Austin

Conversation with an Author: Dale Thele

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 11 Comments
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Dale with his coffee cup, black moustache protector, business card, and writer cap.

Dale Thele is an author.  If there’s one thing I took away from the very generous amount of time we spent together at a coffee shop today, is that to think of oneself as an author (or writer, if you prefer), is important.  No, it does not make you good, or increase your chances of publication.

But, thinking of oneself that way is one key to behaving that way.  Writers write, right?  (Do authors auth?)  Luckily, I took away alot more than that one thing, and as Dale was happy to share them with me, he’s happy for me to share them with all 168 of my followers and any new visitors.

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The Austin Bomber Got Caught and Self-Exploded; Book Writing Day Photos

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

I’m sure you can find plenty of media about the Austin serial bomber. I’m against the death penalty but sociopaths deserve life in prison or a mental hospital. Maybe we’ll find out his motives. But he was a millennial, white, male, conservative, Christian, bigoted domestic terrorist who killed two African-Americans and injured four, one of whom was Latina, so that tells us alot.  It’s a sad situation.  Maybe there is such a thing as karma.

Today and tomorrow are book writing days, so enjoy a few photos.

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When Things Go Awry, Still We Must Try

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

Crisis?  What Crisis?

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Source: Supertramp’s album cover “Crisis? What Crisis?” on Allmusic.com

Today was to be a book-writing day so only photos for the blog, and maybe a bike ride map and stats from Strava and short map video from Relive.  As you might deduce, that didn’t happen.  I got my walk and yoga in, but not the writing.  Then my doctor’s appointment took three hours instead of one, most of it waiting.  I was not a very patient patient. Continue reading →

10 Ways to Make the Most of South by Southwest (SXSW)

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 4 Comments

Research bands, sessions, films, etc. in advance. If you’re a middle-aged person like me, reading lists of younger music acts is like reading another language: you don’t understand a word. But unless you use the Filter by genre or Listen features on the SXSW app and also Spotify or other music streaming service, you are doomed to wander into random bars and are likely to get stuck listening to something you hate. There are also plenty of Twitter pages and websites that help you with making choices.

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ADAB Interview #1: David Walker: Engineering a Comeback from a Life-Altering Event (Part 1)

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 21 Comments
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David Crittenden Walker.  © 2018 photo courtesy of Alan Pogue, Texas Center for Documentary Photography.  All rights reserved.

EDITORIAL NOTE:  These are the facts *as I heard them*, but any opinions or errors are mine.  A better way of putting it is that this is a story, not word-for-word reporting.  As with all writing of stories, there is no such thing as absolute fact and objectivity, as much as we may strive for it or fool ourselves into thinking there is.  Not only was there no way to check many of the facts, and I took the subject at his word, there is the passage of time, choice of words, fading of memory and downright embellishment.  The story as told by the interviewee is filtered through the lens, bias and experience of the interviewer.  So is it true?  Who knows?  Everyone knows David’s a big fat liar.  But we hope you’re entertained and inspired anyway. Continue reading →

Sunday Summary: South By Southwest, Supplements & Sleep

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 2 Comments

South by Southwest, Sign Me Up!

Today I cycled on down to the Austin Convention Center to sign up for the first time as a South by Southwest (SXSW) volunteer. It was a pretty diverse and interesting group of folks, with lots of crews vying for our attention. I settled on a crew that would allow me to work just during the education portion so I could enjoy the whole rest of the conference. My perk for those 52 hours will allow me to get into the music festival for free (it’s $1,200 to register) and some venues like film, comedy and so on.

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