Friday
Lunch at Tookies
Aikido
Saturday
Blueberry muffins
Annual ALAMO meeting with a little extra drama
Grilled out dinner with the in-laws
Slept 14 hours
Sunday
K and I helped K rebuild a portion of her fence. Involved digging up/removing old 4x4s and then putting new ones in the ground and cementing around them.
Went out to La Tucan for dinner afterwards and it shows real promise to be a regular haunt.
This update is a week late, but we played the last place team in the league for the first match, and, I think, the first place team for the second match.
We weren't really contested for the first game. We won the first game of the second match and should have been able to win at least one of the remaining two. I think we got stuck in a bad service receiving rotation and failed to do well.
Friday lunch, was just a short trip across Hwy 3 to Gina's Italian Kitchen. It was the third day it was open, and some of the staff let me know that.
The waiter took my order and brought out some foccaccia with olive oil. Nice stuff (even if I think mine's better).
I order the spicy chicken alfredo, which was grilled chicken of penne pasta with a jalapeno tomato cream sauce. It was a bit spicier than I was prepared for, but not spicier than I could normally handle. For some reason, my taste buds were set for mild that day. It was a nice dish.
I ordered a slice of Italian Cream Cake for dessert, but I don't believe that was what was brought out. This cake had a fruit filling between layers, in addition to the icing. I was not a big fan of the icing. Far too solid, maybe it was fondant?
Overall, this was a nice restaurant, and I'm certain I will be back.
Aikido players: Tim,and Brad
Ukemi:
Full warm-up set
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
We made it through the sixth release tonight. We spent about 30+ minutes on the 6th release right side. It was actually interesting uke'ing for it with my eyes closed. Brad and I were able to detect, by the end of the session, when it was going wrong. It was interesting feeling the use of muscle, feeling the slight rotation of the arm that caused muscle to become involved.
An enlightening evening, even though we didn't cover a lot of stuff.
Techniques:
None tonight
Aftermath:
My right knee made me stop the class early. I think it's related to me attempting to start knee walking. I did not actually complete one knee walk step, just tested my knee to see whether it was doable. The knee has decided to complain vigorously.
Aikido players: Brad
Ukemi:
None tonight.
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Brad
and I worked on Gedan-ate some more. I tried to improve Brad's kake on the technique this evening. I posityioned my self and then taped off where I would normally be. I then had him get to the spot where he would be for the initial off-balance. From there I had him move to get behind where my feet would be, with his feet pointing in a good direction.
Maybe it'll stick.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Friday
Lunch at Gina's Italian Kitchen
Aikido
Saturday
Blueberry muffins
Started working on a fresh salsa for our dinner
Aikido
Football
More work on the salsa
K came over and joined us for our Mexican dinner. She brought Margarita fixings
We caught up on four episodes of "Once Upon A Time"
Sunday
Nothing much, recovered from too much tequila
Aikido players: Tim, Marvin, Gail, and Hussein
Ukemi:
Full warm-up set.
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
I worked with Gail. I brought out the sword to show her what she should be reaching for on the releases.
Techniques:
Trey and I ran through the first fourteen of Koryu Dai Yon No Kata. I did ok, struggling, as usual, on the fourteenth.
We then ran through the first 8 of Ju Nana Hon Kata and stunk up the joint.
We then had Marvin in the middle of a randori tangle with Trey and me
as ukes. He did pretty well, using a little too much muscle at times,
but that's not surprising.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, and Marvin
Ukemi:
Full warm-up set
The Walk:
Twice, as usual.
Releases:
Trey and I worked with Marvin. We brought out the foam sword to give Marvin a target to shoot for when doing the last 4 releases.
Techniques:
Trey and I ran through the first fourteen of Koryu Dai Yon No Kata. I did ok, struggling, as usual, on the fourteenth.
We then ran through the first 8 of Ju Nana Hon Kata and stunk up the joint.
We then had Marvin in the middle of a randori tangle with Trey and me as ukes. He did pretty well, using a little too much muscle at times, but that's not surprising.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Brad
Ukemi:
None tonight.
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Brad and I worked on Gedan-ate some more. He managed to get about ten good throws through the evening. The thing I hope he remembers from the evening is that the back of his hand must apply pressure to uke's chest and that he's trying to get to uke's bicep (at least on me) with his fingers.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Friday:
Lunch at Taqueria El Nopalito - last time to eat there
Aikido - seminar. A bunch of folks from Alabama, Killeen, Oklahoma City, and Houston working on Randori
Saturday:
Up too early
Blueberry muffins
Aikido seminar - day 2
Dinner with everyone at Bravo's
Sunday:
Sore. Lazed around the house most of the day
Breakfast and then back to bedFootball
We played one of the better teams in the league last week, and won the first game. It was close, but we won it. That gave us high hopes for the second and third games but, alas, it was not to be.
Here are 92 Mexican restaurants that Urbanspoon lists in our area. I've just removed duplicates. I'll go through this as we try them or rule them out for one reason or another. 18 are already marked out for being closed, chains or already tried.
| Alberto's Mexican Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican 129 Grand Ave |
| Anita's Mexican NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 4624 Nasa Pkwy |
| Anthonys Mexican Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican 941 Grand Ave |
| Barcena's Mexican Friendswood - Mexican 2200 W Bay Area Blvd |
| Benito's Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican 1309 1st St |
| Bravos Mexican 69% Ellington - Mexican, Tex-Mex 10906 Fuqua St |
| Cabos Grill Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican 3474 Palmer Hwy |
| Calientes' Mexican NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 3905 Nasa Pkwy |
| Campo Azul Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican 2441 FM 646 |
| Cinco de Mayo Mexican Grill NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 20784 Gulf Fwy |
| Delia's Cafe Alvin - Mexican, Tex-Mex 2211 N Gordon St |
| Don Julios Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican, Tex-Mex 1804 West FM 646, Suite F |
| Don Julio's Mexican... NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican, Tex-Mex 2900 Nasa Parkway |
| Don Pico's Mexican NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 2110 Bay Area Blvd |
| Dos Mas Mexican NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 103 W Bay Area Blvd |
| El Centinela NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 104 Hwy. 3 North |
| El Dorado Mexican NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 1962 El Dorado Blvd |
| El Patio Cafe Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican 2819 22nd Ave N |
| El Sentinela Mexican NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 104 Hwy 3 N |
| El Sombrero Cafe Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican 9302 Hwy 6 |
| El Valle Mexican Cafe NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 620 W Nasa Rd 1 |
| Esteban's Cafe & Cantina NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican, Tacos, Tex-Mex 402 W Main St |
| Ferrufino's Restaurant Ellington - Latin American, Mexican 11051 Fuqua D |
| Gabacho's Mexican Grill NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 4449 Nasa Rd 1 |
| Garcia's Grill Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican 2015 Fm 517 Rd E |
| Juan Big Burritos NASA/Clear Lake - Breakfast/Brunch, Mexican 176 Gulf Fwy S |
| Juanita's Taqueria Alvin - Mexican, Tacos 106 S 3rd St |
| La Brisa Mexican Bar & Grill Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican 4001 Hwy 146 |
| La Brisa On The Creek NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican, Seafood 501 N Wesley Dr |
| La Frontera Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican 2301 Hwy 3 |
| La India Bonita NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 213 E Main St |
| La Michoacana Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican 3528 Palmer Hwy |
| La Pradera Mexican Grill NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 1227 Bay Area Blvd |
| La Salmantina Ellington - Mexican, Tacos 9910 Fuqua St |
| Laredo's Mexican NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican, Tacos, Tex-Mex 2119 Bayport Blvd |
| Las Flores Mexican Alvin - Mexican 306 E House St |
| Las Haciendas 70% Ellington - Mexican 12933 Gulf Freeway |
| Las Haciendas Mexican Bar &... NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 1020 W Nasa Rd 1 |
| Las Tortas Mexican Style Ellington - Mexican 12800 Scarsdale Blvd |
| Leila's Mexican Restaurant NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 18119 Egret Bay Blvd/Fm 270 |
| Los Ramirez Mexican NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 16630 El Camino Real |
| Luna's Friendswood - Mexican 704 W Parkwood Ave |
| Luna's Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican 8399 Emmett F Lowry Expy |
| Lupe Tortilla - Clear Lake NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 891 W Bay Area Blvd |
| Marinas Mexican Restaurant NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican, Tex-Mex 3500 West Main St. |
| Martinez Mexican Bakery NASA/Clear Lake - Bakery, Mexican 17637 El Camino Real |
| Mom Alone Mexican Grill NASA/Clear Lake - Breakfast/Brunch, International, Mexican 1199 Nasa Pky |
| Moreno's Bar-B-Q NASA/Clear Lake - Barbecue, Mexican 1425 NASA RD 1 |
| Moreno's Mexican Friendswood - Mexican 2407 W Parkwood Ave |
| Nopalera Grill Dickinson/Texas City - Breakfast/Brunch, Mexican 1736 Texas Ave |
| Olivia's Mexican NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 223 E Nasa Rd 1 |
| Orlando's Mexican Cafe Alvin - Mexican 2625 S Loop 35 |
| Papa Gayo's Ellington - Mexican, Seafood, Tex-Mex 10943 Scarsdale Blvd |
| Refqueria-Taqueria Palmeras NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican, Tacos 17651 El Camino Real |
| Rey Del Pollo Ellington - Mexican 10092 Kleckley |
| Rio Verde Alvin - Mexican 1109 W Hwy 6 |
| Rivera's Mex Sal NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 233 E Nasa Rd 1 |
| San Lorenzo Mexican NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 3202 Marina Bay Dr |
| Senor Frog Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican 13210 Hwy 6 |
| Señor Sombreros NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 2640 E. League City Pkwy |
| Taqueria Arandinos NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican, Tacos 620 W Nasa Rd 1 |
| Taqueria El Gavilan Ellington - Mexican, Tacos 10739 Kingspoint Rd |
| Taqueria El Jaliciense Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican, Tacos 2013 10th Ave N |
| Taqueria la Estasion Alvin - Mexican, Tacos 23930 W Hwy 6 |
| Taqueria la Tapatia Alvin - Mexican, Tacos 617 S Gordon St |
| Taqueria Los Panchitos Alvin - Mexican, Tacos 22440 W Hwy 6 |
| Taqueria NASA NASA/Clear Lake - Breakfast/Brunch, Mexican, Tacos 2622 Nasa rd 1 |
| Taqueria Ringos NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican, Tacos 3520 Nasa Pkwy |
| Tejas Cafe Almeda Ellington - Mexican, Steakhouse 12348 Gulf Fwy |
| Tequila Mia's NASA/Clear Lake - Breakfast/Brunch, Mexican, Tacos 800 Bradford St. |
| Valdo's Mexican Cafe Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican 942 Grand Ave |
| Vicki's Burger, Burritos and... Dickinson/Texas City - Burgers, Mexican 9302 FM 2004 |
| Viva Mexico Dickinson/Texas City - Mexican, Tex-Mex 5828 Fm 517 Rd E |
| Zealeto Lindo Mexican... NASA/Clear Lake - Mexican 1212 Nasa Pkwy |
A friend, my wife, and I attempted to go out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant on Saturday night. We drove into the strip center and there was no sign of life. I got out of the car, peered in the window and saw that all of the furnishings had been removed. Durango's was dead.
We've been going to eat there for about 20 years.
It was run by one set of folks for the first few years. The owner then got out of the business and sold to the least friendly waiter on staff. He wasn't unfriendly, just the least friendly. The food continued to be good and the prices were good.
I'm amazed that they stayed in business as long as they did, as it was very rarely crowded. The busies they ever were was the weekend the Houston Chronicle featured them in their dining guide. They had a line out the door. We chose to skip eating there that night .
House margaritas ranged from $0.99 to $2.99 over the years (and always had a nice amount of tequila in them), and my favorite dish (Combination #1) was $9.95 (cheese enchilada, tamale, rice, beans, beef taco, chalupa, guacamole and a tostada)
The chips and salsa were highlights. The chips were thin and light and the salsa was freshly made and not cooked. You never knew how spicy the salsa was going to be because they might throw in a little extra heat on any given day.
Our favorite waiter quit about a year ago when he had a disagreement with the daytime manager. He was able to find another job even though he has a questionable immigration status.
So long, Durango's, I miss you already.
Now we have to find a replacement.......................
Friday:
Lunch at Fuddrucker's
Aikido
Saturday:
Up too early
Blueberry muffins and pancakes
Aikido
Football
Dinner with K and K. We attempted to go to Durango's, but they have closed up shop :( We went to Eduardo's just down the strip center and were mightily disappointed in the margaritas, chips, salsa and food.
Sunday:
Up too early again
Breakfast and then back to bed
Football
Spread two loads of fill dirt over some of the pine tree roots in the yard.
Football
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Troy, Hussein, and Liz
Ukemi:
Watched over Liz
The Walk:
Twice as usual. One rep we did with Trey, Troy and I sequentially calling out the count. (e.g. Trey called ichi, I called ni, Troy called san, Trey called shi, etc.) It was an interesting exercise.
Releases:
Troy was working with Liz. She was having trouble at usual spots, so I brought over one of the foam bokken in the dojo and had her imagine that she was attempting to grab the hilt of the sword on some of the releases. It seemed to help. I did help with Charles the previous night.
Techniques:
Trey and I worked together most of the afternoon. I did a little work on the Mae-otoshi techniques from the first 14 of Yon Kata.
Trey did some work on Owaza Ju Pon. We spent a lot of time working on Kubi Garuma. He got very close but was just a bit off for a while. We made one little correction and I went flying. My landing was a little off and stung my back a little.
We moved on and worked Aiki Nage, Shihonage, Ushiro-ate, and Kote gaeshi. Aiki went fairly well, Shiho went very well, and we played a bit with Ushiro-ate off-balances up versus down. We also experimented with the pacing and direction of Kote gaeshi, but it came together fairly quickly and well.
Aftermath:
A little ache from the Guruma fall and the Kote gaeshi fall. Nothing major.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Troy, Charles, and Liz
Ukemi:
Full set!!!!
The Walk:
Twice as usual
Releases:
Oversaw Trey working with Charles
Techniques:
I watched Trey and Charles work on Shomen-ate and Aigamae-ate, occasionally jumping in as uke.
Tim then had Trey and Troy work together and I took over working with Charles and Liz. We did a run through of Shomen-ate, Aigamae-ate and Gyaku-gamae-ate. Liz had trouble with Aigamae-ate with me, we ran through several times and she got closer to managing it, but she still needs some reps working with someone my size.
I also got to run through the first fourteen of Yon Kata with Trey and Troy.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Sal
Ukemi:
None tonight.
The Walk:
Once
Releases:
We spent the rest of the evening working through releases. Sal said he wanted to work on them since it'd been a while.
Techniques:
None tonight
Aftermath:
None of note.
We started off with 5 players to our opponents 4 and were losing. They added a fifth and we managed to right our ship and win the last two games. They were all fairly close, we won the final game 15-13, I think.
Friday:
Lunch at Perry's Grille and Steakhouse on Scarsdale
Aikido
Refreshed the sourdough starter
Saturday:
Blueberry muffins
aikido
football
Corn bread
Worked on the first dough for some sourdough bread
Sunday:
Worked on the sourdough
nap
football
baked the sourdough
made lasagna
Aikido players: Tim, Brad, Marvin, Gayle and Hussein
Ukemi:
Full set!!!! And I watched Gayle work on her backfalls
The Walk:
Twice as usual
Releases:
Oversaw Hussein and Marvin working together
Techniques:
Hussein and Marvin worked on Shomen-ate and Aigamae-ate for the afternoon
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Charles, and Liz
Ukemi:
Full set!!!!
The Walk:
Twice as usual
Releases:
Ran through Charles' set
Techniques:
Charles and I worked on Ushiro-ate all evening. We had some successes, but we're still having problems getting hung up on uke's wrist when entering.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Brad and Sal
Ukemi:
None tonight.
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Brad
and Sal worked on gedan-ate all evening. Trying to come up with a
way to prevent tori leading with his shoulder instead of his hand.
At the end of the night we did a little work on Shomen-ate, just to have a little success in the evening
Aftermath:
None of note.
Lost another close set, at least all three games were close. I did add some jumping to my repertoire this week.
K. and I woke up bright and early Friday morning (5:15 a.m.) and were out on the road by around 6 a.m. up to Dallas (Addison, actually). It was a good thing there were two of us in the car: we could drive in the HOV lane. Traffic going into town was a bit heavy. The HOV made it bearable. I had trouble navigating the exit from HOV and back onto 45 north, but we finally made it.
We stopped in Fairfield for breakfast and then in Corsicana for a stop at the Russell Stover's factory. During the drive in, K. looked up the details for the convention and discovered that the Artists Guest of Honor was Donato Giancola, someone I've wanted a piece by for a while, probably since LACon 3 or 4. After my recent splurges at WorldCon, I'd pledged not to buy any art until Worldcon next year. With knowledge that Donato was at FenCon, I knew I was unlikely to hold to that promise.
Dallas traffic was not too bad and we made it to the convention hotel by around 11 a.m. Too early for our room to be ready. So, we split up to our respective areas for the con and got to work. K in the con suite, me in the Art Show.
The art show was assembled already, so I was assigned to hanging some of the mail-in art, and my own. Jimmy said mail-in art submissions were down for this con, so there was not too, much art to hang.
K and I got together for dinner and football viewing at Snuffer's, just up Midway a bit.
Saturday was more of the same, with art auction prep involved as well. I'd seen a piece of Donato's in the charity auction and had determined I could bid on that safely. However, late in the afternoon, Donato had some free time and came into the Art Show and started a sketch based on a photo of someone who looked a lot like Gandalf. The piece I remember most of Donato's from LACon was a pencil and chalk drawing of Gandalf in 3/4 profile. This piece was of Gandalf sitting and smoking a pipe which, to my mind, was more representative of Gandalf than the other. I was excited and hoped Donato would put the piece up for sale or auction. When he was done, he told Jimmy to put it in the charity auction. I was doomed, I knew the piece had to come home with me.
Jimmy brought pizza in for dinner for the folks working the art show/auction and we started organizing stuff by bidder and entering the pieces into the computer.
I stayed doing that until late in the auction, I did not want to miss my chance. I was going to bid on the pencil and chalk sketch of Boromir and the Gandalf piece. Prices and the order of the pieces coming up would determine what, if anything, I would come home with. The Boromir piece went up first and bidding was lively. I dropped out at $250, showing some fiscal sense although it was a steal at that price. A few pieces later, as the last piece in the auction, the Gandalf piece went up. I ended up bidding against a friend and fellow artist and art show worker. She bowed out when she could not justify any further bids and I ended up with the piece.
K and I met up around 9 and thought about going to grab a bite to eat, she decided to turn in for the evening.
We were up early in the morning and worked until around 4 p.m., packed up and headed back home. We stopped for dinner in Fairfield at this bbq/gas station. Not bad, but not great.
We made it home around 9:30 to a big greeting from the pups.
I did manage to sell one piece in the art show, a spalted maple bottle stopper.
Aikido players: Brad
Ukemi:
None tonight.
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Brad and I worked on his gedan-ate all evening. Trying to come up with a way to prevent tori leading with his shoulder instead of his hand. Leading with the shoulder results in this being a thrown done with the upper arm instead of the center.
Aftermath:
None of note.
