Posted by: Park

06Apr / 2009

Carnival!

On Saturday I decided to go with a few of my friends to one of those traveling carnivals (this one was set up in the parking lot of the Tony Burger Center in south Austin). In the true fashion of this particular set of friends, things moved MUCH slower than planned. I left Emily at the house with the little one because Emily’s cousin was over for a visit. I got to my friends’ house around 4, but instead of leaving as planned, we hung around for 2 hours. My friend’s son Neo is 7, so I hung out with him and we rode bikes and skateboarded in front of their house.

We finally made it to the carnival, and I was really surprised at how expensive it was. Tickets cost a dollar each, and most of the rides were between 4 and 5 tickets. They did have this deal where you could buy a wristband for something like $19.95 that would allow you to ride as many rides as you want, but for some reason no one took advantage of this. I think I was the only one who spent less than $20. I bought 14 tickets and rode 3 rides, but I also spent $7 for one of those “rides” where they attach a harness to your waist that is connected on both sides to these giant rubber band things that allows you to jump 20 feet into the air and do flips. Jacob and Neo rode this ride the same time I did, and in true ghetto style of a traveling carnival, one of Jacob’s rubber bands broke while he was jumping. The girl running the thing didn’t seem to think it was a problem though and just pulled Jacob down by the ankle so that he would fly up into the air again (they do that if you stop bouncing because you’re hoisted up and your feet can’t touch the inflated mat that’s underneath you).

Here are a few pics from the trip:

I also rode Pharo’s Fury with Jacob, Matt and Rob. It’s one of those giant boat rides that swings back and forth. We sat as close to the end as possible, because of course that’s the best spot since you go the highest. It was actually more fun than we had expected. Here’s a video from my phone:

All-in-all it was a fun day, although I do wish the timing of things had been different so that Emily and the little one could have been there too. Maybe next time.

Posted in friends, weekend

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31Mar / 2009

Out for the weekend

So, this weekend we spent out-and-about in Austin. Saturday we left the little one with her grandmother and met up with Travis and Karla for a lat lunch. We went to El Chile, which was nice since it’s been probably a couple months since Emily and I have been there. I had one of their micheladas, which is a giant schooner of beer with a spicy concoction around the rim. Karla went with the Prickly Pear margarita and Trav picked a top shelf rocks rita. Karla’s looked the best, so of course I had to take a pic:

M01A0061

After El Chile, we picked up the little one from grandma’s, made a quick pit-stop at the house, then headed to Mozart’s for some coffee. The sun was going down and it was getting chilly, so we had our coffee, talked a little, then headed home. Here’s a view from the deck at Mozart’s:

M01A0067

Sunday was the last Sunday of the month and that meant it was time for the Silkenson family lunch at Central Market. Actually, the event is “sponsored” by my grandmother on my mom’s side, and my cousins from that side of the family usually come too, so I don’t really think it’s fair to attach the Silkenson name to it–let’s just call it a family lunch. Anyway, it was fun as usual. Emily and I took Charley and my brother Seneca and his wife brought their two kids: Hayden and Bailey. My brother Bala and his wife Amber weren’t able to make it, but they usually show up with their son Zayd.

(EDIT: My brother and his wife Molly were there too. He pointed this out to me via twitter and I think his feelings were a little hurt that I left him out of this post.)

Carting the little one around to so many places definitely makes things more complicated than when it was just me and Emily, but she makes up for it with her cuteness.

Posted in family, social

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24Mar / 2009

Thinking

Marc Savlov is an idiot.

Posted in thinking

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24Mar / 2009

Job hunting

Admittedly, I took some time off from the job hunt after the little one was born on December 5 last year. However, in the recent weeks I’ve been feeling the pressing urge to start working. After all, I did go to law school and pass the bar, the least I could do is actually practice law.

So I’ve applied to a couple DWI firms here in Austin, but no response. I talked to a friend from law school who works in Houston now, and she said her firm’s San Antonio office might be hiring and that I should send her my resume. Her firm does mostly civil work, but the partner that heads up the SA office still does some criminal defense work (for members of the military–he’s ex-JAG), so I’m a little excited about that. Plus, they seem to hire a lot of St. Mary’s graduates.

The only part I’m not exactly thrilled about is that we’d have to move to San Antonio. It would be one thing if I were single and only renting here in Austin, but I have a wife, kid and house. Not only would it be a big ordeal to move, but we’d have to sell the house and likely buy a house in San Antonio (I doubt we’d rent). I know people do it all the time, but staying in Austin would be so much easier. Plus, I just like Austin better.

It’s not that I dislike San Antonio really. My three years there for law school were fun and interesting, but it just doesn’t have the same feel as Austin. Most of Emily’s family and my family live in the Austin area too, and by leaving we’d be giving up quite a few built-in babysitters–especially my mother-in-law who’s taken care of the little one on short notice several times already.

If it comes down to it, I think we’d all move down to San Antonio. You’ve got to go where the work is, and I’d really like to be bringing in a paycheck soon …

Posted in family, law

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22Mar / 2009

I guess I’m a cat person, but I could do without the vomiting

I don’t necessarily believe in the whole cat-person vs. dog-person idea, but if someone had a gun to my head I guess I’d have to say I’m a cat person. While some may say that cats are less “loving” than dogs and that they don’t pay much attention to us humans, I find their personalities to be much more independent and I respect like that. And I know dogs have some nasty habits like eating their own poop and smelling each other’s asses, but I think cats may have dogs beat when it comes to vomit.

There’s something about the unmistakable pre-vomit sound a cat makes. It’s just gross, and one of the first thoughts that goes through my mind is: God, I hope he/she is not on the carpet … please let him/her be on the tile … *fingers crossed*. A couple months ago Mazey was up on the top level of our kitty jungle gym when we first heard it. Emily and I were in bed, but even though the gym is in the same room it’s not like you can reach up there, grab the little furball, and carry her to the bathroom before the action starts. You’re pretty much stuck observing the upchuck and hoping it doesn’t get TOO much of the dresser on the way down.

The most recent occurrence involved the alpha-cat of the house, Henry. It was pretty standard. We were sitting in the loft (probably watching Scrubs, 30 Rock or The Office) when he began to show the signs of an impending episode. Luckily (I thought) we had some napkins on the coffee table, so I decided to avoid the carpet cleanup by stealthily slipping a napkin in front of Henry to catch everything. Well, he wasn’t too happy with my quick movements and decided to relocate, right in the middle of throwing up. I tried again when he stopped, but again I was not quick enough and he moved again. So instead of having one spot to clean, I ended up with a few spots, connected by little drops. It wouldn’t have been that bad except for the fact that Henry had eaten something that made everything a very unnatural shade of orange. Go figure.

EDIT (24MAR2009 @ 01:20 hrs): Emily has informed me (as you can see in the comments below) that the culprit of this event was actually Watson, and not Henry. Sorry Henry 😦

Posted in cats, Henry, Mazey, Watson

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22Mar / 2009

Another picture of Charley

Okay, so I know my last post was a picture of Charley too, but this one is so damn cute that I have to post it:

Charley_in_carseat

I got lucky and captured her mid-smile with my cameraphone.

Posted in Charley, family

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06Feb / 2009

Charley Pic

I sent this picture of Charley to my friend Andria (see her blog at http://andrialegaldiva.blogspot.com/), but I think it’s such a cute one that I’m posting it here too.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what her shirt says… “Does this diaper make my butt look big?”

Charley

Posted in Charley, family

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01Feb / 2009

Went for a walk tonight

Emily and I took Charley on a walk tonight with Travis and Karla. We went from the house down to the capital and back (Emily tells me it’s about 3 miles). It was in the 70s today, but we went just after the sun went down so it was cooling off a bit. Charley was in her Bumble Ride, but we had a couple blankets to cover her up with.

I keep telling myself I’m going to post more. It’s a really good way to document the important things in my life, and so far I’ve kinda been slacking. Case-in-point: Charley is my new daughter and she’s 8-weeks-old now and this is my first post about her. Pretty pathetic.

Posted in Charley, family

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31Oct / 2008

It’s Halloween and I don’t wanna answer the door

Well, it’s Halloween and my first such holiday in an actual house as opposed to an apartment…and where am I but upstairs in my office on the internet. It’s not that I have anything against the cute neighbor kids in their ghosts costumes, in fact I’ll soon be a parent of one of those very such kids. I’m just lazy.

Emily must share my laziness because she just came in and told me she turned the porch light off. And wouldn’t you know it, the doorbell hasn’t rung once tonight.

Posted in family, random

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14Oct / 2008

Golden Girls, catfights and the dentist

Tonight I’m watching the Golden Girls for some reason. I’m sitting here in a leather chair with my feet up, the remote is on the arm, but I’m not changing the channel. I have to get up fairly early because we have an appointment at the vet to have Henry’s back leg looked at. Saturday morning, at around 7:50 am, we woke up to hissing, growling and cat screaming. I ran to the doorway where Henry and Sebastian were fighting and rolling in a cartoon-like ball of catness. Sebastian’s the new cat in the house, and so far they’ve been getting along pretty well. We think they were having a small fight, but then one of them knocked over a large picture frame we have leaning against the wall. The picture frame fell onto them and made a ton of noise, setting the small hissing match into overdrive. I finally got them separated, but Henry suffered a small wound on the back of his right leg. He’s not really limping or anything, but it did seem to bleed quite a bit.

[Side note: as I sit here another episode of Golden Girls is starting.]

After the vet appointment, I have a dentist appointment. It’s a pretty simple one–I’m just having a cap re-cemented–but the underlying tooth is the real problem. I’ve had two, (yes two!) freaking root canals on the exact same tooth and it still hurts when you tap on it or I bite into something hard like a tortilla chip. They keep using temporary cement in case I need work done on it, but at this point I’m getting frustrated.

[Final Golden Girls note: Blanche Devereaux had some nice legs.]

Posted in cats, Henry, random, Sebastian

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