shoulda, woulda, coulda

friday’s maintenance window for work allowed me to go in late, but i only slept in until 9am and went ahead and got into work around 10am. i’m such a hard worker and so self-motivated! or it’s that i knew i really didn’t have all that much to do during the window, so i figured i should go ahead and make sure i got in at least 8 hours for the day.
part of my plan on saturday was to make it over to montana’s custom boots and hats. the idea being that i was going to talk to them about ordering a custom-made pair of motorcycle boots. from a talk with a motorcycle cop a few months ago (and verified by an online search), it’s a (the?) place houston motorcycle and equestrian police get their boots made. or maybe it was. i wasted an hour of time (and gas) riding around looking for what appears to not exist anymore. while i was near where they were supposed to be, i even used google sms (text “googl”, i.e. 46645) to get a phone number for them — but it was a non-working number. back home, i found two other numbers via google searching, but both were apparently out of date.
even though my original plan was defeated, my google search for info about them led me to do more searching about motorcycle boots. besides realizing that an online shop will let me customize a pair to be exactly what i want (although they’re not cheap), and deciding i will probably buy a pair from them (west coast shoe company) — i also stumbled upon a completely different kind of footwear i decided i liked. i searched around until i found the best price, then i added a few other things to my order to get free 2nd day fedex shipping and placed my order:

• * bob slimline action goggles – clear/reflective lenses
• * bugeye goggles – dark mirror lenses
• * “helmet laws suck” patch
• * “loud pipes save lives” patch
• * olympia black, fingerless, gel gloves
• * sha sha blue/black tribal flame shoes

we’ll see if i feel they’re too much for my personality. although i do like to dress somewhat uniquely, and thus am willing to stand out a bit, i tend to feel most comfortable dressed in what in my mind are muted choices (probably to match my generally muted personality). i’m not much for the bling or the flash. however, i have been shifting and adding to my dress style these last few years, so maybe i can pull these off. they sure look slick in my mind though.
evidently my cowboy boots got jealous about my ordering some new shoes, because on the same day part of one of their heels fell off. i can put it back on, but it continues to fall off now and then. i guess i’ll have to find some place (other than montana’s) to re-nail the heel on my emotionally wounded boots.
saturday afternoon, after doing a bit of house wiring reconnaissance, i rewired an outlet in the house from 240v to 120v. (a very easy task, so don’t think about acting impressed.) this both opens up a whole new location for plugging in devices and gives me a place to plug in a new a/c unit for the upcoming hot temperatures of summer. now if i could just add a few more outlets throughout the place and turn everything into 3-wire grounded…
i then met sue and the kids at texadelphia for a late lunch. i used to enjoy the fact that i liked the place, since i’m from Texas and tamara was from around the philly(ish) area. anyway. afterward i stopped by both barnes and noble and border’s and picked up a few books:

• * hesitant martyr in the Texas revolution: james walker fannin – gary brown (republic of Texas press)
• * dns and bind (5th edition) – cricket liu and paul albitz (o’reilly)
• * teach yourself: ajax – phil ballard (sams)
• * the art of deception – kevin d. mitnick and william l. simon (wiley)
• * 1337 h4x0r h4ndb00k – tapeworm (sams)

i’ve always found fannin to be an interesting character in Texas history, so hopefully i’ll enjoy reading this book about him. i also have been meaning to figure out how to do some web stuff in ajax. (mostly work related, actually — but i figure it could spill over into personal stuff as well.) the new o’reilly dns book is a much-needed upgrade from the ancient edition i found laying around somewhere at work. and the last two are just statements of my interest in hacker culture.
speaking of books, i finished reading johnny bush’s book. it was enjoyable. he spent a lot of time in the Texas honky tonk circuit, so he was able to drop tidbits about people and places and goings on that were really interesting. it’s done in a very informal, conversational style and i thought that helped it come across very relaxed and personal. he also seemed pretty honest about stuff, and was willing to mention his own failings and faults in a straightforward manner. it didn’t come across as confessional or gossipy to me though, just simple and truthful.
after the book stores i went over to the potts’ and we watched stranger than fiction. i’d been interested in it since i saw the previews for it, but i’d never gone to see it while it was in the theaters. i found the graphics and titles work to be really nice — it was eye-catching and cool. i also enjoyed the plot and the interplay between the characters. i still almost wish she would have left the book as a masterpiece in the end. the chosen ending was okay, but it could have been kept similar without having to be quite as happy and packaged up as they made it. still, the movie was good and worth the time.
after the movie we watched saturday night live. this is something we’ve been doing for years, even though some of the snl years have been kind of lean. it’s still nice to sort of have a tradition that goes on despite the ups and downs surrounding it (both due to show quality, and due to life events).