Bag of Randomness for Thursday, January 5, 2023

  • I took the kids to trivia night. The waiter may have been working me for tips, but told me my kids were the most behaved kids he’s ever seen at a restaurant. He also thanked me for addressing him by name saying it brought humanity.
  • I’ve been working on a certification which has incremental exams. You have to answer 100% correct to pass and move to the next section. I’ve been failing this one exam for the past three days, and it’s been getting at me. My son was asking me about it, so I just showed him the online exam. I decided to take it as I was explaining the concepts to him, and as luck would have it, I finally passed the darn thing.
  • I bet Michael Jordon enjoys writing “23” on all the checks he’ll write this year. Though, I doubt he even will physically write a single check this year.
  • Danish bank workers celebrate first full year without robberies – Finance workers’ union says number of bank heists has fallen off as use of cash has decreased in recent years
  • United said it had this woman’s missing bag. She tracked it to a residential address
    • The disinformation researcher from Washington D.C. received her lost luggage after nearly six days, during which she tracked it as it went on walkabouts to local malls and McDonald’s while the airline told her that the bag was safely at its distribution center. In fact, it appeared to be at someone’s home — an apartment complex where Szybala says she found other emptied and discarded suitcases out by the trash.
  • U-Haul Ranks TEXAS the No. 1 Growth State of 2022
    • Texas is the No. 1 growth state in America for the second consecutive year and the fifth time since 2016, according to the U-Haul Growth Index analyzing customer moves during 2022. People arriving in Texas in one-way U-Haul trucks increased more than 1% from 2021, while departures also rose about 1%. Overall moving traffic slowed throughout most of the U.S. but remained busy in the Lone Star State in 2022.
  • It’s probably just the way the locals want it – For teens in Deep East Texas, accessing sex education and contraception is next to impossible
  • I started to play with my laser engraver again. Here’s a photo of my daughter I burned onto a bath tile.

 

 

 

 

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for Thursday, January 5, 2023

Bag of Randomness for January 4, 2023

  • I started 2023 feeling sick. Thankfully, I tested negative for COVID. It’s probably just a bad case of allergies.
  • Generic Youth Minister – “Republicans denied to elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker in three different votes today… but do you know who else was denied three times?”
  • I hope to have a better 2023 than Rep. Kevin McCarthy.
  • I tried an Impossible Burger yesterday. It just didn’t taste right. As much as I’d like to switch to plant-based proteins, I don’t see it happening.
  • I think it’s interesting that “small” Christian university TCU is playing in the national championship game in football, but most can’t name their denomination. They are part of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). After researching them, I think I’d feel more comfortable worshiping with them than with my current denomination.
  • Jeremy Moran, formerly of The TICKET, stated he has transitioned to Jillian. I can now say I actually know someone personally who has transitioned. He and I were classmates at a small Southern Baptist college. That must have been hard, and I have all sorts of questions for him. We weren’t close, he wouldn’t even remember me, but he was always visiting the guys who lived next door to me. I was the RA of the first floor, so I kinda knew everyone who came in and out.
  • I read in a book that Ronald Reagan, as President, used to carry a gun with him in his briefcase. That was hard to believe, but it appears to be true. I learned that reading Brad Meltzer’s latest work.
  • Here’s another interesting Reagan fact I recently read in another book. After Truman, Reagan was the last president to use the presidential railway car, the Ferdinand Magellan.
    • President Reagan’s five-stop train journey required transporting the train from Florida to Ohio, re-assembling it, and putting it back into commission. Over 100,000 people came to see the President, who at each stop cited the memory of Truman and said, “Mr. Truman could also make very plain the differences between himself and his opponent, and, my friends, that’s just what we’re going to do today.”
  • Dear AMC Theaters, please end that Nicole Kidman ad.
  • Ransomware gang apologizes, gives SickKids hospital free decryptor – The LockBit ransomware gang has released a free decryptor for the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), saying one of its members violated rules by attacking the healthcare organization.
  • Watching porn now requires age verification in La. because of new law – websites would verify someone’s age in collaboration with LA Wallet. So, if you plan on using these sites in the future, you may want to download the app.
    • there are other ways websites could ask you to verify your age if you cannot access LA Wallet. She added that although some personal information will be required, companies must not retain personal data after complete verification.“It doesn’t identify your date of birth, it doesn’t identify who you are, where you live, what part of the state you’re in, or any information from your device or from your actual ID. It just returns that age to say that yes, this person is old enough to be allowed to go in,” explained Kelley.It will be the website’s responsibility to ensure age verification is required when accessing their site in Louisiana. Schlegel said there will be consequences for those who fail to follow the law.
  • One thing that’s a bit sad, selfishly, and a part of divorce, is that during Christmas, no one takes photos of me opening presents as I do them.
  • The recently deceased Barbara Walters was born the same year (1929) as MLK and Anne Frank. As well as Christopher Plummer, Bob Newhart, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy, and Arnold Palmer.
  • I was college classmates with Matt Chandler and Jeremy Jillian Moran. Talk about a broad spectrum of friends.
  • What happened at Southwest Airlines, from a longtime pilot at Southwest Airlines
  • Good guy Shaq – Shaq Picks Up Tab For Customers at Popular Houston Restaurant
  • 2023 Public Domain Debuts Include Last Sherlock Holmes Work – The long-running contested copyright dispute over Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales of a whip-smart detective will finally come to an end as the 1927 copyrights expiring January 1 include Conan Doyle’s last Sherlock Holmes work.
  • I’ve mentioned that Robert Griffin III is a good commentator, but he needs to dial it down just a little bit, as if he’s trying too hard to be liked. That came to mind as I was watching him praise TCU during their game against Michigan and saw this.

    It also reminded me of this titbit I found on my favorite blog. Nothing like having your greatest football player commentating and praising your biggest (I think) rival.


  • Brandon Hughes was only one when his father died on the surface of Tiger Stadium, but as soon as he saw what happened to Damar Hamlin, the emotions hit hard. “Everything they were saying was so familiar to me,” Brandon, an employee at a mutual fund company, told me. “But they kept talking about how this is unprecedented, how that is unprecedented. I thought, ‘No, no it’s not. Not at all.’”

    Brandon Hughes called his mother Sharon – now 77 but widowed at 24. She sounded saddened—both by the uncertainty of Hamlin’s future and the familiar echoes of past tragedy.

    Article

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for January 4, 2023

Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, January 3, 2023

  • “And here I am still writing 2022 on all my blog posts.”
  • For me, 2021 was a year of survival. 2022, a year of rebuilding. I hope 2023 will be a year full of growth.
  • A long time ago, my brother, who I idolized, gave me some poor advice. He said when reading for pleasure, never read anything that’s fiction, read something that enhances the mind. Because of that advice, I’ve never read a book of fiction until last week. For me, biographies are easy to read and follow, but works of fiction are hard because I easily get lost keeping characters straight and understanding the plot and whatnot. All that to say, I found the following tidbit that I’ve been chewing on. I think about it on a grander scale than what you think it may be intended, I think about it regarding how I judge people when I first meet them or based off of just a few things I may know about their past. “But we all have a person we were and a person we are. It’s never a straight line between the two—and it’s certainly never a predictable one. Just because you read the first few chapters doesn’t mean you know everything that’s coming. Keep an open mind. If you’re lucky, there’s a plot twist.””
  • I learned that 97.1 “The Freak” was suppose to be “The FREQ.” As in, “the frequency”. But in focus groups, people kept calling it “the frek”.
  • A year and a half ago if you told me TCU would be playing in the national championship game and Gary Patterson would be coaching in Austin, I would have said that would be unimaginable. Makes me wonder where & what I’ll be doing a year and a half from now. Here’s hoping it’s something unimaginable.

  • https://twitter.com/CincyProblems/status/1609481486943526914
  • https://twitter.com/BOXINGnBBQ/status/1609716223318843392
  • I thought drone shows would replace fireworks. It looks like the two will just be blended.

 

 

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, January 3, 2023

Bag of Randomness for Thursday, December 29, 2022

  • That’s a photo of Miss Ukraine in costume at the Miss Universe pageant.
  • I’m just saying, when I worked at Southwest Airlines, you didn’t see the kind of mess they are in now.
  • We had a surprise waiting for us when we got back from our church’s Christmas Eve service. Two-inches of running water. My first thought – It’s the evening of Christmas Eve, ain’t no way I’m gonna get anyone to come out in this literally freezing weather. My second thought – This is going to make for a memorable Christmas.
  • I was grateful that I wore my Merrill hiking shoes. I think they are ugly, but they are the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever owned, and they never need breaking in. This time, I paid a little extra for the water-proof version. The downside to them is they don’t vent well, so my feet sweat a lot in them. However, if you come home to a flooded garage, they come in quite handy.
  • My washing machine is in the garage, and that seemed to be where the water was coming from. I turned off both the hot and cold water to the washing machine, but the water didn’t slow. That meant I had to start moving stuff out of the way to find the source of the water. I don’t have the tidiest garage, but my kids are troopers and helped me move stuff out of the way. When I finally moved the washing machine from the wall, I was able to see water gushing from inside the wall. Thankfully, when I moved in, I made sure to ask the landlord’s management company where the shutoff valve is and kept their emergency contact number.
  • I called the emergency contact number, and per the greeting, someone should be manning the line. But I know it’s Christmas Eve. Thankfully, I kept the cell phone number of one of the rental property’s client manager. Thankfully, he picked up. He said he was on call, but in a rush to get out of the office, left the “on-call” phone in the office. But, he said I did the right thing in tracking him down.
  • While I’m grateful to be living in a house, it’s not one I’m very proud of. There are many things wrong with it. For instance, the garage slopes the wrong way, so none of the water was draining out. My son reminded me that I owned a small wet-dry vacuum, so I was able to use that to get three couple of inches of water out. I think I emptied that thing at least ten times.
  • When a plumber was finally able to come the following afternoon, we found the culprit to be shoddy repair work. A PVC piped used to for lawn sprinklers was used instead of one used for indoor plumbing.
  • I love watching the Kennedy Center Honors. It was great seeing Christian music (which I have a love/hate association with) get a spotlight with Amy Grant’s induction. Her music reminded me of a happier and more confident time in my life. Of course, it was great to see my favorite band be honored as well. I’ve never been one for Borat. I liked that Eddie Vedder was part of the festivities, though I thought it would have been Bruce Springsteen. But Springsteen inducted them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
  • It’s still hard for me to listen to U2’s music. I’m not there yet, but one day I will get lost in their music again.
  • As of right now, I feel like my best days are behind me. You have no idea how much I want to be proven wrong.

 

 

 

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for Thursday, December 29, 2022