The sky’s blue. Water’s wet.  Not a shock to anyone…at least I wouldn’t think so.  But this is Austin we’re talking about.

Saturday night at the Oasis.  At the sunset capital of Texas, I would assume you’d want an outside table.  Might as well be at Luby’s if your inside.  But things at the Oasis have changed, and not for the better.  I will admit that if you lose 75% of your business to a fire…it might not be a bad idea to replace some of the wooden decks.  However, they went a little overboard.

We sat in one of the few original decks left, and were having a great time, until the first round of musical chairs.

A group sits down next to us and immediately starts complaining.

“It’s so hot.  Wow the sun.  Oh, wow, it’s sooo hot.”

The waiter did his best to explain that yes, they were outside and as a result of the sun it could be pretty hot. There was available seating upstairs and indoors and they might…blah,blah.

Time for another round and a few more totem pole swordfish pics.

At this time another table joins us, clearly not from the States, and dressed in jeans and black sweaters…very stylish.  The waiter didn’t even have time to bring the menu before the wailing began.

“Ooooooooh, my word.  It is soooo hot.”  The waiter starts in on his standard spiel.  I reminded them that the sun would eventually go down, but they might be shocked because then, it would be dark.  The waiter enjoyed it, the others, not so much.

We enjoyed our evening, and even ventured upstairs to check out the new digs.  Not too impressed.  But on the bright side, at least we have a private deck to enjoy in the future.

Share on Facebook

CB is my prima donna in every sense of the word.  Her perfect day is a combination of shopping, pedicures, and restaurants.  It’s a valiant struggle against Nana’s influence, but maybe I’m making some headway.

Must be something in the genes, definitely not mine, more likely PaPa’s.  I thought the fishing gene was extinct, but apparently it only skipped a generation.

Share on Facebook

I was just reliving childhood memories in the last post about the films of 1984.  Perhaps there’s no bigger childhood memory than the sequined, white glove.  Hard to believe the King of Pop is gone.  Even harder to believe he was 50.

My parents had their touchstone moments.  The Death of Elvis, JFK,’s assassination…all worthy “Where were you when?” moments.  I guess my generation can hang their hats on the Challenger and now Michael Jackson’s death.

I know I’m going to take a lot of grief for this.  I’m probably the most right wing conservative, Haggard and Jones, type person that any of you have ever met, but, and Al has given me mad grief over this, I was always a huge Michael Jackson fan. How could you be a child of the 80’s and not have some love for the one gloved wonder?

I’ve long been fascinated by the concept of fame, and not just your garden variety, “Oh, wow I just saw Julia Roberts in the checkout lane” kind of fame.  I’m talking about worldwide domination that few people, The Beatles, Elvis, have ever reached.  Whatever your opinions of Jackson you would be hard pressed to argue that anyone has ever been bigger.

The thing that bothers me the most are the molestation allegations.  Maybe I’m jaded by my years in the law, but if there’s one class of people that I hate worse than any other…it’s Plaintiffs.  People that refuse to work and are determined to bring the legal system into their welfare scheme.  Jackson was the perfect defendant – everyone in the world knows him, is probably prejudiced against him in some way, and he could drop a $40 million settlement check without thinking twice.  It’s the same reason why all these losers sue Wal-Mart…deep pockets.

Was he a little strange?  Sure.  Bad plastic surgery decisions? Definitely.  But if either of those were a crime then 90% of the state of California should be under indictment.

Thriller, the rise of MTV, the white glove, the moonwalk, and the Pepsi commercial fireball…for me, Michael Jackson was the 80’s. I guess that’s the true measure of an icon.

The Rubik’s cube, jam boxes, and Star Wars lunchboxes are all forever linked in my memories of the 80’s and to me the 80’s were Michael.  And, if I’m being completely honest, the 80’s were when Michael was king and before he began his journey into adulthood as a white female.

I guess the one person we should really feel badly for is Farrah Fawcett.  An icon in her own right, but boy, did she pick the wrong day to go.

Share on Facebook

I’m feeling old.  Something maybe to do with CB’s birthday this week – my baby is 6?  No!  But the big kicker is something I heard on a podcast this week.  Columbia just released a special 25^th Anniversary edition of Ghostbusters.  What?

No, that can’t be right.  I mean I saw that when I was a kid…in 1984…oh my God, that was 25 years ago.  Unbelievable.

That started me thinking about Ghostbusters and I made Al watch a little bit of it with me.  A script by Harold Ramis and Dan Akroyd with Bill Murray deadpanning his way through the whole thing – comedy genius.  Al was actually surprised.

I was still in shock about the whole 1984 thing and wondered what other classics were celebrating their 25^th.  The Results?  I’m going to go ahead and call it.   1984 may have been the greatest year of cinema…ever.

Beverly Hills Cop – when Eddie Murphy was still funny and you couldn’t take your mother or children within 100 yards of one his movies.  Not the family friendly flops of today.  Anybody remember Delirious?

The Terminator – “I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle.”  Arnold has never come close to being as cool as this again.

Red Dawn – WOLVERINES!!!  Swayze drinking deer blood and killing commies.  Maybe only eclipsed by his latter role as a skinny little runt named Dalton.  Ok, maybe this is too personal a choice.

A Nightmare on Elm Street – one of the greatest horror series ever gets its start.

The Karate Kid – Al made me put this on the list.  I admit.

Revenge of the Nerds – Another choice from Al.  Horrible movie – Al can still recite the screenplay verbatim to this day.  If nothing else, it makes my argument for the breadth of films from 1984.

The Natural – Arguably the greatest sports movie ever made.  Don’t tell me you don’t get goose bumps when Roy rips one out the park, blood dripping from his uniform…and that freaking music starts up.

Footloose – I’ve already shown the love for Red Dawn and Terminator so I can get with Kevin Bacon rocking the sweet moves.

Sixteen Candles – Long Duck Dong.  Enough said.

Splash – John Candy takes a crotch shot playing racquetball.  Then throw in Tom Hanks and the hottest mermaid ever.

I didn’t even get to Gremlins or Romancing the Stone.  Maybe it’s nostalgia, but I think not.  You can have you’re The Constant Gardner and Slumdog Trivia-whatever…I’ll take the classics.

Share on Facebook

Hero is a word that is thrown around way too much these days.  There’s not many folks that I could even of think to ascribe that term to.  Maybe the guy that landed the plane on the Hudson River.  However, even Captain Sully would have to tip his cap to this guy.

A 73-year-old man has been arrested after being accused of aiming a loaded handgun at several men on the ninth hole of  the Lions Municipal Golf Course because he thought they were playing too slowly, an arrest affidavit said.

Unbelievable.  This is vigilante justice at its finest.  I’m a pretty low-key guy and there’s not a lot that gets me worked up.  However, sitting in the fairway while some moron has been standing over a 3 foot put for a triple bogey for the last half hour is enough to make anyone whip out a .45.

There’s been a huge push in the news over the last year to “Save Lions Municipal Golf Course.  Ben Crenshaw was been intimately involved.  I think, now, we have a new poster child.  Forget the arrest warrant, give this guy a job.  Guaranteed the pace of play would improve.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2009/06/24/73yearold_arrested_for_pointin.html

Share on Facebook

Even if the glasses are a little iffy.

I took the girls to see Up on opening weekend.  Mainly because I’ll go see anything Pixar puts out, but also because I hadn’t seen anything in 3-D since Jaws 3.  It’s come a long way since the red and green glasses and the floating, severed limbs.

I was expecting a good time, but I was completely unprepared for what I saw.  I hadn’t seen a single preview or commercial for Up and honestly had no clue what the story was even about…actually, not a bad way to go into a movie.

We get settled in after mortgaging the house for tickets.  $32 for an adult and 2 kids – at a matinee.  Seriously?

The opening 20 minutes of Up are better than anything I’ve seen in a long, long time, animated or otherwise.  The story of Carl and his wife, their relationship, the struggles, the laughter, the tears.  Unbelievable.

I’m a pretty cynical guy, and am not one for crying at movies.  But here I am 15 minutes into the film and I’m getting choked up.  I’m sitting here thinking about a wasted life and all the chances we miss and how important it is to live every moment…and will the girls notice if I’m crying behind these dorky glasses.  Luckily, I look over and MK is holding out her hand in front of her face, either judging the quality of the new 3-d technology, or just checking out a huge booger – I can’t be sure at this point.

Either way, the girls made it unscathed through the opening chapter.  They loved the movie, and so did I. It was classic Pixar; incredible story, great 3-d effects, and that voodoo they weave so well that gets you emotionally invested in a character that looks like a bobblehead doll with a thyroid condition.  Overall, very pleased…and now getting pumped for Toy Story III.

Anyone else catch this and agree, or am I way off base with the mad Pixar love?  Still trying to decide where to rank this one with Toy Story, Wall-E, and The Incredibles.

Share on Facebook

I know..I know.  Belive me, I’ve heard it all and then some from Al.

“Are you ever going to update?”

“You’re never going to update again are you?”

“You don’t care about your children, do you?”

I do have some valid reasons, sort of..  I have been updating, you just haven’t seen them.  I’ve been toying around with different web sites, and I’m not happy with any of them.

I like WordPress better than any of the other blogging sites I’ve tried, but it’s still got a lot of things I don’t like.

I’m curious if any of you have tried squarespace.  It’s a hosted solution that has a lot of options.  I really liked it, but I had some problems trying to import all my info from WordPress…and seeing as how this blog has been going on for close to 5 years – that’s a big problem.

Enough of the excuses.  We all know why you came, and it’s not for me.

More of this to come…somewhere.

Share on Facebook

Seriously?  Probably the first thing that comes to your mind when you see the title.  B-Dazzler.  Who uses that?

Apparently, my mother and daughters.

MK is learning early that when working with Nana, safety is always a priority.  She’s also learning that Nana’s idea of safety goggles might be a little left of center.

Share on Facebook

It was  Saturday night.  Close to sunset and absolutely gorgeous weather.  We were going through our normal rundown of where and where not to eat.  I mentioned The County Line and CB was suspicious.  However, once I got through outdoor seating and live music she was on board.

Apparently, enough to do some product placement.  It was a perfect night.  Great weather, great music, and incredible food.  Not to mention a tag along with a couple of my favorite ladies.

The thing is, that was a couple of months ago, and CB is obsessed.  We can’t mention food without her piping up about the County Line.  We were in the Chick-fil-A drive through last week when I asked CB what she wanted.

“County Line sounds good.”

Not exactly what I was thinking when I asked nuggets or sandwich, but I got the point.  She’s even started getting online and giving me a rundown of any upcoming bands at the Line.

What can I say?  My little tofu, hippie chick has fallen hard – a testament to the power of Ribs.

Share on Facebook