How I love Austin. I get to meet famous people all the time! Ever since I shook hands with Oliver Stone at the Dog n’ Duck in 1994, I have had many brushes with greatness. 
 
Seriously though. This fellow Apple employee’s Halloween costume rocked. I caught him on the way back from helping my friend Bryant with his MacBook. He graciously posed for me so I could take his picture. I didn’t make him do the Gary Owens voice. 

Posted by: Steve Maggi

@ October 31, 2008 8:37:01 PM CDT ( 0 comments )

Last week, my 12-year-old VW Golf gave us a horrible scare on 183. We were barreling south on the freeway, doing the speed limit when Somara [who was driving at the time] announced that the clutch wouldn’t pop back into place so she could change gears. If you’ve never driven standard here’s the deal; the clutch is mandatory for shifting otherwise the transmission gets fried. We managed to drift the car out of the traffic and into a nearby parking lot. I couldn’t believe it. The clutch pedal was stuck in the floor and it snapped back into place. It just lacked the spring-like mechanism to put it back into the ready position. 
 
I quickly called my friend Jeremy since he’s a auto buff plus we had just left his business five minutes earlier. If anyone had a clue or opinion, it would be him. I luckily made contact with my mechanic 30 minutes after closing time. Jeremy and Toby both agreed, my poor Golf was capable of hobbling to the shop in second gear exclusively. Just a couple catches: it had to be started in second gear followed by gunning the accelerator to keep it from dying; stopping was more horrifying, kill the engine at red lights. Riiiiiight. 
 
Somara got a hold of her parents to arrange towing and then we took Jeremy and Tina to dinner at Chuy’s. How I enjoyed having a couple margaritas since driving was out of the question for a couple days. Good thing my boss also gave me his phone number, Toby’s garage doesn’t open until 9 am. 
 
The repair entailed a week due to my mechanic’s workload. What can I say, he’s good and probably the best in Austin if you own a VW. Toby was hoping for something simple but no dice, my car prefers the expensive route, especially when I’m getting ahead on the bills…$861 since it became the bulk of the clutch mechanism. I only saved the part in the picture. Trust me, he had to replace the majority. Toby showed me the damage to the flywheel. Besides, I received 118,000 miles on a part which lasts around 100,000. 
 
Oh, the part in the picture. It turned a rod which then turned a series of mechanism to change the gear ratios. With the crack, the piece of metal could no longer grip the rod thus no more shifting. Jeremy can explain it better in the Comments if anyone cares. 
 
Now I’m having to re-learn how to drive with a more responsive clutch. It gave me flashbacks of driving my car on its first day, a traumatic and embarrassing experience I would prefer not relive. 

Posted by: Steve Maggi

@ October 21, 2008 8:35:03 PM CDT ( 0 comments )

Haven't had one of these pictures in a while and with the iPhone's built-in camera, it's even easier to catch these now. 
 
The vehicle had Texas plates but I guess it originally came from California because the equivalent of Tijuana for us would be Neuvo Laredo. 

Posted by: Steve Maggi

@ August 30, 2008 3:19:58 PM CDT ( 0 comments )

This lovely collection was left at the doorstep of my house. How awesome after a rather trying yet boring day at work. It was also soothing to receive because I was a tad stressed to get somewhere else on time that evening. 
 
It was so nice I wanted to share this with everyone. You can’t smell them but seeing them is next best thing. 

Posted by: Steve Maggi

@ August 17, 2008 5:12:01 PM CDT ( 0 comments )

This picture of me was drawn by a little lady who I get to see on Sundays at Einstein Brothers; my new Sunday-morning ritual with my former regulars at Kenny's. I think it's pretty accurate, especially on how much I've let my beard go unkempt. Things have been a tad crazy-busy so I will be trimming it soon. Maybe a haircut too. 

Posted by: Steve Maggi

@ May 2, 2008 8:26:15 AM CDT ( 0 comments )

For a limited time, Einstein’s Bagels is selling a green, potato-based bagel to honor the St. Patrick’s Day holiday. I decided to go for it since I can’t get a shamrock shake at any McDonald’s in Central Texas. It also looked like something they’d eat on Star Trek from the Sixties. No luck on blue shmear or a picture of Mr. Spock enjoying it; Vulcans are vegetarians so he could eat it. The other upside is I didn’t have green-colored waste like Chicago, Boston and NYC are plagued with from the holiday beer. 
 
Coincidentally, this green bagel was an appropriate treat to have on Dr. Seuss's 104th birthday. 

Posted by: Steve Maggi

@ March 2, 2008 10:11:11 PM CST ( 0 comments )

For the last few Sundays, I have taken up a new ritual to replace the one I used to have working for Kenny’s; meeting my key regulars at Einstein’s Bagels. Their lattes are mediocre yet I did enjoy their bagel and lox. It is nice being allowed to kick back, yap with the Simmons family, Charles [my WWII pilot and Mac apprentice] and the various people who come in and out. The young lady in the picture is Haley, the daughter of Dennis & Heather. A very nice couple who work in the education field of sorts. Their little girl enjoys my monkey imitation [something I learned from watching the original Miracle on 34th Street]. 

Posted by: Steve Maggi

@ February 24, 2008 9:24:29 PM CST ( 0 comments )

The Duran Duran concert was the final straw for me with my Olympus digital camera, a discontinued model. Since Tim Finn is coming in February to play at the Cactus Cafe, I decided that it was time to replace it because I’ll only get one chance before he retires [he’s 58 this year, I think he may retire soon]. Somara’s more impressive model is starting to give out too so after a quick budget review we went shopping, inspired by the sale at Fry’s. We went with Best Buy instead though. It’s closer to our house and a very helpful guy named Dirk did a great job fielding Somara’s questions [she’s the brains on photography]. Sorry Fry’s, your prices are great but your staff is elusive, the cameras are unusable for testing and the store in Austin feels super cluttered. 
 
With some initial research on Somara’s part, Dirk’s assitance and my willingness, we now share a Canon PowerShot SD750 Digital Elph, phew! I wanted something idiot-proof. Dirk said this is idiot-resistant which equally effective. Somara and I tried out a few shots with the trickle charge in the battery and the puny 32 MB SD card. I think these came out pretty well. My old camera would’ve made them look rather cloudy and don’t get me started on the digital zoom. 
 
Be ready for much better photos and short movies on Picayue this year! 

Posted by: Steve Maggi

@ January 11, 2008 9:32:48 PM CST ( 0 comments )

 
Well…seems the same idiot who did this last year has struck again. Somara has no recollection if she saw this yesterday when she came home. It was dark when I completed my errands so I couldn’t have seen it. I also discussed it with my neighbor Cristina and she doesn’t recall any particular noise across the street. 
 
My immediate theory is that some drunken moron went barreling along on Ora Lane, didn’t turn in time and went straight into it. Gives me great confidence in living on the end of a T-shaped intersection. The upside is the potential yahoos couldn’t pick up enough speed via the street in front of my driveway thanks to one rude jerk having six cars parked near his pad. 
 
It’s nastier looking than the picture makes it appear. Not a great way to start 2008 yet it beats the first homicide of the year happening close by. I don’t think they ever did solve that murder of a homeless dude under the bridge. 

Posted by: Steve Maggi

@ January 6, 2008 8:39:05 PM CST ( 0 comments )

This Christmas was pretty good to me. Not to berate anything else I received yet I must flaunt the customized pair of Chuck Taylor hightops my three nephews Hunter, Wyatt and Canon made for me. I told them it was an appropriate gift on many levels. Not only are they my “trademark” shoes but 2008 will be the centennial of Converse and the 80th anniversary of the shoe’s appearance. 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Posted by: Steve Maggi

@ December 26, 2007 8:52:21 PM CST ( 0 comments )