Monday, January 29, 2007

The Sun'll Come Out Today

Once again, I find myself unable to get to sleep. I have Court in the morning, but I just haven't gotten the least bit sleepy. I've been surfing the web. I Googled my best friend, Rod Martin and spent a lot of time sifting through 21 pages of results. If you Google my name, you get almost 80 pages, but very few of the links are about me. Most of them are about the former President of the Fort Worth Cats minor league baseball team or some guy who is in a Beatles tribute band.

I also found some info about a church I may visit soon. It's closer to us now than our previous church was before we moved, so it's worth the consideration if the church is good. I like the folks at the church we currently attend, but I feel like a fish out of water because we're not really Lutherans.

What a weekend



On Friday night, Jody and I sat down to watch The Lake House. Not too long after it started, our older daughter, Erin, started vomiting. We were able to watch the entire movie, but it wound up taking us over three hours to finish it. The movie isn't too bad, either.

Erin was sick and laid on the couch most of the day Saturday. On Sunday, daughter number two, Hannah, was complaining of a sore throat. Jody decided to take her into the Doctor, whose office happens to be open on Sundays. Looks like the poor girl may have strep throat.

Hopefully, Jody and I will avoid coming down with anything that will knock us out of commission.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Who are three people who have never been in my kitchen?

I took the on-line qualifying test for Jeopardy! Wednesday night. I have chronicled past attempts to get on that show here and here.

They won't tell how high a score is required to pass the test anymore, but when I tested back in 2002, we were explicitly told the passing score is 35 out of 50. On Wednesday's test, I scored 38. All this really means is that IF they come to Dallas or Houston this year, and IF my name is selected from a random drawing of all the folks who passed the test and selected one of those cities, I can appear in person, take another test, and IF I pass that one, and IF I do a good job in the mock game, and IF they like me enough, I MIGHT get called to be on the show.

So, do me a favor, and don't ask me when I'm gonna be on "Jeopardy!"

Saturday, January 20, 2007

What Exactly is TheVanguard.org?

I've had a link to TheVanguard Blog on my sidebar since the early days of this blog. TheVanguard.org is the brainchild of Rod Martin, who happens to have been Best Man at my wedding and who remains my best friend despite the miles that separate us.

A couple of days ago, Human Events published a feature article entitled The Next MoveOn.org?" written by Stephanie Dube, a freelance writer from Dallas and creator of The Write Idea. Dube profiles Rod, giving a brief biographical background and professional pedigree. She goes on to explain the purpose of TheVanguard.org and mentions some of the others involved. Most of whom you've heard of, even if you have never heard of Rod Martin before:

Launched as an organization last March, TheVanguard.org already has a top-drawer cast, including Silicon Valley heavy-hitters like Eric Jackson (a former PayPal colleague of Martin’s, where he was head of marketing) and Gil Amelio (former CEO of two Fortune 500 companies, including Apple Computer), among others.

But it is far from an all-California show. Americans for Tax Reform founder Grover Norquist is on its board too, as are Club for Growth founder (and current Wall Street Journal editorial board member) Stephen Moore, famed actress Jane Russell, direct-mail pioneer Walt Longyear, “compassionate conservatism” guru Marvin Olasky, even Reagan Doctrine-architect Jack Wheeler. Martin refuses to confirm or deny rumors that Jerome Corsi—co-author of 2004’s “Unfit for Command,” which irreparably damaged John Kerry’s presidential hopes—has signed on for a similar effort against Hillary.

The diversity of issues represented by this group is not accidental. “The scope and immediacy of the internet makes bringing people together a lot easier,” Martin explains. “The conservative movement is far too fractured. Libertarians attack Christians, pro-gunners snipe at pro-lifers, border security folks question outreach to conservative Hispanics. It’s not what you’d call conducive to victory.

“The left has always been better at coalition building, and MoveOn is the latest means by which they’re better. But the internet is a great leveler: we can do this too. And we must.”

Early indications are that they will. After less than a year of “beta tests” which included efforts to extend the Bush tax cuts and derail a United Nations gun ban conference (it ended in deadlock), the group’s web traffic exceeds that of many of the most noteworthy political groups in America. While still far short of the exalted ranks of MoveOn, DailyKos or WorldNetDaily, web rankings generated by Alexa.com show TheVanguard.org beating such established organizations as the National Rifle Association, National Right to Life, the Club for Growth, the Minuteman Project and People for the American Way. Martin notes with a combination of surprise and glee that this is before the full site “goes live,” and before the group executes its marketing plan.


Conservatives owe it to themselves to check out TheVanguard.org. My prediction is that before too long, Rod Martin will be one of the most well-known people in America.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

The Rainmaker at KCCT


Here's one picture of the set from KCCT's The Rainmaker. I have posted more and bigger ones over at MY THEATRE BLOG.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

A Great Movie


I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but I never saw The Godfather until last week. This film instantly made it to my Top 10 favorite movies of all-time. It's not perfect, but it's close. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, and Robert Duvall give amazing performances. Others were great as well.

If you're like me, and you've just never gotten around to seeing this one, do yourself a favor and catch it as soon as possible.

9.5/10

Monday, January 15, 2007

Get Your Labels Here

I have decided that I have too many Labels for my posts, and I haven't even gone back and labeled all the archives. Thus, I am going to edit them and only keep broad categories.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Snakes on a Plane



I got the movie on DVD from Blockbuster last night and watched it before going to bed. The language is pretty harsh, and the movie definitely earned its "R" rating. It has its moments, but overall this movie just couldn't match up to the pre-release internet hype.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Eden & The Ten Commandments

Yesterday evening during Sunday School (our Church meets in the evenings) it dawned on me that I could find a violation of eight of the Ten Commandments in the story of the Fall in the Garden of Eden. The only two I can't connect are the Second Commandment, prohibiting the making and worshipping of graven images, and the Fouth Commandment, requiring the observance of the Sabbath. I suspect that I'm missing something and that all Ten are broken.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

The Greatest Actress of Our Generation

If you have any doubt about the fact that Meryl Streep is the best actress working in film today, check out her performances in the the following movies from last year:

A Prairie Home Companion

&

The Devil Wears Prada

Friday, January 05, 2007

Funny Video for Music Fans

Was pointed to this one by Philip over at The Thinklings.



It's worth a look.

He has another clip without the guitar here:

6 Minutes at Zanies

Monday, January 01, 2007

The Way the Basketball Bounces

So, Bob Knight has become the all-time leader for coaching wins in Men's College Basketball. I was listening to ESPN Radio today, and the host was asking if Knight has to be considered the greatest Men's College Basketball coach ever. That host, whose name escapes me, concluded that Knight has to be respected for the accomplishment, but that in the host's opinion, Dean Smith is still the best. I am a huge fan of the UNC Tar Heels, but even I can't elevate Smith to Number 1. Here's my Top 5:

5. Adolph Rupp
4. Bob Knight
3. Mike Krzyzewski
2. Dean Smith
1. John Wooden

As much as I depise the Duke Blue Devils, I have to give Coach K the respect he deserves as a great coach. I also believe that before he retires, he will hold the record that Knight just broke.

Safe Passage

I've been out of town for Christmas, and we just got back home last night at about 1:15 am. The trip back from Wyoming was uneventful, but not without stress. If you've been paying attention to the Weather Channel, you should know that there were no good routes from Wyoming to Texas the past few days. We left Casper, WY around 11:00 am MST on Saturday morning. My hope was to make it to Salina, KS that night, but alas, it was not to be. We drove into some wintry weather in Nebraska. But for the snow & ice, we wouldn't have even gone through Nebraska. but Interstate 70 was closed from Denver to over the Kansas state line.

We wound up having to abandon the goal of Salina fairly quickly. My objective kept moving . . . York, NE . . . Kearney, NE . . . and finally, get off the highway intact and get a motel room. We exited at Cozad, NE, and after seeing the "No Vancancy" sign on the door of the Motel 6, I drove down to the Circle S Motel. I could see the chart with the rooms on it as I stood in line and could see that we should be okay. As it turns out, two more folks behind me in line were able to get rooms.

On Sunday, we decided to wait for the sun to come out to give an opportunity for the ice and snow to melt some and give the state a chance to clear the Interstate. We drove off from Cozad at 11:20 am. From Cozad to York, the road was rough, but nothing too terrible, but apparently the night before it had been really bad. In the first 14 miles from the Cozad exit, 14 vehicles had gone off the road the night before. In all before we turned south at York, we saw about 30 cars, SUV's, & 18-wheelers in the ditch or median.

After turning onto US 81, things seemed like they might be fairly good. That is they seemed that way until we hit the Kansas state line. It appeared that very little if anything at all was done by the Kansas Highway Department to clear the highway. I drove on ice & snow almost the entire way to Salina. My neck, shoulders, arms, and hands were all sore from the tension of that trek.

From Salina to home, the roads were finally clear and dry. The total road time over the two days amounted to 22 hours. For such a long and difficult trip, my girls did really well, even when their daddy was growling at them.