There's an article in yesterday's Statesman about the memorial service I attended Friday for Lt. Brian Smith, who was killed 2 weeks ago in Iraq. I only knew Brian in vignettes -- drinking beers at the Draught House (where he would try to out-Southern the rest of us) or his work on my will before my trip to Africa (as an unemployed lawyer waiting for Basic Training to start, he actually did 2 house calls and spent a lot of time in exchange for homebrew...). I saw him the last time he was in Austin before deploying to Iraq, and he regaled us with stories of his training experiences. This vignette based experience of Brian makes me feel a strong loss of potential -- this is someone who was *becoming* a friend.

Brian's untimely demise really brings the war in Iraq home to me -- although he is the only soldier in Iraq I know/knew personally, all of a sudden this has become my generation's war....

I find it appropriate that the first Austin area death in this war is one of an extremely unconvential, extremely intellectual individual.... Brian was a very typical Austinite in many ways -- science fiction fan, UT grad, member of the SCA, post-graduate degree, even worked in high tech....

Red vs. Blue, irreverant miltary drama created out of the the video game Halo, plays tonight and Saturday night at the Alamo Downtown. Did I mention it is created in my hometown of Buda?

Style.com is hosting an online auction -- Wear Yellow -- for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The auction features designer goods -- some of them one of a kind.

My favorite? The Ralph Lauren Citrine ShoulderSweepers. Although the Manolo Blahnick boots aren't bad. :)

Grapvine Market is now carrying Vosges chocolates. Cute little "purses" of Red Fire and Gianduja, and Red Fire and Black Pearl candy bars. The Red Fire Bar is fabulous -- the best executed "chocolate and chili" combination I have *ever* had. (Why did a Chicago company beat Texas to this? Shouldn't some local chocolatiers think about developing some chocolates with Texas ingredients? I'd love to see a line of chili chocolates featuring different types of hot chilis combined with chocolate...)

The black pearl bar, which I have not tried yet, has wasabi in it -- yep, I said wasabi. I'll let you know how it is, but Ike (cheesemonger/gourmet manager at Grapevine) said it was surprisingly good.

Did I mention I was the one who request Ike get them? And that he's selling them for $1 less than the bar at Hotel San Jose, the only other local source?

Vickie Howell and Knitty Gritty, mentioned here yesterday, also makes the Austin Chronicle this week. Read the article here.

Austin Country Limits is a nicely done photo-blog of the Austin area. My favorite is this view of the umbrellas at the Oasis.

Austin hipster Vickie Howell hosts knitting show on DIY channel. I haven't seen Knitty Gritty -- "It's not your Grandmother's Knitting Show" -- but it's a good move for Austin creative craft community. Unfortunately, It's filmed in LA.

Rumour has it that other DIY shows may come out of Austin in the near future.