Man, it was a very busy weekend, and there’s a lot I’d like to share, but I’m swamped for time so I’m just throwing together what I can right now.
On certain windy days when the temperature is a bit crisp and the wind blocks out all background noise, time feels like it stops and freezes for a few moments.
I’ve followed Rachel Held Evans for many years and became a big fan. Not so much that I bought any of her books, but I certainly read every article she wrote and followed her on Twitter. She may have been a woman, but she had a pair of brass balls. The non-traditional and non-conformist Christian author died at the age of 37. She had the flu and ended up having seizures after an allergic reaction to antibiotics and was put in a medical coma. People like her made me feel comfortable questioning the Christian establishment, consider different perspectives and how to go about looking at things from those perspectives, and learn that you don’t have to feel like you have all the answers, not everything is as black and white as it seems, that there’s beauty in the shades of grays. Hell, I think if grace had a color, it would be gray. But not only did she question the establishment and cause them to look at themselves, but she also did it with tact and grace and never abandoned her faith. It’s one thing for me to have a silly little blog, but she would discuss these sharp-edged issues in person and there’s no doubt a plethora of trolls flexed their internet muscles at her. Yet, she was resolute, absolutely resilient. As Lent started I’m sure she thought she’d live through it, we all did. Life will take that unexpected turn, sometimes much sharper than we can ever imagine. Death, the great equalizer, it will humble the shit out of us quickly.
I’m not planning on dying soon and not going through any more depression than usual, but I enjoy thinking about my funeral and planning things out. I haven’t made any formal plans. As an introvert and someone who feels uncomfortable when given any attention, funeral planning is like throwing a party you always wanted for yourself but know you can never attend, and that’s really freeing. A lot of these thoughts came to mind thinking of Rachel Held Evans and then watching Adam Sandler’s tribute to his late friend Chris Farley. I’ve mentioned I’m a sucker for watching the end of the show in which the guest host stands on stage with all the cast members and thanks the audience as the band starts playing and the credit rolls. I think it would be neat to have that song played at the very end of my funeral as everyone is exiting into the foyer where some sort of buffet (most likely catered by Hutchins BBQ and Babe’s Chicken Diner) will be served.
Typically, I prefer not to buy clothing online because I’m so particular about how it fits I like to try them on first. However, I saw an Amazon Basics shirt on Amazon at the right price point I decided to give it a try. The shirt (a package of two shirts, actually) was too large and I attempted to return the item. Amazon provided the full refund but told me not to return the product. They make so much money it’s probably cost-effective for them not to process a return.
I rarely pay with cash anymore so I don’t get to root through coins often. It’s fun looking at dates and it’s especially fun when a foreign coin makes an unexpected appearance. I thought I had a normal U.S. penny but to my surprise, it was a once cent Greek Euro. The ship is an Athenian trireme:
A trireme (/ˈtraɪriːm/; derived from Latin: trirēmis “with three banks of oars”; Ancient Greek: τριήρης triērēs, literally “three-rower”) was an ancient vessel and a type of galley that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greeks and Romans.
Engadget – From today, you can use Google’s AI to create a unique “poem portrait,” an ethereal image of your self-portrait overlaid with an exclusive poem generated from a word of your choice
LiberallyLean posted a very old picture of the Cotton Bowl yesterday when inspired me to dig into the stadium’s past and look up stuff about the Alamo.
One of the items on that map was a replica of the Alamo (left, center). I had no idea North Texas had any Alamo replicas, which inspired me to dig a bit deeper.
Here are several pictures of Dallas area Alamo replicas with a few photos. Both were in Fair Park. As far as I know, neither had a basement.
The first one was a gift to the city by G. B. Dealey and the Dallas Morning News — it stood stoically at the entrance to the fairgrounds from 1909 until 1935 — and the second one was a rebuilding of the first which was torn down to make way for the splendor of the Art Deco Centennial extravaganza and lasted from 1936 until 1951.
WifeGeeding’s uncle by marriage lives out in East Texas and had a heart attack. He appears to be recovering well but it took three calls to 911 before they picked up.
One of WifeGeeding’s coworkers referees high school football games. Apparently, yesterday was draft day. High school football coaches draft what referee crews they want at particular games. I really can’t find much about it, but here’s how a Houston area chapter did theirs.
Two details I forgot to add about the Sony Trinitron I recently removed from GeedingManor. It still worked, WifeGeeding just didn’t’ want it around any longer. And, I bought it at Incredible Universe, which should ring a bell for some of you longtime local folks.
When I turned seventeen, my father surprised me with a new Mac and printer. That means I’ve had this box for 27-years. I used that box to help me move to a dorm, various apartments, back to my childhood home, and to my current home. I recycled it yesterday. It was a nice and sturdy moving box, thicker than most ordinary cardboard boxes.
The best moving boxes were old computer monitor boxes. They were huge, sturdy, and had handles on the side which made picking them up and transporting a bit easier. This Gateway box is similar to what I’m talking about, I still have an old Compaq box in the attic in case I ever need it.
Yesterday evening I saw news footage of former Vice-President Joe Biden walking to his vehicle with a Fuzzy’s Taco Shop in the background. Immediately I wondered why he was in the area but after a little research discovered that Fuzzy’s has locations in Iowa. Man, that franchise has grown quickly. All I ever get there is the breakfast tacos.
Senator Kennedy (R-LA) and Mr. Haney from ‘Green Acres’ could be kin. Speaking of ‘Green Acres’, I found it out it streams on AmazonPrime, it just might be time for me to introduce my kids to it.
Not that I don’t already write a lot of odd things, but I felt a personal connection with ‘Green Acres’. Oliver Wendall Douglas was a big city man who moved to a small rural town with a wife from another country who had a thick accent. My father grew up in the big city and moved to a small rural town with a wife from another country with a thick accent. All the townsfolks only referred to Oliver as Mr. Douglas, all of my hometown only referred to my father as Mr. Geeding. Like Oliver, my father had to climb up a telephone pole just outside the house to make phone calls. Okay, that last part isn’t true. However, and I never put this together until now, but Oliver Douglas’ wife on the show is named Lisa Douglas. My younger sister is named Lisa and she married a man with the last name of Douglas.
For better or worst, I’m going to pull back the curtain a little bit, and doubt I’ll ever provide any detail on the matter, but I’m estranged from both my siblings. I often tell WifeGeeding she had no idea how lucky she is in that she doesn’t have to deal with any in-laws other than the very rare visit a cousin is in town.
Little Black Backpack came on the radio the other day. I haven’t heard that fun little song in forever. WifeGeeding had no idea what it was but was surprised, almost astonished, at how well I knew the lyrics and even incorporated hand motions. It’s kind of hard not to when you get to this part of the chorus “Don’t want to tango with you,
I’d rather tangle with him, I think I’m gonna bash his head in.” I can’t find a decent version of it on YouTube.
This ‘Game of Thrones’ behind the scenes photo is funny if you are a fan of the show.
First World Problem I experienced yesterday – ordered a Coke with my to-go meal and when I got home I discovered it was a Diet Coke. I detest diet drinks, they leave a weird aftertaste.
I think it’s absolutely amazing photographs exists of veterans who have fought in the Revolutionary War. I got wind of this from an old tweet from historian Micheal Beschloss about Captain George Fishley, one of longest surviving American veterans of the Revolutionary War who posed for this photo in uniform shortly before death in 1850.
Here are more pics of other veterans of the Revolutionary War. I thought the mini-biography of Jonathan Smith was quite interesting – After the war he became a Baptist minister. He was married three times and had eleven children.
The dome wasn’t painted, it’s was a huge piece of fabric. This does remind me of a tradition in my hometown of Mineral Wells. Believe it or not, our high school had a dome roof over the basketball court (The Ram Dome, and yes, the ram was our mascot) and seniors (12-graders, not the elderly) would sometimes paint it with the year in which they were graduating. I was able to find a few old pics. I never said it was a nice dome, nor did I state the seniors did a decent job of painting.
After all, Wagner says the show was directed and shot like a cinematic experience that could be viewed in a movie theater, even though it’s predominantly streamed at compressed quality to screens of all shapes and sizes.
This specific part makes me want to research Soviet battle techniques as I’m not familiar with this bit of history. The closest thing I could find was this scene from a movie about Soviets attacking German trenches. Battle of Moscow, maybe?
On the Night King’s signal, the undead breach the fire-trench the Soviet way: with their bodies. Only upon initiation of a successful breach do the defenders attempt to suppress the force. By then it is too late, and the assault force strikes the walls.
Wagner himself also said HBO’s compression of the episode, to help smooth over the streaming process for millions of viewers with varying connection speeds, is another contributor.
Old, but new to me (I think), and better than I expected – A Song of Vanilla Ice and Fire
I need to read up on my history, I never knew Nixon’s Attorney General (or any AG in our nation’s history), the head of the Department of Justice, the nation’s top law enforcement officer, was jailed. He served 19-months in prison. He died in 1988 and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, based on his World War II Naval service and his cabinet post of Attorney General. I wonder if that ruffled any feathers with veterans, and I freely admit, I don’t know when any veteran or former cabinet official loses the right to a burial with full military honors.
Nixon’s Attorney General, John Mitchell, was convicted and went to prison for perjury, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. pic.twitter.com/d9Z3pV9qoQ
