Monday, July 14, 2025

Central Texas Flood - July 4th Weekend, 2025




It's difficult to know what to say about what has occurred here in Central Texas over the last week.  

For reasons that I cannot sort, we tend to get weather events on holidays.  You'll hear about Memorial Day floods, Halloween floods, etc..  This one happened on July 4th, 2025.  It is by far the most devastating flood in this area of which I am aware, and it's going to haunt this area for decades to come.

For years, the areas west of Austin have been starved for rain.  The ongoing drought has been of tremendous concern both west of Austin and locally and is a regular topic during weather reports (for more on Austin weather, I recommend KXAN).  This area is booming with unregulated growth by developers who will be long gone when we're out of water, so it's an issue.  The climate here is essentially scrub-desert.  Our native trees grow wide and knotty, and cactus and mesquite fight for space where soil is found between limestone outcrops.  Much of Central Texas and the Hill Country sit atop a thin layer of soil, which - in turn- rests on top of rock, which forms the lovely rolling hills you see in West Austin and beyond (thus the name of the area).  From the Balcones Escarpment, the hills extend for miles and miles before you hit the flat lands of West Texas - just prior to the mountains.

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Chicago Trip 2025




Jamie and I hadn't been outside of Texas since 2019.  

When COVID hit, we went into lockdown the same day as everyone else in March of 2020, but took a lot longer to step away from safety protocols.  Add in that my employment has been... a ride since COVID hit, and circumstances have made it difficult to think ahead or plan a vacation.  

We took some local AirBNB trips and we went to San Antonio, but we hadn't really gone anywhere in years.

But on June 13th we flew out mid-day, and returned early in the evening of June 17th.  A short trip, but travelling for us is an ordeal.  Jamie has to schedule dialysis at a local clinic, and we don't tend to have long days of just moving around.

For a first trip out of town in a while, we chose something we knew, and something I was desperate to do - get back to Chicago and take in a Cubs game at Wrigley Field.  And a good year for it!  Cubs are several games at the top of the the National League Central right now, with Pete Crow-Armstrong a superstar in the making, and Seiya Suzuki also on a hitting streak.  We have a third baseman in Matt Shaw, and our defense is sometimes better than our relatively solid offense.

Friday

Tuesday, June 03, 2025

Happy Pride Month


 
Hey!  Happy Pride Month!

Here at League of Melbotis, we want to take a moment to say we support and defend adults and children alike as they seek their path to happiness and a healthy life.  And we certainly believe ideologies celebrated and laws made to keep people from enjoying life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness have no place in this world.  There's a name for that sort of law-making.

It's not hard to respect people and love our neighbors.  I cannot imagine working against my friends, co-workers and neighbors for whom this month is a celebration.  

I hope this Pride Month is full of joy for all of you.  And if you're headed for the comments to complain about people *making* you see their lifestyle, grow the fuck up, snowflake!  You can value other people enough  - especially strangers - that you can take a moment to celebrate a world that curves towards freedoms and liberties for all people.  Or go sit with your hate and what it says about how sad and small you want the world to be.

Saturday, May 24, 2025

WNBA, NWSL and Cubs - Summertime Sports

Kayla Thornton of the Golden State Valkyries


I don't really think of myself as a "sports guy", but it is true that I watch *a lot* of sports.  Apparently I am that guy, in my way.

Cubs Baseball


PCA bringing the Mariah Carey magic


The Chicago Cubs have had a good spring, and as we roll into summer, if injuries don't diminish the roster too much, we could be quite good this season.  While acquired talent like the Astros' Kyle Tucker have been huge boons to the team, our returning roster is looking better and happier than the past two or three seasons.  Pete Crow-Armstrong in Center Field is batting like crazy, Seiya Suzuki is batting a reliable .262 and has at least 13 home runs.  Both of our catchers, Miguel Amaya and Carson Kelly, can hit, so it doesn't matter who is in on any given game day. Seiya also looks to be the lead for .RBI's across MLB at the moment.

I know the season is a grind, but it's fun while it's fun.  

Monday, April 28, 2025

Today is Our 25th Wedding Anniversary





It is true.  On April 28th, 2000, Jamie and I exchanged vows in front of family and friends in a lovely ceremony in South Austin.  

It was a whole thing.

The pics, by the way, are my scans I did real fast on my phone which is about 5 generations behind.  Be kind.  The pictures were shot on film.  This was in ye olden daze.

I don't know what to tell you about 25 years of marriage.  I recommend it if you can work it out.  It helps to marry someone with whom you get along pretty darn well.  There's a tip for you kids.

Saturday, April 19, 2025

Cubs Baseball Has Wildest Game



I love a box score that tells an insane story.  

I was not watching yesterday, just checking the score online, and things were getting nuts.  So while I worked on some things, I noted that the game was going bananas and tuned in.

But that box score couldn't tell the whole story.  From @OptaSTATS



Condensed game from Marquee Network below:







Friday, April 18, 2025

Kylie Minogue at the Moody Center - April 17, 2025

Now that's how you command an audience


I was aware of Kylie Minogue when she covered The Locomotion (by Carol King, natch!), way back circa 1987.  I figured she was one of a thousand flash-in-the-pan pop starlets, especially as, much like Tiffany covering I Think We're Alone Now, the song was already in the zeitgeist.  

I can't say I thought much about Kylie again until she popped up as The Green Fairy in Moulin Rouge, at which point I began formulating the idea that Kylie is a good idea, indeed.


a stunningly good argument for absinthe

And then, of course, with the release of her album, Fever, she dropped the single Can't Get You Out Of My Head, and America was finally given a real look at Minogue - including a 2002 appearance on SNL (that is not currently on YouTube, which is a shame).  

Monday, April 14, 2025

I turned 50

look at me, enjoying time with Jamie at a ball game while my dad photobombs us

Well, I turned 50 this weekend.

I always acknowledge my birthday at the media review branch of League of Melbotis by finding a song and lyrics that seem to articulate the way we're feeling at the time.  I have a playlist if you want to jam out to my vibes the past several years.  

It's been a wild few years, to be honest.  But that's just life as an adult, I think.  I try to be zen about it all.  Things are tough sometimes, but we have a great family support system, and that does a lot to keep you going.  I've refocused.  You keep moving.

To celebrate my birthday, I managed to pull together family that was in town (Dug and K live elsewhere, but more details on that shortly) and we all did one of my favorite things.  We went to a baseball game.  We watched the Round Rock Express triumph over the Oklahoma City Comets on a windy, sunny day.  

Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Jamie's Birthday



Today is Jamie's birthday.  

I met Jamie when we were both 18 and starting college, although I was at the big university 90 minutes up the road, and she was at the smaller college in San Antonio.  I'd come down to partake in a party at a house off-campus where my brother and his pals would be, and Jamie was the randomly assigned roommate of a pal from high school.

I *did* try to ask her out that fall, but she wasn't feeling well and dating was off the table.  Fair enough.  Fortunately, a couple years later she let me know she *was* now open to dating, and I signed up immediately.  This fall, it'll have been thirty years.  

Which means we've spent our adult lives together.

But that's the thing.  She's still as new to me today as she was when we first went out, and I still want her company even more.  Working from home has spoiled me completely - my one-day-per-week in the office is a drag.  I still want to impress her and see if I can make her laugh, and make dinner for her and be there for her.  Because she's the best.  She is maybe not someone who is loud or incredibly demonstrative with her love, but she has a lot of it.

She's always my biggest supporter (sometimes taking me by surprise as my hype-man when I was playing it cool), and always my best counsel.  I think the past decade, I've gotten really good at listening to her as the person who knows when I'm on to something and when I'm just spinning my wheels.  You need a Jamie to keep you honest, team.

We're now old enough that everyone has put up with something in their lives, health-wise or in their personal history.  But Jamie has dealt with her own challenges since she was 17, and she's done it with a strength and grace I envy.  It is very hard to explain all the challenges, scares and bad-days she's had, and she still gets up and lives every day.  

This is a milestone birthday, and it means the world to me that I get to spend it with her.  

Happy birthday, baby.  I love you.

Tuesday, March 04, 2025

SEC Champions! UT Women's Basketball Game - 03/02/2025

your geniuses at work


On Sunday, March 2, we headed to the University of Texas campus to catch the UT Women’s Basketball team play in the final game of the year. I thought I was being a smart boy and bought tickets for my parents, Jamie and myself. 

This week is my mom’s birthday, and my parents are both alumnae of the University of Florida, who we were playing. I called to surprise them, and they informed me they’d already purchased tickets to the same game. This is how things work at my house. 


Steanso, The Niece and Yours Truly


So, Sunday afternoon my mom and cousin met up with me and Jamie, and then Steanso's family.  We had seats in separate sections, but it worked out.

Saturday, January 25, 2025

Phantogram at ACL Live - Austin, TX 01/24/2025


Went to go see Phantogram downtown Austin this evening.  Attended with Steanso and Frank.



I've been into Phantogram since hearing When I'm Small as the music to a trailer for a comic book years ago.  I've seen them once before at The Mohawk.


I've dug their progression over the years, including experiments like Big Grams.



Anyway, they put on a solid 90+ minute set that was all rockin', minimal talkin' at a sold out ACL Live.


If I can find a set list, I'll post it.  But they definitely played all my favorite songs, so what else can you ask for?



Frank had never seen them, and really didn't know them, but I think he dug them a lot.  


Hilariously, the bass was so hard during one song I could feel the air moving around my legs.  It was a great show and the crowd was super into it.  

By the way, these pics aren't great because I'm 6'5" and stood at the back so other folks could see.  

Here's some quick video I grabbed that isn't any good.




Also, this signs was accurate:



late edit:  supporting act was GLU out of LA.  One-man act, former Queens of the Stone Age member, sorta a meld of alt-rock and hip-hop that had some tracks that were pretty dang good.  

Thursday, January 16, 2025

Andre Crosses the Rainbow Bridge

during Christmas this year



Just over three years ago, we adopted a very large dog.

We'd been going through a rescue that specializes in Golden Retrievers, and got something we thought was a mix.  A 110+ pound mix of Golden Retriever and... something.  Our new boi swiftly got healthier and was now a 120+ pound mix.  And, as it would turn out, not a Golden at all, but a Great Pyrenees mix with a dollop of Pit Bull.  

But because the rescue thought he was a gigantic Golden, they'd named him Andre the Giant.  When given a chance to rename him, we figured he'd just been given a new name, and he sure seemed like an Andre.  

In the end, his breed explained a lot.  As a Golden, he'd had a hard time getting adopted out because he would bark at people who came to meet him, which could be intimidating.  But, Pyrs are sheep guard dogs, and they bark at people entering their territory.  We didn't have that problem - he came to meet us at our house - and it was kind of love at first sight, but when we thought he was a Golden, his behavior was super odd.  

When he didn't want to do something badly enough, or he got scared, he would sploot - just go to ground and dare you to move him.  He didn't want to be in the backyard at all, even with us, and he was very confused by things Goldens love, like toys, pleasing people, and following commands - which is not a thing Pyrs care about at all.  

Sunday, January 12, 2025

A Night at The Austin Symphony - The New World



So, back during covid lockdown, I spent a lot of time watching YouTube.  And, as some may remember, during the first days of lockdown in March of 2020, famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma offered up a song of comfort with Dvořák's "Coming Home".  

At the time, this was the thing that wrecked me as I realized how we were all in this together, for a long time to come.  But, I also realized I didn't really know anything about Dvořák, or this song, which we've all heard out there somewhere.  But if Ma picked Dvořák, I thought it was worth looking into.  

There's a pretty great explainer here from 2020 (hopefully the link doesn't die).  And one from NPR on the full symphony.  

I learned it's the second movement of Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, "From The New World", written circa 1893.  You will know this symphony - it's been used in movies, television, etc... in bits and pieces. 

Saturday, January 11, 2025

Longhorns Surprisingly Good Season Ends at the Cotton Bowl - and Year One in the SEC




A few years ago, my alma mater, former employer and preferred college sports program - the University of Texas - announced that they were leaving the Big 12 Conference for the SEC.  I hated this decision then, and I hate it now.  In fact, it's fair to say the past fifteen years have seen me come to really dislike the "business" of college football, including NIL deals and the way the tail is now wagging the dog on college campuses - even as I totally get that there are people who will genuinely believe universities only exist so we can have football.*

My beef with the move to the SEC stemmed from my belief this was shortsighted and only benefited one of the many NCAA sports in which the university competes, while also punishing the athletes, who now had to travel across the continent every time the Longhorns had a match, meet or game.  Which is fine if you only play on Saturdays in the Fall semester, but sports like Volleyball, Soccer, Tennis, Swimming, etc... would have to *also* travel like this, and be in their Econ 302 class by 10:00 AM the following day.  Despite whatever money Quinn Ewers made this year from Dr. Pepper, these athletes are still students.

Thursday, December 26, 2024

Christmas 2024

the official White House 2024 ornament, amongst some family ornaments



Our mode the past decade or so has been to throw as much Christmas as we can at the wall so when something doesn't pan out or something bad happens, at least *something* Christmassy occurred.

This year we got up decorations inside and outside the house early.

We put up the Super Tree

Thursday, November 28, 2024

Happy Thanksgiving, Pals



Here in the US of A, it's Thanksgiving.  

I love Thanksgiving.  It's about food and hanging out.  Ideal. It's also a nice break between the shenanigans of Halloween and the all-consuming maelstrom that is Christmas.

May you find yourself with some quality plans.  Watch the parade!  Watch a dog show!  Put on some football!

We're not hosting this year - that honor lies with KareBear and The Admiral.  Mom is prepping a bird, she'll have potatoes and green beans, and I'll be a happy boy.  Jamie is pitching in.  She started prep a few days ago, staling bread for stuffing.  And Wednesday, she both prepped the stuffing (making the house smell amazing with butter and onion).  She also cooked a turkey breast to ensure we'd have turkey for sandwiches if the turkey was fully consumed at my folks' house.  

No - We will not have too much turkey.  I love turkey.  I understand people don't, and that's fine as it means: more turkey for me.  The likelihood I'll just slowly eat a couple of turkeys given the chance is greater than zero.  As is the possibility I'll make like a 1930's cartoon and just inhale a turkey, leaving a pile of bones.

I wish those of you who can be with family the absolute best.  It could be a colorful year.  Take care of yourself.  But it may go really well.  Here's hoping.

Our plans currently include dinner with my folks and watching football both Friday with some Nebraska fans, and Saturday - as we see if UT can beat A&M in the their first match-up in some time.

And, of course, we'll be putting up our share of Christmas decor, inside and outside the house.  



Thursday, October 24, 2024

US Women's National Team (soccer) comes to town! We went!


Hey, friendos.  

Jamie and I went to see the US Women's National Team (in soccer) play Iceland this evening at Austin's Q2 Stadium where we usually take in Austin FC.  

The game started a tad early - 6:40 or so.  And so we drove in rush-hour traffic all the way from Lower Austin to Howard Lane to catch the train to Q2.  The drive:  terrible.  The train - amazing.

lightrail!  It works!

I've liked to try to follow the USWNT since being completely won over by the team in the 1999 World Cup.  Brandi Chastain's goal is, in my book, one of the great sports moments of my lifetime.  I followed the team through the Mia Hamm era, Abby Wambach, Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan...  The US women tend to dominate globally for a variety of reasons.  However, the World Cup in 2023 did not go our way.  But!  the current line-up under coach Emma Hayes won Gold in the 2024 Olympics, and is... great.

So, yeah, finally getting to see this team is 25 years in the making, for me.  Also, Austin needs an NWSL expansion team.  Just saying. 

Jamie has watched USWNT with me since 1999, and so getting to go to this together is real partner stuff for us.

For posterity, here was our starting XI.


Not bad, right?  I've wanted to see Rose Lavelle play for a long time - but this whole line-up was pretty awesome.  (spoiler: Lavelle did not disappoint - nor did anyone)

Sunday, June 23, 2024

Me and "Batman" (1989) - at 35


Today marks the 35th anniversary of the release of Batman.   

Our final episode of The Signal Watch PodCast covered this movie.  I invite you to join Jamie and me through a chipper discussion of the movie and the forces around it.  And I've previously written about me and Batman.

To repeat some of what's the podcast and maybe elsewhere - I very much recall my excitement around Batman in 1989. 

I'd really come to comics in 1986, and like a lot of readers at the time, I mostly read X-books and the Bat-titles.  Bat-comics were kind of exploding at the time in the wake of Dark Knight Returns and with the arrival of the terrific talents of folks like Alan Grant on writing chores, veteran Jim Aparo and fresh talent Norm Breyfogle on pencils.  I think this era is one of the many well-loved eras for the books, and with good reason.  

Even in the era of Indiana Jones and Star Wars, Batman was the first movie I ever followed through development and to release date - then through box office and into home video.  It was not the first movie I ever loved, but it was the first movie I felt a level of personal attachment.  

I recall articles in Comics Scene, then the paper.  Reading Nicholson was the Joker and feeling uncertain how that would go.  Prince would be on the soundtrack, which seemed bizarre.

So excited was I - I purchased the novelization prior to the release of the film, and was half-way through reading it when I realized "this is a very dumb thing to do" and I cast the book aside.  I didn't know the term "spoilers" then, but I realized I was going to maybe ruin the experience a mere 4 or 5 days prior to seeing the movie.

My memory of seeing the film itself will always be tied up with a few unrelated things.

Saturday, May 18, 2024

Lollapalooza, Rock n' Roll and where we're at in 2024

 


Back in the summer of 1991, with a newly minted driver's license, I drove from Spring, Texas to Austin.  We picked up a friend of my brother's, and then we pivoted, driving into Dallas just before dusk.  

The next day, my brother, his buddy Mike, my buddy Scott and I attended Day 1 of the first two dates in Dallas of the first Lollapalooza tour.  Back then, Lollapalooza was fairly small, and a roving event that moved the artists and associated folks from city to city.  Dallas had sold better than expected, so they added a second day, which was, because of scheduling, the day before the original date.

We kind of knew about the music festivals in Europe, but at the time, music festivals here had sort of died out except for the very successful Monsters of Rock thing (the history and complexity of which I won't get into here).  Bands mostly played 2-3 acts together at most.  Something like Reading was way out of reach on our shores.  You had to have Farm Aid to see anything like a festival that I was really aware of.

Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell somehow cooked up the idea of his caravan of 120 Minutes friendly bands (we did not have the term Alternative in 1991), pulling together a fascinating herd of musicians, hitting cities all across the US.  That I could see Jane's Addiction, Ice-T, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Rollins Band in one day was mind-boggling.  As promised Farrell also brought along artists and international food I wasn't familiar with (I recall looking for food from Africa every year and never regretting it).

Sunday, April 28, 2024

24 Years of Wedded Bliss


So, April 28th, 2024 marks the 24th anniversary of Jamie and I making it official.

We'd "dated" for years prior, back to 1995, but that's if you call "dating" two people just saying "yup" to each other and now we were an item.  There wasn't much in the way of trying to figure things out regarding our status.  I wasn't taking her to a movie and then dropping her off and wondering what she was thinking.  We were just together.  And while I didn't know that we'd get married in the first months, there was just not a lot of work there - we just didn't have a trial period or casual dating phase.  

When I hear about people having relationship drama, I'm just of the opinion that you aren't writing a romantic novel about overcoming all kinds of obstacles in liking each other.  I'm not saying there isn't any work or misunderstandings, but, kids, it can be pretty good pretty early on.  With Jamie's medical history, we wound up having plenty of drama that wasn't us arguing, so don't mistake things for being all smooth sailing.  And I got cold feet a couple of times as we headed toward what looked like a lifelong relationship - what with college ending and next phases of life starting.

But into those next phases we headed, sharing an apartment for two years before nuptials.  We got married on a Friday in April of the year 2000.  We were 25, which was pretty young by the standards of my peers.  But, also, most of my friends responded to the news with "shocker, man".  Which means people probably knew we were getting married before I knew.