Recently in Austin Category
But there is way more to the library than that and now you can find me there several times a month. Most branches have book readings for kids. Sure, most are during the day, but they also have Pajama Storytimes which are at 7pm and perfect for an after-work-before-bed trip. This fall my library branch went from monthly to every 2nd/4th week and I've been attending most of them with Magda and Kayleigh in tow. The girls love going and pay good attention to the librarian. And before going home we usually check out three books for each of them to take with us (that's 12 books/month!). I usually manage to get them back ontime, though often only by renewing them online.
Library cards are free for residents, so there is no reason not to have and use one. But I encourage to go for the Austin Library Gold Card and help out with a small donation.
I missed McGowan's lecture when he was in Austin earlier this year, but he's coming back next month and will be in Austin on December 13. For anyone interested, you can register online.
And do check out his blog, it's really cool!
Thanks to Tim's reminder, we managed to make it out to this year's Eeyore's Birthday Party. The weather looked pretty threatening the night before, but it turned out perfect. Pleasantly cool in the shade, not too muddy but also not dust at all (at least by the time we'd left).
Magda got to meet Eeyore - except not really. Instead of the usual donkey, they had a miniature horse. Apparently the donkey got spooked by the storm the night before and took of, so they had to use an understudy.
I just got back from participating in Austin's It's My Park! Day. I first spent some time replacing bench slats and then a whole lot of time stripping old paint from another bench. And finally fifteen minutes repainting it. FYI, stripping paint is not fun.
The turnout was wonderfull -- lots of people from the neighborhood and also some high school and college volunteers. All the benches in the park now look great, signs have been installed or repainted, and trash cans secured from the punks that sometimes mess with them.
The only thing that was a bit lame was the replacement planks that we got from the city. I don't know what kind of wood it is, but it's not pressure treated, so I wonder how long it'll last. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.
As anyone who's been been to our house in the last couple of years (!) knows, the exterior has come into sad disrepear. We finally got our butts into gear and decided to do something about it. We got a couple of estimates and a few months (!) later decided to go with Austin Allen, who'd done work on Tim's house. I'd never know how to pick a contractor (Yellow Pages feels like playing roulette) so it was great to have someone with a personal reference.
Austin, of AHA Woodworks, did not disappoint. He spent several days fixing and replacing rotted trim, fascia and siding. He practically rebuilt our chimney. His painting subcontractor Pedro and his guys then spent a couple of days prepping and caulking before laying a couple of coats of paint. I didn't know what to hope for, since some of the siding had gotten quite bad towards the ground, but the results are stunning. The exterior looks like a new house -- and the quality of the work is probably better than what you get with a lot of new construction.
So, if you're in the Austin area and need someone to do some house repair or remodeling, I highly recommend Austin Allen, (512) 657-6811.
We planted trees in the park today, during this chapter of the continuous saga of the Gracywoods park against the Utilities. Overall, over a hundred trees were planted, withe help from the city's park department and volunteers from TreeFolks and the neighborhood.
Most of the holes were dug by the city yesterday -- except in our section, where we had to dig them ourselves. So now I feel the effects of the spade, shovel and digging bar in all sorts of places. It was a beautiful day for the work, though. Cool and sunny and the top soil was nicely soft thanks to all the rains we'd had.
Jennifer and I donated a Chinguapin Oak to the park, so we'll have to find where one got planted and make sure Homer claims it as his own.
There were news crews frome several stations at the planting today. It's rather ironic how after all the push-back we've been getting from Austin Energy and LCRA, they're making a big PR event out of this. Whatever it takes, I guess.
To continue our annual tradition, we went to Madrigal Dinner last night. I had bought tickets for an entire table for my family and Rita, the McLeans, O'Reillys and the Johnsons. It was gonna be fun and Magda's first Madrigal experience.
Buying tickets for Madrigal has become an ordeal, since they sell out so fast. I did not realise that you now seem to be able to buy them online, so Meredith did the usual thing of lining up at the the Erwing Center box office bright and early when they went on sale. It turned out that the line was so long, she called me to try getting the tickets over the phone. So I called the Texas Box Office and after sitting on hold for some 15 minutes I got through.
I put in order for 10 tickets for the best table available on Saturday (this was table "V" - actually fairly far back) to be mailed to my house. After waiting a couple of weeks with no tickets arriving, I called back a week ago to verify everything was OK. They appologized that "somehow" the tickets were marked for "will call" and to pick them up at the Texas Union Ballroom before the show. But when I showed up at the register yesterday, the teller took a look at my name and directed me to the suit in charge. He had my ticktes (yay!), but the were for the night before! And, unlike in years past when we used to accomodate mistakes like this by setting up an extra table, they couldn't set up a table for us due to fire codes, etc.
And apparently I wasn't the only whose tickets got screwed up by the TBO (but the only one holding ten tickets). I was pissed! I felt responsible for ten people, including a guest from Brazil and my mother-in-law who'd just spent the week being very helpful at our home. And half the people in our group had been helping make Madrigal happen for many, many years (two former producers, several former singers, actors and serfs, and I'd been hosting their site for years now). We did get some chairs against the back wall and the Madrigal crew and catering came through for us by serving us entertainment and food (after we had gorged ourselves on Wendy's food from downstairs). So I can't stay mad at them, but I'm still very pissed at the Texas Box Office -- what a bunch of incompetent losers.
I'm curious how much hassle they'll give me about refunding my tickets. I have no qualms about doing a charge-back on my credit card, complaining to the Texas Union management or even taking them to a small claims court. In the future, I'll strongly avoid ordering from the TBO over the phone.
As for the play itself, I wasn't quite able to follow the plot, sitting in the back and dealing with the baby. But they were getting laughs and and seemed to have a good time. And the singers were very enjoyable, both on stage and when wenching around the tables. We even got to hear a new song.
Now that lawn people did their thing and our front yard no longer looks like a weed jungle, I figured it's a good time to put up some election propaganda. I've never done a campaign yard sign before -- I really didn't think they do all that much good. But when I had an anti-war sign in my front yard last year (has it really been this long already?), I actually got positive feedback. Someone bothered to pull into my drive way and thank me for making that statement -- and I know that I feel heartened when I see signs in other people's yards.
So today over lunch, I decided to visit the headquarters of Lorenzo Sadun, leave a check and pick up some yard signs. Lorenzo Sadun is the Democratic write-in candidate for House District 10, Lloyd Doggett's current district that got gerrymandered into a solidly Republican amoeba running from west-central Austin all the way to the edge of Houston.
Getting to the Sadun headquarters was a nightmare due to the construction on Cameron Rd. at 183 and the idiotic traffic detours clearly thought up by a deranged and sadistic traffic engineer. I do not recommend anyone making that trip -- but if you do, take Rutherford east from I-35 and then cut through the parking lot right at the Cameron intersection. For some reason you can't directly turn right onto Cameron from Rutherford.
Anyhow, I eventually found the place. It's a low budget, non-descript office located in an office park that has seen better days. They have a few stacks of yard signs outside the front door even after hours. I went in because I wanted to drop off my check, and was greeted by Lorenzo Sadun himself. He's a professor of Mathematics at UT, and in person comes across as the math geek you'd expect from his campaign pictures. He seems considerate, involved and appreciative for the support he gets. He said that he's thrilled about his Best Fearless Underdog award from the Austin Chronicle.
A long shot? That's for sure. But I applaud his determination and really like his campaign platform. So if you're in District 10 and make it to the polls, I encourage you to write in Lorenzo Sadun as District 10 representative. If a miracle happens, we could have a great representative -- and at the very least you'll be sending a message to Tom "Ethics Commission" DeLay.
This Library Lookup Bookmarklet Generator is simply brilliant. It allows you to build a book marklet that looks up the book you're currently browsing at Amazon.com in your library's online catalog.
Here's the bookmarklet for the Austin Public Library. Drag it to your Link toolbar and click on it when you're interested in a book at Amazon.com.
We saw The Secret Garden at Zilker on Saturday with Doug and Luca and the O'Reillies. Once again, a very enjoyable production. I especially liked the voices of Corley Pillsbury as Mary Lenox and Dan Sullivan as her uncle Archibald Craven.
The story is a bit of a downer -- with a happy ending, of course -- but I think the plot might be a bit complex for kids to follow. Still, it's great to spend the evening on the blankets, and both Logan and Nolan were great throughout the show.
The play is still on for a couple more weeks. If you go, make sure to lay out your blanket before 6pm for good seating, and make a picknick out of it -- we highly recommend fried chicken and fresh watermelon and pineapple.
