An Aussie geek stuck in Texas

For no reason except “just because”, I created this little website to promote Steak Night at Little Woodrows in Midtown. All it does is return NO unless it is Wednesday then it returns YES linked to the specials page for Little Woodrows Midtown, nice & simple!

http://isitsteaknight.com/?

On Sunday the Houston Astros designated Morgan Ensberg for assignment meaning that gave them 10 days to either trade him ,release him or send him down the the minor leagues but they made it clear the latter was not an option. this kind of saddened me as Morgan is a great guy, truly one of the “Good Guys” sure he had been struggling lately but just recently he had found his swing and was hitting pretty well so was showing a lot of promise!

Yesterday some co-workers and I actually saw him at Best Buy, my first thought was just to leave him be and not bother him as I am sure plenty of fans annoy him already but in hindsight I kind of wish I went up to him to let him know the fans still care about The Vital Organ and wish him all the best!

Today just before the trade deadline it was announced he was traded to the San Diego Padres for either an unknown player or cash, at first I thought that was a tough break but then I learned he had a house in San Diego so it sounds like it all worked out for him! So Morgan best of luck with the Padres, hopefully we see you as a regular starter and knocking the stuffing out of the ball! Oh and when the Padres are in town you better do some outfielding in batting practice and say hi to all of us at the 9 Amigo’s Bar in centerfield!

Anyone who has been to an Astros game must have seen the Astros Girls at sometime or another, you know the girls where one of them has AST painted on their stomach and the other has ROS along with a  snarky remark about the away team on their backs? Well if you haven’tthen you need to stop by the 9 Amigo’s bar at the juice box or just keep your eyes on the TV coverage!

Anyway I digress… The whole point of this post is that one of the Astros Girls, Amberlee is embarking upon a modeling career and needs your help! She is currently a candidate for the Girls Riding 2008 Calendar but in order to make the cut she currently needs 87 more posters of herself (of the picture linked in this post) to be sold by April 22nd so you have like 25 days to spend your $9.99 (plus postage) and as an added bonus you will also receive the 2008 calendar so what do you have to lose?

Visit the Girls Riding online store and help out an Astros Girl today! I’m sure you could also persuade Amberlee to personally autograph the poster and/or calendar as well!

I finally got my act together and just purchased my tickets to Opening Day for the Houston Astros v. Pittsburgh Pirates on the 2nd April, which is conveniently just two days after I return to Houston after a 3 month stint back in Perth, Australia!

From what I have read so far about how Spring Training is going it is looking like it could be quite a successful year for the Astros and we may actually get a good level of run support for our pitchers this year unlike last season!

Now all I have to decide is who is going to get my second ticket and join me on opening day at 9 Amigos!

EDIT: As you can see from the comments Kelly is the lucky one that gets to join me!

[tag]Astros[/tag]Next season just isn’t going to be the same without Willy Taveras after the Astros traded him today to the Colorado Rockies as part of a deal that saw Willy T, Taylor Buchholz and Jason Hirsh traded for Jason Jennings and Miguel Ascensio. That trade just doesn’t make sense to me, Hirsh was primed to have a great major league season for the Astros this year after being the 2006 Triple-A Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year this last season, Buchholz admittedly didn’t have a great season but Willy T. was a bit of an icon even beginning to approach the kind of status Biggio holds with the crowds especially those of us that sit in center field. Jason Jennings doesn’t seem to be that much of a catch and is hardly a replacement for Pettitte so I don’t know what the Astros were thinking with that trade!

Thankfully last season I managed to get both Pettitte and Willy T. to throw me balls during batting practice and even managed to get Willy to autograph my jersey for me towards the end of the season! It is sad to see Willy T move to the Rockies, Willy you will be missed by the fans!

[tag]AFL Grand Final[/tag][tag]Houston[/tag]I have had a few people contact me through my blog looking for somewhere to watch the AFL Grand Final here in Houston so I thought I would make a public announcement along with an open invitation for any interested parties to come along to my AFL Grand Final viewing party.

The background is that only one channel over here, Setanta Sports televises the AFL and Setanta Sports is only available on DirecTV, which most bars don’t get as they are all on cable plus any that do have DirecTV usually only have a special package for American Football and can’t add on additional channels. It is also likely the game will go beyond 2:00am and hence be a problem for most bars for us to stay beyond closing. Last year it was shown on Fox Sports so I had arranged for a bar (Little Woodrows Midtown) to stay open but stop serving drinks at 2:00am to allow us to stay until the end but am unable to get them to get Setanta Sports.

So I got one of those nifty ITVN internet TV boxes just to get Setanta Sports and have that hooked up to my moderate size 30incher so am hosting a bit of a viewing party for all interested Aussies and any one else that is curious about Australian Rules Football or people that just want to have fun with a bunch of drunken Aussies. I live in the Museum District so pretty much in central Houston so if you are interested in coming along then please drop me an email via the contact me link over on the right hand sidebar.

[tag]model[/tag][tag]cycling[/tag][tag]Houston[/tag]A few weeks ago I was on the local morning TV Show, Great Day Houston modeling in a Bike Fashion segment that was sponsored by my local bike shop, Daniel Boone Cycles so if you navigate to their Looking Good section and select the Bike Fashions 101 link on the right you can see the video clip.

My appearance is close to half way through the clip and towards the end during the injury segment we all get to look awkward as we ride in the background on a very tight course. Oh and if you are wondering what the “rainbows” are, they are actually world champion stripes as the shoes and socks are special Tom Boonen limited editions plus nothing I was wearing was made in the USA and I certainly aren’t so I don’t know where the “Jason is all made in the USA” comment came from.

[tag]birthday[/tag]On Monday 31st July 2006 I turn 30 and officially become an old fart!

Honestly though it doesn’t really worry me too much, actually I think I’m dreading all the shots and drinks I’ll have bought for me more than I am turning 30. It isn’t like there is some sort of rule that says once you turn 30 you can’t have any fun and even if there was then guess who would be breaking it?

[tag]girlfriend[/tag]I haven’t posted here for quite some time and apologize for that, I’m sure I’ve lost a lot of visitors as a result but blogging is one of those things that is hard to do continuously. Anyway my life has had some major changes lately as I am now single and living alone once again so maybe I can start posting in the Torrid Tales category again!

I won’t get into the details of what happened here as if you know me well enough then you can talk to me in person and if not then it is none of your business! It has caused me to do a lot of thinking and contemplation though making me believe it really was for the best after the initial shock of it all so I have begun the process of moving on.

I have been going out a lot once again, which is great as it is something I’ve really missed doing especially catching up with friends I had lost contact with along with making new friends. Looking back I’m not exactly sure why I stopped going out like that and hanging out with my friends but it isn’t a good indication of the health of my relationship at the time so that is something I’m never going to let happen again.

In relationships you obviously need to make some sacrifices through compromises but at the same time you need to find the right balance as if you start losing your own life then you lose your identity and become just one half of a relationship instead of an individual as part of a couple. A good relationship is where you can be yourself and she can be herself, then together you can be the combination of both your individualities so really a relationship has three entities - yourself, your significant other and the relationship itself. Looking back that isn’t what we had and I don’t even know if we ever really had it so it is time to move on.

[tag]UFC[/tag]Okay so yes Matt Hughes beat Royce Gracie hands down but was the fight maybe staged? Gracie was obviously not fazed by Hughes’s ground & pound and actually got up smiling after big John stopped the fight. What was with that? Why was he smiling? Was it all just a big publicity stunt? If I was Gracie and had a call like that go against me then I’d be pissed especially if it didn’t prevent me from being able to smile.

It reminds me of a Renegades (no closed fists above the shoulders) fight I once saw where one guy was “ground & pounded” with open handed slaps, I think the receiver was laughing about it actually but the referee stopped the fight and gave it to the person doing the slapping! The crowd almost erupted into an all out brawl between the two gyms that coached the fighters, it was actually a bit scary as I was actually there and not watching it on TV.