patrick schneider

Wave of the future. This is the most exciting thing I’ve heard about in years.

If you haven’t heard of biodiesel, first, check out www.biodiesel.org. Afterwards, run out and purchase a Volkswagen Golf, and go driving.

www.greasecar.com also is a fascinating site.

So, America, it seems like our energy “problems” are not really problems at all. Simply an opportunity for some fantastic alternatives to further develop.

I was trying to find information about their sotware engineering degrees. And their site is down. Hrm:


Server Error
The server encountered an internal error and was unable to complete your request.
JRun closed connection.


Update: Right after I posted this, their site came back up. Hooray for them!

…I will get to it one of these days, for sure. Be patient.

And go to hell Real World jerks.

Thursday night started off with two fun bands, The Like Young and Hockey Night. The Like Young has the Mates of State thing going on… a guy and a girl that are seemingly in love, on stage, making music. They were a bit more “standard rock” than Mates, though. Hockey Night put on a great show and called the crowd “dudes,” as in “Thanks dudes” after a song.

After Hockey Night, we booked it over to Elysium to see the whole reason for buying SXSW wristbands in the first place (or at least my main motivating factor): Ratatat. The line was blocks long. My brother made it in to the venue over two hours before, and from the looks of it, there was absolutely no way many more people were getting in. This set me off; I was utterly pissed. Nothing could cheer me up.

So, we figured the best thing to do would be to head over to La Zona Rosa to catch The Futureheads who started in an hour, and Hot Hot Heat and Doves following. And when we got there, I was crushed. Twice the line of Elysium, and no concievable way that we were getting in before the night was over.

Despondent at this point, I really was not capable of making any more decisions for the evening. Not that decision making was really my strong suit last night anyway. So we stood in line. Cold. Dark. Etc.

After about an hour of being in line, we can hear The Future heads going on inside. Damnit! About that time, we start up a conversation with the guys in front of us. They are in a band called Melee from California (playing tonight, midnight at Redrum). Super nice guys, and fun to chat with.

A cop walks by us around 11:15 with one of those disposable Gladware containers. Robin says, “Aw, he’s got snacks…”, and a conversation is started from there. The APD officers tells us that if we make it inside, he’ll give us some of his snacks (which were cauliflower and celery… hey, anything would be okay at this point, huh?). 30 or 40 minutes later, he walks out with two pieces of cauliflower left… one for me and one for Robin. What a nice guy! We laughed and ate some fresh vegetables as he put his Gladware back in his cruiser.

On his way back into the venue, he asks Robin and I how many are in our party… two, we say… and then he says, “Come with me.” !!!. This was right at midnight. We walk behind him, straight into the venue, skipping hundreds of people still in line, and get stage-center right as Hot Hot Heat starts playing.

What a night. We found our friends inside shortly thereafter, and HHH and The Doves put on amazing shows. Hooray for the Austin Police Department. They saved SXSW for at least two of us. Thank you again to the officer that let us in, wherever you are. You made our evening )

So, two nights ago, for my first night of SXSW ever, I headed out to The Parish right when their doors opened. The Wrens were playing last, and from what the paper said about their show last year, I figured the only way to get to see them would be to show up early. Not sure if that was accurate or not b/c I never got to see the line again once inside.

Here my overly simplified opinion of the evening: The Wrens were incredible. Everyone else ranged from moderately okay to horrific.

The Real World was there. I was on camera, but I didn’t sign their waiver, so I guess I’m going to be one of those blurred faces on TV. It also means that I can say whatever I want about them. (I took a copy of one of their waivers and read it over at a later time. You essentially give the “Producers” the right to do whatever they want with you and your likeness throughout the universe, indefinitely. They actually used that phrase. “Throughout the universe.”)

Anyway, the main crew consisted of 4 or 5 people with varying duties. Lights, cameras, guy with a bunch of wireless equipment, etc. The cast looked like standard Real World folk. From what I was told, the cast of the Real World is given an “assignment”, which is something like a job. They don’t just get to live in the house and do nothing. It looked to me like their assignment is/was to film SXSW, or at least catalog it in some manner.

So there was this weird cascading camera crew thing going on: the crew that was filming the “Real World” show was actually filming cast members that were, in turn, filming the acts performing on stage.

One of the cast members (most likely a cast member, though I suppose she could have been a production-er) tried to steal my girlfriend’s seat. I lean down, got right in her face, and said, “No fucking way.” She seemed completely shocked that anyone would say such things. Well, stop stealing seats, Real World jerk. I understand you have an “assignment” to do. But the rest of the world paid to get in to this venue, and we’re not going to be inconvenienced by your pseudo-fame.

I suppose the Real World deserves no more of my time. On with SXSW.

So… I’ve turned off all Comments and Trackback capabilities for this blog. Looks like I will now be judge and jury, as the spamming community has once again proven themselves to be quite effective at ruining things that are cool.

Anyway, it’s been a long while since my last post. I was quite please to see that my Korea Garden entry made Google’s list (search for “korea garden austin”). Maybe they’ll end up needing that $90 after all ;o)

…going to try to ping weblogs.com.

Ever since the election, I’ve had this nagging feeling that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. This morning it came to me: I’ve been wanting to research Alaska’s policy on marijuana because during the election, I heard a blurb about doobie legalization in that state. It didn’t take long to track down the information; remembering that I wanted to track it down in the first place was the difficult part.

At any rate, “Alaska courts have ruled that the possession and use of up to four ounces of marijuana by adults 21 and older in the privacy of their home is legal. The statewide Alaska court of appeals reaffirmed this in August 2003.” Wow. The problem is that it’s illegal to sell. I guess they’ll have to grow their own? But how do you do that if you can’t possess more than 4 ounces? Perhaps Canada sells weed…? I guess I should research their drug laws too.

I’m amazed that this kind of news hasn’t received more billing in the mainstream media. It seems so radical in light of the “War on Drugs” that we hear so much about. I say legalize ‘em all. I’m not a particular fan of any drugs besides alcohol for personal use, but big-daddy-Fed needs to shove off and let people do with their bodies as they will.

Here’s a great article regarding the drug-related events of this past election: http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/20526/. Pay close attention to the moolah involved here and how the Feds have squandered our tax dollars on ridiculous “so-called anti-drug advertising.” (Hint: they have a $200 million annual budget.) Enjoy, man. Like woah.

It’s nearing eggnog time again. I could put up a fairly decent argument that it’s already here. Holy crap. Delicious! If you have any good recipes, let me know; tradition dictates that at least one batch for the holiday is homemade

NOAA is the best place to get your weather information.

Veteran’s Day: Partly cloudy, with a high near 67. North northwest wind around 20 mph.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 47. North wind around 15 mph.

Usually the best weather predictions come by looking out of your own window, but NOAA seems to be second best. It’s good for when I need bicycle commuting information. I didn’t ride this morning because I’ve been getting back into the groove of working out. Couple that with normal judo practice and the ride to judo I did yesterday, and I’m beat down. Need time to adjust… the sleeping in this morning helped a lot…