm, I don't like that.

The question is not where do you want to go, it's where do I not want to go. I want to go everywhere. Everyday I think about places that I want to go, people I want to see, and how I can accomplish a life full of travel and experience.

I have designs on as to how it's going to happen, the mind is firing on all cylinders. I'm most definitely preparing my mind for when chance takes over.

Emo's Free Week, Saturday Night

Emo's, packed to the rafters, 'sold out' on free week, not before we sneak in to see the headliners 'What Made Milwalkee Famous' and 'I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness.'

The view from the Nirvana smellsliketeenspirit benches at Emo's, the shittiest sounding live music venue that lands so many good bands. Inside, outside, courtyard, take your pick. We chose darkness on the bleachers.

Well there they are, making Milwaukee Famous. I like them, they are pretty good, the bass guitar player is one of those eat the mic type dudes.

Let's see, the beast and I decided to dress up as Circuit City boys for the evening. All the cool indie kids dressed in neutral colors lookin' all cool, as we sport our 'Just what I needed' shirts. I even got some attention of some indie milf's behind me because of my 'hot' shirt. hahahaha -- Check out that scarecrow dome! Love it!

The beast and bass and Guinness out for a sippin'. This chick, Sara B is cool, she's teaching me how to play the piano, progress is slowly but surely, and the artist The Divine Comedy is what we're up against. I have to represent the USA in a piano competition between me and The Toshi-meister, who is also learning the piano.

A Fairwell to a King - Mike D

Mike D has set sail for the distant shores of TEA, to the land of milk and honey. Needless to say I'll miss the guy, but it's all inevitable, and it's not a goodbye, its a see you later, and all that mumbo jumbo: too much experience to sum up in a post. He's a smart worker, result oriented and will be a valuable asset wherever he goes in life.

Met the dude about 5 years ago and he's catapulted his way to nearly the top of my adventurous friends. From quiet long haired filipino to mr dance on stage, he lives a life of experience, and doesn't make excuses like "I can't go here because......" and things of this nature. That's the thing I admire most about the fella, his ability to be open and mobile, and also standing firm when it comes to principal.

No booze fest for the occasion, at least for now, but a classic chili burger and mushrooms from Burger Tex was in order. Some of the co-workers that never get the bloglight are the PMAN. Pman just loves it when i give him the affectionate poke in the belly from behind when he's concentrating on work, and in turn he gives me a succession of rapid slaps on my bald head.

Then there's the Gman, the mad scientist, got so much brains, but pretty damn spastic. I suppose I'm not talking shit about him, because I tell him the same thing in real life. And of course the doc.

What's left at work is a good Down Periscope crew IF the damn thing could be managed mo' betta. A more appropriate farewell address to come sooner than later.

Farewell brotha -- May the Force be with You --

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Mike D's closing sentiments
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Well gang it's been a hella good ride for me here at DPS the last 4+ years... I learned a great deal, worked with great people, but most importantly made a lot of great friends. Just wanted to say thanks for everything and it's been a pleasure working with you all.

The Dizzle is outta here, but The Drizzle will always remain at DPS....

Peace!

Mike Diz

Should I Try to be a Straight 'A' Student, If you are then you Think too Much

A round of interviews has come and gone, left me wondering how I've came to the position I'm in. Lowest 'GPA' I seen of people interviewed was a 3.55. Based on what I did in college, I'd be making pizza for a living.

I got out of there (college) with a 2.2, or by the 'grace of the good laude.' I made a 'D' in world literature, art appreciation, advanced COBOL, and database mgmt systems. The rest were pretty much 'C', and surprisingly enough 'A's' in Advanced Systems and Quantitative Methods.

Excuses excuses excuses, I suppose I could have went to class more, worked less, and played less. This would maybe make up for lack of book smarts and attention span and dis-interest.

Yea, and I don't even know what a slide rule is for......

The Excited Southerner At A Job Interview

Here are the 4 groups of people who consistently apply for these jobs, in no particular order.

The College Kid that Thinks He Knows Everything - Yea, you know, the ones who know the terminology, who are book smart, who lack experience, but if the world was an idealists bubble, they'd probably big time excel. Unfortunately they have no idea that the world is a big cluster-fuck, and they've just inherited the responsibility. Thumbs down for two reasons, not enough experience to make practical decisions correctly, and two pompous know it all mentality just cause they've read a f*ckin' book or two.

The Old Smart Dudes - Dudes and dudettes that come thru with PHD's in World History that have picked up database management techniques as a 'hobby.' Probably 10 times smarter than me, and I am interested in what William the Conqueror did back in 1286, but not when a project timeline is at stake, and when I have to dip down in the trenches and cover asses. A wealth of knowledge, just not conducive to a 'get things done' attitude. Most of these people suffer from 'analysis paralysis.'

The Insiders - These are the tricky ones, the ones that prefer to work up the company food chain. They know the history of the organization, which can be a plus or minus, to an extent the personalities are known, therefore instant bias. Some people like 'yes men', personally I like the people who ask questions such as 'What the f*ck are you doing?"

The Doer's - These are the people who move the stone. They are the blips on the radar you find in any bureaucratic organization that get the job done. These people have common sense and the ability to get the job done and not make excuses, regardless of what kind sort of f*cked up situation they are thrown into. Education don't make a f*ck with these people, it's a state of mind. A college degree doesn't necessarily teach you how to reason, how to methodologically approach a problem, and come to the best compromised solutions. These people I can spot from a mile away, and they bring a huge smile to my face :)

The people who know what they are talking about give clear concise and relevant answers to open ended question, and the people who like to hear themselves talk, and resort to quantity over quality make me resort to 'happy land,' of beer, girls, bands, bars and guacamole.

Where Was I When The Longhorns Won the National Championship?

USC goes up by 11, I head to the jacuzzi to massage my sore bones from working out with Big Kev, the biggest baddest non-commissioned person at DPS. Bob bangs on the door of the bathroom and says, UT got ball with 2 minutes, so I scamper out and watch the end, pretty exciting stuff.

Makes my friends happy they won, therefore making me happy, and gives national recognition to ATX. I can just imagine Vince spittin out some Ebonics like "Mutha fuckas be givin' dats Heisman aways to dats Bush guy, I'llz show demz." And so he did, wow, what an excellent athlete, a different kind of courage under fire.

Football is huge in Texas and a lot of big mean Texans play football, hell I even played football back in the day so I could be cool too. People criticise me about putting pictures of my painted toenails on the blog, well can a game be more gay than football? I mean, I see countless slaps on the ass, what the hell is 'taking the snap' all about, and come on, think about "We are the Champions" played when the strong masculine boys win the game? I bet Freddy Mercury is smiling in his grave --

Longhorns win the game, and crazy enough, It's probably more than just a game these days, hard to explain I suppose, but a lot of intangible 'props' come from the victory.

Congrats horns, and for a day, and just for a day, I'll put my bobcat paw away and celebrate with the horns! hahahahahaha, YIPPIE!

I've Got the Brains, You Got the Looks, Let's Make Lots of Money

The dream is to be your own boss one day, the recipe simple yet not so simple. Everyone knows that it takes hard work, a solid business plan, luck, preparedness. All this leads of to providing a SERVICE to a business or a consumer that provides RESIDUAL INCOME to you, obviously, but insert service here. This is what racks my brain on a daily basis. I'm tired of getting nickled and dimed to death by hourly rates and pay-by-the-deliverable people who are getting all the action. In 2005 I'm going to focus my remaining energies from work in figuring out just how to get a piece of the pie, Jefferson's style.

Let's see, if I was smart, I'd probably point my brain cells towards the porno / casino racket on the web, which seems to be the only services that make money on the web, unless you want to compete with the big dogs (amazon, ebay, etc), even though I'm not sure places like Amazon has a lot of tangible funds once all the shareholder confidence is stripped away. (Mr Gillar, please prove me wrong.) Unfortunately there is no dignity in this, I can just see telling my family that I made my millions in online porn.

So what kinda service can you provide on the web and charge a modest $49 bucks a year? Boyscout troops, bowling leagues, spelling bees, high school football teams, etc, etc. Put your players stats, or your boy's new patch out there for everyone to see.

Seems to be the case where people have to rally around their passions or their intimate knowledge of a subject to create a successful business venture. My passion is with music, and lately I've been doing 'digital dashboards' at work for executive badasses. Makes me think that a 'entertainment dashboard' has some merit (i.e., I don't have to visit pollstar, the parish room, emos austin, austin360, kut.org, redeyedfly, frontgate tickets, star tickets, xfm.co.uk, blah blah, the list goes on and on at least on a weekly basis) All this information will sooner or later by syndicated via RSS, so the questions that arise are how do you add value to the raw data and turn it into valuable information, and put a 'wrapper' around it to make money, and charge nothing to the consumer you provide to the service. Well shit, the porno site is looking better again, or anyone want to teach me how to play cards?

The hard part, the conception and execution of a well thought out business plan, and the product will be built in 2.2 seconds by The Pickle and the other smart mofo uber geeks I am privileged to hang out with on a daily basis.

So shit, people without an oil well in the backyard, let's figure something out, damn it can't be THAT hard, there are many successful entrepreneurs out there that we are smarter than. Throw some ideas out, and let's work on them, unless you want to work for the man instead of being the man the rest of your life. Like Pasteur said, chance does favor the prepared mind.

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And for all you secretive fucks out there that don't like to play together, remember this quote --

“Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.” Howard Aiken

Emo's Free Week

For all of you left broke by the Mr Clause, let's go to Emo's Austin this week. From today until next Wednesday, the concerts are free. I'm sure there is a dud or two or ten in the mix, but there is actually some great local talent to perform too.

I'd much rather them charge for the week's concert and use the money earned to upgrade the men's restroom, so people can't look in and see you pissing, and heaven forbid they get rid of the splashing of the urine hitting the urinal.

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Billy Bragg and Belle and Sebastian at SXSW 2006, WHEW!

Gonna have to bust out the quad platinum bad this year --

We Don't Mind Suckin' on Toes

Can you spot the hobbit foot?

15 painted toes, Beast, Kristin, and fat head, all waving to Jenny in England. Lucky Jenny isn't here with that big ass fungus toe. When she clips that thing, it goes flying across the room, could damn near put someones eye out with that thing. Yea, just don't look right those hairy feet with polish.

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“Toe: A part of the foot used to find furniture in the dark”

And it's Half Past Four and I'm Shifting Gear

To begin the New Year with a band, I mean bang, I took a trip to Yorktown, Texas to visit my brother Derwin, the genius behind mechanics and stuff like that. I always love making the trip, I learn something new and interesting every time. We always visit the Pet Sematary too, which is a strange but cool thing to have around.

Traditionally, we go on a trip in the 56 Chevy Apache, was my dad's truck back in the day, fully restored, 3 on the tree, no power steering, hard as hell to drive.

Current project is a 72 Corvette Stingray, which look for lack of political correctness, "FUCKING SWEET!" Currently in the paint shop, electric blue is the color.

Later that evening the beast and T-Dog and I take the mustang out as the temperature hit 84 today, a record high, but 4 degrees. Last time was this hot was 1955, and only 79, what's up with that, GLOBAL WARMING! hahaha. Horrible picture below, I cut my nose shaving for New Years Eve, how do you cut your nose shaving!?!?