I Don't Understand The Point Of This

A long article about an interview with a crazy lady? (And I think the quotation marks are sometimes screwed up.)

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• I've always wondered how handicapped parking laws could be enforced in a private parking lot.
• You've probably seen the Jerry Jones at a bar video (link - language warning), and I think whoever/whomever secretly recorded that is a sorry individual. And Dale Hansen went off on Channel 8 News last night for airing it.
• Speaking of Jerry, here's a still shot of his upcoming appearance on Entourage.
• Bridgeport and Decatur argue about artificial turf for a football field.? Look what Allen ISD is building.
• The top of my ears are sunburned and peeling. That's not a good look.
• There was wreck yesterday near Bridgeport between a delivery truck and a SUV (whose driver walked away before cops arrived.) It's amazing they couldn't find her.
• There was a jewelry party in my office last evening. We're losing control.
• WBAP's Hal Jay told the story this morning of the girl who pulled out a beer in the deputy's car. Yep, the same news story that is over a week old.
• Interesting case to be argued before the Supreme Court next week: Does the Constitution allow a state school to adopt a non-discrimination policy (on the basis of religion or sexual orientation) which would allow the school to then deny recognition to a religious student organization because the group requires its officers and voting members to agree with its core religious viewpoints. Makes my head hurt.
• Some jailers in Harris County, because of overtime, make $150,000 a year. That's tax money, of course.
• Above the fold:

Hey, I Like The Wise County Messenger

But over the last month, they have fallen in love with Twitter. And, in general, I think that's a good thing. But then they'll hit you with eight tweets in a row that are nothing more than this week's Obituary column. That, my friends, is a beating. And tonight they are giving results of the political run-off races. And that's a great idea -- for us. We don't have to buy the paper, we don't have to see any ads, and we get up to the minute results. Good times. But before the local races come in, do we really need to know (1) the partial results, (2) in Wise County alone, of (3) a Supreme Court race? Sheesh. With those precincts reporting, I'll go ahead and project that Wise County prefers a male judge over a female judge when we have no idea about either candidate. Or maybe someone named Green could win an election. Hmmmmmm. But you can see their more relevant results, hopefully, here.

Faith And Science: Mutually Exclusive?

This letter kind of stopped me down when I read it in the Baylor alumni magazine yesterday --the one with Kenneth Starr on the cover. (The above pic has to be the author.)

Baylor sports fans discuss (only message board I could find.)

380 Is A Mess

Shortly before noon, we had a two car wreck about 1 mile east of Bridgeport. One car upside down and another on fire.

At 12:21, another major wreck took place about a mile and half "west of the Allison church." (Wherever in the heck that is.)

Edit @12:29: Both of these things are getting cleared up really quickly.

Scanner News

"Just got a report of a man on horseback in front of Prairie View waiving* a gun. In route." (@11:32 a.m.)

I presume that's Prairie View elementary school in Rhome.

Edit @ 11:34 a.m. "Everything's OK. You can cancel those units." But it sounds like the school was briefly locked down.

(I wonder if this kind of thing happens all the time?)

____________

*Edit: Make that "waving" instead of "waiving". Sorry. Legal spellings in my brain.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• I'll plug it again: Tosh.0 is really, really funny.
• The Boyd school board voted 4-3 to buy out Superintendent Greg Stone's contract last night. Seems like a waste of money.
• Showgirls, starring Jessie from Saved By The Bell. is on cable all the time lately. That is one crazy movie as well as a career killer.
• The NFL Draft begins on Thursday night this week -- a change from its normal Saturday morning start. I like that. Except it means I'll still have the life force sucked out of me by ESPN's Chris Berman. Edit: Oops. I'm a sports idiot. It's next Thursday.
• I ate Lunchables on my hiking trip last weekend. That was a first for me. Maybe a last, too.
• Came across an April, 1997 edition of the Messenger yesterday which corresponded to the first race weekend ever at Texas Motor Speedway. I giggled when I read that car decals were available for the residents of Rhome and Boyd "to show police they are home folks so they can get up and down the streets in their own hometown."
• Almost no one watched the Masters last weekend in the metroplex. On Saturday, we ranked 56 of the 56 largest media markets in the country.
• Why wouldn't I be surprised if Phil Mickelson now finds himself in some kind of scandal.
• I've seen absolutely no bluebonnets along 287 from Decatur to Fort Worth.
• The story about the Fort Worth teen who was shot in his home after going home for lunch with his sister seems odd. Cops are saying he walked in on a burglary in progress, but it just seems there's more to it.
• Show my a press conference by a DA announcing he won't press charges (i.e. Ben Roethlisberger case yesterday), and I'll show you a DA who is grandstanding and a publicity hog.
• Even though the laws against DWI are the strictest on the books, I can see them getting tougher based upon the recent number of deaths making the news. It's been crazy lately.
• For limited audience: If you like college football, look at this run by a freshman from USC in their spring game. Oh, my.
• Sean Hannity always rants and raves that the Tea Party is not made up of only disgruntled white men, but then he throws his own "Freedom Concerts" (cue eagle noise) and has Lynyrd Skynyrd and Charlie Daniels serve as the headliners.
• Still nothing compelling above the fold today:

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?

Saw This Today

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:

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."

Traffic Cam Video Of That Crazy Wreck In Lewisville

From The Bridgeport Index

Full front page here. Wait, did I crop that wrong?