Monday Afternoon Pick Me Up

The Gun Show

So I went to the gun show at Will Rogers Coliseum yesterday because, well, I was bored and I wanted to be entertained. I hadn't been to one in over 15 years, and I still recall the last one being full of some colorful characters. Observations:

• There are no hot women at a gun show
• There are scary people carrying around guns
• There were no political signs or T-shirts. That really surprised me.
• The three inch beard was a big player
• There seem to be an ungodly number of obese people selling guns
• I saw a former Wise Count deputy selling firearms. Nice guy. He yelled at me as I walked by. He wasn't obese.
• They do not sell alcohol although the crowd looks like it consumes a lot of alcohol.
• Pic: Lots of knives
• Pic: Under Armor for the concealed weapon fan
• Pic: The Castle Doctrine lets you kill people. (By the way, the most overrated change in the law ever.)
• Pic: Lots of guys like this
• Pic: East Germany? I thought they got together. And you can learn about Hitler guns, too.
• Pic: The Obama Effect

But the highlight of the day came from some guy associated with the top photo. You see, I took that photo which prompted him to track me down 10 minutes later and two aisles away. Him: "Did you take a picture of our booth?" Me: "Uh, what booth is that?" Him: "The Border Volunteers." Me: "I absolutely did." Him: "Why?" Upon reflection, I'm mad at myself. Because I should have told him "none of your business" or "I'm with the CIA - the Obama one" or "Why do you hate freedom?" but the only thought that came to mind was, "Because I was fascinated with it." Which was true. (I think it was the photo they displayed of two guys tied up with the caption "Asian Nationals Caught At Border" that initially got my attention.) Anyway, the guy tells me that there was no photography allowed in the gun show (which I still seriously doubt) but he didn't want me to delete the picture. He really didn't want anything, and I'm still not sure why he even confronted me. I mean, they got that booth up for publicity but they don't want photographic publicity? Odd.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• I live a life of distraction
• I kind of tear up every time I see the "In Memoriam" segment on "This Week With George Stephanopoulos."
• I like John Legend's "Save Room For My Love."
• Whatever happened to Annie Potts?
• Everyone is talking about Shaq's intro at the All Star game this weekend. Kind of Reminds me of Vanilla Sky.
• Speaking of Peter Gabriel (who had a song in Vanilla Sky), I had no idea what he looked like. The man is getting old.
• I had The Perfect Storm on yesterday and had forgotten that one of the characters was named "Sully."
• I went to the gun show yesterday in Fort Worth but it deserves its own post later.
• I do not understand NASCAR.
• Friday The 13th won the box office race this weekend with $42 million. Sheesh.
• I saw The Wrestler on Friday. My companion hated it while I was fairly fascinated. Something about an over-the-hill guy clinging to his past really grabbed my attention. (Go figure.) And Marisa Tomei was smokin' hot.
• A Wise County girl had back to back dates this weekend. (Although she isn't familiar with the paragraph.)

Secret Footage Of Me At Beach . . .

. . . confusing my pants with my shirt.

I'm Demographic Crazy

Took this pic out of a very-slick-but-way-too-expensive Trophy Club presentation. Breaking news: There are white people in that town.

Friday Afternoon Pick Me Up

I'm in a real quandary here. I was just going to post the bottom pic of "Katrina the Bikini Girl" from American Idol, but I couldn't let the top pic just fade off into Internet oblivion. Is that not one of the craziest pics you've ever seen? I mean, I could stare at that thing for two hours longer than I ever could at the greatest paintings in the world. The guy's stance. His expression. The fat chick's unadulterated anger. That thing belongs in a museum. It's inspirational.

Decatur ISD Demographics

An in-the-know reader sent along a spreadsheet of the make up of Decatur ISD. Link. As of last year: Students: 2,908 % White: 68.6 % Hispanic: 28.4 % Other: 2.9

And Another

Link.

More Demographic Talk

A faithful reader sent me this info on Bridgeport ISD 1994 Total Students: 1,842 % Hispanic: 19 % White: 80 % Other: 1 2004 Total Students 2,226 % African American: 1 % Hispanic: 27 % White: 72 % Other: 1 2007 Total Students 2,239 % African American: 1 % Hispanic: 35 % White: 63 % Other: 1

Friday Morning Pick Me Up

The hot wife of new University of Tennessee football coach, Lane Kiffin. Makes me want to volunteer.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Yeah, Indian Girl two days in a row. But I love her.
• Still don't care anything about American Idol.
• I ate one Lean Cuisine meal and one can of soup yesterday. That pretty much filled me up.
• Yesterday, across the country, 828 lawyers at the biggest law firms in the nation were laid off because of the recession.
• Did you see the picture of the crazy lady who gave birth to eight rug rats before she bingoed? Oh, my.
• I slept through my alarm today.
• Every person on probation in Wise County pays $60 a month in probation fees. I wonder if the probation departments budget is a public record? I'd like to know.
• Most police sketches of subjects don't look very human.
• I don't know why anyone cares about the Mavericks. There is a 100% chance that if they make the playoffs they will be gone in the first round - second round tops.
• 49 people die in a plane crash in upstate New York last night. Get this: There was a female pilot at the helm.

Limited Interest

But I liked it. This has to be the craziest end to a high school game ever. A multitude of technical fouls gave both teams a TON of free throws at the end of the game. But for one guy in the white jersey, he found himself at the free throw line with 18 (yep, 18!!) free throws to shoot with his team down by 11 points with 12 seconds to go. Good times.

Made Me Laugh

A rare "go there" link entitled "A Valentine's Idea For Those Of You Who Despise Your Girlfriend" which is Dallas Cowboys related. And the third comment was gold.

I'm Stunned By This

Since 2001-2002 there have been more Hispanics enrolled in Texas schools than Whites. I'm not stunned that the trend is increasing. But the pure number of enrolled Whites is declining? (Graph via Bud Kennedy's Twitter feed.)

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Yesterday I mentioned that Sirius Satellite Radio was down to 11 cents a share. Now they are worth 5.5 cents a share. But good news: If they declare bankruptcy they can void Howard Sterns $100 million a year contract.
• If I ever get a senior citizen in my office who has been recently arrested, I'm normally in for a pretty entertaining time.
• A huge beat down: Yesterday's Congressional panel of show boaters grilling bank CEOs. It's all about sound bites and nothing more.
• And what do you think the head of Wells Fargo was thinking as he had to sit there getting yelled at? It's true that the bank didn't even ask for the bailout money.
• If the banks aren't loaning money, they are not making money. Are there failures on the horizon?
• I was behind a young girl yesterday on 287 who came inches from going off the pavement. She was texting.
• But it would be dumb to have a law against texting. We've got a law against reckless driving. And if we have a specific law for texting, we need one for radio station changing, newspaper reading, and putting on make up.
• I was desperately out of gas this morning and couldn't find my wallet. I finally rounded up three $1 bills that I had to sheepishly hand to the gas clerk.
• Now that the Stimulus Package has passed, does the far right wing want the economy to fail? (That's the same logic that Rush/Hannity fired off when they said that those that oppose the war in Iraq wanted the carnage over there to continue so public support would drop.)
• "Police in the South Carolina county where Michael Phelps was photographed smoking from a marijuana pipe have been arresting people as they seek to make a case against the superstar swimmer, a lawyer for one arrested person said Thursday." You've got to be kidding. If they arrested Phelps it would be ridiculous to be "arresting people" on the fringe? Cops Gone Wild.
• I've got Sicko by Michael Moore on top of my DVD player that I need to watch.
• You cannot turn on a premium movie channel without the spare movie Breach being played.
• I finally got signed up for the Cowtown Half Marathon. A buddy of mine is running his first full marathon at the same time.
• Danica Patrick new swimsuit photo spread in Sports Illustrated. I still hate her.

The Cleanse: Day 10 (The Final Day)

• Finally!!
• I think my bathroom scale is screwed up. I can't believe my weight remained constant for the last three days and then suddenly drops 3.5 pounds on the final day.
• It truly became a contest of mind over body. I liked that. And I won't lie, the fact that I publicized my plight here was a heck of a motivation.
• That might be a good trick if you want to try the program: Tell as many people as you can that you are doing the program.
• Should you do it? I guess it depends on your personality. I found it to be an almost spiritual experience.
• What will I eat now? Probably soup today. Maybe some type of Lean Cuisine.
• I cannot believe I went 10 days without food.

Mood: Triumphant Feeling: Great Weight Loss: 9.0 lbs

"Outside Of IGA in Decatur"

(Thanks emailer Tyler) Edit: Minutes later, emailer Adam sent the pic below. (I'm posting it as the silver medal winner.)

Open Your Wallets

The crazy mother-of-14-Angelina-Jolie-wannabe has a new web site where you can give her money. (Either that, or someone has a heck of a scam going on.) (Thanks emailer Rhonda)