Out with the old...in with the not quite as old...

We have sold our Isuzu Amigo. It was a great little car but it was time to go. We had many good times in the old girl. Trips to Lake Powell. Camping in the mountains. Fishing trips. Driving down the coast of California. We hate to see the old girl go after 12 years and nearly 120,000 miles of good service but it was time. We needed to make room for a replacement.
This past weekend we picked up a 1994 Land Rover Defender 90 in Houston. It's big. It's ugly. It's slow. It's noisy. It's everything a good 4x4 should be. I've been wanting one for quite a while and finally found one I could afford. Land Rover imported them for only 3 years('94/'95, and '97). In that time they only imported 6500 of the beauties. Mine is #491 of 3158 in its production run. She's gonna need a bit of work to get into shape but I can do a lot of that work myself and with the help of friends. It is fairly close to original, meaning it needs a bit of work to get up to snuff. I've already gotten her stuck while offroading. I think one of my first investments is gonna be in some ARB air-lockers to prevent that. I also plan on adding armor plating to the fenders, a bikini top, and possibly a snorkel for fording rivers.

Bad Ass Movie Images...

found a site that features stills from movies...lots of movies. Go check it out. See if your favorite movie has a few photos there.
I see the website's author recommends my favorite movie theater also, The Alamo Drafthouse. I guess he must be a local.

Great Outdoor Games

This weekend I managed to get some time to watch the Great Outdoor Games. I love watching this stuff. My favorites are the shooting sports and the Retriever competitions. The Big Air Competions are fun to watch. Those dogs really want to get that toy and jump a long way to get it. The Retriever Trials are also quite interesting. I have a Black Lab that gets lost fetching a tennis ball in the backyard. I can only dream that he'd be smart enough to compete in that.

No more Devil's Highway...

One of my favorite stretches of highway in the US is getting a number change. US666, a.k.a. The Devil's Highway, makes some people uneasy so the states of New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah asked for a new designation. Once that was announced, people decided they'd better get a sign while they could and started ripping down all the signs along the highway.

This is one of my favorite sections of highway because it is the last road I use to get from Texas to Southern Utah, my favorite natural playground.

Women: Get those breasts checked...

I know a mammogram is something women need to get on a regular basis. I've also heard it is an uncomfortable experience. The Internet Mammogram promises to change all that. For absolutely nothing this site will scan your knockers to see if there might be a problem.

My bum knee...

Went to the Orthopaedic Surgeon yesterday about my knee. I injured it about 10 years ago playing softball and had arthroscopic sugery then. It's been bothering me now for the last year and a 1/2. The doc took my lower leg and started in twisting and turning. When doing one twist I jumped back in pain. He says 'did that hurt?' 'No, doc, that felt wonderful. Don't do it again.' So what's he do? He turns it the other way getting the same response from me then turns it back. I said 'Yep, that still hurts'. After a few more twists and turns he says he suspects a torn meniscus but x-rays can't show soft-tissue damage. I go in for an MRI next week. Possible surgery a week or two later depending on the results. I'm fairly sure it'll be surgery for me. The damn thing aches all the time.

New music...

I've been listening a lot lately to Kasey Chambers. One of her songs was on The Sopranos - Peppers and Eggs CDs. I really liked it and looked her up on Apple's iTunes. Sure enough, there she was. I bought The Captain and will probably go buy Barricades & Brickwalls tonite since the full album wasn't available on iTunes.(I hate that. Why not offer the whole album?) Her music is kind of a cross between rock and country. It really grew on me.

Hunting naked chicks?

Paintguns? Check.
Camoflauge? Check.
Ammo? Check.
Naked chicks to shoot at? Check.

Looks like the newest craze in Las Vegas is going out to the desert with a paintball gun and 'hunting' naked women. Um, sure. Why again? I mean, I understand anything to see a naked chick but, c'mon, $10,000? Why not spend $100 to play paintball against people that shoot back and save the rest for the strip club? You can get a shitload of lapdances for $10K. Or, why not take that $10k and head out to one of Nevada's fine brothels?

Story says that the girls get paid $2500 if they can keep from getting shot or $1000 if they do get hit. Hell, sign me up! For $1000 I'll run around naked in the desert and let some bubba shoot me in the ass with a paintgun.

Edit: 2003-08-01
Yeah, it ended up being fake...it's amazing what folks will believe. Me included. I did get to see the news story before it was pulled off the Net. It sure looked semi-legit to me.

My new tattoo...

My new tattoo is at that itchy point right now. I'm religiously applying skin lotion to it to help it heal faster. I'm quite happy with it. It never got to the scabby, scaly point like I've heard other people say it does. It is now almost completely healed. As far as the actual tattooing, it didn't hurt at all. Felt kinda like someone dragging a fingernail across your skin kinda hard. If you are ever in the market for one, I recommend Jon Reed @ Atomic Tattoos here in Austin. He did a great job and was very professional. He even helped a bit with the design to get exactly what I wanted.

T3

Finally went to see Terminator 3 last night. You don't go to a Terminator file for the story, you go to see shit getting blown up. this movie did lots of that. Story line? What's that? I wanna see flying body parts and car wrecks. The scene with the crane was one of the better car chase scenes I've seen in a while. Ronin still has the best chase scene of any movie ever, followed closely by the chase from Bullitt.

iTunes is currently playing: The Seeker from the album "American Beauty" by The Who.

New tattoo...

In memory of my uncle I got a tattoo today. It's a picture that he used to draw occasionally. My uncle's nickname was Shurfoot. He got it during a hiking trip down the Virgin River as a teenager. He had trouble staying upright in the swift currents. The drawing is his rendition of 'Shurfoot'.

Now Shurfoot will be with me always.

Saying good-bye...

As I said a few days ago, my uncle and best friend died. We had the viewing and wake on Thursday afternoon. I stayed up the entire previous night preparing this video for his wake. I think it helped me to make peace with the fact that he was gone. After watching the video there wasn't a dry eye in the house. I did get quite drunk at the wake. I left the viewing early to get over to my parent's house to help with the wake. By the time folks started showing up an hour later I was already quite drunk. I stayed drunk all night, the way you should be at a good wake. My drink of choice was Maker's Mark over ice.

Death in the family...

Yesterday/today was probably the worst day of my life so far. My uncle, Roy, died of a heart attack at the age of 42. Only 10 years older than myself. Other than my wife I'd probably consider him to be my best friend. He was more like a big brother than an uncle. He had only gotten married last October. His new wife Joan made him very happy. He was happier than he'd ever been since he met her.

We spent so many good times together I can't even start to name them.

The time we drove straight through from Lake Powell to Austin overnight without stopping. By the time we were done our caffeine high had us giggling at the stupidest things.

The time he caught a 5 lb. bass using my tackle in a spot I had been working for a 1/2 hour when my back was turned.

Sneaking out late at night with him when I was a teenager to go to a D&D party.

Discussing our dreams of owning a houseboat on Lake Powell but never figuring out where we'd get the money to do it.

Planning a hiking trip down the Escalante River. Setting routes. Making supply lists for that trip we'll make 'next year'.

Driving up I-15 somewhere near the NV/UT border and passing a Coke from my truck to his at 75M.P.H., freaking out my wife in the process.

4th of July out at the ranch and having a firework go crazy shooting mortars everywhere and seeing him running for his life in the flashes of exploding mortars.

Christmas shopping for each other consisted of finding something you liked and buying two of them. One for you, one for him.

I can't say how much he'll be missed. Godspeed, dear friend.