BagOfNothing.com

I binge-watched the highly acclaimed Fleabag and thoroughly enjoyed it, I enjoyed her unrestrained smutty humor. Phoebe Waller-Bridge charms me like a Syren with her bewitching smirk.

SNL sure did take some major shots at Jeffrey Epstein in their opening skit.

I also watched The Irishman which I thought was very good but not great. However, it was great seeing Joe Pesci back in action. The technology which makes the actors younger threw me off a bit, there’s just something slightly off about it which makes it unnatural and distracting. De Niro is an “old” man and has a particular walk, and I thought it showed in his younger scenes. Samuel L. Jackson had the same problem with some action scenes in Captain Marvel.

I so want to see a new Jack Nicholson film. There were talks of him returning to the screen alongside Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig, but he’s no longer attached to the film.

Huey Lewis and the News was featured on CBS Sunday Morning because of an upcoming new album with only seven songs. It’s only seven songs because Lewis has suffered from hearing loss, which he said he first noticed before going on stage in Dallas. Dang it, first our city is stigmatized with the killing of a president and it will forever be linked to Lewis’ loss of hearing. I got a kick out of the title of the upcoming album though I didn’t initially catch on.

So, where did the title “Weather” come from?

Lewis explained, “Do you get it? Huey Lewis and the News, ‘Sports,’ then ‘Weather.’ And it’s kind of appropriate, ’cause we’ve had some weather.”

Somehow during lunch with the family yesterday, DaughterGeeding brought up the subject of the STAAR test she took last year and one of the reading comprehension stories. In great detail, she described Big Tex’s fiery demise. It gave me a good laugh for two reasons. One, it painted us Texans in a that all too familiar stereotype, it was like something you’d see in a King of the Hill episode. Second, it reminded me of a comment I read on some website when it first happened, “You people don’t understand, this is our 9/11.” Sure, in the grand schemes of things that’s insensitive, but it still gave me a good laugh.

In 2019, more Americans went to the library than to the movies. Yes, really.

Yes, according to a recent Gallup poll (the first such survey since 2001), visiting the local library remains by far the most common cultural activity Americans engage in. As reported earlier today by Justin McCarthy:

“Visiting the library remains the most common cultural activity Americans engage in, by far. The average 10.5 trips to the library U.S. adults report taking in 2019 exceeds their participation in eight other common leisure activities. Americans attend live music or theatrical events and visit national or historic parks roughly four times a year on average and visit museums and gambling casinos 2.5 times annually. Trips to amusement or theme parks (1.5) and zoos (.9) are the least common activities among this list.”

I watched an old episode of Breaking Bad yesterday, I guess AMC was having a marathon. For the first time, I think I was able to make out that Walter White, while he was on chemotherapy, didn’t have any hair on his arms. That sort of detail wouldn’t surprise me with how great that show and Bryan Cranston is. It’s my understanding that even arm hair will fall out during chemotherapy.

Wheels stolen off Corvette Stingray test vehicle in Detroit

While on a recent conference call at work, someone was requesting a particular feature on a product and I genuinely didn’t understand how it was feasible and more importantly if the security team would give it their blessing. I thought I was being very diplomatic and politely inquisitive and was in a good mood. In a way, I was proud of myself for taking ownership and trying to please the person requesting the feature. But one person I report to send me an instant message, which is common and something no one else would be able to detect during the call. To my surprise, he said I was being “argumentative” and sounding like I was “arguing for the sake of arguing.” That really, really surprised me, and bothered me through the weekend. There have been times I’ve argued for the sake of arguing, but it’s never been with anything related to work. It certainly wasn’t my intention to come across like that, and this person I report to has complicated me in the past on my demeanor when others seem to be emotional. It was one of those instances in which I felt like I couldn’t retort, otherwise I’d be labeled not being able to accept criticism or feedback. That has happened to me before at a previous job. So, I just tried to be a good soldier and take my medicine, thank him for the feedback and appreciate his willingness to have a coachable moment with me. Yup, I resorted to “company speak” you’d hear on Office Space. I certainly didn’t want to, but I’m playing the long game, which isn’t always easy to do. I guess what bothered me the most was that I was doing my best to do one thing and the person in charge interpreted it as the complete opposite.

Wrong salute.

Today is the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Army’s liberation of Auschwitz.

This website will try to guess your name using the first one or two letters, birth decade, and data from the Social Security Administration’s most popular name index.

Texas Monthly – Just How Texan Is Fox’s ‘9-1-1: Lone Star’? – Rob Lowe’s firefighter drama is shot in L.A., but desperately wants you to know it takes place in Austin.

• Don’t watch this show unless you prefer to complain about how formulaic and predictable the plots are and Hollywood and outdated stereotypes. I’m still cracking up that on a road trip from NY to TX they drove through a desert – talk about taking a left turn in Albuquerque.

While in Switzerland, President Trump spots Texas Governor Greg Abbott and candidly offers him a ride back home on Air Force One. I’m guessing of the governer took him up on the offer, he’d then need to arrange travel back to Austin from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.

Dear Capital One,

The Taylor Swift commercial in which she is seen in various types of employment has run its course. What was once fun and upbeat is now vexatious.

Respectfully,
BagOfNothing.com

Battle of the Traffic Jams: Traffic in Texas’ four largest metros at 5pm on a Friday

K-9 bites cow, South Carolina deputy tases K-9, cow kicks deputy

A cow near the scene distracted the dog which led to the dog biting the cow.

To deescalate the situation, the deputy tased the dog.

The cow was spooked and “struck the deputy and the property owner,” resulting in minor injuries, according to GCSO.

Look before you squat – Spider bites Australian man on penis again

The man was using a portable toilet on a Sydney building site on Tuesday, when he suffered a repeat of the incident five months ago.

Jordan, who preferred not to reveal his surname, said he was bitten on “pretty much the same spot” by the spider.

“I’m the most unlucky guy in the country at the moment,” he told the BBC.

“I was sitting on the toilet doing my business and just felt the sting that I felt the first time.

“I was like ‘I can’t believe it’s happened again.’ I looked down and I’ve seen a few little legs come from around the rim.”

23andMe lays off 100 workers amid shrinking demand for DNA tests

• I’m surprised there hasn’t been an SNL skit in which someone finds out that he’s a common ancestor of Hitler, Mussolini, and Pol Pot.

View post on imgur.com

Dog tosses snake (language warning)

my new hero is this dog that YEETED a snake into another dimension pic.twitter.com/I3Iw6llqeF

— dayana sarkisova (@dsarkisova) January 23, 2020

We’re looking at installing a butcher block countertop on a kitchen island, but I’m having trouble finding any person or business which makes or sells butcher blocks. Do y’all have any local suggestions?

I’m just having an off week. Some weeks, things seem out of synch, and despite my best efforts to tackle as many tasks and take things in perspective, or attempts to reset or reboot my day, those tiny hurdles are still hard to sprint over and more seem to pop up.

An XFL rule which caught my attention was the ability to throw two forward passes on an offensive play. The caveat, the receiver of the first pass can only throw if he catches the ball behind the first down marker and can’t throw once he crosses that marker.

Rotating Water Slide

DirecTV satellite is at risk of explosion due to battery issues – It has to move the satellite out of geostationary orbit, where most telecommunication satellites are, ASAP.

A wolf pups first howl.

Here’s how Mike Bloomberg is luring 2020 campaign staffers with lavish perks

• Every Bloomberg staffer gets a MacBook Pro and an iPhone 11 on day one. They also enjoy three catered meals daily.
• Bloomberg is paying state press secretaries $10,000 a month, compared to the average going rate of $4,500 for other candidates and state political directors are making $12,000 a month, more than some senior campaign advisers earn, sources said.

I wonder if the Chief Justice, who has seen an argument or two in his day and asked questions when he sees a weakness in the quality of argumentation, has views on the quality of presentations before him.

— John Dickerson (@jdickerson) January 21, 2020

Ted Cruz now has an impeachment podcast, too – It was recorded in the middle of the night

A father recorded a bunch of baby sounds from his son and arranged them to the tune of the song Thunderstruck.

Typing today’s date made me realize there are a lot of twos and zeros in it, but I guess February will do better if it’s written using the two-digit sequence – 02/20/20. I suppose those with OCD will feel uncomfortable about how the date is not quite balanced.

At church yesterday morning, the praise and worship band stopped playing as someone came to the alter to provide an update on one of the ministries at the church. During the middle of her update, you heard some sort of noise, like a mic being unplugged, and then a commercial for The TICKET played for about five seconds. The crowd laughed and as soon as they fell silent, seven-year-old BoyGeeding in a loud voice said, “Hey Dad, all sports all the time!”

Yesterday was the two-year anniversary of my spinal fusion surgery. Over the last month, I’ve noticed it seems to be improving. I’ve never regretted having the surgery. It hasn’t made things worse, and I experience more discomfort than pain. Before, I’d get unexpected sharp, piercing pain. The trade-off has been the discomfort is just about constant. And as I’ve stated before, it appeared I was going to have to get the surgery sometime in my life, and my body recovering at age 42 would be easier than recovering at age 52 or

This upcoming Super Bowl is gonna have a lot of red.

At the end of the Titans/Chiefs game, I thought it was really cool of Jim Nance to mention that the last time the Chiefs played in the Super Bowl, Jack Buck covered the game and that it will be covered by his son Joe this year.

I’m happy for the Chiefs and will be rooting for them. As many already know, they first started out as the Dallas Texans and have always been owned by the Hunt family who still are strongly tied to Dallas. I always thought it was neat and peculiar that two NFL owners lived on the same street in Dallas, Jerry Jones and Lamar Hunt. I also like the bit they have of calling their fandom “Chiefs Kingdon”. That whole “SuchAndSuchTeam Nation” has always annoyed me. Of course, there is also the obvious Texas connection with Patrick Mahomes. But it goes a bit deeper for WifeGeeding, as his father is also a graduate of Lindale High School. But then again, the Niners coach was a Longhorn who played under Mack Brown, so there’s another Texas connection. It sure was a nice moment when Mike Shannonhan was presenting the NFC Championship to the Niners CEO who politely refused so he could present it to his son.

I say it every year, I loathe the “new” conference championship trophies. The old ones looked solid and regal, the new ones look flimsy and cheap.

Joe Montana is a legendary 49’er and former Chief, maybe he should do the coin flip at the Super Bowl.

John Lynch sure did a better job going from the booth to being a general manager better than Matt Millen.

After the Packer/Niner game, I caught the beginning of the new Rob Lowe show 9-1-1 Loan Star which takes place in Austin. The show started off with a security guard watching a Longhorn game on his phone who accidentally starts a fire by warming up a Freebirds burrito in a microwave. The Fox NFL broadcast promoted the show heavily, so much so that Lowe was at the game but was wearing an “NFL” cap which made him look like an undercover referee. Social media had fun with it.

Another absurd part of the show was how Lowe’s character makes it Texas. He’s working for the NYFD and recruited to Texas. You see him drive to Texas but he’s driving through a desert. like he’s coming from El Paso. But the thing is if you are driving from New York and drive through a desert to get to Austin, you took the long way.

Oh, and the show makes the Austin FD have a diversity and racial problem. I’m sure that exists, but Austin isn’t one of the cities I’d imagine having the most trouble with those issues.

Recently, I was asked to review several documents and provide my thoughts and found this reply a bit odd and formal, “Keith, I have dispositioned your comments.”

Random Chief Justice Roberts fact – He holds a one-eighth interest in a cottage in Knocklong, an Irish village in County Limerick.

Hoverboarding dentist found guilty of ‘unlawful dental acts’

An Anchorage dentist captured on video extracting the tooth of a sedated patient as he rode a hoverboard has been found guilty by a judge of 46 counts levied against him after the incident expanded into a wider probe of his practices.

Among the allegations outlined in charging documents was the hoverboard incident in 2016: “Seth Lookhart performed a dental extraction procedure on a sedated patient while riding a hoverboard and filmed the procedure and distributed the film to persons outside his dental practice.”

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Why it only costs $10k to ‘own’ a Chick-fil-A franchise – The chicken chain is known for having the lowest entry cost of any major fast-food franchise — but there’s a catch.

Unlike other franchise models, Chick-fil-A — not the franchisee — covers nearly the entire cost of opening each new restaurant (which, according to its financial disclosures, runs from $343k to $2m). The franchisee only pays the $10k franchise fee.

Chick-fil-A pays for (and retains ownership of) everything — real estate, equipment, inventory — and in return, it takes a MUCH bigger piece of the pie.

While a franchise like KFC takes 5% of sales, Chick-fil-A commands 15% of sales + 50% of any profit.

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This statue of Dorrie Miller is in his hometown of Waco, TX. Who is Dorrie Miller? Well, he’s about to have something uniquely in common with Presidents Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Reagan, Truman, Eisenhower, Bush, Ford, and Kennedy. He’s going to have an aircraft carrier named after him.