Secret Video Of Me and A Girl While On Vacation

(Thanks Keith.)

They Mystery That Is The Wise County Reunion . . .

. . . is being documented this week by Joe Duty here on Flickr.

Glenn Beck Meltdown

Heard this on The Ticket. Trust me, it starts a little slow but then Beck works himself up into such a frenzy that he ends up screaming like a girl. It peaks at 3:30 (when it is essentially over.) But it's gold.

Reader Submitted

It's so insane, that I had to post it.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Slowest news day ever yesterday? Fox 4 told me "The Red Cross needs donations" about 10,000 times.
• Not sure what happened to the truck that I thought was jack-knifed onto a train track off of 287 yesterday. Maybe it was just "close" to the track.
• The Wise County Reunion has never appealed to me like it does a lot of people. I've just never been a "sit around and hang out" kind of guy.
• My crazy dreams are back. Last night I had two separate ones where old acquaintances. were out to get me -- violently.
• On my first night of vacation, I spent 30 minutes dreaming I was in my office looking for a file. It was very vivid.
• Fort Worth motorcycle death.
• The "text us what you think" cell phone polls on local TV news drive me nuts. (i.e. Do you think Michael Vick should be reinstated to the NFL? Text "yes" to ....)
• I've about decided that HBO's Entourage isn't that good.
• Worth watching today: Competing demonstrations by the Black Panthers and Ku Klux Klan in Paris, Texas.
• There would be few things more terrifying than to be Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier being held by the Taliban. And I have no idea how this is going to end.
• TABC, Game Wardens, and Task Forces (when they used to exist) always seemed to be too aggressive.
• This was in Fort Worth?
• Fancy coffee drinks illustrated.
• Channel 5's "Stormtracker H3", which is nothing more than a bad camera mounted on the dash of a vehicle driving around the metroplex, is a silly idea.
• Saw where Northwest's new Byron Nelson High School has an indoor football practice facility with artificial turf. Decatur? Bridgeport? You gonna put up with that?

How In The World Did I Miss This?

Now I just have to figure out what channel "The 33" newscast is on since I've never watched it. (Credit Uncle Barky via email from Alice)

Talking Health Care

Since I'm still not back to my Award Winning Blogging self (since I haven't posted an afternoon pick me up), I thought I'd bring this up. The other day, I was talking to a couple of conservative ladies in Decatur who were in favor of some type of nationalized health care. It wasn't about politics to them, they just wanted to be able to afford medical care when they or their family members get sick. If it requires something new and different, then so be it. They had had enough. And Obama might be able to pull this off because he understands this better than those that scream "socialism!!" until they are blue in the face. Case in point, today he said:

"Just the other day, one Republican senator [Sen Jim DeMint] said -- and I'm quoting him -- 'If you're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him,'" the president recounted at an event at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington. "Think about that. This isn't about me. This isn't about politics. This is about a health care system that is breaking up American families, breaking America's businesses and breaking America's economy."

Ouch. I've said it before, we "socialize" (in one way or another) schools, police and fire protection, highways, parks, the military, social security, and some utilities (water and sewer). I don't know why so many freak out when we think about adding health care to that list.

More Diving Talk

Edit: A faithful reader photoshopped me! The package was a 30 minute instruction period followed by a quick boat ride to a reef and a 45 minute dive. When I first heard it was a 50 foot dive, one guy I met at the resort looked at me like I was nuts and went into a rant that included the words "decompression", "cramps", "capillaries bursting", and "hyperbolic chamber for two days." Well, that didn't sound fun at all. But once we got it clarified that it was a 15 to 25 foot dive, he backed off a bit but still thought it was a little nuts. There were four of us in the group to go out. Oddly, they first transported us to a different resort for the instruction. There we met our female instructor, with a pretty good accent, who told us the first thing we needed to do was to sign waiver forms because, and I'm not making this up, "We don't want any responsibility in case something goes wrong." That's technically correct, but you never hear anyone in the States say it that way. From there, we received our crash course on diving. Afterwards, she put us in the pool for our practice session in what we had hopefully learned (how to clear our masks if need be, how to clear the regulator, how to go up, how to go down, how to avoid death, etc.) So with full gear on, we all sat on our collective arses in the five foot end of the pool. I hope I didn't show it, but that experience kind of freaked me out. Scuba diving looks easy. Heck, I had even watched all the Sea Hunt episodes as a kid. Yeah, I could breath through the regulator, but it was labored breathing for me. It was just so . . . . unenjoyable. After about 10 seconds of experiencing a little feeling of panic, I overcame the desire to jump up into the air and scream, "I can't take it!!" The instructor, no doubt seeing more air bubbles coming from my mouth than everyone else combined, swam over in front of me and made hand gestures which meant, "Hey, idiot, I told you to breath slowly and deeply. Do it!" And I did. After going through the drills, we then did the most awkward thing: We followed the instructor as we swam around the pool. Now understand, this is a nice resort with a huge pool full of guests and we are the only ones in scuba gear. So we're swimming around and people are scrambling to get away from us like nobody's business. (Afterwards, all four of us laughed about how we probably looked like the creepy guy from the pool scene in Little Children.) The dive itself was fairly uneventful. (With the exception of a beeping sound I heard every five minutes that made me think my equipment was malfunctioning -- but which was actually only a five minute interval timer the instructor was wearing. Hey, tell me about that next time.) Lots of cool fish. Lots of cool coral. Lots of cool plants. But no sharks or killer sting rays. And you can't believe how much the current moves you around against your will. Once we were through, I was exhausted. Completely. The instructor even gave me a concerned, "Are you OK?" once I got to the boat's ladder and successfully negotiated it despite having a severe case of the Shake Legs. So scratch another item off my Bucket List. Running With The Bulls, here I come.

The Morality Police Have Been Unleashed

From the Update. Logistically, I don't know how this works. Who answers the 1-800 number? Is it the Sheriff's Office? If the "offense" is in Bridgeport, do they then relay the call to Bridgeport PD? Does anyone in authority over in Bridgeport PD decide if an officer will actually be dispatched? Is every cop in the county now looking for every can of Keystone light in the hands of a 20 year old? And I've asked this question before: How much money is currently in the Wise County Crimestoppers account? Every person placed on probation in the county pays a $50 "fee" to go in that fund. Over the years, that has to be a chunk of change.

Crowd Pleasing T-Shirt From Last Week

Can't tell ya the number of times this girl was stopped so that someone could say, "I love that shirt!"

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• There was a truck that had jack-knifed onto a train track about five miles north of Decatur on 287. Every rescue vehicle in the Southwest proper was headed that way, but it looks like all trains had been stopped.
• I'm no so sure about that "feeling refreshed" after a vacation. "Feeling like I want to do it again" is more like it.
• I think I experienced "vacation guilt" as I looked around at the poverty in Mexico as I traveled to my resort from the airport.
• The Cancun airport is really nice.
• Turning off the cell phone for a week is weird.
• I visited the Xcaret Eco Park. Probably overrated based upon it's price -- with the exception of "Spider Monkey Island".
• I woke up one day a little after 6:00, stumbled to the beach, and saw the sun rise over the horizon.
• I'm now in my office wearing a suit.
• I always want to eat at some off the beaten path authentic Mexican restaurant not visited by tourists but I never do.
• OK, yell at me for this: I took a quick diving course and then scuba dove for about 45 minutes in 20 to 25 feet of water. I figured it was shallow enough to be safe. It's not as easy as it looks.
• I kept thinking about "Open Water."
• I watched very little TV over the week, but did manage to catch the release of the video of Michael Jackson's hair catching fire during the filming of the Pepsi commercial. That was crazy.
• And a quick Internet check in showed me it was crazy hot back in Texas last week.
• I'm still trying to get my Random Thought groove back.

I'm Back

But why do I feel like I need a vacation after my vacation? Note to self: Never, ever schedule a return flight for 7:30 a.m. And part of my entourage got sick which required a visit to the doctor as soon as we hit DFW. Anyway, here's exclusive video of me at my hotel's health spa/computer room. I hit my stride at about the 35 second mark.

Random Best Of Posts: Day #6

• One of my all time favorites: The N Word
• This wreck in 2007 deserves a "where are they now" segment.
• Still shocking to me: The number of straight ticket voters in Wise County.
• I posted far more shocking pics when I didn't think anyone was reading.
• How quickly we forget. Newt Gingrich, who is making a bit of a Republican comeback, was having an affair while he was dogging Clinton for having an affair.
• A shocking google search about our Sheriff.
• Still one crazy site: Drag and drop the falling bikini girl.
• An Iraqi casualty from Boyd that I hope has not been forgotten.
• I used to be so much bolder with my pics.
• I still think the hanging of Saddam Hussein after a trial without a jury that did not allow him to even know the identity of his accusers, was barbaric.
• I hope all the people listed in this story still visit that young man's grave.
• This was pretty interesting: The Dallas Morning News got a hold of the "talking points" given out by the Dallas County Democratic party after the parties surprising landslide win in 2006.
• This won't interest many of you, but I went nuts watching the "where should Anna Nicole's body be buried" proceeding.

Random Best Of Posts: Day #5

• The incident that made Lari Barager my nemesis.
• My ex secretary used to drive me insane.
• I regret this post.
• My best prediction ever was the worst moment for the Mavs ever.
• I ended up representing this guy and having the case dismissed once evidence (finally) came forth that he wasn't the driver.
• Jane McGarry gold.
• Hottest OU girl ever.
• I had forgotten that Fox tried to do it's own comedy show in 2007. (I researched it and found out it was cancelled after 13 episodes.)
• There's a Promiseland show that is the new Robert Tilton. They made me made about a week ago, and I remembered they made me mad in 2007.
• "White Chicks And Gang Signs"
• "Barron Green" explained.
• When I reprinted this Christmas flyer from Grace Baptist Church in 2006, which included the regretable phrase "invest in eternity", the comments exploded. (Back then they were unmoderated and I can't even bring myself to link back to them now.)

Random Best Of Posts: Day #4

• Probably doesn't deserve to be here, but I was mad at Baylor after a
• Flashback to the Wise County road side stop scandal.
• loss to TCU.
• I once rated Wise County's all time greatest athletes.
• I took a picture of a local church's billboard and it became national news.
• I can't believe the video is still up of Tony Romo (before he went big time) making an appearance in a shocking youtube for a Denton bar.
• I still laugh at the Chris Hansen soundboard (direct link). I once had a girlfriend call me and when I answered, she just started firing off those audio clips. Very, very funny.
• 2007 "Hey, Now."
• Not that shocking, but when Todd Dodge was named the head football coach of UNT, I questioned whether that was really a better gig than the coach of Southlake Carroll.
• Wise County church billboard grammatical error.
• Me in high school.

Random Best Of Posts: Day #3

• The worst Headline/Photo combo ever in the Messenger.
• Worst Frilly's error ever?
• "I'm a man! I'm 40! My favorite coach rant ever. (With bonus videos)
• A random post about a girl named Latoisha.
• Three teenagers die in Wise County wreck.
• Bad Messenger mistake.
• Why I needed a zoom lense on vacation
• Bridgeport Spillway opened in 2007 due to heavy rains.
• I searched "Bridgeport" and "Texas" on Flickr and this came up.
• Back in 2007, I ran a poll asking readers how old they were and their marital status.
• In 2007, I pointed out this 33 year old Texan who was #317 on Forbes list of richest Americans. I tried to find out what happened to him and could only determine that in 2008 he was now the #168th richest American due to his wealth increasing by another $1 billion. Where is he now?

Random Best Of Posts: Day #2

• Still one of my favorite gals (above).
• Timely: Two years ago I posted a video of the OU Marching Band doing the "Thriller" dance.
• Art that I have hanging in my office.
• When I saved a Wise County turtle.
• When a Chico family was killed by a drunk driver who eventually was determined not to be drunk at all by the Tarrant County DA's office.
• I wonder what ever happened to the former Boyd football star who was in trouble.
• In 2007, when the DOW was a little above 12,500, I asked if anyone was nervous after it dropped 250 points in one day. If we weren't, we should have been.
• Still laugh about the pot bellied pig being put on my desk.
• Hottest girl ever from Decatur?
• I still shake my head at this crime in my neighborhood.
• A little long, but I reflected on how I almost single handedly cost Bridgeport a win over Decatur in high school football back in the day.
• My stadium fetish.

Random Best Of Posts: Day #1

• I posted a pic of this piece of art once but didn't disclose that I own it.
• One of my favorite moments when I saw Santa walking down my street five years ago.
• When I got 51 comments on this post in 2005, I thought I had hit the big time. (And the subject matter still works to this day.)
• The famous Wise County Courthouse crab incident.
• When I found a video of a guy angry about his experience with the Walmart McDonalds.
• Craziest question I was ever asked in the Wise County Courthouse.
• My first pics of the "Nazi Van" which was always near the now illegal camera in Rhome that took pics of speeders.
• The sappiest movie quote that I love.
• Hey, now. (Circa 2007)
• I questioned the Drudge Report on a story and I turned out to be wrong.
• Wow, I got a little sappy
• Two guys doing the Charlie Brown Christmas Special dance that I thought was funny but no one else did.
• A Bridgeport tragedy
• Funny video of Bridgeport mom being run over by Pee Wee football team.
• When the City of Decatur moved around Christmas decorations after a blog post.