Touring the Resale Shops of Houston

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After the Battleground roller derby event last Sunday, TG decided I needed a “derby shirt”. One Wednesday we decided to hit some of the resale shops ITL to find a good starting point. It ended up being a tour of many stores we (mostly) hadn’t been to.

Many resale shops in Houston are run by volunteers for charities. As such, they’re only open when the volunteers are available, which seems to be 10am – 3pm. So, many of these stores you need to hit mid-day. We visited eight resale shops:

  1. Blue Bird Circle Resale Shop, 615 W. Alabama, 77006 – they had some furniture items that we liked but didn’t spend on, and I bought several hundred Magic the Gathering cards for $1, no shirts jumped off the shelves at us.

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Derby Trifecta

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This will be the third consecutive weekend I’ve gone to roller derby events…

haciendaTwo weeks ago, it started with a nice weekend in Wimberley with friends and board games. Unfortunately, I went a bit under the weather and there wasn’t as much beer drinking as would have been commensurate with the rest of the fun.

carcassoneLeaving Wimberley Sunday afternoon, TG and I made it leisurely and stopped at the Driftwood Vineyards. It provides a fantastic view, so after our tasting we bought a bottle of B&E Cabernet Sauvingnon (from their sister winery in Paso Robles, California), sat on a picnic bench, and played another board game (to the envy of a passing employee).

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Insecurity from New York

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photo by etchasketchist

MgGuff points out: The New York Times covers the impending release of the iPhone, and can only say bad things. (“That iPhone Has a Keyboard, but It’s Not Mechanical” – John Markoff, June 13) Even the title sounds condescending: “That iPhone”! And he’s expounding upon “news” we’ve known for six months.

Is this true objective analysis, or is there some CA v NY in there? Are they resentful of Apple’s recent business acumen?

They try to tie the dead weight of Apple’s Worst Design Decision Evarâ„¢: the one button mouse. <sarcasm>We know that cost them a Billion dollars, just like they warn this will.</sarcasm>

The first quote of the piece shows an insecurity that seems quite fragile – without a keyboard, I’m afraid. Is this a true umbilical need Americans now have of technology (that it be rigid and unchanging?), or is an analyst just trying to show that he’s smarter than Steve Jobs?

“The tactile feedback of a mechanical keyboard is a pretty important aspect of human interaction,” said Bill Moggeridge, a founder of Ideo, an industrial design company in Palo Alto, Calif. “If you take that away you tend to be very insecure.”

Though, the article does finally represent the crux of the matter, two-thirds through the piece with an attributed unquote: “Dispensing with a physical keyboard has given software an increased importance over hardware in product design.”

This is the true key. If there is a perceived problem in the product – and this is version 1.0, so there will be – you don’t have to sell them the fixed product, you just rev the software.

Full NYT article cached:

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The Killers in September

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Killers - copping a ‘tudeIn 1993 or so I went to see The Breeders in concert.  I had never seen the Pixies before they broke up and really liked The Breeders (3/4 of the band), so I wanted to see them.  Unfortunately, they were opening up for Nirvana. I hadn’t jumped on the Nirvana bandwagon, and was a bit annoyed that I’d get a 45 minute set sandwiched between Shonen Knife and Nirvana.

The show was at the Astro Arena.  The floor was sold out, but I made it down there.  The 45 minute Breeders set was incredible.  With only 45 minutes to last, they let it all hang out, and I was thrashing all about the floor.

Having paid for the ticket, I stayed for Nirvana and was blown away.  It was an amazing show.  Soulful, raw, painful, beautiful.  I was a Nirvana fan from then on, and still am today.

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War Dance

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An excellent XTC song (as redundant as that phrase is) popped on to my music shuffle this morning.  Hadn’t heard it for a while and I really like it.  Unfortunately, it seemed a bit topical as well.

War Dance

There’s an epidemic stirring passions in young hearts
Even the old campaigners have got it really bad
Well we ain’t seen nothing like it since coronation day
But when the street parties sound
I’m going underground
To keep the rabid hounds at bay

Oh my my – this war dance

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