Austin Barbies

Austin Texas Barbies
ANNOUNCEMENT: Mattel recently announced the release of limited-edition Barbie Dolls for the Austin Texas market:


" Westlake Barbie"

This princess Barbie is sold only at Davenport Village . She comes with an assortment of Kate Spade, Prada and LV Handbags, Rolex watch a Lexus SUV, a long-haired foreign dog named Honey and a 25,000 sq ft. patio home.

Available with or without tummy tuck and facelift. Workaholic Ken sold only in conjunction with the augmented version.




"Round Rock Barbie"


The modern day homemaker Barbie is available with Ford Wind star Minivan and matching gym outfit. She gets lost easily and has no full-time occupation.

Traffic jamming cell phone sold separately



" East Riverside Barbie"


This recently paroled Barbie comes with a 9mm handgun, a Ray Lewis knife, a Chevy with dark tinted windows, and a Meth Lab Kit. This model is only available after dark and must be paid for in cash (preferably small, untraceable bills) unless you are a cop, then we don't know what you are talking about.




"Lakeway Barbie"


This yuppie Barbie comes with your choice of Rolls Royce convertible or Hummer H2. Included are her own Starbucks cup, credit card and country club membership. Also available for this set are Shallow Ken and Private School Skipper. You won't be able to afford any of them.




" Bastrop Barbie"


This pale model comes dressed in her own Wrangler jeans two sizes too small, a NASCAR t-shirt and tweety bird tattoo on her shoulder. She has a six-pack of Bud light and a Hank Williams Jr. CD set. She can spit over 5 feet and kick mullet-haired Ken's butt when she is drunk. Purchase her pickup truck separately and get a confederate flag bumper sticker absolutely free.



"Warehouse District Barbie"


This collagen injected, rhino plastic Barbie wears a leopard print outfit and drinks cosmopolitans while entertaining friends. Percocet prescription available as well as warehouse conversion condo.




"Buda Barbie"


This tobacco-chewing, brassy-haired Barbie has a pair of her own high-heeled sandals with one broken heel from the time she chased beer-gutted Ken out of Bastrop Barbie's house. Her ensemble includes low-rise acid-washed jeans, fake fingernails, and a see-through halter-top. Also available with a mobile home.





" Travis Heights Barbie"


This doll is made of actual tofu. She has long straight brown hair, arch-less feet, hairy armpits, no makeup and Birkenstocks with white socks. She prefers that you call her Willow She does not want or need a Ken doll, but if you purchase two Travis Heights Barbies and the optional Subaru wagon, you get a rainbow flag bumper sticker for free.




" Del Valle Barbie"

This Barbie now comes with a stroller and infant doll. Optional accessories include a GED and bus pass. Gangsta Ken and his 1979 Caddy were available, but are now very difficult to find since the addition of the infant.




"Hutto Barbie"


She's perfect in every way. We don't know where Ken is because he's always out a-'huntin'.





"Downtown Barbie/Ken"


This versatile doll can be easily converted from Barbie to Ken by simply adding/subtracting the multiple snap-on parts.

Is this Austinite for real?

Last week I blogged about the hilarious 88-year old Austinite, Gladys Hardy, who was on the Ellen DeGeneres show. Today in her blog, Diane Holloway discusses how Gladys might not be real. Not only can she not track down Gladys, she points out that it is fairly suspicious that Gladys has a MySpace page and her own Web site.

Not being one to spread hoaxes, if it turns out that Gladys is a fake, I apologize for posting her clip. Still, I do find it funny, as must a lot of people given that the traffic to my blog has increased 1,000% due to people searching for the video clip. The joke may be on all of us, but at least it was a funny joke.

Keeping it weird on the Ellen Show

Eighty-eight year old Austin resident Gladys Hardy was on the phone with Ellen DeGeneres earlier this week. It was hilarious! Loved her commentary on the winter storm. Guess it shows that in Austin you can keep it weird at any age.

Stir crazy

The university is opening late tomorrow; the first classes begin at 11. Since I teach at 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. on Thursdays, I guess I have another day off. I was right about Doug -- he took off for a few hours this afternoon. Said the roads weren't bad but the bridges were slick. To be honest, I am going freaking nuts right now -- too long in the house. I think tomorrow we will be able to make it to the gym and go grocery shopping. Friday is not a teaching day, but I have an afternoon-long faculty meeting in San Marcos.

What's hard to believe is with DirecTV and a DVR, we still are finding little interesting programming on TV. This evening we tried to watch Charge of the Light Brigade. Doug's aunt had sent it to him for Christmas because her ex-husband did the opening animation. Truth be told, the animation was way more interesting than the rest of the movie. After 45 minutes, I gave up on it.

Weathering the weather

Sometimes I wonder of Austin media, particularly the weather folks, need to be reminded about the two fables, Chicken Little ("the sky is falling!") and The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Often, when there is one drop of rain, and temperatures in the 30s, you start hearing about the "huge" ice storm on its way. Of course, Austinites can't drive in the rain, so a bit of ice really is scary. Usually, however, it's nothing. This week, it is something, but it was a little later than expected.

Originally, it was supposed to start Sunday afternoon. Doug's uncle, who was in town with his wife visiting their step-grandchildren, decided to return to Los Angeles a day early in order to miss the weather. Seems several folks were also changing flights, so that the only available plane was early Sunday morning.

Monday was MLK Day, so nothing much was going on. Doug received calls that morning, postponing his dentist appointment and cancelling his stained glass class that night. Companies, like Dell and IBM, shut doors early because the storm. Thing was, storm hadn't started yet. The sky was falling and yet it was just cold, with a few drops of rain. There was some ice on the cars, but Doug, who got out that afternoon, said the streets were in great shape.

Monday night the storm started in force. Tuesday morning everything was covered in ice. We didn't bother trying to go out. It sleeted throughout the day, and we actually got snow, although there wasn't much of an accumulation. The temperatures have stayed below freezing, so the roads are still covered.

Doug and I are doing okay, although we are both getting a little stir-crazy. Actually Doug, who can't stay home more than 2 hours at a stretch, is going more than a little nuts. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets out for a little while, if only to get cat food and kitty litter for Dexter. My evening jewelry class was cancelled tonight -- they were afraid of icy roads after dark. School was supposed to start yesterday, but the university has been closed for the last two days. I'm curious if it will be open tomorrow, or at least open for morning classes. I'm supposed to teach at 8 & 9:30 tomorrow and I am a bit worried about the early morning commute. Mainly it's just been sitting and waiting for news and sunshine.

Another reason why we don't watch The Office

I'm a fan of off-beat comedies. Give me a Kevin Smith or a Christopher Guest movie and I will be rolling on the floor. This is why people don't understand why Doug and I don't (or should I say won't) watch The Office. Having spent so many years working in the tech field, I just tell them we don't have to watch The Office, we live it.

Regular readers might remember that in December Doug was laid off. What I never posted was that the week before Christmas he got a job offer (I was afraid to jinx it). It was with a large, but not very well known, company. When he interviewed, he met with three different people, each of whom had a different idea of what the job would entail. Not a good sign, but it was a two-year contract and Doug thought he could help the organization. They made an offer, pending a background check and drug test, and thought he would start at the beginning of the year, Jan. 2. With this news we were able to have a very merry holiday.

Doug didn't hear back about the results of the drug test/background check until the week after Christmas. Not that he was worried, but usually that's the last hurdle one has to pass before getting hired. I will always remember when I worked at the corporate office of Wal-Mart, a girl was given a promotion (I had been up for it and luckily, didn't get it), went and did her drug test, and before the results came back and she started the new job, the company froze the position and didn't hire her.

Doug was pleased to hear that everything was okay with the test and background check and was even pleased when they said it would be a Jan. 8 start date.

Last week he got a call from the contracting company which is placing him with the company. Evidently with the holidays the hiring company was slow with their paperwork and it would be Jan. 15 before Doug would start. The hiring company said they wanted to make sure they had all the computer systems, clearances, etc. in place so Doug could hit the ground running. Doug understood and was cool about it. After all, he's been at companies where it's been several weeks before he was assigned a computer -- no fun at all.

Then came this Thursday. The contracting company called Doug. There were some issues at the hiring company, maybe some type of departmental restructure, and there was this one guy who wanted to talk to Doug. This was the hold up with the paperwork (the hiring company hadn't even started with the paperwork), but if this guy approved Doug, the paperwork would be done ASAP. We're still not sure what the deal was, other than some posturing and protecting of turf of various managers, but it looked like that the position Doug interviewed for would now report to this guy, who wasn't in on the initial interviews. In fact, this guy wasn't even sure if he wanted or needed the position Doug was hired for.

Yesterday morning Doug goes to the company and meets the guy. He gets grilled, but all in all, things went well. Doug really showed where he could bring value to the organization and help them set up an efficient way to run IT projects. The (now) hiring manager said that he wanted to think about it and review what he really needed and how Doug could fit into the organization. Doug left the interview thinking it would be at least next week before he heard back.

The guy must have made his decision fast as Doug got a call that afternoon. They liked Doug, but decided they didn't want to structure the position as they originally talked about, and instead offered him a position that would almost be like an assistant project manager. What?!? Doug is in a position where project managers report to him, not the other way around. He politely said no.

Obviously, this is frustrating. One might think working in tech you get used to it, but you don't. I think the biggest thing that got to Doug was the fact that he turned down other interview offers and let the job search go cold because he had this one. He is also mad as he feels like the hiring company was lying, saying the paperwork was in progress, when it really wasn't.

In the end, I think it was the best thing that the company rescinded the offer. I was getting bad vibes and really didn't want Doug working in another miserable place. This is a better time of year for job hunting than December, so we hope he'll be placed quickly. Still, the next time someone asks why I don't watch The Office, I'm going to point to this post and tell them the writers could come up with a plot like this.

Cheer on, Queen of Austin

In honor of tonight's UT basketball game against Missouri, the Leslie magnet is dressed as a Longhorn cheerleader. Hook 'em.

Leslie's magnetic outfit for today

Today the Queen of Austin is wearing leopard print, white cowboy boots and is walking his armadillo. As I mentioned earlier, we found this Leslie dress-up magnet at Book People. The cost is $15 and Leslie gets 15% of the sales.

For a homeless guy, Leslie gets around. Yesterday I heard on the radio that he has a MySpace page. Be sure to invite him to be your friend.

Stay tuned for his next outfit.

A few reasons why Texas is so great

Below is some interesting trivia about Texas.

Beaumont to El Paso: 742 miles
Beaumont to Chicago: 770 miles
El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas

World's first rodeo was in Pecos... July 4, 1883.

The Flagship Hotel in Galveston is the only hotel in North America built over water.

The Heisman Trophy was named after John William Heisman who was the first full time coach for Rice University in Houston.

Brazoria County has more species of birds than any other area in North America.

Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the winter home of North America's only remaining flock of whooping cranes.

Jalapeno jelly originated in Lake Jackson in 1978.

The worst natural disaster in U.S. history was in 1900 caused by a hurricane in which over 8000 lives were lost on Galveston Island.

The first word spoken from the moon, July 20, 1969, was "Houston..."

King Ranch is larger than Rhode Island.

Tropical Storm Claudette brought a U.S. rainfall record of 43" in 24 hours, in and around Alvin, in July of 1979.

Texas is the only state to enter the U.S. by TREATY, instead of by annexation (This allows the Texas flag to fly at the same height as the US flag).

A Live Oak tree near Fulton is estimated to be 1500 years old.

Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state.

Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. There is no period after Dr in Dr Pepper.

Texas has had six capital cities:
1. Washington-on-the-Brazos
2. Harrisburg
3. Galveston
4. Velasco
5. West Columbia
6. Austin

The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only dome in the U.S. which is taller than the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. (by 7 feet).

The name Texas comes from the Hasini Indian word "tejas" meaning friends.

Tejas is not Spanish for Texas.

The State animal is the Armadillo (An interesting bit of trivia about the armadillo is they always have four babies! They have one egg which splits into four and they either have four males or four females).

The first domed stadium in the U.S. was the Astrodome in Houston.

The population of Texas is 21 million, not including the 16 million cattle.

70% the population of Texas lives within 200 miles of Austin.

Texas possesses three of the Top Ten most populous cities in the U.S. -Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

Texas' most populous county is Harris county with 3.4 million residents in Houston. The least populated county is Loving county with 67 residents.

Texas has 215 cities with a population of 10,000 or more.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area has more residents - 5,221,801 - than 31 U.S. states. For example, Arizona has about 5.1 million residents.

Texas' largest county is Brewster with 6,208 square miles. Connecticut (5,544 Sq Mi), Delaware (2,489 Sq Mi) and Rhode Island (1,545 Sq Mi)can fit inside this county.

Average yearly rainfall totals in West Texas are less than 8 inches while in East Texas totals exceed 56 inches.

The average January temperature for Amarillo is 36.7 degrees while in Brownsville the average is 61.4. On March 27, 1984, the temperature in Brownsville was 106 degrees while Amarillo reported snow and 35 degrees.


THE TEN COMMANDMENTS -- TEXAS STYLE

People here in Texas have trouble with all those "shalts" and "shalt nots" in the Ten Commandments. Folks here just aren't used to talking in those terms. So, some folks out in West Texas got together and translated the "King James" version into "King Ranch" version: Ten Commandments, cowboy style. Cowboy's Ten Commandments posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Fairlie, Texas:

(1) Just one God.
(2) Honor yer Ma & Pa.
(3) No telling tales or gossipin'.
(4) Git yourself to Sunday meeting.
(5) Put nothin' before God.
(6) No foolin' around with another feller's gal.
(7) No killin'.
(8) Watch yer mouth.
(9) Don't take what ain't yers.
(10) Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff.

Kelsey's basketball tournament

Yesterday Doug and I drove to Waco to watch my oldest niece, Kelsey, play in the championship game of the MT Rice basketball tournament. This tournament features the top basketball programs from across Texas. We were joined there by my entire family. Kelsey's mom, stepdad, sisters and my parents were there since Thursday. My sister Stacey, her fiancee and my nephew drove from Arkansas Friday night.

Kelsey's team, the Grapevine High School Lady Mustangs, are in blue and she is #14. They lost to Midway High School, which hosted the tournament. Evidently the girl Kelsey guarded for most of the game is the daughter of the coach who lead the Baylor University girls' basketball team to a NCAA championship.

Queen of Austin Magnet

Leslie, the homeless transvestite and former mayoral candidate, is the epitome of how Austin keeps it weird. Now, with the help the Queen of Austin magnets, you can dress Leslie in the outfit of your choosing. Today, Leslie is dressed in a denim mini, tiara, a pageant sash and is carrying Lone Star beer.





We originally saw these during a white elephant gift exchange. When we didn't end up with them, we bought a set at Book People. Stay tuned for other interesting outfits.

Christmas plates

Not everyone received jewelry this year. I also fused glass into 7-inch plates. Here are some of the ones I gave. Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph two of my best plates before wrapping and some of the others didn't photograph well.

Christmas jewelry

This year I got into glass fusing and jewelry making. As such, most of the Christmas presents we gave were hand crafted. Below are samples of pendents I fused and then made into jewelry.

The jewelry below, I didn't fuse, but I did make.

Holiday happenings

Our Christmas holidays were fairly busy. I spent a good portion of last week finalizing presents and wrapping presents. Wednesday was the annual Girlfriends' Christmas Lunch, where about 20 of us get together to gab, eat and exchange presents. That evening we volunteered at the Zachary Scott Theatre's performance of Santaland Diaries. We've seen it at least once a year for the last 6 years; after a two year absence, Martin Burke returned as the Macy's elf and was in rare form. It was probably one of the best performances of the play that we've seen.

Friday night we attended a Christmas party at our friend's house and had a great time. Saturday was a few last minute things and time to chill, as Sunday we woke early to drive to Dallas. I wanted to go to the Galleria to the Franklin Covey store for a day planner, but when we got there, we saw the store is closed on Sundays, even if it is Christmas Day. However, we found a neat little tea store, Teavana, where we sampled some wonderful teas and even bought some.

After, we headed to BJ's Brewpub in Addison and met our good friends, Hugh and Rose, for lunch. We had a great time catching up. Rose (pronounced Ho' see) is from Brazil. I'm jealous because in a few weeks she and Hugh are heading to Brazil for a few weeks. It's been two years and Rose is looking forward to the beach. They are talking about getting married (for the second time) when they are in Brazil.

After two hours, it was tie to get on our way. Rose and Hugh had last-minute preparation and we needed to check into our motel. We got about a 30 minute nap and then headed to my sister's (Chris) house. My parents had already arrived. After a little while my brother-in-law's (Mark) parents and brother and his wife arrived (Josh and Susan). We had our traditional tamales and tortilla soup Christmas Eve supper and the nieces opened presents from Josh and Susan, and Josh and Susan weren't going to come over on Christmas Day. Kelsey and Allison, my two oldest nieces, played X-box football, with Doug and Mark coaching.

Yesterday we got up early, checked out of the motel, and headed to Chris' house. We had breakfast and then the girls started opening presents. As always, it was controlled chaos. Still, it's always fun watching the girls open their presents.




Once everything was opened, and the wrapping cleaned up, Chris and mom started cooking and we sat to watch Christmas Story with the girls. Unfortunately, now that they are teens, they'd rather spend time in their rooms. Mark's parents (Nancy and John) come over for Christmas lunch. After, the girls opened presents from them. By now it was close to 4 p.m. and Doug and I decided we needed to head home. We left the animals without a keeper and needed to get back.

We arrived about 7:30, fed the animals and had our own gift exchange, opening presents from Doug's parents, aunt and each other. We were in bed by 10.

This morning we got up to do errands and after-Christmas shopping. This year we didn't buy any trim-a-tree before Christmas and instead, purchased ornaments and decorations for 50-75% off. We even bought a new Christmas tree. I bought our current one in 1995, when it was all I could afford. While not quite as bad as the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, it is rather sad, and each year we talk about getting a new one. We just couldn't pass up buying a 7.5 foot pre-lit tree for just $100.

We also went into Spec's, a new wine/liquor store in Austin. We've heard about it as it's a big deal in Houston. Their customer service was great and they had some selections and gourmet groceries. We still think Grapevine Market has a better wine selection, but Spec's is better with liquor. Chris had bought Doug this thing to infuse rum (said it makes rum taste like adult kool-aid), so I insisted we buy rum and use the present.

The afternoon has been quiet. Doug gave me a photo printer and wanted to go check on the rebates. Dexter, who got a thing of catnip in his stocking, has been all lovey to me this afternoon, cuddling on the couch with me.

We had a good Christmas and are looking forward to a great 2007.

Not dreaming of a white Christmas

The temperature is in the 70s and I am wearing shorts. It’s Saturday and school is done for the semester. I finally have time to decorate the house for the holidays. I dig out my Johnny Mathis Christmas CD. As a little girl I learned from my mother that it’s not Christmas without the Johnny Mathis Christmas album. I couldn’t even name one non-Christmas song he sings, but still, every year, he has to play while I’m decorating the tree.

“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas…” Johnny croons while I’m rearranging furniture to find a place for the tree. The song seems somewhat disingenuous as sweat runs down my back. Song after song paints a picture of a winter wonderland, while I’m wondering if I’ll have to turn the air conditioner back on.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the mild winters of central Texas, it just doesn’t feel like Christmas. Then again, growing up in Arkansas, we never saw a white Christmas. I ask Doug if we would have a white Christmas if we spent it in Missouri, but when he tells me it would only be a 50% chance, I decide to forget it. Cold without snow just isn’t worth it.

Of course, the holidays in Texas is not something off a Christmas album, not even the Jimmy Buffett album I play after Johnny finishes singing. Forget turkey, ham or roast beef; two of the Christmas parties we’ve been to this year featured barbecue as the main dish. Christmas Eve is celebrated with tamales and Mexican food. We have performances of The Nutcracker and Handel’s Messiah, but since this is Austin, we have wicked tales of a naughty Macy’s elf.

The tree, the lights, the decorations, the parties – in some ways Christmas is Christmas no matter where you are. Still, I am sad as I listen to my Christmas tunes. We have the hustle and bustle of the holidays, but no sleigh rides, no snowmen, no chestnuts roasting on the open fires. Jack Frost would melt before he could take one nip at my nose. I wonder how the season might be different if we had the white Christmases of the songs. Would they be more traditional? More fun? More special?

I sigh and take a step back to look at the tree. I wipe the perspiration from my forehead. “Not bad,” I think as I look at the tree. Years ago Doug and I decided against the decorator tree, with every bulb matching and in its proper place. Instead, most of the ornaments have special meanings for us, like the ones we got in Hawaii or the ones from Disney. There are wine ornaments, beer ornaments and ornaments friends gave us. Half the fun of decorating is the memories. I still remember certain ornaments from my mother’s Christmas tree. This would be the stuff I would want to have once she passes – the Christmas stuff from when I was little. The ornaments she made 60 years ago; the ornaments I made 30 years ago. The baby Jesus in the manager that I would spend hours rearranging, like a doll in a dollhouse. Even the annoying chirping bird ornament that would drive our cat crazy as he climbed the presents in search of the bird. These are the fragmented memories from Christmases past.

At this moment, I think maybe it doesn’t matter if we have a storybook holiday. What does a white Christmas really matter? Maybe the best type of Christmas is the one we create with our own traditions, barbecues, sunshine and all.

Christmas letter

Very hectic this week. I gave three finals on Tuesday and was frantic to get them scored and get the grades in. Then I attended a 3-day seminar on Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. It was at the university and one of my grad school profs was a facilitator. It was a great experience. On Wednesday night Doug, the dogs and I met up with some friends to do the Trail of Lights and dinner at a dog-friendly place. This weekend we still have to decorate the house for the holidays and wrap presents. Needless to say, it's been busy and the blogging hasn't happened. We did, however, get our Christmas cards, along with our annual letter, mailed. The letter is below. I hope to have more blog time next week.

Happy Holidays To All Our Friends And Family

Like many of the previous years, 2006 has been a year of transitions for us. This summer Dara finished her thesis, which examined blogging and opinion leadership, and graduated with a MA from Texas State University-San Marcos. Because a long-time PR professor retired without notice, Dara was offered a one-year faculty appointment. This fall she taught four classes (three different courses), including three senior-level classes. She has found this both challenging and rewarding. We are unsure what next school year will bring as the university decided that the position Dara is filling must be held by someone with a PhD. However, there is always a chance things might change and Dara is staying open to a variety of possibilities. While she enjoys teaching, she also misses life at a PR agency.

In January Doug started a contract with GTECH, a company that develops lottery software. He had several opportunities early in the year to fly to the company headquarters in Rhode Island. This was the first time he got to explore New England, although there wasn’t much exploring after he found that Foxwoods Casino was only an hour away. This was Doug’s first opportunity to play live poker for money and he did well. Unfortunately, the rest of the year kept him in Austin. Doug’s contract with GTECH just finished, but he has several job opportunities in the works. If he doesn’t already have a job by the time this letter reaches you, we expect that he will have one secured in January.

In May we traveled to northern California to tour wineries in Napa & Sonoma. Three days of wine tasting was nirvana for us. We were able to try some high-end wineries, like Opus One and Silver Oak and got to visit some of our favorites, like Hess. Dara was delighted in stopping at a few champagne houses. The weather was great and we are ready to go back.

The only other travel this year was in June when Doug went to Kansas City. His father had bypass surgery and Doug went up there for a week to be with him. While it was a rough time, Jim, Doug’s dad, seems to be doing well now. We expect him to be out fishing in the spring.

This year we continued our involvement in the Women of Wine and the Men Who Adore Them and Dara volunteered during the Texas Food & Wine Festival. We continued our volunteer work at the Zachary Scott Theatre, which is always rewarding and allows us to see some great shows. Doug continued with his hobbies of brewing beer and playing poker and is trying to convince Dara they should take a weekend trip to Louisiana to play at some casinos there. Dara, in the meantime, picked up the hobby of glass fusing, which is where pieces of glass are heated in kiln to a high temperature until they fuse together. Dara started by making pendants and earrings. This turned into taking beading and other jewelry classes focused on jewelry design. She also started fusing glass into plates. She really enjoys it and is delighted when people compliment her work, especially when they don’t realize she made it. There are always errant bits of glass and beads around the house, but Doug is good humored about it. After all, all non-essential closet space in house is filled with homebrewed beer.

This is just a quick review of the past year. To keep up with our day-to-day activities, feel free to check out our blog at http://danddaustinupdate.blogspot.com.

We wish everyone a happy holidays and a great 2007.

Dara & Doug

Laying off

This morning Doug got the news we've been expecting every week for the last two months. His project has been cut where he works and he's unemployed. He's really not upset about it, as the company was extremely dysfunctional. Since he's been expecting it, he's been job hunting when and as he could. He's actually been contacted by several companies wanting him to submit resumes. He had a very promising phone interview yesterday and will have a face-to-face with that company next week. The other jobs haven't made interview decisions yet. While these jobs are all contracts, some are long-term; the interview yesterday was for a 2-year gig, at a company we've heard good things about. In the last 6 weeks we've seen more interest in his type of job, particularly at the higher-level, than we have anytime in the last 5 years. It's been encouraging. At this point, he'll get to focus on the job hunting and have time to do some things around the house and enjoy the holidays. My last day for the semester is Tuesday, although I did sign up for a 3-day Stephen Covey seminar next week through the university.

Funny Lance video

Yesterday morning Lance Armstrong was on the JB & Sandy radio show, helping out with the Bikes for Kids charity. They started talking about YouTube and Lance mentioned this video someone made about him. Of course, I had to look it up. It's hilarious, but it is not for the easily offended.

Visiting the over-hyped

Last night we went to a long-time Austin institution and a brand new, institution (although it will never quite be “Austin”). We were a little disappointed in both.

First, we went to Dot’s Place. For those who don’t know the story, Dot’s was a little, tiny diner that for years, served home-cooking to a crowded restaurant during lunch. I will admit that we had never been to it for two reasons, 1. we thought it was only open for weekday lunches and 2. it was tucked away and we could never find the place. The restaurant was in this old building, which burned down in 2004. Unfortunately, due to the high cost of insurance, the restaurant didn’t have any and couldn’t afford to rebuild. It took two years, and several community fundraisers, to get Dot’s back in business. She opened in October in Pflugerville, not far from our house. Since we now knew where it was, and since she was open for dinner on Thursday and Friday nights, Doug and I have wanted to try it. However, there always seemed to be long lines. Last night we decided to go.

Normally, we don’t go out to eat when we do home cooking. Occasionally we like to go to Hoover’s and we do take out-of-town guests to Threadgill’s (we like to tell them the Janis Joplin story). Normally, I figure that I can just as easily cook this stuff; then again, we don’t cook it too often because the grease just smells up the kitchen. It’s this strange dichotomy I have being a southern girl who has moved away; I like the idea of home-cooking, but reality is, given a choice I would rather have gourmet Italian, French, etc. than eat collard greens.

Immediately, I saw chicken ‘n dumplings on the menu and was excited. I love me some good chicken ‘n dumplings, especially on a chilly night. I got that and peas & carrots; Doug got chicken fried steak. We thought the pecan pie looked good, and since everything is cafeteria style with a long line, we decided to get a piece to split so we wouldn’t have to go back through the line if we wanted dessert.

First, what I got was not chicken ‘n dumplings, it was chicken and dumplings. I got a serving of dumplings with a chicken leg and thigh. This makes a ton of difference. Cooking the dumplings with chunks of chicken is what gives it flavor. My dumplings tasted like a big floury gob of dough. No veggies, no meat, just dough the thick, gravy-like broth. It had no flavor. I finally cut my chicken off the bone, added it to my dumplings, and added salt and pepper (and I NEVER usually salt my food – I had to here, just to give it flavor). My peas & carrots were cold, with the carrots being mushy (so you know it was true southern-style). Doug also said his corn was cold. I tried his chicken-fried steak and it reminded me of all the reasons I don’t like chicken-friend steak – it was tough and tasted like battered shoe leather. The pecan pie was decent, but you could tell it was something they bought from their distributor; it was not home made. Overall the food was pretty bland and boring and at $20 for both of us, the price wasn’t anything special. We did, however, like the rolls. Seriously, we thought Dot’s Place was seriously over-hyped and don’t plan to go back any time soon.

Not ready to go home, we decided to go to the new Ikea. It’s only the third in Texas and the hype about it opening has been huge.

Pulling in the parking lot, the enormity of the place was a bit daunting. I had not been into an Ikea and thought it would be a bit like Crate and Barrel, with all sorts of cool kitchen gadgets and neat home furnishing ideas. This was not the case. The first part of the store focused on furniture, with several rooms set up. This was great if you want to buy a whole room of furniture, but looking at the design took away actually noticing things like the candlesticks or other possible Christmas gifts. The kids running around, jumping on the furniture didn’t help either. Ikea has the store set up like a big maze – you have to walk along the path they set out for you, meandering through the different sections of the store. You can’t just walk in and go look at lamps, you have to go through all the rooms, then past the couches, bathroom ideas, kitchens, etc. before you finally get to the lamps. There are short cuts to different sections, but you have to be quick to catch them.

We thought the prices were pretty good, but really, none of the merchandise was “oh wow.” Actually, Doug and I agreed that if we were back in our 20s and just starting out with our first apartment, we’d like the store. But for where we are now, it’s just not what we are into.

I think today we’ll focus on low-hype places. I think our big plan is to go to the gem show to look at beads for jewelry and then tonight we’ll to a friend’s house for chili.

Bah, humDoug

I swear, when it comes to gift giving, Doug takes all the fun out of the process. He does this, I think, just to make me mad.

A few things to understand -- one, we both go out of our way to find just the right gifts for each other; two, Doug is a great gift giver; and three, Doug is a horrid gift receiver. He's also a little hard to buy for as he usually just goes and gets what he wants. I am always getting asked what he wants and I never know what to tell people. He is supposed to be making a list, but it could be a bit before that happens. There have been a few times when I have gotten him great gifts, like a certificate for a glider ride, or a day at the spa, and he doesn't use them before they expire. I've learned now not to get those things for him, or if I do, it's not a gift certificate, I actually book something for him.

This morning I call Doug. "You are getting the BEST Christmas present," I tell him.

"That's nice," he responds.

"It's really awesome, don't you care?"

"Not really, Christmas is too far away. The present is out of my control."

He's got me there. "But it's so cool, I'm dying to tell you, but I won't." This is true. I have a hard time keeping gift secrets because I think they are cool. Once, many years ago, I told Doug I was getting him a puppy, just so I had something to focus on. In reality, there wasn't a puppy, but instead, a surprise party for his birthday. However, I did have him convinced so much that he even thought he heard the pup in our bedroom.

"You know," I continue, trying to bait him, "you don't even know if this present is from me, your mom, your aunt or someone else."

"This is true, but it's still out of my control."

Ugh! He makes me so mad. How much fun is it keeping a secret when the other party just doesn't care? I know it still seems early to be thinking about Christmas, and we are both so busy in the next two weeks, but please, play along with me. It takes away all my fun if you don't. I swear, he does this just to aggravate me.

But the present really is cool.