Viva los Mavs!

The Champs

The Happiest Fans in Houston

3 decades down, many more to go...

As promised, I have a few more pictures to share from the wonderful weekend that was my 30th birthday celebration....

With lots of friends and family to help celebrate, we had....

a cake graciously transported to Austin by Carol, commemorating my extreme nerdiness,



a strong, worthy opponent of a pinata...



and a day at the lake with more than a few beers to keep the good times flowing.
(Note the "shotgun" master preparing to blow me out of the water with his skills)

All in all, it was a great weekend that not only left me feeling more than a little bit loved by those around me, but also confident in the good times to come in the next few decades...

30 and still Keeping it Weird

That's right, this past weekend, I reached the big 3-0.  To celebrate, we headed to Austin for some fun in the sun and good times with the fam.  Turns out I am so popular that our usual crash pad (aka Kelly's house) was packed to the brim with out-of-town guests.  No worries on that front, as Jared had booked us a room at one of Austin's quirkiest institutions, the Austin Motel, smack dab in the middle of South Congress:



The infamously-shaped logo

Unusual signage to keep the guests in check

Although some rooms at the hotel allow pets, ours unfortunately did not.  Lucky for Zambezi, there was plenty of dog-action going on at Kelly's house, although I think that he might have been missing the luxuries of our apartment's central air conditioning as this is where he hung out for most of the visit:

Although the weekend was full of surprises and gifts for yours truly (another post to come), not having to do the 6am bathroom run with our little bundle of joy turned out to be one of the best presents of all...

Closet Case

Behold!  One of the joys of living in Texas: closet space!!

Now before you go thinking that the Texpatriates might need to join Clotheshorse Anonymous, please note that in San Francisco we were dealing with closets about half the size of an an airplane bathroom with the same amount, if not more, clothes inside.  So three cheers to the wide open spaces of Texas and the invention of the walk-in closet. 

Movin on up, out, and away!

Sorry faithful readers for our looong absence from the Dos Texpatriates blog.  Not only have we been more than a little bit busy with the transfer from SF to Houston, but the Dos Texpatriates have also been separated for the past two and a half weeks (tear).   As Jared blazes new trails in Houston, setting up our new nest with lovely rented furniture and startling Texans with his continued devotion to public transportation, I have been working non-stop to wrap things up on the Californian end.  And by wrap things up, I don't mean pack (which is what I should be doing right now), I mean try to delicately extract myself from the three roles I am filling in for at KBAS.  You can take a wild guess at how that is going....

So until the Dos Texpatriates are reunited, we ask you, faithful readers to hold tight!  As a gesture of apology for this absence, we offer these gems from the 2011 Galvin family calendar:

The first reader to guess the theme from each picture wins free lodging at the Dos Texpatriates newest abode!

Moving to Dallas!

We know that our dear readers have been waiting in suspense after our recent post regarding our upcoming move. Where is it this time?!  Well here it is.....we are moving to DALLAS!  No, not our hometown of Dallas, Texas, but rather Dallas Street in downtown Houston (Rotation Location Destination #3), an entirely new city for the Dos Texpatriates.

Since our placement in Houston is only considered temporary, we will be moving into a lovely, if a bit generic apartment just blocks away from our Houston buds, Chris & Sarah. We discovered that our Houston apartment is more than 100 years newer than our SF unit.  It is likely to have less personal touches than our lovely parkside dwelling but honestly, we are super-pumped about a modern heating system.  As much as we love our place in SF, the Victorian icebox effect has definitely worn our its welcome (apparently insulation wasn't a la

mode 100 years ago).

So cheers to sun! And sweat! And swimming!

Rotation Location Desitination- Round 3

That's right... your favorite traveling Texans are on the move again!  That means you've got about 4-6 weeks to head out west before our sweet apartment has to be handed over to new tenants who are sure to be less appreciative of the forbidden roof views. 

More to details to come on the upcoming placement, but be sure that the SF uniform of fleece and jeans will get a much needed rest.  Bring on the breathable fabric because its about to get sweaty!

Move over Dou Liamond

Well as you all probably know, the California Independent Film Festival held its final night of screenings last night in Moraga and being only a quick jaunt over the bay and across the unscrupulous hills of Oakland we felt it was a no-brainer decision to attend. 

Now I know you may be thinking "well golly that is mighty interesting, but I didn't know they were that big of film buffs".  Well you are somewhat mistaken and as soon as the much anticipated Part 2 of our Tour de New Zealand makes it to print we will be able to offer you visual proof.  But you are also somewhat correct.  It turns out that this year's California film festival was putting a spotlight on Texas in Language of a Broken Heart, a film co-produced by our good friend from South Africa, Luke Coffee.  Luke is actually from Dallas, but lived and worked on films in ZA for a few months before being deported on Christmas.  Since returning to Dallas, he has jumped headfirst into the blossoming Texas film biz, getting tough guy parts in both Chase and Friday Night Lights, before landing a role as co-producer and supporting actor in Language of a Broken Heart. 

Now as you may have guessed from the title, it is somewhat of a Romantic Comedy (aka romcom), but  for all of those romcomsarecrappyandalwaysfeaturedouchebagslikeHughGrant-style haters, don't let that deter you.  It was actually a solid story, well acted, and overall a great flick.  Following the show, we made our way out to the boisterous lobby and rubbed shoulders with silver screen legends, but the best part was having dinner and drinks with the director, writer/lead actor, and Luke afterwards.  Very cool experience that I wish was more common following a movie.   Overall, the viewing was a great success, and we weren't the only ones that thought so as Language of a Broken Heart took home Best Picture.  Now that the hype has been set, your job is to keep your head on a swivel and an eye out for the award winner in a theater near you...

Oh yeah, that is who you think it is.  Hollywood Legend, and 2011 Maverick Award winner Dou Liamond Phillips:

Laugh it up Dou, but no Best Picture for you tough guy...

Jimmy Cup 4: Retribution

Retribution has been acheived. No longer is a Galvin ceremoniously drinking out of the 3 foot chalice of ancient lore. After two long years, a Drakeley again owns the Cup and there are no plans to relinquish the crown for years to come.

Here are some images of how it all went down:

The former champ enjoying one last drink out of the Cup.



 Yep, we get celebrities. Bobby Carpenter was in full effect at Jimmy Cup 4.

Mack made his presence felt by taking home the Chutch in his first appearance while Marie added some tough East Coast flavor to the event in her debut.

All smiles from a former champ and her competition.  Glad they had a good time, but they should consider adopting Mike's more focused intensity if they want to regain the title next year.

 The face of a bald eagle fueled champion triumphing over Mom Galvin.

Jimmy Cup 5 should be interesting...



9th Annual DAT

Once again, competitors arrived from near and far to compete in the annual Day-After-Thanksgiving foosball and ping-pong tournaments. Representatives from Korea, California, New York, Italy, and Texas battled it out in an epic struggle for greatness.  Only those with the greatest table-sport abilities and resistance to the often crippling effects of spending too much time around the keg emerged victorious.

Despite the heckling of onlookers from the "walnut gallery," a previously unknown 16 yr-old ringer won the ping-pong tournament in a last round defeat of the perpetually-confident Michael Galvin.  Discouraged by the pattern of globally ranked  underage tennis players taking the title, minimum drinking requirements might be instated in years to come to ensure a level playing field for all competitors.

 

Inside, an unsurprising series of events took place as the "randomly" selected team of Tara & Dad Galvin worked their way to the top of the ranks and to eventual victory.  Neither Jared nor my team made it into the final rounds, but we definitely made a respectable showing and transferred our efforts to socializing and tending to the needs of the keg.

All in all, the 9th Annual DAT party was an unquestioned success!

Texas Two Step

I've been lucky to have had not one but two trips to la patria in the past month.  The first trip was strictly a ladies weekend, full of wine drinking, outfit changing, and artistic photos.

The second visit was to celebrate the wedding of two of Jared's MBA pals: Sam Brown and Melissa Sprinkle.  Being an MBA event, the party wouldn't have been complete without a theme and corresponding costumes.

 

The Texas-themed rehearsal dinner had more than a few interpretations of what a "Texan" might wear, but I still feel pretty confident about our choice to go dressed as the "Jean King and Queen."

 

Down yonder in Texas town, we ran into few familiar faces and had a few laughs.

Sometimes Willie just puts it best, so to Texas we say: if you've got the money, honey, we've always got the time...

Lone Star State of Mind

Despite having spent the better part of my life in Texas, it is still possible forget about some of the little eccentricities that can really make our homeland unlike anywhere else in the world.

Like when you expect corporate familiarity from the local Compass Bank branch and you find yourself in the interior of a Mexican adobe and the bank manager in a three piece suit and bollo tie.

 

Or when you are in a situation that allows you to discover that once a catfish gets a taste of beer, he will be your friend for the duration of the evening.

We might be the biggest and the best, but its really the litte things that make Texas a such a special place.

Austin-tatious weekend

Our favorite Texas town sure put on her prettiest dress this Memorial Day weekend, leaving us aching for more fun in the sun.  Maybe because the weather has been so crappy in SF lately, but wow- Austin is awesome.  It also helped that 90% of the people that we know happened to be in town for the weekend, whether for wedding festivities (congrats Mike & Brandi!), the notorious annual "White Party" on Pierce's boat, or just a good ole Texas time. 

Let's just say that between bottomless mimosas at Taverna, boating on the lake, an awesomely fun wedding, and lots and lots of Miller lite, the weekend was a success. 

Say what you like about Texas, but no one's gonna say that town doesn't know how to have a good time....