Home Dipu Massively Updated

If you've been paying attention, you've noticed I've been quietly adding new stuff in the left column of the home page of Home Dipu for the past few months. If not, welcome to the most massively massive update to Home Dipu in years, with 15 — count 'em, FIFTEEN — new albums! Also, welcome to Home Dipu version 2.2, now with 16% larger photos and 33% bigger thumbnails on new albums, plus a brand-new thumbnail grid! But wait, there's more! The biggest album ever, the long-overdue Alaska Cruise photos from 2005!

NEW STUFF: Alaska Cruise/Liu Wedding, Caroline Visits Austin, Omid's Birthday, St. Patrick's Day, Anita & John's Engagement Party, Super Bowl at Home Dipu, Andrew's Birthday, Anita's Birthday, Michelle B's Birthday, Trish's Birthday, New Year's Eve/Bob's 5-0, Bob's Birthday, Supper Club at Home Dipu, Cameron Visits Austin, Tom's Bachelor Party. WHEW!!

NAME INDEX NEWS: Brian becomes the first to scale 800 and maintains a comfortable lead for the #1 spot. Dipu (that's me) breaks 700, while Trish becomes the first gal to reach 600; the former #1 also moves up in rank for the first time in years as she passes Tim for 4th place. Anita tops 500, Kyle hits 300, and the Alaska Cruise helps both Matt K. (now in triple digits) and Barbara, who smashes 300 to sneak into the top 10 for the first time (knocking Amy K. to 11th).

This doesn't quite catch me up, but it's damn close now. So enjoy these literally hundreds of new photos, keep watching that left column for quiet updates, and as always ... enjoy!

http://homedipu.com

Life Without A/C

Friday afternoon, my air conditioning stopped cooling. Right before the weekend. Great timing. And with a heat wave of 100+ degree temps forecast. The service company didn't think they could squeeze me in before late Saturday evening, if not Sunday. This wasn't very encouraging.

Overnight, the temperature inside got up to 87 degrees, but with the ceiling fans and a floor fan running, it wasn't as bad as it sounds. I left mid-morning to go to Alan's monthly writers' group meeting, although I felt bad about leaving the cats in the house with no a/c. I kept telling myself that outdoor cats would be in that heat all the time, so it should be okay.

But then ... a miracle! While I was at the writers' meeting, the service company called and said a repairman could be at my house in 30 minutes. I raced home from south Austin, and within about 20 minutes, it was fixed. Turned out, the outside condenser fan had stopped running because the motor was going bad. He showed me how to reset a switch that gets tripped when the fan stops, and how to use a stick or a saw blade (yes, a saw blade) to push the fan and get it going again.

I've known for months that it was time to replace the entire HVAC system, so I figured this was the push I needed. I made an appointment to get an estimate on Monday; the repair guy charged me a nominal service fee and went on his way.

Except ... before the house got below 83 degrees, the fan stopped again. All the sticks I tried broke before they got the fan moving. And even the saw blade didn't help; the fan would move a little and then stop. Needless to say, I was pissed. And it was already mid-afternoon, so the service company couldn't fit me in again until ... well, they didn't even say when.

Earlier, Michelle had offered the use of her apartment pool if I needed to escape my house and cool off. As I was only getting more and more pissed at home, I clearly needed to get away for awhile. And I knew she was already at the pool. So I took off and joined her poolside. It may not make a ton of sense to go lay out in 100-degree rays to cool off (we never actually got in the pool), but it was way better than sitting at home. Barbara eventually joined us, and then we escaped to the air conditioning of Michelle's apartment, where I stayed soaking up the cool air (and eating the stir fry for three that Michelle made) until I had to leave to go to my play. Yes, I'm in a play ... which explains the lack of posts over the past month. More on that next post.

When I got home late that night after the play, it was 88 in the house. Outside, it was starting to cool into the upper 70s, so I opened up a few windows to try to draw in some cooler air. However, I don't like sleeping with open windows. And I didn't want to turn on lights or the TV or the desktop computer and add heat into the house, so I stayed up till 2 am, doing nothing but laying on the sofa, until the house cooled down to 84 degrees. Then I woke up early Sunday morning to open up the windows for a couple hours.

Sunday was the worst. The high was 103. The service company never called, and all I could do was leave voice mail at an automated system. The day dragged on as the temperature climbed. I tried putting a big bowl of ice in front of the floor fan, but it didn't seem to make much difference. Finally, late in the afternoon, I met Michelle and Barbara for a movie. I thought the theater a/c would do me good, but I felt a bit sick instead. I think I was overheated from spending all day in my house. I didn't feel better until halfway through the play that night, but then I got overheated again when I went for a late dinner afterwards with Tom, Virginia, Craig, and Suzanne and we sat outside.

Then, by the time I got home, it was 90 in my house. At 11 pm. And outside, it wasn't cooling off enough either, so opening the windows did nothing. All the fans running brought it down to ... 89. Somehow I fell asleep on the sofa for about an hour, waking up with sweat pouring down my face. Nice.

It was now 12:30 am. It was still hot even outside. No breeze. I walked around my front yard for a few minutes, then sat on my back patio in a lounge chair and tried to sleep. No dice. A tree roach raced across the porch. A tiny toad jumped onto the chair next to me. All sorts of things were rustling around in the dark, but with the porch light on, nothing ventured near. Still, it was doing me no good. So I went back in.

Now past 1 am, I was feverishly trying to figure out what to do. Find a hotel at this hour? What about the cats? Did I dare call any of my friends to ask if I could crash on their couch? Who should I call? I ran through the list of all those who live closest to me, but I couldn't bring myself to bother anyone.

Finally, around 2 am, I decided to try the outside condenser fan one last time. So I went out, saw and flashlight in hand to try to push that damn fan back to life. And ... it ran. And kept running. So I went inside and sat in a cool spot as the house cooled down to a balmy 87.

And then the cooling stopped. So I sat on the sofa and waited 15 minutes. Then I went outside again and successfully restarted the fan. Each time I did this, the fan would run for up to 20 minutes before I had to go outside again. I imagine the sight of a guy carrying a saw and flashlight at 3 am would be cause for alarm.

"Fixing" the condenser fan (saw teeth pointed away from the fan blade)
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I repeated this pattern for the next 2 hours until the house was down to 82. Then, at 4 am, I turned off the a/c and went to bed.

I woke up at 7 am and got ready for work. I decided to work from home after lunch. The house had only warmed to 84, and I was able to use the restarting method successfully each time the cooling stopped. Outside, it warmed up to 103 again, but then some clouds and, I assume, a front rolled in and it dropped into the low 80s outside. So that helped a ton. I was able to stay comfortable all afternoon long until the sales rep came over to give me an estimate on a new system.

So now tomorrow (Tuesday), I'm getting the entire system replaced. Brand-spanking new everything. It'll take all day, and I'll work from home even though it's likely to get hot inside, but I would like to be around for it.

But it's interesting to learn what you take for granted. Central air, for one thing. I know millions of people live in 90-degree conditions all over the world with no artificial cooling. Yet I could barely stand one night. Also, I started thinking about what gives off heat in the house. I haven't run the dishwasher in days because the drying cycle will likely heat things up in the house. The amplifier connected to my TV gets very warm. The desktop spits out some warm air from time to time. My 100-watt floor lamp? Forget it! Only the dim light gets used for now. So I've watched less TV these past few days, though I couldn't stay off the computer for more than one night.

So, by tomorrow evening, I should have a space-age, energy-efficient, quieter, finally-equipped-with-a-standard-filter-size (who the hell makes a 10" x 36" air intake grill???), brand-spanking-new HVAC system.

Whew.

Six Man Premiere: The Pampering

Jumping back to the Six Man, Texas premiere at the AFI Dallas film festival in late March, last noted in this entry...

Our premiere was that Saturday afternoon, with the red carpet event that evening. On Sunday, Tom and I met Alan and Mike at the filmmakers' lounge in the Victory Park building, near where the Dallas Mavericks play. We were to spend the day doing all the press interviews that AFI Dallas had set up. Actually, Alan and Mike were to do that (and you can see one interview here), but Alan had hoped to get me and Tom involved as well. However, they only wanted to interview two people, so Tom and I hung around the lounge for a few hours and got to learn what it was like to be a semi-pampered star.

Well, okay, not really. But we took advantage of the free stuff. One room had nice flat panels with Guitar Hero set up; unfortunately, they closed off that room before we could partake. But there were plenty of munchies, courtesy the festival's biggest sponsor, Target. Can you see their logo here?

Yes, even the Target logos are filled with candy
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Each of those drawers held a different treat, whether red hots, mint chocolate, chips of exotic flavors like Jamaican jerk, power bars, even gummi targets:

Yes, Target made gummi targets
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Of course, all the food was Target's brand Archer Farms. They also had Cokes, bottled water, and bottled iced teas. Okay, not terribly exciting, but it was fun to eat and drink the free stuff while we waited for Alan and Mike.

Then we discovered the pool hall. Well, one table. But it was early enough in the day that Tom and I had it all to ourselves:

Yes, even the pool table was branded by Target
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Yes, I'm going to start each caption with "Yes" even if it's me shooting pool
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Yes, that's the view of the Plaza outside the filmmakers' lounge
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So that was fun for awhile.

But now for some T&A. Because in the Plaza below, there was an Amazon army of shapely plant women:

Yes, plant women!!
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What a view on the other side of that window, eh?
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Are those real?
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So imagine our disappointment when, upon closer examination, we realized these plant women weren't real plants. They weren't made of ivy growing into a carefully controlled shape. The plant women are all plastic plants. The illusion was shattered; the plant women were as plastic as a Hollywood actress. Heh, holly. Anyway...

A new form of ID

A few weeks ago, I took my new computer (another blog in and of itself) to the Apple Store to get a Wi-Fi card installed. The store that's barely 2 miles from my house had no stock, so I had to go to the store in the mall ... and lug the 42-pound machine in from the parking lot to boot. Coincidentally, Trish was going to the same mall with her nieces and her sister Kristi. And she just happened to have a dolly in her car as well. So I met them at the mall, borrowed the dolly, and rolled my system in to the store, no sweat. I left the computer there and joined the girls to kill some time until it was ready.

I didn't rejoin Trish's gang until just after they'd finished eating at the food court. However, they had ... drum roll ... leftovers! For me! And Kayla and Kensie (the nieces, 12 and 9) had packaged them up and personalized the to-go box with my name and theirs. Plus, Kensie drew a turtle that she named Dipu. And you can tell that they didn't know how to spell my name at first. But I guess they know now!

Who says there's no such thing as a free meal?
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So, at the end of the evening, I went back to the Apple Store, leftovers in hand, to pick up my computer. And here we ran into a slight problem. The guy who I'd been dealing with had already left, so no one knew who I was. So they asked for my ID. No big deal, I showed them my driver's license. Whoops.

You may or may not be aware that Dipu is my nickname, not my full name. So while I use Dipu with friends or at work and places like that, for anything official, like paychecks, credit cards, or, in this case, my driver's license, it ain't Dipu. Problem was, when I made the appointment to drop off my computer, I used Dipu, thinking it was all very informal. And normally it is. But since the guy who knew me was gone, I had no proof I was Dipu. (Which he misspelled anyway, incidentally). No proof that was my computer.

Then I realized I was holding a box of food that said Dipu. So I showed it to the guy. Because really, what are the odds I'd just happen to be carrying leftovers with the same unusual name written on it as the misspelled name that sounded the same on the paperwork the guy had filled out?

That was good enough for them. I got my now wireless-enabled computer and polished off the identifying leftovers at home!

(One aside: The food they got was from the Japanese restaurant in the food court that is sometimes staffed by Indonesians. I blogged about that a few years ago in The Layoff Times here. In that same entry, I also blogged about running into local anchor Ron Oliveira in a store. And the previous time I'd gone shopping with Trish, Kristi, Kayla, and Kensie, we ran into Oliveira in a store. Yes, it's a stretch to compare the one day I ate at that restaurant and also saw Oliveira with eating at that restaurant and seeing Oliveira on two separate but consecutive occasions with the exact same group of girls. But hey, at least this is a totally new entry...)

Six Man Premiere: On the Red Carpet

Okay, this week I'll be blogging a bit belatedly about the Six Man, Texas premiere at the AFI Dallas film festival on March 29.

We didn't know until just a couple of days before the film's premiere that we'd get to take part in a red carpet event. The festival held a number of these red carpet events at numerous theaters throughout the opening weekend. It was a short red carpet, and it didn't lead into the theater, but hey, I'll take it! Our red carpet event was in the evening, and Six Man had already premiered a few hours earlier. So it was a tiny bit odd in that we weren't heading into the premiere from there because our thing was already done. But hey, we still got to walk it!

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any celebrities. Someone said Mischa Barton was on the red carpet we had been on, but an hour later, so that's as close as we came to anyone marginally famous. I guess our time on the red carpet was for the documentary group, so ... lots of unknowns. Including, of course, us.

And I was clearly not a professional. When you see a Hollywood star going down a red carpet, they don't usually have 2-3 cameras themselves, busily snapping shots and shooting videos of their fellow carpetgoers and even the phalanx of photographers and reporters. But, shockingly, I had multiple cameras and was happily taking shots of our group and getting shots of me taken on the red carpet. Geek alert, I even snapped one shot on my iPhone so that I could send a "live" shot from the red carpet via email. And I was filming from time to time. And I was even carrying my laptop, because director/producer Alan had hoped to use it for a slideshow presentation right after the red carpet. Turned out I coulda left it at home. Oh well.

And, for the record, I wasn't the only carpetgoer snapping shots from the red carpet. A number of people behind us were brazenly doing so as well.

Our group on the red carpet consisted of Alan, Mike (the editor) and his wife, Tom, some of the guys from the main football team featured in film, and me. Most of the time, we all milled around behind Alan while he was interviewed by various reporters from outlets like AT&T U-verse. Mike finally got to be interviewed halfway through, and Tom got a couple of minutes at the very end of the phalanx. I got to walk the carpet with the group and have my photo taken ... and to return the favor.

Tom and I were the only ones in our group in suits. Tom thought it'd be best to be dressed up, so after the film premiere was over, we rushed to his in-laws' house to change. But we weren't fast enough, and so we missed the first few minutes on the red carpet, as well as one group shot. But we still made the video highlights! (see below).

It seemed at least a few of us felt a kind of childish glee while we were on the red carpet. Certainly, I did. For nearly half an hour, we could pretend we were important and famous. Being in a suit helped that illusion too, so I didn't regret missing the first few minutes.

So, that was my brief experience on the my first-ever red carpet event. But what's that? You want proof I was really there? Okay, here are a couple of stills from the official AFI Dallas Day 3 video highlights. In this first still, Tom, Mike, and I, as well as others from our group, are standing at the back next to the logoed wall on the red carpet as Alan is being interviewed at the railing. Tom and I are in the very back; we're the ones wearing suits. Tom's head is shaved, by the way. I'm the guy in the suit juggling, what else, multiple cameras.

We're on the red carpet!
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Below, that's me in the top right corner heading out of frame with my laptop bag.

Me on the red carpet!
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To see the actual video, click here  and scroll down to the Day 3 highlights, or click here for the direct link.

What's that? This pixelly footage doesn't prove to you that I was really there? Okay, how about these shots:

Our team on the red carpet
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A celebrity's point of view: The view from on the red carpet
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Alan being interviewed by the waiting phalanx of reporters
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Absolute proof of me on the red carpet!
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Uncle Fester? (Yes, that's Tom)
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More stories and photos from Dallas to come later this week!

Who says you can't vote twice?

Okay, this is a post I meant to write 2 weeks ago on. On March 4, Texas held its Republican and Democratic primaries. I never cared about these before because in my voting lifetime, it's never really mattered. Not in Texas, anyway. The nominees for both parties seemed to be pretty much set by the time it got to us, so our delegate selection never seemed to have any effect on the outcome.

Not so this year, at least as far as the Democrats were concerned. With a race this close, where every single delegate is crucial, suddenly Texas was showered with media attention. I'd never seen the national media cover the Texas primaries before. Not like this. Hell, even during presidential races, we don't get much coverage because we're not a swing state. So it was amazing to see so much time devoted to dissecting the potential Texas vote. And I wasn't just getting messages on my answering machine from local candidates ... I got a messages from Bill Clinton himself! AND Hillary! And both Barack AND Michelle Obama ... separately! They personally called me themselves!! ........ through proxies who recorded them and then set up some sort of robocalling machine.

I myself had paid so little attention to our primaries in the past that I didn't even know Texas has a caucus too. In fact, I only learned about it about 2 weeks before the primary -- er, primary/caucus.

But caucus or not, I knew I was going to vote in a primary for the first time ever. Turned out tons of people had the same idea. I tried early voting, but the lines were out into the parking lot. So I waited till the actual election day.

Though I voted in the Democratic primary, I looked at the sample ballot for the Republicans too. What surprised me was how many people were listed on the GOP presidential ballot. Not just some of the candidates from the very beginning of this race who lasted as long as a fruit fly, like Duncan Hunter, but people I'd never heard of. Hoa Tran? Hugh Cort? Rudy Giuliani? (okay, just kidding there; I ain't THAT dumb).

So I cast my electronic vote and went off to work, but that evening, I went back for the caucus. (I was even a good Austinite and walked to the elementary school in my neighborhood that serves as my polling place). It was supposed to start at 7:15 pm, but with the caveat that the caucus couldn't start until the last person in line at 7 pm finished voting in the primary. I arrived just after 7 and found a school cafeteria packed with people:

Just some of the precinct crowd
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And yet in that crowd, I ran into a friend of mine from my Daily Texan days back in college. Not only does he live in my neighborhood, but he also became a tech writer. We've worked in some of the same places or with the same professional organizations (namely, STC), but never at the same time, although we were aware of these near misses. But it took the Democratic primary for our paths to cross again for the first time in years.

By 7:45 pm, the level of disorganization was starting to wear on some people. Primary voting had run late, they had trouble getting the tables set up, and people were growing impatient. And like a stereotypical Democrat, our precinct captain was going a bit overboard in trying to accommodate people. Rather than just making a decision like, "Okay, we'll do this in order of last name," he had to gauge the mood of the crowd to make sure the will of the people was done. As many people as possible needed to be accommodated. No, this was not meeting protocol; the meeting hadn't even started yet. No minutes were being taken. This was simply while we were waiting to begin.

When we finally got three tables set up to start the caucus voting (one for Obama, one for Clinton, and one for uncommitted), of course, he was still very aware of being as sensitive as possible to the needs of everyone. So, the first in line were people with kids, the elderly, the disabled. Which is perfectly fine with me. But everything he said came out like a suggestion rather than a decision. So, lots of people weren't sure what we were supposed to do. Confusion reigned. Any Republicans in the room probably pointed at this and said, "See? Democrats can't govern!"

To be fair, they've probably never dealt with this many people voting in a caucus before, and it seems that no matter how high the turnout predictions were, the actual turnout was higher than anyone could've prepared for.

Some people started leaving. But I stuck it out to see the process unfold. Basically, you lined up at the table for Obama, Clinton, or uncommitted. Once you signed in, you could leave, and your signature would count toward your choice's caucus delegate count. Which is separate from the vote you cast in the primary, which would count toward your choice's delegate count from the primary. Geez.

The Obama line was twice as long as the Clinton line at first. Clinton's line then grew to almost match Obama's, but by the end, it was all Obama again. Still, everyone was very cordial. Our precinct captain, who expressed his preference for Hillary when someone asked him, said that regardless of his preference, he would support whichever candidate was the nominee in the fall, which got a big round of applause from both sides. I think most precincts were nice and peaceful like this, though Tom says his precinct had uncooperative Clintonites who were being stubborn in the hopes that Obama supporters would get tired and leave. But in mine, we were one big happy family.

After all the sign-ins were done, we elected a permanent precinct chair and secretary, whose terms were to last all the way to ... the end of that week. We elected the precinct captain to the precinct chair office, since although the process had been slow and disorganized, at least he was active in the party, was experienced, and knew the rules. Two Obamans and one Clintonite ran for secretary; one of the Obamans won. Meanwhile, the caucus sign-ins were tallied, and we ended up with a total of 333 valid caucus votes. Of those, Obama won 62% of the vote. That meant Obama got something like 25 delegates to the county convention from our precinct, and Clinton got 17. These aren't the delegates that go into the count for the nomination, though. In fact, I'm so confused now, I can't remember how that figures into the caucus delegate count.

And no, I didn't vote for the "cool kid," though I do expect that he'll be the one leading the ticket in November and I'll happily vote for him then. Like my precinct captain, I'm not gonna throw my party to the wolves like some have threatened to do just because my candidate probably won't be the nominee.

Then we broke into two groups to choose our county convention delegates. But you had to choose twice as many county delegates, because you need one alternate for each delegate. I knew I had to play tennis on the day of the county convention, so I ended up volunteering to be an alternate instead. (By this time, so many people had left that nearly everyone in the room had to volunteer to be either a delegate or an alternate).

After that came the reading/debating/passing/rejecting of about 42 resolutions, on topics ranging from the drug war to Iraq to health care. As that continued dragging on past 10:30 pm, I finally walked home.

So, I voted twice that day. Who knew that was legal? I won't be going to the county convention, though, because it's a week from Saturday ... the same day that Six Man, Texas will have its world premiere at the AFI Dallas film festival!! So, sorry democracy ... movie premieres come first...

Home Dipu updated!

Okay, pasting in text from the front page of my website is a cop-out as far as posts go, but I'll try to be a lot better with new entries this week. Meanwhile...

Home Dipu is updated!

Okay, to be fair, I did upload a bunch of new stuff last year, I just didn't make it official on this page ... and suddenly it's March. So here are those "old" new photo albums along with a new new photo album. I'll continue quietly updating here and there, so check the left column on this page periodically for the newest stuff.

NEW STUFF: The Johns at Jovita's, the Chamberlain-Hemstreet Wedding Reception, Carolyn & Ward's Baby Shower, Amy & Omid's Housewarming, Austin City Limits Music Festival, My Birthday, Wurstfest in New Braunfels, Andrew & Liz's Baby Boy!, Tom Chamberlain's 40th Birthday Roast DVD Trailer.

NAME INDEX NEWS: Brian maintains his lead for #1 over Tom. Also, Bob breaks the 400 barrier and Virginia tops 200. Anita and Omid continue their back-and-forth battle; this time, Anita retakes 6th place. Plus, two newcomers — welcome John and Michelle B. (the 2nd Michelle in a row to be added) to the index!

Bob's Hawaii 5-0

As you may have heard, Bob turned the big 5-0 on New Year's Eve. To celebrate Bob's 50th, we threw a, what else, Hawaii Five-O themed party. As part of the festivities, Tom shot new footage to edit into the Hawaii Five-O opening credits.

If you're lucky (or maybe unlucky), in a later entry I'll post my rendition of "Tiny Bubbles" as Don Ho from that party. But for now, please enjoy these behind-the-scenes photos I took on our video shoot, followed by the original Hawaii Five-O opening credits and Tom's revised version for Bob's birthday celebration:

Tom directs Kyle
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Tim runs
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Dipu mad!!!
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Notice Kyle's footwear
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Original opening credits
Click to play

Tom's version
Click to play

In hot water ... and cold

Okay, so I'm probably one of the last to post something in the new year. Today's won't be terribly profound or anything, but I figure I should get something posted. So, while some like Lisa, Trish and Brian, and Anita are all dealing with the excitement and perils of building new houses or renovating, during my 3 weeks of unemployment in November, I did some remodeling of my own. Well, fixing. On a slightly smaller scale.

Okay, I only replaced a bathroom faucet. In my spare bathroom. Which I hardly ever use.

Whoooo.

I couldn't do it completely by myself either. While trying to remove the old faucet, one of the water pipes refused to budge. And I couldn't pull on the faucet while also being underneath the sink to see what I was doing. Fortunately, I knew Barbara was out running errands, so she was able to help pry it loose.

I did manage to install the new faucet by myself. This was one of the main accomplishments of my short unemployment, and it only took about an hour, most of which was trying to get the stuck pipe to release its 25-year grip on the old faucet. Still, considering that this faucet has been leaking for the past, oh, I dunno, 4-5 years, and that because of the leak, I had the water to that faucet shut off except when I had people over, rendering that sink unusable most of the time ... well, it's just nice to have a working faucet in that bathroom all the time again. Especially a nice brushed-metal faucet. Now I just have to replace all the rest of the ugly-ass '70s-era shit around the faucet.

So, the before and after shots:

Old faucet...
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New faucet!!
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Mood-o'-lantern

My mood before I went to work Monday morning:

My mood after:

Home Dipu updated

Five months since the last update on the main site. Yikes. Where did the time go? Never meant to go this long. I have a big backlog to post over the next few weeks, so keep checking back regularly and I'll have more frequent updates. In the meantime, here are a few new albums from this summer.

NEW PHOTO ALBUMS: Tim's Birthday, Matt's Birthday, the Chamberlain-Hemstreet Wedding, Brian's Birthday.

NAME INDEX NEWS: Brian breaks the tie for #1 and opens up a lead over Tom as both of them shatter the 700 barrier. Meanwhile, Trish tops 500, and Amy K. hits the 300s. Also, Omid retakes 6th place from Anita. And welcome Michelle K. to the index!

More in a few weeks...

http://homedipu.com

Perfect weather

While I prefer a Texas summer to a frozen northern winter, what I really live for are these perfect spring and fall days. Deep blue cloudless skies, a gentle breeze carrying just a hint of coolness. Like today, sitting by a manmade waterfall just loud enough to drown out the distant sounds of traffic, above a tree-lined valley, watching butterflies flit chaotically past. This is my ideal relaxing break, whether for a few minutes during the workday or for a few days' escape on vacation. The early summer trip to Tahoe delivered too few of these days before a Texas-style heat wave pressed down on the region. But today (Friday), just leaning back in this weather, letting my thoughts drift while surrounded by The Blueness ... this is the life...

P.S. I took this photo with my iPhone...

The Blueness
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Fire at ACL Fest

Barbara and I were the first of our group to arrive at Zilker Park for Day 1 of the ACL Fest early Friday afternoon. As we were waiting in line to get in, a huge column of smoke started rising from somewhere inside the park. At first we thought it might be the Zilker train, because the smoke was kinda brown like exhaust. But then as the smoke column grew larger and higher, the smoke became blacker and blacker. That's never a good sign. Yet there were barely any signs of reaction from the crowd. Other than, "Hey, look at that." And from inside the park? The music kept going and no one was screaming or running or panicking. Still, we questioned whether we should be heading into a large but enclosed area ... with few exits ... with a massive crowd ... toward a fire.

Fire engines drove into the park and out of sight. The smoke kept billowing in huge dark clouds. It looked like a tornado. And apparently at some point in the few minutes between when Babs and I entered the park and Trish and Brian did, they closed the entrance briefly.

I was going to title this post a bit more flippantly, something like "Burn, Baby, Burn," but that was before I learned that four people had been burned, two critically enough that they were lifeflighted to the burn center in San Antonio. You can read some news coverage here.

So rather than covering Day 1 of ACL, here's a photo and a couple of videos of a very strange and somewhat tragic start to the festival:

Yep, that's a fire behind Barbara
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"Okay, I think it IS a fire..." (I have keen powers of observation)
Click to play video


"Nuthin' But Trouble" (An unfortunate juxtaposition with the song)
Click to play video

Deja vu

Okay, I missed posting on Saturday, but I have a very, very good reason. I was working most of the day to finish the videos for Tom and Virginia's wedding reception, and I didn't get home till 3 am.

As some of you know, we held a roast for Tom's 40th birthday in 2003 at the McBeth Recreation Center in Zilker Park. That went so well, Tom and Virginia chose the same location for this party. In 2003, this is how I spent much of the party:

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And here I am on Saturday, 4 1/2 years later:

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Note that while those laptops look similar, that's actually the successor to my iBook, my new MacBook, in the second photo. And I only had to run the multimedia show for about 20 minutes this time instead of during the whole shebang. And here's one of the videos I showed that night, the trailer for Tom and Virginia's wedding:

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Tahoe Wildlife, Part 3

I was tempted to go to bed early tonight when I realized uh oh, I haven't blogged yet. Damn! So here I am, living up to my self-imposed Week of Blogging.

So, Tahoe Wildlife, Part 3? Just how many more photos of birds and squirrels can I post?! Well, fear not, no more animals this time. Well, no feathered or four-legged or insectoid ones. This time, it's wild life, two words. Or party animals. Or at least, the best that passed for us being party animals on this trip.

We didn't drink anywhere near as much as we thought we would over the course of the week, but there was our second night in Tahoe, when we took a sunset champagne catamaran cruise on the lake. An all-you-can-drink champagne cruise. And I took that to heart most of all for some reason. After that, we went to the Cabo Wabo restaurant for dinner at one of the casinos, where Michelle K. and I each ordered what turned out to be massively strong drinks. Everyone was in a good mood, in various stages of buzzes (good sport Matt had volunteered to be the designated driver, but he seemed to have a good time nonetheless), but no one was more hammered than me or Michelle. You know the alcohol is flowing freely when 9 photos of people sitting around a table are snapped in just a couple of minutes.

Clearly, we're not in our 20s anymore, as this was the only time on the trip that we really partied hard. Oh well. The price of maturity, I guess. Nevertheless, here are the photos from that one standout night, which are pretty much self-explanatory:

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Tahoe Wildlife, Part 2

At long last, the continuation of my excerpts of Tahoe wildlife photos (see Part 1 here)! So, without further ado:

A closeup of a Steller's jay, perched and alert in a tree near our resort suite:

Alert Steller's jay
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Part 1 showed you the local chipmunks. Here's one of the local squirrels, which are brown with gray necks:

Tahoe squirrel
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Tahoe squirrel
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One afternoon, Barbara and I hiked up the mountain trail from our resort. This was the only time I saw this gray and white bird, and only from a distance. And it didn't stick around long enough for me to get my telephoto lens on, so this is the best shot I got:

Gray and white bird in a dead tree
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Also ran across this fat pudgy bird while on our hike:

Fat pudgy bird
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Back at our suite, while relaxing on the balcony, Lisa and I spotted this big ant crawling around in the sunlit areas. Upon closer inspection, we realized it was carrying a piece of bacon, dropped by someone during breakfast:

Bacon-loving ant
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Another Steller's jay (they were all over), this one in silhouette:

Silhouetted Steller's jay
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But here come the predators! Or at least the scavengers. These were probably vultures, though they look like birds of prey from a distance. So, not very exotic; I can see birds like this in Austin. As with most of the wildlife shots, this was seen from our suite's balcony. Of course, keep in mind this was taken with a telephoto:

Vulture hovers
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Trio of vultures
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And can I just say, my God was the sky so deep, deep blue at our resort! Way bluer than it was even by Lake Tahoe itself! That extra 1300 feet of elevation made a huge difference.

On our last full day in Tahoe, I went off hiking by myself up the mountain our suite was on. It was only then that I stumbled upon my most colorful wildlife finds of the entire trip. I don't know what these birds are, but they were having a feast of insects:

A male ... something
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A yellow-throated whatsit
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Colorful male something with insect
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Colorful male something with insect
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Colorful male something with insect
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Less colorful female something
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And finally, I leave this update with yet another shot of the bird I saw most, though this was the closest I got to one; this Steller's jay landed on our balcony in the wee hours of the morning shortly before we left for home:

Steller's jay
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Part 3 of Tahoe Wildlife coming, yes, tomorrow! Not next week or next month, tomorrow!

Tahoe Wildlife, Part 1

Just prior to the Lake Tahoe trip a few weeks ago, I finally bit the bullet and replaced my trusty old 35mm SLR camera with a digital SLR. So this week, I'll post a selection of photos with the new camera from the trip. Of course, many of these photos will eventually end up on Home Dipu proper, but in the meantime, here's a preview.

Today's selection covers a sampling of the wildlife we ran into. And while I'm on the subject of wildlife, don't forget to check out Tom's BirdBrains of Austin blog, which he's updating regularly!

First, a really fat chipmunk, one of many living just outside our resort building:

Fat, fat chipmunk
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And part of the reason why he's probably fat (courtesy a donut tossed down by Michelle):

Mmmmmm, donut...
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We stepped out of the garage in our building and literally nearly ran into this tiny lost deer. As I quickly focused to take this photo, I realized that I was looking through a small viewfinder at a creature that was barreling in a panic in my general direction, and that that was probably not the smartest thing I could be doing:

Look out!
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Fortunately, the deer wasn't SO panicked that he ran blindly; he knew enough to flee well in front of us:

Barbara watches as the deer flees down the hill
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Heading for safety
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Here's a lone solitary raven we spotted in the distance near our resort:

Lone raven
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But not solitary for long:

Raven love
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A wounded raccoon accosted the cleaning crew as they left our suite:

Masked bandit
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And of course, Michelle fed it a donut:

Mmmmm, donut...
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I zoomed way in for a shot of this tiny green fly:

Green fly
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A squirrel in silhouette outside our suite:

Tahoe squirrel
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Steller's jays (like blue jays with black hoods) were the most common bird I saw outside our balcony:

Steller's jay
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Steller's jay in flight
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Steller's jay in flight
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Stay tuned for more Tahoe photos later this week!

Home Dipu updated

Forgot to mention this a couple weeks ago:

05/18/07
This update is a bit overdue, but it includes lots of hippies, a nepotistic Super Bowl pool, an Easter buffet, and a concert at a legendary venue. Lucky J.M. gets his second spotlight photo in a row as The Johns, for whom J.M. plays bass, scored a gig at Antone's nightclub.

NEW PHOTO ALBUMS: The Johns at Antone's, Easter at Anita's, Marc's Farewell Party at Amy & Omid's, Super Bowl at Tim's.

NAME INDEX NEWS: Brian and Tom continue chasing each other at the top of the charts, and right now, the #1 spot goes to ... both of them! Yes, they're tied! Also, Marc passes 100 with his farewell party.

Peruse away!

http://homedipu.com

Peachy keen

When I first started actually working in my yard about 5-6 years ago, one of the first things I did was plant a peach tree. Actually, the label said it was a nectarine tree, but fuzzy fruit don't lie. Surprisingly, the scrawny tree bore three small but tasty peaches a few months after I planted it. And the following year it produced a bounty of 20+ tiny but sweet peaches. But I made the mistake of taking the entire crop to a barbecue, and so I only got to eat one myself. But, I figured, there's always next year.

So of course the next year, the tree didn't even fruit. And I only got a couple of scrawny ones the next year that didn't have enough meat to eat. But last year, my tree was back in business. Blooms aplenty. It looked to be a banner year.

And then came the hail. So much for the blooms. The promising crop was reduced to three very good but very lonely peaches.

Which brings us to this year. We had one of the driest Februaries on record in Austin history. On the other hand, the other months have been surprisingly wet. I've barely had to water my new grass sod. I've never seen my lawn this deep green. And my peach tree is laden with fruit:

Peaches galore!
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Peaches galore!
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This evening, I picked 20 peaches off the tree! And there's still plenty more left on the tree; I only picked the ones that had some red already. I probably plucked some a little early, but I didn't want to take any chances:

The fruits of my labor
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There are a few mutants, like this unbalanced buttcrack one:

Mutant #1
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Or these Siamese twins:

Joined at birth
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But most were normal like this:

Normal!
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Some will require carving around holes where something got in already, but many are surprisingly intact. I'll let them ripen in the kitchen a couple days before I dig in. And I may have only picked half the crop as it is. Can't wait to try them this weekend!

Office Vista

No, this isn't about any Microsoft products. The best thing about my last job -- other than actually having a paycheck again -- was the view. Not so much from the office building itself, but from the parking garage. I'd often take breaks in the afternoon and go stand in one of the upper levels of the garage, looking out over the 360 Bridge and the river nestled in the foothills of the Hill Country. It was more or less the same view we had the first few years I was at NI way back when, but I guess I took it for granted back then.

My new job is a few miles farther west into these foothills. Sure, nothing impressive compared to real mountains, but hey, I grew up in Houston. The only hills we have there are called overpasses. This office building is only 3 stories high, but it rests right next to a dropoff into a mini-gorge and has a huge balcony overlooking this gorge (gorgette?). So even though it's only the 3rd floor, it feels much higher because much of the landscape is so much farther beneath you. Plus, it's spring, so you can stand out there and absorb the view while listening to a symphony of birds chirping away. Or you can watch the raptors gliding silently overhead, circling for prey.

So no, this isn't the view from my cube, but that's probably for the best, as I wouldn't get any work done if it were. But this relaxing vista is just a short 30-second walk away, and it sure beats staring out at a parking lot or corporate campus...

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A Sod Story II

This isn't an exciting topic, but it's something. Almost two years ago, I successfully resodded my front yard. I was all set to do the back yard last year, but given that I was still laid off, I postponed it. Early this month, I went ahead with that delayed plan despite not having a job again (though I thought I'd be starting one soon).

Originally I was going to invite friends over for a sod party, having them help me lay the sod in exchange for beer and pizza or whatever. But I ordered too late to have the sod delivered on the weekend, so I just did it all myself over the course of a few weekdays (yes, fellow unemployed Tom offered to help, but I figured I should go it alone). Here are some hastily stitched-together panoramic shots of my progress:

First, my back yard before any work, full of weeds and wild grasses:

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I used my electric tiller (seen in the middle) to till the entire back yard in preparation for the sod:

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I ordered two pallets of St. Augustine grass, which covered the main part of the back yard and even some of the front that I hadn't gotten to two years ago:

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After a couple of days hauling grass with my wheelbarrow, my back yard had grass again!

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Raising the roof

As I mentioned last week, I helped Tom fix a hole at the edge of my roof caused by rotting wood (and which a raccoon was taking advantage of). We finished the job the second day, easily beating out the day of gentle rain that was to follow. On that Wednesday, my contribution probably increased from 10% to as much as 25%, but the bottom line is, it's still Tom who did the bulk of the work, with me playing role of the Shake 'N Bake girl ("...and I helped!").

Here you can see most of the rotten wood on the roof, which was much more visible after we'd removed the shingles:

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Here's a full view of the damage (the rectangular section is not natural; Tom had already cut that part away):

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Here's Tom cutting away the rest of the rotten decking:

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On Day 2 of the repairs, here's the new non-rotten decking set in place:

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And finally, after we (yes, we ... even I was competent enough here) finished repapering and reshingling:

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Obviously it's hard to match new shingles (which were leftovers from the lightning strike repairs) with old shingles, especially after 10+ years of weathering. In fact, see the shingles at the edge of the roof, near the bottom of the photo, that are lighter than the old shingles but darker than the new ones? Those are old shingles that had been underneath other shingles, so they didn't get as weathered; that's probably what the original color of my roof was. So even if I'd somehow been able to get the exact same shingles, they wouldn't have matched.

Thanks to the leftover shingles, the total repair probably cost me under $75, so that's not too shabby.

You may have noticed the new sod in my backyard in some of these photos. That thrilling photo essay is coming later this week...

Home Dipu updated

Tons of birthdays and a new calendar year in this slightly overdue update, which takes us up through the end of January. I'll post February events at the next update. Also, don't forget to check out the Six Man, Texas website, which is now officially live. We even have a trailer!

NEW PHOTO ALBUMS: Birthdays for Andrew, Tom,