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3rd Annual College Hoops Tourney

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It’s March again, and along with budding trees and baby lambs and all that garbage there is the one thing that friends and family alike have come to know as “Man I Thought That Girl Liked Sports”. This is where I, annually, get all my random friends and family together, and we fill out brackets. I usually hang in there until the Sweet Sixteen or so, then do something stupid, like make the UT Longhorns and the UConn Huskies play in the Championship game. Which will never happen, at least not in my life time, I have no doubt. But it’s more fun to wish. This greatly amuses all who know I take my NCAA Hoops seriously, and do enough “smack talk” to make you think I know anything about Clemson or DePaul.

So, once again, I’m all set up. Bracket selection is Sunday, and then we will all scramble for some good picks. I have followed NO basketball this year, as UConn is having a what-do-they-call-it “REBUILDING YEAR” and Durant (in spite of WINNING PLAYER OF THE YEAR) does not a UT team make. Therefore, this picks will be fairly uneducated, which gives me a shining chance. We shall see.


www.content.clearchannel.com

Oh, and of course, let me know if you want in!!!

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Last News 8 Appearance

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Per Mom’s request: A blog regarding my last News 8 Austin appearance, and it’s relevance to today’s news.

At my graduation from UT, my family threw me a super huge extravaganza at my aunt’s giant mansion. There were tons of people there. Dad was making sangria margaritas way too strong and everyone was running around having a blast. There was food and drinks and music and even a giant UT Longhorn cake, that I was put in front of and serenaded with “The Eyes of Texas”, led by my best friend SB who flew all the way from NYC to see me graduate.

To top all that best-party-ever-ness off, they had the TV on just in case. As I was giving my family a tour of the campus earlier that day, I was interviewed about the fact that Jenna Bush was in my graduating class and department. There was speculation about whether or not she would show. I don’t remember what I said, although I felt a little annoyed at the thought that her graduation would be any bigger of a deal to anyone than MINE, but it got on TV. During my party, nonetheless, there I was, on my aunt’s big screen, for all to see. It was hilarious.

SO, fast forward to today, three years later. Mom called to let me know that Ms. Bush has made the news, and will be publishing a book before me. Mom just wanted to apologize that my family apparently did not have the family connections to make my book happen before hers. I’m not worried though, mine will be better.

I went to classes.

jenna bush drunk
www.needlenose.com

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Here I Am

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So we got going early Sunday. Really early. We met up with some friends at Starbucks, aka most convenient place to leave one car in an attempt to get coffee twice…you have to go back… We made it to the park before 11 to be able to see the contests and bulk of big kites and activities. Husband MK took a good half hour to get his super fancy kite off the ground and flying in the gusty wind. While we were remarking how tough it was, there were some similar stunt kites performing. In my ironic ability to be on TV before publishing a book (and also in magazines and newspapers – ACL, NaNo, Beat the Heat etc., etc.) I was interviewed and appeared in both the written article and the film clip that everyone cool saw last night at 9:06 pm on news channel 8.

kite festival

It’s really pretty silly, but thought it’d be good for a laugh. Here’s a link to the article, and if you add the clip to cart then play you can see me! 🙂 Husband is not thrilled that I was picking on him but it was pretty funny, those stunt kites were cool. The voice over about this kids and weather at the end is me too. So it wasn’t all mean. PH is on there too, she wouldn’t talk, but she was standing right next to me.

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Weekend Recap

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Friday was fairly unproductive. I got going early to run errands and had a 0% success rate. Getting home to learn that the husband had a rough work day, we called up some friends and went out to Mulligans for some snacks and a couple games. I inexplicably managed to lose at the bowling-esque machine game and shuffleboard, where I had been reigning champ. 😦

We had a good time, and were home and in bed early so I could get up Saturday at 7 and make it to the gym. Unfortunately, we got up at 6. This reminded me of a story I left out of our NZ vacation.

“The first night we were in Queenstown, we went out to eat and had a bunch of wine and stayed up too late watching movies. We finally settled down knowing we had a huge day ahead of us. Our hotel building fire alarm went off at 3am, and we were outside in the cold wrapped in towels for quite some time. There was, of course, no fire.”

Well, that is what happened Friday night. At our apartment building, at 6am. In case you were wondering, we have a fire department maybe 2 miles away. It took them maybe 20 minutes. They started at the far side of the building. Really, by the time they got to our place, they were searching for remains, had their been a fire. Good to know, I won’t make it in the event of a real emergency. Hmmm.

Needless to say I was fairly grouchy at the gym, but made it through Body Pump and Body Combat and was in a great mood by the end. I’ve reached whole new levels in weights and ability and attitude, and it’s really rewarding. We journeyed over to Starbucks, where I’m limiting myself to ice tea to not negate the workouts, then met some other friends for a healthy 3 hour lunch. Catching up was great. We spent the night seeing a movie, which reminds me I’ve seen a dozen worth mentioning in some other post some time.

And then there was the Kite Festival…

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Zilker Kite Festival

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I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this highly anticipated yearly event to you non-Austinites, but Sunday is the Zilker Park Kite Festival (man, everything has it’s own website these days…). I’m pretty sure that I have been every year since I moved to Austin. The park is packed with people, the air full of kites. (It’s also fun to go down the next weekend and count how many kites were abandoned as part of the “tree stronger than string phenomenon”). It’s adorable. If you live in Austin and haven’t been, I highly suggest it! We don’t even have the near-mandatory pack of kids and dogs and still have a blast…

34_zilker_kite_fest_05.jpg

Every year we head out in a big group and throw down a blanket and stare at the sky. Last year we made it in time to see a stupid co-worker an acquaintance in a bikini (?) and the contest for smallest fly-able kite. There are stunt kites and power kites and colored kites, maybe even monkey kites.

However, we’ve never participated! Shocking, I know. This year we made a special trip to Whole Earth Provision Co., one of my favorite store since my NZ trip, and got the “Super Dragon” kite. It defies explanation, I’ll just have to get you some pictures after this weekend.

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The Domain

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Here’s the latest:

Austin-American Statesman Domain Map

Finally! Some fantastic higher lever retail in Austin! Everyone can clear out of Saks at the Arboretum slowly…easy…that’s good…

A good amount of this opens next week, so if you don’t want to get crazy in the crowds, stay away from Mopac and Burnet!!

olsen twin shopping
www.brightonhenweekends.com

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February Tally

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No longer appropriately titled the “Calendar of Depression”, I’ve made it to the gym a dozen times this month, we’ll say half and half, and very little drinking, so:
Final count on the Calendar of (Insert Positive Word Here) :

  1. The letter W (for weights) appeared a total of 5 times.
  2. The letter C (for cardio) appeared a total of 7 times.
  3. The letter D (for drinking) appeared a total of 2 times.

Like I said, that doesn’t seem like a lot, but whatever I’m doing is working, maybe the last few months of pushing it is starting to show? I expect things to just keep getting better!

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Oops I Did It Again

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No, this isn’t about Britney…rather, the little bout of gym at the crack of dawn going on.

CRACK is the right expression here…I’m a little ADDICTED to this whole getting up early. I went to bed early and woke up on time and even hummed a little while I got ready. What is up with that??? I am awake. The past four days, I have accomplished more than since I quit my job. Running errands, WORKING on my book…

Today was Body Pump, and man am I sore. This workout kicks my butt. Each muscle group associates with a song, and you go for the length of the song. It’s a innovative way to lift weight, no matter how used to free weights I get Body Pump always throws me a little.

pump So, my everything is pretty sore…we’ll see if I keep up the good work. I haven’t done the Calendar update since November (slacker!), but I’ll have one tomorrow for February. The funny thing is it’s not all that full, but sure enough, together with the UBER healthy eating, I’ve seen the most dramatic results yet. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep it up…

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Joe Rogan vs. Carlos Mencia (Ned Holness)

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Well, this is ALL OVER the internet already, but for those readers of mine that might not have seen this, it’s a clip of Joe Rogan and Carlos Mencia. Screaming.

Watch:

Let me tell you, I LOVE Joe Rogan. Seriously. We saw him here in Austin at Cap City Comedy Club, and he was incredible. The stuff you might know him from is on the side for him – hosting Fear Factor and UFC, the show NewsRadio, and all that crap…but that’s not all he’s good at. (here’s his wikipedia page for more info)

He is certainly one of the best stand up comedians I’ve ever seen. He transfers his jokes effortlessly, his timing is flawless, and he brings his shows full circle, stuff I think is key to being a great comedian. We have never laughed so hard. He was taking shots, egging on the crowd, having a good time, making people think, and telling great jokes.

Well, so he sometimes has called people out on their “joke stealing”. I understand he’s made claims about Dennis Leary, Dane Cook, and others, so this isn’t his first attempt. He’s not just out to get Mencia. The way I see it, Mencia just makes it too easy.

Mike has been on my case since the guy got the TV show Mind of Mencia. It was on after Chapelle Show so we’d watch it occasionally. Mike HATED it. For many reasons. (Mencia’s wikipedia is currently locked from editing and under dispute…) Everyone talks not only about the joke ripping but that he doesn’t speak Spanish or isn’t from Latin America (Germany or something?), uses the name to trick people, etc, etc.

So it’s a big dispute receiving a lot of publicity lately, as The Comedy Store, Pauly Shore’s mom’s place, kicked Rogan out after this in favor of Mencia, AND Rogan’s agent, also Mencia’s, dropped him. All of which is discussed on Rogan’s site (click here if you haven’t checked it already).

What do YOU think???

joe
www.cdn-channels.netscape.com

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It Wrote Itself

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Midnight. This is when I’m at my best. I’ll be at home, readying myself for bed time, when something will come to me. Something brilliant. Then I think some more, and some more. Then I realize I need a pen. Then I scribble furiously, which I’ve been told is unreadable to anyone but me (clearly a secret plan so no one can get famous but me). Then I rest. Inevitably, more comes. This is followed by getting up to write, back down to bed, for as long as it takes, amidst cursing and lights flipping on and off.

It’s all worth it. I’m able to admit that my prose was slightly (baby steps here) droning and worthless in my poor little dream of a novel. Today? WHOLE NEW FIRST CHAPTER. Whole new concept. Fresh ideas. Invigorated spirit, which until now, thought about symbolically printing and burning the entire book (very dramatic, no?). Well, anyway, there you have it. It might not be the worst thing ever any more. No fires.

Who knows? Maybe this gym and eating good and being good and going to church life is pointing me in the write right (writer’s humor for you) direction.

If you’re anything like Mr. MK, you’re thinking, it’s about time. I’ll take that. But come on, I just needed to be INSPIRED.

🙂