Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, July 26, 2017

  • I received a postcard from Cuba yesterday from a faithful reader who knows I have a fondness for the old-fashioned medium. She mailed it the last week of May. So that gives you an idea how long it takes to mail something from Cuba to Texas.
  • WifeGeeding’s mother took all her grandchildren to Great Wolf Lodge and are now spending time with her and her husband in East Texas, which gives me and WifeGeeding a few nights to ourselves.
    • I really didn’t grow up with grandparents or close family around, so the concept of “dumping” your kids off, even to family, is strange to me. I know it’s not “dumping” and it is actually a gift we give to them (and them to us), a chance to spend time with grandchildren you normally wouldn’t get. But it’s just part of my destructive personality which makes me think I’m either burdening someone or skirting responsibilities.
    • For our first night togetherness, we dined at WifeGeeding’s favorite, III Forks. For me, it’s not what it used to be. I saw water stains on the ceiling and some chairs were so beat up they should have been removed. Maybe fine-dining isn’t what it used to be. But maybe my taste buds have evolved where I’d rather have smoked moist brisket than any cut of steak. Oh, and it’s cheaper.
  • While watching No Country For Old Men last night, a thought occurred to me since I know the film was based in Texas. Asking someone to describe a Texas landscape will vary quite a bit, especially the first one to come to mind. Some will think of the tall pines in East Texas, others about the green in the Hill Country, and many will think of the desserts in West and South Texas. I usually think of small rolling hills and mesquite trees scattered around.
  • In the movie, one of the main characters asked a boot salesman, “Yeah, you got a pair of Larry Mahans? Shoulder, size 11?” I’ve certainly heard of the Larry Mahan brand but didn’t know the reference to “shoulder”. I half-hearted Google search tells me the character was wanting a boot made with leather from the shoulder part of the cow or steer.
  • One of the best gifts you can give a college freshman is a compact tool kit. They won’t think much of it at the time, but he or she will become popular during the first few days of moving into a dorm when all little knickknacks and furniture needs assembled.
  • Man, Jerry Jones gets beat up when takes a chance on a player with character issues and then gets beat up when he lets go of someone who possibly had character issues.
  • All Jason Garrett needs to say is that as head coach he has input into the type of players he wants, but it’s the GM who picks them, then it’s up to him to make that player succeed both on and off the field.
  • Props to Dale Hansen for asking such a great question at the Cowboys press conference, and props to him for not having it played during his regular sports segment. I guess he didn’t have to, everyone else was doing it for him.
  • Our former governor – U.S. energy secretary duped into fake interview with Russian comedians
  • 80-year-old Indiana couple nears end of quest to visit every Cracker Barrel
  • Charting the tenure of U.S. Attorneys General – The average tenure has been about 978 days — or roughly 2.5 years.
  • China mall introduces ‘husband storage’ pods for shopping wives
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Bag of Randomness Draft

  • Oppps. I forgot to change the title from “Draft” today’s date. Ooops. I doubt all five of you actually noticed.
  • I watched Logan last night and thought it was a darn good film, but was surprised there was no Stan Lee cameo. It has encouraged me to put Shane on my movie watching list, something I haven’t seen.
    • The movie is set in 2029 and my immediate thought was that’s a far but not too far in the future, and then it hit me that’s only eleven years away, which isn’t that far at all. Gosh, that just sounds weird.
  • Anne Frank, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barbara Walters were born in the same year, 1929.
  • Any chance President Trump is trying to pull a Team of Rivals with his administration?
  • Health insurance can be a pain in the arse. When we took DaughterGeeding to the ER, I made sure to do my due diligence and find a hospital that was “in network”.  When I received a bill it said it was “out of network” which prompted a call to my health insurance provider. I was told the facility was “in network” but the physician who treated DaughterGeeding was “out of network”. However, because I called, they would resubmit the paperwork and see if it was possible if I could get the “in network” charge since I didn’t have a choice of who saw my daughter in the ER. The difference in charges is about $400. I wonder how many folks have been in a similar situation and simply paid the “out of network” charge because they didn’t take the time to make a phone call. The first six minutes of that phone call, by the way, was nothing but phone tree malarky. But I will say this, their customer service was exceptional. There’s no reason to be frustrated with a phone service representative who has no control in policy.
  • As you know, I have a fondness for presidential history and trivia. For instance, I knew the original Oval Office floor was made of cork which Ike tore up with his golf cleats, that LBJ had it covered with linoleum resembling wood, Reagan had it replaced with walnut and white oak by contractors he used in California, and that floor was replaced by George W. Bush in the same pattern. But the book I’m reading states Nixon had the pocket boards pulled up, cut up into two-inch squares, mounted on plaques, and sent them to an exclusive group of people. That’s a quirky piece of history I’d love to have.
  • Princess Diana was a great mother:
    • Prince William also shared a story about when Diana surprised him with a meeting with his favorite supermodels. She had arranged “when I came home from school to have Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell waiting at the top of the stairs,” Prince William said. “I was probably 12 or 13-year-old boy who had posters of them on his wall. And I went bright red and didn’t quite know what to say and sort of fumbled, and I think I pretty much fell down the stairs on the way up.”
    • I have a hard time imagining posters of women being hung on palace walls.
    • I watched the HBO documentary on her last night in which her sons were interviewed. William spoke about how he wants his kids to know there are two grandmothers. I can finally relate to the future King of England. Well, with that, and that both our mothers were Asian.
  • YouTube – Bono and Jordan Hewson: A heartfelt father-daughter interview – Bono And His Daughter Talk Family, Celebrity And Finally Finding Home
    • Bono recorded her heartbeat when she was in the womb, noticed it was slowing down, and the doctor had to deliver her early, on his birthday.
    • “Celebrity is ridiculous because it upends God’s values.”
  • India will ban driverless cars in order to protect jobs
  • An interesting tidbit about reshooting some of Superman’s (Henry Cavill) scenes in the upcoming Justice League movie:
    • ….the new scenes that are being shot have required him to jump back and forth from each production. Because of this, a mustache he grew for his character in the “Mission: Impossible” sequel will have to be digitally removed in post-production. Paramount, which is distributing the “Mission: Impossible” sequel, would not allow Cavill to shave the facial hair while production was taking place.
  • The Legendary World War II Jeep Had A Dangerous Engineering Flaw
  • In case you missed it – Marine’s son, 4, bursts into tears, hugs new stepmom during wedding vows
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