From Twitter 11-29-2010

03:41:42: Starry Home Crafts - Artfire Spotlight shop - a fabric smorgasbord http://bit.ly/a1B8Tc #artfire
08:45:13: Artfire Featured Shop - Virginia Beach Quilter. See the fun and fabulous quilts she makes and customizes: http://ow.ly/3goWA #artfire
16:32:51: Item of the Week - a bottle stopper turned out of Padauk. This is my favorite of all the stoppers I've turned http://bit.ly/37AVX #artfire
16:42:48: Starry Home Crafts - Artfire Spotlight shop - a fabric smorgasbord http://bit.ly/a1B8Tc #artfire

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Weekend update

Thursday

Up early to bake pies
Off to mom's for the meal
Back home for the A&M-tu game on TV

Friday

Into the shop to work on Sean's commission (it's getting closer)
Aikido
Off to the movies for Harry Potter

Saturday

Into the shop to work on Sean's commission
Aikido
Dinner with K. and K.
Off to the movies for "Burlesque"

Sunday

Slept in

Into the shop to work on Sean's commission
Football

Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 11/27/10

Aikidoka:  Bradn, Dan and Lam (a new student).

Ukemi:  Light warm-up, watched over Dan


The Walk: twice

Releases:

Watched over Brad and Dan and then did some work on the chains or Ki Harry


Techniques:

Dan and Brad both did Shomen-ate with me for a bit.  We then worked with Brad on 6-10.  He'd seen and really worked on 6-9 previously, but had not worked on Waki gatame.  So, a good amount of time was spent on this technique.

Dan spent some time as uke for most of the techniques, learning to feel the arm barss, etc.

Aftermath: None of note

Aikido Friday Afternoon - 11/26/10

Aikidoka:  Trey, Troy, and Dan. Due to the holiday weekend, we changed up our schedule to go in the afternoon instead of the evening.

Ukemi:  Light warm-up, watched over Dan

The Walk: twice

Releases: did some work on the chains or Ki Harry

Techniques:

We did some work on Merritt Stevens (sp?) defenses and contact-to-cuffs in 6 seconds situations.

Aftermath: None of note

Artfire: Featured Shop: vabeachquilter

Kim does amazing work with fabrics.  Here are just a couple of my favorites from her shop:

From Twitter 11-28-2010

16:50:02: A Green Dress - Artfire Featured Shop. Fabric, patterns, dresses and more! Go take a gander! http://ow.ly/3diqm #artfire
20:00:12: Silver Alert for Santa! He's missing on Artfire and there's a big reward!! More info here: http://ow.ly/3ceXf

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From Twitter 11-27-2010

16:51:10: Starry Home Crafts - Artfire Spotlight shop - a fabric smorgasbord http://bit.ly/a1B8Tc #artfire
16:55:03: A Green Dress - Artfire Featured Shop. Fabric, patterns, dresses and more! Go take a gander! http://ow.ly/3dirz #artfire
20:00:11: Silver Alert for Santa! He's missing on Artfire and there's a big reward!! More info here: http://ow.ly/3ceWT
20:25:02: Black Friday/Cyber Monday coupon! Valid 11/25-11/29 only. 20% off all items. Use Coupon Code: CYBERBLACK http://ow.ly/3aXBe

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Central Texas BBQ Tour: Sunday

Up early for the trip home.  Another nice day for a drive and an uneventful trip home.

Central Texas BBQ Tour: Saturday

Up early for the final BBQ stop of the tour.  Snow's, in Lexington, is open only one day a week and they usually sell out by noon.  We decided to have BBQ for breakfast.  We got there about 7:30 and were one of the first folks there.  We sat around in the car (it was a bit chilly) until more folks arrived and it looked like they serving.  Once again, not terribly great BBQ.  I forgot to take a picture here, unfortunately.

Sauce : 2
Brisket : 3
Sausage : 2
Chicken : 3
Pork ribs : 1

We had a little adventure on the way back.  We were driving back to Austin on the way through Elgin and saw a state trooper on the side of the road with his lights flashing.  I tried to pull out of the lane nearest to him, but couldn't.  I slowed down some, but not enough apparently.  Shortly after passing him (and the County sheriff vehicle that was next to him), I saw some flashing lights in my rearview mirror.  I pulled over and had a conversation with the trooper.

Apparently, I was supposed to slow down to 30 mph from 50 mph when passing a scene with flashing lights.

About this time, I see the County sheriff vehicle flash by us and pull over another vehicle.  It appears they had this nice little gig set up for the morning where they would leapfrog each other getting cars who didn't know to slow down enough.

Luckily, I've not received a citation in about 25 years, so the trooper let me off with a warning.  We made it back to Austin without further incident.

We had a couple of hours of downtime and then met up with a good friend to watch the A&M-Oklahoma game at a Pluckers restaurant.  We had a great time and the game turned out the way we wanted it to.

Central Texas BBQ Tour: Friday

Got up early and went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast.  A hotel is a hotel, generally, but this place had one of the better buffets for breakfast.  They had actual hash browns instead of home fries.  That was a major plus.

Out on the road again to get to Lost Maples State Natural Area.  En route to the park, we travelled some minor roads and we travelled on a nice one, my favorite in Texas so far: FM 337.  It was twisty and turny and scenic.  It even had portions that had a warning sign for twisty roads with a speed limit of 15 mph.  They meant it, too.

The fall is when the LMSNA has all of their maples changing colors and they were reporting a great bunch of color.  We got there nice and early and were able to easily find a parking spot and get walking.  It turned out to be a great day for being in the park, but I was underwhelmed by the amount of color in the park.  There were some individual spots of color, but no major concentrations.

We spent a good portion of the morning at the park and then headed to Austin.  Another nice drive through Hunt and Ingram and a number of other small towns.  It looks like most of them survive because of folks coming to ride the rivers during the summer.

We made it to Austin in good time and got ready for our night on the town.  We went to Cuero's for dinner and then off to a Lyle Lovett concert nearby.  K. and I both thought the other was interested in seeing him but, in reality, neither of us was.  So, we went to the concert and had a decent time, but not enough to stick around for the entire thing.  The Paramount theater (where the concert was held) was cramped, folks were constantly going to and from the bar and the acoustics were unpleasant.  We left after about two hours, and headed back to the hotel.

Central Texas BBQ Tour: Thursday

K. and I decided to take our first > 1 day vacation since the dogs came into our life. Our goal was to hit 4 of the 5 top BBQ joints in Texas as determined by texas Monthly magazine. We also wanted to visit Lost Maples State Natural Area. We decided to fill in the extra time with a concert and a cooking class.

Thursday was the first day of the trip and we got off to an early start, around 6:30 a.m. We had a rental car, so we didn't hit the Tollway, but instead took Highway 6 around town to 90A and headed west.

At some point during that time, a customer from work called, so I had to spend a little time answering their question. After that, it was smooth sailing all the way to Shiner. We stopped there just to take a look at the brewery. We'd taken the tour a number of years ago and didn't want to go through it again. But, we did sample the free beer.

The next stop was Luling, for the City Market and the first stop on the BBQ tour. Luling is in the middle of central Texas oil fields and there werea good number of roughnecks eating there. The BBQ was not that great

Our rating system for this trip: 1 is the best and 5 is the worst

Sauce : 4

Brisket : 4

Sausage : 3

Pork ribs : 2

We stopped at a pottery place in town on the way out and picked up a dish to use for making deeper pies. I hope to try it out soon.

Next stop: Smitty's in Lockhart. Once again, a disappointment

Brisket : 3

Sausage : 4

Pork ribs : 2

Beans: 5

We wandered around town for a bit after the sampling, as the next stop was in the same town: Kreuz. Another blah meal.

Brisket : 3

Sausage : 4

Pork ribs : 2

From there we headed on to Kerrville where we had reservations for the night.  We stayed at Y.O. Ranch Hotel in the middle of town.

From Twitter 11-26-2010

16:42:31: Starry Home Crafts - Artfire Spotlight shop - a fabric smorgasbord http://bit.ly/a1B8Tc #artfire
16:50:03: A Green Dress - Artfire Featured Shop. Fabric, patterns, dresses and more! Go take a gander! http://ow.ly/3dipT #artfire
20:00:17: Silver Alert for Santa! He's missing on Artfire and there's a big reward!! More info here: http://ow.ly/3ceVx
20:25:02: Black Friday/Cyber Monday coupon! Valid 11/25-11/29 only. 20% off all items. Use Coupon Code: CYBERBLACK http://ow.ly/3aXzp

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From Twitter 11-25-2010

16:42:37: Starry Home Crafts - Artfire Spotlight shop - a fabric smorgasbord http://bit.ly/a1B8Tc #artfire
16:50:03: A Green Dress - Artfire Featured Shop. Fabric, patterns, dresses and more! Go take a gander! http://ow.ly/3dioW #artfire
20:00:54: Silver Alert for Santa! He's missing on Artfire and there's a big reward!! More info here: http://ow.ly/3ceUT
20:25:02: Black Friday/Cyber Monday coupon! Valid 11/25-11/29 only. 20% off all items. Use Coupon Code: CYBERBLACK http://ow.ly/3aXz5

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From Twitter 11-24-2010

16:50:04: A Green Dress - Artfire Featured Shop. Fabric, patterns, dresses and more! Go take a gander! http://ow.ly/3diom #artfire
20:00:16: Silver Alert for Santa! He's missing on Artfire and there's a big reward!! More info here: http://ow.ly/3ceUq
20:25:03: Black Friday/Cyber Monday coupon! Valid 11/25-11/29 only. 20% off all items. Use Coupon Code: CYBERBLACK http://ow.ly/3aXxC

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From Twitter 11-23-2010

16:50:04: A Green Dress - Artfire Featured Shop. Fabric, patterns, dresses and more! Go take a gander! http://ow.ly/3dinq #artfire
20:25:04: Black Friday/Cyber Monday coupon! Valid 11/25-11/29 only. 20% off all items. Use Coupon Code: CYBERBLACK http://ow.ly/3aXx6
22:05:12: Artfire: Spotlight shop: Designed By Audrey: jewelry, keychains, bookmarks and more! http://bit.ly/9q4Fqj

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From Twitter 11-22-2010

16:50:06: A Green Dress - Artfire Featured Shop. Fabric, patterns, dresses and more! Go take a gander! http://ow.ly/3din3 #artfire
20:25:03: Black Friday/Cyber Monday coupon! Valid 11/25-11/29 only. 20% off all items. Use Coupon Code: CYBERBLACK http://ow.ly/3aXvK
20:35:18: Artfire: Spotlight shop: Designed By Audrey: jewelry, keychains, bookmarks and more! http://bit.ly/9q4Fqj

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Artfire: Featured Shop: A Green Dress

She does a lot of upcycling of items. Give her a look and see what she's got

From Twitter 11-21-2010

16:40:16: A Green Dress - Artfire Featured Shop. Fabric, patterns, dresses and more! Go take a gander! http://ow.ly/3dipi #artfire
19:42:11: Artfire: Spotlight shop: Designed By Audrey: jewelry, keychains, bookmarks and more! http://bit.ly/9q4Fqj
20:00:09: Silver Alert for Santa! He's missing on Artfire and there's a big reward!! More info here: http://ow.ly/3ceTX
20:05:06: Jewelz Creatives Artfire Featured Shop. Dog and Cat toys galore! With, and without, catnip. http://ow.ly/39B9b #artfire

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From Twitter 11-20-2010

17:40:03: New to my artfire shop: Cigar style pen in Green Maple Burl. It makes me think of detective novels when I look at it. http://ow.ly/39AOr
19:15:19: Artfire: Spotlight shop: Designed By Audrey: jewelry, keychains, bookmarks and more! http://bit.ly/9q4Fqj
19:50:02: Jewelz Creatives Artfire Featured Shop. Dog and Cat toys galore! With, and without, catnip. http://ow.ly/39B8E #artfire
20:25:02: Black Friday/Cyber Monday coupon! Valid 11/25-11/29 only. 20% off all items. Use Coupon Code: CYBERBLACK http://ow.ly/3aXtu

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From Twitter 11-19-2010

19:39:12: Artfire: Spotlight shop: Designed By Audrey: jewelry, keychains, bookmarks and more! http://bit.ly/9q4Fqj
20:25:02: Silver Alert for Santa! He's missing on Artfire and there's a big reward!! More info here: http://ow.ly/3ceTm
20:45:04: Jewelz Creatives Artfire Featured Shop. Dog and Cat toys galore! With, and without, catnip. http://ow.ly/39AW8 #artfire

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