WifeGeeding and I stayed in and watched Dick Clark. I can’t decide seeing Dick Clark in his present condition continue his New Years Eve countdown as heroic and courageous, or awkward and sad. Maybe both.
When the honor is eventually handed down to Ryan Seacrest, I wonder if he will remove Dick Clark’s name from the event, after he’s dead and buried of course.
I think Seacrest is very good at what he does and has worked very hard to get there.
Can you guess how long Dick Clark has been doing this New Years gig? I had to look it up on Wikipedia which you can also do so here. I wasn’t aware it first started on NBC, or during the turn of the century he didn’t have his special.
It was neat seeing that special show Dallas for a brief moment. Maybe I’ll go one year, but I wish they had something other than local bands. It would be cool to book a room at the W or Ritz and be part of the festivities.
As a kid I always told myself that one day I will spend New Years Eve in Times Square. Now, I don’t know if I want to. My biggest fear would not being able to find a restroom.
For the last couple of years you hear John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ right before the countdown. Nice tune, I like some of the lyrics but some of them I don’t.
I’m always surprised how quicly Times Square is evacuated after the countdown.
I’m still surprised Carson Daily still has a job.
It felt weird watching the Cotton Bowl on the second day of the year as opposed to the first day of the year. I mainly watched it since it was the last Cotton Bowl at the actual stadium and because I really enjoy Pat Summerall. His commentary of games, which is really this one event nowadays, brings back great memories of watching football games with my father.
One of the craziest things I’ve ever seen happened in football occurred in that game. Towards the end, Tech scored a touchdown, and on the two point conversion two unsportsman like conduct penalties were called on them, thus resulting in them attempting an onside kick from their seven yard line.
Mike Leach was on 60 Minutes. That was interesting. It would have been better for 60 Minutes if Tech would have actually won the Cotton Bowl. For all those Tech fans that keep crying that they aren’t taken seriously, well, you gotta win games against higher ranked teams in a bowl game and you can’t lose by 40 points in other match ups.
Houston Nutt is one heck of a coach. NFL owners looking for a head coach should at least check him out.
During halftime of the Sugar Bowl I saw that the University of Alabama band had an electric guitar. Weird.
Noticed those inspiration G commercials in black and white with sports legends of today and yesterday? You never learn what the G is, but I’m here to tell you it’s a new Gatorade ad. Here’s a couple of those commercials in case you are curious. One and Two
For the first time in my life I watched Planet of the Apes, the original one with Charlton Heston. I think he tends to overact, but the movie itself was very thought provoking and enjoyable. It makes me want to check out the version that came out in 2001 . . . almost. I’m just not a Tim Burton fan.
For the longest time I always thought it was Charlston Heston. Did you know he was born John Charles Carter?
What’s really fun after watching a classic movie for the first time is to go to IMDB or WIkipedia and read up on the film, especially the trivia sections.
I’ve read a lot of blog entries on why Billy Graham decided to move his membership from FBC Dallas to one in North Carolina, 85 miles from his house. I always thought it was weird that his church membership was in Dallas, considering he never lived in Texas.
My church membership is still at the church I atteneded in college. I’ve been meaning to move it for quite some time, but I guess like Graham, does it really mean anything? I guess for me it does as I’m a recovering Baptist.
I’ve visited two Mainline Protestant churches in the past two weeks.
I saw a special on the History Channel that covered Julius Caesar’s Rhine Bridge. What I found most amazing considering the time it took place was that is was build in only ten days.
I finally watched The Right Stuff. Turns out I recorded the TV version with commercials that was edited, so I was a little disappointed, but still enjoyed it. It wasn’t as good as I have hoped for, but then again it was the TV version.
Of course I had to do some research after watching it. It was interesting to know that Gus Grissoms real name is actually Virgil Ivan Grissom.
I also found out that the last time the U.S. had astronauts perform a splash down was in 1968. This Wikipedia article provides a map of all the slashdowns, all on the East Coast.
And just for good measure, here’s a list of Space Shuttle missions.
In 1991someone from my hometown of Mineral Wells actually flew on the Space Shuttle. Link
Somehow that lead me to Chuck Yeager’s website. He’s 85 and still does speaking engagements. He’ll actuall be in Fort Worth and Abilene early this year. Link
I remember a BBQ joint in Abilene that had a large portion of the restaurnt dedicated to Yeager, I wonder if he has ever visited it. EDIT: Ahhh, with a little research I found that place is no longer, but interestingly enough, that place has turned into a chicken place who’s owners are friends with the people that own the Babe’s franchise here in DFW and will use some of the same recipes. Link
The comments sections helped answer a lot of questions.
Here’s the best footage I’ve seen of what it is like to ride in a fighter jet. [Thanks, Danny!]
A Prius owner used the car to power his house during a snow storm. Link
The copyright on Popeye is over in Britain, but still enforced in the U.S. Link
Here’s the best article about Dubya’s personality that I’ve ever read.
Fantastic pictures of a Chinese freighter fighting off Somali pirates. Link
Everything you ever wanted to know about a Phillips head. Link
On Saturday the high temperature of the day was 82. On Sunday it was 42.
Only the kitchen sink wouldn’t drain, and since the pipes under the sink were clear I was left with the choice of calling a plumber that would cost about $200 or go to the Home Depot and rent a sewer snake for $36. I went with the latter.
It was cold outside working that sewer snake. I found the oldest sweater in the closet, which was a Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl XXX sweater I forgot I had. Wow, it’s now 13 years old.
Speaking of Cowboys, I finished that book WifeGeeding got me for Christmas. I’ve never read a book that long, something like 365 pages, and I did it in a week. There’s lots of parts of that book that stands out, but one in particular is of Charles Haley riding a motorcycle into Randy White’s restaurant. After Haley smarter off to White after he offered a ride home since Haley was drunk, White knocked him out with one punch.
I never thought I could share a heart warming storing that involved me renting a sewer snake, but here it goes. The man I was renting the tool from at Home Depot is named Steve and he asked for my I.D. He noticed I was born in 1975, and mentioned that everytime he sees that year he’s reminded of the fall of Saigon when he was a soldier. I told him a little about my visit, and he shared about his last day in Vietnam. The U.S. was pulling out of the country and trying to help families escape, and there was this one Vietnamese man he befriended over the years but couldn’t take with him.  Steve reached in his wallet and gave the guy a hundred dollars and told him to use that money to try to escape. He never saw the guy again until 30 years later while he was working in the Lewisville Home Depot and the Vietnamese man was a customer. They hugged and embraced and caught up with each other, and the very next day the Vietnamese man came back to the store with his wife, kids, and grandkids. Not only did the Vietnamese man tell his family that it was because of Steve they all now have a life in America, but he paid Steve back the $100 that was given to him so many years ago.
Wow, that took a while to get through, thanks for stories! I wish you liked reading better, because The Right Stuff is a great book. A lot more Chuck Yeager stories in there, too.
What a neat story about Steve’s act of kindness and then seeing the result some 30 years later. Almost makes you wonder if someone in the local news media wouldn’t love to do a human interest bit on the story.
Thoughts on Random Thoughts:
1) When I see a good movie on one of my subscription movie channels that I had never seen before, I likewise look up its original movie review and see what I can find out about the actors or any trivia about its making or how it did.
2) I read “The Right Stuff†well before it became a movie and the movie’s producers worked very hard to stay close to the book. But Tom Wolfe is a great writer and the book was much more informational about the original Mercury Astronauts. It really does not take long to read because of Wolfe’s unique writing style and his humor makes the book a fast read.
3) Last week the NYT had an article and PowerPoint describing the next generation of space craft. It looks like they are returning to using a space pod [the Orion, I think] similar to Apollo only it will hold a crew of six. It will also land in the ocean.
4) Read the article about the Roman legions building a bridge across the Rhine River. What struck me, in addition to building it in just ten days, was that after chopping down and hewing all the trees required; pushing all pilings into a river bed using a boulder and winches; the Romans spent only 18 days in Germany. After only 18 days and confronting very few barbarians they re-crossed the Rhine and took the entire bridge down. It also demonstrates a difference in thinking. The Romans could have taken boats across but that would not have befitted the “dignity†of the Legion.
The “heart warming” story is the BEST!
Wow!!! Just goes to show an act of kindness can impact someone's life so much!!!
Wow, that took a while to get through, thanks for stories! I wish you liked reading better, because The Right Stuff is a great book. A lot more Chuck Yeager stories in there, too.
Wow, he gave him the hundred bucks back? What about the 30 years of interest?
Kidding. Great story.
The 2001 Planet of the Apes is a solid watch, give it a try sometime.
What a neat story about Steve’s act of kindness and then seeing the result some 30 years later. Almost makes you wonder if someone in the local news media wouldn’t love to do a human interest bit on the story.
Thoughts on Random Thoughts:
1) When I see a good movie on one of my subscription movie channels that I had never seen before, I likewise look up its original movie review and see what I can find out about the actors or any trivia about its making or how it did.
2) I read “The Right Stuff†well before it became a movie and the movie’s producers worked very hard to stay close to the book. But Tom Wolfe is a great writer and the book was much more informational about the original Mercury Astronauts. It really does not take long to read because of Wolfe’s unique writing style and his humor makes the book a fast read.
3) Last week the NYT had an article and PowerPoint describing the next generation of space craft. It looks like they are returning to using a space pod [the Orion, I think] similar to Apollo only it will hold a crew of six. It will also land in the ocean.
4) Read the article about the Roman legions building a bridge across the Rhine River. What struck me, in addition to building it in just ten days, was that after chopping down and hewing all the trees required; pushing all pilings into a river bed using a boulder and winches; the Romans spent only 18 days in Germany. After only 18 days and confronting very few barbarians they re-crossed the Rhine and took the entire bridge down. It also demonstrates a difference in thinking. The Romans could have taken boats across but that would not have befitted the “dignity†of the Legion.