Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, December 6, 2016

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  • Finally, I don’t have to put the damn tree up all by myself.
  • CBS11 interviewed former Cowboys head coach Dave Campo and he used the word “vacillating”.  I’ll admit I had to look it up. In case you are wondering, it basically means to dither.
  • Last night, WifeGeeding wanted to watch the ‘Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show’ but I wasn’t interested and decided to get ready for bed. However, as I walked away, the first song the models came out to was U2’s “Vertigo” and then I decided to watch a few minutes of it.
  • If you are not a morning person and irritated by cherry morning folk who wish you a good morning, Proverbs 27:14 is your friend:
    • If anyone loudly blesses their neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.
  • This photo didn’t make the rounds as much as I thought it would (WSJ Article):
    castrojeeppushcapture
  • Like most folks around these parts, I was surprised at Brian Loncar’s death. He was a local attorney known for his commercials as “The Strong Arm”. His unexpected death comes two days after his 16-year-old daughter’s funeral, who battled depression and took her own life. I know nothing about what he and his family are like, but even the most hardened person would have to have some sorrow for his wife who just buried her daughter and then becomes a widow two days later. Other survivors are his parents and five kids.
    • In a Facebook post about his daughter, Loncar wrote, “She told me she could never feel love.” As a person who suffers from depression and thoughts of suicide (at least weekly), I know exactly how she feels. This won’t make sense to you, but it feels like anyone who “loves” you is purely conditional, in spite of something, that it’s not genuine like it’s some means to an end, that you can’t be accepted for who you really are and have to put up a front, that you are only being placated – and that’s not what really love is. And if something were to happen to me, any sorrow wouldn’t come from me not being around but because they lost a means to an end.
      • Please don’t freak out by any of that, I got it under control, but it’s battle and it takes a lot of planning and preparation to overcome.
    • I thought .
    • Here’s the only thing the firm’s website says about his death:
      • (DALLAS, December 4, 2016) “Brian Loncar’s colleagues and employees are shocked and enormously saddened by these tragic events. We are remembering and honoring his passion, commitment to his clients and skillful representation of people who are in pain and need the firm’s assistance. You know his message as being ‘the strong arm’ for people who have been injured. Please know the team Brian built here is resolved to continue service to you that is reflective of Brian’s winning record, strength, expertise, wisdom as well as his deep sense of caring for his clients and people in need of help. We will continue to fight for you.” Editor’s note: This will be the only statement from Loncar & Associates tonight.
  • A Muslim-Owned Restaurant Has Invited Homeless People For Christmas Dinner
    • The Muslim-owned Shish Restaurant in Sidcup, southeast London, has said it will provide homeless and elderly people with a free three-course Christmas dinner this year. “No one eats alone on Christmas Day,” it said in a leaflet. “We are here to sit with you.”
  • Wedding thoughts:
    • The wedding was held at a venue called the Deer Cove. As you have guessed, it is heavily deer themed. For my fellow ‘Game of Thrones’ fan, I thought I was in House Baratheon.
    • The wedding had to be moved indoors since it literally rained all day and the temperature was in the low fifties.
    • I was part of the wedding because who I thought was my second cousin asked me to be a groomsman. However, from Wikipedia learned he is actually my first cousin, once removed.
      • People occasionally mistake the child of their first cousin as their “second cousin” – however that would actually be a first cousin, once removed. The removal denotes the generational difference.
      • Relationship wise, I’m closer to him because we are closer in age and both lost our fathers in our late twenties. If you recall, my father had me late in life, he was born in 1923 and I in 1975. Dad had a slightly younger sister, Eyelene (my aunt), and she had kids at a “normal” age, and her kids (my first cousins) always felt more like an aunt or uncle.
        • As noted before, Eyelene had a leg removed to cancer, but I do find humor in how her name sounds “I lean” and her having only one leg to stand on. Also, I only recall one conversation I ever had with that woman.
      • As I mentioned, the groom’s father is dead. He was my first cousin, so his mother is my first cousin by marriage. I find it interesting that these older first cousins are the ones I tend to bond with. I’m guessing it’s because they are able to fill in a lot of questions for me regarding family I’ve never got to know or only knew through a child’s perspective. I really don’t know much about my mother’s family in Vietnam, have been disconnected with my father’s side of the family, so finding out “who” they were as a person and the kind of relationships they had with others is absolutely fascinating for me.
        • The person I think who got the most out of the wedding is the groom’s mother. She expressed how she hasn’t had real substantive conversations with her brothers and daughter, and this wedding gave them an opportunity to really connect, express resentments, and but a lot of things behind them. I was really happy for her.
    • Depending on the wedding, a thought which will often go through my mind is if the bride understands the difference between a wedding and a marriage. It’s one thing to throw a party to be a princess for a day and be the center of attention, it’s entirely another thing understanding the work ahead that it’s not about you, but building a relationship in which you put the needs of the one you love ahead of you. And yes, there’s a difference between needs and wants, and a lot of this goes for the groom as well.
    • I know weddings and setup can be chaotic, but I’m a stickler for being respectful other people’s time and at least having a framework of organization and cluing others in on what’s going to happen. For instance, I was asked to show up to an apartment at noon to help move stuff. The groom was about 45-minutes late and the bride didn’t show up until about a half hour later.
    • A lot of people came from out of state – Oregon, California, Nevada, Arkansas, Florida, and Houston. Before arriving in Azle, most went to Waco to visit that Magnolia thing and the Dr. Pepper Museum. They were overwhelmed by the Magnolia thing and supremely underwhelmed by the Dr. Pepper Museum. Funny thing, but as of late, I just can’t escape anything Fixer Upper related, and I kept hearing references to the show all day on Friday as we set things up because the venue looked heavily influenced by it.
    • There was a kid who had a GoPro attached to his chest and was instructed to just roam for the evening.
    • Because I was part of the wedding party, I partook in my first mannequin challenge.
    • I needed to return my tux the next day at the Men’s Warehouse. A little after 10:00 AM Sunday I approached the door and found it was locked and noticed they didn’t open until 11:00 AM. Right when returned to my car, an employee, a woman probably in her sixties, told me that if I was responsible enough to return the suit early the next day then she was going to open the store early just for me. She let me in, inspected the suit and made sure I didn’t leave anything in the pockets, and then booted up the register and gave me a return receipt. Her kindheartedness made my day.
  • Art Briles hired “super agent” Jimmy Sexton back in September. It looks like (at least to me) Sexton tried to use an ESPN reporter to float a rumor that the University of Houston, Briles alma mater and where he coached before Baylor, was interested in hiring him. But Houston’s vice president for athletics shot that down in an almost embarrassing way, saying it was Briles who contacted them.
    • “Earlier this week Art Briles expressed interest to me regarding the Houston head coach position. After discussion with University of Houston leadership, we developed a list of candidates to be interviewed that did not include Art.”
  • Everything about that ‘Pizzagate’ story freaks me out.
  • I say it every year, but I love how the City of Lewisville will out a Santa on a firetruck and drive around the neighbor throwing candy as lights and sirens occasionally go off.
  • I’m not a Rick Pitino fan, but his Louisville team played Grand Canyon University recently and beat them 79-70. Grand Canyon University becomes eligible for the NCAA next year, and they had a compacity crowd when Louisville came to town. To help the program, Patino said the following:
    • “In college basketball, my 40-plus years, (that) was the toughest crowd I’ve ever faced,” Pitino said. “Awesome. “You got something special here, really special. When you have this type of enthusiasm, it made us a much better team tonight. Whether we go to Duke, Kentucky, nothing was as tough as that environment tonight.”
  • Brave bird wears goggles and flies through a laser for science – The bird was willing to do all that for some seeds
  • I absolutely love this:
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