Crazy Bridgeport Connection

Last week there was a crazy story about a kangaroo running loose in Lewisville. Come to find out, it had escaped from veterinarian Kyle Jones. The same vet that used to work in Bridgeport.

(Hat tip to MzChief for pointing that out to me.)

I'm Off

And that would be the half marathon. Little bit of rain in the forecast. I just want to finish without stopping. Wearing bib #10149 for coroner ID purposes.

Edit: Success. Finished in 2 hours, six minutes, and twenty seconds. Observations in a little bit after I recover.

Edit:
- Shout out to faithful reader Rob Daniels of Decatur who actually spotted me in the crowd and said hello. He finished the half marathon in a very impressive 1:51:48.
- Sheesh, the results show that I was in the 66th percentile for my very old division. I don't believe that. I'm in denial. Hard.
- At the beginning, I decided to slow down just a tad to enjoy the race so I wouldn't struggle to much at the finish. Good idea. Last year I finished at 2:02 but almost died.
- My nemises Barron Green, I see, ran the full marathon this year and finished in just over 4 hours. Barron scoreboarded me.
- Holy crap. I looked up runners from Decatur and saw that high school senior David Cude ran the half in 1:12:32. That's a pace of 6:35 a mile for 13 miles!
- It rained like a son of a gun on my drive there, but only sprinkled briefly during the raise.
- It was in the 40s but I'll take it over 70 every time in a run like that.
- Cost $5 to park
- Victory Plaza at American Airlines Center, where the race began, is amazing.
- The announcer urged the marathoners to "huddle up" to stay warm. He then announced, "The only people that are still going to be cold are the Kenyans because they don't have any body fat!" Easy there, hoss.
- With the trees changing colors, it was fantastic. Heck, I'll go one step further: Of all the things I've done in my life, today may rank in the Top 10 moments.
- The first part of the race runs you through Uptown (passed all the high rise condos and the new Ritz Carlton), then you wind through Turtle Creek through million dollar homes. It is absolutely incredible.
- I saw Steve Eagar of Fox 4 after the race. He looked like he just got out of make up.
- There are a lot of women that run. A bunch of woman. I saw so many guys on the sidelines with kids holding signs that read, "Go Mommy!" Edit: The official results show that 56% of those that finished the half marathon were female.
- And sooooo many people turn out to cheer the runners on. Amazing.
- Grabbing a cup of water and drinking it while running is hard. Very hard.
- For me, everything changes at mile marker 10. Up to that point, I feel fairly normal. After that, I wonder if my body will give out.
- They open up the floor of the American Airlines Center after the race. Various vendors give away free samples - mostly apples and yogurt - but two or three high tone restaurants showed up with pasta samples. And, oddly, they give away free beer.
- I saw one guy curled up in the fetal position in the AAC and I was worried about him. But someone from the race came by to make sure he was OK.
- The race benefits the Scottish Rite Hospital which promotes itself as being "free". How on gawd's green earth is that possible?
- I couldn't have done what I did today when I was 25. But I bought a treadmill 12 years ago and have never stopped. It may have been one of my best decisions ever.

Motorcycle Death Update

Just heard about one on Fox 4 News that occurred in Sanger today off of FM 455. Looked like one of those Ninja things. (No pics or links. Too beaten down to put that much effort into this.)

Wise County News In Denton Record Chronicle

But not exciting news.

Weather Talk

Since I'm expecting to run in this stuff tomorrow, I've been interested in when the cold front was going to blow through. Listening to everyone yesterday (example above), it looked like Sunday afternoon.

Oops.

Try this morning. It's 46 degrees in Decatur at the time of this posting.

Lari Barager's Hot New Hairdo

Huge thumbs up.

Breaking Economic Data

Wise County reaches full emloyment. Eleven guys work on tarring the roof of County Clerk's office. Dow ends slightly higher. Fed to hold interest rates. Developing . . .

Motorcycle Chaos

The Star-Telegram just put up a couple of videos regarding a controversial police chase of a motorcycle in Watauga. Pretty crazy stuff.

"Don't Be Hatin'"

http://view.break.com/412146 - Watch more free videos And just think, while we all work everyone else is at home watching stuff like this. Man, I wish I was home.

I Can't Look Away

Lisa and Priscilla Presley.

Friday Dance Off

Entry #1: ABBA's "Dancing Queen" + Neiman Marcus 100th anniversary shindig in downtown Dallas + free alcohol + rented tuxedos + white people "dancing" = exactly what you'd expect. (Source) Entry #2: Memphis Black Pride Festival and"The Cupid Shuffle"

The Wedding Dance

I posted the crazy youtube clip a couple of weeks ago of a couple's first dance. They showed up on The Today Show this morning - good looking couple that seem to be on the same page. But there was nothing funnier than Matt Lauer recreating the "spank move."

Hey, Now

It's not the hottest pic of Lindsay Lohan, but I'll take it. But I think I'm more amused by the Spider Baby.

I'm sure there's an explanation to all of this.

Dirty, Unsexy Money

I'd never heard of Richard "Dickie" Scruggs. But I quickly learned today that he is an old school plaintiffs lawyer from Mississippi who got rich back in the day by suing everybody for everything. He made almost half a billion dollars by being a contract lawyer for state governments in the big Tobacco Settlements in the 1990s (never before have so few gotten so rich because of political connections - an embarrassment of riches.)

So I already don't like the guy.

But then I learned he was federally indicted last month for allegedly trying to bribe a judge with $40,000 for a favorable ruling in a lawsuit involving Katrina victims and insurance companies. Actually, the lawsuit involved a bunch of lawyers fighting over $26 million in attorneys fees that had already been awarded. Sheesh.

Yesterday, the lawyer that delivered the money to the judge, Tim Balducci, pled guilty to the charge and will cooperate with the Feds.

Dickie, things are about to get tough for you. You might want to ask former Texas AG Dan Morales what to expect.

And, I'll be, he's Trent Lott's brother-in-law.

Saw This In A Couple Of Places Today

Now Fox News has the story. I think that's more than 20% but I've never been good with math.

More . . . .

Boyd's own Greg "The Hammer" Williams news.

Thursday Morning Pick Me Up

Probably from the old Chico VFW.

My Inbox Between 8:43 and 8:45 This Morning