Live From Austin!

February 20, 2010

Unbelievable...

Scott and I were down by the shopping center across 183 from the building that was struck by the plane. My phone didn't take a very good picture but here it is after some photoshop lightening:

This building is about a mile south of my work building and close to our former neighborhood in Northwest Hills.

Unbelievable...

Posted by Jim at 3:51 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

January 9, 2010

2010 BCS National Championship Game

The result wasn't what we all hoped for, but the game was exciting, and freshman, Garrett Gilbert began to show some of the promise that he displayed at Lake Travis.

Here's some pictures from the pregame tailgate, the pre-game festivities, and a day around LA taking in the sites.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Jim at 6:26 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

December 19, 2009

3-Peat! Lake Travis wins 3rd consecutive 4A State Championship

Update: Here's a much better video. It's a montage that Kate put together from the game. It's a little over 8 minutes... enjoy!

Posted by Jim at 9:11 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

November 3, 2009

Kate and Claire Cahill - 2009 National Champions!

Kate and Claire’s junior team tennis team, known as the Austin Tennis Academy Dream Team, won the 18 and under Advanced 2009 USTA Junior Team Tennis National Championships on Sunday, November 1, 2009 in Mobile, Alabama. Their team defeated the Eastern, Missouri Valley, Intermountain, Florida and Midwest teams along the way.

In the semis, the ATA Dream Team defeated Florida 43-29. In the Finals, the team defeated the Port Huron (Michigan) Rebels 51-34. Their coaches, Jack Newman and Kendall Brooks accompanied the team. Coach Newman observed that the ATA doubles skills were far superior, the level of competition was excellent and the opponents were high quality.

Claire played girls singles, with tough competition, including one opponent ranked in top 50 in the country. She also played mixed doubles with Taylor Shamshiri in one match. Kate played girls doubles with Morgan Barnhill. Kate and Morgan won convincingly in each match and helped reduce pressure on the other lines, according to Coach Newman.

Here's the full recap from the USTA web site.

Way to go girls! Go Kate and Claire, Go ATA, Go Texas!

Posted by Jim at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

September 13, 2009

Long Hike along Sometimes Islands Ridge

Deb and I went over to Mansfield Dam Park to see if Lake Travis' water level had come up any after three pretty solid days of rain. Amazingly not. At least not yet. We're hoping some water is flowing down from all the rains in the hill country.

About two feet of water is all that separates Mansfield Dam Park from the Sometimes Island which is now over a mile long ridge:

Here's a picture that Deb took showing the Oasis on the cliff side over my left shoulder. We walked to almost the end of the ridge:

It was an overcast, breezy, cool, fall-like day. Perfect for our long stroll.

Posted by Jim at 3:17 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

August 18, 2009

Launching a Two-Liter Bottle

This is a project from a couple weeks ago. Scott and I had such success launching the first two-liter bottle, we couldn't find it. We suspect we inadvertently declared war on Steiner Ranch which is across Lake Austin from us. Thankfully, no return fire yet.

Here's a video of tonight's launch with a new two-liter bottle:

Whoo hoo!

Posted by Jim at 8:46 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

August 15, 2009

Taking Modern Technology Old School

Here's a Make magazine project Scott and me tackled. You basically take an old transistor radio and connect a specially made cable from an iPod to the radio's speaker amplifier. Here's a Make magazine Youtube video showing the procedure.

Scott found some old Wolfman Jack recordings in MP3 format and downloaded them to his iPod.

Kind of freaky, it's like a time machine back to my younger days!

Posted by Jim at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

June 28, 2009

A View from the Sometimes Islands at Lake Travis

With the drought conditions we've had over the past several months, Lake Travis is 37 feet below full. This means that the Sometimes Islands, located in the main basin of Lake Travis by Mansfield Dam, can be reached by swimming from Mansfield Dam park.

Scott and I gave it a go today and explored the island chain. Here's a slideshow of our adventure:

Posted by Jim at 6:06 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

June 26, 2009

Sometimes Islands at Lake Travis

The Sometimes Islands grow ever larger... Bring on the rain!

From my Smartphone
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Jim@JimCahill.net

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Posted by Jim at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

June 14, 2009

Milestone in the Process of Growing Up

Today Scott crossed another milestone on the path to adulthood. He got to mow the front forty, well at least the top, grassy field part. He took on the challenge and did a great job. Here's Scott in action:

To celebrate this big occasion, we picked up spud gun parts at Home Depot, built it, and let 'r rip:

Whoo hoo!

Posted by Jim at 6:19 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

May 17, 2009

Claire and Kate's Team Win Texas Team Championship

Kate and Claire and their Austin Tennis Academy teammates competed at Texas Junior Tennis Team championships in New Braunfels. The team won every single match and qualified for the 2009 National Championships later this year in Mobile, Alabama.

As an added bonus, they saw their cousin Andrew compete for the Woodlands. He was joined by the family, so it was a Cahill family reunion in addition to spirited competition.

Here's Kate, her doubles partner Morgan, and Claire showing off their championship medals.

Claire was won the sportsmanship award which was quite an honor. Congratulations to Claire, Kate, and the winning ATA team!

Posted by Jim at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

May 11, 2009

Claire and Partner Win Doubles title

Congratulations to Claire and her doubles partner, Morgan, for winning the SuperChamp doubles title in Dallas this weekend.

Claire and Kate also had main draw wins on the singles side.

Next stop is a national open for Claire in El Paso... can you say road trip?

Posted by Jim at 6:17 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

April 15, 2009

Kate Re-SuperQualifies

On the climb up the tennis ladder, aging up to a new group can sometimes drop you down a level, as it did with Kate. In girls 17-18s she went from Super Champ to Champ level. This past weekend she decided she had enough of this and re-superqualified by winning the Berry Creek Champ tournament.

Here's how the Austin Tennis Academy reported Kate's performance:

Kate Cahill stormed through her girl’s 18 red draw, earning four straight victories and super champ status. In the final round she defeated the number one seed K. Usheva, 6-0, 7-5, to take the title.

“Kate played focused and determined tennis all weekend to accomplish her goal of re-qualifying for super champs,” Coach Brooks said. “I was very proud of the way she composed herself in close matches.”

Way to go, Kate!

Posted by Jim at 8:46 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

April 12, 2009

Wildflowers at Easter 2009

A big storm rumbled through Austin in the wee hours this Easter day. The clouds cleared up through the morning and the skies open up to a brilliant blue. Here's a slideshow of some of the wildflowers blooming in the yard.

Happy Easter, all!

Posted by Jim at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

April 4, 2009

Meg Finishes First Among All Kids in UIL Science Competition

Warning, shameless bragging to follow...

Last weekend, Meg was among 30 students from Hudson Bend MS who competed in the UIL Science competition. Her teacher had asked her to lead a group of fellow students to prepare them in before-school meetings. They've been meeting over the last several months.

The competition was last Saturday at Hill Country MS in the Eanes school district, with seven middle schools the area school districts competing. These districts included Lake Travis, Eanes, Austin, and Dripping Springs. Meg estimates 120-150 kids took the test.

Meg completed the scheduled 45-minute test in 15 minutes. Her teacher called us later that evening excitedly to tell us that Meg scored the highest among all the kids who took the test.

We celebrated her fantastic accomplishment with some great Chuy's Tex Mex. Whoo hoo! Way to go, Meg!

Posted by Jim at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

March 22, 2009

Austin Tennis Academy Highlights Claire and Kate

Check out the Austin Tennis Academy news article written by one of the coaches highlighting Claire and Kate. Here's an excerpt:

Kate and Claire Cahill have been in the ATA program for 8 years, dedicating upwards of 20 hours a week. While both have become impressive athletes, it’s their academic success that truly sets them apart. Kate is ranked number 7 in a class of more than 400 students. Her dedication to achieve academically has earned her a grade point average of over 104. Claire is ranked number 27 in the same class, and has worked toward a GPA of over 101.

Posted by Jim at 5:45 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

The Inside Out Screaming Marshmallow Approach to Making S'mores

Scott and I camped out in the front yard last night as his and the girls' Spring Break week winds to a close.

Here's an instructional video on how to cook your marshmallows from the inside out. Listen the sound the marshmallow makes as it cooks. Enjoy!

Posted by Jim at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

March 21, 2009

A Little Thunderstruck

In paparazzi-like fashion, I caught Scott ripping the intro of AC/DC's Thunderstruck:

I thought I'd share this because I remember from my teenage years how much Kiki loved AC/DC and "their screeching guitars!"

Posted by Jim at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

February 14, 2009

Turning a Picture into True Art

Kate has been working extremely hard over the last couple weeks taking on of the pictures we took from the prior post, and turning it into a painting for her art class. Here it is:

I took her down to a UIL competition in San Marcos earlier this morning. We'll find out later today if he masterpiece qualifies for state level competition. Think good thoughts!

Update: Whoo hoo! Kate's art qualified for the state high school UIL competition. I'll let you know more as I find out the details...

Posted by Jim at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

January 11, 2009

The Stuff of Art is All Around

Kate needed a nice picture to paint for her art class. Since it was a beautiful, blue sky, January day here in Austin, Kate, Scott, and me headed down to Town Lake and around town to take pictures of some of the things that make Austin, well Austin.

Here's a slideshow of some of the sites we captured.

Also added in to the mix was the great sunrise, which started our day.

Posted by Jim at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

December 29, 2008

Meep Meep!

Here's one of the neighborhood roadrunners strolling through the front yard:

Can Wile E. Coyote and empty ACME boxes be far behind?

Posted by Jim at 1:37 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

December 21, 2008

Back to back Texas 4A State Champions

While Deb, Kate, and Claire stayed in Austin for the Austin Tennis Academy Christmas party, Meg, Scott, and I went to Waco to see the 4A Division 1 state football championship game between Lake Travis and Longview. Meg went with a friend, so I was Scott and loaded up on the soft drinks and road-tripped.

Lake Travis won pretty easily 48-23, with their quarterback breaking the all-time state passing record. He's verbally committed to UT, so we look forward to seeing him playing over next several years with hopefully similar success.

After the game, Scott stormed the field with the Lake Travis students and managed to make the Austin American Statesman sports section front page.

Way to wrangle your way in there, Scott!

Posted by Jim at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

December 12, 2008

Moonrise Over Lake Travis

Now this is a great way to get the weekend started! Here's a view from our deck of the full moon rising over the hills surrounding Lake Travis:

Update: No wonder it seemed so impressive. Because of it's elliptical orbit, it's the biggest and brightest in 15 years!

Update: Here's a slideshow with a few shots from tonight added:

Posted by Jim at 6:32 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

December 7, 2008

Playing With Qik Videos at Driving Range

Here's two videos on my new Fuze phone showing Scott and me hacking away at the driving range on a beautiful December Sunday afternoon.

Here's Scott:

And here's me:

The PGA pro tour I believe is safe for the moment.

Posted by Jim at 9:15 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Life Of a Tennis Parent

Deb's with Claire in Dallas this weekend for the Dallas Superchamp. Claire just won a thriller to extend her tournament into tomorrow. To give you a flavor for what Deb was going through, here's our third set text message exchange. Claire had won the first and the other girl (the overall 4-seed) won the second overcoming an early lead by Claire in the 2nd set.

Deb: Split (note: this was the last message of 2nd set)
Deb: Up 1-0
Jim: Did she serve first to start 3rd set?
Deb: Yes
Deb: 2-0
Jim: Let's go!
Deb: Getting cold - 3-0
Jim: Let's get a second break!
Deb: 4-0
Jim: Huge! Stay focused!
Deb: 4-1
Deb: 4-2
Jim: Big game.. Go!
Deb: 4-3
Jim: Breathe...
Deb: 4 all
Jim: A learning experience. Let's see how bad Claire wants it...
Deb: 4-5 down
Deb: 5 all
Jim: Fight!
Deb: 6-5 up
Jim: Fight!!!
Deb: Won 7-5 in 3rd

Who said tennis was a boring sport? Try being a tennis parent.

My advice for Claire tomorrow? FIGHT!!!

Posted by Jim at 6:31 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

November 22, 2008

Scott Competing at Lakeway Guitar Hero III Competition

The competition is on today out at Lakeway park. The Games2U trailer is in place and the kids are doing battle.

Unfortunately Scott had to compete in the 11-18 age group and ran into several buzz saw older teens who could rip through the song Through the Fires and Flames with little difficulty. He knows he'll need to up his game to compete with the big boys!

Posted by Jim at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

November 9, 2008

Great View of the Longhorn vs. Baylor Game

Meg, Scott and I went to the Longhorn game yesterday and had great seats. A lot of the action happened on our end of the field, as the Longhorns eventually started rolling after a 2nd quarter lull.

Here's a few video highlights showing off our location:

Hook 'em!

Posted by Jim at 4:36 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

November 8, 2008

You Know Fall Has Arrived...

...when a layer of fog blankets Lake Austin for the first time.

Here's a picture from the deck of the fog at sunrise on this beautiful Saturday morning:

Enjoy your weekend!

Posted by Jim at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

November 2, 2008

18 and Under USTA Junior Team Tennis National Championships

Kate and Claire are competing at the 18 & Under USTA Jr. Team Tennis National Championships in Mobile, Alabama this weekend.

They have represented the state of Texas well, and are playing for 3rd/4th place this morning. Claire has had some significant singles wins and Kate has had some doubles victories.

Here is a slideshow from the tournament photo gallery:

Congrats Claire and Kate on a great Championship tournament!

Update: Team Texas prevails including a mixed doubles victory by Claire and her partner to take 3rd overall in the National Championships.

Posted by Jim at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

October 13, 2008

Wow, What a Red River Shootout!

We always look forward to the second weekend in October with the classic Red River Shootout game between the Texas Longhorns and those OU Sooners (we'll keep our words clean about them since this is a family site...)

Bob and Tara kicked off the weekend with an awesome BBQ featuring Bob's award winning smoked brisket, chicken and smoked cheese and sausage. It was fantastic as was the atmosphere and lively conversation.

Saturday morning came quickly and with an 11am kickoff we had to get up and moving to the State Fair of Texas fairgrounds. The Fletcher Corny Dogs lived up to their usual high standards (and cholesterol I'm sure!)

The game itself was the most exciting Texas-OU games I've ever seen. The momentum kept shifting back and forth between the two teams. The configuration of the Cotton Bowl crowd of half burnt orange and half crimson split on the 50 yard line accentuates these momentum shifts with the roars of the crowd.

I took Claire to this one, and she made the most of her first experience with it. She said it was the best game she had ever seen in person. Other than the 2005 National Championship game and perhaps one or two others, I'm hard-pressed to think of better ones. Texas won 45-35, and vaulted to number one in the polls. Hopefully, they can hold this through January.

Courtesy of Pat and Donna, here's some great picture:

We had a great time staying with Uncle Al and Aunt Helen's place and getting in some tennis, fine wine, and cards. Also, we had a great gathering at the Stoneleigh P after the game as this has become a tradition unto itself.

Let's hope future Red River Shootout weekends in Big D can be as fun and exciting!

Update: Deb adds:

Deb, Scott, Kate and Meg also came to participate in OU weekend and they watched the game on the big screen on the State Fair of Texas fairgrounds. Scott enjoyed the rides, such as the “barrel of barf,” the “pirate” and some other rides. He also won Deb a teddy bear and a fish, showing off his shooting prowess. Kate and Meg hauled in a lot of freebies and we all loved the Fletcher’s corny dogs of course! Scott had to try the fried cookie dough, but lets just say it sounded better than it tasted! Hook ‘em Horns!

Posted by Jim at 7:59 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

September 28, 2008

Fun With Scott at Longhorn vs. Arkansas Game

With Deb and the girls at the Austin Tennis Academy getting ready for the annual scholarship shootout, Scott and I headed to the Longhorn game. The traffic was crazy with the Austin City Limit (ACL) music festival going on, so we weren't able to hookup with Pat and Donna for their pre-game tailgate, but did see them at the game.

Instead we headed to the Goal Post tailgate. The had a stage set up with RockBand. Scott's eyes lit up when he saw he had a chance to jam before a live tailgate audience. Here he is with other kids in a surprisingly good rendition of Mountain's Mississippi Queen:

The game itself was a yawner with Texas pile-driving Arkansas. It's a strange season so far... three home games all won by identical scores of 52-10. Here's a quick video of some scores on our side of the field:

Scott and I caught up with Deb and the girls after the game at the shootout. Deb organized a fantastic event that help raise funds for their players on scholarship.

Posted by Jim at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

September 27, 2008

Claire Wins Open / Meg's Band Performs at Game

Claire entered and won last week's Spenco Open here in Austin, competing in the Girls 18 bracket. Kate also competed and work on shaking off the cobwebs in her game after a long time off healing from the stress fracture. Here's the Austin Tennis Academy news account.

Also, the girls are at the big scholarship shootout function today and tomorrow and will report back to you the total sum raised by your generous contributions along with all the matching funds that were added to the total of all contributions raised.

Last night at the Lake Travis / Killeen game, Meg's middle school band performed along with the other middle school and Lake Travis High School band before the game. Can you spot her?

Also, future Longhorn QB, Garrett Gilbert has a pretty good night, although he did not have to throw much since Killeen could not stop the Lake Travis running attack. Lake Travis won easily, 50-9. He's a few Gilbert highlights:

Now, Scott and I are headed to the Longhorn game today... Hook 'em!

Posted by Jim at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

September 13, 2008

Playing With Flip Video Camera at Lake Travis Football Game

We have some Flip Video cameras for an upcoming customer event. I tried one of them out by taking it to the Lake Travis football game last night. They are the top ranked team in the area even though they are a 4A school. They played the 4th-ranked 5A power Cedar Park.

Lake Travis won 35-21. Here's a YouTube highlight real of the Lake Travis offense, powered by future Texas Longhorn quarterback, Garrett Gilbert. The quality of the video is not too great. I discovered what went wrong and hopefully future ones will be a little better.

Posted by Jim at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

September 5, 2008

Thanks for Supporting Kate and Claire's Efforts!

I wanted to thank everyone who has supported Kate and Claire's efforts so far in their fund raising efforts. If you haven't yet, I wanted to give a little more background to this effort.

A Glimmer of Hope is inextricably tied to the Austin Tennis Academy. Their founders, Donna and Philip Berber supported the start up of the ATA with investment capital and with their children who've attended over the years. Coach Jack Newman, has pledged to raise a million dollars in donations over twenty years. This is part of the mission of the Austin Tennis Academy and part of the mission to develop life skills in those who attend.

Check out some of the photos I've uploaded on some wells already drilled in prior years.

100% of your donations will go to school construction or to new water wells since the Foundation established by Philip and Donna Berber cover all of their operational expenses.

Thanks again for your support!

Posted by Jim at 6:53 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

August 23, 2008

Play Tennis. Save Lives.

As many of you know, our family is quite involved with the Austin Tennis Academy. Part of the mission of the Austin Tennis Academy is to help junior tennis players reach their full potential as tennis players and human beings. It is the goal of the Austin Tennis Academy to develop citizens of significance, not only of success.

As part of this mission, here's a letter that Claire and Kate have been sending to family and friends:

Kate and I are currently involved in a charity project raising money for A Glimmer Of Hope, an organization which helps provide water and other necessities to areas in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, and one of our tennis academies major sponsors. A Glimmer of Hope also does work in London as well as locally in Austin helping underprivileged kids. The Austin Tennis Academy, which you all know Kate and I spend most of our life at, has a goal of $150,000 for this year which will provide a school with 2 classroom buildings, a health post, and 8 water wells in Ethiopia. This project will benefit 3600 people from the health post, 560 primary school students, and 4710 beneficiaries of clean water.

The project was started by one of our teammates Josh Hagar who is only 13 years old. It is called Playing for Glimmer. Last year we were able to raise $40,000 and through this and other donations the Austin Tennis Academy has already built 28 operational wells, but have set our goal much higher for this year. The way it works is sort of like a Bike-a-thon, we are asking for donations per game that we play in a tournament with a maximum of 100 games. For example if you were to donate $1 per game that would be a pledge of $100. To try are reach our goal of $150,000 the academy students are split into 10 groups of 10 players each player trying to raise $1000. (A private donor promised a $50,000 matching donation which is how we plan to reach $150,000) Kate and I are team leaders of each of our groups and we have set our goal at $1000 each.

Any little bit helps us reach our goal to help provide a better life for children less fortunate than we are.

And remember, your donations are tax deductible.

 

For more on this project, check out this Youtube video:

Leave a comment or send me an email if you want to contribute to this cause.

Play Tennis. Save Lives.

Update: I didn't realize until this past weekend, that 100% of donations go to the intended recipients in Ethiopia. All operating expenses are paid by by the founders of A Glimmer of Hope though an endowment they've established.

Posted by Jim at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

August 4, 2008

Claire Qualifies for USTA National Championships

Just a couple days ago we got the word that Claire qualified for the USTA National Championships. For the 16s girls, it is being held in San Diego. Deb flew out with her bright and early this morning.

Here's her path in the main draw in a field of 256:

Link to full draw

Cheer real loud and I'll update this post as I hear results!

Update and bump: Claire just finished her first singles match. Deb said she played and the scores don't reflect Claire's high level of play, 6-2, 6-1. She'll now be competing in the back draw. Go Claire!

Update 2: Deb found out Claire's first opponent reached the quarterfinals of clay court nationals. Today she played well but fell 6-2, 6-2. Welcome to a new latter to climb! Deb also mentioned that 2 two division 1 coaches watched some of the match. Claire was showing off a very strong serve.

Posted by Jim at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Claire Qualifies for USTA National Championships

Just a couple days ago we got the word that Claire qualified for the USTA National Championships. For the 16s girls, it is being held in San Diego. Deb flew out with her bright and early this morning.

Here's her path in the main draw in a field of 256:

Link to full draw

Cheer real loud and I'll update this post as I hear results!

Update and bump: Claire just finished her first singles match. Deb said she played and the scores don't reflect Claire's high level of play, 6-2, 6-1. She'll now be competing in the back draw. Go Claire!

Update 2: Deb found out Claire's first opponent reached the quarterfinals of clay court nationals. Today she played well but fell 6-2, 6-2. Welcome to a new latter to climb! Deb also mentioned that 2 two division 1 coaches watched some of the match. Claire was showing off a very strong serve.

Posted by Jim at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

August 3, 2008

Front Yard Camping Action

With Claire and Deb in San Diego, Scott and I decided to do some front yard camping. We pitched a tent in the front yard in the grass field, one of the few areas with any soil to drive the tent stakes into.

Here's Scott enjoying the fruits of his labor with a cold Dr. Pepper in hand:

At Camp Longhorn, Scott learned how to make a Dakota Hole, where you dig two holes and connect them with a tunnel. This provides oxygen to the hole with the fire through the other hole and tunnel. Here's Scott and the finished Dakota Hole:

First order of business, cooking the burgers:

After dinner, it was time to get some coals going for the s'mores. We found some Like Oak branches, and built up the camp fire:

At last, time to enjoy the s'mores:

Posted by Jim at 4:43 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

June 2, 2008

Huge Results at Spenco Open in Austin

It was truly a treat to watch both Claire and Kate playing in the finals of the Spenco Open this past weekend in Austin.

Kate was playing her first tournament in over a month. After shaking off a rusty start and dropping her first match, she advanced in the consolation bracket to the finals. Although she did not prevail in the finals, these competitive matches definitely help get her back as she prepares for the big Summer Grand Slam (a.k.a. Sectionals) tournament next weekend in College Station.

Claire had perhaps her best tournament to date. She and her partner, Brooke, won the doubles title. In singles, Claire won each round convincingly and lost only six games in four matches. Here's a picture of Claire with more hardware for her collection:

Congratulations and good luck in your preparations for Sectionals!

Posted by Jim at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

June 1, 2008

Lake House Fun Over Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great time over Memorial Day weekend at Tommy & Julie's Lake LBJ lake house. Unfortunately Kate was recuperating from having her wisdom teeth removed so you won't see her in any of these pictures.

Posted by Jim at 8:18 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Tuscany or Texas?

The sunflowers have made their grand entrance to our front yard. It takes us back to the fields of sunflowers Deb and I saw when we were in Tuscany a few years ago. Perhaps it's time to get the Sangiovese grapes planted to get the Chianti wine production going...

Posted by Jim at 7:54 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

May 31, 2008

Opposite Ends of the Musical Spectrum

I thought I'd share two musical performances which could possibly be at the opposite ends of the musical spectrum.

The first is a performance by Meg and the Hudson Bend Middle School Symphonic band at their spring concert earlier this week.

Part 1:

Part 2:

The second is a performance by Meg and Scott playing the song Helicopter on Guitar Hero 3. But, they raised the degree of difficulty by performing it watching the TV upside down... such talent!

Posted by Jim at 9:20 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

April 6, 2008

A Tour of the Yard

Here's a slideshow of pictures of the wildflowers taken today in our yard:

Posted by Jim at 7:25 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

April 5, 2008

Added new Comment Spam filter

I know adding comments to this blog has been tough. I've added a new comment challenge called reCaptcha. It looks like this:

If the words are too difficult to read, hit the top refresh button on the three-stacked buttons to the right.

If you correctly get the two words, your comment will be published immediately. I'll have to see if the bad guys can get through.

Also, you're doing something productive:

...reCAPTCHA improves the process of digitizing books by sending words that cannot be read by computers to the Web in the form of CAPTCHAs for humans to decipher. More specifically, each word that cannot be read correctly by OCR is placed on an image and used as a CAPTCHA.

 

So comment away and help in the process of digitizing the world's knowledge.

Update: I scrapped CAPTCHA and am now using the Disqus commenting system. Let's see how that works!

Posted by Jim at 1:33 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

It's Great Sharing Austin!

It was great hosting Pat's triumphant return to Austin last weekend with a party and UT Football scrimmage and Suzy, Colleen and Megan this weekend on their whirlwind trip to see the Destination Imagination finals here in Austin (how's this for an extremely long run-on sentence!!!)

For those less fortunate souls not coming to visit in this Spring wildflower season, here's what you're missing from our front yard:

And of course, the fog over Lake Austin taken about a week ago is also a sight to see:

Happy Spring!

Posted by Jim at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

April 2, 2008

Scott Rips Reptilia on Guitar Hero

Without further adieu, here's Scott!

Can Through the Fire and Flames be far behind?

Posted by Jim at 6:19 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

March 28, 2008

Email Going around the Lake Travis School District this Week

Meg was recognized this week for her outstanding performance at a MathCounts competition. Here's a picture of a snippet of the email which went out around the Lake Travis School District this week:

Congratulations, Meg!

Posted by Jim at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

March 9, 2008

Fun with Mentos

We've heard about it and seen the videos out on You Tube. It was time for Scott, Deb and I to see the Mentos reaction in action. Armed with our Mentos and two three-liter bottles of Dr. Pepper we took to the front yard to see it in action.

Enjoy!

Posted by Jim at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Sweet 16 Brunch

To celebrate Kate and Claire's recent 16th birthday, Deb and I took them down to the Four Season's on Town Lake for a Sunday brunch a few weeks ago.

The food was fabulous as was the great time we had sharing this beautiful day. Here's a few pictures:

And the girls were kind enough to photograph Deb and me on dock beside the lake with the Congress Avenue bridge (home to the world's largest urban bat colony) in the background:

Posted by Jim at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

January 13, 2008

A Day Around Bangkok

It does appear that this blog is turning into a travel log... today's stop on the global tour is Bangkok. I arrived in the wee hours, 1 a.m. local Bangkok time on Sunday morning. After a few hours sleep I headed out Sunday morning to see some of the sites of Bangkok. I was a day ahead of most the other folks coming from Austin, so I flew solo.

First stop was the Grand Palace and Buddhist temple Wat Pho.

Here's the "reclining Bhudda" from Wat Pho:

In the same area, the ministry of defense looked well fortified with cannons:

The markets were filled with the smell of Thai spices, outdoor cooking, and orange-robed Bhuddist monks taking a walk about. Here's a few pictures:

The Chao Phraya river flows right through the heart of the city. Here's a few from my hotel, the Shangri-la, from the restaurant deck:

Now that it's Monday, it's time to switch gears and get some work done!

Posted by Jim at 6:54 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

January 5, 2008

Time for a Parade

With the kids back in school this week, it was time to celebrate the Lake Travis 4A state football championship. I took Claire and Scott over to the Hill Country Galleria where a parade was put together to honor the accomplishment of the team.

It was perfect parade weather--beautiful blue-sky with temperatures in the 70s.

Here's a video of some clips and pictures strung together from the parade:

And here's Scott and Claire with KISS FM radio personality, Lunchbox, after the parade:

Posted by Jim at 8:40 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

December 23, 2007

Lake Travis HS 4A State Football Champions

Yesterday Claire, Kate, Scott and I headed to Waco to see the state 4A Division II state final between the Lake Travis football team and Dallas' Highland Park high school. The game was played at Baylor University's Floyd Casey Stadium.

The wind was howling 30-40 MPH which made for difficult playing conditions and difficulty in trying to stay warm. But like the football team, we persevered and watched a classic. Lake Travis prevailed 36-34 in a game filled with big plays. This video captures the final play and the fans, led by Kate and Claire, storming on the field.

Scoreboard!

Posted by Jim at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

December 15, 2007

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Meg's Hudson Bend Middle School Symphonic Band performed earlier this week.

Here's a rough capture of the band performing, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all!

Posted by Jim at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

November 20, 2007

A Day Around Rome

I recently had the chance to go to Rome for a sales meeting with our Europe, Middle East and African sales force. My flight landed Sunday morning so I had one "power day" to see Rome. I hooked up with a group of marketing folks and we set out about the historic areas of the city.

Since it was Sunday, we went over to the Vatican where we had a chance to see Pope Benedict address the crowd in St. Peter's Square. Here's a brief snippet of his address in English that I caught with the digital camera:

Here's a photo looking up from the square and the crowds below:

Some of the other sites we saw included the Pantheon:

and Trevi Fountain:

and the Victor Emmanuel II monument:

After the long flight without a whole lot of sleep I ran out of steam before I could see and get pictures of the the Roman Colosseum.

Overall it was a great meeting and sales folks are fired up to keep pounding the bad guys.

Ciao!

Posted by Jim at 2:32 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

October 28, 2007

Fall Saturdays in Austin, Texas

The fall is a great time of year, especially when we get the first cool wave from the North. It means that a chilly morning will produce a layer of fog over Lake Austin and Lake Travis.

Here's a look at a burnt orange sunrise with the fog over the lakes:

It also sometimes means a home game for the Longhorns which this particular Saturday was. In this case, we had Nebraska coming in to Austin.

Deb was with the girls at a Saturday tennis workout, so Scott and I headed down to the game. We started by hitting the Goal Post Club tailgate party where Scott took advantage of the moon bouncer:

The Horns were rather lethargic for three quarters of the game but finally came alive in the fourth quarter, with Jamaal Charles putting on a show with three touchdowns and over 200 yards of rushing in the fourth quarter alone.

It was Mack Brown's 100th win as coach of the Longhorns, which we celebrated after escaping with a victory that should have been easier.

Scott kept his string alive in only witnessing victories when he goes to games. We'll need him for K-State next time!

Posted by Jim at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

October 27, 2007

Friday Night Lights Pregame Entertainment

On Friday night, we took in another Lake Travis High School football game. All of the middle schools had a chance to participate with the Lake Travis HS band and play for the crowd during the pregame festivities.

Meg had a chance to get a field-level view of what it's like to play before a big Lake Travis crowd.

Here she is in her first big show biz break:

Oh yes, the game was exciting too! Lake Travis jumped out to a quick 24-0 lead by early second quarter and it appeared it would be yet another blowout. Connally fought back in a major way in the second half, yet LT ultimately prevailed 31-28.

It's great seeing a winning program, something that I did not get to enjoy in my high school days!

Posted by Jim at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

October 14, 2007

Friday Night Lights

We're in that swing of catching occasional Lake Travis High School football games. This week was homecoming week against Lampasas. Lake Travis crushed them, scoring 28 first quarter points. The whole family went with Kate and Claire meeting up with their friends, Meg with her friends, and Deb and me watching and meeting some of families we know through the Austin Tennis Academy.

The big news was that Scott asked one of the girls at his school out to the game. Actually, it was to meet at the stadium. Some of the players on his football team also asked girls to the game. His "date" showed up a little late. I whispered in his ear that he'll have to learn to get used to this!

For the first half, they hung out in the end zone area behind one of the goal posts with all the other kids their age. She, her mom and her sister were ready to leave and took off at half time.

No worries though--his football buddies were there and Scott even caught an extra point on one of the numerous Lake Travis touchdowns.

I asked Scott to sum up the evening to which he replied, "Good." There you have it!

Posted by Jim at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

October 10, 2007

Working on the Chain Gang

"That's the sound of men working on the chain gan -ay ang" - Sam Cooke.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to work the chains at Scott's football game. It gives you quite a view of the game since at most you are right there at the sidelines within 10 yards plus the distance between the players on the field and the sideline.

Scott's team rolled to an impressive 26-0 victory. I tried to take credit due to my exceptional placement of one the sticks and tautness of the chain. Scott would have none of it. It's a good thing we raise such bright children.

In the gazillions of football games I've seen over the years, I've never paid much attention to the guys working the chains. It's really quite an inexact science, especially when one considers how games can be decided by mere inches. The side judge estimates where he wants the pole measuring the spot of the football to be placed, and one of the poles with the ten yard chain is place at this spot. The other end is placed by pulling the chain tight. At least at the junior pee wee level, this is nothing more than a rough guess on the placement. At that point it becomes gospel.

We never had the opportunity to trot on to the field for a close measurement. I think in large part it was because this was the refs fourth game of the day and they were tired. On anything close, they had us "move the chains" to signal a fresh set of downs. More importantly to them, it kept the game clock running.

I'm hoping to parley this experience into a gig at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium for the Horns games. The effort is not too great, the view of the game is nice, and price of the ticket is avoided... heck I'd probably even make some cash in the deal. The downside is of course getting creamed by some linebacker or safety as they make a tackle on the sideline.

Until that big-time stint happens, I'll keep taking those opportunities to work the junior pee wee chain gan-ay-ang!

Posted by Jim at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

September 15, 2007

Battle of the Lakes, Part II

One of the emerging rivalries of the Central Texas area is Lake Travis agains Westlake. This year both teams were ranked in the top ten, but Westlake prevailed 28-21 a week ago.

Scott's Pop Warner team had a chance to avenge the loss, and boy did they. Scott paved the way opening some holes on some long touchdown runs.

Final score:

Scoreboard!

Posted by Jim at 8:25 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

September 9, 2007

Nice Win for Longhorns Over TCU

The Longhorns looked much better last night than they did at last week's opener against Arkansas State.

I was sitting with Scott and Kate, Claire, Meg, and a friend of Kate and Claire's had some primo seats on the 40 yard line, upper deck 8th row. Deb had gotten the tickets from ATA but wanted to rest after a very busy week.

Here's the look from our new seats of a scramble by Colt McCoy to the three yard line. They scored two plays later on their way to a 34-13 win.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Jim at 1:47 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

September 8, 2007

Live from East Austin

I'm sitting in the stands of East Austin's Yellow Jacket stadium getting ready to root on Scott and the Lake Travis junior Pee Wee Pop Warner football team. They won their opener in impressive fashion 22-0 last week.

Since I'm entering this post with my thumbs on my smartphone, I'll keep this brief.

Go LT! I'll post results later...

Update: Too much speed and size for our Wildcats... Final 31-0.

Posted by Jim at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Live from East Austin

I'm sitting in the stands of East Austin's Yellow Jacket stadium getting ready to root on Scott and the Lake Travis junior Pee Wee Pop Warner football team. They won their opener in impressive fashion 22-0 last week.

Since I'm entering this post with my thumbs on my smartphone, I'll keep this brief.

Go LT! I'll post results later...

Update: Too much speed and size for our Wildcats... Final 31-0.

Posted by Jim at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

July 15, 2007

Summer Flower Season

The normal spring flower season has extended into July with all the rains we've had. I thought I'd capture some shots of the yard before the heat finally drives them away for the year.

Also, it was a tennis weekend with Kate, Claire, and Meg competing here locally. Claire won the 16s consolation bracket.

On Friday, we managed to get out of the heat with a trip to Schlitterbahn with Bunkus Rex and the kids before they headed back to Colorado.

Posted by Jim at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

June 27, 2007

Wow! 3 months. 44 feet.

Somebody forgot to tell me that Seattle was relocated to Austin. It's been a long, long time since I've seen this much rain, so often, for a 3 month stretch.

Lake Travis is now 9 feet above full at 690 feet above sea level. It's historic high is 710 feet. At 714 feet it spills over the spillway uncontrollably into Lake Austin. I used to think that would be nearly impossible given how low it was, but 44 feet in three months makes me wonder...

UPDATE: Here's some pictures we took this evening.

Four floodgates open creating major whitewater at the head of Lake Austin:

Our picnic area in Mansfield Dam park above the beach area is now under water. So is the boat ramp which is the highest level of any of the Lake Travis boat ramps:

Here's a view of the main basin from our deck. Note that the usual ring of limestone rock around the water's edge in almost gone:

More heavy rains forecasted for overnight and into the weekend...

Posted by Jim at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

May 26, 2007

Lake Travis Nearly Full

Given our proximity to Lake Travis, we've chronicled the rising and falling lake level over time. Lake Travis serves as the largest flood control reservoir on the chain of lakes along the lower Colorado river.

In a little over two months, the water level has risen 35 feet. Here's the latest from the LCRA website:

Our nice sandy beach discovered about a year ago is now about 20 feet under water!

Here are some pictures that we captured a little while ago:

The "Sometimes Islands" are now also a thing of the past, at least for a while. Here's the view from our deck:

If the rains continue, we may soon hear the roar of the floodgates at Mansfield dam emptying floodwaters into Lake Austin!

Posted by Jim at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

May 9, 2007

Things to Brag About

Ok, get ready...

<Shameless Bragging>
Claire re-superqualifies in her 16s age group.

Claire wins Capital Area Tennis Association MVP USA Junior Team Tennis Award.

Kate continues her single-digit class ranking among Lake Travis High School freshmen.

Meg wins Hudson Bend Middle School Academic Achievement Award.

Meg wins Outstanding 6th Grade Clarinet Musician.

Scott earns his first straight-A report card.
</Shameless Bragging>

That was fun! 

Posted by Jim at 4:57 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

April 3, 2007

Recapping a Busy Weekend

Now that it's Tuesday, I thought I better recap all the successes of last weekend before I forgot about it.

Claire and Kate kicked things off by going to a high school tennis tournament in Rockport. They represented the Austin Tennis Academy. Claire won a gold medal for the top girls singles player. Kate and Claire took home gold medals for the top girls doubles team. ATA won the overall competition.

Next, Kate took to the roads for her first student driving lesson with yours truly. She only caused a few new gray hairs to sprout as we practiced at the local mall.

Sean, Scott, and I went and saw the Longhorn Spring football scrimmage and saw a dominant performance from the offense. The defense has a lot of work to do to get ready for next season.

Sean came over to celebrate his birthday and take in the final four action. It was great to break him away from all his studying for tests this week.

In team tennis, Claire's and Meg's team each won, with Meg's doubles team winning to seal the overall victory.

Scott's Lacrosse team capped off the weekend with a dominating 10-1 victory. Scott blocked the opposing team's goalie toss, something akin to blocking a goal kick in soccer (without being whistled for it!) He also nearly scored on a rebound in front of the goal. It's amazing to see their team's improvement week to week.

Finally, what would a blog post be without a lake level update? Lake Travis is up over 20 feet for the month of March, and now within 14 feet of being full. Scott and I took a quick trip over to Mansfield Dam park and could not believe how our favorite beach area had shrunk. Another five-foot rise and the entire peninsula will be underwater.

Update: I'd be remiss in not mentioning an adult tennis mixer that Deb organized for Friday night which was a great success. The Austin Tennis Academy also kicked off a Lake Travis area "Scoop it Up" league for tennis beginners on Saturday. They had 175 kids and their parents out. CEO and Head Coach Jack Newman gave a great account of this along with Kate and Claire's Rockport performance.

Posted by Jim at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

March 27, 2007

Disappearing Sometimes Islands

OK just so this is not Lake Travis water levels all the time... Scott won in Lacrosse, Kate and Claire competed well in an Open Competition here in Austin, Scott and me took in an Austin Wranglers arena football game, and other assorted weekend fun.

Now on to the lake... more heavy rains has Lake Travis rising an estimated 10-13 feet over the next few days.

Here's a picture showing the disappearing "Sometimes Islands" that are part of the main basin area.

Yee ha!

Posted by Jim at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

March 12, 2007

I Like this Trend

Given the trends in some of the financial indices over the past few weeks, I finally found a trend I like.

We had a real "gully washer" come through the upper Colorado river watershed including the Austin area late last night and it lasted throughout the wee hours.

Here's a snapshot of the water level trend on Lake Travis.

Now if we can get six to eight more of these we'll have it filled up again... half that and those pesky Sometimes Islands may finally disappear!

Posted by Jim at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

March 4, 2007

Meg Champ Qualifies!

Meg just won her semi-final match 6-3, 6-1 to join the ranks of the Champ quailified players. Whoo hoo!



Her finals match is at 12:30.



Go Meg!!!

Posted by Jim at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

March 3, 2007

Cross Your Fingers

Kate, Claire and Meg were all in tennis tournament action this weekend. I went with Meg to San Antonio while Deb was with Kate and Claire (and Scott) in Georgetown.

Each of them won all their matches today. So the the Cahill girls are 6-0 heading to tomorrow's main draw semi-final (Meg) and quarter-final (Kate and Claire) matches. All matches were won in convincing fashion.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Posted by Jim at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

February 25, 2007

Team Tennis for Kate, Claire, and Meg

We were treated to another beautiful Sunday here in Austin. All the kids we in action with Kate, Claire, and Meg at team tennis and Scott at Lacrosse practice.

The team tennis is a chance to get in singles and doubles matches in weeks where there are no tournaments scheduled. The girls play for the Austin Tennis Academy team with Kate and Claire playing for the "Old Gold" which is 18 and under highest level. Meg is on the 14 and under "Comp 1" team.

Here's a couple of pictures from the cell phone of Claire and Kate serving.

Claire:

Kate:

Posted by Jim at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day at UT

Last year I chronicled the great fun Meg and me had at the University of Texas' "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day".

They had again this year, and we were both excited to go back. After all we had bragging rights building the tallest tower our newspaper.

They had lots of different activities in the various engineering buildings from trying to float as many coins as possible on an boat designed of aluminum foil, to wind tunnels, to lego robotics, to egg bungie cord competions and much more.

In the same room where we built the tower the challenge was to build a chair out of newspaper stong enough to sit on without collapsing.

Many tried designs which featured more tape than newspaper. Meg decided the geodesic dome design was the way to go. We started rolling tubes of newspapers and the engineering students kept coming by to check on what we were doing.

It started taking shape and Meg even incorporated a star design for the seat. After one try, it needed a few more braces and it was set. It held Meg as she sat and posed with the engineering students. She received raving WOWs! for her design.

It's great that UT puts these programs on and it's even better that the students who volunteer their time share their enthusiam for engineering. What fun!

Posted by Jim at 4:45 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

February 18, 2007

Scott at Lacrosse Practice

It's quite a sight to see all the kids decked out in full body armor, but that's Lacrosse.

I'm posting this blog post from my camera phone so I'll keep the words brief, since I don't type too well with my thumbs...

It's a beautiful Sunday in Austin... Enjoy!

Posted by Jim at 6:47 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

February 17, 2007

Tight Game at Half, but Cavs Fall

Scott's team battled the top seeded team tough through haftime down only 12-11, but a 19-2 third quarter run did the Cavaliers in.

A fourth quarter rally narrowed the gap, but the final score was 40-31.

Great season, Scott!

Posted by Jim at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

It's Basketball Playoff Time for Scott

Here's a camera phone picture of Scott before his first playoff game. His basketball team won 34-20 and have reached the quarterfinals.

Scott played great defense constantly staying between his man and the goal. He dished out a few assists as well. Must have studying the game film on UT's D.J. Augustine!

It's up against the one seed this afternoon. Go Cavaliers!

Posted by Jim at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

February 6, 2007

Today's WSJ

Of course every blogger secretly wishes to be quoted in the Wall Street Journal for the pearls of wisdom they share through their blog.

Today's the day.

Posted by Jim at 6:18 AM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

February 5, 2007

The SemiFinalists

It was a big weekend of tennis here with Kate and Claire competing in Houston and Meg competing here in Austin. By the end of day Saturday all three were semi-finalists in the main draw of their respective brackets.

When Deb shared this news with Jack Newman the CEO and head coach of the Austin Tennis Academy, he said this was a first in his career to have three siblings in the main draw semi-finals at the same time. Nice job, girls!

In the end, Claire made it to the finals before dropping the match in close heartbreaker.

Onward and upward to the March madness tournaments!

Posted by Jim at 6:20 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

January 16, 2007

Iced In!

The promised ice has come. I went out early this morning to check the driveway and it's a sheet of ice all the way to the street. The street was also glazed over. The forecast is for freezing rain thoughout the day turning to snow this evening.

We have a big hill which dumps into RR620 so the whole neighborhood is pretty much iced in.

Here's some pictures.

Driveway:

Backyard:

Icicles on the roofline:

The kids are fired up that there is no school today, and I, like many others, am working remotely.

Posted by Jim at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

January 14, 2007

And then Came the Rains

It's been quite the rainy, dreary weekend outside.

The plans for the weekend was a tennis tournament for Kate up in Waco. She and Claire are aging up next month competing with the 15 and 16 year olds. Kate was getting a jump by starting in January.

I received a call Friday evening from a tournament director telling me that Claire had made a SuperExcellence tournament in Houston. This is an invitation tournament featuring the top-level SuperChamp players in the state. She had been a 5th alternate so we were not expecting this.

Deb and Claire hopped in the car and headed to Houston to stay with Kiki and Papa. Claire ended up played a great, highly-competitive match on Saturday, but did not prevail.

The rains cancelled play for Kate in Waco on Saturday. This was fortunate since Scott had a basketball game, and trying to be two places at once always proves to be a challenge. Scott's team played extremely well and Scott was picked as one of the two players of the game by his coach for his stellar defense.

There's a chance of ice storms tonight. If so, we'll get the camera busy and post the results. Now, back to the NFL playoffs...

Posted by Jim at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

January 1, 2007

Happy New Year, Captain Jack Sparrow

Scott had a chance to celebrate the new year by meeting Captain Jack Sparrow.

Actually, it's our neighbor Chris dressed up for the New Year's eve party they threw last night. We thought Scott would get a kick out of seeing Captain Jack. We walked over to our house, and Scott was definitely surprised as I announced the arrival of his favorite pirate.

Happy New Year to you and yours!

Posted by Jim at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

December 29, 2006

Merry Christmas to All!

The Christmas season of 2006 was great time with family, friends, and neighbors.

It began with the annual progressive dinner party which we held here at the house. We had six couples over to celebrate the Christmas season and to catch up. The food was absolutely fabulous featuring recipes from Hudson's on the Bend. We'll be hard pressed to top this in the future.

Then just a few days later we had an open house for the neighborhood to meet all our new neighbors. It was great meeting everyone and learning all the ins and outs of the neighborhood intrigue!

Deb's sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and family came in to celebrate Christmas with us. With the rainy weather outside, we had a chance to visit and pull out the old toys for Kai and Mia to play with. Deb's nephew Orion was recently featured in Scientific American magazine and may soon has one of his papers published in the prestigious Nature magazine.

Unfortunately Deb and the girls came down with the stomach flu which came with a vengeance. Scott and I somehow managed to avoid it's ravages and we headed to the Woodlands to celebrate Christmas with my family.

Pat and Donna hosted a present opening and lasagna dinner which was awesome. Unfortunately Pat and I had to serve the spoils of the lost margarita bet to our Dan and Mark who were celebrating the aggie victory at Thanksgiving. Scott had several Madden 2007 football battles with his cousins' Sean and Andrew on Sean's new XBOX 360.

We brought back the presents for Deb and the girls who had recovered from their flu bout. Here's a montage of their present opening party.

Merry Christmas to all!

Posted by Jim at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

November 28, 2006

Back in the Saddle

OK, OK, I know. It's been quiet here on the Austin Cahills blog. I just have a mental block about dialup service blogging!

A lot has happened since the last post. We've moved into the house. And we just had a great time hosting the family. It was a feverish pace getting ready, but it was great (all except that little football game on Friday.)

With the high-speed and wireless network now in place, and a wireless signal which reaches all areas of the house, we look forward to sharing more of the fun and excitement as it comes and as we get settled.

Now on to the holiday season!

Posted by Jim at 6:37 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

October 21, 2006

Progress on the Inside

Well the Friday night lights beckoned as we watched Lake Travis dismantle Dripping Springs (a.k.a. "the Drip"), so yesterday's pictures are posted below. Inside we're down to some final missing pieces which are coming in, touchup painting, hooking up the gas appliances, and finishing the landscaping work. We should be complete by next Friday.

Here's some inside pictures...

Powder Room Sink, Mirror, and Lights:

Master Bathroom Tub:

2nd Floor Carpeting:

Kitchen Cooktop:

Garage Apartment Flooring:

Emerson Thermostat:

Next week, the final push!

Posted by Jim at 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

October 19, 2006

Fast and Furious- Electricity, Driveway, Front Porch Stairs, Carpeting

Amazing progress this week as we wind on down to the end. We've had enough good weather in between storms to get the driveway concrete poured and the landscaping work to begin. It features steps up to the porch, a crushed granite walkway, and rock walls for the beds.

And inside all the electrical hookups could be tested now that electricity is flowing. Carpeting has been put in place on the stairs and 2nd floor, and the flooring for the garage apartment is being finished.

Here's today's batch of photos. Unfortunately I was so excited with the outside progress I don't have good indoor shots. I save that for tomorrow.

Driveway:

Front Porch Steps / Rock Wall Beds:

Crushed Granite Walking Path:

Working Front Porch Lights!

Garage Door Openers

Inside photos tomorrow...

Posted by Jim at 5:31 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

October 16, 2006

Wood Flooring Now Installed

Well the rain today prevented the driveway concrete from being poured, but they were busy on the inside installing wood flooring. Check it out...

Posted by Jim at 7:33 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

October 15, 2006

Driveway Preparation, Plumbing, Propane Tank

We went out to the house yesterday and took a new batch of photos. The plumbers made great progress as they put the faucet and tub fittings around the house. We now have flowing water from the faucets! Also the driveway is being prepared for the concrete pour which will happen tomorrow weather permitting. And the Propane tank has been delivered and will be plumbed this week.

Flowing Water at Kitchen Sink:

Installed Kitchen Appliances:

Preparing the Driveway for Concrete:

First Floor Stairway Railing:

Utility Room Sink:

3rd Floor Bar Area:

Propane Tank:

A big push will happen this week as the wood flooring and perhaps carpeting will go in.

Posted by Jim at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

September 30, 2006

Saturday Morning at Bull Creek Park

Meg, Scott, and I took advantage of a brilliant blue sky, cool fall day to go over to Bull Creek Park. This is a park that Bob and Tara's dog, Blackjack would love. The dogs run wild, splashing and fetching in the cool creek.

The park also has nice climbing rocks and trails. Here's some shots of Scott and Meg climbing away.

And a bonus turtle!

Posted by Jim at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

Stair Railing, Mirrors, Painted Columns

We did an assessment with the builder of what's left, and it looks like the end of October is more realistic that we'll be complete. This was the original estimate when we started building back in March.

Here's the pictures taken yesterday which include the stair railing, bathroom mirrors, and the painted outside columns.

The main electrical line is getting hooked up over the weekend, so much of the electrical work can be finalized.

Posted by Jim at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

September 20, 2006

Appliances, Lighting, and Speakers

The large appliances arrived this week, and the electricians were busy putting them all in place. Also, the rest of the lighting came in for the kitchen island and stairwell to the garage apartment. The speakers, Ethernet, and phone plugs were wired. And finally, some tile work is finishing up in the master bath and third floor bar.

Here's this week's batch of photos...

Kitchen lighting and appliances:

Garage apartment entry and appliance:

Second deck speakers and lighting:

Master bath:

Third floor bar area:

Posted by Jim at 5:50 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

September 10, 2006

Interior Lighting, Ceiling Fans, Tile, Outdoor Railing

More great progress this past week. The work is moving to interior electrical work as lighting and Emerson ceiling fans are being hung. Also, those of you with some fear of heights will be happy to hear that the second and third deck railing has been installed.

Here's today's batch of pictures.

Dining Room Chandelier:

Family Room Ceiling Fan:

Master Bath Tub Tile:

Garage Apartment Bathroom Tub Tile:

2nd Floor Deck Railing and Ceiling Fan:

We're starting to get close!

Posted by Jim at 2:53 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

August 31, 2006

Interior Painting Complete

Work over the last week has focused on painting, caulking, and trim painting. Also the granite countertops were set into place. The inside is really starting to look nice. Here's a look at some of the photos.

Kitchen:

Dining Room:

Living Room Ceiling and Trim:

Master Bath Shower Tile:

Lot's of things are scheduled to happen with flooring, electrical, appliances and more in the coming weeks!

Posted by Jim at 6:25 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

August 26, 2006

June Ingram

Yesterday we attended the funeral of Deb's mom, June Ingram. Here's a summary of the zestful life she lead.

June Ingram passed away on August 23, 2006. She was born on June 1, 1922 to Ray and Edna Dusold and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

June attended Marquette University and enlisted in the U.S. Navy during WWII. She was one of the original WAVES (women in the Navy). June was a fashion designer, model, and teacher of models. She was a beloved resident of Trisun Care Center and won the Trisun Beauty Pageant at the age of 83.

She will always be remembered for her sense of humor.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Harold Edward Eigner.
She is survived by her daughters, Diane (Don) Weiner, Deb (Jim) Cahill, and Dawn Tabb; grandchildren: Orion Weiner, Kate, Claire, Meg, and Scott Cahill, and great-grandchildren, Kai and Mia Weiner.

A Graveside Service was held at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, August 25, 2006 at Seaside Memorial Park.

Update: Some pictures from the service:
Dianne with the Mount Carmel Nuns
June's Casket with Roses

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August 20, 2006

Welcome to the Hood!

It's great to welcome a Cahill back to Austin, as our nephew Sean moved into to his campus area digs this weekend.

It was an amazing display to see Pat, Donna, Sean, and Shannon come into town with Sean's few possessions and leave town the same day (minus Sean) with a fully furnished one-bedroom apartment.

The city planners are rubbing their hands with glee with the bump in tax receipts from yesterday's power shopping extravaganza.

At one time Dan, Bob, and Suzy, and Deb's nephew Orion all lived here in Austin, but it's been just us for the past many years.

Sean, we hope you grow fond of the place and stick around for a few decades or so and hopefully catch a few more national championships... Hook 'em!

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August 13, 2006

Trim and Nothing but the Trim

Last week was prime time for the trim carpenters to do their thing. Lots of crown molding, cabinet doors, closets were being finalized in preparation for the cabinet stainers and painters this week.

Kitchen:

Kate's Room:

Living Room:

Oh, and the lake level is getting depressingly low. We're seeing more and more land each day.

Bring on the rain!

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July 30, 2006

Bathroom Tile, Interior Carpentry Work

We stopped by the house today to catch up on the latest happenings. Last week ended with tile work moving to the showers and baths. Also the cabinets in the kitchen were all put into place.

Powder room shower:

Kitchen:

Lot's of the molding, interior doors and other supplies arrived and will be going into place this coming week.

Brother Dan and I did this sort of work in our youth. I hope the subcontractors on this job don't try to cheat the workers, like our sub did to us (although we eventually collected from the deadbeat!)

Dan, grab a hammer and come join the fun!

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July 25, 2006

The UT Football Coaches are Scouting...

Scott shows his prowess over the weekend at the Lake Travis Football camp. A record number of kids came out to drill for four hours on Saturday and Sunday. The camp included University of Texas football players volunteering their time to help run the drills. Scott received some quarterbacking tips from Colt McCoy.

I think they are also doing some early scouting for the 2015 season!

Here's some pictures of Scott at the linebacker station intercepting a pass and getting ready to "lay the wood" on the coach:

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Tiling Decks, Cabinets, and Garage Doors

The pace continues fast and furiously. Today the second and third floor decks were being tiled, and the cabinets put into place. Over the weekend, garage doors were added. Here's the latest pictures:

3rd Floor Deck

2nd Floor Deck

Cabinets (Master Bath and Study)

Also we're reviewing the landscaping plan which at first glance looks pretty nice.

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July 20, 2006

Wall Texturing and New Mailbox

The walls received their application of orange peel texturing in preparation for the inside painting to happen later this week or early next.

Also, as promised here's the new mailbox complete with stone matching the stone on the house:

Rumor has it that cabinets will appear next week after the painting is complete.

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July 16, 2006

Priming before Texturing and Painting Inside

It's looking more and more like a house everytime we stop by. Today we went and checked and saw the inside priming paint which was done yesterday. The texturing work will take place over the next couple of days.

Here's a closer look at the interior with views of the kitchen, family room, and 2nd floor game room.

Kitchen:

Family Room:

Second Floor Game Room:

Darn, where's the picture of the new mailbox? We'll have to post that next time. It's definitely nicer than the original!

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Enjoying Saturday Back at the Beach

With Deb taking Kate and Claire to compete at the Raveneaux tournament in Houston, Meg, Scott, and I headed back to Mansfield Dam park for a barbeque and swim in Lake Travis.

Here's my ace assistant chefs in action:

The lake level continues to drop from lack of rain, but the beach is still nice and the water temperature perfect.

Here's Scott and Meg showing their prowess building rock castles. Scott named his Utopia and mentioned how it was completely powered by hydroelectric and solar energy. Here's their handiwork:

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July 11, 2006

Starting to Look Like a House Inside!

There has been some serious work done inside as the sheet rock and taping are nearly completed. And the exterior rock and stucco are nearly complete with the final painting in progress. Here's today's pictures...

Front of house:

Kitchen:

Living Room:

The fun will really be beginning soon inside!

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July 10, 2006

Claire and Meg make the July ATA Results Report

Congratulations to Claire and Meg for making the July Austin Tennis Academy Tournament Results report for their showing on the court.

Whoo hoo!

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July 6, 2006

Surrounded by Talent!

Kate, Claire, and I drove to Amarillo for the July round of tennis tournaments. We stayed with Suzy, Mark, and family and had a great visit.

Kate in her second Superchamp tournament battled but did not prevail in her two matches. Claire started slowly but came on strong in both her matches winning the first 7-6, 7-6, and the second 6-4, 6-3. She's takes on the top seed tomorrow morning, so cross your fingers... Here's a great shot courtesy of Suzy:

It was great having Mark, Suzy, Colleen, Megan, and Alex come out and cheer for Kate and Claire. Here's the cheering section in action:

And the piece de resistance was an afternoon concert from Alex, Megan, and Colleen. You may have seen this talented crew in action. Here's some still shots from their most impressive performances!

Alex:

Megan:

Colleen:

Thanks for the wonderful hospitality Suzy and Mark!

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July 3, 2006

Stucco Time

With most of the stone work complete, the work has shifted to adding the stucco and painting it. Here's a few pictures from earlier today.

Front-left side:

Front-right side:

Right side from back:

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June 29, 2006

Bring on the Insulation

While the stone and stucco are being completed on the outside, the real progress shifts to the inside as the insulation is delivered and rapidly put into place.

Here are some pictures from yesterday. Here’s the insulation in the garage apartment:

Here’s the stonework around the garage:

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June 20, 2006

Front of House Stonework

The focus of progress on the house has been the stonework being done on the front and sides of the house. Some of the more detailed work is also beginning like the waterproofing of the shower floors.

Heres a closer look at some of the stonework:

Left front side of house:

Right front side of house:

Right side of house:

The roofing should begin this week.

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June 19, 2006

Fathers Day on the Lake

With Deb and Scott with Deb's mother in Corpus Christi, the girls planned Fathers Day for me. The plan was to spend the afternoon on a rented pontoon boat on Lake Travis.

Claire found the best deal and made sure they had boats available. We headed out and were treated to a beautiful. blue sky day.

Here's the girls before we loaded the boat:

Here's yours truly captaining our pontoon boat towards Lakeway:

And courtesy of Claire's photography skills, here's Meg and Kate showing style points on their leap into the lake:

Girls, thanks for such a great Fathers Day!

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June 13, 2006

Celebrating the June Birthdays Austin Style

It was great having Mom and Dad come in to celebrate Scott, Deb, and Dad's June birthdays.

The festivities began Saturday afternoon with a tour of our apartment complex and apartment. We showed off the pool room, theatre, pool, workout room, before venturning to our cozy abode. We all fully hydrated knowing we were going to visit the house. It's gotten quite dusty out there given the lack of rain over the past several weeks.

Undeterred we headed out for a tour, showing the progress todate. Here's Mom, Dad, and Deb on the 3rd floor deck:

After the tour, we cleaned up for a big night on the town. Pizza for the kids, and Aquarelle for Dad, Mom, Deb and me. The food, wine, and conversation was fabulous. The only disappointing thing is that no one asked Dad and I to sing, like someone did when the four of us were joined by Uncle Al and Aunt Helen a few years back. Dad and Al's reputation as the Cahill tenors must have widely circulated through Texas--even here in Austin!

We came back in time for some fierce cards. I must have been a gracious host with the lousy cards I had all night. Here's the gang in action:

We finished off the weekend with a great brunch at the Oasis on Sunday. It was a little hazy so it was hard to see the house. The brunch was great.

We had a great time Mom and Dad!

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June 8, 2006

Fireplace, Stones, and Speakers

Here's the mid week house update.

The fireplace unit was placed in the family room. Here's what it looks like before the tilework is done:

Note the wiring above for the flat screen.

After meeting with the stone and stucco person this week, we agreed on the type of stone and the paint colors. The next day the piles of stone were dropped off.

The rocks are fresh from the quarry so the cutting dust makes them appear whiter than they will actually be. You can see the true color by dousing them with water.

The low voltage wiring guys came to wire the network, phone, and audio/visual cables. Here is a ceiling speaker bracket:

I'll be taking extensive photos of all the plumbing and wiring before the insulation is put into place so we know where everything is if we ever need to find or troubleshoot anything in the future.

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June 4, 2006

Electrical, Water, and Waste Water Progress

Lots of progress was made this week on the electrical wiring, the main water line from the street and septic discharge field.

Most of the power outlets, light switches, ceiling lighting cans, and the main distribution panel are now in place. Here's some pictures:

Here's a picture of the trench dug for the main water line:

Not being a septic expert, Meg, Scott, and I visited the famous How Stuff Works site and got a septic system education. After the water leaves the tanks having been processed in the tanks it heads to the drain fields. Here how it looks after the initial digging is done by the tractors:

As the How This Works article indicates:

You may have heard the expression, "The grass is always greener over the septic tank." Actually, it's the drain field, and the grass really is greener -- it takes advantage of the moisture and nutrients in the drain field.

Looks like the makings of a great football field or grass tennis court!

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June 3, 2006

News Flash: Claire Wins First SuperChamp Main Draw Match

UPDATE AT BOTTOM
This just in... At the Texas Summer Grand Slam tournament, Claire just won her first main draw match. She has shown improvement with each successive Superchamp tournament, first by participating and facing higher level competition (without a victory), then by losing an initial match and coming back to win the consolation draw, to today winning her first match to remain in the main draw. The scores were 6-2, 2-6, 6-0. After splitting the first two sets, she spoke with Meg's coach and one of the ATA Alumni players currently playing NCAA Division 1 tennis. She followed their strategy advice to a T bagelling her opponent in the decisive third set.

Kate got her first taste of Superchamp level tennis, had a fierce battle but did not prevail. She plays in the consolation draw tomorrow.

Stay tuned for further reports, as the Cahill sisters make their inaugural appearance as doubles partners. The match is scheduled for 5pm. Luck of the draw has them playing fellow Austin Tennis Academy players. Go Kate and Claire!!!

UPDATE: Claire and Kate win the match 8-1. Great start to their doubles career! They face the 3 seed tomorrow so my only advice was, "Have fun, hit out, and remember that all the pressure is on your opponents." On the singles front Claire ran into a buzz saw and will join the ranks of the consolation bracket tomorrow.

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June 2, 2006

Out with Honeywell, In with Emerson

When I saw the HVAC quotes come in, there was a problem with the winning one. They had quoted Honeywell thermostats. Honeywell is fierce competitor of Emerson in our market of process automation systems.

I could not imagine walking around the house and seeing the logo of the folks in Phoenix that I've affectionately called "The Bad Guys" for so many years.

I could only imagine how Dad would had liked seeing a big Texaco or Shell logo on the walls of his house... wouldn't have happened!

Knowing the Emerson makes all kind of appliances from garbage disposals to ceiling fans I checked and found the White-Rodgers line of thermostats. I sent the specs for the 90 Series™ Blue Touchscreen over to the HVAC folks and they said no problem to use these instead.

We were excited to see them arrive today, and here Meg gives her best Vanna White impression:

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May 28, 2006

HVAC, Electrical and Septic System Update

Lot's of progress was made this week at the house. The ducting for the HVAC system was put into place and the Heater/Fan units were placed in the attic spaces.

Bonus room HVAC:

The electrical wiring is now in progress with the electrical outlet boxes being put into place. And the holes and tanks were make for the septic system.

And if you look out at the lake closely, you can see the Oasis up on the ridge:

Hope you're having a great Memorial Day weekend!

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Newly Discovered Beach at Mansfield Dam Park

We enjoyed a beautiful Saturday afternoon having a picnic and swim over at Mansfield Dam Park. The park is located just across Ranch Road 620 from where the house is being built.

The best part was that we discovered a nice sandy beach (and a fair share of rocks) given the current Lake Travis water level. When the water level is higher there is more rocky shores, and when it is lower it is again rocky. But it's really nice where it is now.

It was really cool to look through the spill way from the beach and see our top deck. Check this out:

Here's Deb taking a picture of the gang:

It's great having a beach so close. Come on out to Austin some time this summer and check this out with us.

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May 21, 2006

Plumbing, Doors and HVAC

The work on the house has moved mostly to the inside now. The plumbing has mostly been all put into place and we met with the HVAC folks and aligned on where the units should be located. Also the doors have been hung.

It's been dry the last two weeks so progress is being made. Here's some photos from today.

Front:

Front Doors:

Plumbing shot:

Bonus Room above garage:

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May 15, 2006

A Great Weekend of Tennis!

I'm not sure why the USTA decided Mother's Day weekend was a great weekend for junior tennis, but we had Claire, Kate, and Meg in three different cities competing in the SuperChamp, Champ, and ZAT tournaments. And we hated missing Kiki's big brunch bash in the Woodlands.

Since Deb and I couldn't figure out how to be three places between the two of us, Claire went with the team and competed at the SuperChamp tournament in Houston. After a close tough first match, Claire went into the consolation bracket, and not only won her first SuperChamp match, she decided to give her mom a nice Mother's Day present and win the consolation bracket. And she did it in style winning the final match 6-0, 6-0.

I was with Meg up in Georgetown. Meg faced some heavy hitters and learned quite a bit competing against these players. With the summer and tennis camps rapidly approaching, I'm betting she'll continue to rapidly improve.

Deb was with Kate and Scott out in Kerrville. Kate was seeded 1st in her draw. And did she ever play like it. She won her only match on Saturday. After a struggling in her first set Sunday morning winning 7-6 in the tiebraker, Kate started steamrolling and won the match 6-0 in second.

Meg and I arrived to see her semifinal match, which Kate continued in steamrolling fashion with a 6-0, 6-0 victory. This semifinal win gave her enough points to Superqualify! Whoo hoo!! Another Mother's Day gift!!!

The way Kate played, I believe she would have won the tournament but Mother Nature prevailed with a hail and lightning storm. It was brief, intense, and enough to spook the tournament officials into calling off the rest of the tournament. It's too bad, because as we were driving back to Fredericksburg for a Mother's Day dinner, the sky was again blue.

But we had a great time celebrating Deb, some great tennis, and some great German food!

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May 7, 2006

Guarding the Storage Unit

We swung by the storage unit to track down some odds and ends we needed. You know this is a high-dollar place when we were greeted by a guard at our door.

This sentinel almost sent Claire into the stratosphere when she looked downed and saw the critter with claws up defending our storage unit door.

As you can see he (or she) was far too cute to take home and "tro' in an ol' pot filled wit' 'dat 'ol kyyyyyy-yen peppah... Ooooo weeee!"

Play the video.

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May 6, 2006

Cedar Brush Bonfire

Now, Mount Cedar is no more!

Click to Play Video.

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The Friday Evening House Update

With more Spring stormy weather this week and May Day protest marches, there was still progress on the house.

The plumber has kicked into gear putting the piping in place. Also we finalized the design for the room over the garage and the framers are going to town on it.

And the mountain of cedar trees we cleared at the beginning, which we discovered was a very expensive proposition to mulch, is being burned thanks to the lifting of the burn ban with all the recent rains. So far no protests out front that we're raising the CO2 levels and contributing to global warming!

Finally, the glass block windows are in place! Below per special request of the fine folks at Champion Window is a picture of them.

Here's a few pictures.

Family Room:

Dining Room:

Shrinking pile of cedar brush:

Glass block windows:

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April 30, 2006

A Great Day for Tennis

After the storms from the latest cold front blew through in the middle of the night, we awoke to a beautiful Spring Saturday.

Meg, Kate, and Claire were all in action on the tennis courts. Meg participated in the CATA Tour tournament held at the Austin Tennis Academy.

Meg competed hard and won her first match 6-3. In the second match she played a more experienced player that was coached earlier in her tennis career by one of the Austin Tennis Academy coaches. Meg battled her to 7-7 before not prevailing in the tiebreaker. I haven't seen her play a competitive match in a few months and her improvement is amazing!

Kate and Claire played in their first ever Texas Cup competition. This is much more like a Davis Cup match or college tennis where each win contributes to the team. It can get really loud and pressure filled.

They both had a crack at playing doubles against older, more experienced players. And Claire had a chance to play a singles match, against an 18-year-old SuperChamp boy, and one with a nasty kick serve to boot. Not only did she hang with him, she was making him nervous when he was only up 5-3 and starting to tighten up. I wish I had video to share of when she got into rallies slugging it out with him. She definitely held her ground and never looked intimidated. I think the experience will help her greatly in some of the upcoming tournaments as a newly minted SuperChamp player.

The girls are back at it on the tennis courts today, while I watch after Scott who picked up some sort of bug yesterday from hanging around the tennis courts... which means no picture updates of the new house.

Have (or hope you had) a Placido Domingo (Peaceful Sunday)!

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April 22, 2006

A Glorious Sunset

Now that we live out on RR 620, the Oasis restaurant is quite close, and we'll be even closer once the house is finished.

We met for dinner last Wednesday with our friends Steve and Karen, and two of her friends as we celebrated Karen's birthday.

Wednesday evening was the leading edge of all the storms which blew through over past couple days. The combination of incoming storm clouds and the sunset provide one of the most spectacular sunsets I've ever seen.

Check out the backdrop of our picture!

PS- I'd hoped for a huge jump in Lake Travis' water level, but we're only up a foot so far from these storms...

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Surviving the Spring Hail

It was quite an eventful week, with the awesome display of mother nature rumbling through Austin.

Our old neighborhood took a real pounding, and I think many will be contacting roofers to replace their hail-damaged roofs.

The good news on the new house is that the roof is not yet on, so there is no damage to report. Here are the latest pictures as it keeps moving along.

Front left to right view:

Back of house:

Special note to Pat... The glass block windows are not yet in place to show in their full glory...

The interior is beginning to take shape so we'll start getting some pictures from inside next week.

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April 12, 2006

Time for the Tyvek

With the framing entering its final stages, the first signs of Tyvek began to appear. And the Champion Windows began to be put in place.

And the 3rd floor game room view is looking nice... it's a shame the Lake Travis water level is down 20 feet right now from it's 681 feet above sea level (full level.)

The fun will soon begin on the interior. Stay tuned...

Posted by Jim at 7:39 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

April 9, 2006

Prestigious Townhome Living

OK, so our new dwelling does resemble an apartment complex, but the brochure assured us that we live in a "prestigous townhome."

It can't be wrong if it's in print... right?

The downside is obvious--the high density of people, both within our prestigious townhome and around the complex.

The upside is a beautiful spring weekend like we're having this weekend, we can enjoy the pool and hot tub, the sand volleyball courts, the pool tables, and the free DVD rentals.

Oh yeah... the best part is that the lawnmower, edger, and weedeater are in storage until we move out!

A couple more from the artsy look (I did finally figure out how to fix this mode)...

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April 8, 2006

Love Those Champion Windows!

It was a great day yesterday indeed when I went to check the progress on the house, and what do I find but the Champion Window delivery truck and the extremely professional folks who cover the Lakeway area of Austin.

The guys were just about finished loading when I asked to capture this great moment. I thought I'd give it an artsy look this time (errr or somehow I put the camera in black and white mode):

Here's what our Series 80 insulated vinyl windows look like stacked in the garage, ready to be installed next week after the roof decking is put in place:

Not that I'm biased (OK I'm biased), but if you're building a home in the Texas area you definitely want to call or get your builder to contact them.

Thank you Pat, Ralph, and Eric for all your help and guidance!

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April 2, 2006

Update on the House Framing

Here are some pictures after four days of framing. They missed Tuesday due to heavy rain showers in the area, and did not work the weekend. Pretty amazing progress...

Front of house:

Back of house:

View from right-side 2nd story bedroom window:

View from left-side 2nd story bedroom window:

This week is a big week as we say goodbye to 7709 Blue Lilly!

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March 27, 2006

Want to See High Speed Framing?

Check this progress out:

Posted by Jim at 8:45 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

March 26, 2006

Temporary Mailbox

I went out to the property with Kate and Scott. We put in a temporary mailbox so we could use 3400 Windy Harbor as our forwarding address when we move out in a few weeks.

I pulled out the old rock pick that I purchased back at the old house. Bob and I thought we didn't need a jackhammer and could manually did post holes when we were adding a fence to close in the backyard. Big mistake... Even in our youth we were thoroughly whipped digging just 4 holes!

This time it was only one hole. I worked the pick and Kate cleared the dirt and broken rock out of the hole. We got it down about a foot through the rock. As you can see we piled some dirt around it to make it a little more secure.

Framing begins tomorrow!

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March 19, 2006

The Foundation Now Poured

Deb and I took a trip overr to the property and saw our freshly poured Foundation. They were able to get it don before the rains set in on Saturday. We also have been tracking the progress of our neighbors who are also building their house, started last November.

He said the rains are good for the concrete as it cures, since it's an exothermic reaction (gives off heat). A quick Google search on concrete setting confirms what he says.

Here are some pictures from this dreary, rainy day in Austin:

Front Left

Front Right

Back Left

Back Right

Weather permitting later this week, let the framing begin!

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March 11, 2006

Foundation Box, Plumbing in Place

Claire and I had a chance to visit our 3400 Windy Harbor property this beautiful Saturday. They have made good progress this week. The foundation box is in place, the trenches are run for the plumbing, and the plumbing going through the foundation is in place. Here's a couple of pictures.

From back right corner, by the study and master bath:

From the back left corner, by the garage:

And finally, from the front left corner by the family room and breakfast area:

Next week, rebar and concrete... weather permitting!

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March 6, 2006

Claire Wins Georgetown Champ Tournament!

Over the weekend, Claire won the Georgetown Champ Tournament, and won it in impressive fashion.

She needed to reach the finals to join the ranks of the SuperChamp level players in Texas. Instead of settling for that, she went on to win 6-2, 6-2 in the finals.

Whoo hoo... way to go Claire!

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March 4, 2006

The Austin Cahills Home is Now For Sale!

As of this past Thursday, our 7709 Blue Lilly Dr. House is on the market. Traffic has been heavy the first two days.

Check out the virtual tour.

Here are some photos. Click on them for larger images:



Living Room and Dining Room


Kitchen


Family Room


Family Room and Stairs


Master Bathroom


Back yard

Here's the MLS listing in Realtor.com.

Do you know anyone interested?

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February 24, 2006

Congrats to the Austin Tennis Academy!

It turns out that the Austin Tennis Academy did indeed win the United States Tennis Association, Texas Section's Organization of the Year. Special kudos went to Deb for developing and submitting the award.

When the phone didn't ring while we were celebrating Mom, my, Meg's, Kate, and Claire's Bdays in Houston the other week, we thought the award went to someone else. It turns out the USTA just took a little more time to let everyone know about it.

Back to the fun of getting the house together to get on the market!

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February 19, 2006

Unaccumulating...

It is simply amazing how much you can accumulate over an eight-year stretch. As we prepare to put our house on the market, we are actively creating piles... piles for storage, piles for Goodwill, and piles for the trash.

And then there's the outside with mulching the beds, pruning the trees and vines, picking up the leaves, and readying the beds for annuals.

Things are actually beginning to come together where we will have the house ready to put on the market in a few weeks.

No concrete yet being poured at the Windy Harbor property, but it may happen next week.

And so the fun goes!

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February 12, 2006

A View From Windy Harbor

Things are in full swing over at the new property on Windy Harbor. The homesite area has been cleared as well as quite a bit of the cedar trees across the property which inflict "cedar fever" from their pollination period in January.

We had scaffolding put up so we could see what the view of Lake Travis would be from the location we picked for the house.

The view from the second story deck will have a slight view through the Mansfield dam spillway:

From the 3rd story deck, the view clears the trees and you can see the main basin of Lake Travis. Here is the view and a closer look:

Here's the location of our lot and a look at the plat map:

With the concrete expected to be poured some time next week, the fun is just beginning!

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January 28, 2006

Celebrating Big 11!

Last weekend, Meg celebrated her 11th birthday with camping trip over to the new property. She invited a couple of her friends as we set out late Saturday afternoon.

Deb had gone ahead to bring children, the cookout supplies, sleeping bags, and supplies for the scavenger hunt. I took Meg and her friends for some last minute cookout items, and we met out at the property.

While Deb and Scott were finalizing the scavenger hunt preparations, we assembled the tent on one of the level spots on the sloping two acres.

While heading from one clue to the next on their scavenger hunt adventure, Meg and her friends managed to brave the fierce patches of cedar trees, and other obstacles to discover the "gum tree" (a tree filled with chewing gum), and other assorted goodies.

Now it was time for the cookout. Once the charcoal was ready, it was time for those 'dogs and burgers. For as as much as we brought to handle the camping and cooking, that burger flipper sure would have been a nice addtion. As is always the case, we figured something out.

As sprinkles began to fall on us, the kids made s'mores over the barbeque bit, while Deb and I loaded up the stuff she would take back. Meg and her friends stayed in the tent, and I with a pile of blankets stayed in the Highlander. For those that have tried to sleep when traveling business class to Asia, on seats that don't quite get to horizontal, the experience and comfort is quite similar... as in not so great!

Throughout the night the rains picked up and I could here the girls well into the wee hours. By morning we all managed to get a few hours sleep, and we gathered ourselves to return to civilization.

It was a great way to break in the new property and I know Meg and her friends had a blast.

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January 7, 2006

Wow!

Wow, what a game to win the national championship! What more can be said beyond what's already been written.

And Deb and I, getting to join Pat and Donna to witness the greatest game I've seen and perhaps may ever see, given the stakes of a National Championship, and yet another unbelievable comeback we've come to know and love in the Vince Young era of Longhorn football. The nation was about to learn more about this team led by Vince in a few hours.

The day began early in Las Vegas where we and thousands of other Longhorn faithful flew in, to make the trek across the Mojave desert to get to Pasadena. A beautiful burnt orange sunrise over the mountains greeted us as we began our early drive down I15. A good omen... The drive was filled with other Longhorns flashing the hook 'em and sporting flags. It was much like the drive up I35 to Dallas for the Red River shootout with Oklahoma.

We arrived in the Pasadena area in time to drop our bags at the hotel and head toward the Rose Bowl to try to get into the ESPN National Championship tailgate party, along with 10,000 of our other closest friends. We successfully navigated the most-difficult parking and shuttle to get the tailgate just after noon. We met up with Tommy, Julie, Fred, Lorrie, Chris, and Lisa. The atmosphere was already pretty charged already for being 5 hours before kickoff. After many days of heavy showers in the LA area, the blue sky, 70 degree, breezy California weather came returned. A perfect day for tailgating and watching football!

We had a great time visiting and seeing the supremely confident Trojan faithful, which I'd supposed we'd be if we were riding a 34 game winning streak. But hey, 19 straight victories wasn't too shabby, either.

When our fellow Austin Longhorn friends left for the Longhorn tailgate party, where Pat and Donna were, Deb and I stayed (since we were late getting tickets for the sold out event) and met some interesting folks.

One young guy had an amazing burnt orange polyester jacket, which was worn by a former UT Regent and member of LBJ's cabinet. He got it at a thrift store for $8. Another guy had an Earl Campbell jersey, signed by Earl and inscribed with the words, "Peace and Love." Deb and I were somewhat jealous that we did not get Earl to sign a jersey while we ran the Texas Exes in New Orleans and Earl came visiting us.

We enjoyed the band, the weather, and the expensive food and drink, and the kickoff approached. Just before they closed down the tailgate party, we jumped at the end of the line to get our photo with the National Championship trophy. The lines had been outrageously long, but not at the end, as Deb and I were the last ones to have our pictures taken with it, before it would join Mack Brown and the boys in a few hours.

The Rose Bowl is located in an amazing setting, with the San Gabriel mountains serving as a backdrop to the stadium. We were treated to a burnt orange sunset over the mountains, much like we had seen in the sunrise earlier in the day in Las Vegas. A good omen times two!

The game itself was one for the ages. More than a fifth of the nation's televisions were tuned into the game, and an incredible 70+ percent in the Austin area. I won't try to recap the whole game, but it was filled with unbelievable highs and lows. Since the stakes were higher than I've ever witnessed in person in a game before, the emotions were magnified even more.

The crowd was as loud as any Red River shootout game against the despised Oklahoma Sooners. If fact, from looking around, it seemed the Rose Bowl was filled with more burnt orange than cardinal and gold, which is amazing, given the game being held just a few miles from the USC campus. The Longhorn faithful do know how to travel.

The crowd also seemed to be in control of the officiating crew, demanding plays to be reviewed. When the Longhorns intercepted a pass which the officials ruled out of bounds, the Longhorn faithful screamed as the jumbotron right behind where we were sitting, showed the error of their ways. The game was filled with these reviews, and lack of reviews which added to the drama.

The game instantly started with both highs and lows. The Horns held the Trojans to an immediate punt on their first posession. Huge high with the screaming crowd. Followed by a huge low when we immediately fumbled the punt, and USC quickly moved in for a touchdown. A fumbled punt cost us the national championship in my years at UT back in the 1983 season. This had been my big fear, that we'd have some early turnovers and then the game could get ugly, quickly, much like it did last year for the Sooners against USC in the championship game.

Our defense got a couple a huge turnovers back to keep USC from steamrolling. We took a 16-10 lead into the half which was a huge high, thinking that we could be National Champions if we kept playing this way. We had a chance to catch our breath and rest our bodies and vocal chords after 4 hours of tailgating and 2 hours of football.

The second half was a showcase for offense-minded football, and we could see just how difficult it is to stop a team with two Heisman trophy winners, something no other college football team has ever faced before. I kept screaming for the Longhorn defense to make a play. It seemed they never could, and USC basically scored every time they touched the ball, until they built a 12 point lead with just over six minutes to play. We knew we could score more points, because our legend for the ages, quarterback Vince Young, had always seemed to lead the team to score when the game was on the line. But if our defense couldn't stop them, it wouldn't matter. At this point we were back on the emotional low side of the rollercoaster that was this game.

For the rest of the country that doesn't follow Texas football, Vince has made a habit of the dramatic. Some examples are coming back from 28 points down to beat Oklahoma State the season before this current one, followed by a dramatic Rose Bowl last year, where he led Texas to a victory over Michigan in the final seconds. This season was no exception with a dramatic late touchdown pass to beat Ohio State in Columbus, and yet another comeback win over Oklahoma State when being down 28-9 in the second quarter. Vince did his part yet again leading the Longhorns down the field for a quick touchdown to cut the lead to five.

Finally the Longhorn defense heard my pleas, and made a play, stuffing USC on a fourth and two yards, to give the offense the ball back with under two minutes to play and 56 yards to go. It got dicey when it was fourth down and eight yard to go for a touchdown, with under 30 seconds in the game. Vince put on the superman cape yet again, and showed the entire nation what we already knew here in Texas, that he is the best player in college football, and is one of the greatest to ever play the game.

It was absolute madness when he went into that end zone for a touchdown. All of us went nuts high fiving every person within possible reach, even attempting it with those out of reach. Now some 16 hours after the day began early in Las Vegas, some ten hours after the tailgate party began, and now five hours of an unbelievable game filled with incredible highs and lows, we were within 19 seconds of being the national champions.

Of course, USC would not take it easy on us, and immediately busted a big play to get on the Longhorn side of the field with a chance for one or two last gasp efforts to tie the game with a field goal, or win it with a "Hail Mary" touchdown pass. When USC's Matt Leinert's pass fell incomplete and the clock read 0:00, the place absolutely erupted. National Champions, perfect season.

It had been 35 long years since UT last one a national championship in football. The collective pent up demand in stadium among those of us clad in burnt orange finally burst out. What a game, what a celebration, what another unbelievable, amazing performance to witness in person.

We stayed for what seemed like another hour celebrating with the team and having the realization soak in that we had done it, and won the national championship.

I'll be hard pressed to ever see another game like this again.

Thank you Mom and Dad for watching the kids, and Pat and Donna for joining y'all for this most amazing and memorable event.

Hook 'em!

UPDATE:
Thanks Fred for this awesome video which shows the Texas fans going wild as Vince scores the winning touchdown!

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December 21, 2005

The Night of The Rose Bowl

We're getting excited as we near the University of Texas' first chance for a football national championship since I was an eight year old. Thanks to Pat for emailing this excellent poem. Google indicates someone by the moniker of UTgal may be the original source, so kudos to her as well.

I thought we'd make a podcast out of it.


Twas the night of the Rose Bowl and all through the land,
All the Longhorns were stirring, even the band.
The tickets were purchased for the game, room, and air
In hopes that Saint Vincent would soon be there!!
The fans were tailgating from their truck beds,
While a vision of a championship danced in their heads.
And Bevo in his bridle, and me in my cap
Had just popped a cold one before the first snap.
When out on the turf there arose such a clatter,
I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter!!
My eyes fixed on the tunnel, and the thundering herd;
The roar of the fight song; I sang every word!!
They ran to the end zone, and knelt to their maker
Giving thanks for TEXAS, and the victory later!!
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear.
Coach Mack in his glory, THE HEAD COACH OF THE YEAR!
And our hero from Houston that I havent seen since;
I knew in a moment it must be Saint Vince!
More rapid than eagles his posse they came
And he whistled and shouted and called them by name!
Now, THOMAS! Now, TAYLOR! Now, PITTMAN and SWEED!
On, CHARLES! On, GRIFFIN! ROSS, HUFF and McGEE!
To the top of the world for a championship crown!
Now dash away, dash away, to a TEXAS touchdown!
They fought with fury! They fought with might!
They fought like champions on this championship night!
Oh! The bombs they flew, and the holes blew open
The Longhorns ran the ball just as we were hopen.
The defense attacked, and oh, they played hard!
Stopping the Trojans, in their own back yard!
Macks eyes how they twinkled, his dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, the crystal ball he did carry!
He embraced his coaches, he embraced his team!
And The Eyes of TEXAS we all did sing
A season that will live forever in lore;
COME EARLY, WEAR ORANGE, STAY LATE, once more!
MERRY CHRISTMAS, TEXAS and HOOK 'EM HORNS

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December 17, 2005

'Tis the Season to Keep Austin Weird

Austinites have always tried very hard to keep our city unique and different from other places in Texas, especially that big city along the ship channel or that Metroplex near the Red River border to the North of us. Keep Austin Weird has been the rallying cry for many, many years.

As the Christmas season is now fully upon us, we had to share a slice of something that helps in keeping Austin weird.

As you head south on Loop 360, just past Old Spicewood Springs Road, you'll notice quite a few Cedar trees (actually Ashe Junipers for those not from Austin) fully decorated into Christmas trees. Loop 360 (a.k.a. Capital of Texas Highway) is already a very scenic road to drive, but now it's positively festive!

It started a few years back with a lonely Cedar being decorated. The following years saw a few more being decorated. This year there must be 15-20 trees now decorated. The Austin American Statesman covered these mystery trees in a story today. As the article points out, even folks from non-weird cities join in the fun of advancing our weird reputation.

Being close, Kate and I grabbed the camera and headed over to capture this little bit of Austin weirdness for the ages. We hope you enjoy!

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December 13, 2005

Thanks Dr. Teel!

You know you had a great pediatrician when she rates an editorial and newspaper story upon her retirement (BugMeNot will help you with those pesky requests for username/password...)

We did not seek out Dr. Teel. She was simply the best in town and handled the toughest cases, like 3 lb and 3 lb, 2 oz twin daughters. Even tougher, she handled newbie parents and made it clear exactly what was required. Nothing wishy washy, hard stuff like, "You must feed them every three hours, 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week, for many, many months..." She was adamant that they needed to reach their destined growth curves. Those months flew by and the girls quickly caught up to their normal growth curves.

Dr. Teel was pretty much all business at her appointments, which meant she almost always ran on time. No waiting around waiting rooms. Deb and I learned to formulate our questions in advance, so we could make the most of our time with her during the kids' appointments. Deb did discover a way to get her to open up, by asking about her daughter who was a division 1 basketball scholarship student-athlete.

We learned after the fact that she was the best when we learned that her other patients included Michael Dell's children and Lance Armstrong's children. Obviously they found and admired the same qualities that we did.

Thank you for all your years of caring for the kids, Dr. Teel, and enjoy your next phase of life.

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November 21, 2005

Congratulations Coach Deb!

Not only is Deb a fabulous "esposa bonita" and wonderful mom to the kids, she's also an award winning coach!

Check out Deb's sportsmanship award she captured while coaching the Austin Tennis Academy kids who participated in the 2005 USTA Team Tennis Texas Sectional Championships this past weekend.

Whoo hoo!

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November 20, 2005

Pick a Bale a Day

Deb was with Claire at a team tournament in New Braunfels, so I took Kate, Meg, and Scott over to Main Event. Meg wanted to do some wall climbing, and Kate followed Scott around while he did the games.

We decided to head over to Scholz Garten for lunch so we could catch some of the Texas Tech / OU game and eat at an Austin landmark, and what they claim is the oldest business in Texas, established in 1866, one year after the end of the Civil War.

We finished our knockin' about the town with a trip down to mall, at the insistence of Meg and Kate. Scott and I are not too keen on malls. As we were driving we caught the end of the Texas Tech / OU game which was quite unbelievable. The referees reviewed four of the last seven plays, and we thought the announcers were going to lose it a time or two.

The one announcer must have been practicing for weeks to say, "The Red Raiders are going to be pickin' cotton!" in full, gravel-throated voice. He had to do this twice after one of the touchdowns was reversed. We of course had to mimic this silliness for quite a while.

Congrats from us to our Red Raider nephew Sean, who I guess will be pickin' cotton come New Years day. Remember to jump down and spin around as you pick a bale that day.

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November 12, 2005

Wow, A Tough Place To Play

I've been following the Longhorns since my college days beginning in 1980. I don't believe I've ever witnessed a home schedule at DKR Memorial where every single game was a blow out:

Texas 60, Louisiana-Lafayette 3
Texas 51, Rice 10
Texas 42, Colorado 17
Texas 52, Texas Tech 17
Texas 66, Kansas 14

And for good measure the OU game in Dallas: Texas 45, Oklahoma 12.
Even the vaunted 1983 team was all defense and little offense (ah, the Freddie Akers years...)

Now if we can keep our wits about us for two more games it will be a fun New Year's bowl season.

Hook 'em!

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November 5, 2005

Name That Tune

After Claire's tennis practice last evening (Kate is recovering from a back injury), we went to a local favorite near the Austin Tennis Academy which I affectionately call the Ditch from its literal translation. It's a Mexican restaurant called El Arroyo. For those that have been to Austin, they are famous for their sign outside their 5th street location which generally lampoons local politicians, aggies, or anything/anyone else they choose to poke fun on a given day.

I'm pleased that the mix of radio stations in the car includes the Top 40/R&B/Hip Hop the kids like with the classic rock of the late 70s that I like, so that we are all more musically aware.

Coming back to the table from El Arroyo's restroom, Claire tells me she recognizes a Led Zeppelin song playing in there that goes du-du-dun du-du-dun du-du-dun dun-dun-dun. She can't quite name the tune (Kashmir) but I'm quite pleased she knows her Led Zeppelin when she hears it.

I'm not too bad guessing a lot of the top 40 stuff since half of it is Kelly Clarkson songs, but don't let the hip hop stuff start playing. My itchy radio button trigger finger will pop it right down the dial to yet another classic to infiltrate the young minds...

PS- Meg won her first match in a tiebreaker down in San Antonio. Go Meg (up next against the #3 seed)!

Posted by Jim at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

October 10, 2005

Great Times at the Red River Rivalry in the Big D

Meg, Scott, Deb, and I had a great time in Dallas this past weekend, especially in seeing the Horns end their five year losing streak to OU with a thorough whipping. This pretty much says it all:

It was great high fiving with Pat, Donna, Shannon, and her friend as we took it all in on a sunny, beautiful fall day.

Before the game, we hooked up with Bob and Tara who showed Meg and Scott a great time on the rides. Their friends Nan and Lee and their twin daughters joined in the festivities.

Both Bob and Scott had their difficulties with the ride "The Experience" which proved to be quite an experience if you're into feeling nauseous. It basically violates every one of my rules for rides to avoid: 1. Going backwards 2. Spinning 3. Anything that will dislocate your spine.

After our fill of Fletcher's Corny Dogs and a Cervesa or three, we headed out to the Stoneleigh P and met up with Aunt Helen. The Aggies were in full battle gear for their big game with Colorado. We'll make no further mentions of what transpired in that game.

While Deb, Meg, and Scott headed back with Aunt Helen, I headed over to Bob and Tara's for a fierce game of Texas Hold 'Em. With Sean off to college, Pat has groomed his successor in Shannon, who took Bob out in the finals.

Overall it was a fantastic weekend and great to visit with everyone!

Posted by Jim at 8:58 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

September 30, 2005

A Hairy Visitor Comes Knocking

Our well documented Wild Kingdom continues here at the Cahill Hacienda.

I know we're still a month away from Halloween, but we had our own surprise when I went out to go check the mail. As I opened the door, this seemingly friendly tarantula bolted toward the door.

I quickly reconsidered the need to see what the creditors were wanting from us, and slammed the door shut.

Meg and Scott let out the requisite, "Ewwwww... I hate Spiders!" after I called them over to eyeball our hairy friend. It just hung at the door waiting for the next chance for the door to open. We weren't planning for dinner guests tonight so I had other ideas.

I went out through the garage and captured the picture before shooing him with a broom back into the bushes. I certainly didn't want to squish him and deal with the aftermath of tarantula goo!

We looked up the details at Wikipedia for today's educational lesson on tarantulas. I'm not sure about the last part that they taste like shrimp. I'll leave that for the neighbors to try first!

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September 16, 2005

Kate Wins ATA "Dig In and Climb Out" Award!

One of the Austin Tennis Academy coaches, Trey Phillips, revives an old UT Tennis tradition where a player who has the best come back to win a match is honored with the "Dig In and Climb Out" award.

Kate is featured in this news item on the Austin Tennis Academy website.

Way to go, Kate!

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September 5, 2005

Whirlwind Day

Scott and I had a whirlwind Sunday. After sleeping in later than normal, we scrambled to eat, pack, and head off to the Woodlands for the CCFL Fantasy Football draft at Pat and Donna's place.

Right as the draft ended, we were 45 minutes before Kate's match at Clear Lake High School. She made it to the main draw semifinals and would be super-qualified if she won the match.

We made it there in the third game with Kate serving down 1-2. The match was fiercely contested--Kate's power versus her opponents knack of getting every shot back. Her opponent ultimately prevailed in two sets, 6-2, 6-2 (I think.)

Claire advanced to the quarterfinals before losing in a tough battle, 6-7 (8-6), 6-2.

If Kate and/or Claire reach the finals in the next tournament in Laredo in late September they will super-qualify. Good luck and work hard over the next month, girls!

We completed the day by driving back to Austin, getting in around 9:30pm completing our tour of Texas.

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August 23, 2005

Welcome to the Blogosphere, Sean!

Our nephew Sean has joined the blogosphere (subscribe) to help all of us keep up with life and learning our in Lubbock at Texas Tech.

Much like with my Aggie brothers, I wish Sean all the best 364 days of the year. There is one particular day, October 22nd this year, where I'll withhold my best wishes.

Have fun, learn lots, and we look forward to keeping up with you.

See in Austin on 10/22!

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August 20, 2005

Finally, Longhorn Football Season!

It's been a long sports lull from the Longhorns winning the College World Series and being crowned national champions and the start of Longhorn football camp.

Thank goodness for Lance winning the Tour de France, or it would be pretty bleak sportwise, given my lack of interest in pro baseball.

Scott, Meg, and I went out to the scrimmage today at DKR Royal Memorial stadium. Both the first team offense and defense looked pretty solid. I think we have some new thunder and lightning with freshman running backs Henry Melton and Jamaal Charles. Melton at 270lbs looks like a svelte Jerome Bettis. Vince look pretty good as well although it looked like he had orders not to take off and go.

Hard to say much about the defense since they stayed very basic, but they definitely fly to the ball in a swarm.

If you happen to be in Austin on September 3rd, stop by for our Cajun classic tailgate party, as we celebrate the return of Tommy, Julie and the Mathis Family from their 3 year stint in London.

Posted by Jim at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBack

August 6, 2005

Georgetown ZAT Update

Meg is playing in her first 11-12 year ZAT tournament up the road in Georgetown. Her first match this morning was against a nine year old. Sounds OK until I hear from her mother that she's going to the Little Mo National tournament to be held at the Austin Tennis Academy later in the year.

This is the tournament Andy Roddick won in his youth.

It was a very evenly matched battled. Meg got down 5-1 early in the first set, but roared back to make it 5-4, with the serve. She couldn't quite overtake her opponent and lost the set 6-4 after an hour of play.

The second set was very evenly contested with most games going to deuce. Meg's opponent ultimately prevailed, 6-4, after another hour of battle.

Meg will play in the consolation draw this afternoon around 2:30pm. Stay tuned...

Saturday Evening Update

Meg ended up playing at 5pm due to a 2:30 bye. She played hard against an 11 year old but wilted in the Texas heat dropping the match 6-1, 6-2. She be at tennis camp next week working hard to get ready for the Corpus Christi ZAT next month, now knowing what it takes to play these older girls.

We're proud of the way you competed, Meg!

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August 5, 2005

Corpus Christi Champ Tournament Update

Here's a quick update on Kate and Claire at this weekend's Corpus Christi Champ Major Zone tournament.

I'm reporting from Austin, since I'm taking Meg to the Georgetown ZAT tournament tomorrow.

Claire started the day without a first round bye, but acted like she had one, in winning 6-1, 6-0. It was a fabulous start!

Kate's been fighting lower back pain and it showed early in her match as she was bageled (0-6) in the first set. The Corpus Christi heat combined with her competitive spirit loosened up her back as she battled and won a second set tiebreak 7-6 (7-4 in the tiebreak)

Now, feeling much better, she cruised 6-0 in the third set to advance to the quarterfinals which she'll play tomorrow.

Claire came back after lunch for her second match, and hardly missed a beat, cruising to a 6-4, 6-0 win. Deb said she played fantastically and hardly let either of her opponents into the match. Claire's battling has earned her first trip to the quarterfinals as a Girls 14 player. Well done Claire!

Keep it going!

Saturday noon update

Claire steamrolls in her quarterfinal match winning 6-0, 6-2. Deb said thought it wasn't close. When I asked Claire for comments for the blog report, she replied, "For the blog... no comment!" She advances to the semifinals and plays around 2pm.

Kate is in another dogfight, dropping the first set 2-6, but battling back to take the second set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (9-7). She's right now playing in the third set.

Saturday evening update
Kate did not prevail in the third set, ending up with a respectable quarterfinal appearance.

Claire had a breakthrough tournament reaching the semifinals before dropping a 7-5, 6-3 match. The points collected should help her with a seeding and first round bye for next month's Champ major zone tournament in Clear Lake.

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July 24, 2005

Wild Kingdom

No need to find the old reruns of Wild Kingdom...

We've had a fawn take residence in the backyard. The doe dutifully comes and feeds the fawn several times during the day. It's quite a sight!

Also, the neighborhood bunnie has recently been spotted hopping about the back yard. It's a little early for Easter!

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EE Reunion

After last summer's 20th year reunion of my fellow Electrical Engineer's time on the forty acres, we decided to get together again for a boat trip on Canyon Lake, where Arline lives with her husband Manfred.

It was a glorious day yesterday, and we had a great time visiting and reminiscing. Here's the gang:


Kelly, Armando, Louise, Blaine, Bob, Jim, Arline

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July 17, 2005

Unbelievable But True

Today was a rainy Sunday here in Austin. Scott and I decided to play some Texas Hold 'em poker. Early on we had the most unbelievable hand!

After shuffling and having Scott cut, I dealt and the flop was a King-spades, Jack-spades, Ace-spades, a very interesting start.

After a round of bets, the turn card was a Queen-spades. We both let out an OOH-AAH. I couldn't believe it. I was hoping Scott was not sitting with a 10-spades with his hole card, giving him a Royal Flush. We did another round of bets.

Then the absolutely unbelievable happened, the River card was the 10-spades. I had dealt a Royal Flush with the community cards.

I have never seen one of these in play in all the years I've played. Amazing!

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July 12, 2005

Great Times in Breckenridge!

The Austin Cahill clan had a wonderful time visiting Mom & Dad in their July getaway (from the oppressive Texas heat) in Breckenridge, Colorado.

The weather was in the 70s during the day, and lower 40s-upper 30s at night. That beats the 108 day we left behind in Austin!

For those planning their respective trips to Colorado, here's some helpful hints.

1. Sharpen your card skills.

2. Sharpen your puzzle-making skills.

3. Get in shape to hang with Mom and Dad at high altitude.

4. In doubles, always guard your alley (especially against crafty lefties.)

5. Pack a swimsuit, you'll want to visit the Recreation Center with its awesome water slide.

6. Enjoy the scenic Blue river.

7. Do the rides at the Peak 8 base.

8. If driving, break up the trip with a visit with those zany, wild, and most hospitable Nairs (thanks Suzy and Mark!)

9. Catch up with friends (great seeing y'all Guice family--come our way, OK?)

Thank you Mom and Dad, we had a great time!!!

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June 26, 2005

Texas Longhorn Baseball - National Champions!

Hook 'em Horns!!! We'll get photos later this week when they light the tower orange!

Update

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June 11, 2005

Meg CATA Tour Stop and Bonus BBQ

Meg took part this weekend in the CATA tour stop at Onion Creek Country Club.

Meg had a tough first match Friday evening. All the hard courts were filled so she experienced clay court tennis for the first time in her career. Being not quite as proficient yet as Rafael Nadal, she dropped the eight-game pro set match, and landed in the consolation bracket.

Saturday morning, she faced a fellow Austin Tennis Academy player. In what seemed the longest match, Meg ground out an 8-6 victory in about an hour and a half. She played it on the same clay court gaining more experience.

She was back on court less than a hour later, picked up the pace and won 8-3. Again she played it on the same clay court gaining even more experience.

After a quick lunch she was back out on court (hard court unfortunately), but ran into a tough player who took the consolation finals 8-1. Meg battled but was not pleased with her play. After speaking with her coach by phone after the match, they agreed upon some things to work on.

It was quite a bit of tennis to play over the two days, and for an added bonus, Meg, Scott, and I went down to Lockhart Friday evening, for some excellent BBQ at Blacks BBQ.

Lockhart is home to several awesome BBQ establishments including Kreuz Market, Chisolm Trail Bar-B-Q, Smitty's Market, and Blacks.

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June 10, 2005

Claire and Kate Harlingen Champ Tournament Update

Claire and Kate are competing in a Champ Tennis tournament in Harlingen, way down by Brownsville.

Claire won here first match in straight sets, and faced the second seed in the red draw in the second round. She battled, splitting the first two sets, but ultimately lost the tie breaker. Since Claire won her first match, she does not go into the consolation bracket, and has finished her participation in this tournament.

Kate has advanced to the third round, beating the first two girls she's played. She'll play again tomorrow at 8am in the quarterfinals, perhaps against the #1 seed in the white draw.

I'll update this post with the scores as I get them. Aim your cheers South tomorrow morning!

Update: Kate faced the number one seed who was adept with the lobs, spin and other shots. She lost in straight sets.

Deb, Kate, and Claire returned back to Austin Saturday evening.

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June 5, 2005

Happy Birthday, Scott!

Scott celebrates big 8 today with family and friends at the Main Event... whoo hooo!

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June 4, 2005

Kerrville ZAT - Meg advances to finals!

News flash... Under the watchful eye of her coach, Justin, Meg wins her first match 8-0 to advance to the Kerrville Girls 10 and under finals. Finals at 3:30pm today.

Update: Meg runs into a buzz saw in the finals, 0-8. Based on her overall performance and improvement over the last few months, Coach Justin says shes ready to play the 11-12 year olds to begin to accumulate points to move up the competitive latter.

Way to battle, Meg!

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June 1, 2005

A Sad Day - The Oasis Burns Down

A major lightning storm came through around 4:30am this morning.

A lightning bolt apparently caught the decks of the Oasis Restaurant on fire which quickly spread to the entire complex. Here's the News 36 account and video.

This restaurant is a key reason many visit Austin with its glorious view of Lake Travis and sunsets which get standing ovations.

Let's hope the rebuild is quick...

Update: Some good news, the bar and dance club, Starlight which is connected to the Oasis was undamaged, so dancing in the moonlight overlooking Lake Travis will continue on.

Also the rebuild is underway and their expecting the project to take 6 months.

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May 31, 2005

Peaches are Ready!

You'll recall from an earlier post, our backyard peach trees in bloom.

The crop is ready... and they are delicious!

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May 27, 2005

Kicking off Memorial Day weekend at Hamilton's Pool

While Deb and Meg drove to Dallas for the Little Mo Regionals, I took the afternoon off to drop Kate and Claire off over at the Austin Tennis Academy, while Scott and I decided to go to Hamilton's Pool, which is fairly close by.

For those of you who've not yet been to Hamilton's Pool, it seems to be out in the middle of nowhere, in the rolling Hill Country terrain. A satellite photo shows basically a sink hole which developed long ago, and must have surprised the folks who first encountered it.

From the parking area, it's a quarter mile hike down to the pool. As we started down the trail, we noticed a couple in front of us, stopped dead in their tracks. There was a snake crossing the path, seemingly in no hurry to move. After some more folks walked up, the snake took his hint and darted into the brush, unfortunately before I could dig the camera out of the bag. We could use St. Patrick here in Texas!

After that eventful start, we made our way down to the beach area of the pool. Here's Scott:

The water was refreshingly cold, much like Barton Springs. After getting way cooled down, we went on a hike around the inside. Here's a view of the waterfall from the inside area:

And here's looking back at the beach area (amazing really considering you're in the middle of scraggly hill country land):

And finally on to the waterfall. There's nothing quite like taking a shower with the shower head five stories above you!

If that's not enough, the prickly pear cactus are in full bloom so we finish this with an artistic florish:

Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

PS- For those of you with super high tech photo printers, you click on any of the images to get high resolution pictures for printing.

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May 22, 2005

Boom in the night

Around 2am Saturday morning, Deb and I were "treated" to quite a light show. In fact, it woke us up from a dead sleep.

One of the lightning arresters on the utility pole along our back fence decided to explode in a very impressive flash, followed by sparks falling to the ground.

You know it's impressive when you're sound asleep and see the flash through your eyelids, wake, and see a few sparks falling to ground, all when I can't see a thing because I didn't have my contacts in.

This was enough to get Deb out of bed. I on the other hand rolled over and went back to sleep. I thought it had all been a dream until I went out the next day and saw the aftermath.

Circled is the blown lightning arrester and the jumper wire hanging in the air.



Here's a closeup of one of the parts that landed in our yard.



If you need another reason not to be out during an electrical storm, this could be it!

Update: When I reported this to Austin Energy, they claimed they had already come out and fixed it. I invited them to view the family blog site to show the work had not been done. Now it has:

Lesson: Blogs can even motivate bureaucracies!

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Welcome to the dog days

It's approaching 100 degrees today. That leaves few options other than Barton Springs or the Great Hills pool. Since we're getting a late start, the pool it is.

Though too brief, thankfully Spring was so nice.

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May 16, 2005

2005 Spring Soccer Season Recap

This past weekend, Scott and Meg concluded their spring soccer seasons, with both games ending in dramatic fashion.

Scott's team, the Beetles, had a very successful season, winning many more games than not. This is unusual since the our kids play only the spring season which is the off season for soccer. As such they are put on teams put together at the last minute. They face teams who play both spring and fall and learn to play together.

The Beetles were mainly kids from Scott's Laurel Mountain elementary school. They were all pretty good sized kids for their age. This helped them move the pile around the ball in the right direction. Scott is especially effective and having the pile move in the direction he wants it to move!

In their final game, the other team got out to a quick 2-0 lead. The other team had some ringer with amazing skills for a 7 year old! Scott's team answered with a goal, as they moved the pile of kids towards the other goal and punched one in. The other team responded with a goal and it stood at 3-1 at half time.

After half the sugar kicked in and the Beetles scored two quick goals on some amazing shots by our ringer, Lars. Earlier in the season he had 9 goals in a Saturday and Sunday game pair. Speed is quite an asset at this age!

The other team scored to make it 4-3, and in the final few minutes, one of our guys lofted a kick about 20 feet straight up into the air. The ball bounced once in front of the defender, right over his head, and into the net, for a dramatic, last second 4-4 tie.

Meg's team, the Storm, was more typical of the teams the kids get on. It was assembled last minute, and they've had their struggles throughout the year, not winning a single game, but mustering a single tie.

Most of the kids were from the Cedar Park area. She's been fortunate to meet kids all over Northwest Austin over the years on the different teams she's been a part of.

In their final game, they jumped out to a quick lead. Scoring goals has been rare, a lead even rarer. The girls played by far their best game, flying to the ball, and not backing down an inch. After half time they were leading 1-0. Meg played half back most of the game, and continally advanced the ball up field, keeping the other other team on their own side.

In the second half, the defensive struggle continued, until the waning moments of the game, when the ref inserted herself with a very curious call, a direct free kick inside the penalty box for the other team. From my understanding, unless the rules have changed, this should have been a penalty kick... thankfully it was not.

Meg's entire team made a wall, and one of her former teamates from a few season's back blasted a kick at the goal. The ball ricocheted off the cross bar, hit one of the girls on Meg's team, and nearly rolled back into the goal. Thankfully it did not, and the win was secured!

Meg's team managed to conclude a tough season with a hard fought victory.

Two dramatic games, back to back!

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May 8, 2005

Mother's Day at Kerbey Lane Cafe

Claire, Kate, Meg, Scott, and I wanted to spoil Deb for Mother's Day, so we took her over to the Kerbey Lane Cafe by our house.

The wait was daunting as it usually is, but we all hung in there knowing the sheer quantity and quality of food would make up for it.

Kerbey Lane did not disappoint once the meal came! And I think some of my daughters can hang with their Uncles when it comes to eating a full stack of pancakes.

From all the kids, Happy Mother's Day Deb!

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May 1, 2005

It's May, the Pool is Open for business

The Great Hills Pool opened in May for weekends.

After our "fine" legal and liability insurance community had the diving boards removed in the name of removing every last risk in our lives, it was great to see a pool slide put in it's place this year.

Here's Scott breaking it in.

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April 18, 2005

Springtime at Mansfield Dam park

A beautiful Saturday in Austin convinced Meg, Scott, and I that we needed to get out and take advantage of the Austin scenery. Deb, Kate, and Claire were over at the Austin Tennis Academy in some lessons and match play.

We decided up the Mansfield Dam Park (Google Map Satellite photo) because we hadn't been there in a long time.

It was great with the Bluebonnets in full bloom we had to get the obligatory children in bluebonnets shot.



Next the climbing wall beckoned. Although designed for the twelve and under crowd, the three of us sharpened our mountain climbing skills. Thankfully I was in control of the camera!





We managed to find a secluded cove for some wading, stone skipping, treasure hunting, etc. As hard as we looked we could not find the buried treasure from the Lake Travis pirates of yesteryear. The lakeside mansion will have to wait!

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April 10, 2005

Scott's First Communion

Today Scott celebrated his first communion. We celebrate at the 5pm mass at St. Theresa's Church. He wanted to be decked out in fine fashion so he and Deb picked out a tuxedo for this celebration.

Since we were out of town last week at tennis tournaments, this was a make up session which Scott ended up having all to himself. Father Raj was excited since he did not participate in the earlier first communion ceremonies.

Here is Scott as he goes up for first communion (video) with the whole congregation watching.

At the end of communion Father Raj calls Scott back up for a round of applause from the congregation.

Dinner at Macaroni grill was next where we continue the celebration.

Here's Scott with his proud mother, Deb!

And thanks to Dee Dee and Don for the wonderful cake which capped off a fantastic dinner.

Scott, we're proud of you and your journey in your Catholic faith!

The pictures have been printed and will soon be on their way, everyone. Here's just a sample of this dapper lad!

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April 9, 2005

Hiking on Loop 360 / Lake Austin Bluffs

It's another beautiful, breezy Spring day in Austin! Scott and I decided to go and hike the bluffs overlooking the Pennybacker bridge at Loop 360 and Lake Austin.

	Our mission was to climb the bluffs on both sides of Loop 360 as the natives call it, and Capital of Texas Highway as the politicians call it.
Here's Scott with a view of Lake Austin upstream from the vantage point of the East bluff. It's amazing there are no homes built up here, except they'd have to deal with the Loop 360 road noise.
	We hiked down the path on this bluff that runs along Lake Austin heading downstream. At this opening the bluff overlooks the Austin Country Club.
Now it's up the West bluff and here's Scott with the East bluff over his shoulder.

It was great having this hike all to ourselves to take in the natural splendor of the hills in West Austin. Scott's take on on our hike today, "it was really cool 'cause there was a great view!"

There you have it.

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April 3, 2005

NEWS FLASH: Kate Wins Edinburg ZAT!

Kate requalifies as Champ by winning the Edinburg ZAT tournament!

And Meg advances to the finals before dropping a close match.

More later from those on the scene...

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March 29, 2005

Easter in the Woodlands

It's always great getting most all the family together, which we do at Easter. The kids especially like meeting up with all their cousins and seem to disappear for the time we're there.

The big event is always the softball game. This year the teams weren't quite as big as years past but the competition was still quite spirited. Kate and Claire really showed the results of their tennis and morning workouts by pounding the ball around the field.

I was pleased the morning workouts paid off for me as well. After a lame popup to brother Bob, came a home run and triple. It was even good when Bob and Dan Carter thought I still had wheels motoring around the bases. Chalk another one up for us forty-somethings!

The grilling was great for warmth if not tasty burgers... hopefully another grillmaster will emerge!

Easter Day was as it always is, a logistical challenge to hook the family up. Maybe Mom's right that we should try this all as a summer get together when we don't have people trying to get home for school, crowds at Sunday mass to contend with, and everything else.

It was great even to sneak in a Texas Hold 'em matchup. Congratulations to Tara for taking care of us Cahill boys, Uncle Al, and Donna. I rode my luck as far as it could carry me, but not enough for the piles of chips and straights Tara threw at me.

It was great seeing everyone and thanks to Pat and Donna for hosting our family!

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March 21, 2005

A Cahill's Pub Blowout!

Kudos to Pat and Donna for another outstanding Cahill's Pub party! You may have seen the Austin Cahills and other members of the family proudly sporting our Cahill's Pub apparel and accessories. This party is whole reason for it's existence!

After a layoff of a couple of years (2001-2003) the party resumed last year. This year was my first year back to this shindig since 2000, due to Spring Break trips.

Despite a torrential downpour which put parts of the Woodlands underwater for a few hours, the party went on last Saturday night. The aroma of Pappasito's fajitas greeted me upon my arrival. I found Pat in the garage making sure the beer and margaritas were cold, tasty and ready. And the tunes were definitely that 70s vintage classic rock stuff.

The dart boards were lined up and ready for an evening of fierce competition. My game is not like a fine wine, it definitely is not improving with age! The Mike Jones' dominated the competition ("Houston" Jones and "San Antonio" Jones.)

My participation in the party lasted until 1:30pm or so, not quite as late as years past, but not too bad.

I'm thinking that with the Cahill brothers strategically placed in Austin, Houston, Dallas, and Chicago that we need to launch the real Cahill's Pubs pretty soon.

Tara, Jim, Bob, Mark, Pat, Karen

Thanks Pat and Donna for such grand Irish blowout!

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March 16, 2005

Spring Break Camping Adventure

Meg, Scott, and I decided to do an overnight camping adventure while Kate and Claire did a Spring Break Tennis Camp at ATA.

We left on Monday, while the weather was still reasonably warm and dry and went to Krause Springs, which is know for it's camping and summer, spring fed pool.

We made sure we were loaded on firewood and charcoal because we knew it would be getting cooler and we'd get hungry a time or two.

We arrived late Monday morning a found a spot to break camp, not too far from Lake Travis where we could fish, but had all the amenities of a flat spot to pitch our tent, a picnic table, and a place to make our campfire. Who needs electricity and all that fluffy stuff!

After pitching our tent and eating sandwiches, we headed down to the lake for some serious fishing. Mostly we managed to feed our worms to the fish, catch sticks and lakeweed, and get our lines tangled and stuck on things, like trees and stuff.

Then, Meg had a break through and landed a couple ounce perch. Not quite dinner, but a start. A few minutes later, "Fishslayer Meg" landed another perch... this one approached a third of a pound. Again one to turn loose for another day. Scott and I could not get a bite we did get good at hooking the night crawlers on our hooks after losing them time after time.

We came back and built a campfire which would prove to be valuable as the temperature dropped and winds picked up. Meg and Scott treated me to recreations of famous battle scenes, I'm not sure if Revolutionary War, or Battle for Texas Independence period...

After battling hamburgers for dinner with nothing more than coat hangers for a grill we were sufficiently fed again and ready for camp fire stories.

The reviews on my stories of the Texas Range wars were decidely mixed if not outright panned.

We cashed it early to get to the ghost stories and some early morning fishing when we hoped we encounter some starving fishies.

Scott and Meg regaled us in jokes and ghost stories, and Scott was no longer anxious for any more of my stories. It was still fairly early when we fell asleep. If not for the college kids nearby having a Spring Break celebration into the wee hours, we'd have gotten quite a bit of sleep. I had to think back somewhat to my college days and camping trips to Hamilton's Pool to appreciate this wee hour stuff.

A cold, windy morning greeted us at 6am when we were ready to have breakfast and go fish. I felt a sense of payback as we rattled around fixing breakfast. Also there was some good learning. Some types of plastics do not handle hot coffee too well. I need to get the run down on plastics thermal properties from Dad. I do know that of the two types of cups we had, one worked.

The morning fishing proved too windy and two cold. By unanimous consent we bailed after about 15 minutes. We made it a point to build up that camp fire and use up our remaining wood. Check out this camp fire!

Overall, we're ready to do it again, and the remaining night crawlers sit in our fridge awaiting the next fishing expedition or someone mistaking them for leftovers!

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March 12, 2005

Spring has sprung!

It's unmistakable--the peach trees are in full bloom.

Now if we can just wait until May when the juicy hill country peaches from our backyard will be ready!

Please, please, please, no late season freezes...

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March 6, 2005

Competition Saturday

The Cahill family was in full competition mode Saturday with Claire playing in the Champ tournament in Georgetown, Kate and Meg in San Antonio, and Scott with his opening Soccer game in North Austin.

Deb is with Kate and Meg, while I took Claire and Scott around. Logistics looked like they could work until damp courts delayed Claire's 8am start time to 10:30. Scott's soccer match was at 12:45pm, so it was going to be interesting.

Claire might have a different take on her performance, but here's mine.

She had a dramatic first round match against a tough, quick lefty player (a. k. a. "Lefty".) Lefty got off to a very quick start, going up 5-2 in the first set. That's when Claire seemed to reach deep and kick it up two or three levels.

I was sitting next to Claire's primary coach Jonas, when we saw how she began to start bouncing on her toes as she readied for return of serve. She began absolutely hitting out on her shots making Lefty slug it out, and then varying the pace which caused Lefty to dump shots into the net and hit long. Before we knew it, Claire had the match back at 5-5. It went to 6-6 which meant tie-break time.

Eyeing my watch, it was now 11:45am, now one hour before Scott's match, and we had a 30-40 minute drive ahead of us to get to his game.

Of course the tie break was the same kind of slugfest that the prior games had been. The score worked it's way up to 6-6, before Claire forced Lefty into an error by bringing her in on a short ball which she dumped in the net. On set point they slugged away until Claire ultimately prevailed.

Now 45 minutes before Scott's match we had to bail. Jonas watched the rest of the match, and Claire went on to take the second set 6-4, with as much dramatic flair and determination as the first set, I'm told.

The amount of progress I saw since the December Austin tournament was amazing. Even Coach Jonas commented how he'd not seen Claire play at this level before.

The win, gave her an opportunity to play the number one seed, a girl who was getting ready to "age up" to the 15-16s. Claire slugged it out with her, but did not ultimately prevail, although the first set was very close at 6-4, and could have gone the other way. We were lucky to just made it back in time from Scott's soccer game to see the whole match.

I think this tournament has given Claire confidence as she is freshly competing with the 13-14 year olds, that she can play with any of them. Especially if she can attain that level she kicked it into when down 5-2 of that first round match I saw.

Scott's match was a lot of fun to watch. They really battled the other team falling behind early, then storming back. There is some controversy whether they caught the other team at 5-5, which Scott will tell you was the result, or 5-4 which is the mainstream belief of the final score. What really matters is that the kids really played well together as a team and Scott proved a force as he broke the ball free out of the scrum on many occasions when the kids were all bunched together, showing off his strength.

Kate and Meg will have to give the full report from San Antonio. Unfortunately rain today, cause the tournament to be cancelled, stopping Kate's bid to win the whole tournament, and Meg's bid to repeat as Consolation bracket champion, as she did in her first tournament last month in Corpus Christi.

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February 26, 2005

Introduce Meg to Engineering Day

The women engineers of the University of Texas sponsored an "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day" which Meg and I decided to attend.

We had fun roaming around my old stomping grounds on the forty acres, even on this cold, rainy Saturday. There were numerous activities where Meg and the other young girls did hands-on projects. These activities were led by the women UT engineering students who really did a great job of explaining what the activities were about, why they got into engineering, and some of the principles being demonstrated.

We started building Hoop Gliders why we learned about the aeronautical principles behind it's flight.

Then on to the extremely cool Hovercraft made with a balloon blowing air through a hole in the bottom of a disposable plate, to create a near frictionless contact between the plate and table, much like an air hockey table.

We did a quick check of what the 1st-3rd graders were doing a found a room where they were building gumdrop geodesic half domes. Little did we realize at the time what good fortune it was to drop in here...

...since when we went to join the 6th-8th they were having a competition who could build the tallest tower out of newspaper where it had hold a golf ball on top for ten seconds. The room was completely filled with all kinds of designs and strong efforts.

Being fresh from building our toothpick/gumball geodesic half dome, the engineering design became immediately apparent... build the base in this structure and add a bunch of rolled up papers as we build the tower on this strong base.

One of the engineering students came back to check on us and wondered why we were spending so much time on our base... little did she realize we were applying the first engineering principal of stealing a good idea and applying it in a novel way. This design helped us to completely blow away the competition. We pinned that golf ball to the ceiling!

Victory hadn't felt that good since when Bob Rice and I, back in our college days in the very same building, built a complicated electronics project in lab, smoke-tested* it, and had it work the first time... unheard of in those days!

Kudos to Meg's 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Huckabay for forwarding us an email about this event since we probably would not have heard about it otherwise.

*Smoke-testing--the moment all electrical engineers face when they've built their projects, checked everything, said a quiet prayer, and then throw the switch to let the electricity flow, and hope the whole thing doesn't go poof up in smoke.

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February 21, 2005

Adios Childhood, Welcome Adolescence

Happy Birthday Kate and Claire! Welcome to the teenage years.

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February 13, 2005

Austin, Hiker's Paradise

Today is one of those days that makes me really love Austin! We had a heavy rain some time before daylight, and the the skies opened up to a brilliant blue by mid morning, with low 70s and a nice breeze. Tough to beat for February!

These are perfect hiking conditions for the canyons here in the Great Hills area of Austin, since the low area creeks will be really flowing with the rain runoff.

It's a dudes' weekend with just Scott and me home. Meg, Kate, and Deb are in Corpus Christi and Claire went with some of her ATA team members to Houston for this weekend's tennis tournaments.

After Scott's sunday class and Church we had lunch and took off for a new hiking trail. We started at where Bluffstone dead ends by Bluegrass and followed a trail which was made as they cleared a path for power line towers.

As we went down the trail a single deer stood there like a sentry on the path ahead of us. He wouldn't budge and just stared at us. I was concerned it was a buck looking to mess with us, when about 8 of his buddies leaped from the woods next to the trail. With that, he lost interest in us, and followed his buddies to go mess with other hikers I'm sure.

The hike was not as scenic as the trails behind our house, or by the preserve area by the "Jack and the Beanstalk" playground (so named by the kids because of the climbing beanstalk on the playground equipment.)

The surprise came at the end of the trail when Scott and I came upon a lake, which we never knew existed. From the satellite photo, we pulled down from the Microsoft Terra Server it did not show a lake. It may well only exist after a heavy rain, but it sure looked like someone had built a dock on it.

Here's the map with the waypoints from our etrex GPS device added in and my Photoshop hacked in blue spot where we found the lake.

Maybe next hike, the fishing poles will come along...

Overall, not a bad dudes' weekend for us!

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February 6, 2005

Safe to still be seen?

The countdown is down to 15 days of being parents without teenagers. Kate and Claire are soon to join the ranks.

Friday night, we were driving back from Chuy's and were kidding around in our usual ways about the music they listen to versus what I listened to in my younger days. We've been quizzing each other so I know today's pop, R&B, and even (gag) hip hop bands, and they know the bands of the 70s and 80s.

During this usual driving banter, I asked the girls if they were embarrassed yet to be seen with us parental types in public.

One of the girls (name withheld to protect the innocent) replied, "No, you're pretty cool because you used to go to concerts and stuff when you were young."

It may not last, but I'll take "pretty cool" for the moment!

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January 30, 2005

Happy Birthday Meg!

Welcome to double digits Meg! Whoo hooo!

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January 22, 2005

Way to go Bro' Mark!

This morning I just read my brother Mark's email recap of his Houston Marathon triumph where he "busted through" and achieved a long-sought personal goal of finishing a marathon in under 3 hours!

The timing of this email was incredible as we've recently discussed personal goals as Kate and Claire "age up" to join the ranks of thirteen and fourteen year old junior tennis players.

Marathon running like tennis, is an individual sport, requires personal goal setting and commitment to hard work and extra efforts in preparation for the big event(s), and often faces obstacles and disappointments along the way--until feeling the exhilaration of achieving one's goals.

The punch lines from Mark's email:

Final result 2:57:44, 2:47 PR, 85th overall, 16th in division

There are so many variables that go into our sport—training, family/work/running time balance, weather, injuries, sickness, race pace execution, euphoric periods during which you have to hold back, fatigue periods during which you have to kick yourself in the butt to get out of bed, …to name a few of the items that are mostly out of our control. All of those we are experiencing both individually and in the extended family training group make for a large number of unknowns. It's hard for an analytical guy like me to not be able to exactly quantify all of the inputs that go into the final result!

Why was today the day? Who knows! I guess the short answer is, the planets aligned and the variables all fell in my favor. I've toed the line in better shape in previous attempts, only to be denied painfully short of my goal.

Chicago 2002 – 3:00:46
Houston 2003 – 3:01:31
Austin 2003 – 3:00:32

But today was the day and I am sitting here in blissful contentment with the realization of having achieved a challenging goal.

From all of us, congratulations in achieving your goal and thanks for sharing such an inspirational story!

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January 16, 2005

Laurel Mountain Elementary Mystery!

Just a routine evening of Scott and I playing baseball in the back yard led to quite a mystery. It started innocently enough when I pitched a hanging curveball to Scott, which he crushed over the backyard fence into the Laurel Mountain Elementary property.

As we searched around looking for the ball, Scott looked up a discovered what appears to be a very old bicycle wedged into a Live Oak tree. It looked fairly ancient as you can see in the photo.

The speculation began... how did it get there? How long has it been there? Who's bike was it? Why wasn't it claimed? Was it intact or as it now exists missing wheels, chains, etc?

Then the theories began... each more outlandish than the previous theory. Could it have been a boy riding his bike on the Laurel Mountain elementary roof top with wings trying to fly? As he peddles and flaps his wings gravity slowly pulls him down, right in the "Y" in thr trunk of the tree.

Scott doesn't think the angle of entry in relationship to the roof top supports this theory. Upon further review, it's hard to rebut this argument.

Your theories are welcome in the comment field below. Have fun!

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January 9, 2005

High Jinx in the High Plains!

Mark Nair, our brother-in-law and known affectionately as Uncle Just Mark by the kids (since my brother Mark is Uncle Mark), has perhaps the funniest blog in the in the Texas Panhandle, er maybe Texas, perhaps even the these parts of the Milky Way.

The origins of his nickname can be traced back to some derogatory comment from long go, that stuck, as these things tend to do, especially around the extended Cahill clan.

The kids, led by Kate, has taken it as a challenge to come up with funny stuff to try to hang with the master. Whoo hoo!

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January 8, 2005

Welcome to the Cahill family blog site!

The Austin chapter of the Cahill family website is now officially open for business. We look forward to sharing the happenings from the greatest city in America!

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