IKEA Update

WooHoo! IKEA will be opening soon! Here's the press release from September 6th about the Round Rock store. Can't wait!!

Central Texas location to be 3rd IKEA store in Lone Star State and 29th in U.S.


ROUND ROCK, TX, September 7, 2006 – IKEA, the world’s leading home furnishings retailer, today announced that its future Round Rock, TX store will open at 9:00 AM on Wednesday, November 15, 2006. IKEA Round Rock will be the Swedish Company’s third store and restaurant destination in Texas and 29th in the U.S. (The closest IKEA stores are in the North Texas city of Frisco, and in Houston.)


Located on 21.5 acres at University Boulevard (formerly Chandler Road) and IH-35 in Round Rock, TX, the 252,000 square-foot IKEA store created 500 construction jobs and in November will welcome more than 300 new coworkers into the IKEA family of more than 10,000 in the U.S. and 90,000 globally.

A Big Problem

My husband had another angiogram/angioplasty this past week, including the placement of two aortic stints to keep his artery open after it was cleaned out. He had a triple bypass about 6 years ago. Since that time one of the "harvested" arteries used for the bypass had clogged, while the "native" artery (the one they were attempting to bypass) remained at 65% clogged. I find it interesting that the artery used for the bypass ended up becoming more clogged than the artery that was bypassed. Such is the mystery of plaque.

Anyway, he had this procedure at the same hospital where he had his by pass surgery. He's been treated at this hospital several times in the past. Besides the triple bypass, he was admitted for observation due to chest pain and had an angiogram. He was seen in the emergency room after he shot an awl (it's like a screw driver) into his foot (through his tennis shoe) while mowing. He was admitted to the hospital for elevated blood sugar after he developed an infection from the awl. And he was treated for diverticulitis in the ER during the middle of the night. These are just a few of his visits. Needless to say, I am very familiar with this hospital. I have "celebrated" many special occasions at this hospital. In 1997, I celebrated my 40th birthday there. In 2000 I had Christmas dinner alone in the cafeteria there. And in 2001, I spent New Year's Day there. My husband and I have been to their emergency room so often, we're on a first name basis with one of the ER nurses.

So this past week was like going for a visit to an old friend's house. I know my way around the place even after they remodeled. I know when the best time is to hit the cafeteria and miss the lunch rush. I know how to get from the back of the hospital (where the entrance from the parking garage is) to the front of the hospital (where the elevators to the patient floors are) without getting lost. I know which floor to get off on to get to the parking garage (the ground floor, not the first). I know where to park to be close to the elevator in the parking garage and not lose my car. Take it from me, I know my way around the place.

When you become this familiar with a hospital (and you don't work there), you have a problem. My husband isn't terminally ill, but he does have health problems and I worry about him. I don't want to live my life without him. That's a BIG problem.

Some Background on "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" by Gil Scott-Heron

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised first appeared on the album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox in 1970. Gil Scott Heron recited his poem while being accompanied by congas and bongo drums. It was re-recorded in 1971 with a full band on the album Pieces Of A Man, and on "Home Is Where The Hatred Is"/"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised".

The Last Poets covered it as the title track for one of their albums.
Soul Rebels did a dance version.
Smoove alluded to the poem in "The Revolution Will Be Televised"
Brooklyn Funk Essentials also alluded to the poem in "The Revolution was Postponed Because Of Rain".
Aesop Rock in the song "Coma" from Labor Days, "If the revolution ain't gon' be televised, then, fuck, I'll probably miss it." Also on his LP "Bazooka Tooth," with the song "We're Famous" and the line, "The revolution will not be apologized for."
Jamiroquai "The Kids" from the album, The Return of the Space Cowboy: "the revolution will be televised"
Elvis Costello in "Invasion Hit Parade" from the album Mighty Like a Rose, "Incidentally the revolution will be televised/ With one head for business and another for good looks/Until they started arriving with their rubber aprons and their butcher's hooks"
Public Enemy used the phrase "The revolution will not be televised" in the opening to its 1987 album, "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back,"
Common used the term "The revolution will not be televised; the revolution is here." in the intro to his 2000 single "The 6th Sense"
Cee-lo Green in the song "Big Ole Words", "The powers that be will be beaten into submission And you WILL be able to see my revolution on television."
Prince in the song "The War", a 26 minute noise jam/spoken word piece, in which a chant of "evolution will be colorized" is heard.
The Pulp album This Is Hardcore finishes with the track The Day After The Revolution with "The revolution was televised / Now it's over, bye bye"
Sarah Jones in "Your Revolution", "Your revolution will not happen between these thighs"
Piebald in "The Rock Revolution Will Not Be Televised", "Can't you see by the look in our eyes that the rock revolution won't be televised?"
Steve Earle played the song immediately before the start of his set on tour dates in support of his 2004 album, The Revolution Starts Now.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, a documentary by Irish filmmakers, chronicles the April 11, 2002 coup against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
In the early 90's hip-hop/rap artist KRS-One did a re-imagining of the song using different lyrics for a Nike commercial.


The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.

There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.

Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be right back after a message
bbout a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.

City Planning in Austin in Short Sighted

I have been perusing one of my favortie BB's at SkyscraperPage Forum and noted that several changes are in store for Austin. The worst one is the idea of a "Crestview Station" located somewhere around Lamar and Airport Blvd. Argh! The thought of putting in some huge and probably doomed shopping center in a viable mid-town neighborhood just irks me! Crestview is one of the few "family friendly" neighborhoods left in town with a time warp feel from the 1950's. I am worried that such a big endeavor like the Crestview Station will ruin that feel and destroy the shopping center on Woodrow where the IGA and Crestview Pharmacy now reside. This IGA is the only neighborhood grocery store I know of in town that is still afloat and it is heartless to destroy it after all these years. It's bad enough all of these people have come into Crestview and torn down existing structures to build huge homes that have nothing to do with the existing architecture in the area. Now they want to build some urban mall? Whatever are they thinking? Austin is terrible at city planning and just can't leave well enough alone.

Austin Update

Fall is sputtering in and out here. It's rained some and the average high temperature has dropped a little, so we are hoping that we've turned the corner away from Summer. It's so hard to predict the weather here in Texas. One day it will be cool and fall-like and the next it will return to Summer weather.


Austin has been buzzing along. With Halloween coming up, everyone is getting ready for the big festivities on 6th street. I imagine the big celebration downtown will happen the weekend before Halloween. But knowing 6th street, there will be a party going on Halloween night too. I haven't heard. I know the Haunted House is up and running. So everyone is very excited.

The Mueller neighborhood is having a "open house" of sorts this weekend. Everyone is invited to come by and see the progress that's been made in that area. They've continued work on the Children's Hospital and it's beginning to look really good. They also have another medical building nearby and that looks almost finished! But the big news is the shopping area which broke ground and started construction just this past month. One of the stores (either Best Buy or another Big Box Store) has most of it's walls up and looks like it is well underway to being completed. We're very excited to have more shopping choices nearby.


UT is playing Baylor today and I hear it is the Homecoming game for UT this weekend. That will cause alot of activity downtown tonight. I flew in from Houston yesterday with a lot of UT fans so I imagine there will be a crowd at the game and at the hotels downtown.

Construction downtown continues on all those Condos and Lofts that I have blogged about in the past. The one on Lamar near Paggi House has broken ground and begun building. In the other areas, I haven't really kept up but plan on checking on them soon. I know there is a fight brewing over the possible demolition of Tesoros and Las Manitas on Congress. I hate the idea of losing either one of those places. Some ideas are to incorporate those businesses into the new building but that takes away from the charm of those places. I really wish they would just leave them as they are! I feel lucky we aren't like NYC which has a plague of fires (probably arson) in the areas of the city where real estate is at a premium. Apparently they can't get people evicted fast enough out of the older apartments there so they just torch the buildings around them! In some cases the buildings are being considered for addition to the Historical Register in New York, so the owners are up in arms and eventually the buildings mysteriously go up in flames. That way the owners can get highest dollar for the land without worrying about the restrictions of a Historical Building. What a scary thought!

OK that's all for now. Here's to Fall!!

The 2006 Ig Nobel Prize Winners

The 2006 Ig Nobel Prize winners were awarded on Thursday night, October 5, at the 16th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, at Harvard's Sanders Theatre.
You can watch archived video of the live webcast .
Two days after the ceremony -- on Saturday, October 7 -- the new winners will give free public lectures at the Ig Informal Lectures.
ORNITHOLOGY: Ivan R. Schwab, of the University of California Davis, and the late Philip R.A. May of the University of California Los Angeles, for exploring and explaining why woodpeckers don't get headaches.
REFERENCE: "Cure for a Headache," Ivan R Schwab, British Journal of Ophthalmology, vol. 86, 2002, p. 843.
REFERENCE: "Woodpeckers and Head Injury," Philip R.A. May, Joaquin M. Fuster, Paul Newman and Ada Hirschman, Lancet, vol. 307, no. 7957, February 28, 1976, pp. 454-5.
REFERENCE: "Woodpeckers and Head Injury," Philip R.A. May, Joaquin M. Fuster, Paul Newman and Ada Hirschman, Lancet, vol. 307, no. 7973, June 19, 1976, pp. 1347-8.
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY: Ivan Schwab
NUTRITION: Wasmia Al-Houty of Kuwait University and Faten Al-Mussalam of the Kuwait Environment Public Authority, for showing that dung beetles are finicky eaters.
REFERENCE: "Dung Preference of the Dung Beetle Scarabaeus cristatus Fab (Coleoptera-Scarabaeidae) from Kuwait," Wasmia Al-Houty and Faten Al-Musalam, Journal of Arid Environments, vol. 35, no. 3, 1997, pp. 511-6.
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY: Faten Al-Musalam
PEACE: Howard Stapleton of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, for inventing an electromechanical teenager repellant -- a device that makes annoying noise designed to be audible to teenagers but not to adults; and for later using that same technology to make telephone ringtones that are audible to teenagers but not to their teachers.
REFERENCE: http://www.compoundsecurity.co.uk
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY: Howard Stapleton planned to attend, but his plans were interrupted by a family medical situation.
ACOUSTICS: D. Lynn Halpern (of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, and Brandeis University, and Northwestern University), Randolph Blake (of Vanderbilt University and Northwestern University) and James Hillenbrand (of Western Michigan University and Northwestern University) for conducting experiments to learn why people dislike the sound of fingernails scraping on a blackboard.
REFERENCE: "Psychoacoustics of a Chilling Sound," D. Lynn Halpern, Randolph Blake and James Hillenbrand, Perception and Psychophysics, vol. 39,1986, pp. 77-80.
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY: Lynn Halpern and Randolph Blake
MATHEMATICS: Nic Svenson and Piers Barnes of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organization, for calculating the number of photographs you must take to (almost) ensure that nobody in a group photo will have their eyes closed
REFERENCE: "Blink-Free Photos, Guaranteed," Velocity, June 2006,
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY: Nic Svenson and Piers Barnes
CONTACT: Nic Svenson, Communications Officer, CSIRO Industrial Physics, Phone: +61 (2) 9413 7643, Fax: +61 (2) 9413 7644, nic.svenson@csiro.au
CONTACT: Dr. Piers Barnes, Post Doctoral Fellow, CSIRO Industrial Physics, Office: +61 2 9413 7179, Mobile: +61 410 273 353, Fax: +61 2 9413 7200,
LITERATURE: Daniel Oppenheimer of Princeton University for his report "Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly."
REFERENCE: "Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly," Daniel M. Oppenheimer, Applied Cognitive Psychology, vol. 20, no. 2, March 2006, pp. 139-56.
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY: Daniel Oppenheimer
MEDICINE: Francis M. Fesmire of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, for his medical case report "Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage"; and Majed Odeh, Harry Bassan, and Arie Oliven of Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel, for their subsequent medical case report also titled "Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage."
REFERENCE: "Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage," Francis M. Fesmire, Annals of Emergency Medicine, vol. 17, no. 8, August 1988 p. 872.
REFERENCE: "Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage,"
Majed Odeh, Harry Bassan, and Arie Oliven, Journal of Internal Medicine, vol. 227, no. 2, February 1990, pp. 145-6. They are at the Department of Internal Medicine, Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel.
REFERENCE: "Hiccups and Digital Rectal Massage," M. Odeh and A. Oliven, Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery, vol. 119, 1993, p. 1383.
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY: Francis Fesmire
PHYSICS: Basile Audoly and Sebastien Neukirch of the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, in Paris, for their insights into why, when you bend dry spaghetti, it often breaks into more than two pieces.
REFERENCE: "Fragmentation of Rods by Cascading Cracks: Why Spaghetti Does Not Break in Half," Basile Audoly and Sebastien Neukirch, Physical Review Letters, vol. 95, no. 9, August 26, 2005, pp. 95505-1 to 95505-1.
REFERENCE: video and other details at
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY: Basile Audoly and Sebastien Neukirch
CHEMISTRY: Antonio Mulet, José Javier Benedito and José Bon of the University of Valencia, Spain, and Carmen Rosselló of the University of Illes Balears, in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, for their study "Ultrasonic Velocity in Cheddar Cheese as Affected by Temperature."
REFERENCE: "Ultrasonic Velocity in Cheddar Cheese as Affected by Temperature," Antonio Mulet, José Javier Benedito, José Bon, and Carmen Rosselló, Journal of Food Science, vol. 64, no. 6, 1999, pp. 1038-41.
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY: The winners delivered their acceptance speech via video recording.
BIOLOGY: Bart Knols (of Wageningen Agricultural University, in Wageningen, the Netherlands; and of the National Institute for Medical Research, in Ifakara Centre, Tanzania, and of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in Vienna Austria) and Ruurd de Jong (of Wageningen Agricultural University and of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Italy) for showing that the female malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae is attracted equally to the smell of limburger cheese and to the smell of human feet.
REFERENCE: "On Human Odour, Malaria Mosquitoes, and Limburger Cheese," Bart. G.J. Knols, The Lancet, vol. 348 , November 9, 1996, p. 1322.
REFERENCE: “Behavioural and electrophysiological responses of the female malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae (Diptera: Culicidae) to Limburger cheese volatiles,” Bulletin of Entomological Research, B.G.J. Knols, J.J.A. van Loon, A. Cork, R.D. Robinson, et al., vol. 87, 1997, pp. 151-159.
REFERENCE: "Limburger Cheese as an Attractant for the Malaria Mosquito Anopheles gambiae s.s.," B.G,J. Knols and R. De Jong, Parasitology Today, yd. 12, no. 4, 1996, pp. 159-61.
REFERENCE: "Selection of Biting Sites on Man by Two Malaria Mosquito Species," R. De Jong and B.G.J. Knols, Experientia, vol. 51, 1995, pp. 80