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From Go-Karts to Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Jr.)

15 May

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There wasn’t an explicit discussion, but after such a jam-packed first day of hanging out around Austin, it felt universally agreed upon that we’d all sleep in as late as we wanted and get up leisurely. We woke up sore from our Go-Karting, making us all feel a little bit older than we’d hoped* (and, the boys had horrific bruises on their backs from being bumper-car’d into the whole time), so we decided to fight this feeling with a healthier lunch. We headed to Whole Foods to grab some sushi and treats, and then wandered around that area, hitting up Waterloo and Book People, where I invested in a tin Beatles lunchbox that I now use for my work lunches.

*It’s sad how much easy it is to get bruised and sore muscles in your late 20s.

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Record Store Day 2013

22 Apr

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Caitlin and I are the kinds of people who have both admitted to each other that it’s crossed our minds how we’d split our records up, if  we ever broke up. We didn’t worry about who would take care of Scooby or who would get the apartment or any of the terrible things we hopefully will never have to think about*. No, no. Our minds went to our precious records. So when Record Store Day comes along in April and our all-time favorite artists are putting out super-exclusive vinyl, we get pretty worked up about it. And with my ultimate man crush, Jack White, as the official ambassador, things really got kicked up a notch.

*I’ve totally thought about Scooby before, and I’m sure Zack has, too. But like the man said, we’re placing our bets on, “This won’t ever really be an issue.” Continue reading →

James Murphy (The Man) DJ Set

14 Apr

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Caitlin and I have an interesting history with former LCD Soundsystem front-man and current DJ/espresso aficionado James Murphy. As we’ve documented before, Caitlin was playing LCD Soundsystem in her car the night we met and “I Can Change” has been our song ever since. When we decided to get a dog a year ago, we decided to name him James Murphy, when we still had our eye on a golden mix*. After LCD broke up, we made a deal that if LCD re-united in the next five years, Caitlin would buy us tickets, no matter where they played. If not, I’d get us tickets to any show she wanted**. James Murphy DJing in Austin didn’t count for the bet, but Caitlin still bought us tickets because she’s awesome***.

*A retriever or other big, fuzzy dog seems like the only appropriate type to take on the name Murphy. We considered re-naming Scoobs “Murphy” for all of 3 minutes before deciding it just didn’t fit.

**Sigur Ros in Iceland 2016, I’m comin’ 4 u.

***And Zack was lovely enough to break his “I don’t do musicians’ DJ sets” rule to join me, because he’s awesome.  Continue reading →

40 Acres of Sun

7 Apr

rlarecordBack when I attended the University of Texas here in Austin, one of the most exciting events each year was the 40 Acres Fest. This was because, for one night only, a usually shockingly popular artist came to campus and played in front of our main tower, for free. The lineups were always incredibly diverse, meaning that one year, I was able to see Common, and the next, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. (Other performers have included Little Richard, Girl Talk* and the Roots.) This year, Chiddy Bang was the headlining act, so we made no plans to stay late. But Zack and I figured a great daytime activity could be biking up to campus and seeing what the festival had to offer in the way of daytime activities.

*That Girl Talk show a few years ago was my only experience with 40 Acres fest. I took a stage dive. I was more well-behaved this time.

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2012 Oscar Nominated Shorts

11 Feb

2013-academy-award-nominated-animated-shortsZack and I have joined our friends Lisa and Eric in their yearly tradition of heading to the Alamo Drafthouse for the Oscar-nominated short films. In the past, we only joined for the animated shorts, but this year, we decided to go all out with a double feature of the live action shorts, and then the animated ones at the Slaughter Lane Drafthouse location. Normally I’m very squeamish when it comes to blood, so I partly avoided the shorts in the past because I never knew what I’d be getting myself into. Even though 4 out of 5 live action shorts were bloody* this year, I ended up enjoying** my favorites of the live action films more than the animated ones.

*Without trying to give too much away, our main characters in the shorts take a razor blade to the wrist, photograph thousands of murders, find themselves in the middle of a war and witness a death of a friend. Pretty bloody for the faint of heart.

**Agreed. We both enjoyed both “Curfew” and “Henry” more than any of the animated shorts. 

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The 2nd Annual Wittbloom Chanukah Party

11 Dec

chanGoing into our second Chanukah party, I figured it would be a lot like last years. The ingredients for the party would be pretty much the same. I’d make latkes, Caitlin would bake something amazing. We’d play dreidel for quarters, invite mostly the same people and we’d even listen to the same Spotify playlist of Chanukah songs*. For whatever reason, this year felt different in a lot of ways. If I had to pinpoint why, I’d say that it was because more than twice as many people ended up coming, Scooby was here to keep things interesting and people drank a lot more which led to it getting so loud, we had to abandon the Chanukah playlist and play records. I have no complaints about any of this.

*I felt like a bit of a fake when this Spotify playlist showed up in my account, being a Shiksa and all, but we had to use my MacBook Pro to get the “best” Spotify sound. Continue reading →

Trudy’s? More Like Rude-y’s (Salty Service, Not Salty Rims)

16 Jul

Zack and I met our friend Caitlin D*. on the Twitters, and we’ve gotten to know her better and better over the past year. Two months ago, she met an adorable and sweet-hearted mustachioed dude named Kevin McAllister (yeah we know, the same name as the kid in Home Alone**, hurr hurr) and they have been dating ever since. Since Zack and I love couple friends, double dates and bowling, we figured we’d combine all three this past Friday night***. After Zack and Kevin showed the Caitlins wussup on the lanes, we decided they should celebrate their victory/we should drown our sorrows in some ‘ritas. (Editor’s note:  I totally admit I was the worst bowler of the night, but I still enjoyed myself significantly. Zack got to sport his brand new bowling shoes he bought online, and C.D. won for most entertaining bowler of the night, though Kevin was the smoothest, throwing the ball down so it would skate the edge and then curve right**** into many strikes.)

*AKA The Other Caitlin (or T.O.C.)

**KEVIN!

***We even did the same thing last weekend with Lisa and Eric, minus the ‘ritas but plus dinner.

****In other words, he throws a hook shot. Kevin’s an old pro who just left his ball at home.

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Bad Mamma Jamma at Spider House

8 Jul

The stars aligned for a trip to Spider House Saturday night, when our friends Melissa and Monte both suggested it independent of each other. I’d never been to the campus spot that Caitlin calls her old stomping ground, so we headed there with hopes for a tall, cold rita. We didn’t expect one this tall. After scanning the menu and only seeing a cucumber margarita, we came across the “Bad Mamma Jamma” described as a “32 oz frozen margarita with a shot of Hornitos & a Pacifico combined. Limit one per customer. $16.75” Clearly, I was sold on it. Caitlin wasn’t quite as sure. *I knew I wanted a margarita, and I was jonesing for a strawberry (shocking no one), so I was open to this behemoth simply because a cucumber ‘rita sounded terrible to me. When we saw the thing…cue my face. Continue reading →

The Week of Broken Glass and Feet

2 Jul

After four years of putting off getting Texas license plates, I finally got pulled over a couple weeks ago and was given a month to get my car registered in Texas. I spent a few hours getting the process started on Monday and quickly remembered why I’d put it off so long. It took a ton of legwork just to figure out what I needed and when all’s said and done, it’s going to cost me over $400, including the $125 it cost to have my dad get an expedited duplicate title sent to me from Illinois. He called me Tuesday morning to let me know he’d gotten the title and it was on its way to me. I decided to celebrate by swimming laps and going to the grocery store before work Tuesday afternoon. I came outside feeling relieved, with a bathing suit on and a towel in hand, ready to go when I discovered my car’s rear windshield had been obliterated. Continue reading →

Pin Pals

24 Jun

We decided to go bowling the last two weekends. I feel compelled to make some kind of excuse about why we went bowling, but truth be told, I love bowling. I had about half a dozen bowling birthday parties growing up, even having a couple after I didn’t need bumpers anymore. I even took bowling as an elective in college. I didn’t learn how to put spin on the ball* and never owned my own ball or shoes or anything, but I’m always down to roll, even on Shabbos. Somer Fucking Shabbos.

*I used to ONLY be able to bowl with spin. Not on purpose, obviously, but whatever weird way I was hurling the ball down the lane, it would always spin, so I knew I could bowl close to the edge of the lane and be OK. Now, of course, I can’t seem to do that anymore. C’est la Vie. Continue reading →

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