The movie at Republic Square yesterday was great! The staff from the Alamo Drafthouse set up a giant movie screen on the east side of the park with the downtown buildings serving as backdrop. The park normally serves as something of a gathering point for the city’s homeless population. It’s nice that this fair city provides free movies to these folks from time to time.

Some people think that I’m a cynic.

I love living in Austin! There are always so many great and quirky things to do. Here’s two examples for your reading pleasure.

This evening, I and my lovely girlfriend are heading out to Republic Square, which lies in the heart of downtown Austin, to watch Chicken Run on a large outdoor movie screen. This is the first movie in the 2005 Movies in the Park series. The movie lineup is almost a perfect Jeff’s Favorites list — Fletch, Raising Arizona, Napoleon Dynamite, and the 1960s classic It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.

Two weekends ago, I was sitting in the audience of the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown, again with the lovely girlfriend (have I mentioned how lovely she is??). We were at the Drafthouse’s Muppet Movie Sing-a-long. I had forgotten how funny that movie is to me. I really like the muppets, but I think there were a few people in the audience who were a bit more into the Muppets than I was. The three people dressed in costumes come to mind. Or the guy who could do quotes and impressions from The Dark Crystal.

A bit scary. A bit disconcerting. Definitely weird. Welcome to Austin.

Oh, and the Spamarama comes to town this weekend. Cirque du Soleil was here last week. This week, it’s Spam.

I’ve just received word from the organizers of the 2005 Great Easter Egg Hunt in Peachwater, Tx., commonly known as the Great Easter Egg Fiasco.

They wanted me to let everyone know that in addition to last year’s rules the following tips and suggestions also apply and will be strictly enforced.

• The word basket is meant to describe a normal-sized Easter egg basket. Laundry baskets, shopping carts, or other non-Eastery type definitions of the word basket will not be allowed. Let’s keep this fair.
• Please, no firearms or weapons of any kind. We do not want a repeat of last year’s incident.
• It must be reiterated: This is not a race. The child with the most eggs at the end of the afternoon is not considered to be “the winner” as some parents have been fond of declaring. The Easter Egg Hunt is meant to be a community enriching experience to be shared by all involved.
• The blue eggs do not — repeat, do not — contain any special grand prize award as last year’s rumormill lead some to believe. They are simply blue. And there is not any grand prize.
• No outside alcoholic beverages will be allowed into the venue, but vendor sales will begin immediately following the hunt.

Hope to see you there this weekend! And again next weekend for the All Fool’s Day Festival!

This poem made me laugh quite a bit:

“Upon My Offering Her an Easter Chocolate, My Wife Screams that She Won’t Let Me Make Her Fat” by Gaylord Brewer.

Forgiveness and salvation.

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I have a new picture phone! And apparently some water spots on the bathroom mirror. Time to clean.

My great friends are going to have a baby, and The Happy Husband/Father-to-Be is wondering what now…

Take a look at this picture. I thought it was a toothbrush at first as did a few others in the post’s comments. It’s the pearly whites that threw me.

From time to time, I like to look back through my old posts. I took a look back to about a year ago to see what I was doing last year. Here’s a few of my favorite posts from March and April 2004.

A Day in the Life - March 7, 2004

Nametags - March 17, 2004

Wide Awake - March 19, 2004

Happy All Fish Day - April 1, 2004

Sesame Street: 35 Years - April 3, 2004

Sufficient - April 6, 2004

What is real? - April 6, 2004

Calm Before The Storm and The Storm Sets In - April 9 & 10, 2004

ER Humor - April 11, 2004

Either Japan has a serious issue with trash or this is a poor translation.

I received my dividend notice today from REI!

For those of you wondering, What’s an REI?… it is an outdoor recreational equipment store that operates as a co-op. Members of the co-op receive a dividend back on purchases made during the previous year. Normally about 10% of the total.

This year I have about a $60 dividend. The options for redeeming the dividend are: a) cash it or b) use it on purchases in the store.

I typically like Option B the best because it also comes with the incentive of an additional 20% off on any single item.

You can do the simple math to see how much I spent this last year at REI. $60 is 10% of the total. Oh, and then that number excludes sale items. There are no dividends on sale items. Yep. I own a lot of stuff from that store.

But ya know, if the Russians ever attack, I’ll be ready to live in the woods in REI-branded comfort. I realize, of course, that maybe I shouldn’t be listening to music from the mid-80s while I write this post.

“Mr. Reagan says we will protect you / I don’t subscribe to this point of view / Believe me when I say to you / I hope the Russians love their children too” ó Sting’s “Russians.” Circa 1985.

I’ve been wanting a new tent for awhile.

I wonder how much the additional Russian-proofing will cost?