Youth and Young Manhood

Never again will brilliant shower brainstorms be forgotten by...

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:26:00 -0600

Never again will brilliant shower brainstorms be forgotten by the time I towel off.

SXSW is fast approaching and with a houseful of guests and more...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:54:13 -0600

SXSW is fast approaching and with a houseful of guests and more parties than one man can RSVP to, I fully expect laws to be broken. This photo is for use on “Wanted” flyers should the need arise.

Hank Williams - Settin’ the Woods on Fire We’ll take...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:52:00 -0600

Hank Williams - Settin’ the Woods on Fire

We’ll take in all the honky tonks
Tonight we’re having fun
We’ll show the folks a brand new dance
That never has been done
I don’t care who thinks we’re silly
You be Daffy and I’ll be Dilly
We’ll order up two bowls of chili
Setting the woods on fire

I know little of Hank Williams aside from Wikipedia and 40 songs of his I’ve been playing incessantly. But I think I know what it would be like to meet him and his lyrical love interest from “Setting the Woods on Fire” on this particular night. I’d feel equal parts:

Exuberant
Ignored

The exuberance part, that’s both apparent and difficult to describe without getting saccharine. So let’s skip to being ignored shall we?

I claim the last empty stool at the bar and soon hear a distinctive soft yodel down the line. Wouldn’t you know it! Hank Williams himself is leaning in to the auburn-haired beauty to my left, singing an uncharacteristically sweet love song. I interrupt and introduce myself.

Two whiskeys come and go, and Hank, Millie and I are discussing his upcoming tour schedule. I make eye contact with the young couple as we talk. They look at me, too, like honest men and women do. And yet, their eyes have a depth of field and I’m not the focal point.

“You sure are a swell couple. How did y’all meet?” I ask.

An impromptu duet ensues as they alternate sentences, regaling me with that chance first encounter. I listen and understand their story. It’s a collection of times, places, names and dialogues and a fascinating one at that. (Hank earns his living telling stories after all.)

But I don’t really understand the story they’re telling. Their cumulative shared experience creates a much more detailed narrative through short pauses and facial expressions in a language I can’t understand.

I summon my whiskey courage and ask a fair gal near us to dance. She obliges.

The four of us head out to the hardwood floor where we boogie and we woogie. I dote on my swell new partner, but occasionally sneak a glance at Millie and Hank. They’re lost in each other, and watching them dance is like gazing into a snow globe.

Spending time with two people in love can be sad. You could spontaneously combust like a poorly planned microwave meal and they wouldn’t bat an eye. To them, the entire world is one giant third wheel.

I know, I know. I took probably the only happy song Hank Williams ever wrote and made it sad. This wasn’t meant to be a complaint piece, however…just an observation. To quote Johnny Cash:

“I don’t like it but I guess things happen that way.”

And when I find myself in a snow globe romance, I’ll be ignoring you too.

Download

(Thanks to Sarah and Jason for reading drafts of this)

Inspired by a similar project I did back in Chicago with Pete...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:45:11 -0600

Inspired by a similar project I did back in Chicago with Pete and Kaitlyn, we had a few friends over on Friday to paint something together. Cheap beer in one hand, cheaper paintbrushes in the other, we all gathered around the canvas and went to town.

The result is….unique?

Thanks to everyone who helped: Sarah, Lynn, Katie, Shelly, Matt, Kienan, Christine, Christina & Christa.

The consequences of offering $1 beers Monday through...

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:06:47 -0600

The consequences of offering $1 beers Monday through Wednesday.

Barton Springs Saloon - Austin, TX

I saw this joke last year on the Internet, I suppose soon after...

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:02:00 -0600

I saw this joke last year on the Internet, I suppose soon after it was written, and I thought it was the funniest thing I’d heard in awhile. I then proceeded to forget both the joke and the source.

I went to great lengths to track it down, including:

Doing Google searches for “Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy + burrito + joke” and various permutations of those words (you see, I’d confused the subject and the object of the joke)
Scouring through old Tumblr posts and doing searches on the same
Installing a plug-in for Firefox that would let me search my browser history (this wouldn’t solve the problem, but would prevent me from forgetting any burrito/musician related jokes I may come across in the future)
Asking a few friends if they’d heard a similar joke. (They hadn’t, nor did they find it particularly funny. Probably because my version involved Bonnie “Prince” Billy crying into a burrito and making it salty or something…)

I was going through my Delicious bookmarks today when I ran into this gem at long last. I still think it’s funny as hell, but I’m sure that has to do in part with the struggle I endured in search of the laugh.

If you haven’t listened to Bon Iver, check out their live performance of “Skinny Love” on Letterman.

We went to an opening in East Austin two weeks ago for Corinne...

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:37:00 -0600

We went to an opening in East Austin two weeks ago for Corinne Loperfido. I came home with a print that night, but regretted not getting this piece. Flash forward to yesterday and Corinne was hand delivering it to me on her ‘92 Honda scooter.

I learned that in addition to being a creative artist, Corinne is an expert on breaking into Austin hotel pools. So if you’re looking for art or a late-night swim, check her out.

"The moment just past is extinguished forever, save for the things made during it."

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:13:00 -0600

“The moment just past is extinguished forever, save for the things made during it.”

- George Kubler (viafrank)

Dave Eggers Reading at BookPeople

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:32:02 -0600

Dave Eggers Reading at BookPeople:

I’ve made my fondness known.

"This reminds me of when we’d sit across a table from one another and work for 8 hours - and..."

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:29:00 -0600

“This reminds me of when we’d sit across a table from one another and work for 8 hours - and basically not say a word to each other. That was great.”

- Peter, in an earnest reply to an email where I shared this video

What, you don’t fall asleep writing emails?

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:43:00 -0600

What, you don’t fall asleep writing emails?

That’s me playing Nerf Russian Roulette¹ with our new...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:15:00 -0600

That’s me playing Nerf Russian Roulette¹ with our new quasi-roommate² Andrea at the Ted Rejects party.

Nerf Russian Roulette is not unlike Chat Roulette. That is, a mildly dangerous way to create fodder for interesting photos.
I include the “quasi” modifier because she’s sleeping on an air mattress in what was once our dining room.

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Stop it Mother Nature, I have lap swim at 5…

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:36:48 -0600

Stop it Mother Nature, I have lap swim at 5…

Hey people, come to our apartment on W 5th tonight. We’re...

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:20:00 -0600

Hey people, come to our apartment on W 5th tonight. We’re having friends over to experience the horror and delight of Chat Roulette.

We’ll also be roasting S’mores and drinking beer (BYOB).

Come over at 9 and get the heck out at midnight. If you haven’t been over before but want to come, email me. Meeting strangers is our M.O. tonight after all.

Saturday evening I was browsing the Austin tags on Tumblr and...

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:30:00 -0600

Saturday evening I was browsing the Austin tags on Tumblr and came across the blog of two University of Florida students who were doing a weeklong trip related to entrepreneurship.

That, my friends, is something I can get behind.

An email and a few phone calls later and they were partying with us at the Ted Rejects party…

The Internet is a crazy, crazy thing. Safe travels Adam and Meaghan!

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If you buy Sarah a $2 Schlitz she’ll draw something on the...

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:54:44 -0600

If you buy Sarah a $2 Schlitz she’ll draw something on the bar for you!

The best photographers will let nothing stand between them and a...

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:11:03 -0600

The best photographers will let nothing stand between them and a great shot.

Yesterday morning I got up to cheer on Tim & Shelly during the tail end of the Austin Marathon (didn’t get up quite early enough to watch Matt do the 1/2 Marathon…sorray). I had one opportunity to get a good photo, and I FAILED MISERABLY. But I fixed it.

Great job runners!

From sarahachtemeier

For all you ladies out there feeling lonely on Valentines Day, I...

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 12:30:00 -0600

For all you ladies out there feeling lonely on Valentines Day, I present to you Mr Fox.

On Cumulative Effects

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:30:00 -0600

Yesterday I woke up with a sore back. I’m sure my flu symptoms had something to do with those achy muscles - but I couldn’t help but wonder whether my mattress had a hand in it too.

I’ve had this mattress since college. It was a hand-me-down from my Brazilian roommate Bruno. And come to think of it, Bruno got the mattress secondhand when he moved to America.

Jesus, my mattress is probably a relic of the 90’s.

Thinking about my mattress led me to wonder: “If I continue to sleep on my outdated, inwardly sloped mattress for too long - will I start to look like a hunchback?” I know a night, week, month, even a year of restless nights on a cheap mattress can’t cause irreversible damage. But five years of cumulative poor rest could, right?

I then began thinking of the negative cumulative consequences of other things: frequent bike riding, working with a laptop on my lap, drinking to excess nearly every weekend, going to 15 or 20 loud rock shows a year.

I had never considered how much these things could add up. I began to cringe thinking about being 40 and having the health and cognizance of Ozzy Osbourne. But then I realized…

There are positive cumulative effects too.

Every workday I spend 7-8 hours managing awesome freelancers and helping people connect with customers on the Internet. Every day I also spend a few more hours reading and learning about how to do what I do better. I’ve read so much that I’m getting to the point where I want to shut off the spigot of information and just start taking action. Often.

And this feels incredible. It’s like the past three years I’ve been accumulating everything I need to know to make what I’m about to do possible.

Think about the actions you’re taking in life that might have a cumulative effect. Especially the positive ones. And instead of trying to do everything today. Just do one thing.

One stupid little thing.

Read a few pages in that giant book. Run for 10 minutes. Say a few nice words to your roommate or your bed mate.

It doesn’t seem like much at the time, because it isn’t. It just really adds up.

(Thanks to Shelly and Sarah for reading drafts of this)

There are always more than two options

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:00:00 -0600

There are always more than two options:

Sometimes I have thoughts in my head. Thoughts which I dream of turning into essays someday when I’m in the essay writing mood.

But alas, if Derek Sivers keeps writing insightful little posts like this one, my essays will be nothing but a well edited collection of footnotes to sivers.org.