Trip to Gainesville

Gainesville, TX Train Station


Cooke County Courthouse - under construction


The straight and narrow, Gainesville, TX

Gainesville, TX Train Station (by the way, it's a beautiful old brick building with some really old live oak trees out front).

I had to go to Gainesville, TX on Monday and it was an absolutely beautiful day to drive. Whenever I get to go anywhere I always feel like I am missing a day of work. Nevertheless, I was able to walk around downtown for a few minutes before I met my client and take some pictures of downtown Gainesville. The Cooke County courthouse looked to be in incredible shape, but was obviously under construction. I wouldn't mind seeing it after they're done with it.

My client was an incredibly nice eighty-four year old man. His wife passed away and I had to probate his wife's Will. We'll call my client Mr. M. It's amazing when you get a chance to sit down and talk to older people, but apparently, Mr. M was in World War II and he was a glider pilot. Yes, that's right an airplane without an engine. It was the job of the glider pilot to haul jeeps and heavy artillery to different spots behind enemy lines and then find a place to land or crash. Mr. M flew into Normandy on that fateful day, behind enemy lines. I never new this part of WWII history and was completely unaware of these men. The United States and England both had glider pilots. My boss was telling me that many times upon crash landing, the cargo would come smashing forward into the cockpit. Mr. M showed me a ton of old photographs from the war. You could tell that all he wanted to do was share a little bit of his life and I was glad to accept. I will write a much better history lesson given enough time, but not today.

By the way, if you haven't gotten the hint, talk to an older person and more times than not they will have something interesting to say and you'll probably learn about something that you didn't know previously. Writing assignment for the week.

Lynkys:

I've been listening to a lot of James Blunt, he's good (by the way Chris, if you have his latest CD, will you burn it for me? I'll love you forever and ever and ever).

A discussion of the NL Central (for Ben).

More on William Wesley (from True Hoop). For those of you who aren't keeping up, Wesley is a NBA powerbroker, but he's not an agent.

Interesting item on Tech vs. A & M recruiting.

Mandy Moore to appear in episode of Scrubs.

Hayden Christianson and Sienna Miller are more than friends?

A neat picture of a dog on the subway with a brick in it's mouth . . . and . . .

The 100 best first lines from novels (both through the greatness of Kottke).

I would like to remind Ben that women and children may be reading this blog. Quite possibly my own children some day. Nevertheless, I laughed out loud at the gift that Melissa would keep of yours and Miranda thought it was just gross.

Update from last night's post: My wife and I don't owe any "real bills" until April. Good times. Good times.

There will be nothing inspirational about tonight's post or linkys:

Incredibly awesome video of David Hasselhoff (via The Superficial).

The Rangers' top 30 prospects.

More Rangers, Minor League Ball has discussion on the AL West and who is in the best shape for this year and for years to come.

An incredibly detailed blog about NFL draft prospects.

Beano will get this car, I'm sure of it.

For all of your construction needs.

Lifehacker says that TurboTax is the best.

It's supposed to rain Saturday.

The Mav's are tied with the Spares.

If you love recruiting (i.e. Tech commitments) then please read the DMN's recruiting blog, it's good.

Oh Crud!

The geniuses that are my wife and I have been doubling up on bills for quite possibly the last two months. I knew the account was getting low, but I couldn't believe how low it had gotten. I really crapped my pants tonight when I checked our account and I started doing some fishing around.

What To Remember?

Because I deal with death nearly everyday I asked Miranda what she would take of mine to remember me. For you, is it a pair of boots, or a book, or an object that I couldn't conceive if given a million chances?

As an aside, Miranda didn't have any idea what that might be (I can't really blame her), but I started thinking that this would be a great writing assignment for everyone. I assume the reason I did not get a flood of responses is because I didn't really provide a specific topic, so now I am.

If I had to pick one thing of Miranda's it would probably be Olive. Olive needs Miranda (as silly as this appears to sound it is true) and Olive would never be the same, but I cannot imagine letting her go anywhere else. Unless of course, I could be convinced that she would be happier with Miranda's parents, but it would take some strong convincing.

On a more permanent scale, I have a lot of trouble answering this question. On some level when you grieve there are only so many things that you can hold on to without depressing yourself everyday. I know that I could say something like pictures, but that would be cheating. On a tangible level, I would take her wedding rings. I know that this does not seem like very much to take, but there would be nothing else that I would want that would bring more sweet and wonderful memories of what was. As I said above, anything else would be too much, all I would really want would be the very most important thing.

Now, that I've given out the assignment, I expect each and every one of you to talk about this with your significant other. I don't think that this is too depressing (I am probably biased on this point), but is meant to spark a conversation about what is important and maybe more importantly about what we have that we do not really need and what is not important.

No links tonight, just food for thought.

Snuffer's

Good times at Snuffer's last night. I wish I had gotten pictures of everyone with their full belly faces afterwords, but I figure no one really wants to pose for that type of picture. Please notice that Tony is only partially seen here as his identity is to be concealed, and thus, the picture of Tony and Leslie has not been posted.

The cheese fries (I'm sorry about the incredible glare off of the ranch) did not beat Miranda and I as I believe that we finished the most.

On another note, please notice the Flickr badge on the right side of this page. I don't know what else to say other than I think it is very neat.

Late Night Random Stuff

Linkys:

With so many new babies that will be running around, see if your baby's name is popular.

The Dallas Morning News has a new recruiting blog for Big 12 schools.

This is the camera that I want.

By the way, a person who stated that she was the mother of the child from the Flickr video requested that I remove the link to her son's photo due to the exposure. I have complied, but I wonder how she found that link?

Google Pack

Good times.

Ashley F. wanted to know how I got my screen saver and so I give to you Google Pack. You can pick and choose which applications you want to download and the screen saver is one of them. I recommend Google Earth, Picassa and Firefox.

Write

(I want to preface all of this by stating that this post will ramble, but please bear with me.)

So this is something that I've been thinking about for a long time and I think I have gotten Miranda on my bandwagon. Miranda and I bought journals this past weekend.

I believe that we as humans do not do all that we can do to exercise our minds. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have an incredible time turning off my mind at night, my brain is constantly churning ideas ranging from every topic. We are always concerned about getting in shape, but we all resort to doing nothing once we get home from work. I believe that this thought process of mine does go to waste, which is one of the reasons why I started this blog. I really felt that I needed a forum to express myself. Not necessarily for any one person or group of people to be impressed with my writing skills. I love the fact that people can come to this website and share what is going on in my life, but the reality is that I needed a release, I needed to be creative. I know that few of us have jobs that would be fulfilling from a creativity standpoint, but that doesn't meant that your mind has to stop.

Thus, I am encouraging everyone to start writing. Not to post on the internet or to write a novel or to compose a sonnet, but to simply write. I do not think it's important that you are a good writer, this can be something that is simply for you, but you should write about something which you are passionate.

I will write about the horrible pent-up feelings I still have with what happened with Rage and the fact that there was nothing in the world that I could do to make her better despite the fact that I drove to College Station to save her life and ended up putting her to sleep the next day. I will write about my version of how my wife and I met and fell in love. I will write about fantasy football and the method to my madness. I will write about my goals and aspirations. I will write about my memories in law school. I will write about my family.

I don't think that it's important to write about one thing and it's not about being perfect or grammatically correct, it's about getting something on paper. All it would take is the 30 extra minutes that most of us have during lunch. Instead of sitting at your computer, write. Get up early Saturday mornings and write.

What about the people who are about to have kids? What are your fears or your dreams for your not yet born child? There will be memories that you will forget that will be so precious to you at that time. There is no reason to let them slip away.

I don't know about the rest of you, but memories fade, very quickly. Memorializing those memories isn't about necessarily capturing the moment, but it can be about capturing those feelings.

It doesn't take much. Go to the store, but a notebook and write.

Write about your favorite football team and the fact that they lost their offensive coordinator and who you would like to see them hire. Write about your favorite baseball team and what hopes you have for Danks, Volquez and Diamond to do in the majors. Write about your grandparents, they will not be here forever. Write about how much you love your significant other. Write about anything.

I must also admit that I am a horrible writer. I always have writer's remorse. When I put pen to paper I always think that I could have been more specific or more colorful, but there is no reason why you can't come back to that thought and expand on how you feel.

I do not know how many readers I have, but I think I can count the number of people who will actually do this on one hand, but I hope everyone takes a minute to think about doing this and then do it.

For those of you who will ignore my request - Linkys:

Corvette stolen in 1969 and returned.

I have 20 invitations to a neat website, Newsvine, where you determine what news you feel is important. All you have to do is ask.

SI.com grades the baseball offseason of all AL teams.

Former NBA'er, Ralph Sampson, is in trouble (from TrueHoop).

"Is George Clooney dating Teri Hatcher? Cuz if he is, he could do a lot better. A lot better. (DListed)" (from Egotastic)

Check out the interesting things that have been scanned on the National Archives.

If you have not checked out flickr then you are doing yourself a disservice. Funny picture of a kid and snot (link removed as per the mother's son request) .

The Ghost Dog

I've asked two folks what they think about me posting links versus simply writing. Both have said that they appreciate the occasional links, but that they appreciate the content even more. I always believed that this little project was intended to be more of a creative expression than me posting links from the internet. I believe that I'll always post links, as I told Ben, I feel like an internet filter - only giving you the good stuff or the pretty stuff or the interesting stuff or the entertaining stuff, but as I hope to explain tomorrow or this weekend, I want to write, more and I wil.

Ben wanted this link and here's the Chronic of Narnia.

Old Photos From Home

No links today, I probably won't update until Wednesday night.

It's A Boy

Mad props to Tony & Leslie, they're having a boy. We can call this photo either artsy or bad, nevertheless, can you feel the love? Respect.

Linkys:

This one's for Ashley B., Farley and Swayze.

One neat project, a guy in NY takes one picture a day on his way to and from work.

Make a website for your puppy dog.

Have you ever wanted a website where you type in a musical artist's name and then the internet elves will pick music that they think you will like based on that artist? Well here's pandora.

Funny Napoleon Dynamite Utah State Fair promos. There is a Totzilla.

James Fey is a guy who wrote a book about being hooked on drugs and Oprah decided that this book belonged in her book club. Now we find out it's reported that he's a big fat liar.

Could the Chinese have discovered America before Columbus?

This guy quit his job to be a pirate.

The baseball stuff: If you love the Texas Rangers and you are interested in their minor league system then, for the love of God, please go to the Newberg Report. If you are too lazy to do this then go here for the top 10 pitchers in the minor league system.

The Horns

It's a little late, but I haven't given any type of props to the Longhorns for their national championship. Considering I have a brother who goes to school there and since he did let me go onto the field with him (once, but I'm not ungrateful) I figured I could show some love. I was actually cheering for UT, Vince is a beast, and stuff.

Nevertheless, because they are losing Vince, I demand and expect to Tech to completely whip up on Texas next year behind Graham Herrell.

Links:

Britney tops Blackwell's Worst Dressed List.

Gawker reports on Lindsay and Kate's night out. By the way, if you don't read Gawker and you're a girl who likes gossip then this is the site for you.

Three really good travel websites:
1. DoHop
2. Kayak
3. Site 59

Texas Rangers minor league article.

Tom Cavanaugh is filming Love Monkey in NY and opens the door for people.

The worlds best quotes in 1 to 10 words.

Playstation 3 is to be $500.00? Chris will pony up.

Nano belt buckle.

Today In Sports

Nothing really new to report of today so I'll just give you some sporty-sports links (and one extra):

True Hoop has been investigating who is William Wesley. From what I can tell he is an NBA powerbroker who is not an agent but seems to broker deals with players, is aligned with an agent (Leon Rose) and is crazy rich.

From Bob Sturm: "In battle of the sexes, US Olympic Women’s Hockey team loses to Minnesota High School team …and, if you thought that was impressive, keep in mind, the boys had to play “no-checking”, too."

Greggy was asking me how long of a plane ride it was from LA to Sydney, Australia, well, here's the answer.

If you are Jones-ing for some Cowboy discussion, then read Cowboy's Blog.

Don't look now, but the Mav's are only 1/2 game behind San Antonio.

Mark Cuban says the stock market is for suckers. There's a lot of truth in what he says, considering he's a billionaire, you should maybe read and listen.

The Saddest Puppy Dog Ever

This is my neighbor's dog and I do believe that this is the saddest puppy dog ever. The people who live behind us have a huge backyard and this cute little puppy dog is starved for attention. I really don't even think that they know it exists and its only interaction with other puppy dogs is through our chainlink fence. This dog will constantly bark, but I don't think it's barking out of anger, but because it sees Blue and Zoey playing all day.

There have been numerous times that this puppy dog has been stuck inbetween the neighbor's fence and our fence and it's been up to my wife and myself to make sure that the dog gets back into its yard. When I have gone over to their house to let them know that their dog is stuck between the fences I hear 3 or 4 dogs inside and I guess that they've decided that this puppy dog isn't good enough to be inside.

As an aside, for those of you who have not seen my house, these are a few of the colors that my wife and I have to look at everday. Apparently these same neighbors got into a fight with the people who used to live in this house and so they painted an ugly fence. Good times.

 

43 things

I've been thinking about posting my goals or things that I want to do or go, but I really didn't have a way of keeping up with them until I found 43 things and 43 places. 43 things is a place where you can list the things you want to accomplish and share whoever reads this. I have already been given some serous lip about wanting to go to England, thus, you will notice the edit "in the summer" was added. I have gone on the record and I will continue to state that I hate cold weather and my wife does too. Moreso, we are limited by my wife's available vacation days (take a look at a school calendar). Not an excuse, merely an explination.

Links:

As I began to think about all of the funny SNL skits, one of my favorites is celebrity Jeopardy. Ashley B. wants me to find the Farley/Swayze skit and I'm still working on that.

The Chronic of Narnia has already inspired t-shirts.

If you are not watching The Office, then you are missing out on some really tense and funny television.

And our favorite bowling alley lawyer, Ed Stevens (i.e. Tom Cavanaugh), gives us a new show Love Monkey.

Michael Toney's Wedding - Part II

Wendy and Ryan.


Me, my love, Ashley B. and Stephen.


My love, Stephen and Ashley B.


My love and me (with my sleepy eyes).

Michael Toney's Wedding - Part I

Ashley F., Leslie and my love.


Tony and Greg (is the placement of Greggy's hand a little funny?)

Chris and me?

Stephen and Justin.

Are we bad people because none of us like to mingle? We were all at a really nice wedding and the only things that we did were eat and, well, that's about all we did. Do we as a group need to be a little more concerned with the way we interact with our community? Don't get me wrong, I am the king of sitting myself down and ignoring everyone else, but "mingling" is such a strange thing and I feel so out of place holding a drink and trying to find someone to discuss business or sports or stuff.

I suppose I could make this one of my resolutions, but I don't know if I would actually do it.

Beano

Bob wanted some love and here it is, the whole crew sans Ben. I should also mention that it would not be wise to mess with the two fellas in the top picture. While going through my photo collection I noticed that pictures of the Beano are few and far between, he is like the elusive white tiger.

Good Links:

I saw this and I thought it was very funny, the Chronic of Narnia, and yes, Saturday Night Live can still be funny.

Interesting NY Times article on Mike Leach, by Michael J. Lewis (author of Moneyball.) by the way, this may require registration and you can use bugmenot to acquire a username and password if you don't want to log in.

Finally, Kottke's list of 2005 favorite links.

Big Ben

You know, all you had to do was ask. For all of you who do not know, this is Ben, my best man and best friend. He wrote a comment where he expressed his displeasure for not being on the infamous blog. Well here he is. I should also explain that my first encounter with Ben was me mentioning that we had the same haircut coupled with Ben's obvious apprehension that what seemed to be a straight man was complimenting on his hair. From that moment forward, a friendship was sprung, the likes the world has never seen.

Ben has been promised a trip by myself to Missouri, and I have yet to deliver. He and Moe will have a visit, it is merely a matter of time. Maybe I could have some "throwed rolls" since I wasn't able to have them last time.

In an attempt to make up my obvious mistake, I am including this excellent link of a St. Louis Cardinals blog which will make his baseball-pants go crazy.

A Real Calendar

I thought I had located some neat calendars that could be used anywhere someone has an internet connection, but I have found planzo. Below my links on the right side of my blog you can find my planzo calendar.

There are a couple of things that I really like about this website: 1) it's easy to use; 2) signing up is very easy; 3) anyone can view it (which is what I was looking for in the first place); and 4) it's free. I don't like the link that planzo supplies I am limited. In addition to having a calendar, planzo has to-do lists along with notes.

Now, if there is any type of get-together, you will be able to locate it on my planzo page (i.e. date, time, location, etc.). Now if you need an event added (I don't know why I just said this since there are only a couple of people who actually read this blog) then just let me know by adding a comment on a post or emailing me.

For those of you who do read this, I thank you and I thank you. Have good and get give.

Ashley F. gets her own post

No need to say anything here. A picture is worth a thousand words.

New Year's Eve 2005 - Part II

Rader Red in the House.

I don't know why this is funny, but Greggo was trying to get out of the picture and obviously, I had other ideas.

Courtney, Holly and Leslie.


Dantastic, Courtney and Greggy.

New Year's Eve 2005 - Part I

Miranda and Ashley B.


Ashley B. and Stephen.


Ryan and Holly.


My love and me.

Justin and Ashley F.

2005 is in the books and now we're on to 2006. A fantastic time was had by all last night and it was wonderful to see everyone after what seemed like a long holiday season. I don't know if its me, but everyone seems really happy and I hope everyone has a healthy, happy and prosperous 2006.

I want to state for the record that Justin and Ashley were not on Flickr because they were unable to make the bowling trip to Ennis with Tony/Leslie and Stephen/Ashley. You snooze you lose. I will try to post many of the "couple" photos on Flickr, but I'm limited to so many downloads a month and it's part of my personality, but I can't download all of my allowed pictures on the first day of the month. By the way, you can buy any pictures from Flickr, this is my gift to you.

Ashley B. mentioned that my descriptions and links are confusing and difficult to understand. Thus, my first goal of 2006, other than trying to make my wife happy, is to do a better job of explaining all the things that I link.

One more thing. I can only post so many photos, thus, there will be a Part II and I don't want to hear any complaining about why someone didn't make Part I (i.e. "I'm not important enough to make Part I?" "Don't you love me?" "Why do you constantly berate me by purposely not posting my picture in Part I?").