This year I gambled and bought my ACL 3 Day Pass early. I just found out I won big! Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! There are so many bands on this years ACL 2010 line up, I will get well past what I invested in the ticket plus more. There are so many bands I either love or have wanted to see for a long time that I will probably not get to see them all because they will overlap. No fear, my ADD will come in handy.

Here are Austin City Limits Bands I am very excited to see:

Band of Horses – My favorite band of SXSW 2010. “Band of Horses is always a pleasure to see live, with their winning blend of raw emotion, relentless waves of guitar and drums, and southern rock flavor.”, Kiri on Band of Horses at SXSW 2010 on TheOwlMag.com. Why would I post this article specifically? Well I was standing right next to Kiri, writer for The Owl Mag when she was writing her awesome detailed notes and taking shots at Stubb’s.

Listen to their entire new album: http://stream.bandofhorses.com/#

The Strokes – This is a band I have been a fan of for years and they have been on my Pandora.com for a long time. Songs I like are Is This It, New York City Cops, Last Night, and a few more. The songs i like from the Strokes are obviously a few years old, so I have not really listened to anything new by them. One of my friends is coming from Houston on Friday specifically to see them. I also know if you listen to The Strokes songs while driving it makes you feel a little bit cooler than you are. Try it & see u at the show.

The Strokes – Last Night – LIVE VIDEO

http://thestrokes.com

Sonic Youth – Damn you for canceling SXSW in 2010. Don’t do it again or I will ‘Incarcerate’ you! Joking, I know you are a punk band and need to be punkish, it is expected. You know we still love you. I actually did not like Sonic Youth in the 80′s but grew to love them in the late 90′s. Androgynous Mind is probably my favorite songs by Sonic Youth.

http://www.sonicyouth.com

LCD Soundsystem - POW POW! POW POW. I know little to nothing about LCD Soundsystem but what I do know I really like. I have heard their songs, POw POW, Drunk Girls, and ‘I Can Change’ on XM radio originally. They are coming to Austin, Texas in a few weeks to play at Stubb’s but I will be on a job in San Antoinio, otherwise I would be there. Yesterday I actually watched this video of them before they were announced to play at ACL:

http://www.lcdsoundsystem.com

Tito is a gerbil. She lives in Austin, Texas and loves blueberrys. Tito first entered our family about 2 years ago after she performed as a 1st grade classroom pet.Recently Tito has experienced a tragic and painful event. Her luxurious pink cage fell on her and broke her front forearm.

A Family Tragedy: My wife called me late on a Tuesday crying and very upset. Of course I thought the worse because she was truly upset. After she calmed down, I find out our pet gerbil Tito had her arm accident. Not knowing any thing about pocket pet care and not in front of a computer, I of course asked my twitter friends what I should do 1) about consoling my wife & 2) what the heck to do about a gerbil with a broken arm. My initial advice was totally wrong, which was to shave off childrens Tylenol and find a toothpick and tape it to her flopping arm.

Twitter Advice for Gerbils: I received a lot of advice from twitter friends, some good, some not so good, and some funny. Yes this was a serious matter and my family loves Tito, but Richard Gere has permanently etched comedy in my and others mind when talking about Gerbils. My love for Tito the gerbil was hard to express online due to all of the funny things that would pop-up in my head before I tweeted them and rest assure Tito’s tragedy is not funny.

Gerbil Breaks Arm Do’s & Don’ts: After the gerbil twitter advice and reading google links about “broken gerbil arm”, I discovered you should never give gerbils human pain medication. You should also remove any item in the cage which the pet can crawl on including their running wheel. Other articles went on to say, gerbils normally heal with in 6 weeks on their own and to not segregate from other gerbils unless you see aggressive behavior against the injured. Soft oatmeal is also recommended to give to gerbils with broken arms.

Tito Goes to Emergency Room: So my wife does not answer her phone for a few hours after the tragedy and this is never good. I find out later she has rushed our Gerbil to the Small Pet Emergency Room on 183 in Austin, Texas. $52 later they had given Tito pain medication and “referred” her to a pocket pet specialist who can put a “cast” on the gerbils arm.

The next day my wife takes Tito the the gerbil broken arm specialist who states they will have to put a pin in Titos forearm instead of a cast. I will update you once I hear more! 3/25 12:26 PM

Tito Arrives Home: 3/26 1:15 am Tito is home from the pet hospital and not looking to hot. She had a pin placed in her forearm femur bone and then the arm is wrapped securely against her body. The ole’ gerbil doctor said the arm should stay secured to her for 6 weeks. The doctor said he does not give pain medication to animals of Tito’s stature. Meaning Tito had his arm bone pin surgery cold turkey. The doc mentioned Tito tried to bite him continually which is not surprising.

My wife made her some oatmeal which she was sleeping in head first when I got home.  She also kind of freaks out around hands now, probably because of her pain and the pin doctor. Wife still will not tell me how much this ordeal cost, but I will keep you updated as more details pop up.

When I get more pictures of Tito after surgery I will post them so stay tunes! & feel free to leave your words of support and encouragement for Tito below. She will really love that.

Save Tito! #SaveTito

Tito Has Left The Building: Update: 3/31 Saturday night Tito passed. She had a great life and was a loved pet. I supposed a pin in a tiny gerbils arm is not a good idea. My wife and daughter are still pretty upset about “one of the girls” leaving the family. They made a nice funeral for her which included a specially made casket, extravagant decorations, some of Tito’s favorite foods, a drawing made by my daughter, a quarter with Puerto Rico on it, and Tito’s favorite toy. She was buried in an undisclosed location.

Gerbil Arm Surgery for $350? : My wife is pretty upset at the ‘pin in the fore arm’ vet and there are rumors of Fox 7 On Your Side discussions. $350 dollars for a broken gerbil arm surgery are who dies the next day sounds a bit  rodenty to me.

Either way, Tito was a great gerbil and family pet.

Tito’s Dying Wish: I think if Tito could talk, her dying wish would be: For everyone who reads this post, to call a loved one who you have not talked to in a while and tell them you love them. If they ask “why the unexpected call”, tell them Tito sent you. When they ask, “who is Tito?”, tell them a gerbil and possibly her story. Tito would have loved this to be her dying wish & it helps you also, 1) You contact someone you love & 2) You will make them smile .

We Love You Tito! Tell Katy hi for us!

I have a plus one (free ticket) to see the SXSW Perez Hilton show below tonight.
If you are interested in going:
1) Comment on one of the photos I took at SXSW this year on this link: http://yfrog.com/search.php?s=texeyes

2) Place “#SXSW” in your comment

3) Make sure you are logged into twitter & the comment is tweeted out by yfrog (normally auto tweets comments)

4) You Follow me at http://twitter.com/texeyes

OR

1) Simple Retweet “Anyone want to go to Perez Hilton’s #SXSW Show tonight for free? See how to get it: http://ow.ly/1oSvI (via @texeyes)”

OR

1) Simple RT on of the Photos I took at SXSW this year through Twitter

Super easy! I will pick a totally random person who meets step 1-4 today at 4PM.

If I can not get a hold of the winner in 15 mins after I announce their name, I will then pick another winner because at 4pm, time is of the essence because the show starts at 7:30PM and my ticket does not guarantee entry because this event will be PACKED & has been over booked! (Tip: If you are interested, DM me ur phone number so I can call u at 4PM if you win.) No wristband will be needed to get in.

SWAGG Presents Perez Hilton’s “One Night in Austin”
The Whitley | 301 Brazos Street
Doors: 7 PM

Please print this email as confirmation and bring it with you to the show.

Lineup:
7:00 – 7:35 PM | DJ Atrak
7:35 PM – 7:50 PM | Soko
8:00 PM – 8:20 PM | Sliimy performs
8:30 PM – 8:50 PM | Macy Gray
9:00 PM – 9:20 PM | Mike Posner
9:30 PM – 10:00 PM | VV Brown
10:10 PM – 10:30 PM | Agnes
10:40 PM – 11:20 PM | Alphabeat
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM | Marina and the Diamonds
12:10 AM – 12:40 AM | Snoop Dogg
12:50 AM – 1:10 AM | Estelle
1:20 AM – 2:00 AM | Courtney Love and Hole

House DJs: DJ Mia Moretti & JD Samson

**You must be 21 and over. Admission is based on capacity. We advise you get there early!**

———————–

Here is Entry List During the Contest:

—————–
I asked for someone to pick a number 1 to 38 and @Bdepew immediatly answered with “5″.
———————–
So @texascmj5 won the tickets and has 15mins to contact me for pick-up details.

PureVolume House
Saturday, March 13 from 4-7pm
Location: 504 Trinity
http://thesmallbusinessweb.com/sxsbw/ (email confirmation required)
——————–
artwork by Bradley Oliver Wilkinson and Zack Taylor
Saturday, March 13, 2010 at 9pm
Location: Method Hair 1601 E. 5th SUITE 103
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=358782349946
———————————————
Mozilla SXSW Happy Hour Party (maybe not sure if I can get in)
Saturday, March 13, 2010 6:00pm – 8:00pm
201 Brazos Street Austin, TX 78701-4015
(signed up on Facebook – states limits to 250 guests)
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=310283178032
———————————————
Diggnation LIVE at The Bigg Digg Shindigg (Walkmen are playing)
March 13, 2010, 8pm-12:55am
Location: Stubbs
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=311714389768&ref=mf

A

Here are a few business cards I had in mind, which one do you like best?

A, B, C, D, or E

B

C

D

E

F

This article is a snapshot in Texas Political Social Media for the 2010 Texas Governors Race. Will it be irrelevant in 5 years? Will it serve as a nice reference of Social Media for Politicians? Is it just a bunch of Geeky Hoopla? Maybe, either way I hope you enjoy.

Being the best Twitterer is not the most important trait in becoming the Texas Governor but it is not the worst either.Social Media is the Internet’s latest trend, with Twitter being one of the widest known Social Media tools. Technology is obviously very important factor in Texas’s future in the world market, education, and advancing Health care. A Governor who can embrace the latest technology or simply prove they understand technology is important is ok in my book. A Texas Governor effectively using Social Media is not a deciding factor but a nice shiny bullet to have along with others in a campaign.

Texas Governor Twitter Analysis(sorry that sounds worky) will focus on four Twitter aspects. Each Texas Governor Candidates visual pleasantries of his Twitter environment, candidates tweet content, twitter followers make up, and how / if they respond to a random Texas Twitter guy (me). In the review I will be political neutral even naive and focus on pure Social Media aspects and honestly there are goals and accomplishments I love about each candidate and others I truly hate(even though I am not supposed to hate ). These reviews will come out in sections and as separate posts.

Twitter Background & Avatar:
Here are snapshots of the Texas Governors Twitter page a week before I released this article. Actually the snapshots were taken the day of early elections for the Democratic & Republican nomination to be exact.

Kay Baily Hutchinson C+ : Kay’s Twitter background is original with her logo. It consists of what appears to be a dark blue thunderstorm which appears turbulent, giving me an uneasy feeling. It is not very memorable but none the less original. Her twitter avatar is good, big smiles at the podium in front of the American Flag. Is Kay’s twitter picture personal, no and neither is her entire twitter page. Her page is political lacking personality which is fine but this does not fall in line with the media vein she is playing in, in my opinion of course. The content to the right of Kay’s twitter page is lacking. Name: TeamKay Bio = ‘KBHStaff’ & Location: Texas – Weak, blah, and unpersonal. Do you still live in Texas? What city?

Rick Perry A+ :Rick’s Twitter background is awesome and I am jealous. Rick who did it? I sure could use a fancy background like that. Hands down best background. It has a picture of him in a suit looking tough with big smiles. His background has campaign content, Texas colors and symbols. It is sharp and did not come cheap. Perry’s twitter picture is f’in cheesey but super smart and a winner. Puppies or babies, front facing, smiling, and looking like a normal guy. He took care of the political self picture in his background and nice likable guy in his twitter avatar. Nicely done, it looks like my toll money is being spent well…whoops. The Name section, standard Rick Perry, good.Bio is used pretty well with campaign content. Maybe a little more about yourself would be good. Oh, and the best part of Rick’s twitter page? I am on it, the top person that shows up no less(Look at the follower avatars). Update 2/22/2010 – Perry’s Camp contacted me on Friday with the following, “Nice post. We actually did the background in-house.” They also offered advice, as one of my links was not working properly. Very impressive Team Perry! I would also like to mention Rick Perry also sent a very personal Direct Message (DM) to me last week also.

Bill White A : Bill’s twitter background is also pretty good. It doesn’t have a picture of him, but it does have a picture of the wonderful state of Texas along with decent graphics, his website, and facebook page. Personally I do not like his twitter picture as I do not think it reminds me of the Spanish speaking Houston Hurricane hero I saw in past years. Put a picture up of you in your rain jacket during Hurricane season. Face your audience, looking away says thing subliminally about you. Either way you are in a suit and you look politically busy. In the name, Bill puts in ‘billwhitefortx’, ehh E for Effort if you put that in yourself personally. For location: Houston, TX, very nice but ‘Texas’ would give you more flair. In Bio, I love it! Best Bio of all three.

Farouk Shami A : Farouk’s twitter background is very well done. It has a picture of himself, his name in bold remember able letters, nice design, and a twitter bird. Remembering back to my first feeling when I looked at his page, I remember it as being dark and a little drab. So maybe a little color. However looking at it now, I am impressed. He puts in his name, the actual location where he lives, tells you he is a proud Texan, and gives you relevant campaign details. I like it, but not so fast there are other factors we will discuss about Farouk and Twitter and it relates to paying others.

Debra Medina C+ : Debra’s Twitter background is a generic Twitter background which everyone can choose from. Which is not memorable, but she probably did that herself and did not waste money paying someone to do it for her which is original in this particular campaign. Debra Medina’s avatar is good a nice smile Olan Mills style. In her twitter content to the right, she states her actual name which indicates she is representing herself on this account. Like Kay, she also put Texas as her location and Bio she puts in her campaign logo/ The content space could be used more effectively as with personal or campaign content.

Plane Crashes into Echelon Building in North Austin off Research Blvd

The Echelon Building is at 9430 Research, Austin Texas 78759. For Austin residents, it is near the Baby’s R Us and Marie Callender’s across the highway. From the looks of the crash the plane was not a Commercial Airline and damage appears to be consistent with a smaller plane. A witness on the scene states, “the plane was low but fine, then seemed to dip to the left and pick up speed.” per a @keyetv report. CNN has reported “FAA said the plane departed Georgetown Municipal Airport.” Georgetown is about 25 mins North of Austin on Intersate 35.

Terrorism is not completely ruled out, but from information floating around right now it is more than likely intentional and linked to a “Scofield Farms house fire this morning” per Fox News and the plan was seen in ‘full dive mode’ before the crash. Scofield Farms is a North Austin community off i35 near Round Rock, Texas and Dell Computer Corp. The Scofield Farms community is about 15 mins drive from the Echelon Building which experienced the plane crash.

Apparently Echelon Building houses IRS, CIA, along with an FBI Office next door. The man probably has a falling out with the IRS, started a fire in his Scofield Farms home in North Austin, Georgetown, got a plane, and flew it into the Echelon Building on 9430 Research Blvd in Austin, Texas. None of this is confirmed, but from what I am seeing online, it appears to be the sad truth. Just saw @stevebruskCNN, “Federal official says pilot set house on fire, stole plane and deliberately flew into Austin office building”

It is now being reported Joseph “Joe” Andrew Stack was the man who flew the plane into the North Austin Building. He had issues with the IRS and often wrote about them on his website, . Here is Joe Stack’s website with the IRS complaint content http://embeddedart.com.

Live User Content at the Scene of North Austin Plane Crash:
http://galleries.statesman.com/gallery/plane-crash-north-austin-building/#61413 *Best Picture Gallery
http://twitpic.com/photos/lauraburrus
http://twitpic.com/13yfjj
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-410564 – Video from Road
http://img158.yfrog.com/i/92kr.jpg/
http://twitpic.com/13yj67
http://twitpic.com/13yjdp
http://twitpic.com/13yqm2 * Best Pic So Far
http://tweetphoto.com/11775842

News Articles:
KVUE – Plane Crashes into Northwest Austin Building
Statesman – Plane Has Crashed in Austin
Statesman – Plane crashes into Northwest Austin office building
Austinist – Plane Has Crashed Into NW Austin Building
Statesman – Official: Crash was ‘apparently a criminal act’
CNN- Plane crashes into building in Austin, Texas
Statesman – Internet note posted by man linked to plane crash
BusinessInsider – Insane Manifesto Of Austin Texas Crash Pilot Joseph Andrew Stack

Companies in Echelon:
- Gracy Title
- Management Alliance Group Corp
- Q2eBanking.com – “CFO says all employees are okay (they office in Echelon I)”
- Scientific Investigation & Instruction Institute
- Ranserve Inc. – General Contracting Services
- Calavista – CM, SCM, Open Source, CVS, Software Development
- Keller Williams Realty (Is not longer in building – Confirmed by Laniar )
* Rumor & Not Confirm (FBI has residence in Building)

Google Maps: Echelon Building

Getting locked out of your car or house unexpectedly is obviously no fun. Getting ripped-off by a fraudulent locksmith is infuriating. I hate to admit this, but I have locked myself out of my house in Austin before. Luckily I had time and my iPhone on my side, but more often than not this is not the case. Most of the time when you lock yourself out of your house or car, you are in a mad dash to do something, do not have a phone with internet, and become totally distraught on what to do.

My Austin Locksmith Experience: During my locked out experience, I was able to search Google for ‘Austin Locksmith‘ <–example . At first glance the results look wonderful, a list full of locksmith’s in your area with 512 area codes at that. Hell there are even ads to the right of the page filled with “Austin” locksmiths. I am sure you even see Austin Locksmith ads on this webpage(Sounds funny I am saying this, but do not click them, unless they are non-locksmith related:)). The reason is, many of the listed companies could be scammers from out of state and some are call centers. Not to worry, I list trusted Austin Locksmith’s below. These companies will take on hundreds of local phone numbers and list them various ways through Google Business Directories, Yahoo directories, Google Advertising Services, and on and on. In addition, the locksmith scammers are super savy in SEO or search engine optimization. Basically meaning they know how to be at the top of the list when you type in your locksmith keywords in Google. Also note, locksmith scammers fill the Yellow Pages with the same kind of garbage.

Locksmith Scam / What to Look For: The way I figured out something was fishy with the Austin Locksmith search originally was one, me just being cheap and two, using my business sense skills to always agree on a price before a job is started. When I would call the companies listed under ‘Austin Locksmith’ in Google and Yahoo some would sound like honest folks, others would sound, pardon my French, like scummy ghetto kids, and some sounded like they were in a room filled with people answering the phone.

LockSmiths? Costs? What?: The two undesirable ‘Austin Locksmith’ contacts were always shady when I would ask about price, that’s  if I even got the opportunity to ask. Moreover they would never talk about price. Locksmith Scammers will normally pick-up the phone and immediately ask your address, your name, and your phone number. If you provide this information, they basically tell you someone will call you back or meet you at your house. That is the perfect scenario for locksmith fraudsters because you are a person in trouble, you never agree to a price, and in most cases you will be easily manipulated due to your situation. If you think about it, someone coming to your home once your locked out and letting you in is a huge physiological ordeal and a point of weakness. If you do not realize how emotional of an experience it is now, wait until it happens.

Previous Locksmith Scams: So if you fall into their trap this far, the next step will be to charge you the absolute most they think they can get out of you. In the news example below based in New York, a job which would normally cost $100 ended up costing the locksmith customer around $900. The fraudster basically said he could not pick the lock and busted out his drill, drilled the lock, put in a new lock, and way over charged for everything. This was an undercover sting by the news agency, which already knew the lock could be opened with standard locksmith tools. Another example mentioned was an elderly man charged $1700 to get into his house.

Ask Ask Ask Exact Charges: So obviously, I asked the locksmiths that I called how much they charge and they were super sneaky about it. They would say something like ‘we can not really say because it depends on what type of lock you have.’ If you push harder some might say a $29 service fee and however much it cost to open your particular lock. If you push harder they normally get real upset with you and act like you are totally wearing them out for asking. If you experience this, you know you have called an ‘Austin Locksmith’ scammer.

RocknRealty.net likes Trustworthy Austin Locksmiths

Finally an Real Honest Locksmith!: What I found is honest Austin Locksmiths work together. They all know each other and if they can not do a job for you, they will quickly refer you to a reputable local locksmith down the road. They will probably warn you of the locksmith scam and give you examples. You should also be able to have a conversation with them about local Austin news, if they can not talk about Austin…I bet they ain’t from round here. You will not have to worry about this though because you are going to program one or all of the reputable Austin Locksmith’s in your phone right now and follow the steps below. Also, if you know any elderly folks, please inform them about this locksmith situation as I see them as prime targets for the locksmith scammers.

Warning Signs of Rip-Off Locksmith’s:
- Answer the Phone without Company Name
- Will Not Give You an Exact Address
- Don’t Give Direct Answers
- Will Not Give You an Exact Price

Steps to Prevent Running into a Fraudulent Locksmith in Austin:
- Program a Reputable Local Locksmith in Your Phone Now (see list in this post)
- Hide a Key somewhere around your house
- Ask if They Have a License
- Get a Written Estimate Before Any Work is Done
- If the Sucka Looks/Sounds Shady…He is

Reputable Austin Locksmith: Now for the reputable Austin Locksmiths (Austin,Pfluggerville,Austin, and Surrounding area). If they are not close to you, call them and they can refer you to a locksmith who is. I have either used one of these locksmiths or was recently referred to one of them by a local locksmith.

Alpha Lock & Key (Marvin)- (512) 835-2626
PT’s Safe & Lock – (512) 251-1940
Cothron’s Safe & Lock Inc – (512) 447-1883 – http://cothrons.com
Advanced Locksmith (Dave)- (512) 933-0300

Sources:

Austin’s News8 – Scammers target locksmith customers

* News8 mentions http://Cothrons.com as reputable Austin Locksmith

ABC News – National Locksmith Rip-Off

If you have had a bad or Good experience with an Austin Locksmith, feel free to leave a comment. I would love to hear your feedback and any suggestions you might have to help protect local Austinites against Locksmith Fraud. Oh yea and if you get bored, call a few locksmiths you find in the search, act like you are in dire need, and post your results below.

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