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

More bumper sticker ideas

I live in the Austin, TX area, a very liberal town. Needless to say, I see a lot of anti-Bush bumper stickers around, such as "I don't have to like Bush to love my country,", or "Yee-Ha is not a foreign policy". So now that Obama is president, I want a few of my own, such as:

-- I don't have to like Obama to love my country
-- Question Obama
-- Kumbaya is not a foreign policy
-- 01.21.2012

Jackson Meat Party, Steelers-Ravens

My friends Wes/Corey Jackson threw a party Sunday night to bid farewell to Corey having any free time to throw parties, as she's starting back to school spring semester soon. She blogs about her experiences as an older student (older than typical college-age students, anyway) here. Also, they had lots of meat (steaks!) on hand, so they decided to have a little steak-inventory-reducing party for the Kyle folks in the band. Hey, Jackson Meat Party -- that's not a bad band name! It also sounds like a political 3rd party I could get behind.

So we had some steaks, potatoes, and some bacon-wrapped-stuffed jalapenos, red wine, and Dos Equis. We alternated between watching the Pittsburgh Steelers vs Baltimore Ravens in the AFC championship game and a Delirious concert DVD (Live at Willow Creek). See below for one of the better songs from that concert that our band wants to learn, Miracle Maker (great guitar solo):



We had a great time, although I was a bit concerned that I'd just watched someone die on TV near the end of the Steelers/Ravens game. Video highlights here. Down 24-13 near the end of the game, Ravens QB Joe Flacco threw a short pass over the middle to running back Willis McGahee, who was leveled by Steelers safety Ryan Clark on a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit. McGahee was knocked out cold and dropped the ball, basically ending the game when the Steelers recovered. He was carted off the field in full neck brace. I thought the guy was dead when I saw the hit. Fortunately he is expected to recover fully and have no lasting damage. It certainly makes me rethink whether I'll let Daniel play football, though -- jeez.

And so the Steelers will play the, let me see if I have this right, the ARIZONA CARDINALS in the Super Bowl? The same Cardinals who finished the regular season 8-8 and were being called one of the "worst teams ever to make the playoffs"? The same Cardinals who lost to the Philadelphia Eagles by over 30 points near the end of the regular season beat the same Eagles in the NFC championship game? Yep. It is seeming more and more like the regular season W-L record doesn't matter in determining who will win the championship. As long as your team makes the playoffs, they have a legitimate shot to win it all, esp if all the key players are healthy.

Daniel playing with Christmas toys

Daniel, at Stephen and Tami's house for Christmas 2008, doing his best impression of the Borg from Star Trek. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile!

Eric the Plumber?

I was walking down to our company gym yesterday for my lunchtime workout. In addition to being a pretty nice little gym, it's also, sadly, the best place lately to find out which groups are having layoffs by talking to your coworkers from various organizations. Anyway, on the way, a lady stopped me and said, "had anyone ever told you that you look JUST like Joe the Plumber?"

Joe the Plumber, Joe Wurzelbacher, is the guy who achieved a measure of fame when he asked Barack Obama in the presidential campaign about him raising taxes, and Obama responded with a comment that included something about "spreading the wealth around."

Anyway, I know he has a shaved head, but I don't think I look THAT much like him. Do I?


Other folks with shaved heads ... Peter Furler, lead singer of the Australian Christian rock/pop band Newsboys:


Or Howie Mandel, former game show host of NBC's "Deal or No Deal":

Cutback actions at my company

I work at Freescale Semiconductor, and the poor state of the economy has definitely hurt our business. We're not doing as bad as some semiconductor companies, but not good. We've already had quite a few layoffs in 2008, and we have some more cuts just announced today.

The CEO and VPs are taking pay cuts, and all raises / promotions are frozen for 2009. The 401k match has been suspended temporarily. Lastly, we have to take a week off unpaid sometime in Q1 and another unpaid week off in Q2. I think my friends that work at Dell have had similar actions they had to take.

While this stinks and definitely hurts my one-income family budget, it could be worse. Our babysitter's husband works at another semiconductor company, Spansion, where they have been forced to take 5 weeks unpaid. I would be really screwed if I had to do something like that.

So for the forseeable future, look for drink reviews limited to things like Shiner Bock and Dos Equis. Perhaps food pairings of which of these beers goes well with frozen pizza and mac and cheese. 100% agave tequila and Cointreau seem to be luxuries I'll have to eliminate. Unless maybe I stop eating solid food and JUST drink margaritas...

I am declaring first 9 days of 2009 do not exist

OK, the first part of 2009 officially bites my arse (getting the car situation squared away, one good round of golf Jan 3, and Natasha NOT getting the virus being a few exceptions).

My kids were suffering through a bad virus (some sort of viral gastroenteritis like a rotavirus or Norwalk-type virus, if you want to get technical), which they then passed on to me. While I was sick, I totally missed a great come-from-behind Texas win in the Fiesta Bowl over Ohio State (who I detest almost as much as A&M or OU) while shivering in bed with a fever, then pretty much felt bad all of the first work week of the year. I have yet to go to work in 2009 and feel good physically.

But, I did make myself a margarita last night and am feeling almost totally better this morning. So, I am declaring that the actual beginning of 2009 did not happen ... does not exist. Today is my Jan 01.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

College Football Season final thoughts

I'm a Texas fan, and I'm pretty irritated with the way this season ended. After watching Florida-OU play for a so-called "national championship", I feel pretty sure that Texas, USC, or Utah would have given Florida a better game. Florida is a great team, and I'm really impressed with Tim Tebow (did you see the "John 3:16" on his eye black stickers?).

But if I were a Texas player returning for next season, I'd be itching to start practices right now to open up a total can of whip-ass on everyone in the Big 12 next season. I'd love to see Colt McCoy beat OU next year by about 40-50 points, and stay in the game in the 4th quarter, calling time outs, throwing deep, just to rub it in Stoops face and make sure BCS voters don't forget who won THIS year!

Of course, what I really want in college football is a playoff. So maybe I should be happy that major schools like Texas and USC, and smaller schools like Utah got screwed this year. Probably the only way we get rid of this ludicrous non-playoff system is if the major football factory schools get screwed repeatedly and start passing legislation (a la Joe Barton -- story in Sports Illustrated here).

So at least if Texas is gonna get screwed, at least we beat hated loser rivals Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Ohio State all in the same year. Seeing Oklahoma lose another BCS game did not suck, either.

Dang it, Blake Gideon, why didn't you catch that ball!?

Do NOT Use Free Credit Report Dot Com!

You have probably seen those rather clever "Free Credit Report" commercials featuring a guy singing about how his life was ruined by an identity thief, which could've been avoided if he'd checked his credit with Free Credit Report.com (and thus the chorus "shoulda gone to freeeee credit report.com"). Web site here.

Anyway, this company is running some pretty borderline unethical advertising in my opinion. It's certainly not illegal, it's just a bait and switch. What this company sells is a regular credit monitoring service, for which you must sign up for and GIVE THEM YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER before you get your one initial "free credit report". You have some initial period in which you can cancel, otherwise they start charging you.

The law does in fact allow you to get one free copy per year of your credit report from each of the three credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax, Transunion). The place you do this is at THIS web site. You can either get all 3 reports once per year, or you can space them out / stagger them and get one report from one of the 3 agencies once every 4 months and cycle through each agency to, in effect, monitor your credit regularly for free.

Now, getting your credit reports still does not give you your credit SCORE. While each of the 3 credit agencies have their own proprietary scores they offer, the real score that almost every lender in the nation uses is the Fair Isaac Corporation, or "FICO" score. You have to pay to get this info from FICO, web site here.

Rough week

After the family and I went to a great New Years Eve party at our friends Vic and Sarah's house, things have been a bit rough since then. Daniel and Lauren caught a pretty nasty stomach virus sometime around New Years, and it gave both kids several days of fevers and, um, potty issues, until Sunday.

We ended up buying the Altima that Carmax had delivered / transferred, and it works great with no problems. We had our local mechanic (Rick at Southwest Automotive) check it out independently and he said it was good. I'll probably continue this buying of late model used vehicles in the future just because it saves so much money.

After the kids started feeling better Monday morning and I started back to work, I thought things might be looking up, but then the same stomach bug hit me, and I was in bed with a fever / chills / aches for the next 36 hrs. I went in to work Wed morning, but probably should have stayed home. I ended up going home again mid-afternoon. I'm back at work today but still not 100%.

My wife has been really great through all this, and has not caught the bug. I'm praying that holds ... if she caught it and felt the way I did, I would definitely need to stay home from work to take care of the kids likely for a couple of days.

The heated seats that came on that Altima we bought came in pretty handy when I was driving home from work with aches and a fever ... pretty soothing!

My treasures this Christmas and New Years

I hope you and your families had a wonderful Christmas and New Years, and I hope you got what you wanted for Christmas! While my wife's gift of a Rush Limbaugh subscription and my mom's gift of the Don Julio 1942 tequila were really great gifts I got, the best gifts are my family and friends. I've got everything I need right here. May God bless you all in the coming New Year!

Good luck trying to get your kids to smile for portraits!

This Christmas and New Years holidays, many attempts to take family photos will be made. For families attempting this with younger children, this can be tricky. The only tip I can offer is to take thousands of shots in the hope that you'll get a couple of good ones.

Here's a couple of recent attempts I tried with Daniel and Lauren. They're doing that "fake photo smile" I taught them perfectly!