The Univeristy Co-Op @ UT-Austin.

I'm going to come right out and tell everyone from the beginning - the campus bookstore at the University of Texas-Austin is the Cabela's of campus bookstores. I've been a few times now and each time I am re-mesmerized by all the burnt orange, hook 'em horns, and wacky stuff they have to show their pride in being a current, past, or future UT student. They actually have a special name for alums, "Texas Ex" - it's literally the name of the alumni association.

Like the Cabela's camo post ("An Ode to Camo"), we'll go from normal, to not-so-normal, to wacky-ass-shit:

The normal college bookstore stuff:

Blah

Blah

Bill. If your name's "Bill" or almost any other, they have a mug for you. But not "Blah".

Now, some kinda out there items:

Starting off small, just like the camo Crocs at Cabela's, but only in UT's burnt orange.

What every smart frat boy will be wearing at the tailgate... and puking on at the hayride.

How about a stained glass, pool table lamp shade that will let everyone who comes over to play know you mean business when it comes to UT.

And if that doesn't show your Longhorn pride enough, grab the $350 Lucchese cowboy boots. You can stomp your affiliation all over town.

Then you can grill everyone a burger with your Longhorn grill mitts.

Finally, the wacky-ass-shit you won't find at your TIS, Follett's or IUB - get ready, it ain't pretty:

UT Bath Rugs - how could you splish splash onto your school's colors like that?

Complete your UT rug collection with a set for your truck.

Is Santa a Texas Ex? It's never the wrong season for ornaments, is it?

Surprise, now your baby can show their allegiance at play dates.

And your dog can too, at the bark park.

When you come back from walking the dog...

Finish your "honey do" list with this new hammer you got (notice football inspired handle grip).

Put this new gnome in our south 40.

And brush your teeth before kissing me "good night".

Brain Teaser, #1.

Suppose you have three Scrabble tiles - N, T, and O. What is the probability that when you randomly place three tiles upright in a row, they spell an English word?

Note: please post your answers as comments, I will confirm the right answer or post it soon enough.

BBQ at The County Line.

Did you ever see those shows on Food Network about barbeque? The ones where some guy like Alton Brown goes around the country in search of "the best barbeque"? Well, I've had the pleasure of having some of the best barbeque of my life in Austin. This last visit was no different and you can be sure I make a point of gettin' some.
This time, we went to a local joint known as "The County Line". Uhhh, it's on County Line Road, almost to Rt 360.


I think the best part about any barbeque joint is that it's generally a no-frills affair (think brown paper rolls on the table) and is accessible by many many kinds of folks (anyone and everyone comes to these kinds of joint, esp from what I saw on the last trip). The other thing you can expect is seriously good barbeque. The kind you can't get "up north". The kind that hits you with wafts of good hickory smoke smells as soon as you leave your car. The kind that makes you eat so much you have to lie down after. The kind that makes you plan special trips for it whenever you're in town.


Kitsch came to this restaurant late one night after a long drinking bender and puked all over it. I have to say though, it totally works. I get hungry now when I see this mutsch kitsch.


We were plopped into a spot with the best meat-eating views of my life, along a wall of windows, looking out onto the lake/river, party deck, and nature - ah, time to eat meat!






I had beef brisket and smoked turkey. Both had wonderfully pink smoke rings and came with a great, tangy, bbq sauce to drench it in. Of course, at The County Line, all entrees come with homemade coleslaw (very good), potato salad (also very good) and baked beans (good, but better when you dump on some extra bbq sauce).


The glass on the right is my 20oz pint glass of Shiner Bock (very good, hard to find up north). The glass on the left is my water, but it's also what they use to serve tea, sweet tea, and any soda. It was a bit odd to see an 8 year old, three foot tall kid sucking down 64oz of soda out of a one foot glass. Is it any wonder that Texas now has FOUR of the Top 10 Fattest Cities in the Nation?

God Bless America.

Who doesn't like a little pop culture? Part III

Here's the real video for the song from the Doublemint commercial. Watch right around second 00:12, the gum gets flashed. Still good pop music.

Armstrong Making Comeback?

This story must be breaking now to conincide with my Mellow Johnny post. It seems as though some (even ESPN) are reporting that Armstrong will be reuniting with his former Director Sportif and racing in 5 events next year for the Astana Professional Cycling Team (still sponsored by Trek, Lance's Tour winning bike supplier... and also the namesake city in Kazakhstan... "very nice!").

Nothing is confirmed and it brings up a lot more questions in my mind, namely:
> Who will sponsor Lance's shoes and clothing? Nike was his last official sponsor for both (even naming their corporate campus gym "The Lance"). But now, Trek is no longer a partner with Nike and is making their own shoes and clothing. In fact, Nike has basically pulled out of the sport of cycling altogether.
> Seeing that he's not interested in the prize money - who gets it if he wins? Maybe just split it b/w teammates.
> Knowing that Astana currently has the 1st place and 3rd place Tour riders from '07 (Contador & Leipheimer) - How does this team sort out with the addition of Lance? Lance prefers that all teammates riding in the Tour ride for him. Could be very interesting.

Who doesn't like a little pop culture? Part II

I was looking for a different LL Cool J commercial to show yet more crossover b/w pop culture and corporate America, but this will do - for now.

Mellow Johnny's, Austin.

Thanks to frequent flier miles, I was able to sneak down to Austin and visit one of the most talked about bike shops opened in recent history (of course, only bike nerds talked about it, but still). For the non-bike nerds that visit here, Mellow Johnny's is the bike shop owned by Lance Armstrong. You remember, the guy that won 7 Tours de France... the big bike race... in France... every summer... ok, fine, the guy that started those yellow bracelets (yeah, buy some) - That guy!


His shop's name has a bit of history in cycling circles, but simply put - the leader's jersey in the Tour is known as the "Maillot Jaune", which means "Yellow Jersey". A nickname, or for kids who can't pronounce it, is "Mellow Johnny". This also became synonymous with Lance owed to the fact that during many of this Tour wins he was pretty even-keel. Teammates and family began to call him "Mellow Johnny" (or Johnny Mellow or Johnathon Mellow) for all of the above reasons. So, his shop now bears the very American name with the very French reference.


Don't think I'd ever seen an entire Brooks display case before. The Brits do know their leathers.


Kinda hard to tell from this pic, but this bike cost about $15,000. A handmade one of a kind.


"Plata Negra" in the flesh.

Motorola's team issue Caloi, circa '93-ish (I wish the pic was better).


Some of you probably saw this at EuroBike over the weekend, but I got to hold it in Austin. The whole Campy Super Record 11 group is in stock and ready for sale at about $3200.

I was excited to be going to the shop, but not super impressed upon seeing it. That is not to say it's poorly done not a cool shop to visit. Rather, I wondered to myself how a relatively small store (there are bigger shops in and around Austin) can continue to do well with so many employees (~10+) and, what looked to be slow sales.

I was not offered a look at the books, so I can't say for sure. But, I do know what a busy, humming, bikeshop is like on a Saturday afternoon - This didn't remind me of it. To me though, it's not about the bikes, but more about seeing some history and cool new stuff, which Mellow Johnny's has in spades (in the record books and in his store).

My feeling is that bikes can be art inherently, but they even had some official bike art.