Toddler Story #1245

 Family  No Responses »
Mar 312005
 

This one’s been repeated a few times of the last couple of days, so I thought I’d post it.

The kids were getting ready for a story just before bed. We do the story in The La’s room. We’re currently reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The Boy is digging it. The La usually just picks another book and looks at it. Eventually, she gets tired and goes to sleep, usually before I finish reading to The Boy.

Anyway, The Wife came in just before we started reading to say goodnight to the kids. As she was talking to The La, The La was standing in her crib, nudging a sippy cup of water with her foot.

The La: “That’s my water.”

The Wife: “Who knew?”

The La (after a pause): “Lily.”

The Wife (laughing): “You’re cute.”

The La: “No, I Lily.”

 Posted by on March 31, 2005 at 7:51 pm

It's the little things

 Uncategorized  1 Response »
Mar 302005
 

7842804_3787189ea0_m.jpgThe H-E-B on Oltorf is finally making its own tortillas. I’ve wondered for a long time why the hell the Hancock Center location had one and we didn’t. I’m just glad we finally got one because these tortillas rock. Grab a rotisserie chicken, some tomatoes, avocados, cheese and some Jardine’s 7J Ranch Campfire Roasted Salsa (also a Texas product, I might add) and you’ve got a quick and tasty dinner.

 Posted by on March 30, 2005 at 9:13 am

Progress

 Family  No Responses »
Mar 282005
 

As I hinted last week, we had some major shit go down at the house last Tuesday. Somehow, our downstairs toilet clogged and then continued to overflow after The Wife and Kids left the house at 11am. They didn’t return home until roughly that evening to find water flowing out the front door. All three of the downstairs rooms (our bedroom, family room and living room) were soaked. They ripped out all of the carpet and padding from those three rooms on Wednesday and we had 3 dehumidifiers and 12 fans running constantly from Wednesday evening to this morning when we were pronounced dry and they hauled them all away. I can’t wait to see my electric bill for this month. No idea of the insurance company helps with that. I’m gonna ask.

We’re now left with concrete slab in two rooms and ugly white linoleum of an indeterminate vintage in one. My task for tonight is to use my newly bought crowbar to pull up all of the tackboard from the three rooms so we can safely walk the downstairs without shoes.

We’re supposed to get the first estimate from the insurance company today for the wall repair. For those not familar with water damage remediation, they remove your baseboards and drill 1″ holes every few feet at that level to allow for drying. In two of the rooms, we’ll just get taller baseboards to cover the holes. In the family room, which is all that lovely 70’s wood panelling, we’ll be getting all new walls. I think we’re going to replace with drywall. The adjuster thought that wall repair would come in under the deductible, so no $$ for us just yet. We’re supposed to hear from the insurance company sanctioned floor vendors today or tomorrow. There’s also some furniture that’ll have to be replaced, some that’ll be repaired, an area rug that needs to be cleaned before we decide if it’s salvageable and we’ve got some books that’ll need to be replaced as well.

 Posted by on March 28, 2005 at 10:29 pm

Enough already

 Politics  No Responses »
Mar 252005
 

Thankfully, it appears that the judicial branch is not, in fact, the executive and legislative branch’s bitch. With any luck, Terry Schaivo will die in peace and the bloated sack that is Tom DeLay can go back to worrying about his inevitable demise.

I was going to post about this Tuesday night, but I was interrupted by a call from The Wife informing me that the entire downstairs of our house had become a lake. I’ll go into details some other time, but I’m going to be in insurance/remodeling hell for the next month or so, assuming we can afford this little setback.

Anyway, it makes me sick to see politicians, the media and someone’s own family make a spectacle out of someone who’s too sick or too young to care for themselves. The Daily Show nailed Monday night. I can only hope that Lisa Rein posts the video if you missed it. I won’t rehash the whole thing, but I’ll dump a flurry of links that I think are good.

Things to take away from all this:

  • Bill Frist, a heart surgeon who’s never met Terry Schiavo, can out-diagnose neurologists who have had time to examine her
  • Tom DeLay is an opportunistic, bloated pigfucker trying to use Terry Schiavo to push some sort of universal twisted pro-life agenda and at the same time take the attention away from the multiple investigations into his campaign shenanigans.
  • George Bush is a hypocritical pigfucker who presided over more executions than anyone cares to count and yet claims to want to protect life at any cost. He’s also the one who signed a bill in Texas allowing the courts to pull the plug on someone despite the families wishes, even if it’s just because they can’t pay for the medical expense of keeping the family member alive. Can somebody please up date the definition of hypocrite and add his picture? Please?
 Posted by on March 25, 2005 at 1:12 am

What do you say?

 Family  1 Response »
Mar 242005
 

When your wife calls you at 5:30 at work to tell you that there’s water pouring out the front door of your house?

I say, “Fuck!”

 Posted by on March 24, 2005 at 12:51 am

Sandy plugs Sandy's and other Austin eateries on Daily Show

 Uncategorized  1 Response »
Mar 222005
 

As is our habit, my wife and I were watching the Daily Show last night. The guest was Sandra Bullock. She was there to plug Miss Congeniality 2 (feh), but her conversation with Jon Stewart turned to Austin. They both gushed about our fair city and the topic turned to local eateries.

Bullock plugged Salt Lick which they both agreed was great. If you ask me, Cooper’s is hands down the best BBQ around and well worth the extra half-hour drive.

Stewart asked her about an old burger place that everyone recommends in town. She thought for a moment and suggested Sandy’s which I thought was a cool plug, but probably not the one he was trying to remember. I’m guessing he was talking about Hut’s, but then thought it could be Dirty’s, Top Notch, or Hillbert’s. For burger joint atmosphere, I think any of those that I mentioned are worthy. However, I still think the Amarillo burger at Casino El Camino is the best burger in town. Period.

 Posted by on March 22, 2005 at 10:22 am

HB 789

 Uncategorized  Comments Off on HB 789
Mar 152005
 

We interrupt the SXSW-mania for a little PSA…

For those of you that aren’t aware, there’s a bill on its way to the Texas House floor that would make municipal wireless networks illegal. It’s a bill clearly pushed by the telecommunications companies who greedily want the business for themselves. The problem is, and I know this is shocker, they don’t always do what’s best for the community.

I could go into more detail, but Chip and Adina have already put a lot of work into a very useful and informative site that says way more than I possibly could. Take a look at the site and pay special attention if your rep is on the committee considering the bill. Now is the time to tell them what you think of the bill and Chip’s site gives you everything you need to do so.

For those outside Austin, this has already happened in Pennsylvania and is on the agenda in many other states. There are many places where the telecom companies don’t provide access and the muncipalities are stepping up to cover the gap. This bill would make it illegal to do so. Lawrence Lessig has an article in Wired this month on this very issue. Charles Kuffner, an excellent blogger from Houston links that article and has much more than that.

 Posted by on March 15, 2005 at 5:31 pm
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