The Pulse: March 2014

Book Bit

From The Circle by Dave Eggers

“Mae looked at the time. It was six o’clock. She had plenty of hours to improve, there and then, so she embarked on a flurry of activity, sending four zings and thirty-two comments and eighty-eight smiles. In an hour, her PartiRank rose to 7,288. Breaking 7,000 was more difficult, but by eight o’clock, after joining and posting in eleven discussion groups, sending another twelve zings, one of them rated in the top 5,000 globally for that hour, and signing up for sixty-seven more feeds, she’d done it. She was at 6,872, and turned to her InnerCircle social feed. She was a few hundred posts behind, and she made her way through, replying to seventy or so messages, RSVPing to eleven on campus, signing nine petitions, and providing comments and constructive criticism on four products currently in beta. By 10:16 her rank was 5,342, and again, the plateau—this time at 5,000—was hard to overcome. She wrote a series of zings about a new Circle service, allowing account holders to know whenever their name was mentioned in any messages sent from anyone else, and one of the zings, her seventh on the subject, caught fire and was rezinged 2,904 times, and this brought her PartiRank up to 3,887."

 Caddyshack: Where are they now?

Ty Webb: Grew bored with barefoot golf outings at dawn. Left Bushwood and took up yoga. Word is he finally figured out where all his lumberyards were located, and even visited a few.
Al Czervik: Purchased Bushwood Country Club in 1983 and, much to the chagrin of its elderly members, installed stereo speakers on every tee box.

Carl Spackler: Ascended the ranks of Bushwood in the ultimate Cinderella story, and is now head teaching pro. His instructional methods, including whacking blooming flowers with gardening tools, are sweeping through midwestern country clubs.

Danny Noonan: Converted his caddie scholarship into a law degree. He and Maggie married and have two kids; plays golf at Bushwood every morning —barefoot and he doesn’t keep score.

Judge Smails: Fell into reclusive hiding following the embarrassing—and expensive— defeat to Team Noonan. Returned only to take over for Spackler’s vacated greenskeeper position. Angrily roams Bushwood, speaking only to the ghosts of gophers past: “You’ll get nothing and like it.”

Heads Up! – Austin Style

Popular Food Trailers – Chilantro

Austin Bands – Bob Schneider

Name that Condo – Spring

Celebrity Sightings – Elijah Wood

Playlist: Austin bands at 2014 SXSW

"Marigold" — Mother Falcon
"Anyone but You" — Akina Adderley & The Vintage Playboys
"Victory of Flying" — Carolyn Wonderland
"Hope Dies" — Zeale
"Embraces" — The Black and White Years
"The King" — Ramesh
"Shanty" — The Bright Light Social Hour
"The Best" — The Rocketboys
"Something Reckless" — The Lonesome Heroes
"Sold" — Aisha Burns

Listen to the Austin Bands playlist here