The taste of terror

As you can see from a picture I took this morning, the current threat level flavor in the U.S. is orange. This is considered worse than a lemon or lime threat but better than a cherry flavored one. JUST LIKE IN REAL LIFE!

"Standing tall, on the wings of my dream"

I'm heading to the Windy City for the weekend to visit my grandfather on his 80th birthday. I love Chicago, the few times I've been there at least, and one of the great opening scenes in television history captures the excitement of entering the city. I'm speaking of course of the intro to Perfect Strangers! Enjoy! I'll say hi to Barack for you.

Spec's Liquor Warehouse

Everyone in Canada who argued against trashing government run liquor stores and opening up the booze market to free competition should pay a visit to my new favorite liquor store. It's Spec's Liquor Warehouse! The place is fucking HUGE, by far the largest booze vendor I've ever visited.

While the provincial governments in Canada do some things very well, delivering a wide variety of competitively priced alcoholic beverages is not one of them. I realize the Tax Man takes a greater share in Canada to pay for beloved social programs, but even low prices aside -- the selection here is fucking tremendous. Not only do they sell every wine, beer, and spirit you can imagine, but they also keep on stock a selection of gourmet foods (with an in-house deli). For those who enjoy a fine cigars, they have a walk in humidor (no Cubans, of course).

I couldn't really capture it all in a video, but that didn't stop me from trying. Here's a stroll through Spec's Liquor Warehouse with the great music of 70s Texas funk band The Fabulous Mark III to enhance your shopping experience. Death to the SAQ!

River City Saunter

Earlier this month we took a trip to San Antonio and stopped by the city's historic Market Square (or El Mercado in Spanish) and then ventured over to the Alamo. Here's some video of the interesting products on sale at the Mercado, followed by a few shots of the Alamo.

Enjoy the interior shot of the Alamo, as I was almost kicked out for ignoring the signs that read, "No photography under any circumstances." I guess they consider disrespectful to the "shrine". My apologies to the ghost of Davy Crockett!

Bats! Bats! Bats! Bats! Bats! Bats!

Holy hell, there are literally hundreds of thousands of these little guys living under the Congress Avenue bridge in Austin, and every night they emerge screeching and starving for insects. This is some video I took last night when we went to go check out this popular Austin attraction. Admittedly, it is kind of hard to catch on a YouTube video, but hopefully this conveys some of the spookiness of it all.

Even though they look like evil bloodsucking monsters, you gotta love the bats for devouring thousands of pounds of insects every night. And let me tell ya, as a red blooded Canadian boy, there are some fucking freaky big bugs down here in Texas that I ain't never seen up north. I'm glad the bats are doing something about it!

Loonies gone wild!

OMFG!! For the first time ever in my life, the Canadian dollar is worth more than the U.S. greenback! At the time of this post, it cost $1.00171 U.S. to buy $1 Canadian. It's an economic reality that is especially pertinent for me right now, with bank accounts in both countries, and money dealings back and forth across the 49th parallel.

Why could this never happen in the 27 years I spent in Canada?! I'll tell you what though, Canadians are getting majorly shafted by prices. Someone is making a killing off the backs of passive Canucks still willing to pay 25% more for books and other consumer goods. Riot, you people!

Although, if the Canadian Labour Congress has its way, it probably won't even matter.

I place I know called Ontario

This is the first Ontario license plate I've seen in Texas and of course the driver did a half-assed job of parking. Keep it between the yellow lines, buddy! You're not in Mississauga anymore!

The way to drive in Texas is to ride your large American-made pick-up truck like a blazing white stallion at 90+ miles per hour down the interstate while weaving back and forth between lanes to keep ahead of the flow of traffic. Or you can do it on a Harley Davidson motorcycle -- but only in shorts, t-shirt and no helmet. Seriously, I've seen bad drivers in Ottawa, arrogant motorists in Montreal, and morons behind the wheel in Boston, but I've never witnessed anyone ride more insanely than these Texas motherfuckers. Right on!

Turbonegro must be destroyed!

As part of their latest tour to promote their new album, fucking Turbonegro is playing at Emo's right here in Austin on October 2nd!

Got our tickets and can't wait!!

Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowls

I feel bad because I have eaten so much amazingly good food in the U.S. (especially Texas) but I always seem to harp on the worst shit I find in the grocery store. Trust me, there are delicious eats and I will write about them...eventually.

For now, let's take a look at the calorific Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowl!

Servings per Container 1
Amount Per Serving
Calories 740 Calories From Fat 320
Total Fat 35g
Saturated Fat 9g
Transfat 0g
Cholesterol 60mg
Sodium 1000mg
Total Carbohydrate 96g
Dietary Fiber 0g
Sugars 41g
Protein 14g

Yumm.... 740 calories, almost half of them from fat!

And no, I didn't try one.

News Cat

Casa de Wal-Mart

To Wal-Mart haters who despise the world's largest retailer for homogenizing local culture, I offer this powerful rebuttal. Not only is Wal-Mart celebrating Hispanic heritage for the entire month of September, but also - as you can see in the upper left - they put a sombrero on their price-slashing smiley face mascot!
Hola! Amigo Care Bear would be proud.

This ain't the frickin Kootenays

Pretty fuckin rad animated gif hey? Looks like it was made in 1994. It would make a rad neck tattoo. It also truly sums up the seasons in Texas: hot and hotter. This weather is definitely foreign to my Canadian experiences.

I added a Weather Underground (Voted Best Weather Website 2007 by me) widget at the top of this page to share my current conditions. Like many warm locales, it's not the heat that kills you as much as the humidity, that damn sopping wet blanket of thick air.