The pressure of a rec

So I've been tapped to write B-school rec's for a friend/colleage of mine. How do I go about effectively encapsulating someone in a few paragraphs?. This particular person is dynamic in every sense of the word. Bigger than life, smarter than most and clearly belongs in the Ivy league. Since these are going to Stanford and Wharton I feel pressed to write something profound, like they will send me a failing grade if it's bad. I've been thinking about it for 2 days now...Im sure I'll run spell check 200 times before I send it. I really need to take some ridilin.

Finally!!!!!!

Patience paid off. This is my new place. This house has a huge story..ill fill in that blank at a later date. For now, im gonna be busy moving myself in. Now im feeling semi-settled. Come visit.

Eat Me!

I just finished eating the last gherkin from a jar given to me by Sammi Lee Bass about a year ago. For those of you aren't familiar with them, they are prickly round-ish cucumbers that are pickled with garlic and chili peppers. They are delicious and I've never seen them anywhere but in Texas. Sammi Lee's 'momma and deddy' get them from a local friend who grows them. They normally draw strange looks from people who have never seen them but are almost always revered as 'fantastically yummy' once eaten.

I guess every part of the US has strange food traditions. I can specifially remember growing up with seeing black people dig up hunks of chalk from the clay-soil around my town. They would boil it to clean it, then scrape it off with a knife into a powder and eat it. I've told this to many people who don't believe me, so I've found THIS article to prove it. Turns out this chalky substance is actually called Kaolin and is a form of white clay. I can remember seeing black girls sitting in my classrooms scraping big hunks of this chalk off into their notebook paper then using it as a funnel to pour the power into their mouth. They said it kept their teeth white. According to the articles I've found, all it did was keep them regular. Kayopectate: main ingredient = Kaolin.

I love to learn about local traditions. They see to be a dying art in the information age. Nothing seems 'local' anymore when you can access it from your laptop at home. In case you wanna order some chalk to eat just CLICK HERE.

REAL ESTATEment

I�ve been looking for houses here in Austin. I have seen everything on the MLS in the desirable areas within my price range. I have seen a carpeted kitchen, one that had drop ceilings, A house that sits so close to the road that a car had bumped the curb and damaged it, houses with no driveways, no yards, trees growing through the front porch, trees growing on the roof, punch holes in the walls. I�ve seen neighbors with upholstered couches in the front yard, an active game of dominoes being played next to a fire in a trashcan, cars in every square foot of the yard, street, and side, even stacked on top of each other. I saw closets that were transformed into bathrooms and kitchen floors that slanted to one side. I saw one house that claimed the laundry room was a bedroom just because they had put a mattress on the floor; another stuck a circular staircase in the dining room for access to the �master suite� upstairs (AKA an unpainted attic with no bathroom).

It seems like people are under the impression that if you rip up shitty carpet to expose shitty wood floors, add low-end appliances with stainless steel fronts and put thin, cheap black granite over the counter tops then you have just �RE MODELED�. NO you have just covered up a whole lotta ugly with a whole lotta cheap. Please stop insulting my intelligence with absorbent price tags. I don�t care if your home is �central�. Rarely does the cost benefit analysis swing in your favor if there�s no driveway, washer and dryers in a shed out back or your neighbors all have their portraits on the FBI�s Most Wanted list. I�d rather sit in an hour of traffic each day than reside there.

Home sales plummeted in 2006 to create the biggest drop in percentage sales since 1989, BUT prices have NOT followed. According to THIS article, home prices remained steady despite the massive slow down in sales. For the first time in 6-months the median home price remained steady from the previous month, which indicates the market may be leveling off. Median prices had been experiencing a decline of 4% (average) month-over-month since August. Which was temporary good news for homebuyers looking for good deals (me , Me, ME)

What does this tell perspective homebuyers like myself? Well 2 things:

(1) The days of buying move-in ready properties that suit my lifestyle/location needs/taste level for under 300K may be over. The price bar has been raised. Sellers aren�t budging on price)
(2) When and if you do get your hands on a decent property, you can expect to resell it at a decent profit. Even now.

The good news is that analysts predict that 2008 will be the year of real estate redemption. So buying a property now and waiting 2 years to sell it could pay off for people like me big time. I guess I�m just hoping that something comes along that makes sense. Living in a �desirable� town like Austin has its ups and downs. I�ve just finished a grand tour of all the downs�and it sucks.

All Dolly'd Up

I stumbled onto a photo of Dolly Parton today and it prompted me to search for more. I love her. I think she transcends time and space. I saw her perform for the first time on my Birthday 2 years ago in Atlanta. I could have sworn she was singing only to me. She is probably the most unaffected star in the world. Always polite, always smiling. She�s a living caricature of herself, and doesn�t mind a laugh at her expense. Talent oozes out of every pore of her body. She is the most honored female country music star of all time. She has 25 gold/platinum records and has had 26 songs reach the number 1 position on the country charts. All tolled she has sold over 100 million albums worldwide. She has written thousands of songs, many of which were sung by other artists.

Sure she may look a bit on the trashy side, but that just adds to her appeal. She grew up so dirt poor that she shared shoes wore clothes her mother made ( often out of old rags). She idolized �trashy� women because they had makeup and flashy clothes, things she could not afford. So I say go ahead with her sequins, tassels and porn star lipstick. Only she can make that classy.

A tribute to the trashy fabulousness that is Dolly Parton.

No: A34 697 813

I always get a strange reaction from people when I tell them that I was adopted as a child. There�s always a �OH.. really?�� or some other reactionary response, look, sound, etc. To me, being an adopted child is a non issue, I guess to others it�s just different. Im often the only person they know who was adopted. A novelty I guess. People always want to know if I know my birth family, what happened, etc. I don�t mind sharing my story or the knowledge I have about the circumstances surrounding my adoption. It was never kept a secret in my family, which I believe is the best way to manage this sort of situation. My parents used to tell me that Santa Clause delivered me to them in Germany; little did they know that I spent many a Christmas Eve worried he was going to show up and take me back. That was about the extent of my adoption-trauma. It always worked out on Christmas day though..gifts do that for children.

From lederhosen clad Ralf Kaltenbach in Mannheim to Brooks Brothers wrapped Incognito Eyeque in Austin. I�ve clearly come a long way. It�s been a long road, but it was paved with gold thanks to my fantastic family. Adoption is a beautiful thing, no matter what the circumstances. Madonna, Gay Couples, Single parents. no matter who they are, they are giving the gift of opportunity to children who otherwise might not have a chance to shine in their own special way. That should only be met with enthusiasm and support.

Finger on the pulse

Another Orange County Skater-Punk-Turned-Pop band. They'll be here in Austin at SXSW.

I like!

Hellogoodbye- Here ( In your arms)

Hats off to The General.

Robert E. Lee turns 200 today.

R.I.D.I.C.U.L.O.U.S

�Extreme� ESPN television has officially gone too far. As if televised chess isn�t bad enough, the other night I actually watched the World Scrabble Championship on the deuce. The event was sponsored by the National Scrabble Association (NSA)- yes there is one. I was in complete disbelief as I watched the player cutaway �vignettes� and ridiculous commentary. They focused on a blind player for a bit, which was pretty fascinating. Her pieces were in Braille. They would periodically spotlight players discussing their �proudest scrabble moments�. The nerdbags would describe the time they scored 75 points with one word and wowed all their friends/star trek buddies. I couldn�t help but to wonder how (or if) those guys ever get laid. The best were the ones with �scrabble gloves� on; you know in case your fingers get worn to the bone while pulling the pieces out of the bag. It was beyond amazing. When I realized I was contributing to the ratings, I quickly changed the channel to Gay, Straight or Taken. Now that�s some worthwhile television*

*In an alternate universe where really bad ideas are terribly executed yet intriguing enough to watch by yourself when no ones looking.

Winter Blunderland

Due to the "Apocolyptic Winter Storm of the Millennium" (aka some ice in the grass) I haven�t been into my office in 2 days because of icy roads here in Austin. Texans seem to be able to handle everything BUT ice/snow. The Armageddon bum rush to the grocery stores on Monday and the subsequent rash of cancellations/closures helps prove my point. I�m looking forward to a warming trend over the rest of the week. I�m not sure what the news channels are going to do without more weather related material. I�m almost 100% convinced that there�s a backdoor deal going between the weathermen and the grocery stores. They call for �inclement� weather; milk goes flying off the shelves? Coincidence? Hmmmm

Chicago Shows Off

The usual suspects and I are in Chicago for the weekend. I spent the afternoon fighting the wind chill while walking Michigan Ave and checking out some of the cities finest buildings.


The Hancock Center's structural skin hides
the highest residences in the world.


Legendary Chicago Theatre


Trump Tower Takes off on the river


Architectural details make all the difference


Something Immortalized in Ice

Love it When the Good Guys Win!

I�ve followed this start-up for several years and had the pleasure of working very closely with one of its original employees, who is standing in a pretty good position today thanks to a 310 million dollar buyout by Ebay. Congratulations to her and to the little company that �did�. You both deserve it!
Ebay Buys StubHub.com

Social Media Reigns Supreme

Part of what I do for a living is help clients understand the importance and relevance of the technologies offered in the age of new media. Search, Blogging, Affiliates, Online Ad technology and now social media. Social Media has been around for a while but was really ushered into the Interactive scene in 2003 by the popularity of MySpace.com. A simple concept site that allows users to create a page about themselves and connect electronically with their friends has now become the 4th most popular English speaking website in the world. Followers were Friendster, YouTube, Wikipedia, Black planet, Mi Gente�, etc All these sites that allow users to generate their own content (including text, audio, or video) and share it with the world or just a select few. The concept behind these sites is age old. The simple yet complex dynamics of social/familial interaction played out on the web. Friends, groups, belonging, etc. Because social networking specifically appeals to tweens/teen/twenties, these sites have become mainstays within these demographics and of course the advertising world has taken notice. Now there are entire teams dedicated to marketing products/services/advocacy/political/ activism messages on social networking sites. There are people whose jobs are dedicated to infiltrating these networks and spreading a marketing message. A similar tactic has been used by gorilla street marketers for years. Planting marks (usually hot women) in bars and restaurants to start �organic� conversation that leads to a mention of a product. Social Media now facilitates this among friends and other �connected� users in a way that reaches further, faster and more efficiently. It�s a marketers dream.

The only downside to the social media explosion is its tendency to alienate the over 30 crowd. Cute animated fonts, grotesque videos, constant �friends� requests and blaring music aren�t of much interest to people who have real jobs, kids and a mortgage. Id suggest Eons (over 50), LinkedIN (professional), del.icio.us (social book marking) or connexion (if you wanna get laid). No matter what your poison, you�ll find other people out there with the same taste and an entire page dedicated to it. And watch out, we�re watching and marketing to you every chance we can get, whether you know it or not.

Next topic: Why Text Messaging is directly connected to the breakdown of the traditional Family.

Life as I know It..

I fell asleep tonight when I got in from work and woke up about an hour ago. I didn�t know where I was�I actually had to think a minute about where I was. Finally realizing I�m in Washington. I stay in this hotel so much sometimes I can�t remember which trip I am on. I this is my fifth trip since the first of December and its not stopping here. I fly back to Austin on Friday morning and fly out again Friday night for Chicago. I return on Sunday and leave for Los Angeles on Tuesday and return back to Austin on Tuesday. I have scrapped a one day trip to San Francisco the following Saturday in hopes of catching my breath. Then I�m back in Washington the following Monday for a week. I�m not even thinking about the trip overseas I have to take for work soon after that. It�s gotta stop sometime soon. I don�t know where I belong anymore.

I finally got word today that my furniture has cleared customs in Houston and is ready to be shipped to Austin. Of course I have to be there to accept it which can�t happen until next week. I have been given a hard deadline of this Friday to accept the things from US customs or I have to start paying a daily storage rate. Of course the rate is compounded by like 100 because its all sitting in an international shipping container that has been scheduled for a return trip to South America. I still haven�t found a place in Austin to put any of this stuff, so I�m going to have to rent a second storage unit at the same place which will triple my monthly storage cost until I can move it all out into a house. SO, after I land on Friday im going directly to the storage place to sign the contract and hopefully meet the movers when they arrive. Let them in the unit, sign off, go wash some clothes at CH�s, and get back to the airport by 6 for my flight to Chicago.

I�m still getting ridiculous rental proposals. I even had someone try to pull a Nigerian Bank Account scam with a real estate twist (ill share that email soon). All of that and No legit offers. This is insane. I really need to call 20/20 and persuade them to take a break from catching child predators on camera and focus on the Real Estate insanity for a minute. I think people would be just as shocked.

40 Flight Segements Dec 1 through Feb 1:
SJO-DFW-AUS-DFW-DCA-ORD-AUS-DFW-CUN-DFW-AUS-DFW-RDU-DFW-AUS-DAL-TUL-DAL-AUS-DFW-DCA-DFW-AUS-DFW-ORD-DFW-AUS-DFW-LAX-DFW-AUS-DFW-DCA-DFW-AUS-DFW-LHR-FCO-LHR-DFW-AUS��..

Love is in the Air

I sat beside an extremely good looking Air Marshal on my flight here to DC yesterday. It was funny because Air Marshals used to not identify themselves as such, you would just randomly catch a glimpse of their gun strapped to their sides under their coats and hope they had a permit to carry it on. They always typically sit in first class on the aisle 2 rows back. This guy sits down, says hello and proceeds to tell me that this was his 1st flight of the day and he has 3 more to go. When I asked what he did, he flashed his gun and said �I keep these planes in the air�. I immediately felt safe.

Evidentially flights in and out of Washington are chocked full of Air Marshals, which makes sense. If you�ve flown into Reagan National anytime after 911, you�ll certainly remember the strange, grip your seat landing pattern they go through now. As if the flight over the river isn�t concerning enough, tight banked turns 100 meters off the water adds grey icing to the �oh-shit-im-gonna-die� cake.

Whoever is doing the hiring over at the US Air Marshal office gets a platinum star for getting �Mark� to sign up. Not only is he keeping the planes in the air�he�s breakin� hearts all over the country.

More Adventures in Real Estate

OK so I had to share this. I put a �housing wanted� ad out here in Austin in an attempt to secure something short term until I find a house to buy. I get this idiotic response today..

�I have something which might work out for both of us. I have rented a huge brand new house in central austin/ Hyde Park. It has 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms( Glass showers and everything) with two car garrage and a fence for pets. it usually rents for 3500 but the construction completed in late september and i got a really good deal and am leasing it for 1500. I could not find roommates whom i liked and hence i want to vacate this house. If you are ready to pay me 5000 which i have lost on this house because i could not find roommates, i can transfer the lease to you for this house. You wont be disasspointed. The lease runs till July 31st and it cannot be extended because the owner will find people to pay more for this house.

-Tejas�

So this guy wants me to pay him 5K upfront in rents he would have collected since Sept from roommates had he found some �he liked�. Then he�ll transfer the lease into my name for me to continue paying monthly. He told me in a subsequent e mail that he was a PHD candidate in Finance at UT. I told him to QUIT the program immediately before they realize how ignorant he is.

All I can do is laugh at this point.

A Whisky Tango in Tulsa

I spent this past weekend in Tulsa Oklahoma and had a fantastic time despite the 3.2 alcohol content beers. MN did a bang up job of introducing his fair city to us. We had some good food, met his prairie-fab friends and generally enjoyed ourselves there in the buckle of the Bible belt. Sometime I think bigger/smaller towns are just my size. Small enough to rise to the top quickly, big enough to keep you interested for more than a month. I did leave with house envy; M�s place is exactly what I�m looking for here in Austin�except $250,000 cheaper.

We saw THIS monstrosity from a distance. Oral Roberts �vision from god� was the tallest hospital in the world for a long time. It�s always great to see crazy immortalized in steel and glass. I also learned that Oklahoma is home to the only skyscraper designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that was ever built. He called it �the tree that escaped the forest� because it was built literally on the prairie in Bartlesville and its design relied on one central core (or trunk) that was sunk into the ground like a root. Not my style, but fascinating nonetheless.

I�m glad I visited the Sooner State; Oklahoma had long been on my shit list. Ever since I spent a scary weekend in a tent on a mountain with a guy who admitted to having sex with his own brother, but that�s another story in and of itself

Tulsa A Gays


There aren't words...

Gourmet Goodness

Austin is the home of Whole Foods, if you know anything about Austin, that shouldn�t surprise you. It started here in a small store on Lamar blvd and the flagship store has seen several iterations since. While I was away from TX, they built and moved into the largest WF space in the world (80,000 sq ft). Like Donald trump would say, �It�s huge and luxurious�. The parking sucks�but it�s �Huge and Luxurious�, so that somehow makes up for it. My friends and I affectionately refer to whole foods as �Whole Paychecks� , Because that�s about what you�ll spend shopping there. I guess wheat germ and spelt just beg for a higher sticker price.

Whole foods is really good for a lot of things, but especially good for three things.

1. If you feel at home among WASPY soccer parents pushing $1000.00 baby strollers then visit Whole foods. They are everywhere. Moms in velour track suits, dad�s suffering in silent desperation. It�s the end of a marriage waiting to happen and you can have a front row seat.

2. Enjoy watching hippie counter-culture types buy socially aware food items even though they can�t afford it? Visit Whole foods. There are aisles and aisles of organic, free range, and other non-conflict food items priced above and beyond what�s acceptable and it seems like the only people buying them are people who wear tattered clothes don�t bathe daily?!

3. Need motivation to go to the gym? Shopping at whole foods you often feel like the ugliest, most out-of-shape, un-healthy person that ever walked the earth. Time spent among the other Whole foods shoppers (with exception of those described in #2) will have you re thinking your position on Yoga and Pilates.

I must say, it is nice to shop among people who actually put items back where they originally found them and clean up their own messes on Aisle 4. If you�re hungry and a little low on cash, you can peruse the free samples and almost enjoy a 4 course meal with wine and desert without feeling bad about it.. Most importantly, Whole Foods is a very socially aware organization that does give back to the world community in many ways. That seems like the honorable thing to do with their 150% markup

A Tribute To My Namesake

Picture it.. Houston, 1998.. there I was pretending to work out at the Q on Post Oak and this strange blonde fellow named Rob comes up to me and asks me if he could use the machine I was leaning on at the time. I obliged, and there started a strange friendship that has stood the test of time, distance and a name change (Ill get to that). So my new friend Rob, another bud named Jason F and yet another friend named Jason W all become fast friends. Among our friends we were affectingly referred to as the �Jason�s (�and rob)�. So there we were three Jason�s and one Rob W living and learning in the big city of Houston. As time moved on, we all went our separate ways and I lost touch with Rob.

Fast forward to 2002. I�m living miserably in South Florida and my then boyfriend and I decide to check out the Ft. Lauderdale GLBT Expo. While were there, there was a huge poster advertising the musical performance acts that day and low and behold I saw Rob�s face smack dab in the middle of it. BUT�the name under his face didn�t say Rob� it Said Jason. AND he had a singing sidekick named Demarco. They were called Jason and Demarco. In shock and awe, I made my way to the stage after their performance and we enjoyed each others company for a short while. I came to find out that the name change was in tribute to the �Houston Jasons�, which of course included myself. So if I die tomorrow, I can claim that I played a small part in the making of a Gay-Christian-Spirit-Pop-Crossover duo that�s taking metropolitan community churches and local gay bars by the balls. Figuratively of course.

Anyway�in a tribute to my old friend Rob..�here�s a promo for the documentary film about their lives...

Realtor Ridiculousness

New Car�New Title�what�s missing?�.New House� That�s right folks�yet another botched real estate deal under my bell due to realtor incompetence. This ones going to make its way to the State Board of realtors courtesy of, um, myself. I�m almost 100% positive I got inched out over cost, after a contract was singed. That�s a no no! So I�m homeless�I have a houseful of furniture slowly making it�s it�s way to Austin from Central America and no where to put it when it gets here. Maybe it will have to join my other things already in storage here so my storage costs will officially become insane. I�d love that�What I do know is that I�m tired of playing this ridiculous game here in Austin. I have all but lost all respect for all local realtors. If they aren�t money grubbing, opportunistic A-holes�they are doing a fine job of acting like them.

Now, I need to make a groveling phone call to the place I passed up last week�I hope his sense of pride wont supersede his need for $$.