I am so excited about WALL-E coming to theaters on Friday. Like almost every self-respecting human being on the planet who has a heart, I adore everything Pixar releases. Since they captured our attention with Toy Story the animated features released under the Pixar name have continued to exceed the viewer's expectations.
I consider every movie they release a hit, but obviously I like some more than others. Here is my rankings for all the Pixar movies.
1. The Incredibles
2. Toy Story
3. Finding Nemo
4. Ratatouille
5. Monsters, Inc.
6. A Bug's Life
7. Toy Story 2
8. Cars
I will re-post this list later to add in WALL-E once I've seen it.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
It is a geek’s world
Not too long ago according to the popular standards set by the media and our own ways of thinking, growing up there was almost nothing worse than being a geek.
You might have called this person something else, such as nerd, dweeb, creep, twerp, dope, jerk or, maybe, just a plain loser.
Today’s age is quite a different story though. In fact, one could say the geek will inherit the earth.
With comic book movies ruling the summer box office, television shows like Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, Lost and The Office being the new water cooler talk and businesses embracing the tech-savvy movement by creating departments, like the Geek Squad at Best Buy, dedicated to installing and repairing household computers and entertainment centers, to be a geek is divine.
Whereas 20 years ago the world of a nerd was idolized as getting revenge on the jocks that tormented them, such as Revenge of the Nerds, today’s films show nerds as not just getting the best of their popular counterparts by seeking revenge, but rather by besting them in competition, as seen in Napoleon Dynamite.
Napoleon and his socially challenged friends created a cult following throughout 2004 as Pedro was able to achieve greatness as he beat the popular cheerleader in the school’s student body presidential election. They achieved this not through some popular method of beating up the mean jock or humiliating the cheerleader, but rather with Napoleon executing a one-man dance that emphasized his geekiness.
It is no secret that characters from Marvel and DC comics’ vaults are raking in the money, These characters who are web-slinging across Manhattan and leading double lives at night as a caped crusader were once considered nerdy to be interested in. Comic books for children were okay, but if you didn’t grow up and let those graphic novels go you were the nerd of the group.
Production companies have latched onto the geek movement by casting sexy women and dreamy men in nerdy, space shows. Women like Tricia Helfer, Jeri Ryan, Ali Larter and Kristen Bell have been the topics of plenty of forums for the uber-geek, but those women have also brought in audiences who would not have normally been interested in the Star Trek world and other space/fantasy programs.
In May, David Tennant, the latest star of Doctor Who, was named sexiest man on television, according to dailyrecord.co.uk. David Boreanaz now plays a FBI agent, but throughout the late 90s and early 2000s he was a reformed vampire fighting evil on the Buffy spinoff Angel.
Another hunky star that convinces the ladies to tune into a geek’s show is Nathan Fillion, who starred as the captain on the short-lived space series Firefly. These guys make the language of geek sound sexy.
Another sign that geeks are taking over is that nerd paraphernalia is becoming sexy. One such item would be glasses on a woman. The Aphrodite of glasses-wearing celebrities would be Tina Fey, who has created a new category for wearing geek clothing that is called geek chic.
With the release of the iMac, the iPod and the iPhone, Apple has started a revolution to own the latest piece of technology that shows how geek-greedy we really are.
We live in a geek paradise now and it is so much nicer to be able to embrace your inner-dork than to keep running from its inescapable clutches.
You might have called this person something else, such as nerd, dweeb, creep, twerp, dope, jerk or, maybe, just a plain loser.
Today’s age is quite a different story though. In fact, one could say the geek will inherit the earth.
With comic book movies ruling the summer box office, television shows like Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, Lost and The Office being the new water cooler talk and businesses embracing the tech-savvy movement by creating departments, like the Geek Squad at Best Buy, dedicated to installing and repairing household computers and entertainment centers, to be a geek is divine.
Whereas 20 years ago the world of a nerd was idolized as getting revenge on the jocks that tormented them, such as Revenge of the Nerds, today’s films show nerds as not just getting the best of their popular counterparts by seeking revenge, but rather by besting them in competition, as seen in Napoleon Dynamite.
Napoleon and his socially challenged friends created a cult following throughout 2004 as Pedro was able to achieve greatness as he beat the popular cheerleader in the school’s student body presidential election. They achieved this not through some popular method of beating up the mean jock or humiliating the cheerleader, but rather with Napoleon executing a one-man dance that emphasized his geekiness.
It is no secret that characters from Marvel and DC comics’ vaults are raking in the money, These characters who are web-slinging across Manhattan and leading double lives at night as a caped crusader were once considered nerdy to be interested in. Comic books for children were okay, but if you didn’t grow up and let those graphic novels go you were the nerd of the group.
Production companies have latched onto the geek movement by casting sexy women and dreamy men in nerdy, space shows. Women like Tricia Helfer, Jeri Ryan, Ali Larter and Kristen Bell have been the topics of plenty of forums for the uber-geek, but those women have also brought in audiences who would not have normally been interested in the Star Trek world and other space/fantasy programs.
In May, David Tennant, the latest star of Doctor Who, was named sexiest man on television, according to dailyrecord.co.uk. David Boreanaz now plays a FBI agent, but throughout the late 90s and early 2000s he was a reformed vampire fighting evil on the Buffy spinoff Angel.
Another hunky star that convinces the ladies to tune into a geek’s show is Nathan Fillion, who starred as the captain on the short-lived space series Firefly. These guys make the language of geek sound sexy.
Another sign that geeks are taking over is that nerd paraphernalia is becoming sexy. One such item would be glasses on a woman. The Aphrodite of glasses-wearing celebrities would be Tina Fey, who has created a new category for wearing geek clothing that is called geek chic.
With the release of the iMac, the iPod and the iPhone, Apple has started a revolution to own the latest piece of technology that shows how geek-greedy we really are.
We live in a geek paradise now and it is so much nicer to be able to embrace your inner-dork than to keep running from its inescapable clutches.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Arlington Vehicle Accident Hits Close To Home (Part 3)
I’ve never done a three-part column before, but if this is your introduction regarding a truck driving through my cousin’s house I would suggest checking out the previous entries to catch up on the action.
After giving the rundown on what happened in part one and talking about how fast street talk can spread – inaccurately at that – in part two, today I will focus on a more private facet of this bizarre story, and that would be my spot on the nightly news attempting to give an account of the event.
While standing across the street from my cousin’s house helping with the kids and trying to keep things calm, I noticed a female reporter with a camera guy speaking with my cousin (Kristyn). The reporter didn’t get anything from Kristyn, partly due to the fact that she was still shaken up from the crash and partly that the responding officers telling her to not speak with the media because she could give some false information that would hinder their investigation.
Being in the business I am, I sympathized with the reporter and asked Kristyn if she cared if I spoke with the reporter as long as I didn’t give any information that we weren’t sure about, to which she gave her blessing. I promised to stick with only her tale of the events and stay away from speculating on what could be going on involving the police department’s case.
I spoke with the reporter and told her I would give her a sound bite from the family of the victim. Going into this I had one goal and one goal only: not to end up on YouTube with the heading of “You’ve got to see this idiot!!!”
Things didn’t start off well as the reporter asked if I wouldn’t mind pulling my shirt up to reveal the white undershirt I was wearing. All that ran through my mind was the YouTube title change to “You’ve got to see this redneck hick!!!”
The woman noticed my reluctance to undress for the camera (that’s how it starts for celebrities and then three years later there is a naughty tape available for $29.95 at some seedy website) but explained it was only a temporary costume change, as she needed a white balance for the camera.
I asked if we could do a run through of the interview before taping, but she assured me it would seem forced and unnatural if we didn’t go with the first take. I wasn’t happy about it but I agreed to no rehearsal.
Things went pretty smooth after that. She threw some questions at me about Kristyn and where she and the kids were in the house at the time of the accident. I felt somewhat natural with my answers, that is until she started asking questions I had promised not to answer.
The reporter asked about what we thought had taken place to lead up to a truck driving through my cousin’s living room. I should have just stuck with “I don’t know,” but instead I tried to get fancy and say things like we weren’t at liberty to guess what was happening outside of the home prior to the crash. On paper it sounds like an educated answer that gives her nothing, but that is because I’ve had 90 seconds to think it through and type it out. With a spotlight shining on my face and the knowledge that a large amount of the metroplex would be watching I stumbled on my wording and threw in a lot of “uh’s” and “well’s.” Not exactly my finest hour.
I never got to see myself on the news but I heard I did make it on one of the networks. I haven’t heard any rumors that I was terrible and made a complete fool of the family, so I guess I achieved my goal and got the information out to the masses without ending up on YouTube.
Mission accomplished!
After giving the rundown on what happened in part one and talking about how fast street talk can spread – inaccurately at that – in part two, today I will focus on a more private facet of this bizarre story, and that would be my spot on the nightly news attempting to give an account of the event.
While standing across the street from my cousin’s house helping with the kids and trying to keep things calm, I noticed a female reporter with a camera guy speaking with my cousin (Kristyn). The reporter didn’t get anything from Kristyn, partly due to the fact that she was still shaken up from the crash and partly that the responding officers telling her to not speak with the media because she could give some false information that would hinder their investigation.
Being in the business I am, I sympathized with the reporter and asked Kristyn if she cared if I spoke with the reporter as long as I didn’t give any information that we weren’t sure about, to which she gave her blessing. I promised to stick with only her tale of the events and stay away from speculating on what could be going on involving the police department’s case.
I spoke with the reporter and told her I would give her a sound bite from the family of the victim. Going into this I had one goal and one goal only: not to end up on YouTube with the heading of “You’ve got to see this idiot!!!”
Things didn’t start off well as the reporter asked if I wouldn’t mind pulling my shirt up to reveal the white undershirt I was wearing. All that ran through my mind was the YouTube title change to “You’ve got to see this redneck hick!!!”
The woman noticed my reluctance to undress for the camera (that’s how it starts for celebrities and then three years later there is a naughty tape available for $29.95 at some seedy website) but explained it was only a temporary costume change, as she needed a white balance for the camera.
I asked if we could do a run through of the interview before taping, but she assured me it would seem forced and unnatural if we didn’t go with the first take. I wasn’t happy about it but I agreed to no rehearsal.
Things went pretty smooth after that. She threw some questions at me about Kristyn and where she and the kids were in the house at the time of the accident. I felt somewhat natural with my answers, that is until she started asking questions I had promised not to answer.
The reporter asked about what we thought had taken place to lead up to a truck driving through my cousin’s living room. I should have just stuck with “I don’t know,” but instead I tried to get fancy and say things like we weren’t at liberty to guess what was happening outside of the home prior to the crash. On paper it sounds like an educated answer that gives her nothing, but that is because I’ve had 90 seconds to think it through and type it out. With a spotlight shining on my face and the knowledge that a large amount of the metroplex would be watching I stumbled on my wording and threw in a lot of “uh’s” and “well’s.” Not exactly my finest hour.
I never got to see myself on the news but I heard I did make it on one of the networks. I haven’t heard any rumors that I was terrible and made a complete fool of the family, so I guess I achieved my goal and got the information out to the masses without ending up on YouTube.
Mission accomplished!
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Arlington Vehicle Accident Hits Close To Home (Part 2)
Last week I described a shocking scene that took place on my cousin’s street after a truck drove into her living room and then attempted to drive off. Things ended with one man hospitalized and another in jail, and as I write this column the man is still in custody on charges of criminal mischief, deadly conduct and assault with bodily injury.
For part two of this story I think I’m going to talk about how quickly rumors are spread on the street after an event like this, which in turn will show how hard reporters and news anchors work to separate fact from exaggerated street talk.
When I arrived nearly every neighbor and many passersby were standing around asking one another what was going on.
We’ve all been a part of that group. Down the street we see fire engines and police cars and start trying to gather all the information we can from the most irrelevant people that know as little as we do. Whatever inconsequential piece of trivia we happen to get from one person is linked with another portion of the story – whether it’s true or not – we heard from some other random guy we’ve never met until that moment in time, until finally we have an incoherent story that makes about as much sense as an Ed Wood film. Somehow what really turns out to be a smoke scare from a grease fire morphs into a story involving a bomb placed in the home because the housewife is really a drug dealer who is giving the local Chinese mafia too much competition in this Dallas suburban neighborhood.
Okay, maybe that story was a little too half-baked to be spread around the neighborhood while smoke is barreling out of the house and firefighters are dousing the home with water, but you can certainly understand the sort of embellishment that I am talking about.
So you can see why it would be problematic for a reporter to speak with a witness about what they know, because honestly they probably know more fiction than they do fact.
Obviously the reporter is going to speak with the fire chief or police officer at the scene, but for some reason we think some commentary from an unknown face in the crowd regarding what they think is happening will confirm any lingering questions the television audience or readership might have.
With my cousin’s particular situation, what really was a fight over a girl inside a truck between the driver of the vehicle and a man hanging from the side of the truck was told among the neighbors as both men inside the vehicle fighting with the girl between them and one of the men fled the scene, jumped over some fences and police were still looking for him.
Clearly the truth didn’t turn into something involving turf wars between the Jets and the Sharks, but it was exaggerated somewhat by the ill informed spectators.
Because of where I work I like to make sure the public is aware of the truth and that is why I volunteered myself to speak with a news anchor on the scene. I will go into more detail about my experience in front of the camera for my three-second sound byte in next week’s column, but I can say I avoided spreading any false information by simply telling the reporter that our family wasn’t sure of what had happened prior to the truck being inside my cousin’s living room and I couldn’t give any possible details regarding that part of the incident.
Next time you are standing outside a house on fire or watching an arrest take place in front of some restaurant, you might want to wait until that night to watch the news or read your local newspaper and get the facts before calling the people in your five and blabbing some falsified story that turns out to be anything but true.
For part two of this story I think I’m going to talk about how quickly rumors are spread on the street after an event like this, which in turn will show how hard reporters and news anchors work to separate fact from exaggerated street talk.
When I arrived nearly every neighbor and many passersby were standing around asking one another what was going on.
We’ve all been a part of that group. Down the street we see fire engines and police cars and start trying to gather all the information we can from the most irrelevant people that know as little as we do. Whatever inconsequential piece of trivia we happen to get from one person is linked with another portion of the story – whether it’s true or not – we heard from some other random guy we’ve never met until that moment in time, until finally we have an incoherent story that makes about as much sense as an Ed Wood film. Somehow what really turns out to be a smoke scare from a grease fire morphs into a story involving a bomb placed in the home because the housewife is really a drug dealer who is giving the local Chinese mafia too much competition in this Dallas suburban neighborhood.
Okay, maybe that story was a little too half-baked to be spread around the neighborhood while smoke is barreling out of the house and firefighters are dousing the home with water, but you can certainly understand the sort of embellishment that I am talking about.
So you can see why it would be problematic for a reporter to speak with a witness about what they know, because honestly they probably know more fiction than they do fact.
Obviously the reporter is going to speak with the fire chief or police officer at the scene, but for some reason we think some commentary from an unknown face in the crowd regarding what they think is happening will confirm any lingering questions the television audience or readership might have.
With my cousin’s particular situation, what really was a fight over a girl inside a truck between the driver of the vehicle and a man hanging from the side of the truck was told among the neighbors as both men inside the vehicle fighting with the girl between them and one of the men fled the scene, jumped over some fences and police were still looking for him.
Clearly the truth didn’t turn into something involving turf wars between the Jets and the Sharks, but it was exaggerated somewhat by the ill informed spectators.
Because of where I work I like to make sure the public is aware of the truth and that is why I volunteered myself to speak with a news anchor on the scene. I will go into more detail about my experience in front of the camera for my three-second sound byte in next week’s column, but I can say I avoided spreading any false information by simply telling the reporter that our family wasn’t sure of what had happened prior to the truck being inside my cousin’s living room and I couldn’t give any possible details regarding that part of the incident.
Next time you are standing outside a house on fire or watching an arrest take place in front of some restaurant, you might want to wait until that night to watch the news or read your local newspaper and get the facts before calling the people in your five and blabbing some falsified story that turns out to be anything but true.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Arlington Vehicle Accident Hits Close To Home
Like many of my Thursday entries, this is my column from this week. I sometimes read through it and make some changes for the blog, but because it will be a multi-part installment I have left it alone.
Over the past three years I’ve let my readership know that some column topics must be hunted down during the week and aren’t submitted until just a few hours before the deadline, and then there are some topics that come crashing down on me … literally. This week’s is one of the latter.
You might have heard last week about trucks crashing into two separate Arlington homes. The incidents were unrelated, but it just so happened they took place seven miles apart in less than an hour’s time from one another. If you did hear about these two accidents you most likely remember the one involving an off-duty Duncanville police officer, but what I will be talking about today is the other house-pummeling incident. I choose the other one because it involved my cousin’s house.
I got a call a little after 7 p.m. Tuesday night after eating dinner out from my mom who told me to get over to my cousin Kristyn’s house due to an emergency. I figured the answer to what the emergency could be would be answered when I walked in the door. Either I would arrive with the entire family sitting in a circle in the living room with an open chair in between my mom and another family member ready to start some sort of intervention (not that I’m really sure of a social sickness I am currently suffering through) or I would see bloodshot eyes and puffy faces as somebody was going to drop the cancer bomb on us.
However, when I pulled onto Kristyn’s street a fire engine and dozens of neighbors watching some sort of congested scene down near Kristyn’s house blocked me. I got out of the car and started power walking toward the epicenter of the action.
I passed by a man in handcuffs laying on the trunk of a police car and about six or seven police officers trying to keep the peace. I’m not sure if the officers let me walk by without any sort of reason to be near the scene of whatever had happened or if I completely ignored their orders to stay where I was but I found Kristyn, her two children, my mom and my roommate standing across the street from Kristyn’s house that had a new addition to it.
What we have now learned is a truck was driven through the garage into the living room of her house due to two guys fighting over a woman, but I’ll get into that part of the story next week.
You see, I have several things to talk about that came out of this tragic event. I am not sure how many columns I can get out of this one accident, but I do know there will be multiple parts to it.
Sorry this doesn’t give you much to enjoy, but I needed to set the story up for at least two more columns that couldn’t be done quickly. See you next week.
Over the past three years I’ve let my readership know that some column topics must be hunted down during the week and aren’t submitted until just a few hours before the deadline, and then there are some topics that come crashing down on me … literally. This week’s is one of the latter.
You might have heard last week about trucks crashing into two separate Arlington homes. The incidents were unrelated, but it just so happened they took place seven miles apart in less than an hour’s time from one another. If you did hear about these two accidents you most likely remember the one involving an off-duty Duncanville police officer, but what I will be talking about today is the other house-pummeling incident. I choose the other one because it involved my cousin’s house.
I got a call a little after 7 p.m. Tuesday night after eating dinner out from my mom who told me to get over to my cousin Kristyn’s house due to an emergency. I figured the answer to what the emergency could be would be answered when I walked in the door. Either I would arrive with the entire family sitting in a circle in the living room with an open chair in between my mom and another family member ready to start some sort of intervention (not that I’m really sure of a social sickness I am currently suffering through) or I would see bloodshot eyes and puffy faces as somebody was going to drop the cancer bomb on us.
However, when I pulled onto Kristyn’s street a fire engine and dozens of neighbors watching some sort of congested scene down near Kristyn’s house blocked me. I got out of the car and started power walking toward the epicenter of the action.
I passed by a man in handcuffs laying on the trunk of a police car and about six or seven police officers trying to keep the peace. I’m not sure if the officers let me walk by without any sort of reason to be near the scene of whatever had happened or if I completely ignored their orders to stay where I was but I found Kristyn, her two children, my mom and my roommate standing across the street from Kristyn’s house that had a new addition to it.
What we have now learned is a truck was driven through the garage into the living room of her house due to two guys fighting over a woman, but I’ll get into that part of the story next week.
You see, I have several things to talk about that came out of this tragic event. I am not sure how many columns I can get out of this one accident, but I do know there will be multiple parts to it.
Sorry this doesn’t give you much to enjoy, but I needed to set the story up for at least two more columns that couldn’t be done quickly. See you next week.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
17 Things A Grown Man Shouldn't Have (According To Somebody Else)
Getting inspiration from all over helps with a weekly column, such as this week’s little gem.
I was yet again surfing around on the Internet and came across an article on MSN listing 17 things a man should have left behind in his adolescent days (it really was a list of 18 things, but my publisher or editor deleted the one about a penis). I thought the article was somewhat humorous considering I found myself checking off a few of these items still at 27 years old.
This list also comes on the heels of a small tremor on the home front with my girlfriend Joanna about hanging posters in our future home.
Here we go with the list.
1. A black eye. Unless the rim hits your face mid-dunk, your peepers should remain unblemished. You’re smart enough to talk your way out of any fight you're going to lose.
I have somehow avoided any fights since high school, which is a good thing considering my size and lack of muscular strength.
However, that doesn’t mean my mouth hasn’t tried its best to get me in a fight with some heavyweights who would have given me more than just a pair of black eyes.
2. A witty e-mail signature. Quotes and song lyrics should be heard during toasts and karaoke performances, respectively. Don’t let your electronic correspondence become the digital version of a motivational poster.
Not counting a forum among my friends that has since been taken down, I can safely say I have no signatures out there floating in the electronic world.
3. An empty refrigerator. Your larder should be amply stocked, your pantry provisioned. Always aim to be ready to create an on-the-fly, three-course dinner for her ... along with breakfast in bed.
Joanna is a terrific cook and outside of pizza rolls and Rice Krispy Treats, I couldn’t make out the difference between a skillet and a saucer pan. Therefore I feel it is okay that I fall into this category still.
4. PlayStation thumb. When they’re relaxing, grown men can behave like children. But if you devolve long enough to cause calluses or button-shaped bruises, you’re assuredly missing out on life.
Missing out on life I’m not, but spending a couple of hours listening to John Madden tell me how absurd my play calling is and having the cops chase me around Vice City as I carjack people and rob videogame businesses I do partake in. Don’t judge me.
5. A key chain with a bottle opener. This bauble is both a gauche reminder of your college days and proof that you don’t know how to apply leverage using available, impromptu bottle openers: a lighter, the back end of a fork.
I don’t drink so therefore I don’t need to worry about this one.
6. A lucky shirt. Every shirt is lucky when worn by a man who knows that the harder he works the luckier he’ll be.
Apparently MSN and I don’t see eye to eye about what a lucky shirt means to us. I guess they are talking about good fortune befalling a person when wearing a certain clothing article and I’m thinking of the shirt that I wore the first time … Oh, nevermind.
7. An unstamped passport.
My passport, which I lost at some point in the last three years, does have one stamp on it. So take that MSN.
8. Olympic dreams. Exceptions: curling and archery.
I can forget this category altogether. I don’t think sliding through a coat-hanger is ever going to be an Olympic sport.
9. Less than $20 in his wallet. Fiduciary nudity is negligence. A real man should always carry a business card and enough dough to pick up coffee, bagels, and the Sunday paper without whipping out the plastic.
Well aren’t we well off Mister MSN writer. Not every journalist can be so lucky.
10. Any beer that costs less than $20 a case. And no exception for the grand-slam 30-pack that crosses that price threshold.
Again, don’t drink.
11. The need to quote The Big Lebowski/Caddyshack/Super-bad. Reciting someone else's lines reminds people that you haven't the wit to write your own.
Whew! They didn’t include Swingers or The Office. Oh wait. Those were just examples. Ah man! Mark me down for another one then.
12. A futon. Sure, beds are for sleeping. But such a meager, slouchy spread has never, in the history of sex, inspired a woman to say, “Take me on your futon.”
I’m safe here, but I do sport my grandmother’s furniture so I guess I’m not doing too much better.
13. Code words for ugly women. Actually, code words for anything.
Don’t take that away from me MSN. Don’t you dare take that away from me.
14. A Nerf hoop in his living room. Keep the adolescent accoutrements where they belong: in the rec room or above the wastebasket in someone else’s office.
I don’t have one of these in the house, but I do own a foosball table that’s kept in the garage. Does that get me off the hook?
15. A secret handshake.
Not since college have I had one of these when I was kicked out of the Skull and Bones group for taking the title a little too seriously with the members I didn’t like.
16. Drinking glasses with logos. Especially those kitschy McDonald’s Hamburglar ones.
The absence of drinking thing applies here again, but I have never desired a drinking glass with the Hamburglar on it more than I have right now.
17. A recent story with the phrase “So I said to the cop…”
I’ve sat here for 10 minutes trying to think of something clever to say but I just don’t have it in me to mess with my beat at the police department. Sorry for the anti-climactic ending.
I was yet again surfing around on the Internet and came across an article on MSN listing 17 things a man should have left behind in his adolescent days (it really was a list of 18 things, but my publisher or editor deleted the one about a penis). I thought the article was somewhat humorous considering I found myself checking off a few of these items still at 27 years old.
This list also comes on the heels of a small tremor on the home front with my girlfriend Joanna about hanging posters in our future home.
Here we go with the list.
1. A black eye. Unless the rim hits your face mid-dunk, your peepers should remain unblemished. You’re smart enough to talk your way out of any fight you're going to lose.
I have somehow avoided any fights since high school, which is a good thing considering my size and lack of muscular strength.
However, that doesn’t mean my mouth hasn’t tried its best to get me in a fight with some heavyweights who would have given me more than just a pair of black eyes.
2. A witty e-mail signature. Quotes and song lyrics should be heard during toasts and karaoke performances, respectively. Don’t let your electronic correspondence become the digital version of a motivational poster.
Not counting a forum among my friends that has since been taken down, I can safely say I have no signatures out there floating in the electronic world.
3. An empty refrigerator. Your larder should be amply stocked, your pantry provisioned. Always aim to be ready to create an on-the-fly, three-course dinner for her ... along with breakfast in bed.
Joanna is a terrific cook and outside of pizza rolls and Rice Krispy Treats, I couldn’t make out the difference between a skillet and a saucer pan. Therefore I feel it is okay that I fall into this category still.
4. PlayStation thumb. When they’re relaxing, grown men can behave like children. But if you devolve long enough to cause calluses or button-shaped bruises, you’re assuredly missing out on life.
Missing out on life I’m not, but spending a couple of hours listening to John Madden tell me how absurd my play calling is and having the cops chase me around Vice City as I carjack people and rob videogame businesses I do partake in. Don’t judge me.
5. A key chain with a bottle opener. This bauble is both a gauche reminder of your college days and proof that you don’t know how to apply leverage using available, impromptu bottle openers: a lighter, the back end of a fork.
I don’t drink so therefore I don’t need to worry about this one.
6. A lucky shirt. Every shirt is lucky when worn by a man who knows that the harder he works the luckier he’ll be.
Apparently MSN and I don’t see eye to eye about what a lucky shirt means to us. I guess they are talking about good fortune befalling a person when wearing a certain clothing article and I’m thinking of the shirt that I wore the first time … Oh, nevermind.
7. An unstamped passport.
My passport, which I lost at some point in the last three years, does have one stamp on it. So take that MSN.
8. Olympic dreams. Exceptions: curling and archery.
I can forget this category altogether. I don’t think sliding through a coat-hanger is ever going to be an Olympic sport.
9. Less than $20 in his wallet. Fiduciary nudity is negligence. A real man should always carry a business card and enough dough to pick up coffee, bagels, and the Sunday paper without whipping out the plastic.
Well aren’t we well off Mister MSN writer. Not every journalist can be so lucky.
10. Any beer that costs less than $20 a case. And no exception for the grand-slam 30-pack that crosses that price threshold.
Again, don’t drink.
11. The need to quote The Big Lebowski/Caddyshack/Super-bad. Reciting someone else's lines reminds people that you haven't the wit to write your own.
Whew! They didn’t include Swingers or The Office. Oh wait. Those were just examples. Ah man! Mark me down for another one then.
12. A futon. Sure, beds are for sleeping. But such a meager, slouchy spread has never, in the history of sex, inspired a woman to say, “Take me on your futon.”
I’m safe here, but I do sport my grandmother’s furniture so I guess I’m not doing too much better.
13. Code words for ugly women. Actually, code words for anything.
Don’t take that away from me MSN. Don’t you dare take that away from me.
14. A Nerf hoop in his living room. Keep the adolescent accoutrements where they belong: in the rec room or above the wastebasket in someone else’s office.
I don’t have one of these in the house, but I do own a foosball table that’s kept in the garage. Does that get me off the hook?
15. A secret handshake.
Not since college have I had one of these when I was kicked out of the Skull and Bones group for taking the title a little too seriously with the members I didn’t like.
16. Drinking glasses with logos. Especially those kitschy McDonald’s Hamburglar ones.
The absence of drinking thing applies here again, but I have never desired a drinking glass with the Hamburglar on it more than I have right now.
17. A recent story with the phrase “So I said to the cop…”
I’ve sat here for 10 minutes trying to think of something clever to say but I just don’t have it in me to mess with my beat at the police department. Sorry for the anti-climactic ending.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Ennis Elections: Interesting And A Wee Bit Disappointing
I can’t imagine any person in town was able to avoid talking about the close races Ennis had over the weekend concerning the school district’s $48.985 million bond and the Ward 1 Commissioner’s seat, both decided by the slimmest of margins.
Being I work for the local newspaper it might be more common for our employees to discuss the goings on of the city, but I just refuse to believe these two elections were not the topic of water cooler conversation all across Ennis on Monday.
Plenty has been said regarding the 32-vote differential in the school bond election, including an excellent editorial in Monday’s edition – which for the record was not my work; I am not tooting my own horn. I’m sure the clouds of doubt are forming above the naysayers of the bond, questioning how accurate the vote count was in such a close race.
Those against the bond for whatever reason need to take from this year’s election that advertising and public support for your side is extremely important. The P.A.C. group in support of the bond were extremely active in getting the word out about why citizens should vote in favor of the bond, including signs abundantly placed in front yards and along rights-of-way, a bombardment of advertisements in local media outlets and letters to the editor written on a regular routine. The school district was also busy visiting local service clubs and city entities – like the Chamber of Commerce – to get the word out about the bond and recruit members to their following to get the number of votes required to approve the bond package.
It wasn’t until only a few days before the election that some publicity started picking up in an attempt to convince those tired of more bonds to pay for new buildings to be sure and stop by the polls and let their political voice be heard.
The group in favor of the bond’s passage was rewarded for spending the extra time and money necessary to get the bond approved. They will now reap the benefits of fewer children per classroom, better facilities and newer, updated technology at both new and old campuses.
In the other election between Byron Walker and James N. “Red” Sanders it wasn’t the outcome that was so shocking – although there was a big question mark over my head when asked who would win – but rather the amount of indifference that seemed to be going through the Ward 1 residents regarding who would be their voice at City Hall.
I made some phone calls following the election results being released and discovered there are 1,841 registered voters in Ward 1. This means 1,841 people cared enough about politics at one point in their lives to make their way to the Elections Office in Waxahachie and fill out the proper paperwork in order to do their democratic duty. So why did only 150 people actually cast their vote?
This accounts for merely 8.15 percent of the registered voters in that area of Ennis.
I’m not sure what to make of that statistic. Does it mean less than 10 percent of those willing to have a say about what goes on in Ward 1 cared enough to vote or is it more of a reflection on what they were voting on?
In a way this year’s elections were more interesting with less to choose from than last year’s City Marshal race when six candidates were campaigning for the top spot. Whatever your opinion regarding the outcomes of the city and school elections, it was most certainly a much-talked about and anticipated event.
Being I work for the local newspaper it might be more common for our employees to discuss the goings on of the city, but I just refuse to believe these two elections were not the topic of water cooler conversation all across Ennis on Monday.
Plenty has been said regarding the 32-vote differential in the school bond election, including an excellent editorial in Monday’s edition – which for the record was not my work; I am not tooting my own horn. I’m sure the clouds of doubt are forming above the naysayers of the bond, questioning how accurate the vote count was in such a close race.
Those against the bond for whatever reason need to take from this year’s election that advertising and public support for your side is extremely important. The P.A.C. group in support of the bond were extremely active in getting the word out about why citizens should vote in favor of the bond, including signs abundantly placed in front yards and along rights-of-way, a bombardment of advertisements in local media outlets and letters to the editor written on a regular routine. The school district was also busy visiting local service clubs and city entities – like the Chamber of Commerce – to get the word out about the bond and recruit members to their following to get the number of votes required to approve the bond package.
It wasn’t until only a few days before the election that some publicity started picking up in an attempt to convince those tired of more bonds to pay for new buildings to be sure and stop by the polls and let their political voice be heard.
The group in favor of the bond’s passage was rewarded for spending the extra time and money necessary to get the bond approved. They will now reap the benefits of fewer children per classroom, better facilities and newer, updated technology at both new and old campuses.
In the other election between Byron Walker and James N. “Red” Sanders it wasn’t the outcome that was so shocking – although there was a big question mark over my head when asked who would win – but rather the amount of indifference that seemed to be going through the Ward 1 residents regarding who would be their voice at City Hall.
I made some phone calls following the election results being released and discovered there are 1,841 registered voters in Ward 1. This means 1,841 people cared enough about politics at one point in their lives to make their way to the Elections Office in Waxahachie and fill out the proper paperwork in order to do their democratic duty. So why did only 150 people actually cast their vote?
This accounts for merely 8.15 percent of the registered voters in that area of Ennis.
I’m not sure what to make of that statistic. Does it mean less than 10 percent of those willing to have a say about what goes on in Ward 1 cared enough to vote or is it more of a reflection on what they were voting on?
In a way this year’s elections were more interesting with less to choose from than last year’s City Marshal race when six candidates were campaigning for the top spot. Whatever your opinion regarding the outcomes of the city and school elections, it was most certainly a much-talked about and anticipated event.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Restaurant’s Handling Of Situation Leaves Customers With A Bad Taste
A minor altercation that recently took place at a large chain restaurant in Mesquite has turned me off to the eatery, which is upsetting since I really liked one of their sandwiches.
A friend of mine who was visiting the restaurant after a day of shopping at a nearby mall left her credit card at the restaurant. We’ve all come close to doing it before. We start chatting with our friends after writing in the tip and signing the little piece of paper and the next thing you know you are 10 steps away from the table and you starting thinking, “Did I put the card back in my wallet?”
My friend was telling me the story while at work about having to completely rearrange her schedule and drive back up to the restaurant to pick up the lost card. I felt bad for her and decided to help out a little bit. I just so happened to be going to Dallas that night and I told my friend I would swing by the restaurant and pick up the card for her. She was thrilled and called the restaurant to verify an authorized person could retrieve the lost card, which a manager told her was okay as long as I showed some identification proving who I was. Everything was set.
I arrived at the location and after explaining who I was to the door-holding/name-calling 16-year-old girl at the front and what my business was she fetched a manager and I was informed of some distressing news.
Apparently the business’ policy is to only allow the cardholder permission to recover the lost item with corresponding identification. So therefore I was not able to retrieve the card and my friend was back in her original predicament.
I exchanged a few unpleasant words with the manager and exited the building knowing nothing would be done on their end to rectify the situation because the reality in today’s world is the customer is no longer right. To our face they may let us feel in control but when our backs are turned or once the waiter is behind closed doors revenge takes place and we do not want to know about it.
You may be thinking I don’t appreciate the company’s policy to verify the cardholder so that identity theft doesn’t take place. That is just not true. My problem wasn’t the policy, it was that the policy isn’t understood and acted upon by all employees.
If you are going to have a rule you want your company to follow, make sure all of your employees are aware of it and also make sure they follow it. Don’t let misinformation get out that your business will allow something when a different manager tells the consumer something completely different.
Although this time it only cost me some extra gas to drive 20 minutes out of my way for what ultimately turned out to be no good reason, in the future this same restaurant could hoodwink a customer into buying a high-priced gift card that isn’t accepted later on down the road.
So here is my advice as an eating-out aficionado to all of you self-employed business owners or anyone planning to open their own business, make sure all your employees know what to tell a shopper when asked a question. And if an employee tells us they don’t know, that is okay. We’d rather not have a clear answer than be given a false one.
A friend of mine who was visiting the restaurant after a day of shopping at a nearby mall left her credit card at the restaurant. We’ve all come close to doing it before. We start chatting with our friends after writing in the tip and signing the little piece of paper and the next thing you know you are 10 steps away from the table and you starting thinking, “Did I put the card back in my wallet?”
My friend was telling me the story while at work about having to completely rearrange her schedule and drive back up to the restaurant to pick up the lost card. I felt bad for her and decided to help out a little bit. I just so happened to be going to Dallas that night and I told my friend I would swing by the restaurant and pick up the card for her. She was thrilled and called the restaurant to verify an authorized person could retrieve the lost card, which a manager told her was okay as long as I showed some identification proving who I was. Everything was set.
I arrived at the location and after explaining who I was to the door-holding/name-calling 16-year-old girl at the front and what my business was she fetched a manager and I was informed of some distressing news.
Apparently the business’ policy is to only allow the cardholder permission to recover the lost item with corresponding identification. So therefore I was not able to retrieve the card and my friend was back in her original predicament.
I exchanged a few unpleasant words with the manager and exited the building knowing nothing would be done on their end to rectify the situation because the reality in today’s world is the customer is no longer right. To our face they may let us feel in control but when our backs are turned or once the waiter is behind closed doors revenge takes place and we do not want to know about it.
You may be thinking I don’t appreciate the company’s policy to verify the cardholder so that identity theft doesn’t take place. That is just not true. My problem wasn’t the policy, it was that the policy isn’t understood and acted upon by all employees.
If you are going to have a rule you want your company to follow, make sure all of your employees are aware of it and also make sure they follow it. Don’t let misinformation get out that your business will allow something when a different manager tells the consumer something completely different.
Although this time it only cost me some extra gas to drive 20 minutes out of my way for what ultimately turned out to be no good reason, in the future this same restaurant could hoodwink a customer into buying a high-priced gift card that isn’t accepted later on down the road.
So here is my advice as an eating-out aficionado to all of you self-employed business owners or anyone planning to open their own business, make sure all your employees know what to tell a shopper when asked a question. And if an employee tells us they don’t know, that is okay. We’d rather not have a clear answer than be given a false one.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Ready To Take My Order? Oh Really!?
I have started to notice a new trend in the fast food drive-thru line. I don’t know when it began, but it has made my grease-laden food ordering experience a little more difficult. What I’m talking about is the message that greets you as your vehicle comes to a stop next to the intercom and menu. It usually sounds something like, “Welcome! How can I help you?” or maybe like, “Howdy! Can I take your order?”
It’s not the greeting I have a problem with. The welcome really isn’t all that bad, except for certain food industry execs who think every person in Texas says “Howdy” to one anther. What bothers me is the fact that it is an electronic message greeting me, and now I’m not sure if the person on the other side of the electronic box is really ready to take my order.
I never worked the fast food drive-thru window and haven’t had to fight through the headset with a customer so I don’t know what it’s like on the other side, but as the customer I don’t want to do anything to make employees mad for fear they might alter my specially made burger with some homemade sauce. If I begin rattling off my order because Computerized Chatty Cathy just welcomed me to your establishment, asked how she could help me and the real order-taker isn’t ready yet, then I have to be reprimanded when he or she comes on the intercom and says, “One moment, SIR!” It’s not that I’m in a rush or want to make the order-taker’s life harder. It’s just that the greeting asked what I wanted, so I began giving my order.
When I first started noticing the computerized greeting in the drive-thru lane I thought it was just two people working the headset. No big deal. However, then I started noticing that the first person was saying the same thing every time. The words and delivery never changed. At this point I started wondering when it was appropriate to start giving my order. Again, we go back to what if the employee taking my order isn’t ready. I don’t want to rush them.
Here’s another question. Why is the computerized greeter always a woman? How come we never hear men’s voices greet us in the drive-thru? Is this a coincidence among all food establishments or did the Women’s Association of Electronic Greeters go on strike until a deal was made to monopolize the drive-thru lanes?
All this may seem trivial to you and your response to me might sound something like “Why don’t you just stop eating those fatty foods and try a more healthy diet?” Well, here’s my answer to you. When you have the figure of a 10-year-old girl and everything you eat has no effect on you in the short term, then you take advantage of it for as long as possible. As soon as my clogged arteries begin to give me a shortness of breath and pain in my left arm then I will stop pumping my body full of the seventh – and lesser known – food group: grease.
Besides, I get a very healthy and delicious meal each week at the Odd Fellow and Rebekah Retirement Center in Ennis when I attend Kiwanis Club. I know what you might think, “An old folks home? Yuk!” No way. It is delicious. Trust me.
It’s not the greeting I have a problem with. The welcome really isn’t all that bad, except for certain food industry execs who think every person in Texas says “Howdy” to one anther. What bothers me is the fact that it is an electronic message greeting me, and now I’m not sure if the person on the other side of the electronic box is really ready to take my order.
I never worked the fast food drive-thru window and haven’t had to fight through the headset with a customer so I don’t know what it’s like on the other side, but as the customer I don’t want to do anything to make employees mad for fear they might alter my specially made burger with some homemade sauce. If I begin rattling off my order because Computerized Chatty Cathy just welcomed me to your establishment, asked how she could help me and the real order-taker isn’t ready yet, then I have to be reprimanded when he or she comes on the intercom and says, “One moment, SIR!” It’s not that I’m in a rush or want to make the order-taker’s life harder. It’s just that the greeting asked what I wanted, so I began giving my order.
When I first started noticing the computerized greeting in the drive-thru lane I thought it was just two people working the headset. No big deal. However, then I started noticing that the first person was saying the same thing every time. The words and delivery never changed. At this point I started wondering when it was appropriate to start giving my order. Again, we go back to what if the employee taking my order isn’t ready. I don’t want to rush them.
Here’s another question. Why is the computerized greeter always a woman? How come we never hear men’s voices greet us in the drive-thru? Is this a coincidence among all food establishments or did the Women’s Association of Electronic Greeters go on strike until a deal was made to monopolize the drive-thru lanes?
All this may seem trivial to you and your response to me might sound something like “Why don’t you just stop eating those fatty foods and try a more healthy diet?” Well, here’s my answer to you. When you have the figure of a 10-year-old girl and everything you eat has no effect on you in the short term, then you take advantage of it for as long as possible. As soon as my clogged arteries begin to give me a shortness of breath and pain in my left arm then I will stop pumping my body full of the seventh – and lesser known – food group: grease.
Besides, I get a very healthy and delicious meal each week at the Odd Fellow and Rebekah Retirement Center in Ennis when I attend Kiwanis Club. I know what you might think, “An old folks home? Yuk!” No way. It is delicious. Trust me.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Kids and dogs: Same thing?
To those young couples or you ladies who want nothing more than to be parents but don’t yet have the children needed to test whether or not you would have the patience, time or proper nurturing characteristics required of such a person, I suggest getting a pet to use as a litmus test of your parenting skills.
I suppose any pet will do but to get a true assessment of yourself I recommend a dog as the animal of choice, and for a true test of your parenting abilities I think picking out a puppy would give some real results of how good a parent you could be.
Although I am already the parent of a beautiful baby girl I still consider how I handle certain situations involving Joanna's dog (named Mona) as a nice analysis of how I will react to my daughter’s potentially destructive ways as she grows up.
In recent months I have had to cope with the perils of dog ownership that resulted in some vehicle and home maintenance repairs.
The first incident took place during a fundraiser auction in Ennis. A friend’s sister was hospitalized and ended up dying that weekend and Joanna was at the hospital with our friend while I covered the event. Because we had left Mona alone all day I decided to bring her with me. That was a big mistake.
After being left in the car a little too long I came outside and from a distance saw in the moonlight Mona’s head peeping above the back seat and what looked to be hanging jungle vines dangling from the ceiling of my car.
As I walked closer, I could see what had happened. Despite having plenty of air with the windows cracked, Mona apparently thought she was trapped and tried to claw and chew her way out of the roof, resulting in the fabric of my ceiling, the headliner and my passenger-side visor being destroyed.
Now I’m not one of those people who think their vehicle is an extension of their anatomy, but my car has been very good to me for the past seven years and I felt like I had let her down as an owner.
Since catching Mona in the act of her disobedience I justifiably punished her and it was one of the longest and quietest drives home I have ever had. It took me several minutes just to even turn the radio on because I was too mad to want to hear music. I just festered and kept questioning Mona about why she would do such a thing to my car, hoping she would suddenly learn to communicate with me and explain her actions.
I spent the following week visiting salvage yards to get replacement items for the car before the ceiling’s fabric is replaced, but the second accident involved repairs that were needed on a much faster timetable.
Joanna came home on a Saturday night to find Mona with blood on her face. She searched the apartment to figure out the cause of Mona’s cut and found her bedroom window shattered. I was phoned and upon arriving we cleaned Mona up and checked to see whether she needed to make a visit to the veterinarian. It was decided she wasn’t in such bad shape that we couldn’t wait for my sister-in-law, who works for the SPCA, to look at her the next day. Following that, I inspected the damage and determined some sort of event on the outside caused this damage and Mona stuck her face against the broken glass.
For me, Sunday afternoon was spent purchasing glass and materials needed to repair the window while Joanna and my sister-in-law patched up Mona’s cuts and gave her some antibiotics.
As you can see this is not exactly how I had imagined spending my weekend but when you have a pet sometimes these sorts of things happen and you have to deal with the consequences. If you can’t imagine altering your schedule for your pet or having the patience required to get through the destructive times then it is completely unfathomable to think you are ready to raise a child. I’m not saying dogs and babies are the same thing, but the analogy in raising them is not that ridiculous.
I suppose any pet will do but to get a true assessment of yourself I recommend a dog as the animal of choice, and for a true test of your parenting abilities I think picking out a puppy would give some real results of how good a parent you could be.
Although I am already the parent of a beautiful baby girl I still consider how I handle certain situations involving Joanna's dog (named Mona) as a nice analysis of how I will react to my daughter’s potentially destructive ways as she grows up.
In recent months I have had to cope with the perils of dog ownership that resulted in some vehicle and home maintenance repairs.
The first incident took place during a fundraiser auction in Ennis. A friend’s sister was hospitalized and ended up dying that weekend and Joanna was at the hospital with our friend while I covered the event. Because we had left Mona alone all day I decided to bring her with me. That was a big mistake.
After being left in the car a little too long I came outside and from a distance saw in the moonlight Mona’s head peeping above the back seat and what looked to be hanging jungle vines dangling from the ceiling of my car.
As I walked closer, I could see what had happened. Despite having plenty of air with the windows cracked, Mona apparently thought she was trapped and tried to claw and chew her way out of the roof, resulting in the fabric of my ceiling, the headliner and my passenger-side visor being destroyed.
Now I’m not one of those people who think their vehicle is an extension of their anatomy, but my car has been very good to me for the past seven years and I felt like I had let her down as an owner.
Since catching Mona in the act of her disobedience I justifiably punished her and it was one of the longest and quietest drives home I have ever had. It took me several minutes just to even turn the radio on because I was too mad to want to hear music. I just festered and kept questioning Mona about why she would do such a thing to my car, hoping she would suddenly learn to communicate with me and explain her actions.
I spent the following week visiting salvage yards to get replacement items for the car before the ceiling’s fabric is replaced, but the second accident involved repairs that were needed on a much faster timetable.
Joanna came home on a Saturday night to find Mona with blood on her face. She searched the apartment to figure out the cause of Mona’s cut and found her bedroom window shattered. I was phoned and upon arriving we cleaned Mona up and checked to see whether she needed to make a visit to the veterinarian. It was decided she wasn’t in such bad shape that we couldn’t wait for my sister-in-law, who works for the SPCA, to look at her the next day. Following that, I inspected the damage and determined some sort of event on the outside caused this damage and Mona stuck her face against the broken glass.
For me, Sunday afternoon was spent purchasing glass and materials needed to repair the window while Joanna and my sister-in-law patched up Mona’s cuts and gave her some antibiotics.
As you can see this is not exactly how I had imagined spending my weekend but when you have a pet sometimes these sorts of things happen and you have to deal with the consequences. If you can’t imagine altering your schedule for your pet or having the patience required to get through the destructive times then it is completely unfathomable to think you are ready to raise a child. I’m not saying dogs and babies are the same thing, but the analogy in raising them is not that ridiculous.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
The Woes Of Working Out
As I type this, I am huffing and puffing after a heated battle on the tennis court with my brother, knowing tomorrow I will pay for it all with cramps in my legs, a shoulder that feels as if it is on fire every time I take a breath and a blister that wraps all the way around my thumb. As terrible as that sounds you might think I am wasting my time playing tennis if I feel so terrible the days following.
I am okay with these aches and pains because I know I earned them by being active and not sitting around the house being lazy on a beautiful evening like it was Tuesday.
In my opinion, working out, playing a little too hard with your friends or taking part in some sort of activity that gives you a sense of accomplishment is worth a bit of soreness in the end.
While not near as much fun, it is kind of like working in the yard or painting a room. They are dreaded chores that hardly anyone looks forward to, but those who do enjoy these tasks do so because they can look at their work in the end and realize what a good job they did, despite some throbbing in their back or pain in their knees.
Since I’m sure to be nursing some small tenderness throughout my body from my sporting fun I began to think about a few of the other pains I’ve recently acquired in my life that I didn’t receive through hard work or fun activities.
I am 27 years old and by no means do I think of myself as old. In fact, in today’s day and age a person can be in their golden years and still be as lively as – if not more than – teenagers who play video games all day and live through their computers.
Recently I have noticed my body telling me I did something to hurt it when I don’t recall any such injury. My ankle will feel as if I rolled it and I can hardly walk when all I did for the previous few hours was sit on my couch watching television or working at my desk. When I wake up in the morning, sleeping in the same positions I have slept all my life, my back and neck will crackle as I stretch and move, which is a fresh addition to my list of soreness.
I can never seem to remember doing anything to make my body resent me so much, but I guess I have to expect these sorts of occurrences as I age.
I figured to have at least until my mid-30s before I would have to worry about changing my diet due to high cholesterol or exercising more because of excess pounds gained – not that anybody would ever guess that could happen to my small frame.
Although these aren’t necessarily the problems I’m currently facing, I feel as if I can’t stop the inevitable from occurring, which is that someday I will be using a walker or eventually need one of those motorized chairs to get up and down staircases.
I guess playing tennis, Frisbee, golf or recreational softball is a step in the right direction to keeping my body in tip-top shape, but it would be nice to not have to deal with living in temporary pain now to know I won’t live in constant pain in the future.
I am okay with these aches and pains because I know I earned them by being active and not sitting around the house being lazy on a beautiful evening like it was Tuesday.
In my opinion, working out, playing a little too hard with your friends or taking part in some sort of activity that gives you a sense of accomplishment is worth a bit of soreness in the end.
While not near as much fun, it is kind of like working in the yard or painting a room. They are dreaded chores that hardly anyone looks forward to, but those who do enjoy these tasks do so because they can look at their work in the end and realize what a good job they did, despite some throbbing in their back or pain in their knees.
Since I’m sure to be nursing some small tenderness throughout my body from my sporting fun I began to think about a few of the other pains I’ve recently acquired in my life that I didn’t receive through hard work or fun activities.
I am 27 years old and by no means do I think of myself as old. In fact, in today’s day and age a person can be in their golden years and still be as lively as – if not more than – teenagers who play video games all day and live through their computers.
Recently I have noticed my body telling me I did something to hurt it when I don’t recall any such injury. My ankle will feel as if I rolled it and I can hardly walk when all I did for the previous few hours was sit on my couch watching television or working at my desk. When I wake up in the morning, sleeping in the same positions I have slept all my life, my back and neck will crackle as I stretch and move, which is a fresh addition to my list of soreness.
I can never seem to remember doing anything to make my body resent me so much, but I guess I have to expect these sorts of occurrences as I age.
I figured to have at least until my mid-30s before I would have to worry about changing my diet due to high cholesterol or exercising more because of excess pounds gained – not that anybody would ever guess that could happen to my small frame.
Although these aren’t necessarily the problems I’m currently facing, I feel as if I can’t stop the inevitable from occurring, which is that someday I will be using a walker or eventually need one of those motorized chairs to get up and down staircases.
I guess playing tennis, Frisbee, golf or recreational softball is a step in the right direction to keeping my body in tip-top shape, but it would be nice to not have to deal with living in temporary pain now to know I won’t live in constant pain in the future.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
What’s in a name?
While playing on the Internet this weekend I came across an article about where musicians got their stage names. I decided to share this with some of you because it is part trivia and part music history, so why not. I haven’t listed them all but I did put the well-known artists.
Bono
Born: Paul David Hewson
Supposedly named after a Dublin hearing-aid shop called Bono Vox – Latin for “good voice.” His U2 bandmate the Edge got his own nickname from either his sharp facial features or his fearlessness of heights, depending on which version you believe.
Snoop Dogg
Born: Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr.
Dogg was nicknamed “Snoopy” by his mom for his love of the “Peanuts” comic strip. If the original Snoopy was, in fact, a little bit gangsta, “Doggystyle,” we presume, was not quite what Charles Schulz had in mind.
Marilyn Manson
Born: Brian Hugh Warner
Marilyn Manson combined Marilyn Monroe with Charles Manson, of course. His bandmate Twiggy Ramirez (Jeordie White) combined the names of the slender ‘60s fashion icon and the serial killer Richard Ramirez. Most of the various band members have taken similarly titillating monikers – Daisy Berkowitz, Madonna Wayne Gacy, Gidget Gein…
Tina Turner
Born: Annie Mae Bullock
Tina Turner got the last name, of course, by marrying her bandleader, Ike Turner. But he also changed the soul queen's given name as well, appropriately yet obliquely inspired by his fandom of comic-book wildwoman Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.
Billy Idol
Born: William Michael Albert Broad
A teacher once marked a report card for young Bill with the comment, “William is idle.” After his career went multi-platinum in the 1980s, this textbook bad boy fell off the map, going 12 album-less years before a 2005 comeback. Once again, Billy was, in fact, idle.
Elton John
Born: Reginald Kenneth Dwight
Sir Reg's early band was Bluesology, featuring saxophonist Elton Dean and frontman Long John Baldry. In 1972, he legally changed his name to Elton Hercules John, despite never having shared a band with any Hercules.
Macy Gray
Born: Natalie Renee McIntyre
There’s Macy Gray, and then there’s Macy Gray the neo-soul singer. The latter pinched her stage name wholesale from a man who lived in her Canton, Ohio, neighborhood. No word on whether Mr. Gray ever mistakenly received any of his namesake neighbor’s royalty checks in the mail.
Sting
Born: Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner
Playing in a jazz band, the young Gordo once wore a black-and-yellow striped shirt that made him look like a bumblebee. “My children call me Sting, my mother calls me Sting,” he once joked, after being addressed by his given name. “Who is this Gordon character?”
Moby
Born: Richard Melville Hall
Childhood nickname bestowed by his parents; Richie’s great-great-grand-uncle was ‘Moby-Dick’ author Herman Melville. Sadly, this connection to the great whale tale had nothing to do with Moby’s brief stint in the band Flipper.
Iggy Pop
Born: James Newell Osterberg Jr.
His first high school band was called the Iguanas, earning Iggy Pop another colorful nickname – the Rock Iguana. Unhappily credited as Iggy Stooge on the Stooge’s first few records.
Dusty Springfield
Born: Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien
Let’s say you start a group with your brother called the Springfields, he adopts the moniker Tom Springfield – and you’re Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien. Suffice to say it didn't take a lot of arm-twisting for Dusty – a childhood nickname – to change her surname as well.
Bo Diddley
Born: Ellas Otha Bates
Bo Diddley might’ve swiped his lyrical stage name from a variety of sources. A diddley bow is a homemade, one-stringed instrument often used by sharecroppers. Maybe more to the point for this master of the good-natured put-down is the old-timey insult: “That ain’t bo diddley.”
Freddie Mercury
Born: Farrokh Bulsara
Born in Zanzibar to a Zoroastrian family of Indian descent, the man who would be Queen began calling himself Freddie while at boarding school near Bombay, where he started a band called the Hectics.
Johnny Rotten
Born: John Joseph Lydon
The head Sex Pistol is said to have earned his nickname through the dubious distinction of his prematurely decaying teeth. Rotten’s nickname for his pal John Simon Ritchie was dentally inspired, too – “Sid Vicious” was borrowed from a particularly nippy pet hamster.
Flea
Born: Michael Peter Balzary
Like Sting, another product of the Flying Pest school of rock nicknames. The Red Hot Chili Pepper’s stage name was bestowed for his high-strung nature by high school buddy Anthony Kiedis on a ski trip.
Elvis Costello
Born: Declan Patrick McManus
Originally performed as D.P. Costello, using his great-grandmother’s surname (not inspired by the American comedian Lou Costello). Costello later took his manager’s advice and adopted the first name Elvis. Further confusing the matter, he legally added Aloysius to his given name in the ‘80s.
Alice Cooper
Born: Vincent Furnier
Original band the Spiders switched their name to Alice Cooper, conjured, according to the record company, through a Ouija board encounter with a medieval witch of the same name. In 1974, Furnier legally adopted the name, keeping it for his solo career.
Meat Loaf
Born: Marvin Lee Aday
The “Bat Out of Hell” blockbuster’s first band was called Meat Loaf Soul; he debuted, oddly, with Motown, as half of a duet called Stoney and Meat Loaf. Recently changed his given first name, which no one knew anyway, to Michael.
Bono
Born: Paul David Hewson
Supposedly named after a Dublin hearing-aid shop called Bono Vox – Latin for “good voice.” His U2 bandmate the Edge got his own nickname from either his sharp facial features or his fearlessness of heights, depending on which version you believe.
Snoop Dogg
Born: Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr.
Dogg was nicknamed “Snoopy” by his mom for his love of the “Peanuts” comic strip. If the original Snoopy was, in fact, a little bit gangsta, “Doggystyle,” we presume, was not quite what Charles Schulz had in mind.
Marilyn Manson
Born: Brian Hugh Warner
Marilyn Manson combined Marilyn Monroe with Charles Manson, of course. His bandmate Twiggy Ramirez (Jeordie White) combined the names of the slender ‘60s fashion icon and the serial killer Richard Ramirez. Most of the various band members have taken similarly titillating monikers – Daisy Berkowitz, Madonna Wayne Gacy, Gidget Gein…
Tina Turner
Born: Annie Mae Bullock
Tina Turner got the last name, of course, by marrying her bandleader, Ike Turner. But he also changed the soul queen's given name as well, appropriately yet obliquely inspired by his fandom of comic-book wildwoman Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.
Billy Idol
Born: William Michael Albert Broad
A teacher once marked a report card for young Bill with the comment, “William is idle.” After his career went multi-platinum in the 1980s, this textbook bad boy fell off the map, going 12 album-less years before a 2005 comeback. Once again, Billy was, in fact, idle.
Elton John
Born: Reginald Kenneth Dwight
Sir Reg's early band was Bluesology, featuring saxophonist Elton Dean and frontman Long John Baldry. In 1972, he legally changed his name to Elton Hercules John, despite never having shared a band with any Hercules.
Macy Gray
Born: Natalie Renee McIntyre
There’s Macy Gray, and then there’s Macy Gray the neo-soul singer. The latter pinched her stage name wholesale from a man who lived in her Canton, Ohio, neighborhood. No word on whether Mr. Gray ever mistakenly received any of his namesake neighbor’s royalty checks in the mail.
Sting
Born: Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner
Playing in a jazz band, the young Gordo once wore a black-and-yellow striped shirt that made him look like a bumblebee. “My children call me Sting, my mother calls me Sting,” he once joked, after being addressed by his given name. “Who is this Gordon character?”
Moby
Born: Richard Melville Hall
Childhood nickname bestowed by his parents; Richie’s great-great-grand-uncle was ‘Moby-Dick’ author Herman Melville. Sadly, this connection to the great whale tale had nothing to do with Moby’s brief stint in the band Flipper.
Iggy Pop
Born: James Newell Osterberg Jr.
His first high school band was called the Iguanas, earning Iggy Pop another colorful nickname – the Rock Iguana. Unhappily credited as Iggy Stooge on the Stooge’s first few records.
Dusty Springfield
Born: Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien
Let’s say you start a group with your brother called the Springfields, he adopts the moniker Tom Springfield – and you’re Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien. Suffice to say it didn't take a lot of arm-twisting for Dusty – a childhood nickname – to change her surname as well.
Bo Diddley
Born: Ellas Otha Bates
Bo Diddley might’ve swiped his lyrical stage name from a variety of sources. A diddley bow is a homemade, one-stringed instrument often used by sharecroppers. Maybe more to the point for this master of the good-natured put-down is the old-timey insult: “That ain’t bo diddley.”
Freddie Mercury
Born: Farrokh Bulsara
Born in Zanzibar to a Zoroastrian family of Indian descent, the man who would be Queen began calling himself Freddie while at boarding school near Bombay, where he started a band called the Hectics.
Johnny Rotten
Born: John Joseph Lydon
The head Sex Pistol is said to have earned his nickname through the dubious distinction of his prematurely decaying teeth. Rotten’s nickname for his pal John Simon Ritchie was dentally inspired, too – “Sid Vicious” was borrowed from a particularly nippy pet hamster.
Flea
Born: Michael Peter Balzary
Like Sting, another product of the Flying Pest school of rock nicknames. The Red Hot Chili Pepper’s stage name was bestowed for his high-strung nature by high school buddy Anthony Kiedis on a ski trip.
Elvis Costello
Born: Declan Patrick McManus
Originally performed as D.P. Costello, using his great-grandmother’s surname (not inspired by the American comedian Lou Costello). Costello later took his manager’s advice and adopted the first name Elvis. Further confusing the matter, he legally added Aloysius to his given name in the ‘80s.
Alice Cooper
Born: Vincent Furnier
Original band the Spiders switched their name to Alice Cooper, conjured, according to the record company, through a Ouija board encounter with a medieval witch of the same name. In 1974, Furnier legally adopted the name, keeping it for his solo career.
Meat Loaf
Born: Marvin Lee Aday
The “Bat Out of Hell” blockbuster’s first band was called Meat Loaf Soul; he debuted, oddly, with Motown, as half of a duet called Stoney and Meat Loaf. Recently changed his given first name, which no one knew anyway, to Michael.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Not quite the most wonderful time of year – but it sure is close
When I first got into football two years ago – my gateway sport into all things sports related – I found at the end of the season as the Super Bowl approached my friends groaning about what a terrible life they would lead once football wasn’t there every week.
Following the first season I bought into this mentality that football reigned and everything else was filler until the preseason came around. My sports brain went into a comatose state until August when fantasy football talk started up again and the gridiron game was back in full swing. It’s funny how the people you call friends and rely on most for pertinent information regarding your personal life can be so horribly wrong.
There is so much to look forward to following the post-season of football, which I have fully taken advantage of this year.
The Super Bowl came and went on February 3 but that was not the end of sports as we know it for early 2008. By this time, basketball and hockey are in full swing with many fans starting to get an idea of what the playoffs will hold and a few teams wondering whether a post-season will present itself depending on how close the competition is in their conference – which has been compelling for the Western Conference.
March continues basketball and hockey action but sprinkles in college athletics as the NCAA Tournament – more appropriately known as March Madness – begins. Although it isn’t until the middle of the month when the tournament starts, there are plenty of conference tournaments deciding the fate of several teams on the cusp of receiving a ranking high enough to be selected. Even teams not making March Madness still find their way into the less popular event – the National Invitation Tournament.
The end of March and beginning of April is the time when sports fans are bombarded with action as March Madness is in full swing, professional basketball and hockey are still going strong and the baseball season starts up.
I’ve always found baseball to be a slow sport, especially when watching it on television, but I now appreciate it as a thinking game. The players in the infield and outfield and the runners on base are sort of pawns in a chess game between the pitcher and batter.
It is quite enthralling to see a runner in scoring position with two out and sweating it out as the pitcher has to either strike out the batter or force him to put the ball in play where a defenseman can get an easy out.
Another joy of April is that’s when the playoffs for basketball and hockey start. The Dallas Stars have shown they will be a force to be reckoned with and we can only hope the same for the Dallas Mavericks as they take us on a rollercoaster of emotions since losing the 2005-2006 NBA finals to Miami.
A sport some find boring but I recently learned to enjoy watching – or I should say re-learned to enjoy watching – is tennis. My friends and I took up the sport recently as a way to get some exercise and enjoy the night air at our local park. This isn’t my first foray into the world of tennis however. My mom used to watch tennis a lot when I was a kid and I remember having to suffer through the sport when all I really wanted was the television so I could watch a cartoon or play a video game.
With the Davis Cup being played out throughout the year, the quarterfinals were held this past weekend. The French Open is scheduled for May and June with Wimbledon following in June and July.
Golf fans can also get excited during the month of April because the Masters gets under way, giving everyone their first chance to see Tiger Woods attempt to dominate the field, which did not happen this year. As a true fan of many sports I spent much of my weekend wondering how Tiger was doing and who the leader was – due to being out of town camping I had no access to this information until Sunday. I spent the final day flipping between the Masters, the Texas Rangers and the Davis Cup Quarterfinals.
By the way, to the guy who says he is a golf fan but would rather go fishing or find something else to do if Tiger isn’t in the hunt on the final day of a tournament, that isn’t a real fan of the sport. That means you are a Tiger Woods fan, not a golf fan.
For those of you who complain about the absence of football this time of year, I say get over it and enjoy the surplus of sports that is offered. You are missing out on some seriously great action.
Following the first season I bought into this mentality that football reigned and everything else was filler until the preseason came around. My sports brain went into a comatose state until August when fantasy football talk started up again and the gridiron game was back in full swing. It’s funny how the people you call friends and rely on most for pertinent information regarding your personal life can be so horribly wrong.
There is so much to look forward to following the post-season of football, which I have fully taken advantage of this year.
The Super Bowl came and went on February 3 but that was not the end of sports as we know it for early 2008. By this time, basketball and hockey are in full swing with many fans starting to get an idea of what the playoffs will hold and a few teams wondering whether a post-season will present itself depending on how close the competition is in their conference – which has been compelling for the Western Conference.
March continues basketball and hockey action but sprinkles in college athletics as the NCAA Tournament – more appropriately known as March Madness – begins. Although it isn’t until the middle of the month when the tournament starts, there are plenty of conference tournaments deciding the fate of several teams on the cusp of receiving a ranking high enough to be selected. Even teams not making March Madness still find their way into the less popular event – the National Invitation Tournament.
The end of March and beginning of April is the time when sports fans are bombarded with action as March Madness is in full swing, professional basketball and hockey are still going strong and the baseball season starts up.
I’ve always found baseball to be a slow sport, especially when watching it on television, but I now appreciate it as a thinking game. The players in the infield and outfield and the runners on base are sort of pawns in a chess game between the pitcher and batter.
It is quite enthralling to see a runner in scoring position with two out and sweating it out as the pitcher has to either strike out the batter or force him to put the ball in play where a defenseman can get an easy out.
Another joy of April is that’s when the playoffs for basketball and hockey start. The Dallas Stars have shown they will be a force to be reckoned with and we can only hope the same for the Dallas Mavericks as they take us on a rollercoaster of emotions since losing the 2005-2006 NBA finals to Miami.
A sport some find boring but I recently learned to enjoy watching – or I should say re-learned to enjoy watching – is tennis. My friends and I took up the sport recently as a way to get some exercise and enjoy the night air at our local park. This isn’t my first foray into the world of tennis however. My mom used to watch tennis a lot when I was a kid and I remember having to suffer through the sport when all I really wanted was the television so I could watch a cartoon or play a video game.
With the Davis Cup being played out throughout the year, the quarterfinals were held this past weekend. The French Open is scheduled for May and June with Wimbledon following in June and July.
Golf fans can also get excited during the month of April because the Masters gets under way, giving everyone their first chance to see Tiger Woods attempt to dominate the field, which did not happen this year. As a true fan of many sports I spent much of my weekend wondering how Tiger was doing and who the leader was – due to being out of town camping I had no access to this information until Sunday. I spent the final day flipping between the Masters, the Texas Rangers and the Davis Cup Quarterfinals.
By the way, to the guy who says he is a golf fan but would rather go fishing or find something else to do if Tiger isn’t in the hunt on the final day of a tournament, that isn’t a real fan of the sport. That means you are a Tiger Woods fan, not a golf fan.
For those of you who complain about the absence of football this time of year, I say get over it and enjoy the surplus of sports that is offered. You are missing out on some seriously great action.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Keeping Watch On Stupid People
There is a movie out called “Idiocracy” with a premise that rivals a Beavis and Butthead episode, but it stars Luke Wilson so I suggest you take a peek at it sometime. The reason I bring the movie up is because the plot –– which involves two average humans being frozen for 500 years and waking up to find stupid people have overpopulated –– makes me think that, given enough time, we might turn out like this.
The idea is that the uneducated have nothing to divert their attention and end up breeding an exuberant amount of children. As intelligent folks on the planet focus on their careers instead of procreating, the result is their group diminishes to nothing.
I love to people watch. I consider it a sport. In college I would go to the clubs in town –– I use the term club loosely since I was living in Nacogdoches –– and enjoy the sights around me as guys attempted to find a mate to take home at the end of the night and the girls aggressively dodged most advances made toward them.
By the end of my five lovely collegiate years I had even turned into a professional “people watching” sportscaster, mocking the knuckleheads with my cousin with a play-by-play of the potential hook-ups throughout the night; the “riffing” conversations performed rivaled the best Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes.
The time spent honing my skills as a “people watching” broadcaster has stayed with me over the years. I still pay attention to what is happening around me –– often ignoring the people I am with in the process –– in order to observe the morons who come in and out of my life.
Now I’ll bring these two differing topics together.
Just recently, while walking my dog, I noticed a young man drive into a gas station parking lot across the street, his vehicle’s windows rolled down.
It was hard to not be aware of this guy coming my way due to the fact that his music was at full blast and the bass meter was set at about a +11.
I heard him coming from seven blocks away.
I couldn’t tell you what song was playing but I assure you it wasn’t my cup of tea. It was loud, it had no melody and the lead singer screamed a lot.
Why is it that when the guys – and it mostly is guys – who do this choose heavy rock that makes nobody happy or hardcore rap that doesn’t censor the language?
Why do we never hear Bob Dylan or the Beatles blaring at deafening volumes?
I’m thinking about buying a Michael Bolton or Kenny G album for just these types of instances.
When some punk pulls up next to me at a stop light with loud music coming from his car I will pop in some “How am I Supposed to Live Without You.”
See what that does for the guy’s listening pleasure.
Moral: The next time you roll down your car window and think about blasting whatever song you’re into at that time, consider this: from the outside of your car it isn’t that cool. It’s kind of the same as peeling away in a parking lot or stop sign.
The idea is that the uneducated have nothing to divert their attention and end up breeding an exuberant amount of children. As intelligent folks on the planet focus on their careers instead of procreating, the result is their group diminishes to nothing.
I love to people watch. I consider it a sport. In college I would go to the clubs in town –– I use the term club loosely since I was living in Nacogdoches –– and enjoy the sights around me as guys attempted to find a mate to take home at the end of the night and the girls aggressively dodged most advances made toward them.
By the end of my five lovely collegiate years I had even turned into a professional “people watching” sportscaster, mocking the knuckleheads with my cousin with a play-by-play of the potential hook-ups throughout the night; the “riffing” conversations performed rivaled the best Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes.
The time spent honing my skills as a “people watching” broadcaster has stayed with me over the years. I still pay attention to what is happening around me –– often ignoring the people I am with in the process –– in order to observe the morons who come in and out of my life.
Now I’ll bring these two differing topics together.
Just recently, while walking my dog, I noticed a young man drive into a gas station parking lot across the street, his vehicle’s windows rolled down.
It was hard to not be aware of this guy coming my way due to the fact that his music was at full blast and the bass meter was set at about a +11.
I heard him coming from seven blocks away.
I couldn’t tell you what song was playing but I assure you it wasn’t my cup of tea. It was loud, it had no melody and the lead singer screamed a lot.
Why is it that when the guys – and it mostly is guys – who do this choose heavy rock that makes nobody happy or hardcore rap that doesn’t censor the language?
Why do we never hear Bob Dylan or the Beatles blaring at deafening volumes?
I’m thinking about buying a Michael Bolton or Kenny G album for just these types of instances.
When some punk pulls up next to me at a stop light with loud music coming from his car I will pop in some “How am I Supposed to Live Without You.”
See what that does for the guy’s listening pleasure.
Moral: The next time you roll down your car window and think about blasting whatever song you’re into at that time, consider this: from the outside of your car it isn’t that cool. It’s kind of the same as peeling away in a parking lot or stop sign.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Ennis Dentist Takes Plea Bargain
City Commissioner Stephen Durbin pleaded guilty Monday in a settlement agreement and will be placed on five years deferred adjudication, the maximum length of probation available for his crime of improper photography or video recording.
The plea bargain was reached between the County and District Attorney’s Office and the defendant after a request was made in affidavits signed by all eight of his victims, asking for deferred adjudication. As per the victims’ request, the plea bargain agreement requires Durbin to attend sex offender counseling at his own expense, his work and home computers be monitored for improper material and he be responsible for paying up to $1,000 in counseling expenses for the victims.
Durbin was indicted by an Ellis County Grand Jury on Nov. 26, 2007, on three counts of improper photography or video recording, a state jail felony. County and District Attorney Joe Grubbs said his office was ready to proceed to a jury trial, but after extensive meetings with the victims to ensure their wishes were met an offer was made to Durbin for the probation.
“When you have victims who have specific requests you have to weigh that in,” Grubbs said following Monday’s court hearing.
Grubbs also said it was important that the victims feel the criminal justice system provide them with a sense of satisfaction and justice for the trauma and violation they have suffered.
Durbin’s criminal case was resolved only a few weeks after a related civil case was settled. On March 19 at a 10-hour mediation, Durbin’s former employees received an undisclosed amount of compensation. The victims’ attorney Clay Jenkins said nothing in the terms of the settlement in the civil case affected the criminal case or its resolution.
“My clients are satisfied with the outcome and are appreciative of the hard work and support of District Attorney Joe Grubbs, Chief Felony Prosecutor Don Maxfield and Assistant District Attorney Lindy Tober, who remained in close contact with these women throughout this ordeal,” Jenkins said in a press release. “I am proud of my eight clients for standing up against Dr. Durbin’s abuse.”
City Attorney Toby Mash said with Durbin pleading guilty and taking the plea bargain, the City Commission could vote the Ward 5 Commissioner off the board. However, since Durbin has not filed for re-election and his term ends in May it is most likely the City will just let his term end and the unopposed former Ennis Police Chief Dale Holt will then take Durbin’s place.
Durbin turned himself in to authorities Aug. 18, 2007, after a warrant was issued for his arrest on a charge of improper photography or video recording.
The affidavit for the arrest warrant issued by Judge Bill Woody’s office reported a complainant contacted Ennis Police Chief John Erisman advising one of Durbin’s female employees had found a wireless color video camera hidden in the changing room of his office at 400 W. Ennis Ave. The report stated the camera was used to film the female staff while they were changing clothes.
The affidavit also states the employees later confronted Durbin about the camera and filming and recorded his admission to the crime on a digital audio recording. Det. Sgt. Mike Hopson confirmed police have the audio recording in custody.
If all conditions of the probation are met, Durbin is eligible to request an order of non-disclosure that would prevent criminal justice agencies from allowing his original arrest warrant or information from the court proceedings to be disclosed.
The plea bargain was reached between the County and District Attorney’s Office and the defendant after a request was made in affidavits signed by all eight of his victims, asking for deferred adjudication. As per the victims’ request, the plea bargain agreement requires Durbin to attend sex offender counseling at his own expense, his work and home computers be monitored for improper material and he be responsible for paying up to $1,000 in counseling expenses for the victims.
Durbin was indicted by an Ellis County Grand Jury on Nov. 26, 2007, on three counts of improper photography or video recording, a state jail felony. County and District Attorney Joe Grubbs said his office was ready to proceed to a jury trial, but after extensive meetings with the victims to ensure their wishes were met an offer was made to Durbin for the probation.
“When you have victims who have specific requests you have to weigh that in,” Grubbs said following Monday’s court hearing.
Grubbs also said it was important that the victims feel the criminal justice system provide them with a sense of satisfaction and justice for the trauma and violation they have suffered.
Durbin’s criminal case was resolved only a few weeks after a related civil case was settled. On March 19 at a 10-hour mediation, Durbin’s former employees received an undisclosed amount of compensation. The victims’ attorney Clay Jenkins said nothing in the terms of the settlement in the civil case affected the criminal case or its resolution.
“My clients are satisfied with the outcome and are appreciative of the hard work and support of District Attorney Joe Grubbs, Chief Felony Prosecutor Don Maxfield and Assistant District Attorney Lindy Tober, who remained in close contact with these women throughout this ordeal,” Jenkins said in a press release. “I am proud of my eight clients for standing up against Dr. Durbin’s abuse.”
City Attorney Toby Mash said with Durbin pleading guilty and taking the plea bargain, the City Commission could vote the Ward 5 Commissioner off the board. However, since Durbin has not filed for re-election and his term ends in May it is most likely the City will just let his term end and the unopposed former Ennis Police Chief Dale Holt will then take Durbin’s place.
Durbin turned himself in to authorities Aug. 18, 2007, after a warrant was issued for his arrest on a charge of improper photography or video recording.
The affidavit for the arrest warrant issued by Judge Bill Woody’s office reported a complainant contacted Ennis Police Chief John Erisman advising one of Durbin’s female employees had found a wireless color video camera hidden in the changing room of his office at 400 W. Ennis Ave. The report stated the camera was used to film the female staff while they were changing clothes.
The affidavit also states the employees later confronted Durbin about the camera and filming and recorded his admission to the crime on a digital audio recording. Det. Sgt. Mike Hopson confirmed police have the audio recording in custody.
If all conditions of the probation are met, Durbin is eligible to request an order of non-disclosure that would prevent criminal justice agencies from allowing his original arrest warrant or information from the court proceedings to be disclosed.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Cannes, Sundance... And Now Dallas
The AFI Dallas Film Festival begins today, which is extremely exciting to think that a film festival is in my area of the world. Growing up I always thought of film festivals as something like the circus coming to town in the Depression-era Midwest. I imagined an entire city shutting down and every resident piling in to the local theater all day long for a week straight watching movie after movie that starred no-name talent and had a budget the size of my savings account.
I have on my radar about eight movies to see but will probably only get around to three or four of them. My cousin Clint and I were going to see a vampire movie at midnight tonight but he has a family thing to do so we are going to see that Wednesday. My main goal this year is to see at least one movie at the event so I can know I've attended a film festival in my lifetime. It may not be France or the mountains of Utah, but the AFI Dallas Film Festival is something I could really get behind and would love to work for in the future.
I have on my radar about eight movies to see but will probably only get around to three or four of them. My cousin Clint and I were going to see a vampire movie at midnight tonight but he has a family thing to do so we are going to see that Wednesday. My main goal this year is to see at least one movie at the event so I can know I've attended a film festival in my lifetime. It may not be France or the mountains of Utah, but the AFI Dallas Film Festival is something I could really get behind and would love to work for in the future.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Axe 'Em Jacks
The Stephen F. Austin State University Men's Basketball team just won the first game in the Southland Conference Tournament and will go on to play tonight's winner between Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana. Many readers who have stumbled upon this blog are probably scratching their heads saying "the what conference?" Well I don't care what you say. This is exciting stuff for ex-Lumberjacks because our football team sucks and this is all that we have going on that is special right now. I am extremely excited about this outcome and can't wait to see what the results are for tomorrow night's game.
Monday, February 25, 2008
80th Academy Awards Reaction
The day after the Oscars is so depressing for me. I should look at it as the begining of a time to look forward to the possibilities of Academy Award potential films being released and what could be, but instead I reflect on what took place the night before and whether or not those who won were deserving.
This year I would say there weren't a ton of surprises. I didn't see the Best Actress winner coming. I had never heard of her and didn't know she stood a chance, but congratulations to her. Although I liked Juno and Michael Clayton more, I was pretty certain No Country For Old Men was going to take home the award for Best Picture and Best Director. The more I thought about that movie and its casting, acting, direction, etc., the more I liked it. I'm okay with it winning all the awards it did. I was very happy to see Juno win something. I fully recommend seeing that movie. It is a joy.
At first I gave Jon Stewart a solid B for his effort at this year's ceremony. He had a few flops that pulled him down in the ranking, but then when I started reading some of the jokes from last night's telecast and remembering how hard I laughed at his material (especially the stuff he made up on the spot) I really liked it. I have since bumped him up to a B+.
I still hold a perfect record in the Animated Feature category. I am proud to have that, which makes up for tying Joanna this year in our game of picking the winners. We both picked 11, Clint scored 9 and my mom brought up the rear with 7. It was a good ceremony overall, but it would be hard for me to not enjoy the Oscars. Unlike a lot of people, I liked that they did montages of past Oscar winners. It made me remember what a great medium film is and how many wonderful films Hollywood has given us.
This year I would say there weren't a ton of surprises. I didn't see the Best Actress winner coming. I had never heard of her and didn't know she stood a chance, but congratulations to her. Although I liked Juno and Michael Clayton more, I was pretty certain No Country For Old Men was going to take home the award for Best Picture and Best Director. The more I thought about that movie and its casting, acting, direction, etc., the more I liked it. I'm okay with it winning all the awards it did. I was very happy to see Juno win something. I fully recommend seeing that movie. It is a joy.
At first I gave Jon Stewart a solid B for his effort at this year's ceremony. He had a few flops that pulled him down in the ranking, but then when I started reading some of the jokes from last night's telecast and remembering how hard I laughed at his material (especially the stuff he made up on the spot) I really liked it. I have since bumped him up to a B+.
I still hold a perfect record in the Animated Feature category. I am proud to have that, which makes up for tying Joanna this year in our game of picking the winners. We both picked 11, Clint scored 9 and my mom brought up the rear with 7. It was a good ceremony overall, but it would be hard for me to not enjoy the Oscars. Unlike a lot of people, I liked that they did montages of past Oscar winners. It made me remember what a great medium film is and how many wonderful films Hollywood has given us.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
My Super Bowl Switcharoo
Have you ever experienced a time in your life when you thought you knew what you wanted but your instincts and emotions revealed an opposite desire?
More than likely you have faced this sort of thing. At the very least you have seen it take place in the movies before. What I’m talking about is the classic romantic comedy plot in which a man and woman think they hate one another because of differing perspectives or altering motives, but after 90 minutes of verbal sparring and a far-fetched case of mistaken identity or eavesdropping on the tail-end of a conversation that seems to make one of the couple seem to be up to something devious it is realized that the two are actually in love and have to find each other before they leave on an airplane or marry some other person.
We sometimes believe with all our heart we want a chocolate ice-cream cone but once we see our little brother lapping up a vanilla cone we realize we made a mistake and begin coveting our sibling’s dessert.
I had this happen Super Bowl Sunday regarding what team I wanted to win.
Like many in Dallas I had a tough decision to make concerning the biggest football game of the year. Should I scream and get excited for the hated New York Giants who are division rivals and knocked us out of the playoffs or did I want a perfect season to take place with a win from the New England Patriots, led by the socially retarded, football mastermind Bill Belichick? It was a classic *@%#ed if I do, *@%#ed if I don’t situation.
Only seconds before kickoff did I make my final decision that I wanted the Patriots to have a perfect season and set history as one of the best teams ever with a win. It was a little before halftime I realized the decision my brain made was not what my emotions wanted.
With such a close score all game long I noticed I was mentally wishing the Giants defense to smother Brady in the pocket and give him no chance at completing the majority of his passes.
As the game went on that mental urging transformed to physical gestures such as fist pumping and verbal “woo-hoos” with each passing drive that resulted in no points for the Patriots.
By the middle of the third quarter I had completely reversed my pre-game disposition concerning the outcome of the game and had fully embraced a Giants victory.
I am sure many “true” – aka close-minded – Dallas fans will say I have turned my back on America’s team, but instead of looking at it as me cheering for the Giants try thinking of it as me wanting the team that beat us to win so we can say that had we beat the Giants then we might have gone on to win the Super Bowl.
During the final quarter of the game I was hooping and hollering in my mom’s living room as Eli Manning led his team to football immortality. Near the end of the game I even told my family that I hoped the Patriots would lose by three points so that Belichick would be blasted for not kicking the field goal on fourth down and 13 yards to go.
I guess Belichick had no confidence in Stephen Gostkowski and a 49-yard field goal attempt.
The point of all this is to say not everything we think we want is really what we desire most.
All the consideration and thinking in the world doesn’t always give you the clearest decision. Sometimes you need your emotions to weigh in.
More than likely you have faced this sort of thing. At the very least you have seen it take place in the movies before. What I’m talking about is the classic romantic comedy plot in which a man and woman think they hate one another because of differing perspectives or altering motives, but after 90 minutes of verbal sparring and a far-fetched case of mistaken identity or eavesdropping on the tail-end of a conversation that seems to make one of the couple seem to be up to something devious it is realized that the two are actually in love and have to find each other before they leave on an airplane or marry some other person.
We sometimes believe with all our heart we want a chocolate ice-cream cone but once we see our little brother lapping up a vanilla cone we realize we made a mistake and begin coveting our sibling’s dessert.
I had this happen Super Bowl Sunday regarding what team I wanted to win.
Like many in Dallas I had a tough decision to make concerning the biggest football game of the year. Should I scream and get excited for the hated New York Giants who are division rivals and knocked us out of the playoffs or did I want a perfect season to take place with a win from the New England Patriots, led by the socially retarded, football mastermind Bill Belichick? It was a classic *@%#ed if I do, *@%#ed if I don’t situation.
Only seconds before kickoff did I make my final decision that I wanted the Patriots to have a perfect season and set history as one of the best teams ever with a win. It was a little before halftime I realized the decision my brain made was not what my emotions wanted.
With such a close score all game long I noticed I was mentally wishing the Giants defense to smother Brady in the pocket and give him no chance at completing the majority of his passes.
As the game went on that mental urging transformed to physical gestures such as fist pumping and verbal “woo-hoos” with each passing drive that resulted in no points for the Patriots.
By the middle of the third quarter I had completely reversed my pre-game disposition concerning the outcome of the game and had fully embraced a Giants victory.
I am sure many “true” – aka close-minded – Dallas fans will say I have turned my back on America’s team, but instead of looking at it as me cheering for the Giants try thinking of it as me wanting the team that beat us to win so we can say that had we beat the Giants then we might have gone on to win the Super Bowl.
During the final quarter of the game I was hooping and hollering in my mom’s living room as Eli Manning led his team to football immortality. Near the end of the game I even told my family that I hoped the Patriots would lose by three points so that Belichick would be blasted for not kicking the field goal on fourth down and 13 yards to go.
I guess Belichick had no confidence in Stephen Gostkowski and a 49-yard field goal attempt.
The point of all this is to say not everything we think we want is really what we desire most.
All the consideration and thinking in the world doesn’t always give you the clearest decision. Sometimes you need your emotions to weigh in.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Jan. 10 Column
I wouldn't say this is my triumphant return or anything. Just thought I would post something since it has been a while. Here is my column from last week in case you don't know how to type in www.ennisdailynews.com.
I have started to notice a new trend in the fast food drive-thru line. I don’t know when it began but it has made my grease-laden food ordering experience a little more difficult.
What I am talking about is the automated message that greets you as your vehicle comes to a stop next to the intercom and menu. It usually sounds something like, “Welcome! How can I help you?” or maybe like, “Howdy! Can I take your order?”
It’s not the greeting I have a problem with. The welcome really isn’t all that bad, except for certain food industry execs who think every person in Texas says “Howdy” to one anther as our hello.
What bothers me is the fact that it is an electronic message greeting me and now I’m not sure if the person on the other side of this electronic box is really ready to take my order. I never worked the fast food drive-thru window and haven’t had to fight through the headset with a customer so I don’t know what it’s like on the other side, but as the customer I don’t want to do anything to make you mad for fear you might alter my specially made burger with some homemade sauce.
If I begin rattling off my order because Computerized Chatty Cathy just welcomed me to your establishment, asked how she could help me and you aren’t ready yet, then I have to be reprimanded when you come on the intercom and say, “One moment SIR!!!” It’s not that I’m in some rush or want to make your life harder. Your greeting asked what I wanted and I began giving my order.
When I first started noticing the computerized greeting in the drive-thru line I thought it was just two people working the headset. No big deal. However, then I started noticing that the first woman was saying the same thing every time. The words and delivery never changed. At this point I started wondering when it was appropriate to start giving my order. Again we go back to what if the employee taking my order isn’t ready. I don’t want to rush them.
Here is another question. Why is the computerized greeter always a woman? How come we never hear men’s voices greet us in the drive-thru? Is this a coincidence among all the food establishments or did the Women’s Association of Electronic Greeters go on strike until a deal was made to monopolize the drive-thru lines?
All of this may seem trivial to you and your response to me might sound something like “Why don’t you just stop eating those fatty foods and trying a more healthy diet?” Well here is my answer to you. When you have the figure of a 10-year-old girl and everything you eat has no effect on you in the short term then you take advantage of it for as long as possible. As soon as my clogged arteries begin to give me a shortness of breath and pain in my left arm then I will stop pumping my body full of the seventh – and lesser known – food group: grease.
Besides, I get a very healthy and delicious meal each week at the Odd Fellow and Rebekah Retirement Center here in Ennis when I attend Kiwanis Club. I know what you might think, “An old folks home! Yuk!” No way. It is delicious. Trust me.
I have started to notice a new trend in the fast food drive-thru line. I don’t know when it began but it has made my grease-laden food ordering experience a little more difficult.
What I am talking about is the automated message that greets you as your vehicle comes to a stop next to the intercom and menu. It usually sounds something like, “Welcome! How can I help you?” or maybe like, “Howdy! Can I take your order?”
It’s not the greeting I have a problem with. The welcome really isn’t all that bad, except for certain food industry execs who think every person in Texas says “Howdy” to one anther as our hello.
What bothers me is the fact that it is an electronic message greeting me and now I’m not sure if the person on the other side of this electronic box is really ready to take my order. I never worked the fast food drive-thru window and haven’t had to fight through the headset with a customer so I don’t know what it’s like on the other side, but as the customer I don’t want to do anything to make you mad for fear you might alter my specially made burger with some homemade sauce.
If I begin rattling off my order because Computerized Chatty Cathy just welcomed me to your establishment, asked how she could help me and you aren’t ready yet, then I have to be reprimanded when you come on the intercom and say, “One moment SIR!!!” It’s not that I’m in some rush or want to make your life harder. Your greeting asked what I wanted and I began giving my order.
When I first started noticing the computerized greeting in the drive-thru line I thought it was just two people working the headset. No big deal. However, then I started noticing that the first woman was saying the same thing every time. The words and delivery never changed. At this point I started wondering when it was appropriate to start giving my order. Again we go back to what if the employee taking my order isn’t ready. I don’t want to rush them.
Here is another question. Why is the computerized greeter always a woman? How come we never hear men’s voices greet us in the drive-thru? Is this a coincidence among all the food establishments or did the Women’s Association of Electronic Greeters go on strike until a deal was made to monopolize the drive-thru lines?
All of this may seem trivial to you and your response to me might sound something like “Why don’t you just stop eating those fatty foods and trying a more healthy diet?” Well here is my answer to you. When you have the figure of a 10-year-old girl and everything you eat has no effect on you in the short term then you take advantage of it for as long as possible. As soon as my clogged arteries begin to give me a shortness of breath and pain in my left arm then I will stop pumping my body full of the seventh – and lesser known – food group: grease.
Besides, I get a very healthy and delicious meal each week at the Odd Fellow and Rebekah Retirement Center here in Ennis when I attend Kiwanis Club. I know what you might think, “An old folks home! Yuk!” No way. It is delicious. Trust me.
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