Chili Powder

Hook 'Em

Marcel sez- "I hope the Hook 'em Horns win! Because they are my bestest, just like the Mavericks. I think they are very good players. And they play so good. Just like the team that I don't want to win, but I hope the Longhorns will win"

Happy as Clams

Word is that my favorite baller ever just got signed to the Mavs.  He replaced Finley no less!  I'm the happiest dude in town.  I'll be the only fool in Texas spending hard-earned cash money on a Christie jersey. 

zack

Shabash Lance!

Spurs Fan

As you can see, Zack is all ready for the game tonight. I myself like to root for the opposite team that Zack and Marcel root for,  just to be a pain.

Jennifer

MDE

Shaq Fu!

zack

The Dude Abides

Bowling at Highland Lanes last night has left me feeling a little too much like how The Dude is looking here.  I didn't drink any Caucasians but I had a million of those delicious bowling pin-shaped Bud Lights. 

Work is work and blog is blog and never the twain shall meet, so I won't go into detail about the event itself (but another giant thank-you to all of you who contributed -- we made a HUGE impact on the community).

An incomplete list of some of my favorite memories from last night, in no particular order:

• Greg's impeccable bowling form, which in hindsight comes as no surprise
• AdamK, after all the Do It Again he could take, suddenly standing up and yelling I HATE STEELY DAN!
• AdamA psyching up his teammates by yelling USE YOUR TRAINING! all night long
• NancyK and me taking impromptu Mary Catherine Gallagher stretch breaks for all to see, looking like jackasses even among a sea of jackasses
• AdamA suddenly explaining to me the parallel between the traditional world of DC comics characters and Greek mythology, because sometimes bowling just brings on these kinds of talks
• Kristi getting excited once they lowered the lights and the neon balls started to glow, yelling ROCKIN BOWL!  ROCKIN BOWL!
• crank calling the radio station multiple times with Rob's wife, trying to make them play Don't Stop Believing
• drinking a shot of Rumplemintz with AdamA and Rob because we had scored gutter balls (a shot per gutter ball?  that's instant Dylan Thomas)

I'd remember more were it not for the Rumplemintz.  That's so high school.  I might as well eat some Play-Doh while I'm at it.  Bowling rules!

zack

Roller Boogie

So I went to roller-aerobics this week and had a blast! I have not been on "real" roller-skates in years; the dusty brown ones with squeaky wheels and laces that wrap around your ankle a dozen times. I love roller-skating! I laughed so hard I blew snot out of my nose at one point. I was a bit shaky at first and couldn't remember how to stop without running into the wall with my hands...I eventually used the stopper- I would slow down, use the stopper, jerk to the right and left for about 5 feet, barely upright, then eventually stop or fall into a heap on the floor. We skated on one leg, weaved in between cones, "fast-skated" (not very fast), and skated while holding our ankles (ouch). No limbo or the hokey poky...and no Journey or Styx...and no McDonald's orange drink refreshments....

The class is an hour long, and I thought we would be skating the whole time, having a fun old time like back in elementary school. I was wrong.  Thirty minutes into the class the instructor told us to take off our skates and put our running shoes on. We then proceeded to do some crazy jumping jacks, step-ups, lunges, squats, sprints, grapevines, crunches...and the dreaded, torturous PLANK.

I loved it, even though it was like roller-boot camp! I will go again, if only to skate to that dance version of Cotton Eyed Joe.

Jennifer

Géographie a l'Austin

Marcel and I have been discussing where bears come from, different kinds of bears and their different regions.  I'm making it all up, because I don't know anything about bears beyond what I saw on Sesame Street and/or read in Russian novels.  Hence I have told him that panda bears come from China, koala bears come from New Zealand and Australia, black bears come from Russia, and grizzly bears all live near log cabins.  I have no idea if this is true or not; this is similar to the time last week when we came home and the house was very, very cold -- but rather than turn on the heat and warm us up I convinced him that the fridge was broken, and that is was so cold in the house only because it was now very hot and glowing red inside the fridge, and this is what happens when a fridge breaks.   

You can imagine my glee when I saw this new Nike ad for Marcel's hero, Lance Armstrong.  I think we'll have to do some geography lessons tonight...

zack

Inner Bibby

My day was so good, in fact, that I now need to channel my inner Bibby:

zack

Kung Fu

I forgot to mention that Marcel attended his first Shaolin Do lesson yesterday! We went to watch last week, and he really liked it. When we arrived, some of the older Black Belts were working with sticks. Needless to say, Marcel was intrigued. He stretched, did some leaps kicks, and just looked downright happy. I held the bag for him while he did some kicks (I took the first class with him) and he has quite a powerful right forward kick! He received his Gi as well, and will be going 2 times per week.

Zack was a bit out of it yesterday morning, and asked him if he was exited to go to "Shen Gong Wu". He was clearly confused because Shen Gong Wu are mystical power objects from the kids WB TV Show Xiaolin Showdown:

In Xiaolin Showdown, four warriors unite to find and protect the Shen Gong Wu, sacred artifacts with supernatural powers that control the powers of good and evil. These objects can only be captured after an extreme "Double Dare" showdown occurs between the good and bad characters.

Silly Daddy.

Jennifer

Lecter

"Stephon Marbury once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."

Obvious but I couldn't resist.  zack

Weinie Dog Races

Our friends Nancy and Adam have two weinie dogs, Linus and Sherry (I'm iffy on that 2nd name).  They race the dogs in the annual Buda, TX Wiener Dog Races.  Apparently this is a very big deal among Dachschund enthusiasts.  Entry fees into the races are 20$ per weinie; 1st place weinie is $500. 

Some live action photos of the Weinies in flight here.

Also, a local artist who paints Weinies, or 'doxies', as Nancy corrects me.

I think I want one of these big bad doggies.  The family will be in Buda this April for the races, and Jen or I will post photos of this extravaganza.

My high school friend Joanie had a Dachschund named Ritza.  We called her Ritza Pizza, and she would bark like hell whenever we lit cigarettes. 

zack