thoughts from atypical asian

redirecting..

2009-03-30T20:39:00.004-05:00

I don't think I'll be posting on this blog anymore...not that I have been very good about it the past couple of years.

I will however be keeping my photography blog up to date so feel free to head over there and bookmark it instead.

Photo Blog!

NEW PICS UP

2008-11-03T23:29:00.000-06:00

www.katemccoy.net

pics...and more pics...and even more!

2008-07-28T22:39:00.003-05:00

In an effort to be more time efficient, I'm going to stop uploading pictures to both of my blogs and just encourage you to go to my photography one yourself:

The photo blog

Also, keep checking my website...I'm constantly adding new pics!

www.katemccoy.net

another new venture..

2008-07-28T21:50:00.004-05:00

is this thing on??!

2008-07-24T20:58:00.004-05:00

aggie season over..

2008-03-23T23:23:00.002-05:00

..but it shouldn't be.

Easter week

2008-03-18T22:08:00.002-05:00

In case you weren't aware, Easter is this Sunday. To help prepare, the church I attend - Austin Stone - put together an email-a-day subscription for the week. The purpose is to go thru the last days of Jesus' life and provides themes, reflections, and questions for each day. Anyone interested was/is encouraged to subscribe. Each day there is a provided image to help convey the theme for the day. A handful of artists were chosen to provide these and someone referred me. Honestly, I was a little nervous about the challenge as there was a short period of time to do it and I really wanted to come up with something that would serve the purpose intended. But moreso, I was really excited about the opportunity and eager to see what the Lord would teach me through it. I was given a set of scriptures to study as well as the theme for the day. Beyond that it was basically, "run with it." I tossed some ideas around but none seemed to really do it for me...I knew I didn't have it yet. But as I kept reading and researching, I suddenly knew exactly the direction I wanted to go in.

And I don't say all this to give you the details of the email. I'll include a link with Monday's devotional if you're interested in checking it out. I think this whole project was a lesson in itself for me. A lot of times I get motivated to read my Bible more but ultimately it ends up sitting on my dresser unopened. Or, I actually make it so far as to open it and start reading but I become bored or am waiting to find a great way to apply it and don't. I guess sometimes I have this very skewed idea that I'm going to read a verse, have some supernaturally profound thought, hear God talking to me, and feel like a real bible scholar. Yeah, real skewed I know. Bottom line, this doesn't happen to me. But when I got this assignment I really wanted to do it right. I didn't want to submit something that was "just ok." So I put forth a little more effort, really prayed for God to reveal what He wanted me to learn, to show me how to respond. And after I dug around a little, He did. And I can't really explain the satisfaction in that. And no...still not a bible scholar...but I can say that I really feel like I learned what He wanted me to learn and yeah, it took some time and maybe even some trial and error, but in the end - definitely worth it.

Here's monday's email and tuesday's also if you want to follow for the week...
Monday - Cleansing of the Temple
Tuesday - The Widow's Offering

good guys, bad guys

2008-03-17T21:08:00.002-05:00

mmm...tv...

2008-03-04T21:59:00.003-06:00

i love me some good tv. whether it's a well written drama or trashy reality junk, i'm probably watching it. one of my favorites however is rob and big. you can't watch this 30 minute treasure and not laugh out loud multiple times. in fact it's not uncommon for me to laugh until tears come. with that said, watch this and hopefully be entertained. i think some of the humor stems from the fact that you know that at some point in your life you've done this...you know you have that favorite song by the not cool artist that you know all the words to and do dance moves to. no? just me? dangit...

because i have nothing better to write about..

2008-03-03T19:23:00.005-06:00

so before i started delivering cookies i had been on the ut campus maybe twice. now, unfortunately i frequent it on a normal basis, sometimes 3 and 4 times in a day (uggh.). but we already know how i feel about ut students -cheap, lazy, good for nothing...oh sorry...back to what i was saying. you would think that ut, being in the smack dab center of austin which is known for its diversity and eclectic nature, would not have 70% of the girls walking around in the exact same outfit. so, if you are a girl, want to attend ut, and look exactly like all the other girls, you only need 2, sometimes 3 things:
the staple item: the nike running shorts style TM 3IN. this particular short comes in a variety of colors so you could buy 7 pairs and wear them each day of the week and trick yourself into thinking you were wearing something "different" each day. sadly, i think this may be the case for many girls. nike makes a lot of different running shorts and ive seen some girls try and get away with wearing a slightly different style which is maybe them trying to make a statement...but really, the other girls are looking at you and thinking..."nope, she doesn't have the right ones on.."the shorts are paired with a tshirt of your choice. a popular selection is one containing greek lettering of some kind showcasing your membership to kappa, chi-o, delta etc. kinda like the one i have provided as an example however this one looks like it might have been from the 80s and im not sure why exactly there is tissue paper coming out of the top. and even better than just a sorority shirt is a date party or formal shirt b/c that proves that you're popular with boys as well as your "sisters." another acceptable choice would be one of those obnoxious tshirts from tylers...ya know, the ones that say "TYLER'S" in ginormous letters on the back? this also proves that you go to ut bc you buy your clothes from the drag...maybe bc youre lazy and you can walk there from the dorm...just a guess.
finally, the third garment piece is the black leggings. i did not provide an image as these are optional based on the weather. when the temp drops a bit it is essential to put these on and then go about the normal attire by putting the nike shorts over the leggings. put on the properly coordinated t shirt and you're ready.

so theres your lesson for the day. how to dress like a female ut student. and honestly, im not exaggerating when i say 70%. when a nice day comes around, there is just a sea of nike shorts and t shirts on the campus. and at first maybe i thought it was just me noticing it until the topic came up at work for some reason and new ppl would join the conversation and without having to prompt or anything someone would be like, "oh the nike shorts? yeah, with the stripes down the side? oh and with the leggings underneath?" come to find out, one guy actually dressed up as a ut girl for halloween. what did he wear? the shorts...the leggings...the tshirt.

and maybe its just me but i always think its a bit awkward when you're wearing something and walk by someone or sit down next to someone and you happen to have on the same shirt or skirt or whatever. and this has to happen on a frequent basis...what humors me is when i see a group of girls walking together and they all have it on. its like they were getting ready and said, no im going to wear the black shorts, so you wear the pink ones...tell kimmie to wear blue...and dont forget your flip flops and coach purse. no, i cant think of a time when i actually saw a girl running in this attire..that would be silly.

i could probably go on but i think ive made my point...

this and that

2008-02-27T08:27:00.004-06:00

Grounded In Music I'm intrigued by this somewhat new organization

Cool Photo Books I haven't actually made a book here but if I had to I would go to this site

Stuff White People Like Blog If you're bored it might provide some entertainment for ya. Read #11

Girl Talk Music Heard this at work and I'm not going to go as far as to say this is great music but it's definitely interesting. Each song is a collaboration of a bunch of songs. What I enjoy is trying to figure out each one and sometimes they're old school and take ya back :)

My portofolio website, www.katemccoy.net, will soon be undergoing a makeover that hopefully results in something close to awesomeness. Stay tuned.

seriously natalie?

2008-02-24T13:51:00.002-06:00

who is natalie biddle? well, she attends UT and lives in jester west. and she's evil. let me set the scene for ya. its a friday afternoon and im makin my living bringing cookies to people. it's been a really good day...good tips...beautiful weather...and it's friday. so natalie biddle calls in and i guess shes having a craving for some chocolate chip cookies but is too lazy to come get them herself. that's ok...lucky for her, thats how we stay in business...bringing lazy people cookies. (ok, thats not all we do...a lot of people send cookies as gifts so not EVERYONE is lazy or just enjoys the convenience of nice warm, fresh baked cookies brought straight to their door within an hour).

so anyways..i arrive at jester west, call natalie up, tell her im in the lobby with the cookies, and she says she'll be right down. well, evidently right down meant after i take a nap, shower, and sit around and look out my window for 5 minutes first. maybe a slight exaggeration but it took way longer than normal. so her and a friend..we can call her accomplice A, finally arrive so i hand natalie her bevo bucks ticket to sign. this ticket has her info on it, a line that says tip amount and a line for her to sign. so natalie proceeds to write a big ole zero in the tip amount, sign her name, and then her and accomplice A enjoy a laugh (in my face) while handing me back the ticket in exchange for the cookies. then natalie biddle and accomplice A turn and quickly walk way but still engaging in laughter.

i have a few things to say in response to this situation:
1. natalie biddle and accomplice A - you are just evil and why must there be such mean people in the world?
2. NB and AA - do you realize i brought you fresh, warm cookies because you were too lazy to get them yourself?
3. i already have a distaste for the university of texas and anything burnt orange and this just made me hate it all a bit more
4. unless you visibly see me spit in, drop, or eat one of your cookies, it is never acceptable (in my opinion) to tip nothing
5. sure you might try and pass that "poor college student" line but really, if you're THAT poor then i think you might just not need that box of cookies to start with
6. the point of this post is not just to have a little rant about natalie biddle and accomplice A. as sad as it is, she is not alone in the world of non tippers. the point of this post is for a tipping lesson in general...but specifically for something delivered to you. take a second and realize the convenience of being able to stay exactly where you are and receive that service. isn't it worth at least a dollar, hopefully more?

in case that wasnt enough for ya

2008-01-31T12:08:00.000-06:00

mmm...what a GREAT game

2008-01-31T10:02:00.000-06:00

oh you wanted more than that?

2008-01-21T22:37:00.000-06:00

things that encompass my life...some big...some small...in no particular order:

-delivering cookies to people...sometimes in the rain...sometimes to people who don't tip a dime...sometimes in wonderful weather...sometimes narrowly avoiding parking tickets
-programmable coffee maker with snickernut cookie coffee. delish.
-aggie basketball...remaining hopeful despite some disappointing playing as of late
-job searching. love it.
-renewing friendships and feeling refreshed from it
-project runway, jon & kate plus 8, oct road, rob & big, friday nite lights...mmm tim riggins.
-frugality
-forgiving my ipod and gps stealer
-high school basketball...awkward and make you cringe moments but always entertaining and never did i think i would be sad that the season is ending. i am
-God is good. all the time
-sometimes curly hair
-photography
-sara bareilles, alicia keys, natasha bedingfield, just off turner, and pm dawn
-town lake...dont try and throw that lady bird lake crap at me...it will always be town lake...
-power of one - bryce courtenay, total money makeover - dave ramsey, acts - up for discussion
-fit tv with a ripped guy name gilad with a funny accent and key phrase, "real nice"
-juno, bucket list, 27 dresses, kite runner
-opportunities. rejection. provision. disappointment. HOPE.

im alive..

2008-01-18T12:32:00.001-06:00

my photography will be up at central market for the month of march. check it out, tell your austin friends, buy some of it, tell your austin friends to buy some of it.

what. a. day.

2007-12-12T23:48:00.000-06:00

thought it was going to be a normal day. however when i walked out to my car to go to work i first noticed all the broken glass on the street and then looked up and sadly realized it came from my drivers door window. yeah, evidently someone did some christmas shopping in my car. lucky day for them - got themselves an ipod and a gps. oh and my cheap, yet favorite pair of sunglasses. interesting choice...maybe they thought they were some nice brand...$8 at target, sucker. oh wait..they still have my ipod and gps - dangit.

so yeah the day started with a bit of a speedbump and id be lying if i said i wasn't initially upset. money is real tight right now and so this was kinda the straw that broke the camel's back. however, in retrospect you realize it's just stuff. sure, it's stuff i liked to have but it's not like im not going to make it without either. also, coincidentally (in the worst kind of way) i went to work and found out another driver there actually got his truck stolen last nite. so...it can always be worse. way worse. and thanks to a pretty great person in my life, the window is already placed and i got a car on loan today to use so that i wouldn't miss work.

so at the end of the day i am no longer irritated but instead have a peace about it all. these money issues of late have allowed/caused/made me rely on the promise i have and know that God is always going to provide for me. easy to say but sometimes impossible for me to believe. but as i turn to Him and His word and encouraging words, i cant help but feel the weight lifting off my shoulders. so whether its actual money showing up or kind actions shown to me by people i care about, i know that I will be taken care of. God is good...all the time...and there's no better feeling than knowing and believing that to be true.

what am i thankful for?

2007-11-25T08:34:00.000-06:00

well...lots of things...ya know...the normal...family, friends, etc etc. however one thing id like to specifically be thankful for this year is the fact that the aggies killed those no good longhorns on friday! what a game!!! definitely one of the most exciting games ive ever been to....probably one of the coldest too but when youre jumping up and down and high five-ing people you don't know - you hardly notice the cold. what makes this win even better is the fact that i work with a number of longhorns who talked their fair amount of trash talk the week prior to the game. being the good aggie i am, i had no hesitation in talking trash right back ;) and now, i will walk into work tomorrow proudly wearing my aggie hat and maybe even singing a little bit of the aggie war hymn...."goodbye to texas university...so long to the orange and the white..." two years in a row...it feels gooood.

and now with aggie football almost over it's time for attention to be directed to our awesome basketball team who won the NIT championship on friday as well. we're looking pretty good - it's gonna be a great year.

another blog

2007-11-11T14:40:00.000-06:00

Well, since I do such a stellar job at keeping this blog up, I decided to create another blog. Yeah, note the sarcasm there....I apologize to all my millions of readers that I've left you in the dark for a while. Life has been crazy. Driving around with cookies in my car...taking pictures of people...going out of town for whatever reason. But blog number two isn't another blog to just sit around and not be updated. It serves as my "story behind the pictures" type blog to compliment my photography website.

So...without further ado...head on over and check it out...

Kate McCoy Photography Blog

the bests...

2007-10-26T22:55:00.000-05:00

yesterday i enjoyed the best show of my life and then possibly the best meal of my life. a day of bests. hard to beat. i had the ultimate privilege of seeing the acl taping of john mayer. yeah, nice intimate setting...about 10 feet from john mayer...some good crowd interaction. oh and did i mention he's the most amazing guitar player ever? it was an hour and a half of playing that made your jaw drop and goosebumps form on your arms. he jammed out in an unbelievable fashion to ray charles' 'i don't need no doctor.' and then did a fantastic little rendition of petty's 'free fallin.' gosh it was so good. it was one of those shows where you think it's reached its peak but then he tops it. you go in with awfully high expectations and they're met and exceeded.

now i must tell you about a great place to eat called backstage. its located in spicewood off hwy 71. i have no trouble saying it's some of the best food you'll ever have. i had a green chile and corn meal crusted beef tenderloin that was incredibly delicious and i highly recommend. it was stacked on some yummy mashed potatoes and had something resembling an enchilada of sorts on top of it. yeah sounds weird but trust me...its real great. one of those meals where after each bite you go, "mmmm."

so yeah, yesterday was unbeatable.

in celebrity sighting news... yesterday minka kelly, aka lyla garrity of friday nite lights, was at the show. she was there bc shes dating mayer currently. he kept looking over at her while he was singing. it was cute...and by cute i mean real cheesy. and then a couple weeks ago i saw benjamin mackenzie, aka ryan atwood of the OC, at a restaurant downtown. he was there with a big group of people but seth cohen and summer roberts were not in attendance in case you were wondering and i know you were.

mmm coookies...

2007-10-03T08:06:00.000-05:00

today is day 3 of training at tiff's treats. im loving it. smelling cookies all day is wonderful! today is driving training though and im a little more scared of that and i think people that know my navigation skills are a little scared for me too. but im determined it's going to be fine and if anything, probably worth a few good stories for you. but yeah, it's kinda weird being back at a job but i like it. helps fill my days a bit and having a steady paycheck will be fantastic.

in other news. it's official. my photography will be up in the northwest kerbey lane cafe in november so if you live in austin you should go there during the month and check it out! im super excited. :)

and the photography exhibition i mentioned is going to be at dominican joe coffee shop on south congress on november 3rd. it will showcase a handful of photographers and should be a fun, laid back event. id love for you to come by and say hi!

did a wedding this past weekend in houston and it was wonderful. i had actually started to not love doing weddings for various reasons so ill admit i went into the wedding weekend less than enthusiastic. however, val and damon had a great wedding, super fun guests, and the setting and weather was perfect. i am pleased with the pictures thus far and have a refreshed view on weddings, so thank you val and damon! hopefully ill post some pictures from that soon!

thats about it...can you believe its already october? and did you hear about the cold front coming in? yesssss.

have you heard

2007-09-25T12:21:00.000-05:00

im going to be part of a photography exhibition in november at a local coffee shop!

and...

my photo collages are going to be up at kerbey lane either in november or december!

jack of all trades

2007-09-24T22:46:00.000-05:00

so i decided that it would be fun to have as many jobs at one time as humanly possible. so im still working for the event photography company. had my first gig last week and got to take pics of adorable little 5 year old flag football boys. wanted to steal a few. so there's that.

this week and last i turned in substitute applications to two school districts. thought that might be "fun" once in a while. and by fun i mean challenging and probably worth a few good stories since i have no formal teaching training and don't know the first thing about classroom management.

and as of today i am officially working for tiffs treats which is cookie delivery company. im excited about it. it will help fill my days, help pay the rent, and who doesn't want to work around fresh baked cookies all day long??

and then don't forget photography. still got that going on and that's ultimately the reason why im acquiring all these odd jobs anyways...so that i can still pursue photography. these other jobs are means to an end while photography is the ultimate goal. im shooting a wedding this weekend in houston and while weddings arent generally my favorite, i always continue to learn a lot each time and gain more experience so that's a plus.

so that's what's going on. on a completely different note i watched the premiere of the bachelor tonite with some fun girls. i only agreed to partake on the premise that we were watching to mock, ridicule, and be entertained. and of course it didn't let us down. hear it here first: women are crazy. absolutely nuts. the bachelor is nice to look at though and is from austin, so there's something to love about him. and if you want to check him out just google him and you can probably find a video of him showering bc evidently abc wants the world to rest assured on the fact that he bathes...

things that make you go hmm...

2007-09-20T23:12:00.000-05:00

i tend to keep this blog lighthearted and avoid too much seriousness. not b/c i never encounter serious moments or have serious things to say, but i tend to ramble incoherently when i try to blog about big ideas or thoughts or convictions or life lessons. thus i end up with posts that merely say that im pissed about having fleas in my house. simple, to the point, of no significance to you, the reader.

well heres my serious thought for the week, month, what have you. i heard, what i feel to possibly be, one of the best sermons ive ever heard in my life last sunday. so good that i really encourage you to go to this link and listen to the sermon entitled "What is pure and undefiled worship?" sure, it'll take some effort and about 34 minutes of your time but honestly it's so good. there were many different points that it touched on that really impacted me. but one thing specifically was a part where the pastor was talking about a book he read and a specific quote that struck him. i don't know it verbatim but the author basically said that he felt like sometime ago we stopped living christianity and simply started studying it. and i think hearing the rest of the sermon in context definitely makes this more significant so i really urge you to listen to it. it's powerful, convicting, and honestly a message that i think any and every christian should hear.

yep

2007-09-19T12:06:00.001-05:00

we have a flea infestation again.

yep, im pissed.

ACL in summary

2007-09-17T10:25:00.000-05:00

ACL was this past weekend as thousands of music fans stormed into austin demanding a weekend of good music. the weather was probably the best it's ever been of all the 5 years i've gone. still hot at times but 90 degrees is nothing compared to 110 of 2005. i think i took a more laid back approach to this years fest as well. didn't go for as long each day...relaxed in the grass between sets...moseyed around from gig to gig. the music lineup was maybe my least favorite thus far, but i still saw a decent amount of good shows and am not complaining. plus it was kinda nice to not be running back and forth across zilker all day long.

so who did i see? here goes. will hoge, snippets of peter bjorn & john, joss stone, jj grey & mofro, james hunter, rev horton heat, paolo nutini, steve earle, ocote soul sounds, shields of faith, ryan shaw, common, midlake, amos lee, snippets of billy joe shaver, bob dylan.

highlights of the weekend were definitely ryan shaw and shields of faith. shields of faith rotated out 3 drummers who ranged in age from 9-15 and they were all awesome. and besides, who doesnt love a group of older men with amazing voices singing gospel music? another surprise was midlake. eric pulido plays the guitar, keys, and does backup vocals and actually went to a&m. it's exciting to see how successful their band is now after hearing them when they were starting out and playing shows for 20 people in college station. evidently they have the number one album in europe..such rockstars.

bob dylan. hrrmmm. well id be lying if i said i wasnt a bit disappointed. and i think many others share my sentiments. i mean, yeah the guy is old but i dont think anyone was prepared for how old he was going to sound. i think he perked up here and there and some of the songs werent half bad. but then there were the ones where he sounded so scratchy that you were just fearing he was going to clear his throat and either cough up a lung or possibly keel over and die. he ended the nite on 'like a rolling stone' and the weekend was over.

so i give the fest a B-. but overall a good time, pretty good weather, unbeatable people watching, good food and drink...speaking of drink... id like to give a shout out to box for the hookup at sweet leaf tea last nite. i walked up expecting to just buy a cup o tea and be on my way. but upon seeing ben behind the counter i somehow left with 5 cups, 7 bottles of tea, and an ice cream bar. thank you, box.

so ACL has come and gone, so now what? look forward to 2008, of course!

ACL pics

2007-09-17T10:15:00.001-05:00

WILL HOGE, started the weekend off

JOSS STONE, great show and great backup singers

RYAN SHAW, fest favorite

MIDLAKE, guitarist in blue is a friend from college
AMOS LEE, always good

yeah so this one time...

2007-09-06T15:40:00.001-05:00

...there was this girl....who didn't really have a job...so she sat around and made photo collages all day....oh wait, that's me...
and then this other time...there was this girl...who was going to start selling her collages at the austin city store...and then the store shut down...oh wait, that's me again. blast.

and i guess this makes 10

2007-08-31T13:02:00.001-05:00

drumroll please...

2007-08-14T18:42:00.000-05:00

i am unemployed no longer! i think the most excited to know that will be my checking account. it was getting awfully sad lately...4 months of unemployment will do that to ya. wow, it doesn't seem like 4 months. probably bc i wasnt technically unemployed...i had a handful of photography stuff to keep me afloat quite nicely. not complaining.

but yeah, so i am now officially working for TSS photography, an event photography company that primarily does kids sports photography as well as some school photography and random events etc. the schedule is flexible, the pay is decent, and the company is great. i think it's going to work out really nicely.

also, im going to start helping out a lady with her tutoring business. ive wanted to get into tutoring in the past but have never been able to bc of certification requirements blah blah blah. so this is my ticket in and it will give me some extra cash and help fill up some of my weekdays and make me feel a little more productive.

photography is going well. i have another golf tourney in dallas im shooting this weekend and i had a great time with the last one so hopefully this will be just as good. shot a wedding last weekend and have another one coming up in september. people are buying my collages and prints of my pics and that is EXCITING. i never thought i would make something that people would want to display in their houses! still hitting up local shops and eateries and trying to get them up there...taking a while...there are a LOT of places!

so thats my life in a nutshell right now. good stuff though. it seems like everything has suddenly all come together and i could not be happier.

ok really im going to stop soon

2007-08-13T20:58:00.001-05:00

ok i really think im stopping after this. i have 9 finished collages...hmm...10 would be a nice even number though, huh? dangit. i guess ill have to think of something else....

two more

2007-08-12T14:17:00.001-05:00

so i think this hobby is turning into an addiction. i keep thinking of more things to make collages out of. but i guess it's good bc i feel like a bigger variety will hopefully result in a better chance of getting them displayed in places or people wanting to buy them!

i've been hit!!

2007-08-08T14:04:00.000-05:00

tagged..whatever...my friends, the poehls decided they wanted to know 8 random facts about me...

The Rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

My eight random facts and/or habits:

1. I used to play the violin and the piano. Violin started at a young age..maybe 6 or 7? Well, I guess I didn't develop into the orchestra bound prodigy my parents envisioned so that ended. Tried later with piano but my distaste for practicing ended that as well..

2. I went to asian camp. Formally called heritage camp but asian camp just makes me sound cooler...or like a complete loser. Oh, and did I mention I went there 5 summers in a row? The last being last summer. Kidding. The last summer was when I was 12 I think.

3. I love driving. Windows down, some good tunes going and I am goooood.

4. I am a fidgeter. You know those people who constantly have a foot bobbing up and down or always just fidgeting with something? That's me.

5. I have a pretty darned good memory. I swear it's photographic to a small degree (right now I know some friends are rolling their eyes and saying 'uh huh.') But honestly, I won't remember 100% of everything but I generally remember the obscure details. Most likely I know at least 3 digits of your license plate...

6. I check out of conversations and don't even realize it. Some would label this "social retardedness." Yeah, if I'm in a convo with 2 or more people and the conversation is not directly involving me I'm out. And I'm not intentionally trying to be rude...really I don't realize I'm doing it.

7. If I'm in the same setting as a large group of asian people I feel uncomfortable. Don't ask me to explain...I understand how ridiculous it sounds and yes, I know I am asian.

8. I have a guilty pleasure. It's BET comicview. Yeah, it's 85% offensive and inappropriate but I love it.

I hesitate in publishing this post. After reading it I think I will either lose friends or hopefully become a little more endearing. But now is where I "tag" people. So...I tag Tsh, KC, Malita, Juli e, Hannah, Petie. Get on it, girls.

more reasons to visit chicago...

2007-08-05T21:07:00.000-05:00

my good friends harm and sean came in town for the weekend. they're off to live in the great city of chicago in a few weeks and im sad to see them go so far away but excited for their future there.

speaking of futures...mine has kinda been up in the air recently. i mentioned some job interviews i had. well, none of those ended up working out and i was disappointed at first. but i also learned a little lesson. i realized how i (and im thinking im not the only one) can go so quickly from having a grateful heart for opportunities or ways that God shows me He's taking care of me to a let down, restless attitude when those opportunities don't pan out how I wanted them to. and that's just not right. the Lord gives and the Lord takes away and regardless my response should be 'blessed be the name of the Lord.'

all to say, He humbled me yet again. i had another interview today with an event photography company and was unofficially offered a job. the company does a lot of kids sports photography as well as a mix of other things like school photography, special events etc. the hours are flexible but sufficient, the pay is not bad, and the company is professional but not afraid to have fun. needless to say, it was made clear to me why the job i interviewed for last week that i thought i really wanted didn't end up working out. evidently, this one was waiting for me and i just didn't know it yet.

so again i say, God is good. and now i just need to learn to not forget that.

mark your calendars

2007-08-02T11:27:00.000-05:00

august 25th is going to be a good day. on this day, teams will fly their handmade flying machines over and into town lake. that should be enough to convince anyone to attend. see more details here and mark your calendar bc im pretty sure its gonna be awesome.

two more...BUY ME

2007-08-01T15:31:00.001-05:00

i got all my hairs cut!

2007-07-30T18:03:00.001-05:00

summer is here and my thick black mane turns into an instant attached sauna on my head. awesome? not really. got it all chopped off. kinda miss the long hair but that's the good thing about hair...it always grows back!

movies movies movies

2007-07-30T00:33:00.001-05:00

saw the movie no reservations tonite. the cooking movie with catherine zeta jones, aaron eckhart (super cute), and abigail breslin. good movie. first movie ive seen in a while where i didnt want part of my money back. and let's be honest, a movie centered around food cant really go wrong with me.

but what i really want to talk about is the movie august rush. saw a preview for it and although i feel it would be fitting for it to come out in august, imdb says october which makes me sad. this movie looks really great and the cast is probably the main pull for me. the lead actress is keri russell whom we all know and love as felicity - one of my favorite tv shows ever. add freddie highmore, the cute little boy from finding neverland and terrence howard, a fantastic actor in my opinion, and you have a strong cast already. so check out this link and watch the trailer. and get excited, i think it's gonna be a good one.

news bittles

2007-07-29T01:34:00.001-05:00

well on a rather disappointing note i am calling it quits on the virtual tours job idea. business is booming, but just not in austin unfortunately. it might eventually come around and if it does then i'm on the call list however until then i'm just going to put it on the back burner. i was always a little skeptical about the whole thing although i believe it did have the potential to be pretty great and little false hopes kept me going. but the reality is that it hasn't come along yet and if i keep waiting for it to then i might just end up frustrated and broke.

but God has proved himself faithful as always. ive been a little restless about the whole unemployment situation lately and asking God for some direction. with the virtual tours deal done with i decided i needed to look into other jobs, perhaps even just part time gigs to provide some steady income while i let my photography supplement the rest. and im blessed that i'm getting enough photography jobs to actually supplement. well, i already have 3 job interviews next week for various jobs that all have some unique advantages to them. of course, none of them have been offered yet so i'm not necessarily going to get my hopes up, but the fact that they are there in the first place is great. i will keep you posted.

and in even more exciting news, my latest venture is to get some of my photography up in any local austin coffee shop or restaurant that will have me. i have a growing list of over 30 places and have so far only contacted about 10 of them and 1 already booked me! yes, in jan and feb of 08 (yes i realize thats quite a ways away but they book their art way in advance and this was the first available opening) i will be displaying my photography on the walls of satellite cafe in south austin. pretty awesome. i told myself that if i could just get one place out of all that i tried i would be happy. and not that im going to stop now though. i still have 20 places to contact and hopefully some of them will like my stuff as well!

life is good. God is good.

for sale by owner...

2007-07-23T13:50:00.000-05:00

alright, it's official. im unemployed, running out of money, and selling my body. wait..no...not my body. just my pictures. so if you are interested, check this out:

For Sale - Kate McCoy Photography

twiddling my thumbs...

2007-07-08T23:02:00.002-05:00

well heres an update on life. talked to virtual tours guy. the good news: all the other people originally interested have since backed out meaning that all business for austin comes to me. bad news: who knows if we'll get any business. there's 4 or so big cities that the company works out of and so far they've all done well; austin is just the slowest to get going. so...i wait. im going to stay hopeful. my fear now isn't that it's not legit or that i'm gonna slip between the cracks and be forgotten. the fear is that there just won't be enough work.

so, in the meanwhile, what do i do? hmmm. good question. ive spent the last couple of days working on projects. yes, i like to call them that b/c it sounds productive. and these are pics of my labor. they're photo collages. i think i posted a while back of another one i had done. you might not be able to tell well from the pics but it's actually made up of many different pics strategically put together to make the original pic. my ultimate goal is to sell them and maybe make some money. or at least get them up in a coffee shop or something. anyone know anything about that? anyone think anyone would be interested in owning something like this? would you? give me some money and we'll make it happen. ;)

so yeah, that's my life. work on 'projects,' work out, and read. oh, and watch my money slowly disappear as i continue to not make any. sweeeet.

in more exciting news, God brought me my mailbox key back. well first i should give you the full story. i have a key chain dillybopper where you can detach a part of the ring holding a separate set of keys and then easily reattach it using a little push and pull mechanism. anyways, about 2 weeks ago i evidently didnt reattach the dillybopper correctly and to my great dismay my mailbox key was lost. and to give you more background info: i love getting the mail. like a fat kid in a candy shop type of love. even though 85% of my mail is complete junk i still kinda get this small feeling of excitement like one would on christmas morning when i get the mail. thus, the inability to get the mail has caused great distress. i had basically given up on the fact that i would ever be reunited with the key. UNTIL TODAY. im walking up my steps and what do i see just laying on the step glistening in all its glory?? yes, my mail key. and no, it hasnt been there for the past two weeks. i know this bc for one, it's rained about a bazillion times and no way could it withstand some of the flooding. two, my roommates and i walk up and down those stairs everyday and no way would all 3 us miss it for 2 weeks. 3, i swept those stairs last weekend after i weed eatered the crap outta my yard and no way would i sweep my key. so...ive just decided that God brought it back. really there's no other explanation in my book. God knows i love getting the mail and decided He didn't want to deprive me of it anymore. plain and simple. thanks, God. appreciate ya.

highlight of my day tomorrow? yep. getting the mail.

wedding pics, a couple weeks late

2007-07-04T09:58:00.001-05:00

me and my boys. the scenery was real pretty and we
aren't half bad looking either, right?

ck & me. soon enough it will be her turn to get married!

the boys
patin paid a buck to dance with eileen...introducing mr. & mrs. pankake!! yes, pronounced as it looks...

the girls and the beautiful bride!

and then the dancing began...bye mr & mrs pankake!

snippets in a completely unrelated manner

2007-07-04T00:44:00.000-05:00

been a bad blogger. sorry for that. unemployment will do that to you. yes, still unemployed but doing alright. hoping to start that virtual tour thing. yeah i said that 2 months ago but now i really do mean it. mean it as in, im running out of money and it better dang well work out otherwise starbucks here i come.

got a new toy recently - a macbook pro. it's real fun although i know basically nothing about macs and the transition has been tricky. any well versed mac user interested in giving me some pointers ill gladly accept.

been reading a lot lately. read marley and me and ps i love you and currently on kite runner. and yeah, i actually finished those first 2 books which is a shocker since i finish about 20% of the books i start. trying to work on that.

been trying to cook more. watching a lot of the food network which really only just makes me hungry and doesnt teach me much about cooking. i guess it would if i took notes or something while i watched but thats too similiar to school and im just not down with that.

cooking more...eating more....needing to work out more. still enjoying the bike. havent gotten too many rides in as of late bc of el nino. wet ground is not optimal riding conditions for me so once noah's flood stops then ill bring it out of retirement again.

speaking of noah...saw evan almighty. it was ok. saw die hard 42 or whatever number it's on. decent. saw ocean's 13. liked it. better than 12, not as good as 11. saw once, a sundance film probably not on tons of theaters. LOVED it. highly recommend it. it's about some singer songwriters and the music is fantastic in it.

it needs to stop raining. of course last year we were complaining of no rain and then we get this this year. never satisfied. i will say that ill take rain over 100 degree weather. however a couple of sunny days here and there wouldnt hurt. plus, i wanna float the river and i dont think it's quite safe to do that right now. and i really want to go to schlitterbahn...really, really, want to...

well thats really all i got for now. check out my other website - www.katemccoy.net - i've updated it recently!

the weekend

2007-06-25T11:46:00.001-05:00

went up to dallas for the weekend. eileen got married on friday and the wedding was quite fun. dancing till 1 in the morning! did some engagement pics for ck and joey on sat which was a lot of fun. sat nite went to a show where my friends ryan parker and kendal haug were playing. got to see lots of friends and overall had a great time. last nite went to a john mayer show in san antonio which was really great. busy weekend but worth every second!

my butt hurts...

2007-06-14T13:37:00.000-05:00

and this is the cause of that pain. i got a bike 2 days ago!! im super excited about it and have already taken it out for 2 long rides. it looks like this guy here. and of course i got it off craigslist for a steal. what's even more exciting is that i have my website on the bottom of all my outgoing emails so the guy i bought it from checked it out. he said his wife has been wanting to get some pics of their kids so we chatted a while about things, i gave him a card, and hopefully he'll call and set that up. gotta love craigslist.

so back to my new wonderful bike. i just love it. ive been wanting a bike since i came back to austin, oh, 2.5 years ago, and finally got one. i have a tendency to lose control at times but have only flown off it once so far. ive gotten close a handful of times however. great fun. hopefully with some more time and practice ill get much better at handling him. so far he's seen my neighborhood, town lake, lamar st, target, and bluebonnet ave.

OH. my favorite summer show, so you think you can dance, started a few weeks ago and i really encourage you to watch if you haven't before. it's really absolutely amazing how good these dancers are and you will be blown away at what they do each week. right now it's on wednesdays AND thursdays and i still can't get enough. love it, love it, love it.

somehow real busy

2007-06-12T01:36:00.000-05:00

im unemployed yet dont seem to have enough hours in each day. im not quite sure how that happens. life is good though.

this past weekend i put in about 900 miles or so on my car from friday - sunday. i was the official golf photographer for the 98th annual texas amateur golf tourney in trinity texas. i happen to know the right people and was asked if i would be interested so of course i said yes despite knowing anything about what a golf photographer would actually do. it ended up being really fun and im hopefully going to help them out in some future tournaments. i got to drive around in a golf cart all day and basically do whatever the heck i wanted. i learned a lot about golf and decided that i will never have the patience to be able to play the game. the main benefit was of course making money which is quite important when youre unemployed.

got put up in a hotel friday nite in huntsville bc trinity is so podunk they dont even have hotels yeah. oh and did i say hotel? i mean motel and it was super shady and i really thought i was possibly going to die there. that was neat.

i came back sat nite for a patty griffin show in austin which was great. shes just amazing live and played a bunch of stuff from her album that just came out. the only downfall to going to the show was all the extra driving back and forth and lack of sleep. by the end of the weekend i was running on caffeine and was feeling quite delirious.

thats the latest on that. not much else going on. im in the process of trying to get a bike off craigslist and might just have a contender. pretty excited about that. the last time i had a bike i was in college station and had gotten a steal on one at a garage sale for $20. wait no, not a steal. i got exactly what i paid for. i had to put wd40 on the brakes each morning otherwise they squealed and squawked something awful. thus, it received the nickname of 'the goose.' and yes, the wd40 did slow down the braking process. i had near accidents on a daily basis. oh the memories...

thats all i got.

picture time

2007-06-01T09:33:00.001-05:00

here are some pics of my niece from her dance recital and some pics of my best friends baby! also, ive added lots of pics to my website. check em out here!!!

you know it's bad when...

2007-05-27T12:48:00.000-05:00

...you're wearing insect repellent INSIDE you're house.

yeah, we have a MAJOR flea infestation in our house and it's quite miserable. i never knew what an annoyance this could be until this week. my roomie has a dog but the dog has been gone for a month and so the fleas decided to start attacking the people. i can't be in my room, living room, or basically anywhere for more than a couple of minutes without seeing 3-4 fleas on me.

that's bad. i have, oh, 40 or so bites all up and down my feet and legs. it's awesome. i look like i have a real terrible skin disease. and so we have an exterminator lined up ready to take care of the problem. too bad he can't come out and spray until it stops raining. STOP RAINING!!!!

so that's been the excitement of the last week. me trying to think of ways to live inside my house somehow without being eaten alive by the stupid fleas. i sleep in pants and knee high socks on. i wear bug repellent at all times. i pop antihistamines like they're candy. i use benadryl cream like my life depended on it.

pity me. please.

on a lighter note, i had a FABULOUS birthday. thanks to anyone and everyone who sent me bday wishes via email, text, phone, etc. the day was great and spent with wonderful friends. 26 is gonna be a good year.

(minus the fleas)

the big 2-6

2007-05-24T11:25:00.000-05:00

it's my birthday! cmon now, show me some love :)

explanation

2007-05-21T15:12:00.000-05:00

if you checked out my nyc pics then you might be wondering what the rollerskating pics are about. well, theres evidently some roller skating association or club or something (no lie, they have a real name and stuff). anyhoo...they go to central park...not sure how often...my guess is weekly...and they set up music and speakers and skate/dance. yes, its like a random dance party except everyone is on roller skates! needless to say, it's awesome and i probably could have watched for hours. it was hard for me and petie to not go out and start dancing despite being rollerskateless.

so there ya go..in case you were wondering if i just had some random fascination with rollerskaters.

NYC pics

2007-05-21T13:06:00.001-05:00

ok im finally making some progress in life. i got some nyc pics up on my website. if you are looking for pics of rockefeller center, times square, the statue of liberty, or the empire state building then you will be extremely disappointed. but im not. i took pics of the nyc i saw and loved. enjoy!

www.katemccoy.net (go to portfolio -> places -> NYC)

home sweet home

2007-05-19T00:05:00.000-05:00

yeah im back but honestly dont have the time to update. i apologize. so here's an update in 200 words or less to keep you going until i got the time.

shot a wedding. went to nyc. fabulous time. beautiful weather. non-touristy trip and loved it. petie, youre the best. your friends rock. came back to htown. dont wanna live there ever. the people are nice though. thanks schmidts for the wonderful hospitality. shot some bridal portraits. val, you were beautiful and it was so much fun. back in austin. so much to do, catch up on. so great to be back home. ellie has a dance recital tomorrow. more pics to take. guaranteed to be cute.

in the coming week expect LOTS of updates to the online portfolio. ill tell you more about nyc. is it just me, or is the weather in the atx just about perfect right now? lovin it.

post script

2007-05-10T14:22:00.000-05:00

not sure how i forgot to mention this...last nite i saw damien rice at bass concert hall. i had been looking forward to this for a while. granted, i just found out he'll be at acl this year but a nice venue with a/c beats out the blistering sun in sept. anywho...the show was really good. he seems like perhaps a bitter little man -many of his songs are about heartbreak and disappointments and basically being screwed over. nevertheless, he was a great performer with a lot of variation from slow ballads on the keys to all out rockin out with the full band. my favorite song was an acoustic version of 'cannonball' that he sang without a mic...just him standing on the stage with his guitar...pretty sweet.

oh and yeah, the acl lineup is out. the big news is probably that bob dylan is a main headliner. that's pretty great...he's a classic. overall the lineup is alright...i give it a B minus at this point but over the coming months ill sift thru and listen to new artists and probably get more excited about it all.

ok thats all.

is this thing on?

2007-05-10T00:52:00.000-05:00

i have been a terrible blogger as of late and i am sorry. this is a formal apology to all 5 of my readers - you know who you are. so here's my best at what's been going on, and what my near future holds.

i am well and i think i appreciate normal healthy living even more now that i am not feeling like im gonna die at any given second. my first bout of the stomach flu was not my friend and i can only hope that it's a real long time until i meet that terrible thing again.

i shot a wedding reception last weekend and have an entire wedding and reception to do on friday. i will then drive to htown friday nite and then board a plane sat morning for NYC!! i might be exhausted but hopefully my excitement will keep my adrenaline going once i get there. i cannot wait to be in NYC with my good friend petie! after that ill come back to htown, do some bridal portraits, see some friends, and head back to austin sometime late next week. how's that for a schedule for you. needless to say i will probably be blogless again for a while - sorry.

once i get back to the atx i am hoping to get started with the virtual tour company for the real estate properties i mentioned previously. im really hoping that whole thing works out.

my birthday is in a couple of weeks! the big 2-6. don't worry ill keep reminding you as the date gets closer ;)

speaking of bdays, i was in georgetown last weekend for my nephews 7th bday. i will leave you with a story i found to be real funny. to set the story up, my nephew berkeley was talking to his teacher and they somehow got on the topic of pets. my sisters family had 2 dogs but maddie dog became old, deaf, blind, and neurotic so they "put her to sleep" last year. cue story:

berk - "yeah, we used to have 2 dogs but now maddie is buried in our backyard"
teacher - "oh, im sorry...did your doggie die?"
berk - "well...no....she was asleep....but i'm pretty sure she's dead by now..."

oh dear...this whole time my nephew has believed that they buried the poor dog alive. so maybe it's better just to cut to the chase and tell your kids your dog is dead...

i love me some bentley green

2007-05-02T22:05:00.000-05:00

one great thing about unemployment. i get to watch the ellen show in the mornings which i love. the other day this super adorable little boy was on. he lives in dallas and i want to go steal him. don't tell anyone...

my favorite line for sure, "it's not ALL about the money; it's about the love!"

yes, i am alive...

2007-05-01T22:36:00.000-05:00

ive been sick. real sick. high fever, chills, nausea, head wanting to explode type feeling of sick. this has been going on since friday nite although i think im FINALLY on the home stretch. and man, am i ready. i have put in some record hours in my bed and watched wayyy too much tv. i think ive seen every nba playoff game since friday as well as countless hours of super educational and not at all trashy or mindless reality shows. ;) but more importantly, im finally enjoying the taste of food once again and if you know me the slightest bit - that is a wonderful thing.

i can be thankful that im unemployed bc i didnt have to use vacation time or worry about missing work. however, being a vegetable in bed for 4 days isnt really how i envisioned spending my first weekend of unemployment. and speaking of unemployment...

still getting my info on that real estate photography gig. not completely sure about all the details yet but hopefully i can figure that out soon. in the meantime i have a couple of weddings and a trip to NYC to keep me busy!

that's about it. really nothing exciting to report bc im pretty sure you don't want details of the last 4 days...

last dance...last dance...

2007-04-24T08:09:00.000-05:00

well my time here in the booming and glamorous construction industry is nearing an end. t-8 hrs! no longer will i get to say that i work in construction and enjoy the sympathetic yet trying not to look judgemental reactions ive grown to love. i wont get to come to a trailer and inhale dust for 9 hrs while i sit at my desk and watch hours of online tv shows, shop online, and check my email like a champ.

so i know the question you're all wondering right now but are afraid to ask (maybe b/c i requested that you didn't) is the inevitable, "what are you going to do now?" so here's my answer. i'm gonna take it easy. not like ive had such a strenuous job and need a break, but luckily i've known that my job was coming to a close for a while so in a way, i have been able to prepare for it. financially i mean. so yeah, i'll be ok for a couple of months if i weren't going to make a cent anywhere else...

however, i might just be able to make a cent or two somewhere else. yes, this is the job opp i teased at in my previous post. i'm currently in the process of getting onboard with a company that takes virtual tours for real estate properties. if you've ever searched for a house or something and been able to view 360 panoramas of rooms, that's a virtual tour. it also includes regular still photos too. i'm going thru the training right now and learning all the details of it. what's great is that it's all contract work - you're your own boss, you set your own prices, you work when you want to, etc. and, the demand is never-ending b/c people are always selling properties ya know? and you get out of it what you put into it so the fact that im unemployed after today actually works out quite perfectly.

and shooting real estate is photography so that's appealing although not the main reason for doing it. my interest in shooting living rooms isn't quite on the same level as taking pics of people however, the flexibility of the job will allow me to devote more time to "the real stuff."

all to say, i'm pretty excited. i might be starting as early as next week so i'll let you know how it goes. i might decide i'm not a huge fan and ditch the venture all together. but you never know till you try, right? in the meantime, you can still hire me for other stuff - i finally got some business cards yesterday so i officially feel legit now ;)

the lighter side

2007-04-18T14:18:00.000-05:00

not to devalue anything having to do with recent news events but i just don't have it in me to write about it...it makes me sad. so instead i choose to write about things that make me happy.

the first being my sunday afternoon this past weekend. sometimes the combination of a few key things make something absolutely fabulous. things: barton springs, 70 degrees, the sun, good tunes provided by the ipod, a good book, people watching = fabulous.

i went to sandy bullock's restaurant that she has here on friday nite. i highly recommend it. well, i also highly recommend making reservations if you go on a friday nite. although we got our food in record time, we didn't get that table for a real...long...time. i got the pork tenderloin and my mouth kinda waters just thinking about it.

i have 4, count them one, two, three, four days of work left. and yes, i might actually just have a job opportunity on the horizon. it involves photography and virtual tours for real estate properties. so far it seems to have the potential to be something very great. ill tell ya more about it when i get all the details. stay tuned..

tragedy

2007-04-16T13:49:00.000-05:00

you've probably heard by now about the virginia tech shootings. if you haven't, you can read about it here. it's shocking/devastating/heartbreaking all at the same time. please pray for the campus, the families and friends of the students and professors, and for the family of the shooter. and please pray for me as im trying to wrap my head around some really insensitive comments my boss made concerning the situation today.

yeah, i laughed...

2007-04-13T12:34:00.000-05:00

go to google maps...choose "get directions." start address = New York, NY. end address = paris, france.

step no. 23 = Swim across the Atlantic Ocean.

im not sure who decided to try these directions but i find it amusing. google doesn't crush your dreams and make you think it's impossible or that you even have to board a plane. just as long as you can swim 3,462 miles across the atlantic you're golden.

land of the fat

2007-04-12T12:03:00.000-05:00

america wonders why the percentage of overweight persons keeps rising. the kfc variety big box meal. that's why. i saw a commercial for this last nite and was wondering if it was for just one person for just one meal and yes, that's the idea. in case you haven't seen an ad for this, lemme tell you what you get: a drumstick, a crispy chicken strip, an indiv. order of popcorn chicken, a biscuit, 2 sides of your choice, and a 32 oz. drink.

it's a heart attack in a box. so i went online and used their nutrition calculator which allows you to see all the wonderful nutrition facts for all their menu items. for kicks and giggles i decided to see how quickly this big box meal would kill you. the sides i used were mashed potatoes and gravy and just to cut you some slack, the cole slaw although there are fattier (and most likely tastier) choices like mac & cheese.

ready for this? 1455 calories give or take a clogged artery. 65 grams of fat. 165 carbs. 48 grams protein. oh and the nutrition facts only went up to a 22oz. drink so go ahead and add in some extra calories and carbs...

1455 is the number of calories an average sized woman is supposed to eat in ONE DAY. not one meal. so please, for the sake of your own health, don't ever order this unless perhaps you're sharing it with someone else.

*getting off the soapbox now*

fairwell lovely trailer

2007-04-11T15:40:00.000-05:00

i was informed today that my last day here is april 24th. two weeks. nine days.

yikes...that's...soon...

this, that, and a rat a tat tat

2007-04-09T15:13:00.000-05:00

yesterday there was a bag of easter slice and bake cookies. i ate 12...ok, maybe 15. they weren't bite size but they were amazing.

it was a peeps-less easter. i don't know how it happened but it's definitely an easter tragedy. not that easter is in any way a tragedy...i mean, Jesus was resurrected and all and last time i checked, that was real awesome.

winter came back with a vengeance and honestly it just kinda pissed me off. dont give me perfect, sunny, 70 degree one day and then 30 degree misery with a dash of sleet and hail. ok God, i realize you control the weather and really you can do whatever you want, but maybe just a suggestion for next time?

i went to z tejas this past weekend, a fantastic restaurant here in the atx, and tried something new. the blackened catfish enchiladas. oh my gosh they were great. am i talking about food yet again? oh dear...

on friday an area above the stands at the round rock express game caught on fire. honestly it was kinda entertaining. dont worry, no one was hurt. and it was flippin freezing at the game so really i wouldnt have minded being a little closer to the fire...

jobby job ending in t minus 3 weeks. gosh, that's soon.

im done

big mistake

2007-04-03T14:03:00.000-05:00

i made a ginormous mistake. i was here at work, bored as usual. abc has this wonderful online video player that allows you to watch most of their primetime shows in their entirety for free. so, out of my boredom i decide to watch the premier of the bachelor even though i swore to never watch it again after the last season. it will kill an hour of time...sold.

after watching the premier, not only do i regret that decision but i remember all the reasons why i was going to boycott it in the first place. the main reason being this: after watching just one episode, i am not only embarrassed to be linked to the female species, but i can only hope and pray that i do not carry the same mannerisms/characteristics/terrible traits that are portrayed on tv. after watching it i kinda wish i were a boy. yep, i said it. i also realize why men think women are crazy, catty, ridiculous, dramatic, and downright idiotic.

i am officially done with that show and have no desire to ever watch another single minute. if you happen to watch it and love it, i won't judge you. i just hope that you are watching it for pure entertainment value.

ps. the bachelor is flippin hot, i will say that.

life, or something like it

2007-04-02T13:15:00.000-05:00

in my old job i reached my point of boredom by lunchtime and the highlight of my day was driving the 2.6 miles to the post office each day to pick up the mail. at my current job boredom sets in by about 830 and the highlight is going to heb on my lunch break and playing in the bulk bins...sampling the dried fruits, assorted trail mixes, healthy foods that they cover in chocolate to make you feel like youre still eating healthy but really, once that pretzel is covered in chocolate and sprinkles, it is NOT good for you people. so whether that's finding joy in the little things or just being lame, im not sure. and i'd prefer for you to not tell me what you think about that. oh and in case you were wondering, yes, i did work at heb for many years and sampling from the bulk bins is definitely frowned upon.

i have about a month left at the good ole trailer. i will miss this piece of crap i call my place of employment. i will miss the fear that consumes me when it's real windy and i feel like the trailer is gonna blow over. i will miss my occasional mid afternoon nap i take in this my ultra comfortable spinny chair. no, i have not yet started the job search. please dont ask me about it yet.

im torn. im torn between option A of trying to find a more stable 9-5ish job where the hours are set, the benefits are there, the boredom is inevitable. and option B, trying to get on with a photographer or studio somewhere as an assistant or something/anything, meanwhile working PT at starbucks or something for supplemental income. option B has a higher chance of lack of funds and odd hours. however, a lot more potential for happiness and possibly furthering my career in photography. option A says, when people ask you what you do, you'd actually have an answer. option B says, when people ask you what you do, you continue to give a long drawn out answer that can basically be summed up as "still trying to figure out my life." one side says, you're 25...you have friends that have had careers for years, are married, starting to have kids.. the other side, you're only 25...you still have a long road ahead of you...you're not behind in life...you're doing just fine.

do you follow this mumbled jumbled mess otherwise known as my brain? sometimes the type A part of me wants to open the top of my head and organize everything in there alphabetically and color coded with cross references. but then type B comes in all carefree and indifferent and says, kick back, relax, stop stressing.

life. blah.

run run run

2007-03-26T10:27:00.000-05:00

do you see me? im somewhere in there...i realize it might be hard to pinpoint me bc there are like 16K or so other runners. yeah, yesterday was the 30th annual capitol 10K. ck and i ran it last year and although it's a very hilly run, we decided to run it again. this time joey joined us but not really b/c he got a timing chip and started 15 min. before us. ck and i knocked off about 10 min off our time from last year which was pretty exciting..our unofficial time was around the 56 min mark. about 9 min mile splits and we ran the whole thing! however, the winner's time was 29:41. yeah, thats right...4 1/2 minute splits. absolutely ridiculous.

that was probably the highlight of the weekend. we ate at hula hut afterwards which pretty much canceled out the fact that we had worked out...but it was dang good and i don't regret it one bit.

and while we're on the topic of food. a pluckers (wings sports bar/rest.) opened up a block or so from my house. that's dangerous b/c that place is pretty darn good...im quickly becoming a big fan. try their sweet potato fries.

sonic has been advertising a new banana pudding shake. well i got one. and it was fantastic.

and you wonder why i work out all the time...do you see all the crap i eat?

stuff

2007-03-19T11:43:00.000-05:00

i have been a 2% blogger as of late. i would apologize but when you don't feel like anyone reads your blog, the guilt just isn't there. so i'll just quickly touch on a few matters of late...

aggies are going to the sweet sixteen and that's pretty much the greatest thing ever. what makes it even better is that we're playing in san antonio so it's basically home court advantage. take that louisville. and if i had a few hundred dollars to throw out on a ticket i would...but i don't have a few hundred dollars to throw around. dangit. anyways, game is thursday and i will be getting increasingly excited until then. sadly though, i don't have games to watch online at work anymore resulting in me having to find something to do to pass the time again..

got cable this past weekend and it's pretty great. i have so many channels, i don't even know what to do with them all. oh and dvr...pretty much a life changer...wow...life is good.

went to dallas...AGAIN...i think im going to take a break now. 3 times in 4 weeks is about 3 times too many. oh and 35? yeah, evidently i was traveling back to austin with pretty much everyone in texas...my best guess is kiddos coming back from spring break. i didn't take that into consideration when i started my trek home but i did catch most of the ut/usc game on the radio and hearing tx lose badly did make the drive a lot more bearable. sorry ut fans but ive about hit my limit of hearing about kevin durant and the longhorns.

running a 10K on sunday. it's supposed to rain for the next 10 years or so. that's just fantastic seeing as how wet socks really piss me off.

back to work. hooray.

it's madness...in march

2007-03-15T08:07:00.000-05:00

most advantageous thing about my job thus far: the fact that i will be spending the next 3 weeks or so at work watching the games online and not only does it not matter, it's pretty much encouraged. that's the beauty of a job with all men and the sports fanatics they are. although they might not support the aggies, they support the love of the game and that's enough for me. so, the next two thurs/fridays will be spent very productively - sweating over an inevitable crumbling bracket and stressing over the aggies' advancement. so, in other words...don't interrupt me.

in other news...new roommate 1 started moving in yesterday. new roommate 2 will be coming sometime in april. cable guy keeps getting delayed but is supposed to make an appearance friday finally. making my THIRD trip in FOUR weeks to dallas again this weekend. you would think i loved the place or something. sxsw is going on this week but due to a lack of funds and an early bedtime i have been unable to really check out any of it which is a crying shame. im real sick of the rain. remind me of my complaining in the summer though when i want to float the river and there's no water in it. i have six-ish weeks till my job ends. please refrain from asking me of my plans until at least the 2 week mark. and please refrain from lightheartedly laughing at the fact that im yet again having to find a new job - it's honestly not amusing to me. i might becoming a coffee drinker. although my current concoction still contains 1/3 cup of hot cocoa and a boatload of little flavored creamer containers, i sure am starting to love that smell and taste that has been starting my day for the past 3 weeks. screw the fact that i get it to keep me awake...i get it because it's tasty. is that bad? before you know it im going to buy a coffee maker...

friday stuff

2007-03-09T08:27:00.000-06:00

yay for friday. don't have big plans for the weekend. big 12 tourney has started. our first game is tonite against osu. we'll beat them.

getting cable on saturday. real excited about that.

so, both of my roommates are moving out. one of them within the month, the other as soon as she finds a subleaser (if you know of anyone, let me know). it's not because of me, at least that's what im telling myself. kinda sucks that within the next couple of months i'll most likely be living with 2 people i don't really know and don't really have any control over the situation.

need a couch.

occasionally i watch that new game show, are you smarter than a 5th grader? ive found out that not only am i not smarter than a 5th grader, but im sometimes not smarter than 2nd, 3rd, or 4th graders as well. kinda starting to wonder why i paid a lot of money to go to college.

my job is ending in about 6 weeks. need to start looking for a new one. don't wanna.

added some pics to my pic website...some new engagement ones i did last weekend and there's the new ones of parker if you haven't checked em out yet.

working out is dangerous

2007-03-08T08:27:00.000-06:00

i go to a kickboxing class at my gym. it's sweet. billy blanks teaches it. no, that's a lie. but this completely ripped out woman does and i think she could give billy a run for his money. anyways, she has a following and this class is packed out week after week. especially the last couple of months bc everyone has their resolutions of getting hot and so they become super worker-outers. and it's annoying to us class regulars bc it just makes it dang crowded. and by crowded i mean that there is on average about 115 people in a room that would comfortably hold 75. and it's kickboxing so there's a lot of moving around...flailing of arms and legs. well, on tuesday it was a normal freakishly packed in crowd and "suz," the instructor, made a joke about it being a non-contact class. in other words, try not to kick and punch your neighbor; watch where you're going and where your arms and feet are ending up.

ironically enough, i get kicked. TWICE. by two different people. good gosh people, im trying hard enough to keep track of where my own foot is going..i can't be looking around to see where yours are. the first time my hand got kicked...not too bad. second time...my shoulder. i gotta admit though...that's almost impressive.

regardless, i'm going to be a little more on guard in class now. and next time someone kicks me, im just gonna kick em back. not really. well...i can't promise anything.

new pics

2007-03-05T11:54:00.000-06:00

my friend ryan parker is an up-and-coming musician. you can check out his website here and his myspace here. i took some pics for him a couple of weekends ago for his cd cover etc. you can see them at my website here. check him out!

33 hrs. 591.4 miles

2007-03-04T20:03:00.000-06:00

yeah i wasn't kidding when i said i was going on a tour de texas. jo and i logged an impressive 600 or so miles from frday afternoon and saturday nite. worth every mile though. the show up in dallas was pretty good, not bad. i was excited to hear jon mclaughlin live - he's a pretty sweet piano player. kellogg and his band were entertaining as always and wertz played a bunch of his new stuff which was great. here are some videos:

sat we headed to cs to catch the last aggie basketball game of the regular season. it was senior day so they honored the 6 seniors on the team. the game was great - the ags really took over in the second half and law and ak left late in the half to standing ovations.
from there we went to san antonio to the eric clapton show. absolutely amazing. the guitar solos were phenomenal, they all sounded great - overall a fantastic show.

i slept like a champ that nite, that's for sure. and then i took another 3 hr nap on sunday..it was great. pretty much a perfect weekend!

this is great

2007-03-02T09:24:00.000-06:00

that's gonna leave a mark...

coffee day

2007-03-02T07:14:00.000-06:00

what defines a "coffee day?" a day where i know i will not make it through work unless i get a jolt of caffeine early on. "coffee days" are generally preceded by late nites where i get to bed past my ideal bedtime of 10pm. what makes "coffee days" different for me is the fact that i don't really care for coffee. not yet, that is. sure i get the cinnamon dolce latte from sbucks but that's stretching it b/c that goodness is pretty mild. give me a cup of regular coffee without anything in it and i would most likely spit it on you. but i'm trying to train myself to like it. not with the intention of becoming a regular coffee drinker and definitely not trying to get to the point where i rely on it every morning. but just so that i can enjoy the taste.

so why is it so important that i succeed in this? well, coffee does a number on me. and maybe it's because i so rarely drink it..i'm not sure...but it just takes a little bit and i am WIRED for a good 8 hrs...so much that i'm a little jittery. so, on days when i've only had about 5 hrs of sleep the nite before, a little pick me up seems like a really good idea so that i'm not sitting at my desk doing that thing where you can barely keep your eyes open and your head nods down and jerks back up. yeah i hate that.

enter "coffee day." coffee day officially means either stopping at the sbucks on the way to work (if i'm feeling wealthy) or stopping into the exxon and getting the 'gourmet" bengal traders coffee for a buck. well i haven't felt wealthy this week so it's been exxon all the way. and i can concoct quite a little treasure with bengal traders. this week it's been half a cup of hot cocoa, 1/3 cup of the golden french toast blend coffee, and anywhere from 4-6 little cups of half and half or french vanilla creamer. yeah, like i said, i'm easing into this coffee thing.

this week has involved a lot of late nites resulting in 4 coffee days. that's not good. it's especially not good b/c im about to embark on a 3o hr tour de texas. which brings me to my weekend plans which are super exciting (despite the fact that i might have to manually hold open my eyelids by saturday).

tonite im heading to big d (yes, AGAIN) to catch a great show featuring matt wertz, stephen kellogg, and jon mclaughlin. should be SWEET. will go from there to the lovable and highly missed college station to catch the aggies last regular season game against mizzou. immediately following will be a trek to san antonio for another sure-to-be phenomenal show - mr. eric clapton. and then back to austin that nite..yes it will only be saturday nite...tomorrow nite and all of that is going to happen. so, it will be a LOT of miles on the crv, a LOT of hours with jo (i think it will be a true test of our friendship), but i know it will ALL be worth it.

have a great weekend and happy friday!!

sigh

2007-03-01T07:28:00.000-06:00

oh the game. oh the game. double OT. intense. oh the game.

well, the ags lost last nite in probably the most exciting game of the season and witnessing it in person was overwhelming. acie law put the game into both its overtimes but in the very last seconds the ags just couldn't convert an intentionally missed FT into a basket to tie to go into 3OT. but it's ok...you couldn't ask more from the aggies. they played great...both teams did honestly and unfortunately it just wasn't us who came out with the win. here's some of my thoughts/highlights from the game:
dear guy two rows in front of me wearing the cowboy hat with the diameter of the moon: i hate your hat. whenever we were standing i was unable to see the entire left HALF of the court because your brim literally covered that much of my view. for the sake of the people behind you, please leave your sombrero at home.

dear girl in the row behind me cattycorner to us: please refrain from screaming every cuss word you've learned in your entire existence at the top of your lungs every time one of your longhorn players miss. that's not really the definition of a good fan. besides, it makes it a bit uncomfortable for EVERYONE around you and seriously, there are kids real close by.

dear sir behind me who asked in not such a courteous way for us to sit down: it is flippin overtime and you're gonna ask me to sit down when there are in fact people all around us standing...your own row is actually all on their feet. if you can't stand for 5 minutes of OT, go home. you can sit there.

dear texas fans: im proud of yall that you know two words: texas and fight. the fact that you can go back and forth yelling these two words for WAY extended periods of time just amazes me. please sense my sarcasm. it's annoying and you know that it carries on for too long by the way it halfheartedly starts to die after what seems like an eternity...

ok that's it...for now...

GIG'EM GIG'EM GIG'EM GIG'EM

2007-02-28T07:33:00.000-06:00

big game tonite. bring it on texas. im hyped.

the game

2007-02-26T21:01:00.000-06:00

yay! we love the nuggets!
nugs lost...we are sad.
but we still love allen iverson!!!!

i thought jesus was coming back for sure...

2007-02-26T10:33:00.000-06:00

a pretty great weekend. quite sad that it's over and im already back in this trailer. friday i went bowling with yuna, jo, and his roommates. i kinda don't love bowling..i'm not good...i evidently don't have real great form...i get bored waiting for the other bowlers...yeah i'm impatient - i know. but regardless, the company was good so the nite wasn't a loss. we spiced things up a bit in game three by trying the left hand, competing for speed, and the best - seeing how far you could chunk the ball down the lane before it actually touched the floor. very awesome.

sat i made the trek to big d in windstorm 07. good gosh i almost flew off the road a few times. and then by mid afternoon in dallas it literally turned orange outside. it was so strange...i thought perhaps that it was the apocalypse but jesus never showed up so i guess it was just a false alarm. but yeah, i dunno it was orange world here in the atx but dallas we definitely creepy.

got to see my man AI that nite at the mavs/nuggets game. the nugs sadly sadly lost but they were playing the team with the best record in the league. dang mavs...dont like them one bit. nevertheless, i love the nba and being at the game was enough to make me happy. pics to come from the nite.

saw music and lyrics last nite...the drew barrymore/hugh grant flick. not bad...not the best but not bad. and speaking of movies...have you seen previews for the new will ferrell/jon heder movie called blades of glory. oh wow it looks pretty great. check out the trailer below and if you don't laugh then i will question whether you were born with a sense of humor.

goin to NYC!!

2007-02-22T08:13:00.000-06:00

this trip is long overdue. ive been telling my good friend petie that i would visit her ever since she moved there...2 years ago? yeah, well right now ATA airlines is having some fantastic sales. how fantastic? well, im going to nyc and back in may for a total of $114!!! you can't beat that. there's a lot of great flights so if you're thinking of doing some traveling between now and the end of may you might want to check it out!

here's the link where you can search for flight prices...do it!

the other AI

2007-02-21T13:36:00.000-06:00

the most important AI in my life is allen iverson. however, there is a seasonal AI that comes along every year known as american idol. the season has come and i'm a little overwhelmed...enough that i even skipped watching all the audition shows b/c i knew that sooner or later AI would just take over my tv watching. and if you want to keep up with it right now you have to devote FIVE flippin hours a week to watching. i'm sorry but i just can't do that. i refuse to watch 2 hrs tuesday, 2 hrs wednesday, and an hr on thursday.

therefore i think i will be a 2%er watcher until it goes down to the top 12. last nite i caught the last 20 minutes or so of the guys performances which was almost the perfect amount. i suffered thru, what i thought to be, 3 kinda terrible performances and then was able to see the short 5 sec recap of all 12 at the end. and right now i am not thoroughly impressed with any. in fact, i was a little terrified by some...cringed at others. however, i know they will grow on me and gosh i hope that they improve.

the girls go on tonite and i probably won't watch that either. i know i know..i used to be so gung ho on AI but this year i just don't know if i have it in me. im not throwing in the towel completely though...im just going to sit the bench for a while until things get a bit more exciting.

anyone watching AI? thoughts?

nba all star weekend

2007-02-19T10:26:00.000-06:00

this past weekend was the nba all star weekend in vegas. i would have loved to be there amidst all the nba players...mmm....but sadly i dont have millions of dollars to afford the hotels (yes, suites were going for that much for ONE nite). but here's an entertaining video for ya. im not generally a fan of shaq but i gotta admit the guy can dance...

extreme home makeover

2007-02-16T13:01:00.000-06:00

the extreme home makeover AUSTIN show will be airing this sunday, feb. 18th.

don't forget to watch!

good, better, bad

2007-02-16T09:55:00.000-06:00

two posts in one day. get excited.

ive been eating luna bars for bfast and im now hooked on their "luna sunrise" bars. i have yet to discover what actually differentiates these from the regular luna bars except that they're just tastier. my favorite is the vanilla almond ones. they're a great source of protein, fiber, and a bunch of other stuff. highly recommend them.

cinnamon dolce lattes from sbucks. yes i talk about these a lot. however, if you aren't a coffee fan then you should try a cdl steamer. it's just steamed milk with the cdl flavored syrup. snickerdoodle in a cup. FANTASTIC.

you've probably heard by now of the peanut butter recall...peter pan and walmarts great value or whatever brand have been linked to over 300 sick cases in over 29 states. i checked my pb this morning. yep, i have the bad pb. been eating it for the past 2 weeks or so and have been fine. so am i going to keep eating it? dang right. evidently i think im invincible...or just to cheap to go out and buy lunch instead of eating my pbj sandwich for lunch. yes, that's it. maybe i'll throw it out after today.

mingling and lions

2007-02-16T08:17:00.000-06:00

well im sure you're just dying to hear how the singles mingle went. yes, my roommate and i did make an appearance. not for long though. we were exhausted from being hit on so much that we had to leave. ok that's not entirely true...or really true at all. we only stayed for a lil while because there were soo many people there i couldn't even think straight. evidently there was something like 1200 people crammed into hula hut. um yeah, basically if you wanted to get from one end of a room to the other you had to squeeze yourself through masses of people...similar to being at a really crowded concert and trying to be the person pushing their way to the front. so, no mingling was done but i wasn't really going with the intention of finding a soulmate so i do not count the nite as a complete failure. if it wasn't so packed i think i would have enjoyed a nice amount of people watching, if not only from the speed dating tables where there seemed to be an abundance of awkward, uncomfortable conversations going on. highlights of the evening..my roommate being hit on by a guy who came up and spoke korean to her...me being hit (not hit on) in the face by two separate consecutive swinging doors.so on to way more exciting things...my roomies and i went to the broadway performance of the lion king last nite. opening nite so there were a couple little glitches here and there with audio but overall the show was just amazing. the performers were great...the costumes and set were above and beyond...the music was really well done. my favorite part was probably the opening scene with the circle of life. a lot of the characters make their way to the stage thru the aisles - it's really cool. oh and there was this ginormous elephant with a little baby elephant behind it. oh wow i asked my roommates if we could take the baby elephant home...it was soo cute!!! well, maybe just take the costume home bc there was probably like a 30 yr old man in it or something and that might be weird to take him home... most impressive part of the show were the kid actors who played young simba and nala. they're 10 and 11 years old and the fact that they can remember so much dialogue, dance steps, and songs is amazing to me. my favorite character over all - definitely rafiki...very entertaining.

the show goes on till march 25 and you can still get tix for lots if not all of the shows. i highly recommend it especially if you have kids - they would really love it.

that's about it. the weekend is here and im so ready for it. plus the weather is supposed to be fantastic this weekend and we know how happy that makes me! have a good one!

singles awareness day

2007-02-14T09:18:00.000-06:00

singles awareness day...reminds me of college when my roommates and i would host "singles awareness day" parties on this great day. it was some good times. generally involved tasty treats, dancing, and lots of pink and red everywhere. makes me miss college... sigh...

but anyways, happy valentines day everyone! today i was greeted by a ginormous, beautiful display of roses on my desk when i got to work. these guys here...might be rough around the edges but they sure do love me ;) but seriously though, i love fresh flowers and they make me happy.

tonite my roommate and i are thinking of checking out the "singles mingle" that is put on by a local radio station at my favorite restaurant hula hut. sounds lame but it's actually been the place to be the last few times they've had it and i'm convinced it could well be worth a few good stories and an abundance of quality people watching (which i could do for days). so no, im not really going with the intent of changing my single status, but who knows...maybe ill get lucky...ill be sure and let you know how it goes. cheap drinks, door prizes, and a dj beats sitting at home watching sappy love movies right?

yesterday my boss asked me if my boyfriend was going to take me out tonite. i told him that i would have to find him first. he asked, did my boyfriend run away? i said, no...i just didn't know i had a boyfriend until right now. he said, well kate...all you gotta do is walk out this door and you could get one in no time. to which i responded, yeah...um..true...no thanks...

the little black children i want to adopt

2007-02-13T09:52:00.000-06:00

here's a video of the chris brown performance i mentioned in my last blog. unfortunately the quality isn't great so you can't see the absolute cuteness of the kids but you get the general idea. they come in around the 1:30 mark....love them...

weekend and the grammys

2007-02-12T09:42:00.000-06:00

weekend recap...saw the movie, the last king of scotland. ok, not bad. kinda intense, educational, some tough scenes i couldn't even watch. 7 outta 10. ags played nebraska and won, OF COURSE. next game against tech on tuesday! sunday i went to the gym and was on the treadmill and gotta completely sucked into the movie john q. i had seen it before but it was a long time ago and couldn't remember how it ended. i ended up staying on the treadmill for 59 minutes because i had to finish the movie!!! and yeah, i maybe cried a tiny bit at the end...not full fledge tears...more like my eyes just watered a bit. however, i was on the treadmill at the gym and this was happening. luckily i could just wipe my face with my towel and pass it off as sweat and not the fact that i was crying from the movie. oh and then i spent sunday afternoon waddling around my house bc my body was saying, why the heck did you stay on the treadmill for an hour?

sunday nite was the grammys. as you well know, i love music so i was excited. although a lot of my favorite artists aren't really grammy type nominees, it's still fun to watch all the performances, hope for awkward tv moments, critique bad dresses, etc. here are some of my highlights:
*loved the john mayer, john legend, corinne bailey rae performance.
*smokey robinson - i think he was wearing a woman's shirt. it was glittery, see thru, and lacy.
*shakira - those hips don't lie. wow.
*james blunt, gnarls barkley, rhcp - performances = zzzzzzzz.
*jennifer hudson - ok let's be real honest...what was up with her boobs? the right one was about a year bigger than the other one. hey, you were thinking it too.
*the "my grammy moment" winner who got to sing with JT - amazing job. im pretty sure she's gonna make it now. she got up there and rocked it...looked like it was no big deal to sing in front of thousands of people with JT and TI. big props to her.
*how about quentin tarantino literally yelling out all the names of the nominees? what was he on? i dont care bc it was entertaining for sure.
*most awkward presenting duo - natalie cole and the really old man with a lisp wearing what looked like some sort of shiny suit with asian inspired embellishments. natalie cole is a bit masculine, yeah?
*most awkward moment in general - scarlett johannson asking don henley if he had any advice for her coming out with her first album to which he very simply and abruptly answered, NO. why the heck is scarlett johannson coming out with an album though, that's my question.
*single most great part of the entire nite (in my opinion). the ADORABLE little black boy dancers during chris brown's performance. oh my gosh i about lost it. i don't think they could have been any cuter. i think i yelled out "i want them!"

there were other good moments im probably forgetting but that's what comes to mind now. overall a pretty good show. im looking forward to the oscars in a couple of weeks. ellen is hosting so that should be good. little factoid - did you know that she is 49?? i would never guess...she looks pretty dang good for 49.

getting smarter...and vice versa

2007-02-09T12:24:00.000-06:00

as you well know, my job isn't necessarily challenging. in fact it's hard to stay awake most days out of boredom. thus i fill my time with a lot of magazine reading. and luckily with subscriptions to self, austin monthly, professional photographer, and smithsonian i have a steady stream of 'zines to choose from. and occasionally ill splurge and get the $2 in touch at heb to catch up on my hollywood gossip. while the latter is solely for entertainment purposes, the rest of them serve a slightly educational purpose. self gives me great info on fitness and eating better, pro photo. gives me inspiration for picture taking, and austin monthly fills me in on the happenings and to-dos of this great city i call home.

smithsonian on the other hand is on a different level. and just for the record, my subscription was a christmas present from the parents. maybe their subtle way of saying, please get smarter, honey. although they claim it's because smithsonian is known for its great photography (which i agree is true). i'll be honest though..i can't get thru all the articles b/c i'm just bored..or not smart enough to find it interesting. but occasionally i run across one that i'll make it to the end of and actually feel a little bit wiser after reading. for example i just finished an article about the migration of pronghorns in wyoming and how their trails are being blocked by oil rigs and such. did you know that pronghorns are arguably the fastest animals in the world? cheetahs could beat them in a 100 yard sprint but the pronghorn's endurance eventually prevails and they could outrun any competitor in a 400 yard dash and mile. they can run a mile in a minute..yep..60 miles per hour. that seems absolutely amazing to me. also, pronghorns almost always give birth to twins. neat huh?
don't you feel smarter? i do. and i needed that because yesterday i was on the other end of the spectrum. i was reading the word 'parable' except that i read it as 'puh-ra-bull' and it took me 2 tries before i realized what the word was and the correct pronunciation. yeah...i real smart...

all to say...i'm a little concerned that i'm losing brain cells at a rapid rate. well, actually after the age of 20 you do lose 50K brain cells due to atrophy. ok enough with facts you don't care about. back to what i was saying...i think the fact that i'm productive 4% of the time at my job might be getting the best of me. therefore i'm going to make the extra effort to combat the problem. how, i'm not sure but i'm going to start with trying to get thru entire articles in smithsonian and also by brushing up on my spanish online. i was taking verb conjugation tests online yesterday and i can't tell you how fun it was...seriously...i love spanish.

anyways, i'll let you know how it all goes and maybe fill you in with useless facts along the way...you never know when you'll need them.

have a great weekend everyone!

how old are you?

2007-02-08T14:04:00.000-06:00

i took a "real age" test online. evidently i had taken it before because it had some of my info. already saved. but i took it again anyways. it asks a ton of questions including family health history, fitness regimen, eating habits, medical history, etc. well my calendar age is 25.7 and it calculated my "real age" to be 20. yeah, somehow im in such great physical health past and present that i scraped 5.7 years off. i must have inaccurately answered some of those questions because im pretty sure i don't feel like im 20. i might look like im 20 but that's a different story. go here if you wanna see how old you really are.

i played tennis the other nite for the first time in over a year. it was GREAT. i love tennis. im not good, but i love it nonetheless. honestly, i was better than i thought i would be after a year without even touching a racquet. well, mike might testify differently...he was the ever so patient victim that got to play with me. we mostly volleyed but did play one full set in which he completely dominated me 6-0. i didn't lose heart though. i didn't win a game but i did score some points here and there and that was enough for me.

that's about all that's going on these days...

aggies 100, tu 82!

2007-02-06T07:49:00.000-06:00

GIG 'EM.

one of the best things in life..

2007-02-05T13:08:00.000-06:00

if you are able to watch this without smiling and/or laughing then you have no soul.

great little weekend

2007-02-05T11:18:00.000-06:00

this weekend came and went in what felt like 10 seconds but i did way too much for that to actually be the case. the weekend was good though. real good.

friday was the josh hoge, andy davis, dave barnes show at stubbs. besides the fact that it was absolutely freezing (standing next to the open doorway didn't help much), the show was pretty good. we missed most of j hoge's set which was fine by me..the guy is weird. andy davis was pretty good though - like a guy that can play the keys. and barnes wrapped up the nite in good fashion. played a nicely mixed set of oldies and newbies. i put up some new videos on youtube that you can check out here. the sound isnt fantastic though b/c i was pretty much sitting on top of a speaker but it's better than nothing i guess.

let's talk about the weather on saturday and sunday b/c we all know i'm obsessed with good weather. how fantastic was it? very. and good weather means i get to start running at town lake again which i did on sunday and it was just great.

more importantly though, saturday's highlight was the IMPRESSIVE, come from behind, WIN over the kansas jayhawks!!! acie law owned the last 5 minutes of that game and we became the first big 12 team to win at kansas in like 3 years i think. HUGE game tonite though against UT in CS. oh it's gonna be great, i can't wait.

in other sports news, the superbowl was last nite. blah blah blah. kinda wanted da bears to win just because they were the underdog but it didn't quite work out that way however in the end, i don't really care. i was feeling pretty indifferent about prince as well, but i gotta say, he won me over. that guy can perform. he sounded great, plays the guitar nicely, and really put on a good show. way to go, prince. not like it would have been that tough to beat out the dismal performance by the stones last year though.

oh i also saw the movie because i said so on sat. the reviews said it was absolutely horrible so i was expecting the worse. well, it wasn't the worse. wasn't the best either. i personally can't stand diane keaton though so having to endure her for 2 hours was especially painful. but mandy moore is quite cute and her love interest wasn't half bad either. i'd give it a 6.2 outta 10.

that was the weekend. back to work. boooo.

completely unrelated

2007-02-01T08:04:00.000-06:00

have i talked about how much i love the starbucks cinnamon dolce latte? ok i know i have but i just want to reiterate that. got one this morning...starting the morning off right.

got the cdl b/c im pretty tired today. late nite but totally worth it. went to cs yesterday for the basketball game!! it was fantastic. we won, of course. i haven't been to cs in forever...kinda miss it. don't forget to watch the game this saturday against kansas! oh and speaking of basketball, an espn.com columnist claims that the ags have "the ugliest floor in America" - referring to our basketball court. this is definitely not true. check out the article here if you want.

im trying to get into tutoring. for now, volunteer style. one day, maybe ill get paid for it. however my luck isn't so great so far. i emailed this one center that seemed pretty good...tutoring was held at nite which is good for my schedule...middle school and hs kids. i can handle that right? well, the guy emails me back and tells me that most of the kids need precal and algebra help. hmm. i wikipedia'd it to see if maybe it was easier than i was thinking. binomial theorem, trigonometric functions and inverses, matrices, conic sections, complex numbers. um...HUH? did i take precal? needless to say, i had to email the guy back and tell him i didn't think it was going to work out. he probably read between the lines and came up with "i am a moron. i dont know no pre cal. somehow i graduated from college but cant tutor middle schoolers. can i be tutored?" yeah...going to start searching "elementary tutoring." ah, yes...i have confidence in that.

maybe that's what i can do in my spare time...refresh myself in my high school education courses...

a tease of good weather

2007-01-29T20:51:00.000-06:00

this past weekend was full of blue skies and perfect weather. sunday was a bit colder but still nice and sunny. i hung out at town lake on saturday taking advantage of it all. i love going to auditorium shores, aka dog city, because you'll find no less than 50 dogs running from their owners, jumping in the water etc...it's great..i love it.

recently austin got involved in a project called guitar town. basically local artists have created these amazing 10 ft "gibson" guitars that are displayed all over the downtown area. so far i have found about 9...there are 35 total. 4 of them were at town lake so that's what the pics are. maybe i'll try to find them all...we'll see. anyways, they're pretty cool and some of them have even been signed by local bands, celebrities etc. check out more about it here.

ABCs of music

2007-01-26T08:17:00.000-06:00

i was trying to find something remotely interesting to blog about today on this wonderful day known as friday. i found this and thought it could be fun for anyone who has an inkling of interest in music...

favorite bands from A-Z: (and just to make it exciting ill add a good song, but not necessarily my favorite one)
Amos Lee - Southern Girl
Broussard, Marc - Home
Counting Crows - Murder of One
David Gray - Now & Always
Eric Clapton - I'm Going Left
Fray, The - Look After You
Gomez - See the World
Harcourt, Ed - The Storm is Coming
Iron & Wine - Radio War
Jamie Cullum - I Could Have Danced All Nite
KT Tunstall - Suddenly I See
Lamontagne, Ray - Forever My Friend
Mayer, John - Stop this Train
Nutini, Paolo - Loving You
Outkast? - Rosa Parks
Patty Griffin - Rain
Quiet Company - Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History
Ryan Adams - Dance All Nite
Schneider, Bob - World Goes Round
Taylor Hicks - The Runaround
U2 - Walk On
Votolato, Rocky - White Daisy Passing
Will Hoge - Woman Be Strong
Xscape - Just Kickin' It
Yorn, Pete - Sleep Better
Zeppelin, Led - D'yer Mak'er

this is obviously not a completely true list because some of my fav artists had the same initial so i was torn and forced to choose...but i felt like i would be cheating if i put more than one...

have a GREAT friday and an even better weekend!

something awesome

2007-01-25T09:40:00.000-06:00

so you might already know about this, but in case you don't then you'll want to. ever need a phone number for a restaurant or something but don't have a phone book? well, of course you can call information, 411 or whatever. but..did you know you can also just text google and it will text you back?!

for example, this past weekend i wanted to call hula hut (my favorite restaurant) to see what the wait was like. so i texted "hula hut austin tx" to google (466453). within about 2 seconds i received a text that read" local listings: chuy's hula hut 3825 lake austin blvd. austin 78703 512-476-4852"

is that not awesome?? but there's more. it's not just an interactive yellow pages. you can text in a number of random queries and get such information as: weather, language translations, movie times, sports scores, currency conversion, etc, etc. learn more about it here

google, you're neat. no wonder you're the number one place to work for..

ps...i cannot take credit for knowing this was all possible. my good friend ck enlightened me and to her i am forever grateful.

sigh

2007-01-25T07:49:00.000-06:00

the ags lost last nite...to tech...dirty, stupid tech. quite a tragedy.

so, on a lighter note...here's a work story for ya.

one of our workers here needed a letter of recommendation from one of the foremen. so he said, sure, we'll write you up one. so him and another guy here whipped up a nice little letter for the guy. but not without creating a fake one first. the fake one wasn't quite as positive as the first one. in fact it was quite the opposite and about 3 paragraphs in length of all the reasons why this guy was an absolute terrible excuse for a worker. my "favorite" sentence of the letter started off something like, (and excuse me for taking my blog to an inappropriate for children level) "i would rather slam my nuts in a drawer than [recommend you for this apprenticeship or something like that]" and apart from that sentence i must say it was very eloquently written and remained on a somewhat professional sounding level but just said incredibly terrible things about poor jose. terrible...yet hilarious.

and who got to be the one to hand the letter to the guy when he came? yep, me. he came in, asked for it, i gave it to him, buried my face in my hands because i couldn't look at him while he read it, he read it and quickly realized that it surely wasn't the right letter, started laughing, i gave him the correct letter, he decided he liked that one a little better.

and that is why i love working with all men. never a dull moment.

suck it up, UT

2007-01-24T09:08:00.000-06:00

how ridiculous is this...UT is suing an aggie business owner over their "saw em off" logo which is basically a longhorn with the horns broken or "sawed" off (see pic). if you've attended a&m within the past 12 years then you are familiar with it. and if you've lived in texas or even been around other aggies within the last 12 years then you've probably seen it. why? because it's been around since 1995!!!! but for some reason, they decide now, 12 years later, to sue.

give me a flippin break. are you still bitter that we beat your overrated team this year or what? can't you just let us have that? or are you bitter that our basketball team is WAY better than yours this year? so now you have to suddenly act like this is the first time you've seen it and are suddenly so upset that you feel the need to sue?

GET OVER IT. whatever happened to a little normal school rivalry?

a fabulous weekend

2007-01-21T19:55:00.000-06:00

some pics and a video from the will hoge show!
the girls
the bandkel & me
"kelly"group at hula hut - it was sunny!!!!

home & abroad

2007-01-19T07:23:00.000-06:00

you might remember me talking about taking pics of austin a while back for a travel website. well the pics are finally up and you can check out the site now. it's pretty cool - you can put together travel itineraries based on what city you're traveling to and it recommends attractions of similar interest etc. anyways, just check it out for yourself if you feel like it. i took most of the pics for austin, but not all. my name is on the ones i took though so you should be able to tell.

choose austin as your destination

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