Hilarious Billboard

People actually got mad at this billboard posted below because it reference a murder/suicide cult event also know as the Jonestown Massacre in 1978. I thought it was pure marketing genius.

Epic Bike Ride

During my weekend trip to Austin, I brought my mountain bike with me so I could do a small bike ride. Just to let you know, I am not that much of a mountain biker, let alone any type of biker at all.

Jenny, Darby, and I decided that it would be best to go biking after a night of drinking at a concert and an early morning breakfast at a local breakfast taco establishment called Torchy's Tacos. I chose to order the Trailer Park Breakfast Burrito which consisted of Fried chicken, green chilies, lettuce, pico de gallo and cheese on a flour tortilla with POBLANO SAUCE. "Get it Trashy" - take off the lettuce and add a ton of queso. And let me tell you, that was one damn good breakfast burrito.

When we returned to the Venza Manor, we quickly go ready for the bike ride. Since I didn't know the area very well, Darby did his best to try and describe it to me. To be honest, I started to laugh when on the inside when he said that "when we pass the canal, we have to carry the bikes over the train tracks in order to get to the woods". I knew it was going to be awesome, when as we were passing the canal, we also passed a backyard full of free range chickens to seemed to control that particular backyard.

Darby was right about carrying the bikes over the train tracks. There was no way that anyone could do that and not get out of the way of a oncoming train. While cross the train, the movie "Stand By Me" kept on popping up in my heard for some reason. I guess I really wanted to discover a dead body in the woods, point a gun at a douchbag bully, and then never tell anyone about it.

As we made it over the trains,the woods didn't appear to be that difficult. At first it seemed pretty easy, but then I quickly realized that the woods of Austin really likes to mess with people by putting booby traps all over the damn place. Hidden jagged rocks coming from the ground, low hanging tree limbs with invisible spiderwebs, dog shit, and vines were just some of the Wood's secret fun to hurt bikers.

There was only one thing that could be more scary than the Woods of Austin and that are the hills of Austin. When riding a bike, it seems like all of the hills go up and up and up. I am pretty sure I rode the bike downhill 2 or 3 times but rode it uphill about 70 times.

After about 40 minutes of biking, we finally made it to our destination, which was the Powell Residence. We went over especially to see Cody and Laura's newborn son August Gray Maxwell Powell. August is a cool baby who loves to fall asleep while listening to a babbling brook and watching Manchester United win a game or two.

After about 40 minutes of hanging out with the Powells. It was time again to get on the bikes and ride our way back to Casa de Venza. We took the same route with 1 exception. Since it was a nice day and we knew they trail, we decided to bike to a bar and grab a drink from one of the local watering holes. I don't know about you, but after doing some exercising outdoors, nothing is better than having a Shiner Beer to enjoy the day. And I am not being sarcastic at all, it was really enjoyable.

After another 40 minute bike ride. We finally made it back to the house and were ready to relax before a group of us met up for dinner at an awesome Mexican Restaurant with Avocado Margaritas, which were beyond amazing.

Here is a map of our trek to the Powell's house and a map of a different route that we took to get back to the Venza's house, which included a stop at a local bar of course.

Broken Social Scene Concert

On Friday February 18, I took a day off work and drove to Austin, TX to see a Broken Social Scene Concert at La Zona Rosa Theatre with a couple of friends. I was pretty excited about the concert seen I have never got a chance to see them in concert before, but I always heard that they put on one hell of a show.

Before I went to meet up Darby, Cody and Laura for the concert, I met up with Jenny to get a couple of drinks at the Black Sheep Lodge, which has to be one of my favorite bars to go to while in Austin.

Well, after a couple of drinks and some cheese curds later, it was time to meet up with Darby and his wife Jenny (aka Original Jenny) to grab a quick bit to eat and some drinks before we go to go to the concert. After we were fully assured that the three of us were full from Chicago Style Pizza, it was finally time to head to La Zona Rosa to see BSS.

Jenny wasn't going to the concert, but she did drop us off where we meet up with Cody and Laura. The opening band was Zeus and they were pretty damn awesome. I have never even heard of the band before but I was pretty impressed. They played for about 40 minutes and then it was time for the headlining band to come out.

The concert was absolutely amazing. The four of us were only about 7 feet away from the center of the stage and had a great view. Since the venue was general admission standing room only, the place was quickly getting packed with kids who were trying to push their way to the front of the stage. And because of this, it was becoming difficult not to be constantly bumping into other people during the show. This definitely made me feel old and hate young people and all of their shenanigans.

Since it got too busy for Cody and I, we decided to just stay in the back near the bar and enjoy the rest of the show. I am kind of glad that we did this because we ended up having a better view of the whole stage and could hear everything more clearly as well.

The band played a bunch of their hits such as Texico Bitches, Shoreline, and Anthems Of A 17 Year Old (which alot of people may know from the movie "Scott Pilgrim vs The World"). Through out the entire show, the energy was at an all time high. Everyone was going nuts and crazy, which included the audience and the band.

The ending of the show was the complete opposite though. It seemed like Broken Social Scene was building up for a huge finish but went a completely different route. The lead singer started a countdown and just ended the show. It went like this "4..3..2..1..Thanks guys", the microphone is dropped, the lights come on and the show just ends.

Even though the show was great, but I just wished the band would have chose a different way to end the concert. Here the setlist from the show and a different version of Anthems Of A 17 Year Old.

Super Bowl: Arlington, Tx Edition

Lets be honest, I only watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, half time show, and that's about it really.

Snuggie Pub Crawl 2011

Every so often, a group of brave men and women will battle nature and band together to form the greatest team and compete in one of the world's most notorious game: The Snuggie Pub Crawl.

It was the 2nd Annual Snuggie Pub Crawl in Uptown Dallas that served both as a time to hang out with friends and have a drink or 12 and also a fundraiser for the Make A Wish Foundation. So once again, I will be drinking for a cause, a charity, and a tax deduction. Oh and lets not forget all of the cheap drinks that all of the bars offer.

A group of 8 of us ventured to Uptown Dallas from Plano via Plano where we were introduced to the world's douchest cab driver. The cabbie was was over 30 minutes late and constantly told us that we had to tip him pretty good because he has gone out of his way to pick us up. Nobody in the group liked this because it is his job and we would have taken care of him if didn't tell us how much he needed as a tip per person for "inconveniencing" him.

The ride from Chelsea and Eric's house was kind of scary. The cabbie only had a small area of clean window shield piece to look at the road. Although he was constantly using his wipers, he would never turn on the window shield liquid on to clean even more of the area.

We finally arrived at our first bar and met up with the rest of the people who were participating in the Snuggie Pub Crawl. Our first stop was a bar called the Idle Rich Pub. They are known for having different types of beer from over the globe and some pretty damn good liquor as well. We only stayed for a drink because the Idle Rich Pub was the first place on the Pub Map and was quickly becoming over crowded. So our group of 8 paid the bill and made it over to our next destination.

The Black Friar Tavern was our next bar to visit on our pub crawl list. The was a pretty cool stop on our quest of saving kids lives because we got some great seats on the patio. Even though the weather had been pretty crappy all week with snow, sleet, and bitter cold, Saturday ended up being a great time for some patio drinking.

Again, we only a had a couple of drinks here before we headed to our next destination. The reason wasn't because it was too crowded, but it was because everyone needed to get something to eat before it gets too late and too many drinks were being had.

We moved out party to the M.A.T. (or the McKinney Avenue Tavern) and the weather went back to shitty cold weather once again. There was no room in the actual building, so we had to hang out in a tent to was located next to the side entrance of the M.A.T. It was becoming so that as you talked to anyone, you could see your own breath.

I know for a fact that everyone in the group got a little overzealous with the drinking at the M.A.T. because for some reason, 6 pitchers of beer were ordered for the guys and a ton of mixed drinks were ordered for the ladies. Even though a decent amount was consumed by each person, everyone was feeling the effects of the 6 hours of having too good of a time. We thought we were going to call it a night but we were wrong.

Our final stop of the night was a bar called Christie's which was directly across the street from the M.A.T. I am pretty sure that everyone had a good time at this place because it seemed much more relaxed and carefree compared to the other bars. The things that were mostly responsible for that feeling was the couches we got in front of the big screen TVs and the endless games of Connect Four that we were playing.

After an hour later, it was time to call it a night. We took a cab back to Eric and Chelsea's house in Plano with a much cooler, laid back cabbie. The driver was aspiring to become a rapper, or so I remember at least. When we got back the to their house, it hung out for a little longer until we all had to depart our separate ways and head home.

It was a pretty good time and everyone seemed to have a blast with their awesome Snuggie.

ESPN Super Bowl Madness

The Madness of the Super Bowl is taking over Arlington, Dallas, and Downtown Fort Worth. Due to the recent inclimate weather, I had to take the day off and decided to check out all of the festivities in Downtown Fort Worth.

In the middle of Sundance Square, ESPN had set up a stage so they could broadcast live all week long. A group of us showed up at 4 and the place was already becoming packed with Steeler Fans who wanted to meet their team. The reason for this was the the Steelers were staying at the Omni Hotel that was only about 5 minutes away from Sundance Square.

We decided to do a little bar hopping and just see who we could run into. Our first stop was the Fox and Hound Bar. We knew it was going to be a crazy night because it was only about 4:15 and the place standing room only. Somehow we managed to get a table in a corner and had a couple of drinks.

We were there for about 30 minutes when out of nowhere a group of Steeler Fans started to chant "Lets Go Steelers, Lets Go!" that never seemed to end. After about 20 minutes later, we decided to check out another bar and meet up with the rest of the group at Pete's Piano Bar.

We only met to stay for about an hour or so, but that never seems to happen when we go to Pete's. The place can be a time vampire and just suck any and signs of time right out of the place.

We were one the first people in the bar and they didn't charge us cover because we beat the piano employees there. As the mature adults that we are, the first thing that we ordered were a round of shots for 10 of us. I should of known that this would be our downfall.

To be honest, we only meant to stay for a couple of hours at the most until we would move to another bar. This never happened. Part of the reason was that the Jim Beam girls were there passing out free shots and the majority of us haven't eaten since noon and it was almost 7.

We decided to get order some pizza from a local pizza joint that was down the street. And let me tell you, when you have a couple of drinks, this is the best pizza in the world. Everyone in the group quickly devoured all of the pizzas and garlic bread and were ready to sing some more songs at Pete's.

During our time at Pete's, we got Meredith on stage to sing a couple of songs and awesome conversations with some Steeler Fans. The place then became a competition between the Steeler Fans and Packer Fans on who could chant the loudest. I am pretty sure that the Steeler fans won because almost all of the Steeler fans stayed here since their team was just down the street.

At one point of the night it became the unofficial shot time hour of the evening. Shots were just being dispersed all over the place. Surgeon shots were being passed out as well as whiskey, jello and and my arch nemeses tequila.

I had to call it quits at one point of the evening because I knew if I didn't, I would regret in the morning and I did not want that at all since I had plans for the next day. Oh and also my ride wanted to leave and miss some off the ice that was reforming on the streets.

We decided that it was a good time to leave since the night was becoming very expensive for some, I only spent $60 while some spent over $200. The roads were not that bad but people still had to be cautious just in case of any black ice or what Texas were calling "Ambush" Ice.

By the time I got home, I was beyond tired and ready for some sleep. But before I could get any sleep at all, a small amount of what my Cousin Dan calls "Farming" in the snow and streets had to be taken care of. Finally it was time to get some sleep and get ready for the next day, which was the Snuggie Pub Crawl Day.

Snowpocalypse 2: Snow's Revenge

Just when we thought it was over and Snowpocalypse has been defeated, this weathery bitch came back with a hard on for revenge.

After a horrible Monday Night and Tuesday Morning, things seemed to be slowly going back to normal. More people were going back to work on Wednesday and even more were going back on Thursday as well. But by the time Thursday came around, the villainous weather was about to change things for the worse.

Like every other Thursday, I meet up with some friends to play trivia at Fridays at 9. I showed up about 10 minutes early and the only weather change was that it seemed a little colder. The game usually lasts about 2 hours and we always sit in the bar section, which is never close to the windows at all.

Right before the game ended, one of the bartenders told us that it was starting to snow and the storm was about the begin. We really didn't think anything of it because my team and I were really focused on winning the game, which we lost 1st place by 3 points.

By the time that game officially ended it was around 11:15 and the snow was coming down pretty fierce. Ice has already taken over the majority of the parking lot and the visibility was becoming an all time low. Usually it will only take me about 20 minutes to get from Fridays to my house on a usual day. This time, I didn't make it home until a little after midnight.

On my way home, I saw a couple of cars use the highway as their own personal car version of a slip n slide. One thing I miss from Kansas is that the Kansas people know how to drive in this type of weather. Since Texas doesn't get snow like this too often, people go into a panic and drive like complete idiots and forget everything the learned from Driver's Ed.

The next morning was pretty awesome outside. Even though I couldn't go to work due to the ice, everything outside looked great. The snow covered almost everything in sight. And since I had another impromptu day off, it was time to get ready and check out the ESPN Stage and News Conference that was in Downtown Fort Worth for the Super Bowl.

Snowpocalypse 2011

Almost a year ago to the date, another huge snow storm has come through Texas. Instead of ripping the roofs of local breweries and uprooting trees. Instead, the weather is going to f**k up everything in sight since the Super Bowl is here.

The weather has just been plain bi-polar lately. For a couple of days it was great weather. It was 80 degrees, people were in shorts, everyone driving with the windows down, and not a runny nose in sight. That was the weekend.

Move a couple of days ahead to Monday night and boom. The weather changed and it started to sleet pretty damn hard in the middle of the night. So hard in fact that the temperature quickly dropped to 12 degrees with a wind chill of 8 degrees. Texas hardly sees weather like this.

And since Texas hardly gets a chance to see weather like this, people have no clue on how to drive. I cant tell you how many wrecks there were on Tuesday morning. A couple of highways had to be shut down because of reckless driving. There was one area where 20 18-wheelers jack knifed in the same area.

I couldn't go to work on Tuesday due to the weather and I was getting a bad case of cabin fever since I couldn't leave the house at all. The cabin fever reached in all time high when I wanted to dust everything in sight in the house just to pass the time. I ended up not doing that at all. What I ended up doing was watching Toy Story 3 and having some champagne. I thought it was a damn good way to spend my unexpected day off.

The weather is supposed to get alright on Thursday and then we should be blasted with more sleet and snow. I hope that isn't the case because I am supposed to see the ESPN stage in Downtown Fort Worth on Friday.

I will give an update later on to see if the City of Arlington has survived this ordeal or if we had to resort to cannibalism.