The son of Evil Knievel Jumps in front of Capitol!

Last night in Austin, Evil Knievel's son Robbie jumped over two 18-Wheeler trucks in front of the Capitol. The stunt kicked off the annual Republic of Texas (ROT) Rally. Our fair city is literally covered with thousands of motorcycle riders this weekend. We were talking at work yesterday about how out of all the groups of people who visit Austin for events, the ROT Rally people are the nicest. They may be draped in leather and covered in tattoos and you can hear the roar of their motorcycles for miles away, but they love being here for the ROT Rally and for the most part are respectful to the locals...nevermind that they spend thousands of dollars here. (That helps boost tax revenues, which ultimately pays my salary!) The guests for ACL and SXSW have become downright snotty and entitled. Locals don't really get to enjoy either of these festivals anymore. Anyway, I wish I could have seen Robbie's jump last night. What a cool way to kick off the weekend. I'll be travelling to Houston and attemping to blog from the road. We'll see how that goes. :)

Cap 10K

Totally cool shot of Cap 10K runners over the bridge today. Wish I had taken it. :)

What do you get when you put a journalist, fire, a city building, a white floor-length fur coat, leather pants and a night of drinking together?

Another fabulous “Keep Austin Weird” story, of course! A few weeks ago, the fire department was called out to the City Hall parking garage because a car was on fire. It’s not unusual for a car engine to catch on fire while stuck in Austin traffic on I-35 or Mopac in the summer, but while parked inside a garage in the middle of the night, it’s a little odd.

So late yesterday when the headline “Local journalist arrested for arson” popped up in my email late, my eyes widened and I immediately clicked on the link. I work with members of the media every day, so my mind raced and I wondered who it could be! Turns out it was not someone I’ve ever worked with, but I’ve certainly read his work over the years in the Chronicle, Austin’s alternative newspaper. Apparently Moser was accused of setting his roommate’s car on fire in the garage after a night of celebrating around town. Security cameras caught him smoking a cigarette, wearing a white floor-length fur coat and leather pants, sitting in the car, and apparently have footage that proves his set fire to it later. Read the unfolding story here.

I’m pretty sure that haven’t heard the last of this saga, but I would just like to say that I am so thankful to live in such a colorful town with such fabulous characters…I could almost get rid of cable!

Additional note: Although I’m poking fun at this story here, I understand that Moser has prostate cancer and I’m sorry to hear that. I certainly don’t wish cancer on anyone. I hope he recovers soon.

Zombies!

I've been laughing about this news from right here in Austin for a couple days now -- and just saw that the story was on the Today Show. Somebody broke into the electronic message boards along North Lamar Blvd. and changed the messages to warnings about vampires and zombies. You gotta hand it to them -- if you're gonna commit a crime, at least be creative! I used to work for the department that manages the project these message boards are placed at, so it's particularly funny to me. Love that it made National news. Greatness.

Austin’s Just a Little Less Weird Tonight

Today one of Austin’s most colorful characters, Jennifer Gale, has died. She was transgendered and made a career out of running for public office. Jennifer had recently started her bid to run for Mayor of Austin. She loved to sing and loved to talk about topics of interest to Austinites. It’s been reported that Gale died of cardiac arrest. Ironically, she spoke (and sang) at a Health & Human Services subcommittee meeting just last night and mentioned her concerns about the health and well being of Austin residents. So her “healthcare initiative” may have been a little far-fetched, but at least she was passionate and used her voice to get her points across. RIP, Jennifer Gale.

"wastes of oxygen"

I know I’m not supposed to pass judgment on people, but when I read this story, I couldn’t help myself. This idiotic woman in South Austin was yelling at her three kids at the bus stop and then THREW HER FOUR YEAR OLD CHILD INTO THE STREET in front of a moving vehicle! Thank God the driver of the suburban was paying attention. I am livid about this incident, but so thankful the child didn’t suffer physical harm. Don’t get me started on the emotional damage this terrible woman has done to her kids. It irks me that this woman is allowed to have children, but I may never get to have kids of my own! Or that so many loving couples cannot have children and then this woman clearly doesn’t appreciate the amazing gift she’s been given to be a mom.

This incident reminded me of something my friend Robin & I witnessed several months ago at a fast food restaurant in South Austin. As we were eating lunch, this young lady walked in with a baby carrier. Her daughter was decked out all in pink and had on cutesy matching shoes and even wore earrings. She seemed like a very pleasant baby, very content. The first thing we noticed was after the lady ordered at the counter, she put the baby carrier down on the floor and walked about 10 ft away to go fill her drink. Meanwhile, lots of people were coming and going, passing by the baby – any one of them could have grabbed her so easily. After she got her food, she set the baby carrier down on the table, set her food down, then grabbed her purse and went into the ladies room. SHE LEFT THE BABY ALONE ON THE TABLE!!! We were in shock! I wanted to call Child Protective Services. Seriously, she took her purse (God forbid someone take that), but left her child, a precious human life who cannot defend herself, at the table all by herself. This incident still makes me mad to this day.

In my opinion, these women are simply “wastes of oxygen,” as my dad would have said. I don’t know why these things still surprise me, but they do. I can’t believe that people can be so blasé about their parental duties. People make mistakes, I get that. But these actions are unforgivable in my book. I know writing this won’t make these people change or make things fair in the world, but at least I got to vent.

Happy freakin’ Halloween.

Welcome...and...Love that chicken at Popeye's

Welcome to Jennericgirl's first official blog...from my shiny new iMac! That's right, I finally updated from my 8 year old PC. I have some blogs saved from the last couple of years that I've posted in other places, like MySpace, so while I'm getting the blog started, I'll share some of them with you. Below is one of my favorites, "Love that chicken at Popeye's," which I wrote shortly after joining Weight Watchers. Enjoy!

Love that Chicken at Popeye’s…

So I decided to eat lunch at my desk today, thinking that I had a Smart Ones meal in the fridge here at work. Turns out I only had a package of Brussels sprouts, which were yummy, but I was still hungry. So about 1:30 I set out to get a nice, healthy, Weight Watchers points-friendly sandwich from Thundercloud. But my car turned in the direction of Popeye’s instead…I’d been craving chicken strips and gravy for three days, so I decided to compromise and order the “naked” strips and green beans.

As I pulled up to the board to order, I could hear chatter from inside the restaurant coming out of the intercom. Funny, I thought…they don’t know I can hear them. I grinned. Somebody was having a good old time! Finally, the very chatty lady asked me for my order. I was feeling guilty for deciding to “cheat” and eat fast food, but hey, I thought…it’s NAKED chicken! How many calories could be in NAKED chicken for goodness sake? Trust me, it took all the will power in my body to not order the regular breaded and fried chicken strips with the red beans and rice or mashed potatoes.

When I drove up to the window to pay, I was greeted by the friendly intercom lady, who was wearing a gold, bejeweled handkerchief around her hair and sported thick, black eyeliner and gold eye shadow. She greeted me with, “Girl, that is a pretty and colorful blouse!”

I smiled and said, “Thank you.”

As she handed me my drink – iced tea, no sugar by the way – she tells me, “Cause I’m your size, ya know….that pretty shirt would fit me too. Um hum. Sure would.”

I just keep smiling, feeling a little uncomfortable now. So there goes my dream of sneaking to the Popeye’s incognito, I thought. If no one I know sees me get the fast food, I will feel better about it, I reasoned. My guilt about cheating was really sinking in.

“Do you ever go to the east side?” overly-friendly intercom lady asks.

“What? Oh, um…yeah…sometimes,” I lied, shaking my head profusely.

She looks me up and down as if she knows full well I NEVER go to the east side and I bend forward, looking into the kitchen wondering why it’s taking so long to cook NAKED chicken.

“Simply Fashions. That’s where you need to go. That’s where the big girls shop. Me and you. Uh huh…we’re the same size, girl. That’s where I shop. You ever been there?

I shake my head no, suddenly feeling very fat. How badly do I really want these chicken strips?

“Over by Fiesta? You know where that is? Well, you gotta go to Simply Fashions. I got me some $15-16 shirts there for like $5. Big girls like us go in there and they come out looking sharp, I tell ya.”

Oh God, please don’t ask me where I got my outfit or how much I paid for it. Suddenly I’m feeling very privileged – and ashamed of it. And still fat.

“And then of course there’s Rainbows,” she looks at me, seeing if I knew about the store. “You ain’t been to Rainbows? Girl, you gotta go there. You gotta come over to the east side sometime! They got all sorts of stuff for big girls like us. I mean they got regular stuff too, but it’s all big girls that go to Rainbows, like me and you. Uh huh.” She smiled, revealing a shiny gold grill on her teeth.

Suddenly I’m feeling…well, I’m not sure what I was feeling. But now I wanted those damn chicken strips even more. And the biscuit I was going to give away or throw away and not eat? Forget it, I’m eating it.

Finally, she hands me the box of NAKED chicken strips and green beans and tells me something like, “Now you gotta come back again, girl.”

“Thanks…I will," I muttered, thinking to myself that I’ll never visit Popeye’s again. Ever.

So now I know why they call it Weight Watchers…Ok, I get it. Not supposed to eat fast food. Or maybe I just need to watch out for over-friendly intercom lady.