Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, December 12, 2017

  • I was troubleshooting something the other day. I worked on it for hours and frustratedly found myself where I originally started. But after a short break and a moment of reflection, it occurred to me that even though I’m back where I started, I learned so much along the way. With that moment of clarity, I continued my work and found the solution in a relatively short amount of time.
  • I’m not a fan of the giant inflatable lawn decoration or those projection lights. Both are a bit unstable for my tastes.
  • We visited “our” Santa yesterday Vista Ridge Mall. He’s been doing the Santa gig at the same mall for thirteen years. Personally, I think he’ll outlive the mall. It was slow and I struck up a nice conversation with him. He told me the Santa he replaced looked very similar to him, especially the facial features around the eyes. Before he took over the reins, he and that Santa had dinner and talked about certain families who consistently visited, mannerisms, sayings, how to keep cool, hydration, and getting a better cushion for Santa’s chair.
    • Yes, Scott, I know you proposed to your third wife in front of that Santa. You tell me the same damn story every year.
  • Two things in Peter King’s MMQB which caught my attention and turned out to be controversial to some:
    • “The Dolphins announced late in the week that all 75 players under contract to the team—active, injured reserve and practice squad—are now registered to vote, either in Florida or in the place they consider their permanent home.”
    • Bono’s take on those demonstrating during the anthem: “America is not just a country. It’s an idea. It’s a great idea. It’s the best idea the world has ever had. And that’s why it’s okay for people to get carried away … and on that subject, if people want to show their patriotism a different way, you know, taking a knee and all that—I think people who care about their country can never be a problem. They want to make it better. The way they’re respecting their country, I wanted to pull out my jacket, stand by this country, say, ‘I believe in it.’” 
  • U2 Scores Eighth No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With ‘Songs of Experience’
  • This tweet from a UK television station made me laugh.
  • Though I never really liked the guy, I wonder what former NBC anchor Mike Snyder has been up to. The last time I thought of him was when he was setting up fake Facebook accounts and making comments on behalf of the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System.
  • How Email Open Tracking Quietly Took Over The Web –  A recent study found that one in five emails you open are tracked.
  • I noticed Judge Roy Moore turned up the U.S. flag lapel pin game by including a cross. Personally, I think a Christian should treat the cross with more reverence.
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Bag of Randomness for Monday, December 11, 2017

  • BoyGeeding and GirlGeeding are making their own skates with Hot Wheels. Hey Santa, they might be sending you a hint.
  • By my calculations, this is my 21,229th post on this little website.
  • The Army-Navy football game was played in snowy conditions. Because Army wore all white, they looked like they were in camouflage from the stands.
  • All NFL players who have won the Walter Payton Man of the Year award will wear a Man of the Year patch on their jerseys in perpetuity to recognize their outstanding contributions to the game and to their communities.
    • That’s cool but seems odd that the tradition would start in week 14 of the NFL season.
  • There’s a great pizza place, one of few you can actually get pizza by the slice in the area, across the street from the Cowboys old headquarters at Valley Ranch. We are partial to it for many reasons, but one is that WifeGeeding was the kindergarten teacher of the owner’s son. A lot of the Cowboys staff used to eat there, as well as players and the media. While eating there Saturday, Mickey Spagnola stopped in (local sports fans will know who he is). I introduced myself to him and told him I’ve followed his career since the Dallas Times Herald and when he used to do spots for KDFW (channel 4) when it was the CBS station on Sunday nights with my father. The man could not have been kinder. He asked about myself and wanted to say hi to my kids who were sitting nearby and asked them about school. We chit-chatted a bit and he got a kick out of my old neighbor he used to cover who mowed shirtless. He said because of the weather in New York his flight was delayed for two hours and he thought he’d visit his favorite pizza shop he always used to dine at but never gets to anymore because the Cowboys moved.
  • I have a bit of a soft spot for Monica Lewinsky. She made a mistake as a college intern and has been made fun about and labeled negatively every day since. When I was her age, I said and did many stupid things I’m thankful other don’t remember and forever grateful I’m not labeled for any of them. All that to say I thought it was interesting she tweeted the following article: The Importance of Dumb Mistakes in College
  • GIF – Dog helps decorate a Christmas tree, and even puts the star on top
  • Great chart – Lifespans of the Presidents of the United States (Chronological Order)
    • After John Adams, our second president, it took about 138 years before another president lived to his nineties, Herbert Hoover, the 31st president.
  • ‘Safer avocado’ invented to keep people from stabbing selves
    • So the UK chain launched a new “cocktail avocado” with no pit and tender skin, allowing the fruit to be eaten skin and all.
    • If you balk at eating avocado skin on general principle, you can open one end of the avocado and squeeze out the pulpy flesh like toothpaste from the bottom of the tube.
    • The cocktail avocados are the result of an unpollinated avocado blossom. They are smaller than regular avocados — about 5 to 8 centimeters. But the taste is smooth and creamy, just as good as their pit-laden brethren.
  • The USA Network app was put to use quite a bit this weekend.
    • About two years ago I started to binge watch the USA comedy-drama ‘Psyche’ which was no longer airing on the network. It’s been off the air for about three years and last week it made a comeback of sorts with a movie. There were a lot of ongoing gags throughout the series and my memory of all of them was pretty rusty watching the movie. The movie was basically a reunion show and it was good but not great. I have to give them a little leeway though, one of their prominent actors, Timothy Omundson, had a stroke shortly before shooting and the script had a major rewrite. He made a very small guest appearance via a Facebook live conversation but you could tell stroke did a lot of damage to a man who looked young and healthy. The most absurd thing in the movie, and I’ll try not to spoil much, but there was a dream sequence with a talking horse who was voice by other than S.E. Hinton, author of The Outsiders. Stay gold Ponyboy, stay gold.
    • The fifth episode of this season’s ‘Mr. Robot’ was exceptional because it pulled off a fantastic feat – the episode looked like it was shot in one continuous shot in real time going from different floors of a skyscraper and even going outside. More on it if you are interested – How Mr. Robot pulled off its insane long-take episode
  • Random Trump prediction – Before he leaves office, he’ll rename Denali back to Mount McKinley.
  • Jerry Jone’s grandson/Stephen Jone’s son is the quarterback of state champion Highland Parks Scots football team and his team looks like they just might repeat as champions. He has a twitter account and has been tweeting offers from universities he’s been receiving to play football. The least surprising is Arkansas, since both his father and grandfather played there and are big boosters. I’m not knocking the kid or anything and it’s a great accomplishment for him. And I know an offer and being granted a scholarship are two different things, but it left me wondering how many young men who come from very comfortable backgrounds take a scholarship away from someone who really needs it. Offhand, I’d say very few student-athletes have very wealthy parents.
  • Toddler signals ‘help’ in sign language during photo with Santa
  • Every State, Ranked By How Miserable Its Winters Are
    • No surprise Hawaii is last on the list, but my guess of Alaska being first was off by three.
  • I wish I could have watched the Buffalo Bills game yesterday, it looked like it was played somewhere Beyond the Wall.

 

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