Rarely do I ever set the clothes dryer to anything other than the medium or low heat setting. I read somewhere long ago using the high heat setting damages clothes faster. It sounds correct, but I’ve never looked it up to verify.
I’m not a “car guy” so I don’t know if this is normal or odd behavior. One of my neighbors and his wife drive a Lexus and an Acura. Neither can be more than two years old. The cars, not my neighbors. Each day when they pull into their garage, they pop the hoods and turn on two wall-mounted fans directed at the engines and then set the garage door to only be opened a quarter of the way.
The first standalone marijuana reform bill in our nation’s history passed in the House of Representatives yesterday and I didn’t see any televised news coverage of it since there was much other news coming out of Washington. Not too long ago, that would have been the top story on the evening news.
I knew the Amber Guyger trial would be covered by the national news, but I didn’t expect them to it covered on the national evening news every day this week.
In November 1993, CEO Michael Eisner announced that Disney would open its third U.S. theme park near the rural town of Haymarket, Virginia. “Disney’s America” would focus on “the nation’s richness of diversity, spirit, and innovation,” said Eisner at the time. The park would be arranged into nine sections, loosely focusing on significant periods of U.S. history. One land would focus on the founding fathers while others would feature a 20th century farm, world war battlefields, factories of the industrial revolution. The park would also cover some potentially controversial topics too, like turn-of-the-century immigration, Native Americans, and slavery.
Muscle memory is a funny thing. While driving north on SE 25th Avenue in Mineral Wells to take a right on U.S. 180, I instinctively tapped the breaks to slow down so I could gently go over the railroad tracks. However, the railroad tracks were no longer there. I can still remember my father giving me driving lessons, driving down that road with him for the very first time with me in the driver’s seat, and him gently telling me to slow down as I approach that area to keep from damaging his car.
Anytime I answer with an “OK”, DaughterGeeding instinctively chimes in with spokesperson appeal, “Just OK is not OK, especially when it comes to your network. AT&T is America’s best wireless network according to America’s biggest test. Now with 5G evolution, the first step to 5G.”
One of the better stories told at the celebration of my friend’s 20th year preaching at his church was the time a woman of size asked to be baptized. My friend is not a large nor a strong person, and if you are familiar with the Baptist tradition, they do a full emersion. The pastor and person being baptized stand in waist-level water, who would then lean the person backward, basically dunking the person fully in water and lifting him or her back up. My friend wanted to get this right and not make it awkward for the woman, so he asked one of the “roundest” and heaviest men at the church if he would come by the day before so he could practice on him. That man said he was baptized about fifteen times that evening. In case you were wondering, the lady in question moved out of state years ago.
This woman’s Haunted Mansion Ride Themed Halloween Gown (with moving doom buggies and ghosts) is highly impressive. Her Instagram shows it in motion.
Those Boston Dynamics robots continue to get scarier and scarier.
Posted inPersonal|Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, September 25, 2019
When I was in Mineral Wells on Sunday, I thought I’d try to capture Welcome “Mountain” and the Baker Hotel in one frame. It would be nice if those telephone polls weren’t in the way.
A man at my friend’s church in Mineral Wells stated he only knows how to tie a tie by first looping it around his left leg. This is because his father suffered from polio as a child and lost function in one of his arms, so he taught himself how to tie a tie using his leg, and that’s how he taught his son, the only way he knew how.
I stopped by my childhood home to show the kids where I grew up. The place was derelict. As you can see, stone has fallen off a wall and there’s a plethora of overgrowth. My folks took a lot of pride in the upkeep and landscape of their home. But, you know, I wasn’t mad or upset. It gave me an appreciation for the higher standard my parents were trying to instill in me, that how you keep and take care of things is a representation of yourself. And perhaps thanks to Marie Kondo, I’ve learned to give thanks to inanimate objects and let go. I guess I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I was a bit disappointed at how my childhood home looks, but I didn’t tear up or let it linger in my head. I did set foot on the property. That feeling that I was trespassing on family property (well, what was, family property) felt weird. I just wanted to look at something I etched in the cement underneath the basketball pole.
I played in the street in front of my house quite a bit growing up. Sunsets were great because I could watch the sunset with the Baker Hotel in the background. The view was better in the fall because a few trees would obstruct the view but without the leaves it was quite noticeable. Now, a three-story apartment complex blocks the view. It’s weird seeing so many apartment complexes in Mineral Wells now.
I did stop by one of my closest friend’s how to say hi to his parents and to introduce them to my kids.
The drive from Mineral Wells to Weatherford used to bore me to tears as a child – the rock formations, cacti, woods, and land for farming and ranching which I thought was so unattractive. Now, I think it’s simply beautiful. It was nice to see certain “landmarks” still stay the same. For instance, there’s a cemetery in between those towns. For some reason, next to that cemetery, someone decided to stand up a thin but large flat rock. I’d say the rock is over six feet tall. It has always been spraypainted or graffitied with something. It still is. The land was a lot hillier than I remembered it.
CBS sportscaster Bill Jones had a very Ron Burgundy moment when he teased a Cowboys segment before going to commercial during the six o’clock broadcast. He stated the Cowboys preseason is now over and it’s time for regular season play to begin. I’m certain he wasn’t trying to state the first three opponents were a cakewalk.
I drove my family to my hometown of Mineral Wells yesterday. It may have been five years since my last visit. One of my closest friends since junior high, someone who I attended college with, has been pastoring the same church for twenty years. His congregation wanted to honor him and his wife and invited me to be part of the celebration. Despite being a recovering Baptist (Southern Baptist, specifically) with some very strong convictions, I felt it was more important to set all that aside and simply support and love a friend.
My friend’s father was my childhood pastor. He baptized me, officiated my father’s funeral, and married me and WifeGeeding. I haven’t seen or spoken to him or his wife since my wedding sixteen years ago. It was great running into them in the parking lot and having the opportunity to introduce them to my children. He was the “surprise guest pastor”. It took him a moment to recognize who I was, and at first, I thought he may have lost his marbles as he asked how my mother was, she’s been dead for over thirteen years and his son tells me he updates him on my life frequently. His wife seemed a tad embarrassed and apologized for him even though I took absolutely no offense. He then asked if he officiated my mother’s funeral. Again, no offense taken, but I did start to wonder if he was really going to preach in a few minutes. As it turns out, he was just a bit absent-minded because he was totally in his element delivering a sermon directed to his son and his flock. It was great hearing him preach and brought back a lot of childhood memories and being reminded of certain mannerisms, quirks, idiosyncrasies, which I now see in his son. He’s also great with eye contact which as a youth felt rather intimidating. And, he does this think where he says, “Amen” and expects you to say it back. Because I’m a pessimist, I couldn’t help but wonder if this would be the very last time I would ever him preach, so I tried to soak it all in.
It’s been an interesting year for pastors in my life. I was celebrating the 20th anniversary of my friend preaching at his church. Our other close friend who is an SBC pastor couldn’t attend because he just accepted a gig near Austin after spending two years out of the ministry and was being introduced to his new church. He’s lived all his life in Mineral Wells and Abilene, so this will be an adjustment. And, earlier this year, the founding pastor of my church retired after 30 years. All of this made me reflect on what pastor have I heard preach the most. I’m not sure if that’s something which goes through a pastor’s mind, at least in those terms, but when you think about the influence a pastor has, it’s pretty significant. I thought it was the pastor of my youth, but when I did the math, it’s my pastor who recently retired.
During the sermon, the most cliche thing happened and I’m not making this up, the pastor quoted Walker Texas Ranger.
Now that the kids are a bit older, they have a little better understanding of what a special trip this was for me. Not just supporting my friend, but seeing my hometown and the places which held major influences my life. I’ll try to write more about it later in the week.
I also tried an experiment with the kids. I wanted to see the trip through their eyes, so I gave them a digital camera and told them to take pictures whenever and whatever they wanted. I’m looking forward to going through them.
My friend’s celebration was held during the Cowboys game. His congregation, bless their hearts, aren’t good planners. But then again, maybe they are since they were playing the Dolphins.
I love you too, Marissa Tomei. I love you, too.
Posted inPersonal|Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for Monday, September 23, 2019
