The Day I Met the Wienermobile

"I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times, in life after life, in age after age forever." - Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Bengali Poet, Novelist, Composer

Time has been flying by and I can't believe that May is almost here. A lot is going on in so many facets of my life, but so far there has not been a lot of change, which makes it much easier to adapt to. It is much better than dealing with challenges, which have felt like few in the last few months. I could go for some idle hands though.

I recently saw the movie Kick Ass with Kimberly and Stephanie at the Drafthouse. I think it was a great movie and much better than I expected. Maybe a bit too violent, but we are all pretty desensitized to that stuff already. Not a movie to take your kids to though. The little girl character was impressive, and according to an article I read, she did most of her own stunts.

This weekend I vacuumed my house and paid to get our lawn cut. The backyard really needed a cut since it was a jungle out there. Then I decided to try something new. I called Oscar and we went out to a driving range to hit golf balls. I have never played golf in my life, though I will say I'm a shark on a mini-golf course. I have always wanted to learn. I was really hoping to be an idiot savant, but instead I sucked really bad. I had trouble making contact with the ball and when I did it wasn't as pretty as I imagined in my head. My form was terrible, but I had a good time. I hope to keep practicing and maybe even one day play a round of golf. The worst part was that the next day my entire body hurt. How sad that hitting a golf ball was too much for my body, something is definitely wrong with my fitness and nutrition program, or lack there of. Tomorrow though right, I mean the stops and starts in this part of my life has really sapped my motivation.

Afterwards, Oscar and I went bowling with Clarita. It was fun and right in the middle of the Texas Women's State Finals. From the people competing, I must say, it must be experience over youth. I did fairly well by my standards, but Oscar was still able to beat me. He does rise to the challenge I must say. Clarita learned how to spin the ball, which I think makes bowling a lot more fun. It was a nice Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday, I attended the 13th Annual Wiener Dog Races in Buda, Texas. I went with Kimberly and Stephanie who made the trip down to Buda. I did not know what to expect, but the idea of racing wiener dogs sounded fun. The theme for this year was the Wiener of Oz and everything was wiener dog themed, from the Wienermobile to the "I love Weiners" and "I love my Weiner" shirts.
I took a lot of pictures and here are my photos and videos from the event. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyadus/sets/72157623808397219/

I even sat through a bake off and watched them auction the baked goods after for over an hour. One moving part was when a lady won a few of the baking contests and she donated her checks back to the organization. You must be good if you win in more than one category. Then her husband (I assume) would bid on her winning pie/baked good to donate even more money. At one point the baked good sold for about $300 and she won more money for the People's Choice Award, which she donated back as well. It must have made the other wieners (get it winners) feel guilty when they kept their winning checks. I will admit before the auction saying that nothing would probably sell, I was eating my words soon after my snide remark.
Here is me and the Wienermobile. It did take a while to get the "wienermobile" and "weiner dog" connection. But when it hit me, I laughed heartily. Model year 2004 if you were wondering.

Here is a video about one dog named Abby. I don't know her, but I liked the video. Make me want to race a dog.


I am currently apartment and house rental hunting. It has not been going well. I did find a place I really like, but it was already rented. Our goal is to move on June 1st so we are running out of time. The main reason for moving is to be closer to downtown Austin. I am not looking forward to the part where we have to move all our stuff though. I'm definitely gonna pay people to help.

I never watch the college NFL draft, but I did for a while this year. I missed the first round, but when I saw that Colt McCoy (Texas) wasn't drafted, I watched the following day's 2nd and 3rd round. Colt was finally picked up in the 3rd Round right after Shipley. He found a good home in Cleveland I think and I wish him well. I feel like Tebow should have been the one to go in the 3rd round. Had Colt not hurt himself and got a chance to prove himself in the National Championship game, maybe things would have been different.


Arizona just passed a racial profiling law. I know it won't pass any legal challenges, but the idea that a state could pass a law like that really worries me. I know the governor had to sign it because she is getting primaried from the right, just as McCain had to support it as well due to his primary fight but why is the far right willing to do such a thing. Everyone gets it, illegal immigration is a problem, but do they really think that this will help solve it?

That said, today I was in line at a convenient store, and there were 3 Mexican looking dudes. A guy in front of me, Me, and a guy behind me. So the cashier talks to the guy in front of me in Spanish, then before I say a word, talks to me in English, and then to the guy behind me in Spanish. Maybe it was the tie, but still, I guess I don't look like I can speak Spanish or well.

Finally, check out the skinny guy below. We all know people so much bigger than him I'm sure.

"This is Chauncy Morlan, and around 100 years ago his obesity was so shocking that people would pay money to see him as he toured the country as a circus “fat man”. I find the unremarkableness of his size to be a telling sign of how we’ve pushed the limits of obesity in the past 100 years."
Text and photo from Modeled Behavior.

the best way to find out isn't to guess

New Truck

"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. " - Susan B. Anthony

I've always been aware of the trend that the more that happens, the less I have to say. It is these type of time periods that I enjoy. For instance, this weekend was also an eventful one- I'll summarize. I passed up on Reggae Fest in Austin, Oyster Bake in San Antonio and even boating on the lake to take my brother Abram down to the Valley for the weekend. He was in the market for a new truck. He did his research for at least a week and we headed down on Friday for his purchase. The trip was through quite a rain storm, which made me glad he didn't go down on his bike, and despite all the water we made it there safely. Being down, also provided the opportunity to visit with my family, which is the real reason for any trip home.

On Saturday, Abram purchased a Toyota Tacoma and it is a pretty good looking truck if I might say so myself. I might be biased though because I'm a former Tacoma owner, and mine was a great truck to me. The dealership staff was great to us and the experience was relatively less stressful than I had anticipated. Here is a photo of Abram's truck.


My nieces Rebekkah and Jamie came to my mom's house for the weekend, so that gave us some good quality visiting. Unfortunately, my oldest sister Ana was in Austin for the weekend, so we didn't get to visit with her, but her trip sounded like a lot of fun. My little sister brought over my other two nieces Victoria and Celeste. It is always hard not to gush over 2 year old Celeste, but considering my stance on other people's kids, I'll spare you the proud uncle stories...for now.

While Jamie went with Abram to finalize his truck paperwork, Bekkah and I went to see Alice in Wonderland. I had been wanting to see this movie for some time, and we even sprung to see it in 3D. I enjoyed it, but I wish I had refreshed my memory on the cartoon prior to watching it. I didn't know the movie was a part 2 of sorts, not like a Malice in Wonderland, but more so a return to Wonderland. I'll put the cartoon on my netflix while the memory of the movie is on my mind. The Johnny Depp character didn't impress me as much as I thought it would.

My niece Bekkah is also graduating from high school this spring, and the family are throwing her a graduation party in May, when I'll return to the Valley again. She also has prom coming up, which is a memory I relish from my old days. I'm proud of her as she heads off to college in the fall. She still doesn't seem this old to me, but kids grow up fast.

Here is a funny story. So I'm chatting with my nieces Bekkah and Jamie about perspective and always trying to view things in a positive light rather than a negative one. The example I gave them was about driving. I told them, when a person cuts you off, instead of being mad about what just happened, be concerned for them and hope that where ever they are rushing to, that they get there quickly and safely because it might be very important or maybe even an emergency. Not 10 hours from my life lessons lecture, I'm driving back from the movies with Bekkah and a guy cuts me off in the parking lot. Automatically I yell out profanities at this man who has no regard for safety and consideration. As I finish my verbal reaction, Bekkah turns to me and says, "But Tio, maybe he has somewhere very important to go, shouldn't we be hoping that he gets there quickly." I was so proud and so embarrassed for my immediate hypocrisy. In my defense, I'm usually very forgiving and patient on the roads and it takes a lot to upset me, but at this moment, I was not my best. Also, this guy cut off another person before us, and we tailed them slowly as we witnessed a road rage fight in front of us, cutting each other off and yelling out of windows. I'm glad they finally parted ways.

Saturday night, I took some time away from my family to visit with friends. I had drinks with my friends Claudia and Rick, whom I have known since the 2nd grade. Claudia lives in Miami right now and it was very cool that we both happened to be in the Valley on the same weekend. Claudia has a great blog that I follow, which I recommend. It was like picking up where we left off and we had some great conversations about life, and relationships. I also hung out with Abram and his friend Elaine, who ended up getting the night off, so she was able to spend more time out.

My favorite tv stereotype story is the child of the divorced parents who believes that his parents divorce was all of his fault and has to be continually reassured. I always grew up thinking that those kids must be really dense and self-centered to believe this. Ironically enough, though I never took it seriously, my father once told me my parents got divorced because of me--so that I could go to college. You know, now I was the son of a single parent father who didn't make a lot of money and thus I'd qualify for a bit more help. -- I'll interject here with the point that I have great and very loving and great parents and this story is more about my journey than theirs, which, of course, I will never fully comprehend. -- I always saw the story as a pre-text to save face, an unfunny joke if you will. My parents get along and never remarried after being divorced, but growing up, especially in my teens, I always thought they would be much happier if they parted ways. For me it was just a coincidence that the actual divorce came when I was graduating high school, but in my opinion it was inevitable. Now, over a decade later, I was having dinner with my family and I made a joke about being told that I was the reason for a divorce and how it contrasted to that tv stereotype. I was assured this was not the case, but I also found out my point of view was merely that, mine, and that others saw it much differently. One sibling said, "wasn't that the case?" Then my mother told me about a moment at my college graduation when my older sister said with true emotion, "Look at the sacrifice that dad has to go through for him to be here today, even losing his marriage." She must have truly believed that. I even went as far as to ask my little sister why she thought my parents got divorced and she said, "so you could go to college." I won't even get into how logically this makes no sense, because a sham divorce would have sufficed if this were the case and that was not the case. So I was confronted for the first time with the question, wait, was this my fault? Then common sense kicks back in and I know that I wasn't, but my situation provided an excuse to let go and to move on (to whatever extent). What made the bigger impact was that, to some degree, even if not fully, I had family members that somewhat believed this...they were like characters in that after-school special. I may be where I am at due to extraordinary sacrifices made by my parents and family, supporting me in whatever I ventured toward, but this one sacrifice I'm confident was not on my account. I would hate to think my father really ever believed this, but if it gives him some sort of comfort that he martyred himself for my benefit in this respect, I'll accept that. Sometimes you can only see a sliver of the world, from only one viewpoint and all I have is that sliver, even know, but I do wonder what the real picture completely looks like.

perhaps

A Capacitor

"Figure out what your purpose is in life, what you really and truly want to do with your time and your life; then be willing to sacrifice everything and then some to achieve it. If you are not willing to make the sacrifice, then keep searching." - Quintina Ragnacci (1967-, Entrepreneur)

Work has been ridiculously busy and I haven't had a lot of time to take to write. I figured I'd try a little bit of catch up this weekend. This coming weekend I should be heading down to the Valley because my brother might be buying a car. Hopefully I'll get to see some friends and get in some drinks. I'll be heading back again in May for my niece, Rebekkah's graduation party. I'm proud of her, not only for graduating from high school, but for going to college.

Let me start with what I was up to last weekend. I had a 3 day weekend and my parents came up to Austin for Easter break. It was a good trip. On Saturday, my brother and I took them to Guerne where we met up with my sister Eliza, her husband Gil and family (who were also on vacation) at the Gristmill for lunch. I really like that place. My niece Celeste, 2, always seems to be growing in leaps and bounds. Hearing her call me Tio Marty made me happy. After lunch, we all went to Canyon Lake and the kids had a great time. Gil's brother's family came too. I enjoyed getting the sunshine and it was pretty fun. It had been a while since I had thrown a football around. Too bad my sister Ana and kids were not there or the whole family would have been together.

Here are some photos from the outing. I need to update the photos links on my blog...just reminding myself out loud.

On Wednesday, Abram and I went to the Hills Cafe to watch some free country music. We met up with some friends and I was pretty impressed with the place. It has a great outdoor music setup. There were so many people in cowboy hats and boots that I really felt like I was in Texas. This was Abram's experience in college, so he is more used to it than I am. The music was good and I had a good time. We ended the night with some drinks at Docs.

During the day on Wednesday, I attended my first oral argument at the court of appeals. My boss argued a case we have been working on for some time and I was there as second chair. He did a great job and it was an experience watching the judges ask questions and get into the cases that I have read over so many times. It was exciting seeing hard work and research finally come together in a great debate. No matter how the court rules, it is going to be a big deal I think. Another milestone and over a drink I can talk about how cool it was at length.

I haven't been to the movies in a while, but I convinced Christina to watch Hot Tub Time Machine with me. For some reason I really wanted to see it. I think it was because John Cusack was in it. I had much higher expectations than were reasonable. It is definitely a rental, but to be fair I was laughing a lot. I still haven't seen Alice in Wonderland.

I love my slingbox and recently it starting giving me problems. (A slingbox lets you watch your tv from any computer.) I was out of the warranty period and after some research I found out that the problem was the capacitors on the circuit board. Instead of throwing it out, I decided to try to fix it. I do not know anything about circuit boards, nor do I know how to solder components on. I thought about learning how so I could try to fix it, but instead decided to buy the parts at Radio Shack and pay a guy on craigslist to solder them on for me. When I got home, I was excited to see that it worked like a charm and all for about 20 bucks. I did not have to buy a new one, which to be honest I probably would have done. I'm very proud of myself for taking on this project, but part of me wishes I would have learned to solder so I could have done it myself.

Here is my TV update. Glee is coming back this week. I have no business watching that show other than my adoration of Lea Michele. I joined the show late and had to catch up, but the music is pretty good. Lost keeps getting better and better each week and as much as I'm sad to see it go, I can't wait to finally get my answers. Oh, and MSNBC is coming to Sirius radio, which for me is a great thing, and hopefully now I'll get to listen to Maddow in my car when I'm on the road.

Sunday, I was helping Abram with his phone and I don't know what I did, but he lost all his contacts. I'm usually really good with stuff and swear all I did was insert the memory card, but losing 5 years worth of phone numbers really sucks. I feel pretty bad about it.

it was nice

Cherry Blossoms

"If I try to be like him, who will be like me? "- Yiddish proverb

I have been keeping busy lately and am ready for my 3 day Easter weekend. It is always nice to take time to relax and catch up on things at home. Instead of going to the Valley to visit for Easter, my parents are coming up to visit my brother and me here in Austin. Hopefully I'll think of some enjoyable ideas for things to do with them while they are here.

Let's see, I'll start by going back to last Thursday night. Cornell played Kentucky in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA basketball tournament and Christina, Oscar, Clarita and I went to the Tavern to watch the game with the Cornell Club of Austin. The place was packed with Cornell Alumni and there was so much school pride it was inspiring. I didn't know there were so many alums in Austin. We may have lost the game, but I had a good time having a drink with my friends. I even saw a guy I knew from college on TV in the stands. It was a good run and I enjoyed the hope, energy and excitement. I'm still enjoying the rest of the NCAA tournament. Too bad Cornell also lost in the Hockey NCAA tournament last week as well.

Saturday night, I went downtown with Oscar and Clarita. It is always refreshing to see two people get along so well and they are always fun to hang out with. We met up with Danny and his friends and ventured to West 6th street. The UFC fight was on that the bar we were at. I had a fun time and met some new and interesting characters. I've been doing really well remembering people's names recently, but the problem is that it is harder once many weeks have past and you run into them again. I hadn't seen Danny or Bernie in a while and it was cool catching up with how they were doing.

This Wednesday night I went to see the Phantom of the Opera with a friend. I was very underwhelmed. I don't think it was the all the hype I've had growing inside me from as far back as when my 6th grade teacher used to play the soundtrack for us in drama class, but instead that something was either wrong with the sound or my ears. I could not tell what the words were for 60% of it. I've never had this problem before, but then again I'm not great at hearing lyrics in radio song either. Visually it was stunning, but I felt a real disconnect from the plot due to not fully understanding the storyline. I feel almost embarrassed to admit this since I had very high hopes and wish I could just be sharing praise. I think I also have CATS on my list for musicals I'd like to see. Oh, I got great orchestra seats, which did add to the awesome. I also just learned there is a sequel to Phantom coming out in November 2010. I wonder how that will work out.

I did not make the stand up comedy list for today, probably because I have been absent lately. There is always next week and it gives me more time to work on my latest set. I feel like I write and scrap so many ideas that in the end I'm left with very little. The 3rd time I read something, it doesn't feel as funny as the first time so I tend to let it go. I'll probably go by and hang out anyway and see if I can get any pointers from the people performing.

This is cherry blossom season in DC. I very much miss the cherry blossoms, even though it was always a visual reminder that my allergies were about to get bad. There was one time when I was living in Miami and I traveled to DC back to visit and I remember being at the airport and seeing the cherry blossoms in bloom. It was such a kind and comforting sight. It felt like a sign that made it ok to move back to DC the following year. According to the National Cherry Blossom Festival's bloom watch, the average peak bloom dates are April 1 and 2, with the blooming period from March 27 through April 8. I hope everyone is enjoying it.

I recently got photochromic lenses (transitions) put into on my old glasses frames. I read this great article that explains them. This was the best part: "Here's a riddle: How do you wear a pair of photochromic glasses without looking like a hopeless dork? Trick question! This cannot be done. The mere act of putting on a pair of photosensitive specs means you've officially crossed the line into point-of-no-return nerddom. " I think that about sums it up. I don't know when I'd ever use them, but I do know that my prescription sunglasses never got used. It is just easier to wear contacts and sunglasses. I still think the idea that they get dark due to the sun is cool. Too bad they don't work while driving, which is the main time I need sunglasses.

I will admit that there are times as of late that I have a bit impulsive, but I like to characterize it as being bold and spontaneous. Sometimes you just get to the point where you feel you haven't taken enough risks or truly put yourself out there. Doing more things out of character also inevitably results in sometimes ending up on your face, but it is those moments when it all pays off that you wonder what was holding you back before. Sometimes living a more inconvenient lifestyle is the best thing you can do for yourself. For example, each time I come up with a bold idea at work and it gets shot down, after giving it a fair defense, I try to return with another big idea so that I won't become more timid. This has helped me come up with some great ideas. Of course, success breads more success, so it is also a great way to be great-- and isn't that what we all want, to be great.

I'm a big fan of Google. I use it for everything. I had never heard the story on where the name came from until recently. I just learned that: "They decided on a tentative name, "Googol", which refers to the number 10¹⁰⁰, or a 1 followed by a hundred zeros, which is more than the number of atoms in the universe, to symbolize the massive amounts of data that they were setting out to crawl and organize." Later, "When they met SUN founder Andy Bechtolsheim for an angel investment, he loved the idea and signed them a check on the spot, but wrote it out to "Google." To be able to cash it, they incorporated the company as "Google, Inc."" That is a pretty random, but awesome story.

I have been following the show How to Make it in America on HBO. It is interesting, but it is a bit hard to connect with NYC hipsters, if you can even call them that. I read this great summary about a current episode. How to Make It in America Lesson of the Week: It's Never Over with Your Ex - There was some writing in the article that I thought was creative: "All of your exes are not people from your past, but little souls that you drag around with you. They are the guests at your spiritual funeral, perpetually mourning the past versions of yourself and spooking you constantly with their threats to return with the famine of uncorrected wrongs or the feast of revisited sexual favors." - Not very inspiring, but great descriptive writing. Maybe I just connected with the idea of "past versions of yourself."

the similarities were disturbing, but illusory