Watson Wire

“You will always be most attractive when ...”

Tuesday, October 18, 2011 |

I can finally quit worrying about how my running and weight loss program seems not to be catching fire.
 
Normally, I'd be far more than a little irritated at how poorly I'm losing weight and how slowly I'm building up running mileage in preparation for a half marathon in mid-November.  The truth is that I've been quite irritated – to the point of some fairly loud complaining.  
 
It often feels, excruciatingly, that this just isn't worth the pain and sacrifice if I still can't wear certain pants that fit only a few months ago.  And, of course, I've made a comment or two about how, umm, unfortunate I look at this weight.

But then, last week, I got the reprieve I needed, at least from a karmic point of view.  It came from my horoscope:
 
"Aspiring to images of beauty that are something other than what you look like is a bit silly considering you will always be most attractive when you embrace your most authentic self."

Well, I may back out of, or die during, a half-marathon in a few weeks.  But when I do, it will be while embracing the inner Kirk.  So at least I'll do it attractively.

Catching up ...

Between my work to bring a medical school to Austin, the constitutional election next month, and another round of debt, diversions and deception in the state budget, there’s been a lot to cover in the Watson Wire over the last few weeks.  So I want to catch you up on some other stuff that I haven’t gotten to recently.

All of these things I'm about to mention, by the way, were covered on my Twitter feed or my Facebook page.  I also posted more updates on the Medical School effort and on Proposition 8, the proposed constitutional amendment on next month’s ballot that would authorize my Water Stewardship legislation.

If you aren’t following me in both places ... well, we need to do something about that.  And by “we,” I mean “you.”

The news

First off, a lot of good people are doing a ton of great work to clean up the devastation that’s left from the September fires in Central Texas.  Last week, the Lower Colorado River Authority set aside $5 million to help with recovery efforts in Bastrop County.  The funds are critical to receiving a federal match of $15 million from FEMA.

That LCRA money came in response to a request from me along with Bastrop County Judge Ronnie McDonald and Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative general manager Mark Rose.  While it will help, there’s still lots of work to be done to help Central Texas recover.  I'm proud to continue working closely with Bastrop County in its recovery efforts.

I also was honored to be recognized by the Texas Municipal League as a Legislator of the Year for work in the last legislative session.  I went to Houston to accept the award at TML’s annual conference.

The group cited me for playing “a key role in defending municipal authority.”  Obviously, those issues of local control have been important for me for all of my time in public service.  I appreciate the recognition, and I’m looking forward to continuing to help.

And I sent a letter expressing my strong opposition to a proposal by Monarch Utilities that would sustantially raise water rates on some Central Texans.

Monarch is an investor-owned water provider serving parts of Northeast Travis County and other areas around the state.  It’s one of the utilities I’m looking into as part of a joint subcommittee I'm chairing that’s investigating the water and sewer rate increases these utilities keep imposing on customers across the state.

Less newsy ...

Lest we forget, there’s also Llama Llama Red Pajama.

A couple of weeks ago, I dropped in on a kindergarten class at Casis Elementary with AISD Superintendent Meria Carstarphen to read the children’s book as part of a national effort to break the record for the most children being read to from a digital story online.  For the story and video, click here.

And, finally, I showed up in a column by Austin American-Statesman columnist Ken Herman about office-holders who use Twitter.  As Herman noted, I’ve been known, occasionally, to let folks know via Twitter about Watson family activities – including the lacrosse teams my kids have played on over the years.

Which led to this exchange (all over Twitter, naturally):

Me: “Finally, my lacrosse play-by-play gets the credit it deserves. But are you really hip if @kherman is the judge?”

Herman: “No. In fact, odds are good that if I mention you you are decidedly unhip.”

So there you have it.  Get a mention by Ken Herman on Twitter, and be uncool.

Maybe I’ll get a horoscope that reassures me about “images of hipness” so I can look at this differently.  I’m embracing my most authentic self, you see.