El Tovar

2010-03-13T11:32:00.001-08:00

SouthBy...Again. Last year was aweseome: At least Thursday Night, Friday afternoon, and most of Saturday.

Another Successful Family Visit

2009-11-28T09:02:00.001-08:00

This one was a very short visit. They're on their way to Waco for a small family reunion. I'm glad I get a couple of days to relax before what may be an intense work-week.

2009-09-17T10:48:00.001-07:00

I need a countdown widget.

Bizarro Summer

2009-06-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

1. The Summer Call (You understand if you know some of my 'associates.') has not come
2. No interns
3. Day 7 of summer and not one swim
4. Conventional work schedule

To be continued...

BACKBURNER

2009-05-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

1. p or v-cast. Paranoid Like Me. Discussing safety in the post-patriot world?
2. The Maxwell Times. Independent Maxwell News, with an International Twist
3. The Treasury Gospel Singers. Documentary.
4. Can the Great Debate be given the Spellbound treatment? (A documentary)

2009-05-02T07:48:00.001-07:00

OIO Mental Health Discharges (Draft 7) from Will Harrell on Vimeo.

Car Insurance

2009-04-13T18:58:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, for the last 4 years, I've had an insurance agent. For the most part, I believe that he has been able to get me the best deals. The other night, I had some questions about a new policy for my car. Since it was late, i knew I couldn't expect a response from him and the need for answers was nagging at me. I started poking around Geico just to see what was up. Now, take this with a grain of salt because I didn't go through the entire process (I think I stopped short of giving my credit card info), but it looked like the Geico rate was going to be about 50% less expensive. I'm still going to try to work with the agent. He's always answered my questions and I have lots of evidence of the savings he's been able to find for me. Still, before I finalize all of this, I'm definitely going to have to go back and look into Geico.

Casual Self-Marketing

2009-03-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

First off, I must admit: I'm a glass half-empty person. Now, I try not to be a real A-hole about it, but it's something that's probably not going to change. On the other hand, it's got to change a little.

Caught up with a family friend recently. I was listening to myself speak. Damn. I put a negative slant on EVERYTHING. I live in a great location, but it's a shithole. (Arguably, though, it is dilapidated.) Several more examples...

Anyhow, I've got to work on that.

SXSW 2009

2009-03-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

The list keeps getting smaller each year.

1. Handsome Furs
2. King Kahn and the BBQ
3. Wild Beasts
4. Jason Lytle (is back)
5. Peter Bjorn & John, Young Folks from 2006

Oddly Inspired

2009-02-16T13:45:00.000-08:00

I spent about two hours trying to scratch out at least
one decent idea for a story. A few preliminary concepts
bubbled up from the abyss, but nothing that I'm too confident
about. I started to get a bit depressed about it.

Without an idea, I've got nothing to build-on and
nowhere to go. Anyhow, after a few moments, Desolation
Row came up on my playlist. After only 4 minutes, I somehow
felt better, less anxious. So, that's worth something...

Ciao!Manhattan

2009-01-19T19:53:00.000-08:00

Ciao Tapes

Big Bend YLC

2008-07-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

I love Alpine, Texas. I can't believe that it's been

5 years since my last visit. Last night, I finally

had the energy (after a pretty hellish trip out here)

to make my way to the store for some much needed

supplies. On my way back from the local IGA, I stopped

into Harry's Tinaja for a pint.

Bartender was from Puerto Rico, moved around a lot,

working for the Hard Rock as a store opener.

She worked as a tour guide in Big Bend for several years,

buying some property in Terlingua and decided to move

up to Alpine when she tired of having limited social options.

"You end up sitting around, drinking beer, so often that you

start to think like this: '1+1=Dog.'"

Casino Burgers

2008-07-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

I got a call from a friend, CV. I hadn't heard from him

in a few weeks since we've both been traveling a lot

throughout the summer.

As it turns out, we're both going to end up in Alpine

for about a week. He'll be conducting training for a

large group of 9th graders from many different parts of

Texas. I--on the other hand--will be following many

of the students around for a documentary project I'm

trying to complete by Mid-September.

We decided to go for burgers. One of the best places

in Austin--as TONS of people know--is Casino El Camino.

I believe there's an art to getting a good burger there, though.

You can't go after 7, when there's a huge rush.

By then, the grill seems to accumulate a lot of residue,

which ends up on the burger. That's my theory, at least.

The impact is this, however: The burger (at that hour)

tends to get over cooked. And it ends up crispy, but krispy

in a bad way.

So, going at 5 or 5:30 is perfect.

Zero Resolve

2008-07-14T21:33:00.000-07:00

I was looking back over posts.

I believe I've maintained this thing since

January 2005.

I guess I've never given enough effort to

expect anything from this.

I mean, for the entire 2006 year,

I only posted three items (all in December, I think).

Tonight, I got excited about writing down

a few long stories from 1998.

Maybe once I have some drafts of that, I'll

start posting them here.

FLICKR ACCOUNT

2008-06-29T15:58:00.000-07:00

I decided to get a FLICKR account for NHITV. So far, I guess it's been a good idea. The 'sets' prove to be extremely useful for my use of Squidoo. BTW, Squidoo has become an increasingly interesting tool for my work at the National Hispanic Institute. You can put whole sites together so quickly, so it's very cool for reporting on events. The other day, I was in San Antonio for an NHI partner group called Families For Success. Anyhow, I was able to very quickly post clips from the meeting, including some still images. You can find that at Squidoo.

2008-06-18T21:28:00.001-07:00

2008-05-01T12:46:00.001-07:00

2008-04-25T10:29:00.001-07:00

2008-03-19T18:52:00.001-07:00

2008-03-18T19:48:00.001-07:00

2008-03-09T12:11:00.001-07:00

Leave for Pennsylvania on April 11th.
May drive to save on travel costs.

2008-02-13T17:19:00.001-08:00

2008-02-01T14:57:00.001-08:00

http://www.redorbit.com/news/education/1235232/from_visibility_to_autonomy_latinos_and_higher_education_in_the/

2008-01-29T13:39:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I post stuff at http://www.nhi-net.org. In their blogs section... Just so you know.

2008-01-04T13:29:00.001-08:00

http://guanabee.com/2008/01/some-texican-students-have-mor.php

Unpaid Credit Cards Bedevil Americans

2008-01-03T20:17:00.000-08:00

Be careful out there, shoppers... FULL ARTICLE

Americans are falling behind on their credit card payments at an alarming rate, sending delinquencies and defaults surging by double-digit percentages in the last year and prompting warnings of worse to come.

An Associated Press analysis of financial data from the country's largest card issuers also found that the greatest rise was among accounts more than 90 days in arrears.

Experts say these signs of the deterioration of finances of many households are partly a byproduct of the subprime mortgage crisis and could spell more trouble ahead for an already sputtering economy.

"Debt eventually leaks into other areas, whether it starts with the mortgage and goes to the credit card or vice versa," said Cliff Tan, a visiting scholar at Stanford University and an expert on credit risk. "We're starting to see leaks now."

The value of credit card accounts at least 30 days late jumped 26 percent to $17.3 billion in October from a year earlier at 17 large credit card trusts examined by the AP. That represented more than 4 percent of the total outstanding principal balances owed to the trusts on credit cards that were issued by banks such as Bank of America and Capital One and for retailers like Home Depot and Wal-Mart.

Could Rick Noriega Get Called to Duty?

2008-01-03T14:36:00.001-08:00

Houston Chronicle Story on Rick Noriega

NHITV may weigh in on this...

2008-01-03T14:17:00.001-08:00

NHI Blogs

2008-01-03T07:54:00.001-08:00

Another Post at http://www.nhi-net.org

Latino Voters in Iowa

2008-01-03T07:53:00.001-08:00

http://www.nhi-net.org/Media/NHIBlogs/tabid/167/EntryID/13/Default.aspx

The Iowa Caucuses are officially here. I woke up wondering what sort of coverage has been given to the Latino vote in Iowa. Sure, it's got to be a small number of potential voters, but there must be SOME Latino voters there.

Sometimes Cops Like to Manufacture Crime

2008-01-02T14:48:00.001-08:00

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=4022717

Sometimes Cops Like to Manufacture Crime, Blog Links

2008-01-02T14:46:00.001-08:00

Blog 1 "Reason"

and this:

Blog 2 "Godfather"

2008-01-02T13:10:00.001-08:00

The lights are on, but nobody's knocking.

This day is not really going as expected. AdSense and Checkout aren't as easy to set up as I thought they might be.

Here's NHITV's New Blog

2008-01-01T22:16:00.001-08:00

http://www.nhi-net.org/Media/NHIBlogs/tabid/167/BlogID/4/Default.aspx

2008-01-01T09:33:00.001-08:00

The New Year

Already started out doing quite a few productive tasks. It's amazing how rearranging a few books on their appropriate shelves can improve a place's appearance.

For Later Use (Work)

2007-12-13T09:17:00.001-08:00

May need this report later:

State Indigent Defense Commissions

Happy Holidays (Experiment)

2007-12-12T21:36:00.001-08:00

I did this super quickly, just to put SOMETHING
new on the NHITV site. Also, I wanted to see
how good a little 10-second video would look.
Not bad, I guess.

These Bitches Have Always Annoyed Me

2007-12-11T12:13:00.000-08:00

Dress up the Trollsen Twins at peta2.com!

2007-12-10T08:09:00.001-08:00

I think there was an update to this. Hope it works! Fun day of writing ahead of me!

2007-12-09T08:44:00.001-08:00

Oil-Rich Nations Use More Energy, Cutting Exports

The economies of many big oil-exporting countries are growing so fast that their need for energy within their borders is crimping how much they can sell abroad, adding new strains to the global oil market.

2007-11-27T13:29:00.001-08:00

2007-11-27T13:27:00.001-08:00

Maybe now I can update this thing very, very quickly...

2007-09-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

Will Advertising Exist After The Apocalypse?

2007-05-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

Maybe I should look into a totally different career track.
All things considered, emergency medical services seems wise.
One thing's for sure, the poppy industry will probably explode.
Those Texas Senators will be grateful they passed (keep those fingers crossed, kids)
needle exchange back in 2007.

Well, I do have a lot of faith in the RZA...

2007-04-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

Ghost Dog came on last night. The last time I watched it, my mind must have been somewhere else because it seemed so new. I'm just realizing that very little of the actual soundtrack made it into the Official Movie Soundtrack, which I bought right after the movie was released back in 2000.

Notes on Notions

2007-01-15T21:19:00.000-08:00

Anyhow, I pulled out the computer to make a list of notes for tomorrow.
We had talked about going over to the PD for meetings, but the weather in Austin has turned bad.
I'm behind on several writing-products. Anyhow, I'll come back and fix this post later.

Notions I Will Eventually Come To Regret, Part 1

2006-12-21T12:24:00.000-08:00

Showing that you don't care is smarter than showing that you do.

Notes on Fun

2006-12-14T08:45:00.000-08:00

The concept for this commercial is really basic, but I love the performances.

I'm rewriting a short script to make the "flow" work better.
I'm also setting up a calendar for what promises to be an insane pre-Christmas.
Feels like I'm very low on energy and focus this morning. Although, I had a decent night of sleep and my Azul breakfast was really good.

Back In The Saddle:Evolving

2006-12-13T22:35:00.000-08:00

I never learned how to use this crap, but I figure that I ought to. It's time to evolve, I guess.
I suppose I'll use this to keep notes about how I'm progressing.
As far as progress notes go, I'm developing another web video for work. I feel like all my semi-creative ideas have evaporated.
It will have to be enough to just present the information in a clear and concise manner.

I was also at the Pink Dome today. I nearly backed out of a meeting because of some drama. It was good that I didn't, though.

Sideburns

2005-05-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

http://perfectsideburns.com/sixsideburns.html

Brian Jonestown Massacre Selections

2005-05-09T13:19:00.000-07:00

Nevertheless
Servo
Stolen
Anemone
Straight Up And Down
Who?
Fucker
That Girl Suicide
It Girl
Open Heart Surgery
Starcleaner
Talk - Action = Shit
Not If You Were The Last Dandy On Earth
If Love Is The Drug
Sailor
Wisdom
She's Gone
Stars
Nailing Honey To The Bee
Evergreen

Skabba The Hut

2005-04-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

The Bravery: Something just seemed off with these guys.

Louis XIV:Sleaze Never Sounded So Good

2005-04-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

I'm not as impressed by The Bravery as other folks I tend to respect.
Why didn't I buy the Basquiat soundtrack years ago?

Also, respect for 50's Hate It or Love It.

PRODUCTIVITY

2005-02-21T12:10:00.000-08:00

If people would just call me back, oh . . . how productive could I be?

I don't have enough energy to make a full-on rant, but:
MC, you'd better return my call today or our little
project is officially in the crapper.

BTW, it's President's Day. I don't know why I chose to work.

WHY WON'T YOU WORK?

2005-02-14T13:36:00.000-08:00

I'm considering a move over to Xanga, but who knows?!?

My only new music recommendation: Dynastie Crisis.

Sorry to be underwhelming.

Note:

2005-02-02T13:58:00.000-08:00

Remind me to tell the story about the Anderson County Fish Shocking Task Force.

Note:

2005-01-08T13:36:00.000-08:00

I think we all need to seriously reconsider the musical contribution made by Milli Vanilli.
"I'm Gonna Miss You": Pure Genius

2005-01-07T16:12:00.000-08:00

Fear The Turquoise