Impressed

From donate.barackobama.com:

Why must he play with my emotions so? The same day he supports offshore drilling, I also see this shirt. Mr. Presidente, do you suck or are you awesome? I can't decide.

I still miss The Wire

Holy crap, David Simon is writing a show about New Orleans. Yee ha! I'm still in mourning over The Wire - when I watched the last episode I wanted to hold a funeral. This new one has John Goodman in it, Lester and Bunk from The Wire, the woman from When the Levees Broke, and a ton of New Orleans musicians. Can't wait.

Cathedral of Junk

Something I missed seeing in Austin - the Cathedral of Junk.

Dagnabbit! Next time.

Austin

SXSW was much more relaxing this year than last year - Mike wasn't putting on a show, so we got to wander around with nothing we HAD to do. There's always a little bit of anxiety that you're not at the *right* show, that something amazing is happening at the place next door. But since we didn't buy badges, we were depending on the kindness of friends who could get us into particular venues.

We watched between 8 and 12 hours of music a day - exhausting! But fantastic. Here's a photo of the XX from the deck of the Mohawk.

Just down the street, Broken Social Scene was playing Stubb's. Too many bands, not enough time!

We also met a tiny baby named Luca. He was only a week old. Here he is with his dad, Dave - don't they look exactly alike?

We stayed with a friend, Erin, and her son Elliot, who is about 10 months old.

Both Luca and Elliot were fantastically adorable.

We drank a lot of margaritas, ate a lot of queso, and saw more music than I will ever be able to process. Especially since we saw Gwar: heavy metal + costumes + lots of fake blood = confusion for me.

If I were a real blogger type person, I would talk about the different bands we saw and how I feel about them. But I am not, so instead I am just going to say that we got to see friends and hang out and walk our booties off wandering the city, and it was a damn good time.

I heart Austin.

Trampoline

Holy crap, I can't wait until the fully-trampolinized airplane hangar thing opens in the Presidio.

Our beer!

Here it is - Brecki Brew, vintage #1!

Isn't it beautiful?

Reasons it is a good day

1. My brother is safely in Australia and says the the biological center is absolutely amazing.
2. My parents are getting their beehives tomorrow.
3. Last night I saw the very weird Animal Collective movie and did not have a single nightmare.
4. Wednesday there was a Russian River beer tasting at work, and it jazzed me up for our super hoppy brew #2 - to be bottled in just over a week.
5. The sun is shining and it's supposed to be in the 70's tomorrow.
6. Tomorrow is also our grilled cheese and homebrew party!
7. I'm about to start working with Witness on their education/advocacy campaign re:violence against women. And you know what? It turns out that the organization was started by Peter Gabriel. Ok then.
8. I am wearing my Tom's, which are the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned. Each step is glorious, like a wonderful cushion of love for my tootsies.
9. I really just woke up in a damn good mood. And it's Friday. Woot.

Annapurna

For about a year I've had it in my head that I want to trek the Annapurna Circuit. I've never been to Asia, I like my hiking vacations, and I've never walked for 17 days straight. Plus it sounds absolutely fantastic - a loop around the base of the world's tallest mountains.

Now, though, it looks like a road is going to replace the walking trail in 2012. Sounds like we're hitting the Annapurna in 2011, then!

PIE

There is now a pie and ice cream place in my neighborhood, hallelujah!

SXSW

I am going to try to make a list of the bands I saw at SXSW this past week/end. It is not going to be easy.

Thursday:

• Sleepy Sun
• The ukulele Beatles cover band
• Liars (links go to my Flickr)
• Wallpaper
• Roky Erickson and Okkervil River
• Teen Girl Fantasy
• The Morning Benders
• The XX

Friday:

• Mariachi El Bronx
• Frightened Rabbits
• Billy Bragg
• Man Man

Saturday:

• Holy Fuck
• Fucked Up
• Andrew WK
• Gwar
• Neon Indian
• Surfer Blood
• Past Lives
• Ty Segall
• Death

This may be a work in progress.

Bike camping

Mike and I have been meaning to go bike camping for a while, and this article has gotten me motivated. Who wants to slap some panniers on their bike and take a ride over the bridge to a campground in the Headlands? I'm thinking this is the perfect excuse to ride nice and slow - and to bring beer on a backcountry camping trip. I'm going to see about getting reservations at Kirby Cove sometime this spring/summer.

Ms. Winner's eye

I recommend taking a look at this interview with Cait on the photography blog Eye'em. Her photos are so very very pretty!

Mitten

You should really listen to "Cavalcade" on mynameismitten.com.

Happy St. Patty's

I think I am exempt from any holiday clothing expectations (i.e. wearing green) because I am an Irish citizen.

P.S. They were serving Irish coffee at breakfast here this morning.

Oh, San Francisco

Pies-in-face attack roils anarchist-vegan world

(03-16) 18:30 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- An ex-vegan who was hit with chili pepper-laced pies at an anarchist event in San Francisco said Tuesday that her assailants were cowards who should direct their herbivorous rage at the powerful - not at a fellow radical for writing a book denouncing animal-free diets.