Liberally Lean From The Land Of Dairy Queen

6.30.2010

Guy Laying On Curb At Decatur Walmart On Monday

Got to appreciate a man who can get comfortable anywhere. (Thanks emailer Brittany.)

Crazy Criminal Case

I've been following this story out of Austin for quite some time. This gal's boyfriend kills a girl in his apartment and then decides he needs to remove the body by cutting her up in parts. (Insane.) So he recruits Laura Hall to help him. He was convicted of murder and she was charged with Hindering Apprehension and Tampering With Evidence. (She had nothing to do with the murder.) Her first trial resulted in a 5 year sentence but it was overturned on appeal (which might fall under the category of "be careful what you wish for.") Her retrial started up yesterday. Story here. (Her case on appeal, which contains a comprehensive recitation of the facts of the case, is here.) Edit: Some guy is live tweeting the trial.

Texas Tech Professor Teaches Class By Webcam . . .

. . . and then forgets to shut it off while he surfs the internets for . . . uh, oh. Now they can't find him. Story.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

I had to replace a garbage disposal last night. Well, at least I tried. I remember doing it 20 years ago and it took me about 45 minutes. This time it took me two hours just to get the old one out (rust is not your friend.)
Is there any purpose to the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan? It's just another opportunity for Senator grandstanding.
Former Evil Empire great Cedric Benson was arrested again yesterday (bar fight). After a BWI arrest and DWI arrest a couple of years ago, I thought he had cleaned his act up with a resurgent career at Cincinnati. Hey Cedric: Don't put yourself in bad situations.
The media's coverage of a tiny hurricane about to hit Mexico gives me Tired Head about the rest of the hurricane season.
My marital status change is about to cause a three bedroom house in the Lipsey Edition in Decatur to go on the market. Not sure what the current appraisal is, but it might be around $120,000 or so. About 2,100 square feet. Huge back yard. Good neighborhood. Before we go the traditional selling route, drop me a note if you might be interested. Edit: Email me at blog2[at]wisecounty.com
The Vuvuzela Horn twitter feed is ridiculously silly yet funny.
Shout out to Decatur lawyer Mark Howell for dropping off some home grown tomatoes. Maybe my favorite food in the world.
One thing I left out about Vegas: The number of Asians visiting that place is amazing.
Tom Hicks was drawing a $180,000 salary from the broke Texas Rangers? As much money as he's made (he still lives in the most expensive home in Dallas), was it all worth it to have your reputation drug through the mud in the end?
AnObiter got stung by a Wise County wasp and swelled up like Oprah Winfrey.
Channel 5's Mike Snyder will have his ~~lost~~ last broadcast on Thursday. Get ready for an epic meltdown between he/him and Jane.
Steve Carrell leaving The Office.
If actually been doing Billy Blanks Tae Bo routine and it's not bad. Except I (1) have no rhythm and (2) always refer to him as Billy Blaze in honor of Night Shift. (Whatever happened to Michael Keaton, by the way?)
Mavericks President Donnie Nelson is going to Germany to tell Dirk Nowitzki that the team loves him and would love to re-sign him. Really? They have to kiss up that much to him even after paying him $18 million last year for another failed season?

6.29.2010

Are The Cops Going cRaZeEE?

In the squad car with the video camera rolling. What could possibly go wrong? Story.

Oh, My

And tell me this sentence isn't a kick in the gut: "Kocab's wife is due to give birth next week, while Curtis leaves behind his wife and four sons, ages 9, 6, 5 and 8 months." Full story.

I've Avoided . . .

. . . the teacher/student scandal for awhile, but I can't pass this up. One month and four different teachers in Tuscon? Sheesh. Obviously, those on the right used some poor judgment. Those on the left must be criminals. Everyone knows that.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts: Vegas Edition

This is a continuation from below.

We flew U.S. Airways and, amazingly, both flights were on time. (Although their counter workers look stressed and upset all the time.)
Ex-Cowboy Darren Woodson was on the plane - flying coach.
Stayed at the Venetian which has a canal running along high tone shops on the second floor which is above the casino. I have no idea how they do that.
Running a casino would be a monumental undertaking. They are little cities within themselves.
I had always thought of Vegas basically catering to people in their 30s and 40s. It seems more like people in their 20s and 30s now. Or maybe I'm just getting older.
Going to get the marriage license was a trip. The clerk's office is open 24 hours a day and there were at least five other couples there when we got our license. Kind of funny to see one couple come in behind us, spend about five minutes with the application, and then turn around and walk out.
Jumped in a cab right afterwards and decided to go to Freemont Street. The cab driver replied, "Uh, you're already here."
On that street we ran into the Fake Bret Michaels. Funny.
The next night we ran into two fake guys from The Hangover. Very funny.
The night club line at the hotel was insane (we didn't even try to get in.) It had to be a two hour wait and maybe more. No. Way.
I got up around 6:00 the next morning to walk around the casino. Never before have I seen so many couples and singles staggering back to their rooms like they had been run over by a truck.
After the wedding, we decided to eat lunch at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant at the hotel. One thing I don't care about, and am extremely cheap about, is food. But I decided to celebrate with a ridiculously priced lobster sandwich ($28). After my first bite, I might have pulled out a paraphrased John Travolta's "milkshake line" as he ate at the diner in Pulp Fiction with Uma Thurman.
Since I was wearing a suit and had a couple of minutes to kill at one point, I decided to stand in the casino and scan the place like I owned it. I was immediately bombarded with people asking for assistance. I bailed.
On the morning we're leaving, I'm up again at the crack of dawn walking around the casino. In kind of a secluded area (since the crowd wasn't up yet), I hear a voice from behind me say, "Hello, handsome." I turn around and it's a hooker! I almost spit out my drink because the whole scene made me laugh which prompted a "Was that that funny?" from her. I then ran away. (Well, walked, but you know what I mean.)
I'm not a gambler because I don't like the odds. But as we were leaving I decided to do something which I had never done: Put $100 on the roulette wheel for one spin. We couldn't decide on red or black so we flipped a coin. (See how scientific this is?) Having chosen red, I let Mrs. Liberally Lean place the bet. Man, it was so fun to watch her face. I expected to lose but moved closer to the wheel to watch that little white ball come to rest .... on .... red. Vegas, baby!

6.28.2010

Don't Get Used To Posts Like This

Ok, let me tell you what I did this weekend. I got married. Yep. Legal and everything. She's already looked for a loophole, but I've got this deal wrapped up tight.

We had both done this, uh, "wedding thing" before and, in our eyes, that ruled out a big formal ceremony. So what's the opposite? Vegas. The Little White Chapel. Schtick. Fun. Tenderness.

The Famous Little White Wedding Chapel may be one of the cheesiest and sweetest places in America. But at first glance you have to say to yourself, "Look at that place! You call that romantic?" I don't blame you for thinking that. I certainly did once the limo dropped us off there.

Of course, things got much better when the soon to be Mrs. Liberally Lean walked through the door and the staff said, "You look like a Barbie Doll!"

But the minister was the sweetest, grandfather type you've ever seen who had worlds of advice and treated the ceremony with dignity, respect and reverence. There's actually about three chapels in there and we, for obvious reasons, ended up with one of the smaller/intimate ones. That guy was so great. Doors shut. Nice music in the background. Beautiful flowers everywhere. Never before have I gone from "I'm not so sure about this place" to "This is the greatest moment of my life" in such a short period of time.

And then we topped it off with a photographer who unintentionally sounded just like Borat. He put the icing on the cake when he told Mrs. Liberally Lean (who wonderfully tricked up the event by wearing a tiara to complement a gorgeous dress), that "You 'ave funny 'usband."

As were were getting our pictures taken outside, a tourist couple walked by and immediately stopped down to watch us. During a quick down time, we asked them where they were from. They told us "Columbia" and I, for some reason, blurted out, "I just watched a documentary on Pablo Escobar!" That prompted the couple to look at each other with a confused look and Mrs. LL to look at me with big eyes and fire off a quiet, "What's wrong with you?"

The wedding was absolutely, 100% fun. And that's the way it should be.

(More detailed observations about the weekend later.)

"How 'bout that ride in?" (That's for fans of The Hangover who kept up with me this weekend. I'll dedicate a post to it later. Promise.)
I missed the coverage of the funeral this weekend for the Lancaster cop killed last week, but apparently a lot of officers were not pleased with the decision to give a police escort to his deceased killer who was the son of the Dallas Police Chief. Don't most processions have a cop or two helping out?
It's odd, but I don't see a lot of funeral processions any more.
It's brutal over at the City of Bridgeport. It has eliminated 25 jobs this year including 10 over the weekend. Wow.
It's political death morning: Former Texas governor Dolph Briscoe and senile long term Senator Robert Byrd.
And I hope she doesn't join that club: Former teen sensation Jennifer Capriati was hospitalized yesterday due to an overdose. Jogging in the afternoon was probably a bad idea.
I tried to watch the season premiere of Entourage last night but was too sleepy to make it through it.
Michael Douglas' ex-wife says their divorce decree entitles her to 1/2 of his income off the upcoming Wall Street 2 movie. (The article throws down Douglas' character's famous line, "Greed . . . is good."
Ghana? We got beat by Ghana?
This is abbreviated, I know. I'll make it up to you.

6.25.2010

I'm A Superstar With A Question Mark Over My Head

Just found this on the ground.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

What? You no like car washers?
Isn't it odd that General Petraeus has to be confirmed by Congress to lead the troops in Afghanistan. Is that in the Constitution? Shouldn't the Commander in Chief have the authority to pick whomever he wants without interference?
46 American soldiers killed in Afghanistan this month.
Does anyone in Decatur know how a four way stop works?
I know I can't convince anyone to watch the College World Series if you are not already inclined to do so, but you should. Last night OU was one run a head in the bottom of the 12th with 2 out and 2 strikes on the batter. Ten minutes later they were eliminated.
Al Roker irritates me to death.
11 straight for your Texas Rangers.
After the late afternoon rain yesterday, the streets were actually steaming. And I mean a lot of it. I halfway expected zombies to appear.
NFL quarterback Mark Brunell has earned over $52 million. And he is declaring bankruptcy today.
I'm traveling today and will be out of pocket but I'll check the comments on my fancy phone as often as I can. And you might want to check out my twitter feed over the weekend -- I promise something interesting.
I watched the first 30 minutes of ESPN's The Two Escobars last night. Absolutely fascinating. If you are fan of Cocaine Cowboys and/or Blow, you'll love this.
Technology is cheap. Take a look at this comparing what a weekly salary would buy you in 1964 compared with today. Shocking.
I'm proud of myself for knowing why the Earth's tilt and position created the longest day of the year this week -- I could actually take a globe and explain it. But I'm equally ignorant as to why we have new moons and full moons -- and even more confused by a "lunar eclipse" we are having this weekend.
A very well known and smart Houston lawyer who is widely read fired off an angry tweet last night after getting out of trial. (F Bomb warning). Man, he might want to rethink that.