Thanksgiving notes

This is late. I’ve noticed that having a newborn lengthens your recovery times from holidays and special events. Keep that in mind when you procreate.

First off, the latest pictures of Sam, taken a coupla minutes ago.

Sam emphasizes the importance of fresh basil,
or maybe he bemoans the lost art of the bunt in baseball.

We had the two-month checkup this week and everything checked out well. My wife said that Sam laughed the other day, which is a good sign.


Hello, I must be going
We spent Thanksgiving on the road, trying to attend dueling family events. Thanksgiving day was at the Mama’s parents house in Trinidad (small town on Cedar Creek reservoir) and the day after, we drove to Hico for the event with my family. Then I had to drive back to work. All in all, about nine hours on the road for about four hours of celebrations, talking and eating.

Working for newspapers can really suck sometimes.


Welcome to Tarleton
I got a little love on the Denton Record-Chronicle high school blog the other day after recommending the Hard Eight Restaurant to fellow writer Adam Boedeker. It was gratifying to read the entry because he liked the food recommendation and noted how idiotically the Tarleton State Memorial Stadium press box is run, as I had warned.

This is inside baseball here, but it’s something that amazes me. Every other press box I’ve ever visited, the staff is generally tripping over themselves to help you. In Stephenville, the sole purpose of the staff is to make sure you don’t wander into the empty rooms to work, even after the normal press room is full. And God forbid if you open the cooler and grab a coke (located in the press room).

I have a soft spot in my heart for Tarleton, but, dude.

By the way, Boedeker has a blog. It’s hard-core sports stuff, and mainly picks, but there's an opportunity to randomly make fun of a stranger for those who are interested.


A little coffee thingy
My sister-in-law and her in-the-Army husband are based in Italy. They visited for Thanksgiving, and dropped off their gift: an authentic ole-fashion’ espresso maker from Italy.

Here’s how it works:

Put water in the bottom container.
Put the grounds in the filter thingy on top of the bottom container.
Screw the cute little pitcher on top of the assortment, and put on stove.
Espresso! Or something. It’s been a little too weak so far, I’m experimenting. The thing came without instructions, or maybe it did, only everything was written in Italian.

The kid’s debut
Sam’s first appearance to my family was the Thanksgiving event in Hico. Plenty of oooing and ahhing, and the boy was passed around like a football.

People kept telling me, "You did a good job with this one."

I haven’t come up with something appropriate, or appropriately inappropriate, to say back. So I pretty much stayed with "Yup" and "Dang right." And occasionally "Thanks." It’s kind of like accepting congratulations for ... well ... you know. And it’s hard to come up with something to say that won’t get you slapped by your brother’s wife.


Sad throw
Speaking of footballs, my nephew Brown brought one to the Hico festivities. I threw it maybe three times before giving up. My problem: I had previously injured my shoulder while sleeping.

I’ll end with that. I’ll have news soon. I’m not exactly sure what that news will be. But it will be news.