Behold the ToddCam

That's right, a buddy of mine has set up an internet cam for his work area in the garage.

I think. When I checked this morning it was pointed at the snow in his backyard.

Anyway, I have yet to actually make a Todd sighting, but I have seen the garage door open and shut a couple of times. So I know he's not dead.

Backpacking the Bend

I took a backpacking trip to Big Bend over the weekend. Like a moron, I forgot my camera, so here's a few shots I found on Google Images.

I went with buddies Jeremy and Clark. We left Thursday night. We were planning on getting a hotel room close to the park and starting off on a two-night trek the next day.

• Travel tip: Book your motel room in West Texas about six months in advance. $3-gallon-gasoline has set off another oil boom in the Permian Basin and trans-Pecos area, and every freakin' hotel was filled with workers. The parking lots are filled with work trucks. The lobbies are filled with surly clerks who don't even bother answering the phone after 2 a.m.

There were no rooms in Odessa or Monahans. We finally gave up at about 3:30 a.m. and found a dark place to park the car at a Fort Stockton truck stop. After six hours of using my luggage as a pillow, we stiffly drove to IHOP for breakfast and made our way to Big Bend.

And there's not too much to tell after that. Clark fell ill. Me and Jeremy could only wonder at the toughness it took for him to climb about 1,600 feet with 40 pounds on his back, but once there, and after a night of rest that didn't cure him, there wasn't much else we could do. We walked back out and went home after one night.

Still, it was enough to at least remind me of why I take these trips when I can -- walking up into the Chisos Mountains, taking in the smell of dust, sage, pine and heat-blasted rock, and pushing into one of the most remote places in the United States.

The downside would be learning how out-of-shape you are. Really, when we realized that we'd have to leave early, the main thing that came to my mind was that I was already tired, sore and filthy and wouldn't mind a shower all that much. My calves are still screaming in pain.

Washington Post on dumb women

The column I posted about below has raised the danders of many.

The Washington Post editor apparently explained it today as being tongue-in-cheek and to be taken as a joke. (Via Politico.)

Pomfret said that being an opinion article, he’s not surprised readers reacted to it strongly. But added: “Perhaps it wasn’t packaged well enough to make it clear that it was tongue-in-cheek.”
Even if intended as a joke, the Allen piece clearly isn't the best way for the Post to
achieve its goal of bringing in more women readers, and it remains to be seen if the fallout continues today.
“It’s not the first time in opinion journalism that something has fallen flat,” Pomfret said.

I dunno. I thought it was tongue-in-cheek, my wife thought it was satire -- bad satire. I guess I'm happy I'm not someone who could read something like that and think someone -- at the Post, for crying out loud -- was making a serious argument as to the inferiority of women, thereby getting my own dander up.

Of women and The Cougar

Wow.

Writer Charlotte Allen (not familiar with) pens a scathing column in the Washington Post on the stupidity of women.

No man could write something like this and expect to keep his job as Harvard University president:

What is it about us women? Why do we always fall for the hysterical, the superficial and the gooily sentimental? Take a look at the New York Times bestseller list. At the top of the paperback nonfiction chart and pitched to an exclusively female readership is Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love." Here's the book's autobiographical plot: Gilbert gets bored with her perfectly okay husband, so she has an affair behind his back. Then, when that doesn't pan out, she goes to Italy and gains 23 pounds forking pasta so she has to buy a whole new wardrobe, goes to India to meditate (that's the snooze part), and finally, at an Indonesian beach, finds fulfillment by -- get this -- picking up a Latin lover!

Even worse, she takes down Grey's Anatomy.

I think I speak for all married men when I say, "Of course I don't think women are dumber than men. Honey?"

Tho the column was funny to read. Allen briefly touches on the stupidity in men, namely the naturally induced stupidity, which has a reasonable source, and the "catastrophic stupidity."

That's the balancing part that allowed the piece to get by editors, I assume.

Most men are aware of their potential catastrophic stupidity. Most men -- except maybe the ever-so-earnest president of the coolest frat on campus back when you were in college.

...

Driving back from Big Bend Saturday on Interstate 20, I couldn't help but think of one of my episodes of catastrophic stupidity, which I now call The Cougar Incident.

With apologies to those who were expecting something completely different.

In 1999, the car I had was totalled after a collision with a drunk (uninsured, of course).

I was in some decent money at the time. So I went to the car lot, checked out some of the used vehicles, and ended up in the new section staring at the just-redesigned cougars. Love was in the air.

The stupidity reached its zenith about a year later: I was in my red, V-6 Cougar on I-20, going about 100 mph. I had no radar detector, but I did have about 10 cars following in my wake. It was dark, and I wasn't driving with my headlights so much as using the force. Every 10 minutes the pressure would get to me and I'd slow down to 90 and scream "AAAAAHHHHHHHAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Then I'd push it back to 100. I once made the Dallas-to-Lubbock run in four hours.

After one year of ownership, I had three speeding tickets and a monthly insurance bill of $225.

I loaned the car to a guy who had some issues with medicines* of questionable legality, and in one day he managed to fire off the air bag and crack the windshield -- $2,000 of damage that I had to pay for.

I fought like a moron to hold on to that car, but I finally had to sell. By the time I handed the keys over, I was commuting from Hico to my job in Abilene because free was the only place I could afford. Didn't get completely out of debt until I got married.

Oh, the stupidity.

God I miss that car.

UPDATE: My wife, who is not terribly fond of the Post piece, says that the entire thing is satire, written so as to fold in on itself and eliminate its reason for being written. I'm thinking it's more tongue-in-cheek grousing that doesn't have to follow its own logic. We also had a strong disagreement on "zenith" vs. "nadir", which I lost. That is all.

*Tip: Don't do that.

Will be back next week

Need recovery time after this.

Dogs are awesome

No shame, but this story had me choking up:

Dennis thought he had seen the last of the dog days later when his squad headed back to its command post some 65 miles away. He couldn't take the dog with him and watched as it tried to follow the Humvees away from the border.

Two days later, while Dennis and a comrade were working on a Humvee, he looked up and saw the dog staring at him.

"Somehow that crazy damned dog tracked us," he wrote Jan. 9.

They say there are no athiests in foxholes. And no soldier ever brought back any damn cat from Iraq.

Just sayin'.

Story found on Ace.

Familiar name from the New York Times

In an article about Texas women and the Democratic primary*:

“While all those redneck bubba cowboys were driving the cattle, the women were running the ranches,” said Terri Burke, a longtime Abilene newspaper editor who was recently named executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.

My eyebrows went up at "redneck bubba cowboys," but I'm sure the statement was made tongue-in-cheek.

Burke was hired at the Abilene Reporter-News all of two weeks after I got there.

I now know two people who have been quoted in the big two** of American newspapers: Burke in the Times and T. Wilson in the Washington Post (on being an unemployed computer guy in Texas). This means nothing, other than the fact I'm getting old.

UPDATE: My wife was not happy with my description of the story below, feeling that I neglected to note that the story did detail some of the proud history of the politically active women in the state's history, which tends to get a short shrift nationally, as everyone on the east coast thinks of us as bubba rednecks. OK.

*The point of the story: Texas women are aware of the Democratic primary. They may vote for Obama, on the other hand, they may vote for Clinton. Or maybe not.

** Also known as the "Big Three" when you include the Wall Street Journal.

Obama ad sighting

I imagine everyone else, at least everyone else who watches more TV than I do, has see many.

But there it was for me, on Saturday, as I watched the Raiders of Red keep up their losing ways to Oklahoma.

"Something somethhing Obama, something something something Obama, and I approve this message."

The first primary campaign ad. For the coupla readers I have from out of state -- we don't get many nationalized campaign ads around here. I can't even remember the last time I saw a Presidential campaign ad. Our primary is too late, usually, to make a difference, and the parties don't even bother putting up a fight here in November.

We tend to save our campaign stupidity for the statewide elections.

And it gets pretty stupid. I still recall Tony Sanchez's run in 2004, where I knew nothing about his politics, only that he thought he could win by showing a video recording of Rick Perry trying to weasel his way out of a speeding ticket. And he showed that ad about 898,567 times per channel.

Perry: Can't you just let us get back on down the road?
Cue dark music.
Announcer: Rick Perry, why don't we just let HIM get back on down the road?

Good God. That'll be running around in my head until death for no good reason. I was worried, that, if Sanchez won, it'd be the theme of his governance.

• Our campaign is back on the road ... and crossing the finish line ... with the most speed!
• Let's put teenage pregnancy back on down the road!
• Let's put roadway litter back on down the road!
• Senate Bill 19, subset 55, regarding the taxation of natural resources under the management of non-native third party interests, can get back on the road.

I'd usually bemoan the fact that we're in for a short burst of this nonsense, but I'm kind of looking forward to it. We haven't seen two top national political campaigns desperate for votes go after each other like Rocky and the Russian for a long time. This should be kind of fun.

And it's good for newspapers, which might actually see some new ad revenue for once.

Ha!

Another entry in the vein of posting-something-so-I-don't-have-to-write-some-of-the-stuff-I'm-thinking-about-right-now-because-I'm-not-in-the-mood. That vein. I could go for a Coke.

Something for the weekend

Got this while visiting my usual political haunts. I don't think it's political. But I could be wrong.

Smoke on the water. In the land of the rising sun.



I like the sound, tho the singing parts tend to raise my Spock eyebrow.

It's fun to see big editors blast each other

Kind of like watching two battleships go at it from a row boat's vantage point.

Anyway: The link shows how the state editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette decided not to go quietly, dropping along a few f-bombs, sexism complaints and so on in her goodbye note, which is then answered by another editor, who blows her off.

I've visited the Democrat-Gazette a couple of times, but the only thing I remember about it was that it seemed to be a lively place.

Tri-weekly baby picture update

A couple of shots from Sam, who has entered the overalls and rides-in-the-stroller-without-the-baby-seat phase. And has a serious side.

A-J sports editor leaving

Huh. Just heard that Lubbock Avalanche-Journal sports editor Patrick Gonzales has accepted a position as assistant sports editor in Detroit.

Patrick's a good guy. I crashed on his couch a few times in Abilene when I was having heating issues with my house.

Can't find an announcement anywhere. Best of of luck to him.

Neat-o

The reason Stradivariusesses are the best violins.

Quick links

Going around the internet this morning:

Weird stuff about your favorite toys. This is great info to have at a party after everyone's had two beers and starts talking about their childhood.

The Bible, as done by Lego. Several hundred illustrations. Handy as a Cliff Notes for Sunday school.

Texas Monthly: Of Lajitas and the steak whisperer

It's fun to nitpick Texas Monthly: It attempts to mix the fashion consciousness of Vanity Fair with the Texnicity of your cowhand grandpa, often with some weird results.

But two articles in the December edition are definitely worth reading.

One details the rise and fall of the big time resort at Lajitas, as envisioned by big rich guy Steve Smith. Smith made his fortune in Austin, bought Lajitas on a whim, then decided to make a destination spot for the rich and famous. Not that anyone famous ever showed up to pay $33 for a breakfast of coffee, orange juice, fruit and Special K.

The story goes into the amazing stupidity of the entire project on many levels: People not understanding that a brutal desert may not be the best place for championship golf course, resort executives dumb enough to insult a waitress' honor in close-knit Terlingua, turning the local convenience store and gathering place into a knick-knack shop with a coffee bar.

Definitely a good read. The Lajitas story hits a nerve with people. I'll even occasionally get a hit on the post I wrote after hearing of the resort's bankruptcy last year.

Also of interest: Steak.

The magazine lists the best (?) Texas steak restaurants.*

I don't have much of dog in this fight (I wonder how long we'll be able to say that?). Steak is expensive, and I'm happy to eat it once a month off of the Foreman grill, tho I am starting to experiment with marinades.

Still, it's pleasant to see that the Perini Ranch in Buffalo Gap was named No. 3, after a couple of metropolitan-type restaurants I have no interest in going to.

Perini's is easily my favorite steak place: It's basically just a bunch of buildings on an old family ranch converted into a restaurant. The recipes are highly original, yet familiar, and the service is friendly. They aren't putting on airs just because Robert Duvall stops by every chance he gets.

And the story even mentions the Hico Steak Cookoff, via a list of tips from a two-time champion who claims the steak "talks" to him.

*TM does a good job of showing our priorities. The steak article got the cover, the story on the best schools in the state got a small stamp on the cover.

Beware the attic

While checking our attic recently for dead rats, I came across a mostly empty cardboard box that contained a couple of plastic jack-o'-lanterns and this:

My wife was scared of what I might write here, but I have just a few thoughts:

• You'd think, when moving, that packing ALL your S&M gear would be a priority.
• The peacock feathers on the crotch of the leather-thong jockstrap -- nice touch.
• Some of you may be slightly titillated. All I can think about? The people in this house before us consisted of two middle-aged chunky dudes who kept about 15 cats.
• At least I don't have to worry about my Halloween costume this year.

Good Knight, night

The news that Bobby Knight was resigning made me want to talk to someone, and I had ESPN on all day at work. It's interesting -- I got a call from a friend who had just seen the story at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal web site, before anyone else had it. It was interesting to watch it blow up.

I thought I would have something lengthy to say about Knight, but I don't. He did good things for Tech, he's a complex guy who scares the hell out of most of the people he comes across. I'm sad. I listened to Knight being lionized, I listened to the usual scorn heaped upon Texas Tech.

But all of these things had been covered by ESPN and sports radio by the time I got home*. Even the headline for this post has probably been used 800,000 times in the last 30 years. So, no reason to join this conversation.

It's over. Good luck to Pat.

*Actually, one thing I didn't hear discussed was how much his personna, or the perception of it, was influenced by the movie "Patton." It's obvious that the character Scott created, not necessarily the actual Patton, was the basis for the way the public interpreted "The General." I think.

Super

To be honest, I was surprised by the outcome of the game. I, like every other person, thought the Pats would win. I thought, and think, that all the sports pundits picking the Giants had more to do with them wanting to see New England go down.

But I don't see it as the greatest shocker ever. New England had limped through the playoffs. The Giants were on a roll and just kept getting better. I was thinking close game going in.

And the game was boring until the final 10 minutes. Then it was pretty good. At Scott's mighty Super Bowl party, it was funny. Everyone talked during the game, then got quiet to watch the commercials.

My favorite was the one with the animals screaming.

And, for a nice little cap on the season. The video below wasn't posted originally because I thought everyone had already seen it. Just in case you haven't, it was the funniest thing I saw last month. Go Raiders.

Salty subtitle warning.

Roll on

Sam first figured out, sort of, how to roll more than a month ago. We encouraged him to do it more than the two times that he did, but he didn't seem interested, and one of the 937 books that Meredith has read on child rearing said it was OK -- if he was't interested you don't have to worry about it.

But, at his four-month checkup, our doctor advised that we go ahead and work on it. And a couple of days later:

Here's Sam on the floor. Here's Sam, deciding he wants to check out his copy of Baby's Ivanhoe.
And swing the arm around ...

And you have it.
He seems to have it down pretty well -- roll, grab toy, puke on toy, scream. Rolling is now his favorite thing to do, followed by eating and screaming. And he really loves to scream.

The only problem is that we now have to worry about this: