I was holding off on posting in my blog because I am going to be moving web hosts, but that has been delayed due to a mixup.

The STAPLE pre-party was neat. I had forgotten how many comic books there were at Austin Books & Comics. It felt like an ark for comic books, a backup vault in case civilization fell. I didn’t really know anyone there besides Chris, but my “Team Linus” shirt served as social currency. I also got to meet Goatboy, the artist who did the interior art for The Stork. I had only worked with him online.

Then I went to Reed’s housewarming party where I talked to cute girls about Doctor Who. Cory brought New Age and fruit, pretty much sealing the deal on the fun party situation.

Not much to report today except I discovered there is a new large expansion for Talisman coming out. Plus Adobe CS5 will supposedly get released in April. The new features of Photoshop CS5 look crazy.

Tired from errands. Bye now.

Recently I decided to try reading the the Dune books in chronological order, including the extended universe books by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. I made it about 100 or so pages into the Butlerian Jihad before I couldn’t stand it. The story seemed epic and could have been interesting, but the writing was just so juvenile I couldn’t justify spending more time in the series.

So I satisfied my Dune craving by rewatching the Dune Extended Edition with Nick and Amanda. Despite the horribly dated effects, it is still awesome.

As with JoCo, it seems that going to see Mike Doughty has become a yearly ritual. This time he dropped by the soon to be closing Cactus Cafe on the UT campus. Entering the sleek, hip student union made me pine for college and youth.

This was the first time I had seen the Question Jar show, where he answers written questions from the audience between every few songs. He kept the answers pithy and amusing. It was a typical Doughty set, with a few Soul Coughing tunes and stuff from the new album thrown in. I hadn’t realized how similar the guitar riffs were on about half of his songs. It created a perpetual anticipation: Which song is this? Is it going to be Circles?

He played Looking at the World From the Bottom of a Well and Tremendous Brunettes, but no Gambler cover and no Pleasure on Credit. Can’t have everything.

Something I like to do: Make random widgets in Photoshop.

I went for a walk in the Greenbelt area with my friend Kristina. Initially the day promised sunshine and clear skies, but by the time we arrived it had turned cold and windy. Tons of people, Valentine’s Day couples mostly, were moving along the trail with their dogs. Beautiful spot, just wished it were warmer.

Near the falls someone’s canoe had tipped over and they were slowly making their way back to shore. A Labrador made a brave attempt to rescue the paddle that got whisked away downstream, but returned to shore wet and paddle-less. These waters are cold in the summer. I shivered just watching this guy wading through the chest-deep water.

Afterwards we sought out the warmth of a sushi restaurant. Hot miso soup was just the thing.

Yesterday I thought I was just tired from lack of sleep and travel, but I was up at random times coughing up foam. Today I felt wretched. Called in sick, went back to bed, had some proper rest and food. It was one of those days where I wished there was someone else around that could go to the store and get food or say soothing things to me. Sigh.

Last night after Dave and I had recovered from our space shuttle adventure, we went back over to Downtown Disney where we checked out the magic store and the LEGO store and had lunch at Planet Hollywood. Later that night we popped into Disney Quest, the five story virtual reality and arcade complex. Read the rest of this entry »

We woke up at around 2PM on Sunday. After some discussion it was decided that we were going to make another attempt to see the shuttle launch. Neither of us was up for another 11 hour ordeal on the tour bus, not to mention the $110 it would cost for new tickets. Read the rest of this entry »