Aggie87

This caught me by surprise - I"m happy that Ken Giles is no longer on this team. That's addition by subtraction, I think. Hopefully a change of scenery helps Giles regain his stuff. He's been lost in his own head for a year now. Osuna still has the remainder of his 75 game suspension I think though - or is that effectively over now? As an Astros fan I like his talent on paper, but I'm apprehensive about adding him to this roster, based on the domestic violence charge. Admittedly I haven't read enough about him to have a strong opinion there right now.

As sidewinder/Bob mentioned earlier, we got to meet in Stuttgart many years ago. Wish I still lived there, for many reasons. Due to move to Philly area next year though, so I'll take that. If you make it to this side of the pond we're due for a reconnect, Bob! Hopefully longer this time as well. In addition, I've since met Lon, Shawn, Ray, Big Al, David Weiss, and Mike Flanigin. Good people, all of 'em! Other than Al's questionable fondness for Styx, of course.

Here's a rundown of Prime benefits: https://www.consumerreports.org/online-shopping/pros-cons-amazon-prime/ (note - in some cases, the free 2 day delivery is actually free same-day, or in even free 2 hr delivery)

Another thing the in-shop experience gives you that you don't get online (at least I don't) is the discovery of something that you weren't expecting to find. Something that turns into an impulse buy based on an employee's recommendation. Something that you had in the back of your mind as something to check out some day in the future, but no specific plans to buy any day soon. Then you find it and it's in your hands and impulse takes over and you buy it. I don't find the thrill of that type of buy when I'm searching for things online at all. It's not as fun.

Padre Island National Seashore, 8 June 2018.

Since most of the major cities and towns are along the coast itself, it makes sense that they'd be closer to sea level, compared to the rest of southern Florida itself. Like the congressman in Alabama said, let's hope more dirt from the White Cliffs of Dover don't fall into the ocean, or else south Florida will all be under water.

I have some relatives in Elgin (near Austin, great sausage made there) who had a basement. Shocked me. So apparently there's at least one out there.

I suspect it's a generational thing. Neither of my kids do that when they stream music at all. One's 20 and one's 16. I do, but I'm not anywhere close to their age bracket. Even then, it may be a subset of a generational thing. My wife doesn't listen to full albums, ever - it drives her crazy, despite her overall love of music (which probably equals mine). She just has what we affectionally call music-ADD. So if I had to guess, there are generally far more people that don't, than do listen to full albums.

Glad to see you come up for air, Matthew! Hope all is well with you.

I've got a few box sets for sale. Prices include shipping in the U.S, Paypal. PM if interested. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue 50th Anniversary (blue vinyl never played, plus 2 cds and 1 dvd) - $60 **SOLD** Ella Fitzgerald - The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books (16 cd) - $120 **ON HOLD** Naked City - The Complete Studio Recordings (5 cd) - $65 Horace Parlan - Complete Blue Note Sessions (Mosaic) (5cd) - (a couple of small dings on outer box from original shipping) - $100 Stanley Turrentine - Blue Note Quintet/Sextet Studio Sessions (Mosaic) (5cd) - $100 Beatles - The Capitol Albums Vol 1 (small cube) - $40 Beatles - The Capitol Albums Vol 2 (small cube, corrected reissue) - $40 **SOLD** Bob Dylan - The Original Mono Recordings (9cd) (some glue marks and two small tears where the glue was on the bottom of the outer box)- $65 **SOLD** Pentangle/Bert Jansch - Pentangling (3cd) - $35 Chris Rea - The Return of the Fabulous Hofner Bluenotes (two 10" plus 3 cds) - $25

Yankees looked fantastic in the series at Houston. Will be a very interesting playoff series, assuming nothing squirrely happens and they both get in. Astros are playing the Dbacks right now. Gerrit Cole has 16 strikeouts through 8 innings, a career high (and matching the MLB high this season I believe). And the Dbacks put in Daniel Descalso to pitch, with one out in the 9th, after playing third base the entire game. I guess they're trying to save their bullpen for the rest of the series. edit - game's over, Cole pitched a 1 hit shutout with 16 strikeouts. Not a shabby way to start May. And yes, I miss Matthew as well, both here and on Facebook (where he also disappeared). Always enjoyed chatting with him about music, sports, and life in general.

Happy Birthday, Flurin! Cheers!

Thanks gents (and Buzz)!!!

Good info on the VPN stuff, thanks. I'm not a season ticket holder, but we do go to our share of Hooks games. They're a blast! Right now Yuli Gurriel has been playing for the Hooks, before he returns to the Astros. Unfortunately the first few games have been on the road, so I haven't seen him yet. First home game isn't until the 12th. The current Hooks team also includes Jon Singleton, who's had issues but has been on the Astros rosters a few times. And Ryne Birk, who I've followed since his days at Texas A&M. And one of the players with probably the biggest potential to move up is 1B Yordan Alvarez - keep an eye out for him.

If you have T-Mobile for your cell service, they offer you MLB.TV for free each year (though there is a window to subscribe to MLBTV each time, and if you miss it you're out of luck I guess - this year it ended on April 2nd). I'm a long time Astros fan. The thing that sucks about MLBTV from my experience is that because I am considered to be in the Houston Astros tv market, I am not able to watch Astros games on MLBTV. But the Astros games (shown on AT&T Sportsnet Southwest) are not available on either of the two cable company's channel lineups for Corpus Christi, so I am not able to watch them on tv or on MLBTV either. So I get to watch Rangers games on Fox Sports Southwest, even though they're 8+ hours away by car, versus 3 for the Astros. Anyway, T-Mobile might be a cheaper alternative for you in the future, potentially.

I don't recall. People watch so much content online today (versus exclusively on tv) that it makes sense that tv channels have jumped onboard (HBO, ESPN, etc) with online programming. It also makes sense that successful websites like FB and Twitter would also be trying to reach the same customers who will watch live sports online. I think that's a growing platform, unlike cable/satellite tv.

Twitter has also shown live sports. They, like Facebook, are interested in the eyeballs on their sites. It's really no different than watching ESPN channels online, as a consumer. Actually it's better, in the sense that it costs you nothing, unlike watching ESPN online. Other than having a FB or Twitter account, but nothing as far as a monthly fee, like ESPN (which you get when you have ESPN through your cable/satellite provider etc).

I discovered Korean bbq in 1975 in a little divey place near where I lived in Tokyo. Went back regularly for the next 4 years, it was fantastic. Wish there was a good place here in CC. We tried a shabu-shabu place a couple of weeks ago here, that was interesting. Boil the food yourself in a bowl over fire on your table. These two statements seem contradictory.

Hamilton Pool: Enchanted Rock:

Bluebonnets will be gone by May. The bats under the Congress St bridge are fascinating - I've seen them from the river shore and out in a boat while they pass overhead, both are cool. Largest urban bat colony in the world, I believe. If you want barbecue, there are plenty of excellent places within a 30-40 mile drive from Austin. Lockhart has excellent barbecue at any of Smitty's, Black's, or Kreuz. Luling has the City Market as well. All are great. Austin has good bbq as well, but be prepared to wait in ridiculously long lines these days. Literally hours. Salt Lick is pretty damn good - I got married about 3 miles away from there in a little open-air nondenominational chapel in Driftwood (south of Austin). If you venture out into the Hill Country, check out Wimberley, Fredericksburg, and that area. Wimberley has alot of small mom & pop arts & crafts stores in the downtown area. Enchanted Rock is pretty cool. Cool swimming hole at Krause Springs. Also Hamilton Pool. Barton Springs is also a cool swimming place - natural springs in Zilker Park right in Austin. Water is like 68 degrees year round. Zilker Park is where the ACL Fest is held each year. BFrank's recommendation to check out the Austin Chronicle is spot on - there's so much music available, and it's constantly updating. That's probably the best place to see what's available when you're there. Also, second the recommendations for Continental Club and Antones. For another out of town dance hall, Schroeder Hall is pretty cool, way out in the country near Goliad (and literally nothing else within 10-20 miles). Probably too far to travel though, but it's the real deal. Took my wife there a few years back (not my first wife, the one you met in D.C.) and 10 year old local kids were embarrassing us on the dance floor, two-steppin'. Gruene Hall gets more big-name acts due to location, and is also well worth a visit. If you're music hunting, check out Waterloo on the corner of 6th and Lamar. Best vinyl & cd store in Texas. Also, End of an Ear is well worth a visit, with a more diverse inventory. The SRV statue on the bank of Town Lake (now called Lady Bird Lake) is a tourist thing, but still cool.

But it's not against MLB rules to do what the Astros did. It's against NFL rules for WRs to line up anywhere, or the QB to throw past the line of scrimmage. And offsides is an offense in soccer as well.

Nice leadoff HR by Happ, first pitch of the season. The Astros' George Springer also had a leadoff HR today, on the third pitch of the game against the Rangers. He also had a leadoff HR last season - first player in MLB history to have leadoff HR's on opening day two seasons in a row.

Impressive set of shows there, Buzz! How were Hidalgo & Ribot? Interesting pairing - I enjoy Ribot's Prosthetic Cubans albums. Curious if they played Lobos material or more traditional stuff. I would have loved to have seen every show you saw on Friday as well (Saturday too for that matter), though I'm unfamiliar with Nest Egg.

Went to a small Hurricane Harvey benefit concert in Port Aransas last night. The artists played for free, the venue donated it's space, the only open hotel in town donated rooms to the artists, and a couple of local cooks volunteered to feed the musicians. So all proceeds literally went to storm recovery for this tiny town. Wasn't jazz (hard to find that down here) but got to hang with some excellent, legendary Texas musicians. Joe Ely, Terry Allen (and sons Bukka Allen and Bale Creek Allen), Terri Hendrix, Lloyd Maines, and Richard Bowden. There were also some poetry readings throughout the evening, from Jo Harvey Allen, and two Texas Poet Laureates, 2005's Alan Birkelbach and 2010's Karla Morton, with poetry written specifically for the hurricane. With Terry & Jo Harvey Allen & Joe Ely: