Flashback Of Limited Interest To Most

I don't know why I thought about Falls Creek today - a church camp in the "mountains" of Davis, Oklahoma that I used to go to as a kid. The trips were sponsored by First Baptist of Bridgeport, and I think the cost for the entire week was $20. I haven't been there is 30 years - a fact that is both amazing and frightening at the same time. But I did some looking on The Google and came up with the above picture. I kind of gasped when I saw it due to the incoming flood of memories. (I also found pictures of a "new tabernacle" which made me laugh because somehow I thought it would be exactly the way I left it.) There are handful of people that visit this silly blog that will have instant flashbacks like I did. I think we all share a bond which, I now realize, will never go away. Good times. No, make that great times.

Britney Getting Back In The Swing Of Things.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

$405,000.00

That's how much the plaintiff's lawyer asked for today in closing arguments in the lawsuit against the wife of Joel Osteen - a lawsuit that we've been following with round the clock coverage on The Blog. I think the jury will deliberate this afternoon. Make it be quick people. If they give the plaintiff a dime, I'm gonna go Reginald Denny on somebody as we start rioting in the Brookhollow subdivision. Edit: Riot called off. Osteen victory. (Thanks emailer)

Chupacabra?

I saw this about three days ago on Fox 4. Some deputy in some Texas county videotaped this beast from his car. Everybody is getting pretty excited. I'm not. I don't understand chupacabra humor, and I can find humor in pretty much anything. Now if that were a spider monkey, I'd jump on a motorcycle with Chief Deputy Doug Whitehead in the sidecar to investigate.

Beer At Six Flags

WBAP's Mark Davis was discussing the proposal to have beer sold at Six Flags when he took a call from a guy who opposed the idea (although he had a redneck accent that would lead one to believe he would be very pro-Coors Light.) But this part was pretty funny. He said, "You know why they're doing it? They want all those drunks coming out of the new Cowboys' stadium after a game to come over and get drunk at Six Flags, too" Davis respectfully disagreed aptly pointing out that there would be no bigger beating than going to a Cowboy game and Six Flags in the same day. But the caller, who had said that "If you can't have fun at Six Flags without a beer then you probably need to go to AA", also want to add one more point. ("Go ahead, you're on a roll, said Davis"): "And if you are going to AA meetings, I've got some advice. You might not want to go to those that are held at Fantasy Ranch." Just kind of stopped me down. (But I think I ended up more entertained searching for old Six Flags photos. Anybody remember Skull Island (pic above)? More here -- And the "Execution Of A Yankee Spy" street show looks like great fun for the kids.)

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• There seems to be a lot of birds looking for food on the ground over the last 24 hours
• I continue to have serious questions about Wade Phillips getting it done. It's kind of like Hank Hill coaching the Cowboys.
• I don't watch much of the Olympics, but I'm looking forward to the track and field competition.
• I'm never eating at Taco Cabana again. One word: Bugs. (Bad experience last night.)
• With Georgia being invaded by Russia, the famous words of W about Vladimir Putin: "I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul."
• When I was a kid in Bridgeport, in order to call a local number we just had to dial five numbers. And the first one was always "3".
• I bet I saw over 50 kids jogging out of the Decatur High School at around 7:00 this morning.
• Someone is already suing over the big bus crash in Sherman last week. I'm glad they were able to thoroughly investigate the facts so quickly before asking for a big bag of money to ease their pain.
• I'm not sure what I think about The Shack (about halfway through it.) It is, in essence, about a guy who gets to talk to (and question) the Holy Trinity that appear to him after the tragic death of his daughter. But the Trinity takes the form of a big black woman, an Arab, and an Asian.
• Little Cindy Brady of The Brady Bunch is 47 today. Oh, my.
• I watched, for some unknown reason, the documentary called Okie Noodling last night. A bunch of rednecks swimming around in murky water trying to catch catfish with their bare hands. That's not on my list of "to dos" before I die.
• One of the Texas 7 is scheduled to be executed tonight. If you recall, they were eventually captured in Colorado after escaping from a Texas prison and killing a police officer in Arlington Irving. I happened to drive through the small town in Colorado where they were captured about a year after the fact and they were selling souvenir T-shirts commemorating the event.
• I helped look for a lost dog last night - unsuccessfully. That, my friends, is not-a-good. But I kept thinking what it would be like if it were a lost child and how horrific that would be.
• (As reported on The Ticket): Brett Favre is a drama queen. He's making some strange statements and it wouldn't surprise some people if he quits the Jets before the season starts.
• I always reach and get a milk carton from the back of the rack in the grocery store.
• Yeah, I'm with ya about the quality of the pic above. I'll make it up to you later. (But it was taken by someone, not me, at Lake Lewisville.)
• The head of the Democratic Party in Arkansas was shot to death yesterday. The shooter certainly matched the expected profile: Disgruntled middle-aged white guy. Anybody seen Wordkyle?
• I think its insane that any local government can ever enact a curfew.
• Two headlines on the Star-Telegram web site where you know, just know, someone's life went terribly wrong somewhere: (1) "Arlington Police Shock Nude Man With Taser", and (2) "HIV-positive Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse dies in North Texas".

I've Also Heard He Was A Muslim

John McCain has a hot opinion about war today. The key line comes at the end of this 30 second clip. I could have sworn I heard about another invasion during this century. And if you don't want to listen to the clip, the line is: "In the 21st century, nations don't invade other nations."

Ouch

I hadn't heard about this happening yesterday. But a couple of thoughts: (1) I can't believe this doesn't happen more often, and (2) I want a bunch of Chinese kids following me around with little barricades all day so they can protect me from ridicule if anything embarrassing happens. Edit: Video removed. It was a weightlifter who had a barbell land on back during a clean and jerk or something like that.

An Early Power Down Moment

So I'm at a stop sign this morning with a car beside me going in the same direction. It pulls out a little too quickly not realizing that a car traveling left to right in front of us had the right of way. No big deal. The car that had the right of way probably had to slow down for two seconds (if that long) to make sure there was no collision. The car beside me hit its brakes (softly and safely) immediately upon realizing the mistake. All's good. Let's go take on the day. Then the car that had been delayed ever so slightly passed by in front of us with the rear passenger flashing the angriest obscene gesture I've seen in a while. And not just with one finger. He did the unfake double handed gesture for emphasis. Sheesh. At that moment I had the life force sucked out of me. And it was before 7:00 a.m. in the morning.

Meet Andrew Libby

A criminal mastermind. And a guy that knows how to save his pennies.

My Vote For Greatest Olympian: Misty May

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• There was some kind of wreck that had 287 just south of Decatur at a stand still this morning. I'm not sure what happened but I saw firefighters washing down the highway. Maybe it just needed a good cleaning
• I've got Michael Phelps burnout. And this point was made on The Ticket this morning: What other Olympic sport gives you the opportunity to win that many medals? Jason Kidd, who is on the basketball team, can win just one.
• Is "retarded" a bad word?
• Man, that silly civil assault trial involving Joel Osteen's wife is still going on. That jury is going to pour the Plaintiff out for Time Wasting alone.
• I meant to see "Pineapple Express" last weekend but didn't get around to it
• Meanest man alive's final words before he was executed last night: “I love all y’all, I forgive all y’all,” he said from his death bed, a white sheet pulled up to his chest. “See you when you get there. Do what you gonna do.”
• When you strip all the junk out of the big Sunday paper, it's not much larger than the weekday version
• Watched a crew put on a new roof on my neighbor's house this weekend. That has to be one of the worst job in the world. Behind movers.
• Don't ask me why, but I stuck my hand in a moving washing machine last night. Note to self: Don't do that ever again.
• That crazy Ranger game last night was some bad baseball. Get prepared for a Rangers free fall (that no one will notice.)
• Football thought: Superbowl ring or not, I think Eli Manning is a spare. Random college football thought: Baylor's freshman quarterback Robert Griffin, who has never played a down of college ball, is the best Baylor player in twenty years.
• Crickets are everywhere in the courthouse - it's like a horror movie. And this annual plague has just begun.
• I was in Ponder, Texas for the first time in my life two weekends ago.
• There are a ton of dead lawns on College Street in Decatur. Lots of Give Up Syndrome going on.
• The Update today announced funerals for these ages: 51, 40 and 45.
• Texas Tech has broken a school record for season tickets with 41,173, and has sold at least 43,000 tickets for each of its seven 2008 home games.
• There has to be at least one person in America that thinks our Georgia has been invaded by the Ruskies.

Fox 4 Uses A Sony Camcorder?

Kind of funny tonight as the words "Low Light" appeared across the chest of the always serious Emily Lopez.

I Can't Believe I'm Saying This

But you might want to check in on the Ranger v. Red Sox game because it is insane. The Rangers were behind 10-0 at the end of the first! Updated box score here.

Help A Man Out

I'm stumped. There used to a syndicated radio talk show on in Dallas where the host would amazingly serve as not only the host but also the guest by changing his voice. It was pretty amazing in that he would have a conversation with himself but you'd swear there were two people involved. I know that sounds confusing, but it was good stuff. His basic schtick was to have his "guest" make outrageous claims to get unknowing listeners to call in. Question: Anyone know who that guy was? For the life of me, I can't remember.

That A Bold Move

Is it just me, or is brazen crime seemingly on the rise? Stonebriar Mall is pretty nice. Frisco is pretty nice. And for a robbery to break out within the mall in broad daylight is not exactly something you see every day. I wonder if they stopped at the Cheesecake Factory afterwords?

Those Crazy Chinese Priorities

This is all over the Internets today, but I finally found a pic of both girls. It seems that there was a cute little China girl (pictured, left) singing in the opening ceremonies which wowed the world with her voice. Well, the news today is that she didn't sing it but lip synched (sp) to the voice of another little girl (pictured, right.) So why didn't the Chinese just have the good-voiced-little-girl-sing? Get this: She had jacked up teeth. What kind of country places superficial beauty at the top of its priority list? Oh. Wait.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Weird thing last night. Got up. Went to bathroom. Looked at self in mirror. Conclusion: Due to the way I slept on my hair, combined with some grey, I looked a little like Robert Tilton.
• Did you the Fox 4 interview with the "meth guy" who threw his baby out of an attic into some bushes? (Baby is fine, by the way.) I normally take the position that a lot of people blame drugs for their screw-ups when they would be a screw-up even if they weren't on drugs. He didn't make me change my mind.
• Michael Phelps is amazing. But isn't it odd, in all seriousness, that we wildly celebrate a guy whose contribution to this world is that he can swim fast?
• The Dallas Police Department has 700 patrol cars but last week 210 are out of service for repairs or upgrades. (Heard it on the radio.)
• I signed up for the NFL Season Ticket on DirecTV four years ago. Every year they automatically start billing me for it. Every year I don't stop them.
• I finished season one of The Wire. Great stuff. But every single loose end was all wrapped up. I guess it'll be like 24 which starts out with a completely new story line every season.
• I watched Open Water for the second time last weekend. Cheaply made, big time tension. and with an ending that didn't exactly make it the "feel good" movie of the year.
• The last three bullet points started with "I".
• The Ticket said that the Cowboy's preseason game on Saturday had a higher share of ratings in San Antonio than in Dallas.
• Had to listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd when I made a call to someone's cell phone yesterday.
• I wish we had "bullet trains" in the U.S.
• The U.S. Men's basketball team is playing Angola in the Olympics right now. Is there anyone reading this that could pick out Angola on a map? Really?
• Generic complaints about "those out of touch crooks in Congress" give me Tired Head.
• The Rangers have absolutely no chance of winning the wild card slot (6 1/2 games back with three teams in front of them.)
• Water polo looks hard. (But Yahoo apparently documented an incident where a female water polo player exposed a little too much. Deadspin covered it, so to speak, here. Careful.)
• The morning skies around here at dawn are really beautiful
• I always put my socks on before my pants. It creeps me out to put a bare foot through the inside of my pants leg.
• What people refer to as "the meanest man" on death row says he won't go quietly tonight when his execution is scheduled. (And one guy on the radio this morning raised the interesting question of why do we give a death row inmate an elaborate "last meal.")
• My last meal would be a Big Mac, Popcorn Shrimp, and Canadian Bacon pizza. But I'm pretty sure my stomach would be a tad bit too upset to eat it.
• Ozzfest was in Frisco last weekend. I was never, even for a moment, interested in heavy metal. And I can't think of a worse experience than going to an outdoor metal concert in August in Texas.
• My cruise control works for two weeks and then stops working for two weeks. Really weird.