Blimp Accident In Cottondale

Or so an emailer tells me. And look at the cockpit:

Pizza Hut Parking Lot Today At lunch

Saw This Last Night

I had never seen it before. Funny. Very funny.

Attention All Wise County Ladies

It's Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader tryout time. You must be 18 and have a high school diploma or G.E.D. Get on it.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• One motorcycle death over the weekend in Fort Worth (but now I can't find the link.)
• Mexico's wheels are quickly following off. There was a prison invasion this weekend that resulted in the escape of 53 inmates.
• Also this weekend: Some guy shot his ex-girlfriend in a convenience store in the Como area of Fort Worth. Fox 4 showed the video of him chasing her through the store (but cut it off at that point for obvious reason.) Oddly, police are not releasing his name (he got away) but have released the deceased's name.
• This is the complete text of a story on Fox 4 this morning: "Walmart is going after customers that used to shop at Circuit City. The retail giant is revamping its electronics department. Expect to see more selections including items that were top sellers at Circuit City." Was that a commercial buried as a news story?
• Baylor great Mike Singletary gave a stirring "benediction" on Saturday but didn't say a prayer.
• Since it wasn't my jog day, I walked my five mile jogging course instead of running it yesterday. I think that was more tiring than running it.
• I learned that you can't be a date to the Decatur prom unless you or a Junior or a Senior and attend Decatur ISD.
• The world looks different after a rainy day (like Saturday) followed by a sunny day (like yesterday.)
• WFAA has shut down comments.
• WBAP's Hal Jay said this morning that he had never heard of "You Can Leave Your Hat On' for 9 1/2 Weeks.
• I've downloaded Lord of the Flies and I'm about two hours into it. I may be a literary idiot but what is so great about it?
• From the Ticket this morning regarding the King Tut exhibit in Dallas: If it had a big screen playing Steve Martin's video of the same name, there would be more people gathered around it than the artifacts.
• I think we're trying to kill Farrah Fawcett off.
• I opened my front door for a while this weekend to air the house out. I ended up having to chase out a cat.
• Channel 5's Mike Synder may be on his way out. Stay classy, San Diego.

Graduation Day

I went down to Baylor today for my niece's graduation -- And I hadn't been to a college graduation since my own. I took my camera and snapped a ton of photos. One thing my family always kids me about is my distaste for "posed photos." You know, the typical "walk over there and smile at the camera pic." I hate them simply because I'd rather capture a moment of raw emotion and candor. Which brings me to this pic. It's not the best in the world, but it's my favorite of the day. That's my brother and his daughter after sharing their first post-graduation hug. From there they simply turned and looked out over the auditorium. That's the Baylor seal far off in the background. It is a picture of emotion. At least it is for me.

I'm A Believer In Statistics And Polls

But what in the world has happened to cause this dramatic change? I also trust Yahoo but that second sentence doesn't make sense when compared to the graph.

Charles Barkley Kills A Man?

• If you don't know who he is, just know he's a former NBA player who is a bad golfer.
• If you know who he is (and his legendary golf swing), you couldn't wait to hit "play".
• I don't know anything about golf, but weren't his feet lined up almost directly at the camera man?
• The camera man almost got killed.
• I like the little kid looking at his (presumably) dad with that, "He's not invincible, is he?" look.
• I loved the guy who was hit simply yelling, "Ow!!!" two seconds after the fact.
• That shot was turrrrible.

City of Denton Book In Photo Of The Day

They are throwing 17 year olds in the hoosegow for contempt of court? Sheesh. And since this is the City of Denton jail, I'm pretty sure the "court" was the Denton Municipal Court. Here's another 17 year old booked in for the same thing about 30 minutes later. He doesn't look too happy.

Friday Afternoon Pick Me Up

And she's a pro golfer. Plus, she's a Ruskie which makes her even hotter with that accent.

Girl Didn't Wear Underwear -- World Now Knows

Link. (The news story's embeddable video didn't embed at all.) Note to high schoolers: When you are going to get a group yearbook picture taken, remember it is a yearbook - not Maxim. Edit: CNN video here. Home girl still ain't sittin' properly.

From December 2005:

Well, now there has been a big development.

It's A Mystery

Yesterday, Chrysler fired off a press release listing all the to-be-closed dealerships. GM, at least as of noon, didn't handle it the same way causing media outlets to pull their collective hair out trying to figure out who got the axe. I haven't heard of a single one yet.

And Now Girls Jumping On Trampolines

I'm sure the web video doesn't do it justice, but Fox 4's very hawt Fiona Gorostiza bounced around on a trampoline this morning. Now if they'll only make that a daily gig instead of "Water Cooler Talk".

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Channel 8 covered Jackie Murphree's return to Texas from China yesterday.
• There was a Euless motorcycle death last night. It had been kind of quiet on that front for a couple of weeks.
• GM announces dealership closings today. There is no way in the world that James Wood Motors would be on the list. But wouldn't it be a Wise County earthquake if it was?
• I don't think I've ever said this: There is nothing wrong with Texas Ranger pitching.
• Richardson has elected a Muslim to its city council. Two words: Sleeper. Cell.
• Video one: ESPN anchor giggles through marijuana story. Good times.
• Video two: Minor league pitcher has a very difficult time trying to execute back to back intentional walks. Fail.
• I looked through four marijuana criminal cases yesterday that have been filed in Wise County. As I thought about how much taxpayer dollars had been dedicated to each case it made me want to scream.
• I managed to get a guy released from the Wise County Jail yesterday who had been transferred there after being granted parole from TDC. He had been imprisoned since 2005. His dad was giddy. (Oddly, he was being held here on hot check charges -- don't worry, the merchants got paid.)
• Everyone was talking about Grey's Anatomy yesterday so I watched about 10 minutes of it last night. It seemed very soap operaree (my made up word.) Lots of the characters staring at one another as the show faded to commercial breaks.
• Good observation from Jarhead this morning: "Isn't it funny how little kids run everywhere they go? Imagine what a goofy place the world would be if grown-ups did that as well."
• There are now three sports radio station in Dallas. I promise you can get in your car in the last afternoon/early evening and click through all three and you'll hear commercials on each one.
• A big law firm in Texas has slashed first year associates salaries by $15,000 due to the economy. Three observations: (1) I've never seen that happen before, (2) they still make more than everyone in Wise County, (3) their lives are an absolute beating.
• I'm now considering a two week vacation year: Florida Keys in the summer and my drive through the South in the fall. (Driving through the South in the summer seems like a whipping.)
• I'm driving down to Waco tomorrow - something I haven't done in quite a while. Everyone tells me I-35 is becoming incredibly congested. (But I think it's worse if you continued on to Austin or San Antonio.)
• It's a graduation ceremony. I guess it would be rude to take a couple of magazines. Or would it?

Emergency Landing

The video was uploaded to youtube.com in April. How it didn't become national news (in a "by the way" segment 10 minutes into a newscast) is puzzling. Stolen from bagofnothing.com

Civil Court News

A trial just wrapped up at the Decatur courthouse where a guy sued TxDOT and Martin Truck Enterprises out of Boyd. The Plaintiff had broken some bones when his motorcycle hit some hydraulic fluid which had leaked from a TxDOT truck in Bryan/College Station. The verdict was for $761,800 with TxDOT being found 90% at fault and Martin Truck being found 10% at fault. In an exclusive interview* with the winning lawyer Lane D. Thibodeaux of Bryan, he said that TxDOT has a statutory cap of $250,000 and never offered to settle the case. Martin Truck had actually settled for $202,000 prior to trial (so they really didn't participate in it.) _________ *Meaning I was alone with him in the courtroom and asked, "Hey, what happened?"

Thursday Afternoon Pick Me Up

I'm often criticized in the comments for posting pics of girls which are simply too young for my advanced old still youthful age. First, they aren't too young for me, and I don't want to hear any of that "you are sooooo in denial" crap that my therapist throws in my face. Secondly, that's not true -- I don't discriminate against the older woman! Heck, it's not unusual for me to post a pic of a woman in her late 20s. I'm open minded like that. But today I will try to silence my critics by bringing you 43 year old Cindy Crawford. Change has truly come to Liberally Lean. (More of Ms. Crawford.)