Dimitri The GR8

Another house out here for rent, for anyone wanting to explore some country (kinda) living.

It's in my neighborhood and the house is on about 7 or 8 acres.

Here's what the owner says:

So here I am, living it up in Leander.  I love clearing old brush around the garden, building raised garden beds, tearing down old doghouses, and tackling the incessant Juniper.  I also love the 7am stroll around the 10 acres before heading off to work.

There are many other things I love about living out here in House CaaG, but he lack of internet isn't one of them.  Time Warner still hasn't made plans on making it out here, and i'm reluctant to get satellite, and really hate dialup.  

What I have discovered, however, is another reason to love my new iPhone: 1.2mb download speed!  3G is MUCH faster than I imagined!  Granted, only 256k upload, but a near-T1 download rate is rediculous!  I've tried two different speed tests and they both say the same thing...

So here i am, wifi'ing from my laptop to my phone where it's sitting along the wall: the spot where it gets the strongest signal.  Neat!

Other reasons to love iPhone: Linux-based
Down with the i-Monopoly, up with the open-source! :)

Hey everyone!

Quick call out to all my techie peeps:
We (Pearson) are hiring for a developer to work on Actionscript 2 and/or 3 in a Flash environment.
Nothing flashy, but a strong coding background and good familiarity with Flash is needed.

This is ASAP.
Job posting: http://sh.webhire.com/servlet/av/jd?ai=205&ji=2298691&sn=I

Anyone looking?

Hehehehe

For when the US eventually switches to metric, as our primary school teachers had threatened it would so many times...
(courtesy xkcd)



Edit:  And another that I just found... "A guide to understanding flowcharts, presented in flow-chart form"

Hey!  Found this person through a friend.  She's moving to Austin.

She's looking for bellydancers to photograph and I know that some of you beautiful bellydancin' friends of mine might dig the opportunity.  Drop her an email!

She's also looking for dance studios, so feel free to comment to her with any advice.


Thing the first: I'm going to be in the Austin area from Feb 18 through March 31st, potentially longer. I'm going to be looking for classes in that time, if anyone knows of any or a good place for info do please share. My skill level is probably somewhere between beginning and intermediate. I know my basics and then some, but I still lack control. [not practicing like I should tsk tsk]

Thing the second: I am also a fledgling/hobbyist photographer and I'd love to add some BellyDancer photos to my portfolio. So if any dancers in the area are interested in some promotional images or just fun photos of you in your dancewear, let me know! I'm most interested in tribal costuming, but I'd be just as happy to shoot a cabaret dancer. I could work something out if you have an upcoming performance and the venue allows photography, or if not, I could shoot before or after. Better yet, if you just want to don your costume and ham it up in front of the lens that works too. You can see some of my stuff over on flickr if you're interested. Thanks!

Original post here.

...the construction workers...  Finally they tell us something useful!  (found on Northbound Lamar in Austin)

Click to read story:

How did I not see this before now!?



111 million views! Not bad! :)

Finally all moved. 

After two weeks of non-stop moving and cleaning, it's finally all here at our new homestead: 15112 Honeycomb Hollow.

Alice and I are joining houses, joining lives, joining cats and we are still very excited (even after the stresses of moving!) ...not just about living together, but also the new home!

Three bedrooms, 2 living areas, huge garage, on 10 acres, just northwest of Leander (off Nameless Rd. -- no joke! :) ).  It is a perfect setting for us to start putting into action some of our sustainability practices, like gardening, raising chickens and goats, living off a well, etc.  And yeah, it is a rental, but at least it's a start. :)
( Some pics... )

And yes, there WILL be a housewarming party, so mark your calendars for Feb 6th (Vanilla party) or Feb 7th (anything goes party).  More details, soon! :)

Umm... wow. As if I wasn't already disheartened enough about the current education system.
A debacle here in our own AISD:

http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/12/linux-stop-holding-our-kids-back.html

Definitely does make for some great reading, though.

Yay Obama and a new and hopeful perspective towards America (from interior and exterior)! :)

RIP Michael Crichton. :(

WTF, WHY!?!?  Prop. 8 in California passed!??  :(((

I guess, although it's awesome to hear great and valiant things about people embracing Obama's ideas towards adopting a new "spirit of service" towards making this country a better place for those in it today and 100 years from now, there's still the fundamental problem of people who have strongly opposing ideals for "improving" the way of living.....

I never thought I'd have so much fun being a banana!  I also didn't think it'd be as much of a hit as it apparently was.  Is there any video?  heh ;)

I am also the new owner of a fine piece of art located at Wet Salon on S. Congress: a Cat with a Keytar!! :-D  Thanks to foolmonkey for the heads up! 

I can't wait for this hiatus--- I am SOOO ready to write again! :)
Hopefully our last show will be a hit!

So, as many of you may have heard, TCoil is going on a hiatus.
What does that mean exactly?

It means that we need to return to the drawing board and work on our new album, our new stage show, and our selves.  I'm totally psyched about it, actually!  I'm going to learn more about my rig and better sound engineering, Eric's taking vocal lessons, and Greg's getting a practice drumset for home... exciting times! 

Chris is moving away, though, so we'll also be on the lookout for a new guitarist (any leads?).

Anyway, we're doing our last show this Thursday, Oct. 9th at Antone's.  It'd be great if some of y'all can make it! :)

I'm also making a cameo in the Burlesque show tonight!  We'll see how that goes!  =D

Yay for music and good times! ;)

Hey everyone!

I just got back from this great trip to Colorado and high desert mountains of New Mexico and such!  Can't wait to post up pics!  WOW it was so beautiful!

Meanwhile, does anyone know of a good Vocal Coach?  We're having vocal practices on the weekends and we need a coach. 

Eric (our lead singer) could use some help with techniques on not straining (and gain more stamina) and also getting a better grasp on tuning and harmonies.  These practices will also also include those singing backups, so the coach will have to be able to guide with warmups, technique, and pitching, etc.  Experience with live rock and metal performers is preferred.

You can also have them check out our myspace: www.myspace.com/TungstenCoil

Thanks a ton for any info!!

Has anyone been Salmon Bot'ed yet? (Google it)

It's happened to me twice.  Fortunately, the second instance I was finally clued in to what the hell was going on.  ;)

Teehee... good times! :)

So Tungsten Coil has a new bassist!

I know many of you may not believe that this very male-dominated band would bring a girl on, but she's BADASS!!
Shannon Deane, of Flametrick Subs, Pail, and Lucid Dementia, is our saving grace.  She's an incredibly talented player, has an awesome attitude, is totally excited about the music, and I think she will bring a good balance to the band!

Her first show with us is tomorrow, Saturday, Aug 2nd.  it's at Merkaba Lounge & Grill, which is in north Austin next to Chaparral Ice (north on I35, U-turn at "1825/Pflugerville" exit, and on the right in a strip mall after the Ice rink.  We go on at 10:30pm, is only like $5, and is all ages.  It'd be rad if some of you can make it!

---
I'm glad that things with the band are finally shaping up.  We are no longer in limbo from stolen gear (i.e. we've gotten over that and recovered) and no bass player, and finally have some important business structure down.  So now we are finally able to spend time on the music, again, and back to working on important things like my rig, Eric's vocals, stage show/interaction/choreography, etc.   FINALLY!

I took this picture while on a recent shopping trip...



I guess they were actually advertising the truth... these chicken broths were definitely free range! :)


(Note the guy in the background looking at me like I'm crazy... teehee)

Has anyone tried either of these?

http://www.runyourcarwithwater.com/
http://water4gas.com/

There's a lot of sales gimmicks to sort through on those pages, but I haven't been able to find anything online disclaiming (nor claiming) the effectiveness of these little conversion kits that they talk about.

Anything to make a tour van for the band cheaper to operate nowadays is A-OK with me...

Pure Luck Farms in Dripping Springs is maker of some of the finest goat cheeses I've ever had!!  missdeekupps and I went on a tour once a couple years ago and had a total blast!  It was a very fun and educational tour where we got to see the farm, meet the goats, learn about the cheese-making process and even milk a goat, ourselves! 

I would like to go on another tour and share this awesome place with a few more people.  They cost only $10 per person, last a couple hours, and you get some cheese snackin' at the end!  Lately they've put a 20-person minimum on tours so I am spreading the word to see if I can find 20 people who would want to learn about this and check it out!  I was thinking perhaps either Sunday 6/22 or 6/29...

Please respond if you want to learn about goat-cheese-making!
More info here: Pure Luck Farms.

Yeah, we were broken into.
This sucks.
Our guitar player can't teach guitar anymore because all of his were taken.
No more keytar.

Info, pictures, gear list, etc, can be found here:
http://full.tungstencoil.com/gear/

But we will play on...we have a show tomorrow night and we're borrowing gear.

Would anyone happen to have, or know someone who has, a 5-string bass? heh, how about a keytar? ;)

...damn, this sucks.

Please join me and Jami Wireman at an all-you-can-eat-and-drink afternoon BBQ event to raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Central Texas. For a tax-deductible donation of $25 per person ($10 for kids under 8, $15 for kids 8 and older), you can enjoy scrumptious foods and frothy (alcohol, too!) drinks while supporting the Society's goal of one day finding a cure for blood cancers.


Sunday, May 4th
3pm - 8pm (come any time)
8623 Winding Walk, Austin, 78757
$25 - All you can eat & drink!!


In addition, we'll have games, a Wii playing area, an anime viewing room, beginner knitting lessons (yarn and needles provided), beginner piano lessons, and more!

You may either pay by cash, check (made payable to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society), or by credit card through Jami's Team in Training website at http://www.active.com/donate/tntctx/JamiWireman. All donations are tax-deductible, and you'll receive a receipt for when the tax man cometh next year.

Please RSVP here, or email me with any questions.

And if you're not hungry, you can also just donate a few bucks to the cause here. We're already halfway to our $4,000 goal!!

Thank you all SO MUCH for your support!