Pants Guy

OMG. Kerry Lynn has been telling me that she keeps seeing this man wandering around our neighborhood without his pants. She has seen him at least 3 times with his pants over his shoulder and wearing either boxers or tighty whities. Today, Steffi and I saw him. He had on dark blue underwear and was carrying his pants. I couldn't believe it. We live in a nice neighborhood (it is gated with 24 hour security and there are multiple multi-million dollar homes) where everyone dresses appropriately. Normal people don't walk around without their pants on. This is exactly why I always have my camera with me! Steffi was driving so I made her turn around so we could get some photos. When we passed him facing him she drove by too fast for me to get a photo from the front (maybe that was better anyway) but he waved at us!

I have lots of questions...

Who is this guy?!

And why can't he keep his pants on?

Does he not own any shorts?

Does he leave his house with pants on and take them off while walking?

Or does he leave his house carrying his pants to begin with?

Does his family know he does this?

Should I call the security guard?

I have other things to blog about today, but they will just have to wait. This was just too irresistable not to blog right away!

Hook Em!!

The Longhorns opened today against Florida Atlantic. FA seemed to be a pretty good team and while I was listening on the radio during the game the announcers said they were likely to win their Sunbelt conference. Our conference is the Big 12 with other BIG state schools like Colorado, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas. Poor little Florida Atlantic didn't stand a chance. The score was 52-10. Kudos to their quarterback ,team and about 50 fans for hanging tough throughout the whole game.

Vince Young's jersey was retired just before the game started. He played for the Horns from 2003-05 and was a huge factor in the Longhorns winning the National Championship in 2005.

Here are some highlights of the day to me. Below is a gaggle of fans heading toward the south entrance of the stadium. Everywhere you look on game day it is a sea of burnt orange. UT fans wear their color with pride.

This is the new North End of the stadium. This is brand new and enabled an attendance record 98,053 yesterday.

The band does all these wonderful formations on the field. UT

T for Texas (you can see the ~50 fans from Florida in the dark colored shirts on the lower right of these seats) There is the most enormous Texas flag and here it is rolled out one way. Notice it stretches from the end of the endzone almost up to the twenty yard line, and almost the width of the field. This is a Texas Sized Flag.

then they roll it over

so it goes the other way.

Everyone sings The Eyes of Texas and flashes hookem signs

So then it is time for the players to come out to the field. They run this video of animated longhorns on the godzillatron screen.

Statues of past football super stars send lightning bolts of energy to transform the longhorns into football players

and then fireworks go off and the team emerges through the smokey steam. Mike thinks the video part of this is lame but I think it is really fun every time.

Oh, before I forget - you know that this is Labor Day weekend and my plan was to make my appliance purchases this weekend? Well I did!! Home Depot came through for me by approving my credit card application for the purchase of a cooktop, combo microwave/oven and compactor. I also splurged and added on a new refrigerator, which I have named "Ralph." Mike thinks I am crazy- I mean he loves it - that I name my cars, houses and appliances. I could only snap this one photo of the ice/water dispenser (notice the touch screen!) before my camera battery died so you will have to wait until they are delivered (possibly on Thursday this week!) to see the rest of Ralph and his new kitchen helpers.

Through my crystal ball I see more shopping this weekend. Know why??? Steffi came home yesterday since she has a 3 day weekend too. Yay!!

Unplugged at the 'Grove

It's Thursday. You know what that means?! - it is Unplugged at the Grove night. Which, translated for anyone who hasn't lived in Austin in the past 15 years, means there is live music for free at the Shady Grove restaurant. Tonight Radney Foster is performing. I mentioned this to my sister and she didn't recognize the name. Embarassed that I couldn't actually name any of his songs either although I knew I heard him on KGSR, I went out to his website and clicked on the jukebox and listened. He has a tremendous voice, but Radney - what kind of name is that? - do you think his parents meant "Rodney" or "Randy" and mispelled it on his birth certificate and then he was stuck with it?! Anyway, this turned out to be ONE OF THE BEST experiences we have had at the Unplugged series in a while.

First of all, we got there early enough to get seats (yes, seats! not the most comfortable seats in the world and they were all linked together with plastic ties, but they worked just fine) in about the 6th row from the stage. We even had a choice of seats and chose the ones closest to what seemed to be the funnest people. We chose well.

The group of ladies in front of us tipped me off to Radney's charity organization - the Milk Money Project which raises money by selling these cool bracelets to benefit women and children in Mexico. Each bracelet is made from his used guitar strings. I chose one with UT colored beads in prep for the football game tomorrow. Pretty cool!

The people behind us were a hoot! I returned from buying the bracelet and retrieving the bug spray (the SG folks have not caught on to offering free bug spray yet) and Mike said - "Stand here and have your picture taken with these guys!"

"Should I know who they are?!" I asked? But before I knew it he snapped this pic.

Turns out the guy on my left is the JOEL MELTON. He is a musician, formerly from Oklahoma City, but had the good sense to move to Austin 6 years ago. He is doing a show on Sept 19th at Ruta Maya and we now have to go (we were going to go anyway) becuase he gave us a signed copy of his very own CD that says "Now you have to come."

The guy on the other side is just as interesting. His name is Thomas and he is a writer/documentarian (did I just make up a word?) It sounds like he has collaborated with Joel on a number of projects. There is something going on in Wimberly at the Cypress Creek Cafe Friday evening that he and his wife suggested we go to, but I can't remember what it is and the website doesn't show anything tonight.

Here is Joel's CD

I am sure we will enjoy the CD and the show in a few weeks. Thanks Joel! WE WILL BRING ALL OF OUR FRIENDS TOO!

So before Radney played, we were entertained by Matt the Electrician. We have seen him a number of times at the Saxon Pub and maybe other places. He is great - really funny and engaging with the audience.


Neither of us had seen Radney before but we know his music from KGSR and the Outlaw channel on Sirius. He was better than either of us expected and we will watch for his shows around town from now on.

Joel wants Radney's back up singer, the lovely Georgia Middleton(?) of San Antonio TX, to be his next wife. That would be #4. Sounds like he has learned a lot of lessons of who not to marry from the previous 3, so I am sure if she is the one, it will work out just fine. She is gorgeous and don't they look good together?!

At the end of Radney's show he brought up a good friend of his - I think her name is Rosie and she took over the bass guitar.

All in all a GREAT time and 2 great shows.

Mike "gave" me a song today by Radney. "I'm In" which I cannot seem to be able to paste with formatting into this blog so all the lines run together. I knew it from before, but Radney played it last night too. It is a very, very sweet song.

Love doesn't come with a contractYou give me this I gave you thatIt's scary businessYour heart and soul is on the lineBaby why else would I be standing round here so tougue tiedIf I knew what I was doingI'd be doing it right nowI would be the best damn poetSilver words out of my mouthWell my words might not be magicBut they cut straight to the truth So if you need a lover and a friendBaby I'm in I'm in baby I'm in I'm inBaby come on in the water's fineI'll be right hereYou take your timeJust let me hold youAnd we'll both take that leep of faitIt's like I told you there's no guarantee when you feel this wayIf I knew what I was doingI'd be doing it right nowI would be the best damn poetSilver words out of my mouthWell my words might not be magicBut they cut straight to the truth So if you need a lover and a friendBaby I'm in I'm in Baby come here next to meI'll show you how good it can beI'll breathe each breath you breatheI can pour out everything I am If I knew what I was doingI'd be doing it right nowI would be the best damn poetSilver words out of my mouthWell my words might not be magicBut they cut straight to the truth Now if you need a lover and a friendNow if you need a lover and a friendBaby I'm in I'm in baby I'm in I'm inI'm in I'm inBaby come here next to meI'll show you how good it can beI'll breathe each breath you breatheI can pour out everything I am Baby come here next to meI'll show you how good it can beI'll breathe each breath you breatheI can pour out everything I am Baby come here next to meBaby come here baby come here

From Radney Foster "See What You Want To See"Arista Records 1998PolyGram Intl Publishing/St Julien Music(ASCAP)On My Mind Music(ASCAP)

PS - I sold ANOTHER book (+$75)

PSS - Jonah was really very swimmy this morning so maybe his is OK after all!

Last Fins?

When Steffi was getting ready to leave for college I suggested that she might want to take Jonah with her. As a companion. To keep her from getting homesick. And I thought it would be good for Jonah, too. See he is used to being on the breakfast bar and at least getting some attention each morning before school when the kids ate breakfast.
Jonah is Steffi's pet Fighting Fish given to her by some boy a few years ago. She will remind me of his name. Jonah is the successor to Cap'n Bubbles, our first Fighting Fish that was a gift from one of my work friends who won him at a "team build" and offered him to me. Cap'n Bubbles came with a small rectangular glass container that held about 4 ounces of water. That just wasn't good enough for such a pretty fish so I upgraded him to a Tiffany crystal ice bucket commemorating a Whole Foods stock offering or something that someone "found" (I didn't just take it) for me in a closet when we were in the old building.

Jonah has nice philodendron roots to swim and hide in. I keep them trimmed so he doesn't get tangled up. And he has nice clear bubbley stones at the bottom to make his home attractive. A few years ago we added mardi-gras beads for some color, and they drape nicely over the ice bucket handles. To keep him from getting lonely we have a porcelain Peter rabbit next to the bowl. I always try to get him to face Jonah's bowl so they can look at each other.

Last night Duncan came over and greeted Jonah with a little tap on the bowl. Jonah didn't move. When he finally did move, it was just a bit and it looked like he was on his "last fins." I had noticed the other day that he did not come to the top of the bowl when I dropped his food in and held my finger over the water to point him in the right direction. So he has not been himself for a few days. I am worried. Maybe he is just lonely. But maybe it is something else. I am glad that Steffi is coming home this weekend.

Today he came to the top of the bowl and ate two bits of food. Hopefully it is a good sign and maybe just seeing Duncan last night perked him up.

And, I sold another book ($70)!!

Steve Winwood & Tom Petty concert

Tuesday evening Mike and I drove down to lovely Selma, Texas just north of San Antonio. Selma has one attraction (well, one attraction that we would drive out of our way to see)- the Verizon Amphitheater. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were playing a concert there and a colleague at work couldn't use his tickets, so I bought them. We saw Tom Petty a few years ago as the Sunday night headliner at ACL Fest. Unfortunately, we only caught a few songs that time because a huge thunderstorm rolled in and stopped the concert so we left. Turned out we should have stayed because he started playing again after the storm passed. There's a late-afternoon-stormy-weather pattern going on here (ever since Steffi returned home...hmm funny, that) and we were concerned the same thing would happen at this show. Fortunately the storms went around the amphitheater and we just had clouds and a beautiful sunset. Here is the view to the west from our seats.


We forgot our bug spray, but lucky for us the clever folks at the Verizon Amphitheater have a BUG SPRAY tent! Never seen one of these before... You just stand in line until it is your turn and then they spray you. Amazing and it is free!

Steve Winwood opened for Tom. He was great. Mike can name all of his songs. I pretty much recognized the tunes and the songs from the eighties that he played. It was good music to just listen to.

Steve played from 7:00 until about 8:10. Tom Petty came on at exactly 8:40 and the set lit up with lights of many colors and video screens focused on each of the band members. The concert was great - end to end greatest hits. I think there was one "bathroom song" in the middle (aka a song you don't mind missing if you need to leave your seat).

Here is a close up of Tom

This is not Tom, but a bandmember who we thought looked like John Mackey. I thought this was a terrific shot.This is the base player featured on the video screen at the top. He was excellent.
We were surrounded by various members of the trailor trash tribe. This woman pretty much stood on her seat with her too-short shorts and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and danced the whole night, blocking the view of the people behind her. Nowadays we hold up cell phones to show our appreciation for the band and desire for an encore. However, at this concert almost everyone in the audience had real lighters! It was honestly like stepping back 20 years in time. This is a blurry photo, but you get the idea
Tom and the Heartbreakers played until about 10:05 and then we coaxed them back out - with our lighters, screams, whistles and seat thumping - for 2 encore songs. The final one....you guessed it - American Girl.
We expected that getting out of the parking lot would be a nightmare, but our tickets came with VIP parking and we literally drove right out and found ourselves on I-35 within 10 minutes. Got home just before midnight...ummmm, yawn...just a little tired today.

Oh, and I sold two more books, for $83, while I slept. I may get hooked on ebay.

A gold mine (of books)

This is about $1,000 of highschool textbooks. And they were just sitting on the bookshelf in my study. So I decided to sell them online. This is just half, or less, of all the textbooks I have. I won't be able to get $1000 for them, because now they are used and perhaps some are out of date, but I will get something more than if I just left them on the shelf. After entering this inventory of books online last night around 11 p.m., I woke up this morning and had already sold 2 books for $115!

Here is a whole other stack. It is a bit tedius entering the isbn codes from the tiny labels on the back of the book, but if I can make some money to pay for new textbooks for my kids this year, it is worth it. Steffi's college books for this 1st semester alone were over $700 and some were used! Some kids can't afford new text books so by offering our used books at a lower price I am helping others achieve their educational goals. Besides sounding like a noble cause, it is good for the environment to re-use and recycle. And it will free up some space on the shelf.

Look what Topher found in driveway this a.m.! Steffi has her weather frog...I have a driveway toad!

Off to College we go!

So this is where my baby girl will be living until next May. She shares the 2nd floor upper left apartment with one other girl. Looks promising!Before I take you in to see what student housing is like these days I'll share a bit about our journey. Actually, it was uneventful so there is not much to share. Stef packed up the car and there was even room to see out the back window. We had to drive from Austin to San Antonio. Steffi drove us there (down I-35 the highway I hate most because of the enormous number of trucks) while I worked on my laptop using an aircard that kept me online. Pretty cool and it distracted me from the driving. No apprehension on Steffi's part about this so far.
When we arrived we first had to check in at the "Rowdy House." There were masking-taped lanes for arriving students from the front door leading to a long table. By the time we checked in there was only one other student in line, whose name fell into the same range as Powling so we had to wait. Meanwhile, two other checker-inners for A-H and S-Z sat there with nothing to do while we waited in line for Ms I-R to check in. The large room was bright and cheerful and looks like a nice space for social gatherings. There is a large flat screen TV, a pool table and lots of washing machines in another room. And....
the Rowdy House has a pool!and hot tub and bbq area. The literature says that this apartment complex has, in fact, 3 pools!After checking in to get a key and punch sheet to report problems, we went back to the apartment and hauled all of Steffi's stuff inside. The apartment has 2 bedrooms, a bath, a full kitchen and living room. I was expecting a hot stuffy room, uncomfortable for unpacking and setting up, but the A/C worked really well. The bedrooms have industrial brown carpet; ugly but apparently new last year so no complaints about that. The living room and kitchen are hardwood-ish and in very decent shape. There is a 3 person sofa, a side chair, a sofa table and side table. After a little re-arranging, you can see it has potential.

Here is a view from the door into the living room. Steffi and Abby are chatting about what they want to buy next while Steffi is keeping a list.

This is their current "entertainment center." This is a combo TV, playstation and can play DVDs. Abby brought Guitar Hero to play (she is a confessed "gamer"). It will be hard to see the TV from the sofa so I am accepting bets on when the pleas for a new larger TV begin. Actually, you all lose, because Steffi has already begun begging. I keep reminding her that this is COLLEGE not CAMP and she needs to NOT BE WATCHING TV all the time anyway and this small TV may be a blessing.
At the far end of the room is the kitchen. It has a great breakfast bar that accommodates seats on both sides. I think this will be a good study area if they can keep it clean.


The kitchen is already equipped with the following appliances: dishwasher, fridge, electric oven/stove. The girls have supplemented these with a microwave, toaster-oven, blender, and coffee maker.

I spent Friday evening lining all the drawers and shelves so they could put their pretty new dishes and glasses, pots and pans, silverware, and other cooking supplies away.


they have spices but no salt or pepper yet.

We had fun getting Steffi's room set up. With the risers, and multiple mattress accoutrements and the overbed shelving, the bed turned out great and she can fit 3 large storage bins underneath.

We stacked the two drawers on top of each other and added a mirror. The purply blue thing at the back is her wireless router enabling her to work on her laptop from anywhere in the apartment.

This is the most unusable desk imaginable; it is about the width of a sheet a paper. I treated her to a new adjustable chair on wheels because the other chair was just not that comfortable. We got a great lamp at Target that is the perfect blend of style and function. And overdoor hooks for her towels. Meg loaned Stef her college shoe rackThe bathroom is great. Right now they just have the shower liner and they are planning to get a cute shower curtain to add some color.
After getting the apartment all set up we still had a few more chores to do. First, I had to get Steffi a Costco card. There is great shopping close to the campus. The Costco is about a mile away - so convenient for buying food, school supplies and gas so I added her to my account. Within 2.5 miles there are shops for everything she could possibly need. We had to visit the Wallie-world (aka Wal*Mart) at 11 p.m. Friday night to buy a shower liner so the girls could shower. Of course while there we called each other by our Wallie*World aliases: Fifi La Fluff, Gigi Fuluzi and Lance Zamboni. There are also a Target, Staples, HEB, Barnes & Noble, and Marshalls all in a single strip mall. The school offers shuttle buses frequently to these and other shops.

Then we had to go to the dining hall to get her on a meal plan. There are many places to eat on campus covered by the meal plan, but we had to trek to the other side of campus to pay for her plan at the main dining center. On normal days the Roadrunner Cafe has many venues to choose from including: custom sandwiches; a grill for burgers, cheesesteaks, chicken, grilled cheese, etc; pizza; salad & vegetarian bar; a station for eggs/omelettes/waffles; and probably more. Because we purchased her plan this weekend, we got 3 "free" meals so we had lunch there. Everyone was so helpful and pleasant. Matthew, the Cafe manager saw us looking around and came over to introduce himself and explain everything Steffi needed to know about dining there.

If you look up to the left there are painted Texas Hillcountry scenes. Here is one featuring bluebonnets:

check out their artistic ability with watermelons! The UTSA mascot is the roadrunner and this is the Roadrunner Cafe after all.
Last time we visted, this building was under contruction - now it is done. The campus is pretty modern and in southwestern style. Nothing looks old or worn on this campus.

On the way back to the apartment, we found another pool, this one right behind Stef's building. (Notice the impending storm cloud....)

We had the sense that the girls wanted to be on their own so we left around 3. Bye girls! Have fun, STUDY A LOT and remember to call your mothers sometimes!!!

Did I mention or did you notice how much rain we have had since Steffi returned from Europe???!! And the clouds at school??!! - not random. Steffi admitted that it rained nearly everywhere she went over there and now that she is back, it has rained more in the last 10 days than all summer long!

Here is a small rain storm in the distance:

And a bigger one:

After this very long day and a half of moving into college Mike and I were too tired to stay in and cook so we went to the Iguana Grill for dinner. Playing there was a small band called Woody Russell and they were really very good. The most interesting part though was when they were wrapping up. Woody's wife was sitting at the table next to us, clearly wanting to get out of there. She asked her husband to play a song called Salt, which he did and sweetly dedicated to her. She sat there looking most unappreciative throughout the song. Then they did one more rockin blues number and shut it down for the night. The wife went straight to the tip jar, grabbed all the paper money and started sorting through it. We saw her put several bills into her bra! She counted and recounted and counted and recounted. It was like "you played all night and only got this?!" It was just a bizarre thing to watch. Woody Russell & band was really good and if you see him playing anywhere, check it out.