New oven works, my wife finds

Our gas oven went on the fritz a couple of years ago and we've been putting up with it for awhile, because it still sort of worked. But the problem got worse recently and we really couldn't use the oven very well. It wouldn't light consistently, and a recent repair shop looked at it and couldn't figure out what was wrong. So instead of repairing different things hoping it would fix it, we just decided to spend about $500 and replace the stove.

Wednesday afternoon the new stove arrived, along with an over-stove microwave we'd been wanting to get. My friend Vic (a sometimes contractor, drummer, and meat-smoker) saved us a bunch of money by helping us install them instead of paying Home Depot.

But the very first meal cooked on the new stove turned into a mini-disaster / drama. Natasha used a steel skillet to sear a pork tenderloin on the stove top, then finished it baking in the oven for 20-30 minutes. She took it out of the oven and set in on the stove top (using a hot pad), but then a couple of minutes later forgot the pan handle was still very hot and grabbed it with her right hand.

She got a very bad 2nd degree burn on her right palm and fingers (she wrapped her hand around the handle) and was in severe pain. So we rushed the kids over to my friends Wes and Corey's home and took Natasha to the minor emergency clinic recently opened in Kyle. I'm glad they were there and that we didn't have to go to an emergency room. I was also really thankful that Wes and Corey could watch our kids on such short notice -- it would have been really tough to be with the kids for 2-3 hrs at the clinic.

They gave her a shot for the pain (and prescription for Vicodin) and applied some silver sulfadiene ointment and wrapped her hand heavily (looked like something from The Mummy). A little more drama occurred when Natasha got sick to her stomach from the pain shot. She had been cooking dinner when the accident happened and didn't get to eat.

Anyway, her pain is pretty much gone now and is OK now, but it was a very stressful evening. I worked from home Thursday to help her watch the kids and am back at work today. Looking forward to a very relaxing / stress-free weekend (knock on wood).

Musical Friday: Fragile

Hi boys and girls. For Musical Friday today, one of my favorite Sting songs, Fragile.

Forbes.com: Slow Sipping Adult Tequilas for Cinco de Mayo

Great article here on Forbes.com on some excellent tequilas and mezcals. In addition to the main story, also check out the slide show and video links for more info and list. Pictured below, Corzo blanco, $45.

Musical Friday -- It's Business Time

Flight of the Conchords. It's Business Time!

"conditions are perfect ... there's nothing good on TV"

Avoiding Swine Flu

To reduce risk of exposure to swine flu, the US Centers for Disease Control strongly recommend against doing this.


Getting close to a fake pig, however, poses no risk. (me in downtown Seattle, 2007)

A great trend in cocktails!

Interesting article in Forbes.com about a trend in mixed drinks / cocktails to start treating them more like fine dining and using fresh / local ingredients. Link to article here. The title of the article is a little misleading (it's called Cocktails go Green, but it doesn't really have anything to with environmental issues -- it's more just about fresh ingredients versus using typical pre-made mixes). The cocktail above is the "look better naked" margarita with acai and rosemary by a bartender in Chicago from a club called Nacional 27!

Fun weekend at my uncle's in Houston

Our family went over to Houston (Richmond, specifically), to visit my uncle / aunt Bill (I call him "Barton", my mom's brother) and Twila Day, their daughters Alexandra and Katrina, and my grandmother Marjorie. Barton took several family pictures for us. See above and below for a couple, or link to my flickr page to see them. We didn't get an overall family shot because Lauren was not in a good mood and was crying when we tried to take the group photo, but we got a couple of good ones of her apart from the family/group shot.



Also, I learned that Barton took up classical guitar as a new hobby a few months ago. He got himself a nice guitar, an Antonio Loriente (web site here), and has a very good teacher he's taking lessons from. I forget his name, but he's a virtuoso player from Iceland that lives in Houston and travels the world playing in various symphony and solo performances. While Barton's just getting started, I think he's doing really well for the amount of time he's been playing. It was very cool sitting in his living room listening to him play -- see photo below.


Lastly, I got a chance to make some good margaritas for Barton and Twila. I used some Herradura silver tequila and Cointreau ... very nice.

Musical Friday -- The Imperial March

It's pretty dark and raining outside, and I just got a paycheck deposited in my checking account that's half it's usual amount because of the unpaid time off we had to take. So I'm choosing a Musical Friday theme to suit. One of my favorite all-time classical-music / movie-music style songs, The Imperial March (Darth vader's theme) from Star Wars, by John Williams:

Thoughts from the Masters last week

Man, I was really disappointed at how the Masters turned out this year. Tiger never really could get it going in any of the first 3 rounds.

See highlights below. At the beginning of the final round on Sunday, it seemed like it might be one of the greatest final rounds in history. Phil Mickelson shot a 6-under 30 on the front nine and came back from -4, 7 shots back, to within one of the lead. His front nine included a wonderful shot on #7 where he had to hook his approach and almost holed out for eagle (about 4:20 on the video).



But it came apart for Phil when he splashed his tee shot on #12. After Tiger and Phil were out of it, I was then rooting for Keny Perry to win and become the oldest major champion ever. But, holding a two shot lead after his birdie on 16, he bogeyed 17 and 18 to fall into the playoff with Cabrera and Campbell. So Cabrera ended up surviving, sucking less than the others to win. He was probably the one guy I was least rooting for to win. Wasn't as bad as Phil and Monty's collapse at the '06 US Open, but a similar let-down.

Musical (Good) Friday

A really awesome web site (link here) I found with mashups of Youtube clips into a complete song. Below is a song called "The Mother of All Funk Chords"!

Champagne Cosmopolitan, Proud Mary

I've made a couple of new drinks lately that are pretty good. The first is simply my standard bloody mary recipe (see recipe in previous post for 20th Hole Bloody Mary), but simply reducing the amount of Red Eye bloody mary mix to just a couple of ounces, essentially making a smaller but stronger drink (ratio of vodka to mix is higher). I call it the "Proud Mary". A couple of those will certainly get you "rollin' on a river"!

The second drink is a new one that I really like, and plan to make for the next party I host. It's simply a mixture of a standard cosmopolitan and Champagne or sparkling wine. I thought about calling it a "Cham Wow", but I think that violates a copyright of something else! 8^) I think I'll stick with a Champagne Cosmo.

Note that real Champagne is from the Champagne region of France. While there are a few brands of real Champagne you can sometimes find for < $20, most real Champagne is > $40 a bottle and probably a little too nice to use for a mixed drink. So you can certainly use a good-tasting California sparkling wine or Italian Prosecco for this.

20th Hole Champagne Cosmopolitan (makes 2 drinks)
-- 4 oz vodka [I like Stolichnaya Citro (citrus-flavored vodka) for this, but any other good-quality unflavored vodka will also work well]
-- 2 oz Cointreau or Paula's Texas Orange
-- juice of 1 large lime, freeshly squeezed
-- Champagne, sparkling wine, or Italian Prosecco
-- 1-2 oz cranberry (or cran-raspberry) juice cocktail
-- 1-2 tbsp simple syrup, to taste
-- shaker filled with crushed ice
-- 2 large chilled martini glasses or champagne flutes

Add vodka, orange liqueur, lime juice, syrup, cranberry juice, and ice to shaker. Shake thoroughly to mix and chill. Strain into martini glasses or flutes, filling glass about halfway. Pour into glass the Champagne / sparkling wine to fill glass (you want about 1:1 ratio of cosmo to sparkling wine). Garnish with orange or lemon peel if desired.

Better check your Ozarka bottle before you leave for the day

Sigh. With the hard, poor-tasting water we have in Kyle, we use an Ozarka water delivery service where you flip over those 5-gallon bottles onto the dispenser. I put on a new bottle last Sunday morning, then we all left for the day. When we got back home after lunch at about 2 or 3pm, the bottle had emptied all over the floor. While it initially appeared that the water remained only in the kitchen area with the hard tile floor, we later noticed the laminate flooring in the living room starting to swell and bubble up in a few areas near the transition.

We ended up having to rip out a pretty large area of the flooring. The pad underneath was soaking wet over a pretty big area. Fortunately, Ozarka has a subcon insurance they keep for situations like this. So I don't think I'll end up with any out-of-pocket expense. I've got an appointment next week with a flooring installer to get a quote on the repair. Home Depot is checking to see if they still make this color of Pergo -- if they don't, the whole living room flooring will have to be replaced. See photos below. In first photo, note position of Ozarka bottle in upper left.

I guess Tiger's knee is feeling OK

In a post a couple of months ago (link here), I included an imbedded clip (second clip) showing Tiger Woods making a long birdie on the last hole of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill to win over Bart Bryant by a single shot. It was a dramatic shot, complete with full on Tiger hat-slamming celebration mode.

Well, last night Tiger showed he has fully returned and is ready to once again pwn the rest of the golf world. At Bay Hill to defend his title, he started the final round trailing Shawn O'Hair by 5 shots. He did not finish that way.

Tied with O'Hair at -4 coming the the last hole, in fading light due to an earlier rain delay, he needed to make a 15-16 ft putt to avoid having to come back the next day for a playoff. See below for the results. Click on the little "HD" in lower right to see it in HD.

Paula's Texas Orange

After quite a bit of searching (most of it quite tasty), I feel I have finally found a worthy "economic recession" replacement for my favorite orange liqueur, Cointreau. Cointreau is outstanding in my favorite mixed drinks like margaritas and comsopolitans, but tends to run $37-$40 for a 750ml bottle. And it never seems to be on special in my local store, Twin Liquors.

With the cutback actions taken at my company (mentioned in a previous post here), I needed to save some money, so I began trying cheaper substitutes. I tried Patron Citronge, Gran Gala, and Bauchant to only marginally acceptable results (the Citronge isn't that bad). But when I tried Paula's Texas Orange, my search was over.

Paula's is made in Austin, TX, and is unfortunately only available in Texas right now. As good as it is, though, I hope they'll expand and make it available to the rest of the country. It has a very fresh, light orange flavor that does not taste artificial at all. It makes great margaritas and cosmos. Heck, you can even make an All-Austin Cosmopolitan by using Paula's and your choice of three different Austin-made vodkas: Tito's, Dripping Springs, or Savvy.

While I still think Cointreau is the best, Paula's Texas Orange allows me to make margaritas and Cosmos that taste almost as good as those made with Cointreau, but for much lower cost. That's certainly something to be appreciated these days. Cheers!

Additional side note: "What about Grand Marnier?", you may ask. While I agree that Grand Marnier may be one of the best orange liqueurs out there, I prefer G-M for straight sipping in a cognac / brandy snifter. I think it's a bit heavy and overpowering for my margaritas and other mixed drinks. But this is simply my personal preference. Arguing about whether Cointreau or G-M is a better orange liqueur is like debating whether an Aston-Martin DBS or a Porsche 911 Turbo is a better car.

Daniel and Lauren Attempt Dog Training

With the help of Vic Garcia and his dog, Pete (above), Lauren and Daniel attempted to take Pete for a walk around our backyard last week. Results were, um, mixed.





Lauren's training method was to try "running screaming from the dog in terror"!

Musical Friday, Carla / Dale Wedding

My church friends Carla and Dale (pictured above) are getting married tonight at church during our usual Friday night service. They've asked us to do our normal music service, and have requested two songs they like for their wedding, You Won't Relent (by Misti Edwards), and Majesty (by Delirious).

In honor of their wedding, I give you today's Musical Friday offering, the "You Sexy Thing" scene from one of my all-time favorite movies, The Full Monty. Key piece of advice: Remove Cigarette, THEN Shirt. Another all-time favorite quote where Dave says, "Anti-wrinkle cream there may be ... anti-fat-bastard cream? there is none!"

The Perfect Commute

Very strange commute to work today. Not only are lots of folks out this week at my company, but I think lots of people in Austin took today off from work as well. I drive to work from Kyle to Oak Hill on some 2-lane backroads through rural areas, and most days I get behind some slower folks on a good portion of the drive.

But today, not only was the weather perfect (dry, clear, low of 47F, high today of 80F), but my drive was about as perfect as can be. I had no one in front of me for probably 20 out of the 26 miles to work. Even the few cars I had in front of me for a short stretch weren't going all that slow. Even two stoplights that are normally quite long were not crowded and turned green just as I got to both of them.

Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket!

Aston Martin dealership

Front page article on the Statesman this morning is about how John Eagle European plans to open an Aston Martin car dealership in Austin. Link here. I like business owners like this who have the stones to ignore the recession and boldly proceed with business plans. That V-12 DBS (picture from Statesman article below) is a sweet ride for ONLY $260,000!

Nerdy side note: A quick check of a mortgage calculator shows my CAR payment for that car on a THIRTY-YEAR finance of that amount at 6% yields a monthly payment of over $1500, more than 3.5x my current Altima car payment (for only 4 years). If you could get 0% interest for a 5-yr note you're talking 4333 / month, a solid 10X my current car payment!

photo by Ralph Barrera, Austin-American Statesman

Little Mermaid, or Burrito Lady?

My daughter (pictured above) wanted to become a mermaid, so my wife wrapped her up tight in a blanket. Voila! I kind of thought she looked like a burrito, though. Made me think of that jingle for Chipotle restaurant, "hey, hey, hey, burrito lady ... drive me crazy ... burrito lady".

Down in front!

After church Sunday, my good friends Vic and Sarah Garcia (photo of Vic above) took Natasha and I out for lunch at Cheddar's, a local casual dining place. The lunch crowd was pretty heavy, and we had to wait 30-40 minutes for a table. We had our hands full keeping my kids entertained and well-behaved while waiting, so we were thankful when 2-3 seats at the rather crowded bar area finally opened up for us to at least let our kids sit down (they like the cool high bar seats) and for us to order a drink. There weren't enough seats for us all and Natasha and I were standing behind our kids in the seats to watch them and keep them still.

As the bartender is making our ritas, a guy seated behind me at a booth waiting to get his food order asks me if I would move so he can see the TV playing a college basketball (think it was an ACC conf tourney game) game. I was a bit taken aback because I thought it was pretty clear that because I was with my kids that I could NOT move! There was definitely not another place all 6 of us could move to in the bar area. Furthermore, this overall bar area had like 4-5 TVs that this guy could have easily gotten up and moved to to watch the game if it was that important.

Anyway, I told him, "No, I can't move because I need to stay here with my kids and friends," the guy's wife huffs and says, "Uh, rude!". I wasn't really angry until she said that. I got pretty pissed at him and moved over and got in their faces (maybe 3-4 feet away) and said, "Look, sir, if YOU want to watch my kids I'll send 'em right over and then I'll move. But we're waiting for a table and waiting for the bartender to make our drinks. I will MOVE when they have our table ready and they call our name." He didn't say anything else after that. Like George in Seinfeld, I later thought of many more witty things to say (...the JERK store called and they're running out of YOU!).

My wife thought perhaps I was a little too aggressive with him, but I felt I did pretty good not to drop a bunch of f-bombs on his head and toss him through the window. Later after we got seated the manager came over and apologized to us. She and the bartender at least confirmed that the other guy was in the wrong on the issue. Vic had the best line of the entire day when he said with a straight face to the manager, "Man, it's those CHURCH people coming in here on Sundays!" to which the manager gave him a high-five.

The restaurant itself turned out to be pretty good and we had a great time and wonderful visit other than that incident. The frozen ritas we ordered for about $7 were easily twice the size of a frozen rita at most places, and not diluted! I think maybe the barkeep felt sorry for us after that incident and maybe put in a couple of extra floater shots or something! The food was also very good and they gave us large portions.

Oh, I just learned that I have the wrong photo. My bad! Corrected photo of Vic below (on left), along with good friend Kevin Aymat who passed away last year (to whom this blog is partly dedicated).

Great weekend with old and new friends!

This past weekend was really cool, and it was rather unexpected. This weekend was going to be just like any other, but we learned a few days ago that old friend from church Alex Gonzalez was coming into two with his daughter Moriah.

People began linking up using Facebook, and we ended up getting several old friends together at our church for our Friday night and Sunday services as well as for a reunion cookout and jam session at our church on Saturday. We in our current church (me and Natasha, David and Anya, Jennifer and Darren, Wes and Corey) hooked up with Steve and Wendy Gonzalez, Kevin and Scott Hertenstein and their significant others, Sarah Mueller, John Myers, Parker White (not sure if that's his last name or Guggisberg...) and his kids, and Loy and One Gilley. See below for a group photo (click on photo to see large version), or link to more images on my Flickr page here.

Musical Friday -- Ron Burgundy plays the Jazz Flute

My friend Vic Garcia posted this link from the movie Anchorman on his web page a few days ago, and dedicated it to my mom, who used to play the flute a lot (in HS and college), calling her Donna "Sweet Lips" Triplett. Nice.

Several awesome lines from this scene:
-- Tino: "...when the desert coyote eats the heart of the young, and the blood drips down to the children"
-- Ron: "I couldn't possibly ... really, I'm not prepared." (pulls flute from sleeve)
-- Ron: "Oh, that's baby-makin' music right there!"

Taylor Manson (friend's daughter) picture in Tuscon paper

My good friends Steve Manson and Kim Braun live in Tuscon, AZ, where he works for Raytheon Corp., and she is a freelance music composer (film scores, etc.) A couple of years ago, Steve and Kim adopted two kids, Taylor and Ryan. He sent me a really cool little article that featured a photo of his daughter Taylor in the local Tuscon paper. Link here for the story. Excerpt and photo of Taylor demonstrating her device below.

Taylor Manson's grandmother didn't have the strength to swing a hammer and obliterate an old hard drive with sensitive information in it. So Taylor consulted with her father and ended up creating a hard-drive crusher using a metal plate and a car jack. "I never thought I'd actually invent something," she said, surrounded by a throng of young admirers intrigued by new modes of destruction.

Taylor's mother, 42-year-old composer Kim Braun, said the fair was far better than the science fairs she remembers of old.

"There are only so many volcanoes you can see," she said, adding she was impressed by the ingenuity of the students. "The inventions are very creative, but at the same time, there's a practical application for them."

Martin's Pflugerville girls team loses ... understandably

My colleague Fonzell Martin has a daugher, Kaylan, that plays for the Pflugerville girls HS basketball team. See previous post about her here. Their team lost in the state semifinals to Nimitz. But it's easy to understand why.

Nimitz' best player is Brittney Griner, who is 6'8" (#42, pictured above, being guarded by #10 Kaylan) and can dunk easily with either one or two hands. She scored 44 and had 18 blocks in Nimitz' win. Griner is committed to play for the Baylor Bears. The women's team. I think. Check out a couple of her dunks below. Keep in mind this is a high school girl.

Boys are human? Girls?

Hilarious story from my wife a couple of days ago. She emailed me at work:

After coming home from an errand, I was trying to get both of the kids back into the house. Daniel (age 5) was crawling on all fours not listening at all. So, I told him to get up and walk like a human. Daniel responded that he was a boy and not a human.

I told him that boys are humans.

And Lauren (age 4) chimed in “yeah, boys are humans and girls are angels.”

Jihad Fail

Found a very funny web site, failblog.org. People submit things they consider to be a "fail", with caption "xxxxx fail".

Great example here, captioned as "Jihad Fail":

see more pwn and owned pictures

Bloody Mary, Dripping Springs Vodka, Red Eye

I thought at first when I saw Dripping Springs Vodka (web site here) in my local Twin Liquors that perhaps my alma mater's high school students had branched out in their student activities and had a class making booze! The vodka maker is not actually affiliated with the high school, though. I think it's funny that the picture on their web site has a photo taken at Enchanted Rock, probably 60+ miles away from Dripping Springs.

I'm not really a vodka connoisseur. All good-quality brands seem to taste good to me, especially in cocktails. Although I can tell that Austin based Tito's vodka (which is also quite good) has a bit of corn / whisky taste since it's based on corn instead of potato, wheat, or other grains like other vodkas.

I've started making Bloody Mary's at home lately, and it took me a while to find a recipe I liked. I really like the Red Eye Habanero mix, link here to web site. I've settled on the one below after some experimentation. Note you can also use Citadelle Gin (or other gin of your preference like Bombay Sapphire or Tanqueray) instead of vodka for a change of pace -- that's really good, too.

20th Hole Bloody Mary
-- 4-6 oz Red Eye Habanero bloody mary mix
-- 2-3 oz Dripping Springs Vodka, Tito's Vodka, or Citadelle Gin
-- juice of half a lemon, freshly squeezed
-- few dashes worchestershire sauce
-- few dashes of Tabasco sauce

Mix all above in ingredients in tall glass, stir, add ice. Can also garnish with celery stalk, jalapeno-stuffed olives, or banana peppers as desired (I usually skip those formalities, especially if I'm making this on a weekday evening). BTW, I made these last night and didn't have any lemons so I used lime instead -- my wife commented that it didn't taste as good.

Musical Friday

One of my favorite things to do is put on Chris Tomlin's "Hello Love" CD while I'm riding in the car with my daughter Lauren. The first cut is "Sing Sing Sing". Lauren sings along with the song really loudly and is pretty cute. Song here:



Here's another version, done live at a concert. They do the melody slightly differently. Very cool part a little after the 3:00 mark where the band stops and lets congregation sing, then comes back in big.

Fun playing with Daniel Jones (but only in D!)

This past weekend we had a guest minister, Daniel and Shakeera (no, not THAT Shakira) Jones from Australia. They're a pretty young couple (about 25) and have two realy cute little boys, Zayd and Levi. See photo above.

Daniel plays a honest-to-god didgeridoo which happens to be a D instrument. So went spent quite a bit of time playing a D-chord during those services. I seem to recall that another guest minister from Australia that we've had at our church, Chris Harvey, also plays an instrument that is in D, a Navajo-style flute.

Musical Friday -- Cinderella

My daughter Lauren (above, getting ready for ballet class) is 4. I was looking for a clip of a Steven Curtis Chapman song I like called "Be Still and Know" (link here). Over on the side, I saw another link about something called "Cinderella", which I had not heard before.

I wasn't prepared for what was about to hit me like a 2x4 while I was sitting in my cube at work. The video comes first, then a clip of Steven explaining the story about how the song was written. The inspiration came from a frustrating evening trying to get his young adopted girls to take a bath, when they just wanted to play and dance (really funny part is about "pray quickly -- no praying for children in Africa!"). He remembers later that his oldest daughter has left the house and how he used to play with her, and then writes this song about cherishing the times with your daughter while she's young.

His daughter was killed in a tragic family accident not long after the song was published. Thinking of that, and then also thinking about my own daughter (and how fast she's growing up) made me cry. It's a little tough when something like that sneaks up on you out of the blue when you're trying to look normal and stoic at your office. ... trying to say things to a co-worker like, "Dang, these allergies are really rough today! (sniff)".

Be careful, especially you dads out there, before watching this at work. You've been warned!

He's BAAACK!

photo by Mark Rebilas

Tiger Woods will return to competitive golf on the PGA Tour Feb 25 with the World Golf Championships Match Play. Link here for story. Can't wait. I really can't wait for the Masters in April. Maybe I'll scare Natasha again yelling in my living room at shots like this:

NRO: The Audacity of Irony

I'm very happy today because I'm finally just about over a nasty cold that has lasted 16 days. My wife is probably very happy too, because I'll no longer be keeping her awake hacking and coughing all night. We also had a really fun music practice last night, working on Delirious' "Miracle Maker" and "Solid Rock".

Came across a really well-written article from conservative writer Victor Davis Hanson's column from National Review Online, The Audacity of Irony.

My favorite camera / photography web site, The Luminous Landscape

About a year ago I came across a web site I really enjoy, called The Luminous Landscape. It's a very informative and interesting site run by Michael Reichmann, a Toronto, Canada based professional photographer who specializes in landscape photography (something I enjoy). The photo above is his photo taken on a recent photo trip to Antarctica.

Micheal does a lot of digital camera equipment reviews, and writes very insightful articles on myriad topics in the world of amateur and professional photography. He is very technically knowledgeable, but has a great sense of when to trust your eyes and go by feel rather than just relying on technical data (see a recent essay here). He's an excellent writer, and he also publishes lots of training materials on how to use photography and printing software.

He seems to be the type of photographer I would have been had I gone into this field instead of my current job. I'm a person who has both a highly technical and an artistic side, and Micheal seems to be like that, too. He even enjoys watches and wrote a cool little article here making an analogy between choosing a watch and choosing camera equipment.

These Go To Eleven

My blog title refers to having a beverage after a round of golf, but giving a nod / tribute to Tiger Woods' US Open win in a Monday playoff over Rocco Mediate, which went one extra hole, thus 19 holes. So the celebratory beverage after would be the 20th hole. The part about it being one louder comes from one of the more famous scenes from the 1984 movie, This is Spinal Tap.

John and Kira's Chocolate

I wanted to give some love to John and Kira's chocolates, who make some of the best things I've ever put in my mouth. Their chocolates and candies are probably some of the best quality desserts available.

I first tried their chocolates at Christmas time a couple of years ago, when my wife's uncle Stephen and aunt Tami generously brought an every-flavor sampler box (link here) to share at a family dinner we were having at the Blackstock's house. I saw the box of assorted chocolates on the buffet counter and popped one in my mouth, expecting to taste the typical Whitman's Sampler type candy, hoping not to get the syrupy cherry-filled one (ugh). Umm, no. They use Valrhona chocolate and very fresh, high-quality flavors (such as mint from a local elementary school organic garden, whiskey coffee, or pistachio) to create really exquisite chocolates. These are chocolates for grown-ups, not kids (although I'm sure kids with discerning taste will love them, too!). Best I've ever had.

For Valentine's Day, I got Natasha and assortment of the painted ladybugs and bees, and I'm also trying some of their whiskey-chocolate figs. These are no Fig Newtons!

Torturing my children (aka making them eat their dinner)

We had a bit of a parenting adventure last night at dinner. My kids are very picky eaters, especially Daniel (pictured below eating a cupcake -- one of the few things he actually likes). He really only likes carbs (bread, tortillas, french fries, chips, crackers, mac and cheese, cake) and chicken strips. He doesn't even like normal things kids like like pizza, apples, strawberries, bananas, etc. He'll eat fruit flavored yogurt, but not actual fruit. Sigh.

We had baked salmon and rice for dinner last night, and it was very good. We also put a couple of pieces of apple and banana on their plates. Most nights, we make something our kids like, but occasionally we make them try something new, and they're not allowed to get up until they try ONE bite of each thing.

Daniel did OK with the one bite of fish, but had serious issues with taking a bite of banana. I was incredulous -- it's a freakin' banana! Daniel acted like I was making him down a bite of tofu, or maybe cyanide-laced brussels sprouts. He actually tried one bite and gagged and spit it out before he finally managed to down one. I think this process took like 30 minutes.

Best Super Bowl Commericial: ETrade Golf Baby

I think the best Super Bowl commercial was the E-Trade baby golf commercial. Best line: "Why don't you try reading the rules, Shankopotamus!"



In other golf news, Tiger Woods reports on his web site that his knee is pretty much fully healed, that he is practicing "full bore", and that he will likely return to competition soon. He has not yet announced at which tournament he will make 2009 season debut. I think his return can't come soon enough. Last time I saw him, I was seeing things like this:



And this:



And this:

Looking for an escape

Cool article in Forbes about some really nice secluded island getaways. News of the economy and my inability to afford a nice vacation has me day-dreaming of places these this.

Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Scary health plan stuff in current Obama stimulus plan

Very interesting and scary information I just read about the current proposed stimulus plan. This column in Bloomberg.com by Betsy McCaughey details how this stimulus would create a new Health Information Technology organization.

In his stump speeches pushing the plan, Obama is only mentioning the parts about digitizing health care records to ensure easier access / flow of information / health records. I don't have a problem with this part. It's the parts about government taking over health care and dictating what treatments our doctors can prescribe that scares me. As McCaughey writes:

But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”

There are many things like this contained in the stimulus package that make me strongly oppose passage. See previous post for a plan I do support.

I support THIS stimulus plan

Click here for a link to a conservative plan on how to stimulate / improve our economy and jobs. This plan, by a conservative group called American Solutions, stands in stark contrast to the pork-laden bill proposed by Obama and the Democrat Congress that serves more to stimulate the growth of liberal government than our economy. I especially like the parts in the American Solutions plan about increasing our own supply of energy, lowering capital gains and business taxes, creating a more flat income tax, and eliminating the death/estate tax.

If implementing a plan like this means that the government needs to have layoffs, cuts in spending, and right-sizing, then so be it. Welcome to what the rest of us are going through!

Musical Friday, Delirious Solid Rock

See below for a new song our band is working on for our church, Delirious' Solid Rock. We're trying to get Wes, our bass player, to dress and bop his head like Delirious' bassist (see 2:00 point in video). No luck yet.



I wonder if I put on some horn-rimmed glasses if I'd look like Delirious' keyboard player...

How to Taste Wine

Came across a really good article in Forbes on the basics of how to taste wine. See here.

Mutual Fund Show / Store / Adam Bold / 401K

I started listening to Rush Limbaugh many years ago, in 1992 or so. I enjoy him not because (as his critics often assert) he's making me a mind-numbed conservative robot, but because I'd found someone in the media that, for the first time, was articulating the way I felt about many issues. He also does so in a very entertaining way.

Well, about 4 years ago, I came across someone that had a similar affect on me regarding investing for retirement. His name is Adam Bold, and he hosts a weekly radio show called The Mutual Fund Show. It airs on KLBJ 590 AM in Austin Saturdays 11a-12p, but I prefer to listen to the recordings on his web site, which are edited down and distill 3 hours of radio in different cities into about 50 minutes.

The radio show is an outgrowth of his financial services company called The Mutual Fund Store. His is the first fee-based financial advice / management firm for middle-class investors instead of the wealthy (although they have wealthy clients too).

Most financial advisers to the middle class are commissioned sales people, that make a living by selling you investments from certain mutual fund / annuity families. They usually make an up front percentage / load off of putting you in a certain fund. This means the advisers' incentive is to sell you a certain fund, not to grow your money as best as possible. While some commissioned advisers may indeed have their clients' best interest at heart, the way they're compensated does not correlate directly.

Fee-based advisers like Bold's firm instead offer advise based on a percentage of the total value of your portfolio. Thus, as your money grows through their (hopefully) good selection of funds, then you have more money and they make more. They do not take any commissions from any fund family and thus their interests are to put you in the best funds possible. I love this business model, which promotes honesty and transparency and an incentive for them to provide you with the best investing advice possible. I like this much better than firms like Ameriquest or Edward Jones, which are commissioned advisers that typically only recommend funds which pay them better commissions, regardless of whether it's the best-performing funds.

The cool thing is that Adam goes on the radio (which is free) and recommends funds in the various asset classes. He of course, doesn't mention all of his recommended funds, but gives enough to help me make good selections for my 401k.

I'm very fortunate that at my company, we get the option to invest in a self-directed 401k plan. Most companies' 401k plans only offer about 10-20 funds you can pick from. But with our plan, provided you keep a minimum amount in one of the basic fund selections (which include some good ones Adam has recommended like the Julius Baer International Fund and the Calamos Growth Fund), we can put our money in just about any fund out there. We even can access funds that normally have up-front loads for net asset value (NAV), or load-waived prices.

I'll post more later about his investing ideas / philosophy. For now, let's just say you want to invest in funds without loads, and you want to stick with mutual fund managers who have consistently out-performed the market indices over long periods. And mom, if you're reading this, don't ever buy an annuity!

Pets with teeth

My wife relayed a funny conversation she had with our kids this morning. This weekend we plan to go to San Antonio to meet Natasha's good friend Petra (she's named after the cool-looking lost city in Jordan, see photo below) for lunch, and then I plan to go window shopping for watches at a watch shop called Tourneau, which I think has much better watch selection than any store in Austin.

Petra, Jordan

On hearing the name "Petra", Daniel (age 5) said, "I want a pet! I think I want a dog." Natasha asked, "what about a cat?" Daniel replied, "No, a cat has sharp teeth!"

Natasha: "Well, dogs have teeth, too."
Daniel (pausing to think for a minute): "Ummm, how about a fish? I want a Nemo."
Lauren (age 4): "I want a GIRL fish!"

Borrowing logo from Sassy Golf Balls

I have a new logo I'm trying out. The golf balls with various mixed drinks / martini / etc. on them just seem like a good combo of my interests. I found these on a web site called Sassy Golf Balls, link here.

Super Bowl, long labor

This weekend, we had a few friends from our neighborhood over to watch the Super Bowl. With me currently having the big plasma TV among my circle of friends, it's something I'm obligated as a man to do as a labor of love. Speaking of labor...

Things took a little twist in the party plans when one of Natasha's doula clients went into labor right around kickoff. So she left to go be at the hospital with her client and I had to go between hosting the party, watching the game, and checking on my kids (what are they screaming about NOW? ... can't they see I'm watching football!?). So I didn't really see quite as many plays or commercials as I would have liked, but I caught most of the important ones, including the unbelieveable 100-yard pick-6 that ended the first half. See my favorite column Tuesday Morning Quarterback's Super Bowl analysis here.

We were all pulling for underdog Arizona to win, so we were all very excited when Larry Fitzgerald scored the go-ahead touchdown to bring the Cards back from 20-7 down to lead 23-20. But then we saw that there was about 2:30 left on the clock. Pittsburgh's o-line started playing better, Arizona's d-backs stopped covering Santonio Holmes very well, and a few plays later, Pittsburgh scored on a somewhat decent catch in the corner of the end zone by Holmes.

Photo by Scott Boehm, Getty Images

So although we didn't like the outcome, it was cool that it was a great / exciting game. We also had some great stuffed jalapenos (Jackson and Hart variations), chili (Natasha), smoked pork ribs (Vic), and sugar cookies (Sarah). Originally I thought about 15+ people were coming and we made enough food for that number, so with fewer people we ended up with several pounds of chili left over ... guess what I'm eating this week?

Natasha's client, a first-time mother, ended up in labor for over 24 hours, and Natasha didn't get home until almost midnight Monday night / Tuesday morning. This was by far her longest labor, and I was a little worried about her driving home from across town late at night after being awake for over 36 hours straight. But she finally made it home safe, and I'm expecting a glowing recommendation from these clients!

Interesting blog: Stuff White People Like

Came across an interesting blog today called "Stuff White People Like". Link here. It's a humorous look at various things that white Americans like and why. It tends to lean towards things rather Democratic / liberal white folks like. The author, Christian Lander, has made it into a book.

Some pretty glaring omissions from his list, in my opinion, were:

• golf
• BMWs
• home brewing

Austin traffic sign hacked, Zombie zone

This is a hilarious story that I first saw yesterday that made it to the front page of CNN.com. Someone in the UT area hacked a road / construction warning sign to warn of an impending attack of zombies! Link here. Hilarious.

Bailout: Pork Fat Rules

Chef Emeril Lagasse likes to say that "pork fat rules," but he is referring to actual bacon, NOT referring to government spending.

The current Obama stimulus plan that just passed the House was, thankfully, not voted for by any Republicans. Good for them. See here for an excellent analysis of the pork fat in the current plan by the Wall Street Journal.

Rush Limbaugh (who is calling the current stimulus spending plan a "porkulus" program) also had an interesting proposal for a bipartisan stimulus plan in the Wall Street Journal today, link here.

TMQ Quotes Princess Bride

As I mentioned in previous blog entries (here and here), Gregg Easterbrook's weekly column for ESPN during football season, called Tuesday Morning Quarterback (TMQ), is one of my favorite columns.

This week, I have to mention his column again, because he combines an already good column with a great reference to one of my all-time favorite movies, The Princess Bride. This week's column here.

Austin not as cold as Oymyakon

I'm happy to have survived "Blizzard 2009", as Jeff Ward described on his radio show yesterday. A bit south of Austin where I lived, we didn't even really have much ice at all.

As a southerner who really has only lived in either Austin or Memphis, TN, I really have no idea how to handle true cold like we get in the northern US. My wife is the same way. I once asked my wife if she'd want us to move someplace much colder if I was offered a job that paid, say 2-3x my current salary. She said "no" without even pausing.

But to see people living in real cold, consider Oymyakon in northern Siberia. I believe the word Oymyakon roughly translates into "frozen woolly mammoth balls." Ok, I made that up. Link here or here or see video below. They have recorded temps of below -70C, and yet people LIVE there. It's the coldest permanently inhabited town on Earth (not counting the research stations in Antarctica, the coldest place on Earth). If you plucked me from Austin and put me there, I'd probably be dead in 5 minutes even indoors with a bunch of clothes.

Running inside today

Austin is under a winter storm warning later today when a cold front with some rain moves in. The local news headlines tend to treat winter weather like this with about the same alarm as an impending nuclear blast or terrorist anthrax alert (Go to DEFCON 1!).


The online version of the the Austin American Statesman posted this picture of the temperature throughout the day. I was planning to run today during my lunchtime workout (usually about 11a-12p), and only brought shorts and a t-shirt. According to this chart, I will freeze my arse off if I run outside, so I guess it's a treadmill for me today!

Jerry Flint/ Forbes article on Auto Bailout

Excellent article, link here, in Forbes.com from Jerry Flint, one of my favorite authors regarding the auto industry. Some good paragraphs excerpted here:

It is easy for politicians to make rules and just declare that cars and trucks must get 35 miles per gallon, or 40 or 50. Unfortunately, the people making such proclamations and legislation do not understand what is possible and what is not possible. Nor do they understand whether consumers will buy cars that deliver exceptional mileage but lack all the other attributes that people want in an automobile.

Politicians should also stop using words and phrases that are misguided and misleading. One example: "If we could land a man on the moon, we can build a car that is free of pollution and earth-warming emissions."

Yes, for several billion dollars, the industry could build one such perfect car. That is what Jack Kennedy, NASA, the guys with the Right Stuff and America did: Create the technology to land two men at a time on the moon. They did not build spaceships to take 16 million tourists to the moon each year.

(Later referring to politicians who overuse the words "gas guzzler"...)
Those two silly words mean any vehicle that someone holier-than-thou thinks burns too much fuel. If you need it to carry your four children, it is a gas-guzzler. If you need it to make it through the snowdrifts or rutted farm roads, it is a gas-guzzler. If you need it to tow your trailer with donated goods down to Goodwill, it is a gas-guzzler. Funny, Air Force One, the giant Boeing (nyse: BA - news - people ) 747 at Obama's disposal, is not a guzzler. Nor is that new presidential limousine that probably weighs about as much as an armored truck.

Rock on, son!

My son Daniel asked me after church yesterday if I would get down his toy guitar (see picture below from Christmas morning 2005 when he first got the guitar ... note how he's already expertly bending the notes) so he could play with it. My wife and I were pretty tired and wanting a little quiet and relaxtion, so we told him no. We said he could play with his other toys and play with his guitar some other time.


Daniel appealed and said, "but I need my guitar so I can rock!"

That's my boy.


Daniel improvising a drum set from a toy ironing board

Martin girls got game!

I work with a really cool, nice guy named Fonzell Martin, and his daughters all have some pretty mad hoop skills. His youngest, Kaylan, who plays for the Pflugerville Panthers, was featured in an article today in the Austin American Statesman, link to story here.

Photo credit: Brian K. Diggs. From left, sisters Bianca Sauls, Cierra Martin, and Kaylan Martin played basketball together at Pflugerville. Kaylan, the youngest, is now in her senior season and again aiming for state.

Thankful in 2008

2008 was generally a pretty tough year overall. Some of the challenges this year I have mentioned previously such as:

• Kevin Aymat's tragic death (this blog was started partly in homage to him).
• Trying to sell house in early 2008, no buyers (not even close).
• Higher than normal number of illnesses in our family.
• Economy / my 401k tanking / high gas prices / risk of layoffs at my company / mandatory time off unpaid required in 2009.
• No conservative candidate running for President, slightly more liberal of the two candidates winning election.
• Oklahoma playing in BCS title game instead of Texas.
• Tiger Woods out for 2nd half of golf season (poor me, I know...)
• Rather stressful short notice car search over the Christmas / NY holidays.

However, I think I should take time to call out things that I appreciate and am thankful for in 2008. This helps me feel better and focus on the good things I have and am blessed with. So, I am very thankful for the following in 2008:

• I have a wonderful family that is healthy and loves me very much. While we did have lots of irritating illnesses in 2008, I am thankful they were all short-term / virus type things and nothing chronic / serious.
• Gas prices did not stay near $4/gallon.
• NOT being able to sell the house may have been a financial blessing. Had we sold for our asking price and moved closer in to work / church, we'd likely have a larger mortgage+gas expense than we do at our current house. With the unpaid time I have to take, having this lower budget is good.
• Lauren turned 4 and finally completed potty training. No More Diapers!
• I was NOT laid off and still have a great job with good benefits.
• Our unpaid time required is ONLY two weeks. Many companies have had more severe pay cuts or unpaid time off required.
• I have a nice gym on site so I can stay healthy and exercise on a tight schedule. I was able to work out 200+ times for my 7th year in a row (we log in at the gym so they track that).
• Our car search resulted in a very nice, low-mileage car that will reduce our gas expenses and is better for the longer / interstate driving I do in my commute.
• Natasha is enjoying her doula work (see her web site here), and is getting more clients and able to charge more because of her increasing experience.
• I was able to play golf with my uncle Barton and cousin Billy at Texas A&M Traditions Club, see photo below.
• Natasha and I had a great stay-home vacation last summer while the kids went with Winston and Becky to Mesquite for a week. We ate at some great places (Uchi, Eddie Vs, Fogo de Chao).
• Tiger Woods gave me one of my greatest sports memories ever with his incredible US Open win with a torn ACL (see previous post).
• Tiger Woods returns for this season with his knee healthy. Can't wait for the Masters!
• I have great friends in our church / band that I live close to and can visit / have parties with frequently. We had several really fun parties last year.
• I am enjoying our church band a lot. Things that had stressed me out about it in the past no longer do. I'm having a great time with it.
• While Texas didn't get to play in the BCS title game, any time we can beat Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Ohio State in the same year, that does not suck.

I'm looking forward to making this list again in Jan 2010 ...

from left: the author, Billy Day, and Barton Day on first tee at Texas A&M Traditions Club in College Station, TX