Hats and Tats. Tom Waits in Houston

About two months ago I learned that Tom Waits was coming to Houston. I was excited about this, until I realized that he would be here the day after we get back from Rome. So I didn’t really think about it until the day the tickets went on sale. Then I took a desultory look at what was available (they were sold out in two hours) and sort of gave up.

But my sweet ever loving wife called, and when she looked at the tickets, there were two seats available in row J of the orchestra. Nine rows back! (for some reason there is no row “I”)

In order to buy tickets you HAD to go through Ticketmaster, a company I generally abhor. But they were trying to foil scalpers and I think that they did a pretty good job. You could only buy two tickets at a time, and you received NO paper ticket of any kind. You had to present the credit card you used for the purchase, along with a photo ID.

So Doreen bough the tickets, and we pretty much forgot about the concert until we got home.

I was in Rome for two weeks, and Doreen was there for one. So we had reset our body clocks fully. We got home Saturday evening about 7:00, and the concert started at 8:30 PM on Sunday. I slept well enough Saturday night, getting up at about 5:00. Doreen didn’t sleep as well, but she seemed rested enough throughout the day.

We each had a nap on Sunday afternoon in preparation for the concert. Mine was short, about 20 minutes. Doreen slept longer.

We tried to meet a friend for dinner, but we didn’t hook up due to my not searching the restaurant well enough. No matter. As we were eating, we were speculating who was doing what downtown (there was also a play in town – it was about the making of the musical An American in Paris. It was supposed to be cute). We figured anyone wearing a porkpie hat or sporting tattoos (hence the title of this entry – hats and tats) was heading to Waits. Anyone in a frilly pale skirt was going to The Alley.

As we got closer to the venue, there were more hats and more tats. It was also apparent that the average age of the patrons was probably under 30. (unlike the Springsteen convert we attended, where the average age seemed to be 55) I attribute that to two things – the universal appeal of Tom and the No Scaplers thing. Think about it – how many 28 year olds will be willing to part with $500 to see anyone perform? Oldsters don’t have that problem.

One freaky guy was dressed like, and looked like, Tom Waits 30 years ago. He kept looking at our buddy Patrick and winking. I am not sure what that was all about (except maybe that Patrick had his 17 year old daughter with him, and the wink was mis-aimed). But was sort of freaky to see a Tom Waits look alike at the concert.

The show finally started and it was everything we had hoped it would be (except I would have picked a different playlist). He came out in a black three piece suit and a bowler hat. The suit was soaked through by the end of the night, the hat stayed on almost the whole time. (Though during The Eyeball Kid he replaced it with a bowler decked out like a mirrored disco ball. He spun around like one, too)

He started the performance with his five piece band backing him up. About halfway through he moved to the piano with only a standup bass behind him. Then he went back to front the band for the last few numbers.

For a more complete review of the concert, the Houston Chronicle has a blog about it here.

The show lasted a good 2 ½ hours.

I have wanted to see Tom Waits perform for quite some time. I am glad that Doreen bought the tickets, even though I would have let them go. Having seen him, I would not have even known how much I was missing.

Boredom

blog.talkingphilosophy.com » All man’s miseries

Rome Thursday

On Thursday we had an easy day with no photos.

First we visited the Piazza Doria Pamphilj. That is an old palace with an amazing, though helter skelter, art collection. Pope Innocent X was a Pamphilj. He was Pope between 1644 and 1655. That is when the Pamphiljs made their money. As far as we could tell, it has been downhill ever since. They married into the Doria family in 1760.

For lunch we wandered about looking for a restaurant called the Ditirambo near the Campo di Fiori. We found it just before 1:00, and they don’t open until 1:00. So we wandered a bit more before returning for some great food. The place was full of loud French tourists, but the food was outstanding. Don’t order the gnocchi, though.

For dinner, we ate at Le Mascere, a place we have been before. (The very last photo on this page was taken at Le Maschere in 2000)

It was a nice day.

Rome Wednesday

Today we started off with Digestive Biscuits and an unripe peach. Not the best breakfast in the world, but we made it do.

Our first walk was down to the Octavian Gate and across in to Trastevere. We wanted to see St Francis’s stone pillow at the St Francis a Ripa church. But the pillow was upstairs, and upstairs was closed on Wednesdays. So sad to be us.

We walked down to Sta Maria in Trastevere and had an ice cream on the way. I had hazelnut, Doreen had a combination of cappuccino and chocolate. This took the edge off the sorry breakfast we had.

St Maria in Trastevere is a great old church with recycled roman pillars inside. They all have different capitals and bases. It also has some wonderful mosaics – one of which depicts the twelve apostles as sheep, and Jesus not as a shepherd, but as the head sheep. It is very cute.

Rome was very hot today. We would seek out the shady side of the street, but this did not always get us cool enough. We drank a lot of water from the street fountains.

After Sta Maria, we headed to St Peter’s. But Wednesday is when the Pope gives audiences. They must have just finished when we got there, because the big TV screen were still on, and the church was closed. This was about 12:20. We heard a rumor that they would open up again at 1:00, and a line as already forming. We did not want to wait.

We heard about a little church not far away that has a museum of items that have been touched by souls in purgatory. We wanted to see this, and walked over there. But it, too, was closed. But that killed enough time so we could go to The Lilli for lunch.

We first went to The Lilli in 2000 after buying a marble table from Aldo at Marmi Line. He told us about The Lilli and told us what to order. We have been back many times. This time we had Prosciutto and Melon to start, followed by the delicious Cacio e Pepe pasta. Not to be missed.

After lunch we went back to St Peter’s, stood in line for about 20 minutes and got into the splendors of that cathedral.

Rome Tuesday

Tuesday we did plenty of walking. We started with a coffee and some biscuits on the rooftop terrace, and then ambled though the Campo Fiori to the monument to Victorrio Emanual. Alternatively called The Wedding Cake or Mussolini’s Typewriter, it is an incongruous and quite frankly, horrible thing. Even up close it has little to recommend it. But we took a few photos and kept on moving.

We then walked over to the Campidoglio, or the Capitoline Museum. We didn’t go in, though, we just took a few photos. We wanted to get to the St Peter in Chains church before it closed.

So we walked around the forum (They charge to get in now!!!) and headed to the Church.

On the way, we passed four groups of at least 50 people coming FROM the church. They were with a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. Lucky for us, the last group was leaving the church as we were going in.

This is the church that has the Michelangelo Moses. It is now held way back from the crowds, but when we were here before in 2000 you could get real close. It is quite a site. Bernini is also buried in this church.

From here we walked over and went INTO the Capitoline Museum. A great place with amazing pieces. Many, many of them. No wait at all to get in, and it wasn’t really all that crowded. Worth seeing at the dying Gaul and a discobulus.

Many hours later we decided to get some lunch. It was sprinkling some, so we went to a place that Doreen had found in one of our books – Taverna degli Amiche. It was in a very attractive little square and the food was great. We started with Prosciutto and Bufala Mozzarella, then Doreen had Fettuccini with Asparagus and Shrimp, and I had Risotto with seafood. We ended with the thousand layer cake, which was more like pastry with cream. It was great.

Then we wandered home to get ready for dinner.

We had dinner at a place recommended to me by a client called Il Convivio. It is a very fancy place, and though I did not need to, I wore my sport coat. Doreen dressed up and looked great (as always) and we walked over.

It is close to where we are staying, on a hidden back street. It is small – though there may have been a back room we did not see, the room we were in could seat no more than about 20 people.

The service was outstanding and each dish was sort of like a little jewel (We had the tasting menu that consisted of six different courses and an amuse bouche.) The presentation and service was as good as any place we have eaten in the world. The food I thought was good, but not truly great. Doreen disagreed – I think that I had extremely high expectations due to how it was built up in conversation. But we both enjoyed it tremendously.

Then we ambled home to a well deserved rest.

Rome Monday

Monday was a day for wandering. One reason for this is that most of Rome is closed on Monday. Almost all the museums are, and some of the other venues we wanted to see were as well. It is also important to note that plenty of churches close between 1:00 and 3:00 PM.

We started out from the apartment and headed down Vittorio Emmanuel to take ourselves roughly to the St Mary in Victory church. That is where Bernini’s statue of St Theresa in Ecstasy is located.

But before we got there, we walked by the Largo Argentina, which is famous for its cats. The way I heard the story is that the city was building a metro stop, and came across some Roman Ruins. This is what they got!



We then walked up the Corso, had a coffee, and stopped by the Palazzo Barbieri. It was closed, of course, but we had been in there before. The last of the Barbieris was still living there until the late 1990s.

A quick glance a the four fountains, and we soon found ourselves at the small Santa Maria della Vittoria ((St Mary’s of Victory) church with the statue mentioned above. Nice small church with an incredible statue.

Then we walked over to the Baths of Dioclitian and the Santa Maria della Angeli (St Mary of the Angels) church, whose only redeeming feature is a Meridian Line.

A quick wander around our old neighborhood, and we had lunch at Target Pizza.

We quickly walked down to se St Mary Maggiori, where Bernini is buried, and they have Jesus’ crib.

Leaving SMM, we wanted to go to St Peter in Chains to see the Michelangelo’s Moses (the one with horns) and St Peter’s chains. But it was closed.

We walked down in front of the Coliseum via a back route usually covered with Gypsies. No Gypsies! We didn’t have any intention of going into the Coliseum, but we did want to walk through the Forum. Well, nowadays you have to buy a ticket! It was €9 for the Forum, the Coliseum, and the Palatine Hill. Since all we wanted to do was walk through, instead we walked around.

En route home we stopped at the St Mary Cosmadin church. This is where St Valentine is interned. (it is also where the Boca de Verita – Mouth of Truth – is located. Made famous by the movie Roman Holiday)

We tried to stop at the Campo di Fiori and pick up something for supper, but all the stalls were just shutting down. We got some peaches, though. They are excellent!

The Start of our Roman Holiday

We spent our first day of vacation getting settled in Rome and just wandering around. See photos here (and here. I am taking more photos than I am writing.). The weather has been beautiful, and everything worked as easy as pie.

The apartment is close to the Campo de Fiori. We stopped by the market there and bought some cheese and sausage. We also bought some wine to share with friends who are in town for the next couple of days. We will be going out to dinner at Pier Luigi later.

The dinner at Pierlugigi was really good. There were six of us and we started with their special seafood antipasti. We had tiny fried octopus, tuna and cod carpaccio, squid and potato marinade, clams and mussels, shrimp salad, scallops, and the best of all: soppressata di polipo (Like an octopus tentacle terrine). After all that, we still had a main course! Doreen and I split a sea bream. The others had haddock, sea bass, and tiger shrimp. We had some white wine from Friuli that was nice and crisp.

Sunday we took the day to walk around the city. We started by walking to the Piazza Navona where we got a coffee and a coroneto. The barista was extremely odd, so we will not go back there again. Then we walked to the Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps.

From the Spanish steps we made our way t the Piazza del Popolo, where we stopped at the Borsolino store and Doreen got a new Borsolini for her city walking. Nice, eh?

From there we walked to the Ara Pacis, and ate at the same place that the company had our client appreciation party – Il Gusto. It was great. We had a Banda Rossa prosecco to drink, and I had a tomato and buffalo mozzarella salad to start, risotto with fresh vegetables to finish. Doreen had a robiola cheese salad and eggplant stuff ravioli for her main course.

We then wandered back through town, stopped in the Pantheon, and ambled back home. Enough for one day, I guess.

Roman Food

We took some clients out in dinner last night. Usually we like to go to tried and true places where we can show our love for our clients. Last night, however, I want to try and find a real Roman trattoria. I checked my usually foodie websites, and found a place called Da Bucatino in Testaccio. It sounded like just the place.

So we made arrangements to meet three of our clients there and three of us took the courtesy bus from our remotely located hotel into town. We had to walk a bit longer from the bus stop than we had thought, so the clients were there before we were.

It didn’t matter as we sat down and I ordered us a couple of bottles of a nice Barbaresco. The wine was not TOO expensive, especially by Euro standards (€30). They had a nice Antipasto table, and that is what we started with. I had some cheese, some sort of a fish, some beans, and I really don’t know what all. The others selected various bits of roasted, pickled, dried, and raw food. It was a good start.

The specialty of the house is bucatini all'amatriciana and that is what four of us ordered for our “First Plates”. The other two folks ordered a seafood risotto and a more typical spaghetti. Bucatini is a thick spaghetti with a hole down the middle (which makes it hard to suck into your mouth, sometimes) bucatini all'amatriciana is a tomato based sauce with pork belly as the meat. It was quite nice.

For my “Second Plate” I ordered a suckling pig with potatoes. It was roasted and wonderful. Others had the veal chop, the fried shrimp, the roasted lamb, and the chicken. It all looked good – except for the chicken. It didn’t look too good for me.

We had to order a couple more bottles of wine, of course. And when they have me the bill, I said we wanted a glass of grappa. The waiter just put the bottle on table, no charge! Very nice. We finished that bottle, too.

It was a nice meal, and for only €315 for six people, a relative bargain!

Houston Booster Short Movie

Rome

I am currently close to Rome, at some Golf resort owned by Sheraton. I am here for a convention. It will be work.

I flew here via Chicago. Continental to Chicago, Alitalia to Rome. I took this route because the company does not pay for business class – I pay to upgrade myself and this was by far the cheapest way to do so. We (Doreen will be joining be later this week) bought these tickets months ago. Then I started hearing about how Alitalia was going to go out of business, and how it is the Worst Airline Ever. My experience was quite good. The service in air was good, the lounge was nice, the food was good. The plane ever arrived more or less on time. The worst part was waiting an hour to get my bag (yes, Dick, I know that you would not have had to wait!)

The plane was the Leonardo di Vinci. I took a picture with my phone (below) but I don’t think it turned out too well.

Now I need to either eat or nap. And besides that, I have to work! Yipes!

Continental does it right

I have had my problems with Continental Airlines. But they are generally few and far between, and I am happy that Houston is both their headquarters and a hub.

Here is a blog posting about how CO does even layoffs right.

Photographic Height

Photographic Height

Traffic

Good interview about traffic:

Hows My Driving? A Q&A With the Author of Traffic - Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog

I always wear my seatbelt. I don't know why anyone wouldn't!

Backpain Redux

Last night was a great and painless evening. I slept all through the night with no Ibuprofen. I got up and my back was a little twitchy, but not painful.

I went back again today for one more treatment. It is hard to describe it, but my back and hip feel good. Very good.

I was talking to friend about this today. I am an engineer and pride myself on my rational view of life. I cannot explain how this worked, but that does not mean it does not work.

It is OK to be skeptical. It is not OK to be ignorant.

Lawrence J. (Larry) Piette - FSSF - Special Forces - Roll Of Honour

The photo on the right is wrong. And they missed one of his Bronze Stars and all his Purple Hearts:

Lawrence J. (Larry) Piette - FSSF - Special Forces - Roll Of Honour

Backpain and Doctors. Western and Traditional

I am 6’6” tall and weigh something between 215 and 220 depending on the time of day and the amount of food I have recently eaten. Now, you may not think of it too much, but being that tall puts tremendous pressure on your bones. You have a large moment of inertia, which stresses all the fulcrum points in your body. (Or something like that). The result is that you tend to get more aches and pains than more normally sized folks.

I have on and off back pains regularly throughout the year. I don’t worry about it too much, as I usually have some time to stretch out the back (thanks Gus!) and slowly remove the pain. This week, though, it has been tough. Flying to and from New York, and then the planned trip to Rome next week means that I don’t have quite enough time to get myself back in a pain free situation.

So I decided to attack this issue two ways – Western and Traditional. So I had an appointment with my regular doctor this afternoon, followed with my first meeting with an acupuncturist. Following is my story.

I had my meeting with the GP at 2:30. I have been to see her once before, (in 2005!) so I did not need to fill out all the necessary forms. I was taken in the back at about 2:40 (not bad) and had my weight and blood pressure taken. I then explained my symptoms to the nurse, and was told to pee in a cup.

Those formalities taken care of, the doc came in to chat. I explained all my symptoms, and we talked about my pain control regime. (three Costco Ibuprofens twice a day) She said that was fine, and if I needed to do so, I could move up to four ibus three times a day. That seemed like a lot, but I was pretty happy about that. Then she suggested that they take my EKG to make sure I was not having any heart attacks. (don’t ask).

So I got the EKG hooked up, (attached to a PC) was measured and told I was in fine shape. Then I was sent downstairs to have my blood work done and I was out the door by 3:40.

The end result? I am getting old. Take more Ibuprofen if I need. Heart’s fine, blood work will be back before I head off to Rome.

Then I headed off to Dr Wu.

He is located in a small house not far from where we live. I got in and filled out their new patient form. Standard stuff, but it also asked what “Herbal Supplements” you are taking. (I am taking Glucosamine and Chondroitin. He said that was probably doing me no good).

The doc finally took me in a back room (that was furnished in 1980s college dorm room) and asked me what was wrong. I gave him the old song and dance about the back, the hip, and the tingling leg. He laughed and said that I was the sixth man today who had the same problem. He made me strip and looked at me front and back. He noticed my hernia scar that I got when I was probably 12 or 13. He then told me that my right side was in bad shape, which was causing my left side some pain.

He then made me lie down on my right side, and he started hammering in the acupuncture pins. Yes, they get hammered in. They are long pins that are very thin, with a thick part on top. He must have jabbed me about 15 times, left the pins in, and pointed a heat lamp at them. He then told me to lie still for 25 minutes, turned off the light and left.

After 25 minutes the light went off, and I was left lying in the dark. It started to get cold (air conditioning, you know) and I was still there in the dark. I was wondering if Dr Wu forgot me.

He came in about 10 minutes later, pulled the pins and told me to get dressed. He said I should return tomorrow, and he will attach electrodes to the pins. Oh joy!

I dressed and felt no different than when I walked in. Now, I must admit, a couple of hours later, my back feels fine. Coincidence? Who knows?

Additionally, they gave me some “herbal” medicine. You have to take LOTS of them – five each of one (fat and brown) three times a day; ten each of the other (small, round, and black) three times a day. Yum! Pills!

So here I am. I am no stranger to Chinese cures, having undergone cupping in Beijing, but in my mind the jury is still out.

Bananas are dying

Read about the Panama Disease here. And more besides.

The News: York and Haven

We are back from a short vacation to New York City and New Haven, CT.

In New York, we saw two shows, both shows are nominated for various Tony's – August Osage County and Sunday in the park with George.

The first is from the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago and is a new work. One of Doreen's friend's described as a play that proves that your family is not too bad. The second is a revival of a Stephen Sondheim musical that was originally produced in something like 1980. Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters were in the original.

August ran for 3 hours and 20 minutes. Doreen was afraid to tell me it was so long, as I tend to prefer shorter performances. But even with two intermissions this play simply flew by. It is not a pleasant story, but a great play with outstanding acting.

Sunday is a story about George Seurat's painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” which is currently hanging at the Art Institute in Chicago. It uses very clever (and non-intrusive) computer techniques to make some points about his technique.

For food, we ate at Eleven Madison Park, a Danny Meyer's restaurant. Oh, it was quite good. I won't go into detail here, since I did not take notes. But the food and wine were great, and the service was outstanding.

We also ate at The Spice Market, a Jean-George restaurant. We have eaten there once before, and it was (and is) a very nice Asian Fusion place.

Finally, with Doreen's friend Susan who is a big deal at Chase Back, we ate at Etc, Etc before the one of the shows.

We went to New Haven for Doreen's Yale Reunion. I will let her write about it and post photos if she wants. If she does, I will link to them.

Quinn's Graduation

We went to my nephew Quinn's high school graduation today. He graduated from St Thomas High School here in Houston. We are very proud that he did. He told us that he had to take only two finals! His grades were good enough that he only had to take his tests in English and Government. Good for him.

The keynote speaker was an old priest. (He is one of a Bazillion priests there. That is a lot of priests) His speech was based on the short fable called The Tiger Who Would Be King by James Thurber. It is a cautionary tale about picking fights for no good reason, and while you may win, it would be a Pyhrric victory. Very apt for our country at the moment.

Ree and Rex were there, along with Quinn's little girlfriend Brenda. Afterwards we went out to eat at Teala's restaurant. IT was quite delicious.

Cat Thinking

more graph humor and song chart memes

BLT on Sunday Night

This evening we made Bacon Lettuce and Tomato sandwiches, accompanied by Becky's World Famous Three Bean Salad. The bread was homemade, the bacon was locally smoked, and the tomatoes were hothouse. IT was all outstanding:

Sunday Morning Houston

Today was a beautiful day in Houston. It was crisp, in the 50s this morning when we got up to walk the dog. We took an extra long walk and then got home to our usual Sunday morning routine.

This routine revolves mainly around reading the paper and preparing for the week to come by roasting coffee and baking bread. This morning was no different. But since the weather was so nice, we sat on the front porch when we were reading the paper.

After I roasted our weekly coffee, and kneaded our weekly bread, we went back outside to enjoy the rest of the paper.

About 20 minutes after we returned outside, we heard Blaze making all sorts of noises in the bushes. Now, this I not too much of an unusual circumstance. She chases small animals and tries to divert herself. But after a lot of ruckhousing, she heard he yelp. This is definitely unusual.

I jumped up, and Doreen jumped with me. We went to the bushes and told her to come out. She reluctantly did, and when she did she had a bloody nose. This was not good.

Doreen went in and got a wet rag to wash her nose, and some antibiotics we used once before to clean up her bloody nose. We applied it and hoped for the best.

Now, you need to realize that we are in a rather urban neighborhood.

So when I came back outside and saw Blaze dancing around something in the yar, I was anticipating the worst. I thought she may have caught another baby possum. But no. This time, I was able to see the last gasp of a foot long rat.

It was wet, it was bloody, and by the time I got my shovel to administer the coup de grace, it was dead.

Rat terriers have nothing on Blaze. She doesn't like rats. She kills 'em when she sees 'em.

What do The Rich drink?

All cats are black in the dark:

The Rich Drink Better Beer, Not More - Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog

Feast

We have wanted to try Feast, a new place down the street from us, since it opened about two months ago. It has gotten great reviews, (here and here) but both times we tried to get there in the past, (admittedly on Sundays for lunch) they were closed. So when I received an e-mail from them last week mentioning their tasting dinner, I called Doreen and we decided to go. She was able to convince some friends to join us, and we headed down to that old house on lower Westheimer.

We arrived shortly after 6:30, and were shown to the back room. Our friends were already there, as were three other tables with four people each. The room decorated in sort of English Pub, all wood furniture and wood floor. It got to be sort of loud when everyone in the room was talking. That didn’t bother us so much, and we set back and added to the cacophony.

It turned out they were pouring wines from a small wine importer who does not deal with retail outlets. (but since Feast does not serve hard liquor, they can sell wine retail. Liquor laws are such a mess). We had the option to pick up any of the wines we liked at a very modest markup. (We have too much wine at home, but Brad and Peggy got some)

The first wine was a pink wine from Provence – a Bieler Rose. As our amuse bouche we had a set of three crostini on homemade bread: Russian Salad (potatoes and peas in mayonnaise) topped with white anchovies; Pork Rillettes (braised pork); and steak tartare. They were all good, but perhaps not transcendent. The bread was especially nice, and the rose (a nice, dry, pinkie) complimented them nicely.

The first course was the highlight of the evening – Scallops St Jacque (Scallops on the shell with mushrooms, cream, and Brandy). I thought I had died and went to heaven. This was accompanied by a Portuguese white – Feital Alvarinho/Trafaduro “Auratus”. It had a richer, heavier body that most Spanish Albariños I am use to drinking. An excellent pairing. We asked for bread to sop up the excellent sauce. I could have eaten many more of these little fellows.

An observation: Both the pours and the “little dishes” were quite generous. For $65/person this was an outstanding bargain. Nobody walked away hungry, or sober (if they chose to finish all the wine! Luckily my wife drove the short six blocks home)

Next up was a beautiful paella – shrimp, chorizo, and chicken served with a White French Burgundy from Meursault. (Fichet Bourgogne Blanc). I though the shrimp were just a tad overcooked, but the rice, chorizo, and chicken were great. I like paella, and this is why. All the flavors meld together nicely. And it is just so cool to look at.

We then graduated to the meat dishes, first Pork Cheeks, Pierogies, and Red Cabbage served with a Descendients J Palacios Roble “Petalos Del Bierzo” from Bierzo Spain. Another braised pork dish. I just cannot get enough of them. Nice, tender, tasty cheeks. The Pierogies were also great. (I think someone’s grandmother made them). Big, bold, dark wine. I have not had it before and enjoyed the new taste sensations.

Following the pork was Braised Beef with Chocolate, steel cut oats and roasted root vegetables. Served with an Altos del la Hoya Monastrell. Anything with root vegetables and chocolates can’t be bad. And the wine was even bigger than the last one! Inky black.

Finally we ended with Rhubarb Crumble with Custard and Elio Perroine Moscatoe D’Asti “Sourgal” from Piedmont Italy. A great end to an excellent meal.

Sort of horrifying

This article:

Human Nature : Human Liquid

I find rather horrifying.

But then again, I worked in a cemetery as a youth.

The States

The States : Frank Chimero : Illustration & Design

Oslo, May 2008

Just back from a PGS Board Meeting in Oslo. We had to approve the Q1 earning release. It was a spectacular quarter, and I am really happy to play any part with that company. We also held the Annual General Meeting, where I was reelected as a board member. That is gratifying.

These meetings are brutal because of the travel. I left Houston at 7:10 on Monday evening on a Continental flight to Amsterdam. It got in at about noon, and then I had a flight from Amsterdam to Oslo at 2:45 that got into Oslo about 4:30. I had to take the train into the city (Normally very efficient, on this trip they had signal problems and it took close to an hour) and then shower, unpack, and get to a board dinner that started at 7:00 PM and lasted until about 9:00. During this board dinner we discussed things like, “Where are oil prices going” and “Why has the Chinese stock market dropped by 50% in the past year”. It is always fun, and the wine is good. But I had been up for many, many hours. I try to be witty and nuanced. I hope I don't come off as boorish and banal.

The next day we started with the Audit Committee meeting at 8:00 AM (yipes!) and then the AGM (above). The Board Meeting itself started at noon, and lasted until after 5:00. Then I have to go out to dinner with the other American (who is stuck in Oslo for the night just as I am. She can't fly out to Chicago until the next day either).

Then my flight out is at 6:30 AM (!) so I have to get on the 4:39 train to the airport. (I hate even cutting it THAT close!). Today was bad, in that there was a donor conference being held in Oslo and all those UN diplomats were flying out (business class) on my plane. The plane was even delayed so these jokers could get there.

Then I had a flight out from Amsterdam at 10:10 AM which got me home at about 1:00. (I watched the moved I Am Legend on the flight. It isn't very long, but I like Will Smith. Plenty of unanswered questions, I guess it would help if you had read the comic book. I didn't understand the Zombie rules. Also, they played a lot of Bob Marley, so that was good. They even played Redemption Song. Doreen's favorite Bob Marley tune) I had a great time through customs and immigration and was home (to some much distressed client calls) by about 1:40. That is about 65 hours out of the house. About 22 hours in an airplane, add about 4 to cover the rest of the travel time.

But I am home tonight!

Garrison Keillor on Travel

A Prairie Home Companion from American Public Media:

Money Quote:

"We are good travelers, we middle Americans, and when Northwest opened a route to Beijing, everybody and their cousin talked about going there, and this spring the direct Minneapolis-Paris route opened, a beautiful idea to us as we scrape the ice off our windshields. We don't actually go, of course—we go to work—but we could go on any given day, could write 'Au Revoir, Ma Famille' on a paper towel and leave it on the kitchen table under a salt shaker and drive to the airport on the bank of the Minnesota River, abandon the car in a snowbank, flash the plastic, board the plane, and wake up in Paris, like Lindbergh."

(I am posting this from Oslo, Norway, at 1:30 in the morning. I am flying back to Houston tomorrow via Amsterdam on KLM)

How much tax do the rich pay?

FactCheck.org: What percent of taxes does the top 1 percent pay and what percent of the income do they make?

Cats and Engineers

A must for anyone who loves cats.

Or Engineers:

Heartbreaking

If this:

BBC NEWS | Magazine Monitor

doesn't bring tears to your eyes and fill you with outrage, I would guess you are less than human.

biobigotry

We want to save the "cute" animals, but not the mean ones:

Bird Watching - Noble Eagles, Nasty Pigeons, Biased Humans - Natalie Angier - New York Times:

How to use a telephone

This is sort of like an early users manual:

Eating at Dos Brisas

My sweet ever lovin’ and I spent a night out of town last week at a place called the Inn at Dos Brisas. It is a 330 acre property with four “casitas” and an excellent fine dining restaurant run by Jason Robinson. The meal itself is reason enough to leave town, but the relaxing setting (and horseback riding!) made it all the more worthwhile.

While making the reservations I opted for the tasting menu (Chef’s Grand Collection) with accompanying wine selection. It was the right thing to do, but if we were going to spend more than one night there, I don’t think that our stomachs could take two nights of such adventure.

The dinner started with the most amazing wine for an aperitif. It was a sparkling Riesling from Lingenfelder called the Sekt Satyr. It was a nicely acid, rather dry, minerality sparkling wine that you would not have guessed was a Riesling. Well, maybe a little. An excellent drink. The Amuse Bouche that they brought with this was a collection of local small tomatoes from the garden. Red, Yellow, Black, and two toned small tomatoes with greens and a light vinaigrette. My bouche was amused.

For the appetizer, they brought us two different dishes. As a matter of fact, they brought us different dishes and wines for each course. I will try to do them justice. Doreen started with a Sake cured sea trout in its own row, detailed with garden microgreens. Wow! What a fish. The roe just popped in your mouth and the trout was very subtle. I had sesame tuna martini, with wasabi tobiko and sesame soya. Great, rich flavors jumped out of my martini glass (set in ice). For wines, I had a Palacio de Menade Verdejo from 2002 (!). IT held its age well, and had some nice rich undertones. Doreen had a White Burgundy – Domaine Fèvre Montmains 1er Crue. Top quality, crisp chardonnay.

Next we had two Foie Gras dishes. I started with sear Foie with brûléed banana and chocolate ganache (yes, bananas and chocolates!). Doreen started with the same seared foie, but with poached rhubarb and burnt honey ice cream. We had a Madeira from The Rare Wine Company as our wine. Doreen was a little put off by the wine, and though the chocolate was too early in the meal. I agreed, but though the wine was fine. The foie, however, was delicious.

The soup course was next, and this may have been the highlight of the meal. I had a caramelized lobster bisque, which was wonderful, but Doreen had a truffled garden vichyssoise. Oh! That vichyssoise brings tears to your eyes! The black truffles just leapt up and grabbed you, kissed you, and have you a back rub. It was just great. We had no wine with the soup. I am not sure if that was by design or by accident. It did make us concentrate, I can tell you that.

Next was the fish course. (Wait, didn’t we already have a fish course? I guess that was the appetizer) Doreen was served a roasted LaBell Rouge salmon, with garden arugula, sunchoke purée and olive dressing. I had a seared Alaskan halibut with organic sweet pea purée, yellowfoot chanterelles, and red wine essence. The wines were an Austrian Riesling (Berger, from Steingraben) and a German 1996 (again !) Riesling from Kloster Eberach. I think that the German Riesling was better, but they were both great.

The meat course was next – a roasted venison loin, chickpea purée, with garden chard and some Texas Akaushu Beef Filets, with garden Brussels sprouts and a rutabaga purée. The wines were a 1998 Del Dotto Sangiovese from Napa and a 1988 Bairrada from Luis Baga (that is Portuguese). It had been aged in chestnut barrels which gave it quite an interesting aromatic aroma. Both wines were extremely bold considering their age. The meats were perfect – the beef was almost raw and the venison had a deep roasted wild flavor.

Next (no, we’re not done yet!) we had some local Dos Brisas cheeses – a goat and a milk cheese aged on premises along with a raspberry flavored beer (Liefmans Frambozenbier from Belgium). An odd, but remarkably tasty combination.

We finally ended with a chocolate covered bombe. Oh! It was almost too much. We had more mareira (from 1922!) to go with it. Then we staggered back to our casita and swore we would never eat again.

Or at least until breakfast…

Peggy Noonan

Make sure you read the last section:

Declarations - WSJ.com

A meal at El Bulli (Not ours)

View from the Wing » Blog Archive » Off to Roses, and Dinner at El Bulli

Disturbing and freakishly addictive

Color Wars 2008 » Youngme / Nowme

Logical Falicies

You're either with us, or for the terrorists!

Alt Text Video: Picking Apart Logical Fallacies | The Underwire from Wired.com

Not sure if this is true, but it is VERY funny!!!

Taxonomy Fail « The FAIL Blog

World's next 50 Best Restaurants

World's 50 Best Restaurants

World's 50 Best Restaurants

World's 50 Best Restaurants

Bees in Paris. Too bad no bees in Wauwatosa!

Globespotters » Travel Blog » International Herald Tribune » Blog Archive » A thriving beehive of activity in Paris

Inn at Dos Brisas

Early last week Doreen pointed out that we didn't have any plans for the weekend. I agreed, and mentioned what a good thing that was. She said that she would like to go to Dallas. I didn't think that was the best idea I had heard recently. So she said that I had to find something to entertain her for the weekend.

We had recently read a review of a small inn near Brenham call The Inn at Dos Brisas. It has rooms for eight couples, and while I didn't think it was likely that we would be able to get a room on such short notice, I called to make an inquiry.

Luckily for me, they had a cancellation for Friday night. So I grabbed the room, made a reservation for the Chef's Tasting Menu with accompanied wine pairing, and we left Houston about 1:30 on Friday afternoon.

We arrived there about 3:00 PM, and we greeted warming and showed to our casita. (Photos here) we started the afternoon with a nice glass of grower's champagne, and the weekend just kept getting better.

Doreen had a massage and we got to dinner about 7:30. Dinner lasted until almost 11:00, and was comprised of about 8 courses (each! we had different dishes at each course, and we shared) with a different wine for each plate. If I get the energy,I will describe the dinner in a later post.

The next day we awoke to a wonderful breakfast on our patio. We then went for a horseback ride (!) and after a great lunch we drove home.

It was a very nice evening.

Baby, I was Born to Run.

I was at The Richmond Arms waiting for an old friend when I got a call from Doreen. This was very unusual, as it was only about 5:30, and she was probably still at work. She said that someone had given her tickets to the Bruce Springsteen concert that was at the Toyota Center that night, and should we go? It took about 2 seconds to say “yes” even though that meant that I had to have just one quick beer with my friend (Sorry Marty)

Oddly enough, I had been talking to my sister Jeannette here in town, and she said that she was going to the concert as well! We tried to coordinate meeting before and during the concert, but the tickets we had did come with some strings attached, so that plan fell through.

Everything else fell into place. Doreen drove down to get the tickets and then came home to pick me up. We got downtown about 7:40 or so, and found a place to park on the street. We walked over to the Toyota center in the brisk (really!) spring air and got in line to enter.

So why do women bring purses to these things? I mean, they have to check every bag (for weapons? Cameras? Booze?) before letting you in, causing a queue at the door. Then they have to find a place to put them down while they rock out. What is wrong with pockets?

We wandered around until we found our seats (Section 120, row 10, seats 1 and 2) and found out that we had our own beer vendors, food and bathrooms in this area! Great. We each grabbed a hotdog (Doreen got chili cheese, I got mine straight) a beer and had a snack before the show started.

Once we got inside we realized how good these seats were. We were at about midcourt, 10 rows up from the floor. The stage was where the hoop would be. So we were seated just a bit above the stage, and not too far away.

We ran into one of Doreen’s board members (Not associated with the free tickets) and someone I knew from when I worked at Input/Output. We then settled in for the show.

He started about 8:15 or so, and it was pure out rock and roll. He started with some stuff from new albums (which I am not familiar with) and then had a ton of songs from his old ones. I felt like I was 18 again sitting in my brother Mark’s apartment in Madison when I was visiting from Appleton. It was LOUD and your chest just thumped with the bass. It has been a long time since I have heard that.

He played a bunch of the songs I hoped he work – the E Street Shuffle, Rosalita (come out tonight), Thunder Road, Because the Night, Born to Run, 10th Avenue Freeze Out. He ended with a pro-immigrant Irish drinking song., after bringing Alejandro Escovedo and Joe Ely one stage for one song each. It was quite a night.

SciGuy: Texas to Wisconsin: Eat my dust

SciGuy: Texas to Wisconsin: Eat my dust

Dylan on XM radio

A very useful exercise in tagging:

VF Daily: Inside Dylan's Brain: Online Only: vanityfair.com

Make sure you scroll down to read his jokes.

Attendance is mandatory

So Much for the Information Age - Chronicle.com

Food Streets (Houston has Travis Street)

GOOD Magazine | Goodmagazine - America's Tastiest Streets

Business Plans once more

Today is the third and final day of the Rice Business Plan Competition. Today I was a judge for the Challenge Round. In this round, you take teams that won neither first or second place in their flights (First place teams go onto the finals, the second place teams go onto the wild card round. The winner of the wild card round then goes onto the finals. Last year's wild card winner won the competition, and $100,000). In the Challenge round, the teams have 25 minutes to present, but the judges are encouraged (nay, required!) to interrupt and ask questions. It was as fun as it sounds. (in the other rounds, you can't ask questions until after the teams present)

There were four teams and four judges today. One of the judges was a doctor (a retired MD) one was a VC, and I am not sure what the other did. We had four teams – TWO Tuberculosis diagnostics tools (one for the developed world looking for latent TB, one for the developing world looking for pulmonary TB. One aimed at NGO, one aimed at the rich. Interesting segmentation) One of the other teams was going to install LED streetlights - turnkey – for municipalities, and the final team had anti-counterfeiting nanotechnology stamps that allowed verification three ways – UV Light, Small Magnets, and a specialized reader.

All the teams did pretty well on their feet, but they all wanted to reply on their presentation. That was a universal flaw.

We are now dressed up and about to go to the awards presentation.

If you want to listen to any or all of the Elevator Pitches, click here. A local radio program (run by a friend) recorded all the talks. Here is an interesting show he taped a while back)

Biz Plan Competition, Day Two

So today I did the actual judging for the Rice Competition. This is where it gets serious. There were about 30 judges in my flight, about 180 judges overall. Each flight (there are six of them) judges six plans. The teams have 15 minutes to present, and then we have 20 minutes of Q&A. At this point it is investigating the plan, not the cosmetics or style.

Of the six plans, one was a clear winner. I don’t want to reveal it all right now, due to the (extremely unlikely, I will admit) chance that someone may read my notes and think I am giving something away. The second place team (in my opinion) was also a clear winner, just not as good as the first. Both of those plans will get funding one way or another, and will go on to become successful businesses.

The third through fifth place teams were all a wash. With a little luck, some money, and lots of hard work, any of them could make it. The last one I didn’t think had a chance.

I will give my results later.

Rice Business Plan Competition

I just finished the first half day of the Rice Alliance Business Plan Competition. Today was the “Feedback Round” an unscored session where the competitors present their plans, and a group of judges (there were seven of us in this room) give feedback – mostly on style rather than content.

The business plans presented were a company that derived electric power from the gasification of rice husks in rural India (University of Virginia), a company that replaces incandescent streetlights with LEDs (University of Waterloo), a company that grows a tree and uses its beans to generate biodiesel in rural India (Bits Lilani), a company that has a secret process to grind coal and make it burn like natural gas (Kennesaw State University), a company (University of Michigan) that harvests energy from evaporating water and uses it to power WIFI chips, and a company (Harvard/Hanover) that rips thin silicon wafers off of silicon ingots thereby making pv solar cell half as expensive as they are now.

Some of the plans (Rice, Kennesaw) were just outstanding in both their presentation and concept. Some looked like *I* did them ten years ago. Some of the presentations were so well practiced that you would have thought they were asking for millions of dollars (some of them are) and ALL of them are for real companies.

This is my favorite part of the competition. Though one of the judges here was sort of a snoot. I looked up his bio, and he is now running an internet company in the “stealth” mode (yeah, right) after losing over $150 million in a company that was trying to digitize the world’s books.

I only lost $35 million trying to collect the gravity gradient of the world…

Clinton's Michigan stance in 40 seconds

Daily Kos: State of the Nation

How to Pick a Peach

I got the following book for Christmas and am just reading it now:

Amazon.com: How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table: Russ Parsons: Books

It is in the same theme as the Pollen books about food, but it goes a bit further by giving you advice on how to select the best fruits and vegetables - whether from a roadside stand or the supermarket. Well worth the read.

Blessed are the Cheesemakers

TMagazine - New York Times

Clouds

Just for my cloud obsessed brother Matthew:

ASK DR. BOLI. « Dr. Boli’s Celebrated Magazine.

Money quote:

"Cumulus.—Cumulus clouds are the puffy white clouds one sees in the sky on an otherwise fair day. The most up-to-date meteorological theory suggests that cumulus clouds are the souls of departed lambs and kittens."

Good article about Houston

Lone Star Rising — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

Hat tip to my buddy Dick Bowden.

Hillary's "experience"

Wordcount to the rescue!

See what our former First Lady did during her tenure here.

Gotta love Slate.

Big Government, Two ways bad.

Read here from Cato @ Liberty

Milwaukee Weather

I got an e-mail from my brother Matt saying they had to shut his plant today because of a blizzard.

What the heck???

Milwaukee Weather Forecasts on Yahoo! Weather

We ate lunch outside today.

Countdown Street Lights. Good or bad?

Taiwans Solution to Traffic Accidents - Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog

Here is the "Walk Score" of my house. 85. That's pretty good.

Walk Score - Helping homebuyers, renters, and real estate agents find houses and apartments in great neighborhoods.

Odds of Dying - NSC

Odds of Dying - NSC

I Like Huck.

James Fallows (March 20, 2008) - God Bless Mike Huckabee

Robot Mule: "Big Dog"

It is hard not to personify this:



Don't you feel bad when the guy kicks it? Or when it slips on the ice?

6 word music reviews

Six-Word Reviews of 763 SXSW Mp3s by Paul Ford - The Morning News

Oslo and Bad Travel Days

I am just back from Oslo, Norway. This was a business trip, and was short – only two nights there. (Three nights if you count the night on the airplane)

The outbound trip was uneventful, and the business meetings went well. I even got a cool waterproof windbreaker with a Norwegian flag out of it.

The trip back, however, was another story.

My flight from Oslo to Amsterdam was scheduled to leave at 6:40, so instead of staying at a hotel in downtown Oslo, which I usually do (more ambiance, more restaurants, more interesting things to do) I opted to stay at the airport hotel. Ostensibly to get an extra hour of sleep, but in reality so I would have one less type of transportation to worry about that day.

(You can ask my wife. All modes of transportation make me somewhat nervous. I tend to get to the airport a little before the recommended arrival time, and I am always worried about the next leg of the journey. She things I am obsessive, I think I am prudent)

I stayed in bed (though didn't sleep) as long as I could. I even watched a Steven Seagal movie called Half Past Dead. There is something viscerally appealing about movies like this. Sort of like Pro Wrestling. I mean, you know that the good guys will win, and there will be a lot of head crunching (or flying bullets and broken necks) on the way there. It was not the best movie I have seen late at night in a hotel room (that may have been Hello Dolly).

Since I wanted to get to the airport the recommended 2 hours before the flight, I got out of bed about 4:00 AM, showered and finished packing. The hotel's breakfast room was not yet open, so I figured I would get a coffee and a handful of peanuts at the business class lounge in the airport.

I walked across the street in the snow, in the fog, and got to the airport precisely at 4:40. There was one person in front of me in line, and I waited patiently. When it was my turn, I gave up my passport and the young woman told me I had already checked in. Yes, I said, but I had no printer in my hotel room (To make sure I didn't get bumped, I had checked in and changed my seats several hours earlier.) She gave me my boarding passes, and I noticed that my new seats were not on the flight from Oslo to Amsterdam. SO I asked her to change the flight, which she did gladly.

Now, you need to understand something about me and airplanes. I don't fit. I mean, I am 6'6” and about 218 pounds. That translates to almost 2 meters and almost 100 kg. These little intra-Europe airplanes are three across 737s and little Airbuses (I can never remember their numbers) even in business class. I have one seat I like in that airplane (1D if you must know. It gives me leg room) and I asked for it. I was glad I did.

After checking in (I carried on my bags this trip. Something I am doing more and more these days) I walked though security (Nobody in line at all. That was a first) and down to the lounge. Much to my chagrin, but I suppose not my surprise, it was closed until 5:45. We were supposed to board at 6:10.

So I walked to the gate to wait. And wait. And wait.

We finally boarded at the appointed time, and I got my nice seat with good legroom. Every seat on the plane was full (Norway shuts down for the week before easter – semana santa in Latin America, as well as the two days after. SO everyone was looking to get someplace warm). and then we waited to take off.

Remember how I always am worried about the next leg of my journey? Well, this trip had sort of tight connections in Amsterdam. I had 1 hour and 25 minutes to get from my gate, through security, and onto the Amsterdam to Houston leg of the flight. So I was already planning my exit from the plane and dash to the new gate.

Wed, 12MAR08 KL662 J HOUSTON BUSH INTL (IAH) 4:50PM AMSTERDAM (AMS) 7:55AM

Thu, 13MAR08 KL1143 J AMSTERDAM (AMS) 9:50AM OSLO/OSL (OSL) 11:40AM

Sat, 15MAR08 KL1140 J OSLO/OSL (OSL) 6:40AM AMSTERDAM (AMS) 8:45AM

Sat, 15MAR08 KL661 J AMSTERDAM (AMS) 10:10AM HOUSTON BUSH INTL (IAH) 2:35PM

And then the pilot announced a gate hold. He didn't know why. Weather? Maybe, it was snowing and foggy. More likely was an ATC hold over Brussels. They had installed a new computer system (probably new middleware) and it couldn't handle the traffic. SO we waited.

He said our slot was now 7:40 (an hour late!) and we could make up some time in the air. But then, Hallelujah! we got an earlier slot. You could feel him racing to the runway, but first we had to de-ice.

The de-icing made us lose our slot. Damn that ice! Damn those engines! Why couldn't they just take off with the ice in place? I am sure we had the power. But regardless, we waited.

We finally made the runway at about 7:45, in the air by about 8:00. He said it was about a 1.5 hour flight, and he was as good as his word. Now it was 9:30, and I had to get to another terminal (well, arm, anyway) through immigration, and through security in 30 minutes (if you are closer than ten minutes to your flight, they don't let you on.

I grabbed my bags, and rushed out the door. I stopped twice in the terminal. Once to confirm my gate (E18) and once to grab a cart. Sure, my bag has wheels, but my sweet, lovely, and long surffering wife has taught me many things, one of which is always grab a cart if one is available. (click here and scroll all the way to the bottom of the page)

Rushing through an airport always makes me feel like OJ Simpson. (the pre-murder one, not the killer one). I don't mind bumping into people who are lolly gagging or blocking the transit way. They need to either get moving or get out of the way.

I got to through immigration without a problem, and got to the gate with a few minutes to spare. Those of you who have flown through Schiphol Airport lately know, every gate now has gate security. I had to take out my laptop and blah blah blah. I set off the buzzer (and I have no idea why. I don't ever set of the buzzer here in the USA) and got the most thorough pat-down I have ever received. This fellow knew that I dressed left, if you know what I mean. But I was clean, and was able to walk right onto the gangplank.

The plane was a 747, and I was on the upper deck. It was a nice enough plane, and I got settled in quickly. The flight attendant came by with water, juice, or champagne, and I had to have a drink. I chatted with the ExxonMobil environmental engineer sitting next to me.

And we headed out to the runway. And we stopped.

The pilot said that we had a problem with our flaps. Not good. Not good at all. He said that maintenance had been called, and we would be heading back to the gate.

But we didn't head to the gate, we headed to a maintenance facility. For about an hour we could see the folks working on the wing. During this time, I took the opportunity to check the flight status using my phone.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the flight had been canceled! I told my seat mate and others nearby. there was a flurry of activity as everyone (including myself) started calling our travel agents or airlines to try and get a new flight. Continental told me that there was nothing they could do until we were off the plane and the flight was officially canceled.

Oddly enough, I was not at all worried by the delay. After all, it was my last leg! Sure I wanted to get home, but I knew that my Sweet Everloving had some errands to run and I would not see her when I first got home anyway. So I waited.

The crew decided to turn on the entertainment system and had out sandwiches and drinks. That was fun, and I got to see Scoop, the Woody Allen film (Better than Half Past Dead)

Finally the pilot came on and said that they had to replace a motor. This would take another two hours. We settled in for the long hall.

In the end, we took off (and arrived) five hours late. It was a bad travel day, but I got home none the less.

If you can't win by the rules, challenge the rules!

Burnt Orange Report::: Clinton Request Violates the Law

Europe wins from Globalization

Charlemagne | Winners and losers | Economist.com

Best Wishes, Elliott, Love, Hillary

The XX Factor : Hillary Sends her "Best Wishes" to the Governor.

More on Free. Moore's Law makes computers Too Cheap to Matter.

Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business

Makes me want to move to Montana

NPR: Montana Governor on 'Real ID' Act

Denouce and reject, Senator McCain! Denouce and Reject!!!

Matthew Yglesias (March 05, 2008) - Hagee on Katrina (Politics)

Caucus confusion

Here is how we started the caucus:

We were waiting in line to sign in for the caucus, and the precinct chairman came to explain the rules. He told us all that we had to sign in, and pick our presidential preference, but if we did NOT stay until the end of the caucus, our vote would not be counted.

When we got to the front of the line, Doreen told the guy that we had read in the paper that all we had to do was sign in and leave. He went to check the rules, then came back and told her that she was right – all we had to do was sign in and go. But he wanted us to stay until the end, because that is how we picked the delegates and passed some rules.

We were there when the votes were counted, as described below.

Precinct 34 Caucus

The Texas Democratic Primary is complicated. It may have always been complicated, but it never mattered before – or rather it has not mattered since 1976. Or was it 1968? In any case, it matters now.

A quick recap – about 2/3s of the delegates are allocated by the primary. But not proportionally by voter (one man one vote) but allocated per Texas Senate District. We live in Senate District 13, and we have 7 delegates. Only one district has more – one of the Austin Districts, which has 8. The Senate Districts in the Rio Grand Valley have about 2. So our votes are more valuable than the votes down south. These delegates were allocated by Democratic voter turnout in the past two elections. Go figure.

We have just returned from our caucus. There were about 300 people waiting in line yet.

Now we are just back from the finalization of the caucus. We returned shortly before the started counting the votes. Now, you have to remember that this is a Democratic voting place. They had a tally of the votes, and they added them up BY HAND! Nobody had a calculator! My gosh!

After electing a precinct chairman and a secretary, they told us the final vote. 172 Obama, 120 Clinton, 2 uncommitted (What the heck? Uncommitted? Who comes to a caucus and votes uncommitted?)

That makes our precinct, #34, 59% Obama, 41% Clinton.

GO Obama!

Women voters in Houston

The woman who hosted the party for Linda Worthheimer is on Doreen's board. (She is the one who says that she likes and respects Hillary, but is voting for Obama)

NPR: Texas Women Reflect Shift in Political Sentiments

A brush with greatness!

Starbucks vs Walmart (updated)

Updated

Another example of Farm Policy gone wrong

My Forbidden Fruits (and Vegetables) - New York Times

Obama

The CEO of the Orange County Register has endorsed Barack Obama.

So what, you may ask?

Scott Flanders is a well known Libertarian.

Here is the article.

Here is the punchline:

“But there was a hush as Flanders reasoned that Obama is the best candidate to work on four top libertarian reforms: 1) Iraq withdrawal, 2) restoring the separation of church and state; 3) easing off victimless crimes such as drug use; 4) curtailing the Patriot Act.”

It's a lead pipe cinch in my book.

Cedar Waxwing

Today while riding our bikes down to see the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Trail Riders, we noticed a small bird sitting in the middle of the road looking like this:

I stopped and gently picked it up and placed it on a big rock in a side yard. After I set it down, I gently stroked its breast, and it quickly flew up to the trees to join its compatriots!

I have always liked these Cedar Waxwings, and it was nice to see one up close, and even better that it seemed to be unharmed.

All the water in the world. All the air in the world.

Dan Phiffer

Greenies use a zero discount rate?

Marginal Revolution: Moral puzzles about collective action

I get to fly a lot, not having progeny.

Viva Obama

Looks good for Obama in Texas

Pollster.com

Is it art?

Frozen in Grand Central Station - Video

Voting vs Income

Income matters a lot in "red states," not so much in "blue states": What's the matter with Connecticut?

College matters

More proof that you need to go to college:

Higher Education Gap May Slow Economic Mobility - New York Times

You may need to register for the NYTimes site, but it is free.

Another way to be "Nickled and Dimed"

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Braised Short Ribs, BLTs, and Weekend Culture

We made Braised Short Ribs from Mark Bittman's recipe this weekend. So rich! So rich! As he said in the video - Chocolate is for Wussies.

We also had some Barley Pilaf with it. Nice, very nutty. Barley is an underappreciated grain.

See photos here.

After eating these delicious ribs, we went to see Ladysmith Black Mambazo. It was a fun concert, but it does get a little repetitive. Interestingly enough, it made me think of the movie Zulu, Michael Caine's first big role. I don't think that Doreen will like the movie, but I ordered it (for $2.90) from Amazon so I could watch it when she was out of town.

Sunday we had an amazingly productive day. We read the paper, roasted coffee and baked bread (our standard Sunday chores) and then took off on our bicycles. We had breakfast at Cafe Artiste and sat outside (the weather was perfect - high 60s and sunny, with a nice breeze). I had pancakes, Doreen had an omelet like creation, but with the best biscuits and gravy this side of the Mississippi. And parts of the other side of the Mississippi as well. It was all delicious.

Then we rode through her park and wound our way home.

When we arrived home we realized that the Monarch Caterpillars had eaten all of our milk weed (AKA Butterfly weed) so we had to go and get some more. We drove to The Heights and stopped at Buchanan's. We used the opportunity to get some parsley, thyme, and dill as well. (we have Rosemary, and don't use too much sage). We got home and planted them.

After a short nap (it was Sunday, after all!) we made supper – BLTs on our freshly homemade (no bread machine!) bread. With it, we had a nice glass of a 2005 Olson Ogden Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley. Great combination! Doreen was lucky enough to get a really fresh tomato from the market. (Handed to her by a nice young man who didn’t plan on eating his tomatoes immediately. People in The Montrose are so friendly!)

Then we were off again, this time to an Inprint Houston reading event. Dave Eggers and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie were reading from their latest books: What is the What and Half a Yellow Sun. I think we enjoyed Chimamanda’s talk better.

It was a full weekend.

More on the Texas Primary

Read here how the Clinton campaign does not understand the Texas delegate selection process.

And here about how Obama can win Texas.

Texas Delegate Selection. Complicated.

Texas delegate system makes candidates pick their battles | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Caffeine

Developing Intelligence : Caffeine: A User's Guide to Getting Optimally Wired

Is your fish sustainable? Check here!

Eat Food. Mostly Plants. Not too much.

And check and see if your fish is environmentally destructive:

Shopping for Fish - Bitten - Dining & Wine - New York Times Blog

Sense spoken about airport security

Megan McArdle (February 11, 2008) - A nice, secure feeling

Hillary tries to steal FL and MI

Just as I predicted:

Stop Thief!

Bougainvillea and Fish

Today I was working in the yard while Doreen was still reading the paper.

She finished up the paper and came into the back yard. I needed a little help cutting down our Bougainvillea, and asked her: “Dear, can you come and give me a hand with cutting down the Bougainvillea?”

She replied: “We aren't getting any more fish”

Borges

Habitus - A Conversation with Jorge Luis Borges

Sounds like good advice.

Ben Casnocha: The Blog: Some of the Best Speaking Advice Ever

Kevin Kelly on "Free"

If you can't compete with Free, you can't compete.