the wonderful land of unproductivity

sometimes its nice to have nothing to do and when i say nothing, i mean nothing. that was my yesterday. the entire day i felt pretty worthless because i was doing so much of nothing but i know after a few hours of work im going to wish i could go back to that. i spent a majority of memorial day on the couch. i even fell asleep at one point which isnt a good sign when youve woken up at 11 to start with and have nothing to show for the day to actually make you tired. even so...it was somehow necessary for me to take a little nap around 6pm.

sat. was my only productive day of the weekend. went to houston to congratulate my friend ally from graduating from med school. she's officially a doctor now which, if you know ally, is slightly scary. but you really have to know ally to understand that and see the humor in it all. so anyways...congrats again ally! then i got to hang out with kt and steve which was long overdue - got to play with their cute cute pup bella.

and yeah, thats about it. put up some more pics so you can check those out here if youre so inclined. now its time to figure out what i need to tackle first here at work.

looooong weekend ahead!

well today is friday. and then i, along with many others, dont have to come back to work till tuesday! oh that is just fantastic. especially considering the week ive had, minus birthday wednesday which was great. the rest of the week has gone by at a slow creep...every minute feels like an hour...every hour a day. im soo thankful that friday finally showed up! and if im lucky i might get to go home early - we'll see.

i dont have many big plans for the weekend except for some much needed rest and vegetation (of myself, that is). ill try to find something fun to do and hopefully have something to show for it next week.

as you all know from reading my blog, ACL is fast approaching. not at lightning speed but its about 4 months away. and whenever the lineup is posted i feel it to be my duty to check out some of the bands i havent heard of and start deciding who will get my precious time over that weekend. so from now until the fest im going to give you my thoughts on 2, maybe 3, maybe 4 groups. so here goes:

greyhounds - i really really like these guys. theyre from austin and their sound is a mix of blues, funk, and rock i guess. kinda hard to describe but i foresee them being a fun group to check out live.

matt costa - matt falls in the singer-songwriter category. the single guy with a guitar and occasionally a back up band is probably my favorite "genre" of music. however you have to actually be good to make it otherwise youre just "another guy with a guitar." and i think he is...good, that is.

so theres your two for the week.

thats about it for me. i hope everyone has a wonderful long memorial day weekend. have fun and be safe!

a GREAT birthday

well the birthday came and went but i loved every second. unfortunately i did have to go to work but it wasnt too bad - i definitely didnt work too hard. i got to go to hula hut for lunch - YUM! i was showered with fun birthday emails, calls, and texts all day long - thanks everyone!!!

dinner was fantastic - here's the group that went. we went to moonshine and the food was great. and it couldnt have ended better with taylor hicks winning american idol :)

oh and about the second picture. yes, those are containers of papa johns garlic butter sauce. heres the story behind that. every tues. at work is staff lunch and every 3rd tues is pizza day. we order papa johns pizza and i always get one of these garlic tubs because i LOVE it. it is like a clogged artery in a cup and it's delicious. well i told my friend yuna how much i love these things...and maybe i went on a little too long about it. anyways...part of my bday present from her was 5 of these!!! yes, i was excited. maybe i shouldnt be excited about taking years off of my life by consuming them but whatever.

another thing. my entire family forgot my birthday. yes, its true although really not as big of a deal as it sounds honestly. my family is kinda weird when it comes to birthdays to start with and this isnt the first time its been missed...they just arent a huge deal to us. a couple of years ago my parents actually called about a week ahead of time and sang happy bday to me - it was awesome. so yeah..birthdays usually get celebrated on the weekend with my fam so i thought maybe theyre just waiting till then to actually tell me happy bday? well i ended up calling about 10 last nite and my mom answered the phone. i was like..."so...its my birthday.." her end of the phone = silence and then "oh no..." and then i hear her yell, "dave (my dad), we forgot katies birthday." so they did indeed forget. but not completely bc my mom had mentioned it on the phone on monday when i talked to her, so at one point (two days prior) she did actually know. and i will cut them some slack bc as you know we just had to put our doggie to sleep and now my fam is planning this vacation to disneyworld so things have been a bit hectic to say the least. so the story is more entertaining to others bc i know my family and i know they love me all the same.

so thats that. birthday is over. but thanks to everyone who made it pretty great...especially you, taylor hicks ;)

my birthday wish came true!

ok i know that taylor won - WOOHOO!! but now im watching the finale that i recorded during dinner. oh and my bday was great - more on that later. but for now, my general thoughts from the finale of idol as i watch...
*ok opening songs - hello mcphees boobs...hmm..
*now each of the 12 get to sing with their favorite artist or band i guess. paris..eh..kinda boring...
*hot daught...oh ive missed that voice.
*mchpee...oh geez...oh hey there are your boobs again...cmon, this is a family show. oh and meatloaf was a bad choice...
*oh theyre showing bad auditions...HILARIOUS
*boys medley - oh i loved it..taylor on the harmonica - love it. chicken little..i remember now why i thought you were terrible then...still terrible now..
*so mcphee and taylor got mustang convertibles...not too shabby....ok yeah im jealous of that
*ellliotts mom crying...so sweet...yes i became an elliott fan the week he got voted off...maybe a little late, i know
*hey theyre showing mcphees dad crying - SHOCKER
*elliott and mary j... very interesting combo...i like her though...oh elliott..you cute little white boy...did you know hes 27? yeah i thought he was like 17..
*carrie underwood...eh...not a big country fan...fast forwarding...shes pretty though
*more bad auditions...still hilarious
*oooh taylor hicks...silence please..um...does toni braxton know the words? whats going on and why does she sound and kinda look like a man? hmm that was kinda awkward
*girls medley - oh mandisa - girl, you go...
*more bad auditions...
*oh geez...clay aiken is here...and his impersonator is crying....um...wow. this is just unbelievable
*ok so all the 12 finalists are singing again...um ace is totally looking at that girls boobs...yeah...oh bucky you did not get any better...lisa tucker your hair is crazy...please get chicken little OFF THE STAGE....hot daught stay on the stage forever
*ok this male bonding award is a little weird..and a brokeback mtn spinoff...how creative...zzz
*OH DEAR...prince is on idol...or is it the artist formerly known as prince?
*and the winner...TAYLOR HICKS!!! WOOHOO!!!

well thats it for AI season 5. best birthday present ever!!!

25 years ago...

a chubby little baby was born in korea...me! yes, its my birthday - a quarter of a century old - yikes!

make sure and tell patti labelle, joe dumars, priscilla presley, and bob dylan happy birthday too if you see them...yeah..

my one birthday wish...that taylor hicks would win tonite on idol. thats all i ask, really.

thoughts on idol

here are my thoughts on the idol finale..well i guess tomorrow is technically the finale but whatever...

taylor hicks - A-MAZING! all 3 songs - nailed them...especially the last one. LOVE HIM

mcphee - well, we already know how i feel about her. honestly, first song was pretty good, however i prefer it from kt tunstall. second...im tired of you sittin on the floor when you sing. 3rd song...oh geez...my ears were bleeding...no good...it was like controlled yelling. oh yeah, and was it just me or did your dress make you look ginormous? oh and can we please stop showing shots of the crying dad?? i mean really people..

my prediction and hope:
TAYLOR HICKS, THE NEXT AMERICAN IDOL!!!!!!!!!!

the best dog ever

this is my dog mollie. i got mollie for my birthday one year back in middle school. she weighed a couple of pounds and was the cutest furball i had ever seen. and she was my first puppy. well, mollie isnt a puppy anymore although her small size and playful nature would deceive you. last year the vet told us she had congestive heart failure so ever since she's been on a combination of pills and shots every so often to help her out. recently shes gotten a lot worse and tomorrow we have to put her to sleep to avoid her being in a lot of pain when her heart finally stops.

to say that im sad is a huge understatement. i have a huge love for animals and so to have to say goodbye to a dog who's been around for more than half my life really really sucks. but thats life right? so needless to say, tomorrow isnt going to be a great day and today isnt much better but dont worry, ill be alright. so theres that..

waxawho?

guess whats going on this weekend? a wedding. shocking huh? if im not actually going to a wedding then i at least know of one or two people that are getting married that weekend nonetheless. thats neat huh? all this crazy love blossoming around me..

anyways, this weekend i will make the trek to waxahachie for ashley's wedding. so if you know of any sites to check out in waxawhatever then just let me know. i will be driving to cs to meet up with jac before we make the trip together - should be fun times. thats about it though...

tonite make sure and catch some nba action. the cavs and mr james might just take down the reigning champs from two years ago. and then of course the tx rivalry going on between the mavs and spurs. me? ill be happy either way bc if youll remember, im loyal to my man AI and the sixers who just happen to be taking a post season...um...vacation? yeah.

i have fallen in love with the green salsa at guero's in case you were wondering...and i know you were

so right now theyre having a promo at the gap where if you spend $60 then you get a $20 giftcard to use the next time. well, i get my "birthday gift" from gap in the mail bc i have a gap credit card and they send you little coupons or deals or whatever (by the way they charge you $25 if your payment is late) and get this...my super sweet birthday deal is this - save $15 on $60 or more! wait a second...is it just me or did gap basically say 'screw you on your birthday!' im pretty sure that im at a $5 deficit if i redeem my "birthday gift." jerks.

pete yorn is touring this summer. he will be in austin june 28th. you should go. if you dont know him then listen to his stuff and then go. i love him and will be there.

ok i think its obvious that im really just trying to find things to share to pass the time here. im gonna stop now though.

have a great weekend!

news

the lineup is out! it went up around 6pm last nite. a day early but i guess they figured they might as well since it got leaked anyways. tickets will sell out quick - dont say i didnt warn you

elliott went home on idol. it was what i expected although i gotta say, i was quite sad and do NOT want mcphee to win. this is why...when they announced that elliott was going home they panned the cameras to shots of each of the contestants families. taylors family looked relieved that taylor was staying but also sad for elliott. elliotts mom and bro were obviously disappointed but remained composed. then mchpees parents...the mom is pumping her fists in the air in celebration. yeah, you might be excited that your daughter is continuing but have some DANG respect for elliott. you will have plenty of time to celebrate later - give this time to elliott. and its not like mcphee won by a landslide...she barely made it. and heres another thing..i think mcphee is a snoot and thinks shes better than she really is. elliott was incredibly humble the entire time and you could really tell that he was truly honored to be a part of the whole process. he deserved to be there. mcphee - i really hope you lose.

my birthday is in 6 days - woohoo!

the other AI

american idol...not allen iverson who will always be the number one AI in my life ;)

last nites show was pretty good. elliott, mcphee, and hicks all sang three songs. i gotta be honest here. elliott has always kinda bored me however last nite i listened to him sing without actually watching him and his voice is pretty decent...and hes a lot more consistent than mcphee. sure mcphee is real pretty and can sing great some of the time but overall i just dont think she deserves to win. and then my boy hicks - i loved all of his songs last nite - springsteens dancing in the dark, cockers you are so beautiful, and reddings try a little tenderness (one of my favs). no doubt about it that he'll be in the finals although last week we learned that ANYTHING can happen...hot daught i still miss you...

so in my opinion i really think mchpee should go home and elliott deserves to stay. unfortunately i think the opposite will happen but we'll just have to see. one hour results show tonite at 8!

ACL news!!!

ok here's some breaking news. a certain dallasobserver.com blog has come out with a lineup for this years ACL fest. the "official" lineup is set to come out the 18th and it will prove if this is all in fact true however there are some sources that are already backing it up...believe it if you want - i definitely want to...the lineup is sweeeet. here is a part of the post or you can click on the link above to read the whole thing:

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, Massive Attack, String Cheese Incident, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, the Flaming Lips, Jose Gonzales, John Mayer, the Raconteurs, the Shins, Ween, Los Lonely Boys, Gnarls Barkley, Cat Power and the Memphis Rhythm Band, Secret Machines, Gomez, Kathleen Edwards, Wolf Parade, Jack Ingram, Sparklehorse, Thievery Corporation, Ben Kweller, G. Love and Special Sauce, Matisyahu, Damien Rice, Kings of Leon, Iron & Wine, Kasey Chambers, Aimee Mann, Nickel Creek, Damian Marley, Calexico, the New Pornographers, Son Volt, Guster, Galactic, KT Tunstall, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Centro-matic, Marah, Nada Surf, I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness…, Okkervil River, the Black Angels, Explosions in the Sky, Sara Hickman, Trish Murphy, Asleep at the Wheel and about 50 others acts

a few things in response. first off - hello, van morrison?!?! what a classic. that makes my day...week...year. and tom petty is a given for excitement. others im especially looking forward to hearing (assuming that this lineup will prevail as accurate) - gnarls barkley - i have this idea that hes pretty great live bc his sound is so unique...damien rice - that would save me some money from seeing him and fiona apple when they tour in july although i would still like to see fiona...shins, iron & wine, guster, kt tunstall, flaming lips, son volt, harper, mayer - all equally excited about those.

so yeah...im satisfied and hopefully it will all prevail as true! and with that...just a reminder that they are on the third and last tier of 3 day tickets on sale right now and i predict that theyre gonna sell out pretty quickly once the official lineup is posted. so if youre thinking you wanna experience what will be 3 days of really really great music - you better buy your tix now.

ellie's first dance recital

mcphee = vote stealer!

read the story here

in heaven there will be...

sausage mcgriddles from mcdonalds. im sure of it. these little bundles of goodness are sure to be in abundance in heaven. these little paper wrapped clogged arteries are just fantastic. they have replaced my former love - the bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, but only because they are only a buck 'o eight! what a steal. but because of the aformentioned clogged artery problem, i dont consume them often although the happiness they bring me does outweigh my concern with calories (as does most food). so if youve never indulged in one, i highly recommend it.

other things i think will be in heaven:
7 layer dip
peeps
hula hut...yes, the whole restaurant
kerbey queso
spaghetti
tostitos chips with lime
green flavor ice
gumbys pizza rolls

ok i realize that heaven will far surpass any food in this world...maybe i just felt like giving you a list of my favorite foods...

biggest upset in the history of time!

or maybe just american idol...

who is in shock about what happened last nite on idol?
me.
who is completely devasted that hot daught went home last nite?
me.
who, although still rooting for taylor, wanted hot daught to make it to the final two?
me.
who is going to boycott american idol for the rest of the season?
ok lets be honest, im not going to go to that extreme.

oh good gosh so funny

if you like to dance
if you think you can dance
if you like to watch other people dance
watch this

bloggers block

sometimes i just dont have much to say. if you know me well then you might be wanting to interject right now with, "um..not true.." but with writing a blog comes a small amount of pressure. the pressure to entertain your readers so as to make them dedicated and loyal readers. if anything so that at the end of the day you can see how many page views you had for the day and measure your worth as a human being by it. ok not really...ok maybe a little...oh i dont know. i dont want this blog to turn into a boring, monotonous tale of my day starting with brushing my teeth in the morning to the repeated process at nite. no one wants to read that. so i try to only include things of semi-significance and more so that you, my reader, will be deceived into thinking im a very active, fun person...and not just someone who might just lazy around watching shows like the OC and one tree hill. crap. i do watch those shows...

moving on. im hoping that this blog can be more than that. a blog that occasionally has something of marginal depth and a tinge of utter profoundness. a blog that will sometimes just make you sit back after you read it and go, "hmmm." so with all of that said....here is my weekly american idol recap.

last nite the final four sang songs from the king. elvis, that is. i was a little apprehensive about elvis week but soon realized that you dont necessarily need to don a white suit, big hair, and a curled lip to sing elvis. and when you dont have these factors, the songs actually sound quite normal. so i enjoyed last nite. my ranking would go hot daught, my boy taylor hicks, elliott "you make me yawn" yamin, and mcpheeva. my vote to go home would be yamin although i would be a little sad..not because im a huge fan but because at this point they're all really good and it sucks for anyone to go home. if daught or hicks goes home i will be forever devastated.

so there you have it. i hope you realized the humor in paragraph 2. no, i do not think that talking about american idol is the least bit profound or deep.

two things...

first and foremost - do not see the movie, Stick It. trust me.

second, i have started posting some new pics on a website that you can find here. its a trial version so i may or may not keep my pics posted there permanently. i do not have the money nor the time to make a website for my photography yet so this will have to do for now. please check it out and let me know what you think!

need to sell these!!!

this used to be a post to sell my running shoes. well, i went back to runtex to try and return them because i figured i had nothing to lose. and they refunded it, no questions asked, $100 back on my card! the shoes had been worn (in the 10K and on the dirt trail at town lake), i didnt have my receipt, and it had been over a month since i bought them. however they found my order using my credit card, didnt care that they had been worn even though they obviously cant resell them, and it didnt matter that id had them for about 45 days already. now THATS customer service! i knew i liked that place for a reason. so if youre in the market for good running shoes then go to runtex - theyll take care of you well!

do you know what today is??

if you said "cinco de mayo" then you're wrong. ok well youre actually right, but today is more than just the fifth of may.

it's NO PANTS DAY!!! unfortunately i didnt know about this holiday until today so i wasnt able to prepare. and to be honest, my coworkers probably wouldnt appreciate me being pantsless. but if you dont believe me, you can read all about it here, here, and here. what a great holiday...

stories that are more interesting than my blog

three interesting stories...and by interesting i mean absolutely gross, kinda unbelievable, and just dirty..

how would you like that cooked? with or without finger?

what is it with people cuttin off their phalanges and serving them on our dinner plates?? i mean, what if the person hadnt seen the finger and eaten it? oh good gosh...

4 yr old kid runs 40 miles

what?? do 4 yr olds even know what miles are? its almost inspiring...if a 4 yr old can run 40 miles, think of what i can do...yep...continue to sit in this office chair....

she's 3X his age!!!!

he's 33...she's 104. true love. her 21st marriage - yeah thats right. she's been busy. reminds me of that movie big daddy where adam sandler asks his ex-girlfriends new old man boyfriend if his 5 yr plan is "don't die." what exactly do you do with a 104 yr old woman??

update

this is a follow up on the fudds fundraiser from the miracle4megan.com website:

"Fuddruckers said this is one of the most successful events in Fuddruckers History. They are writing us a check for $3,500.00. "

i was able to go to fuddruckers last nite for dinner and it was packed - the line was out the door most of the nite. way to go austin!

eat at fuddruckers

fellow austinites - today you have an excuse to eat a great big, juicy hamburger at fuddruckers for a great cause.

megan horton is an 8th grader who is waiting for a new heart. as you can probably guess, medical bills aren't cheap. today, all fuddruckers locations in austin have agreed to donate 20% of the net sales to the Megan Horton Medical Assistance Fund. print out the coupon below and read about her story too. i fear the coupon link might not work but I'm sure you could mention the cause to the cashier and you'd be alright.

Coupon

Megan's Story

Article in statesman.com

good for something

these roses were given to me by the ceo of the company. no, hes not in love with me or wanting to date me. hes old, married, and has kids my age. we officially "launched" our new shopping website yesterday that ive been working on and this was to congratulate my efforts. theyre sooo pretty and smell great. you can click here to check out the site and see the kinds of stuff i get to sell to people all day long. one disclaimer...i did not create the actual website...i just added all the stuff onto the already created template. im no fancy web designer - i wish! anyways...ive talked about the site for long enough and wanted to prove that it was indeed real.

ACL update: guster, bob schneider, ben harper

a book, a movie, and a band

some recommendations:

i just finished the da vinci code. that says a lot since i finish about 20% of the books that i start. i figured, 40 million other people read it so it must be good right? plus with all the controversy and what not going on and the movie about to come out...i had to see what all the hype was about. and..upon finishing the book, here are my thoughts. the da vinci code is a good read. its well-written, interesting, suspenseful, hard to put down, etc. another thing it is: fiction. that means its not true. thats all im going to say about that.

sat. nite i watched shopgirl. its a movie about a love triangle between characters played by claire danes, steve martin, and jason schwartzman. ill be honest, i could have done without the story between danes and martin bc he's just real old and it was kinda gross. however taking out that storyline would have made the movie about 30 minutes long leaving the scenes with danes and schwartzman. that almost would have been worth it. jason schwartzman makes the movie. if youre not familiar with jason you might know him as the lead actor in rushmore. also, the ex drummer for the band phantom planet most notably known as of late for their song "california," the O.C. theme song. anyways, i found myself laughing outloud many times from his performance. so if anything, see the movie because of him.

gnarls barkley. i dont know really how to describe him. his sound is completely different but i like it. you might have heard his song "crazy." it's great. i love it. check him out.