Tag Archives: Austin
The Twitter Diaries: 2009-11-29: Austin
- awake way too early. Agitated dreams. #
- finally getting a newsletter out after months. This is a lot of work. #
- Student Party at SC09 – Un Posto al Sole http://bit.ly/5DamzT #
- RT @c0t0d0s0: Comstar: A while ago, i wrote a tutorial about using iSCSI in Opensolaris and Solaris 10. While the t… http://bit.ly/6YTcaX #
- added a few photo to Countries Beginning with I » The Twitter Diaries: 2009-11-22 http://bit.ly/4T12RR #
- My Chocolate Meltdown – NYTimes http://bit.ly/5Rvtsn – if I could reach the author, I’d tell him to go to the source: http://bit.ly/7Ef2VK #
- “had been a loving father to his son… [but] cut off ties once DNA showed they were not related” http://bit.ly/4NIYMX – THAT is betrayal #
- outing to Boulder netted great Cajun brunch at Lucile’s w Tin Tin, 2 more Helen Fisher books (used), and yet another massive headache. WTF? #
- a nap and a beer seem to be helping the headache, but feeling wrung out and probably not up to roomie’s guests. #
- roomie and now live-in boyfriend bought a snow blower today. Apparently BF must now show this off to male guests in the garage beneath my rm #
- there has got to be a better way for me to spend company time and money than in wrestling with our TOTALLY SUCKY expense report system #
- need food, but the hungrier I get, the less I feel able to face a roomful of people. This would be a good time not to have a roommate #
- slept soundly with no particular dreams. Waking up slowly. Tomorrow night I see my kid. We’re both a bit nervous about that. #
- sent out a newsletter (condense of my site) y’day after 3-month hiatus. Announced the Italy chapter of my life is closed. Lost subscribers. #
- “Berlusconi’s lifestyle has earned him ‘Rockstar of the Year’ from Italian ed of Rolling Stone magazine.” http://bit.ly/8ulIGo #
- RT @darrenmoffat: Buy my co-authored book: http://amazon.com/Solaris-Security-Essentials-Microsystems-Engineers/dp/0137012330 #
- @wheninrometours – left a while ago: Countries Beginning with I » Leaving Italy http://bit.ly/4QI2xz #
- uploading photos to SmugMug. I’d forgotten what a lot of really amazing photos Ross has taken #
- so nice to work with people who can and do immediately implement useful features when I ask for them. #
- Debugging and Diagnosing Interesting OpenSolaris Kernel Problems – Sun Video http://bit.ly/7m7P41 #
- if you haven’t seen Mr. Deity, you should! http://bit.ly/5AkepI – and help support one of the funniest shows anywhere EVER #
- @LusciousPear OTOH, it helps to at least pretend to care about my feelings if you ever WANT to sleep with me. in reply to LusciousPear #
- @ThinGuy glad you liked Mr. Deity, please RT – we want these guys to be able to keep being funny! in reply to ThinGuy #
- awake since 5 am. Seems I only need 6 hrs sleep these days, so going to bed before midnight is too early. Oh, well. The extra time is useful #
- to do: try again to upload Cantrill’s LISA talk, track down more missing video, run blog metrics for Oct, do OpenSol grants, get on a plane #
- may finally be in touch with the long-lost Woodstock School classmate that EVERYONE has been looking for. She was well-loved among us. #
- @ElaineEllis I ended up going to Starbucks in Vienna because the famous coffee houses all reeked of smoke and stale beer. Disappointing. in reply to ElaineEllis #
- looking forward to T’giving/birthday in Austin, most of all to be with the amazing, wonderful Ross. That she’s my daughter is a bonus. #
- any suggestions for great events/music in Austin this week? #
- okay, finally succeeded in uploading Cantrill, now just waiting for it to process. May take a while – 1.5 hours of video! No good way to cut #
- one system I needed to do my job today has been fixed, another one not so much… #
- amused that ZManda pops up frequently as an advertiser on my personal blog/site #
- lining up plans for Austin – music to hear, friends to meet. Plus shopping and pampering with Ross. #
- I’ll be on vacation tomorrow, but finding it very hard to sit still today. #
- RT @OrganizeFISH: MEEP! RT @doctorparadox: wtf awesome: Muppets cover Bohemian Rhapsody… in HD. http://bit.ly/597YWT (via @adamhirsch) #
- among other activities today, uploading a bazillion photos to SmugMug. Wow there’s a lot of them. I been places! #
- yeah, it’s not as if I had anything better to do than recreate and resubmit this complicated expense report just because our system sucks #
- “Tigger on speed” Bryan Cantrill keynotes at LISA09: Visualizing DTrace: Sun Storage 7000 Analytics – Sun Video http://bit.ly/8ZmpEG #
- @mtuckerb @nikhilv never thought about a post-coital song, but now that you’ve mentioned it I have to ask – why that one? in reply to mtuckerb #
- O beloved expense reporting system, if I have an expense <$5 for “Meals, Domestic” can we just assume I was the only one partaking? #
- Expense System, can you NOT chastise me for spending $1200 on 1 night at hotel before allowing me to enter # of nights I actually spent? #
- High Performance Data Management Panel Discussion at Sun’s HPC Consortium – Sun Video http://bit.ly/8QYUnm #
- spent half the day in expense report hell. Hoping this all gets paid before my whopping corporate AmEx bill hits mid-December #
- I might end up cooking for Thanksgiving after all – good thing I linked the recipes I used 2 years ago: http://bit.ly/60iR8i #
- damn. Denver wifi is sucking royally, as usual. #
- @alanc at least the expense system isn’t yet asking us why we’re not sharing our hotel rooms. ; ) in reply to alanc #
- Back in Austin, one of my favorite places #
- @nikhilv that song wd definitely not work for me, since I’ve always associated it with my dad – whose name actually is Al. in reply to nikhilv #
- back at Spankyville (http://bit.ly/6FlU1D), where R is residing til she starts her global tour. It’s good to have good friends. #
- Cafe au lait and cherry strudel at Sweetish Hill on a warm sunny Austin morning. Life doesn’t suck #
- @webmink actual security value of making you take that watch off in the first place very likely = 0 in reply to webmink #
- Pre holiday traffic in Austin is hideous. Do I want to go to Whole Foods this badly? #
- “Because your eyes are slant and sloeBecause your hair is sweet to touch #
- …My heart is high again, but – oh!I doubt if this will get me much.”
Dorothy Parker # - gave up on Thanksgiving cooking because the supermarket crowds are too scary. We’ll cook turkey at some less popular time. #
- sleepy & lazy & just not going to do what any “they” think I should. Indian food and bowling tonight; we’ll figure out tomorrow, tomorrow. #
- @msgilligan not too ironic in thise case – 3 of the 4 people who wil be at this dinner attended Woodstock School in India. in reply to msgilligan #
- we’ll be having turkey etc. at the Alamo Drafthouse, with a movie. Was sold out, but we showed up in person so they added us – thx, Alamo! #
- “Every claim made by religion comes not from sources out in the world… but from the insides of people’s heads.” http://bit.ly/5aPYyL #
- I used to be addicted to checking the metrics on my website. Now it’s my videos. #
- daughter has a small new business doing kids’ portrait photography. Some parents want the digital files. How much should she charge? #
- @nonstick thanks. how much was a typical picture package, or can you give me a range? in reply to nonstick #
- RT @wanderingitaly: Dang, I’m a bad American, too–> http://bit.ly/8OVXfU #
- I’m leery of the Norman Rockwell ideals of tradition extolled today. How many of us have really EVER experienced that kind of family life? #
- “Fantastic Mr. Fox” actually is fantastic – fun, charming, different. Recommend! #
- Project Bandaloop goes to India (including Woodstock School) http://bit.ly/8gMDtO #
- http://twitpic.com/r3ua6 – My Longhorns snuggie, Thanksgiving gift from Guy #
- http://twitpic.com/r3x1i – Ross also got a Snuggie, hers included a book light #
- @ThinGuy we had to do something traditional! Besides, there’s nothing else to do on Thanksgiving in reply to ThinGuy #
- aparently we already missed the big Black Friday deals. Good. So when we do go shopping later, things will be sane, right? #
- just in time for my 47th birthday (tomorrow), photos of me (& classmates) when I was 18 http://bit.ly/6xhx1t #
- figuring out what to do in Austin on my birthday; this is helpful: Bill’s Map http://bit.ly/8W6lIM #
- Buying bras at nordstrom delightfully untraumatic ( it’s harder than you’d think when you’re unusually sized). But expensive. #
- @pizzocalabro good support is worth almost any price! in reply to pizzocalabro #
- Okay, I’ve done my part for the consumer economy today. Ps Steve Madden I love you! #
- friend sent this NSFW: A Practical Guide To Italian Sex http://bit.ly/7q3wvi my own Italian slang http://bit.ly/7Cc9ll is more comprehensive #
- @pizzocalabro is simply /not/ spending Christmas wfamily an option? One of the best Xmases I’ve had was me & Ross in Mumbai w friends. in reply to pizzocalabro #
- @pizzocalabro yeah, I get it. You may have to sneak in a hip flask to survive it, though. in reply to pizzocalabro #
- did country dance lesson at the Broken Spoke, which was fun, but too shy to hang around for the actual live music dancing. Some maneater. #
- …but at least I did get out. I guess that’s a start. #
- @bicyclemark reminded me to dig up this video of me and my life 3 years ago: Living in LLick with Dierdre Straughan http://bit.ly/5kSdcb #
- oh, wow – forgot about this one with me and Ross – Bloating in Bellagio Part 1 http://bit.ly/6kVDkm #
- @bicyclemark Lake Como is a beautiful place, but I don’t live there anymore. And that’s okay. in reply to bicyclemark #
- When you’re the early bird in the household, no one ever brings /you/ coffee in bed. #
- since I am not going to Brazil next week we’ll have my birthday dinner at Fogo de Chao in Austin, to remind me of good times in Porto Alegre #
- @sogrady SEO thing – if someone finds your comment interesting they might jump over to your site. Less likely the further down u are in reply to sogrady #
- very stuffed from birthday dinner at churrascaria… and two caipirinhas #
- Need a custom ringtone for my iPhone, but can’t figure out what to use. Past tones have included themes from Blackadder and Sex & the City #
- I just generated my #TweetCloud out of a month of my tweets – http://w33.us/35n #
- I just generated my #TweetCloud out of a year of my tweets – http://w33.us/38w #
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Good Food in Austin
No one should go to Texas without eating Mexican food, and we were fortunate to have my cousin Guy’s guidance to the good stuff. We ate at El Mercado (on Lavaca), some of the best Tex-Mex I’ve ever had. Standard enchiladas and fajitas, but the enchilada sauces (one green tomatillo, one red) were amazing.
We had Sunday brunch at Chez Zee, sitting at the bar because there was a half-hour wait for a table and I didn’t want to spend two hours on a meal. While trying to find decent food over Valentine’s weekend, I had occasion to reflect on the fact that it’s rare to wait for a restaurant in Italy – I can’t think of a single time we’ve done it, perhaps because, if a given restaurant is full, there’s always another great one nearby. Not always the case in the US. Chez Zee might even have been worth the wait, but eating at the bar was fine, especially as we were right behind the talented jazz pianist/singer, to better enjoy her music.
During our wanderings, Ross and I lunched one day at the Kerbey Lane Café near the UT campus, a great place for healthy food (including vegetarian). For one dinner we went the opposite route, with fancy steaks at Dan McKlusky’s. The food was very good, but the dining experience was spoiled by our fellow diners. Due to some weird acoustics where we sat in the front corner, everything seemed very loud, especially from the next table, where a man had invited two people for a business dinner in hopes of “getting your thoughts on this” (some business proposition). I don’t think he got many of their thoughts, because he did 99% of the talking himself – loudly – and we all learned far more about him than we needed to know. Lack of sensitivity to others is a common handicap among computer geeks, which he evidently was (his tales included his early days on punch-card machines and more recent excitement at visiting the world’s largest flight simulator facility). His daughter was student president of something or other at the University of Houston; evidently she is more astute in dealing with humans than her father is.
Our best meal was at the home of Julia and Dani. Julia is a friend of my old friend Barb. Thanks to Barb, she has been reading my newsletter for some time, and we’ve occasionally exchanged emails about something I’d written. So when I knew I was coming to Austin, I dropped her a line, and she invited us for dinner. “Spankyville,” as they call their place (named after their cat Spanky), is one of the most comfortable homes I’ve ever been in. Comfortable in the sense of a nice place to be: as soon as we walked in, we knew that we were among friends in a house full of warmth. It’s hard to explain, but a few rare places in the world make you feel that way. And we sure needed it right then.
The Chinese/Mongolian hot pot dinner was great; it’s a tradition in Julia’s family ever since her father, years ago, invited the entire Chinese Students’ Association of Texas Tech home for Thanksgiving dinner.
