The Evil Empire Must Be Shaking

Saw this pic from a slide show of Baylor's fall practice. For some reason, it does not instill confidence.

Monday Morning Random Thoughts

• I've said it before, NFL Films' America's Game is good stuff. And I think Hard Knocks with the Cowboys starts on HBO on Wednesday.
• I caught the last part of the Lifetime movie on Saturday which was based upon the McKinney cheerleader scandal from a couple of years ago. It was bad. Really bad. Sample dialogue: "You're completely out of line." Response:"This whole school is out of line!" (Al Pacino would have been proud.)
  
• Dale Hansen turned 60 over the weekend.
• I know its wrong to water the lawn in the middle of the day, but I briefly do it every now and then because it just looks so, well, hot.
• I haven't received an electric bill in about a month. Man, it'll be ugly.
• You don't hear much about priceline.com anymore. (Captain Kirk used to promote it every minute.)
• I hate unloading a dishwasher.
• I'm not sure I've heard much of former Bridgeport football great Colin Jones since he signed with TCU.
• One final sports thought: Former Cowboy Tony Dixon was on with Fox 4's Mike Doocey last night. I don't remember Tony Dixon. And one incredinbly random Cowboy thought: Anyone remember Chad Hutchinson?
• The Star Telegram today belatedly gets around to the Newark story of the proposed limit of five cats and five dogs per household. I wouldn't go near a house with 10 animals.
• I'm still mad at President Bush for his skit in 2004 at the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner when he showed photos of him "looking" for WMDs in the Oval Office. And for the life of me, I don't understand how his advisors didn't tell him not to do it.
• Edouard is a goofy name for a Tropical Storm/Hurricane
• I like sandwiches. I always forget that I like sandwiches.
  
• According to the Update of Friday, some kid made up the story about being robbed by two men in the southern part of the county when he actually just snuck out to hook up with his girlfriend. Whenever someone makes up a crime story, he is always assaulted by two, not one, men.
• I thought this would be bigger news: The convictions of two border patrol agents (who were the darlings of the The Right over the last couple of years) were upheld last week.
• WBAP's Mark Davis made the oddest statement last week. He said he would no long use the term "radical Muslims" because all Muslims, if they are followers of the religon, want to kill us. Really?
• I think I heard this issue of Texas Monthly has an article of the "25 Best Swimming Holes." I looked for it yesterday but its hard to find at the grocery store. Edit: Just found the story online.
• Gangs of New York was outstanding. And, honestly, I had never seen anything that Daniel Day-Lewis had starred in other than There Will Be Blood which I saw two months ago. Man, he's great.
  

I Bow In The Direction Of Jarhead

A few weeks ago, crazy ol' Jarhead pointed out that the above book was available for free as an audible book on iTunes. I'll be honest, I had never heard of it. But as much as I'll throw money at problems to make them go away, I also love free crap. So I clicked on the link.

I listened to it on Friday and Saturday. That's all it took to complete it.

I'm still thinking about it. I'm still bugged by it. I may be falling in love with it.

It's about a Spanish shepherd boy who basically throws everything away to follow his dreams to get the Egyptian pyramids - because his instincts have told him to go there. It has its flaws, but it has its gold. A lot of gold.

Some selected quotes:

"Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself," the alchemist replies. "And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity."

"The world's greatest lie is that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate."

And the book's undying theme: "When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream."

I See This Guy On Infomercials All The Time

If you see him, run away. Quickly. He's a scam artist.

For years, he was a weight loss guru. But now I just saw him on television being a financial expert (with a former Playboy bunny on his five person panel.) He even said that his new information is so secret that he has received "death threats" from financial institutions.

Decatur Teacher Asked To Drop Out Of Race

Decatur teacher Jason Jordan is running for the Texas House. An emailer points out that that a former Texas representative has asked Jordan (and two other Libertarians) to drop out so as to not take away votes from the Republicans (which could possibly lead to a Democratic victory.)

Sidenote: I think this would be a bigger story if the head of the Texas Republicans had made the call.

Sidenote #2: I think there would be a lot more Libertarians out there if people simply knew what the party stood for.

Just Bugged Me

Ok, it's not interesting to you folks that OU coach Bob Stoop's kicked an incoming freshman off the team for this youtube video.

But I haven't heard anyone make reference to the fact that two days ago Stoops said:

"Kick a guy off the team for what he says?” Stoops said. The whole Internet culture frustrates Stoops. "We're starting to talk about everything kids say and do,” Stoops said. "Now we're in people's homes, in their private spaces.”

(The only way I know about the quote is that I have an RSS feed set up to a Big 12 Football Blog by ESPN that is amazing good for something produced by ESPN. I know all of this is not that interesting, but I was just sitting on my leopard print couch thinking, "Hey, that's not what he said a couple of days ago!")

It's Gettin' Hot in Herrre

I lived through the Summer of 1980 in little Bridgeport, and I was truly thinking that this summer, when all is said and done, might rival it. Man, I'm wrong.

Today is the 23rd day this year that temperatures have broken the 100 degree barrier.

1980 was a heck of a lot worse according to the always reliable Wikipedia: "In Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, high temperatures exceeded 100 °F (38 °C) a total of 69 times, including a record 42 consecutive days from June 23 to August 3. Dallas/Fort Worth reached an all-time high on June 26 and 27, soaring to 113 °F (45 °C) on both days."

Scanner Craziness

Lots of reports of big activity on the police scanner this morning. Anyone?

I'm Back From The Dark Side Of The Moon

Originally written on Friday morning . . .

• As I'm typing this, I know I won't be able to immediately post it because Blogger has flagged my little Blog as being a possible "spam blog". They actually have to have a human review it before I'll be able to publish again.
• I'm pretty sure the government is behind this blatant censorship
• My DirecTv went out yesterday and I spent the entire evening without live television. I almost went insane. And I began to plan my weekend for an extended outage. (Prior TIVO recordings, DVDs on hand, Netflix on demand, Hulu). But it was working this morning.
• Someone wrote the other day that Star Wars had the roman numeral "IV" in its title when it was released. I look it up. Nope, it didn't
• One of those girls in the pic above is 18 years old and will be a cheerleader for the New England Patriots this fall.
• I think digg.com is extremely overrated.
• We have a "heat advisory" until 7:00 p.m. on Monday? (per WBAP)
• The most violent So You Think You Can Dance clip ever. (Or it could be called "Faceplant Friday.")
• The Man jacked with Snoop Dogg's tour bus outside of Dallas yesterday and arrested two of its occupants for marijuana possession. Marahoochie on Snoop's bus? I'm shocked. Absolutely shocked.
• Since I had no live TV I put on as background noise the four hour recorded Today Show from that morning. Eventually, three hours into it, Kathie Lee Gifford appeared. Oh, my. Talk about television anthrax. She is unbearable.
• Mark Cuban lost an arbitration with former coach Don Nelson yesterday and has to pay over $6 million. But look at this quote from Nelson's lawyer: "It was not so much a defeat of Cuban as it was an ass-whipping." That's a bold statement.
• It didn't take long for the jury to find the defendant guilty in the Intoxication Manslaughter case in Fort Worth I've been following. Punishment, which could be up to 20 years in prison and as low as probation, will be assessed by the jury today. I don't think the Defendant has any criminal history. That type of decision is so tough because the defendant didn't intent to kill anyone. Some people get drunk and hit a curb. He hit an occupied car. I would never vote for it, but I bet the jury picks 12 years
• I saw about 40 army tanks on a train between Rhome and Decatur this morning. Freaky.
  

Camera Phone Pic - Love It

Random Pic

Waggoner Mansion

From The Update

I've been trying to come up with some new scams lately, but have hit a stone wall. But, for the life of me, I have no idea how this scam works.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Whenever I hear a siren in the background (like I did this morning in Decatur), I want to go follow it (Edit: I soooooooo didn't mean it that way.)
  
• I rarely say stuff like this, but I'm not sure the defense lawyer in the Intoxication Manslaughter case that killed Fort Worth Police Officer Dwayne Freeto knows what he is doing. (Story from yesterday.)
• The gym at Decatur High School is impressive
• I think I'd get fired if I was a teacher because I'm sure I'd say something sarcastic that some kid would take as serious.
• Remember when AOL was going to be the king of the Internet?
• I wish I knew more about Intellectual Property Law. I mean, I know I couldn't put Britney Spears image in an ad for my law firm that says, "Go visit this law firm, yawl", but John McCain can use her image in a campaign ad. Or can he?
• I'm getting close to giving up on Scott McLellan book, What Really Happened. It's boring and really provides no insight whatsoever.
• The reality show Black Gold (about life on an oil rig) is getting a little bit better. Man, I don't know how more guys aren't killed on those things.
• I just realized last weekend that the Dallas Morning News now costs $2.00 on weekends. Almost not worth it.
• I'm paranoid about leaving my garage door up. I never roll out of the driveway until I see it go all the way down and stop.
  
• Internet gambling on sports should be legal. I can bet $10,000 on American Airlines stock today but I can't put $100 on Wake Forest to cover the spread against Baylor?
• The Cowboys are expressing interest in ex-Evil Empire QB Chris Simms as a backup. One of the wildest moments in my sports history when I was at the Big 12 Championship Game at Texas Stadium between Colorado and Texas when I thought the the Texas crowd was going to lynch Simms on the spot.
• I've always thought it would be cool to live and work in Manhattan.
• And I want to spend a week driving leisurely through The South.
• This is the equivalent to the heat of the Summer of 1980, but with all of August still left, it could be. (And it's supposed to be 105 on Sunday?)
• John Kerry party photos. (He claims the girls just came up to him after he got off a boat. I tend to believe that. Note to self: Get boat.) Credit: Emailer Keith.
• It seems like I'm hearing of lots of kids killed by falling TVs. I think its a situation where flat panels are placed on TV stands and not mounted to the wall.
• Not a golfer at Runaway Bay.
  
• Former Ranger great Pudge Rodriguez became a New York Yankee yesterday. Didn't Ranger management think he was going to "break down" about 10 years ago?
• A tankless hot what heater sounds like a good idea. A "sleep number bed" seems silly.
• Gangs of New York is pretty good (but it comes on two DVDs). The main character's hatred of Irish immigrants reminds me of some local folks hatred of Mexican illegal immigration today.
• A big title company pulled out of Texas yesterday. Trickle down effect of the mortgage fiasco, I presume.
• If you want to see what Cowboy's training camp is like, here's a youtube video. People are way too excited.
• I was in a seminar in Austin once and dropped by the Cowboys training camp along with a girl who decided to wear a bikini top because of the hot weather. I can't stop thinking about that now.
• There was an Air Guitar competition in the metroplex last weekend. That drives me insane.
• Exxon Mobile has released its net income figure for the second quarter. No company has ever made that much money in three months. Ever. We're all suckers.
  

I Ruined A Perfectly Good Lunch . . .

. . . of some nice Decatur teachers when I was asked to speak about this blog, technology or something.

Observations:

• I was like Obama in Germany except completely different
• But man, that was a huge crowd. I was scared to death.
  
• The group was very gracious and, in general, laughed when I had planned for them to laugh (although I'll keep my day job.)
  
• That was the first time I had been in Decatur High School. Very nice place.
• Awkwardness developed when I spoke of my "running bit" of posting stories of female teacher/male student sex scandals (my "And Another" topics). Note to self: Rethink that
• I had a wireless mic and a wireless presentation from Google Docs. That was cool.
  
• The Superintendent, Gary Gindt, even came up and said hello before the presentation. That was a very funny moment because I had a live mic on me so I really couldn't say anything. But he seems like a very nice guy.
• Saw a couple of friends (even Lovelit from that blog list on the right.)
• My voice kind of cracked when I was asked about posts I was most proud of (you'd be surprised, it was a completely sappy moment.)
• Although it isn't that interesting without my down home country witticisms, the presentation is below now here.
  

Running Scared?

Ok, this new campaign ad by McCain is basically boring but we do learn three things: (1) He's going negative, (2) he knows who Britney is, and (3) he knows who Paris is. Or someone in charge of campaign ads knows who Britney and Paris are.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Admission: In looking at my old posts in 2006, I found that I didn't think much of Barack Obama.
• There's another Tarrant County motorcycle death. No helmet. Sheesh.
  
• Oddest call on KLIF this morning: Lady calls in saying she is a single mom of five kids (one disabled) and that she has two disabled adults also living with her as well. She then proclaims her electric bill had gone from $700 to $1,400 last month
• Another radio note: I don't get offended by much, but WBAP's "This Reporter" comedy bit (which is gawd awful) included a Michael J. Fox Parkinson's "joke" this morning.
  
• The earthquake in California didn't look like that big of deal, but with all the cameras in existence now, there was some pretty cool footage. (And apparently there is a pretty good one from the taping of Judge Judy. Edit: Found it. )
  
• When the "big one" hits California, it will be a massive disaster. I mean massive.
• I can never get use to sandals.
  
• Someone wrote yesterday in one of the comments that its cheaper for a family of four to eat out than eat at home. Is that as crazy as I think it is?
• You've got to love the "wacky youth pastor" trying to make a big entrance on a motorcycle. (Credit: bagofnothing.com)
• Craigslist can be nutty. But I did find a new maid.
  
• The Brett Favre saga is giving me Tired Head. And you would have to be a desperate NFL team with absolutely not quarterback to sign him for a year or two.
• Want to feel old? Roger Staubach was on The Ticket yesterday talking about his first Cowboys training camp in 1968. My calculator tells me that was 40 years ago!
  
• Texas AG Greg Abbott is a media ho. The mere fact he became involved in the criminal prosecution of five people in the Polygamy Compound smacks of attention grabbing. That's the job of the local DA - he needs to keep out. (And when I went to the official AG web site a second ago, a video immediately started playing of his press conference announcing the indictments. Sheesh. Go collect some child support.)
• The Messenger must have caught some heat about printing the "details" of the sexual assault allegations against Jimmy David Brazile because the paper has an editorial today defending itself. I read the story and didn't think twice about it.
  
• As of this writing, Jarhead hasn't updated his blog in five days. You are all suspects.
  
• I can't remember the last time I ate at Bennigan's anyway. (And for you Office Space fans, I wonder if you can buy some extra "flair" on the cheap right now?)
  
• Funny line from Time magazine about last week's appeals court ruling throwing out the FCC sanctions for the "wardrobe malfunction" in the Super Bowl: "Janet Jackson's nipple was acquitted on all charges."
• I've begun watching Gangs of New York. Good stuff. And it makes me feel like I'm learning at least a little bit of history (i.e. what parts of New York City was like at the end of the Civil War.)
  
• And we are excited about gas prices dropping to $3.70?
  
• Only 17,618 at the Ballpark in Arlington last night (and that includes season ticket sales regardless of whether those folks showed up.) And Ranger Ramón Vázquez entertained the crowd with three errors (is that possible?) but had the game winning hit.
• I'd like to go to Japan with a guide
• Being a football stadium aficionado, I couldn't believe the view of some of the seats in the new Colts' stadium. Aggie engineering?
• How can we go all our lives never hearing of cryptosporidiosis but now it's in every public pool?
• The Bridgeport City Pool had an incredibly high diving board when I was a kid. I think most people wouldn't let their kid swim in a city pool these days.
• What is the main reason some families choose a "graveside service" over a traditional one?
  

I Understand This But Can Never Seem To Apply It

We are distracted by what was, and consumed by what's next. Gloomy feelings are always related to the past or future, while the freedom to be exists only in the here and now. The true glory of our lives is being played out at this very moment and not in what was or what will be.

(Source. Adapted.)

I've Solved My Debit Card Problem From Earlier This Week

Just got this email and, while some of you might be skeptical, I must point out that it is an official Spanish email from the official Spanish government. I, sir, am on easy street.

A little lobster for dinner is going to be treating me mighty fine.

Thank goodness this isn't from Nigeria, or I would be getting scammed.