Funny but so sad...

Now that I'm back at work, I haven't had 3 minutes to myself. The posting will go back to its recent sporadic frequency. Sorry, I know my 3 readers will be upset. Or not. :-)

I just had to post this though. My friend Danielle brought this little bit of info to my attention.... something worse than banning online gaming. I think those legislators need to adjust where's they're sticking their nose... and find something useful to do, like picking up trash on the side of the highway. God knows they aren't useful in office.

Good morning y'all!

I'm a little behind right now. It's Sunday morning... I'm not hung over which is a surprise. I am tired, and will probably take a little nap when I get done with this. Today is the day to relax.

So let's catch up a little, shall we?

Thursday started with the best burgers in the world at the Casino El Camino. I took April's advice and ordered a standard burger from the Soup Nazi-like cook in the back. I wanted my burger sometime that day, so I made sure not to piss 'em off. We met up with Ryan and his wife Kim, and hung out with them for a bit. Then shopping, and headed back to April's place to change and figure out transport.

We decided on the bus. April had never taken a bus besides the shuttle to campus, so it was bound to be an adventure. Luckily, everyone was nice and they helped us out. (We'd see one of the guys later on - he was a bouncer at one of the clubs. He encouraged us to come back, but we didn't make it.)

Watched Spoon, then Echo & the Bunnymen at Auditorium Shores. Both bands were awesome! I'll definitely be picking up Spoon's album. We had several dial-a-shots, with those people who could hear us. (BTW - StB, Al didn't put me up to that. I haven't gotten to read many blogs these last few weeks and I didn't realize. I just thought of you when it came to dial-a-shots. lol)

Then we caught another bus down to where the action was on 6th. It gets a little fuzzy here, but we ended up at Stubb's to watch Dresden Dolls. I'd never heard them before, but they rocked! Another band I need to get music from. I tried to leave Al a VM when they played War Pigs, but for some reason he didn't get the message. I was very disappointed at that one.

We headed out from there and got April some food after the Texas Teas tried to wipe her out. Then back to Bourbon Rocks for the Bottle Rockets. They still had the "badges only" sign up. I had enough booze in me where I wasn't accepting that answer. I communicated with the bouncer a little bit... ok, a whole lot of flirting... and when the band before the Rockets got finished, he let us in. Another good show. Maigrey had wanted to learn how to get boys to buy her drinks. She didn't need my tutoring that night. She had one wrapped right around her pinky and was having a blast with it. You go girl!

We finished up there and tried to catch a cab ride home. An hour to find a cab. Then y'all know what happened from my rant. :-)

Ok, so it's Friday now. BBQ at Ironworks. Place was the same as I remembered from 13 years ago. Still awesome food. Stuffed our faces and headed downtown. April drove - found a good spot, which rocked. We headed to Fado's for Irish boozing. Guiness is good. :-) We had a drink or two there with Adam but decided to head out shortly after.

BTW - my favorite St. Patrick's Day t-shirt: Just because I'm Irish doesn't mean you're getting lucky.

Next stop - Cuba Libre for chocolate and cosmo's. Mmmm. The cosmo's may or may not have had anything to do with what happened next.

We were heading down to see some bands, and ended up stopping in a tattoo parlor. It wasn't the first we'd stopped in - Maigrey had to have her earring fixed on Wednesday and I'd found one I liked. Decided against it then. Nope, not today. I found one I liked even better. Maigrey and I start talking. She's always wanted one. I really liked this one. Go for it? Sure. Nobody screamed, nobody chickened out and ended up with a dot like Phoebe from Friends. The strange part about it - I got tattooed by BG. Or at least his double. Looked the same (except for the tattoos and the bolt-things in his ears) and had the same anti-social attitute. I wanted to get a picture, but I missed the opportunity. Maybe we can catch him again later...

Off to see more bands. We weren't able to get in to see the ones we wanted at one place, so we met up with Gus at Mugshots, then headed to another bar to see Soft. We finished the night out there, then headed home. A surprisingly sober night for having just had a needle in my back.

Saturday was the tourney. I suck. Out about halfway through. I think I played well... I knocked one person out with pocket As on a K-high board. Other than that, very few good cards until I went out. I went out in style too - I'm short-stacked and look down to see pocket Ks. Of course I go all-in. One caller - Ryan. Ryan's pocket As held up to take me down. That just meant I got to take a little nap before the night's festivities.

After most of the tourney was done, we dropped Ryan off at his hotel. Maigrey wasn't up for another night of debauchery, so she took the car back to April's apartment after we'd hopped out. Had some good Mexican food and Cactus Juice at the Iron Cactus. Cactus Juice is good - tequila and everclear, how could a person go wrong with that?

We went to see Snowed In, then met Gus at Mugshots again. More beer. I ended up getting into a thumb war with one of the bartenders after he tried to take my beer before I was done with it. Silliness ensued, and it could only be settled with a thumb war. Unfortunately, I lost. :-) We did a dial-a-(nyquil)shot with Gracie, then headed out for the next band.

We ended up on the 18th floor of a hotel for (probably) the last band of SXSW. It was some Canadian band from Toronto. I don't remember the name, but April got the cd and I'll be borrowing that later. They were really good, but I would swear that the guitar player is manic-depressive and was having one of the manic "attacks" that night. Wow - he got into his music hardcore.

The rest of the night was pretty calm, except for the idiot who lit up a pack of firecrackers in the middle of the line to get pizza (the one WE were in). Luckily, it was behind us in line and the cops didn't come to shoot us with rubber bullets or tazers. That would have made a much different story...

Just to top things off, when April dropped me off last night, what song was playing? 3AM by Matchbox 20. So ironic.

Ok, enough babbling from me. The pillows are calling me back to them again. The rest of the trip should be more relaxing, but you never know.

It's 3 AM, I must be lonely...

Actually, it's 3:30 AM and I'm very happily all by myself (unlike the Matchbox 20 song suggests). All I wanted to do was get up to my room and pass out. I'd had a beer or two (or four or six or...) and I'm beat. It took us almost an hour to get a cab. The guy is EXTREMELY talkative... nice, but talkative. I had to pee. I've had to pee since about 1:45, and it's after 3 AM. He's the Dalai Lama, imparting words of wisdom unto me. I'm ready to pee my pants. Not good. I eventually disentangle myself... it helps that his girlfriend called, and I make my escape.

I run inside (actually, I do the pee-pee shuffle) and hit the button for the elevator. They're not moving. One is sitting on 4, and the other is sitting on 5. I curse loudly and repeatedly. Nothing. I thought about kicking it, but even in the state I'm in I realize it's not going to help. I yell for the desk clerk instead. More cursing.

I give up and find the bathroom right off the lobby. Much better. As I come out, the other girls that were waiting for the elevator call out to me - the elevator's here. They called their friend (they're staying on the 5th floor) to bring the elevator down. Woo-hoo! I don't have to walk all those stairs up to my room on the 4th floor. I get up to my room, unlock the door, and drop everything in my hands onto the floor. It's good until tomorrow. It will still be there.

I must be a geek. One of the first things I do when I get in is check to make sure my laptop is still where I left it. (Always have to worry about housekeeping...) At this point, I decide to vent upon the unsuspecting public. There are much better things to write about - fun stuff, like drunk dials and bands and Heather's free booze. I'll get to that tomorrow. I just had to get this out so I can sleep peacefully. In the middle of my king size bed. It's almost 4 AM, and I miss my teddy bear. :-)

Wanna Make Out? 'Cuz I'm Drunk....

[Warning - I'm keeping all stories short. It's hard to type with the DTs this early in the morning. I need a beer. lol]

Let's play "guess which drunk blogger said this" - check out the title. hehehe It was just us girls and reader Mike last night, sitting at a cool Irish bar. We'd wanted to catch the Gourds (which we did), but it was a rough trip getting there.

I had a little issue on my flight getting out there. When I booked the second part of the trip, a puddle-jumper from Dallas to Austin, it seems that I goofed. I landed at DFW, and the next flight was from DAL - across town. Luckily I'd built in 2 hours between flights, so a $40 cab ride got me there in time.

After I arrived and met up with April, we had a few beers while waiting for Maigrey to get in. We grabbed her, got ready, and called a cab. We knew there was going to be a little wait. After waiting for over an hour and a half and having them tell us that they didn't know when someone would be coming, we started calling. Luckily, there was a cab from another company one street over. Score!

Interesting cab ride. Cabbie had LOTS of opinions. Overthrow the government. etc, and so on. He was nice though and got us there quick. 100% tip for prompt service.

We found Mike when we got in there. Luckily he'd gotten a table out on the deck - Austin is another one of those places where you can't smoke indoors. Ugh. We then proceeded to get polluted. We were able to listen to the Gourds play, and Maigrey and I actually got decently close to the stage. We listened to a few songs from there before we headed back to the table for more booze.

No shots, but the birthday girl didn't need 'em. A rum & coke and 2 Strongbows later, she had all she needed. We had a running commentary on the crowd. We saw Old Lady Legs, cute cowboy butts, and everything in between. There were dial-a-shots flying everywhere, except that very few people answered the phone. Anyone who did answer was sure to be in for a treat. Anyone who didn't got VMs. Listen at your own risk.

Mike was kind enough to give us a ride to the other section of town - after he presented me with an awesome cowboy hat! He showed me how to properly bend the brim, so I didn't make a fashion faux pas with the new chapeau. (and I didn't even take French in high school)

We tried to get in for one show, but the line was out the door down the block to the corner, then it turned the corner and went down that block. There was no way in hell we were making it in. This was when Maigrey decided to grab the guy for pictures. Check out either Maigrey's or April's blog. They've already posted it. Damn tattle-tales. Posting on me. :-)

We wandered to another bar, stopping on the way so that Maigrey could get some body piercing jewelry fixed (you guess where the piercing is). While there, I found a tattoo I want. :-) I made sure to call Al and tell him what I was looking at. I could hear the resignation in his voice when I told him where I was. Nothing last night, but I can't promise it will stay that way for the rest of the trip.

The next bar we tried to get into was packed too. At that point, we decided not to ruin ourselves and caught a cab back to April's place. I'll let the other ladies write it up, but all I'm going to say is that deaf mute lesbians are funny.

We caught breakfast and they dropped me off at my hotel. On the off chance that I might get lucky, I booted the laptop and found some unsuspecting, unprotected wireless router. (I refuse to get my internet fix sitting at the generic PC sitting in the hotel lobby. I prefer to sit half-naked in my room and do this.)

So, that's day 1. I know there's lots I've left out, but I just can't type anymore. I need some orange juice and maybe a little vodka in it to take the edge off. Stay tuned for more stories of debauchery. At least those that can be released to the public.

Happy Friday!

I've been saying that to people today... Yes, I do know it's Tuesday. But it's my last day of work before I head to Austin tomorrow. Last day of work = Friday. Most of the people around work know what I'm talking about... I think it's just a quirk of this company. Most of us have worked together for so long (I've been here almost 10 years), we have our own little sub-culture. We're all insane.

I have packing to do tonight. I might take a quick shopping trip with Danielle. I'm making a list of all the stupid little things I usually forget so I can hopefully remember everything I absolutely need. I need to find my extra liver. I can't go on a 5 day bender without my extra liver. I promised April drinks. Hopefully, it's random guys at bars buying them, not me. I want a cowboy hat. Another thing I'm hoping to acquire, not buy. That one's going to be a little harder. A person must have optimism though.

I think I need to make a list of goals for the trip....
1. Free booze
2. Hat
3. Hang out with cool people (and bloggers are the coolest!)
4. Win at poker (? not likely, but it's optimism)
5. See lots of good music
6. Refrigerator magnet (yeah, I'm a geek)

I'm sure there's more that I need to add, but my brain isn't working. Rough night last night. I didn't sleep well... and due to his proximity, I'm betting neither did Al. He said I hit him several times and yelled at him for the attic. Who knows what was going through my brain at that point. I know I was having funky dreams...

I think it's due to the fact Al won't let me have a puppy. Everyone else has one... I think I should get one too. My parents just got a puppy this weekend. I'm jealous. She's a jug... cross between a jack russell terrier and a pug. She's absolutely beautiful. And when she's full-grown she'll probably be less than 15 pounds. Perfect size dog for small yards. How could anyone not love this face?


Then again, it would curb the travel. She'd be small enough to put in a carry-on though. :-)

I refuse to do work today. As it is, I should be in a meeting but I made my office-mate go instead. He can handle it. I'm in vacation mode. Clean up the little stuff, no new projects. Lots of mindless solitaire games. A little blogging to clean out the brain.

Enough blogging. Brain hurts. Need to play more solitaire. Maybe some Slingo. Nothing that requires thought. Happy Friday!

Falling off the face of the Earth...

I haven't yet. It just seems like it. Same old whine... too much to do, not enough time to do it. My job has been going nuts - now I have two development teams bugging me for stuff instead of one. We need this environment by Thursday (um, yeah, they mean today)... we want to order new servers... we changed our minds, we only want 2 servers of this type and now we're going to develop on another O/S so we need different servers... we want to upgrade all of the servers to a new version of the O/S, but I've found that it requires a complete server reinstall... can we go from PA-RISC to Itanium processors? Ugh. Of course, I usually do my blogging from work, so I haven't been able to put anything up here.

So, just in case anyone is worried, I'm still alive. I haven't been put into a padded room so I could talk to my toes. I might welcome the vacation at times, but I have my awesome vacation coming up next week. I'll be visiting April in Austin for the South by Southwest Music Festival. I spent time last week downloading a whole bunch of music from the site, so I've been listening to that for the last few days at work. Some good, some just not my style. I'm making a list of bands... I'm SOOOOO going to enjoy this.

I found what I need to get for Al and BigMike for when I'm gone. Without someone to take care of them, they get themselves into all kinds of trouble. I happened to stumble across this news article yesterday:

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The impulse control disorder drug nalmefene, which has previously been shown to be effective for alcohol dependence, may also be effective for pathological gambling, according to a study.

It's kryptonite for Al and Mike... and probably about 95% of the poker blogging community. lol I hope they don't hear about us and try to use us as guinea pigs!

Well kids, that's about all I have time for. I have to grab lunch before this server build completes or I won't be eating anything until dinner tonight... and I get grumpy when I'm hungry.