Our new friend Mike

Our new friend Mike
Originally uploaded by ChristopherSolis.

Ok, mike from flint is a sweetheart. So-so Jenga player. :)

C!

A Great Weekend of Dallas Comes to Austin

 

We really did have the best weekend. And, managed to cram a lot in actually. We played Uno (those folks from Dallas are ruthless and have the meanest rules. I loved it!)

And, we drank coffee and hung out at Spider House. Well, until the birds became a bit much. Poor Steve shrieked like Tippy Hedron and nearly ran all the way back to Dallas from Austin. But, to be fair - the birds were a bit much!! When they began dropping bombs, we had to call it an afternoon.

We walked through SoCo and even found some new outfits for the folks for the upcoming 80s dance. And, we found the classic candy store! That was fun. But, no takers on the chocolate covered bacon. Can you blame them? Ewww.

Cassy and Kevin got some shots of the Capitol. And, we did the standards of Threadgills, Magnolia Cafe, and of course, Kerbey Lane. 

All in all - it was very relaxing and we made some great new friends. I hope they all come back soon. Maybe in June? But, we plan to make it to Dallas in May and now I feel so much better about the journey, knowing there'll be some familiar faces on the other end of the trip.

Hope you're doing well. Let us know!

The Drug-Addicted-Bloated-Face of Everything Wrong with the Republican Party

Well. How can we take seriously anyone as anti-American as Rush Limbaugh? Anti-American. That's what I said. No different than anyone ever accused of being a communist, socialist, extremist, or anything else that the Republicans hurled so easily in the last 8-years at anyone who didn't support the Iraq war, or support an indefensible George W. Bush.

Now the defacto leader of the Republican party doesn't even mask his disdain for anyone who doesn't agree with him. This goes beyond partisan differences and bickering. For anyone to say they hope that the President fails, before he's even had a chance to start - can only be described as "Un-American".

If the Republican party truly wants to reassert itself as a viable option to any other political ideas offered by the Green, Libertarian, or Democratic parties it's time for them to step up and denounce this man as someone who is NOT their leader. This week he has in as much asserted himself as so. When he says he has no desire to be the leader, we have a hard time believing this - since his actions and words instruct otherwise.

Rush represents everything that is failed about Republican politics. Just as we learned in the Milk movie (on the life of Harvey Milk) - you gotta give em hope. The Republican party is running a deficit in this area. It is, hopeless. They offer no solutions, no alternatives, nothing that moves us in a positive direction. They merely want to complain about anything anyone else proposes. And, now through their perennial hero, Rush Limbaugh, they have taken off their mask to reveal their true selves. The ugly part.

The result is an image of a party that is beyond just trying to find itself. It is, hitting a bottom so to speak. My hope is that it can't get uglier than this. It's time for the self-identified Ditto Heads, to step up and say YES - THIS MAN SPEAKS FOR US.. or denounce him for the lunatic the rest of America believes him to be.

I can tell you this much, with certainty. He is NOT helping your cause.

Mr Rogers? Or Next Leader of the Republican Party?

OK. I just listened to the Republican response to the President's address last week. It took me a while to get around to it. But, I had heard some negatives from some folks so before passing judgement on something I hadn't heard first hand, I thought that I should sit and listen.

This guy is a moron. Or, maybe he's super intelligent. But he comes across like one because he talks in baby-speak. I feel like I should have a plate of cookies, glass of milk and a fuzzy blanket curled up on my lap when he talks.

Does he really think people are that stupid? I mean when he says tells the story of the sheriff yelling in the phone. I had Mr. Rogers Neighborhood flashbacks. I envisioned the Governor of Louisiana wearing a cardigan and taking off his shoes.

It was really hard to get to the substance of what he said because of the kindergarten delivery. Awful.

But, there was substance in what he said. He condemned in his words "something called volcano monitoring". What? I wonder if Governor Jindal replaced the word "volcano" with the word "hurricane" - if he'd think it was such an inane expendture. Come on! Do, folks who AREN'T in LOUISIANA deserve less protection? Or, maybe those folks who are dumb enough to live next to a volcano and persist on building in the path of a lava river get what they deserve? But, shouldn't they be at least afforded warning that disaster is about to strike? Or, is that reserve for those in the Big Easy?

I think he ought to be ashamed of himself for his insensitive comments, unthoughtful conclusions, and moronic delivery. If THIS is the hope of the Republican party (some have even floated Jindal as a potential rival to Obama in the next Presidential election) the state of the Republican party has a lot more in common with our economy than I thought.

Which is to say, we all think it's bad - but the truth is it may actually be much worse than any of us believe. Poor republicans - they may never, in this generation, be a viable alternative to the democratic or any other party.

That stands to reason. George W. broke the world - why wouldn't the republican party be included in that?

A great Austin Weekend -Back on the Road

photo.jpg
Originally uploaded by ChristopherSolis.

A weekend here in Austin. Back home after a great California trip. 

Last year we had a challenge getting the Dakota to pass the Texas inspection. Which, of course, made no sense to us since it just had passed California smog, which is supposed to be stricter.

I was worried because the technician told me last year that it only passed "barely". And, it would likely not pass again. But, we did have the fuel injection system replaced since then, so it passed. Which, I should have suspected it would. But, it still didn't curb my surprise and when the technician handed me the paperwork, I looked down half expecting the same "fail" that I received last year. When I scanned the paperwork though, I didn't see it. So, I asked "did it pass?" and when he said "sure". I said..   "IT DIDDDD?????".

He looked sort of strange at me.

I'm just happy to be back on the road.