Rivalry

Don’t be surprised if these start popping up in College Station around Thanksgiving week this fall.  Fosforus‘ engineers are in the final steps of breaking the code of crosswalks all over Texas.

Math

I played Lions Muny on Friday in a fundraiser for O Henry Middle School, and it was everything I hoped it’d be.  We even won the damn thing, by six shots.  Five pars, two eagles, the rest birdies.  I love Lions Muny so much I can’t bear the thought of it going away.  If you sleazebag developers get your way, you’ll be responsible for bringing North Austin down into my neck of the woods.  And that is NOT cool.  If that doesn’t make sense to you, then here’s a little math to clear it up:  Austin – Lions Muny = Waco.

Supermodel Superbottle

Congratulations to the good folks over at Sweet Leaf Tea on today’s Nestle news.  Shot this one today down at the studios at Fosforus.

SXSW 2009

One reason I love SXSW (while other locals seem to avoid it) is because of what happened last Thursday.  I walk across the street to BD Riley’s for a burger, around noon.  All of a sudden, this band cranks it up and rocks the place sideways while I’m having a business lunch meeting.  The client loved the energy and spontaneity of it all and bought everything I was selling.  This kind of stuff doesn’t happen at ACL Fest.  Or maybe it does.  Most of the time, I’m not a crowd person, and that’s all ACL Fest is.  SXSW allows me to choose.  It’s barely over, and I can hardly wait for next year’s.

Another reason I love it is that it’s so undefined.  ACL Fest is about music, for hardcore music listeners.  SXSW incorporates music, interactive and film.  Probably more.  And the whole time it’s going on, I don’t know what’s happening where.  But the energy is incredible.  And that’s just on the periphery.

Sad news (for me)

Sorry to read about this over at my pal Kevin Robbins’ blog.  For one reason, I just got hired on as an assignment shooter a few months ago.  But really because I think it was the best of the big golf rags, at least it was a couple of years ago.  Shame this one has to go while others are still around.

The Shady Grove’s Hamburger

Had lunch at Shady Grove yesterday, and in my eternal quest to find the best hamburger (NOT cheeseburger) in Austin, I realize now that theirs should be on my short list.  I tend to forget about Shady Grove for regular client lunch meetings.  Not anymore.

Core Values

I photographed an event yesterday in the ballroom of the Four Seasons for my pals at The First Tee of Greater Austin.  It was their 9 Core Values awards presentation.  Here are two of the recipients, Jennifer MacCurrach and Bud Shrake.  Jennifer has done as much for youth development in Austin as anyone, and Bud, well, he’s one of the greatest writers I’ve ever read.

Austin

I was commissioned a year ago to produce some photos for display in a downtown condo.  Here’s one from the shoot.  This one, to me, shows downtown Austin as I see it.  Not the traditional skyline. More of a feeling that downtown is there, but it’s not nearly as important as the environment that surrounds it.

Reminds me of how backward our government sees this whole economic mess.  They gave more of our money to another failing company (AIG…you know the one who ran those commercials about how much money they had?) yesterday.  I have some questions.  Where would the Dow and the S&P be today, if the tax-evaders public bathroom perverts prostitution clients government hadn’t given trillions of dollars to mismanaged companies?

And while all this is going on, half the country is focused on OctoMom and the other half on American Idol.

Remember

Happy Texas Independence Day, everyone.  Thanks to guys like George Rollow and Charlie Yates and everyone at the Texian Legacy Association, some of us are reminded that we don’t live and work and play and do whatever we do here in Texas by chance.

Rare

A rare photo of CW.  Yesterday at Boothe Ranch in Cypress Mill, Texas, to celebrate Texas Independence.  What a party.  My tenth year to attend.  I think the kids had a better time than the grown-ups.  And it’s not even a kid party.  Nice to know my kids would rather have cow turd fights more than playing with X-boxes or whatever the hell those things are called.