Mark my words, Michael Vick will become a Dallas Cowboy. Jerry will see him not only as a viable backup that he can sign for somewhat cheap, but a way to implement the Wildcat offense. I’m not saying I want this to happen, I’m just saying it will.
Mike Shanahan got fired . . . I didn’t see that one coming. This helps make for more drama in the NFL, which is another reason I love this league.
I rarely drink any alcohol, and when I do I feel real flushed and my face gets red. I was told that it was because that Asians don’t respond to alcohol very well, and with me being half-Asian, I thought that sounded about half right. I mention that because I’ve been reading a new comic strip called Secret Asian Man. Oddly enough, it’s a comic strip about an Asian man that’s married to a white woman and their child, and it focuses a lot on stereotypes and race relations. Yesterday’s strip addressed the Asian-alcohol issue.
Allow my inner geek to come out for a moment . . . I’ve seen terabyte hard drives on sale for under a hundred bucks. I remember being amazed when the first gigabyte hard drive came out.
I saw that the two most admired women are Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. In a way, I just find that strange. Both women are from opposite ends of the spectrum, and I feel both are extremely polarizing. As for me, I admire Miley Cirus. I’m joking . . . trust me.
I didn’t realize there are only 14 different calendars. January 1 can occur on any of seven days — but some years are leap years and have an additional day. Link
I may pick up the next issue of Vanity Fair because this article about an article in the magazine sounds quite interesting. Ex-Bush staffers talk about how things fell about with the American people after Katrina, how he is like Sarah Palin, and a bit about the misconception of the power of the Religious Right leadership. Edit – Or I could just read it here.
I finally pulled the trigger on that elliptical. Watch out Hugh Jackman. Watch out.
A goldfish survives out of water for 13 hours? Link
Lost will start up again in January, but I think I found their island. There’s maybe only one community on that island, and if you continue to zoom out you’ll see it’s in the middle of nowhere.
This man has not shaved or cut his hair in ten years.
DirecTV has always offered the NFL Ticket package by breaking it up into six months of payment installments. Yesterday I noticed you can now break it up to ten months. I guess they are trying to help the paying customer adjust to the rough economic times, but I don’t plan on biting.
I couldn’t fall asleep the other night and ran across one of the ESPN channels that was showing nothing but ‘This is Sportscenter’ commercial. It was good stuff, and was a great trip down memory lane. I learned that the very first one of those commercials involved only two athletes, Roy Jones Jr and Dallas Maverick Jason Kidd.
A have a few favorite ‘This is Sportscenter’ commercials, but I think I prefer the ones with the straight lace Charlie Steiner. This Melrose Place version is one that sticks out.
I’ve noticed that IHOP no longer serves warm syrup with their pancakes. You have to rely on the cold slow dripping stuff left on the table. The world as I know it is crumbling.
The NASA Columbia reports brings back some memories of that fateful day. I was in Mineral Wells about to get my oil changed when I heard the loudest boom I ever heard, so loud it shook the windows. I search around the house trying to find something that may have cause the boom, but nada. (Graphs of the sonic boom can be found here)I then turned on the local news and they were showing tape of the shuttle flying over, but what they were showing were several small flashes going through the sky. You can tell the reporter wanted to say that looked odd, but was too afraid to do so, then a few moments later they mentioned the communication was lost with the shuttle. Later the weather lady came on (Rebecca MIller) to do her forecast and the Texas satellite map showed a bunch of red particles over East Texas and Louisiana. I couldn’t find a video of it, but here’s an animated image of the radar. She stressed it was nothing to do with the shuttle and was some other kind of abnormality, but I knew better.
It was interesting to see how reporters could go over the details of how they died in detail yet without any emotion.
I remember NASA giving the family of the crew members over $26 million after the disaster. As sad as that moment was, I didn’t think that was right. I think it’s similar to when a soldier dies, they know what they were signing up for.
I wonder how much of Columbia is still scattered and uncovered.
I wonder how many pieces were found and never turned in.
It was a bit creepy watching that video of what was going on inside Colubia as they were entering Earth’s atmosphere.
If I had the chance to go into space, I would do it in a heartbeat.
If someone could arrange for me to fly in a fighter jet you would have a best friend for life.
WifeGeeding and I can’t decide if we are going out tonight. We haven’t been out on New Years Eve in about six years. There’s a small chance we will end up at Victory Park tonight. Usually we watch Dick Clark, even thought it’s been kind of awkward the last couple of years.
It’s crazy to think we are almost through the first decade of this millenium. Time flies, try to appreciate it as much as you can.
I’ve thought about upgrading to a better TV recently, and then yesterday WifeGeeding calls me at work and tells me that the TV isn’t working? Is it a sign from above, or temptation? Long story short, I stayed ‘humbled’ and replaced the bulb and all was well. Actually, better than well, it’s much brighter and sharper.
I’m staring to learn that just about everything I need to know repair wise can be found on the Intertubes. For instance, here’s a video and pictures on how to replace the bulb on my TV.
I’m still really tempted to buy an Blueray DVD player, but I we just don’t watch many movies to justify the cost. Maybe when they start to drop closer to the $150 I’ll consider.
That last line reminds of a scene from ‘The Wedding Singer‘ where the ‘bad guy’ states he just spent something like $5000 on a CD player. Remember, the movie took place in 1985.
Quite possibly the worst family Christmas card ever. Link
Most of Christmas day was spent watching a House marathon.
I really need my 401k to rebound from last year.
A photo collection of dogs that chased a dude’s car. Link
For you fellow 30 Rock fans, this glove story might be entertaining.
Speaking of 30 Rock, when I drove to visit the in-laws I listened to some sort of interview with the cast and crew that I downloaded off of iTunes. It was in that interview that I discovered that one of Jane Krakowski’s first movie roles was in Nation Lampoons Vacation as cousin Vicki.
Through marriage, I actually have a cousin Vicki.
I’ve decided that I will no longer purchase the NFL Ticket on DirecTV.
One of my best purchases of 2008 was my custom made arch supports. My back and my feet are thankful.
As you know, I’m a U2 nutcase, but I’m disappointed the band is coming out with five editions of the new album. That’s just silly.
I remember when Jerry fired Barry Switzer and one of my friends put together a resume of all his high school and Madden accomplishments and sent it in to Jerry with a cover letter.
I actually sent Jerry a wedding invitation back in the day. The idea came from a friend who was a Packers fan. He sent a wedding invitation to them and actually got a very nice thank-you letter in return. I didn’t hear anything from Jerry.
I’m a passionate Cowboys fan, but I don’t think I would go this far. And surely there has to be YouTube video of this somewhere.
I’ve meant to post this a while back, but I’ve found the absolute best pet stain remover in the history of ever. Eco-88. All you have to do is spray very liberally and that’s it.
DogGeeding isn’t a young pup, and I’ve notice for a while now that when I play with him he no longer does his energetic strut. However, I found some healthy treats for him at Petsmart that I have to him for Christmas. Ever since I’ve been feeding them to him his strut has returned.
WifeGeeding could eat at Chick-Fil-A everyday I’m convinced.
There’s a radio station in town that is still playing non-stop Christmas music. That should have stopped by the 26th at the latest.
Growing up, we always kept the Christmas tree up until after New Years, and I always felt strongly that it shouldn’t be taken down until after the start of the new year. But know, I’m kinda tired of looking at it.
I’ve eaten wayyyy too much ham this holiday season.
There’s a new burger place in the neighborhood called Mooyah’s -Â pretty good stuff.
I have ‘The Right Stuff’ recorded on the DVR but haven’t got around to it.
My todler niece opened a present which was a toy guitar. After her father got it out of the package he gave it to her to play, be she refused to start playing and said, “I need a pick!” Good times.
I hear more and more folks state that we should be thankful that Dubya kept us safe from the terrorists, but I have a few thoughts about that. First of all, it’s his job just like all past and future presidents, and I’m think generally all of us are thankful for the protection and it pretty much goes without saying. But I’m still bothered by that ‘Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in U.S.’ memo that wasn’t taken seriously that specifically mentioned hijacked planes and NYC and D.C. I’m also bothered by the use of torture. I think that destroyed our integrity with other nations, and it makes me fear for the safety of our soldiers should any of them become captured. If we torture prisoners that are from other countries, what’s going to stop other countries from torturing our soldiers? Many of you won’t agree with those thoughts, but it’s just one of those things that I’ve been thinking about.
I wonder if the Buccaneers from 1976 cracked opened a bottle of champagne and toasted themselves a-la the undefeated Dolphins team does each year when the Lions lost yesterday.
With WifeGeeding not home this Sunday morning I decided to visit a different church just to check it out. As much as I love my current church, I just feel God is wanting me to serve elsewhere.
Maybe it’s good old days syndrome, but I liked it better when most bowl games were played on New Years Day.
I saw Pat Summeral the day after Christmas.
A Geeding utopia would include potatoes, no matter how they are cooked, being the healthiest of all foods.
I can’t decide if mortgage rates are going to drop any further or not. But either way, I plan on refinancing soon.
The NFL has moved towards having a running back by committee, instead of just one featured back. I predict this will also happen with the QB position one day. You will have a QB that is known as a passer and another known for being like an option type of QB. It’s the new Wildcat formation that will lead to this new trend, and it’s something owners will love, not having to put so much cash into one player.
In the book I’m reading I learned that Ken Norton Jr and James Washington use to recite this prayer before every game, “Lord don’t move the mountain, but give us the strength to climb it.”
That’s a prayer I need to say before getting out of bed each morning.
For someone that doesn’t like to read, in less than a week I’m more than halfway through with the 365 page book. Not having to go to work helps out a lot.
The Cowboys last playoff win was on Dec. 28, 1996. That was a very long time ago.
So someone born on that day is almost a teenager and has never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game.
It was interesting seeing Romo wave off the punting team.
Many Cowboy fans will disagree with me, but I think keeping most of the coaching staff is the best thing to do. Landry went many years losing and not advancing, but later became a very respected coach. Now I know Wade Phillips is no Tom Landry, but with some adjustments, he might just make this a better team next year.
In terms of changes, Wade will have to instill more discipline. You can’t lead the league in penalties and expect to be a great team. He will also have to get a new specials teams coach, and Jason Garrett will have to work on that offense.
A healthy Felix Jones would have made this an interesting season.
I bet Jerry really wants Mike Holgren to coach this team, and is willing to wait one year to get him. He’s a good Parcells/Phillips mix in terms of attitude.
This team really needs a vocal leader like it had back when Michael Irvin played. Perhaps trying to sign Ray Lewis would help?
Wow, the NFL regular season really flew by.
I don’t think any team really want to play Philly right now.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Atlanta made the NFC Championship game. I could see them playing Carolina.
I wouldn’t be surprised if San Diego made the AFC Championship game. Hopefully beating the Steelers.
I think I’ve settled on an elliptical, the Octane Q37.
I was out doing last minute Christmas shopping and ran into the dollar store to pick up some gift bags and when I saw the plastic poinsettias I felt like I’ve been hit by a Mac truck. Every year I use to take some to my grandparents’ grave, I hear they were my grandfather’s favorite. He died when I was negative seven years old, but I do remember Grandma telling me about the poinsettia during one trip to the grave. Well, I wasn’t planning on driving about two hours to my grandparents’ grave, but I just realized that I haven’t even considered taking any to my father’s grave. In my selfish pitty of not having my mom and dad around anymore, I totally forgot to visit the grave of my father and where some of my mother’s ashes are scattered about. I made sure to take a trip out there later in the afternoon.
The grave is actually in the DFW National Cemetery. It opened a few years after my father passed, but we moved him out there as he stated years before his death when it was being built that he wanted to live long enough to be buried out there. I remember my first trip out there looking at this newly opened cemetery, and one old vet told me that I won’t appreciate it’s beauty of a national cemetery until I’m old enough to have grandkids because by that time there will be many more headstones. That thought has popped into my mind over the last two years as every year I travel out there I’m amazed by the number of new headstones. I guess that vet didn’t realize the number of WWII and Korean vets that were about to die at the time.
I remember my father telling me he spent a lot of Christmases overseas alone. That always made me sad, and as an adult looking back I can see why he always valued having the family together on Christmas.
Since my father’s passing a decade ago, every Christmas has felt incomplete and unfulfilled. I expect it to be this way until I become a father.
Webcams help make family that lives far away feel a lot closer.
I try never to shop or go to the movies on Christmas. I’ve worked a few Christmases and never liked the idea of being apart from family.
On Christmas day I have two friends that will send a gerneric mass text message saying Merry Christmas.
I also have one of my oldest friends call me on Christmas day as he travels back to Mineral Wells America just to tell me a new random fact about our hometown. This year it was the new population sign and the decrease in the updated number.
When I think of the population of my home town, it reminds me of my first trip to Texas Stadium. I remember thinking that if you took the whole population and multiplied it by three it still couldn’t fill the stadium.
Speaking of Texas Stadium, WifeGeeding gave me one of the coolest and most personalized Christmas presents I’ve ever received. She got me two seats from Texas Stadium and even paid the extra cash just to get me an aisle seat with the star on the side. They won’t come until Feb I think.
She also gave me a Cowboys book I’ve been wanting to read. I started reading it and to my surprise little Hardin-Simmons University was mentioned in it.
Last year I was given the Tony Dungy book, and I read that rather quicly and really enjoyed it. So it appears as much as I don’t like to read, I don’t mind reading unless it’s about football.
This is the first Christmas that I can remember in which I didn’t wrap one present. I find the gift bag route much easier, and I filled them with schredded paper of old bills and stuff.
Yes, DogGeeding and OtherDogGeeding also got presents.
Our Christmas tree is stacked with old ornaments from my childhood. It might look a bit tacky but I don’t care.
The Christmas Eve service at church started with a video of the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. It was the part where Charlie Brown gets upset at the Christmas production and right when Linus was about to recite scripture the video stopped and a light was shown on a kid on the alter who read the piece. I thought that was well choreographed.
For as long as I can remember on Christmas Eve I’ve always eatened a Honey Baked Ham and these special brown sugar friend potatoes that Mom always use to make. For the last two Christmases my sister made the pototoes which came pretty darn close, and since she’s gone this year I thought it would be the first in which I don’t eat the Honey Baked Ham or those potatoes. Well, WifeGeeding got the ham and did her best to make the potatoes, and she came pretty darn close. I didn’t really know how much that meal really meant to me or the memories it would bring back. It was so very nice of WifeGeeding to give me that gift.
The local news had a story about the Austin Street Centre, which is a homeless center that only operates off of donations as it doesn’t accept funding from the federal or state level. The story focuses upon this choir of homeless people that travels to nursing homes and churches to sing. I was so touched I plan on donating. You can find more details about it here.
Several friends I expected a Christmas card from this year didn’t send one. Maybe it’s the economic times, but either way I was left a bit sad and disappointed especially since we sent one to them.
Lots of commercials for that Brad Pitt Benjamin Buttons movie. Off hand, I just think it’s Forrest Gump in reverse.
Several people think WifeGeeding and Tina Fey look alike. I don’t think so, but I can see how they might think that because both are kinda tall, slender, lanky, wear glasses, and both are brunettes. As a joke, WifeGeeding gave me a copy of Vanity Fair with Tina Fey on the cover but with her face over Tina’s.
And I leave you with 1984 home video of 9-Year-Old-Geeding when I opened the one thing I wanted more than any other that year . . . Optimus Prime. It was taken at a time of innocence and when I really cared about the season. It makes me laugh because of the excitement I had at the time, and my grandma (and by her voice you can tell she was a smoker) asking me who he was, and after telling her hearing her reply, “Ohhhhhh.”
This Rick Reilly story explains why a Texas football coach told parents to root for the opposing team. Weird, I know, but it’s a touching story and gives me hope that there are Coach Eric Taylors out there, not that many of you would know who Coach Taylor is.
This second piece comes from local sports personality Bob Sturm, who was nice enough to link to this blog more than once. In one of his more recent posts, he perfectly describes what it means to be a die hard sports fan in a fatherly advice sort of way. Perhaps it will help the ladies understand their men a little bit more, and it’s one of the better sports pieces I have ever read.
As I was leaving a frigid Texas Stadium after the game, I was walking right behind a Dad and his boy. The boy must have been 7 or 8 years old and was crying about the result. Some people might roll their eyes, but I knew how the boy felt. When you are young, and you love a sports team, you believe the games and the seasons will all have the happy endings of the Disney movies that you watch. Guess what, son, if you are going to pledge allegiance to a team as it appears you have with the Dallas Cowboys, I want to welcome you to the fellowship of the die-hards. Understand, that once you do, you are not allowed out of this commitment, and you should also understand that most seasons are going to end in tears. A favorite team is the only thing a male human feels the same about when he is 5 and when he is 45 and when he is 75. You will change your mind on everything else. Girls, money, hobbies. But, you will always still feel the adrenaline rush of a win, and the gutting sadness of a horrible loss. I didn’t say anything to the boy, as his Dad was handling it (and he might not have welcomed my advice) but I felt for him. Welcome to sports, young man. Someday, you may live to see a championship or five, but most years will end with your guts spilling onto the floor.
Just looking outside and you can tell Old Man Winter paid us a visit, but in Lake Stevens, it looks like he put in a personal appearance! This icicle was found hanging from Jeremy Olden’s home.
While watching football Sunday afternoon WifeGeeding offered me a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. The cookie was warm, but I didn’t realize that they were right out of the oven, which resulted in me burning the roof of my mouth. Click on the picture below for a high-res picture of the sore and some yellowish teeth.
This poor kitten was brutally injured then had his hind legs and tail surgically removed. It’s unknown how he got injured. He was nursed back to health by the employees of this book store in Akita, Japan and is now living at an adopted home. It’s inspiring to see him walk around with ease but also really heartbreaking.
For the Southern Baptist Convention, 2008 was filled with bad news.
Baptisms reached a 20-year low. Church membership dropped, prompting fears the Nashville-based Baptist body was on a downward slide. And its outgoing president warned that within 20 years, more than half of Southern Baptist churches could die off.
In response, the Baptists announced a new national evangelism strategy called “God’s Plan for Sharing.” Nicknamed “GPS,” the new strategy would spread the Gospel throughout the U.S. and Canada by 2020, said Geoff Hammond, president of the North American Mission Board.
“Just imagine if every believer in North America started sharing the Gospel and every person heard that Gospel by the year 2020,” Hammond said at the convention’s annual meeting.
But critics within the denomination say the new initiative is in danger of failing. Some blame a lack of funding. Others wonder if the mission board leadership is up to the task.
Members of Congress are often accused of being out of touch with average citizens, but an examination of the religious affiliations of U.S. senators and representatives shows that, on one very basic level, Congress looks much like the rest of the country. Although a majority of the members of the new, 111th Congress, which will be sworn in on Jan. 6, are Protestants, Congress – like the nation as a whole – is much more religiously diverse than it was 50 years ago. Indeed, a comparison of the religious affiliations of the new Congress with religious demographic information from the Pew Forum’s recent U.S. Religious Landscape Survey of over 35,000 American adults finds that some smaller religious groups, notably Catholics, Jews and Mormons, are better represented in Congress than they are in the population as a whole. However, certain other smaller religious groups, including Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus, still are somewhat underrepresented in Congress relative to their share of the U.S. population.
I think this will be my last full day of posts until next year. I have time scheduled off from work for the next two weeks and would like to have some R&R and spend it with family. There may be an occasional post here and there, buy for the most part don’t expect anything.
Wow, what a stinker to close out Texas Stadium. Geeeeeeze.
I’ll come out and say it even as a Cowboys fan . . . there’s no football team that has fans that live in the past more than the Dallas Cowboys.
With that said, closing Texas Stadium will be good since there’s nothing concrete to hold on to. They can continue to stink and disappoint on their own.
It was nice to hear Roger comment about the fans that stayed for the post game ceremony. He acknowledge how dedicated they must be to stay after a loss, and he thought they should gather up their addresses to send them a thank you card for being so loyal.
And another Roger thought . . . it was nice of him to make sure that Brad Schram made mention of Coach Landry.
For a moment I thought there was going to be some type of memorable comeback, something like this one.
It was also nice to see the wives of players who are deceased or who couldn’t make it represent their husbands.
And what what up with Irvin and Emmitt not wearing a jersey like all the others? If Roger can wear a jersey, they certainly could have. I did hear that the Playmaker had a lot of choice words regarding the game.
Randy White is always introduced as Super Bowl MVP. He should be introduced as co-Super Bowl MVP, not doing so dishonors the memory of Harvey Martin.
The audio quality was terrible for the post game ceremony. What a disappointment.
But not as much as a disappointment as the play on the field.
I couldn’t believe my ears when Jerry Jones was introduced and a small snippit of the Country Crows “Mr Jones” was play as if this was a Ticket bit.
It was nice to see that Crazy Ray was remembered.
I’m usually pretty selective who I watch football with, because it’s such a whip to hear ignorant people comment during the game. For instance, I had to listen to someone continue to tell me that the reason there’s a hole in the roof of Texas Stadium was because they ran out of money. He genuinely believed that.
Dallas sports sure has been disappointing for the last decade. Even if our team does well in the regular season, they just stink it up in the playoff, which makes the following years tough to watch because you know when it comes to wins that really matter, they just come up short.
The Cowboys don’t deserve to make the playoff.
Jason Garrett is not the offensive genius we thought he was.
If Wade is fired, I think Jerry should do his best to bring in Holgren. If our quarterback is Farve-like (he’s no Farve, just Farve-like) then Holgren would be a great mentor to him. Not to mention, he’s both a players’ coach and one that can get in their face.
If Wade isn’t fired, then our defensive coach and special teams coach need to be cut loose. I’m not sure how I feel about our offenive coordinator, but he needs to go back to the drawing board.
I bet Jerry is now a little worried about season ticket sales at the new stadium.
Romo has peaked, this is most likely the best he will ever get.
It’s fun watching games played in the snow. But it’s better when the game is played in the snow on a natural grass field.
I enjoyed reading this blog post about Rick Warren and Obama.
For the first time I saw the greatness of a movie on a Blue-Ray DVD. I just couldn’t believe the detail and the 3D effect. It was just amazing.
I’ve always wanted to visit the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas and slide down one of their slides, but now I learned that a shark actually jumped onto one of those slides from his tank. Link with pics.
Here’s the Christmas letter we sent out in case you are interested. It’s in a Power Point presentation.
As a paying U2.com subscriber I’m a bit peeved that we were not the first to know via email, as they have often sent other news to us via email. I had to hear this news from a friend. I may have to take this day off work and act like a teenage girl buying the CD and taking it home and listening to it all the way through. Yeah, I can download it, but I want the actual CD with cover and all to add to the collection.
In other U2 news . . . a new song and video:
U2’s cover of Greg Lake’s ‘I Believe in Father Christmas’
And a few more U2 Christmas related videos just because . . .
Baby Please Come Home
A bad version of Happy Christmas, but it’s funny just to see Adam just sitting there since there isn’t any drums involved.
