The One Where Brendan Makes a Discovery

We went down to the bookstore this weekend and as often happens, Brendan and I made an early exit outside because it was just time to. Anyway, it was a beautiful day and so I let him run around on the sidewalks. One of them wrapped a little behind the building and after running at full tilt down it, he came to a sudden, jarring halt. He paused for a second, walked slowly backwards a few feet and then came running back to me. I asked him what was wrong and he told me that there was "a man breathing fire down there!" I chuckled as I glanced back at the employee smoke break area. Funny kid.

Time Warner Cable Sucks

In case anyone reading this is contemplating moving to Austin, let me try to dissuade you from using TWC. Because of some bizarre set of Austin laws limiting internet providers, the only options available where I live (and in most of Austin) are TWC, AT&T U-Verse, and Dish. When we first moved here, TWC was the dominant internet and cable provider so we just went with "the big boy." However, our service was terrible, the installation was totally haphazard and left us with a mess of wires in our living room. It was over-priced and then to top it off, TWC announced that they were imposing bandwidth caps. Now, I'm not a big bandwidth user, but any company that is willing to take a step BACKWARDS from what they provide is a big no-no in my book. When you consider that Korea, Israel, Sweden and many other countries with much smaller GDPs have far, far better/faster internet connectivity than the U.S., this is a slap in the face. TWC has since backed down from that position, but like I said, any company even willing to go backwards like that deserved to burn in the fiery infernos of the lowest reaches of Hades. (Ok, so that's a little over the top, but it DOES make me really mad!) I'm also mad because when I called to disconnect my service they were VERY rude to me. I told them why I was switching and they basically told me I was wrong and being stupid. Nice work Mr. Call Center dude. Way to put a cherry on top of my awful experience with your stupid company.
Fine, so I called AT&T U-Verse and they came out and installed a really cool setup that has a minimal amount of wiring, has a built in WiFi routher, is cheaper than TWC, has more channels and the installer sat down and showed me all the features (of which there are tons!) I haven't worked with Dish so I can't comment on how they are, but if you live in Austin and want Internet/Cable connectivity, I definitely recommend AT&T over TWC. Bleck to Time Warner!!!

Milo and Otis

So we had our weekly family night last night and we decided to watch that timeless classic: "Milo and Otis". If you've never seen Milo and Otis, it is a touching story about a dog and a cat that go on an amazing journey and have adventure after adventure. There are some amazing shots with different animals ranging from a young bear cub "wrestling" with them to a scene where Milo actually rides on the back of a sea turtle!

The shots were too amazing in fact; Tiffany and I had to do a little research as to how they could possibly have done some of them. Turns out (as we suspected) that many, many of the animals allegedly died during the creation of the film. Now, if you check the web and wikipedia, you'll find that the American Humane Society investigated the allegations but could find no concrete evidence of this since it was filmed in Japan. That has left the case effectively closed, however, as any normal, logical human, it isn't too hard to infer the filming conditions.
For example, during the scene when a small kitten was thrown approximately 100 feet from a cliff into the ocean below, it's difficult to envision some damage not occurring to the animal. Another clear example is when Milo went over a 40-50 foot waterfall in a small crate; it is difficult to imagine that the director got the take right on the first try. The list goes on and on, and if you have Netflix, you can check it out on their watch instantly. From almost the opening shot, you'll be left with a somewhat sickening feeling as you watch a "heartwarming" story about two animal friends that surely involved many deaths of small animals.
Now, I'm not a particularly squeamish kind of guy and I understand that lots of times animals do die (including humans) during the filmings of movies. That's just life. Statistically, accidents happen. However, Milo and Otis take this to a new level for me. Take a look for yourself if you don't believe me...

Do Only Animals Die?

Brendan asked Tiffany and I at dinner tonight very sincerely if only animals die. We both sadly looked at each other and then informed our little boy that no, in fact everyone and everything dies eventually. It was difficult to gauge his response, but he looked very pensive for a few seconds.
It's such a bittersweet thing to watch your babies grow up, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Unstoppable

I wish I could stop time. Or just put it on a loop.

Tomorrow my daughter will be seven. I have no idea where the time has gone or how she has gotten so big.

I probably only have a few more years of being able to pick her up and carry her to her bed.
I probably only have a few more years after that until she stops spontaneously hugging me for no real reason.
I probably only have a few more years after that until she doesn't want to be seen in public with me.
And then only a few more years after that and her bedroom will be empty.

Where is my rewind button?

Fail Blog

If you've never visited the infamous fail blog, I highly recommend spending a few hours perusing their catalog of fantastic fails. Nate, if you haven't seen this, I think you'll love it. Link as follows:
http://www.failblog.org
For you to enjoy.

-Jon

Bats and BBQ

So my dad and his wife came to visit this past weekend and we had a lot of fun. They arrived Thursday evening and flew out Monday morning, so basically we had 3 days to pack as much "Austin" in as possible. I like it whenever folks come and visit us and of course it's extra special to have my pop here. This was his first time, so we made a few of our regular first time initiations as well as a few new ones to us.
We started out Friday by taking him to Lucy and Brendan's school. We then drove down to South Congress (SoCo to the snooty snoots!) and had the customary terrible Austin coffee and wandered through some very interesting boutiques. (Did you know cowboy boots can cost > $1500?????) We also drove through the downtown area highlighting the capital and sixth street. We then headed back to pick the kids up from school. We rested a bit back at the humble abode, and then headed out to get Rudy's. The first of our 2 bbq runs.
The next day, I made breakfast and then we headed to Lucy's first piano recital. After that, we went to Zilker and the Botanical Gardens. It was about 95 degrees so even though it was shady, we got overheated fairly quickly. We decided fairly quickly to run over to Amy's Icecream in the Arboretum. The ice cream was of course delicious and the staff there were predictably grouchy, mean and unhelpful. It sure is a good thing their ice cream tastes so good! The Arboretum has a bunch of statues of lifesize cows that the kids love climbing on so we sat in the cool breeze blowing in from the hills eating the icecream and really having a good time. We then headed home to drop Tiffany and the kids off while dad, Linda and I headed down to see the bats! I've never done this before, so it was kind of exciting for me as well. The bats didn't come out until 8:35 so it was a good thing we didn't take the kids. Also, if you're going to see the bats, I think it's better to be up on the bridge, not down on the grassy knoll.
On Sunday, we decided to take it a little easier and spent the morning at home and down at the local park. After a lunch of left over Rudy's, I drove them out to the dam and Lake Travis. The wildflowers were out, and the weather was wonderful. Dad kept marveling at how hilly and green it was. I was glad he got to see it at this time of year. After a quick stop at Starbucks (not great, but better than any other Austin coffee shop I've found) we headed out to Salt Lick in Driftwood for the grand finale: all you can eat barbeque (beef ribs, sausage, beef brisket, sides, etc, etc) chased down by a home-made peach cobbler. It wasn't super packed and the live music was pretty good. We all had waaaaayyyyyy too much to eat and drove back home very happy.
Sadly, this morning, I drove them to the airport and said goodbye. Overall, it was a very good and they're already talking about when they can come back next. I expect Tiffany will be posting pictures soon. Stay tuned!

-Jon

Earth Day Loser

So, I have a confession to make. Today, my daughter's school celebrated Earth Day. Now, this is somewhat confusing to me because I thought Earth Day was a few weeks ago, but what the hey. It's always good to celebrate and take better care of our planet. Anyway, as part of her school's celebration, students were encouraged to walk to school. Now, I like to think of myself as progressive as the next guy, and really wanted to support my daughter's desire to participate.

But it's sooooooo far to her school. And I am lazy. So I now confess publicly on the Inter-tubes that I drove my daughter to within 3 blocks of her school, parked the car, and walked the rest of the way so that we would look like we had walked to school. My daughter is six and seemed to have no problem with this, but I am convinced that I have sowed a seed deeply that will come back to haunt me later in life when she realizes the duplicity that I perpetrated in the name of Earth Day. My only hope in breaking the Karma-tic effect of my deeds is in the confession posted here. So there you have it. Begin throwing your stones from your glass houses...

-Jon

The IT Crowd

I recently discovered a new TV series from the other side of the pond called "The IT Crowd." It's by the same people that made the original Office. Tiff and I have been watching the first season and find it very, very funny. Yes, it has some of the typical quirky British idiosynchracies like low production values/cheap looking sets and an overabundance of bad teeth, but it's very funny. If you have NetFlix, you can add it to your Watch Instantly queue which is how we're currently watching it.