The Nine Inch Nails On November 4th 1995 me and a number of my friends were going on a group date to an Aeros hockey game In fact this was actually my first date with Deanna Ladimir a friend of mine in high school that I dated for a couple of months when I was just 16 Daniel Putt and I had been regular concert goers and had heard all day on the radio that Nine Inch Nails was in town for a surprise show at Numbers in Montrose Unfortunately it was either impossible to get tickets to the show because they were just giving them away or they sold out that morning in just a few minutes Whatever the case was we didn t have any The Aeros played near downtown Houston at what was then the Summit After seeing the game Putt and I suggested to our particular group of six that we stop by Numbers just to see what it sounded like from the outside Nine Inch Nails had only just climbed to the very top of stardom the year before and we were pretty anxious to catch any glimpse we could We parked in the neighborhood where we commonly had before and headed over to the club Although we were far from dressed like club goers it was pretty enjoyable to hear the music Evidently the bouncer on duty took notice of our excitement just to be standing outside listening and told us that for 20 00 per person he d let us in It s a little harder than you might think to scrounge together 120 00 as a 16 year old especially in 1995 but we did somehow manage So despite being dressed like young high school yuppies that had just come from a hockey game with a bunch of other high school football players cheerleaders and drill team members we got to see Trent Reznor perform to a packed house of maybe 800 just people I very distinctly remember walking in just as Something I Can Never Have started playing The only downside of the entire night was that two of the girls with us had to be home by a certain time and refused to accept that this was one of those times it was better just to break curfew naturally my date did not have this problem Much to my chagrin we did wind up leaving before the show ended The only thing that puzzles me to this day is how easily we were able to find our way from the Summit to Numbers without the use of a GPS or even a phone nbsp

A Personal FAQ About Me strong 1 What is your name strong For the purposes of this FAQ Kevin will do just fine but I ll give you a hint go to a href http www kevinludlow com this a URL strong 2 Where are you from strong Originally I m from the little town of Manalpan New Jersey My family moved to Texas when I was eight or so and I spent the next 10 years living in Houston Texas After I graduated from high school I moved to Austin Texas strong 3 Where do you live now strong In an apartment in Austin Texas strong 4 How tall are you strong Ummm I d like to say 5 10 but I m told that might be generous by an inch or so strong 5 What color eyes do you have strong Blue strong 6 What is your favorite color strong Green strong 7 Are you married strong No strong 8 Are you single strong Would a non single guy have a website with multiple FAQ s about himself on it strong 9 Are you rich strong Most certainly strong 10 Can I call you sometime strong Hmmm why don t you email me your picture first strong 11 Are you the type of guy that enjoys dates strong Actually I prefer plums though dates and more importantly the act of dating has appealed to me a time or two strong 12 Do you have any favorite authors or books strong I have to be honest I m not much for reading Not that I don t like books I just prefer having them read to me via audiobooks or CDs I generally prefer mystery books random fact books history books and generally anything scientific in nature strong 13 What about your favorite TV shows strong I don t watch that much TV I like the FOX block of The Simpsons Seinfeld King of the Hill and sometimes That 70 s Show Other than that I tend to stick to the Discovery Channel the History Channel and movie channels such as HBO namely b c I hate commercials strong 14 And for the trifecta how about movies strong I think my favorite movie is The Shawshank Redemption As for clever movies I like Guy Ritchie s Snatch I ve enjoyed all 30 or so Hitchcock movies that I ve seen and also like a number of old silent pictures with Charlie Chaplin and or Buster Keaton A local Austin band Guy Forsyth has put on a fabulous show a few times by playing an original score to Buster Keatons The General strong 15 What kind of music do you listen to strong I listen to most everything except for rap and country Tho even some rap has grown on me thanks to the Tony Hawk and Grand Theft Auto video game series I ve recently really gotten into listening to more worldly music and of course being the narcacist that I am I enjoy listening to some of my own homemade music strong 16 What kind of a car do you drive strong A black 2004 Saturn Ion2 Quad Coupe strong 17 What other cars have you owned in the past strong My first car was a white 1993 Mitsibushi Mighty Max small pickup truck This was followed by a cherry red mocca Ford F150 Eddie Bauer pickup truck After that came a cherry red mocca 2000 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer This is about when I moved to New Zealand First I purchased a 1989 Honda Beat 50cc Scooter then a 1981 Subaru Leone After returning stateside I purchased my 2004 Saturn Ion2 Quad Coupe strong 18 Do you like to travel strong Indeed strong 19 Have you visited much of the United States strong Most all of it I still have yet to visit Alaska Hawaii and a few states of the central north such as the Dakotas and Montana strong 20 Have you traveled outside of the United States strong Yup I ve traveled to some of the Virgin Islands Mexico dozens of times New Zealand Australia Fiji and Puerto Rico technically not part of the US strong 21 Where would you like to go next strong I would really like to visit Canada Cuba Japan Thailand Russia and then Europe more or less in that order strong 22 Do you have any pets strong No sadly I ve seemed to develop certain allergies to some pets strong 23 What pets have you had in the past strong My family has had and I grew up with cats of the following names Henry Fluffy Tabitha and Sam Dog names were Barney a sheltie Freckles a k a Senor Taco a long haired chihuahua and Sampson a mutt We also had a horse for many years named Tara Personally I have had dozens of fish including a few large mouth bass I had a pet crawfish named Bob and my personal favorite was my pet mouse named Mario Van Peebles Mouseman III a k a Mousie strong 24 Was it really necessary to type all of these questions strong You re the one that read them strong 25 Is there anything that really annoys you strong Yes people that would have typed the former answer as Your the one that read them

Revisiting Abel Tasman National Park Today was our day in the strong Abel Tasman National Park strong Needless to say it was wonderful We were happy to have the weather cooperate with us and started the day with a water taxi ride from one end of the park to the other on a jet boat After being dropped off we began a three hour hike back to the other end of the park While some of the uphills were tiring it was quite a nice tramp After our three hour hike we met up with another water taxi and caught it back to the entrance of the park After our trip to Abel Tasman we got back on the road and headed to Kaikoura on the east coast After checking into a nice motel in Kaikoura we took a lengthy drive and found a dark and secluded beach where we lit off two boxes of fireworks we ve had them saved since the Guy Fawks Holiday Nov 5th Needless to say the fireworks were less than spectacular but a fun time was had by all We plan to do either some fishing or whale watching tomorrow afternoon in Kaikoura and then head off to Picton to catch the ferry across the Cook Straight and into Wellington strong Plenty of pictures have been taken and are on the way I just need a place to stay on the internet long enough strong

Libertarians Working for You Radio Guest div class pageImage a href http www voiceamerica com episode 79005 libertarian candidate for state representative kevin ludlow on downsizing federal and state 55490 img src http www ludlow2014 com themes Default images Blog LibertariansWorkingForYou_640x480 jpg alt LibertariansWorkingForYou_640x480 class alignright size full wp image 280 a br em Libertarians Working for You em with host Arvin Vohra div This afternoon I was the featured guest on a nationally syndicated internet radio show called em Libertarians Working for You em The show is hosted by Arvin Vohra and focuses on what changes Libertarian candidates across the country would bring into their respective offices We had four different segments between commercial breaks and fit quite a bit of information in throughout the show We began our conversation with how to address and ultimately abolish the War on Drugs within the State of Texas From there we moved onto removing both the TSA and the NSA from the State of Texas After a second commercial break we came back to discuss how I would introduce marriage equality for the LGBTQ community within Texas We ended the show with a discussion on how to remove crony capitalism from within the State Of course this last point tied heavily back into the War on Drugs given the crony capitalism that exists between the state and militarized contractors The show can be found on the a href http www voiceamerica com episode 79005 libertarian candidate for state representative kevin ludlow on downsizing federal and state 55490 Libertarians Working for You a website in its entirety

Campaign Story from CoinTelegraph div class pageImage a href https cointelegraph com news 111878 new_political_campaign_billboard_shouts_out_r_bitcoin img src http www ludlow2014 com themes Default images Blog CoinTelegraph_640 jpg alt CoinTelegraph_640 class alignright size full wp image 306 a br A cartoon of my political self drawn by the people over at a href https cointelegraph com CoinTelegraph a I love cartoons div Following the success of the a href http www reddit com r Bitcoin comments 25dmtv im_running_for_the_texas_state_legislature_i AMA on r Bitcoin a a number of independent news agencies around the world picked up the story of my candidacy in Texas One of those agencies was none other than a href https cointelegraph com news 111878 new_political_campaign_billboard_shouts_out_r_bitcoin CoinTelegraph a I especially liked the article they wrote about the campaign given the fact that they turned me into a cartoon I mean really who doesn t want to be drawn in cartoon form Aesthetics aside they gave our campaign wonderful reviews Specifically they cited our ability to conduct a very peaceful debate within a digital arena that typically sheds blood across the political spectrum We ve heard this kind of compliment from numerous sources over the past few months of campaigning I m overjoyed that we re being able to connect with so many people in so many different parts of the country It s always nice to see that the ideas of freedom are still alive and well I think people are yearning for politicians that will follow through with those ideals in office I know I m looking forward to following through with them once I have a shot in the House

2006 Christmas Card I was just sitting around the other day and thought what better way to spend my time than to create a little holiday card for my friends and family I didn t really have any ideas going into it but after playing around with some colors and concepts for awhile this is what ultimately came up photo 35937 740 520 left My 2006 Christmas card complete with Tux photo br style clear both The perimeter of the card were supposed to be things of particular interest to me Starting with the top left corner and working clockwise they are Mountain Biking Photography Soccer SCUBA Diving Sushi Irish Acoustic Guitar NASA Motorcycles Singing Apple Laptop Construction Scrabble New Zealand Nintendo Mario in this case and Computers AMD

Flors for President There s really only one thing that I can draw and it s Stewie Griffin When I was visiting Rymo and Tim in Florida for yet another shuttle launch attempt I drew this on Tim s office whiteboard with a black dry erase marker I took a picture of it with my cell phone emailed it to myself and then colored it in with Photoshop photo 35941 740 520 left Stewie Griffin endorses Flors for President photo

2nd Debate Challenge to Dawnna Dukes Last week I a href http www ludlow2014 com blog 509 challenging dawnna dukes to a local debate created a video a challenging my opponent 19 year incumbent Dawnna Dukes to a debate I posted the video to her Facebook and Twitter accounts and also sent her campaign a personal email with the request One week later and I still have yet to receive a response I did discover that I ve been blocked from her Facebook wall This seems a little unfair given that she em is em my current State Representative and I ve only contacted her three times throughout the entire campaigning process But then again it seems she is intent to ignore any competition In this second video I focus on HB359 a bill which ultimately authorizes school districts to use corporal punishment on students unless a parent or legal guardian opts the child out in writing Much to my surprise a href http votesmart org bill 13234 36569 5448 corporal punishment in public schools VBP9SefvV9k Ms Dukes voted in favor of the bill a a position I most certainly a href http www ludlow2014 com compare do not agree with a I also illustrate once again how the the Democrats have been attacking Attorney General Greg Abbott for turning down a debate with Wendy Davis Will Hailer executive director for the Democratic Party of Texas went so far as to say Attorney General Greg Abbott is a coward he and his team have a fundamental disrespect for Texans and he is unwilling to have his ideas questioned by the press and everyday voters I hope he feels the same way about members of his own party being unwilling to debate their opponents If you can spare five minutes of your day please encourage a href https www facebook com dawnna dukes2 Ms Dukes and her campaign team a to take me up on my offer I believe the citizens of Texas House District 46 deserve to hear new political ideas iframe width 520 height 293 src www youtube com embed vC61bV1YnFc frameborder 0 allowfullscreen iframe

The Crypto Show with Ryan and Harlan div class pageImage a href http thecryptoshow com img src http www ludlow2014 com themes Default images Blog CryptoShow_640 jpg alt CryptoShow_640 class alignright size full wp image 312 a br A direct link to the radio broadcast can be a href http mp3 logosradionetwork com CRYPTO 64k CRYPTO_2014 06 08_64k mp3 found here a I come on the air just after the 19 30 mark div This evening I had the pleasure of being on air with Ryan Dixon and Harlan Deitrich hosts of a href http thecryptoshow com The Crypto Show a on local Austin station 90 1 FM Harlan by the way is the loveable owner of a href http bravenewbookstore com Brave New Books a located at 1904 Guadalupe I had been originally invited to participate in a weekly Bitcoin meetup A friend of mine started the group some time back and had asked me to speak about my campaign The whole thing was a wonderful experience It was fun to speak with so many people working on Bitcoin and other Alt currencies as a software engineer I ve spent a lot of time in that field myself As kind of a bonus to the evening Ryan Dixon asked if I would be interested in doing a segment on the campaign on The Crypto Show Check out this a href http archive logosradionetwork com the crypto show 2014 the crypto show 06 08 14 the crypto show archived episode page a for the broadcast I was part of My interview is the first part of the show and starts just after the 19 30 mark on the a href http mp3 logosradionetwork com CRYPTO 64k CRYPTO_2014 06 08_64k mp3 MP3 file a

Dinner with Jacob Lavoro div class pageImage img src http www ludlow2014 com themes Default images Blog JacobLavoro_640x480 jpg alt JacobLavoro_640x480 class alignright size full wp image 268 br Jacob Lavoro and Kevin Ludlow posing at a local dinner Jacob is currently facing up to 99 years in prison for baking THC brownies in Williamson County Texas div Many of you have probably heard about the 19 year old kid from Round Rock Texas that is facing up to 99 years in prison for allegedly baking and selling pot brownies That s him standing next to me in the photo The Libertarian Party of Williamson County has been working with Jacob and his family in an effort to help him with his current legal nightmare The reason he is facing this kind of prison sentence is due to the fact that the district attorney has thus far chosen to weigh the entire amount of material confiscated and declare that the weight of the illegal substance Of course this is patently absurd Included in this weight were eggs flour water chocolate even the glass bowl and likely just a few grams of THC I have been calling on all Texas State Legislators to speak out against this kind of inhumanity We are all victims of a vicious state apparatus when this kind of prosecution comes to light Not only is this a victimless crime but the situation has been publicly fabricated and few inside of the state seem to care very much at all It s simply not possible that a district attorney cannot conclude of her own intelligence that there were not several pounds of THC in Jacob s Betty Crocker concoction Furthermore what possible sense does it make to ruin the life of a 19 year old young man He ll forever be marked a criminal and if he does serve time society will be paying for him while simultaneously loosing out on any productive value he would bring to the community not to mention contributions to the tax base As a State Representative I would absolutely love to get involved in situations like this at ground zero I would proudly attend court proceedings and use whatever influence I could as a legislator to sway an opinion of the court towards a sensible outcome