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Elise got home from work earlier than we both had expected. We went over to John and Christine’s so that John and I could run wires for the outside speakers.

After a couple hours of intense design, engineering and manual labor, we found that we needed to run the source (John’s iPod) through an amplifier (the head unit of his home stereo – conveniently located on the other side of the house). Since we didn’t have enough RCA and speaker wire, we decided to eat. I’m not sure if this project will be completed. I guess I’ll have to wait to hear from John.

Elise and I saw 28 Days Later on Sunday. Not at all what I was expecting. It’s okay. I’d suggest you wait 12 x 28 Days for it to come out on DVD. I guess Freddy vs. Jason will be the scary movie this year.

I bought an Atari 2600 on eBay the weekend before last. I’m yet to swing by Radio Shack to purchase an RCA to coax adapter. After that, it’s all about the Space Invaders.

Elise called Time Warner today. We’re downgrading to the lowest level of cabledom one can have. We’re doing this because we can’t completely get rid of cable without buying some sort of amplified amateur radio operator antenna to hang out of our patio door in order to get local channels. We have to pay $12/month to watch any form of broadcast television. Anyway… I’m going to miss the Food Network and American Chopper.

It’s early Saturday evening. My catering manager wife is at work. Elise is ‘working’ a thirty year high school reunion downtown. She just called me from the kitchen to give me the scoop on her first day. I can tell she’s really excited. She was listing all of the things she wants to change, add and improve upon. She told me she’s nervous that got herself into something big. That’s a good thing though. I’m bored and lonely.

In other news… I had to perform minor surgery on my computer today. I was downloading some live bootlegged recordings from an independent artist so I could listen to only a portion of the song to verify my liking and immediately rush to the record store and plunk down $20 for the entire album (scroll down to read the comments). For some reason, I decided to try out a new p2p client. Do not download Grokster. If you do, don’t contact me to ask how to remove all of the spyware that comes with said software.

Harold and I went to the circus last night. We left during the intermission. We were both greatly disappointed. It’s not really even worth going into detail. I will admit that it was a feast for the eyes. There was so much going in the center of the Erwin Center that you could easily find something at which to stare blankly.

I’d venture to say that the highlights were: T.M. the Gator Guy near-abusively man handling obviously sedated alligators. A trail of elephants moping around the arena, every last one of their inner monologues being “Please, would someone just shoot us all now.” And horses with equal amounts of unbearable fear and lethargy in their eyes. It was sad.

I don’t like the circus. I semi poked fun at PETA (and they were there – they even handed a flier to Harold) but I think I have to take their side. I’d much rather watch an elephant grazing in the Serengeti on the Discover Channel than watch them being herded in person.

\It is a great day for the two most important women in my life.

1) Today is my Mom’s birthday. Happy Birthday Mom!!!

2) Elise was offered the Catering Manager position at El Arroyo. Congrats babe. I’m thinking about quitting my job and working on my gut while catching up on daytime talkshows. (I’m kidding Mr. Caldwell)

I’m taking Harold to the circus tonight. It’s being held at the Frank Erwin Center here in Austin. I haven’t been to the circus in something like twenty years. All I can remember is that I was a little dude.

I stood in the box office line yesterday with my vouchers. As I waited, I began to wonder if there will be any radical animal rights activists protesting the circus. I’m thinking we might see a bunch of PETA people. I think Harold would find that people made up of pillowy flatbread are interesting.

Being cognizant of our dining out expenditures lately, Elise and I treated ourselves on Friday night and had dinner at El Arroyo. Well, when you’re friends with the new general manager, I guess we didn’t really treat ourselves…

Elise had barbecue chicken tacos, I had a chicken fajita Caesar salad and we had three top shelf margaritas between the two of us. The best part of the meal was when Bill told us that there will be an opening for the Catering Manager position in the coming weeks. Elise and I are both really excited about that. Hopefully Elise will be able to get that job.

We went home after dinner and watched Detroit Rock City and Spinal Tap (one lead to the other).

We woke up early on Saturday. I took the top down on the Jeep, we drove downtown and perused the Austin Farmers’ Market. We didn’t buy anything, we just looked. All of the vegetables and flowers that were being sold looked nice though.

After a few planning setbacks, Tommy and Shannon came over and we all hopped in the Jeep and went to Lake Travis. We rented a ski boat for three hours. We didn’t do any skiing, but I did jump a wake that caused the boat to come crashing down into the water, almost giving my wife a concussion and a sprained ankle. That wasn’t very fun. Well, it was, up until the point at which Elise was hurt. Luckily Elise shook off her pain and we drove around the lake and stopped for an hour or so to swim.

On our way back to the marina, another boat waved us down. Two guys had run out of gas in the middle of the lake. They spoke of wonderful gifts in prizes we would receive in return for towing them. We towed them to the nearest marina. No gifts or prizes, just an “Oh, we left our wallets in the truck.” I gave them my business card and claimed that “If I do not receive a large cash sum from you within ten days, next time I will ransack your vessel and seize all your treasures. Aaaaaargh!”

I didn’t say anything to them. I decided to leave it up to Karma.

Having been worn out by the sun and since Elise’s husband-inflicted-ankle-sprain didn’t allow her to walk, we decided to go home and take it easy instead of going to Tommy’s to watch the Lewis vs. Klitschko fight. We didn’t feel like cooking so I ordered a large Downtown favorite from Austin’s Pizza. Man, that’s some good pizza. Man, that’s some good pizza. Is there an echo here? No, I just thought I’d say that twice.

Elise and I went to the grocery store on Sunday. We spent a lot of money and our refrigerator still looks empty.

We went over to Bill and Andrea’s for dinner. I made chicken fajitas, marinated with the Penzey’s fajita seasoning that Joanne gave me. The fajitas turned out really good. I’m always a little hesitant about using “seasoning”. I used to have a real problem with the stuff back in the 80’s. I had a pretty bad usage issue. It’s an addiction. Before you know it, your hiding from your loved ones, sprinkling seasoning on all sorts of foods. Taco Seasoning, Steak Seasoning, Poultry Seasoning, Seafood Seasoning, Italian Seasoning. This list goes on and on. I used to blare Duran Duran’s Hungry Like the Wolf at all hours of the night on my Hi-Fi, just seasoning. It was the song that brought me and my seasoning to a spiritual plateau. My parents stepped in and there was an intervention. I spent days in a detoxification facility and had to take seasoning methadone for weeks just to curb the hunger. It was a long, bumpy road. I made it though. I’m fine now. I can season fajitas responsibly now. Just a dab. No need to go all out. I know when to stop. I’m strong. I’m hungry.

I also made a chipotle salsa that’s pretty wicked. Elise and I really like chipotles. Elise made some guacamole that tasted really good – even after having just been made. I’ll bet it’ll taste even better today after the flavors have had time to marry. Same with the salsa.

I was just out on the patio, thinking. I was thinking about our finances and how we really want a house. We’re saving as much as we can. We also need new tires for the Jeep. We’re also going to have to pay more in taxes next year. And then I realized something: eBay, Google and TiVo sound like they would be the names of small woodland bipeds who starred in Return of the Jedi.

I’m glad I got that figured out.

Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch… it hurts to type.

I started Tae Kwon Do last night. I hyper extended both elbows and my butt hurts. Badly. My arms hurt because I haven’t really done anything strenuous involving my upper body in nearly a decade. My butt hurts because I played Blazer Lazer Tag on Wednesday. When you have to bend your legs to shrink yourself to five feet (average size of pre-pubescent male competition) while dodging invisible beams of light, you find that you have muscles you’ve never known of.

Anyway, my first class back in TKD – It was great. It was riveting. Invigorating. An action packed adventure so chock full of action that you won’t need to see another action packed adventure this entire action packed summer. But really – it was a lot of fun. I felt great after class. Stretching was a little difficult. I really think I would be a lot worse had I not been riding seven miles a day on my bicycle.

After warming up, we did some kicking and punching drills. I haven’t really forgotten anything, I’m just a little rusty. In need of a little honing. After drills, we worked on patterns. Clyde (my instructor) taught me approximately the first half of Ge-Baek (again). Ge-Baek is traditional black belt pattern (sequential combination of strikes and blocks). I was surprised at how quickly I remembered the moves.

After everyone worked on patterns, we sparred. I sparred Clyde first. Clyde is a second degree black belt. I’m a first degree black belt who’s been out of practice for almost nine years. I did quite well. I still have it in me. I still have my rhythm. I’m not as limber or as quick as I once was, but that will come with time. Grasshopper.

I sparred the other three students that were in class. I had a handicap. My pants kept coming down. Nine years will take its toll on a pair of elastic waist Tae Kwon Do pants. Crouching Tiger Dropping Trou. I bought a new uniform after class.

안녕히 가세요. (That reads “Good Bye”)

It’s pretty flattering when your Mom asks you for your Arrabbiata recipe (I consider my Mom a mighty fine cook):

“While I’m thinking about it, can you give me a hint as to what is in your pasta dish, the one you made Mother’s day weekend? GOOD!!! I bought some prosciutto and plan on making it soon.”

Side note: FrontPage’s spell checker insists that I use the word “prostitute” instead of “prosciutto“.

Harold and I went to Blazer Lazer last night for a couple games of Blazer Tag. We had a blast. For the first game, it was every man (pre-pubescent male) for himself. After five minutes of all-out blazing lazer hellfire, I realized that 1) I’m out of shape and 2) pre-pubescent males are dangerously aggressive with battery powered laser canons. It didn’t help that I was the tallest panting target in a room built for five foot people.

The rules are pretty simple. Shoot other people. When you’re tagged, your vest emits a sort of glass crashing sound and your entire “suit” starts blinking. It seemed like with every step that I took, I heard that ominous glass crashing sound and my chest suddenly became what looked like a landing strip for a small UFO brigade. With as much blinking as my suit was doing, I should have given myself the codename Lanky Christmas Tree instead of, get this, Neo. Yeah, I couldn’t come up with anything better. I didn’t know we were going to have to pick codenames.

I actually didn’t do that bad. The first game consisted of 11 players. I came in eighth. It was the first game. I didn’t know how to play. The gun I was toting sported a fancy LCD that I couldn’t understand. I couldn’t tell if it was scientific calculator, a Gameboy or one of those jobbers you see on boats that tells you where to find the fish.

Luckily Harold took me under his wing. He was familiar with the sector as he had done a couple tours in that region before. He guided me to his strategic stronghold and we played snipers.

For the second game, the entire group was divided into two teams. Red and yellow. Harold and I were on the yellow team. This time, yours truly came in fourth.

Harold came in first.

Both games.

By a landslide.

He’s good.

Really good.

So good that if I were ever backed into a dark alley by a pack of rabid Pit Bulls with grenade launching tails and Ray Romano, I’d want Harold to come swooshing in with his Blazer Lazer pack and blast them all away with mean vengeance. With his trusty two handled laser pointer.

Anyway, we kind of screwed up the first game. You get an access ticket when you give the cashier your money and codename. On that ticket is printed your code name and what pack your supposed to strap on after your briefed on game play. I neglected to read our tickets. I just knew that we had packs 3 and 4. Harold was supposed to be Cyrus on the first game. On the second game, he was Cyrus and I was Neo. As we had intended. Here are my score cards.

Harold’s a good kid. I really enjoy hanging out with him. It gives me something to look forward to. His mom told me that he really likes hanging out with me and he can’t wait until I show up to pick him up on Wednesday evenings.

Elise and I went to the Unified Tae Kwon Do school at Lake Travis yesterday evening. We observed an adult class. This class consisted of a husband and wife, both green belts and a high school-aged boy practicing for his black belt. I was kind of hoping for a larger class so as to lend more diversity in sparring. I’m going to actually join the class tomorrow evening and see how I like it. I guess it’s better that it is a small class so I can reacclimatize myself in a smaller, more intimate setting.

After class, Elise and I came home and watched a video of some old tournaments and my black belt test. Needless to say, I’m excited.

After watching my black belt test, we went to Sam’s Boat to watch Dahebegebees. It’s been a loooooong time since we’ve seen them. They’re still a lot of fun to watch, even though their fan base is getting much larger. Not that that’s a bad thing. We used to go watch them at Lucy’s Retired Surfers bar on Monday evenings (when I worked at the country club, my only day off was Monday). I remember times when there were only a few heads in the bar. We’d lean on the second story railing, listen to Dahebegebees and watch Endless Summer. Twice. It was at one of these shows that Elise told me she loved me for the first time. I immediately responded by politely asking her to quit stalking me. I eventually had to call the police and contemplated changing my identity all together.

Elise and I spent a relaxing weekend at my parents’ house. We both left work a little early on Friday due to a torrential downpour accompanied by thunder and lightening which knocked the office’s power out. Elise and I arrived at my parents’ house around 8. Elise and I ate dinner, talked for a while and went to bed.

I woke up at 6 a.m. on Saturday (don’t ask me why) and changed the oil in the Jeep. We all had breakfast and went to Sealy for a little thrift store shopping. I bought 20 issues of Popular Science magazines ranging in date from 1948-1950. I was hoping to sell them on eBay for a hefty profit. That doesn’t look like it’s happening. I guess I’m stuck with reading on how to construct a volcano at home and vacuum tube computer theories.

We had lunch at that hamburger joint in New Ulm… Texas Star Cafe or something like that. Really good hamburgers for very little money. Not the healthiest thing, but a bacon and jalapeno cheeseburger runs you around $2.95. And these aren’t wimpy little hamburgers either.

After lunch we went to The Barn at New Ulm. It’s a little woodworking shop. They make nice things, but man are they expensive. I hit them up to design a website for the store.

Next we stopped and visited with Foster and Lucille, friends of my parents’. We stayed and visited for a couple hours and all came home to relax for a while.

At 7 p.m. sharp we all went outside and herded up the cows to be wormed. My parents lost a calf to blackleg last week so I had the honors of administering a vaccine to three calves. That was pretty cool. I’ve never given a subcutaneous injection before.

Elise and I stayed up late that night and tried to take pictures of the lightening storm in the north. We were armed only with my Mom’s digital camera, so we didn’t get any shots.

Elise and I slept in on Sunday. We gave Dad his Father’s Day card and a bottle of Dewar’s. We lounged around, read the newspaper, watched TV – that sort of stuff. I made chicken enchiladas for a late Dad’s day lunch.

Elise and I headed for Austin around 6. We got home just in time to watch the Spurs beat the Nets in the sixth game for the championship. Talk about the most exciting finals series I have ever seen. I write that with the absolute smallest amount of enthusiasm known to man. I don’t know why I didn’t just write that watching the NBA finals this year was as much fun as eating caterpillars. I love Texas and all, but the Spurs just don’t do it for me. And in this series, if you can barely score 90 points, I’m probably going to repeatedly spear forks into my nostrils and subject myself to watching anything featuring Christopher Lowell instead.

Game 1: San Antonio 101 New Jersey 89
Game 2: New Jersey 87 San Antonio 85
Game 3: San Antonio 84 New Jersey 79
Game 4: New Jersey 77 San Antonio 76
Game 5: San Antonio 93 New Jersey 83
Game 6: San Antonio 88 New Jersey 77

Harold and I rented a canoe from Zilker Canoe Rentals yesterday. I’d say we paddled for an hour or so. We paddled out through Barton Creek and into Town Lake. On the way, we could see the bottom of the creek and turtle masses. Once out in Town Lake, we had to dodge all of those super healthy people in their single seat competition row boats. It’s really nice to get out and do stuff. I’m beginning to realize that I’m going to have to be resourceful in finding things for Harold and me to do.

Before we reached the end of our excursion, Harold asked me if I liked ice cream. I said yes. He invited me for a frozen custard at Sandy’s. Man, talk about the most awesome ice cream treat I think I’ve ever had. I’m still kicking myself for not having tried Sandy’s sooner. I’ve been in Austin almost ten years and I’ve driven by Sandy’s a gazillion times. Next I’ll have to try their hamburgers.

It just so happened that there was a small congregation of Harley-Davidson owners sitting on one of the picnic benches. Harold and I walked over and agreed on a Heritage Softail that we thought was the best looking. Harold told me that he wants a Harley one day. He’s a good kid. He makes A’s and B’s, gets embarrassed when I ask him about Lindsay (girlfriend) and is really inquisitive.

I don’t know why I do this to myself, but sometimes I think back to the times when I worked at that place in Temple. I worked in a cubicle environment. I was one of the lucky ones who had a door to my cubicle. I strolled into work, shut my cubicle and didn’t come out unless it was for a regularly scheduled oxygen thieving, pointless meeting or to go home. Well, I also left my cubicle to use the restroom and forage for food and water.

One day I was really tired while working diligently at nothing. I spun a couple times in my chair, eyeing my workspace and contemplating laying down and taking a nap. I decided against that as someone might knock and walk in. Instead, with my shoes off, I propped my feet out as far as I could, slouched into my chair and rested my head almost comfortably on the back of my chair. I fell asleep rather quickly. How do I know that I fell asleep? Because I woke myself up by snoring. Not really snoring as most people are accustomed, but rather by one booming, throated HORK. I instantly corrected my posture and replayed that sound in my head. What were other people thinking? I immediately tried to replicate that sound. Cough. Foot stomp. Chair squeak. Nope, none of them came close. I didn’t hear anyone muster, so I stopped attempting to cover myself.

I don’t know why I remembered that.

Jenni came to visit this past weekend. She came in early Friday morning. She and Elise went to lunch, to the pool and to the grocery store. I came home from work and seared salmon with a black bean and corn salsa along with steamed asparagus.

After dinner we went to Club DeVille and met up with John and Christine. We stayed for an hour or so and came home early.

We all woke up early on Saturday. While the girls readied themselves, I made a plethora of breakfast tacos from my leftover black bean and corn salsa, queso, eggs and ham. We left for John and Christine’s at 9 a.m. John ate most of the breakfast tacos. Victor arrived around 10. We sat by the pool for a little while and then all headed off to New Braunfels.

When all was said and done, I’d say we got into the Guadalupe River around 11:30 after renting our tubes and raft from Rockin’ R. We floated and floated and floated. I have to say that drunk frat boys with water canons are the most hilarious people in the world, blasting unsuspecting adults and children in the face with excrement infested river water. A real hoot those guys are. I’d bet money that at the end of the day they were scratching their heads, wondering why they weren’t able to muster up any women of the river.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. Everyone was exhausted once we got back on land. We were all starving as well. It was my idea to eat dinner at Gristmill. I don’t think anybody liked their dinner, myself included. I ordered the beef tenderloin salad. I asked for medium rare. I was handed a plate of lettuce and beef jerky. I know nobody enjoyed waiting almost two hours to eat either. Luckily I wasn’t beheaded. I’ve eaten at Gristmill once before, albeit it was during the lunch hour and it wasn’t as crowded.

After having a late dinner, we all drove back to Austin and retreated to our separate homes.

It was brought to my attention that I neglected to mention (that I once had detention in a separate dimension – sorry, I couldn’t help myself. I’m still trying that whole gangsta rap thing) that Victor was hit by a car the Saturday before last. Don’t worry, he’s okay. That was probably the coolest thing that I’ve ever seen. I don’t see how I could have forgotten to post this.

Elise, Cody, Victor and yours truly were walking back from a night of motorcycle mayhem on Sixth Street. We were abidingly crossing the street when a car came out of nowhere and nailed Victor in the legs. Victor just-so-happened to be talking with his sister on his cellular phone at the time. The car clipped Victor’s legs and sent him into the air and onto the hood of the car. All the while I could barely make out Victor speaking into the phone “Hold on Lisa, I’m being hit by a car right now… Hang on just a sec.”

It was a very surreal, Matrix-like moment. It seemed as if everything went into “bullet time”. The car’s tires screeched. We all turned our heads as fast as we could in slow motion. There was Victor, finding out at the last possible instant that he was going to be hit. Smack. Everything reverted back to real time. Victor popped off the hood of his car, brushed off his slacks, walked away and called his sister back. Not to leave the hit-and-runner without all the oh-my-god-what-did-I-just-do imagery he or she could have possibly been left with from this experience, I ran up to the driver’s window and clapped like a infant seeing that gorilla who played the keyboards at Showbiz Pizza for the first time. Too much imagery? Well, like I said, it was a surreal moment.

We’re all lucky that that car wasn’t going any faster. And that it is apparent that Victor is the One.

Elise just found out that one of her bestfriends from home is a Mom as of 9:15AM this morning.
Welcome to the world,
Liam Brandon
7lbs, 7oz
21 inches long.
Congratulations Lindsey!

I went back to Warehouse Music yesterday during my lunch break and picked up my copy of St. Anger. The clerk seemed like a cool kid, what with his spiked hair, leather and studded jewelry. I asked how the new CD sounded. He said he liked it a lot and was going to buy it himself. I went on to explain to him that I’ll give my money to Metallica only because I’m a fan (despite Load and ReLoad). I then told him that I usually just use Kazaa. Oops. All the sudden the lighthearted friendliness fizzled from our conversation. I left. I guess some diehard record store employees aren’t keen on peer-to-peer file sharing clients. I didn’t care. I came home for lunch and watched the first half of the enclosed DVD.

In other news: Austin was rated the best city for singles in 2003 because of “its terrific job market, its low cost of living…” Who the hell comes up with this stuff? Seriously.

Bossman took us diligent workers out to the Old Alligator Grill last night to celebrate a very successful May. I had a hankerin’ for oysters so I downed a dozen. We all split a couple sampler platters and talked shop over a few margaritas. I was pretty upset that they removed all of the photos from Office Space and replaced that wall with a mirror. A mirror. I love Office Space and it’s cool to sit in a restaurant where part of that movie was filmed. I can’t relate to said movie very much any more. It had a lot more depressing significance when I worked at that other place. Very corporate. Very blech.

Speaking of that other place… right before I found my current job, I was involuntarily moved downstairs to work in the Information Systems department. This meant having a new boss. A fire was lit under my butt to find new work when this “change” was dropped in my lap. Anyway, to spare you the details, that new boss of mine was fired last night. My original manager in the Marketing department was given the choice to leave or take a huge pay and title cut a couple months ago. She chose the door. And just last week the Chief Strategy Officer was given the boot. Man do I ever miss that place. I love the job I have now.

I just got back from my weekly outing with Harold. He and I went and played disc golf. I lost. We weren’t even keeping score and I lost. I knew how this round was going to turn out after I lost one of my discs on my first tee off. We still had fun though.

After golf we went to Sonic. Christina (Harold’s mom) gave Harold some money with which to buy dinner. I wasn’t hungry so I sat across from Harold and watched this not-even-one-hundred-pound boy inhale a double meat cheeseburger and a large order of tater tots. Before he began this strategic carnivorous attack, I asked him if he could eat that whole meal. He told me that he eats like that all the time. He went on to tell me that he doesn’t get fat because he stays active. With a sigh I responded “Oh to have the metabolism of a thirteen year old.”

Harold: “What’s that?”
Josh: “Metabolism is a bodily function that occurs during digestion and converts food into energy.”
H: “Sessassolism”
J: “Metabolism”
H: “Tsusabalism”
J: “Metabolism”
H: “Mesabitism”
J: “Meh-tab-bull-ism
H: “Metublibiblstmism… so what’s your favorite kind of soda?”
J: “I don’t know, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper. I really haven’t thought about it.”
H: “Do you like root beer?”
J: “Oh yeah! I like root beer a lot. Come to think about it, I really like cream soda, Orange Crush, Grape Crush”
H: “Have you ever mixed up a bunch of sodas together and drank it?”
J: “Yeah, that’s a suicide”
H: “A what?”
J: “A suicide. That’s what you call it when you mix all of the sodas together from the fountain. You know, Coke, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, that red stuff. Everything except the diet stuff. What do you call it?”
H: “Mixing a bunch of sodas together.”

Typical pause in male conversation

Josh: “Do you want to run over to the record store with me real quick?”
Harold: “The where?”
J: “The record store”
H: “What’s a record store?”

Josh’s internal monologue: Oh my gawd. I’ve come to a point in my life where I’m realizing that I’m getting older. The signs are all here. Hair is either falling out or just deciding that it looks much nicer growing from out of my ears. The forehead is getting wrinkly. I look forward to seeing the optometrist once a year. Body mass moving south. And now I’m going to have to explain why “CD stores” were once called record stores.

We went to the record store (I’m sticking to it). Rumor had it that St. Anger was to be released at 5:30 p.m. Warehouse Music knew nothing of it. It was funny to be in a record store again. I honestly don’t remember that last time I set foot in one.

We left the record store and went across the street to get Elise’s prescription filled (she’s ill). Harold and I sampled some Burt’s Bees hand lotion and smelled like little old ladies all the way home.

I took Harold back to his house and am now home. Next Wednesday we’re going to Town Lake and renting a canoe. Is it considered renting if you don’t have to pay? One of the cool things about being a Big Brother is that you’re inundated with lists of stuff to do from the BBBS office and we get to do a lot of things for free. Like renting boats. The week after that we’re going to go play laser tag.

I have to go tend to my sickly wife now. She has a horrible strain of SARS (Sick And Really Sleepy).

I’ve been suffering from physical activity withdrawal. Since my bicycle wreck I’ve been riding the motorcycle to work. Now I’m restless and fidgety. I bent my handlebar. That’s why I haven’t been riding to work. I removed the grips and the grip shifters and decided that I need new shifters. My old ones don’t work correctly. I went to Cothron’s bicycle shop and ordered a new set of integrated switch shifters and brake levers as well as a new handlebar. The shifters/brake levers won’t be in until next week. I left the handlebar up there thinking I’ll just pick it up when I go back to pick up the shifters. Now I’m thinking I’ll go back over there today and pick up the handlebar. I’ll have to mount that first anyway. And besides, I can still ride my bike with the old shifters.

Elise and I hit the Republic of Texas Biker Rally on Friday night. Well, we didn’t actually go to the rally, we caught the tail end of the entrance parade in downtown Austin. Every year that we’ve gone, I keep telling myself: “We should ride the trusty Shadow up here”. We finally rode the trusty Shadow this time. I’ve always been intimidated by the big, loud custom bikes. This time I didn’t care. Elise helped in reminding me that at least we have a bike. It didn’t take long before we reminded ourselves that we’re getting a Harley. Someday.

We walked around until we were sweaty, cranky and our feet started hurting. We stopped in one bar for a drink and then decided to leave. John called and invited us over to Threadgill’s to see Dub Miller’s band. I had completely forgotten that John and Dub had a lustful past. Lanessa and Kirk came out and joined us later in the evening.

We went over to John & Christine’s and watched a slideshow from their recent trip to St. Martin. After that, Elise and I rode home and went to bed.

We woke up early on Saturday. Elise returned some stuff at Target and did a little shopping at the Red Apple sale. I rode the trusty Shadow into town just to see what was going on. Nothing was really going on so headed home. Elise and I arrived at the apartment around the same time. Elise and I then went to the Harry Ransom Center on the UT campus to see the original mask and script from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Shhh… you’re not supposed to take photos. We also saw Sandy Skoglund’s Radioactive Cats. Very cool.

We drove over to Cody’s and hung out at his apartment for a couple hours. I called Victor and he told me that his cousin, her husband and their Harley-Davidson riding crew from San Antonio were on their way over to his place. Cody, Elise and yours truly hopped in the Jeep and went over to Victors. After talking with everyone for a while, the bikers headed off to downtown to join the festivities. The remaining four of us went out for Chinese food.

Elise, Cody and I dropped Victor off and headed back to our apartment. Victor came over later in the evening. We sat on the patio and decided to go downtown to be amongst the bikes again. We hung out at Cheers most of the night and dodged the wrath of fire breathing bartenders. We went outside close to last call and checked out some of the custom bikes that were adorning Sixth Street.

We came home in the wee hours of the morning. Elise and I went to bed and were couch potatoes all day Sunday. Although we did watch reruns of the Great Biker Build-Off and Motorcycle Mania 2 on the Discovery Channel. And then, if that weren’t enough, we watched Easy Rider on DVD.