Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, May 4, 2016

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  • So, um, does anyone have a spare $2500 to help pay for the repair of a slab leak? Unfortunately, my insurance deductible ain’t gonna help because it’s about breakeven to file a claim. Double-unfortunately, the plumber is so backed up (no pun intended), work can’t start until Thursday and will be a two-day job. The leak is related to the hot water pipes and the temporary workaround is to turn the water source to the water heater on only when we need hot water. Confused? Well, you probably should be as I’m sure I’m leaving out some important detail that connects it all together.
  • Well, there goes the grand Mother’s Day plans I had.
  • While I’m not happy for such a thing to happen, I realize it could have been worst and I already have a fantastic life, so I’m not trying to cry a river, just have a little fun with it.
  • To my surprise, there isn’t a single Costco in Dallas, per this article, and I verified it on their website. Of course, there are plenty in the surrounding suburbs, but not one in the actual city of Dallas.
  • I can’t believe Carly Fiorina didn’t save Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign. (I really wish there was a sarcasm font.)
  • Cruz has stated he would eventually back his party’s nominee for president. I know he kind of backtracked off that a little. However, if he doesn’t support Trump as his party’s nominee, which seems inevitable, he would only live up to the name Trump branded him – Lying Ted. It’s going to be a bit of a catch-22 for him.
  • Cruz will have to return to the Senate, but I don’t think he’ll do so quietly. I have a feeling he’ll disrupt the Senate or cause some sort of big legislative obstruction before the end of the month.
  • Last night on WFAA, our Lieutenant Governor, Dan Patrick, stated he thinks Trump will win the presidency and will appoint Cruz to the Supreme Court.
  • Bob Schieffer was on the ‘CBS Evening News’ yesterday. He sounded great, but the 79-year-old looked very frail and pale. I’m a bit concerned for him.
  • Something else that surprised me, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote a book about Sherlock Holme’s brother, Mycroft. Well, co-wrote.
  • Google wants to inject a computer into your eye
  • Adding to the list of surprises, I didn’t know U2’s The Edge recently played inside the Sistine Chapel – “When I was asked to perform in the Sistine Chapel I didn’t know what to say, because usually there’s ‘this other guy’ who sings,” he told the audience, making a joke about U2’s Bono. “So it took me at least, well, 30 seconds to agree to it.”
  • While many people think Bono’s singing is over-rated, I always thought The Edge’s singing was under-rated.
  • Ain’t no way I’m going to sit through all that – NY Mag – ESPN’s Eight-Hour O.J. Documentary Is a Masterpiece
  • A reader alerted me to CBS11 meteorologist Lisa Villegas’ Instagram account. It looks like she may have modeling in her future, and doesn’t mind playing to the camera.
  • French teacher at Houston ISD school doesn’t speak French
  • Here are Google, Amazon, and Facebook’s secrets to hiring the best people – No, it’s not that list of popular Google interview questions you Googled on Google. In fact, their finely tuned hiring process goes way beyond rudimentary queries on algorithms and quantum physics.
  • The Weird History Of The Space Blanket – Cheap, lightweight, and great at containing body heat, they are an indispensable first aid tool, used to warm people up after they’ve suffered through a shark attack, overexposure, or a treacherous sea crossing. 
  • Buzzfeed – These Teens Won Prom With Their Perfectly Coordinated Superhero Outfits
  • GIF – This kid isn’t 100% focused on the game, and that’s OK.
  • TIME – Patton Oswalt Remembers His Wife, Michelle McNamara – From the mouth of their seven-year-old daughter, “When your mom dies you’re the best memory of her. Everything you do and say is a memory of her.”
  • May the Fourth be with you.
Posted in Personal | 4 Comments

Guns and Faith

Let me start off with a disclaimer – I’m not posting this because I’m for or against anything related to firearms, I’m posting this because I know a lot of Christian firearm owners read this blog and some may find this interesting, no matter what side of the issue they may be on.

‘CBS Sunday Morning’ had this segment about a pastor asking, “How can evangelicals be pro-life AND pro-gun? Who will ultimately save us? Christ or a Glock?”

That in itself didn’t get my attention, but it was the part of the segment in which he debates the subject with fellow evangelicals. That conversation is part of a documentary called  “The Armor of Light” which will air May 10 on PBS. But what also got my attention was the director of the documentary , Abigail Disney, Walt Disney’s grand-niece.

While working on the documentary with the pastor, she had a bit of a conversion:

“I went back to this church that someone had told me about, and all of a sudden on Sunday morning I find myself looking forward to going to church.”

“So you are going to church now?”

“I am in church now.”

“And would you call yourself a Christian?”

“Yes. I think I’ve always been willing to call myself a Christian. But you hear all the tentativeness, right?”

You can watch the segment below or read the article here, and I also posted the trailer for the documentary.

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Posted in Political, Pop Culture, Spiritual | 2 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, May 3, 2016

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  • Right before bedtime we discovered a water leak coming from a wall by our bathtub. Water was also found in the closet as well as the garage. WifeGeeding checked the outside of the house and noticed the section of the foundation slabp near our bathroom was soaked. Despite out best efforts, we couldn’t find the actual leak. Right now the main water is shut off at GeedingManor and we’ll be calling a plumber first thing this morning.
  • Buzzfeed – Claire Danes Wore An Insanely Incredible Light-Up Ball Gown To The Met Gala
  • U2’s Bono on Why Christians Need to Get Honest About Art – Bono, lead singer for U2, and Eugene Peterson, author of The Message contemporary Bible translation, recently spent some time together at Peterson’s Montana home to discuss the Psalms—along with some cameras courtesy the Fuller Seminary. It’s a fascinating talk.
    • Yup, I’m a huge Bono fan, but I’m not always in total agreement with everything he says or does. But many U2 fans read this blog, and I like to post things related to U2.
  • NY Times – After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight
    – Contestants lost hundreds of pounds during Season 8, but gained them back. A study of their struggles helps explain why so many people fail to keep off the weight they lose.
  • This is how you give a horse a CT scan
  • More thoughts on jeans:
    • I like them loose, but not baggy where it looks like I’m a slob.
    • I would probably only wear a pair of skinny or hipster jeans if I lost a bet
    • I have big thighs, I need some room in that area for comfort.
    • Current color and topical trends always confuse me. I don’t know if I need them light or dark or somewhere in-between and then sometimes there’s a worn look or pattern on them which looks odd to me.
    • At the beginning of this century, I was mainly a Levi’s guy, but I’ve since found that the Dillard’s brand Cremieux fits me best. I have no idea if they are popular or “in style” but I just like the way they fit. Eddie Bauer had a pair that also fit me very well.
    • I still have nightmares of when my mother took me shopping for a new pair of jeans. Usually, she bought the ugly and very dark Rustler Husky jeans. One time, fourth grade, maybe, she made me try on a pair. At this store, Mitchell’s I believe, the dressing room door opened to the whole store. After I tried them on, I stepped out and saw “the pretty girl from school” nearby. Mom grabbed the jeans crotch, tugged, and asked, “Do you have enough ball room?”
    • I was so happy when I got my first pair of Guess jeans. The last time I almost bought a pair, I was at the Guess store in Grapevine Mills mall and heard some high school girls talking to their male friend behind the counter making fun of how “out of style” the brand has become.
    • I also thought I was something when I got my first pair of Girbaud jeans, but not as much a when I got my first pair of Guess jeans. Man, looking back, I cared wayyyy too much of how I looked and trying to fit in.
    • I used to be a fan of the tapered leg jean.
    • If bell bottoms can make a comeback, so can the tight-roll.
  • Peter King’s MMQB had a lot of Dallas material
    • He was inside the Cowboys draft room for the whole draft and provides a great inside perspective of how Jerry and family, as well as the head coach, goes about the draft.
    • There’s something emotional, when you’re a person of a certain age, about driving on the road, over the same spot, where the assassination of John F. Kennedy occurred. Staying in Dallas for a few days, I drove four times over the precise spot where Lee Harvey Oswald’s bullet killed Kennedy. Each time it was a little chilling. Glancing over at the former Texas School Book Depository, and realizing how far Oswald was from JFK, and that Kennedy was a moving target, you realize what a marksman the guy must have been. Just a sad moment, every time I drive past—yet it’s a compelling place for me to go.
    • Thank you, Rangers GM Jon Daniels and your staff, for allowing me to bend your ears at the ballpark the other night about baseball. Thanks for the stories about Paul DePodesta, the knowledge about one of my favorite new guys (Rougned Odor), and the stories about Dominican baseball. It’s a great time to be in baseball, from the stories your enthusiastic baseball staff tells.
    •  And a note on ESPN’s Chris Mortensen
      • “When I’m locked down onto a table with a mask for daily radiation, I have the techs at MD Anderson [Cancer Center in Houston] pipe in Christian music. It brings me a sense of peace. On that note, there is something special about experiencing the humility that comes with being a cancer patient. You realize pretty quickly that it’s non-discriminatory. Doesn’t seem to matter if you’re middle-aged, old, young, poor, rich, black, white, Hispanic, Islamic, Asian. It is indiscriminate. There’s a way-too-large community of cancer patients, inspired by survivors but equally inspired by those who fought the good fight but eventually succumbed.
There is one myth, in my opinion, I would share. The mantra of ‘kick cancer’s ass’ may be well-intended but it’s misplaced. Based on what I have experienced and having seen and heard others, you don’t kick cancer’s butt. It kicks your rear end. You just take the punches, get back up and let it hit you again and again … You pray you’re standing in the end. But it’s day-to-day. One day at a time.”

        —ESPN reporter Chris Mortensen, in an email to Tom Hoffarth of insidesocal.com, for his “Farther off the Wall” blog. Mortensen is being treated in Houston for throat cancer.

Posted in Personal | 6 Comments