Twisted Sideways

Thank a Vetran today.  It’s usually what most of them just want to hear, is a thank you.  Vetran’s Day parade in Austin today until noon on Congress.

Now that the weather is a little cooler, I can get back up in the attic during the day without killing myself from heat exhaustion.  The past few nights and weekends have involved me laying new layers of insullation and running cable, phone and internet lines to different rooms of the house.

Something that I thought was a thing of the past was to run cable and phone lines on the outside of the house and then drill into the wall from the outside where you want the lines inside.  As much as I thought this was a thing of the past, phone and cable companies still practice this today.

So to clean up the eye sore of these lines on the outside of my house, I have been installing cable, phone and internet lines throughout the house in hope of helping the resale value and conveince of my own life while still there.  It’s been a big job to say the least.

Those of you in the Austin and surrounding areas have more than likely noticed that KXAN and the NBC affiliate are no longer on the air.  Due to disputes between Time Warner Cable and LIN, the company that owns KXAN, Time Warner has pulled the station from their Austin market.  Currently, if you are a Time Warner customer you have no access to shows like “The Office”, “ER” and “HEROES”, just to name a few.

Whether you agree with the negotiations on who is wrong or right in this situation, I don’t really care.  What I care about is the fact that I pay Time Warner a lot of money for the services that I have with them and I want to get my money’s worth.  I want the NBC station back on the air.  If it’s KXAN, fine.  I am even fine with a San Antonio or Waco station being broadcast on the air, just bring it back.

I know full well that Time Warner won’t be crediting my bill for services that are no longer being provided.  Guess who is having to pay for this little dispute?  Their customers.

According to television, it’s National Stay at Home Week this week and I can understand why.  TV is back!  Since the strike of last year, I have been waiting for a few shows to come back to TV and this week is the week.  I’m a little embaressed to list the number of shows that I watch.  I have to say in some defense that I do DVR all of them and watch them later to avoid all of the commericals.

On my list:

• Hero’s
• LOST
• The Office
• 24
• Survivor
• ER (yep, last and final season)
• Grey’s Anatomy
• Brothers and Sisters

What are some of the shows that you watch?

Although it’s been out since March of 2004, I recently discovered the music of Christopher Jak.  His album “Applause of the Rain” has quickly become one of my favorites.  With musical influences such as the Allman Brothers, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and Cat Stevens, his acoustic style tracks and crisp vocals are soothing to one’s ears.  The melodies are simple and the lyrics relate to everyone.  Although not for everyone, his folk style freshman album plays well for long road trips, quite evenings at home, and perfect chill out music.  Many of his songs warrant the opportunity as a romantic comedy movie soundtrack without the cheesiness and flare.   This album is a wonderful mix of slow and upbeat tunes and is definitely worth the purchase.

Starbucks is slated to close about 600 of their retail stores around the country.  Here in Austin, Texas, they are scheduled to close two stores, one of which is located close to my home.  Granted, there are about 4 Starbucks stores in a 1 miles radius of my house and the one closing is one that I do not frequent.  However, I was surprised to learn that this particular store is closing since it’s located in a new retail development that is booming in South Austin.  It’s also located right off of Interstate 35 and is fairly easy to get to should you exit the highway for some brew.

Regardless of the location and patronage, do you think Starbucks grew too much, too fast?  I remember a few years ago when Starbucks was tooting their horn on how many stores they were opening each and every week. I also remember that some market analysts speculated that the rapid growth of the retail stores would one day come to bite Starbucks in the butt.  It looks like that time has finally come.

The majority of retailers out there forced to close 600 stores would consider this a huge loss.  Granted Starbucks is taking quite a hit for many of these stores.  The one in South Austin alone hasn’t been open for more than a year.  But given the 1000’s of retail locations they currently have open, is this truly a hit in the pants?

I love a Starbucks drink just like the next person.  But I have to admit it’s not always a place that I frequent.  I’m on a budget and Starbucks is one of those places that I use for a “treat” or the occasional meeting place.  I stick to the packaged Starbucks coffee and brew at home at a substantially lower cost.

Does anyone else think that Starbucks grew too much, too fast?

Saturday night I was in a wreck.  I didn’t see it coming.  I had parked in the huge pakring lot under I-35 near 6th street to meet up with some friends that were leaving Austin for Grad school.  After a fun dinner with friends I headed back to my truck to head home for the evening.  Little did I know that a couple from Hoston was trying to squeeze their small Toyota into a the smaller part of the entryway that no car could have made it through.  Because their car wasn’t moving and I thought they were aware they wouldn’t fit into entry way my truck was blocking, I decided to pull out of the parking lot into the south bound feeder road.  Low and behold, they had pulled into the spot and another car had taken their position in the road and I nailed the car from the passenger side.

I saw the entire thing happen too!  As my headlights lit both the driver and passenger up, I saw the glass from their window completely implode on the car.  The driver of the other vehicle ended up being taken to Brackendridge hospital here in Austin and I walked away with very little damage on my truck and no injury to myself.  It really made me take a step back from life for just a quick moment that night.  My mind has been running since I hit her on Saturday.

It hasn’t been anything profound, but it has caused me to stop and just think about life, and what it is that I take for granted and value.  I hope and pray that the driver  of the other vehicle was more shaken up by the incident than actually hurt.  (no blood or anything) – The passenger walked away with no injury either.

As some of you know, I recently took a job with a company in Austin called Engauge Direct.  We focus our daily efforts on helping companies communicate through e-mail and micro-sites about new products, special offers, promotions, and other forms of electronic communications. Specifically, we work with Best Buy for Business, Logitech, CDW, Advocent, and a number of other clients.

One of the daily obstacals we face is meeting the design standards to ensure that our e-mails show up, or render, correctly on all the e-mail clients out there.  It’s no small undertaking and we are constantly haveing to keep up with new standards and clients that are making changes to their email platforms.  The web based e-mail systems like Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo! are just a few the programs that able to change their standards and rendering systems on the fly.  It’s has been constant headahe that we face day in and day out.

There is a group of people that have started the Email Standards Project, that are working to help set the standard for e-mails and e-mail clients.  It’s an uphill battle, but they are trying to connect directly with team members from the development teams of the web and client based programs as well as spread the word in the design community about these standards.

If you are a designer or work for one of the major clients, please be sure to visit the project to read more about their effots.

If you haven’t read by now, the US has successfully landed on Mars. After a 10 month, 422 million mile journey to the red planted, the Mars Phoenix landed on the planet for a 90 day mission. NASA has stated that they are looking for signs of past, present or future ability for the planet to substain life. The Phoenix landed closer to the planets north pole, the Red Planet’s arctic plains, where winter is quickly approaching. The Phoenix relies on solar power in order to power up it’s camera, robotic arm and other instruments while on the planet.

When I was a kid I was always fascinated with the idea of space and what all is out there. The idea that there might be other galaxy’s just like ours with another “Earth” somewhere out there. Reading the stories and keeping up with the images coming in from the Phoenix is amazing to me. The fact that we can communicate with a device so far away blows me away. It’s hard to believe that NASA is able to retrieve images, control and communicate with an object 422 million miles away.

The Phoenix was originally scheduled to depart back in 2001 but was postponed due to a crash of the rover Polar back in 1999. Other explorations in 1997 and 2004 were successful and allowed NASA views of the terrain in order to better locate ice and water for this mission. In 2004, the rover Opportunity found evidence that a salty sea once lapped the shores of an area near Mars’ equator called Meridiani Planum. Astrobiologists generally agree that it’s best to look for life in wet places.

All this said, it still amazes me that we are not only able to reach planets millions of miles away, but we can communicate with these objects and explore for the future.

It’s that time again in Austin, Texas. As summer is upon us, it’s time for Blues on the Green to hit Zilker Park once again (and it starts tonight). Last year included some amazing performers and aritsts and this years line up is no different. If you are in the Austin area, you should check out Blues on the Green if have a free Wednesday night. The City of Austin charges for parking in the park on Blues night so be prepared to car pool or park a distance and walk but the concerts are FREE!

Schedule:

6/11 – Asleep At the Wheel
6/25 – Marcia Ball
7/9 – Los Lonely Boys (w/Shawn Sahm & The Tex Mex Experience)
7/23 – Carolyn Wonderland
8/6 – Sonny Landreth
8/20 – Doyle Bramhall/Gary Clark Jr.

This is just one of the other reasons that I love AUSTIN TEXAS. For more information about the events, visit http://www.kgsr.com/blues/index.html