Panic, Aisle 16

And I am not prone to panic, much less in the grocery store.

I had already fought through the problem of forgetting most of our shopping bags at home. In Austin, stores are not allowed to give customers plastic bags to tote home their purchases - you bring your own. Before I left the house I threw our bags into the back of my car, then went back in to get a jacket and iPod and headphones, of course. My wife asked me then to take her car and fill it with gas on the way. Sure, piece of cake. So we traded keys and I was off - bags still in my car and me in hers. Oh well.

I have an emergency plan when this happens, and it does often. Go into the produce area and nick an empty box or two. Luckily somebody had just stocked a lot of bananas so there were some sturdy big empty boxes, and I got one. This in addition to a stray I found in her car were all I could find.

This was a large shopping trip - the buggy was full. The store was full, of people. Lines were long at checkout. But luckily I saw a very short line and got in it - somebody in a Rascal, a motorized cart for disabled shoppers but are used by able-shoppers a lot. He had quite a few items too. Shortly the girl began checking my purchases. I went and starting putting items in my box. About halfway through I went back to slide my credit card to pay - the girl still swiping items over the scanner - and I looked up at her aisle light over the register - and it said "10 items or fewer". I gasped! Oh no, and said "10 items or fewer! Oh no!" She looked at me, realized my panic, and said - Wait! I just turned that light on. You are my last customer before this is an Express Lane.

Relief washed over me. But the guy who walked up to get in line a moment later gave me a long stern disapproving look.

PS nothing says don't talk to me in the store like someone wearing headphones.

Tea Party July 3, 2009 Austin, TX

Another Tea Party here in Austin this morning and I managed to get out and attend again. This time out among the oaks in Zilker Park. The shade provided some relief from the heat, but not much. Still quite a few Austinites showed for the event. I went with my friend Philo who posts his pictures here, and here.

Another friendly crowd - pleasant, enthusiastic, and cordial. Several speakers, most with genuine passion about the political dilemmas we find ourselves in today. Joe The Plumber was the keynote speaker.

As a Conservative, I think I feel like the Generals who play the Harlem Globetrotters night after night, and get beat routinely. We play sound ball, by the rules, and compete fairly. All for naught as the 'trotters have the razzle dazzle, get all the calls, go behind the official's backs, make lots of noise, have the press is behind them, and don't forget the bucket of confetti thrown on the crowd - a good show, but nothing of real substance.

Defensive Driving

There's 6 hours of my life I won't get back. A major part of last Saturday was spent in a stupor watching VHS tapes, and listening to a memorized presentation of defensive driving info. I kept thinking of Homer Simpson laughing, "Its funny because its not me."

Two memorable impressions from the day:

I won't feel the urge to eat at a buffet style restaurant any time soon - maybe a Souper Salad, but not a Golden Corral type. The class was in a separate room in a buffet eatery. Its not the food that failed, altho the food wasn't memorable either. Unfortunately it was the other people eating there. How to say this?? Most of the other folks were over what you would call recommended weight. And by a wide margin. I myself could lose 15 pounds or so and I could use some major conditioning, but I looked positively skinny in comparison. My appetite vanished before eating (except for a piece of apple pie) and when I did eat, it was not much. I really have sympathy for people in an obese condition - however it appears resignation and apathy has set it in for them.

I sat in the back row next to the wall on the left side of the room. To my right was a taxi driver from Austin who didn't speak English very well, it appeared a mid-eastern language was probably his native language. This was fortuitous since I didn't have to talk to anyone as a result! At the end of the class everyone has to take a test and get at least 70% of the answers correct. All day the instructor pointed out exactly what was on the test. Right before the test was handed out, the instructor read aloud every question and the multiple choice answers and then the correct answer. Every question. The tests were then handed out. I blasted through mine and sat around for a few minutes before we graded the test. We were asked to exchange with the person next to us so I exchanged with the taxi driver. At a glance I could tell he'd only answered about 5 questions of the 20. I waved to the instructor to wait - my guy's test had a "few" unanswered questions. He waved me off and told me to grade my own paper (I made a 100!) and to give the taxi driver his paper back. As we are checking answers the taxi driver is answering the unanswered questions. He managed to pass with an 80. Somehow he missed 4 while the answers are being given.

Class over and I walk out into the parking lot to be picked up by my wife to go home. The taxi driver offers me a free ride home in his cab. Think, think, think. Ah, no thanks.



Homer in Defensive Driving - if it were only this funny.

When Grackles Attack

They came by close enough for me to notice the noise of flapping wings the first time. I heard a bunch of grackles making a racket up on some nearby powerlines. The second pass I saw them coming and ducked out of the way. There were about 6 grackles sitting on the powerlines looking at me and squawking. I stopped walking and stared up at them, when about 4 of the 6 launched and dove at me a third time. About halfway, I started flailing my arms at them in frantic waves which caused the birds to pull up and fly off before reaching me. I quickly jogged away before another attack. All this on my lunch time walk of about two miles. Unfortunately there were no telephone booths for me to jump into for relative safety.

This reminds me of an Eastern Kingbird that nested out behind the 18th green of Mallard Cove Golf Course (my hometown course) back in the day. The bird would fly at golfers who had happened to get beneath its tree. We watched from the clubhouse as group after group came in and did battle with the Kingbird. Comedy.

Flee, fly, and The Flu

The Houston Chronicle put up a map regarding the Swine Flu. Following the Dept Of Homeland Security's recommendations, I am going to wash my hands.

Nice use of the local daily

I knew the Austin paper could be used for something.

http://www.austinkleon.com/2009/04/21/offing/

Austin Tax Day Tea Party

Some photos from yesterday's event here in Austin. My first protest ever. I didn't know how to chant, or sing protest songs, or march. But it was fun. Lots of pleasant people concerned about the future of the United States. Philo was kind enough to give me a ride to and from the Capitol.

The Texas State Capitol Building radiates history and tradition.

Four Years of blog

First post published this month four years ago. One of my first posts was about my mazda biting the dirt on 3/7/5. I almost did too. Gas price on that day was $1.89 per the big gas sign on the interstate. I now work across the street from that station and see that gas price sign everyday. It rang the bell at $3.99 - I don't think it crossed over the $4.

I still remember that wreck clearly. I felt like I escaped two crashes that morning. I have lost the photos an insurance sales agent took for me. He worked for the company that insured my house and took the pictures for me.

Year Of The Ox

Tomorrow is the Chinese New Year and it will be the Year Of The Ox. Nearby, Austin has a shopping center - The Chinatown Center - which has scheduled its big party for next weekend January 31, 2009 and February 1, 2009.

You would have thought they would check to make sure the Super Bowl wasn't a conflict.

Annually there are huge crowds, parades, food, and music at this soiree. Sunday night will have some grand fireworks. Since its close to the house we see the display at night from a distance but this year we'll head on over to see what's going on both during the day and at night. Unless I forget.

Year of the Ox. Likenesses of John Entwistle or Paul Bunyon's Babe are encouraged.

Further than you think

How far might you push someone else's grocery cart before you discovered it wasn't yours?

Snow In Austin

I need to record this somewhere. Snow fell here in Austin on 12/9/8. Late in the evening around 11 PM after a bit of sleeting, flakes of snow began blowing all around the house. A bit wet, and it didn't accumulate whatsoever, except maybe on the roof of the house and cars. But it sure did look nice and peaceful, especially being illuminated by the Christmas lights on the house.

Krackers the cat escaped into the backyard, and ran under the nearby bushes getting fairly muddy. Samantha had to retrieve him.

I can't remember any snow here in Austin this time of year over the past 24 years.

Alkali Ike

Looks like Hurricane Ike may blow through Austin TX, and may be a CAT 2 when it arrives. It is predicted to get into town Saturday morning (9/13/8). I don't think we've had a storm system like this in my time here, almost 25 years. I can remember working long ago at the City Services oil refinery in Sulphur LA over 2 summers and having to prepare for approaching hurricanes - tying down scaffolding, moving barrels of stuff into storage, and other securing of loose items. All of that work usually meant spending the next week untying all those things.

So far in Austin, football games are being rescheduled, including the game between UT and Arkansas (not official yet, but likely). Gas prices are creeping up in anticipation of people on the Texas coast evacuating here.

The hurricane should make for an interesting weekend.

Theft!

Evan's car was broken into overnight. His stereo was taken and there's a bit of damage to the rear passenger door and window. Also an acoustic guitar was taken out of the trunk - the one Uncle John had a long time ago - sorry about that J. The car was parked on the street which is probably a mistake but its been parked there often with no incident. I guess we played those odds too long.

Not much to do at this point except call the police and have the car repaired.The back passenger window was broken in. Once inside all doors can be unlocked and there is a trunk release just inside front driver door. It is ironic the very day I wax poetic about the neighbors not getting vandalized, we get hit instead.

I blame it on fake hurricane Eduordo. We got nothing here - except a serious allergy headache. If maybe some serious rain had blown in our car might've been left alone.

I told Evan to try Homer's strategy by claiming there was a Picasso in the back seat too.

Salmon

Our neighbors across the street had to take down an ash tree in their front yard. Instead of cutting the tree all the way to ground level, they decided to have some salmon cut out of the trunk. After leaving about 8 feet of trunk above ground, a chainsaw artist came and over 2 and a half days cut the fish out of the wood.

Every car passing by stops to take a look or take pictures. I hope it doesn't get vandalized.

Beauty And The Beast

Here are some photos taken at a performance of Beauty And The Beast we attended Friday night the 18th, at Zilker Hillside Theater, with some of Samantha's classmates. We saw the show with my brother Dave, Joan, Sydney, and Ben earlier in the summer, but it was enjoyable again. As you can see, Gaston is a sight. Performed outdoors at night, not too hot, a little breezy - good times. Oh, and cold root beers and orange crushes. Girls had fun.

Walking, Part 2

Its quickly getting too hot for some lunchtime walks of 40 to 45 minutes as summer approaches. On a recent walk, among all the other trash that is along the roadside was a Scratch-off lottery ticket. Of course it was a loser, and yes I checked, but I had to ask myself what if it had been a winner. And what if it had been a big winner. When is someone obligated to find the owner of a lost, but valuable item?

People find money occasionally here and there of nominal amounts to their good fortune. There are stories of cab drivers finding jewelry or huge amounts of cash left behind in their cars and ultimately finding the owner.

So, would I need to find the owner of a lost winning lottery ticket? And its a big winner. How would I do that? Perhaps a CraigsList ad - "If you've lost a $25 million dollar lottery ticket, please email me with the date and numbers, and where you lost it, and its yours."

Or perhaps I decide to cash it in. I can't find a scenario where I could be in trouble (my greatest fear in all this, accused of theft of some sort!) and would then be the winner. Clear conscious? Nothing a few hundred rounds of golf couldn't cure I hope.

The Bible has the parable of a man out walking who finds a great treasure in a field. He hides the treasure, sells all his property, then buys the field and acquires the great treasure for himself. The walking man does not tell the original owner of the treasure - maybe it was property owned by a corrupt government that acquired it threw some corrupt means, but we're not told that part of the story.

I am not sure what would happen, but I will keep searching.

Walking Part 1

Since I haven't been getting much exercise at home, I decided to spend most of my lunches at work walking. I have been getting about 40 to 45 minutes in about 4 times a week. The weather has been good so far but will be too hot soon enough. I have learned a few things.

Walking near where I work is no picnic. Many of the roads have no sidewalks, and the roads turn out to be highways. I am constantly on the look out at traffic. Often I have to walk in a dried out ditch to avoid being too close to the road.

There is trash everywhere. Even where you think there might not be trash, there's trash. I have seen just about everything in the most unusual places except for the stereotypical fish skeleton. People are pigs!

Out walking by yourself is like mowing the lawn. There isn't much to do except walk and think about stuff. When I return I don't remember much of what I thought about either, much like my dreams at night.

Rush Concert

The band Rush was here in Austin and Tory, Justin (one of Tory's buddies), Evan, and I were in the crowd for the show. Tory and Justin were in the lower floor seating, and Evan and I were in the upper arena seating, but I was pleased with our view.

Rush put on a good show. Somehow these three guys have managed to avoid getting frozen in time over the past 30 years of playing together. I can imagine that having to play "Spirit Of Radio" or "Tom Sawyer" every show for, well, ever might get stale. But I believe the very talented trio manages to keep their music fresh because they love the music, they love performing it, they aren't afraid to try anything new, and they keep moving forward by composing new music.

I have to admit that when Rush launched into some of their newer songs of the most recent "Snakes and Arrows" most of the crowd had blank faces. Tory told me he wasn't exactly taken with the new music on the cd, but hearing it live was much better. I like the songs and material, but didn't find it memorable ( a bit like a Simon Cowell might say ).

Rush did not stay away from their old hits tho. They launched the show with "Limelight", a great start, and dropped in "Freewill", "Red Barchetta", "Tom Sawyer" through out. Those are the titles I remember. I am not a devoted fan of theirs and don't carry around a Rush rolodex in my head. The guy sitting next to me was sending text messages of the set list out on his cell phone all night.

A very impressive presentation of a light show, videos, pyrotechnics, and terrific musicianship made for an enjoyable night. I will admit that I slipped in some ear plugs midway through the show and didn't miss a note. Thankfully they helped me avoid that Popsicle headache that often accompany a night after a concert. I was able to sleep without any ear ringing at all.

Rush tickets

This morning we won some tickets from a local radio startion to see Rush in Austin next week on the 23rd.

We went through a little comedy on the way. I originally made the call to the radio station and got through. I was telling Sean that I was going to get to play for the tickets when Tory walked in and overheard. He comes up to me and says "gimme the phone!" He was right - he's knows Rush better than I do, but we have to leave for school. So we pile into the car, turn off the radio, wait for the ads, and then the person ahead of us is up. All this is going on while we're driving to school, and I am fretting that the cell will give out or that we'll lose connection like on of the ads on TV. Tory hears the song clip and says "Freewill!" a split second later. After the first caller fails, I hear Tory connect and go on the air. He says, "I don't need to hear the clip, its 'Freewill'!" He wins. High fives all around in the car. Lots of banter with the radio guys ensues.

Tory is a big Rush fan, several DVD's of concerts, so we know what to expect, but he's never seen them live.

We roll up at the school just as he's finishing. His birthday was yesterday and the call screener saying to him "you should've said something!" I think he may have barely avoided a tardy today, but it was worth it.

Good times. BTW I won a Valentine Day package a little over a year ago from the same station identifying "Love Hurts" on the radio.

Now to decide who uses the tickets. Since we had 2 already, purchased as a present for Tory's birthday, Evan, Sean, and I will be stabbing each other in the back to go.

Adventures in grocery stores

Last night, pushing my cart along in an HEB at MoPac and Hwy 183, I looked up to see something flutter overhead. I didn't get a good look but whatever it was circled back and flew right over me again. This time I had no doubt, it was a bat. I watched it's random flying for a minute or so, and then saw one of the male employees there chasing after it with a large plastic milk carton. I warned him that he might want to be careful not to harm or kill that bat or HEB would probably get in a bunch of trouble. He ran off and I suspect was successful in catching the bat as I heard loud proud exclamations later. Something you don't normally see on a grocery run.

I wasn't really too worried about that bat flying into my hair and getting all tangled up in there.