Today's My Birthday

Yep, 29 and counting.

Do you know what a "wiki" is? Ever played with one? I've been using tiddlywiki as a personal journal for a little while now and I'm amazed at what it can do. It starts as one file and grows from there. You can pack a ton of info into it, it indexes stuff, you can search, store etc etc etc.

It just blows me away with it's simplicity and it's power. Head on over to TiddlyWiki and try it out. Just look at it and learn a little bit. You may want to try it. I've got mine set up with a calendar plug-in that lets me enter stuff by clicking a date. It's just way hippy.

Oh...and it's free. Oh...and it fits on a little thumb drive so you can take it anywhere.

New Year Resolution time

OK, so one of my resolutions is to re-start my blogging. I pledge to do that starting today. It may not be a first thing in the morning affair, but I plan on doing one post a day. Here's what I did yesterday......

WooHoo Dynamo!

Congrats to the Houston Dynamo, the MLS Champions!!! They won in a shootout after double overtime. The best thing is, they're Orange. Folks in the stands wave giant orange checkerboard flags (wonder where they got those?), the manager just showed up in a orange blazer (hmmm....) and now all they need is a coon dog to cheer them on.

Way to go Orange!

Texas Weather

This time of year we get "fronts" moving through that dramatically change our temperatures. Unlike other places where they just happen, here in Texas you can see them and know exactly when the wind is going to change and the temp drop. This is a picture from my truck as I cross a bridge on the way to work.

Please, no smart comments about driving and photography....you have to sacrifice for your art...

Test Post

Just checking to see if this new method works....

I ran out of ideas....

This is an x-ray of my briefcase, in case any of you were wondering what I carry daily.

More Morristown

It appears to be like a 7 part series on Morristown. I didn't think there was enough info about Morristown to make 7 series. Jeff City maybe...but Morristown?

What's next, an expose' on Tuckyhoe? A 3 part series on famous people who live in Mascot? A heart warming personal story on Straw Plains?

You East Tennessee'rs get all the good pub.

Morristown Article

The Houston Chronicle had a big article today (front page)about illegal immigration and an uproar in Morristown. It was odd reading about Morristown on the front of the Houston paper.

They also showed a map of M'Town with what (according to the map) are your only two businesses. A chicken deboning plant and a chicken slaughtering plant.

They interviewed people in trailers, mentioned the KKK and racism. So that pretty much covers you hillbillies. It seemed a little one-sided....

Happy Birthday...

There are a lot of celebrity birthdays today. I like celebrity birthdays cause it always surprises me how old tv stars have gotten while I stayed relatively the same age....

Chuck (Johnny B. Goode) Berry is 80 today. Keith (Whoa Nelly) Jackson is 78. Mike (I'll rip your head off if you run up the middle) Ditka is 67. And...Mork's wife, Mindy (Pam Dawber) is 55 today. 55! Na-Nu, Na-Nu.

Bug Shot

Bug picture I took. Woohoo.

Cool photo

Ever wonder what happens to the big orange external tank that is jettisoned from the space shuttle as it gets to orbit? It floats back down to earth and is burned up in re-entry. Here is a picture from the last shuttle misison that shows it floating down over European farmland. This photo was taken from the shuttle. Cool huh?

My dream car

Two great Rock-n-Rollers have birthdays today. Chubby Checker is 65, and Ashlee Simpson is 22 today.

And yes, that was the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile. What gave it away? Were the words "weinermobile" on the bumper a clue?

Guess what car this is?

I get to see some awesome stuff sometimes.....

Astros Win The Pennant

OK, not quite yet, but by the weekend for sure. They are only 2 and a half games out after making up 6 games in one week. They will beat the Cardinals in a one game playoff at Minute Maid Park. You heard it here first.

I'm at a motel on a lake in Texas. The view is beautiful but the gnats and mosquitoes are fearsome. I forgot what living on the water was like. My room is full of gnats. My coffee is full of gnats. My nostrils are full of...wait...achooo.... Well they used to be full of gnats. At least the river rats haven't climbed the balcony yet.

Weekend Wrapup

I know it's a longshot, but we said they have to sweep the Cardinals and they did in very dramatic fashion. Wow. I still believe the wild card is possible, maybe even the Division. Only 3 1/2 out and there are still 7 games to go....

The Texans weren't quite so fortunate. Ouch, ouch, ouch. They looked horrible.

On the college front, it was an ok weekend. Arkansas/Alabama was an interesting game. "Wide Right" ain't just FSU anymore...

On this day in 1775 Ethan Allen was captured by the British during the Revolutionary War while attacking Montreal. He recovered to start and lead a successful expensive furniture company. What I want to know is...Montreal is in Canada. Were we trying to capture Canada?

In 1956, the first Trans-Atlantic telephone cable was layed. The first Trans-Atlantic busy signal soon followed.

I'm on the move this week so postings will really depend on what the hotel means by "Internet accessible".

Look Up

The place I love to go (and I don't usually plug outside websites) is www.heavens-above.com. This website has all the satellite sightings, shuttle, station, flares, etc etc etc. It's amazing how much stuff, and time, is put into this website. If you get a chance go visit it. Wander around til you get to ISS (International Space Station)sightings and it'll show you in detail the best opportunities. It's an awesome reasource and always accurate. I've used it to see itty bitty satellites that I never knew existed. One night I stood outside for like 30 minutes and saw something like 8 things float by. I never knew you could do this. I was (and still am) amazed.

Here is a link to the best sightings of Space Station from Knoxville. (there is a good one tomorrow.)

Easy, Easy

I could hear the tension in your voices last Thursday and now I know why. AAARGGGH. Why do we always make Florida look like a good team? And I don't know thwe final tally but we probably rushed for negative yards. And sacks weren't the problem. Except for that last one AAARgh.

Overall we played pretty good. But the running game stunk. There were a few holes and we missed them. It was just sad. Fortunately Notre Dame lost so I feel a little better.

Texas A&M was the luckiest this weekend. They were ahead late over Army who had played very, very well. A&M went for it with 4th and 2 around their own 30 with about 2 minutes to go. (Why not punt????) Army stuffed them for a 5 yard loss. Army worked it down until a goal line stand saved A&M. Dumb, dumb decsion by A&M coaching staff. Horrible decision. Reminded me of a fake punt tried against Georgia that cost us the game 30 years ago.

Aaaaarghgh!

I "upgraded" to a fancier, newer version of blogger a while back and ever since I did posting pictures has become a real chore. Most of the time it acts like it's working, but never finishes. This has really impacted my desire to blog. It takes some time anyway, but trying to do it and having the software not cooperate is really frustrating. Hopefully it will get fixed soon. I just tried uploading a new cartoon and it won't work.


AAAAAARRRGH!!!!

Whew!

It's really nerve wracking to follow a game by only looking at the ESPN tickler on the bottom of the tv screen. You see us behind, then ahead, then way ahead and start to relax. Then all of a sudden it's almost tied. And then you cringe as the next update rolls around.

Glad we hung in there. We dropped to 13 in the polls but that is ok. We'll do better after beating Florida this weekend.

The Pig

Way back in 1979, ESPN was born on this day. Yes Virginia, there was a day when you didn't have eleventeen football games on tv every Saturday. There was the Wide World of Sports....and one game on Saturday. ...and that game was usually Notre Dame vs somebody or Army/Navy....it was a dark, dark time.

Yesterday, way back in 1916, the first self-service grocery store opened in Memphis Tennessee. Before that, you asked a clerk to go get your stuff. Now, you can get whatever you want your ownself. Was it a HEB? Kroger? Safeway? Randalls? Nope, it was my favorite chain...Piggly Wiggly. You can get official Pig t-shirts off their web-site. A great gift idea....

The smokehouse picture is from Lost Creek golf course. You overthunk it....

The Pig

Way back in 1979, ESPN was born on this day. Yes Virginia, there was a day when you didn't have eleventeen football games on tv every Saturday. There was the Wide World of Sports....and one game on Saturday. ...and that game was usually Notre Dame vs somebody or Army/Navy....it was a dark, dark time.

Yesterday, way back in 1916, the first self-service grocery store opened in Memphis Tennessee. Before that, you asked a clerk to go get your stuff. Now, you can get whatever you want your ownself. Was it a HEB? Kroger? Safeway? Randalls? Nope, it was my favorite chain...Piggly Wiggly. You can get official Pig t-shirts off their web-site. A great gift idea....

The smokehouse picture is from Lost Creek golf course. You overthunk it....

The Pig

Way back in 1979, ESPN was born on this day. Yes Virginia, there was a day when you didn't have eleventeen football games on tv every Saturday. There was the Wide World of Sports....and one game on Saturday. ...and that game was usually Notre Dame vs somebody or Army/Navy....it was a dark, dark time.

Yesterday, way back in 1916, the first self-service grocery store opened in Memphis Tennessee. Before that, you asked a clerk to go get your stuff. Now, you can get whatever you want your ownself. Was it a HEB? Kroger? Safeway? Randalls? Nope, it was my favorite chain...Piggly Wiggly. You can get official Pig t-shirts off their web-site. A great gift idea....

The smokehouse picture is from Lost Creek golf course. You overthunk it....

Mystery Shed

Anybody know what this is a picture of??? Where it was taken???

It's Here

Much to the chagrine of my wife...football season is here. I vow not to be glued to the tube this year, but I do enjoy an occasional game.

Looks like CN got off to a good start already with a 44-0 thrashing of Webber International. I thought those guys just made b-b-q grills.

I'm a little worried about Cal. This could be a really tough openener. Let's hope we got a few things figured out.

Feetball Preview

It officially starts tonight. High school and college games are all over the place. So it's time for the big Feetball preview. Here we go...

Big 12: Oklahoma reels from the loss of it's QB. It's enough to ruin their season. Nebraska is good but not quite good enough. Texas A&M likes their QB but nothing else. They pull together a nice, if not spectacular season. Texas dreams of a repeat, but there's no Vince. They lose three in a surprise. Baylor wins six in a surprise. So who is it??? Who wins the Big 12???

Texas Tech shines in all aspects. New QB sets records all over the place and defense is surprisingly good. Tortillas fly. Red Raiders win the Big 12 in an upset and make a fairly big splash nationally.

Nationally: Ohio State is good, but loses two. Notre Dame is a bust and loses five. That's right, five. The ROT returns to prominence and finishes second in the SEC to the New National Champion....Auburn.

That's it...enjoy the season

Last Year This Time

It's the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, if you didn't already know that. It's amazing how much damage that one storm did. It's also amazing at how many folks are still struggling after a year. But I suppose that shouldn't really be a surprise, considering the devastation. The whole thing is just unbelievable.

Rain, Rain, Rain

It rained hard, hard, hard on Saturday and I stayed wet all day. We had a soccer tournament among other things. It's like real futbol where you play regardless of the weather. It's just hard to move the ball when it's sitting in 8 inches of water. The worse part as a coach is that your feet stay wet all day. I finally ditched my socks and just went with shoes. But my feet hurt and were one big wrinkled mess.

I'm glad I was never a soldier and had to march for three days in the rain.

It did clear up enough for the balloon festival to continue. I'll post a few pictures in the next couple of days. This website has had some difficulty in posting pictures the last couple of weeks.

Still searching

I'm still searching for the perfect online information source for the Vols. It's not Knoxnews for sure. I may find it in a small town paper like the Wartburg Times or something.

We have a big balloon festival this weekend. It's pretty cool to see a hundered or so hot air balloons flying by at one time. I've taken three flights but I've retired from flying. I'm not real great with heights and I remember that shortly after we takeoff. My memory is better this year.

No Help

I'm sorry, but thanks for the suggestion. There's no way I could read the Nashville paper for Tennessee Vols news. First, it's Vanderbilt Country so they'd be biased not perfectly impartial like the Knoxville paper. Secondly, Nashville stole our Oilers so I can't act like I like them.

I could read the Maryville paper, if it contained any actual articles. How about the Chattanooga paper? I seem to remember they had good coverage of fastpitch softball. Do they cover the Vols too? Are they free?

Astros Woes

We are now like 7 games out of the wild card race. Which doesn't sound impossible except there are 45 teams between us and the wild card. Everybody in the National League stinks. We still have hope.

How's Big Orange football coming along? I don't get to read too much about it cause KnoxNews requires you to pay to read about Tenn football. Their whole site is free except for Tenn football. I can read about any worldly event, not just how our offensive line is shaping up.

The snake house isn't mine. It was a fellow employees house, they just wanted me to tell them what kind of snake it was. That's part of my job you see, snake handling. It is a rat snake. Apparently, the homeowner used to have rats.....

Texas Wildlife

Ever had a snake like this on your house????

Napolean!

Today is Napolean Bonaparte's birthday, stick one hand in your shirt day. And...way, way back in 1969 the Woodstock Music and Art Festival opened in New York. In remembrance of Woodstock, walk around in mud and don't wash your feet for three days.

Alex was 27 yesterday and he's still single. His momma cooked supper for him yesterday, and today he had to go to work. Welcome to old age dude.

WooHoo! Undefeated!!!!

Based on what I saw Saturday evening, I think it's pretty clear that the Texans....are going to the Super Bowl!!!!! That's right, we hammered the Chiefs. Rookie Mario Williams scared them so bad he didn't even have to make a tackle! We beat 'em bad! We are undefeated! WooHoo!

Today's birthdays include Magic Johnson who is 47....and David Crosby aint so Young, he's 65 today.

Big Day

On this day back in 1992, the Mall of America in Minnesota opened. It was the largest Mall in the United States of America. It has been a dream destination of my wife ever since. I wonder if they have specially soft benches for the guys to sit on? Do they run marathons in there?

I Survived

I survived the management retreat. It was pretty good and the hotel was alright. It sure wasn't luxurious or anything. I didn't get to play golf or poker or anything, just work.

Today is the first day of school. Next year they are going back to school on July 4th and the year after that they will end their summer vacation on January 10th.

I hate these short summers...

Boonies

This hotel is pretty well out there in the boonies. Its what we call a "one bar" hotel. That means you only get one bar on your cell phone signal. When you call someone you usually get half the call finished before you get dropped off. You see folks walking around looking at their phone trying to find a "sweet spot". Does it sound like we are technology addicts? Yep for sure.

Headed Out

I'm headed out for a "managament retreat" for a couple of days. Expect a lot of flip charts, some synergy, and problem resolutions. I actually like these retreats cause getting away from the office helps me think.

My wife likes them also. She calls them vacations for herself. Until I get back of course. Then she claims how hard it was without me so I have to take the kids. So she manages to work it all into 2 vacations.

She's a lot smarter than me.

Impress Your Friends

Want a cheap Heads Up Display like all the fighter pilots have? Follow along with me.

Copy a map from Mapquest or any of the mapping services. Paste it into Microsoft Paint. Hit CTRL-R, (or "image", "flip vertical"). This will show your map backwards, and inside out. Then print it. You MAC users just have to figure which program will invert the image then print it.

Then put this piece of paper on your dashboard. You will get a reflection on your windshield that is a perfect map! It's a Heads Up Display! It actually works awesome. If you want to get fancy put a little flashlight under it to make it even brighter.

You'll never have to hunt for that map again or divert your eyes from the road. Thank the great folks at Lifehacker for the idea.

Troubles....

I saw where another UT footballer got arrested yesterday, this time for flashing a toy uzi at a police officer. Jim Bob Cooter is still out and will miss the opener. All I hear down here is about LSU, Auburn, a little Florida etc. There is no mention of the Big Orange as a contender. Is it going to be another down year? Are we really that bad?

Floyd Landis looks like he won't be cleared of doping charges and now Justin Gatlin is involved. What is it? Is it the money, or the fame? I have no problem keeping track of what goes into my body why can't they? Are they just cheaters?

As long as Miss Debbies don't start adding testosterone to their recipe I suppose I'll be ok...

More Pics

When I get lazy I post pictures cause I don't have to write anything. I just have to pretend they have "some reason" to be there.

Furry Friends

I took this picture at work the other day...

We'll Be on TV Today

You'll probably see us on tv on the news tonight. It's raining today and will flood. We're expecting about 10 inches today. It doesn't drain fast enough so some homes and a lot of cars will go under water. It'll look like chaos on tv.

Folks will be interviewed who say "I was just driving and saw some cars go in the water and then all of a sudden I stalled out and had to get help from that guy over there to get out. It was scary." Reporters will wade up to people's homes who will say "We've had high water before but never nothing like this. I mean we are still fixin' up after last month's rains but it was never this high. I got water two foot high all thru the house."

You heard it here first. The poor folks who live in low lying areas will get flooded again. They don't have insurance cause nobody will insure those areas. They live there cause the houses are cheaper...cause they flood. And poor folks get knocked back to zero every time they try to get ahead. It's sad.

Cool PIc

Irritating the French, Part Ocho

Eight years in a row now Americans have won the Tour de France. This year they really wanted somebody else to win, but Floyd Landis did the incredible and pulled off the victory. Nice job.

Tiger won the Open yesterday but I didn't watch. Just had other things to do. Somehow I figured he would win. I suppose you don't see him collapse very often.

Wonder how th Big Orange is shaping up? I heard that Florida, Auburn, and LSU are being touted as the SEC's best this year.

Went to a Dog Show on Saturday cause my kids have puppy fever real bad. Please don't encourage them or mention it. It sends them into hour long whines. Saw lots of weirdo dogs, some big enough to ride, some that inspired the phrase "dog ugly", and some that had so much hair they couldn't possibly see where they were walking. All in all, it wasn't nearly as painfully boring as I expected.

Amazing Floyd

Floyd Landis did the impossible yesterday. He made up 8 minutes in the Tour de France. That's the equivalent of lapping the field in the 1600 meters at the Olympics. All anyone can figure is that when he made his move (very early in the race) that no one thought he could do this so they let him go to burn out. But he never burned out. He just kept accelerating and riders kept dropping off.

Does anybody else in the country follow the Tour? In Texas, you are used to watching it because of Lance....

Shivers

You know those little PlayStation Portable game consoles? You know, walk around and play handheld games...

I just figured out they have wireless capability. I mean, you can get them to work through your existing wireless network, just like a computer. You can browse the internet on one of those little suckers. You can go to Starbucks and read the NY Times on your Playstation Portable.

And the graphics are great. Extremely clear resolution on pictures etc. You can watch internet video, very clearly on one of these.

The Nintendo handheld games don't have browser capability yet, but you can connect wirelessly on them too, and play Mario GoCart with anybody else anywhere in the world. Amazing. I got shivers.

Oh, these kids. They're gonna take over the world.

I'm Breathless

Dick Button turns 77 today. Can you say double sow-cow, triple toe loop, double axle? Whoever came up with those names? I mean really? Did Dick and Peggy Fleming sit around and try to think up weird names for skating jumps? What skinny little skater wanted to be called a sow-cow?

How about some new names...."Tara is setting up her next combination..there it is!....a double bloated pig into a triple heel spinner followed by a half circle looper to a double double hooty. Wonderful...."

Whut?

Them NASA people have some weird stuff around....

Feetball "Sheeps"

Torbush Returns

Carl Torbush, former Texas A&M defensive coordinator, was re-hired by Carson-Newman yesterday. Torbush was a CN grad before he landed his first big job....as a Carter Green Hornet. Then he went to CN, Carolina, Bama, and finally became an Aggie. Now he's come full circle. I expect he'll work wonders as assistant coach of the Eagles.

Politics

Way back in 1804, when duels were still fairly common, the Vice President of the U.S. Aaron Burr shot the Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton on this day. Hamilton was mortally wounded. Can you imagine two top cabinet members squaring off today? Ever hear somebody say that civility in politics is at an all time low? I think not. You probably won't see cabinet members pacing off these days...

First photo

Here's a shot that shows how close we actually got. I have a zoom lens of course, but we were pretty close.

I'm trying to figure a way to post the other shots so you can look if you want, without it appearing as if I'm showing boring vacation pictures...

In other news...how about that North Korea? Can't feed people, but we can shoot long range missiles, sort of. That Kim Son Il, or whatever his name is, is a real work of art. He's the first dictator I've seen who can rule millions of subjects in a truck mechanic jumpsuit.

Home again, home again

Great to be back home and not eating at Arby's. I'll have some pictures to post in a day or two. This is my first post from a "dashboard widget" on my wife's Mac-Mini. It's amazing to me that you can type in a little box, hit publish, and it goes to the blog seamlessly. Amazing.

Fire works

Yesterday we saw launch of the space shuttle, then went to the beach. Last night we saw fireworks on the beach. It was kind of an all american 4th. It would only have been better if we'd had hot dogs on the beach. We did have pulled pork fron sonny's bar-b-q so that was the next best thing.

Launch

Saw launch today from a fifth floor balcony at the vehicle assembly bldg at the cape. Was nervous til t minus 31 seconds then I knew we were going. It was beautiful.

Try, try again

No launch on saturday. Today we went on the bus but by the time we got to our spot we just turned around and came home. Way too many clouds today. Looks like we'll try on July 4th for the third time. That sounds like a winner. I keep thinking that the odds are getting better and better each attempt. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Launch fever

Spent the day at kennedy space center. Saw STS-121 sitting on the pad. Took a tour etc and I'm getting a little excited about saturdays launch. Weather aint great but we'll see.

USA Today says 177 Tennessee national gaurd have volunteered to help patrol the mexican border in texas. Its a big border and might take a few more than that. This might seem cynical but I'm not that worried about the Mexican border. Its those pesky Canadiens that concern me. I never did like hockey or those mounties hats. Are they British? English? French? Let's watch the northern border, texas can handle our part.

On the road

In new orleans headed towards florida for the launch of the space shuttle on july 1st. Still lots of work going on around here with roofs etc. Iife appears to be returning to normal but the reports we're hearing say the french quarter may be a little sporty these days. The national gaurd has been deployed and there is a lot of stealing, looting etc. Local folks say they aren't real excited about nightime activities there. But businesses are back and quite a few people are around.

Tomorrow we head towards the cape on a long driving day. Hope the nintendos are fully charged.

All my favs are gone...

It was knockout weekend for me in the World Cup. The US, Mexico, and the Netherlands have all gone packing. I still sort of like England, kinda like Argentina, and could always root for Brasil if need be. It appears to me to be a lot like the NCAA basketball tourney. Upsets happen in the early games but the big dogs settle in for the later rounds.

Ghana will exit tomorrow when they play Brasil, which would've been the US's fate anyway. Mexico played great but couldn't win. The Netherlands should've won by 2 or 3 but couldn't keep from hitting the crossbar on open shots.

Flame Out

OK, so Ghana (wherever that is) whupped us in soccer and we're out. Now we just have to cheer for the Orange. Dissappointing game.

The Rocket is back. This is the first step towards this years World Series championship, the first for Houston.

Dallas lost the basketball championship. Sad for them.

El Tri Is In!

Mexico has advanced to the 2nd round! And they lost both games they played! That's what you have to love about futbol. You can never figure out what it takes to advance.

Their coach was pelted with rocks boarding the team bus, after they qualified to advance.

My favorite team is still the Netherlands. All Orange all the time. Even orange socks.

World Cup Madness

Tough Question

Inking the Post

Irony

Paul McCartney turns 64 on Sunday. I wonder if he'll be banging his head with Maxwell's Silver Hammer....

Beware the Couch

We bought a couch about 6 months ago and today I decided to remove the tags. We like to leave them on for a while (a la Minnie Pearl) so the stuff still seems new. One tag I took off was a "Safety Warning".

I thought to myself what dangers are inherent in couches? You might fall off? Get fat watching tv? Muscle atrophy from lying prone? Drown in slobber after falling asleep?

Turns out it's a warning that the couch will burn if you put flame to it. It warns against smoking on the couch, putting it too close to a candle or trying to mend your car fender with a blowtorch while watching the Astros in high def. So I suppose it's a good warning, although I would've figured out that flame to the fabric was probably a bad idea in the first place. Anyway, no smoking on my new couch please....

Braves get Smoked

Went to the Astros game yesterday with the Jeff City crowd. It was a perfect game to watch. There were 7 or 8 homers, 27 total hits, and the Astros won 14-4. Balls were flying out all over. Jeff Francouer of the Braves hit two balls over 420 feet and both were caught. The pitcher of the Braves got hit in the head by a line drive (ouch). All in all, it was exciting.

Our guests got to eat a BBQ tater, a Dome Dog, cotton candy, peanuts and more. They got to sing "God Bless America", "Take Me Out To The Ballgame", and "Deep in the Heart of Texas" during the 7th inning stretch.

And we followed it up with a pork-out on fajitas at Pappasito's. A great day......

Seeing as I'm a renaissance man and apprecaite sophisticated, international things.... herewith are my predictions for the premier sporting event in the World. Volunteer fans bear with me, but soccer or "futbol" is important to a lot of folks.

Group A: Poland upsets Germany in the shocker of the tourney. The host country doesn't make it out of round 1.
Group B: England struggles with Trinidad and Tabasco, England advances.
Group C: Visions of Maradonna dance in their head, Argentina advances.
Group D: Angola puts up a great fight but the Tri-Colores advances...Mexico it is.
Group E: Italy is strong but the good Old US of A is stronger. Americans move on.
Group F: They advance cause their fans are the funniest. Brazil.
Group G: What, no France? Switzerland in an upset.
Group H: Underachiever Spain sits again. Ukraine advances.

My favorite team? Besides the US? It's the Netherlands. Go Big Orange. More predictions after Group play concludes.

Today is Princes' 48th birthday and Tom Jones 66th birthday. Now that you mention it, they do sort of look alike...

We have Tennessee guests coming in this weekend so we'll catch up on everybody's personal history. I hope you don't have any secrets cause we'll hear about 'em....

Us in Your Paper

Walters State eliminated San Jac yesterday and is headed to the championship game. Clear Creek's quarterback last year, J.P. Padron, was listed as getting a big hit for San Jac. So one of our local boys made the Knoxville paper.

And Big Orange girls beat UCLA, Fran and Ollie yesterday to advance in the women's softabll series. Nice job.

Coincidence...NOT

On this day...in 1796 Tennessee became the 16th state.

And....today is also Andy Griffith's birthday.

Coincidence. Hardly.

Softball!!!

I heard where the Lady Vols were in the College World Softball Series, or whatever they call it. Congrats.

And in a weird coincidence...San Jacinto College, our local powerhouse JUCO got whupped in the JUCO College World Series by.....Walters State. This is the first time I've seen Walters State in our paper. But don't worry, the Ravens will eventually prevail. Any Team that can boast alumni of Andy Pettite and Roger Clemens can't be all bad.

Here's a sports shot that I "postcarded". It's my favorite photo effect these days.

I'm lazy in the posting department too. It's summer, give me some slack.

Postcard from the edge

A nice shot of the Texas State Capitol, and "stylized" to look like an old postcard. Not bad if I say so myself....

On This Day

In 1813, composer Richard Wagner was born in Germany. Later on in his career he went to work for Sears and invented the electric painting machine.

Would You Have Croaked??

I heard from one of my French friends at work about the Marie Antoinette post. He said back in them days the average life expectancy in France was 30. So the fact they got married at 15 put them smack in middle age. 30. That would make me....well....above average.

I suppose anything out of the ordinary killed you back then. A bad drink of water, a broke toe that gets infected, appendicitis, a beheading, etc...

We forget that modern medicine keeps us going long after normal things would've had us planted in the bone garden. For me, it could've been appendicitis, a broke arm, pnuemonia, and probably a few flu's. Would you have still been around in the 1700's???

On this day....

Way back in 1770, 14 year old Marie Antoinette married the future King Louis who was only 15. Who knew the French Royalty and Tennessee hillbillies had so much in common?

From the "Wow, I'm old" department... Olga Korbut turns 51 today.

And of course, the final three perform on American Idol tonight. Will it be Taylor, Elliot, or Katherine? I get goose bumps just thinking about it.

Whut?

Whew! I ate some really bad anchovy laced pizza late last night. And it didn't sit well. In fact, I woke up in a cold sweat about 3:00am. I had the worst nightmare that really, really scared me.

I dreamed that Chris got voted off American Idol instead of McPheever, Elliot or Taylor. And Reggie Bush was subbing for Ryan Seacrest. The Idol Panel consisited of Charley Casserly, Bob McNair and Vince Young. I bolted up out of bed screaming...

What's up with these choices? Chris was the obvious winner. Obvious. And now he's out? What's the world coming too?

Happy Anniversary

Just the other day (March) I passed a full year of doing this blog. Then it seemed I hit writers block bigtime. I'm doing some self reflection personalization now to see whether I want to continue. A year is a long time but it's become part of my routine.

The second part is I ramble a lot and I just don't think it's that interesting. We'll see.

Summer Coming

Baseball is winding down and we are headed for our full blown summertime here very soon. We had some hail yesterday and thunderstorms today. You can tell it's a slow day when I'm talking about the weather.

The lightning bugs haven't returned.

Amazing Lightning Bugs

Saw the oddest thing last night. According to my neighbors, we don't have many lightning bugs here because the fire ants eat the eggs that are layed on the ground. I have seen a lightning bug only once in Texas.

Last night my better half was headed to the store late and she hollered for us to come outside. There were two lightning bugs that we watched for about 15 minutes. But they were definetly different than the Tennessee version. In Big Orange Country they blink slowly and dimly. They sort of glow.

These two buggers blinked very brightly and fast. It looked more like one of those LED bicycle lights. You could see them a long way off and they looked much bigger than the Tennessee version. It would've been breathtaking had there been a field full of them instead of just two. Anybody ever heard about fast blinking, very bright bugs? They were the standard amber green. Anybody who ever lived down here seen lightning bugs at their place?

Sinus Surgery

Ok,....so the actual surgery didn't really hurt that much. Just uncomfortable. The nightmare part came yesterday during the followup visit. The Doc stuck the 7 foot probe up there and cleaned out all the packing and dried stuff. You know, cleaning the wound.

Sometimes he had a camera and tongs up there, sometimes a camera and vacumn cleaner, once he even inserted a small elf to pick up some pieces. The probe was approximately 7 feet long, it could've been a foot or two longer I'm not sure. Once I felt it bang into the back of my head when he pushed it a little too hard.

He'd do it for 30 minutes or so until I passed out. Then he'd let me rest a few minutes and start again. In the doctors office at 9:30. Out of the office at 1:30. Rod stuck up my nostril in between.

All in all...just like a couple of root canals with no anesthesia. And the best part???? He has to finish it up next week.

North Carolina Whut?

If'n you had told me 6 weeks ago that the Texans wouldn't get Bush or Young I would've been upset that they traded away the number 1 pick. But I was blown away that they actually decided not to take either one and took some guy from NC State. A nice fella mind you, but I hadn't heard of him 6 weeks ago. And he plays defense for goodness sakes.

It feels like we frittered away our pick. Like we really got the number 4 pick or something. I'm in shock and I don't really like pro football that much myself. Wow, this is going to be interesting to see how it works out. It will be painful every time Bush or Vince scores.

And nothing personal, but he made highlight reels in the ACC. Not the Big 12, SEC or even the Big 10. The ACC basketball conference. He sacked Maryland's quarterback. He sacked Wake Forest's quarterback. He might've been able to sack Vanderbilt's quarterback, or maybe one of the Kansas's quarterbacks. He would've been awesome in the Mountain West I bet.

I told you I was in shock....

Strange Weather

Two weeks ago it was 108 degress in Laredo. A cold front? blew thrugh yesterday and the high was 75 here. Is this possible?

It seems like summer has come and gone, winter has come and gone, and now summer is headed back. Weird.

I'm Back

Have been out of pocket for a few days but now I'm baaaaa-aaack. Had minor nose surgery and am feeling ok. Didn't get a new nose, just got the old one roto-rootered. Hope this helps me breath better.

Yesterday was the un-fun day. Go downtown to the horsepital by 5:30am, reemed out by noon, hang out til 5 or so before coming home. Boy, that knockout medicine can sure make your stomach naseous.

Now I am just hanging out and letting my nose bleed.

A few more days watching Oprah and then back to work...

Out of Pocket

I won't be able to post for the rest of the week (most likely). But I was wondering what happened to UT baseball? Seems like I remember they were in the top ten early and now they are nowehere to be found. How's our women's softball doing? Is the big left-hander still around?

Famous Day Here

Eighteen thirty-six,
Sam Houston, San Jacinto,
Twenty minutes done.
Remembered the Alamo.
On this day Texas was born.

It's Earth Thursday

Somethings Wrong

It's an old song, but somethings wrong...

"Daddy played first base, momma played second. Brother and sister were the pitcher and catcher. Shortstop was a good old boy named Sue. Three big homerun hittin' guys, out in the outfield shaggin' flies, brothers Art and Bart and cousin Fargo too."

What's wrong?

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY HATCHET!!

Perfect Bluebonnets

Two for you, Nineteen for me

That's right, today is get your taxes in day. We got a couple of extry days due to Easter but the deadline is finally upon us.

Today is a weird day in history for you numerology fans. On this day in 1790, Ben Franklin passed away. On this day in 1970, Apollo 13 splashed down safely.

And it appears everyone is lining up behind Reggie Bush. The smart money says he's the guy. But will the Texans owner look at season ticket sales numbers and the impact Vince Young would have?

Vince or Reggie

Should the Texans take Vince Young or Reggie Bush as the first pick in the NFL draft? That's the overwhelming debate down here these days. As uninterested observers, what do you think fron the Tennessee perspective?

25th Anniversary of First Shuttle Launch

A quarter of a century ago I stood at the Public Affairs Press Site on Kennedy Space Center and waited for launch. I was worn out, exhausted and anxious. Press from all over the world wandered around. Folks tied up all of the phones as they scrambled to read their story back to their office. A few folks banged away on Radio Shack TRS-80's and plugged them into phones to send their reports in at a screaming 1200 baud rate. How cool. It was a clear, warm Florida morning.

Launch went on time and the Shuttle era was born.

BasketVols???

I see where Knoxville just received an ABA basketball franchise. They are hoping to play there first season next year at Catholic gym. What's next, women's pro football?? (We have it here and have been National Champs three years in a row).

KnoxVegas is becoming quite the sports mecca. Now if you could only get a quality COLLEGE football program you would have something.....

Orange and White

Anybody go to the Orange and White game? I heard we won. I didn't get to see much about it down here. Texas A&M was bragging about 30,000 at there Maroon and White game. How'd we do?

KnoxNews expects you to pay to be able to read interesting stuff about the Vols. I guess everything can't be free.

Yikes

Tony Dorsett turns 52 today. Yikes, I'm old.

1621 Again

On this day in 1621, the Mayflower turned around and came back to Plymouth Rock to check to make sure they didn't leave the stove on. Then they left again for England. Two days later, Jacob Marker was the first to ask "Are we there yet?".

On this day in 1621, the Mayflower left the United States on it's return trip to England. I never thought about it going back but I suppose it did. I wonder what it felt like standing on the shore watching it head back to England. Must have been a queasy feeling.

And odder yet, Howard Hughes died in Houston on this day way back in 1976.

And faithful reader "anonymous" asks "how about in 2106" in response to yesterdays post on 1,2,3,4,5,6. So ok, in 2106 the clock will strike 01:02:03, 04/05/06.....hmmmmm. I think he/she may be right. However, perhaps I should've said it will never happen again in my history. I doubt I see 2106. I suppose it keeps happening in 06 years????

Odd Time

Tomorrow, shortly after 1:00 am, the clock will strike 1:02:03, 04/05/06. This will never, ever happen ever again in history. I don't know if that makes this historic, or just odd. I stayed up for the turn of the century, but I'll probably pass on 1,2,3,4,5,6.

Thanks to one of my faithful readers for pointing this out to me.

Go Big Orange

Seen the inaugural MLS soccer game with the Houston Dynamo beating the Colorado Somethings 5-2 this weekend. What a game. Three headers for a goal, and the game ended on a bicycle kick for a goal. That's the baseball equivalent of Lance Berkman batting backwards and hitting one out. Brian Ching (Ca-Ching!) scored 4 goals, one short of a record. And the best part???? The official colors of the new Houston Dynamos are Black, White and Tennessee Vol Orange. My whole family was able to Orange out for the game.

The Fan Club for the Dynamos are called the Texians and they wave Orange flags that look very similar to the orange checkerboard flags I see at HoundDogs. Everything about them screamed UT Alumni. I think they just grabbed the most rabid, half lit Tennesseans to be Texians. Just like the original 1836 Texians I suppose.

The kids especially liked the confetti canon that fired with every goal. They "collected" confetti and I now have confetti wars at the house. Great Opener Dynamos!!!!