Traveler’s Log, Day 14,609,
The Humans still don’t suspect I am not one of them. The huge range of activities they engage in is ever entertaining. Some of them eat pureed beans. Some of them skate in circles and hit each other. Some of them amass great skill fermenting grains. Some of them imbibe these elixirs with nary a thought. Some of them die their fur. Some of them shave their fur. . . in increasingly odd areas. They beam things about in the ultraviolet spectrum to see the rain, to transmit picture and sound, and to cook rolled food called a burrito. The contort their bodies in weird ways: kissing their feet for exercise, bending their thumbs to commute via teletype, and ratcheting their spines for relief from something (I haven’t determined what). They combust large amounts of large hydrocarbons to propel large objects, and do it with hydrocarbons from increasingly odd sources. They think the amount of time they spend under running water keeps them from stinking. They have an enormous number of pastimes that include spherical objects. Their behavior is always intriguing.
I am luring a number of them to a less densely populated are in a few days time to better study them. It should be fun.
party.shirl.com
p.s. They have forgotten about the Lion Goddess Mut.
July 31st, 2007
Posted by
bshirley |
random, weekend |
no comments
Dwight is more likely to be handing out back-handed compliments to Apple or forcing a nice word about Microsoft, but here he decided to do something quite interesting: 15 Geek Novels to Read Before You Die.
So, here’s my rundown of them… (more…)
July 31st, 2007
Posted by
bshirley |
literature, web |
one comment
A friend just called me up with an extra ticket to see the astros. Ends up my favorite pitcher is returning from injury to pitch against Maddox. And they’re giving away bobble head dolls with him in a bulldozer. I don’t know what that’s about – perhaps the promotional sponsor is a construction company.
3pm game, televised on Fox
Go, Roy! (I hate Maddux.)
Maddux struggled in the first and gave up 3. Roy left the bases loaded with 1 unearned run in the first. That was all the scoring there was to be.
I was there an hour before the game and at least 30,000 of the sall out crowd was already there. No bulldozer bobble for me.
July 28th, 2007
Posted by
bshirley |
astros, weekend |
no comments
If you’re a fan at all of live music, this is the weekend you have to go out. . . on Sunday!
The Houston Press Music Awards Showcase is the best bang-for-your-buck on music anywhere in Texas! I’ve been to many a SXSW, this year it cost me $130. I’ve avoided many an ACL Fest - they’re overcrowded and underserved. 
At $10 (2 for $15 if you buy early), the HPMAS is a 6-hour, 13-venue juggernaut. It provides a great cross section of the huge variety of music that can be found week-in week-out in this city, but here you don’t have to go looking for it. If you miss this one, you lose all authority to whine about Austin getting good music festivals come Labor Day.
Here’s a map I made - couldn’t find one on the Press’ site.
A quick reading of the one paragraph descriptions of bands should help you on your way. Or, you can hit your old favorites. I guarantee that at least one act/venue won’t be what you want, so be ready to exit and hit the second one on your list. Or know where all the venues are and go to the next closest one. See a random band. You might just like it.
The Houston Press has once again shown an inability to grasp that the grid is the ideal layout for a festival lineup. I sent them a nasty email last year. I guess they sent that to the bucket.
Oh, and if this alien mascot is on the t-shirt for this year, I’m gonna hafta get one.
From their site: “Band names, venues & times subject to change”. Be warned, the bands’ names are subject to change!
July 26th, 2007
Posted by
bshirley |
houston, music, weekend |
one comment
I was talking to one of my sister’s friends. She commented that she’d just returned from Austin and there were lots of street performers, and lamented the lack of them in Houston. I was puzzled. I’ve noticed lots of buskers (of varying quality) throughout the downtown area, and a few in the medical district along the rail line.
So, today I stumbled across a discussion around these photos on flickr. All of Houston sax players on the streets.
July 26th, 2007
Posted by
bshirley |
houston, music |
no comments
All of my Flickr photos are marked with a creative commons license. It’s an attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives license, which I would suspect is a fairly common one. This doesn’t prevent allowing other uses, of course.
So, recently I got a random email from Schmap.com. What dot who? They would like to use my photo for their guides and just wanted to make sure it was okay. Of course they didn’t say, “we’re a commercial site, and we want commercial permission from you”, they just said “we’re a free site, and here’s the link to our agreement”, please click yes.
I finally decided to go ahead with it and see what becomes of it. Seems right now they have a pathetic guide to houston and need all the help they can get. They also have a downloadable, Windows-only, Mac-RSN guide but what good is that to me?
Hopefully they improve their guide to Houston. Or, more likely, they’ll crash and burn.
July 25th, 2007
Posted by
bshirley |
houston, web |
no comments
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