Classic Devo cover

DONKEY

The Waiting

Tom Petty, you sang my life...this week anyway.

The Purge

I still don't know. I lopped off some heads of lettuce in sacrifice to honor the great and almighty HR department at the beloved institution. If that isn't enough, then its just not meant to be.

Emotions can get the best of you

I think I tweaked my wrist punching a heavy bag at the gym. A song came on my MP3 player and made me think of something sinister in my past that happened between the LOS and ANGELES of my time. There is the Kappa and the Alpha, the ski and the bum, the drunk and the stupid, and the Boy and the Scout. Everything else doesn't have an "and the" in it.

Shack is back

One of my oldest friends that I lost touch with said that I was, "all over the place." Honey, you don't even know. Through the miracle of Myspace technology old friends can link up, swap nasty pictures (not that I do this), and send each other well wishes. I like it but I am not addicted to it. One of my other friends is completely obsessed with picking up women on the site. Dude, thats not your best idea you ever prosecuted. Just don't end up on Dateline, and don't judge people harshly based upon how cute or cool they "pimped" their page. Yours sucks by the way.

20,000 miles to an oasis

This is the period of time where I am just so put off with the general malaise of government, politics, and news that I just tune out. I see through it like Superman vision. But I am not Superman, and I don't really know what's happening. R.E.M. stream of reverse conscience if you will. Texarkana is my favorite though. "Catch me if I fall." It is a great song.

When in Rome

It amazes me how completely fooled the general public and especially news viewing public are when it comes to politics. Seems so obvious to me. You want to fight a War? Then fight the damn thing and win, don't just tread blood all over Baghdad. OK, so you cannot win the War. THEN how about we pull back and re-assess. But wait, with so much on the line why didn't we prepare to win, rather than prepare to get bogged down. Makes no sense. The only foreign power to successfully, for lack of a better term, govern that part of the world is the Romans. If you want to be Rome then you better get nasty like they had to. Otherwise, it isn't happening. I can't help but think of Fox News whenever I see the "newsreader" character on the HBO series Rome.

Is it better to burn out?

This morning I was sore from working out. I got out of bed and the first thing I thought of was this line from a Neil Young song, "it's better to burn out, than to fade away." Right now, I look like Patrick Swayze circa 1988, except I still have a little bit of a gut and I do not have a mullet. If I do not get a certain job, I am going to stage a mullet strike. I am going to grow a mullet AND perm it in protest. I wonder if Gandhi ever thought of that one? Doubt it, and because of this I feel superior to him. Eat it Mahatma, pun intended.

Just to update, I am down to 261 but not on a hunger strike. Anyway, I didn't feel so hot this morning but I still feel 20 times better than I did in 2004, 2005, and 2006.

Not Fade Away

I have two grandparents in the nursing home. I am glad in a way that they are still alive, but honestly I would not want to exist that way myself. On second thought, it depends. It depends on how many things I can still do. The thing that would bother me the most would be lack of control over my body, time, and circumstance. For some reason I am thinking about them today and can only wish that they are comfortable. I wanted to insert the "depends" joke somewhere in there, but it is unfortunately not a joke.

Crass as always

When I was child, that was until about 6 months ago if your playing at home on the home game. I will be here 'alls' the week. Welcome to ADHD, an interactive whatever. Anyway, I use to ask my parents if old people lived in storage buildings. My mother still teases me about it, but deep down she knows if she crosses me once more, it's off to the KOA Mini Storage off of Clovis Highway.

Adulthood misconceptions

Maggie tries to kill flies by chasing them around the room and snapping at them. Every once in a while she snags one. It's better entertainment than What's Happening Now, but as talented as my puppy is she cannot stop the avenger called time. She just can't get the wheels around like she use to. I mention the 70's sitcom for a reason. My dog reminds me of the talent of Fred Berry dancing. For those of you that do not know, he was better known as "Rerun", his character on that show. Fred's dead. What I remember about him most is years after the show was canceled, Fred was still dressing up and doing his thing. He wasn't as cool, but he could still do it. That is all that matters.

My point is, we do what we do and more often than not we think we will constantly improve and get better. The truth is one day we will not and the paramount soreness is that one day we may wake up and not be in control. The misconception is that perhaps we do not appreciate our health and present set of circumstances in the now, but something tells me we will wish we appreciated more later.


One More thing

I cannot decide if Neil was correct. Not in the rock n roll lyrical sense only, but in general. Maybe that isn't the purpose at all. Maybe I should stop thinking about song lyrics and what they mean. Never, I will enjoy thinking while I still can. Hey Hey my my.

I feel so good but one thing is missing....

I need More Cowbell.

Coffee talk

Bummer, as the DUDE would put it. I got a fancy coffee maker for Christmas. Its not that I didn't have one already, in fact this gift made the third in my possession. But because of the stature of the person giving the gift, I felt obliged to use it. Frankly, the coffee wasn't all that great. My $25 coffee pot that has seen me through the last 4 years could brew it up perfectly to my taste. Anyway, the fancy one broke down this morning.

Like the many "hot" women I am attracted to, all rife with sexual vitality, in the end they just break down too. It wasn't worth all the fuss anyway. But unlike the $25 coffee maker, I just don't dig the plain women scene. I like them, I just don't want to be with them in a relationship. I wish it was the other way around. I know this makes me shallow in the female mind, but it is what it is. I haven't had any caffeine as of yet, so please hold the harsh rebukes.

All I need is this French press, three remotes and the truth. Thanks to my laziness to not feel the need to dig up the old coffee maker, I finally had some a couple of cups thanks to the trusty French press. U2 music and some coffee, can their be anything finer on a spring day while semi-unemployed?

Abide.

EDIT: It occurred to me that my statement above is indeed shallow. It is what it is, well maybe not. I'm different now, so why should I limit myself to old attractive habits. What I think "IS" may be different. I am hoping so, and I think I might be willing to look into it.

2nd Place out of 52 so far

http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/entry?entryID=2374308&entryIDFrom=2374308

If I wouldn't have been drinking so much kool aid, I would have done the smart thing and picked BC over Tech.

Venison chili

I make venison chili. In fact, I am the best venison chili maker of all all times! My dad may claim different, but he is a weak girly man and cannot stand the pumpatude in the kitchen.

Here are a few venison chili tips. I shall not deliver all of the secrets.

1. Venison without hamhocks is like George without Wheezy. If it don't pack the junk in the trunk, it's just a hatchback, you dig?

2. Carmalize the onions, don't just throw em in.

3. Venison without red wine is blasphemous! Venison with white wine is ignorant.

4. No beans in the chili. Beans in chili is not chili. This should go without saying but there are Yankees in the world that need correction.

5. Tres chilis por favor! I use poblano, serrano, and a mystery chili. It provides a texture of heat like Cinemax soft porn. It's fun but nobody is gonna get hurt.

We lost

Time to get ready for our dominance in the NCAA tournament.

Big 12 Tournament

K-State at 2pm. Atticus maybe wearing some pink today. If we win, we're driving to OKC tomorrow morning. He is looking forward to it.

Big 12 Tournament

Tech plays Colorado at 2pm in Oklahoma City, winner plays K-State tomorrow at 2pm. Tech needs this win to solidify a bid to the NCAA tournament.

YNWA

Kickboxing is pain.

I feel like I got hit by a dump truck today. Last evening after I got home, I moved with the grace of a Clydesdale and the speed of a snail. Whipped.

This morning there is no end to the throbbing. I am going back today. It was alot of fun.

The world needs more Lloyd Dobler

"Kickboxing. Sport of the future."

-Lloyd Dobler

If you do not know who Lloyd Dobler is then you have missed out. For God sakes he got a date with Diane Court.


Today at 5:30pm CST, I begin my kick boxing career. My first match will be against a 43 year old single mother from Smyer. She is going to feel the smoke coming from my guns of fury.

Seriously, it is just a class aimed at cardio conditioning exercise, although I am taking boxing lessons every now and again. I'm shooting for a debut at the O.L. Slaton Junior High Golden gloves classic next October.

The Great White Hope hopes to be not so great by then.

"I am looking for a dare to be great situation."

"I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that. "

"The rain on my car is a baptism, the new me, Ice Man, Power Lloyd, my assault on the world begins now. "

Art imitates Advertising.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/03/05/tv.cavemen.ap/index.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- Those Geico "cavemen" shouldn't be so upset after all -- they may get their own television series.

ABC said Friday it had ordered a pilot for a comedy, tentatively titled "Cavemen," that features the characters used in a series of ads by the insurance company.

In the ads, cavemen appear insulted by a Geico pitchman's claim that the company's Web site is so easy to use that "even a caveman can do it."

The potential series, one of 14 pilots that will be produced by Touchstone Television this spring, features the cavemen as they "struggle with prejudice on a daily basis as they strive to live the lives of normal thirty-somethings in 2007 Atlanta."

It's unusual for characters from an advertising campaign to move into shows of their own, but not unprecedented. The CBS comedy "Baby Bob" featured a talking baby that had been used in several advertisements, according to Daily Variety.

The advertising copywriter who helped create the "cavemen" ads is writing the pilot, the studio said.

A pilot order is no guarantee a show will make it on the air; in fact, the majority of pilots don't make it that far.

Thanks to Helmut for the find.

Bitten nails and broken hearts

That should be enough, but just to make sure I think Tech needs to win a game in the Big 12 Tournament. Anything after that is gravy going into the NCAA Tournament.

What a season. Every win seemed slim and the losses were frustrating. Since Coach Bob Knight came to Lubbock, I thought his best coaching job was getting Tech into the tournament in his first season. Now I believe that this has been his best work. This team lacked the talent to rebound consistently and forced Tech to maximize its opportunities. This team lost 5 games in a row during Conference play, then went to College Station and turned its season completely around.

The record, the eye socket multiple fracture, the big wins at home, Prince-gate, NEBRASKA meltdown, double OT loss to OSU, and owning the poor Aggies. Now I know why people get off a roller coaster, throw up, and then claim that it was great and want to do it again.

I hate the old saying about owning pets, that its just heartbreak waiting to happen. Barring some divine intervention, this season will end with a loss. We all know that, right? Experience as a seasoned Tech fan tells me that it will be a heart breaker. I know it will be some double clutch off the backboard miracle shot, but until that happens I will continue to hope.

I have said this many times, we are the Red Sox of the Big 12. We're lovable and on any given night we can beat anyone, but I am waiting for our one shining moment. We have our Buckners and Yastrzemskis in many a sport around here. We don't exactly have a Curse to exorcise, but it would be nice to win an outright Championship in either Football or Men's Basketball. No offense to the ladies is intended, but its high time for some Men's sport hardware. Hell, even the Sox won. Next will be the Rangers and then what? Baylor!

That would be just great. Baylor wins a Football or Basketball Championship before Tech. What am I saying? If were the Sox, then they are the Cubs. Somehow that makes me feel better, and now I can focus on my bracketology domination.

Weird wild stuff

I was thinking again today. I tend to do that after a few cups of coffee.

Maggie needs a job. That way she could hire somebody to walk her constantly as she demands these days. Not really too much trouble, she just tends to want to walk during an English Premier League match on Fox Soccer Channel. Inevitably, one of the teams scores on some trick shot goal, and I miss it. After watching build up after build up for an hour. I think its okay to miss out, surely nothing will happen. It does. "Bad dog Maggie!"

Demanding? No. Unless you consider that every time a shower is taken or clothes are changed, Maggie thinks its her right to go outside or ride along for a trip. I can't stand the pouting and moping, so I take her along most times. The resale value on my car is the only thing that suffers, and I can handle that.

Great ideas turn bad sometimes. I thought having a garden was going to be alot of fun and cost effective, not to mention having fresh vegetables. Well, now I need to basically turn my entire balcony into a plantation to corral all this stuff busting up through the soil. That doesn't bother me so much, I can deal. But what of the constant watering, warding off pestilence, and cost of all the stuff needed for apartment farming? Knowing me, I think I might ask for an addendum to my renters insurance, just in case of farmer failure. I bet it doesn't work that way. We press on.

I must be getting old. I am actually considering a trip to the farm and garden show at the Lubbock Civic Center because I think it might be fun. Better yet, I might go to Barnes and Noble and get a fancy coffee and pick up a novel. Probably wont do either but instead argue about state politics on the "interweb." Oh wait, I do that almost every day. Black Snake Moan looks interesting. I think watching that movie might set me back a few decades, so I will pass. Besides, I have seen this movie already. Samuel L. Jackson says "mother f*&^er" 47 times and somebody gets shot. Nobody is cool like Jackson, I don't need to spend $10.50 and 2.5 hours to validate that fact. Workout and watch EPL all day it is.

College Basketball season is finally getting great. It is always good, but when March rolls around, I get to take advantage of my friends that think last years Cinderellas are going to do it again. So wrong. This years Cinderella will be Texas Tech, of course! My Final 4 will most likely be: Valparaiso, New Mexico State, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech. Tech wins National Championship over A&M in quintuple overtime. Either that or a Florida and Duke final. No, I'm not growing anything illegal, but there is hemp in my shampoo.

It's all about how I think about things.

I weigh 272 pounds, that is slightly lighter than where I was. To make it more interesting, I have a 7 gallon water container I use to transport reverse osmosis water up three flights of stairs once a week. I have almost lost an entire containers worth of weight since I moved in on the first of December. Imagine, each and every step of your existence carrying 7 gallons of water. I imagine losing another containers worth by July 4th, 2007. That is alot of stress and strife off your body. The key thing is, turning that image into a reality. I'm half way there and all the way healthier than the person that carried all that weight. Once a week when I get a refill for $1.75, I also get a refill of motivation for free.

Will Farrell or Jay?

What's cookin?

I screwed up this dish when my mother visited a few weeks ago, so I had a "redo" last night. It's called Texaner Chicken Baked Potato soup.

3 white potatoes
3 chicken breasts
lemon
1/2 white onion
Fresh Garlic
Cilantro
Poblano pepper
1 can of Tascosa Salsa
Organic Chicken Broth
Salt
Pepper
Oregano

Garnish
Bacon-cooked to crisp and crumbled
Cheddar Jack cheese
Chives

The idea originally was born of my love for German potato leek soup and broadened into more from there. I dice the potatoes first and place them in the crock pot. Next, I add a seedless peeled lemon, cilantro, onion, garlic, Poblano pepper and blend them all together with a blender. I then spoon that out into the pot. Finally, I add 3/4 of a jar of Tascosa salsa, diced chicken breast, and Chicken broth until ingredients are covered by a 1/8 of an inch. Cover and cook for 8 hours at the lowest setting.

Upon serving, I add cheese, bacon, and chives to garnish. If done perfectly, one will first taste the sensation of baked potato and then move into a Southwestern spicy version of chicken potato leek soup.

Enjoy.

Remembering Faded Love.

For some odd reason, I began thinking of my grandparents this morning. By my desk I keep some old photographs of family and I caught a glimpse of this old man in a grey cowboy hat, my grandfather Bill.

Bill liked his high class fashion. In the summer he would show off his cutoff wranglers he made into shorts, boots, pearl snap shirt and straw hat. His legs were as white as snow. So damn funny to think about.

Bill could also be mistaken for being a chef. Nobody in the history of baking put more effort into a batch of sour dough bread than him. Although the real credit probably should go to my grandmother. She was the real brains in the kitchen operation.

I guess there are still parts of the world were cooking isn't a considered a chore of governed by convenience. It was never that way in my grandparents household. It was fun to watch them work, argue, and present a full feast. Sour dough bread, pork roasts, pinto beans, macaroni and cheese, green bean casseroles, and potatoes. Even though they had planned and done it a thousand times before, each meal seemed like it was achieved from the result of a hostage negotiation on television. You know it is going to turn out right, but there must be some drama first.

Stay tuned for these messages.

My favorite memory of my grandad is when he called up the furniture store in town where he bought his Lazy Boy recliner. He complained and convinced them to send a repair man out, because his feet would not touch the floor when he sat in it. The poor man came out and grandad made him saw off a quarter inch of the base so the problem could be fixed. The man did it and after completing the job, I never saw Bill so happy. He sat in it the rest of the day like a Roman consul; grinning, laughing, and calling people on the phone to brag about his coup.

The last time I saw my grandparents together, was while my grandmother was suffering in the last days of her Alzheimer's disease, we went to their anniversary party at an old steak house. My grandad was never in great health in his last 15 years of life. All I can remember about this night is the dancing. They were dressed up and looking sharp. Considering the health they were in, it was amazing to watch them glide and step across the room to the old Western Swing tunes. A Texas man and his sweet bride. I wonder is he knew how lucky he was to have her? I'm guessing he did. I miss them.