This past weekend pretty much revolved around SXSW activities.
Friday, the Gingerman hosted an Athens, Georgia showcase. Alison ran into June there during the day and later chatted with Peter Buck after his Baseball Project gig and was told "they" would be playing at midnight that night. With a surprise R.E.M. show on our minds, we revisited the G-man later that evening to catch Supercluster:
Casper and the Cookies:
and Flash to Bang Time (featuring Lynda Stipe, Michael's sister):
Anyway, midnight came and went, but no surprise R.E.M. performance. They were in the audience, however. And not always happy with each other:
Saturday, Pete was offered tickets to the Austin Music Awards, so he was kind enough to take Glenn and me along. Lots of great music was played that night, but The Wagoneers reunion after 21 years had to be the highlight for me. Even cooler was having Joe Ely play with them for their last song:
Also on the bill for the evening were the Meat Puppets with special guest Roky Erickson:
Traffic sucked getting to and from the Austin Music Hall, but once inside the hall, all was right. And all in all, it was a good night.
Last week was the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NABHS to the glitterati). The Austin Convention Center has never hosted so much bike porn. Desirous, lustful, gloriously naked and objectified - it was a sight to behold.
And as with any porn endeavor, there must be porn stars. Over the 2 days I attended, I had a chance to catch up with some of the finest:
Andy Hampsten at the Hampsten bike booth (I have one of their stainless frames):
Chris King (with his wife):
Mike DeSalvo (I have one of his 10th Anniversary frames that I still can't decide on the final build):
Sacha White (of Vanilla Bicycles, seen here talking to a poser Austin hipster - note the lack of the requisite messenger bag):
Richard Sachs (including a pic of the Sachs cyclocross team frame that I picked up last year):
More timely, this past weekend, Jeremy and his daughter Erin were in town for a wedding. We tried to go for a bike ride Saturday morning, but a cold front brought in a thunderstorm (replete with lightning). Instead, we went over to Pete's for Torchy's Tacos and a homebrew session:
Sunday morning we tried again. And what a glorious day for a ride. We took Jeremy around the Spicewood Springs loop. Afterward, we picked up Erin and Pablo and headed to Julio's for breakfast tacos:
Overall, just a very nice weekend.
Have a touch of insomnia, so I thought I'd update my blog.
Belinda flew in from San Jose a week ago Thursday. She brought some See's chocolates and mochi from my favorite mochi shop. Yes, we finished off the box by the time she left:
She also made a quilt for me, which was way cool:
We spent much of the time she was here eating. A little late night Hey Cupcake action:
And a post Marathon dinner Sunday at Parkside:
Speaking of marathon, the one this past Sunday set a bunch of PRs for me. A personal record for the slowest marathon I've ever run (5:19, 50 minutes slower than my 2009 time). A record for the number of times I had to stop to pee (7 times before mile 21). And a record for feeling the best after a long run (I was able to walk down stairs the following day). Race day was hot and humid, so fearing I would cramp up, I drank a lot of liquids. In hindsight, it was way too much liquids. After stopping for potty breaks at miles 1 and 3, I pretty much knew I had broken the seal. Good news is, I didn't cramp up. I was a little stiff-legged at the end, but no cramping. Yay! (small fist pump)
Here I am coming down the finishing stretch:
And crossing the finish line:
In bike related news, the North American Handmade Bicycle Show comes to town this weekend. Dustin and I went to the kick-off party at Mellow Johnny's and watched a couple of short movies (one on Dario P. and the other on the Rapha continental ride). Free beer, cool bikes - a good time was had by all. I was happy to see that MJ's is an Alchemy bike dealer now. And - this must be a blow to Crumpton - they're also carrying Parlee. The Parlee folks were at the party Thursday and showed off a number of nice rides, including this AC/DC inspired one:
I'm waiting for Belinda's flight to get in from San Jose, so I thought I'd do a quick update. The last week or so in reverse...
Ron came into town last Saturday night. We had dinner at Sao Paulo - where Ron discovered that caipirinhas can be just as tasty as margaritas. Sunday morning we hit the trails at Town Lake, did the 4.7 mile loop, and then met Pete and Pablo for brunch at the Hyde Park Grill.
Speaking of Sunday, this Sunday is the Austin Marathon. As usual, I've been training like crazy. I peaked with a 14 mile run last Saturday (followed by a burger and fries at Sandy's):
I thought I had a big mouth, but here's a shot of my squirrel hoarding nuts this week. Someone should tell him that winter is over:
Then again, the squirrel isn't the only one stuffing his face. My mom sent me back to Austin recently with leftovers from our Chinese New Year meals. I'm not sure what these are called in English, but trust me, they're good. Rice stuffed with meat and mushrooms:
This is what radish cakes look like before they're sliced and heated:
And after a little pan frying:
Btw, Belinda warned me that she was bringing See's chocolates with her from California. Yum.
