Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, March 27, 2019

  • I know Whataburger was founded in Corpus Christi, but I’m willing to bet there are more Whataburgers in Corpus than there are Starbucks in Seattle.
  • I visited a Chick-fil-A which uses a trash compactor for all customers to dump their trash into. It was a bit high-tech with an LCD screen. I’m assuming that it was built with certain safety standards so no one gets any body part crushed. Personally, I think all restaurants should have something like this. But then again, I’m also the guy who thinks a sink should be next to each trash bin so customers can empty their ice and drinks before tossing it in the trash. When you worked in the food industry, you know how much it sucks carrying a trash bag with liquid inside it, praying it doesn’t rip or tear.
  • I have zero interesting in watching the new Dumbo movie. While I’m more macabre than the average person, I find Tim Burton’s work too dark. I also have never seen the cartoon, which I think is odd since I have two kids.
  • You inadvertently teach people how to treat you when as you tolerate things.
  • Located In Klyde Warren Park, Dallas’ Newest Public Art Installation Allows Participants To Video-Chat With Strangers From All Across The Globe
  • McDonald’s will use AI to automatically tweak drive-thru menus – It might give McFlurrys more prominent placement on hot days, for instance.
  • The Dreams Of A Man Asleep For Three Weeks
    • On March 22, 2018, I was rushed to the hospital for life-saving surgery. Due to complications with the procedure, I didn’t regain full, coherent consciousness until the second week in April. For three weeks I was stuck inside my own mind, subject to a seemingly unending series of dreams. Dreams covering on a variety of themes, some light and hopeful, others dark and dismal. I dreamed the end of my life over and over. I was a hero and a villain.
  • Ohio names shelter pets the official state pet to raise awareness about animal adoption
  • 59 Distinct Ways of Cooking Eggs
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Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, March 26, 2019

  • We spent the weekend in Corpus Christi so DaughterGeeding and her team could compete in Destination Imagination’s state tournament. They lost and were heartbroken, tears were shed. I wasn’t upset, I wanted her to learn what it was like to put a lot of work into something only to be defeated and it all comes to a stop in an instant. She needed a good lesson in adversity and I didn’t want it to happen too late in life for her. What was most touching, despite all the tears she shed, her brother was perhaps sadder for her than she was for losing, and she was pretty darn sad.
  • The drive to Corpus Christi takes about six hours. My GPS app had us travel backroads through small towns, so we never had to drive through Austin or San Antonio. We got to see the beautiful Texas landscape with plenty of bluebonnets, primroses, and Indian paintbrush, all almost in full bloom. As we got closer to Corpus, I was surprised at the mammoth wind farm we drove through.
  • One back thing about driving the backroads, bug splatter. Lots of bug splatter.
  • On the way to Corpus on Friday morning/afternoon, I only saw DPS patrolman. On the way back on Sunday morning, I think I saw about seven. I almost got a speeding ticket going through one small town by local police, it was a place in which the speed limit drops from like 75 mph to 55 mph and I was driving about 65 mph. I never had this happen, but all the cop did was flash his lights and didn’t even move his car. It’s like all he was saying was, “Hey buddy, slow it down, you’re entering city limits.” I’m used to small-town speed trap and getting a speeding ticket – no, if, ands, or buts about it.
  • About 10:30 AM on Friday we drove into Lockhart, TX. Home of Black’s BBQ, the oldest BBQ joint in Texas and owned and operated by the same family for four generations. You can trace the origin of the bbq’d giant beef rib there, and that’s what WifeGeeding ordered. Thankfully they open at 10:00 AM and we didn’t mind having an early lunch at all. It ranks up there with some of the best BBQ I ever had.
  • I couldn’t help but think of LiberallyLean since he’s been blogging about reading a book or two on Texas history as we drove through Goliad and we saw signs for Colonel Fannin and his troop’s grave. Here’s a quick history lesson:
    • The Goliad massacre was an event of the Texas Revolution that occurred on March 27, 1836, following the Battle of Coleto; 425-445 prisoners of war from the Texian Army of the Republic of Texas were killed by the Mexican Army in the town of Goliad, Texas. Among those killed was commander Colonel James Fannin. The killing was carried out under orders from General and President of Mexico Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Despite the appeals for clemency by General José de Urrea, the massacre was reluctantly carried out by Lt. Colonel José Nicolás de la Portilla.
  • Luling was a surprisingly neat town. How can you not like a town which has a water tower which resembles a watermelon and adds flare to the oil pump jacks? We stopped there for gas. Before we got out, DaughterGeeding asked that I teach her how to pump it, which made for a neat father-daughter moment. Ah, one more fact about the town, Star Trek TNG actor Michael Dorn was born there.
  • I never got the memo Corpus Chisti had a big nice looking event center next to the shore. A couple of DaughterGeeding’s team events were there.
  • Another event was held at Kaffie Middle School. When I looked it up on GoogleMaps, this was what showed up.
  • I guess I’ll never get over the size of certain high schools, coming from small-town Mineral Wells and all. Another one of DaughterGeeding’s team events was held at Veteran’s High School and I was in awe when I first walked in and saw this which seemed to go on forever.
  • Speaking of Mineral Wells, I was giddy when I saw they also had a team participating in Corpus Christi.
  • But I wasn’t as giddy as WifeGeeding was when she discovered a Big Red margarita. She’s a sucker for Big Red.
  • Here’s a photo of DaughterGeeding and some of her team practicing their “Medical Mystery” one last time.
Posted in Personal | 3 Comments

This made me smile

I found this story and the girl adorable.

Not to be a downer, but the average life span of a domestic duck is 10 years or less.

Posted in Cute | 1 Comment

Bag of Randomness for Thursday, March 21, 2019

  • I wonder how awkward dinner is at the George and Kellyanne Conway house.
  • The high school in my hometown of Mineral Wells is getting a new principal, his name is Dr. Funk. I bet he’s heard every joke possible when it comes to his name. I had a friend in college with the last name of Massingill, he was a pretty cool dude.
  • DaughterGeeding read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in less than 20 hours.
  • A lot of times when I look at a lifetime of photos of someone, there’s a phase, perhaps in their thirties, in which they look older than they do when they are in their forties.
  • Smithonian.com – The Rivalry Between Two Doctors to Implant the First Artificial Heart – Featuring titans of Texas medicine, the race was on to develop the cutting-edge technology
  • I find the selection of a photo for an obituary or celebration of life a funeral interesting. Out of a lifetime of photos, a family member will have to choose a single one. Some will choose a photo taken at the latter stage of life, perhaps because it’s most recent and it’s how most people think of their loved one. Yet, sometimes they will choose a photo at a time in that person’s life when they were most active or well dressed. All that came to mind looking at the obituaries in my hometown newspaper, in particular, military photos of loved ones taken in the sixties or seventies.
  • How The Very Hungry Caterpillar Became a Classic
  • Mr. Rogers’ Selective Service Registration Card
  • A paraglider lands and a kangaroo picks a fight with him
Posted in Personal | 3 Comments