Top 10 wine movies

Interesting list from the SF Gate. Of course Sideways would be on it, but I never thought about Casablanca. Also, there is some interesting trivia about Hannibal Lecter and his famous quote about fava beans and Chianti. Only people who read the book would know that Lecter would never drink something as common as Chianti.

Sunday update on Jim

Barbara just called. Evidently Jim is much improved overnight and the doctor is releasing him today. This is good news because they thought it would be tomorrow. Meanwhile Doug is on a flight back to Austin. It lands in an hour, so I need to leave soon to pick him up.

Guess all is well and Barbara will continue the updating on her blog.

Acknowledgements

Last night I wrote the Acknowledgements section of my thesis. Since most readers won't get an opportunity to read my thesis (or would want to reach an 80-page research paper on blogs), I decided to post my Acknowledgements section here.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Writing a thesis is not just a research project, it is a learning process and an opportunity to synthesize one’s graduate studies. For this reason I would like to acknowledge all the graduate faculty members of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University-San Marcos. Each class I took had an impact on this thesis.

I would like to especially thank my thesis chair, Dr. Ray Niekamp. His enthusiasm for the subject matter and ability to help me see the forest through the trees was invaluable.

I appreciate all the assistance Dr. Kate Peirce gave me with research methods, statistical tests, and the dreaded SPSS. She spent many extra hours with me, trying to help me understand it all. Dr. Sandy Rao is tireless in her dedication to the graduate program and I value all her assistance in completing both this thesis and my course of study.

Finally, I would like to give special thanks to Doug French, my significant other. He sacrificed many times over, supported me both emotionally and financially, and kept me focused on the end-game so that I could fulfill my goal of attending graduate school and becoming a teacher of public relations. I dedicate this thesis to him.

This manuscript was submitted on July 5, 2006.

Saturday update on Jim

There is not much news today on Jim. He continues to improve and seems to be doing well. This morning the doctor said it will probably be Monday before he goes home. Doug and Barbara are heading back to Chillicothe this afternoon to get some stuff done and ready for Jim's return. They will spend the night and then head back to KC in the morning, where Doug will catch a flight back home.

Bugged

When I’m on a deadline and get into a zone, I sometimes forget to stop for personal hygiene. I know it sounds gross, but I’m in air conditioning, on the computer, with no one around but the dogs, and let’s face it, they have no room to complain. Late yesterday afternoon I had reached a stopping point and decided that it had been 30 hours since my shower and I was feeling gross.

Looking forward to hot shower and several minutes away from the thesis, I cranked up the radio and turned on the water. Ready to step into the tub, I looked up and saw a cockroach the size of my thumb. Shrieking, I leapt away from the tub, letting the curtains fall. Of course, the dogs came running to see what was wrong. Normally, I’m not a girly-girl, but when it comes to creepy, crawly things, I am. Snakes, cockroaches, rats, anything icky, I’m out of there. So here I was with a dilemma, I really wanted this shower, but it was blocked by a bug the size of Rhode Island that looked like it could eat a cat whole. When this has happened before, I’ve been able to do what any brave-hearted woman would do – get my man to kill it. But Doug is in KC with his dad, so that wasn’t an option. I did the next best thing and got my camera phone, took a picture of it, and sent it to Doug, but he chose to ignore it and let me figure it out myself.

I thought for a minute. I couldn’t just use the other shower, as Doug had it filled with blueberry wine, thinking a shower was easier to clean than the kitchen. I did think about waiting until Doug’s return to shower, but I don’t ignore my hygiene to that degree. Standing there, wrapped in a towel, I realized that this was one battle I was going to have to fight on my own. Steeling my nerves, I picked up my weapon, my Executioner, and hoped that I didn’t electrocute myself doing battle in the tub.

This cockroach, which given its size survived the comet that killed its neighboring dinosaurs, was just above the tile, in the corner of the shower. Standing on rim of the tub, the Executioner in one hand, balancing myself with the other, I took the first swing. I heard a small zap and saw a blue bolt of electricity, but knew it didn’t work. The location of the cockroach in the corner didn’t allow for full electrical grid contact with the bugger – he got as much of the plastic racquet as he got the electricity. Pulling back, I saw Goliath twitch, so I went after him again. This time, when the electricity hit him, he jumped off the wall, into the shower caddy and then jumped again. I didn’t see where he went as I was too busy screaming and trying to get off the tub and away from the shower without breaking a leg. The dogs stood there dumbfounded, trying to figure out just why I was acting like a crazy lady.

I wait a few seconds to see if this monster is going to emerge. Nothing. I gingerly pull back the shower curtain, ready to step back if I see him. When I don’t, I think maybe he’s playing hide-and-seek in the shower curtains, so I start batting them with my Executioner racquet, daring him to come out. After several minutes, I think maybe he’s crawled down the drain, so I turn the water back on to see if he’ll come back out, or, better yet, if I can drown him.

A few more minutes go by and no roach. I start wondering if it’s safe to go back into the shower. I decide to take a chance, timidly stepping into the tub, but leaving the door to the bathroom open in case I need to make a quick getaway. I look around as I start to lather my hair, making sure the beast is not going to jump out at me. I’m startled as I feel something nudge my big toe; looking down, it was only water splashing off the bath mat. The water feels good, but I am unable to relax, worrying that creature will come back. I shower quickly and step out of the tub, shaking the towels before I do to make sure he’s not hiding on one of those. At that moment I couldn’t think of anything more gross than drying off with a cockroach. I’m safe for the moment, but spare no time getting dressed and getting out of the bathroom.

Friday morning update on Jim

Spoke to Doug briefly this morning. His dad is doing well and is up some, walking and moving around. One thing though, Jim is getting some fluid build-up on his lungs. This is not completely unusual, but it is something that they have to watch and be concerned with.

In other news today, I have been nominated to be a speaker at summer commencement. There is a whole nomination and interview process, so who knows if I'll get it. In the spring I had been nominated for outstanding graduate for the College of Fine Arts & Communication but lost out to a music major. Let's face it, in my mid-30s I'm really not into student organizations and campus life, which is what I think hurt me. I guess being nominated is one more reason to finish the thesis. Funny thing is I wasn't even sure if I would attend graduation or not. I definitely wasn't making a big deal out of it. Guess if I am selected as a speaker I will have to go.

Thursday evening update on Jim

Just talked to Doug. He sounds exhausted and I know Barbara is, but the good news is that everything seems to be going well for Jim. He got out of ICU and into his own room about mid-afternoon. Doug said the color is coming back to his face, although he's still pretty groggy. They think he'll be heading back to Chillicothe Sunday or Monday.

The plan is that Barbara and Doug will stay at the Embassy Suites tonight and tomorrow night and will head back to Chillicothe Saturday. They need to get some errands done in town and get a few other things done. They'll spend the night at the house Saturday and drive back to KC Sunday. Doug has a 9 a.m. flight home on Sunday. I know things must be going well for Jim as Barbara is being her usual "we don't want to be a bother" self and is insisting that Doug sticks to his flight plans (when in reality we just booked a return flight because we had to and knew we could change it). Given that this blog has significantly increased the number of readers from Chillicothe, I'm sure Barbara will get plenty of help if she needs it once she gets home.

One thing Doug told me is that Barbara is going to have to start chauffeuring around Jim while he's in the back seat. Evidently with all the front-passenger airbags and safety equipment, they don't want heart patients to sit in the front seat in case of a wreak and the airbag is deployed. Let's hope this doesn't have to last too long, as I don't see Barbara taking kindly to Jim being a back seat driver. Poor Barbara! Jim will insist she back into every parking space!

If/when Doug calls tomorrow, I will try to do an update. In the meantime, no news is good news, meaning Jim is doing well in his recovery.

Thursday morning update on Jim

Just spoke to Doug. His dad got through the night okay, but is still pretty groggy and out of it. He'll be in ICU until later this afternoon. Doug and Barbara can go in and see him for a few minutes every half hour. They'll see him at 11:30 and are then going out for a bite of lunch, shopping and fresh air.

At 1 p.m. Barbara will be attending some sort of class at the hospital on after care of heart patients. Doug wasn't sure what that was about, but figured it would be things like cooking and exercise requirements or something. Doug has actually been able to get some work done and will continue to do so this afternoon. His buddy Mark might try to get together with him later on.

That's all the news for now. Will let you know if I hear anything more.

Update on Doug's dad

Doug just called. Jim is out of surgery and everything went fine. Doug and Barbara will get to see Jim in a half hour after the anesthesia wears off, but they said Jim probably won't even remember.

The doctors will keep Jim in ICU for 24 hours to monitor him. This is a critical time and what happens now will tell the doctors how he is recovering. Some time tomorrow afternoon he will get into his room. After then, they will have a better idea of when he gets to go home to Chillicothe.

Barbara and Doug are staying in the hotel (Embassy Suites) again tonight. Barbara is doing well, but as you can imagine, is exhausted. It sounds like they are going to see Jim at 4:30 and then head back to the hotel. They go back to the hospital in the morning.

All of your prayers and well wishes are appreciated. I know Barbara will enjoy reading them when she gets back online.

Fw:DAD THINKS HE IS BRAD PITT

Note and photo from Doug as Jim heads to surgery. Not sure what the Tom Cruise comment means. Guess they have Jim some great drugs this morning!

Florist recommendation

This is for the folks from Chillicothe who are looking for updates on Jim. If you are thinking about sending flowers to the hospital, I recommend Westport Floral Designs at 866-391-7673. I just spoke to John, the owner, and he was very friendly and helpful. He actually had a better timeframe of what was going on than Doug, because he deals with it every day. He thought Jim would be out of surgery around lunch time, would then be in recovery and ICU. It might be late tonight or the morning before he gets to his room. However, they will get the flowers to him once a room number is assigned. Also, you will want to send the flowers to James D. (Jim) French, as I'm not sure if he is checked in as James or Jim. HIPPA regulations won't allow the hospital to give out patient's names, so if you send it to Jim French and he's checked in as James, they will say he's not there (I'm sure it's the same if you make any phone calls).

Anyway, I'm huge on customer service, as folks who know me will attest. Whenever I find someone good, I like to funnel business their way. This guy really impressed me.

A pro-smoking neighborhood

This is one of the few places in Austin where smoking is allowed and encourage, although it's not the kind of smoke you inhale. If Doug reads this article, he'll want to move there.

More details on Doug's dad

Doug made it to KC this evening, landing at 7. He hasn't seen his dad yet, but spent some time with his mom. She was very happy that he flew up for the operation.

Jim is in St. Luke's Hospital, the one near Country Club Plaza. His surgery is some time after 9 a.m. tomorrow, although Doug wasn't sure exactly when. Word is that Jim's heart is strong, there are just those blockages. This is very positive. If everything goes well, and there is no reason why it shouldn't, Jim should be back in Chillicothe this weekend, either Saturday or Sunday.

Will let you know more after Doug calls me tomorrow.

Jumping horses

I'm trying to learn how to take video clips from my camera and upload them to the blog. I think I may have figured it out. This video is of my friend Karen, practicing jumping her horse. The video was taken at her ranch back in March.

Testing video feed

I'm testing video capabilities from YouTube.com. This is not my cat. Dexter is not nearly as agile. This morning he missed when jumping from the edge of the bathtub to his ledge. Luckily there was no water in the tub.

Doug's dad

We got word this morning that Doug's dad will have to undergo heart bypass surgery in the morning. I was able to get Doug on an afternoon flight to Kansas City, using our frequent flyer miles. Unfortunately I won't be able to go because of my thesis deadline. Doug thinks it would be too difficult revising drafts in the hospital.

I'm still not sure all the details with his father, but will keep readers posted as I know. In the meantime, I need to drive Doug to the hospital to catch his flight.

Stressed

You probably won't hear much from me in the next week or so. I'm on a tight deadline to finish my thesis. I need to have everything finished by July 5th so that my committee can receive it and I can defend it July 12th. Because of faculty vacation, if it's not done by then, it won't meet the deadline for summer graduation. If I don't graduate, there is an issue with my teaching employment in the fall (because I was a TA, I can't join the faculty until I have a degree). Thus far, my thesis advisor has approved my first three chapters, but one of my committee members wants revisions. I've done the results chapter first draft, but it needs major revisions. I'm writing my last two chapters and will have first draft to my advisor today.

Ugh!

You're not going to believe it

Doug's flight was delayed again. He was supposed to leave Providence, RI at 6:30 this morning, but as of yet, the flight crew isn't available -- they got in late last night. So now he's on a different flight, heading first to Cleveland, changing planes and heading to Houston, then changing again and heading to Austin. But here's the deal. Checking his new flights I noticed that his flight from Cleveland to Houston is already delayed 33 minutes. This means as of right now, he has 13 minutes to catch his connecting flight, assuming his plane isn't delayed any more.

Needless to say, Doug is extremely exhausted. He actually has a good rant about airlines and on-time claims, and how they run their business, but I will leave that to him. It's just is flight up there was delayed and now he can't seem to get home. All I know is that our goodwill towards Continental is quickly diminishing. We were thinking about changing our credit card frequent flyer miles from American to Continental, but now we have to think long and hard about it.

Delayed

After four nights in Rhode Island, Doug was supposed to be on a 7 a.m. flight home this morning. I was looking forward to picking him up at noon and heading out to lunch before coming home and writing my thesis. As I sat down to write this morning I decided to check the status of his flight. He only had a 45 minute layover, so I wondered about his connection.

Looking online I noticed his connecting flight was delayed. This was good, I thought, as he didn't have to worry about missing the flight. However, it put him in Austin at 2. I decided to call him about his delay. When I grabbed my cell I realized I missed a call when I was in the shower. It was Doug calling to say that he was delayed. The catch was, he wasn't going to come in until tomorrow. Huh?

I called him back. Evidently his flight out of Providence had been delayed, which was going to cause him to miss his connecting flight in Newark. Since Thursday is a busy travel day with all the road warriors trying to get home, all the flights were booked. There was only one seat available for the rest of the day -- a late flight connecting through Houston, in a middle seat, arriving in Austin at midnight. Being exhausted after a long week, Doug opted not to take that. Instead, he's staying an extra day and catching the early flight out.

Deciding to make the most of it, Doug is driving to Cape Code today to check out the area. I know when he was a road warrior back in the late 90s he used to love to stay extra days and go exploring. It's got to be great weather this time of year -- much better than when we went in February. I'm a bit jealous, but I'm too busy on my thesis to have taken this week off.

Doug may also go to Foxwoods Casino tonight in CT. Out of four nights of this trip, he's been there three times to play poker. All total he's up more than $800 on the week. I think he's ready to hang up his free, play for fun, poker league and play for money tournaments. Too bad it's illegal in Texas.

As for me, one more night home alone with the dogs and cat. At least I should be able to get some writing done before he returns.

Two dog night

Doug is out of town on business this week, which always means I don't sleep as well. In addition, I'm under a deadline on my thesis and am stressed. The girl who might have 1 Diet Dr. Pepper every day or two had 5 yesterday. And we are waiting to hear whether Doug's contract will be extended beyond the end of this month. It's no wonder I didn't sleep well last night.

But it was more than that. Normally the dogs aren't supposed to sleep on the bed. That doesn't stop them, but they usually sleep on Doug's side of the bed, well away from mom and her tendency to kick, push and shove until they get off the bed. In their quest for the right side of the bed, they tend to nudge Doug to the very edge of the bed. Often the only place for his feet is hanging off the bed.

Last night the dogs took it upon themselves to cuddle with me and make me feel better when I went to bed. Dante laid on Doug's pillow, propping himself up like a king. After awhile he stretched out and started pushing against me. Allegra, on the other hand, curled up at my hip. As the night wore on, she too stretched out. When I got out of bed to turn on the fan to cool down the room a bit, I noticed that instead of having the run of a king-sized bed, I had a small sliver, towards the edge.

At this point I decided that I would push, shove and make life generally miserable to get some space back. Usually it's just a shove or two and the dogs get annoyed enough that they'll opt for their mat on the floor. But last night Allegra decided she was going to hold her ground. She stretched out in the middle of the bed and was not going to move, no matter how much I pushed and prodded. Her 51 lbs. felt like it could have been 151 lbs. At one point I even used her to prop up my leg and still didn't get a response. I could doze off for an hour, but as soon as I rolled over to get more comfortable, there she was, blocking my movements and in the process, waking from my sleep. A knee in the back didn't work -- it was like resistance training. She was smart enough to stay in the middle of the bed because at the foot of the bed she would have had a foot in her ribs. At one point in this wrestling match I started thinking that something was wrong as she absolutely wasn't moving. Then I felt her breathing as I propped my knee across her chest.

Two nights down, two more to go before Doug returns. I think I will have to forego the cuddling in hopes of better sleep.

Let me in

Our friend Ray, making us laugh at the WOW tasting last night.

June WOW tasting

Last night was the June wine tasting for Women of Wine and the Men Who Adore Them. Instead of doing the usual tasting at someone's house and we all bring bottles of wine, we held our tasting at Water 2 Wine, a custom winery. Not only does Water 2 Wine sell wine, allowing you to sample before you buy, they also allow you to make your own wine. Last night we sampled 5 whites and 5 reds. Like our gatherings, we had great food (Cindy's savory cheesecake was the best!) and lots of fun conversations. Unfortunately, we won't have another WOW gathering until the weather cools down in October.

Must-read interview

Watching the movie Hotel Rwanda, I was really moved by the story. One thing that struck me during the movie is that I didn't remember hearing of any of the events. Since watching the movie, I've seen other shows about what happened in Rwanda, including Sometimes in April.

Today I had another one of those realizations that I know little about what's going on in the world. Austinist interviewed Gilbert Tuhabonye about his book and the genocide in Burundi. As an Austinist, I knew who Tuhabonye is. However, I never heard of his country, Burundi, nor did I know what happened there. Now I am interested in reading more. It's amazing these massive killings go on simply due to someone being from another tribe and we Americans hear little of it. If you get a chance, read the interview.

Need education, not laws

The Austin City Council may broaden the current bicycle helmet law, requiring all adult cyclists to wear helmets while riding. If passed, people on bicycles would wear helmets, but people on motorcycles would still be helmetless. This makes no sense to me, especially after what happened this week to Ben Roethlisberger.

I am a novice rider and enjoy my rides. So far my rides are short (the route is 7.5 miles) and slow (average speed is 8 mph) and on a hike/bike path. Chances are that I won't get anything more than a scraped elbow, but I do wear my helmet. Even when I was test-driving my new bike in the parking lot of the bike store, the folks at Buck's Bikes had me wearing a helmet.

I think cyclists should wear helmets, but I think we should get people to wear them through education, not through laws. Most of the serious cyclists wear helmets; you never see anyone on 360 or 2222 without helmets. It's the novice riders like myself who don't wear helmets. We should be encouraging folks to ride more, not punishing them when they do.

How many movies can you find?

There are 100 movies represented in this photo. How many can you find? Add yours in the Comments section. Doug and I will get you started:
1. Napoleon Dynamite
2. Toy Story
3. Dances with Wolves
4. Saw II
5. 12 Monkeys

We can go on, but it's your turn.

Summer salads

It's so hot here, who wants to cook (or eat) much during the summer. Lately I've taken to making salads for dinner. These two were real winners. Original recipes were meatless, but I live with a carnivore, so I add grilled chicken. I'm not really sure of all the exact measurements as I just use recipes as a guide. I would just add to taste. :-)

Chicken/Blueberry
I took this to a pool party and folks loved it
5 oz. mixed greens
2 grilled chicken breasts
4 oz. feta cheese
Toasted almonds
Blueberries (maybe 2 cups?)
Dressing:
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
1.5 tsp honey
(Doug actually thought there should be a bit more dressing on the salad)

Salad 2
Doug raved about this one last night
Mixed greens or green leaf lettuce
2 grilled chicken breasts
4-5 oz goat cheese (chevre)
Toasted walnuts
Dried cranberries
1 mango, diced
1 apple, diced (recipe didn't call for this but I added)
Dressing
3 Tbs of rice wine vinegar (or some other light vinegar)
6 Tbs of olive oil (or oil of your choice; recipe called for walnut oil, but that's expensive)
Honey (to taste)
Dijon mustard (to taste)

Drive-by shooting

Last week a friend of mine was shot. It was early evening and he was riding his bike, ironically on the way to a meeting of the Austin Cycling Association. Despite the large number of cyclists in Austin, including Lance Armstrong, it seems like we have a lot of incidents where motorists are harassing cyclists. I’m a novice rider but want to get more into it, especially after I bought a new bike this weekend. Unfortunately, stories of harassment make me want to stay off the road and away from motorists.

My friend, G, was in south Austin, near Sunset Valley, when a white van pulled next to him. A teenager, maybe 19, started yelling and shouting obscenities at G, and threw trash at him. G, keeping his composure, just smiled, waved, and kept riding as the van passed. A few blocks later G noticed that the van was stopped at a light. Catching up to the van, G stopped, went to the passenger’s side, put his hands on the open window and asked, “Is there something you wanted to say to me?” Looking in, G noticed that the van was driven by a little person (e.g. a dwarf). The harassing passenger was visibly startled, see G at the window, but the light finally changed and the van drove off.

G makes it through the light, continuing his ride. A little bit up the road he notices the white van pulled into an empty parking lot and senses trouble. As G passes, the passenger pulls out a pellet gun, aiming it directly at G. At this point, G starts peddling as fast as he can. He feels the first pellet fly past him. The second pellet hits his shoulder. As the van drives off, G turns around to see if he could get a license plate number, but couldn’t.

X-rays at the hospital show that the pellet didn’t break G’s skin – he was simply nicked, thank goodness. The police took his statement and seemed to chalk it up to kids and vandalism. They said that since school has been out, there have been increased reports of vandalism with pellet guns. This, in and of itself, is alarming to me. It also bothers me that the police can’t find a little person who drives a white van. As I joked to G, they would be able to find it if it were Law & Order.

What bothers me the most, however, is that this kid seemed to think it was funny to harass a cyclist and that it was okay to shoot another human. This raises all sorts of questions of where we are as a society. But for the time being, I’m just glad my friend is okay.

Statistics is for the dogs

"Hey Dante, if we want to compare how frequently people read blogs to credibility ratings, what test would we run?" I'm at the table, running statistical calculations on survey data for my thesis. Dante is on the floor next to me. He looks up when I talk to him.

"I'll give you a hint, Dante. The frequency, since there isn't an even space between the categories, is ordinal data. Credibility is integral data." Dante shifts his weight. "With ordinal data and integral data, we have to run a Spearman's Rho," I tell him. Dante sighs, laying his head back down. After all, he is a dog and the only statistic he cares about is the frequency he gets fed compared to the amount of petting he receives.

Actually, I'm right there with him. It's been a year since I took my Research Methods class, which was confusing to begin with. As a result, nothing stuck. I'm just as lost as I was when I was in the class. The sad part is that I was one of the better students in that class. I spent two years writing and administrating market research surveys, so I have that down. But when it comes to statistics, ugh! Oh well, if I can get through this part, I will be on track to finish this summer and graduate.

Why Doug brews beer

A recent study from Oregon State University shows that there is an ingredient in beer hops that helps fight prostate cancer. No wonder Doug is so into brewing!

BTW, two years ago this month Doug started brewing. Since that times he's made 57 different beers. This doesn't include the beers that he's made multiple times, like his Mexican Pilsner. No wonder our house looks like a beer storage facility!

Blueberry explosion

"Doug! Come into the kitchen, please!" It's morning and he's still in bed. "What do you need?" he groggly moans. "Just come into the kitchen, please, now," I answer. He walks into the kitchen and sees why I'm yelling at. "Holy sh#*," was all he could say. Our kitchen is covered in blueberries.

As I wrote the other day, we decided to try our hand at making blueberry wine. Monday night we crushed the berries, placing 6 lbs. of crushed blueberries in each of three 1 gallon glass carboys. We then added camden tablets to kill any wild yeast that might be on the berries. Last night we started the fermentation process by adding 2 lbs. of raw sugar to each carboy and then adding our yeast. Each carboy got a different type of yeast, as we were experimenting with the recipes. The carboys were definitely full, but Doug thought it might be okay. Usually wine is not that active.

Unfortunately, this recipe, given to us by the blueberry farmer, was very active. As he was cleaning this morning, Doug decided to place the carboys in the shower that we don't use much, so that if they explode, they will be contained and easier to clean. Of course, they exploded again today. It looks like thus far we've lost half of each gallon of wine.

Of course, we are trying to laugh about this, but we are still finding spots of blueberry juice on the ceiling, carpet, and the dogs' paws.

Finding my thrill on blueberry hill

In our quest to make wine, this weekend Doug and I decided that we would make some blackberry wine and some blueberry wine. We had planned on doing it over Memorial Day weekend, but from talking to some farmers, blueberries weren’t going to be quite ready yet. We decided to wait until this weekend and do both.

First off, I must say that it is not easy to find blueberries near Austin. The Texas Pick Your Own site listed two places out towards Bastrop, and one place 90 miles northeast, past Taylor and on past Hearne. Blackberries can be found all over the place, but not blueberries. One of the guys out towards Bastrop swore that he had the juiciest berries in all of Texas, but he didn’t open until after noon on Sundays, and we didn’t relish the idea of picking in the heat of the afternoon. Plus, he never sent us directions.

Originally Doug and I were just going to head out towards Bastrop and see if we could find any fruit stands. Yesterday morning, about 8:30, we loaded the car with the dogs and headed out. Doug, thinking that the farm to the northeast was closer to Taylor than it was, and because it opened early on Sunday, headed out that way. About 45 minutes into the trip and Doug realized it was much further than he thought. Another 30 minutes and we knew that we were committed to picking, and not to just buying at a roadside stand (especially when there weren’t any).

About 10:15 we arrived at the De Zavala farm, 8.5 miles east of Franklin, and about 30 minutes north of College Station. It was run by a nice older couple. Blackberries and blueberries were $2.75 per pound if we picked them, and $3.50 per pound if they picked them, only they didn’t have any picked. Their farm hand was out on Friday and they didn’t have enough for us. We figured that was okay. Mr. De Zavala drove us around the farm on his golf cart. He showed us his blackberries and explained that one batch had been picked over, while the other batch probably wouldn’t be ready until this weekend. He also showed us his raspberries, which intrigued me, as I love raspberries and want to try that as some wine. Unfortunately, raspberries aren’t commonly found in Texas and I knew from the Pick Your Own site he is one of three farmers in Texas that grows raspberries. Mr. De Zavala said that they too would be ready next weekend for large batches, but that the season was only two weeks in length.

Then we got to the blueberries. He explained that normally blueberries don’t grow this far west in Texas (must be why only found a limited listing of farms), but that he specially treats the soil. Since neither of us had ever picked blueberries before, he showed us something about the berries. One thing to know is that the berries don’t all ripen the same. You’ll see a cluster of 5 berries and maybe two will be ready to pick. He showed us the difference between blueberries that were all blue, and thus ripe and sweet, and blueberries that still had spots of red, which were more acidic. Bottom line, you had to pick each berry by hand and individually – there was no just grabbing a clump and being done with it.

I guess I didn’t know what to expect, but the blueberry picking was different from what I imagined. First, I didn’t realize that trees were more like hedges, and grew 6 feet tall. I was thankful for this, as it didn’t mean being bent low like when picking strawberries. I also didn’t know that it would take so long – more than 2.5 hours for three buckets. Hoping that we would find a roadside stand, I didn’t wear sunscreen and my shoulders got burned. Doug was in jeans. And while we could go up to the farmhouse and get water, we really would have liked to have some there with us. The dogs were okay with the picking. The car was under the shade of tall pines, but they wanted to be in the hot sun with us. After a while we had to leash them because they would start back to the farmhouse in search of water for themselves. Occasionally they find shade under a blueberry bush, but would want to wander as we moved down the path. Dante did find a nice patch of hay, which was covering a pile of fertilizer (aka manure), and decided to spend five minutes rolling in it. He was as happy as a pig in mud.

When it was said and done, we picked 3 buckets of blueberries, which came to just over 19 pounds. As we were paying the couple, and getting more ice water, Mr. De Zavala talked wine with us and let us sample his blueberry wine. He admits he makes it a bit sweet, but it was good. He and Doug talked about the process and he gave Doug some good suggestions for the wine.

It was almost 4 p.m. when we got back home. Tonight we’re going to start on the blueberry wine. Next week we may go back and get blackberries and raspberries and try our hands at making some of that. We will keep readers posted on how our wines turn out

Interpreting the president

This video is hilarious! It's an excerpt from the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner. President Bush’s presentation included an impersonator, Steve Bridges, who "interpreted" the president's remarks for laymen.

Get on the bus

We saw the strangest thing today at Parmer and Mo-Pac -- a British double-decker bus. It was complete with the driver on the right-hand side of the vehicle. We're not sure what it was doing in Austin, or where it was heading (maybe to Dell as it continued past I-35). Let me know if you have spotted this bus. It has my curiosity piqued.

Weekend of diversity

The big thing going on in Austin this weekend is the Republic of Texas (ROT) biker rally. Each year thousands of bikers from across Texas and the nation roll into Austin. Driving around town you will see nothing but bikes, bikes, and more bikes. Tonight there will be a huge motorcycle pride through downtown.

What I think is funny, however, is that this weekend is also Pride weekend, put on by the Austin Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. Not to be outdone, tomorrow night there will be a huge parade. Last year there were 1,300 parade participants (including my friend Sandy who offered her convertible to chauffer a drag queen) and 40,000 spectators.

I don't know why, but I think it's funny that the bikers and the gays have their celebration on the same weekend. It's seems like such a dichotomy of culture and that it could be a recipe for disaster; luckily, that hasn't been the case in the past. I know the stereotypes of bikers being rednecks are untrue, and that Harleys cost a lot of money, but many of the bikers I've met have been a little rough around the edges. Last year I asked one of my gay friends about the festivities being on the same weekend and he laughed, saying lesbians were really into to Harleys.

For Austinites who aren't into bikes or gay pride, a memorial concert will be held for Clifford Antone tomorrow night. Antone is responsible for bringing the blues to Austin. Jimmie Vaughn is one of the performers.

However, Doug and I will be at something completely different tomorrow night. We are volunteering at the Zachary Scott Theatre, which is bringing back its hit show, Crowns. The premise of the show is about African-American ladies and the fancy hats they wear to church. Some of the best singers Austin has belt out inspirational gospel. I really wish they would do a recording of it.

Motorcycles, gay pride, blues and gospel. Is there anything we are leaving out this weekend? Austin is nothing if not diverse.

Clemens to play for the Round Rock Express

All over the news the past two days is that Roger Clemens has signed to play for the Houston Astros for $22 million for the rest of the season. But today I was looking at the web site for the Round Rock Express, the Astros' Triple-A minor league team, and saw where Clemens will play in the Express' June 16th game. Maybe I need to figure out a way to get out of the June wine tasting for Women of Wine and the Men Who Adore Them, which is the same night Clemens pitches for the Express.

Pick a pint

This evening we went to try a brew pub -- the Draught House. Although it's been in business for more than 15 years, this is our first visit. They have been brewing their own beer for almost 10 years. They have 65 other beers on tap, including Austin-brewed Real Ale and Live Oak. The interior is reminiscent of an English pub, while outside they have biergarten. Given the temperate weather, there were more folks outside than in. Of course, given that Tuesday is $2.75 pints, there were several folks enjoying themselves.

Nothing memorable over Memorial Day weekend

We played this weekend very low-key. Main reason was that Doug was sick -- allergies or something. After two weeks of pushing hard and getting little sleep, he gets a three-day weekend to recharge, and instead he's coughing and hacking all over the place. Needless to say, he was a little ticked because of that.

We did attend a gathering at the house of one of my friends. It seems like during the summer she has a few folks over every other weekend to hang out and swim in her pool. Often it's girls only and we have a wonderful gabfest. This weekend, however, it was mixed company.

We had talked about making fruit wine this weekend, but found out that blueberries were not yet in season. Blackberries, our other berry of choice, was, but we decided we'd wait a week or two when we could pick both.

Doug did organize his beer recipes this weekend. In another week, it will be two years since he started brewing. In that time he's made 57 different beers, and that's not even counting the beers he's made more than once. He's ready to start taking his brewing to the next level.

Not much on store for this week.

Dog pack kills Florida gator

My friend Ann sent me this article and photo. I know it's very horrific, but it needs to be shared.

At times nature can be cruel, but there is also a raw beauty, and even a certain justice manifested within that cruelty.

The alligator, one of the oldest and ultimate predators, normally considered the "apex predator" in its natural ecosystem, can still fall victim to implemented 'team work' strategy, made possible due to the tight knit social structure and "survival of the fittest pack mentality," bred into the canines over the last several hundreds of years by natural selection.

See below for the remarkable photograph courtesy of Nature magazine.

Note that the Alpha dog has a muzzle hold on the gator preventing it from breathing, while the remainder of the pack prevents the beast from rolling.

Not for the squeamish! Be sure you can handle the raw blood and guts nature of this photo before scrolling down!

I think the funniest thing about this photo is that Doug thought it was going to be real when he read in. In fact, he was wondering why Ann would send a gruesome photo. He said he expected something bloody from his buddy Jim Small, but not from Ann. :-)

Slow news week

I guess it's the same all over. Nothing much is happening this week. Back when I was working in PR, you always noticed a significant slow down starting the end of May. People are heading out of town for graduations and weddings. We only had about 30 people, versus our usual 45-50, at our May WOW tasting. The Gonzo Gourmet Club had to cancel its dinner this month due to lack of responses. In all fairness, though, there hadn't been a Gonzo dinner in more than 6 months and we only had a 5 day notice -- of course, everyone was booked.

Anyway, I haven't been ignoring the blog, I just haven't had much to write about since our return from wine country. I did get news today that one of my friends/former colleagues is running for Congress in the First District of Arizona. His name is David Schlosser and he's a great guy. If you know anyone there, tell them to vote for Schlosser.

The only other news I have is that my friend Tierney may have to put down her 10 year old black lab, Buddy. They are running tests for lymphoma. Three weeks ago when I was over there he was his same old self, but this last weekend he was really out of it. Tierney had taken him to the vet for a lump in his neck, and was told it was an infection. They gave him antibiotics, but he only got worse and didn't want to eat. By the time I left Sunday, he was having trouble walking. As of yesterday, it appears he went blind. Tierney had to try to close off access to the pool so he won't accidentally fall in. It makes me really sad to hear this, especially how sudden it seems. I don't know what we would do if we had to face that decision. Dexter is 10 1/2 and I know that it's only a matter of time (then again, the cat I grew up with lived to be at least 18). But I think that for us, it would be easier decision with a cat than the dogs. Either way, I had to give my animals a great big hug today.

May WOW tasting

Last night was the May tasting for the Women of Wine and the Men Who Adore Them. We had a great time, as usual. We sampled Spanish wine and Ian Clark was our guest speaker. I think my favorite was the Descendientes Palacios Petalos Bierzos, while Doug preferred the Raventos Cava, which is a sparkling wine.

The food was yummy. I'm a little disappointed because I made this thing where I rolled grapes in a bleu cheese mixture and then in toasted walnuts. It took me almost 4 hours for 150 grapes and only half were eaten. I think part of the issue is that it was outside with the wine (as they should be) instead of upstairs with the food, and people didn't see them. Oh well. A few of us are getting together for a swim and they will get eaten then.

What European city I belong in.

According to this quiz, it's Dublin. Take the quiz yourself and post where you belong in my comments.

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions. You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.

What European City Do You Belong In?

Day 4, San Francisco and home

We made it home safely late night. We are both so tired from our trip; unfortunately for Doug, his bosses are in town this week for the big monthly meeting. At least the meeting is in Austin this month -- I'm not sure how he would make it if he had to fly to Rhode Island.

Yesterday morning we were able to spend a few hours exploring San Francisco -- which is not nearly enough time. We checked out of the hotel (which was at Van Ness & Lombard) about 8:30 and walked the five blocks down to the day. We could see Alcatraz, and saw several people swimming in the bay -- I'm sure it had to be cold. Next we walked to Ghirardelli Square. It was still too early for the shops to be open, but we were able to read about the history of Ghirardelli and San Francisco.

We continued walking along the bay to Fisherman's Wharf. Walking along the open stalls of Fishermen's Grotto, the smell of fish was overwhelming that I had to go across the street to the Boudin Sourdough Bakery just to clear the air . They had a big window where you could watch the bakers make all sorts of sourdough creations. We walked all the way to Pier 39, where a colony of sea lions live. It was neat watching them.

We had planned on catching a bus to Chinatown and having lunch down there, but in talking to someone, we decided not to do that. We would have only had time for lunch and wouldn't have gotten to walk around. Instead, we walked back down Fisherman's Wharf to Pier 47 and had lunch at Scoma's, which has been around since 1965. After that, we walked back to the hotel and headed to San Jose to catch our flight (the San Jose is only 35 minutes from the San Francisco airport; we could catch a direct flight to San Jose, but not to San Francisco, redeeming our American Airlines miles). Overall, we liked the vibe of San Francisco. There were open-air stalls and artists selling their works. As long as we were walking, we got around okay, but driving into and out of the city was nerve-wrecking. We would have liked to see more of the city, but there just was not enough time. Maybe next time.

Day 3, Napa/Carneros/San Francisco

Like the previous two days we hit it hard and didn't get to see as many wineries as we would have likes. However, of the four wineries we hit, at three -- Opus One, Stag's Leap Cellars and Hess Collection -- we tasted wine that retails at more than $100. We tasted the most expensive wine we ever had. The fourth winery, Domaine Carneros, specializes in sparkling wine; the winery is actually owned by Taittenger. Various photos are included.
















After our last tasting we headed to San Francisco, arriving about 6 p.m. We stopped to take photos of the Golden Gate Bridge and then headed for the North Beach area, which is known for its Italian food.



We will get to see just a little bit of San Francisco tomorrow before we head out. Our flight is 5:20, but it's in San Jose. Luckily, it's a direct flight; we couldn't get a direct flight in/out of San Francisco. We'll get into Austin about 10:30. Unless there is free wireless at the airport, I won't post tomorrow.

Day 2, Napa/Sonoma

While we spent most of yesterday in Napa, today we spent most of the day in Sonoma. Specifically we were in the Russian River Valley and the Alexander Valley in northern Sonoma. We visited six wineries today and I'm not even sure at this point how many different wines we sampled.

Doug says any day you drink before 10 a.m. is good, and that was definitely the case today. Our first stop was Silver Oak Winery, which is known for high-end cabs. We had some of the best cabs we've ever had. Doug was in heaven. Here is a photo of me sampling one of the cabs at 9:30 this morning.


We actually ended the day in southern Sonoma at Chateau St. Jean. In between, we visited a winery owned by Robin William's brother, a winery that Francis Ford Coppola recently purchased and has yet to name, a winery where they used to grow and dry hops for beer making before turning to grapes, and a winery that made a really yummy petite syrah port. We actually bought some to bring home, as we can't get it in Austin. The other wine we bought to take home was the Sofia Blanc du Blanc from the Coppola winery. It is actually packaged in mini-cans -- perfect to ice down in the cooler by the pool.

We had a fabulous dinner at the Glen Ellen Inn. We stumbled on it when restaurant we had planned on going to (from the book we have), just didn't have a very appetizing menu. I had a veal shank stuffed with carmelized onions and apples, and Doug had a ribeye with a merlot reduction. Not only was the food great, the atmosphere was relaxing and romantic. Doug said that with Silver Oak Winery and the Glen Ellen Inn, we had the perfect start and finish to the day.

Tomorrow we are going to again start early, trying to see some more "must sees" before heading to San Francisco for the night. In the meantime, Doug is already mentally planning our second trip to Napa/Sonoma.

Day 1, Napa/Sonoma

Just a quick update -- we are very tired. We visited four wineries today, primarily in the Calistoga, Ste. Helena, and Yountville areas of Napa. Our two favorites were Pride Vineyards (the photo of me), which makes a great merlot and cab, and Domaine Chandon, which specializes in sparkling wines (the photo of Doug).

One thing about the wineries here, they look fabulous. In Texas, they are just tasting rooms. Here there are gardens, koi ponds and one place, a gondola to get to the tasting room. No wonder they charge for tastings!

Tomorrow we are heading to wineries in the Sonoma area. I will try to post more.

California, here we come

This evening we are heading to the California wine country. Doug and I will spend a few days there and a couple of days in San Francisco. We are looking forward to it. What I want to know, however, is why is it that no matter how far ahead you plan, there is always a rush of last minute activity? Speaking of which, I need to go pack. Our hotel is supposed to have wi-fi, so I will try to blog, time permitting, while we are there.

Trapped!

The recent Austin thunderstorms caused havoc to both people and animals alike. My dog got trapped because of the storms.

About a year ago Doug had it with the dogs. They were stealing things and taking them under our bed to chew. After finding the umpteenth destroyed wallet under the bed, Doug decided that he would make the bed off limits. He bought plastic storage drawers for under the bed, and lined each side of the bed with them. However, they did not meet in the middle of the bed, leaving a small gap if one of the dogs crawled under the low footboard. Doug propped a piece of wood against the footboard to keep them from crawling under there. This seemed to do the trick.

One thing you need to know about Allegra is that she is scared of loud noises. She’s pretty brave and fairly curious about everything – it’s the border collie in her – but she doesn’t like BOOMS. On the 4th of July and New Year’s Eve, when neighborhood kids are shooting off fireworks, she quivers, shakes and turns to Jell-O. We’ll put her in the bed, under the covers, between us, and you can feel her heart racing as fast as a hummingbird. Nothing seems to calm her down. Thunder also sends her into a tizzy, but really we don’t have a lot of major thunderstorms in central Texas, that is until recently. We’ve probably had as many the past two weeks as we’ve had the entire five years of Allegra’s life.

During the recent bout of storms, Allegra was determined that she was going to hide under the bed at night, to feel safe. At first, she just pushed aside the storage drawers and crawled between them, but that didn’t leave much space for her. Then she figured out how to move the board propped against the footboard. She could knock it down with her paw and crawl in, with plenty of room to maneuver. Given that she was so scared of the storms, we allowed her to do this until she decided that this was her place to sleep and would move the board even on nights without storms. This got a bit much. One night I decided I would break her of the habit and put a laundry basket next to the board. This way she couldn’t knock down the board, or so I thought.

The next morning I woke without the usual nose sniffing my face to see if I was awake. Allegra did not come around for a morning pet and it was a bit quiet, so I knew something was up. When I went to the bathroom, I saw it – the board was moved about a foot and Allegra’s head was peaking out. “Hey Doug, I think Allegra’s trapped under the bed,” I said to the sleeping figure next to me as I crawled back into bed. “I doubt it,” he mumbled. By this time, Dante was awake and decided he needed petting, so he jumped on the bed and landed between us. Surely Allegra would be up shortly, if she could make it.

After 10 minutes, no Allegra, so I had to see if she was really trapped. I got out of bed. “Dante, you want a treat?” I said as I went to the kitchen. Dante was behind me in a flash. I grabbed a handful of treats and went back to the bedroom where Allegra could watch what I was doing. Seeing the treats, she flopped around like a fish, but couldn’t dislodge herself. “Doug, she really is trapped,” I laughed. Doug finally woke up enough to get interested and peeks at Allegra.

“Dante, sit; now speak!” I commanded. He sat, but Dante never barks on command, despite my best efforts to train him. “Speak!” A loud bark comes from the bed. It’s Allegra. She is showing me that she can speak even when trapped, and deserves a treat. “Dante, want a treat?” I ask, tossing him one. “Dante, come here,” I say, moving a few steps back. He follows. “Bark!” I hear Allegra under the bed, desperately trying to gain my attention. She wants out and she wants a treat. I giggle. I keep tormenting her for a couple of minutes, teasing her by giving her bother treats, thinking that she will manage to somehow crawl out, but she can’t. I am laughing and get Doug to take some photos. Finally, Doug has had enough and moves the board so Allegra can crawl out. She rushes to me and stares until I give her a treat.

Silly girl still hasn’t learned not to crawl under the bed, but now she waits until the thunder is really bad.

Play-off bound

The Austin Wranglers, the local arena football league team, is heading for the playoffs. After browsing the Pecan Street Festival, Doug and I went to the game, which was the last home game of the season. The Wranglers beat the Grand Rapids Rampage, 57-38.

If you've never been to an arena game, it's quite fun. The field is about a quarter the size of a standard football field. There are only 7 players per side, with players playing both offense and defense. There are no sidelines, just boards (like hockey), so you get smashed up against the wall. Also, like hockey, there are a lot of fun and games for the fans, so of like a game show. The game moves fairly quickly -- we were out of there in two and a half hours. Thanks to Ross, one of my former students who interns with the Wranglers, we had great seats. The energy was high today and it was probably the loudest we've ever seen it at a game. We are seriously thinking about buying season tickets next year as they are two-thirds the price.

The Wranglers have one more (away) game. If they win it, they will have home turf advantage.
If we go to any of the playoff games, I will try to remember to take my digital camera so I will have a better photo than what my camera phone can provide.

Keeping Austin weird

Everyone needs to do their part to keep Austin weird. Today we were at the Pecan Street Festival, which is held on 6th Street. In fact, there is no Pecan Street in Austin, although there is one in Pflugerville. Actually, the naming of the streets in Austin seems to help keep Austin weird, but I digress.

We were hanging out at the Pecan Street Festival and saw this metallic man. Not sure what he was doing dressed in silver from head to toe, but in Austin you really don't need a reason to do something off-beat. Off-beat is normal in Austin, while normal is strange. Still, he didn't seem to be pushing an agenda, selling a product or promoting a concert. He just was there, no more. Maybe that's the reason we like the festival so much, you can see so many unusual things.

Independent brewery

Today we toured Independence Brewing Company, one of the few independent beer brewers in the state. This guy started as a homebrewer and then started brewing professionally at the (now defunct) Coppertank Brewpub. A few years ago he started his own brewery. Currently Independence is available only around Austin.

Normally they aren't open to the public, but on the first Saturday of each month they have a brewery tour. Actually it's more of an open house. People show up and receive three drink tickets, which happens to coincide with the number of beers they brew. We tried the Independence Pale Ale, but we thought it was a bit too hoppy for our tastes. The Bootlegger Brown Ale was a bit too malty for me, but Doug liked it. I settled on the Freestyle Wheat Beer, which I thought was pretty good despite the fact that I normally don't like wheat beer.

The brewery was basically a big loading dock. They opened the dock doors to let everyone in, and had a half-dozen wooden picnic tables. They also had a bar area. The back half of the dock was where the brewing equipment was. It was interesting. Also hanging around the brewery was Jasper, the brew dog. He made sure to check that everyone was having a good time.

School's out, for the summer!

I gave my last final today. Whew! School is out. Grades have been turned in. Since I'll be coming back as faculty I had to pack up my desk in the graduate assistant office and turn in my key. After two years I'm leaving my office. It seems like a long time since I've spent almost two years in the same job. Such is life in tech PR.

When I got home I saw I had an email from a student who offered to wash my car for a 0.3 bump in her grade. What she didn't see is that I round up my grades. I keep thinking I should have had her clean the car. :-) Unfortunately most of my begging students are ones who are so far away from a passing grade that no amount of rounding will help.

I have decided not to teach advertising this summer. They found a PhD to teach it and this PhD is actually going to be teaching in the fall. This will allow me to focus on my thesis without having to worry about prepping for a class I won't teach again. Also, I don't have to worry about the gas and mileage for driving to San Marcos 5 days a week. Once I finish the thesis, I can prep for my other classes and pick up freelance work.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy my summer break. Having the summer off is the best part of being in school.

Update

Back in February I asked everyone to send best thoughts and prayers to my friend Gary. His son-in-law Blake was in a horrible skiing accident. There is good news this week. First of all, Misty, Gary's oldest daughter, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Taylor Lynn. Mom and baby are doing fine. Dad is doing well too, as he is finally coming home from the hospital on Thursday.

Here is a photo of dad, baby and grandma.

Teacher, teacher, I declare

In the fall I join the ranks of academia -- I have accepted a one-year contract to be full-time faculty at Texas State University. I will be teaching two classes of PR campaigns, one class of PR writing, and one section of Intro to PR (the class I've been teaching the last two semesters).

It was actually a somewhat difficult decision to make. I had planned that I would go back to work and then be an adjunct, teaching one or two classes a semester. However, one of the PR professors got a sudden urge to retire and gave notice two weeks ago. In academia, it tends to take a year to fill a tenure-track faculty position. Since they can't fill the position with a tenure-track (e.g. a PhD) candidate by fall, they offered the position to me.

I can see myself being a professor in 15-20 years, but I wasn't planning on making it my career yet. For one thing, it pays half of what I could make doing PR. That's a huge difference. But I haven't been seeing a lot of open positions at my level. I'm thinking a year of teaching would look good on my resume and will allow the market to come back. Plus, I'm getting to teach a couple of classes I haven't taught, and that's interesting to me. I may even be able to do freelance writing and PR work to make a little more money.

The big thing is that I have to get my thesis writing this summer so I can graduate. The research is done, I just have to focus on the writing. I plan to do it during the first summer session, as I will be teaching advertising the second summer session.

Until then, there are finals to give and grades to turn in. My last final is tomorrow at 8 a.m. All week I've been getting students begging for better grades, wondering how they can turn their F into a B. I hate to tell them that the best way to turn a F into a B is by intercepting the mail before their parents and using a really good ballpoint pen on their report card.

We can't take you anywhere!

One thing to know about Dante, my 5 year old black lab/border collie mix -- he squats to pee. It's the funniest thing to see a male dog squat, but he does. Not as much as his sister, but he never lifts his leg when he has to urinate. When he was younger, we really thought this was strange, but our trainer assured us that there was nothing wrong, so we didn't worry about.

One day two years ago we were walking the dogs and suddenly Dante lifted his leg and urinated on a mailbox. We were so excited that he finally grew up and at age three learned to pee properly. Then we noticed that he only did it when we were out walking. If he was in the backyard he still squatted. We realized that he only leg lifted if he was marking his territory -- he was still a squatter when it came to peeing. Luckily he kept his marking to a minimum and it wasn't too annoying.

Until recently. Saturday we went to buy fresh strawberries at the farmer's market and took the dogs with us. On our way home we stopped at Bark 'n Purr to pick up food for the dogs. Doug had Dante and I had Allegra and we looked at buffalo bones, all sorts of goodies, and other dogs. Doug and Dante were walking down the aisle with the collars when suddenly Dante lifted his leg and started peeing all over the leather collars. I was mortified! He hasn't urinated indoors since he was a pup. Dante just decided this was the time to start showing his manliness. Doug got napkins and cleaned up the mess, but got out of there as quickly as possible. No treats, no goodies, just pay for the food and leave. We were both embarrassed.

We just figured this was a one-time thing, after all, he had never done that before. And the collars were leather. Dante has a thing for leather, given the number of Doug's wallets he's destroyed. We weren't worried that there would be a repeat performance.

The next day Doug was running errands and took the dogs with them. One of the stops was Petco, to buy a storage container for their food. Doug has both dogs by the leash, walking down the dog food aisle, when suddenly he feels a tug. He looks back and there's Dante, hiking his leg and urinating on a bag of Iams. Doug starts pulling on the collar, dragging Dante, who is in mid-stream and peeing all over the floor. Doug is ready to find a large rock and crawl under it. Instead he quickly makes his way to the register, checks out, and hopes no one is the wiser. Maybe the employees will blame the puddle on the cocker spaniel.

So now our sissy-boy squatter is finding the need to mark his territory all over town, much to our chagrin. Needless to say, it will be awhile before Dante goes back to a pet store.

Happy birthday, Doug

Today is Doug's birthday. Evidently it's also the birthday of two of my students, but I'm not taking them out . I'm taking Doug to Eddie V's for dinner. He loves seafood and since I don't eat it, this is the one day a year he gets to go out and eat seafood. I think he's looking forward to it, but he's been sort of blase about his birthday this year. Be sure to leave him some birthday well-wishes.

Another new hobby

Not that Doug and I need another diversion, but last week Doug and I started taking a glass fusing, jewelry-making class at Blue Moon Glassworks. It's a four week class and tonight was week two. We got the stuff back that we made last week. We can either make a magnet or a pin out of them. Doug's pieces are the top two, mine are the bottom. Tonight we learned how to make pendants and earrings. I can't wait until next week when get those back.

April WOW tasting

Last night was the first wine tasting of the season for the Women of Wine and The Men Who Adore Them (WOW). We were tasting Ste. Genevieve, Peregrine Hill, and Lorval. Everyone seemed to have a great time. Below are a few photos Doug took at the tasting.

I'll make you a movie you can't refuse

This afternoon Doug walks into the living room, where I am watching tv. He sees what I have on and chuckles. "Just leave me alone!" I scowl. He laughs. "There is nothing else on!" I insist. He walks out. I turn my attention back to the television.

Doug has a very good reason to laugh. The AMC channel is having a Godfather marathon this weekend -- continuous showings of Parts I, II and III. I really haven't been feeling well this weekend as spring allergies are kicking my tail, so I've been puttering around the house. Since Godfather is one of my favorite movies, I can turn it on in the middle and watch parts of it. I had Part II on yesterday when I was cleaning the living room. Last night when we got home we wanted to watch just a little bit of tv before bed, so we turned on Part I. Doug decided he couldn't go to bed until after Michael got his jaw broken. This afternoon I wanted to watch something, and since it happened to be in the same place as where we left off last night, I picked up Part I there. Although I haven't sat down to watch the movies in full this weekend, from the bits and pieces I've watched I've seen all of Part I and up until when Michael returns from Cuba in Part II. Of course, not in order.

I even watched about 15 minutes of Part III this morning when Doug was still asleep. That's all I could stand. You can tell Coppola made the film just because he needed the money. Unlike the first two which draw you in, this one seems like a parody of itself.

I think the other reason why Doug laughed is that we have the trilogy on DVD, so I can watch it any time I want. I don't have to have a marathon. Still, when it's on, I have to watch, it draws me in.

South Park jumps the shark

I am a devoted South Park fan. I love the way the creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, poke fun at political and controversial issues. Last night, however, they went to far and jumped the shark.

For those who aren't familiar with the term, "jump the shark" is a reference to the tv show Happy Days when the Fonze jumped a pool of sharks while he was on water skis. The term comes to mean that a show is pulling some crazy storyline to garner interest in a show that is starting to go downhill.

Last night South Park aired an episode that was parodied the exaggerations James Frey wrote in his book, A Million Little Pieces. So first off, the show was a bit dated. It only takes 6 days from start to finish on the show, so I thought it was weak picking an issue that was several months old. Secondly, the show was pretty flat and not very funny. But what really got me last night was that more than half the episode featured Oprah Winfrey's talking minge (vagina) and anus.

Evidently the minge was upset that Oprah is a workaholic and doesn't pay him much attention. He tries to discredit her by showing how the book is a fake. When that doesn't work, he takes hostages and shoots a cop. Most of the show shows a close-up of Oprah's groin area (abet fully clothed).

I just think it was in bad taste, and as I said, wasn't funny. Also, when South Park lampoons someone, they usually deserve it -- people like Paris Hilton. It was almost like they had to use Oprah because she was part of the book controversy, but didn't have anything to really make fun of her, so they used her vagina.

The main character in last night's episode was Towlie, a towel. He couldn't come up with an idea unless he was high, yet every time he was high, he came up with bad ideas, like faking his autobiography, A Million Little Fibers. I think maybe Trey and Matt had been smoke the weed when they came up for the idea for last night's show.

Berry, berry good wine

Doug and I had a project this weekend that we have wanted to do for a year – making strawberry wine. We hope will turn out delicious, although it will be several months before we know for sure. We are experimenting with six different variations to see what works and what doesn’t.

The project started Friday morning with a trip to Poteet, a town two hours to the south. Poteet is known as the strawberry capital of Texas and the strawberries from that area are super sweet. The wineries we’ve talked to in central Texas that make strawberry wine say they get their fruit from Poteet, so we decided that was the place to start. For those not familiar with the process for making fruit wine, it is very important that we get fruit that doesn’t have preservatives. It is also important that we get fruit that is freshly picked – grocery stores just won’t work. The fruit in grocery stores are picked early and ripen on the way to the market. This means that the strawberries won’t have the same sugar content (very important for wine) as berries we can get from farmers.

After arriving in Poteet (blink and you’ll miss the town), we stopped at a roadside fruit stand where the berries were gorgeous. We bought two flats, or 24 pints of strawberries and headed back to Austin.

Saturday morning we woke and headed to the market to pick up a few things we needed for the wine. Some of the batches are going to have raisins and/or dates. Once we got home, we started on the process. Each of the six 1-gallon batches called for three pounds of strawberries – and I was the one who hulled the berries – all 24 pints of them. We then crushed the berries in our juicer and poured the strawberry juice into 1 gallon jugs. Doug added the other ingredients and started the yeast. This morning he added the yeast to the fruit. I noticed this afternoon that some of the wine is already starting to ferment.

Last spring we missed the strawberry season and didn’t get to make wine. It’s a good thing we got the strawberries over the weekend as the guy at the fruit stand told us that it was starting to get too hot for strawberries (it’s been a short season this year and I doubt that the crop can survive this 100-degree weather). As it was, after the trip home in the trunk of the car and overnight on our kitchen counter, the berries were already starting to get mushy. That’s okay for wine and tells us that they were definitely not picked too early.

Now we are just waiting for blackberry season to make blackberry wine. Of course, we’ll make another batch of peach wine this summer.

Silly dog

Because it is so hot today, Dante has opted to wear his ears in a new style.

You think THIS is hot???

For the past week I've been remembering our trip to Rhode Island. While there, the high temperature was 37. I had stopped into Wal-Mart to pick up hats, gloves, scarves, so we wouldn't get too cold while walking around. There was a crusty New Englander in front of me at the checkout line and he had to comment on my buying winter gear in February. He asked if it was because they were on clearance. I explained I was from Texas and I had no winter gear (as we don't really have winter) and I needed some gloves because it was cold.

"You think this is cold?" he kept asking. While I didn't appreciate being made fun of by a total stranger, I later found it humorous. I knew he wouldn't be able to last more than three days during a Texas summer.

Of course we are beginning to brace ourselves for the heat. The air conditioner has already been on for a few weeks -- highs in the upper 80s, lower 90s. That is, until yesterday. It was 97 degrees yesterday. Just sitting on the back patio, watching Doug wash out bottles, I began to sweat. Today it will be 100. Given that it is only mid-April, we are in for a long, hot summer.

I wonder what that crusty Yankee would think of this weather?

A San Francisco treat

Although not as exciting as my parents' trip, Doug and I are planning a get-away to a place we've been wanting to visit for a several years -- San Francisco and Napa/Sonoma. Last July Doug won a poker tournament and received a $500 travel gift certificate. We've been sitting on it, trying to decide when/where to go (and to see if Doug won another tournament). Since we need to use it by July, Doug and I decided to get away once school was out in May. We'll also be using our frequent flyer miles. We are going to fly out on a Thursday night and back on Monday. Except for all the wine we purchase to bring back, we should be able to do this on the cheap.

I tell you, getting frequent flyer miles for your credit card, and using your credit card for all of your household bills, really can build up your frequent flyer miles. If we could, we would even put our mortgage on our credit card. Of course, the trick is to pay off your card, but we do that. We also receive airline rewards by grocery shopping and dining out at certain places.

We are both getting excited about our trip and are looking forward to it.

Second attempt

This is my second attempt at creating a mosaic flower pot. Better than the first, but still not there. I actually lost about a half dozen tiles when I was trying to grout the pot. I think I cut the glass triangle too wide for the curvature of the bottom of the pot. The tiles worked well on the rest of the pot, but not at the bottom. I still have some blue glass left, especially the lightest and darkest blues, so I will use it to make another pot.

Jealousy, thy name is daughter

My parents are leaving Wednesday for a two week cruise to the Mediterranean. About 10 days ago my mom was surfing the Web and found a great last minute deal. They are leaving from Portugal, going to Spain, Italy, Turkey and ending in Greece. I am so jealous! One of their ports of call, and one of the twelve reasons I'm jealous, is Santorini. According to a Travel channel special I saw several years ago, Santorini is just gorgeous and THE top destination for a romantic destination honeymoon. One of our favorite Greek restaurants in Austin has these huge photo murals on the wall of Santorini. When we eat at that restaurant, I like to imagine being on this Greek isle.

I guess it's a good thing we aren't going. From port to super Tuscans, we'd need two extra suitcases just to bring home all the wine we'd buy.

If you want to be jealous too, check out the itinerary.

New hobby

I am attempting to teach myself mosaics. I've been interesting in learning for years, especially after watching HGTV once and seeing how easy it looked to do. I've thought about enrolling in a class, but haven't done it. In our attempt to revitalize our backyard, we bought some plant stands that would look nice with pretty pots and flowers. Instead of buying pots, I decided to try my hand at mosaics. I finished my first pot this weekend. Not bad for a first attempt. Now I just have 9 more pots to do. Maybe they'll be done by the end of summer.

One thing I learned is that I need to wear gloves when grouting glass tiles. I didn't even think about it and got tiny cuts all over my right fingers.

Pour, pour wine

“Do you know what’s wrong with Texas wines?” Today I am a volunteer wine pourer at the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival in Georgetown. I’m working the Artesa Winery table, pouring a cab/merlot blend and a chard. We have been slammed since the gates opened at noon.

I look at the guy in front of me who asked the question. He is a bit older, with bad teeth and a straw hat. I am sure his name is either Bubba or Joe Bob. I want to tell him that the problem with Texas wines is that most wineries produce for the ignorant masses like himself. Instead I just smile.

“The problem with Texas wines is they pour too much sugar in them.” I realize then how clueless this guy is. Adding sugar? We make wine, not kool-aid. I decide to educate him a bit. “Actually, most Texas vintners tend to grow what they think will sell, growing the more well-known and popular grape varieties, versus the grapes that are better for our hot, dry climate. Alamosa Winery is doing a good job making wine out of sangiovese and tempranillo, which grow really well in our climate.” I point to the table a few booths down, hoping he’d get the hint. It didn’t work.

“Do you know of any place that makes wine out of mustang grapes? Those are really well adapted to our climate.” Yeah, and a Ford LTD is really adapted to trailer parks, but that doesn’t make it NASCAR vehicle. There are a few Texas wineries that I’ve been to that have experimented with mustang grapes as part of a blend; it’s okay, but really, those are not wine grapes. I just smile at the guy and pour for the next person in line.

It’s really interesting watching the people who want a sip. For the most part, folks at the festival don’t know a lot about wine. That’s okay, and that’s a good reason to come to a wine festival to try and learn. These folks take sips, listen to what I tell them and may ask a few questions and move on. Sometimes they really like it, sometimes they don’t.

Then there are the folks like Bubba who think they know more than they do. I will be the first to admit, I don’t know a lot about wine. Doug knows more than I and he will say he doesn’t know much. Still, I would venture to guess that we know more than the average drinker. After all, we like wine, we like wineries and we try to learn about wines when we visit various wineries. But I have to hold my tongue when I get certain questions:

“Do you have any rose? What about white zinfandel?” No, but you can buy a box of each at HEB and let everyone know how white trash you are.

“What’s the difference between cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc? Cabernet franc is more oaky, isn’t it?” This one, I try to explain oak comes from barreling. Cabernet sauvignon is a heavier, full-bodied wine while cabernet franc is more used for blending. It didn’t work as the woman really wasn’t interested in my answer and didn’t stop talking long enough to listen.

“Why don’t you say it’s a meritage of merlot and cab, instead of a blend?” Are you kidding? I’m having trouble with folks understanding what a blend is. Do you really think they would understand a word like meritage?

Since I’m not supposed to wear my volunteer t-shirt, folks think I’m actually from the Artesa Winery in Napa. Because I’m wearing a t-shirt from Hawaii that mom gave me years ago, some folks think I’m from the islands. If I had known I wouldn’t be wearing the food and wine t-shirt, I probably would have worn my Will Work for Wine t-shirt. Since I’m next to Gigi and she’s having a rough day, I could have easily gotten by with my I’m with Grumpy shirt. Folks ask me what is my favorite wine that I make. I am tempted to tell them it’s my peach wine, but decide against it. That’s not what the day is about.

Within an hour I’m worn out. The two and a half hour shift seems to take forever. I think I’ve spoken to more than 1,000 people. “This is a chardonnay for the chardonnay lover; Artesa is really well-known for their chardonnays.” People agree and some ladies come back for thirds. I hate when they ask me if I like it and I have to explain that I am a red drinker. “Our red? It’s a cab/merlot blend, with some syrah and cab franc mixed in as well. The grapes are from both Napa and Sonoma, with the vintners taking the very best elements from the various regions and grapes to produce this wine they call Elements. There was quite a buzz about it at the Four Seasons tasting last night.” My mouth gets tired from saying the same thing over and over. Gigi brings me a bottle of water so my tongue doesn’t swell.

Some of the wine tables have ran out of wine and shut down. I wonder if our four cases will be enough to last through our shift, much less the next one. However, we make it though and our relief finally comes. Pouring was fun, but exhausting – I really earned the admission to this festival. Before I leave I take another drink of the wine and head out of our booth. My pouring time is through and now it’s my time to enjoy the wines.

Job hunting update

Within 15 minutes of yesterday's posting regarding job hunting, I received an email from the university. They asked me to teach an advertising class during the second summer session. After discussing the pros and cons with Doug, I decided to accept.

While I've had some frustrations this semester with some of my students, over all, I really enjoy working with them. While I'm not an expert in advertising, I do have experience in it and teaching it will help me learn more. Plus, some of the areas I'm most interested in have to do with influencing behavior, which could be a meld of some advertising and PR. This also gives me a chance to finish the thesis and find just the right job.

The thing that struck me most about this whole thing was the timing. I had pretty much thought I was at a dead end on that track, at least for a semester or two. Not sure about the job hunting thing either. Then I just put it out there and suddenly there was a response. It was like giving it over to a higher power and things were just taken care of. I wonder if God reads blogs?

New toy

People often wonder why our Dante and Allegra don't have many toys. The only thing they seem to have at the house to play with are old buffalo bones (after they have gnawed off the meat and have sucked out the marrow), each other, and the kitty. There are two reasons for this. One, they are simply not interested in many toys. I throw a tennis ball and Allegra just looks at it (throw a bone, and she'll go get it). Get out a kong, and Dante will work hard to get the treat in less than two minutes and then doesn't bother with the kong until there is another treat inside.

The other reason they don't get toys is that they destroy them. Once we bought a stuffed squeaky toy and within 30 minutes Allegra had the stuffing strewn across the yard. It was a violent decapitation of a squirrel as I've ever seen, only instead of red blood and guts, it was white fluff.

Today I was feeling generous and bought a new toy for the dogs when I was at the store. I am trying to get them interested in fetching without worrying about the dents the buffalo bones will make in the walls and furniture. This toy seemed perfect. It was rubber, and I thought durable. It was soft and wouldn't leave dents when thrown. I got home, showed it to the dogs, and threw it. They were interested and went after it. They brought it back to me to throw again. They chased each other and were having a good time. They left me alone so I could have lunch in peace.

Fifteen minutes later, Allegra had snatched it from Dante and laid the toy at my feet. I picked it up and realized that it was soaked in dog slobber. Yew! Then I saw it -- they had chewed one of the spindles partially through. Inside was foam. Not wanting to give them a chance to digest the foam, I picked up the toy and set it on the counter. Within 15 minutes, the fun new toy was no more. Guess this means we have to stick with the bones.