That post from yesterday was very unusually timed. Turned out I had exactly that kind of day that I envisioned that did not exist.
Today it is snowing! They are calling it Irene's Snow for the conviction of former priest John Feit for murdering Irene Garza in 1960 in McAllen. Justice served - after 57 years of coverup.
Friday, December 8, 2017
Thursday, December 7, 2017
Slow Day
It's the holiday season - things are getting slow. Surprisingly.
Not the typical lawyer mood:
Early to work, work steadily all day, clients impressed, staff energized
Then off to some equally exciting after work activity
All while making a boatload of money, keeping everyone happy - from spouses to car salesmen.
But good news - only 17 shopping days left.
Not the typical lawyer mood:
Early to work, work steadily all day, clients impressed, staff energized
Then off to some equally exciting after work activity
All while making a boatload of money, keeping everyone happy - from spouses to car salesmen.
But good news - only 17 shopping days left.
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Top 9 on Shazam
Shazam is a cool app that will listen to a song and tell you what it is. I like using it in stores or places where music is playing and I like the song. It also keeps a record of your tags. You find some unusual as well as familiar songs. So I looked over the list to make this Top 9 of 2017
On and On – Brett Eldredge - a deep cut
Is this Love – Bob Marley - from Homer and Marienma's wedding
Only When You Leave – Spandau Ballet - the Bronski Beat station on iHeart Radio
I’m Real – Jennifer Lopez - she has a distinctive voice
Bad Man Walking – Gov’t Mule - some different country
Mr. Blue Sky – ELO - from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.
Zanzibar – Billy Joel - Memorial H.S. reunion video
Better Man – Little Big Town - written by Taylor Swift
Heatstroke – Calvin Harris - featuring Arianna Grande
Sunday, November 12, 2017
Fort Worth
it was a full schedule in Fort Worth Friday. I went to the Filmmaker Session at the Worthington Renaissance Hotel. My friend Mark the Producer as well as the lead actor Patrick Fabian gave a Q&A about the making of the movie.
Then we all went to lunch nearby at Del Frisco Grille - which I liked. Mark and I had gone to Junior High together but had not seen each other since.
And it was cool to be with a real movie star. You could see people turning around to look at Patrick. Which was neat.
I stayed at the Sheraton on the other side of downtown. My room had a nice view of the water "park" - very unusual.
The movie Driver X was at 7:30 at AMC Palace Sundance Square. Very nice downtown area. Lots of stores, restaurants, spaces. Afterwards we had a late dinner at the Reata Rooftop. Very much of a movie star experience. One of our group, who had also gone to junior high with us, Marnie was a former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.
I made it back to the hotel by midnight, got up at 8 and was on the road by 8:30. So I made the most of 1 day in Fort Worth, TX.
Thursday, November 2, 2017
Houston Astros Win 2017 World Series!
After many years, it's impressive to see the view from the top of the mountain. My team since I was a boy growing up in Houston, the Houston Astros won the World Series in impressive fashion, Game 7, on the road, in Los Angeles over the Dodgers.
My early memories from 1975 or so were going to the Astrodome for a game with the Cub Scouts. I also remember joining the Astros Buddies junior fan club and getting a sticker as well as a coupon for an upper deck ticket, which I had my dad go to the game with me.
Those were days that the Astros were in the N.L. West. So they had to go against the glory days of the Reds, and the Dodgers. The Dodgers beat the Astros for the NL West division in 1980 in a tough fashion. Even Nolan Ryan in the 80s could not punch the Astros through, until they won the division in 1986 and then lost to the Mets in tough fashion again in the NLCS.
In the late 80s I moved back to Houston after college and remember feeling plentiful that I could watch the Astros on every game ( if you could find cable). I watched a number of games at the Mr. Gatti's big screen on Voss, as well as the pool hall at Fountain View and San Felipe. That was when two young players, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell came on the scene and played for 15 + years each.
With an ownership change, Drayton McLane reinvested and got the City and County to build a new ball park, baseball only. Enron Field was a game changer in that it showed that downtown stadiums were the place to be. In the early 2000s, I had part of 2 season tickets and saw 10 -12 games each season. My daughter liked to go to the games and we had a lot of fun at that time. We usually left after 7 innings since our games were usually on a school night. I remember they were in section 327.
We moved to McAllen and I continued to be a fan from afar. The games on not on TV so frequently. One year I even bought the MLB Season Pass and the games were still blacked out.
The 2005 World Series was over before it even got started. But the run up to it was great, with having to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in their prime. At the time, Astros were in the NL Central Division. I saw a wild card game in 2001 but again, Astros were swept by Braves in 3 games.
I never thought there would be another World Series, but here it is. I remember well the 2014 Sports Ilustrated cover and reading that article in a library in the Memorial Villages. To think that it really happened. And George Springer was MVP. Pretty cool when predictions become reality.
I can understand how Cubs fans feel now. It's good to be on top. But we can't stay on the mountain top forever. We'll make our way down.
We'll always have L.A.
Wait Til Next Year!
Maybe we'll be like the Yankees or the Cardinals and multiple year winners!
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Austin and Clarksville
Near Austin High just off West 6th St is the Clarksville neighborhood. There is no sign to say you are there and for many years when I was in high school I didn't know about its history or much about it.
Clarksville was and is a historically black neighborhood in an otherwise very white side of West Austin. One time I remember going there I went down Patterson St to take a friend from high school home to pick up something. I was surprised to see the old Victorian style houses on that street. Much different than the other side of MoPac,
A number of our Austin High Class of 1983 students were black students from Clarksville. The neighborhood was zoned to O. Henry Junior High as well and so the students from both Clarksville and Tarrytown went to school together for years. Interesting that each was probably named appropriately after Tarrytown, NY and Clarksville, MS.
In hindsight it was good to have such integration in our 70s and 80s era. It certainly did not come fast to Austin. While my aunt Sharon said that her father Noble Prentice was on the Austin school board when they ingregated in the late 50s, the West Austin area was not integrated until the early 1960s. Don Baylor, Austin High class of 1967 was one of the first black students at O. Henry. His nephew Skip Baylor was in my class of 1983.
Interesting Don Baylor was one of the first black football players offered a scholarship at the University of Texas but turned it down to join Major League Baseball where he was an All-Star, MVP, played 19 years and in 3 World Series, and managed for many years thereafter.
Amazing to think that in 1970, there was not a single black player on the UT football team. Ingregation came very slowly, in Austin, Texas. The people of Clarksville certainly did their part to make that happen. And what did they get? The MoPac Freeway right through the neighborhood.
Our Austin High classmate, RuthAnn Brown, from the Clarksville neighborhood died this month. As it said in her obituary, she was "Loud and Proud". I remember her and how she was very comfortable at Austin High and had the respect of many. Her funeral was in Clarksville at the Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church.
Integration didn't come any easier in Austin than anywhere else. In the 1970s, since the first round didn't work, Austin ISD was under a court order to desegregate. The solution was forced bussing and the initial act was to create 6th grade centers for students from different areas to get used to the bussing required. Our area went to Baker Middle School, then to 7th and 8th grade at O. Henry. But that only went so far.
When the enrollment stats were published for the high schools in 1979, Austin High was 60% white, 25% Hispanic and 15% black, which was probably representative of the whole city at the time. The Austin school board chose to bus only 2 schools, Anderson HS (all white) and Johnston HS ( all minority).
It wasn't all fun and games at Austin High. At the students assemblies in the gym, the white students all sat on the west side, the black students all on the east side. Again, more symbolism. The cheer squad was integrated as a result of block voting. But everyone seems to mix OK during the breaks and in class and on the fields of friendly strife.
I guess we were all products of our time and doing the best we could. It's not like it was any easier or better anywhere else. You can't go home again.
Clarksville was and is a historically black neighborhood in an otherwise very white side of West Austin. One time I remember going there I went down Patterson St to take a friend from high school home to pick up something. I was surprised to see the old Victorian style houses on that street. Much different than the other side of MoPac,
A number of our Austin High Class of 1983 students were black students from Clarksville. The neighborhood was zoned to O. Henry Junior High as well and so the students from both Clarksville and Tarrytown went to school together for years. Interesting that each was probably named appropriately after Tarrytown, NY and Clarksville, MS.
In hindsight it was good to have such integration in our 70s and 80s era. It certainly did not come fast to Austin. While my aunt Sharon said that her father Noble Prentice was on the Austin school board when they ingregated in the late 50s, the West Austin area was not integrated until the early 1960s. Don Baylor, Austin High class of 1967 was one of the first black students at O. Henry. His nephew Skip Baylor was in my class of 1983.
Interesting Don Baylor was one of the first black football players offered a scholarship at the University of Texas but turned it down to join Major League Baseball where he was an All-Star, MVP, played 19 years and in 3 World Series, and managed for many years thereafter.
Amazing to think that in 1970, there was not a single black player on the UT football team. Ingregation came very slowly, in Austin, Texas. The people of Clarksville certainly did their part to make that happen. And what did they get? The MoPac Freeway right through the neighborhood.
Our Austin High classmate, RuthAnn Brown, from the Clarksville neighborhood died this month. As it said in her obituary, she was "Loud and Proud". I remember her and how she was very comfortable at Austin High and had the respect of many. Her funeral was in Clarksville at the Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church.
Integration didn't come any easier in Austin than anywhere else. In the 1970s, since the first round didn't work, Austin ISD was under a court order to desegregate. The solution was forced bussing and the initial act was to create 6th grade centers for students from different areas to get used to the bussing required. Our area went to Baker Middle School, then to 7th and 8th grade at O. Henry. But that only went so far.
When the enrollment stats were published for the high schools in 1979, Austin High was 60% white, 25% Hispanic and 15% black, which was probably representative of the whole city at the time. The Austin school board chose to bus only 2 schools, Anderson HS (all white) and Johnston HS ( all minority).
It wasn't all fun and games at Austin High. At the students assemblies in the gym, the white students all sat on the west side, the black students all on the east side. Again, more symbolism. The cheer squad was integrated as a result of block voting. But everyone seems to mix OK during the breaks and in class and on the fields of friendly strife.
I guess we were all products of our time and doing the best we could. It's not like it was any easier or better anywhere else. You can't go home again.
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
1963 Corvette
While at Keith's shop last week, Jason drove the 63 Corvette from the warehouse across the street. It was parked out front and I went to sit inside it. After a bit, Jason asked "Want to drive it?"
Yes! was the answer. I fired it up and worked to back it out carefully. A 4 speed manual transmission. 327 cubic inch V-8 engine. Good thing I am knowledgeable and experienced. The 1963 model with the split rear window is very desirable for collectors. This car was very original, few modifications. No shoulder seat belt. A very narrow grip on the steering wheel. Seats only come up to your shoulders at most. No head rests. The original "Unsafe at Any Speed".
Funny thing ... you press the gas and nothing happens. So you really have to press the accelerator hard. Even more so with the brakes. Nothing happens at first - like you have no brakes. But then you really mash it and it stops. Definitely a heavy, more mechanical feel. On a modern car, you just tap the brake or accelerator and things happens quickly.
I carefully drove it for 5 minutes through the neighborhood. Kind of like sneaking out Mom's car at age 15, I didn't really want to see anyone while I was illicitly driving. A good time and a good memory now that I think of it.
Yes! was the answer. I fired it up and worked to back it out carefully. A 4 speed manual transmission. 327 cubic inch V-8 engine. Good thing I am knowledgeable and experienced. The 1963 model with the split rear window is very desirable for collectors. This car was very original, few modifications. No shoulder seat belt. A very narrow grip on the steering wheel. Seats only come up to your shoulders at most. No head rests. The original "Unsafe at Any Speed".
Funny thing ... you press the gas and nothing happens. So you really have to press the accelerator hard. Even more so with the brakes. Nothing happens at first - like you have no brakes. But then you really mash it and it stops. Definitely a heavy, more mechanical feel. On a modern car, you just tap the brake or accelerator and things happens quickly.
I carefully drove it for 5 minutes through the neighborhood. Kind of like sneaking out Mom's car at age 15, I didn't really want to see anyone while I was illicitly driving. A good time and a good memory now that I think of it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)