Just to keep Seemay jealous

amanda tries calamari, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

At Vespaio this weekend, before I had the lamb, even the vegetarians were getting in on the meat action, with Amanda trying calamari for the first time. She was very excited about the experience, but disappointed that it tasted like "nothing."

Also, the next day, there was sausage. In Elgin. Boo-yaaa!

Another weekend ends

umbrella, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

This one was a doozy, with all kinds of fun, a lot of work thrown in there, and even a nailbiter Spurs victory to top it off. Really, though, I just wanted to post this photo that I liked, and the rain coming this week is an excuse.

Sacrificial birthday lamb

sacrificial birthday lamb, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Sorry, little guy, but you were delicious. You, too, rapini and dijon-rosemary torta. Not so much you, fried olives. Day 3 of birthday blowout 2007 tonight. Weekend birthdays rule.

Getting there

chat piles, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Turns out my editor pulled a fast one on me and snuck that story about the dying Oklahoma mining town into the paper last Saturday. Here it is. More tomorrow.

Fair, balanced, and fired up!

Now that was some football game tonight in Indy, but I think one writer for the AP might have deviated a bit from his company's stylebook:

Not only was it a win for Manning, the All-Pro, All-Everything son of Archie, it was a riveting, back-and-forth showcase of two of the NFL's best teams, best quarterbacks, and yet another example of why football is America's favorite sport.

Cool, I guess if I ever get to cover a wild buzzer-beater in college basketball, I can throw in a sentence like, "Despite sloppy play by inexperienced players, the wild finish reaffirmed why many so many people prefer NCAA basketball to the pros." He does do his best to build suspense during the recap:

Then, the game plan changed because it had to, and the game morphed from another Manning meltdown into something much more.

It was. It was so much more than a football game. I was sure of it as I watched the game and petted my cat. So what happened?

He led the Colts on an 80-yard drive late in the first half for a field goal to make it 21-6. In the third quarter, he was at his cruel best, dissecting an exhausted Patriots defense for a pair of long drives and scores.

Yes, that crazy-eyed killer Manning, the guy that seemingly every company in America wants (and has hired) for their TV ads — he always does his best work while coldly throwing a ball between competing millionaires. His cruelty left the Patriots "a tired, desperate, defeated team in the end." Or one that was putting together a pretty decent last-minute drive before their quarterback made a mistake.

Then again, I should probably cut the guy some slack. Lord knows how many dispatches he had to slave away at, writing from football stadiums in the middle of nowhere, to work his way up to cover a game that actually matched the hype.

Nature finds a way

ice trails detail 1, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Well, the annual ice storm here in town, which brings out digital cameras like nobody's business, finally suckered me into shooting a few frames.

I looked out my window late last night and saw the lights from the apartment complex next door casting this strange, razor-thin backlight on the tree branches in between properties. Damn, I thought, I gotta go see what that looks like on film. Turns out, the answer was a spider sneeze.

Informed basketball commentary

Hooray, it's the annual Austin ice day(s)! You former Austin folks probably remember it well. The storm rolls in, it gets just cold enough to freeze, concerned citizens clean out H-E-B, ice accumulates on the streets, the whole town shuts down, and local news stations go into full-on Anchorman mode.

I worked from home today, but afterwards, I did find time for some heady basketball commentary. Unfortunately, since someone I work for may someday read this, I can't bring you the unabashed, raw version. You'll have to settle for the USA Network dialogue edit.

me: ha ha, god every time i read about that first rounder the wolves threw in with cassell for jaric, i laugh all over again
Reid: yeah, me too
read it this morning
me: that might be the single dumbest move in the last few years, just because it is so completely irrational
Reid: it doesn't even make sense
hah, exactly
i'd love to hear the tape of that conversation
me: ha ha, no poop
or be in the clippers office when baylor hung up the phone
Reid: mchale just saying "and a first rounder" and baylor trying not to correct him
me: pause. "yes, that's it."
Reid: realizing that mchale didn't misspeak
me: ha ha, covering the phone with his hand and looking at his aides, mouthing the words, "a first? really?"
Reid: this is after they tampered with joe smith and lost that other first rounder
fudging idiots
me: ha ha, i know
they lost 3 first rounders because of smith
Reid: poor garnett, man
the poor guy is trying to be loyal and they blow every chance to build around him
me: it's like being loyal to a girl who gets drunk and messes around with other guys all the time
Reid: exactly
i wonder if mchale goes up to KG's locker and bashfully apologizes
like "hey, kevin, i'm really sorry about that trade the other night"
me: ha ha ha
Reid: "i don't know what got in to me. i was just feeling really hurt and vulnerable and baylor made me feel like, you know, a real GM."
me: "uh, listen, kevin, we need to talk. about last night. i traded cassell."
KG: "WHAT?!?"
"...and a first"
"You did WHAT?" pause. slams hand against locker.
"look, kevin, i want to work this out, honestly, i do. just give me another chance"
Reid: HA
the real punchline is when he tells kevin who they got...
me: "by the way, here's this slow white guy who can't shoot. he's your new PG"
Reid: you know KG had to be thinking they were getting maggette or even mobley or somebody
me: oh, no doubt
"okay, marko and who else? corey? no? cuttino?"
Reid: come to think of it, if one nba player was ever going to murder his gm, it would be those two. i could see kg just snapping and strangling him
me: mchale kind of looks at the floor... bites his lip. "hmm, uh, no, just marko." then KG does that stare down he gives refs after bad calls eyes bulging, lips pursed
Reid: man, that deal is by far the most inexplicable trade of the last five years

And later, after OSU's legendarily bunk win over UT:

me: hay-seuss.
man, fudge oklahoma as a state, as a territory, and as a motherfudgeing population
Kriston: tulsa can eat a big fat dork
norman OK can eat a big fat dork
me: OK city can eat, a ... faaat doorrrrk

What were you expecting, intellectually rigorous analysis? FreeDarko this ain't.

UPDATE: Doh! Sorry, file this one in the Bad Timing and Poor Taste folder. I was just snuggled up in bed with my cat watching a basketball game, while the poor folks in Oklahoma were enduring a pretty terrible ice storm that killed a few people and left thousands without power. Get warm, y'all.

Nice day for a White wedding

with the mariachis, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Justin and I shot Hugh White's wedding last weekend. Yep, that Hugh White, from high school. Not only was that one of the funnest receptions I've been to, but they kicked it off with mariachis. Not just any mariachis, either, but an all-female groups, membership to which is apparently passed down through the generations. I need bold to say this: It kicked ass.

In other news, Amanda's probably breaking up with me after she reads this.

Congrats to Hugh and his bride! Hope to see all those guys again next time I'm in S.A.

Observer blog goes live; visitors to Observer main page confused

observer marquee, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

And we're off! After something like eight months of planning, almost as many months of searching for a writer, and six months of Molly Ivins columns serving as filler, the Texas Observer Blog launched today. If you really, really, really like Texas politics, update your bookmarks.

My new job — whose duties I performed entirely in my pajamas, by the way — kicked off with, let's say, a bit more fanfare than I'm used to. The above image greets anyone who happens upon the Observer's main page. Flattering, for sure, and almost as surely a chorus of readers around the state are asking, "Matt who?" I was giving the web guy, who had to slap the image together this afternoon, a hard time because it looks like people should have some clue who I am. It's the perfect cap to what has been a surprisingly wild and weird couple weeks, all starting that Tuesday after Christmas when my Post editor sent me to Oklahoma (that story should run soon, by the way).

Anyways, it's no coincidence that 80th Texas Legislature begins officially tomorrow, with the first order of business being a wild and wooly House speaker race, which I prefer to call Craddick vs. Pitts: Pandemonium at the Podium. Oh, the crazy life and times of a journalist!

...as Jason contemplates what's happened to his girlfriend

jason at trudy's, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Sorry for the sparse updates. The new Observer blog goes live tomorrow, so I've been working working working. Also, Hugh White got married on Saturday, and Justin and I were the photographers. That was bad ass. Deserves its own post. In the meantime, I'll check back in tomorrow when the Observer blog is fully operational.

Also, lost in all the bustle, at least in this space, there was some incredibly sad news this weekend. UT Professor Robert Solomon passed away suddenly while traveling. I posted my memories of my former professor on Austinist, and several other former students have left touching tributes in comments.

Lauri as zombie

lauri as zombie, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Something strange in the margaritas at Trudy's/

Need a drink; will get breakfast taco

new years crowd, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

I have just emerged from writing the most difficult story of my short-lived journalism career. My brain feels like mush. It took me more hours to write than I would ever like to admit, and it's hard to believe that you could read the whole thing in maybe five minutes. Now I have even more respect for my boss, who does this like twice a week.

Will post once it runs in the paper. For now, piccadillo-filled dreams of Mi Madre's tomorrow on the way to the office.