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Year: 2005

Near Meteor Crater

November 13, 2005 • • 1 Comment

I took this photo near Meteor Crater, Arizona in March of 1992:

These old cars are about a quarter of a mile from the service road that connects I-40 to Metoer Crater. I’ve been there several times, and I find that the cars are as engaging as the crater itself so I always try to photograph them. This is my favorite one.

A few days after one trip out there in 1995, while browsing the CDs at Waterloo Records, I found that the cars had also served as cover art for Lee Ranaldo’s excellent East Jesus album.

“I’m Against It!”

November 8, 2005 • • Leave a comment

Today is election day in Texas. We have no bastards to throw out… well actually we have many, but not the opportunity to do so for still another year. Today it’s just a series of propositions to amend the constitution, the most controversial of which is prop two, which will re-ban gay marriage.

So off to the polls we went this morning with Groucho Marx’s voice singing in my head:

“I don’t know what they have to say,
It makes no difference anyway,
Whatever it is, I’m against it!
No matter what it is or who commenced it,
I’m against it!”

Surprisingly, my precinct was not using those cool little electronic voting machines that turn all votes cast into votes for the incumbent so I had to actually use a chisel to carve my vote into the stone tablet, but considering the backwards nature of the thinking that went into prop two, it seemed somehow appropriate.

I then affixed my little ‘I Voted’ sticker to my shirt and went outside whistling along with Groucho, thinking, “Well, I voted against it, but next time I think I’ll vote against the other pronouns,” as I ashed an imaginary cigar on the sidewalk.

So Young. So Pimpin’.

November 5, 2005 • • 2 Comments

I had dinner with my parents this evening and went home with a box of old stuff, mostly clothing from my childhood.

So, here it is. My old bowling shirt from when I was in a bowling league at Subic Bay Naval Base in The Philippines.

It was the early ’80s.


I was probably in fourth grade.


We were “The Four Aces.”

We were pimpin’.

Of Ghosts, Goblins, and Animal Emergency

November 4, 2005 • • 4 Comments

Monday – Halloween: Daphne hid from the vicious trick-or-treaters who kept coming to the door and continued her tradition of guarding the couch in the study. Phoebe, experiencing her first Halloween away from a racetrack, followed me to the door eveytime the bell rang and peeked out with great curiosity at all the costumed kids.

Wednesday: We learned something interesting about greyhounds that we had known, but never really thought about: their skin, which is paper thin, tears very easily. This can be problematic since these are big strong dogs. I came home Wednesday to find that they’d been playing (as they’ve started doing lately). I was home for about twenty minutes with Phoebe whining, whining, whining the whole time while Daphne hid in the study. As it turns out Daphne had been nipped on the scruff of the neck, and her skin had torn. (Perhaps the whines were her version of ‘Timmy fell into the-I mean-I accidentally bit Daphne.’) So I took her to animal emergency, a place with which I am way too familiar.

One of the vets glanced up from a boxer whose ear was bleeding all over the floor, and asked, “Greyhound tear?” without doing much more than noticing the greyhound standing in front of her.

“What?”

“You know, when they play,” the receptionist offered, “their skin’s thin so it tears.”

I nodded. Daphne shivered. “This is our first time with this. How do people prevent it?”

The receptionist shrugged. “I think they just let us sew them back up.”

So sew they did. The vet had to put Daphne under and extend the wound so that he could put a drain in. When I picked her up Thursday morning it looked like her head had been sewn back on, but it’s not as bad as it looks. Of course she looks like Frankenstein’s hound. This was sadly too late for Halloween by a few days.

Thursday: When I got Daphne home, Phoebe followed her around, crying and crying and licking her face. I suppose this is the canine version of abject apology and prostrating oneself in guilt.

All was well when my wife got home and both dogs barked. Phoebe, it turns out is a barker, but Daphne, like most greys does not bark except when she’s in a very good mood. This was bark number seven in five years and a good sign coming from a hound with a drainage tube in her neck.

Friday: We separated them on Thursday while we were gone and will continue to do so while Daphne heals and maybe for a little while beyond so as to avoid anymore roughhousing.

There seem to be no hard feelings. When I got home today they were excited to be reunited, followed each other around, and clearly wanted to play. Now they’re curled up together on the couch.

Asteroid Headed for Austin?

November 4, 2005 • • 1 Comment

It seems a likely scenario. We’re too far from the coast for a hurricane, and tornado season is still a few months away, so that pretty much leaves asteriods as the only remaining tool with which God can punish the Klan when they rally in Austin in support of proposition two on Saturday. The Supreme Deity apparently used a similar tactic in New Orleans to thwart a gay pride rally, and since God currently seems to be in an it’s-time-I-teach-these-little-bastards-a-lesson mode it would be wise to prepare for the worst.

There is debate raging about the best way for Austinites to deal with the odious intrusion of the Klan – moon them as was done when they came here in 1993, or ignore them and go about our lives as Mayor Will Wynn would prefer. Considering the cosmic wrath that could very well come down on the Klan and take out a bunch of well-intentioned mooners as collateral damage, I’m surprised an evacuation order isn’t being considered.

I assume, though, that preparations are being made and talking points written to apply that last little bit of spin to the impending tragedy in the runup to Nov. 8:

“God Krushes Klan, Says No to Prop Two”

against the nut jobs who will say:

“God Annihilates Deviant Mooning Perverts, Supports Prop Two”

Personally, I’ll be ignoring the Klan. I’ve seen plenty of morons; I don’t need to see them play dress up. Besides, my mind is made up on this issue.

I’ll probably just watch the Longhorns use the Baylor Bears to demonstrate the terrible effects of an asteroid impact.

Places I’ve Been

November 4, 2005 • • Leave a comment

Since I was a kid, I’ve loved maps, so I was excited when I stumbled upon Nathan’s Updates from Seoul, which led me to world66, a very cool site for anyone who loves the magic of staring at maps, remembering places visited and highways traveled, and the lure of faraway places yet to be seen.

So here’s my world map, most of which is the result of growing up in a Navy family. I didn’t count layovers in airports.

create your own visited country map

As an adult, the only trips abroad I’ve managed are Canada and Mexico. But I have traveled quite a bit in the states, usually by car, which is my preferred method especially when the drive invloves days of desert travel. Here’s my map of the states:

create your own personalized map of the USA

And, of course Europe, just because this site lets you do Europe:

create your personalized map of europe

You can also make a Canada map, but since mine would only include Quebec, I decided not to do that one.

What fun!

I’m So Proud

November 3, 2005 • • Leave a comment

Lots to be proud of in Texas especially when one considers the constitutional amendments being put to a vote, particularly proposition two. While at a loss for how to pay for adequate public education in Texas and lacking either leadership or the will to consider the problem seriously, the lege did find the time to give ‘we the people’ the opportunity to exercise our collective predjudices and vote to make gay marriage illegal.

Of course gay marriage is already illegal in Texas, but the new amendment will make it really illegal. After all, denying marriage to a group of people is only just a way to protect marriage in much the same way that denying liberties to some groups of people protects liberty. Right? Something like that… Anyway, the Texas Constitution already has more than four hundred amendments, so why not try to push it up to an even 500?

Seriously, though, both the far-right conservatives and the KKK (scheduled to rally in Austin on Nov. 5), seem to agree that re-banning gay marriage in Texas will help protect marriage. And perhaps there really is a threat out there. We can’t take chances on this because gay marriage could pose a threat to everything the KKK supports “decent family values.” And looking beyond the concerns of the Klan, I keep hearing and reading that it will be beneficial for some Texas families and their children to know that other loving families will be denied this legal status.

When the subject of protecting marriage in Texas comes up, however, it’s interesting to note that in Texas, marriage can be entered into at the age of 16, or at even younger ages if a judge approves it. This was not uncommon among my high school students (I’m talking underclassmen here) when I was a teacher. With the bar this low (as a bar must be at an early-teen bachelor party), it’s important to remember that if you hear a Texan talk about defending marriage for his children, he might really mean it.

One can only hope that when the ballots are counted next week, Texans will break with the Klan and vote down this ugly constitutional amendment.

I ain’t holdin’ my breath.

Calexico at Stubbs

November 1, 2005 • • 5 Comments

I stumbled upon Calexico at the 2004 ACL Fest and standing under the sweltering heat of that day, I was immediately enthralled with their ability to create a sonic landscape that sounds the way the southwestern deserts look. Listening to them that day, I heard traces of country, mariachi, western swing, surf rock, spaghetti western soundtracks, electronic experimentation, jazzy improv, well-controlled guitar noise, and acoustic folk produced by a large group of musicians many of whom were multi-instrumentalists. And an upright bass, a welcome change of pace outside the jazz world. The music was big and lonely and utterly captivating. By the end of the month, my wife and I had collected all of their CDs, and ever since then they’ve been in constant rotation on the stereo and in the cars, especially The Black Light and Feast of Wire.

Last spring, we went to see them when they were opening for Ozomatli and Los Lonely Boys at The Back Yard. Sadly that was a bust for us, since due to horrible traffic and a parking fiasco, we only caught the last two songs of their set. What we heard from the parking lot was great, and Ozomatli turned out to be an interesting show (we left before Los Lonely Boys) so it wasn’t a total loss.

Finally, last Sunday night, we made it to see a (sort of) Calexico show at Stubbs BBQ. I say “sort of” only because the headline portion of the show was Calexico with Iron & Wine supporting their recent collaboration. Calexico came on after a quick set by Edith Frost and started out a bit too folk-y for our tastes. This is a band that is capable of substantial musical exploration, but the incarnation that started was to me the least interesting version of Calexico. It works for me on CD, but when I see live music, I want to see a band stretch out a bit, as I know Calexico can.

As the set progressed, my allergies began to get the better of me (as they do every time I am foolish enough to stand around outdoors in October) and disappointment began to set in. About halfway through the set though (at “Alone Again Or”), things changed. Charlie Sexton joined them on stage and they began to play more like the Calexico that I love…mariachi horns, Spanish rhythms, the hints of surf rock, the country twang, all creating that impression that when someone opens the first country bar on the moon, it will be a regular gig for Calexico.

The remainder of their set was well worth the price of admission and exactly what I was hoping to hear. We left before Iron & Wine and the joint set primarily because of a combination of allergies and what I’ll call end-of-daylight-savings-time exhaustion that on a Sunday night was more powerful than a desire for more music. Of course, I did pick up two of their tour-only CDs, Scraping, and The Book and the Canal. So far, I’ve listened to most of the former, and only the first few tracks of the latter. Overall, I’m pleased, but I’m still waiting for an actual Calexico (as the headliner and primary draw) show. Not during October, please.

Phoebe at the Vet

October 30, 2005 • • Leave a comment

A hound update, of course. Phoebe made her first visit to the vet yesterday. She seemed to enjoy the ride in the car more than I thought she would. Daphne went along for the ride and stayed low in the back of the car in case there were enemies about. The vet looked Phoebe over inside and out and found no problems. She’s a prefectly healthy dog.

After the vet, she discovered the study, a room she hadn’t been in yet, and I had to ask her not to eat one of my books, but she didn’t seem to mind when I traded her a nylabone for the book. She’s still following Daphne around, still unsure about the humans, but very very curious.