Plain Weird

Story. This happens more often that motorcycle wrecks. I'll swear that at the end of last week, there was news footage of two separate houses being crushed by a car that used a lawn for Central Expressway. And it always seems the occupants "narrowly missed being injured." Edit: Found a pic from one of my week's wrecks:

She's Making A Comeback

Christina Aguilera.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• As goofy as the public is, I'm amazed at the continued popularity of 60 Minutes. I actually watched it for the the first time in a while last night and was surprised to see one of the stories anchored by Lara Logan, who has the great combo of being hot and having a sexy accent. (And I recognize the inherent irony of this random thought.)
• Movie box office rankings for the year. I love stuff like that. And when I panned down to the bottom I saw Kevin Costner's Swing Vote which looked so awful that no one saw it.
• I can't believe the UT is as good as they are, and I don't know who can possibly beat them. Scary thought: They are supposed to be better next year.
• One more UT note: QB Colt McCoy was 29 of 32 in passing on Saturday. Absolutely insane. I can't believe I'm saying this but right here, right now, I wouldn't put take him out even if I had Vince Young on the sideline to replace him.
• I want to see Oliver Stone's W.
• The State Fair's web site suggests everyone take the same exit if you are approaching on I-30 from the west. That's dumb. I overshot the caravan of cars trying to take it on Texas/OU weekend, took the next exit, and was parked within 10 minutes.
• From the Dallas Morning News on Sunday: "Last season, there were probably 1,000 [deer] shot in Texas that would qualify as trophies by almost any whitetail hunter's definition. At least 90 percent of them were shot while they ate corn." That is, corn that was released by battery operated feeders. That is the equivalent of fishing in a barrel.
• Just when you thought the McCain backers couldn't get any more beaten down, Colin Powell endorses Obama. And most McCain backers would rather vote for Powell than McCain.
• Frequent commentator Denny Crane.
• Messenger photographer Joe Duty reflects back about drag queens in Chico. (Oddest. Sentence. Ever.)
• BoDunkADunk. Or, as I tend to say, "Hey, now."
• There are calls to fire Wade Phillips this morning and handing the reins to coach-in-waiting Jason Garrett. Uh, what's Jason done that qualifies him as a genius?
• Ate lunch at Bone Daddy's in Grapevine this weekend. Hottest waitresses ever?
• Someday, soon, some player is going to die in the NFL. (Prompted by the hit Ike Hilliard took last night on Sunday Night Football.) Other observation: The rule about "not leading with the crown of the helmet during a tackle" is ignored on every play.
• Game 7 of the American League Championship series was on TBS? "Enjoy" baseball while you can - it will be dead soon.
• Craziest story I didn't see until this morning: "Man kills himself at crowded Hurst park"

"Uh, Do Thay Have Some Good Hamburger Joints In St. Louis?"

I stopped really caring about pro football when it dawned on me that your average fan cared more about the game than those playing it. That being said, the Cowboys are done as long as that man is in the sideline. You readers are more motivated to click on Random Thoughts to see a hot girl than than the team is to play for him. Edit: And for the life of me I don't understand those that blame Jerry Jones. He's put a vast array of talent on the field - that's his job. Getting them to play is the problem. Edit #2: And this in Sports Illustrated today on Jerry Jones' spending: "[WR Roy] Williams' deal ratchets up the Cowboys' 2010 current cap obligations, with 33 player contracts signed, to $138.8 million, which is $27 million more than any other team in football -- and that doesn't include the monster contract due premium pass-rusher DeMarcus Ware early in 2009; he could become the highest-paid defensive player in football."

Friday Night Lights Reviewed With Saturday Daylight

Bridgeport 56 Iowa Park 7

WF Hirschi 18 Decatur 47

Boyd 29 Alvord 18

Chico	19
Paradise	61

Busy Work Day. Slow Day For Fun.

But you can watch the incredible Red Sox game last night in three minutes -or- a fat guy dancing in the stands with Charles Barkley's head superimposed.

Friday Photo Fun

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Big win by TCU last night over BYU, and a huge comeback by the Red Sox over the not-devil Rays. And I didn't see either.
• One more reference to "Joe the Plumber" and I'm going to off myself
• And some plumber in Amarillo just happens to have a web site named www.joetheplumber.com . (And you can even join his mailing list to get "breaking news about our business.")
• "I just lost $500 since now I won't get to prepare an occupational license" - what an overweight lawyer announced at a driver's license hearing in Fort Worth yesterday when an officer failed to show. That meant his client's driver's license would be saved from a suspension. I think (and hope) he could see the disgust in my eyes.
• Want to see that "I Kissed A Girl" chick jump into a big old cake and then bust her arse? Sure you do.
• Video of the day stolen from Silicone Alley here. And she had the funniest description: "fast forward to 2:15 and pray for the table."
• Sometimes I pull up beside a flat bed truck on the highway and wonder if I could jump on it at full speed if I told my passenger to "grab the wheel."
• When I said I had to mow my lawn one more time I should have added that I was going to hire a bunch of Chinese guys to do an orchestrated routine using grass recycling bags as part of the closing ceremony.
• Phil King sure isn't worried about the general election.
• I had almost forgotten about Spaghetti Cat.
• I'm disturbed by the hunting shows on those obscure channels up in the 600s on DirecTV (which I probably can't get now anyway. Problem solved.)
• I woke up in the middle of the night again last night. Then, with a bit of creepiness hanging in the room, I turned to look at the clock. Would it be 3:00 a.m. again? Nope: 2:56. Man, this is getting weird.
• Fox 4 had another motorcycle death story this morning, but I don't see it on their web site yet. Edit: Here
• Boss's Day was yesterday. It should be abandoned. And I also shouldn't force all our staff to put a crown on me while holding an offering of baked goods. It's just plain awkward.

Final Random OU/Texas Pics

End of game playing of school song. I raised the camera above my head and shot blindly: Very funny bit. Grandma Texas fan makes a visor out of a popcorn box and texts someone at halftime: Hot OU fan in the middle of the Texas fans. She schooled one hostile fan when he yelled at the OU placekicker coming onto the field for allegedly faking an injury on a previous punt. "That's not the same guy!!!" she said (and the idiot Texas fan should have known that.) And one final one that I provide only a link to because it involves an obscene gesture. The Evil Empire, indeed.

Best. Buy. Power. Down.

So for whatever reason, my DirecTV has been on the blink. I'm not getting about half the channels (which has been kind of refreshing since I'm watching stuff I've never seen before) but that joy came to an end a few hours ago when I realized I couldn't get the TCU/BYU game tonight. Unacceptable. I'm kind of weird because I went out five years ago and bought one of those fancy flat panel HD televisions. That's not the part that's weird. The fact that I've never subscribed to an HD provider is weird. But this technical glitch was the incentive I needed. So I went over to the new Best Buy off of Heritage Trail in north Fort Worth to sign up for HD DirectTV. First I looked at all the HD TVs just for fun and realized they were selling for about a 1/3 of what I paid a few years back. OK, I can deal with that. I was going high-tech. I was going to be a new man. But then I walk over to the "DirecTV HD" booth (yep, they've got one) only to find no one there. No biggie. I looked around and saw the above receivers (those are my pics) and instantly contracted a severe case of Confused Head. Yeah, I understand the DVR. I understand the dual DVR. But do I need one of those HD receivers for every television? What if one of my other televisions isn't HD? Do I really have to buy this equipment? Ugh. But a nice salesman showed up so I told him I wanted DirecTV HD but I had a question about this receiver business. "How's all this work?" I asked. He says, and I'm not making this up, "I'm not sure. Basically you buy the box from us and then go home and call them." I'm pretty sure you could you see the life force drain from me. I was there. I was ready to spend money. I just wanted someone to tell me what I needed to do. Heck, rip me off! Just give me some solid information that I could believe in. "Uh, OK, " I said - still not willing to give up. "Do I need a receiver for every TV?" He leans down and looks at the dual DVR (which I think means you can watch one channel while a different channel is recorded) and he says, "Naaa, I'm pretty sure you can hook two TVs up to this. " Not only did that not answer the question, I'm pretty sure that answer was flat out Crazy Talk. I was done. "OK, let me look around a little bit." And then I high tailed it out of there (Editor's note: That's what we call a Random Thoughts "call back joke.") Can anybody help a brother out?

Let's Support The Barnett Shale?

Oil prices topped out at $147.27 on July 11. Stupid question: They are pumping natural gas out of the Barnett Shale, right? Do low oil prices also mean lower natural gas prices? And, if so, is this the beginning of the bust we all fear?

McCain Turns Into Zombie!

Just a funny pic via Yahoo News.

Get your own Poll!

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• A recession? A depression? Dallas City Hall just installed a $70,000 television. Yep, a television.
• Ok, I watched a little bit of the debate, but I can only remember "Joe, The Plumber."
• Weird: Yesterday I reminisced about having a golf ball dropped onto my windshield while going down the road in Fort Worth. Today: The Star Telegram has a story about rash of those problems lately.
• Tony Romo is thinking about playing on Saturday? Even Ricky Bobby couldn't drive with a broken arm after an unfortunate bar incident.
• It's just a weird feeling seeing gas prices drop every time you turn around. I've never seen that before.
• Somebody told me there were baseball playoffs going on. Go Rangers!!!
• As I continue my contemplation about the demise of the Unites States, if a state voted to secede (which isn't a bad idea), would the U.S. actually bring in troops to take over the land like in the Civil War?
• I roll my eyes at the "state's rights" argument over the cause of the Civil War. It's usually uttered by guys that dress up in Union uniforms and go out every chance they get to re-enact some bloody battle. Edit: Yep, should have said Confederate uniforms.
• I don't know why I'm talking about the Civil War.
• I normally vote Republican in appellate judicial races for civil courts but Democratic for state appellate edit: criminal courts. (And if I didn't practice law, I'd have no idea what to do.)
• I need to mow my lawn one more time.
• If the Cowboys lose two games in a row, I could actually envision Jerry firing Wade Phillips in the middle of the season.
• For the last two nights I have awakened/awoke/woke up at 3:00 a.m. in the morning on the dot. And I mean exactly at 3:00 a.m. according to my bedside clock.
• The DOW fell over 700 points last night and it really wasn't even the lead story on most of the newscasts.
• I promise I heard this from the KLIF talk show host Jeff Bolton this morning, "Obama wouldn't want to debate a guy like me. I'm the kind of guy that wouldn't be interested in making 'debate points' and I'd demand questions to my answers."
• Coming back from Fort Worth yesterday, it looked like a police state along 287 with all the cars stopped and cops on patrol. I've said it before: Cops are everywhere.
• Farrah Fawcett was in bad health a couple of years ago. Haven't heard anything about that lately.
• I thought this was very funny: If you're "old" enough to remember Aha's famous video of "Take On Me", you'll get a kick out of this new "literal version" (wait for the singing to start.)
• How would you like to be a college senior looking for a job in this market?
• I like pizza. I deprive myself of pizza.

Turkey Leg Redux

And although the pic could have been taken at the Texas State Fair last weekend, it was actually from the Wise County Swap Meet a few months earlier. (Thanks Tony)

For A DWI Defense Lawyer . . .

. . . I was a little taken aback when I walked out of my office. (Although the courthouse in the background is a nice touch.)

And Another

From Oklahoma. Not bad.

The Little Mexican Is Now Sarah Palin

There's some triple crazy behind these videos. (Thanks SA.)