Ka-Ching

There's been a little bit of news about "Baby Jessica" over the last couple of years as the former infant stuck in a pipe has graduated high school and started a family of her own.

But did you know that when she turns 25 she'll get "$1 million or more" from a trust fund that was created from all the money she received after she was rescued?

This Is Not Part Of The School's Mission Statement

Yeah, yeah, dear emailers, I heard about it.

An assistant football coach at Baylor was arrested for getting drunk and, uh, whizzing in and on a bar in Waco last weekend. This also happened in the early morning hours of what those in Waco refer to as "The Lord's Day."

Can I place a bet: That man is a gonner. We can handle being the worst football team in the nation, but public urination while all liquored up will not be tolerated.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the story was broken by the bartender who also works days as a reporter for the Waco Tribune Herald. Kind of makes me want to give up my journalism dreams.

If Only It Were Jane McGarry

Just heard this lady is leaving Channel 8. I really don't watch Channel 8 much anymore so I'm not sure if this is big news. (But I was interested to learn that she's married to a cop according to her bio.)

Now if Megan Henderson were leaving, that would be news. I mean curl-up-into-a-fetal-position kind of news.

Beaten Down With Ads

Is it just me, or are ads being shoehorned in everywhere? Case in point, when Fox would show a replay last night, they would flash up this graphic for a second or two.

And not to pick on Transformers, but when the Fox NFL pre-game show (which is a beating in general) started up two weekends ago, Kurt Menefee opened up with "Well the Transformers DVD will be released in two weeks but we've got some good games today." (Paraphrasing only slightly.)

And one of the strangest developments is that I'll swear some commercials are being disguised as news on the radio. It was either WBAP or KRLD that did a story a couple of months ago about the anniversary of 7-11's slurpee. But the story ended with "7-11 also has introduced new lasagne dishes in its delis." (Paraphrasing.) That wasn't news. That was a paid commercial.

Random Weather Report For Wise County

Sure was foggy this morning.

Is This True?

So I finally got around to reading Steve Blow's column in yesterday's Dallas Morning News (which I rarely do since it is typically just dribble), but he was on a topic that always has my interest: Who buys those multi-million dollar homes? Although he never answered the question that he asked, this excerpt got my attention:

At the moment, 38 homes in Dallas and the Park Cities are listed for sale at more than $5 million on Realtor.com.

(If we drop down to the shabby $2 million range, there are 1,793 such homes on the tax rolls and 213 for sale.)

So who buys these houses?

David [a relator] said it's hard to answer because wealth arrives in so many ways. One obvious candidate: anyone lucky enough to own oil and gas property.

"This has been a very good time in oil and gas," he said. "A lot of people are looking to trade up at this point."

A whole new influx of wealth has come from the nearby Barnett Shale natural gas discoveries. "There are a lot of people who weren't really well-off at all, but they happened to own 100 acres of the old family farm. Now, they are very well-off," David said.

Is that true? I know nothing about oil and gas, so someone answers me this. If I hold the mineral rights to a piece of property and a natural gas well hits, how much am I going to make under a standard contract?

"Are you a trigger happy kind of person? Is that what what you wanted to do? Shoot to kill?"

There's a story on the news tonight about a guy in Dallas who has killed two people on two separate occasions over the last couple of weeks after they broke into his shop.

Fox 4's Rebecca Aguilar kind of ambushed the 70 year old shooter today with an interview. I hate watching video on news sites as much as you do, this is probably worth it. I'm not sure what she is so hostile about.

Link.

Worst News Report Ever

Ok, I just heard the last part of a newscast on WBAP. I heard the words "Bridgeport Tank Trucks" and "smoke can be seen for miles."

That's all I know. Heck, I could be mistaken. It might be a wreck in the metroplex. It might be something else. I might be nothing.

Anyone clear this up?

Edit: It's the Bridgeport Tank Trucks plant in Keene. Channel 8 is all over it. (I didn't even know they had a plant down there).

Who Are These People?

Saw this ad in the Messenger this weekend and, although its hard to read, it promotes the new real estate development by Larry Cole near Boyd. The cheapest home listed was for $449,900. This subject has briefly come up on The Blog before, but who are all those people buying all those homes?

More on the development here with a map of the subdivision here.

As The Cowboys Fall To 5-1

A guy is running for Attorney General in Mississippi. Has a star on his website that looks very much like the star of your Dallas Cowboys.

Jerry calls a blitz on the campaign.

Candidate removes the star. (Although it still shows up if you look hard enough.)

Kendra Wilkinson . . .

. . . congratulates the Decatur Eagles for a fine win on Friday night.

Wow

I never have liked the floating overhead camera in NFL and NCAA games, but I never expected it to fall to the ground. I haven't seen the video of this yet, but I'll be looking for it.

Looking At My Watch Is Never A Good Sign

I went and saw Michael Clayton last night at the Movie Tavern in Bedford (which, by the way, is the only way I'll see a movie these days.)

I chose Clayton over other movies because of its 91% (remarkable) rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Verdict: The biggest bag of nothing I've ever seen. It involves lawyers and corporations and greed. Trust me, watch a random Law and Order episode and you'll be more entertained.

United Way

Ok, I've been strong armed by the powers at be to put the Wise County United Way banner over to the right. They were very pleasant at first but then black sedans began to drive by my home and office. I didn't want to test them. Throw some money at them. They tell me all proceeds are used locally.

Say What?

I don't think you can say that. (From The Evil Empire game a moment ago.) Edit: After creating this thing, I sent it to a couple of national sports blogs (Awful Announcing and Deadspin.) Both posted it immediately (with Deadspin incorrectly crediting Awful Announcing instead of me.) Bottom line: The number of hits this video is going to get will be mind blowing. Doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, but it's kinda fun. Edit: And now a big debate has begun across the nation. Did he say "face rape" or "face rake"? And shouldn't every beautiful Saturday afternoon be spent debating that topic? Edit: As of Monday morning, the number of views were 49,486

That Was Insane

Saw the replay last night. I guy kills three people and then ends his own life driving into Lake Arlington while shooting himself in the head.

That was a dramatic exit of life.

Results . . .

. . . will be here.


Edit: Man, I'm confused. Just saw a hard copy of the Messenger and the story says Decatur won in overtime. Somebody answer this for me: Bridgeport goes first in OT and kicks a field goal. Decatur goes next and scores a touchdown and then (here's where I'm confused) kicks an extra point. Kicks an extra point when you just won the game in overtime?

Edit yet again: Someone commented that "the point system" decides ties at the end of the year for the district championship. Makes sense. I didn't know you were allowed to kick an extra point after scoring the game winning touchdown in overtime. Learn something every day.

"I Like Candlelight Dinners And Walks On The Beach"

I haven't really followed this story very closely in Tarrant County, but I saw where the defendant got crushed today.

The story yesterday said the defendant and the now-dead finacee met on match.com. That's not very good press for online dating.