I’m a tremendous fan of Mexican, Tex-Mex, and Southwestern cuisines. Yesterday, one of my friends introduced me to Chuy’s at lunch, which had excellent food, including a kind of salsa I hadn’t ever had before. It’s pretty much salsa verde, the classic tomatillo/cilantro/garlic/serrano concoction, but with sour cream mixed in as well. Great on enchiladas. I’ll have to try making this one next time I go on a salsa-manufacturing binge.

The trailer for Peter Jackson’s Upcoming The Lord of the Rings movie is now available. Holy schmacky, does this ever look good. I want to go buy another DVD player so that, just in case mine breaks, I won’t be left without the ability to watch these movies whenever I want. Of course, they have to actually get to theaters first.

Thanks to the thousands (ok, 2) who wrote in with suggestions for the name of a paddle. Jason Myre came up with a stunningly good suggestion: “Thor’s hammer is named Mjöllnir.” Of course, we don’t know how to pronounce it, but gosh darn it, it’s got an umlaut! Mark Morgon also chimed in: “As a bit off the beaten track, the original King Arthur stories didn’t associate him with any particular sword, although some mention a sword named Calibornous. Or, alternatively, New Caliborne to update the name.” Tough decisions…

The Table Tennis competition is pretty fierce at my job. I’m considering investing in a paddle, and want to name it after a historic sword. So far I’ve come up with Arthur’s Excalibur, Roland’s Durandal, Beowulf’s Hrunting, Gawain’s Galantyne, and Siegfried’s Griel. If anyone has opinions or suggestions, let me know.

I’ve thrown up a few of the MP3s my friend Robert and I recorded a while back. Visit “Brother/Not Brother” to give them a listen.

Want to see our new digs? Check out “Postcards from San Marcos”. Don’t miss the panoramic shot from the parking garage at my workplace!

I feel like in the midst of all this moving stress that my world has narrowed to work and family, with little time for anything else. Thank heaven for NPR. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some reading and park-going with the kids in this weekend, though there’s a dandelion-filled yard yet to be conquered.

As we’ve been settling into our new home in San Marcos, I’ve had my conviction that the free market economy works reinforced. Centurytel is our new phone providor and ISP. They’re cheaper than GTE, and seem to provide better service too. Additionally, the city has contracted with BFI for trash pickup, and they’re also much better to work with than the city-managed service was in Denton.

About a week ago, my friend & coworker James started going on about Sugar Gliders. I’d never heard of the critters, which are little marsupials that look like ferrets with flaps of skin for gliding like flying squirrels have. Joe also told me about Harry Turtledove’s alternate history books, which sound like they’d be fun. (Aliens invade World War 2, for example.)

Avernum for the Mac was released this week. It’s a remake of Jeff Vogel’s Exile game, and is pretty dang groovy. Windows version to come in a few months.