If I didn’t have bad luck…

 Family  No Responses »
Apr 132005
 

We’re still wading through the insurance morass with the house. Just so we didn’t get too complacent, the transmission on the minivan that we’ve barely had for a year decided to die.

Yes, that’s right, the transmission on a three-year-old car with 38k miles went out. We were seeing signs of the problem last month and got it in under the three year warranty time limit, but, like an idiot, I forgot that it’s mileage or years, whichever comes first. We hit the mileage sometime earlier this year. Luckily, Honda is standing by their crappy transmission and covering the cost of replacing it.

They were waffling on paying for the rental car while it’s being fixed, but they got as far as trying to install the new transmission Monday only to find that they had been sent the wrong one. The service advisor claimed that it’s the first time that’s ever happened in the 5 years he’s been there. Did I mention how good our luck has been the last couple of months? Anyway, now that they’re delaying the fix, I think they’re going to pony up for the rental as well. I know that the 2000 and 2001 Odysseys have extended warranties for their transmissions. It’s not officially the case with the 2002 Odysseys, but it appears that they aren’t any better than their predecessors.

 Posted by on April 13, 2005 at 7:19 pm

Music…with benefits

 Uncategorized  2 Responses »
Apr 132005
 

Music and a good cause go together like chips and salsa. Or something. This weekend there’s plenty of opportunity to pacify your inner philanthropist and hear some fine musicianship in the deal. The first option is decidedly more kid-friendly than the second.

Zilker Elementary Outdoor Learning Center Concert
Friday, April 15
6:00pm
Zilker Elementary School’s Outdoor Learning Center (1900 Bluebonnet Lane)

Zilker Elementary hosts its annual Outdoor Learning Center Concert. This year’s lineup includes Marcia Ball, Eliza Gilkyson, Darden Smith, Lee Ann Atherton, Christian Fernandez, and more. All proceeds benefit Zilker Elementary’s Arts in Education fund. Food and t-shirts will be sold in addition to the admission. Lawn chairs and blankets are suggested. Arrive early for best seating. Adult admission is $10. Kids are free. Call 414-2327 for more information.

Clint Shay’s Guts Benefit
Friday, April 15th at Beerland with Sons of Hercules and others. Clint’s band, Faster Disasters, may play a few songs if he’s up to it.

Thursday, April 21st at Room 710 with Daylight Titans, Ugly Beats, Pink Swords, Bad Rackets and Faster Disasters

Local guitarist Clint Shay went into the hospital a couple of weeks ago with a ruptured appendix. He’s home and on the mend, but like too many people these days, Clint is a victim of a healthcare system that is tied to employment. He didn’t have health insurance at the time and is facing some hefty health care bills.

There are two benefits over the next week to help Clint out. The cover charge that would normally go to the bands will all go toward the medical bills. I couldn’t get a firm number from both clubs on the cover, but it’ll probably be $4-5. There’ll most likely be a raffle and other fund-raising activities throughout the shows.

 Posted by on April 13, 2005 at 10:16 am

Commuter burn out

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Apr 122005
 

Burnt out car on trailer
Looks like somebody didn’t have a very good evening commute today. I passed the aftermath of a car fire as I was heading southbound on I-35 on the lower deck just after the upper/lower deck split around 6:45pm CDT. I didn’t see any ambulances, so I’m guessing that no one got hurt. It didn’t really seem to change the southbound traffic. As usual, we were moving slowly enough for me to safely snap the picture. It definitely slowed down the northbound traffic which is usually flowing pretty freely at that time.

I haven’t checked, but I wonder if the number of traffic accidents on this stretch of I-35 has improved since they closed several of the really short on ramps a few years ago. I’m sure there’s somewhere to look that sort of stuff up, but I’m far too lazy to do it now. Any TxDOT or DPS people out there?

 Posted by on April 12, 2005 at 9:23 pm

Viva Les Amis

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Apr 082005
 

benefit_button.jpg
There’s a lot of talk these days about The Old Austin and The New Austin with the former mentioned in reverent tones and the latter with a hint of contempt. It’s all relative. For many, Les Amis is an example of The Old Austin. It was cheap. It was grungy. It had a strong sense of community. Director Nancy Higgins’s documentary, Viva Les Amis, explores a place and a time that no longer exists and explores this clash between old and new.

There’s a fundraising benefit for the documentary tomorrow night at Spider House from 6-9pm. There will be live music by Ray Ray’s Soul Party and the Fire Marshals of Bethlehem, plus free beer, a raffle of items donated from local businesses, and more. Suggested donation is $5 at the door.

There’ll also be screenings of the film at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown on May 3rd and 4th.

 Posted by on April 8, 2005 at 9:05 am

Metroblogging Best Of

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Apr 062005
 

As you’re probably aware, our site is one in a group of city sites under the Metroblogging name. What you may not know is that there’s now a Best Of feature on the main Metroblogging page. Here’s how it came about:

We’ve been hearing a lot from people all over about how they enjoy
reading many of the other cities but were finding it hard to keep up
with all of them so hopefully this section will solve that – as well as
send some new readers to all of the cities.

The current Best Of is a series of posts on the Star Wars line at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles. If you think a post on Austin Metroblogging is worthy of recognition, by all means leave a comment or contact one of the authors.

 Posted by on April 6, 2005 at 10:58 am

Consequences

 Politics  No Responses »
Apr 052005
 

Wow, does John Cornyn suck or what? I was reading something else yesterday related to the contempt for the judicial system coming from the current majority party. It essentially said that the reason that there are so many things being decided by the courts is because the legislature is writing so many stupid laws. If the legislators were writing laws that made sense, there wouldn’t be so much interpretation left up to the courts or reason for them to strike them down. I think I heard something to this effect on KUT last week as well. It was an op-ed by a woman who proposed that for every stupid law the Texas Legislature passed this session, they should have to remove ten other stupid laws from the books.

 Posted by on April 5, 2005 at 3:55 pm

Leavings

 Miscellaneous  No Responses »
Apr 042005
 

The site is slow to load today because two of the external sites from which I pull content seem to be down. The moblog block on the right is pulling from Flickr and the block below it pulls from AllConsuming. If they don’t return in the next couple of days, I’ll yank the blocks.

I can’t believe that this is a news item that CNN deems worthy of posting. At the risk of sounding like a Mallard Fillmore strip, what the hell is wrong with education and kids today?

 Posted by on April 4, 2005 at 11:32 pm

I’m your biggest fan-atic

 Family  No Responses »
Apr 042005
 

We spent the afternoon at the Flyrite Choppers Open House yesterday. I blogged about the generalities over on Metroblogging. It was the first time that either of the kids have had a chance to see me play drums. I took about a 4 year hiatus because it was just too much to be in a band and have small children. I think they really enjoyed it. It must’ve wiped out The La. She was asleep before we got halfway home and stayed that way for a couple of hours.

I updated the “picture of the week”. The Boy’s is from yesterday. The La’s is from a couple of weeks ago when The Boy was out of town on spring break with Nana. We didn’t get any decent shots of her yesterday.

 Posted by on April 4, 2005 at 5:13 pm

Flyrite – afternoon delight

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Apr 042005
 

Crow at Flyrite Choppers Open HouseAfter managing to remember that yesterday was the day to turn the clocks ahead, the family and I spent the afternoon at the Flyrite Choppers Open House. It coincided with the Lone Star Round Up this weekend. If you were anywhere near South Congress, you probably saw an abundance of hot rods and custom cars lining both sides of the street.

My band was on the bill along with Crow, Hot Rod Hillbillys, Go Fast and Honky. I’ve included a shot that I took of Crow early on in the afternoon. Anytime he breaks out that bass, I have flashbacks to my first couple of years at UT and going to Liberty Lunch to see Agony Column. Meeeeeeeeemories…sorry. Anyway, his new stuff is work checking out. You’ve got to love any band with a song titled after a dog food brand. They also do a good cover of Nirvana’s “Sliver”.

It was perfect weather. I saw many people that I recognized from the Continental Club and the Black Cat. There was tons of BBQ, beer, choppers and hot rods. What more could you want from a spring Sunday afternoon?

 Posted by on April 4, 2005 at 9:25 am
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