Lafayette Zombie Competition (With a twist!) and another hit for AMC with "The Walking Dead"

I love it when my home town gets a mention for Zombies.  It happened once while I was in Austin, and now it's happening again in Lafayette, LA!

It turns out that a local Architectural Firm, Architects Southwest, is sponsoring a design competition for the best zombie-apocalypse survival shelter.  You can vote for the one you think is best, and you should do so IMMEDIATELY, if for no other reason than to support a local Lafayette firm with a great sense of humor and a clever knack for marketing in this web 2.0 world of ours.  There's a cool discussion starting up at the voting site, with even funnier ones in full swing on Fark.com and io9.com where I originally picked up the thread.

Did I mention that you should go vote right now?  I loved the boat concept, but agree that it might not be practical on the Mississippi, what do you think?

This has got to be the most well planned Zombie Survival Diagram EVER!

Barton Creek Adventure

This is an interesting post - I get to photoblog and try out some technology at the same time!

I went mountain bike riding a few weeks ago with my friend Kevin over at Barton Creek. There are some great photos of the area on the City of Austin's website, but the Austin Chronicle also has a great guide. The complex has a private trail that takes you down to the creek trails without having to deal with the throngs of people and traffic near Mopac, which is nice.

At any rate, it was an amazing experience. It was, of course, challenging. I am not an advanced rider by anyone's stretch of the imagination, and this was 'technically challenging,' as Kevin put it. I got to do this one climb that was....amazing.

And, instead of posting photos on the blog directly, I've created an interactive map of the ride using the Google Maps. It's got the important points setup, and when you click on them, you'll be able to see the photos I snapped on the trip:

Swamp Romping

It's been awhile since my last post, but worry not, loyal reader(s?), I have been busy.

My most recent outings have been (mostly) documented by my trusty RAZR's phone-cam.

A few weeks ago, I was lamenting about how much I missed home. The music and the food are one of a kind, and I was longing for the spicy flavor of boiled crawfish and the funky chank-a-chank of Zydeco. I happened to be riding my bike in downtown Austin and came across the 2nd Annual Louisiana Swamp Romp.

Sweet! They had crawfish & Zydeco & Traditional Cajun music a-plenty. I really enjoyed it and was able to get some decent shots from the festival:


Fellow Passers of a Good Time. These two were cutting it up to a little Zydeco. Who was playing, you ask? Well, none other than Corey "Lil' Pop" Ledet, all the way from Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.



Incidentally, Breaux Bridge is the self-proclaimed Crawfish Capital of the World. Although I'm not sure exactly what that means, if you ever have a chance to visit during their Annual Crawfish Festival, you should. It's pretty amazing - the food is unbelievable and the music is top notch.



The above two pictures are from The Bluerunners. They're a great band from my hometown of Lafayette, LA. I picked up their new CD, Honeyslides, which is pretty damn entertaining. You can check it out on their MySpace page if you don't want to buy the album now (but you should buy it anyway ;) )

Nimble Fingers

I am just returning home from what will likely be one of the coolest experiences of my life. I went to see a performance hosted by the Austin Classical Guitar Society. I joined a few months ago, but I haven't made time to attend any of their events until now.

If you are in Austin, or may be here soon, make some time to attend one of their shows.

Tonight's featured performer was an incredibly talented and breathtaking guitarist from Karlovac, Croatia : Ana Vidovic.

Amazing.

Honestly, that word barely does Ana justice. I've tried to find another that might more accurately portray the passion and intensity she brought to the fretboard, and I must sadly admit that I could not find any.

Here's a few pictures of the virtuoso that I snapped after the performance while she was signing autographs:






I managed to get in line first and nabbed an autograph. She even spelled my name right without asking. SCORE.

HEHE.

So, if you haven't already bought her CD from her website that I linked to above, you should do so IMMEDIATELY ;) You can also get it at Amazon.com - The one she was selling at the recital was from the 1998 International Francisco Tarrega Competition, Benicasim where she took first prize.

Keep an eye out for her, and do try and make a recital if you can. Even if you're not a huge fan of classical music, you'll enjoy her performance.

Finally Settling Into Austin

Aahhhh...the sweet sensation of having a new, clean apartment. How nicely that coincides with the feeling of leaning back in my too small cubicle chair here at my Dell Cube.

I love Austin. Was there ever any doubt?