Who'da ever thought....?

You know that the weather patterns have changed in West Texas when you have to keep applying a small wash of muratic acid on your Mexican tile patio to keep green algae from forming. Thanks Al Gore....

Time Flies...

It's hard to believe but it's almost football season again! In just 25 days, the Fightin' Dawgs of Midland High hit the field in Bedford for a warm up scrimmage, preseason play opens the next week, September 1st at Grande Stadium. A great year for viewing Dawg football...7 of the 10 regular season games are at home.

A Sad Passing....

A legend has passed away in Midland. Most "legends" in Midland have to do with the oil business, but this legend was connected with barbecue. Johnny Hackney owner of Johnny's Barbecue has left us at the age of 83.

Johnny's had been open for years by the time my family moved to Midland in 1960 and it was one of the first places we went with our newly discovered cousins who happened to live down the street from our new home. Until this year, the restaurant had not changed a bit from the way I remember it that year. A few of the employees like Luther had been there forever too. That's what made Johnny's "Johnny's" an oasis of unchangedness in a changing world.

In the last several years Johnny's had grown in significance for me on a more personal level. It was about the only place my Dad wanted to go each week as he slowly faded away. He liked the food, but what he really cared about was seeing the occasional old friend, the same people who he had seen there decades ago. It was just months before my Dad passed away that he recalled how Johnny used to cater business meetings for the gas company he ran in Odessa, in 1961. One of the greatest tributes to my Dad, for me, was that almost the whole staff of Johnny's came to his funeral service. Some great memories....

Blog-0-Thon....

Good luck to our pal and great human being Jimmy "Lightning Rod" Patterson as he blogs for 24 hours straight for charity. No ordinary guy Jimmy will be perched 30 ft. up in the air on a construction lift. There is a 40% chance of thunderstorms during his blogging tenure. I've offered a $100 bonus to my contribution if he actually gets struck by lightning. Visit Jimmy and donate to his worthy cause at Lightning Rod Patterson.

Image.....

Since I call my little photography business, Gold Dog Imaging, I got to thinking that "Image" is the key word. So in order to improve my semi "professional" image on the Internet I slapped together a new better looking, I trust, website.
Gold Dog Imaging

Using all Flash formatting, "slapped" is a euphomism. I felt like I should have been slapped into the funny farm at times. And I still have to slap together a new background tune, the one playing is the shortest clip I had, turn it off using the "speaker" button.

I didn't know that...

I bet you didn't know that the inventor of "Liquid Paper" was Betty Nesmith, mother of The Monkee's lead guitar player Michael Nesmith. His mother sold Liquid Paper in 1980 making the young Monkee quite a wealthy man. He also won a $47 million dollar lawsuit against PBS for using his music without paying him. After he won he was quoted as saying, "It's like finding your grandmother stealing your stereo. You're happy to get your stereo back, but it's sad to find out your grandmother is a thief"

And now you know....

Let's all be happy...!

The Rich Menchaca affair is over, according to both sides in the negotiations. In another round of deft and hardball negotiations the city council stood firm in it's resolve to give Rich almost exactly what he had demanded before the council said the original "deal" was off the table. Rich thanked his supporters, said he was happy and ready to move on [who wouldn't be!]and a city council spokesman said he was satisfied with the deal and that he was ready for the council to move on.

All seem to be happy with the deal. Unless, of course, you count the other 99,990 odd citizens who don't seem to be very happy at all. Not even slighly amused by my reckoning.

First Date...

It's a nice feeling to still be friends with the girl who was your first date. We still laugh about the hell it was to be 13 years old and go to the freshman dance with your Dad driving you....

Nancy lives in San Diego and comes to Midland about once a year to visit her aging Mom. She still looks like she did all those years ago.

Dear Spammers....you are morons

Perhaps you've seen two new techniques spammers are using to "fool" you into opening and reading their important messages.

The first is the inclusion of a .pdf file to carry their message to you. The second is sending a link to a supposed online greeting card sent to you by a friend. Both of these tactics are designed to fool ever more effective spam recognition tools. And they work; they do get through some spam filters.

The problem for the spammers is, it seems to me, that very few people are as stupid as the spammers and fall for this more than once or twice. More sophisticated users don't, although I had to check the "greeting card" spam twice when I got the first one. The subject line was enough to make me think twice... "partner has send you greeting card". Note to Russian spammers: learn English language syntax a little before attempting to fool people. Also although the message said it was from EGreetings.com the link was in a numeric IP form. HHHhmm?

The spam with the attached .pdf form was a no brainer. If you've been around the internet for any length of time you know not to open strange, unexpected files attached to emails, especially when the email address is from Italy or Russia. I just don't know anyone in either of those places who is going to be sending me a pdf file.

I quickly adjusted my Outlook filter to immediately delete this crap. The problem worldwide is that the pdf files take up "bulk" on the networks of the Internet; 100's of millions of these a day are causing problems. And possibly a whole lot more problems for you if you click on the "greeting card" link. Many of these are attached to robot spam programs that will make you an accomplice or worse yet load malware on your machine including key loggers. In fact, there is a very good chance one of my/your fine friends has clicked and become a spambot, which is why I'm getting so many of these. Which of you was it...?

Here's a guy talking about greeting card scams. This is Chris....at least the top half of him.

Civics lesson....

When I was in high school we called the study of local government, civics. Today courtesy of the City of Midland, I received more civics lessons.

Previously, I had thought I might like to work for the municipal government because you could make a lot of money by not doing a good job and getting fired. But I was naive, for today I learned that you are hired at the whim of the city and you are fired at the whim of the city; but you can also be forced to be employed again at the whim of the city. I don't think my emotions could take this. I feel for Rick Menchaca, one day a "half-millionaire" today just a poor working stiff. If I were he I would start taking some of those sick days.

But I also learned another lesson. If ever I am a city manager somewhere, doing a half-assed job and someone pays me $600,000 to take a hike, I've learned to take the offer and just quietly and quickly slink away. Don't have lawyers sending letters to those cutting the check asking for more.

And here's my prediction. By the end of the week Rick Menchaca will be the new police chief.

Twists and turns...

Life has some unusual turns. Some bad, some meaningless, some good, some just interesting.

Like last evening; I was lounging about when the phone rang. It was a major soap opera star calling, wanting to talk about media stuff for The Springboard Center for which she is our spokesperson. She is a very easy going person and we spoke for almost an hour and a half covering a wide spectrum of subjects interrupted occasionally by Jeanne excusing herself to have a word with her landscape man working on refitting her Beverly Hills terrace. When we hung up it was as if some old friend had called.

It was only after I had a chance to think a moment that I realized, that just about the last thing ever I would expect in my life would be to have a soap opera star call to chat on Sunday evening. Maybe this has happened to you, but it was a new experience for me.

By the way, if you are a fan of The Young and the Restless and care to make a "significant" donation to The Springboard Center...you may find yourself with a walk on part on the show.

Artist Polly...

Artist Polly is a friend of mine in Austin. A real live professional artiste who used to live in a barn artist's garret in Galisteo, New Mexico. Polly was an "older" woman in my days at Midland High and as such an object of much unintended affection from an underclassman. OK not just her, no offense Polly, but most attractive upperclass women were the objects of affection by the younger wannabe Romeos. That's just the way it was. Susan Light was another to mention names. Susan was a junior or senior when I was a freshman; a blonde cheerleader who went with the star football player. I saw her last summer at a reunion and my heart still skipped a beat. Polly was there too...and they're both still hot babes!

I'm sorry I digressed. I merely wanted to mention that not only is Polly a talented visual artiste, she also writes great stories. This week she relates some humorous moments in her days as a young fashion model in Niemans in Dallas. Here at PWally

Weekend looming....

It's Friday, let's just all try to get along and be happy! Hey, I have an idea.....do you wanna' dance?

Advanced Economics...

Midland is indeed the Land of the High Sky....blue sky too if you know a few advanced economic techniques in dealing with municipal entities. Recently there have been several economic models to be considered.

First is the Menchaca Effect. This allows one to collect large sums of money for doing an, apparently, substandard job and being fired. If you are skilled in the use of this effect you can even garner benefits over and above basics while being fired. The key here is for the terminated party to never use the word "sue" but to psychically imply this to your employer. The second, the Bekins Syndrome, reared it's head again today. This strategy relies on even the vaguest mention of the magic word...."move". Of course, if you are very skillful you can get money whether you don't move or you do move [see Menchaca Effect] Read more.....

Lady Bird....

Lady Bird Johnson has passed away at the age of 94. Lady Bird has seemed like the unofficial grandmother of Texas. She had been around all my adult life in an official or unofficial capacity and a lot of history goes with her. I always thought of Lady Bird as a very decent, compassionate and caring person married to someone who wasn't. I can remember when she went to

Washington with Lyndon for the first time, many adults thought that having someone named "Lady Bird" as the first lady would be an extreme embarrasment to Texans. It didn't work out that way and now all these decades later it's going to be strange not having a "Lady Bird" around.

Whenever you see wildflowers in Texas think of Lady Bird. I've heard that she was more proud of having done so much for the landscape than she was of having been the first lady. I took the picture above of her official portrait just last February while in the White House. GWB has it in a prominent place, more so than any other first lady besides Eleanor Roosevelt.

Bebel outra vez

Bebel é um babe quente. Não há nada como um singer portuguese! Seu Web site é o mais melhor demasiado. Put that in your Babelfish! But look at her website...it's superb, so are her tracks available for listening. Bebel Gilberto

I would like to add a special note to our dear friend "Jimmy". I read with saddness that the publishers job at the MRT had gone to someone else. We were pulling for you on this one. Your dramatic rise at the paper, from attic office to an actual desk downstairs had our hopes high that you would be leading the paper soon. It is sad that a fellow can't take 2 or 3 weeks vacation every month without worrying about repercussions. Hang in there.

And to Darrell: I knew you were a man of substance but never one of so much good breeding. Anyone who appreciates the cultural signifance of Go Go Dancers is on the right track in life. So for you.....here is another groovy Go Go clip, this is Go Go Dancing at it's finest. I dedicate this clip to my sister Susan, who as a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines early in it's history, actually got to wear Go Go boots to work. An experience she fondly recalls even to this day. This song is also dedicated to me, based on recent experiences.

Bebel.....!

If you've never heard of Bebel Gilberto...you have now. She's Brazilian music legend Joao Gilberto's daughter....A nice Girl from Ipanema herownself and I agree with her sentiments.

Cultural history....

I liked the 60's. Many people didn't. I did. It was an interesting time of change, but I do see why many "younger" people get tired of hearing about it. Frankly you had to have been there and besides, I think, we all tend to think of our teens as probably the best time of life. In that decade I went from being a kid to almost a man. When I was 10 y.o. at the start of the decade we hadn't even put a man in space....by the time I was 19, at the end, we were on the moon. We got color TV in my house for the first time when I was 16, 8 track tapes in cars were a huge invention as was FM stereo radio although very few people had this.

Today many "younger" people who weren't there tend to think of the pop culture of the whole decade summed up in one word...."Hippies". That's OK, but not necessarily true. Hippies as a undercurrent didn't appear till around 1965 and didn't become mainstream [is that an oxymoron?] until after the Summer of Love in 1967. Truthfully, I doubt there were ever very many real hippies, certainly not in Midland Texas. The "hippies" I knew drove new Ford Mustangs. Wannabes...

And so many of the "younger" people I know think of one thing when they think of the music of the '60s....."psychedelic". Again not until late in the decade. Actually during the first several years of the decade the avante garde music was "folk" which gave way to folk rock. This was an outshoot of the "Beat Generation" of the late 50's and coffehouse music. Some of the beat generation advocates later morphed into hippies as did the their music which went to the folk rock which was more electrified.

The folk rock music scene changed for one reason, in my opinion. The Beatles. The Beatles changed the game in 1964 and soon all those folk rockers needed to adjust to stay viable; many did and became more famous as rock n' rollers than they ever were as folk rockers. Roger McGuinn featured below is a good example.

There was a time that was/is one of my favorites in music. There was short window, probably 1965-1966, when electrified rock n' roll was picking up steam but had not gotten the hard edge it took later. The Beatles were still singing love songs, the Beach Boys were singing about surfin', hot rods and beach babes. But rock was going mainstream, so much so that prime time rock n' roll TV shows started appearing and the Monkees were conjured up so that all us young hipsters could see rock on the tube. This was a big deal as there were only three channels on the TV...total.

Today on Captured Moments I have two offerings designed to feature what was hip, groovy and cool in 1965....please don't laugh this was the happenin' entertainment in my day. Traveling back in time you will notice the ubiquitous "go go boots" [looking somehow not right on Mama Cass!] and what every show had to have....Go Go Dancers. Go Go Dancers were hot to a 15 year old kid....I still think they're hot! It's sad to me that you can't find a girl today who can do a decent "frug" or "swim". And by the way, the first rock concert I ever saw was "Paul Revere and the Raiders", in Odessa. They weren't too bad, but alas no Go Go Dancers.

Hey, it's Saturday...let's all sing along with Gilbert O'Sullivan............and his song fraught with meaning.

Friday..

Friday was mostly eaten up with an extended emergency trip to the doctor's with my Mom. A scare more than anything and she's doing fine. Scares are a way of life at almost 84 years old.

And more of Roger McGuinn....here as he was in the heyday of the Byrds. Some old hipsters will recognize the dude in the black hat as a future member of another '60s rock super group. You will also be amazed that these electric guitars seemed to be played without electrical input including the same 12 string Rickenbacher seen in the last film.

Roger McGuinn...the Byrds

Now playing at Captured Moments is a unique clip that I found through the Rickenbacher Guitar company. Here Roger McGuinn of the Byrds recreates the classic "Turn, Turn, Turn" in a modern setting. McGuinn was a star of the coffeehouse folk music set having played with the Limeliters, Chad Mitchell Trio and Judy Collins before he helped form the Byrds. He is one of the two folk "influences" sung about in the Mama's and Papa's song, Creeque Alley...."McGuinn and Maguire, just a gettin' higher in L.A. you know where that's at..."

This is a really interesting and nostalgic clip for old hipsters, as Roger plays the same Rickenbacher electric 12 string that he recorded the hit song with; the sound is instantly recognizable. Interestingly, Roger is also an ordinary blogger, viewed at Roger McGuinn

Here's another one of Roger's songs....music to the ears of every aspiring young hipster who ever bought a Fender Stratocaster guitar with dreams of sugarplums dancing in his head; like me........
Rock on......

Captured Moments....

OK, I have to admit that telephones, television and air travel are here to stay; videos on the Internet too. So after scouting around for a few video clips I was pleasantly surprised to learn how many old clips of vintage rock n' rollers there are around. I pledge myself to search the globe for some interesting ones. And where else to start but at the beginning with The Beatles. This first clip on Captured Moments took me back to the days when my Dad used to hruumph under his breath about their haircuts. Little did he know what was to come. By the late 60's he thought these early Beatles haircuts were lookin' pretty good.....

More on the 4th...

Hope you have been having a great Independence Day. We have and to prove it here are some photos from this mornings Midland Celebration

Warning: If clowns scare you.....there is a scary clown depicted.

Independence Day....

Have a joyous 4th of July!

And in the spirit of George Washington, Ben Franklin, Alex Hamilton and the gang remember the true meaning of this day! Celebrate their sacrifice and show them it was worthwhile by eating toxic foods to the point of obesity, getting drunk and blowing something up with fireworks!

Next...The Boob Tube?

An amazing bit of new gadgetry from Apple© noted in Australia by my friend Slatts

Adopt-a-Spot

Today's MRT frontpage byline story, Adopt-a-Spot was a great article highlighting the good work done by many citizens in helping control litter around town. The story also made me proud to think back to my college days when my scholastic chums and I had a similar program.

My fraternity brothers and I had "adopted" a stretch of Hildebrand Ave. west of Trinity University as our project. More specifically our stretch of road was occupied by only one building...."The Nugget Lounge". As a service to the community and to Roger, the owner, about once a week we would pick up all the litter [i.e. beer cans] that had accumulated out front and throw it out back. Though altruistic in effect, the real reason we cleaned up was that it kept municipal agencies from invetigating what went on inside.

The Nugget Lounge was one of those places that mothers of sons entering college hoped their sons would never find. In fact, places like the Nugget Lounge are one of the first places that sons entering college do find. Thanks to upperclassmen I found it before I found my classes. Roger was a sweetheart of an owner who's thought was that being 21 years old was only a "guideline" in serving beer. Having $1.50 to pay for it trumped age in importance; being 17 years old was close enough. A true free market economist!

Roger let us treat the Nugget like our own and since Trinity students basically financed it's operation I suppose it was. A dive when we "discovered" the Nugget, Roger let us fix it up to our tastes. Art students painted a groovey hippie black light tiger on the wall [Trinity's mascot] and we changed the juke box adding The Doors to the basic Ferlin Husky selection. On Sunday evenings during the Spring and Summer we intiated an elegant hamburger "buffet", served from the grill out back among the trash. Actually we had a symbiotic relationship with Roger and the Nugget. He served anyone cheap beer and we kept the Nugget open....and Roger alive.

I won't say that Roger had a problem with alcohol but when someone drinks beer 15 hours a day every day of the week, well you judge. Quite often about the 13th hour Roger would get quite "sleepy" and turn the bar over to one of the students to run while he went to lie down. I can't recall anyone ever abusing the privelage. During the cold months when Roger would go "lie down", his favorite spot was in the parking lot out front where he would stretch out in his 1957 white Cadillac with the motor running and heat on. We were especially alert during these times and would periodically send someone out to check and make sure Roger wasn't dead. He usually wasn't.

The Nugget was a place of conviviality and good cheer; home to several fraternities and for several years the Trinity football team. But it wasn't for everyone, like the faint of heart. During my junior year I started dating a freshman, "Kate", who is still a good friend [hi Kate if you are reading this in Crested Butte]. After "Kate" and I had been out a few times I thought it only proper to take her to the "in spot", The Nugget. Having only been enjoying the Nugget for a few moments that evening, Kate made the observation I can still hear as if it were yesteday, "This place is disgusting". Kate always had a sense of good taste and as far as I can remember she never went back to The Nugget in the two years we were an item. Just as well, The Nugget was more a manly kinda' place.

The Nugget fell from grace with the Trinity crowd just a couple of years after I left, being abandoned for upscale fern bars like the Bombay Bicycle Club and the Nugget slowly faded away. The building became an aquarium supply shop before being torn down sometime in the late '70s as the neighborhood redeveloped. I saw Roger once again in the early 80's when my friend Gen. Tom Hill and I took a driving tour of the area. Roger was trying to start a new bar near Trinity but it obviously was not going well and the next time I was in San Antonio the building was vacant and Roger had vanished forever. But the memory of The Nugget lingers on and honestly I cannot hear Marving Gaye's "What's goin on" or the Doors "Break on through" without thinkin of that big black light tiger on the wall at the Nugget Lounge.

We are pleased to announce...

..that Ms. Jeanne Cooper long time star of "The Young and the Restless" has agreed to become the national spokesperson for Midland's Springboard Center. More than just lip service and a famous name, Ms. Cooper lends her expertise in chemical dependency treatment and will be an active participant in the growth of The Springboard Center.

Ms. Cooper has already started taping public service announcements for the Center and will use her national exposure, possibly even on the Y&R to speak about addicition and the help offered by the Springboard Center.

If you don't know about the ongoing work and future plans of the Springboard Center, perhaps you should become more informed; hardly a family or friendship is not affected by chemical dependency in Midland. Someone you know or love probably is suffering through his or her personal demons.

The Springboard Center is built around a model not often seen; a community based private, but non-profit, facility serving all no matter ones financial situation. No one will be turned away and in partnership with Midland Memorial Hospital, Springboard will offer medical detox facilities, something not offered in this region. We are well on our way with a capital campaign to fund the new facility to be built at the corner of Loopt 250 and N. Big Spring St.

Ms. Cooper will be a great addition to the Springboard effort. Not only is she a noted name, she is a hoot to be around. Here are some pictures from our fundraising kickoff lunch.