Hot Air

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Today, Georgetown, Texas is holding its 3rd annual Georgetown Airfest.  There are lots of things to see at the event to include olde WWII era planes as well as helicopters, classic cars, etc.  The very first thing that was supposed to happen on the schedule today was a balloon launch.  Well, the airport was socked in with fog this morning so the balloons weren't able to go up.  However, two balloon owners were kind enough to inflate their balloons and let people take photos and ask questions.  It was pretty interesting watching the process of blowing one up.  They first spread the canopy out on the ground, then initially blow it up with a big old fan.  When it has enough air but is still too heavy to get off the ground, they pump in some hot air from the burners on top of the basket with a few quick blasts and the thing stands right up in just a few seconds.  Pretty cool!  I'm sorry they weren't able to lift off, but it was fun to see it all happen.

More Fiery Balloon Shots

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More Fiery Balloon Shots

Here are a couple more balloon shots I took from the Georgetown Airfest this past weekend.  I really enjoyed watching the balloons inflate.  They brought out the little kid in me!  Nothing better that those burners shooting flames and making that loud whooshing noise when they light up!

Forgive these shots a little for they have a bit of noise in them.  It was still relatively dark and foggy when I took them so I had the ISO cranked up a bit.  But overall, I still like them.  I hope you do to!





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Kawasaki 42

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Back in 2010, Peter Talke invited me out to the Del Valle Motocross Park outside of Austin to take a few shots.  I was always a fan of motocross.  A couple of my friends growing up used to race it and I even tried my hand at bicycle motocross.  I never finished better than 4th in a main, but I did win a heat or two.  It was pretty fun stuff.  So now, with my relatively new hobby of HDR photography, I get to kind of merge those two things together.  This is a single shot HDR that I put together.  I kind of like the look that comes out of it, but it might be a little much for others.  What do you think?



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Misc. Bleatish thoughts since I haven't posted in a while...

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--Last weekend I took Jemma to a swim meet with Surenna and afterwards we all wanted to go to McDonalds for lunch. Things seemed to start auspiciously but went downhill from there. We walked in and there were no customers at the counter, so we began to order. Just then, an old lady came rushing up to the counter, like she needed catsup or forgot her change. She then proceeded to make an order! The old bat had just cut in front of us!

Later the kids were wondering why old people are so rude. I told them that the lady was a jerk, but probably was always so. I speculated that when she was young, she excused herself any blame for cutting because she was a kid and nobody expects fine manners from them. Later as a working adult or parent, she rationalized that she was too busy to wait. Now she figures that as an old person, people should make allowances for her.

Once we got up to order, the cashier indicated that they had no burgers! Jemma complained about us leaving, since she was having nuggets anyway. But really, should Surenna and I have just stared at Jemma while she ate? We went to another nearby McDonalds and we all had what we wanted. It was easy to get around since we happened to be within a couple of miles of where I work and so I know all the roads around there.

--I watched the gentlemen's Wimbledon today and the ladies’ yesterday. There was a lot of great tennis, though the men's match was more interesting. In the women's, the play was dominated by Serena Williams' serve. Winning with a powerful serve is perfectly legitimate but not at all interesting to watch. The set which Radwanska won was by far the best one. On the men's side, Andy Murray was not favored to win since Roger Federer is just simply the better player right now. Nonetheless, he took the first set and really gave Federer a tough match.

As an aside, the girls had definite and diverse opinions about the men. Jemma thought Federer was the most handsome and the other two really liked Andy Murray. They are both good-looking men; I think Murray has a kind of roughish charm, while Federer looks more debonair. Jemma didn't like Andy Murray's prominent Adams apple and loved Roger's flowing hair.

Identical or Opposite

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Probably dating back to when I was majoring in philosophy, I've been facinated by things which can seem similar when looked at in one way and opposite when approached from another angle:

A good recent one is insurance coverage for ED medicines and for contraception.

From one viewpoint, they are the same because they facilitate sexual activity. On the other hand, ED drugs treat a lack of proper function, while contraception prevents normal function.

Booty for a Badman (audiobook) by Louis L'Amour

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 Published by Bantam Audio Publishing in 1991.
Multicast performance. 
Duration: 1 hour, 4 minutes.

 Louis L'Amour's famed Sackett family adventures continue with this full cast dramatization of of a short story about William Tell Sackett. Tell Sackett appears in seven L'Amour novels and two of his short stories.

Louis L'Amour (1908-1988)

In Booty for a Badman, Tell Sackett is prospecting for gold and not finding anything. He is close to giving up completely when he is approached by one of his successful gold-mining neighbors with a proposal. The successful miners are piling up quite a stash of gold (50 pounds among the group) but they fear their claims will be jumped if they leave for town to deposit it in the bank for safekeeping. Even worse, they could be robbed and killed along the way - a fate that has struck other miners So, they want Tell Sackett to sneak their gold to the bank in exchange for a small cut of the gold. This way, their gold gets deposited, Sackett can make his money back on his own failed gold mine claim and the miners can defend their successful claims.

 Sackett agrees to this plan and quietly heads off. Along the way he meets the injured runaway bride of an army lieutenant who knows nothing about the West and he is pretty sure he is being followed. Can he help this young woman? On top of that, is he being followed and if he is, is he being followed by frieds or foes? Will his father's advice that "Woman are trouble" prove to be true?

 This audiobook was well-performed by the cast members and was an enjoyable break from what I normally listen to in audiobooks.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.
Reviewed on October 20, 2012

Fact. Fact. Bullsh*t!: Learn the Truth and Spot the Lie on Everything from Tequila-Made Diamonds to Tetris's Soviet Roots-Plus Tons of Other Totally Random Facts from Science, History, and Beyond! (Kindle edition) by Neil Patrick Stewart

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 Published by Adams Media in 2011

This book was a first for me in a way. Fact. Fact. Bullsh*t! was the first book I ever read on my phone thanks to the Kindle app for my android phone. In a way, this book was made for reading on a little phone screen. It is entirely composed of a topic with three "facts" that follow. After that the reader will find out that at least one of those "facts" will be correct and at least one will be incorrect, or bullsh*t as the title notes. The  facts and the bullsh*t answers are explained.

This makes for fairly interesting short-term reading but it is not built for the long haul. This would be a great book to have for standing in line at the bank or if you have to wait for a bus or a train because you can get in and out of a topic in just a few minutes.

But...some of Stewart's facts are more factual than others. For example, he incorrectly states as a "fact" that Thomas Jefferson was the fourth president and the third vice president. In reality, he was the third president and the second VP.

Janet Guthrie at the 1977 Daytona 500.

When it comes to the NASCAR set of "facts" there are multiple problems. He asserts that Danica Patrick was the first woman to race for the Winston Cup, which he correctly notes is incorrect, but on multiple levels that he fails to mention. Danica is not the first woman to race in NASCAR, which he correctly notes. However, he only mentions Janet Guthrie, who first competed in NASCAR in 1976. Other women competed in NASCAR's top level as early as 1949, but they are not mentioned. Also, he fails to note that Danica never competed for the "Winston" Cup since its name was changed in in 2004 and she was not racing at the "Cup" level in 2004. Also, he notes in his "fact" section that the largest NASCAR event can hold as many as 170,000 fans. That is incorrect. The Brickyard 400 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway has 280,000 seats available.

So, in short, this is a fun little book but don't trust everything that you read in it. Before you try to impress your friends and co-workers with your newfound factoids, verify them.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on November 2, 2012.

Adam by Ted Dekker

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Published in 2008 by Thomas Nelson

Ted Dekker is a stalwart member of the Christian publishing world. He usually offers up a large helping of action, nystery and suspense with a Christian flavor. Dekker's strengths are maintaining a quick pace and the creation and development of interesting characters.

In Adam an FBI psychology expert named Daniel Clark is on the trail of a serial killer nicknamed "Eve" (he writes "Eve" on the walls above each of his victims) who kills twenty-something women every dark of the moon. He leaves no clues behind except that he drives a stolen white van, eats candy bars, drinks cherry Cokes, kidnaps his victims with an ether-like medicine that knocks them out. he kills with a form of meningitis and his rituals have strong religious overtones. He always leaves those clues and no others.

Clark is obsessed by this case and it has wrecked his marriage and threatens his career.

One night his team almost catches "Eve" but instead gets shot at point-blank range. The bullet grazes his skull, knocking him out and throwing him into shock, causing his heart to stop. After 20 long minutes of CPR and application of defibrillator paddles , Daniel Clark is revived, much to the shock of his doctors.

But, Daniel sees things differently now. He feels a connection to "Eve" that he just doesn't understand and he is driven more than ever to explore that connection and stop him from killing again.

There is a large paranormal flair to this book, especially with the last 100 pages or so.  Be prepared for that because it does change the feel of the book but goes a long way to explaining other things that happened in the beginning.

The book is interrupted about every 20 pages or so with an installment from a nine-part retelling of the case taken from a true crime magazine. The installments provide a lot of the background of the story as it moves along, cleverly taking the place of an omniscient narrator.

Relentless pacing combined with strong characters overcome some of the unbelievable aspects of the story making this a solid 4 star out of 5 book.

Reviewed on November 22, 2012.

The Efficiency Expert by Edgar Rice Burroughs

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Written in 1919 and first published in All-Story Weekly magazine in 1921, The Efficiency Expert is a rare non-science fiction book for Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan and John Carter of Mars. I read it on my kindle but if it were a paper book it is estimated to have been about 130 pages.

The Efficiency Expert features Jimmy Torrance, a talented young college student who is a great athlete and natural leaders and all around great guy to have at a party but  does not take his studies seriously. When he is almost tossed out of college during his senior year for having no apparent hope of completing the curriculum in four years, Torrance buckles down and somehow passes.

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950)

Having turned over a new leaf, he turns down the opportunity to manage the family factory and decides that he will move to Chicago and make it on his own.

Jimmy's expectation that the world will come knocking at his door because he has a college degree is humorous and a reminder that times have always been tough for those trying to break into business. Jimmy's money quickly dries up and he is forced to accept a series of entry-level jobs that require no education at all. While at the bottom he meets a pick-pocket/safe-cracker and befriends a young prostitute (they have a platonic relationship) who help him climb his way into a factory management position, foil a white collar criminal and meet the love of his life.

While this is certainly not great literature, it was a very enjoyable read. Burroughs has the ability to take his reader into the darkest jungles, distant planets and into post-World War I Chicago with a clear, vivid style. Memorable, likable characters more than make up for a highly unlikely set of coincidences.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on November 23, 2012.

The Templar Chronicles: This Cleansing Fire (audiobook) by Joseph Nassise

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Published December 2011 by GraphicAudio
Multicast Performance
Length: about 47 minutes.

This short audiobook was originally a short story in a larger collection but author Joseph Nassise has expanded on this story with several other books. GraphicAudio has adapted it to a radio drama format with multiple cast members and plenty of special effects.

The story features Captain Cade Williams, a member of the hidden Catholic order the Knights Templar. They are charged with fighting supernatural forces. One would think they might be a bunch of priests, but they are an elite commando unit carrying modern combat weapons and special swords.

In this story, the team is sent out to find and destroy a group of Asian vampires. They are not Asians, per se, but this type of vampire originated in Asia. Another team was already sent in but they are not reporting back and Captain Williams and his team fear the worst.

GraphicAudio's high production qualities make short stories like this one a lot of fun. Lots of slam bam action   is supported by high quality special effects and actors that make the action pop.

This audiobook is available for free download on GraphicAudio's webpage. Click here for details. The link at the top of the page is to the free Kindle version of the story.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on November 24, 2012.

Ms. Dickinson's Purple and Gold Pick of the Week: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

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Arnold "Junior" Spirit has always been something of an outcast.  Born with various medical conditions, Junior has been made fun of by nearly every other kid on the Spokane Indian Reservation.  With his glasses, abnormally big head and serious lack of muscles, Junior is an easy target.  But while Junior might be goofy-looking and scrawny, he has plenty of good things going for him.  He's got a decent jump shot, a powerful talent for cartooning, a best friend, and a loving (if imperfect) family.  And most of all, Junior has dreams.  He dreams of getting an actual education--from a school where the textbooks aren't the same ones his mom used a couple decades ago.  Even more importantly, Junior dreams of demanding more from life than mere survival.  He dreams about getting off the "rez" and escaping the cycle of unhappiness and disappointment that seems to trap all the adults in his life. 

So when his teacher suggests that he look into attending the all-white, public school in the nearby farming town, Junior decides to take the plunge and give his dreams a shot--even though he's sure the attempt will end in disaster.  Now, Junior must learn to navigate a whole new world where the only other Indian is the school mascot--while everyone on the rez (except his parents & grandmother) have decided that he's a traitor.  Even his best friend refuses to speak to him.  How can Junior escape the bad parts of life on the rez without leaving behind his heritage or his family?  How can he make all the pieces of his identity fit into his divided life?

Brilliant author, poet, and screenwriter Sherman Alexie blew the literary world away when he published his first novel for young adults in 2007.  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has gone on earn a National Book Award, a place on many must-read book lists of teens & adults alike, and space in many middle and high school English curriculums across the country.  But what's the best thing about Diary? It actually lives up to the hype--and it has yet to lose its emotional power or relevance.

Told through Junior's alternatively hilarious and heartbreaking words and cartoons, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is an engrossing coming of age story that explores identity, family, friendship, and love with unmatched humor and honesty.  Jumping from basketball and girls to racism and alcoholism, the story doesn't back down from taking on tricky topics--but it never becomes melodramatic and the reader never stops cheering for Junior.  While Diary deals most directly and extensively with Native American and male identities, Junior's struggle to sort his own multfaceted identity amidst stereotypes and others' negative (and positive) expectations will resonsate with everyone. 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian will make you laugh, cry, smile, and sigh.  Junior's story is one that sticks will you long after you've closed the book.  And it's a perfect book to read as we close November--Native American Heritage Month. 

Run over to the library today to grab our copy of Sherman Alexie's National Book Award winning novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, on display in the fiction section!   To learn even more about Native Americans--both in the past and the present--check out the National Museum of the American Indian, right here in DC!  The museum's website alone has amazing resources, including outside links, online collections, and multimedia presentations about Native American history and perspectives from a huge variety of modern Native Americans. 

Moon Balloon

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Election Night Thoughts

I don't like to get political with my little blog here, but since last night was such a huge night in the democratic process of this great experiment known as the United States of America, I thought I would just put my two cents in.  Last night America spoke and we have re-elected our current president.  The system worked and now we'll have to see where it leads.  The right to vote is a valuable thing and exercising that right is what this is all about.  If the outcome is what you wanted, congratulations.  If it is not, better luck next time.  Either way, I hope you voted.  Otherwise, you really have no say.  Now that it is over, we must pray for our president and more importantly, we must pray for our country.

Moon Balloon
 
Today's photo is in the same vein as the last few I have posted.  While the previous ones were of hot air balloons as they were being raised, this is one that is actually in the air!  I captured this shot on the way to Estes Park from Denver last month.  I really liked how it floated in the sky with the moon by it's side. 

 

 
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Another Day, Another Dollar

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Excellent Photography Blogs

If you have a little time, check out the other photography blogs I have linked up on the right side of this page.  There are some really outstanding ones out there.  However, one of them is getting ready to shut down..  It's the Airstream Chronicles by Rich Charpentier.  I met Rich on a trip to Prescott, AZ a few years ago. He is a fellow HDR and portrait photographer who has come to the realization that he cannot survive on photography alone.  It's a shame, but it's the times we live in, I guess.

Another Day, Another Dollar

Here is something a little bit different..  I took this shot outside of Union Station in Denver.  There is a lot of work going on there to refurbish the place.  I'll bet it will be great when they are completed.



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Marlboro Ferraris

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F1 Weekend in Austin, TX

Everyone here in Austin, TX are getting pretty excited.  The new Circuit of the Americas F1 race course is now open and will be hosting its inaugural Formula 1 race.  If I'm not mistaken, event organizers expect upwards of 300,000 people to arrive from all parts of the world for all of the festivities.  We'll see how that bears out, but that's quite a few people.  What am I doing this weekend as if anyone cares?  I'm staying as far away from this as humanly possible.  The roads are expected to be horrendous, which means staying home and enjoying college and pro football on TV- American football that is - sounds like a much better option.  I'm not knocking those who want to go to the race, but I'm not up to all of the fighting it takes to get to and from the event.  Especially an inaugural one!  Let's get the kinks get ironed out on this one and then maybe a subsequent one will be more attractive.

Marlboro Ferraris

So, in honor of the race this weekend, I thought I'd post another shot of a couple of Ferraris that were on display during the Formula 1 Expo held at the Austin Convention Center earlier this year.  Anyone know why Ferraris are also painted other colors than red?  See, doesn't red just GO with Ferrari?  I've seen others painted black, yellow, white, etc., but red is just perfect.  When I get my Ferrari, it will defintely be red.  Of course, that will be in another lifetime, but red it will be! ;-)



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Happy Thanksgiving!

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Revenge of the Birds

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there who follows my little blog. And for your entertainment, I found this little video that should make people think about what Black Friday could really be if you are not careful!


Wampanoag House Interior

The Wampanoag were the American Indians who met the Pilgrims that arrived in Plymouth, MA, the location where the first Thanksgiving is said to have happened.  Now, Plymouth has created a replica of the Wampanoags' as well as the Pilgrims' settlements at the Plimouth Plantation.  It is worth a visit if you ever get out there.  This is an interior shot of a Wampanoag summer shelter or house.  It was more suited for summer than the others that we saw.  As you can see walls were made of cattail reeds which helped absorb the humidity and keep out the rain.  Apparently it worked quite well.  However, their winter shelters were made mostly of bark. The benches you see here would be where the adults would sleep.  They would put down animal skins and other things to make their beds more comfortable.  The kids then slept on the floor.  Very interesting stuff.  Plan a visit there if you ever go!  You won't be disappointed!



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Do We Value Sincerity?

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I had this little Twitter dialog over the weekend and it needs some expansion, but I don't want to harass Dawkins or be confined to 140 letter thoughts.

Richard Dawkins:
Romney believes a religion which is not only barking mad and utterly unscientific. It is also deeply racist. Mr Deity: http://bit.ly/Qu74Pv

David Pecchia:
@RichardDawkins Obama also claims to be a Christian. Are we assuming that this is somehow different, or that he is being insincere?

Richard Dawkins:
@dpecchia I hope he's being insincere. I'd hate to think he really believes it. But even Christianity is not in the same league as Mormonism

He is saying a couple of things here:

1. Mormonism is especially weird.

2. Obama is probably faking his religious belief, which is apparently a good thing.

I'll take the first point first: It is a little odd in the first place for atheists to debate which belief system is the most bizarre. Isn't belief in something for which, in the mind of a good atheist, there is no evidence at all, really the main gripe? Another way of looking at members of the LDS is more operational: Do they engage in behavior that is unconventional? I have spent time around Mormons and to my experience; they are anodyne to a fault. A final note: Romney grew up in a Mormon household. It is very common for people to stick-with the faith they grew-up with. Obama took-up his Christianity as an adult. I usually regard people who find religion as an adult as being more sincere in their belief--unless they do it under duress, like if they have to convert in order to marry. It seems that Obama's conversion may have been in the service of his "community organizing" and so may not be a typical conversion story.

As an aside: I sometimes make fun of my wife's Hindu background, to which she retorts, "But you don't even believe in God"! My (former Catholic) answer, "Yes, but the God I don't believe in is the one true God"!

As for the second point: I will start off by agreeing with Dawkins. I think Obama is really agnostic or atheist and is only pretending to be Christian. Where we depart is in how it makes us feel about Obama and Romney.

Neither of us know what is in the heart of either of these men: Romny could be secretly an atheist and Obama really a devout Christian. Somehow, people as different as Dawkins and me both think (on this point at least) that Romney is being honest and Obama is being deceitful. Now, as a point of first principles, one should favor an honest man over a liar. Maybe even Dawkins would agree, but I think that to Dawkins, it is better to be a liar than a believer in God. But doesn't the lie go to the heart of what a politician in a representative democracy stands for? Why would an atheist even want to lead a nation which is highly religious and which would never elect an admitted atheist? If you so utterly disrespect the belief of a people, why would you want to waste your time serving as their leader?

Added: Another part of the conversation via WSJ Best of the Web Today...

Richard Dawkins
@TheRiler @jamestaranto I don't like it, but a president who lies out of political necessity is a lesser evil than a stupid president

Wow! So Dawkins is calling anyone who believes in God, stupid? Amazing! Thoughtful people on both sides understand that this is not something which can be proven, right?

Two Elections: Each A Defense "Of The One Big Thing"

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It is too early yet to know if Obama has managed to be re-elected, but I see a real parallel between George W. Bush's re-election in 2004 and this race:

Both men were highly polarizing. To my view, the left (including the press) hated Bush and never saw his win as legitimate and therefore felt free to attack him with little regard for the good of the country. In Obama's case, he is polarizing because he has nothing but contempt for about half the country and we have noticed. Not to get too sidetracked, but each re-election only really mattered due to what it would prevent:

For Bush, it would prevent the left from pulling a Vietnam in Iraq and abandoning the cause after most of the effort was behind us.

For Obama, it is to prevent the overturn of "Obamacare".

There are a lot of differences too. The war was initially very popular and the Republicans made it a central point of the campain. Obamacare has never been all that popular. I don't think it has ever gone up to 50% and has fallen from its peak--though it is more popular now than the gulf war ended up being. Though, I suspect that if the president is in for another term, by the end of it Obamacare will be about as popular as the war ended up being. In any case, defence of the healthcare law has barely been mentioned and has not been a central theme.

Really, there hasn't been a central theme at all, just small snipey gripey things like threats of abortion being totally banned, big bird and tax breaks for millionares. Basically just a bunch of substanceless BS.

Mary Matalin of The Corner Has It Exactly Right

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A political narcissistic sociopath leveraged fear and ignorance with a campaign marked by mendacity and malice rather than a mandate for resurgence and reform. Instead of using his high office to articulate a vision for our future, Obama used it as a vehicle for character assassination, replete with unrelenting and destructive distortion, derision, and division.

Read it all here.


Added: That he got away with it says something about what we have become as a people. That something is more depressing than the prospect of putting up with this clown for another four years.

End Of The Line?

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“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.”
― Alexis de Tocqueville

Why is it that single women and minorities are the most loyal Democratic voters? They know which party will offer them the most goodies (at someone else's expense).

I hope that we as a nation are not doomed, demographics do point in that direction though: The underclass is growing and the productive classes are not.

Added: I was discussing these issues with my 15 year old daughter and she pointed out (correctly) that it is rational for people to vote in their own interest. We fairly explain the votes of the dependent class, but why to elites vote to the left so often? They make a lot of money and would be hit hard by higher taxes, it is certainly not in their interest to vote the way they do. Maybe it is a mirror image of What's the Matter with Kansas?

Getting "Played"

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There is a lot of hate aimed at our presidents these days.

To some extent it has always been this way but it seems as if this phenomina has gotten much worse with the last three presidents.

Here is my theory as to why this is the case: It is different for the different sides:

The left hated George W. Bush because he was endlessly vilified in the press. It is only natural when everybody says how awful you are that you get to be disliked. For the right, the hatred of Clinton and Obama is for another reason and it is also less intense IMO. The hate comes from a feeling of injustice: Clinton (to what now seems like a relatively small degree) and Obama (massively) have gotten a total pass when they have failed.

A key to not being manipulated by all of this is to remember: It is not Bush's fault that the press demonized him, and it is not Clinton nor Obama's fault that the press lionizes them.

Sustainable Food Center Farmers' Market Republic Square Park and Bola Pizza

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I've been in Austin for around seven years, and I finally made my way to the Sustainable Food Center Farmers' Market in downtown two weeks ago.  I can't believe I've been denying myself this weekend pleasure for so long!  
Just look at the gorgeous veggies!











The reason why the idea of finally visiting SFC Farmers' Market in downtown dawned on me was because I wanted to get a taste of Bola Pizza, which I read about on Austin Chronicle's 2011 Restaurant Poll.

Bola Pizza
Bola Pizza offers freshly made pizza hot from their mobile wood-fired oven 9 AM - 1 PM Saturdays at SFC Farmers' Market downtown and Wednesdays at the Triangle 4 PM - 8 PM.
I chose The Godfather from the vegetarian-friendly menu because I can't seem to ween myself away from meat ingredients on my pizza.  I behaved like an annoying fly, fluttering about my pizza, capturing each step of the pizza-making process.  
Making our Godfather Pizza
The Sauce
The Mozzarella
The Hot Fennel Sausage
The Caramelized Onions
In the Mobile Wood-fired Oven
In the box with the smell wafting out and drinking it all in with a peach ginger lemonade from another vendor
The Godfather
The result?  Beautiful!  The pizza dough is the best I've tasted in Austin!  It's slightly chewy, with a tint of sourdough-like tartness.  Each bite of caramelized onions and hot fennel sausage was a balanced explosion of sweet and spicy juices.  I'm glad I got to try Bola before leaving Austin!

Dim Sum at Shanghai Chinese Restaurant

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I've always felt like Chinatown at Mopac offers the best quality and variety of dim sum in Austin.  However, many have recommended Shanghai Chinese Restaurant's dim sum.  I tried it out twice in two months and found it to be pretty good!  Chinatown at Mopac is pricier but the portions are bigger, they offer some dishes that are outside of the dim sum repertoire but are tasty nonetheless, and there's notably more attention to details.  Shanghai Chinese Restaurant has a good amount of variety, the dishes aren't drenched in nasty corn starch, and the quality of ingredients is high.
Here are some of the things from the first visit:
Shu Mai, Fried Tofu Stuffed with Shrimp, Char Siu Bao, Mushroom and Pork Wrapped in Bean Curd Skins
Lo Bak Gao (Turnip Cake)
A Cart of Fried and Pan-fried Dishes
Jalapenos Stuffed with Shrimp 
Ma La Gao (Steamed Sponge Cake)
Green Tea Fried Sesame Balls with Black Sesame Paste
Photos from the 2nd visit:
Shu Mai, Curry Squid, Mushroom and Pork Wrapped in Bean Curd Skins, Ha Gao, and Chicken Feet
Char Siu Pastry
Beef Tripe
Steamed Pork Ribs with Black Bean Sauce
Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce)
Shanghainese Soup Dumplings (very bad version) and Fried Tofu Stuffed with Shrimp, 
Ma La Gao
Fried Sesame Balls with Red Bean Paste

Went to Dallas and Visited Sushi Robata Yet Again

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Right after my last day of classes, I rushed to Dallas to hang out with my brother.  I'm going to miss us being in the same state!  :-(  Who am I going to share a dish of chicken hearts with?  
Well, we did just that at Sushi Robata (my 3rd time!).  My brother's friends either ordered sushi plates or very filling dinner entrees. However, bro and I focused on just appetizers to diversify our dining experience.
You can't go to Sushi Robata without ordering the Asari Sakamushi (baby clams steamed in sake), Agedashi Tofu, and Hamachi Kama.  These three dishes are the best versions I've had anywhere outside of Japan (I've never been, sadly).  Other dishes are delicious as always (check out more dishes here and here)!
Asari Sakamushi
Agedashi Tofu
Soft-shell Crab Karaage
Hatsu - Grilled Chicken Hearts
Gindara Kasuzuke - Sake Cod
Chawanmushi - Japanese Egg Custard
Chawanmushi - Japanese Egg Custard
Hamachi Kama
Green Tea Mochi Ice Cream
My brother views food in a very utilitarian way, but even he exclaimed that the meal was delectable!  Believe me.  That means more than any compliments I bestow on a restaurant.