It’s always a good day to fire up the grill
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Monthly Archives: April 2006
Taking the 50 to the Ballpark
When traveling in both the U.S. and Europe, I've been a big user of public transportation, but I've rarely used the bus or train in Houston. In most cases, my excuse has been that the Houston mass transit system just doesn't go where I need it to go. It's hard to justify taking a 2 hour bus ride with 3 transfers as an alternative to a 20 minute ride in the car.
Having said that, I'm a big fan of the concept of public transportation. On Monday, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and take the bus to the ballgame to see the Astros play the Dodgers. The #50 bus picks me up about 2 blocks from the house, costs $1 ($2 for a round trip), and drops me off right in front of the stadium. The trip takes about 25 minutes, only a little bit longer than it would take me to drive, especially if I figure in the time I would spend finding a parking space. Even if I end up taking a cab home instead of the bus (service ends just after midnight), I still save a bit of money when I figure in the cost of gas and parking if I drive myself.
I use to have a car stereo . . .
So, last night I apparently didn't do a good enough job of hiding the faceplate for my car stereo. They not only got the stereo and the faceplate, but they also found the instruction manual for the damn thing in my glove box. I suppose I'm lucky that they didn't bother to ransack the rest of the car – they left behind a couple of pairs of good sunglasses, for example. *Sigh* I guess I was going to need a new one in ten years or so anyway.
I hate false advertising: Shell
I was already a bit annoyed by the whole stolen-car-radio incident (not to mention the looming tax bill), so I wasn't in the best of moods when I stopped to top off the air in my tires at the Shell in Hockley and was told that the device that allowed them to turn on the "free for customers" air and water had been broken for a year. Now, if it were my business, I would have either fixed the switch or changed the sign by now. This kind of minor fraud really annoys me. So, needless to say I won't be doing business at the Shell station in Hockley anymore, but I doubt that my business will matter much to their bottom line. I suppose it seems silly to make a big deal about the $0.75 I had to pay, but that's part of my annoyance.
Google Calendar
Google Calendar is now live. I've been missing having access to a calendar server. I'm going to have to give this a test drive. I've been meaning to install a calendar server on Brightrock.com for quite a while, but it's a non-trivial kind of project.
Girders
They are moving the house across the street today. They are going to slide these girders underneath and drive away with it later today. Something about the yellow-rust and the trees caught my eye.
Phone-Jamming Records Point to White House
On page 6 of today's Houston Chronicle, I found a rather disturbing story: Records show White House tie in scam to keep Dems from polls. The Chronicle apparently didn't think this was a big story, and only ran a very abbreviated five-paragraph version of a much longer AP article: Records in N.H. Case Show White House Ties. The facts in the article are pretty disturbing even without the potential tie to the White House.
How is this not front-page news? While this Republican phone-jamming scheme has been working its way through the courts for some time, I think that people are underestimating how damaging this kind of criminal activity can be. In the 2004 Presidential Election, you can make a pretty good argument that successful get-out-the-vote efforts were the key to George Bush's victory. John Kerry actually received almost 9 million more votes in 2004 that Bush received in 2000. The Republicans out-organized the Democrats in 2004, and that was a big part of their electoral victory. If we allow either party to suppress the vote, we endanger the credibility of our elections.
The Wikipedia article on this story points to the "New Hampshire" section of Betsy Devine's blog as a good resource for keeping tabs on the ongoing legal developments. Her blog is worth a visit if you want to see how this story has been developing . I found her remarks about how the national media has largely ignored this story especially interesting.
Why is the national media not paying attention? This story did not make the front page of either CNN.com or Foxnews.com today (although if you dug with a search engine you could find a version of the AP report). Compare the coverage of this story to the coverage of Scott Peterson/Natalie Halloway/Neil Entwistle. Are those sensationalized crimes and tragedies going to have more of an effect on the life of our nation than large-scale election fraud in a national election?
Rice University summary of Eric Schlosser’s Lecture
Rice University has posted a summary (Schlosser: Meatpacking reforms have rotted away) of the Eric Schlosser talk that I attended back in February. I still wish that I could find a transcript of the talk,  or at least the text of his prepared remarks. Much of his talk echoed the points he made in the book (I finished reading it while I was in Mexico), but he updated and expanded the arguments from Fast Food Nation. As I said in my original post about his lecture, we need more of this kind of intelligent, well-researched muckraking.Â
Great day to be at the ballpark
Brian Smith somehow came up with these amazing tickets to Sunday’s Astros-Nationals game – section 125, row 7 (which is actually the third row in that part of the stadium). Right behind the Astros dugout, these were perhaps the best seats that I’ve ever had for a professional baseball game.Â
The Astros won 7-3. The game had some great plays, especially this
1-3-5 double play. (click on the picture to launch a video of the play off of the Astros website)
 
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it’s all fun and games, until somebody puts the truck into a ditch . . .
So, a few weeks back I was helping some friends move on a rainy day and we were just about finished when my friend put the truck into the ditch. As it turned out, we were able to get the truck out of the ditch with the help of a regular tow truck (despite the very narrow street), so it turned out to be an hour delay rather than a full-fledged disaster, but the next time I ask people for help moving, I think I need to use this picture as part of the invitation.
I’ve come to see moving as the modern equivalent of a barn-raising – an opportunity to build community. Summer 2004 was a busy moving time for my circle of friends in Houston, and the moving days presented a good opportunity for me to firm up existing friendships and make new ones. Not that I want another seven consecutive Saturdays of moving days like we had in Summer 2004, but I do like to look for opportunities to build community. Continue reading