Blue Star Cafeteria, Austin, TX

So I got all excited when I heard about this Blue Star Cafeteria on Burnet Road. The name conjured up images of those thick, white, vintage, restaurant plates with yummy wholesome pancakes, a place with character. I look it up and they have a website. They say they feature uptown comfort-cuisine, what the hell is that?! It goes on:set inside a cool modern interior that offers a casual yet stylish dining atmosphere. But I was looking for a cafeteria! Is this a sterile, Yupperia for the vacant and those afraid of the greeeeezy spoonzes? EEEEW! I want to eat down home cooking not posture next to food under designer lights. I mean look at their website, looks like some sort of uptight, well lit, mess hall in a huge corporate building..OHHHHHHHHHHHH (lightbulb moment) That is what they are trying to be. Not catering to the likes of the regular working Joe who just wants pancakes and syrup and lots of butter and berries on a lazy Saturday morning.

Okay...well the ever loyal Frisco is calling my name. Like I said, I want to have yummy, delicious pancakes at a place with some character and on a big heavy platter and have that diner smell in my hair for the rest of the day. Now if Blue Star isn't this at all...then they need new photos on their website and yeah....just regular comfort food: uptown,cuisine together with comfort=oxymoran. It's one of those new made up concepts. You want "comfort" food look to the Frisco. You want uptown and cuisine then you don't want comfort food.

PS: What do they do to fried chicken and macaroni and cheese and pancakes, I wonder, to make it uptown and cuisine like? I don't want to know.

Note: They are hiring:
Super fun restaurant concept seeks fun, witty, smart and experienced waitstaff and hostesses for open positions. Great job opportunity for you! Contact our managers for more information.

It's not just a restaurant, it's also a concept. Fun, witty and smart. I like smart, efficient and experienced.

Missing Ollie

I used to have the best dog in the world. His name was Ollie and he was a black/brown/white spotted Rat Terrier mix. I got him for Christmas when I was 20. I had told my Grandfather that I wanted a dog now that I had an apartment and so we drove through some neighborhoods in Del Rio until he spotted a small herd of Chihuahua-esque dogs. You use to see this a lot in Del Rio, someone would always have a mess of dogs (almost always Chihuahuas) they'd keep around, always looking healthy, always cute.

So we got out of the car and he knocked on the door,the man comes out and my Grandfather asks if he had any pups or dogs for sale. The man took a look around and said that he had been thinking that maybe he had five too many dogs and would sell 1 or 5 of them to my Grandad. He loved them all but felt he could part with the pups and would only sell them to a good home. They were all Rat terrier mixes from the same litter and were now 4 months old. I looked at them and they were all so cute but of course one stood out, the one that came up to me and sat in my lap.

After answering a series a questions and told to bring him right back if it didn't work out, my Grandfather paid the man $50 and I named my dog Ollie. He was already housebroken and fat and healthy and so cute with his huge pointed ears. He looked like he could use them to fly. We took him to the vet that afternoon and he was given a clean bill of health. My Grandfather was afraid he might have worms.

Ollie came back with me to Austin and we had a great life together for only a few years. He was always on a leash, always indoors but by a freak accident caused by my stupid and careless roommate at the time, he was killed. I found him not breathing,gums blue, on the street, picked him up and prayed through loud tears and got in the car to get to the vet though I was sure he was dead. He came back for a moment, eyes alert, gums red and I became hopeful, stopped the car and told him I loved him and glad he was back then he died in my arms in an instant. It may have been seconds or five minutes, I don't know, I lost all track of time and space at that moment but he was so real and alive just before he died. I buried him under an oak in this park near the rental house. I was depressed for a year, an entire year. To this day I still miss Ollie. I dream of him often and feel that he is still around somehow. It's been 14 years since he's been gone.

This man is AWESOME!

My hero!!!!!!!!!! A total badass!

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The founder of craigslist, the free social networking and classifieds Web site, said on Thursday he is not interested in selling out, a few hours after social networking site MySpace was valued at $15 billion.

"Who needs the money? We don't really care," Craig Newmark said in an interview at the Picnic '06 Cross Media Week conference here.

"If you're living comfortably, what's the point of having more?" Newmark said.

Just a few hours earlier, RBC Capital analyst Jordan Rohan said MySpace could be worth around $15 billion within three years, measured in terms of the value created for shareholders of its parent company, News Corp.

*MySpace was acquired by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. for $580 million less than a year ago. It now boasts more than 90 million active users, against 10 million monthly users of craigslist.

Craigslist, despite its no-frills layout, gets more than four billion page views per month with just 22 employees.

Measured as a proportion of the number of employees, it claims to rank seventh amongst English language sites, behind Yahoo, AOL Time Warner, Microsoft, Google, eBay and News Corp.

Newmark said raising the money to subsequently give it away to good causes also did not interest him.

"Finding a good cause is incredibly hard and time-consuming," he said, adding that he and Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster agree on not cashing in.

"We both know some people who own more than a billion (dollars) and they're not any the happier. They also need bodyguards," he said.

Craigslist is 25 percent owned by eBay after one of the shareholders who helped to set up the site in the 1990s sold his stake in 2004. Newmark declines to specify exactly who owns the remaining shares.

Synchronicity

When I look back on things I saw in my childhood, the more and more Del Rio seems like a rare place and maybe I just happened to be at the right place at the right time. I haven't seen the Monarch butterflies descend on Austin the way they used to when I was living in Del Rio. In fact it is rare that I ever see a butterfly just bouncing along the landscape. It has been less than 8 or 5 times in the past 18 years. When I did see one I did stop to watch it.

I remember being out at recess in October and there were so many Monarchs you'd step on them if you moved too fast. They were in the trees in the schoolyard, on the building, jungle gym, flying all over. Not many kids would pick them up, we were all taught not too. Of course there were those few who couldn't resist, same kids that kept the horned toads in shoeboxes until they died. Those are gone too. Horned toads were everywhere, again, in my own backyard you had to watch it over the summer or you'd step on one. Never knew of anyone who ever did. I guess by high school the MOnarchs started to disappear, then again, I wasn't paying attention to much in high school. I do remember being reminded it was October though, because the Monarchs were in the neighborhood fluttering around.

There were also times when all these toads would just come into the neighborhood in large herds. I remember crickets, cicadas and birds doing the same thing. Mini plagues? So what happened? Changing climate, end of the world soon? Do I just happen to remember a few hundred more Monarchs than there actually were? Just like to think that I was at the right place at the right time, it isn't often that one finds oneself in a perfect spot.

The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968)

If you have seen this movie-LUCKY YOU! It isn't out on VHS or DVD so if you happen to have a copy of it recorded off cable, I'll pay you for a copy. Just contact me and give me a price! I caught most of it on cable years ago and haven't been able to see it again.

Interests Du Jour

I just now discovered Berg Publishers! Where have you been all my life Berg?
On my wishlist are the following titles:
Fashion Under Socialism
Fashion Under Facism
The Language of Fashion (and other reads by Roland Barthes)
Wearing Ideology
Old Clothes, New Looks
Fashion Under the Occupation
Suburban Century
Home Possessions
American Cinema of the 1980s
Mob Culture
The Vanishing Map
Ballet Across Borders
Bikers
Skateboarding, Space and the City
Feeding the Gods
and this list could go on and on....they literally have a book for every ponderance and interest du jour I have ever had in my adult life.

Joys of summer fade for famed Steel Pier

Americans have a problem with seeing empty space. They have to fill it asap! To see any space taken up by trees,water,grass or an amusement park is a total waste. They pave over everything suffocating the ground. Clutter is ugly! So much has been lost and will be lost in the next 10 years or less. There is no desire to protect undeveloped tracts of land or historical sites. Another symptom of a blind and bloated consumer society. It's disgusting!

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTIC CITY — Once famous for its diving horse and celebrities but more recently renowned for amusement rides and cotton candy, Atlantic City's Steel Pier is fading into history.
The landmark once dubbed the "Showplace of the Nation" whisked through its final Labor Day weekend this year.
The distinctive pier opened in 1898 and juts 1,000 feet into the Atlantic Ocean, but it will close in mid-October to make way for new development — most likely a mixture of high-end condominiums, restaurants and shops.
The site used to draw thousands to watch the signature Diving Horse plunge 40 feet into the sea and enjoy entertainers such as Charlie Chaplin, the Three Stooges and Bob Hope.
It was revived after a 1982 fire as an amusement-only attraction in 1993 and is owned by Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc.
Luther and Beatrice Zimmerman, 84 and 81, of Villas, have a lifetime of memories.
"Back in the '40s, if you came to Atlantic City and didn't go to the Steel Pier, it was like going to Venice and not taking a ride on the gondolas," Luther Zimmerman told The Philadelphia Inquirer for yesterday's newspapers.
Anthony Catonoso, one of four brothers who run the 23-ride pier, recently shook hands and chatted with employees, many of whom have worked for his family for years.
"It's sad to think this is the last Labor Day," Catonoso told the newspaper. "Steel Pier is very special to us because of the history of the place and because of what it means to Atlantic City."
Deborah Woodall of Atlantic City said she will miss the summer spot.
"There's nothing for kids to do here," Woodall said. "To take this away from them is upsetting."
Christine and Stan Stierle of Branchburg made their first trip to the pier on Sunday. They had heard the Steel Pier was a terrific place for their two girls to have fun.
"I just got goose bumps," Christine Stierle said. "This is so sad."

Scented and Unscented thought balloons

YES! Even more rare than unicorn and the yeti is the thought balloon. In our office this morning appeared a thought balloon. You could not see the words lingering in the air over the person thinking or a photo of anything symbolic like in a Henry comic but what did linger was the strong smell of cologne. Let me explain.

It was a regular office morning with the usual early morning crowd. All of a sudden the strong scent of spilt cologne or soap suds or Smurf napalm or industrial cleaner permeated the air on one side of the office. What the hell I asked and proceeded to investigate. The office worker who was working in the cube the odor was descending from claimed not to smell or know of this strong scent. Other office workers gathhered in the cubicle confirming it's origin.

It did not go away, we continued to search but could not find a spot on the floor or the cubicle wall it was just lingering in the air. It lingered all day, did not go away. The best we could conclude was, it was a scented thought balloon. Eventually a co-worker from the office next door and two facilities men and our head honcho came by to witness this occurrance and to their amazement could not conclude what or where this was coming from. It was not office or building wide it was right in front of my cube, about 6 feet off the ground and holding now a few hours. Sort of reminded me of The Magi, the star and the baby in swaddling clothes.... You just followed the smell to our office and that exact spot and there you were left amazed at the stench and stunned that there was no origin. This pocket of odor sat in mid air.

I developed a nasty headache between my eyes and had to leave the room a few times due to nausea and lightheadedness. At one time I operated with my "anthrax" office mask on. A nice relic from five years ago when that threat was more real than working a day exposed to the strongest odor you have ever smelled. I finished the day with a powerful, pre WWII fan in my cube blowing the odor out of my direction and towards everyone else's.

The day ended with still no reason as was to why this happened. No one would confirm the spilt cologne or soap or industrial cleaner theory and since there were no Smurfs, that we could see, dying we had to go with..it was a scented thought balloon. I prefer the unscented ones, where you see the words. Whose balloon did it belong too? I think I know...I just wonder what exactly he was thinking or if that was it: malicious, powdery, musky odor.

My Blog.

Yeah I know, sort of themeless and unfocused, that's it's theme. I do have a lot of interests but I get a little political, get a little bored, get a little whiney, get a little nostalgic and repetative when I blog.

Interests Du Jour:
1. Upcoming Fall weather. FINALLY! Fall baking, Fall walking, I can finally hang outdoors without the need for a beach.
2. Week one of no prepackaged food and fresh eating. It's been a few days now. Rough start but it's all I want now.
3. Working on new items for One Tough MOnkey to debut by the 22nd. No MUST be by the 22nd so tune in! Scrflettes and scarves, hat, some decor. This has kept me really busy and away from my other interests.
4. It's all about the Health-O-Meter and making those numbers change.
5. House getting exterior cosmetic overhaul! YAY!
6. Vintage patterns-back on that again
7. This site

What a shitty human being!

No words can describe how truly horrific this man and his administration is. How dangerous and toxic they are to the United States and to American society. What a shitty human being. Those who still continue to stand behind him are also shitty human beings.CountDown-SpecialComment-Bush-911.wmv

Yay Fall! Minutiae

I went outside early this morning and it was still dark, cool and the moon was GORGEOUS! I heard a rooster crow. Yay! Awesome moment. It may still feel warm but Fall and cooler weather is coming at us. Can't wait for the time change. I like it dark out.

Radio Peeve

I listen to KOOP more than I care to admit (don't have a cd player in my car so it's either that or 91.3FM) but they don't come close to covering what is out there. KOOP is no WFMU. For example: Spanish Twee and YE-YE and Mexican Indie Pop get no airtime on KOOP! Never played on KVRX either, not on world music shows or pop/twee shows. French Pop and YE-YE get play, but not Spanish (Spanish not Mexican) Pop and YE-YE. They are both European, I don't get it is it because one is in Spanish? Still don't get it. Mexican Indie Pop gets no play, do they even know it exists? This is Texas! If they knew music and weren't so xenophobic they'd know Mexico produces more than Luis Miguel ballads. It's good too! But we are talking radio and radio has been dead since the 80s, student radio, community radio, it's still radio.

Now WFMU knows radio! These guys rule. They keep it entertaining, introduce new stuff constantly and they seem to do their best to cover the globe. They really cover every knook and cranny in music!

Metrosexuals Rule

I'm not kidding. By this basic definition:
According to British journalist Mark Simpson, the trait of an urban male of any sexual orientation who has a strong aesthetic sense and spends a great amount of time and money on his appearance and lifestyle- both my grandfathers qualify. I like a man that can dress himself and take care of himself. I'm not hip to dressing a guy, shopping for him or teaching him style. You can't teach style btw. The word is overused and has a bad connotation but I dig metrosexuals. The main characters in Goodfellas-metrosexuals, Al Capone-huge metrosexual, so called "tough guys". Lowriders and Zoot Suiters-metrosexuals? Probably, yeah!

This is not a new thing, as I said both my grandfathers looked like Italian film stars with their simple yet sophisticated style. One of my grandfathers had a moustache kit and would keep it perfect looking at all times. Their shoes were never ratty and neither of them wore sneakers. To work out in the yard my Grandpa wears work boots. There was a time when men cared about how they looked, times changed, tees, jeans and sneakers became the uniform, a casual world. So if a metrosexual is a guy who dresses well, smells good and is sparkly cean then metrosexuals rule!

In for Men
Dick Van Dyke Show pants
Cool socks
Sweater vests-always a staple but Fairisle
Leather shoes
Classic pair of sunglasses
Mid-century ties
Cologne-Orange blossom, verbana or lavender undertones
Well trimmed beard or goatee
Think Tailored!

Out for Men
Black tees
Ill fitting jeans that sag and bag up at the ankle
Showing off the boxers
Grubby sneakers
FLIP FLOPS out of the home
Bedhead "hipster" hair
Wrinkled clothing
Scrubby beards or goatees
More than one chain around the neck, bracelet on the wrist or ering on the finger
Shirts with those awful non collar collars
Baggy shorts that go below the knee, way below the knee

Wow a stingray!

We went swimming with stingrays in Grand Cayman. We were told not to touch them here or there and to look out for this, that and the other, the list went on and on! I couldn't keep the warnings straight so I decided I didn't want them near me, especially under me. When they'd swim towards me I'd swim away.

Apparently the stingrays we saw were wild but sort of like pigeons or grackles in that they knew people meant free food so they'd come around and didn't seem aggressive (not aggressive by nature we were told). There were supposedly 50 of them and five times as many people in the water. They were 4x4 to 5x5 in size and would float and swim all around you, sort of hard to keep track of where they all were.

Between the sneaky stingrays, the boats coming in with loads of tourists and the choppy waters that day, I decided I didn't have a good enough handle on my bearings and got out. I am sure they mentioned the barb but I don't recall that warning specifically, just that there were too many to remember, I was on vacation afterall.

Awwwwwwwww, I really liked Steve Irwin. Poor guy, why him and not Cheney.

Austin tagging

I heard on KUT that the Austin police department fired the guy in charge of controlling the graffiti and tagging in town. I had noticed there was more around and thought maybe Austin had hit that tipping scale moment and was truly becoming urban. I thought maybe many in town were already celebrating Austin reaching a poignant moment in growth, since the town has this goal of becoming a big city with density, ugly buildings and everything. All along though it was one man, or his small dept, keeping all the tagging and graffiti under control, cities need more than one man.

Personally, I think the guy who was fired is going around and marking up the town. It just isn't that good. Nothing like Style Wars. Austin can't call itself a city or be taken as seriously urban until it creates a dozen decent taggers. So far it has one that I have seen.

Ambience

This song reminds me of the early morning of March 31st 2004. Like a ton of bricks it hit me-an epiphany and I've been happier ever since. I wish that on everyone.