My Hood

The Daily Texan


If the high end chicken coop looking residential structures in Crestview are a preview of the change to come....it would be sad to trade in charming and retro and cute in for the modern ugly. Not many people value what Crestview has right now....glad this article chronicled it because it hasn't long.

Tamale Heaven

In search of a Choco-Taco for my best friend to try we came upon La Chica Tienda on Anderson Lane. No Choco-Taco but there was a little restaurant inside. We were starving so we ordered....Little did we know we were embarking on Tamale Heaven. Leonar Banos-Soute and her husband Bill fed us the best chicken tamales we ever had, black beans with queso fresca and the yummiest and freshest Spanish rice. I had agua de jamaica that took me back to the times I had it in Mexico and the fresh agua de tamarindo was exquisite. We cleaned our plate. The portions were just right. I don't like having to doggiebag things but I hate feeling too full, not a problem at Oaxacan Tamaleos, they were perfect portions. We had room for fried bananas and crema and were pleasantly satiated the rest of the evening.

The atmosphere was awesome. We could hear Infowars softly playing in the background in the La Chica Tienda part but we mostly heard a regular chatting with the owners. Their talk let you in on things in their lives and it was nice. Eventually our curiosity brought us in on the conversation. The entire dinner was a welcomed surprise, not at all what we expected and turned into a MFK Fisher meets Jim Jarmusch event. I highly recommend! Going back to try the rest of the menu.

The Migrant Worker , the Vegetarian and the Vegan

I have been a vegetarian in the past but I didn't have the resources to do it correctly and couldn't get the protien and iron I needed. I have often heard vegetarian and vegan friends say that their actions spare the cows, chickens, fish etc....and it is a protest on the treatment of those animals bred to be fed to humans. I agree with their stance, however, I feel all vegetarians and vegans should keep the migrant worker in mind.

It is the migrant who harvests the veggies they consume. I think in order to be truly correct, all vegetarians and vegans should rally for fair pay and treatment of all migrants in this country. They should look into the working conditions these migrants must operate in and demand that they are improved. So often vegetarians and vegans forget the humans involved and I find this irrational. I feel all non-meat eaters should look into the companies they purchase from and ask how the migrant worker is being treated. It is the responsible thing to do. I really have a disgust for those who forget or ignore the migrant worker and only stand up for the animals, and feel so clean, it should be both or it isn't right.

There are many reasons to be a vegetarian and I am not knocking them but I feel whether you are meat eater and consume produce or strictly produce that you not forget those who harvest the produce.

I stress that not even vegans find themselves free of a morale dilemma when they eat. We all have to eat and one way or the other it will exploit the animals or the humans if not both. Those that decide to practice ethical eating should take that all the way and realize that no matter what you eat you are guilty of something. Still, I admire all attempts made at ethical eating.
Read

ANTS! Neti pot

I got bit twice last night and then five times this morning. Had a mild allergic reaction this morning. Couldn't breathe,felt lightheaded. Had no idea I was allergic, guess it takes 7 bites.

Had a dream I woke up with flu symptoms, coughing, feeling icky. UGH! Thank GAWD! it was only a mild nightmare. I can't stand upper respiratory illnesses. I don't catch them much. I attribute this to my love of fruit juices (Odwalla RULZ) and the neti pot. Told people years ago that salt water through the nose wards off illness. My mom has been doing it since the 70s after a neighbor told her it was good for you. I didn't start until college and then only when I was already ill. It offered relief but it's better used as a preventative. After NPR came out about it seems like they are flying off the shelves. That's good, less illness floating around.

Neti pot couldn't help with the ant bites, Benydryl did that, but it helps keep you healthy if you use it once or twice a day.

If you do get ill: Take a half an onion,rub the cut half in sugar and put it into a pot with just enough water to cover the bottom and cover pot then bring to a boil then steep then drink what it is in the pot. It offers great relief because it acts like an expectorant, better than any over the counter one. The sugar makes it tolerable. The effects last.

Loquats

The loquats are ready to be picked in west campus. I love these!!!!!
they look so pretty this year and always bring back memories of Mexico, Del Rio and early 90's Austin with C&C.

Catch Up for those who love me and are out of touch

Ended the weekend with a Sunday nite donut run and a stop at a new record store in my hood. It is tres cute, smashed up between two place I used to frequent quite a bit: La Victoriana Bakery and Say Hi. Had a lot of fun going to those places then just stopped. Will start up again since Backspin Records is there. I loved Philadelphia when I visited for their record and comic book store on every corner attitude. Austin needs more small record stores, maybe each catering to different genres (saw that in Philadelphia) and more comic books stores with toys.

Went to Elsi's again this weekend and though I was dying to order pozole again I opted for their avocado enchiladas and YUMMY!

Watched The London Rock & Roll Show Wembley 5th August 1972 and thought it was cool but there are no special features or a booklet or anything included with this DVD.

Moved all my possessions.

Come%20Tomorrow.mp3

The NEZ

Just watched Mike Nesmith's Elephant parts circa 1981 and liked it. I really laughed out loud more than a few times. It was funny, cute, clever. I can see why, from Elephant Pants, some call him the father of MTV. His website really communicates a man with varied interests and a big brain and nowdays he seems tres serious but Elephant Pants was a throwback to the days of the Monkees, I thought. The man is a really good writer.

Speaking of the Monkees, Giant step is probably one of my faves words and music by
Gerry Goffin and Carole King, they did a few. The drum beats in that song are really cool. Pleasant Valley Sunday, another. Nesmith's guitar in PVS is something I like to zone in on when I hear it on an oldies station, if I'm lucky. Midnight Train is another I like, written by Dolenz when he was 16. I can hear Cash doing that one.
i could go on and on...

I just had a flashbulb appear over my head

Ideas for new web sites:

1. Sparky Marcus: Tribute and fan site (in works)

2. In Storage: Photos of boxes and contents of various storage items individuals have around the country, net worth of individual based on storage contents and blurb as to why contents are kept in storage: music, video and flash site.

4. You Tube Junkies: A Free 12 step program to ween one off the You Tube. Um, but yeah, who wants to ween themselves off it. It's the best use of the internet ever!

Howl is 50 this year

Coded Emails

I am sure by now everyone has been receiving these emails from spammers, sort of a poorly constructed madlib or Burrough's Cut-Up like (maybe they do use the Burrough's Cut Up Machine) and because they carry these written words they are able to slip by the email filters and turn up in your inbox:
extinguisher note the as striking a an unsure and deduction seaweed ethic. u likeness forgiveness entertainment of as? react accuser bedroom to

letup, a guided to windshield wiper nicotine!!! biggie monkey wrench on awareness a crimson, in slumber, punching bag New Year's Day. to that lighthouse as hypocrite, that info

spoiled a secret, shawl the testify c. a this yourself snuggle grouchy seasick satellite horsepower as lump sum impassable doubles formidably but lap dues and checked as mature altruism halfhearted at boardwalk

diameter catalog deplorable defecate, progressively armpit blue law, melodrama spun,

voyage the Sat.,... mythology
groundless,. as Pkwy. of sweatpants scores conspicuous the end.


But are they just spam or coded messages trying to spread anti-Bush or even pro-Bush propaganda, warn us things the government is doing. Who sends them? Spammers or spies? Hmmmmmmmmmmm? Let's deconstruct shall we:

extinguisher, striking,ethic, accuser, letup are they talking pre-emptive measures here?

monkey, slumber, lighthouse as hypocrite? Is that Bush? Lighthouse=1000 points of light reference?

spoiled a secret...hey that sounds juicy. mature altruism, man, I'm thinking if I keep this up I may just uncover something BIG.

deplorable defefcate-back to Bush no doubt

melodrama spun, voyage the sat (as in saturday)groundless and conspicuous...hmmmmmmmmmmm sounds like the press is involved and a heist of some kind or a plan being hashed and here I am getting the coded warning.

Just who are these spammers, what country are they from what do they know????

So I ran it through the cut up machine and got this:

law, melodrama striking a slumber, Year's defecate, progressively Sat.,... doubles scores conspicuous grouchy seasick mythologygroundless,. seaweed ethic. u Day. a impassable bag New accuser bedroom crimson, to armpit blue deduction satellite horsepower altruism in a awareness a as hypocrite, react that dues and checked as biggie monkey wrench entertainment of extinguisher note the punching lighthouse unsure and likeness deplorable as nicotine!!! spun,
voyage sweatpants as Pkwy. yourself snuggle to
letup, lap at as lump sum catalog of mature the boardwalk
diameter guided the testify to shawl secret, a an forgiveness on that info
spoiled this windshield wiper the c. formidably but halfhearted as?

It is making sense I tell you! Does the government know about this?!!!!
Teehee.....:>

When my best friend and I moved to town in 89 to go to school we sought out a certain type of place to call our place and have tea and coffee at and hang out. Les Amis and Captain Quackenbush's Cafe on Guadalupe turned out to be what we were looking for. As the years passed we stopped going to both places as often as we had and they eventually closed. When I found out Quacks was in it's last days I went in one last time and had my favorite tea and a pastry then took the mirror off the wall in the ladies room and carried it out. No one seemed to notice. I took it because at that moment it was cool to think of all the women and probably men who had looked into that mirror and it looked old and could have been there before the place was Quacks. I had overheard the place would be gutted while I was having pastry so I guess I was motivated to want to keep something for myself. I remember my best friends and I trying to take a photo of ourselves in that mirror once with a 110. The mirror has hung everywhere I have gone since.
I miss Sound Exchange, The Bazaar, Olympia Books, The Varsity,Dressed to Kill.....the drag is just that nowadays. I wish they still showed movies at Hogg or the Union as often as they used too. I'd take a lunch break if the Hogg still showed films during the day. This entry shows that I , ummmm, I've been on campus way too long.

Book days #d?

As a kid I loved the public library in our town. The summers could get up to 105 and the ac in that library was always like 60 degrees. It was a very clean and organized place. I used to go and listen to records at a table with those huge earphones and just watch people come in and out. Look at all the magazines. I'd order books through an interlibrary loan system and could get titles sent in from San Antonio. I was a master periodical guide and card catalogue user at a young age. I was there for books though and would come home with a dozen every week. During the summers I'd enter the reading contests for my age group and would win those and win most books read in all age groups. I was a winner four or five years straight (uh, sadly, that wasn't hard, not many other nerds to compete with).

The best part was checking out the books and coming home and putting the books on my bed and reading them on my bed, carrying them outside, in the car on trips and just being able to take them wherever I'd go. It's hard to cuddle up with a lap top and books on a monitor. No matter what gadget they'll invent in the future to read info (books on ipod like gadgets?) I could never get into because I love hardbacks. Yeah hardbacks. Paperbacks are practical and I like them but I like to get my faves on hardback and set them on a shelf and move heavy boxes of them in and out of apts and carry them in a bag and have them weigh on my shoulder. I'm not being sarcastic. I work in front of a computer all day and my eyes are red, no matter what sort of new ergonomic screen or contacts I try, eventually the eyes get all red. So I don't get those who prefer their info on screen rather than in print. I have to have the article in my hand so I can read it. I can't read much info online out of a work place.

I imagine college students who don't want to trek out to a library appreciate being able to stay in their dorm rooms or apts and procure the read from there. They won't be meeting anyone though, freshman fifteen could rise to freshman fifty with that behavior (people tend to snack more in front of screens, tv, computer etc...their eyes will go red for weeks, they won't be able to lay on their backs and hold the lap top over their heads to read for very long (unless they do that often and develop muscles). I like to read in all sorts of positions so lap tops are cumbersome. Future holds something created just for e-books to make them more comfortable. I like to take a walk out to a pretty library (PCL isn't that pretty though) and sit in cold ac and browse the shelves. I like how quiet and not so quiet the public libraries in town are or try to be. There is always some attempt to keep the noise down and I like that sound.

Digital libraries are supposed to save space and be more efficient spacewise and infowise. Bookstores are the new libraries. I enter a Barnes and Noble and hear muzak, smell coffee and new books, and the ac is cold enough, and people sit in comfort reading and take books home. I haven't heard if bookstores are sweating the whole print vs digital thing. I predict when it does happen that there will be book salons, sort of makeshift libraries, more privately owned libraries opening to offer the public sanctuary among old books. They'll be all the retro rage. Fahrenheit 451 would be hard to understand in a future of digibooks. The cool thing would be you can't burn digital, the info stays out there on thousands of hard drives. A digilib collection would be permanent and forever? Still, I like to hold it, paper, makes it real to me.


This is from the California Digital Library Task Force:

The role of e-books in academic libraries is still not clear, and there is considerable development of standards, technologies and pricing models needed to make the market for e-books viable and sustainable. Technologies for reading and using e-books are not yet convenient enough for the longer text format to have made much market penetration. It is not clear that academic libraries can replace print with e-books as a long-term collection goal. There are still concerns about adequate rights to information to support the academic mission of open scholarly communication. As one respondent to our survey stated:
"Print has many rights and powers that e-books don't. We like e-books but we must not allow ourselves to be locked into technology or legal/social paradigms that impair our ability to support open research, teaching, and public discourse of our community. We will favor vendors who support open process of scholarship and long-term preservation so we will not rush into e-books."[3]
The CDL Task Force will continue to monitor evolving markets, standards, and technologies, and to evaluate academic use and needs.

Come Años

Yesterday, while at my fitting I was asked my age. My response drew gasps. They (the alterations ladies, a 22 year old bride to be and her 19 year old sister and 20 year old bridesmaid) all thought I was 21 or 22. YAY! This is a cool trait that runs in my family. My mother was always thought to be 18 when she was 28 and my grandfather passed away looking like he was in his mid 50s when he was in his 80s. His whole life he was thought to be younger than he was. I loathed being mistaken for being younger than I was. In the 8th grade a sub came up to me at recess and told me to get in line...with the 3rd graders, it was so embarrassing and everyone around me laughed. I went home tres pissed that day and developed a complex. In high school girls kept telling me to wear more make-up cause I looked 12. I wore a full mask until 11th grade and for a few years I really felt I looked my age when with my peers but adults would still confuse me for someone in junior high (still, managed to lose that complex). I really think it was the big cheeks and couldn't wait for my face to get a bit more angular and gaunt but that still really hasn't happened. Nowdays I love getting carded and I love getting mistaken for being over 10 years younger than I really am, especially by those who are barely in their 20s.

My Weekend

I received a complimentary copy of Stitch-N-Bitch Crochet:The Happy Hooker and finally saw my crochet contribution. It was a cool feeling. I am also in the company of really talented and clever hookers. I'm going to try out a few of the patterns but for now I love thumbing through it. Went to celebrate this at Azul with my girlfriends!

Bud and Sissy. Watched Urban Cowboy this weekend and loved it! Been awhile that I'd seen it all the way through. Brought back memories of grade school and the Charlie Daniel's Band. I think everyone at Sacred Heart Academy had that soundtrack on cassette and brought it to school to play on boom boxes at recess. It's cool to watch it with someone who had a similar experience.

We went to an estate sale and scored 8mm home movies. They are so cool! California in the mid to late 60s with surfers, beaches, a helicopter ride. Whoever filmed it also got footage of the freeway from the car so you see these cool old cars zooming by. It was awesome watching them. They are in real great condition too. Thanks, Wm, for getting them for me.

Jack Kerouac's Birthday

To C.B.

If you are coming into town for SXSW give me a call. Would like to hang. You need to see what is now standing where the Madison once stood.

Escape

I woke up at 5am quite easily this morning and was out the door at 5:30am to run an errand. I heard roosters crowing in the neighborhood. Wondered who owned them. I heard them clearly in the distance. Hearing them made me soooooooo happy because its been years since I heard one. It was cool outside and still dark and no one seemed to be getting off to work that early, no one had lights showing through their windows,no cars driving by and the roosters made it all seem even more still. I felt I was some place else and that feeling lasted an hour or so. It was a nice trip then the sun came out, the people and cars and noises and the roosters were long gone and so was all that wonderful, stillness and peace.

Lots of open space and farm animal noises can really relax me. When I was a kid and had a bad week at school there was always my grandparent's house and lots of big pecan trees to climb, lots of grassy space to run really fast on, lots of cows,sheep,goats,pigs and horses. They only owned chickens but their neighbors owned livestock. Lying on my tummy I would follow ladybugs through blades of grass, feed chickens and watch them eat every single grain, watch the livestock eat, feed the horses over the fence. I appreciated all this then and miss it now.

Vegas offered the same luxury of space. I'd get up every morning when I was there and look out the window and could see beyond the strip malls into the space and the mountains in the distant. Colorado holds deep breath moments and so does that cliff in the Sierra in Mexico where the train stopped and I couldn't hear anything but the wind unless I cupped my hand to my ear. My ability in Mexico had a walled garden that he created filled with tropical greenery, an orange tree, papaya tree, mango, lime and cirhuella tree. He'd water it every evening and was pretty meticulous about it. When we'd visit I'd wake up to 80 degree mornings and go sit in the cirhuella tree and eat a few and just watch everything come out and smell the fruits. Once a baby owl appeared and some huge lizard like thing that scared me to death when it came charging and swishing from out of this tropical greenery. I couldn't explore this area much because I'd find things like spiders the size of my eight year old hand that were flesh colored and creepy, or huge, hairy black moths and bats. It was best to sit in the tree and take in the smells of the fruits of the garden.

When someone tells me to just take a deep breath, it doesn't help much unless I recall a tranquil moment from my Lifetime of Memories Bank(these are filed under Peaceful Escapes). I'm lucky to have recorded quite a few of these moments. I used to wonder if I'd be able to have this on a daily basis but it is to luxe to posses for many reasons. For now, I feel completely motivated to step outside my door at 5:30am on those occasions I need to take deep breaths and then go back to bed.

Edie

Natasha's dress

My co-worker is wearing the cutest sun dress today! Makes me want to wear my dresses again. For months now I just roll into jeans or cords. Time to put some effort into it. Tres Cute, N!

Song for the scene-A Minha Menina

This song goes round and round in my head these days. Makes me happy to hear it, I think of when we met(ao amor do amor e ame-o), sunny beaches, travel and then get excited about the cruise with my guy and my new camera. It's the perfect song for all the excited and elated feelings you get on the eve of new things. I grew up with a lot of Portuguese music around and can understand it a little but not as much as Italian but enough to get what is going on. I can understand more when I see it in print and song lyrics become clearer.

Click to hear the song by Os Mutantes. A Band of Bees covered it but I think I lean more towards the latter version. It was written by Jorge Ben and my grandfather or uncles must have played it a bit in Mexico because it sounds tres familiar. I know we didn't have any Os Mutantes in our house but my grandad and uncles were real audiophiles and into world music during the 60s and 70s. We had a lot of Roberto Carlos who is a favorite Brazilian songwriter (Enamorada De Un Amigo Mio and E Prohibido Fumar) who doesn't seem to be as well known, in these parts, but should. You can read a little about him here.

Os%20Mutantes%20-%20A%20Minha%20Menina.mp3

Busy

Boxes and packing and moving and storage and boxes and moving and packing and boxes and moving and storage.
Garage sales in the horizon:well taken care of and stylish odds and ends from a quarter to five buxs!

First pictures with new camera:>

Book is out and that is awesome but sorry guys...don't have much in new inventory because I'm so busy getting other things done but I am slowly making progress on Spring and Summer and it will all be up in time.

Dr Calculus.....finally bought that LP. It has been years since that dub of a dub of a dub of the lp made the rounds in DRHS.

This is in list form because all I do is make lists lately, list after list, updated ones, new ones, all on one list then tossed because I feel like I want to be more organized so I break them down then toss to have them all on one again.......