Posts from — July 2003

OK. The long awaited painting photos are here. So, judge for yourself and let us know how you vote by posting a comment.

Here are a couple of other pics, just for fun (1, 2)

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Merrin has done something exceptional for me in transforming our normal, somewhat boring kitchen into an incredible, beautiful room. (What she has done really is awesome! Pictures shortly)

In turn, I want to do something incredible for her. I need your input because this is probably something that's going to have to be planned well in advance for two main reasons: scheduling & budgeting.

Option A: I'm thinking about getting away to someplace warm this winter. We will probably be making a Florida trip, but I think Merrin would really appreciate some fun in the sun. I am thinking Mexico or someplace we can be incommunicado. We have a ton of Luxury Collection properties in Mexico and Latin America. I think it would be fun to sneak away and just disappear with one another for a few days.

Option B: Merrin loves New York. It may be her favorite city in America. But she's never seen it all dressed up for Christmas. I was thinking we could fly to NYC for some snowflakes and holiday shopping. Christmas is already our favorite time of the year. If we could work in a show or a few museums to balance out the shopping, she might just think she's died and gone to heaven. I think it's fair to say that we have some really exceptional NYC hotels, so that would definitely be an option.

Option C: Anywhere else. Aspen, Vancouver, SF…you name it.

OK, loyal readers, let's hear it.

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I am so exhausted. Who knew that museums could be so much work?!

Yesterday, Merrin and I loaded up and headed out for a trip back down to our old stomping grounds, Fort Worth. Merrin called her Mom and we all decided we were headed to the Kimbell for "The Quest for Immortality" exhibit of Egyptian antiquities. Afterwards, we would browse through the Modern.

Of course, no trip to Fort Worth is complete without requisite stops at Kinkaid's for a huge, Zagat recommended cheeseburger and the obligatory margarita (make that two three) and meal at Uncle Julios.

The Kimbell exhibit was exceptional. The exhibition features works found in the royal tomb at Tanis in northern Egypt - one of two complete tombs found un-plundered (the other being King Tut). Almost all of the pieces have never been outside Egypt. One of the coolest exhibits is life-sized facsimile of the burial chamber of the New Kingdom pharaoh Thutmose III. The walls are fully covered with the first known complete copy of the Amduat, an illustrated funerary text intended as a guidebook to the afterlife. It's amazing. The whole exhibit has some incredible pieces. The audio tour is exceptional. There is even a kids tour - which I will admit I caught pieces of while the crowd moved through the exhibit.

What can you say about the Modern Art Museum that hasn't been said since it re-opened. I don't care how many Wharhols, Miyajimas, Weems, Longs, or Picassos you put on display, the most incredible piece will always be the building itself.

I think one of the most amazing "artsy" moments of the day was standing between the two museums and being able to compare Tadao Ando's Modern and Louis Kahn's Kimbell. I like art (more or less), but to see these two buildings side by side. Wow!

The rest of the day was spent drinking, eating, and laughing. Much of it cannot and will not be repeated here. (I wish Allen could have been there!) Those of you who have experienced it first hand will surely understand!

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Having to work downtown the last few days has left me emotionally scarred. Downtown is a much more dreary place than being at the resort - it's overcast versus sunny. Simply no comparison.

Here's my observation: Dallas has HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes that scream down the freeway (70mph-80mph…minimum) while the regular traffic crawls at 5mph. You have to have two people in your car to use the lanes, otherwise it's a pretty hefty ticket ($200 per offense!)

These lanes are awesome for commuters who carpool and they make those of who don't hate them. But here's the rub: A woman and a child –even an infant in a car seat– counts as two passengers. So, while I creep along in traffic, a stay at home mom is headed to the mall with Jr. in tow at 85mph! This is somehow helping ease congestion and speed rush hour traffic? Umm…excuse me…what the hell?!

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I updated the code from my "Display SongWriter Output on your Blog" post to use BuyMusic.com to power the link. Now you can click on the album art or title link and ~hopefully~ go straight to the song I've posted. A super simple way to listen and download!

The update appears in the comment.

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Today on The Ticket, one of the guys exclaimed that he had never heard of the word "dicker". Of course, we all know that it means to barter, bargain, negotiate, etc.

This revelation brought on the perfect one-liner, and I'm pleased to share it with you today.

"Don't argue with your wife…dicker."

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Seen on CNN.com:

TRUMPED!

Qusay and Uday Hussein confirmed dead.

2 down - 1 to go.

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I got an email with a link to this blogger. Someone might want to lay off the caffine just a little. Wow!

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The Hulk is a bastard. I hate that guy. I know it's not entirely his fault - he just gets angry and then you wouldn't like him when he's angry and yada-yada-yada.

Apparently someone in Albertsons said/did something that upset Mr. Green y Ugly because he went ape-shit on my poor defenseless Taco Dinner Kit. Apparently the wise crackers at Kraft thought putting the Hulk on the outside of my taco box was a good idea. Well, the little toy prize inside the taco kit thought otherwise. The Hulk busted all my taco shells. Bastard.

Merrin had planned a really nice dinner and when I was headed home from work, I talked her out of it in favor of a junk food night. I was so primed because I *love* my junk food taco night. Then I open up the box and there's The Hulk (Hulk? The Hulk? Mr. The Hulk? Mr. Hulk?) staring up at me amid 12 busted taco shells. Words cannot express my anger.

Damn you, Mr. The Hulk.

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Attention blogosphere: My wife owned (past tense) a Hello Kitty window cling. She would like to own a Hello Kitty window cling again. Sanrio and about 100 other websites all written in Japanese do not seem to sell them anymore.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find a Hello Kitty window cling and link to it here in the comments.

Thank you. That is all.

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Depending on my mood, the weather, the location of the planets, and several other discretionary factors, I may undertake a drastic or hardly-noticeable change at the blog. I haven't done a skin since mid-march (in fact all the skins are gone right now!) so I'm itching for a redesign. (Have a suggestion? Hit the comments, please!)

I'm also considering starting a new blog because the rebuilds are getting a little less manageable with 800+ entries - even with the sql database on the backend. So, if you stop by this week and do/don't recognize the place - don't be alarmed.

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For everyone but Christine (who enjoys outwitting the telemarketers) this is just a reminder to register all your phone numbers at donotcall.gov to be removed from most telemarketing lists.

If you've already signed on with your state's Do Not Call registry, that may not be enough. For example, Texas is not sharing it's state list with the federal list. I have no idea why, but Texas is continuing to maintain a state-specific do not call list. Information about the Texas list can be found at: www.texasnocall.com.

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After upgrading to MT 2.63 or so, I lost the ability to have images posted within comments on my blog. Camille and I discussed it way back when and never got past this stupid little obstacle. Well, I finally bothered to check the settings and I've got a solution.

To allow images in your comments in Movable Type, change the Preferences page within the Weblog Config. Instead of "Use Defaults" in the Sanitze Specs, select "Use my settings" and enter the following:

a href,b,br/,p,strong,em,ul,li,blockquote,img src

Rebuild all pages of your blog. Ta-da!

Note: The Help in MT suggests you not monkey around with the Sanitze Specs too extensively. Using my change we are basically set up to allow links, font formatting (bold, underline, etc), line formatting, and images — nothing more. If you muck things up beyond all recognition, switch back to the "Use Defaults" setting and try it again!

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Really simple, but it has definitely been bugging Merrin & I for a while. I think the Redhead was having a little trouble with it, too. Here it is for all to enjoy!

The goal was to be able to open urls that were posted in comments in a new window instead of the actual (tiny) comment window. A couple little html tweaks and we're finished:

In the Comment Listing Template, add the following between <HEAD> and </HEAD>:

<base target="_blank">

Then, find the line that begins <form method="post" and add the following just after:

target="_self"

so it looks more like this:

<form method="post" target="_self" action="

Note: You're simply adding target="_self" to the form tag. You don't need to add/delete anything else from the form tag.

Presto-chango! Now all links will open in a new window!

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Fort Worth's legendary showman Van Cliburn will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, later this month. The first foreign winner of Russia's Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in 1958, Van has played for every President and almost every major world leader for more than 40 years. I have a love/hate relationship with piano concertos, but there is absolutely nothing like watching Van Cliburn. Congrats!

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