Tuesday, August 24, 2004


Beer in aluminum bottles on the way - Dad used to work in the container coatings business and worked with a lot of beer bottlers. Cold beer that stays cold longer is an attractive proposition...but please recycle.  Posted by Hello

Saturday, August 14, 2004


A "Pete-Leap" from last Monday at the Hollywood Bowl. Posted by Hello

I was never particularly keen on the "Dallas Burn" name. I can't fault the team for trying to appeal to the European Football fans on our shores. I mean, it's the Euros who swill Guinness at 8 in the morning, paying $20 cover at the Dubliner to watch some UEFA Cup match or qualifier. It makes perfect sense to me that they'd want to entice that fanbase.  Posted by Hello

Tuesday, July 06, 2004


BLIMPBALL IN NAVY TESTS Posted by Hello

I went to a wedding this weekend and sat at a table with an Army tank trainer. He's being deployed to Iraq next April & I asked him if the Army was teaching Arabic to the cavalry. He seemed surprised by the question & explained to me that most everyone over there speaks enough English to communicate. He said if they didn't, that they would just go to the Tribal Elder to get interpretative assistance. I didn't say anything to him about it. After all, I've never been to the Middle East. But I am willing to bet that there are profound benefits to speaking at least a wee bit of Arabic. Today I was happy to stumble upon this site on DefenseTech about the Tactical Language Project. Troops can learn Arabic now via Video Game! No offense to the Cavalry soldier, but no amount of spit & vinegar is going to help you find the bathroom when you've got a cous-cous attack from that Banks of the Tigris hot-dog stand if you don't speak some Arabic.  Posted by Hello

Saturday, July 03, 2004

Thursday, July 01, 2004

Are the Browser Wars Back?

A ringing endorsement of the Mozilla Firefox browser by MSN Slate's Paul Boutin. If you don't use Firefox yet - get on board (you Mac users can keep on using Safari - but there's Firefox for Mac also if you're interested). I strongly recommend it to everyone out there.

Friday, June 25, 2004

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

A local developer does his best to bring Austin cool to Oak Cliff

A couple of my Austin-area friends, Darrell & Stan, recommended the Hotel San Jose in the newly-thriving SoCo (South Congress) area of town. (We also enjoyed a terrific Tex-Mex meal at Guero's in this same part of town.)

This article in the latest D Magazine highlights a Dallas-area real estate developer's efforts to do the same kind of thing with an old Oak Cliff landmark called the Belmont Motor Hotel designed by famed Dallas architect Charles Dilbeck. He's even trying to get the person behind the Hotel San Jose involved. The Dallas Morning News wrote about this back in February.

I don't know how reasonable an idea it is to try and recreate that Austin vibe in Oak Cliff. Austin is "weird" and Dallas is J.R. & Jerry Jones. Or that's how it's always been anyway. Oak Cliff's hilly, yes. It has that going for it.

Two-Buck Chuck Takes Top Prize!

At the 28th Annual International Eastern Wine Competition, a $1.99 bottle of California Wine, the 2002 Charles Shaw Shiraz, beat out 2,300 wines to win a prestigious double gold medal. Hear NPR's Steve Inkseep.

Friday, June 18, 2004

Google's Gmail customers happy to be among elite

Today's Star-Telegram article on Gmail led me to this blog. Post your info and a Gmail user will send you a coveted Gmail invitation.

Thursday, June 17, 2004

TechTV Fans Mad as Hell

I'm having a hard time trying to articulate my appreciation of the defunct TechTV. Their stable of techie show-hosts were quirky and reminded me of the IT folks at the various places I've worked - insecure socially, but brimming with fresh, dorky confidence because of their end-of-cable-spectrum celebrity and their computer know-how.

Mostly they were talking WAY over my head, but there were moments of great enlightenment amidst the fog. I could care less about the G4 Gaming programs. And they don't seem at all compatible with the old TechTV.

I gained a lot of PC confidence watching Call for Help and The Screen Savers. There's a lot to be said about those moments of reckoning when I knew the answer to some of the call-in questions. If there's anyone else out there that shares my appreciation of TechTV, please let me know. If not - the lonely echo from this post will drive my viewing habits right back to SportsCenter & Headline News.

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Meet Joe Blog

My cousin Lauren sent me this link to a story on the blogging phenomenon in Time Magazine. It's an interesting article with links to some stand-out blogs and others of note.

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Friday, June 11, 2004