Hillary and Obama...

...commenting on the impending Iraq war in speeches delivered in October of 2002:

Hillary

Obama

At the time, I fully agreed with what Hillary said, and I still firmly believe that the war could have gone successfully with a more competent administration running it. That said, there is wisdom (and eerie prescience) in what Obama said - the decision to go to war should not be taken lightly, and in the case of Iraq, he made a good case that ran against the conventional wisdom of the time. Obama is one of the few anti-war politicians I respect - he took a position and stuck with it, and didn't hinge his entire political life on the failure of the war. Contrast him with Hillary's recent "revelation" that she was duped on the war. I don't know if I'd ultimately vote for him as President, but I'm rooting for Obama to win the Democratic nomination.

Monterrey trip was wicked sweet. Details to come...

Monterrey Playlist

Eric and I depart for Monterrey at 4 AM tomorrow, and after a 4-hour drive, a 3-hour bus ride and whatever fun awaits us at the border, will arrive there (God-willing). We'll be staying at a Holiday Inn near the center of the city, and will be shown around by Eric's friend San Juanita. We'll go to the futbol game between Tigres Monterrey and Club America Saturday night, then go to church early Sunday morning before returning to Texas. What follows here is a playlist that may tell the story of what we can expect on this little safari...

1) Matador, Willie Nelson - A flamenco instrumental from Willie Nelson's Spirit album. It will be bookended by another at the end.

2) Vertigo, U2 - There's nothing like a U2 song to get your blood flowing at 4 in the morning, especially one where Bono counts "1, 2, 3, 14" in Spanish...

3) Three Lions (Football's Coming Home), Halbzeit-Allstars - A bittersweet futbol anthem about possessing the continual hope for England to win the World Cup, despite repeated heartbreaking losses in the tournament. England is still waiting for their "Now I can die in peace" moment as sports fans - as I may have mentioned in this space once or twice, Texas got theirs last January 4th...

4) Country Road, James Taylor - As the South Texas miles roll away...

5) Pancho and Lefty, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard - An interesting cover of a Townes van Zandt song that presumably is a duet between Merle and Willie. I say "presumably" because Merle only sings on the last verse. My working theory is that Merle was so drunk that the single verse was as much as they were able to get out of him...

6) Seven Spanish Angels, Willie Nelson and Ray Charles - Another duet ballad featuring Willie (and certainly not the last - see below). I put this one in here because I know there is a possibility that I may fall in love with a beautiful Mexican girl and subsequently get involved in a gunfight with the bad guys. If this happens, know I'll go out guns-a-blazin'...

7) Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy), Big and Rich - Eric and I expect this to be playing as we walk the streets of Monterrey. If Two Foot Fred joins us, so much the better...

8) Hips Don't Lie, Shakira and Wyclef Jean - This is the World Cup mix. Consider this prep for dancing the night away in Monterrey...

9) What is Love, Haddaway - More preparation for dancing the night away in Monterrey. I wonder what this song would sound like with a flute chorus playing it...

10) Desperado, The Eagles - The most secretly awful song from a not-so-secretly awful band. The anthem of men in their mid-50's contemplating the meaning of their shallow existence while sitting in lawn chairs drinking Corona.

11) Afternoon Delight, Will Ferrell - Keeping the 70's theme going. Oh, and Ferrell - Scoreboard!

12) Beer, the Asylum Street Spankers - A local Austin Band that my friend Kostya and I saw at Saxon Pub a few years back (at the urging of Erica Fry). I love beer, and anticipate drinking it quite often this weekend, if for no other reason than because it will be safer than the water...

13) Sweet Caroline (live), Neil Diamond - Based on this rendition, I'm guessing Neil likes beer too...

(Check out this darkly humorous take on Neil Diamond by Will Ferrell - I was disappointed this didn't make the DVD that SNL put out...)

14) To All the Girls I've Loved Before, Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias - I dedicate this song to the hundreds of girls who will inevitably fall in love with Eric and I during our time in Mexico...

15) Auld Lang Syne, Salsa Celtica - As we put our journey to Mexico behind us, I hope we remember it fondly. It's literally impossible not to be in a good mood after listening to this Latin version of the New Year's song...

16) Claudia's Song, Unforgiven Soundtrack - As we travel north on US 281, back across the spare South Texas plains, I think another quiet, contemplative flamenco piece is in order...

I will return with pictures Sunday...

Graduate School

I write this as I enjoy watching the singular expressions on the faces of Nancy Pelosi and Dick Cheney as they sit behind George W. Bush delivering the State of the Union.

(Methinks the Senator from Iowa loves the Corn Fuel proposal a little too much...)

As of last week, my graduate applications are complete. I settled on Urban Planning as my desired area of study because it is a skill set that will complement my engineering abilities well, and because it will help me to make cities better places to live through practicing good design. Two of the schools would keep me here in Austin, and two would take me away. Listed below are the contenders, along with my reasons for applying and my gut feeling on my likelihood of attending. Advice would be greatly appreciated, and feel free to wager heavily, but only if you first drink heavily...

(Dikembe Mutombo? What the hell?)

Baylor - I applied for the Executive MBA program that Baylor offers in Austin, which I could complete in two years while still working at LCRA in my current job (which I love). It's a strong program that emphasizes entrepreneurship, and comes highly recommended from a former co-worker and friend I worked with last year. I hope to interview in the next couple of months, and feel I have a good chance of being accepted. At this point, this is the only MBA program under consideration. The only downside - the program is in North Austin, and I hate North Austin passionately...

Kansas - I wanted to apply for a school in the Midwest, and the University of Kansas is a great education value in a good city (Lawrence). Kansas has a good planning program that emphasizes practical experience and is strong in public policy. In fact, they have the #1 City Management school in the country, so I may pursue that as a double-major. On the downside, my dad told me that when he lived in nearby Topeka as a kid, it was unbearably cold in winter. Cars apparently don't start, and polar bears may very well run free. Unless global warming speeds up a bit, I am not sure I could handle it...

(Jim Webb was doing well until he implied that the workers in this country will revolt if they don't get a better deal. I agree that CEO's make too much, but we working folk aren't exactly waiting in soup lines these days, and all but 4.5% of us are employed...)

Oregon - Oregon’s planning program is one of the best in the country, and hard to get into - only 25 of 100+ applicants each year are accepted. As part of the curriculum, the students take part in paid internships where they do planning work with small Oregon communities as part of their education. The region possesses big mountains, towering trees, and spectacular dams, and it rains a lot so it's both an engineer's paradise and a huge change of pace from Austin. I think it's a long shot as whether I would get in, but if I'm accepted, I'll strongly consider going.

Texas - Suprise. Texas is strong in the Environmental and Natural Resources planning concentration, and I had a good informal interview with one of the professors in the fall of 2005 (Dr. Kent Butler, who once worked at LCRA). The scenario is similar to the one that led me to pick Texas over Rice as an undergrad - live in Austin, in-state tuition, and dynamite school with a good football team. The plan right now would be to attend school full-time, cut back to part-time at LCRA, and simplify my life a bit.

I would put the odds at better than 50/50 that I stay in Austin and go to either Baylor or Texas, but it's not a slam dunk - both Kansas and Oregon are terrific schools, and if one or both accept me, I'll have a tough decision to make. For now, I will simply wait to see who accepts me, and pray for guidance. In the meantime, Eric and I are going to Monterrey to see a Mexican soccer match that very well may end in a riot this weekend, and my next journey to Russia begins four weeks from today. A late February trip above the Arctic Circle is in order (and there, polar bears may really run free...) In between, I will host a musician from Finland and his son. It should be a good month.

Again, advice will be appreciated...

In honor of Da Bears making the Super Bowl...

...I humbly offer this magical musical memory from their last trip there...

The Link

Iced in, Day 3

LCRA was shut down for the last two days (along with the rest of Austin, San Antonio, and for all I know, the United States of America), so I have mostly passed the time by drinking coffee and watching movies (I did venture out to Galaxy Cafe this afternoon for a little while.). Here's what I've watched:

Clerks II - Disgusting, but funny and a somewhat relatable to me in the non-disgusting bits about the "What am I going to do with my life" quandary. Maybe the best Kevin Smith movie since Chasing Amy.

Match Point - Woody Allen film about marital infidelity. More of a tragedy than a comedy for sure...

Grizzly Man - A documentary about Timothy Treadwell, an environmental activist who lived among grizzly bears for 13 summers. Imagine a man who looks like Prince Valiant with a video camera in one hand with the other reaching out to pet a grizzly bear, and you have the general idea. Pretty good movie - I actually recommend this one.

Harry Potter 1-4 - I read the books, and loved them, so I finally decided to sit down and watch the movies. The strongest point of the movies is the casting - every actor and actress embodies their character flawlessly. That said, I prefer all the nuances that are found in the books.

Hopefully I can go back to work tomorrow - I miss my office, and I may walk there tomorrow if I have to...

A bit of imagination....

...from the Vorce boys.

YouTube videos are a lot cooler when you know the person who made them...

Things are icing up here in Austin. The shelves at the grocery stores are bare, the roads are empty, and the city is shutting down. Wolfy is starting to eye me like a juicy morsel of tuna, and if I am forced to subside on Campbell's Soup for another day, I might be eyeing him the same way...

I used a bit of my Starbucks credit to buy a French Press, which Andy Price taught me to use when I had folks over Friday night. I made coffee with it Saturday and Sunday, but today, I felt like I hit my groove with it - the coffee was amazing. If they delay the start of work tomorrow, I'll make another pot tomorrow morning.

For the record - "French Press" would officially be the worst-ever nickname for a football team's defense. Needless to say, I'll be deriding someone's team with it next year...

Texas hired a New Defensive Coordinator...

... and his name is (no joke) Mac Duff. If Texas ever plays anyone with a "Mac Beth", I think it's safe to say that they are screwed.

In other news...

1) I hate Starbucks, but I just converted $97.32 in change (7 years worth) into a Starbucks gift card at the Coinstar at HEB. In other words (and as if this wasn't obvious already), I'm an idiot.

2) Ohio State is getting blown out by Florida in the National Championship. Troy Smith may have won the Heisman, but he is no Vince. Couches will burn hot with rage in Columbus tonight.

3) Downtown Austin was shut down this morning because someone found 60 dead pigeons. I think our country is officially paranoid.

Made me chuckle...

Eric told me about something that happened at Central Market this morning. Apparently, when one of his coworkers arrived in the parking lot, he heard some rustling in the dumpster, and found someone in it.

When his coworker mentioned this to the group, they asked him if the person was green, fuzzy, and had a bad attitude...

On Self Improvement in 2007 AD

On the final afternoon of 2006, I went with my friends Chris and Eileen Hairel to visit the Benjamin Franklin exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural History. The exhibit comprehensively chronicled the life of Franklin, from his beginnings as a printer in Philadelphia, to his successes in business and civic development, to his scientific experiments with electricity, and finally to his crucial role in the formation of the United States of America. It was a fascinating exhibit that featured many of Franklin's publications and personal effects, and I plan to follow up on it by studying Franklin this year.

My favorite part of the exhibit stemmed from Franklin's well-known (if not overly successful) efforts at self-improvement. Late in his life, Franklin often suffered debilitating pain from gout, a condition brought on by consuming of too much meat and beer and not getting enough exercise. To acknowledge the role his bad habits played in bringing about his pain, he composed a dialogue between himself and "Madam Gout," which was shown as a hilarious cartoon near the end of the exhibit.

I understand where Ben Franklin was coming from in his struggles with self-improvement - I compose a plan at this time every year, and do not always carry it out particularly well. After looking at my plan for 2006, I would say that I followed through on about 20% of it (I did better in 2004 and 2005). This year, I've decided to distill the whole production into a few little things I need to improve on, which I hope will make a big difference as I go through the year.

So with my head in the clouds and my feet on the ground, I humbly offer my New Year's Resolutions for the year 2007 AD:

1) Support local business and "fair-trade" ventures habitually, and encourage everyone else around me to do the same.

2) Seek to understand my friends, my neighbors, and my cat. Practice empathic listening. "Be swift to listen, slow to talk, and slow to anger."

3) Live more simply. Be content with less material possessions, and value the things that money can't buy.

4) Be punctual. Develop a habit of going to bed at 11 and getting up at 7.

5) Make wise commitments, and follow through on them diligently.

6) Eat less, and exercise at least twice a week.

7) Explicitly and sincerely honor God in my words and actions.

Touchstones for 2007:
1) Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton
2) Benjamin Franklin
3) The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell
4) Psalms 1 and 51
5) Isaiah 58
6) Matthew 5-7

On an unrelated note, in the last two days of 2006, I ate bratwurst, brisket, chicken, fajita meat, buffalo, and summer sausage, and drank about eight beers. I'm sure Benjamin Franklin would be proud...