The Nunezes in Austin

http://pictures.thelauves.com/nunez0711.html

I'm a little bit behind the curve; this is my first article to write on our new family blog as newlyweds and it's two weeks after the event I'm writing about. And I was the one who wanted us to have a blog, right Daniel?

Two weeks ago my Mom called to see what we were up to and it ended up working out just right for her and my Dad to come to Austin for the weekend. They came in on Friday night and we immediately went for Mexican food & margaritas (Dad's favorite!) at Chuy's.

On Saturday morning I got up early to have coffee with Mom & Dad, which is special for me. Daniel doesn't drink coffee (and sleeps later), and I rarely drink it unless I'm with my parents or it's a Starbucks kinda day, which I try not to make a habit of. I had made a few notes of some things to do, and one was definitely Town Lake. My Dad is a runner and the reason why I began jogging. I still work hard at it as it doesn't come naturally to me, but somehow that makes me love it even more.

We all enjoyed Town Lake in our own way, walking and/or running, and it ended with a twist because we sort of lost Dad--don't worry, we found him! Afterwards we went to Whole Foods on 6th Street to shop and eat an early lunch. The choices there are amazing and we all chose something different after tasting a lot!

We had a fun trip to Wurstfest--there was lots of sausage, beer and German fun to be had. In fact, there was even a little b-ball for Daniel. No, he did not win the humongous purple dog for me, but I didn't see anyone win anything from the basketball shooting booth. Some (Daniel) would say that the hoops were smaller than regulation and that he would have made two of the three shots he took on a normal rim. Among the highlights was the large hall where we listened (and did the Chicken Dance) to the Seven Dutchmen Orchestra and watched some semi-talented cloggers. That's also where I took a picture of the crest that was the closest match (Reininger) to our German friends' last name, Reinig. We looked for you, Jane & Fritz!

On Sunday we went to church and to took my parents on another, very different, food adventure. We went to eat Thai food at Titaya's on North Lamar. I knew it was going to be a tough sell to my Cajun dad, but I just kept saying, "but you like rice and gravy!" and it worked. It was fun, and I think Mom really liked it. The Tom Yum soup was extra good as always and the only very small disappointment was that mango is not in season and therefore we had to have our sticky rice with custard instead. Which was delicious but if you go and they have mango, get the mango and let me know what you think!

Mom and I went shopping lunch while the guys watched the Cowboys vs. Giants. I had previously made plans to go to the Ladies of the 80's sing-along at the new Alamo Drafthouse, so I did that Sunday night. Then Daniel, Mom, and Dad met me downtown after I enjoyed the sing along with some old and current (but both dear) coworkers. The four of us went to Cork & Company, a wine bar, and ordered a couple of flights of wine and had some good conversation over these couples cards. It was fun, and my favorite question was "Does your significant other act differently around their parents? How?"

Mom and Dad left early Monday morning for home after a great weekend. We enjoyed you and look forward to another weekend of adventures with the parents!

Works in more places, like Interschizophreneography

If, during the upcoming winter, we experience an uptick in traffic accidents, it won't be because of people talking on their cell phones, it won't be because of inebriated holiday drivers, and it won't even be because of ice on the roads. It will all be because of the linguistic monstrosity that is the new AT&T billboards.

I was driving along a slightly busy road the first time I saw one, and I have to admit that it was a little intriguing. A nonsense word, a globe fashioned out of the AT&T logo, and a few things sticking out of the globe. It took sitting through a red light before I got the entire message: the nonsense word was an amalgamation of China, London, and Moscow, and the things sticking out of the globe were the Great Wall, Big Ben, and Red Square. (It took me a while to figure out that Chi was China, not Chicago, and that Big Ben was not, as it appeared at a distance through less than 20/20 vision, the Sears Tower.)

Which hits at the major problem with any billboard that doubles as a puzzle--you really shouldn't need more than a second or two to figure it out. View the AT&T billboard during bumper-to-bumper traffic and you've got a chance; try to decipher it at 75 miles per hour, and you're likely to end up crashing your Pontiacuraccord and getting treated for a dislocussion at St. Bartholomatthewenceslaus. Different advertising media have different strengths and weaknesses--billboards have great reach and can be effective with a simple, straightforward message. But for some reason AT&T has seen fit to use basically the exact same (convoluted) ad for TV (directed by Wes Anderson), web, print, and billboard. Talk about your monotonoredundantising!

From a positioning standpoint, the AT&T campaign doesn't make much sense either. Stripped down to its essence, the ads boil down to the following message: We have a big network. Isn't that exactly what Verizon has been saying for about five years? And while AT&T showcases fictional customers who require coverage in an unlikely (and often exotic) combination of locales, Verizon focuses on the omnipresence of the network without dwelling on specific places. And that's leaving aside the focus of many bloggers who have written on the subject of the new ad campaign (as I discovered when I Googled "Chilondoscow"), that the claim of a network that is reliable in myriad places is simply not true. My favorite, which I can no longer find, says, "Works in Maybe-over-by-the-window-but-not-in-your-cube-istan."

In case you're interested, the obscene amount of orange in the new AT&T ads is a result of the recent merger with Cingular. It is apparently the only part of the old Cingular logo that has survived the merger.

Dressing Up in October

http://pictures.thelauves.com/dressup0710.html

On October 13, Brandi's cousin Teresa threw an 80s-themed birthday/housewarming party. Brandi was decked out in an authentic-looking pink ensemble, including a "SMILE" t-shirt, side pony tail, striped socks, and rolled up jeans. Daniel, displaying what can best be described as questionable devotion to the party's theme, went as Willie McGee in his rookie year. The party was a lot of fun--check out some of the other 80s archetypes that made an appearance.

Then for Halloween, Brandi and some of her coworkers did a Brady Bunch parody at work, so she dressed as a Brady. Doesn't she look the part?

A Sports Silver Taps

Let's face it, Aggies.  That cute little 113-year experiment we like to call the football program has come to a sad end.  It's time to lay it to rest and come to terms with what we really are: a basketball school. 

If I had known there would be this much excitement to be had watching the basketball team right now, I would have deferred my enrollment by a decade.  Before I started at Texas A&M, I had run as many March Madness pools (2) as I had attended college football games. But I quickly bought into the prospect of Aggie football. 

The A&M teams of the 1990s were definitely cool, in a slightly uncool (running and defense) sort of way.  Head coach R.C. Slocum was so boring that his secret e-mail newsletter was cancelled after three weeks because, as it turns out, boosters were not interested in finding out whether R.C. would be having oatmeal or cream of wheat for his pregame breakfast.  But as predictable and conservative as he and his teams were, they won, especially at home and especially in November.  Players like Dat Nguyen and Dante Hall brought their own brand of excitement, as well as conference championships in 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1998.  Fittingly, the last time the Aggies have finished in the top 25 in a final AP poll was 1999. 

Since then, the team has been plagued by poor play, substandard recruiting, and secret newsletters.  Most importantly, they've had to face some real competition.  Not from Texas Tech or Oklahoma or even Texas, but from a little sports team just a couple blocks down the street.  We're talking about a team that doesn't wear cleats, doesn't play for sixty minutes, and whose field the Aggie band can't even fit on!  And they don't even really play on a field!

I'm speaking, of course, about the juggernaut that is the Fightin' Texas Aggie Basketball Team.  Once the doormats of the Big 12, the 2007 Ags came from out of nowhere to capture their first Sweet 16 in twenty-five years.  What's more remarkable is that over this (one-year) stretch of Sweet 16 berths, the Aggie basketball factory has produced more NBA lottery picks (1) than Duke, UCLA, UConn, Arizona, and Kentucky combined.

The 2007/2008 basketball team, ranked #14 in the preseason, rolled past Emporia State in its preseason opener.  It should be another exciting year for the basketball team, further cementing the sea change at the once football-crazed school.  Yes, the experiment we call "Texas A&M as a football school" has clearly run its course.  It's time to bury the Aggie football program--don't worry, we'll make sure that wherever we put it, it'll have a good view of the Reed Arena scoreboard.