Mucho miscellany, with subheads...


New links of note

Catherine, of Zunta Crew fame, is running in the Marine Corps Marathon to raise money for the Lombardi Cancer Center. Here's Catherine's description of the organization:

i do want to remind everyone that i didn't pick the lombardi center randomly; i really do care if you donate money to them, because the center is where my mother received excellent treatment for breast cancer back in 1996-1997. i remember going along with her to her chemo treatments, and the staff there was always incredibly kind to me, a teenager who was scared out of her wits, but who wanted to pretend to sort of be strong and not worried as the oldest kid in the family. the doctors were great; my mother had an oncologist who would call her constantly during treatment and afterwards to check on her status. just, overall...i mean, if you've got to go through something like cancer, the lombardi center is probably a good place to do it.

Her formidable goal is to raise $2,000 by October 22, so click on the link in the corner and give anything you can, even if it's just a buck or ten.

The blog roll has been updated. Danny gave me permission a while back to link to his blog in the sidebar, so check it. The link had been hidden, a la video game and/or DVD Easter eggs, behind the picture of me looking confused for some months now.

I've also added my first link to a genuinely conservative perspective, Burton Terrace. It's manned by frequent G.p. commenters J. Scott Barnard and Rob McEwen. All of you politically minded readers, feel free to head over there and start a comment war at your leisure.


"Blowin' up my pager, but I won't call her baa-aack"

That's a line from mid-'90s San Antonio local rap-rock band that used to play with my friend Zach's band, Garden of the Worm. I still love that name. Anyways, I got a new cell phone, so if you haven't already, please send me your number: mattwright at gmail.com. Of course, the phone came laden with tons of features I neither needed nor wanted. But, hey, I won't complain, since my parents once again bailed me out and paid for it.

Luckily for my bank account, my preliminary phone interview with National Instruments went well. They're looking to hire several technical writers it turns out, and the HR woman indicated they'd be calling me in for a face-to-face interview next week. Writing for a video game it's not, but it does sound promising.


Some whining

Man, it feels like I've been so busy the last couple of weeks, especially since I got back to the states, but I can hardly think of anything substantial I've done — besides maybe those three Texan articles and the credit card bill I forgot to pay.


Why I love Austin

This week's Chronicle features a cover story on how various Austin groups are doing their best to make the city one giant free wi-fi hub. Their motives appear to be completely altruistic: they saw a way to significantly help people out for little cost and relatively little effort, so they did it. Unlike our price-gouging friends at Starbucks...


"A helmet worn by no one has taken power"

Also from the Chron, Michael Ventura's column on the writing process is especially good: "This is not the place — move on." (Maryann, if you're reading this, make sure to click that link. It ties into the discussion, in a tangential way, that you, Kevin, and I were having the other night.)


Call Danny Ishmael...

For he has found the white whale:

Then it hit me...Brendan. He hasn't lived in the house for many months...perhaps...

Dragging one of the chairs from the living room, I rest it up next to the counter right below the cabinet claimed by Brendan. It housed all sorts of cooking ingredients and mixtures that he used every once in a while. What would await me when I opened the door?

Head over to goldenchair to find out.

That's it for now. We're going out for Reid's birthday tonight. Anyone who wants to join, blow it up.