February Thaw

It finally got warmish enough (hey, above freezing!) to get outside for more than a few minutes. So I checked out a little Mississippi River action near downtown Minneapolis and took some fancy pictures, like this:

Otherwise I can report that not having a job in the winter in Minnesota can make for some longish days in the house... but hopefully both the job and winter situations will change soon enough. Though I feel like I have about as much control over both.

Archies 2007

Seems like a tradition worth keeping, so we'll see how many I can come up with.  Warning - you may notice a theme.

• Change - not the coins, but the existential state
• Creative Kidstuff - taking all the guesswork out of those nephew/niece gifts
• Caribou and Dunn Brothers coffee - all the warm fuzzy of local, all the convenience of chains
• Remember the Milk and Mint - let the internet organize for you
• The Heights Theatre - cool and nearby, double ++
• Basements and garages - hmm, let's put that box somewhere and forget it for 3 months
• Ice chippers - to allow us to get into the garage in question
• The Q50 - maybe not "essential" downloads but at least "fun"
• IKEA - yes you can furnish your house from one store, if you're handy with an allen wrench
• Very Short List - a daily email that is actually quick and useful
• Facebook goes nuclear - is it still wasting time if you're doing it with friends?
• Finally having a frickin DVR - I know I'm shallow
• Ax Man Surplus stores - I probably laughed more here than anywhere in months
• The Electric Fetus - terrible name, great record store
• Gmail adds IMAP -  I find I like free things that work incredibly well
• Neighbors who bring you pies and cookies
• Hound Dog Pet Hotel - we'd never had to use a kennel before, but it turned out great
• Soul Jazz and Numero Group Records - awesomely consistent, consistently awesome
• Google Reader - finally RSS really is simple
• Turner Classic Movies - yeah, still
• Onion AV Club - yeah, still
• Surdyk's Liquor and Cheese Shop - yeah, distilled... oh and great wine/beer/food selection too
• Columbia Sportswear - winter schminter
• Neighborhood restaurants - of which there are plenty in MSP
• Being the old guy - I'm taking classes where the average age is probably 10 years below me, so I get to be the wise and weird one, and oh how I can fill that role
• Magazines like the New Yorker, the Atlantic, Harper's, Dwell, Readymade, and Good - pretty much why my "books read" list hovers around zero (and I'm scared that one day I will accept those free issues of The Economist I keep getting offered and I'll never go outside again) 
• The "In Rainbows" experiment - I'm always glad when success doesn't diminish nerve, but enhances it; oh yeah and the music was good too
• Fond farewells - and anticipated reunions

Thanksgiving Baby Action

One sample, and the rest are here:

Minnesota: Nice

Well, it's been around two months, so I think I'll do the "here I am back in Minnesota" post. After leaving for Austin in 1994, I don't know how much I expected to ever return, but times and circumstances change, as we know. So with 4 nephews and 1 niece appearing in the last two years, and a general feeling of stagnation with things in Austin, this seemed to be the time.

It's definitely been refreshing to be learning a city again - what little I knew about the Twin Cities from my earlier jaunts is mostly outdated, and much has changed in the meantime. Plus we found a house in a corner of town I wasn't familiar with at all - go Victory! Ah, even the name is cheerful. So while finding our way around the North/Northwest, we can also reacquaint ourselves with old favorites like the chain of lakes, the Mississippi, First Avenue, and neighborhoods like Uptown and Northeast (and of course hanging with the fam). The list of restaurants to try seems never-ending, and the state must require a cool coffee shop and bakery on every block. And we have even easier access to The Current, still the best radio I've ever found.

I've also started working on a Master's at the University of Minnesota - ahem, Educational Policy and Administration, Comparative and International Development Education - a beautiful campus I hadn't been around much before (if you don't have a reason to be there, it's kind of a hectic place to visit). I'm also still trying to hook up a job there, so for any potential employers who have done a web search on me, don't I seem cool?? So that's provided some structure and new faces to my existence here, at least, and plenty of reading material.

Some Austin habits have been harder to break - Alamo Drafthouses, Austin Film Society, and big Whole Foods stores don't have any serious competition here, not to mention all the various music fests. But I guess I'm grown-up enough to understand I shouldn't base everything on entertainment and shopping (sigh). I'll hold off on any weather statements until I have some winter behind me, but heck, I like wearing jackets sometimes, so I think I'll make it. And I really did miss stuff like this:

Where It's At

Us, now, that is - and more pix here

Moving: The Scorecard

For anyone keeping track, we have made the move to Minneapolis from Austin. Hopefully the fun part starts now, as the last week or so have been filled with a few hassles:

- packing and cleaning, as everyone knows, are among the least enjoyable tasks of life - next time I'm just buying matches and lighter fluid
- though they did pretty well, driving for two days with 3 dogs behind the seat of a pickup is not something I can recommend across the board - and staying with them in a hotel room is a firm NO
- trying to sell and buy a house in the midst of a weird mortgage loan crisis would also not have been my preference

On the non-gripy side, it's nice to be in a place where an August day doesn't automatically mean "hotter than the sun." And we have been eating quite well since hitting town - Pierre's Bistro, Broder's Pasta Bar, and the numerous coffee shops (no, like everywhere) have eased some of the jangle. Oh, and the State Fair is on. I think I will save a stick from some of the food on a stick and then put my mini donuts on the stick and then eat the mini donuts on a stick.

The Last

After just over 12 years at UT Austin, today is my last day of work. The house has a contract, and we're entering into "the last" stage - the last time we do this in Austin, the last time we visit that. Or at least that's how it feels, though I have every intention of making it back here fairly frequently. I think the next few weeks will keep me stressed out enough that I may not notice my lack of a job for a little while (packing, moving, finding a new house, starting classes, etc etc), but presumably it will hit me at some point. But I'm trying to look ahead more than back, and am grateful for the good experiences and people I've gotten to know here. Now, if all goes well, it's time for more good stuff somewhere else...

Almost There...

After what seems to have been a ridiculously long build-up, hopefully Roger and I will finally have our house listed this week (and hey, it's really nice, you should totally buy it!), and the big moving process can actually start to happen (unless writing about it somehow is another jinx, of course...).

To give some context, my oldest niece just turned 2, and my oldest nephew will be 1 in a few days, and the idea to move back to Minnesota from Austin came up around the time we found out about his future arrival. So, like, a year and a half maybe? Oy. Too long to think and talk about one subject without actually doing much about it. And there's already another nephew up there now, and two more coming this fall. Babies certainly do make it easier to keep track of time passing - see, I knew they were good for something.

Anyway, even with that much advance thinking time, I know these remaining weeks in Austin will go by in a blur, and I'll probably be gone before I really start to process it. I've lived here since late 1994, and Roger since 1993, so it has definitely felt like home for quite some time. But we're also both excited about Minneapolis - a new place for Roger, and what may as well be for me, given how different it will be after 13 years (also this time around I can afford to have a freaking garage). And Austin will then move into a handy slot for quick trips - what with all the various festivals, there will always be a good excuse to come for a visit. Not to mention the whole +30 degree temperature difference, which might sound pretty good around March.

Tying this to a more well-known Austin phenomenon, perhaps it is fitting that this is also the last week for the original Alamo Drafthouse location after a truly heroic 10-year run. Fortunately they aren't disappearing, but just closing one spot and opening in another later this year. But it'll make it a good clean break for me, as that seems to be where I spend lots of my rec time anyway, and this way I won't have to get all my memories mixed up. Packing everything into the right box, that's the whole idea behind moving, right?

Wee Liam

I suppose a better uncle would have mentioned this much earlier, but I wanted to give little Liam some time to get settled. He did make his debut a couple months early, after all. But now he's on his game and his progress can be tracked online, just like if he was a package. The routing number is "awwwwwww."

Hurray for Tom and Becky too!

Cold water turns into a slippery solid

and keeps most of Austin inside for several days...

The Archies

My take on "The Archies"

Top 33 Things In The World, 2006

1. The Wire Season 4
   
2. Remicade drug trials
3. Alamo Drafthouses
4. Going for coffee
5. eMusic
6. Austin getting The Onion print version
7. Browsing Netflix
8. Whole Foods
9. Calexico
10. Social Security
11. I Like You by Amy Sedaris
12. San Francisco's Ferry Building Marketplace
13. The Departed
14. Coke Zero
15. Strand Bookstore
16. Red wine having even slight health benefits
17. Cuteoverload.com
18. Walking in New York City
19. Austin Film Society's Joseph Losey series
20. MOG
21. Juniper Ridge Wild Herb Incense
    
22. James Ellroy
23. Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me
24. Fun Fun Fun Fest
25. Nuevo Leon (and Tex-Mex in general)
26. 89.3 The Current
27. Old Joy
28. Project Transitions
29. The New Yorker
30. George Saunders
31. Costco
32. Edge.org
33. Democratic Majority!

Happy Holidays Out There

Austin Art

While scoping out the Blue Genie Art Bazaar (how have I missed this every year?), I came across these nifty artist/designers:

Rory Skagen

(and this picture is just the tip of the arrow - check out his genuine "Throwing Gravel" and Shelby the Mouse Mate)

Travis Nichols


Also lots of nice pottery and glassware, but there's no web sites for that so just imagine it.

In Case You Hadn't Noticed

I seem to have lost the urge to post here lately - busy taking a class and still dealing with some medical issues (I get to try a drug trial for Crohn's Disease - whee!). I am alive and fairly well, but my online life may be diminished for a while (or a long while). Peace -

Life Among The Fabulous

Our pal Sammy is writing food pieces for Austinist now, and I guess he has pretty free rein because he wrote an article about eating brunch at our house. Since the newsworthiness of that event alone may admittedly be shaky, fortunately he also gave Roger a bit of ink.

Unfortunately I myself have recently had to limit my enjoyment of Roger's fine cookin' as I've been having some rumbling intestines (the experts are leaning towards colitis). Indeed, getting a colonoscopy is just as much fun as you've heard! But if anyone's looking for a quick way to lose 20 pounds, I got just the plan...

Roger on the Radio

KUT, the NPR station in Austin, is doing a series of short pieces on local volunteers, and one of the organizations featured is Project Transitions, which provides hospice care and assisted living for people with HIV and AIDS. And one of their volunteers is Roger! So he gets a few sound bites in the clip, which can be found here on the KUT website.

PT does lots of creative fundraising, including "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," an event where people buy tickets to one of many dinners hosted around Austin. Roger and I have hosted dinners for the past 4 years, and just did one on Saturday, Feb 4 for 8 people. I can't take any credit for the tasty food, but I did keep my streak alive and did not spill all over anyone. With how coordinated I am carrying plates of food, I consider that a success.

Thousands of 1's and 0's For This

We parlayed some gift cards and just got our first digital camera - many more glowing eyeballs to come.

My Wish List - Better Ideas

We're closing in on when I will officially start to think about Christmas and "the holiday season" in general - I know most retailers have wanted me to start on this a couple months back, but I got my own timetable, friends.

Usually right about now is when I start having fantasies that this is the year I won't do the usual CD/DVD/book/trinkets kind of gift-giving, and come up with some new and exciting and personal and creative and useful (and cheap) ideas instead. And then in about two weeks I'll finally abandon that and run around cobbling together books, CDs, DVDs, etc.

Maybe it'll happen again, but a guy's gotta try. It seems so achingly simple - what's something that a person would like to receive, would actually use, and would appreciate? Most typical "creative" gifts ("Look, I drew a picture of you on a pillowcase! I made you these candleholders out of old water bottles!!") seem personal enough, sure, but how long before they are set aside and mostly forgotten? One needs only so many picture frames, after all. Truly practical gifts ("Hey wow, a flashlight...") may be thoughtful, but seem so dull. Hmmm...

I suppose this is my weak reaction to the ultra-consumerist frenzy this time of year always provokes, probably due more to my inability to actively participate than anything; I mean, if I could buy everyone new hybrid cars, blam, problem solved. I don't mind shopping, in fact, but I normally end up buying stuff that I want for myself and desperately project that desire outward.

So yeah, consider this a cry for help - anyone out there have this gift thing down? Then reach down to us indecisive types. It's the season for giving. To me.

Storm Tracks

I'm sure it's too late to jump into the post-hurricane fray much, except to say how ill-prepared I would be if one ever actually came close to Austin. Though maybe it's a good thing that I can look around my house and not really see much of anything I couldn't live without.

Unfortunately, scares from Rita kept Roger from accompanying me to my cousin's wedding in Cincinnati. As this was the third family wedding in less than 12 months, we now have the two-day, get-in get-out see-you-in-the-hospitality-suite weekend down.

Next up - Roger gets to come with me this time to The Vegas. Or does that actually mean something in Spanish? It should mean Hypnolarious!!

School supplies

It must mark me as a permanent school dork that I still get a small thrill from checking out the new school supplies every August - mmm, pens, notebooks, binders (though the famous Trapper Keepers seem to have fallen by the wayside), everything all clean and new. I'm ready.

Thing is, this year it actually makes some sense, as I'll be starting a graduate program through UT in the futuristic sounding School of Information, with an emphasis in the even-more-futuristic sounding "Information Architecture." Hopefully sometime during this first semester I can even start to explain what that is.

I've resisted the grad school thing for a while, mainly because the areas I'm interested in seem fairly useless, graduate degree or no ("Ooh, you have a master's in screenwriting! We want you to write the 'Quincy' movie, starring The Rock!"), and I already have a decent but not super-high-paying job. Plus I'm lazy. But I will give UT some credit for its benefits, as I can take one class free every semester (and while working full-time, I'm not doing much more than that anyway). So it might be slow, but hopefully I can get a master's for almost $0. That's some nicely architected information right there. Hmm, maybe I can spend my scratch on silly fancy binder systems instead...