Austin, Texas 12/3/15 – Fado's Irish Pub with +Drink and Click™ Austin, Texas.

tickling her knees makes her serious!

Google makes these animations out of still photos. So when you put your camera in "burst" mode, they have a much larger sample and, as a result, the video is much more fluid and flowing. Like in these photos from last night's +Drink and Click™ Austin, Texas Olympic Camera Event at Fado's Irish Pub in Austin's red hot Fourth Street District.

We had two really great models at the event. I don't have a name yet for this model but will post it here when I get it. So bookmark this post, share it, and come back to it for a refresh with the model's name and more photos from the event.

+Eugenia Osbon at Fados last night

Fados

Fados.

Central Market, Austin, TX

Added photos to Drink and Click™ Austin, Texas Event with Olympus.

+Eugenia Osbon at Fados

Story of last night at Fado's Irish Pub.  Fourth Street District, Austin, TX.

Last night at Fado's Irish Pub on Fourth Street in Austin, Texas. 

+Eugenia Osbon

Cedar Creek sunset

Cedar Creek.

Remembering November 22, 2015. Dinner with friends on the porch.

+Drink and Click™ Austin, Texas met at the +Spider House Cafe on Thursday 11/19/15.  The subject was food and +Juan Gonzalez brought some really cool portable lights that resembled the laser light sabers in +Star Wars 

Friday Discussion Group with Aklilu who is developing a charitable organization to benefit kids in Ethiopia.

Added photos to Drink and Click™ Austin, Texas Does Food.

Pool party

Pool party attendee

Two years ago today on Nov 14, 2013 I was checking out F1 downtown.

Three years ago today I took +McKendra Adams kids on a field trip to the Texas History Museum. McKendra was powered through her first semester of law school and I was pinch hitting as her nanny.

The pool is 69 degrees today, that's Barton Springs territory for the temperature. Will it go up or continue to go down? Texas sure has a long swim season.

Tany, the airstream 3 way fridge, shrooms in the field and a beautiful sunset

I had a talk with "Tany" shown in front of the "greenplex"  Tany is a real country girl who captures and releases sharks on the Gulf Coast, has a bloodhound dog, and a giant diesel truck that she loves.  

The new UT business school is a giant crater in the ground that is now taking form.  What a massive hole in the ground for what will be a 3 or 4 story building.  We wound up at Central Market with Neil, Jan and Aklilu for "Fifth Mind", their little discussion group.

Getting almost too cold to swim. Water will go in to the mid 60s over the next couple of nights. It's 69 degrees now.

Thanks +Chrison Masangkay

The writer's lair of my lovely "yl" (young lady) and wife.

Sel or Selina, our newest renter. Recovering from a spill at a Longhorn game. She's a magnet for all the folks around who are only too willing to help her up and down stairs and go on walks. Good thing we have great wifi and can't think of a better place to rehab a broken foot.

My 50th high school reunion in 2013.  We were the Bayless Bronchos class of 1963.  We toured the old high school.  Didn't make it to the golf match because of our side trip to Hot Springs, AR.  Most folks are still going strong and are just now turning 70.  Can I still dunk a basketball?  Guess the answer.

Two years ago on Halloween we had a big flood. Funny, we just had a big flood on Halloween a couple of days ago. Halloween floods are becoming commonplace.

The pool during the rain during the Cedar Creek flood, frog casualties in the filter basket, mud and silt fill the pool making a massive cleanup challenge.

Please do this exercise along with me, it's called the "I K'un King" and is the primary warm up exercise for doing a set of t'ai chi. I learned it from Master Choy Kam Man at the Chinese YMCA in San Francisco, one of the greatest t'ai chi masters of all time.  Master Choys hands were soft like cotton from working out and he taught a generation how to feel ch'i energy.

+Dorothy Epp is a garbage man in the rain (cleaning the mess the red intern car made).

The rain brings a lot of mud and silt to the pool.

Life and death in the swimming pool basket during the flood of Cedar Creek 10/30/2015

Cedar Creek is flooding, the low water crossing is impassable, and the swimming pool is filled with mud and silt. Rain presents so many challenges. Not much rest today, I did get in a great swim.

Little Lexi, Dot and Cindi check out the widening Cedar Creek that keeps steadily moving up the hill.

Little Lexi, Dot and Cindi check out the widening Cedar Creek that keeps steadily moving up the hill.

I've seen fire and I've seen rain . . . today Cedar Creek is as wide as the Colorado River and it's right behind our home. Big logs going by. It will bring all kinds of new fish to our little fishing hole.

Two years ago today (Oct 25, 2013) I was at the Texas Book Festival. I wouldn't miss it! Maybe Austin's best free event of the year. #texas #book #festival #texas book festival #free

Three year's ago today at the Texas Book Festival. See if you can find +Joe Nick Patoski who was once kind enough to write up my bbs, The Spring, in Texas Monthly. I didn't see hime this year at the TBF. #tbf #books #festival #book #texas book festival

Three years ago today I was at the Texas Book Festival. See if you can spot +Kinky Friedman in the photos (clue, he's signing books and smoking a cigar).

My backyard in Cedar Creek, Texas. Flash Food Warnings for another couple of hours. Found a lot of walnuts; there's a huge walnut stand along the creek. Maybe this will bring in some new types of fish.  This isn't the creek, it's the hike and bike trail along the creek.  

With the biggest hurricane ever headed to Austin Saturday I doubt if we'll see a tailgate scene like this at the K State game. So for you that will miss the tailgate, here's the last K State tailgate party I sent to in Austin. Have vicarious fun anyway! +Longhorn Startup +Texas Longhorns

Four years ago today we were at a party with +William Hurley +William Hurley +w hurley who has 3 G+ accounts to go with his billions.

+Justine Ezarik​ on Dancing with the stars

A "story" of the Texas Book Festival Day 2. Google's elves worked overtime all last night to create this "story" just for you.  Thanks Google elves, you've done it again.  I hope I don't get in trouble for the slave wages you're getting to make these wonderful "stories" and the sweat shop conditions you're working under.  Tell you what elves, take the day off!

New! Movie generated by Google's elves of the Texas Book Festival Day 2. They took my photos and their little elves worked all night to make this Academy Award worthy film.

Faces of the Texas Book Festival 2015 – Day 2

Texas Book Festival 2015 Day 2

The Texas State Capital inside.

Four years ago today I was with Mikhael Gorbachev. No joke. He came to speak at UTs LBJ School of Public Affairs.

Texas Book Festival – "All Tore Up"

Texas Book Festival 2015 – Bill Witlliff and "Lonesome Dove"

Texas Book Festival 2015 – Writer's League of Texas

Texas Book Festival 2015 – checking out the book called "Memory Painter"

Texas Book Festival 2015 – +Cory Putnam Oakes

Texas Book Festival 2015 – shaking that tree of stuffed animals

Texas Book Festival 2015 – Mari Mancusi

Texas Book Festival 2015 – take a spin!

Texas Book Festival 2015 – "Cats for Peace" of course (NB +Lani Rosales)

Texas Book Festival 2015 – Ask me about the Storybook Project!

Get out your 3D glasses for this, remember one side is red and the other side is blue. Terrifying!

Texas Book Festival 2015 – representing the Texas Authors Association.

Texas Book Festival 2015 – happy to see each other

Texas Book Festival 2015 – in the bowels of CSPANN

Texas Book Festival 2015 – Just found a new home!

Texas Book Festival 2015 – woman with poster

Texas Book Festival 2015 – "ENDLESS PARTIES"

Texas Book Festival 2015 – a hat signing.

Texas Book Festival 2015 – Let me show you all about Galveston.

Texas Book Festival 2015 – Amy's Ice Cream. Yum!!

Texas Book Festival 2015 – posing with one of the most popular authors at her book signing, Sandra Cisneros.

Texas Book Festival 2015 – authors heading to the exclusive authors party

Texas Book Festival 2015 – in one of the book tents near the Capital

+Joel Horwath's incredible swimming pool and +Juan Gonzalez preps a model for an underwater photography session in Joel's pool. 

Texas Book Festival 2015 Snapshots! A new G+ artform.

Texas Book Festival 2015 day 1

+Taye Diggs at the Texas Book Festival doing a signing.

Texas Book Festival 2015

Faces of the Texas Book Festival 2015, Austin, TX

A record 300 authors are coming to the 2015 Texas Book Festival, Oct. 17 and 18, the largest number in the 20-year history!

Nationally renowned authors include Margaret Atwood, Taye Diggs, Nick Flynn, Linda Gray, Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket), Gary Hart, Luis Alberto Urrea, Margo Jefferson, Attica Locke, Marie Lu, Chuck Palahniuk, Tavi Gevinson, and Adrian Tomine.

Other headlining authors include Sandra Cisneros, Steve Inskeep, Azar Nafisi, Leonard Pitts, Jr., Mary Helen Specht, Jonathan Lethem, Lauren Groff, John Sununu, Scott Simon, and Robert Christgau.

Celebrating the Festival’s 20th anniversary and her third year as Festival literary director, Steph Opitz says it’s all been “an incredibly gratifying experience.”

“Over the years we’ve had fabulous big name-authors and we’ve had ‘trust-us-this-person/book-is going-to-be-huge’ overnight sensations. This year it’s going to be all that and some,” Opitz says. “If I wasn’t working this thing, I’d be sprinting from session to session trying to get at least a taste of all the magic happening in our Capitol that weekend.”

Standout themes this year include several books about music, poetry, graphic novels including several by women authors, and a strong showing of children’s and young adult authors.

More than 40,000 people are expected to attend the 20th Anniversary Texas Book Festival Oct. 17 and 18. The weekend kicks off with the First Edition Literary Gala, featuring Festival authors Margaret Atwood, Taye Diggs, and Scott Simon. The Gala is held at the Four Seasons, and only a few tickets are remaining. An after-party will also be held at the Four Seasons, to give more people the opportunity to mingle with authors and be part of the Gala festivities. Tickets to the after-party are $75 and are available for purchase here.

One of the nation’s premier literary events and longest-running book festivals in the country, the Festival continues to be free and open to the public thanks to sponsors and volunteers. In addition to the record number of authors, the Festival brings 40,000 attendees, live music, kids’ activities, food trucks, book signings and sales, and 100 exhibitors all in and around the State Capitol over two full days.

Three years ago today. William came and put us on the Google map.

Four years ago today (Oct 15, 2011) I discovered the most amazing food trailer and tailgate mecca ever. And it was made from a dumpster! Fitting that I've been following the progress of +Jeff Wilson, Professor Dumpster, for the past week or two. 

Engadget came to the Austin Music Hall on Friday Night 10/16/15 and showed off a couple of dozen exhibitors including "vapshot" (vaping alcohol), a sexy cooler/boombox combo, Chaotic Moon (thanks for the v neck t shirts), a new designer smartwatch, Fords new sync (thanks Ford for not letting me upgrade my 2014 F150 and making it so you have to buy a whole new pickup to get the new sync), and giving me an opportunity to talk to Conley Giles with Grohome (revolutionary new tiny house).  A good night but did not achieve the greatness engadget should be capable of reaching.

I have my own little coworking spot. Just me. A quiet nook in the midst of all the hustle of Austin.

Good luck in your journey +William Pakkala​

A drive though East Austin is always enlightening because it is the epicenter of change in a city full of change.  And Quacks may get bested in the Chronicle poll for best bakery, but it has my vote for number one.  And Central Market had a deal where you could make a painting on a real canvas for $5.

+ProHero selfie!

Did let anyone tell you that +OutboundEngine doesn't know how to party!

California Girl. Tall. Reminded me of Cameron Diaz. She made the elevator ride way more fun with her SNL worthy Californian accent impersonation.

I made nearly all these Startup Week in Austin Crawl stops, except for +Square Root and +uShip. I made it to +Bigcommerce, +Broadleaf Commerce, +EyeQ Vision, +Indeed, +OutboundEngine, +Peddle (this name cracks me up, don't ask why), +TrendKite, and the two mega stops of +Atlassian (which I learned to pronounce finally) and +Capital Factory (which I learned to spell finally). 

Fashion! And tech.

How do I get one of these +PostUp cups with the green lids? I'll sing and dance for it!

You'll be one of my best G+ friends if you can tell me anything about "Cake" and what it stands for. I'm kicking myself for not finding out and failing in a Google search. Cake?

These are some of the women of +Trunkist and they are super, super friendly!

Peeptrade.com Get in front of 2,000 people today.

Thank you PicJam for the bright red t shirt. I wore it today.

Penny and Tommy with MagRabbit Inc., one of the tech companies I worked for in my long run in Austin tech. 

Seriously. Don't mess with WordPress. Well ok then. At the Startup Week Crawl Capitol Factory event in the Omni Hotel.

OK +TrendKite why do you flaunt these hats at me when you're not offering them as swag! 

Look! See the ping pong ball in flight at the convivial +TrendKite Startup Week Crawl party. These Trendy Kiters were still rockin' and pingin' well after midnight.

Startup Week Crawl Best Dressed Award goes to . . .

At the Austin Startup Week Crawl, +TrendKite for sure had one of the better food and drink selections. The tacos and margueritas rocked it, TrendKite!

Here's a great group of folks including +Michael Cummings and +Elijah May™

During Startup Week there were so many great views from so many buildings around downtown. I especially enjoyed this panorama. (My condo is just to the right of the Capitol dome and you can see the new teaching hospital under construction).

Some great friends at a Startup Week Crawl party. +Kim Hollenshead, +Susan Lahey and +Chris Larson.

Startup Week Austin – the audience for Hired. Getting people jobs they love.

Woman seated at a Startup Week talk inside the converted Seaholm Power Station.

+jacqueline hughes hit a grand slam home run with this years Startup Week and Startup Crawl. +TechStars is Jackie's new outfit. She gets better all the time at organizing events and was my first hire at Texas Coworking. We will continue to follow her upward spiral.

F**kup Night (will Google+ let me use this word?) was one of Startup Weeks highlight events +Elijah May™, The Experience Firm,
+Frances Smith , UT Kinesiology Grad, +Laura Beck, founder of Striped Shirt, and +Nicole Forbes of Violet Crown Consulting revealed how they messed up big time at Mutual Mobile.

In this photo album are videos of all their talks. Also on the scene was +Susan Lahey, reporter for Silicon Hills who did a great writeup about the event here:

http://www.siliconhillsnews.com/2015/10/09/misery-loves-company-fuckup-nights-at-austin-startup-week/

This event happens every month in Austin, Texas



All of Day 4 of Startup Week. A lot happened that day!

"Snippets" from Startup Week 2015

Startup Week Morning 5 – Hangover Breakfast with Jacqueline Hughes, Roger Cauvin, and others at the departure lounge, Austin, TX

Startup Week Morning 5 – Hangover Breakfast with Jacqueline and Hired @ departure lounge. Jackie is SO TRANSFORMED that she had to introduce her self to me. We took a trip down memory lane and talked about her journey and the days at TexasCoworking.com where she was the Concierge. Since then Jacky has gone on to way bigger things and has landed at Techstars. #ASW15 was 5 days of "panels, parties and passionate people" (jh). I learned a lot, made of lot of connections and reconnected with some old friends.

Cambridge Tower – our Condo (just to right of Capitol dome)

Startup Week Day 4 – Startup Crawl, Michael Cummings, Hired, and more

Startup Week Day 5 – The last full day of Startup Week. I saw a lot of old friends that I've known since the 80s (+Michael Cummings, +Elijah May™ (nice trademark EM!), +Gray Abbott, and many more) and made a lot of new friends. It wrapped up with the awesome Startup Crawl. It will take a long time to process all the photos, these are just a few).

Urban Co-Lab is an amazing coworking space located in the heart of East Austin, right across the street from where the Farm Soy Dairy was located in 1980.  If you want intimacy, warmth, and friendly people Urban Co-Lab is worth checking out. It's $15 a day for a great little facility.

Startup Week Day 3 Austin – Urban Co-Lab with Professor Dumpster, Hugh Forrest talks SXSW, and capping it off with bowling at the UT startup party at Speakeasy.  It was a great third day of Startup Week.  Tonight is the Crawl.

Professor Dumpster Slide Show at Urban Co-Lab – (google generated with goofy music)

"Professor Dumpster" Jeff Wilson, PhD shook up the Startup Week session at Urban Co-Lab Austin's coworking space with his announcement of the "iphone of tiny houses". The iphone of tiny houses is a collaborative manufacturing effort with Jeff and +Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX fame. It should be really big and it will be rolling out in Austin over the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted. Jeff is also planning a visit to our community in Cedar Creek and I want to look in to the feasibility of placing some of these revolutionary new tiny houses at AustinSpring.

Professor Dumpster at Urban Co-Lab during Startup Week Austin 2015. According to the Washington Post "Until he vacated it last month, Jeff Wilson, PhD — an associate professor of biological sciences at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin — spent an entire year living in a converted trash receptacle on the historically black college campus.

On its face, turning the 33-square-foot space into a livable home — complete with an AC unit, a weather station, a mailbox, and a false-floor basement to store cooking equipment and clothes — was a bold exercise in sustainability that demonstrated a person’s ability to comfortably exist in a space 1 percent the size of the average American household."

Urban Co-Lab is a co-working community for global urban innovators and change-makers. Proudly East Austin. Urban Co-Lab aspires to build community for companies creating sustainable, disruptive, scalable solutions to education, housing, transportation and other areas of importance to urban corridors for global communities and the local economy.


Hydroponic Garden Demo at Urban Co-Lab.

Urban Co-Lab session during Startup Week in Austin. Collage.

Startup Week Day 2 10/6/15 – Austin, TX 78701

Whurley is the founder and CEO of Honest Dollar; a fintech startup bringing honesty, transparency, and simplicity to the financial services industry. Whurley’s career has spanned over 20 years working for some of the most innovative companies on the planet including Apple Computer, and IBM. He has received numerous awards and recognitions including an Apple Design Award, being named an IBM Master Inventor, and being awarded the 2012 International Genius Grant from the City of Amsterdam. In 2013 he was one of 100 innovators on British Airways inaugural UnGrounded flight where he and his team founded the AdvisHer initiative to advise, advocate, and accelerate Women in STEM (Science Technology, Engineering, and Math); an effort that was recognized by the United Nations at the 39th G8 innovation summit. Whurley is a published author and frequent public speaker focusing his personal efforts on innovation and diversity.

whURLey's talk at the Capital Factory for +Johan Borge's Cofounders meetup

+William Hurley +William Hurley +w hurley gave a talk at the Capital Factory.

Will Whurley – Keynote Speaker

Whurley is the founder and CEO of Honest Dollar; a fintech startup bringing honesty, transparency, and simplicity to the financial services industry.

Whurley’s career has spanned over 20 years working for some of the most innovative companies on the planet including Apple Computer, and IBM. He has received numerous awards and recognitions including an Apple Design Award, being named an IBM Master Inventor, and being awarded the 2012 International Genius Grant from the City of Amsterdam. In 2013 he was one of 100 innovators on British Airways inaugural UnGrounded flight where he and his team founded the AdvisHer initiative to advise, advocate, and accelerate Women in STEM (Science Technology, Engineering, and Math); an effort that was recognized by the United Nations at the 39th G8 innovation summit. Whurley is a published author and frequent public speaker focusing his personal efforts on innovation and diversity.

• Agenda:
6:30 – 7:00 pm Sign-in and socializing (Grab food a drinks)
7:00 – 7:10 pm Announcements, Sponsor notes
7:10 – 7:35 pm Keynote Speaker Q/A
7:35 – 8:30 pm Pitches / Q&A
Company Name Presenter Website
Convenience Select Allan Rayson convenienceselect.com
GeoActo Max Solodky geoacto.com
Prensalista John Bennett prensalista.com
Pow Wow Bob Sherriff joinpowwow.com
Hey Blink Me Evan Gow heyblink.me
8:30 – 9:00 pm Network, Network, Network
9:00 – Until whenever. Go downstairs to the bar to network more.

What do the colored dots mean and how I connect with other that I am looking for?

RED: Talent (developers, designers)
GREEN: Investor (accredited)
BLUE: Entrepreneur
YELLOW: Media, Marketing (others)

Added photos to Drink and Click™ Austin, Texas Event with Mylio, Nikon and Kelby One. Featuring Celebrity Photographer Matthew Jordan Smith.

The Bastrop Christian Outreach Center is HUGE.  Really HUGE.  No joking.  It's the size of an airplane hangar.  A giant cavernous tribute to the Lord.  Dana Thornton goes to church there.  I saw her daughter Bethany but I couldn't find her.  They have a lively pastor and an animated congregation.  They have a two giant screen multimedia presentation going on mostly showing folks in the congregation and what they're up to.  Good idea!  It showcases their more interesting members.  I give this church a very high rating for energy and enthusiasm.  

Three things every SXSW panel needs are a session leader, a tech guy and an asshole.  And just like SXSW every hangout and every event (like +Drink and Click™ Austin, Texas ) needs a leader, a tech guy and an asshole.  I am happy to provide one of these three roles in any hangout, SXSW panel or event like Drink and Click.  Just pick which one.

When someone pluses something I post on Google+ I take the time to look at their timeline and, if I like what I see, I give them plusses too.  I usually don't repost others stuff though, I try and post only original photos that I take myself and write about things I believe in.  And that's a lot more work than just reposting cool stuff.  I have nothing against folks who curate great content and I plus a lot of their stuff.  I just sometimes feel there's not enough "plus reciprocity" around here.  How do you feel?

So.  Bottom Line.  If you plus this or anything else I post here I will look at your timeline and, if I find cool stuff, I will reciprocate.  OK?

This is our stairway to heaven.

To hangout with the AustinHangout just simply go to AustinHangout.com and click join.  Then invite others!  Invite me if you like!

I wonder if I ran water to my neighbors if my water meter would spin backwards? 1,393,450 gallons of water used since 1980 when I first put in my water system. 92,900 gallons per year usage for an average of 7,740 gallons per month. The average American family of four uses 400 gallons of water per day. On average, approximately 70 percent of that water is used indoors, with the bathroom being the largest consumer (a toilet alone can use 27 percent!).  So my 7,740 gallons per month compares favorably with the average American's 12,000 gallons per month.  I also have a pretty good sized swimming pool.  All this assumes there is no decimal point before that last zero on the meter!

Six years ago today I was just getting a first look at what would become Texas Coworking near Sixth and Congress. It was then the home of Olive Web Design and it's owner was helping me out with some furniture and ideas for how to set up a coworking space. Today there is +WeWork at Sixth and Congress which is a leapfrog in to the future iteration of coworking.

Just one of the features of +Joel Horwath's ultimate Austin swimming pool. If the Chronicle starts a category for "Austin's most outrageous swimming pool" I will vote for Joel's pool.

3 years ago today I was at a party at Liz coworking space in North Austin. With +Ruben Cantu

My life, three years ago today. Our house was bare bones. McKendra and her kids had just arrived from Hot Springs.

+Joel Horwath sure has a great pool and his house interweaves with it perfectly, Joel went through an amazing saga to get this house, but his odyssey to get this place will give him stories to tell for years to come.

The pool pump room was daunting with the myriads of filters. This is a sprawling, incredible pool with an LED lighting system at night to die for. I've never seen a more elaborate pool.

It was attended by a lot of folks from +Drink and Click™ Austin, Texas and there were 2 or 3 models for some underwater photography, I think Frank was from the awesome beer outfit. It was the best Drink And Click ever! My Donald Donald J. Trump impersonation was really, really great. (?) And we got to bust up a Trump pinata filled with candy!

This is a fun workout with stability balls.  Instructor is Meryl Carey who has carved out her own space at http://mcfit.com at Spirit Fitness.  Spirit Fitness is part of what I call "furniture row" at the intersection of  Burnet Road and Anderson Lane.  Meryl has been my trainer for a long time, since I started taking texercise classes at UT (I still take these).

I got some stuff at Home Depot today.  Some bamboo screens, some super heavy duty, drinking grade 100' roll of hose, and a garden hose splitter.  I looked at some fencing and gates as well.

More easy as cake housing for AustinSpring in Cedar Creek, TX, our "el cosmico clone" for long term rentals and STRs.  This couples review cracks me up!  I saw this today at the Lowe's in Bastrop and it blew me away.  So well built! So versatile with a choice of open sides, screen sides or closed sides.  And only $498.  We're going to start renting these with water, internet, and septic hookups for $210 a month.  You would be half an hour from Sixth and Congress in a very friendly community if you rented this.

AMAZING Purchase!
Catfairman
Location:Maryville, TN

So I didn't take the time to read the past reviews so if I am being repetitive, deal with it. To start off, this thing is stupid simple to build…period. Grab a buddy, an 8 ft ladder, a 12 pack, a shorter ladder or step-stool and a drill with a 10mm socket (very important) .

Although time consuming (about 3 hours), this thing went together like peaches and cream! I looked at this thing on display at my local Lowe's store and imagined what a nightmare it would be to attach the canopy and not so…it was like "butter".

My only issue was with hanging the "mosquito" curtains and the solid curtains. The instructions seemed to "evaporate" at this point. Once you get the frame constructed and the canopies installed (again, too easy), you now get to "hang" the enclosures. From this point, if you don't drink, find someone who does to help you or your will start drinking. If you've been know to consume several alcoholic beverages in the past, go get more at this point 'cause you're gonna run out and take a torch to your new gazebo.

So here's the secret to hanging the enclosures. First off, the instructions, again, kinda fall off at this point. It doesn't explain whether to install the solid curtain or the mesh curtain on the inside or outside. Additionally, it does not explain whether or not these curtains are to be installed in front of or behind the four columns…so here's the deal. We installed the netting enclosure on the inside rail and the solid fabric on the outside rail. Both enclosures were installed INSIDE the four columns (as opposed to the outside). Here's where it get's ugly and most people start drinking…trying to place the little brass holes on the enclosures over the little stupid hooks provided.

At this point, I would recommend locking any firearms in your home in the trunk of your vehicle and giving the keys to a neighbor. It's that brutal. Here's the trick. For the outside "J" hooks, face them outside. For the inside "J" hooks, face them inside. Here's the installation trick ( You will laugh at this if you buy this and have read this review), you must place the "J" hook exactly at eye level, turn the "J" hook in the direction you wish it to be, grab the enclosure with your thumbs and forefingers just next to the brass eyelet and very, very quietly try to sneak the brass enclosure over the top of the brass eyelet. Should you make a sound or attempt to "force" the eyelet over the "J" hook, it will automatically rotate in front of your eyes!

Cheers!
Jeff & Catherine

Pros 
High quality, easy build

Cons
hanging drapes

Beginning Video of Basic Stability Ball Excercises

One year ago today I was downtown near the Driskill Hotel. 

One of the condos on our floor at Cambridge Tower has some primo LED lighting. This is a flashback to September 18, 2013. Exactly two years ago we toured this unit with Condo Joe Bryson.

Stability Ball Workout – 5 of 5. Throwing the stability ball at a wall.

Stability Ball Workout – 4 of 5.  Using the stability ball to do modified planks.

Stability Ball Workout – 3 of 5.  Stability ball against a wall.

Stability Ball Workout – 2 of 5.  Stability ball.

Stability Ball Workout – 1 of 5.  Initial session (long video).

I'm looking for a builder in the Austin area to frame up a 16 foot by 24 foot floor for this SoulPad and put a 16 x 16 foot shade canvas in the trees above it.  Call me at 501.365.1001 or email walhus@gmail.com or just say it in the comments below.

We were at Central Market a year ago today.

One year ago today we were at Central Market with Neil and Jan and navigating a muddy driveway. Since then we got the driveway fixed!

Michael Ray the Pool Guy at Haley Dais or "don one thing every day that scares you"

I knew coworking would heat up in Austin when I started http://texascoworking.com but I had no idea it would get red hot!  It is sizzling now!  Read this article form http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/real-estate/2015/09/inside-the-office-crunchas-downtown-austin-becomes.html

Then WeWork, the New York-based mega operator, entered the market in February with 30,000 square feet at the corner of Sixth Street and Congress Avenue. The reception has been nothing short of stunning. WeWork has already leased two additional floors at One American Center, according to leasing broker Travis Dunaway of Endeavor Real Estate Group.

Another New York co-working operator, TechSpace Holding Co. recently announced it leased 32,000 square feet on two floors at 98 San Jacinto Blvd., and Galvanize, a Denver-based coding school and co-working provider, leased 25,000 square feet at the North Shore apartment community under construction at 110 San Antonio St.
Morales and colleagues John Gump and Nate Stricklen said there room for plenty more co-working operators — though the WeWork expansion will bring relief.

"WeWork is really about economies of scale," Gump said. "It's not just for a two-person company. They are actually cater to large companies and they can block off 200 seats.

WeWork completely rocks!  +WeWork 

Meeting with Michael Ray the pool builder guy at Haley Dais in Cedar Creek, TX on Tuesday, September 15th. We're going through a long vetting process with Michael. My wife adamantly opposes him. I like the guy. He gets mixed reviews but can explain them. Should we let him build a container home and pool? What would the likely outcome be. Watch the video!

The Pool Guy +Michael Ray and +Matt Parsons complete with schlocky music from the Google Plus wizards who auto-generate these cheesey videos. Watch and weep. The Michael Ray pool guy has 4, count them, Ford Econolines, he talks of the hundreds of pools he's built, he has a book of fantastic rock landscaped pools. Matt is standing by in awe on the day he volunteered to clean the pool. He didn't see it coming. I gave him no warning. He got the total run down on how to clean cartridge filters.

Three years ago today I was at Banger's on a Thursday with +Drink and Click™ Austin, Texas

Three years ago today was one of my first +Drink and Click™ Austin, Texas meetings and I had a whole lot of fun with +Juan Gonzalez, +Peter Tsai, and the always great +Lotus Carroll

I am rediscovering what I did on September 11, 2014 one year ago. +Dorothy Epp was doing something with the propane on +Ryan Edwards trailer before it was his trailer. 

+Michael Ray, the pool guy, talks to +Matt Parsons about how to clean a set of pool cartridges.  We followed his directions and the pool may be crystal clear by morning.  Two interns were babies abouthelping us clean the pool, a dissappointment from a normally helpful group.  I'll report back when it gets day light and let you know how the cleaning turned out.

How to clean cartridge filters with +Michael Ray, the veteran pool man, and +Matt Parsons the volunteer pool cleaner for the next 10 days.  The man, +Michael Ray is talking about coming here, living at AustinSpring and building a great pool and rehabbing one of the cargo containers.  Do you think, based on his talk in this video, that he could pull it off?

This guy has built hundreds of pools and he's going to build me the ultimate pool for aquatic exercise and deep diving (a 12' deep end). It will be an interesting story to follow. I'll keep you posted.  He's +Michael Ray the ultimate pool man!  Notice how his Ford Van is rockin' while he's talkin'?

The AT&T Store in Bastrop. The only AT&T store in Bastrop.

Friday afternoon I bounced from the AT&T Store to Bestbuy in search of a tablet for Dorothy.  Today the search goes on for the perfect tablet for her.

Last Splash was the +Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa's party for its interns and employees and guests and we had the run of their awesome mini-waterpark and had some really great barbecue.  +claire llave and Pauline Joy Pasco are the cover girls.

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!  Krugman shakes the core of Republican beliefs.  Trump is standing up to the rich and wealthy.  The man of the people lives in a gilded, gold plated penthouse.  

Trumps opponents must be weeping when they read Krugman's words: "Bush has chosen to attack Mr. Trump as a false conservative, a proposition that is supposedly demonstrated by his deviations from current Republican economic orthodoxy: his willingness to raise taxes on the rich, his positive words about universal health care. And that tells you a lot about the dire state of the G.O.P. For the issues the Bush campaign is using to attack its unexpected nemesis are precisely the issues on which Mr. Trump happens to be right, and the Republican establishment has been proved utterly wrong." 

+claire llave, +Pauline pasco and an intern friend of theirs at the "Last Splash"

Last Splash! The awesome Filipina interns who live at +Spring Lodge invited me to the +Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa "Last Splash" which was a fun filled day of rafting down the man made "lazy river" and a superb barbecue dinner. 

Four years ago today Bastrop County, Texas where I own several homes was the scene of one of the worst fires in Texas history. Folks pitched in with supplies to help each other out at the newly built Convention Center. When you drove over the hill heading East to Bastrop, the fire was spread across the entire Eastern horizon, one of the most frightening scenes I've ever witnessed. It didn't get my homes. I was one of the lucky ones. And to this day, some folks are still rebuilding.

Two years ago today! This is what my day was like at Franklin Barbecue where Google treated me to a free barbecue.

Crunches – 3 – Meryl Carey guides me through 3 crunches and this is video 3 of 3 of the crunch variations I am working on this week.

Crunches – 2 – Meryl Carey guides me through 3 crunches and this is video 2 of 3 of the crunch variations I am working on this week.

Crunches – 1 – Meryl Carey guides me through 3 crunches and this is video 1 of 3 of the crunch variations I am working on this week.

On this day in 2012 I was with Sara Eleta, Bryn Harrington and Juan Gonzales at a barbecue with some really super music. 

My phone created this by accident today. Talk about oddball!

Added photos to Drink and Click™ Austin, Texas Shoots Film.