I Survived the MS 150 (or is it the MS 178??)

Monday, April 14, 2008

This weekend I rode my bike in the MS 150, which is a 178 mile bike ride from Houston to Austin. The great thing is that I get to support a great cause (by the way if you still want to donate, you can do so by following this link: http://www.ms150.org/ms150/donate/donate.cfm?id=217215, I think you've got until May 13th for it to count towards my totals). However, the downside is that it is all at the expense of my legs...

If you are interested, check out these pictures that I took - most of which were taken while biking... you should have seen the looks from the bikers around me as I swerved while handling my camera :-)

2008_04_12 - MS150 Pics

This event really started last summer when I bought a single-speed fixed gear track bike from my friend David. I was hooked on road biking instantly and decided I would enter the MS 150, which filled up to its 13000 rider capacity in October. I toyed around with the idea of riding the single speed bike on the tour until I found a fantastic deal on a barely used Specialized road bike in December. Between the end of December and the MS150 I put around 300 miles on the bike while training for the tour... doesn't seem like much when in two days I am about to put another 178 miles on the bike.

Leading up to the ride, the only thing that I prayed for was no constant head wind. Well, my prayers were answered... with the most ferocious head wind that any of the veteran MS 150 riders had ever experienced on the ride. Usually there is a light tail wind from the gulf to help everyone out, but not this year.

I'm not going to go into any more details in this blog, mostly because I am still tired and recovering from the ride... I need sleep. In summary, I survived, I am happy, and I plan to be out there again next year!
posted by Logan 0 comments

Baby Kunitz is on the way....

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Yup, that's right... I'm gonna be a dad! Lisa is already about 18 weeks along and well into her second trimester. The baby's due date is May 24th, and we will find out the baby's sex during Lisa's ultrasound appointment the first week of January... what a great way to ring in the new year!

The latest updates...
- Lisa started feeling the baby kick a couple weeks ago.
- She's really starting to show, and is shopping around for new pants.
- I am really starting to show and am shopping around for new pants (ha, just kidding).
- Eric recent called dibs on the name "Special K".
- Other notable names "Little Kunitz", "Baby Kunitz", "It".
posted by Logan 0 comments

ACL Fest Preview

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Here is my schedule for the Austin City Limits Festival as a reference:
Logan's ACL Fest Schedule

Day 1

On Day 1, I am particularly excited about Joss Stone and the Killers. Joss Stone has the best voice of anyone during the entire three days, and the Killers are just huge! Bjork would be interesting to watch in concert, but since she plays at the same time as the Killers - there is really no question who I am going to watch.

Day 2

The must-see bands on Day 2 are Augustana, Blue October, and Muse. I downloaded Augustana recently, and I am really excited about this band. Blue October has been my favorite live band for at least 3 years now, so I am always excited to see them, but I still reminisce about the days when I could see Blue October without fighting the crowds. Then, Muse is just going to be amazing... I consider Muse's musical style to be a modern version of the Moody Blues.

I can't decide between watching Arcade Fire and the White Stripes at the end of the day. From a pure musical perspective, I prefer Arcade Fire; however I have a feeling that the White Stripes are going to put on a much better show... hence the dilemma.

Day 3

The only band that I am particularly excited about on Sunday is Ben Kweller - I listened to a couple of his songs on i-tunes, and he sounds like Ben Folds. Bloc Party also sounds like the will be good, and then either the Decemberists or Ghostland Observatory will both be good. Finally Bob Dylan - although he is one of the most recognizable musicians of the 20th century, I don't know if I am all that excited about his music. I will watch him, just because its Bob Dylan, but I doubt it will be the highlight of the festival - but I am hoping he proves me wrong.

Of course, on all three days there are several other bands that I think will be interesting to watch, but I am not sure whether or not to be excited about them. You can see all of my recommendations in my schedule.
posted by Logan 1 comments

First Place - Austin Hot Sauce Festival!

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Well, one of the most unexpected things happened to me today... I won first place in the Austin Hot Sauce Festival for my "Red Sauce" submission! The Austin Hot Sauce Festival is self-declared as the largest of its kind in the world, and since Red Sauces are the most respected and well known of the various salsas, well... I guess this is sort of a big deal.

Here is the article about the hot sauce festival with my picture: Austin Hot Sauce Festival Article

You might be wondering how I got started making salsas... it all started when I came to Austin 10 years ago and have been unable to find a restaurant or bottled salsa that is as good as the salsa from my favorite mexican restaurant in Tucson - Rosa's. It took me about 6 years before I decided to actually do something about it, so it was about 4 years ago when I decided to learn how to make salsa. My initial goal was to mimic Rosa's salsa. To this date I still don't think I have ever made a salsa of my own that is as good as Rosa's.

Over the years I have made several variants - I've used canned tomatoes and chiles, I've tried different dried peppers, I've tried cooking my salsa, and I've tried different combinations of ingredients. Starting last year I began using peppers from my own garden. I now grow the following peppers: Jalapeño, Anaheim (New Mexico green chile), Habañero, Tabasco, and Serrano. I also grow my own tomatoes, but unfortunately I can't produce enough of them at a time to use solely my own tomatoes for my salsas yet.

So, what's next? I don't know... in a few days the new Chronicle will come out with my picture in it... pretty cool! Maybe someone will call me to buy my recipe - I haven't decided if I want to sell yet, but I will be flattered just to get the call. Maybe I can figure out how to market my own salsa?? Somehow I feel like I need to be able to capitalize on this success, but for now I am just going to sit back and eat some chips with my salsa knowing that some of the most respected chefs in central Texas tasted my salsa and thought it deserved to be #1.

Here are a few pictures from the event:

Austin Hot Sauce Festival - First Place

posted by Logan 1 comments

SXSW	Saturday, March 31, 2007

It has already been two weeks since South by Southwest, but those who know me well know that I have always had a bad habit of procrastinating.
SXSW was really fun this year. My sister and her fiance -- it is still weird to think that my little sister is getting married :) -- came out to Austin for the weekend to see a band that Mitch knew from North Carolina. The band is from Canada, their name is U-Phonik, and honestly I didn't know if they were going to be good (no offense Mitch). I was surprised when I listened to the CD that Mitch had of their music, because they actually sounded pretty good. Their music wasn't terribly unique, but the singer has an awesome voice (I kindof thought he sounded like Bono) and their songs were definitely radio-quality.

U-Phonik was not on the SXSW schedule, but they were still able to get a short 30 minute gig at Spiro's. Unfortunately their set got cut short, and the acoustics were pretty bad, so I could tell that the guys were frustrated that they gave up a high-paying show in Georgia for this.

Well, after that we all met up with Victor, Tung, Debbie, Kirk, and Rick at Soho to watch Oppenheimer. These guys were awesome! This was my second time to see them, and their show is incredibly entertaining to watch. I am a huge fan of these guys.

After the Oppenheimer concert we all went to Casino El Camino for supposedly the best burger in Austin. I was skeptical at first, but after tasting that greasy flame-grilled patty of ground goodness - I am now a believer. After that we pretty much went home. In case you are curious - Spiro's was free to get in, and Soho was only $10 per person; so you definitely don't need a $300 wristband to have a good time at SXSW :)

posted by Logan 1 comments

The Cell Phone's Final Days

Monday, February 05, 2007

To most people, cell phones are just a commodity item, like clothing, to be changed out when the newer and better fashions are released. To me, a cell phone is like a large investment, like a car, which should only be changed out when it has surpassed its useful life, or has been damaged beyond repair. For me, my last cell phone (a Samsung SCH-A460) was more than just an investment, it was almost like a friend. You see, I probably spent more time with my cell phone than anything else - it was always tucked away in my left hip-pocket no matter where I went. It provided me entertainment with one of its 3 sad little games, and had dozens of quirks that only I knew about. Recently, I started wondering exactly how long I have actually had this phone, and after digging through my bank records, remembering that I had purchased the phone at Circuit City, I found that I purchased the phone in October, 2002. That means that this phone is about 4 1/2 years old, and never once needed to be replaced or repaired.

Well - last week the phone finally started showing signs that it was getting old and would soon pass away. Instead of watching my phone suffer until its death, I have decided to put it to sleep and get a new phone. So, this weekend I called up Sprint to see if they could replace my cell phone, and not surprisingly they were excited to work with me and got me into the lastest and greatest Samsung phone - the A900M. While I was at it - I figured Lisa needed a new phone, and of course Sprint was willing to work with me, and we got her a Motorola Razr.

Before I get too excited about these new cell phones, we all should take a moment of silence for the greatest cell phone I have ever known......

p.s. Let me know if you want to play one last game of Push Push on my phone before I store it away in the back of my closet forever.
posted by Logan 1 comments

A study of currency circulation...

Sunday, December 17, 2006

----
Alright, I am leaving this blog entry up for sentimental reasons only, however in the end this sad idea of mine didn't amount to anything. If I were to do this again in the future I would send out several bills instead of just one, and then find a better way of tracking them.
----

So, I am not sure if this is a cool idea or not, but I decided to write the webpage of a blog that I created on a one dollar bill, with the hope that people will go to it and write updates about the whereabouts of this dollar bill. I just spent the dollar today, and created the blog here: http://logansdollar.blogspot.com/

Maybe this will work, maybe it won't. Maybe I'll get some hoax posts from a stray passerby. Maybe I'll even get spam posts on the blog page; I don't know. I guess that's what makes this interesting... I just don't know what is going to happen, but I hope it's cool :)

This is what happens when I have extra time on a Sunday because I put off working out and cleaning my yard for the next week.

Happy Holidays!
posted by Logan 1 comments

Winter Holiday Lights ... at last!

Thursday, December 07, 2006

After being in our house for, ummm.... more than three years now, we finally have holiday lights! I am not one to brag, but I think our lights are the best on our block :) We even made a subtle political statement, and I'd like to think that we are doing our part to keep the Austin suburbs weird.

Well, after spending way too much time planning and a couple of hours of real work, here are our lights:


posted by Logan 3 comments

Google runs my life... how depressing

Friday, May 12, 2006

If you don't think google is going to dominate the world one day, think again. I know this subject has already been brought up time and time again by people all over the world, but today it just hit me... google already dominates my life!

Let me clarify what I mean. Let's say I want to go out to dinner tonight, what am I going to do? Am I going to open up the yellow pages? Heck no! I'm going to go to google.com and search for a local restaurant that sounds interesting. Then, I find the address of the restaurant and want to know how to get there. Do I reach for my map of Austin? That would be ridiculous - it would take me almost 2 minutes to locate that address! Will I go to mapquest? No way; that is like so last month! I open up google maps ( maps.google.com in case you're curious) and use that to figure out where I'm going.

During dinner Lisa and I discuss our vacations this summer, and we decide that the best week to travel is the 4th of july weekend. After dinner I want to put the vacation on my calendar. Do I reach for the wall calendar in the kitchen - dude, I threw that out years ago! I go to Google's calendar ( calendar.google.com). While I'm in the calendar I remember that I need to invite my friends over for a BBQ next week. Do I use Evite? What do you think!? Google calendar can send out invites too, so I use it as well.

Well, it's about time to check my email. Do I use Outlook, Hotmail, Yahoo, or AOL?? No way! I use google GMail, because I can access it from anywhere that has an internet connection, I have essentially unlimited space, and it is way faster than any of the other online email services.

While I'm emailing, I remember my friend's birthday so I need to send a card. Where do I look up the address. How about GMail - it stores all of my contact information too! Who needs a PDA when internet access is pretty much everywhere now?

So, while I was playing my guitar (I found the sheet music through searching on google of course) it hit me that google runs my life, so wanted everyone to know. So, I went to GMail and started typing this email with all this cool information about google. Then, was I going to send it directly to my friend's emails? No way, that would be kindof weird. Instead I emailed this to my Blogger account ( blogger.com), and suddenly this whole email was posted to my own personal web page! You're probably thinking right now that blogger has nothing to do with Google.... but you are wrong! Google bought Blogger last year if I recall.

So, it is settled... my entire life is run by google. I sure hope that they aren't using any of my personal information for evil :)



posted by Logan 2 comments

Geez, it's been too long...

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Wholey Cow (sorry, cows aren't holy to me) - it has been way too long since I have posted anything on my blog! I am actually a little disappointed that nobody posted a comment or emailed me asking if I was alive. I mean, I am alive, so I guess it's not important, but, I guess I just wanted to know that people cared.... or something :)

Ok, enough of worthless words... time to make this blog actually mean something. I am going to list through my events over the last... um... four months! Alright, here's how we are going to make this fun for all of us. While you are reading this blog, I want you to hear my voice with a Canadian accent, eh? Awe geez, now that just means more work for me because now I have to type with a canadian accent, and I don't even know how to do that. Well, I did some research on the subject, and you should check out this canadian slang reference at wikipedia. My favorites so far:

• McDick's/McDogDood's (McDonald's, of course)
  
• Frogs - French Canadians; who would have known that canadians made fun of the french too?
  
• Makin' Puppies - the polite way to say that I was doing nothin

Those crazy Canucks, eh?
So, back to my story of the last 4 months. Well, in October I saw Blue October, which you probably could have guessed from the previous blog. That would be my last concert until I saw Sister 7 for their reunion concert in November. This concert was not nearly as easy for me as Blue October, because earlier that afternoon I cut my knee all the way down to the knee cap while helping move our old dishwasher into Lisa's parents SUV. So, I spent the next 4 hours in the emergency room, and got stitched up, and a dose of pain killer, just in time to see the concert. Yea, I literally hobbled my way into the concert because I couldn't move my leg at all. I would go into all the ugly details, but I just don't have the time in this blog.

Back to October, because I just remembered the camping trip to Lost Maples and Garner state parks. This was the first time that Lisa and I have ever been camping together, believe it or not :)


Then, at the beginning of November, Lisa and I went to Galveston because her dad has a hookup with a friend who let us stay at their awesome condo! We were there with Sarah and Skyler, and we had a guest appearance from Charlie! This was my first time in Galveston, and I thought it was pretty good considering that the only thing I had ever heard about Galveston was how it had dirty beaches.

The next event that I remember is the Big XII Championship game that I went to with a few friends. This was the first UT game that I have seen live in three years I think. All I have to say is that Reliant Stadium is an amazing place to watch a football game, because we probably had some of the worst seats, but we still felt really close to the game with our totally unobstructed view.

Then, I guess we fast forward to Christmas. Lisa and I put up a sad little fake tree in our living room, and that was it for our christmas spirit. I felt a bit left out, though, because it seemed like every other house in my neighborhood put lights up, and our how seemed naked. Before Lisa and I left for Houston to spend Christmas with her family, we made a trip to Austin's 37th street lights display.

Also, shortly before Christmas Vic hosted a Coldplay watch party because they made an appearance on Austin City Limits. Since that point, I admit that I am now officially a big Coldplay fan, and am actually listening to their music right now :)

Christmas with Lisa's family was fun. Her relatives are particularly entertaining. We only spent a couple of days in Houston before coming back to Austin.

Then, we both went back out to Houston the next weekend after Lisa's mom had been diagnosed with lung cancer. I won't be able to do this story justice in this blog, but long story short Lisa's mom will need to undergo Chemo-therapy in a few weeks, but everything that we have heard so far sounds optimistic because her cancer has not spread and it is slow growing.

Finally - I am still coming off of the high that I experienced when Texas (Vince) roasted USC in the Rose Bowl. I still haven't gotten a t-shirt, but I plan to get one soon.

I hope my canadian accent made this blog more interesting for you - I know it did for me :)
posted by Logan 4 comments

Blue October at Stubb's - October 14th

Saturday, September 10, 2005

Lisa and I just got our tickets for the Blue October concert in October, and we are extremely excited! The last time I saw Blue October was September 3, 2004 and I think it has been almost that long since they last played a concert in Austin. I have some really high hopes for their new music that they have been working on all year, and I know this concert is gonna rock!

It looks like after they play at ACL Fest and Stubb's, they won't be performing again in Austin before they start a long national tour - so if you want to see them this year, then this is your last chance.

Stubb's website for purchasing the concert tickets:
http://www.stubbsaustin.com/music_calendar.php

Blue October's website:
http://www.blueoctoberfan.com/


posted by Logan 0 comments

Remembering New Orleans, from someone who has never been...

Sunday, September 04, 2005

It is so sad to see the great city of New Orleans take on water from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I can't claim that I haven't ever been to New Orleans, but the one time that I travelled there was for work and I didn't have time to see anything while I was there. Also, since I drove overnight to get there, I was so tired that I actually don't remember any of my trip - which is almost as good as having never been there. So, in honor of having never been to New Orleans I wanted to talk about the city that I wish I had a chance to see before it was claimed by the Mississippi.

Lisa has been to New Orleans - in fact she was born there, so to watch her birthplace drown under the power of Katrina has been tough for her. She recently showed me some of her original black & white photos of the city which I think are amazing and really captured the charm of New Orleans. So, as a part of my memory of New Orleans, here are pictures of places that I may never see again (at least not in the same way):

New Orleans Street Band


The French Quarters


Musician on the Mississippi


Lisa and I have been wanting to make a trip to New Orleans for some time now, and even considered going there this fall, partly as a way to justify seeing her Grandparents who live in Lafayette. Now, we will need to wait for the city to be rebuilt before heading back for a vacation. I am sure that the historic French Quarters and Bourbon street will likely be rebuilt quickly, and will hopefully be even a nicer place than before the hurricane to visit. So, although New Orleans won't ever be the same, it will hopefully be just as interesting to visit.

My thoughts are with everyone who can get out of New Orleans alive, and I hope that they find a way to rebuild their lives from the rubble that the Hurricane left for them, whether it is back in New Orleans or wherever else they plan to go.
posted by Logan 1 comments

Book Reviews - "Kite Runner", "Blink", and "Freakonomics"

Sunday, August 28, 2005

It's time for another book review - and considering that I am currently trying to tackle about 3000 pages worth of books at the same time right now (John Adams, Truman, and Texas) it could be a while before I get my next review out. It could be argued that reading books in this way isn't efficient, but only time will tell, right?

• "Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
  This book was fantastic in every possible way. The original reason that I picked up this book is because I was hoping to learn about the history of Afghanistan in the context of an interesting read. I did learn quite a bit about Afghanistan from a high-level, but the story didn't dive into as many of the details of the Taliban involvement as I was hoping. This book is about a boy who grew up in Afghanistan before the Taliban regime, and then escaped with his father to the US after the Taliban took over. So you get a feel for what instigated the change and how it affected the people there. The boy eventually grows up in the US and ends up travelling back to Afghanistan (you need to read the book to find out why he goes back), so you get to see vivid imagery through the eyes of the main character of the before and after state of the country as a result of the Taliban involvement.
  
  The emotional issues that the main character deals with is a central part of the book that in the end is truly inspiring. I give this book a solid two thumbs up.
  
  
• "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell:
  I haven't read "The Tipping Point" by this same author, but many people who I know in the marketing department at my company have read it and regularly make allusions to it, so I can only imagine that the ideas in the book are geared toward improving the way companies market their products. Not surprisingly, 'Blink' has the same underlying theme of doing case studies of several different products out there and how the decisions behind these products and why they were successful or why they failed. The premise of this book is that people's driving thoughts are often derived from their subconscious, and that subconsious thought is terribly complex, but extrememly powerful. This power is typically in the form of biasing someone's thoughts without that person even realizing that a bias is there. The power can also be in the accuracy and speed of the decisions made at a subconscious level vs. the conscious level. The book points out many different examples of people who acted on their 'hunches' as opposed to their logical reasoning, and how these 'hunches' played out in one way or another. The whole point of this book was to demonstrate that the way in which decisions about products are made needs to take into account this subconscious vs. conscious decision making distinction.
  
  The whole point of the book to me was a series of really interesting examples of product successes or follies that were attributed to some curious characteristics of the human decision-making capabilities. More than anything else, this book will arm you with some interesting stories to tell your family members and friends during conversations over your Thanksgiving dinner.
  
  
• "Freakonomics" by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner:
  "If morality represents an ideal world, then economics represents the actual world." This is a quote from the book that the author uses to justify why their findings tended to contradict conventional thought on various subjects. People want to believe that morality should be the driving force of our society, but the actual cause and effects in our society are going to be driven simply by incentives and supply/demand. These authors wanted to take various behaviours in our society that were typically explained through convential thought, and decided to quantify the true cause and effects that were in play. The subjects that they chose to talk about are ones that just about everyone can identify with to some degree:
  
  1. Why people steal or are dishonest. There is a really neat study about a guy who sold bagels to companies using the 'honor system' (he would set the bagels out and let people put money in a basket). This guy kept records of how often he would get 'cheated' and which companies would be most likely to cheat him. The end result was a study on morality and how honest people will cheat if they have the appropriate incentives. He extended this concept to cheating in sports, and Teachers who cheat as a result of the No Child Left Behind law.
     
  2. Why the Ku Klux Klan was so successful, and why Real Estate Agents often won't get you the best deal for your house.
     
  3. The economics of dealing drugs. How much does a typically drug dealer really make, and what is the motivation around becoming a drug dealer? This was an interesting study that really exposed the true nature of drug dealing and how it compares to legitimate corporations.
     
  4. Why legalizing abortion contributed more to the decline of crime in the 90s than any other possible cause? Obviously a controversial topic, but the author actually attempted to weigh the moral arguments in favor of banning abortion vs. legalizing it. Basically if abortion takes lives, and crime takes lives, and legalizing abortion reduces crime, then there must be a way to quantify which method actually contributes to fewer deaths. I won't try to put words in the authors mouth on this subject, so I encourage you to read the book yourself and make up your own mind.
     
  5. Finally, the author talks about parenting, and which factors of parenting contribute to success of the children later on? I don't think I entirely agreed with this section because I didn't agree with the way the author measured success. They tried too hard to quantify what success entailed, which I think is a much more vague concept. Since this was the final chapter, I personally thought it was a poor way to end the book.
  
  I actually liked this book quite a bit because it engaged some subjects in a way that caused me to open my eyes a bit more about various forms of conventional wisdom.
  

posted by Logan 0 comments

Seattle - the land of rain and coffee

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Note: I changed the location of my pictures, so all of our seattle pictures can be viewed here until I updated the links: Seattle Pics

Normally I cronologically organize my posts, but I figured I would organize my posts by topic this time so that you can skip to a new topic if you either get bored or offended :)

• Introduction
  June 16th through the 21st, Lisa and I made an impromptu trip to Seattle, and stayed in a Best Western next to the University of Washington, which the locals will call either "The U" or "U Dub" - no relation to Gee Dub Bush - especially in Seattle, which I will talk about in the politics section. Our plan was to spend a couple days checking out the two main national parks (Mount Rainier, and Olympic) and then spend a day checking out the city.
  
  
• Why did we go?
  Great question - and I am not totally sure myself how we picked Seattle, but here is my best shot. Lisa had some time to kill this summer and wanted to go somewhere, and I had some extra vacation to use. So, I had been to Seattle 3 times before and often bragged about how if the city had more sun and a lower cost of living, it would probably be the ideal place for me to live. Lisa wanted to see this "almost perfect" place, so she convinced me to make another trip up there. The summer is by far the best time of year to go, it was near our wedding anniversary, so we made the decision to just go.
  
  
• Coffee
  

  There are a hand-full of things that Seattle is universally known for, and coffee is definitely one of them. The legend is that there is an espresso shop on every corner, which is almost true - the truth is that are some corners that have two espresso shops! As much as I hate Starbuck's coffee, I really admire the fact that they pretty much revolutionized the coffee industry in the US to the point where I can enjoy a good cup of coffee almost anywhere I go. I of course drank way too much coffee while I was there - including a Latte from the original Starbucks which was located in the Pike's Market. I think Lisa had almost as much fun taking pictures of me with each cup of coffee as I did drinking the coffee.

  
  
  
• Politics
  If I had to pick two places in the US that were potical polar opposites of each other, I would have to pick Texas and Seattle. Austin doesn't entirely count as a part of Texas in this case because it is actually quite liberal. Seattle is so liberal that Republicans are so outcast that they are referred to as "underground conservatives" - and often need to hide their politcal views (i.e. support for Bush) for fear of attack from the liberals. So, the entire time we were in Seattle Lisa thought it would be fun to count the anti-bush bumper stickers, but when we counted probably more than 50 before reaching our hotel from the airport that got boring, so we instead decided to look for pro-bush bumper stickers. By the end of our trip our count of pro-bush stickers didn't even make it to our second hand! This place is sickeningly liberal - to the point where I felt as out of place there as I do in Texas! Texas is full of conservative republicans, while Seattle is full of liberal democrats - neither of which I identify with fully (I consider myself a liberal republican by the way).
  
  As liberal as Seattle is, you would think that they would have alot of progressive politics going on, but unfortunately the combination of liberal democrats has hindered their ability to accomplish anything that is very impressive. Lisa and I visited Fremont which is the hippie-liberal part of Seattle (picture South Congress in Austin). A lady stopped us and wanted us to sign a petition for banning indoor smoking. I said that we were from Austin, and by the way we already passed that law! The lady said "You are so lucky to live in Austin. That place is so much more progressive than Seattle".
  
  
• Fremont District (The center of the universe)
  

  This picture pretty much sums this district up - make sure to click on it so that you can see the full-sized version. This is the wierd liberal hippie part of Seattle that reminds me alot of south congress. Anyways, they happened to have their Summer Solstice festival the weekend we were there, so we got to see that part of Seattle at its best. The festival reminded us of the Pecan Street Fair in Austin, by the way.

  
  
  
• Food
  Coming Soon...
  
  
• Mount Rainier
  Coming Soon...
  
  
  
  
• Olympic National Park
  Coming Soon...
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Music
  Coming Soon...
  
  

posted by Logan 0 comments

"Houston, we have a problem..."

Thursday, June 09, 2005

The problem is too many roadtrips to Houston. My poor car already has 4000 miles on it, and half of those miles are from driving to Houston and back!

First trip to Houston in the new car... let's see, the weekend after purchasing the car we went to Houston for Rosa and Bryce's wedding. The drive was tolerable since Lisa and I spent most of the time trying to figure out how XM radio works, and exploring all the stations. For the record, I have not subscribed to XM radio - I simply get a 3 month free trial which is supposed to try and suck me in (but it never will!!!). The wedding was definitely worth the drive, it isn't often that you get to enjoy an open bar at weddings nowdays - fortunately our hotel was within walking distance of the wedding :)

The next trip to Houston was to hang out with Lisa's friends, Sarah and Skyler, for the weekend. We went to see the musical "Movin' Out", which was basically a bunch of crazy dancing to some classic Billy Joel songs. Not a bad way to spend the evening, but was it worth the drive to Houston.... probably not by itself; it was watching Lisa fall asleep during our game of poker that night that made the drive worthwhile.

Ok, next trip to Houston... Lisa's sister's (Julie's) graduation from Texas A&M (whoop!!) - just kidding, those whoop's just about drove me insane! 3 hours of reading names in the middle of nowhere, Texas, because Julie was near the end (Sargent was the last name). Then we drove to Houston to spend the evening with the Sargents. Was the graduation worth the trip... probably not; it was finding poison ivy in Lisa'a parent's backyard, and showing off my poison ivy scars from a few weeks earlier to her grandparents that made it all worthwhile.

Next trip to Houston... Lisa visiting her friend Sarah again.

All I have to say is that I could definitely do without Houston for a little while. Other than Houston I have only taken my car out of Austin to go to Burnet to attend Leadershape, to Rocky Hill for some Mountain Biking, and to Marble Falls just for the heck of it.

As of right now, I have decided that I need take my car out of Texas on a massive roadtrip and show it what the rest of the world is like. I don't know when this is going to happen, but it will be soon, I promise. This trip will most likely involve some mexican food in Santa Fe, some hiking in Durango, so swimming in Lake Powell, some off-roading in Canyonlands, and some sightseeing in Zion and Bryce. If you are with me, then post a comment to this thread and we will do it!

Viva Seis de Mayo
posted by Logan 0 comments