May 2003 Archives

We had lunch at Plucker's today. It was OK (I'm not a huge wings fan, but they were definitely better than at most other places). They have a bunch of mildly amusing quotes on their walls. The following made me laugh:

Having a smoking section in a restaurant is like having a peeing section in a pool.

The Alexander Nevsky movie/concert was pretty neat. They played the movie (black and white, of course, with subtitles) and lowered the volume whenever the symphony provided the score. It worked really well and sometimes you forgot that you had live music--even though you could see the orchestra underneath the screen.

I haven't seen an old movie in quite some time and I've never really given much thoughts to how much they have evolved. In this film, all the scenes were shot from a stationary camera and without any zooming whatsoever. I noticed only two scenes where the camera panned--after the final battle it moved over the bodies of the fallen warriors--and in those scenes it was quite effective. Still, the story was told evocatively, even without the smooth and grandiose came flyovers and special effects that we've grown accustomed to. It was rather like watching a play and the characters were quite Shakespearean (including Vasili the comedic relief).

There is a showing of Sergei Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky at Bass tomorrow and Saturday. The movie is accompanied by the Austin Symphony and should be quite the experience. I got us tickets for Friday, so this is going to be one busy and cultured weekend.

There is something to be said about Soviet-era choral music--it's like Carmina Burana on Eastern European steroids. And it probably helps if one doesn't understand the lyrics.

So we're once again actively pursuing the purchase of new furniture for our living room. We're looking for a sofa and chair-and-a-half or something equivalent. Doesn't sound hard, does it?

We've started a couple of weeks ago, and had covered Eurway, Ashley and Star. Yesterday we spend around five continuous hours in misc. furniture stores. I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about furniture and furniture business. We've avoided department stores and "cheap" furniture, but even so, there are is a gazillion of stores in Austin.

We warmed up on Friday after work at Basset where I got a cruel awakening as to what good furniture costs these day (think of a sofa as a really, really nice laptop).

Yesterday after brunch, we started on the "Furniture Mile" on Airport Blvd. with The Chair King (nice outdoor furniture but not much for the living room), followed by Haverty's where Jfer fell in love with the chair-and-half from this collection (of course, they only have it in "blue velvet", "tomato" and "sun flower") and the RoomStore ("acres and acres of furniture").

We then moved on to the Anderson Ln. furniture district and stopped by Lack's (hey, this stuff's affordable), then Norwalk ("we grow our own trees in our forest and kiln dry the wood ourself"), followed by Copenhagen (we'd need a swanky loft apartment for this stuff) and finished off at the monstrous, four story Louis Shanks fortress with their three story parking garage.

At that point we were totally pooped and told the sale's lady that we were sick of furniture and going to the movies. I don't think she was too disappointed, considering that we were the only prospects wearing sandal and T-Shirts.

This meant we got to skip Ethan Allen and some other sofa place across the street and visit Amy's instead.

So I've discovered that furniture stores fall into several categories. Ones that have a few colors/patters for each piece of furniture, are affordable but probably don't last all that long and won't quite match the rest of the room. Then there are those that make you select your fabric from their "800 samples" in different "grades" and they make you look at a big portion of them and expect you to decide. They are also pretty darn expensive - especially the fabric grades you like. And if you screw up the fabric selection you can't really blame it on their limited offerings. I'll blame it on Jfer, of course.

Then there is Louis Shanks which is plain scary. We only saw a small fraction of what they carry, since most of it is in the opulent mansion style which we're not going for. There were some interesting pieces which seemed affordable until we noticed where the decimal point was really supposed to go. They not only have hundreds of fabrics to choose from, they also have tens of manufacturers with many catalogs and custom build options. Freaks, I tell ya! I'm sure it's the nirvana of every interior decorator.

The final lesson we learned is that you want to take your digital camera with you. This way you'll remember what the 25th couch looked like, and you won't have to write down all the pertinent info.

In order to avoid getting the new redistricting plan rammed down their throats by the Republican majority, some 53 Democratic state reps have gone AWOL - skipping the state. The House Speaker Tom Craddick - who started the whole redistricting fiasco on behalf of Tom DeLay - locked down the house chambers in order to avoid any more defections and sicked the Texas Rangers on the missing legislators.

So a big chunk of our legislature is out of state. The DPS has a bulletin out requesting help from public in locating missing legislators. Apparently Texas cops are asking surrounding states to be allowed to arrest the missing representatives. New Mexico's AG, Patricia Madrid, said that she had "put out an all-points bulletin for law enforcement to be on the look out for politicians in favor of health care for the needy and against tax cuts for the wealthy." So New Mexico's sounds pretty safe. I don't know if we have an extradition treaty with Oklahoma, though.

I think it's a hoot! I'm glad that some elected Democrats are finally standing up and saying "enough of this crap!" And I think it's wonderful that it's happening here in Texas.

Ever since our last traumatic attempt, we have avoided doing Homers nails (or toes, as it had turned out to be). He got them last clipped around New Year's by the vet, and I've been "meaning to" do it, but never quite got the nerve up.

So today, I was food shopping at PetSmart and checked out their nail care products. There are two kinds of nail clippers (we had been using the guillotine kind) and I asked one of their groomers about which one they prefer. He said that they use the other kind (of course), since the guillotine can be painful for the dogs. So as part of my $80+ purchase, I acquired a new pair of nail clippers. Plus some styptic powder (just in case) and a nail file. I managed to resist the urge to get the electric toothbrush.

Tonight we cornered Homer in the living room and while Jfer had him in a full nelson, I easily and painlessly clipped and filed his nails. He only put up token resistance and now doesn't seem to resent me for it.

Down with the guillotine and up with traditional clippers, I say!

I guess the summer is starting. Tonight in the park we saw dozens of lightning bugs flitting around. They still keep fairly close to the ground and they're not out in full force yet, but they sure looked pretty all ablinking.

Speaking of summer, the weather has been oppressively nasty all week long. The sky has been smoggy brown with all the soot and smoke that's blowing in from Mexico. The air isn't just humid, it's positively greasy. Tonight was actually better, with a breeze and some cooler air. Maybe that's why the fireflies are flirting around.

We really enjoyed Kat and Steve's wedding on Saturday. The choral music at the beginning set the right tone and was followed by a traditional (I assume) Episcopal ceremony. Kat and her brides maids looked great. It was fun watching Steve in his foot-shuffling style waiting for her at the altar.

It was nice experiencing a wedding as a married couple. Listening to the wows is so different now that we've been through it. And it felt like Kat and Steve were joining our club of married folk.

I was surprised how very similar the ceremony was to a Catholic ceremony. The same order, the same readings, almost exactly the same prayers. They skipped the homily which (considering our never-ending wedding) was quite nice.

Their reception at the Trois Estate rocked. I had seen pictures of that place and they looked cool, but I was a little afraid that it would be a little Disneyesque (you know, fake rocks and such). Not so - the place is solid and very elegant, in a country estate kind of way.

I was really disappointed that we had to leave early. We got to hear Susanna Sharpe play a little, but didn't get to see Kat and Steve do their dance or cut the cake. In retrospect, we probably could (and should) have gotten rid of our Cirque tickets in order to not miss part of the reception. Well, that's spilled milk and we've learned another lesson (do not double-book when you have a wedding to go to). Still, we were there for the important part.

Kat and Steve, we wish you many years of love and happiness!

I noticed on Sunday that our water heater has started leaking. As it turns out, they usually don't last much beyond 10 years or so, and we still had the original from 1984. I considered installing a new one myself, then reconsidered, seeing as they are rather unwieldy and over 130lbs. Then I got a ridiculously high quote from Roto Rooter and reconsidered again. Then I discovered I'd require a permit to install it myself and would have to deal with disposal and such and got some better quotes.

So right now Chuck from Osgood/Rescue Rooter/ARS/Service Master (it's a huge monopoly) is installing a new Bradford White.

We're going to Kat and Steve's wedding this afternoon. They have it at a gorgeous church and their reception is at Jfer's dream location. Even the weather is cooperating, although it'll be too early to see the sunset from the church. It's going to be cool to see so many people we haven't seen in a while. And we're so happy for both Steve and Kat.

This is going to be our first wedding since Jfer and I got married last fall. I guess I won't be able to leer at bridesmaids anymore :-)

Unfortunately we'll have to leave the reception early since we already had other plans for the evening (my bad). Fortunately the plans are to see Cirque du Soleil's Alegria with Elizabeth, the O'Reillys and McLeans. Yay for us!

The Republicans are trying to take away Austin's voice at the House of Representatives by gerrymandering Travis County into three Republican-controlled districts. In their view Austin (capital of Texas!) no longer warrants to be in its own district. Nay, it's really part of San Antonio or a chunk of Hillcountry or maybe a suburb of Pflugerville.

This would conveniently get rid of that pesky Lloyd Doggett who dared questioning some of the motives behind the war and in general is not one of Tom Delay's and Bush's toadies.