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Going to see “Revolutionary Road” was an exercise in controlled discomfort. I knew what the subject was, how it invariably would end, and what the upshot would be. I also knew it would be a chance to see two great actors ply their craft: Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are fine, emotional, and unafraid performers. The film, helmed by director Sam Mendes of “American Beauty” fame, rides like a Buick all over the “Suburban American Dream” with whitewall tires but does so in a clumsy and exploitative manner. Redeeming qualities of the movie are well-written argument scenes and the value of having a difficult mirror in which to examine one’s life.

This post has a light-spoiler warning: it’s not much you couldn’t have garnered from the trailer. For those who are going to see unaffected by any input shouldn’t read further.

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Saturday I woke up early and headed to Sodade Coffee’s one-year anniversary. It was great to stop by and see all the regulars I usually see there come by in a different context: instead of the laptop and cell-phone activities I normally see it was the hackers with families on parade.

My congratulations go out to Kim and Genaro at this marker. Their seats have borne my studying, typing, researching self since this summer, so this place for retreat has been a welcome addition to North Austin.

During this visit, Kim gave me a sweet T-shirt and I had a chance to work on my statement of purpose outline. I don’t really want to write any more about the whole grad school application process because writing the applications is exhausting enough. A real treat were the amazing jalapeño kolaches prepared by Kim’s mom as a special treat on the occasion. Soft and doughy with a pepper bite, they were sublime.

I returned home around 2:30 and Lauren and I were going to try to see “Revolutionary Road.” It was sold out, so we headed down to the Westgate area and had a great dinner of Tiger Cry at Madam Mam’s. Thereafter we went to Tapestry dance studio and participated in a “dance party” for learning two-step.

Being far too cool for C&W in my younger years, I never got a hang of two-step. My opinions moved slightly when I matriculated and became exposed to “real” C&W: Dale Watson, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Kelly Willis and the rest of the Austin sound, but I never thought that a class would be something I did.

Well, my friends, let life surprise you.

It also turned out that The Derailers, who we had seen shortly after New Year’s at The Continental Club were playing at 9 at The Broken Spoke so, freshly imbued with two-step, waltz, and our swing background, we were ready to have a great old time on the hallowed boards.

It was a great night out: friendly folk, Walker red label and Shiner and great music from the guys: their sound has a beautiful reverb-y Roy Orbison kind of majesty with a great Texas swing to it (thinking a bit of Asleep at the Wheel here). I think they’re a great show and a great time.

Afterwards we head up congress to Magnolia South and closed out the night with eggs and queso.

It was a beautiful night, and a great night to remember the best reasons to live in Waterloo.

It took me forever to get into SCM and I’m really loving Subversion.

…but now there’s git by non other than The Finnish Father of Linux himself. And boy, the world is crazy for it. And github, a place for sharing ideas is certainly in the running to get all sorts of kudos as the greatest addition to the programming world since sliced bread.

But here I am, writing essays for grad school ( and putting the revisions in SCM ), and writing code to impress review boards ( and putting the revisions in SCM )….so, until March, I think that I’ll be out on git’s pseudo-profane “fork yourself” jokes and stuck in that horrid, horrid land of “svn ci -m ‘this, that the other’”

Patrick McGoohan, actor, director, producer and man with the most stunning elocution of the English language has crossed over.

My good friends The League of Melbotis and his wife, Jamie, experienced the passing of their beloved Golden Retriever, and blog site namesake, Melbotis.

Mel and Dr. McBride

I remember following the link from Jim’s old blog site and finding The League and his adventures in Arizona almost 4 years ago. “Such an odd name for a dog,” was my, and many others’, initial thought. Roughly 2 years ago Ryan and Jamie moved to Austin and Lauren and I had the chance to make the acquaintance of that shaggy ball-hog.

To see Mel was to make an instant friend. There was something about his golden fur and ambling canter that just made you want to wring his furry middle. When you got his attention and he realized you were paying attention to him, his smile was instant, huge, and genuine. Over these last few years, no party chez League was complete without some ball throwing, or kicking if your hands were full, with Mel and his rambunctious younger housemate, Lucy. Lacking a canine friend ourselves, Lauren and I loved visiting Mel very much (it’s like being grandparents, all the benefits, none of the hassle ).

Yesterday we saw Mel off across the veil and into the Ganges, where ultimately we all must go. The only thing that matters in this world is using your time to show love to the world around you and maximizing the kindness therein. Mel was a golden buddha in this regard and a teacher to us all.

Until the mystery be known to me as well, good sir, farewell.

My blogging has been light for the last several months because I’ve been focused on trying to get admitted to graduate school. Included in the portfolio of “why Steven is a special snowflake and you should admit him” argumentation is reference to a project which demonstrates the fusion of my interests in Latin, linguistics, Ruby, metaprogramming, and Rails.

To find out more about my project, visit The Verba Latina website. As a warning, the initial load is a bit pokey. I’m going to move to a more robust host later.