Liberally Lean From The Land Of Dairy Queen

4.12.2010

Construction Question

Not that this is all that big of a deal, but why are they replacing the bridge on 287 that crosses over FM 730 (by James Wood Motors)? That thing is relatively new, isn't it?

James Madison University: Caucasian Riot Time

Language warning. And lots of idiots warning. Happened last weekend. Edit: Deadspin has some pictures of the event with some pretty funny comments. Edit: And while James Madison is ruled by punks, sorority girls at Ole Miss this weekend had a dancefest on a lawn. Advantage: Ole Miss.

The Sarah Palin Network

Completely missed this.

And if that only makes you angry, maybe you'll want to join some conservative Republicans who are even more conservative than conservative Republicans. Rep. Phil King did.

Somebody Decode This For Me

I just had a hand-delivered envelope from the Wise County Messenger delivered to my office. No letter. No note. No explanation. It was just one page torn from Woman's Day magazine with one side explaining how to fold a fitted sheet and the other side setting forth the warnings associated with a medication for Alzheimer's.

What am I missing?

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

The implosion of Texas Stadium was pretty moving. Whether it be for a Cowboys, college, or high school football game or whether it be for a concert, I think everyone has a memory about that place.
I'm pretty sure Bridgeport and Decatur played a football game in there, but I don't know about any other Wise County team.
I think the only concert I saw in there was Paul McCartney.
I wonder if anybody will drive by the Texas Stadium site today and say, "Oh my gosh. What happened?"
But Channel 11 may have mistaken someone for Roger Staubach on Sunday morning.
One of the golfers at the Masters yesterday had enough sponsor logos on his shirt to be mistaken for a NASCAR drover.
I almost ran over an old lady in the Walmart parking lot in Amarillo.
Possibly overrated author Dan Jenkins tweeted this weekend: "Y.E. Yang is only three shots off the lead. I think we got takeout from him last night." At first I thought it was just an old man racist joke, but he later clarified and said it was a "P.F. Chang" joke. I'll give him that.
The new body of Heidi Montag was at a Las Vegas pool this weekend.
David Cassidy turns 60 today.
There's a suicide every other day in Tarrant County?
I was a fan of the SLR digital cameras but I'm tending to go back old school with those that will slip in my pocket. And the quality really doesn't seem that different.
Today above the fold:

4.11.2010

My Palo Duro Canyon Visit [Edit: Photo Links Fixed]

Ok, so this weekend I decided to write one off of my Bucket List and visit Palo Duro Canyon. Since I can only write in bullet points, here goes:

It's right by Amarillo so I decided to go with Southwest Airlines. Let me say this: Southwest Airlines knows how to run a business like no other.
My post to Twitter from the airport read: "The government just conviscated my sun screen. Thanks a lot Bin Laden."
My companion-who-is-a-girl decided to take a large pocket knife in her carry on since we were going hiking. Really? It made it through.
We got to the canyon a little after 8:00 a.m. after a very short drive from Amarillo. My first thought: I can't believe this thing is in Texas.
I mean jaw dropping gorgeous.
Did you know it is the largest canyon in the United States after the Grand Canyon?
We had picked out two hikes. One was a "secret" trail about a mile and a half to a "table top" which overlooked the famous amphitheater. The second one was a three mile hike to The Lighthouse. (More below.)
About a 1/4 mile into the first hike, seeing no one, we came across a fanny-pack-looking-thing right off the trail which looked new, was full of water, and full of snack bars. Right next to it was a cliff of about 70 yards from the bottom. Hope the guy is OK.
Finally made it to the the Table Top. Here's a view of the amphitheater from up there. Here's a few of the canyon.
Sitting up there for 30 minutes was probably one of the Top Ten Adventure Moments of my life.
From there we made it back to the car and drove down the road to the trailhead for The Lighthouse.
That hike seemed more than three miles. A lot more.
I bought some hiking shoes about a year ago manufactured by Merrell. Absolutely outstanding.
Here's a random pic along the way of the beauty.
I saw my first horned toad in the wild since I was a child. I tried to catch the little fellow to hold him but I'm not as fast as I was when I was a child.
Here's what it looks like from about a half mile away from the destination.
Here it is once we climbed up to the shelf of The Lighthouse. Wow.
The craziest sight was a couple with five young kids (how they made that hike is a mystery). But dad, who was incredibly in control of the little hellions ("if you make a mistake and run, you die!!"), decided to take them to the peak of the cliff right next to The Lighthouse. (In the above picture, that peak is to the left.)
Here's a pic of the kids beginning the climb up there. That doesn't do it justice.
We climbed up to see if you could actually get to the top of that peak and found that you could. Problem: There's about an eight foot vertical climb to get to it. And, trust me, if you fall, you are going to die. Die hard. (The Dad of those kids wasn't kidding.)
Here's a pic of a gal boosting herself up to the top. I promise that down and to the right is a cliff that is steeper than anything Wylie E. Coyote ever fell off of.
That's the same climb that five little kids did and I HAVE NO IDEA how they pulled that off. Dad had to boost them up there, I guess. I'm so mad at myself for not running up there to snap a picture of it.
My companion decided to go to the top as I developed a small case of vertigo. (Yep, I wussed out.)
Here she is at the top. Insane. (Remember the pic of the little kids climbing to the top of it? That path can be seen in the lower right of the pic.)
On the way back, as it got hotter, I thought about my Bataan Death March book and realized how easy life is.
I've got a new appreciation for Texas weekend trips.

Ummmkay

Story, which just happened, here.

In Case You Missed It: Texas Stadium Is No More

I actually got up to watch this happen (at least watch it on my TV). I attended the first event there ever: A Billy Graham crusade. But it was funny today to see a replay of Graham at the service mentioning that we were all in the "new home of the Texas Cowboys."

The smoke from the Grasslands yesterday was ridiculous. And did they have to wait until the winds were out of the north so that Decatur could be covered in nuclear winter?
A lot of Tiger's old cocky self began to come out yesterday in his post round press conference.
The Ranger game was comical yesterday. A great seven innings from the starter, Feliz coming in for one inning and striking out three on 13 pitches, and then Francisco coming in as the closer and getting shelled.
If you go to downtown Bridgeport, you won't recognize it due to the re-striping that is going on.
Sometimes I'll get a tag on my dry cleaning that there was a problem with one of my shirts. Then I'll search the material forever and never find the offending stain or tear.
Had to go to the dentist yesterday thinking I had lost a filling. Turned out to be just a slightly chipped tooth that was taken care of in two minutes with no pain killing shot. Good times. (Unlike this girl's experience.)
The driver that jumped from big rig yesterday was thanking God and drinking a beer on the news yesterday.
All of a sudden I'm getting a lot of messages about stealing blog material. Uh, yeah.
The more I here tech professionals talk about the iPad, the more I want one.
Fox 4's Good Day is changing its start time to 4:30 a.m. Wow.
I forgot to do the "daily paper - above the fold" yesterday. Here's today's which, once again, is kind of boring: