Zeppelin Makes a Comeback!

Zeppelin Makes a Comeback! Revived Zeppelin Delivered to First User.

Shadow of the Zeppelin NT on its way to Japan from Germany.  

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.

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.

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.

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.

The New York Times > Technology > Yahoo Expands E-Mail Storage, in Nod to Google

The New York Times > Technology > Yahoo Expands E-Mail Storage, in Nod to GoogleWhen is Microsoft going to respond in kind to all of this with its Hotmail service?

BugMeNot.com - Defy Online Newspapers Annoying Registration Requirements

BugMeNot.comPlug in the URL of a site, say, www.dallasnews.com or www.nytimes.com and it will list log-ins that you can use to avoid going through the whole tedious registration process. Nifty, eh?

Steve Jobs intros AirPort Express; streams iTunes music

Yahoo! News - Jobs intros AirPort Express; streams iTunes musicThose of you waiting to go wireless at home should wait until July to get the Airport Express. This looks to be a real beauty.

Monday Evening is Poetry Night

From Robert Frost's collection of poetry, "The Road Not Taken":

Revelation

We make ourselves a place apart
Behind light words that tease and flout,
but o, the agitated heart
Til someone find us really out.

'Tis pity if the case require
(Or so we say) that in the end
we speak the literal to inspire
the understanding of a friend.

But so with all, from babes that play
at hide-and-seek to God afar,
so all who hide too well away
must speak and tell us where they are.

My friend Gar has a new blog called "Chicken Squawks". Check it out! 

Yahoo! News - Hollywood Mystery Man 'Rance' Has Internet Abuzz

Yahoo! News - Hollywood Mystery Man 'Rance' Has Internet Abuzz Word has it that the mystery man is Owen Wilson. The blog can be found here.