Thursday, January 31, 2008

Know The World You Live?

Like most things awesome, I found this, the Traveller IQ Challenge, via Ze Frank. Absorptive fun for the travel geek in us all!

It is very fast! I don't know the capital of South Africa! No, it's not Johannesburg! (Bloemfontein? There are three? Are you freaking kidding me?)

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Some New Music Fun Time

There's a new recording studio in town (new to me), called Nebulost, who's got a great intro price and an amazing setup. East side of Austin, out in the country.
Here's something I'm prepping for the 1st 5-hr. session: James McMurtry's Rachel's Song.

Keep you posted on how it goes. This stuff makes me crazy psyched.

So Worth It? You Decide.

I was drinking freshly brewed beers with my friend Charles at Uncle Billy's, and this conversation was inspired.

Wonder why there's so much turnover in bars along 6th St. (or wherever)? Here's the secret.

With $250K, you can buy a shutdown quick, and renovate, and hire. Over the next 12 months, you should average $3000 a night in liquor sales. That's a million and 95,000 dollars.

Let's say you repaid $250K in loans, and spent $250K that year in costs and paychecks. Let's say you also had $100,000 in additional taxes and costs. And, to be conservative, let's tack on another $100,000 miscellaneous financial burdens.

That still leaves you over a third of a million dollars. Frankly, I wouldn't do it for much less. It's too goddang hard.

But that gives you an idea of why bars appear and disappear like whack-a-moles. Nice cashout, for a year's worth of work.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Smart Human Tricks

Driving home from Oges' house (after a fun guitar & bass session, where we wrestled Waylon's theme to the Dukes of Hazard to the ground, we did) I drove by a field sobriety test on the opposite side of the road. Which reminded me of Jeff Bridges' fun web site, and this trick:

Sitting down? Rotate your right foot clockwise. Now with your right hand, draw the number 6 in the air. Your foot will change direction, and "there's nothing you can do about it."

Yes, THAT Jeff Bridges. Thought you knew all about him, didn't you? He's a way amazing dude, The Dude is.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Rock On Peter


Today on a whim, I checked out the personal web site of a friend and former boss. I was delighted to see he updated his "About Me" page. When I read this, I almost lost it:

"I landed a position as Director of Knowledge Management for a venture-funded start-up software company, and also sat on the Corporate Executive Committee. One of the key tragedies of my life was when our CEO, and my friend, unexpectedly passed away from a sudden heart attack. The company did not survive the shock."

I was his first employee in that position. He needed a tech writer, and hired me on the spot. Peter is amazing and wonderful, and I took a shine to him immediately. His brother David is also quite interesting (he runs the Bodhi Foundation out of his house here in Austin). When we lost Pat, we grieved as a family. He's right - we never got over it.

Anyway, allow me to introduce you to Peter, a singularly unique and excellent person. He, to me, is another reminder that, no matter what we lose, all is not lost.

Monday, January 07, 2008

Maria Bamford - the Dark song

If you liked ZeFrank's very wonderful and useful ditty,

you will flirt with incontinence over this'n. "The Bammer" had a series on Superdeluxe, but now some episodes can only be furtively found on Youtube. K,bye.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

If You Can Guess What This Is, You Are Amazed. And A Little Sad.