BagOfNothing.com

• It’s a very busy weekend for us. Today, my DaughterGeeding plays in her very first softball game at a tournament in east Dallas at 11:00 AM. Her next game is at 3:00 PM, but I’ll miss that as I have to pick up BoyGeeding from school in Lewisville. We’ll both drive from Lewisville back to east Dallas to make her 7:00 PM game. Then, on Saturday, BoyGeeding has his first soccer game of the season at 1:15 PM in Little Elm. DaughterGeeding will also have a game on Saturday, but we won’t know the time because it depends on how well her team performs on Friday.
• My old model Nissan Leaf will not be able to have enough power to make it to all these places, and there’s not a charging station at the softball fields. So, luckily, I have a friend who is letting me borrow his car. But, I may have to rent one on Saturday depending on how things go. You may recall I let my ex have the gas-powered vehicle in the divorce to make things easier on her and the kids.
• I reached out to my ex to see if she wanted to coordinate things for both Friday and Saturday, but have heard nothing back nor do I expect to. At first, she reached out about Friday, but since we are both taking the day off, it kinda worked itself out. I never wanted to be a single parent, but I’ll do what I have to.
• Yesterday was also a bit of a challenge. BoyGeeding’s soccer practice in Flower Mound started at 5:30 PM, but I had to pick up DaughterGeeding in Carrolton from softball practice at 6:00 PM, and then make it back to Flower Mound to pick up BoyGeeding at 6:30 PM.
• Russian oligarchs are in the news. I’m too lazy to look it up, but are there other types of oligarchs than Russian ones?
• Texas company convicted for supplying potentially tainted rocket fuel to NASA
• If this is true, I’m extremely disappointed in Shaq – Shaquille O’Neal allegedly hazed NBA rookies by pooping and peeing in a bucket for a week and then dumping it on them, according to his former Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat teammate Gary Payton.
• Google tests an even darker ‘dark mode’ for its Android app
• In a first, a mysterious rocket part is about to slam into the moon — by accident
  • Traveling at an estimated 3.3 miles per second, the hunk of metal, now believed to be left over from a 2014 Chinese lunar mission (Gray originally identified it as a SpaceX rocket booster), is expected to make a crater 65-feet long — about the size of a tractor-trailer, and smash into who-knows-how-many pieces. Though NASA and the European Space Agency weren’t monitoring the high-flying space junk — hardly anyone does — they have given credibility to the findings, confirming the crash forecast. The impact will happen at 7:26 a.m. EST.
• I hope this is true.

https://twitter.com/StrictlyChristo/status/1499200835695169539

• I got a phone call from the hospital saying I owe them $250 from my neck surgery back in December. They said insurance already paid their part, so I asked for an itemized bill. A week goes by, but the bill hadn’t arrived, and they started to call every day to collect the funds. I got tired of it, so I go online to try to make a payment, but I get some sort of error, so I call in for assistance. The representative said if I’m willing to pay on the phone through him, he’d knock 30% off, so all I’d owe would be $175.
• I caught the very end of The Amazing Race last night. I used to record it and try to watch it with my ex as a bonding experience. One of the contestants asked that all the video crew following the teams get a chance to be on camera for all their hard work behind the scenes to make the show possible. That should be done more often. Heck, the show should have a special on how they make episodes.
• I’m sure you all remember Kramer from Seinfeld. The actor, Michael Richards, is still close friends with Jerry and I recently saw him in Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Richards, as you may recall, lost his temper on stage and said some very racist stuff. In this clip (cued), Richards appears genuinely remorseful, that he’s taken a lot of time to reflect, grow, and learn from his mistake. It reminded me of when this incident first happened and Seinfeld stepped in to help by going on Letterman and having him interview his friend. It’s the only time you’ll see Jerry Seinfeld tell people to stop laughing because it wasn’t funny.  Seinfeld could have easily left him hung out to dry, but showed true loyalty and friendship.
• I saw a picture of Babe Ruth looking at Lou Gehrig’s open casket. Gehrig died in 1941 at the age of 37. Ruth only lived seven years after his Gehrig dying at 53.
• A lot of people mistakenly thought Mark Hammil dressed as Luke Skywalker and performed sign language, but it was actually a Mark Hammil impersonator. Both recently cleared up the confusion on Twitter.

I understand, Fluke, so don't worry about it. I only wish I knew how to sign like you. The video was so touching & heartwarming. All the best, mh

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) March 2, 2022

• Yes.

DEBATE: Is this a distraction while driving down the road at night or no? pic.twitter.com/7HEVeXHY2J

— Dallas Texas TV (@DallasTexasTV) March 1, 2022

• I was curious to know what film series was considered the first movie prequel. My limited research told me it was The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, which I’ve still haven’t seen. I bet when I do, I’m going to understand a bunch of Back to the Future III references that’s always gone over my head.
• I continue to think the opposing party’s response after the president’s State of the Union address is stupid. You can’t respond to something you haven’t heard. Yes, advanced copies of the speech are given out, but those responses are written long before they provide any advanced copy.
• Since our separation, I’ve attended trivia night with three of my closest friends on most Tuesdays. At first, it was one of those things I was forcing myself to go to just to get out of the house and integrate with people. Like most things, I’d sit there thinking “I’d rather be home with my family.” However, that was no longer an option, I had nothing to go home to any more. Now, trivia night is becoming a fun event I look forward to. I’m thankful my friends have invited and welcomed me through this transition.
• The other night, my daughter expressed to me she believes her mother is now recruiting her teaching peers to speak to her about the divorce. For instance, a teacher my daughter has never had unexpectedly sought her out, started to talk to her, brought up the divorce, and promised anything she divulged she wouldn’t reveal to her mother. My daughter thought that was suspicious and not very genuine. I told her to give her the benefit of the doubt, seek the good in that person, but at the same time, guard her heart. She said that teacher told her that her mother decided to get the divorce because she couldn’t become a better person by being with her father. It hurts to know that sort of thing is being told to my daughter, and I’m sure that teacher isn’t aware that’s a form of parental alienation. She’s basically telling our daughter that dad makes mom a bad person, and that’s why mom had to leave him. I didn’t try to clarify any of that with our daughter. That was the time for me to listen and let her know her words have value, not for me to clear the record or make a point. God is not going to make someone break a covenant with him to get that person to where he wants she or he to be. The truth will eventually reveal itself to her. The other thing that hurt is knowing my ex’s first choice was to break up the family and not try to keep it together. She never revealed her unhappiness. I’m less upset with the divorce than I am about the way she went about it.
• I dropped my daughter off at her mother’s apartment from softball practice yesterday. Since I was there, I asked if I could give my son a hug. She said he was in the bathroom, and then yelled upstairs, “Son, your dad is here.” What’s up with the clarifier? Did she have to include “your”? Who else does he know as dad? I spoke to one of my peers in my divorce recovery group. I’m told separated parents, especially the ones who filed for divorce, do what they can to send the message that the other parent is severed from the family.
• Texas Researchers Remove 406 Invasive Armored Catfish from San Marcos River
• From the thumbnail image, she looks cute – Green Bay woman dismembered man’s body, placed head in bucket
• This sentence in this T-Rex article got me to thinking, how many complete fossils of the T-Rex have been unearthed? I would have guessed under the number of the one mentioned.
  • A new analysis of the bones and teeth of 37 T. rex specimens suggests that the dinosaur might need to be regrouped into three separate species
• 
• I’ve followed this man’s journey for a while, glad to see he completed it.

I’m happy to announce that Alex from Honolulu, Hawaii has officially completed our 50-yard challenge by mowing 50 lawns in their community for the elderly, disabled, single parents and veterans. I'll be visiting him soon with his new lawn equipment. pic.twitter.com/USBOojenL6

— Rodney Smith Jr (@iamrodneysmith) March 1, 2022

• I don’t think I’m a fan of McNeese State’s baseball field. The school was founded in 1939 as Lake Charles Junior College, and renamed McNeese Junior College after John McNeese, an early local educator. Their mascot is the Cowboys. I’m sorry, but when I think of Louisiana, “cowboys” don’t come to mind. The McNeese State University newspaper is The Contraband and the yearbook is called The Log. There are 14 Greek organizations on campus. I hate Greek organizations. Once I find out someone was affiliated with a Greek organization, I automatically think less of that person. Joe Dumars is the school’s most famous alumni, followed by R. C. Slocum.
• R. C. Slocum is from Orange, Texas. Orange has several high schools. The first two I looked up had school colors of red and blue, not orange.
• In Orange, TX, the nearly completed Confederate Memorial of the Wind is being built on private land at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Martin Luther King Jr Drive. It has 13 columns arranged in a circle, one for each Confederate state. It will display 32 flags representing U.S. Civil War units from Texas, along with eight large Confederate flags visible from the highway. Supposedly, the location was chosen because of the low cost of land in the area.
• Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a bill making lynching a federal hate crime. Seems like a no-brainer. The bill sailed through with bipartisan support, but three Republicans – Reps. Andrew Clyde (Ga.), Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Chip Roy (Texas) – voted against it. Roy had this to say about lynching a year ago, “We believe in justice. There’s old sayings in Texas about ‘find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak tree,’” he said. “You know, we take justice very seriously, and we ought to do that. Round up the bad guys. That’s what we believe.”
• It brings much joy to my heart every time I hear Art Briles has been fired or was forced to resign. No one believed me that he was a horrible person, which I’ve been preaching since high school. The man is rich enough; he doesn’t need to work another day in his life. And that’s the sweet part. He wants to work, particularly in college, yet no one can tolerate employing him.
• FiveThirtyEight – Texas May Have The Worst Gerrymander In The Country
• A broken church clock facing a £50,000 repair bill was finally fixed by two bell-ringers with a £3 can of WD-40.
• Former Texas Ranger Joey Gallo trying to be goofy.

I’m new here @LinkedIn pic.twitter.com/6ICuCH7aBc

— Joey Gallo (@JoeyGallo24) February 28, 2022