This has been the week from hell and I'm glad that it's finally going to be over. Sad thing is that next week isn't looking any better with the upcoming email migration from GroupWise to Outlook. Dammit.



Tomorrow Selina and I are having lunch at Bert's BBQ up here on Far West. We're going to do a taste test to figure out if we want to have them cater our reception, since the people who own Bert's also happen to own the 12 Oaks Ranch. Later that evening we have to take Selina's Mac to the Apple Store in Barton Creek Mall. It appears as though the hard drive crashed big time. The good news: the computer is still under warranty, so the hard drive will get replaced. The bad news: Selina didn't have anything backed up, so she lost everything.

Selina forwarded an email to me that she received from the Texas Hearing & Service Dogs organization concerning the fiasco at the 2008 Mighty Texas Dog Walk (see my Mighty Texas Death March posting if you don't know what I'm referring to). The following are excerpts from the email:

Why We Moved the Dog Walk Site - For the past four years, we have held the Mighty Texas Dog Walk in Sunset Valley, a small municipality in the southwest Austin area. In July 2007, when we began to plan this year's walk, Sunset Valley informed us that they were going to change the course because the neighborhood where the course ran through wanted to have a break.

How We Decided to Move - A well known runners' store invited us to move the dog walk downtown and combine it with their races. They said we could share the course with them. They suggested the benefits of a more centralized location, a great number of people present to visit the exhibitor booths (from which half of the revenues come) and agreed to handle the logistics of setting up the course. This runners' store is well known and experienced with setting up races.

What We Will Improve On - The runners' store, to which we paid a fee for its services, was in charge of everything regarding the course itself: water stops, cones, street closures, permits, etc. We discussed with them that we wanted two water stops on the course, the first one near Cesar Chavez and Lamar and the second one at Austin High. The first one, as in the past four years, would be used by people both coming and going along the course. Early in the walk, we were informed by our volunteers that the runners' store personnel at the first water stop were not letting our walkers have access to it. The reason seemed to be that they didn't want walkers getting in the way of the last runners returning along the course from the previous race. As soon as we were informed this, we worked diligently to rectify the problem including moving dog bowls with water to the middle of the road. Unfortunately, our efforts failed to reach every participant. We have already redesigned the water stops for next year's event including incorporating recommendations by the veterinarians on site. These revisions include the addition of multiple water stops with wading pools, ice, misters and additional veterinarian stations along the course. We deeply regret the inadequacy of the water stops and will make the water stops' improvement our top priority in future events.

Other Future Plans - In addition to beefing up the water stops, we will do the following in the future:

• Not combine our event with other events that take place earlier.
• Take control back of all logistics.
• Go back to an earlier start time.
• We are looking at the first two Saturdays in March for next year's date.
• We are looking at having the event site at Waterloo Park, which has lots of shade and plenty of nearby parking.

So unless I'm reading this email wrong, they are basically pointing the finger squarely at Runtex. Whoops! I mean penniless sitar player. No wait...what I really meant was well known runners' store. That's it. Well known runners' store.

When you do a search using the Google search engine, the magical elves that are housed in the basement of the Googleplex are supposed to return your search results along with what they call "relative advertisements". You know, those sponsored links that appear on the top and right side of the page...

Well, today I searched for "weather" and got the results you see below:



Behold the power of porn.

With what was transferred into my ING account today from my paycheck, Selina and I have met (and slightly surpassed) our housing savings goal. Hooray for us! While that's excellent news and all, it just means that it's time for us to address the next item up on the list: saving for the wedding.

According to www.costofwedding.com, couples in the Austin area spend a little over $41,000 on wedding costs (excluding the engagement ring and honeymoon costs). Sweet Jesus, do these people fart dollar bills or something? I guess it's good to see that 63% of couples spend less than this amount, but it's still a shocking number. While our (preliminary) budget is closer to a quarter of that amount, it's still a lot of money considering that we are looking for a house and most likely won't be getting much help from either of our parents. Guess it's a good thing we have 17 months until the big day. Let the stashing of money begin...again.

I still can't understand how they blew a 20 point lead. Disappointed...very disappointed. Towards the end, it was missed three-pointer after missed three-pointer. Drive to the basket and pick up a foul, dammit! We don't need three pointers! Game 2 better be a Spurs win or you can wave bye-bye to a chance to defend the championship.

And while it's on my mind, does anyone else think that Pau Gasol looks like what would be conceived if a llama humped Uma Thurman? Good God, that's an ugly man...unless you're into the whole caveman with lazy eyes thing.

OK, so we got the quote from the Winfield Inn on Friday -- and it came out to a little over $11K. If that wasn't a great big "Welcome to the world of wedding prices, Selina and Ryan!", then I don't know what is. Oy. Needless to say, Selina immediately starting making appointments to see other places. Truthfully, the catering price (per person) and the venue rental wasn't so bad, but we were getting nickel and dimed to death over all the other stuff. Thanks, but I'd like to have enough money left over to at least afford the tuxedo rental.

Sunday we visited 12 Oaks Ranch out on Highway 290 just west of Austin. We measured the distance from the church and it came out to just under 12 miles, which is actually closer than the Winfield Inn. The pavilion is large enough to accommodate our wedding party and the grounds are nothing to sneeze at. The people who run the ranch are very nice -- and they even remembered Chuck & Amanda's wedding (it was one of their favorites). The prices were very reasonable as well. Sure, we'll lose some of the "free" amenities that the Winfield Inn was offering (like a wedding coordinator and parking attendant), but you don't really expect me to naive enough not to think that those costs aren't hidden in there with the forks and napkins.

I think Selina has a couple more places lined up, so we'll be making a few more visits before coming to a decision. Unless one of the other places blows us away with their prices and grounds, 12 Oaks Ranch is now looking like the likely candidate.

Please pardon my French in this posting, but there's really no other way for me to express my anger and disappointment in something that I thought was going to be fun for the whole family. I was looking forward to this, but this was the first and last time Selina, Ratchet and I participate in the Mighty Texas Dog Walk. Helping the Texas Hearing & Service Dogs is a great cause, but the people who were in charge of logistics this year have to be some of the most dim-witted people and, as far as I'm concerned, they can go fuck themselves. Why? Because apparently they have absolutely no idea that dogs and people need water in order to survive a walk in the midday sun.

According to the paper included in our packet and the MTDW site, there were supposed to be "numerous water stations" and "wading pools" along the route. Bullshit. We walked from the Ann Richards Bridge (aka Congress Avenue Bridge) to the Lamar Bridge with no water station in sight (except for the one set up for the 5K that was stupidly running along the same course as the dogs, and we were shooed away from that one like hobos at a cocktail party). We were lucky that the route ran right next to Lady Bird Lake, because we let the dogs jump in under the Lamar Bridge in order to drink water and cool off before getting back on the road. Without that, I doubt most of the dogs would have made it to the water station.

Turns out that we were expected to walk almost 2 miles in 88° heat to get to the first (and apparently only) official water station, which was set up next to Austin High School. Fucking ridiculous. We turned around at the 1¼ mark because (a) the dogs were tired, (b) it was fucking hot and (c) it was just as close to turn around and head back to the Lamar Bridge and let the dogs jump back in the river.

On the way back, we noticed that the 5K stop that had yelled at us to stay away was now handing out water to people and dogs alike. I don't know if they turned into an official MTDW water station once the 5K'ers were done or if they just felt sorry for us, but it was a little too late to change my feelings about the whole ordeal. We let the dogs drink there and from the fountain in front of City Hall before we finally got back to the start/finish line on the Ann Richards Bridge. Everyone else could go to hell, but Selina, Ratchet and I were heading back to the car and the wonder of air conditioning.

Like I said, we will never again be participating in the Mighty Texas Dog Walk. For the sake of anyone who dares trust that this sort of fiasco will never happen again, I hope the coordinators realize that (a) dog walks should never start at 11:00AM unless they enjoy seeing old ladies having heat strokes and dogs puking in the road, (b) most people and dogs participating in the walk cannot go 1¾ miles without water, and (c) if you want people to use poop bags, please provide more than one per dog.

And with that I shall relinquish the soapbox.

Selina and I went to the Winfield Inn on Wednesday to tour the grounds and get a preliminary price quote on facility rental and catering. Unless they have outrageous catering prices, they are looking like the most likely reception venue and we're ready to hand over a down payment to hold the date. The owners were flying back into town from Colorado on Wednesday (and probably got delayed due to the massive storms that rolled through), so the wedding coordinator told us that it may be a day or two before we receive the quote. I'm really hoping to get it today.

Speaking of "the date", we can finally officially announce it as October 10, 2009. Seeing as we have well over a year to get prepared, once we get the reception venue confirmed we can put the wedding planning on the back burner until about August while we focus on the house search.

What is so mysterious about Mac OS X that makes people have to spell it out in all capital letters when they write about it? They usually say something like "...user is on a MAC computer..." or "...having problems his/her MAC..." Jeez, it feels like I'm being yelled at each time I come across the word.

Anyway, I notice it on message boards sometimes, but most of the time I encounter it while at work. It's mainly because I'm the only technician who knows how to work on Macs around here, so I see those tickets every time they come through. Keep in mind that the tickets are being generated by non-Mac personnel, which could explain why they don't know any better.

Strangely enough, the irritation level of the word "mac" is much lower than that of the word "MAC". It could be that whole yelling-in-capital-letters thing, but who knows.

And for those who didn't catch the title reference, it's from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, specifically the Knights Who Say Ni!, who are feared for the manner in which they utter the word "ni".

Like I said before, I'm not planning on running out to buy a flat screen TV or anything, but today I found out that there is a way to check your stimulus payment status on the IRS' website. You'll need your social security number, your filing status (single, married, etc.) and the total number of exemptions you claimed on your 2007 tax return. The amount of detail available will depend on how close you are to getting your stimulus check. Mine told me the amount and the date it will be deposited into my account.

So with what we have now and the $600 that should be deposited on the 16th, it will pull Selina and me to within $550 of our house goal (10% down payment + 3 month cushion) we set at the beginning of the year. Freakin' a, we are so awesome!

This afternoon Selina and I have a meeting with a deacon from the Catholic Church to discuss our intent to have our marriage ceremony at Selina's church, St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church. Truthfully, we considered skipping the whole church thing and just getting married by a judge at our prospective reception site because we didn't want to have to deal with all the beauracracy that comes with a Catholic wedding. However, seeing as our parents are both Mexican AND Catholic, the idea would have been struck down immediately, we would be knocked out with one of those leather-bound Bibles, doused with holy water and whisked away to the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan in order to tell the Virgin Mary that we were sorry for even considering such a thing. Don't laugh -- older Mexican Catholics are crazy like that.

Tomorrow we are going to have a get-together dinner at Smita's house. Last I heard we were going to be cooking hamburgers and I think Selina and I are supposed to be bringing the buns or something like that.

On Wednesday afternoon were are supposed to be meeting with the wedding coordinator from The Winfield Inn to discuss available dates for our reception and to tour the property. I think this place is our #1 choice so far. I'm just hoping that the weather cooperates with us because I saw this morning that there was a 40% chance of rain on Wednesday. Bah!

Thursday is going to be our "light" day. I think the only thing I have to do is give Ratchet a bath and a haircut in preparation for the Mighty Texas Dog Walk on Saturday.

Friday is Christina's graduation party, which I believe is being held on a boat of some sort. I don't know the details, but it should be fun.

Saturday is going to be a test of stamina. First up for the day is the Mighty Texas Dog Walk at 10:30AM. This will be the first year taking part in the walk, so hopefully Ratchet doesn't freak out with the number of dogs there. He's done OK with other dogs in the dog parks (specifically at Redbud Isle), but they are talking about breaking the world record here and I'm worried he might get overwhelmed. We'll see. After the dog walk we are going to Erin's graduation party. Selina has all the details for this one, too. After Erin's party, it's off to the graduation ceremony at the UT Tower so that we can see Deanna and congratulate her on her nursing degree.

Sometime during the day on Saturday I'm sure we'll get hounded to go downtown that night, but I'm not going to be easily convinced to go anywhere. A long week will be coming to an end and I'm going to need to rest. I'm old, you know.

I think Hillary needs to seriously consider dropping out of the race at this point. After walloping Clinton in North Carolina and basically drawing a stalemate in Indiana, Barack has an almost unsurmountable lead in both the popular vote and the delegate count. The only way she can win is if the superdelegates defy all logic -- not to mention the opinion of the voting public -- by backing Clinton or if the U.S. suddenly decides to annex a few more states into the Union. It also sounds like her campaign is having trouble raising donations, forcing her to dig into the Clinton bank account to continue the campaign. Not a good sign.

She's fighting a losing battle and I think she knows it. Rather than swallowing her pride and admitting defeat, however, it looks more and more like she has the mentality that if she's going down, she's going down fighting and she's going to take as many people down with her as possible -- even if it means the Democratic Party suffers from it.

Oh, and we should probably prepare ourselves for the re-beating of the dead horses known as Florida and Michigan. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that Clinton may just be using some of that money she loaned to her campaign to buy a stronger whip.

It's an old one but I just remembered about it tonight. My friend Jeremy told us about it at Jon's wedding reception. I couldn't stop laughing. Wish I could find a refrigerator magnet like it.



Nevermind, they have one like it here: Santa Fridge Magnet.

Even though I'm not planning on going out and spending the money like the government is hoping that I will, I'm still eagerly awaiting that $600 direct deposit into my checking account. So if I'm not going to spend it, what am I going to use it for you say? Well, it's going into our house/wedding fund for now. We've already reached our down payment goal, so now we are working on building up that 3 month reserve the lenders like to see. I think we should have that part saved within the next month or so, which should fit our time schedule very nicely.

By the way, check out Terri's First Vlog. Pretty cool (insert golf clap here), but methinks vlogging is a little out of my league for now. I'd much rather remain the man behind the curtain instead of the talking head on the computer screen.

And did I mention that I love Selina? I know, I know. Please forgive the shameless plug for brownie points with my fiancée. At least it's the truth and I'm not afraid to post it out on the web for all to see. OK, please forgive the two shameless plugs. That is all for now.

Once again the bar of stupidity has been raised. I mean really, how dumb do you have to be to steal a check, make it out for $360 billion and try cashing it?

According to a poll taken by CNN, Bush is the most hated president ever, which doesn't really surprise me at all. Just look at the man -- he's a total goober who constantly makes a fool out of himself and our country. Heck, even Ratchet knows that gas is going to hit $4 a gallon and that we are in a recession. Way to go there, Mr. Mission Accomplished!