Pinero told me about this, and I was skeptical. Then I tried it and my running theory for the idea behind this thing is that Buddah, Jesus, Allah and God had a mean a case of the munchies one night, and decided to create the ultimate snack/meal/pile-of awesome. I had to steal this pic from another website, as we ate ours so fast, I didn’t have time to snap a picture. Gordough’s, the fine, fine provider of quality donuts from their humble airstream on South Lamar, takes a fresh-fried ball of dough, tops it with honey butter and strips of just-slightly spicy fried chicken and dubs it the Mother Clucker.

This is up there in the pantheon of best-things-ever-eaten, and works fantastic as an appetizer to the Odd Duck food trailer, next door. An because its a savory treat, you can wash it down with a glass of cheap BYOB wine and still feel classy.

Austin’s second least favorite highway is getting a Windows ME-equivalent upgrade. From the world worst newspaper…

MoPac would not be widened. Instead, in the tight section between RM 2222 and the lake — where the Union Pacific railroad sits in the median — officials envision that the managed(tolled) lanes would be squeezed in by narrowing lanes slightly in some spots and using most of the existing shoulders. The new lanes would be separated from the free lanes by a row of flexible pylons and have a handful of entrances and exits.

As Germ said re-striping the shoulder is like putting a Band-aid on a severed arm. But hey, at least all those tolls are going to pay for those sound barriers in Tarrytown…God forbid that the house you over-paid for that next to a highway, be you know, loud. I know that TxDOT is secretly (or maybe not so secretly) trying to destroy Austin through a mix of strangling us with unused tollways, while letting I-35 (you know, the last free road) rot out from underneath us, but this is just absurd.

Tourists waiting for the Bats on the Congress Ave Bridge. A bit early yet.

It reassures my faith in humanity that at the outdoor screening of Back to the Future in our neighborhood there was not one but two Deloreans in the parking lot. Awesome.

Gov. Good Hair is asking agencies for a 5% cut out of his ostensibly  ‘balanced budget.’ I wonder if he could reimburse us for the rent on his Westlake mansion as a good start.

In total, Perry’s initial request for proposal produced plans for reductions $1.7 billion in approved spending from all state agencies over the current biennium. Today’s announcement via the Legislative Budget Board cuts that to $1.25 billion, which is still no small chunk of change. Such cuts probably hurt basic service provision in Texas more than they would in many other states because (as is so well and widely reported) such services have been cut to the bone as is.

House Legislative Caucus Leader Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, was quick to point out that if the state had taken steps to receive up to $700 million in Race to the Top dollars and $500 million in unemployment insurance cash, then things might not be so bleak. The caveat that he doesn’t mention is that these would be dedicated dollars for specific projects, but, still, $1.2 billion is nothing to sneeze at, even in the best of times. Dunnam said, “Accepting the Federal unemployment insurance and education dollars would only have affected Perry’s false image as a Washington outsider (never mind the $16 billion in Federal Stimulus funds Perry and the Republican legislature used to balance the current state budget).”

I really don’t understand how he’s still ahead in the polls.

Only in Texas would increased security come with extensive clarification about what types of guns you CAN carry into the capitol building.

Under current state law, so-called “long guns” — rifles, shotguns and the like — will remain legal in the domed landmark if they are carried openly, in a non-threatening way.

And, under an exemption approved Tuesday as a part of a new security plan, Texans with a concealed-handgun license will be able to take their pistols into the statehouse as well.

The article goes on to clarify that we should all feel plenty safe as it’s only legal for legislators to carry concealed weapons into committee meetings but not into the public gallery.  Oh good.

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At the Mohawk. Not only do they rock your face off in a live show (something i was a bit surprised by given the sound of their albums),  they also say  ‘fuck’  often and the way it’s meant to be spoken – with a Scottish accent.

One way for an already kickass bike shop to become more so? Hold free concerts. With free beer.