BagOfNothing.com

• 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.

• WifeGeeding and the kids vacated the premises and my high school and college friends stayed the night so we could honor our late friend by selecting a scholarship recipient. Along with that, we feasted, did an escape room experience, watch a lot of sports, and acted like we were twenty. Good times.
• On Friday, I posted a picture of the tee-ball field I made BoyGeeding, and in that picture home base is backward. Yup, I should have known better. However, even when I do place it where it is facing correctly, BoyGeeding will turn it around because he prefers Mike Schmidt’s signature on the plate, to be facing him as he stands behind the plate.
• While working on my latest DIY project on Sunday, I was using my newly purchased drill press. However, that darn thing didn’t come with a drill chuck which was supposed to be included and the store was already closed. While trying to make due and get the bit as tight as I could, I almost stuck a screwdriver through my hand. While it didn’t go all the way through, there was a decent amount of blood and I look like I was almost crucified. And yes, I know crucifixions were actually through the wrists.
• I loath going jeans shopping, but I’ve been putting it off for a while. For one, it can be humbling for us chubby folks, two, it’s hard to find the right fit/comfort and style, and three, it’s one of those long term commitment purchases (at least for me). However, I’ve lost some weight and my jeans are too baggy, and too many times I’ve bought something smaller and only grew into the old pair again, so I’ve been hesitant on this new purchase because I didn’t want to “jinx” things. The pair of jeans I’m replacing has a 40-inch waist, but my new pair is a 34-inch waist, which is just a tiny bit snug, but the next size up was just too loose. I haven’t bought that size waist in a pair of pants or jeans this century, so it was a bit of a surreal experience. Granted, I know not all waist sizes are the same when you compare brands, but I did buy the same brand and style.
• A challenge for me when blogging is that I like to share personal experiences because it’s a bit therapeutic and I think it helps others connect and relate. However, my fear is the perception of my doing so is a way to gain sympathy or to boast, and that certainly isn’t the intention.
• I didn’t find President Obama’s video at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner all that funny until former Speaker John Boehner made his appearance. My favorite of all these videos was Clinton’s last where it shows him doing chores around the White House, riding a bike inside, playing Battleship with the Joint Chiefs, and chasing a car Hillary was riding in to deliver her a sack lunch. Go ahead and hate the man all you want, but the skit was funny.
• Random Correspondents’ Dinner fact, Richard Pryor hosted the last year of LBJ’s presidency.
• Until reading this article about Malia Obama’s college choice, I had no idea Harvard encouraged taking a year off after high school graduation and that she was born on July 4, “Harvard encourages admitted students to defer for one year to travel, pursue a special project or activity, work, or spend time in another meaningful way. The student must not enroll in a program at another college that would grant that student a degree.“
• Buzzfeed – Brides Can Now Get Married In The Heart Of Disney World Like Real-Life Princesses – WifeGeeding and I came pretty darn close to getting married at the Grand Floridian.
• I think Anna Kendrick is the modern equivalent of what Meg Ryan was back in the Eighties and Nineties. That came to mind as I watched some of Joe vs. The Volano this weekend.
• GIF – Kid experiences brain freeze for the first time‏
• BBC – Russian ‘eternal flame’ replaced by cardboard painting
• Most likely, Bastrop – Where Was Texas’ First Barbecue Joint?
• Softball team loses championship on walk-off after premature celebration

• Yesterday was another day off of work and while doing chores, I spontaneously decided to create a tee-ball field for BoyGeeding. I call it, BagOfNothing Park. If you click on the picture and enlarge it, you’ll see I used cereal boxes as “sponsors”. I added a Cheerios box later. Another pic of you are interested.
• Here’s BoyGeeding’s reaction when he first saw his new tee-ball field. I don’t think you can hear it all that well, but his first response was either a “whoa” or a “wow” or some combination of the two.

• Troy Ducan plugged his book and did part of the weather on CBS11 last night. I think he took a small little swipe at his replacement, Pete Delkus, when he said the following to Uncle Barkey regarding Larry Mowry’s departure, “I told Larry when he left that he was the last calm, reassuring voice in weather in Dallas-Fort Worth.” If there is a calm reassuring voice of local weather, it would have to be David Frinfrock.
• Peanuts is coming back to TV next month – Variety reports that Peanuts will make its debut on Boomerang, the Cartoon Network offshoot that specializes in kids’ programming, on May 9th.
• Norm Hitzges opened his draft coverage by stating the official name of the NFL Draft, or the name the NFL actually uses is the “player selection meeting”.
• While watching ‘The Big Bang Theory’ last night, CBS11 scrolled updates on the NFL Draft.
• When the Cowboys made their first pick with Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott, Rick Eison referred to our area as “The Metroplex”. I know that term was created as a marketing ploy but I thought it was more local slang. Elliott also took a selfie with the commissioner as soon as he greeted him on stage.
• Random observations on in this picture:
  
  • This is the last year we’ll this the Cowboys “War Room” from Valley Ranch. The new one at the new facility looks like a cross between the inside of the Death Star and the White House Situation Room.
  • The guy at the bottom right is definitely “the tech guy”.
  • Spaulding loves looking at himself on camera.
  • Right before the picture was taken, Jerry Jr (on the far left) looked like he was drinking out of a sippy cup.
  • It’s surprising Jerry hasn’t sold any advertising space on that table or the wall behind him, though the NFL Network does have a Honda logo in the corner.

Look at Spaulding acting smug holding a tablet, begging for a fist bump, and checking himself out on television pic.twitter.com/2kT34PDbaO

— BagOfNothing (@bagofnothing) April 29, 2016

•  I bought one of those Echo units from Amazon. The kids love it, but WifeGeeding things it’s a bit too much technology and that maybe it’s out to get her. The Echo uses a voice that goes by Alexa and I think that voice reminds her in the BBC/AMC television series “Humans”.
• On my day off, I took the kids to school and then worked out and started finish and start another house project. It was then off to get my weekly allergy shot. Since I have to go to a steel supplier in Richardson to get a lengthy flat bar, I decided to eat at Haystack Burgers and Barley. I just should have more food in my stomach before I partake of my favorite beverage there.
• Dallas Morning News‏ – D/FW Airport serves as backdrop for Ellen Degeneres’ Travel Channel series

• Nothing is more disturbing than having ‘serial child molester’ and ‘Speaker of the House’ in the same sentence.” Judge Thomas Durkin during Former House speaker Dennis Hastert sentencing
• Former House Leader Tom DeLay asked leniency for Hastert, “So I know his heart and have seen it up close and personal.  We all have our flaws, but Dennis Hastert has very few. He is a good man that loves the lord. He gets his integrity and values from Him. He doesn’t deserve what he is going through. I ask that you consider the man that is before you and give him leniency where you can.
• I wonder if a letter from DeLay helped or hurt things.
• Dyson’s first beauty product is a hair dryer – Four years in development, the company spent $71 million (and took four years) to make its hair dryer, with the sort of specifications and research backstory of a car. The press release explains the 600 prototypes , over 100 patents pending, and a cast of 103 engineers that worked on it. It helps to explain the price ($400), but even salon-level hair dryers hover around the $300 mark.
• DeWalt — yes, the drill maker — gets into the mobile business with rugged MD501 smartphone
• GIF – 1920s Battleship Smoke Curtain. Here’s a detailed YouTube video about it.
• 12-year-old accidentally finishes half marathon – She thought she was in the 5K line.
• Take a look inside Cowboys’ future ‘war room’ (more like Star Wars) in new Frisco facility