Once upon a time, I played around Austin with a band called Trees Like These. They were easily one of my favorite bands I've ever played with, and a great bunch of people.

Eventually, a point came where everything fell apart—not in acrimony, but just in differing agendas. We had people who were engaged and people who weren't, people who wanted to move and people who didn't, people who wanted a bigger sound and people who wanted a smaller one, people who wanted a larger profile for the band and people who wanted a smaller one.

Not long after the band collapsed back into a duo, one of its two core members, Mark Couvillion, moved to Dallas with plans to eventually marry a high school classmate of mine. The classmate moved back to Austin recently, without Couv in tow, and I've been wondering ever since what might have happened to him.

Well, much to my surprise, I serendipitously discovered today that he's still in Dallas and keeping his own brand new weblog. It's young, but it's pretty. There's some very nice design and some damn fine photography, and already the beginnings of what looks to be a strong, thoughtful community.

So I just wanted to say: Way to go Couv, and welcome to the fray!