Holiday parties, part 1

The holidays flew by this year. The festivities started on the 17th with a saturnalia dinner with Linda and her Latin students at the Frisco. As in years past, it was a nerd-fest, but in the best possible way. Seriously, there must have been 40 Latin students or more - enough to fill up the party room at the restaurant. It was also good to see so many involved parents who came to celebrate with their kids. Anyway, Jill and I signed up to chaperone the Latin club when they go to the state competition in San Antonio this year, so this was good practice. What's off camera in this picture is the table of 10 squealing girls to the left:


Afterward, we stopped by Sean and Amy's for the 2nd half of our evening - and for some of Sean's incredible desserts.



I think Diego is teaching Dustin to play Bananas here:


While Eric looks presidential:



The next day, I went to the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar with Mollie. She found a new hat:


But the rope hammock was a miss:


And finally, this is the ornament my realtor sent me. I'm not sure if she realizes that Frosty has a lecherous smile and a pipe at full attention:

Palm Springs

I'm trying to catch up on my posts, so I'm back-dating a few of them to order them chronologically.


I spent a week with Jill in Palm Springs from Dec 3rd through the 10th. She teaches in the Univ of Calif Riverside low-residency MFA program. The program meets for 10 days each semester at a Palm Springs resort and business center.

It was a really relaxing trip - I slept late, watched movies, visited with Jill's colleagues and students and did a little reading and running. The faculty that teaches in the MFA program really are a bunch of rock stars - from Tony nominated playwrights to Guggenheim and NEA fellows - and they were all really nice and interesting.

Our room was a mini suite with mild retro feel:


But the balcony patio was my favorite feature - and a nice place to hang out and read:


The resort had 2 or 3 pools. Unfortunately, the weather didn't warm up until the last day to be pool-worthy:



I went for a run most mornings - and even caught a sunrise one day:


Another day, my run coincided with Jill's daily walk:


There's a cool vintage car dealer in Palm Springs that had a number of lust-worthy samples on display. I figure they must get a lot of their business from retiring movie stars and the like:




The MFA program provides breakfast and lunch each day, but we were on our own for dinner. Jill and I tried out a number of interesting places in downtown Palm Springs. But one night, Jill had a lecture to attend, so I went to Denny's with one of her graduating poetry students. Denny's is one of my secret indulgences. Larry (the self-described black leprechaun) and I ate a bunch of greasy food that night:


The UC Riverside MFA program is relocating to an even nicer resort in 2012 (on the other side of Palm Springs). Looking forward to checking that one out also. Sadly, there won't be a Denny's nearby.

Court Jesters

Prior to going on vacation last week, I got a chance to hear Pete speak at the Black Star Co-op about his law suit on behalf of Jester King Craft brewery versus the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC):


Later in the week, we all went to see Wilco play at the ACL Moody Theater:


It was a good show. Nick Lowe opened for them. He looks a little fuzzy here, but I assure you he was fine:

Many thanks

Jill and I went to Houston last Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. We left Austin at 7:AM, so we could be at the Woodlands Country Club for lunch at 11:AM. All the photos from lunch are on my mom's new camera, so unfortunately, I don't have any to share.

A nice tradition we have with Linda's mother-in-law is the gifting of treats. This is what the elder Mrs. Zappa shared with our family - peanut butter cookies, lemon bars, lemon and almond biscotti, and mini brownies with a kiss in each. I wish I could say I have some left to enjoy, but I ate my share within 24 hours.


While at my folks, Jill and I walked around the neighborhood to work off some of lunch. We passed by the enormous home of the person who developed the neighborhood and found these guys in their front yard:


Later that night, Jill and I met Ron and Jeremy at the new Houston Texans Grill to watch the UT - A&M game. Unfortunately, I declined to wager on the game and lost out on a free dinner. Jill wasn't real interested in the game, so she graded papers in the corner and would check in on us every so often. Btw, we had the worst nachos at the Texan Grill - it was basically baked tortilla chips dusted with shredded lettuce.


We spent the night at my sister's place that night and woke up early the next day to meet Jill's brother for coffee at the hotel he was staying at. In case you can't tell, her brother is a big guy:


Speaking of Jill, I finally used the potatoes she brought back from a friend's garden on one of her recent trips. Some of the potatoes were purple:


I decided to make mashed potatoes, hoping to get a purple tinted creation. Unfortunately, the purple color boils out of them.


I served the potatoes with an orange salad and roast chicken for lunch:

Insanity

I think it was Albert Einstein who defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If that's the case, then I've lost it.

I've spent much of the weekend rebuilding Jill's MacBook Pro laptop. The episode started a month ago when she spilled her drink all over her keyboard. Afterward, all she could type were numbers, as all the letters were replaced by commas (,). I told her she probably needed a new keyboard. And I told her I could replace it using a variety of youtube videos. The gesture was sincere, but then I discovered that newer Mac laptops utilize an uni-body construction. This meant that the keyboard was not going to be very easy to replace. Actually, it's about the hardest thing you can replace on the Mac (all parts attach to the upper case). I had to order a replacement upper case for the computer and then transfer every part from the old upper case to the new upper case. An added bonus to a new upper case is that it included a new track pad - which is good, since Jill's old one worked only about half the time.


If you're a pro, it takes about an hour to install a new upper case. Not being a pro, it took me about 4. I had to watch videos over and over again and also reference service manuals and other documentation. Anyway, after 4 hours, I managed to move all the parts over and attach the display housing (with the screen) to the new upper case. I pressed the power button on the laptop, and it booted up. And then the screen started to get very bright. And then the track pad stopped working. Quickly, I shut the computer down. And then I went about removing every part I just installed and then installed it all back again. And this time it did only take an hour (I guess I'm a pro now). Well, the computer booted up again, and this time the screen stayed stable. So I started up Microsoft Word and started typing. "q", "w", "e", and "r" all typed fine. However, "t" did not work. In all, about a dozen keys were still acting up. I reasoned that maybe I had mis-seated the keyboard cable or the connector was dirty, so I went about removing the logic board and cleaning the contacts with compressed air. That seemed to help, as only 6 keys were acting up now. Emboldened, I opened up the computer again and cleaned the contacts with isopropyl alchohol (91%), and then I sprayed the keyboard connector with compressed air for an extra long time. Expecting success, I reassembled the unit and turned on the power. And this time nothing. As in nothing happened. It wouldn't boot. I tried plugging in the power cord. I tried holding down the power button for a really long time. I tried pressing random buttons. Nothing.


I feared that I had bricked Jill's computer, so I called and gave her the bad news. She told me to put the Mac aside and not worry about it for now. I told her I would, but I also tried re-seating the connector one more time. Luckily, the computer booted up. The keyboard still had a number of bad keys. But I put it aside as Jill suggested. So that's how I spent my weekend thus far.

On a more successful note, Dustin and I helped at Bikes for Kids earlier in the week (along with a small team from Dell). Bikes for Kids will give out 750 Trek bikes to kids this year. It's a pretty cool charity. Since Dustin and I have more advanced bike skills, we were tasked with setting up the brakes and shifters on the mountain bikes. In 3 hours, we each finished about 12 bikes. Not bad.



Oh, and one more unsuccessful note, Mollie and I went out to dinner at Afin Thursday night. They are in the space that used to be Korea Garden (across from the Yellow Rose). The cuisine was Japanese tapas (think Mikado). The remodeled interior looks good. Unfortunately, the food did not match the decor. And the music was this horrible Lady Gaga beat that droned on and on. And on...

Shocked

Maurie had tickets to tonight's Michelle Shocked show at the Cactus (and kindly invited me along). We managed to get seats 3 rows from the stage. Great show. It's probably been 20 years since I last saw her. She's quite the showman now, engaging with the crowd, acting up, and being very comfortable with herself in general. And she also seems very happy with where she is in life:


A bonus song near the end brought her dad up on stage, where he led the band in a rousing rendition of This Land is Your Land. Here's a quick video in case you weren't there:



After the show, I picked up a copy of Short, Sharp, Shocked that I misplaced years ago. Michelle offered herself up for a picture, which I happily obliged:

ACL mellow boots

This past weekend was a busy weekend. Friday, I won tickets to the Lykke Li taping of Austin City Limits, so I invited Mollie along. I had never heard of Ms. Li, but she and her band put on a great show.



Afterward, we had dinner at Taverna nearby. Honestly, it was the best meal I've had in a long time. The most tender roast pork over a bed of red pepper mashed potatoes and a side of asparagus. Dessert was a chocolate mousse pie thing that was simple and amazing. It had been a few years since I've been to Taverna, but I definitely want to go back.

Saturday, I woke up at 3:30 AM, so I could pack my car and set up at Mellow Johnny's for their annual Mellow Swap. Think Velo Swap, but on a micro scale. My sister volunteered to help out for the day (in return, I "volunteered" to chaperon her students when they go to the Latin state competition in San Antonio next year). It took me a couple of trips to haul all my stuff there. In hind site, I should have left the bikes and frames at home, but you never know what people will be looking for at these events. Turns out they're looking for cheap stuff. I sold a bunch of used stems, handlebars, water bottle cages - stuff in the $5 to $10 range. All told, I probably sold $800 worth of parts. It was all stuff I really had no use for, so $800 for 10 hours isn't so bad. MJ did provide burgers and New Belgium beer for lunch, which was a bonus.



I also ran into old friends and met some nice people at the swap. The guy who set up at the table next to me was the former British national road champ. He rides for the Rapha Condor cycling team and was selling off outdated kits (jersey, bibs, vests, etc.). Apparently, Rapha revised his jersey 6 times this race season and wouldn't let him wear the old designs. I wish I could remember the guy's name, but I was amazed he was about 6'-2" and wore a size small. Needless to say, I did not pick up any of his excess kits. Oh, wait, I found the guy on the Rapha team site. He's Kristian House. Super nice guy. And he apparently wins a lot.


Speaking of cycling teams, Team Radio Shack was also there selling off their gear, including team bikes and clothing. In case you didn't know (or didn't care), Radio Shack is combining with Leopard Trek next year to form a super team that will include the Schleck brothers, Cancellara, Horner, and Klöden. It'll be called RadioShack-Nissan-Trek. Catchy name, yes?


Saturday night, I went to a musical at The Vortex theater with Maurie and Julia. It was the final show of Sarah Silver Hands. I wish I could tell you what the musical was about, but I kept falling asleep throughout the show. Julia liked it, however, which was the main thing.


To make up for my inattention, Maurie, Julia and I went to see Puss in Boots in 3D at the Alamo Village Sunday afternoon. Now, that was a good film. Funny. And the 3D effects were really well done. I especially liked the floating dust in the bar scenes. It was so lifelike. Amazing.

Jill's on the last of her 3 stops for this trip. She's in Two Rivers, Wisconsin for a week, but should be home soon. Hurray! This long distance thing sucks.