Michael Peterson....

Some months ago, through old Army contacts, I was asked to help bring Country and Western artist Michael Peterson and his Real Life Tour to Midland. The tour is sponsored, in part, by the Army and is aimed at reaching teenagers with ways to take responsibility and make correct decisions.

I've spent the last three days with Michael and he is the real deal. I don't know that I've ever heard a more effective speaker and one who has a knack of gettng his message across to kids through music, laughter and with his own personal story. We have already had several engagments and today, Friday, he is speaking at Lee Freshman High School, Goddard and Abell Junior Highs in Midland and tonight we travel to Lamesa and the high school there.

And......Michael is a great musician, songwriter and C&W star. Named "CMA newcomer of the year" in 1997 he quickly had five hits in the country charts top 10 and one reached #1. I've heard Michael this week playing accoustically at his speaking engagements. I can't wait to hear him plugged in with his entire band Saturday night. For a little extra fun, Michael has an amazing "illusionist" couple, Ridgeway and Johnson. I've seen a little of what they can do, all I can say is "damn, how did they do that". Kristen is also ranked as one of the top escape artists in the world. Worth seeing.

Michael will be in concert Saturday at 7 p.m. at Midland's Horseshoe, but will be meeting fans and signing autographs from 5 p.m. till the show starts. You should try and come. I'm telling you.....he is really good! Take a look.....

You won't be forgotten....

Faithful readers will recall that last year at this time friends Scott Davis, Terry Johnson and I [along with a lot of help!] staged what we called The West Texas Troop Salute at Rockhounds Stadium. Organized in only 2 months time, the event exceeded our wildest expectations with over 4,000 people showing their gratitude and support for our troops. We had intended to repeat the Troop Salute this year.

But, after a great deal of heartfelt consideration, we decided that the same event might not draw the crowd it did last year, the old "we've seen that" syndrome, which we understand. And we wanted to do something a little more directly appreciative for some troops needing a lot of support.

So...this year we are doing "Hero Appreciation Day" at the rehab unit of Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. The rehab unit is where the most severely wounded troops spend months..even years getting their bodies, minds and spirits healed. We want to give them a break from the hard work of healing by hosting a barbecue on the lawn at the hospital.

What started out as a simple plan to take a "BBQ trailer" down and cook some hot dogs ourselves has turned into a large, but worthwhile, undertaking. And the support, as usual, is phenomenal. Luckily, last year I had met the Chief of Staff of US ArmyNorth at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio and he has been a major boost on the ground there helping us to put this together. He has the Army volunteering tent canopies, chairs, tables and man power. What started as a dog cookout now has Rudy's Famous Barbecue catering the event for what we think will be between 3-400 patients and their families, guests, VIP's and just plain folks.

Support and offers of assistance are coming from all over. Larry Gatlin is on board and this week we were contacted by C&W recording artist Roger Creager...he'll be there. The Lucky Tomblin Band signed on today. A shuttle astronaut I met in Midland last month is flying in from Canada for the event. A major radio station in San Antonio is live broadcasting the proceedings. CBS7 in Odessa is sending a news crew, Borden's is donating all the ice cream we can eat and the list goes on...

Last month my phone rang...."hi this is Connie Nelson, I'm Willie Nelson's ex wife, I heard what you're doing and I'd like to help. I can serve, clean up...whatever". Well Connie is helping now....a lot. I talk to her several times a day. She's still in the music business, knows everyone and is working on several more entertainers. And, of course, she called Willie. Willie is now a major sponsor and started off by sending 300 of his new CD's and 300 special "Willie Bandannas".

Rudy's Barbecue is giving us a large first class barbecue for 400 people at cost, but they have to pay for their overhead so there still was a chunk of change to cover. I told Connie we were looking for a sponsor for the meal, she said don't worry. She called me back an hour later and told me she had a friend who was interested in helping and to email the Rudy's contract to her. I did, and this morning I received a call from one of the family member/owners of a major western wear company. Five minutes later, deal done, the entire meal picked up by Cavender's Boots.

We will have some name entertainment, VIP's, and other notables attending, but the main goal of the whole affair is to have a crowd there to let these troops know how much we appreciate their sacrifices for us and that we won't let them be forgotten. So, if you can be in San Antonio on May 21st we'd love to have you, we kick off the festivities at 6 pm. The link above is our press release.......

I Like Maps...

I've always liked and been interested in maps. I also love PBS' Antiques Roadshow. Tonight the two converged. I've seen some interesting things on AR over the years that are somewhat related to some of the things I own, like the Whistler lithograph that was appraised last year. Thanks to my grandparents I have a Whistler lithograph.

But tonight a 19th century world atlas appeared that was very much like the 1800's atlas that I too possess, once again thanks to my art and book collecting grandfather. The atlas on AR was an 1836 version, mine is a 1852 and German, but the maps in both are hand painted lithographs, both complete and in very good condition and appear quite similar.

Even though I would expect mine to sell at somewhat of a discount to this American version, I was somewhat pleasantly surprised by the appraised value. Take a look at the AR Atlas Appraisal.

The Lost Jimmy Tapes...

It's amazing what shows up and where. Somehow on Spike.Com I ran into the uncut version of an interview with Jimmy Patterson at the MRT and My West Texas done with me right after the passing of The Big Gold Dog. I'm glad to find it saved; it sure brought back some memories.

Another Passing....

The size of my already small family became ever smaller yesterday with the passing of my Mom's older sister. My aunt Kay was a remarkable woman who overcame profound deafness, as a result of a childhood illness, to become a charming Navy wife, a caring mother and grandmother and a professional artist. She read lips so well and spoke so clearly that often we forgot she had almost no hearing. With the vagaries of modern life we saw too little of her, but her kindness and love of family will keep her in our hearts forever...

Native Plant Sale...

We'll be having a large native plant sale/fundraiser at the Sibley Nature Center this Saturday, April 5th. We have a large selection of shrubs, ornamentals, grasses and trees that do well in strong sun with low maintenance and water needs. The sale starts at 9 a.m. We expect that the plants will go quickly.....get there early. Our greenhouse is behind the Sibley Center on E. Wadley, adjacent to Hogan Park [the dog park entrance]. See you there....

Bitter as wormwood...

"For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of hell".
Proverbs 5:3-5

This passage was quoted by Cal Thomas in his column today. I just love it......"bitter as wormwood". That's great....and from Scripture too!

Spanky...

From the "Captured Moments" hall of fame, Spanky and Our Gang. For some unknown reason I always really liked this song. Now it brings back memories of driving my college roommates car around San Antonio. My roommate and his brother both had brand new 1968 Buick Gran Sports courtesy of their rich grandfather. Luckily my roommate was very generous with it's use. He had loads of 8 track tapes too. Spanky being one.

Elaine "Spanky" McFarland later took over Mama Cass' role in the Mama's and Papa's after Mama Cass' unfortunate cheese sandwich demise. Spanky is still around and sounds great.

Long lost kin......?

Regular readers and friends might look at the photos above and say, "Cute, more pictures of D. Daphne Dog". I don't blame you...but this isn't D. Daphne.

Over the last several years I've gotten linked up informally with other dog owners/lovers in an email network that tries to find homes for needy dogs and the photos above and others came to me this morning. I really couldn't believe my eyes. This dog in need is a clone of D. Daphne Dog. I have never seen two dogs look so much alike....especially dogs of mixed breeds. The coloring, markings, the ears, the size and build, the slight upward curl to the tail are all identical.

From what I know, D. Daphne was found, along with other littermates, abandoned along a highway when she was a puppy. My first conclusion was that this dog in need certainly had to be one of her siblings. But, a reply from the caretaker of this dog informed me that he is only one year old. So much for the littermate theory.....but they have to have come from the same source somewhere not to long ago. My Mom has been hinting about a dog, and she loves D. Daphne, perhaps she'd like her clone?

Reunion '08

Do you know the whereabouts of anyone in the Midland High or Lee High classes of '67 and '68? Send them here..... big doings this summer.

Soccer Season....

The sports folks at Midland High seem to want me busy. I started out last year doing the MHS football website and photos. Earlier in the year I picked up the Lady Dawgs basketball assignment and this week was hired to do the MHS boys soccer coverage. I enjoy helping out the old alma mater, meeting new people and it's nice to get paid for doing something so enjoyable.
MHS Dawgs Soccer

Sibley Center Groundbreaking...

On Tuesday we held the ceremonial groundbreaking for our Million Dollar expansion at the Sibley Nature Center. Thanks to all those who worked hard and/or contributed to make this addition a reality. A special thanks to Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick who thought enough of our plans to work for us in obtaining a matching grant from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

And now, "Groundbreaking, The Movie"

2001: A Time Odyssey....

Tonight, Turner Classic Movies aired "2001: A Space Odyssey". I've seen this many times over the years and I still like watching the first hour or so, the rest rather drags on after you've seen it so many times and the ending is a tad too '60s psychedelic for me. But what got to me tonight was the realization that this film was made 40 years ago. 40 years! Damn!

I suppose what is so brain fuddling about this is that "2001" still has a modern feel for a film made in 1968. The space ships look like they could have been designed last year as do all the computer screens that control the Saturn probe. I'm sure that the filmmakers thought that quite possibly, we'd be going to Saturn in 2001, 33 years after the film was made and that computers would be thinking entities competing with humans for control.

We've made some progress in this direction but fall woefully short in both of these areas. We landed men on the moon one year after "2001" came out but all we've done since 1972 is have humans circle the planet. The face recognition, reasoning powers and conversation synthesis of anything like the HAL 9000 may be another 40 years away.

Priceless....

Spending all morning flying in a Huey with the doors open, shooting pictures ....two of my favorite things in one. Getting paid to do so........Priceless!

Groundbreaking....

The Springboard Center groundbreaking ceremonies, luncheon and celebrity events were a great success, highly entertaining and very touching. Thanks to all those who made it possible; especially the staff and talent at CBS7 and The Young and the Restless! Here are some photos of the day.

Ya'll Come.....!

The Springboard Center is a community based not for profit substance abuse counseling center. We have been operating out of cramped rented quarters downtown since 1999. As a board member I'm pleased to say that with more than generous financial support from the community we've raised about half of the $3 million+ cost of our new medical detox and treatment facility. And we're ready for the groundbreaking this Friday, snow or not!

The public is invited.....which means you! Our special guests will be soap opera diva Ms. Jeanne Cooper of The Young and the Restless, along with Josh O'Connell, producer of this long running CBS daytime drama. Other cast members in attendance is a distinct possibility. Ms. Cooper is our national spokesperson and Josh has told us that he is looking for ways to incorporate The Springboard Center into the Y&R storyline.

The Springboard Center facility is a long needed resource in Midland offering medical detox and substance abuse treatment to every member of the community no matter of their financial situation or ability to pay. There is no such facility in the area currently.

The groundbreaking will be at 11 a.m. this Friday at our site on Corporate Dr. off of N. Big Spring St., behind the First National Bank branch. Thankfully I ordered a tent....and today I asked them to throw in a heater. Please come say hell-o to Ms. Cooper, she's a captivating, caring and very sweet lady. Her Young and Restless fame not withstanding, I'm equally impressed that she has appeared in many of my favorite old time TV classics like Perry Mason and films like The Kansas City Bombers.

Photo Op's.....

One of the secrets of photography, I've learned, is just to keep plugging away, let people know of your interest and show them your work. Some interesting upcoming opportunities generated this way:

‡While in Boerne last weekend I met some very caring folks who run a weekend camp for severly handicapped kids. They asked if I'd be interested in coming down soon and photographing one of their weekends for use in presentation materials. A privelage!

‡This Friday, The Springboard Center will have the groundbreaking for our new $4 million facility. Attending will be our national spokesperson Jeanne Cooper, star of the CBS soap The Young and the Restless. Associate producer Josh O'Connell, having seen my shots of Ms. Cooper on a previous visit, has asked me to generate a portfolio that they can use in their national promotion of Ms. Cooper's involvement.

‡The best! Last fall I sent some photo samples to my alma mater, Trinity University, as a preliminary to entry in their alumni art show. Today I received a letter from Trinity asking me to be one of several "event" photographers documenting the visit of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair who will speak at Trinity in March. An honor!

Honor Flight.....

In my army career, and during the last several years in Midland, I have 100's of hours flying in helicopters; parachuting out of some of them too. I'm one of those whacko's who really loves flying in them with the doors open at low altitude. Except when getting shot at, it's great fun to me. But I don't think I've ever had as much fun, pleasure really, as I did today while flying in a Huey with my good friend Bruce Crandall. His face lit up like a kid at Christmas when he took over the controls of Gregg Baiano's huey.

Bruce was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery while flying a Huey almost exactly like the restored Vietnam era model we were in today for three hours. Though he has briefly flown a few helicopters since his army days he basically stopped flying Hueys after a serious crash in 1968. Today he flew us all the way back from Iraan, Texas...a 45 minute flight. Like riding a bike, you just never forget how.

Several days ago when my friend Gregg heard that Bruce was in town, he said he would deem it a great honor if Bruce would take a flight in one of Gregg's three restored Hueys. So, today that's what we did, flying to Iraan to eat one of the best barbeque lunches I've had in Texas. Along with us was the new director of the Commmemorative Air Force, a fomer Army chopper pilot himself and Bruce's son Donovan who flew up from Houston today just for the event. Also I had called my friend Jose, the news director at CBS7 News, to see if they might like to send a reporter along. Jose called me back to say that no, he didn't want to send a reporter, he was going along himself and bringing their dirctor of photography to film the trip. So, next Monday, I understand, look for our trip and interviews with Bruce on the news at 6 and 10. And if you are in Iraan, try the barbeque joint, it's better than anything in Midland.

Online interview with Jimmy Patterson [click on icon at right]

Visitations....

It's odd sometimes how things work in life.

It seems like seeing old friends suddenly comes in a torrent. As the New Year approached I was invited to Boerne, Texas to be the guest of my good friends Gen. Tom and Toni Hill. Tom was a fraternity brother and I met Toni my freshman year at Trinity University also. I lived with Tom and Toni for four months when we all were in the army at Ft. Benning and after 40 years they are like family to me. Since our last visit together in 2003, we had a lot to catch up on. And with their extended families, their big gold dog and my Daphne in their large country home, it was a great time for us after a somewhat downsized Christmas.

On New Years Eve several other fraternity brothers who live in San Antonio came out for the day as well as my old high school classmate Bonnie who I haven't seen in decades. Laughter and remembrances were non stop while my friend, the other Pancho, and I took photos. It was tough to leave.

And so today I was pleasantly surprised when I received a phone call from two other dear friends, Bruce and Arlene Crandall. As you may recall Bruce is a recent Medal of Honor recepient, a ceremony I was honored to attend at the White House last February. Bruce and Arlene have been on a whirlwind appearance schedule since then, but are slowing down to spend three days in Midland. I think, perhaps, the invitation from my friend Gregg Baiano to spend two days flying in his restored Huey helicopters may have swayed Bruce to take this break from his rapid paced schedule. More fun will now, undoubtedly, ensue!

Jingle Bells.....Bam, Bam, Bam!

What better way to cap off that Christmas day cheer than to hear gunfire outside your house. Close outside....

As I was watching "The Greatest Story Ever Told" on the television about 11:30 Christmas night I heard a loud "pop" outside. In the first microsecond your brain optimistically says, "firecracker". But if you've spent years in the army firing every conceivable type of weapon, the second microsecond say's, no that's "gunfire". I muted the TV and heard muffled angry voices somewhere outside. Then "pop, pop, pop, pop, pop". No doubt about that, a semi-automatic pistol sounding like it was in the street directly outside.

Not being sure exactly what was going on I doused the lights in the den and staying below the window lines I reached my cellphone and called 911. The operator asked what the emergency was. Giving my name and address I told her that I was certain that there was gunfire in the street somewhere near my house. Her reply was, "we'll have someone check it out". Somehow I thought that she might ask a few more questions like, "do you see anyone" or is "anyone hurt". But no, "we'll check it out" was all I got. When you call 911 with a "shots fired" report you would expect to see flashing lights within a minute or so. As I peaked out the window for the next 20 minutes, what I saw was......nothing.

When people are firing automatic weapons somewhere near my home, I rather expect flashing lights, so this didn't sit well with me. Not wanting to be too alarmist, I phoned my neighbor across the street this morning and asked her if she heard anything last night. "You mean all the gunfire", she asked. This confirmed that I'm not whacko, so late this morning I went to the police station to ask about the incident. I later received a call from a Sgt. who confirmed that another neighbor, a block up, had also called and that he had reported shots fired by persons in a vehicle..firing at another vehicle and that in fact three police units had answered the call.

Knowing that neighbors were not trying to kill each other and that this was probably just two groups of armed drunks passing through the neighborhood makes me feel better but also sad to realize that this sort of thing can happen anywhere, even in a good, quiet, residential neighborhood with assistant District Attorney's as neighbors on both sides of your house. Merry Christmas.

Gratitude...

Christmas around here has not been the same the last two years for a variety of reasons. But, as I've learned, there is much to be grateful for. This time three years ago I was preparing to go into to heart surgery......this year I'm not.

For the past three years on Christmas Eve, I've shown my thanks to the folks in the cardiac unit at the hospital by taking them a little treat. In the photo above I'm at the Cardiac unit and this time I'm not hooked up to the monitors, now that's gratitude!

The Ventures....

The Ventures will be inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame this coming March. Well duh dudes it's about time. The Ventures have been playing rock n'roll for about 50 years having come together in 1958 and they are still touring! Their first big hit, "Walk Don't Run", still a classic, hit #2 on the charts in 1960. Their influence on rock has been profound with over 30 major rock stars declaring The Ventures to have been a primary influence on their own music. They were the sixth largest selling group of the 1960's. With over 110 million albums sold worldwide, the group remains the best selling instrumental rock group of all time.

Here is a 1994 rendtion of some of their hits. My Mom still loves to listen, occasionally, to Telstar on my original LP Album. By the way...I'm back to posting new classic bands on my website, Captured Memories

Dispatch from the front..

Hello and I hope everyone reading this is having a wonderful day. My name is Sgt Thomas Moses [top left in photo] and yesterday I received a package from you. First off I wanted to say thank you; I have shared many of the items with the soldiers under my care. Our unit has many responsibilities however my guys are pretty specific. We run a route security team thru Iraq ensuring the safety for anyone going anywhere at anytime. My guys and I are from all over Texas most of them are from the Dallas area, I am from Midland. During this time in our lives for many of my soldiers this is their first time not only out of Texas but their first time out of country and for many of them their first time away from their families and friends. Your boxes have helped them all; I always ensure that we share them.

My background, I have spent 33.3% of my life serving in the Army Infantry and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I have found that teaching those around me and helping guide young soldiers thru their lives is my calling. My family supports me more than I could have ever hoped and they have packed up and moved from country to country and city to city to ensure I have the support I need to carry out my missions.

During this time I ask that everyone take some time and realize what is really important in their lives. It's not the game systems nor the cars we drive, it’s the people around us everyday. Having been in Iraq for 3 out of the past 5 years I can truly say we are making a difference every day, one person at a time, and although I don’t believe Iraq will ever be a total democracy like what we have I do believe the people here will grasp and embrace their new freedom and understand that they hold their future within their hands. Once again I thank you all and I would also like to thank Cathy Gilleland, Mo and Cheryl Gaddis; I received your packages as well and I would like to apologize for not writing sooner but in my defense we have been quite busy with missions and I have 21 young and older soldiers (age 18 to 47)to tend to everyday being a parent isn’t ever as easy as it looks.

God bless everyone and take time to smell the flowers. Husbands take time to hug your wife and kids and share a sunset, buy someone something just because life is to short and embrace it with everything you have and you will never regret it. Thank you all again and have a wonderful new year.

Sgt Thomas Moses
11B20 Infantry leader
Iraq Delta RST/ACC


P.S. Who ever thought to put the bore snake in the package thank you very very much.

For more information: West Texas Troop Salute

Christmas for Our Troops...results

It has been just one week since our 600+ gift packages were mailed to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today we received this email. Sure makes all the work of many people worthwhile....

Dear Scott, Wallace and Gail and all others at West Texas Troop Salute,

I am completely in awe with the generous package I just received from your organization! WOW! I shared with everyone and I can't express how truly impressive this box really was. A camera, batteries, a phone card, not to mention the Cheezits, which are my personal favorite, and so much more that I cannot mention them all. I am so grateful for people who rally to support the Soldiers. This is a 15-month tour and frankly, it is miserable. Not simply the conditions, but also the workload. Sometimes I really cannot imagine getting through another 6 months working 17 hours a day, every day (and the war-fighting troops are working much harder to make our area safer for the Iraqi people), so it is critical at times that other people are putting in time, too, to show us that our work and sacrifices mean something to other who are home. You choose to sacrifice time, effort, and money to show us your support and that is encouraging and inspires more greatness from us. Personally, I am proud to share these times with people like yourselves who want to accept some of the burden in bringing some love and support to the Soldiers out here. You are doing a tremendous service for your country and for that, I will always be grateful for your time and efforts - this one package means more than you know.

I am from El Paso and I am not sure how you got my info, but I am so pleased, once again to be from the best State in the Union! Thank you with all of my heart.

Sincerely,
Nancy Preston

Captain, Engineer Branch
Brigade Engineer
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division
FOB HAMMER, Iraq

The Things We Packed.....

With so much of the news dominated by negative events, I am sometimes forgetful of how truly generous and giving most people are; especially in Midland, Texas. I was reminded today.

Today we had nearly 100 good people show up to help pack over 600 gift boxes for our troops in combat areas overseas sponsored by our Christmas for Our Troops program. We packed movie DVD's, music CD's, t-shirts, socks, frisbees, phone cards, books, duct tape, chapstick, soap, stocking caps, cameras and much more. And usually not just one of each item. We had thousands of phone cards, disposable cameras, DVD's and CD's donated. And food. We had cases of Slim Jim's, peanuts, pretzels, crackers, cookies and candy, soup mix, drink mix.

One gentleman, who wishes to remain anonymous, put a $2 bill in each and every box, a good luck token. Each 2 cubic square foot box was packed to overflowing, but with enough room at the top to add 6 or 7 personalized Christmas cards sent by Midlanders and school children along with our personalized letter telling each recipient how much we appreciate his or her service on our behalf.

Here are some photos of the people who made it all possible

Greed: How much is too much...?

Some of the more persistant talk around town this week has been whether Cowboys fans will be able to see the Pokes/Packers game on Thursday night. To hear the buzz this topic seems to be as important as Iraq or Afghanistan. Personally I'd like to see it too. I've been watching the Cowboys since 1962. But if I don't I won't lose any sleep. Apparently some will....

But get used to this. It doesn't take a media mogul to figure out the future for Pro football telecasts. If you want to watch, you're going to pay more one way or the other. I haven't been following the NFL [the National Felons League] closely enough to know if they've announced, or not, that they are working towards getting all the games on their channel. Even if they haven't announced this, bubba, you can count on it. Any organization that pays a whole team of functional illiterates millions of dollars each to play a game, has enough money to make even more with their own TV channel. And who'll they make it from is you. Not me, because I won't be watching, but if you do, you'll be making them richer. In light of people still starving on this earth, probably richer than God thinks is appropriate.

Because our wives both worked for the same Dallas radio station from 1983-1986, I became fairly good friends with former Cowboys linebacker Dave Edwards. Dave played for most of the 60's and early 70s, was a Pro-Bowler, played in three Super Bowls and wore a Super Bowl Champions ring. Dave once told me that the most he ever made, including Super Bowl money, was about $90,000 for that year. I believe that he told me this because he was shocked that some players then, in the mid-80's, were making a half a million a year. Some players make that much per game now.

OK, you say, I'm a big Cowboys fan, I can fork over a few more dollars to Grande or Suddenlink each month to watch the 'Boys play. And if this was the end of it, perhaps I would too. But for one minute, do you think that if this works for Pro Football that the other sports giants aren't going to jump in too? My pick for the next pay sports venue will be the NASCAR Channel. The guys at NASCAR took sports media marketing to a whole new level. They ain't gonna' miss an extra paycheck.

So now, people like me and maybe you, who watched the Cowboys from day one, spent money at the games when they were losers and cheered when they were winners, are being charged to keep watching and to make the Jerry Jones' of the world even richer. Too greedy? A lot too greedy!

"An article on Forbes Magazine's website, published September 13, 2007, lists the Cowboys as the most valuable sports team in the world, with an estimated value of approximately $1.5 billion, ahead of the Washington Redskins ($1.467 billion) and the New England Patriots ($1.199 billion). They are also one of the wealthiest teams in the NFL, generating almost $250 million in annual revenue"

Local News...

I've been thinking that I need to become, once again, more involved in local stories of interest. Here are a couple of items making news around the area:

1] New Mexico Air begins service out of Midland International Airport. Now one can fly to Hobbs NM round trip for $150. The obvious question on most people's minds is....Why?

2] The Midland city council approves expenditures for 20 new larger police cruisers. I'm sure we need updated models.....now if the police force could actually be trained to use these to enforce traffic regulations the money would be well spent.

Car shoppin' with Ma....

So Ma and I go shopping for a new car for her this morning. We first go to an old line respected dealer where my family has purchased autos since the 60's. A young salesman approaches and the conversation goes like this:

Salesman: "Mrs. Craig I think you'll like this car, it has many good safety features, has a great ride, gets good gas mileage, is quiet and......"
Ma: "I'll take it!!"

Not exactly like that, but pretty close. I've never bought a new car in 10 minutes. We did today. She liked the color. So now Ma has a spiffy new car with a sunroof, genuine chrome wheels [wheels, not covers] and OnStar. It took only from 10:30 this morning until 3:00 this afternoon from first look until the car was in Ma's garage. It took this long because Ma needed to go home for a restroom break and to clean out her belongings from the old car.

I don't know if she needed a new car, she just wanted one and that's OK with me. Her old car was twenty years old and, I'm not making this up, had only 25,540 miles on it! Only driven to church on Sundays. It also was in immaculate condition save for the mirror she had just knocked asunder on the garage last week; a small garage entry, I'm surprised it hasn't happened before. And, we had talked about getting a new car for her, so she just didn't wake up this morning determined to buy a car, but today was the day in her mind.

Really, I'm quite proud of her, making a decision and getting on with it. She'd never been involved in a new car purchase so this was a learning experience for her and she did very well, although she was surprised that buying "cash" would not earn her a discount. With all the variables to be considered one of her most important worries was whether we'd get two sets of keys...."Your Father always had two sets of keys". "Yes Ma, we'll get two sets of keys".

One of my biggest worries was how much time I'm going to be spending explaining OnStar to her. I could see her eyes rolling as we talked to the operator while getting the system set up. But for an 84 year old woman who used to think that A.M. radio was high tech she really seemed to take it all in stride. I think it took a moment to grasp the concept of talking to your rearview mirror to someone in India who's progamming your car, but she caught on quickly.

All in all not a bad day and frankly one I'm glad I didn't spoil with some sensible comment like, "don't you think we ought to shop around". Sometimes the best gift we can give is letting others have their moments without comment. It was good to see her excited about something again and my Dad would have been proud of us both. Nice "Ride" Ma.

Heritage....

The awards above belonged to my Grandfather and my Dad. The Marine Corps Globe and Anchor insignia was my Dad's Father's and is from the First World War; he fought in the battle of The Belleau Woods. The Combat Infantry Badge was my Dad's. He landed at Anzio and fought his way into Italy with the 45th Division, then was re-landed on the shores of Southern France after D-Day, heading towards Germany until succumbing to frostbite in the Vosges Mountains. My Dad recuperated at Air Base Depot #2 in England while the 45th made it all the way to Germany liberating Dachau concentration camp on the way to Munich.

My Grandfather was a Marine Corps infantry private, my Dad an Army infantry sergeant. I was a an Army infantry officer.

Veteran's Day...

Surfin' Again....

Loading IE ver. 6.0 and AOL ver.9.0 on Ma's machine has her surfin' down the digital superhighway once again. Surfin' slowly on dial-up and AOL, but connected again none the less. Thanks to the guys at A.G.E. Systems for the IE 6 software. According to the experts there, I was correct, IE ver 6.0 cannot be found anymore.

Problem Update.....

We shall soon know if Ma's computer will be back up and running on the Internet. As I described on Monday, converging glitches caused her to be offline for about a week now. In the intervening time I have gotten her to think outside of her box and to consider going to bundled services including broadband. Now just when we were about to go in that direction, through my friends at A.G.E. Systems, I've found a copy of Internet Explorer 6.0 which will allow repairs to AOL. Staying with AOL is the easier way in her mind.

But she has made progress. She went so far as to call Suddenlink to get prices on bundled service which we discussed at her 84th birthday dinner tonight. I have to say that Suddenlink seems to be more expensive than Grande which I have and have recommended to her. But unbelievably, no actually quite believably, there were cascading problems with getting broadband too!

Seems she has Suddenlink as her TeeVee provider. Also seems that some years ago my Dad paid a considerable sum of dough to have all their incoming utility lines buried, including Cox Cable, now Suddenlink. So if we got Grande they most likely would have to string a cable across the now uncluttered yard......so Suddenlink is the only choice she'll even consider.

But on Friday I'll install IE Ver. 6.0, install AOL Ver. 9.0 reboot her computer without problem, I'm sure, and she'll be happy, back where she was before. I'm sure all of this will happen. I pray all this will happen

Law of Cascading Problems

First off let me say that my Ma, who'll be 84 on Wednesday, does really well on the computer. She's been online for 5 or 6 years now and can email, surf the web, Google and even has an account at Amazon.com.....which she uses! She knows what she uses really quite well. But try to explain change to her computer world and....well that's a challenging experience.

She's been on AOL the entire time she's been online and even with my explanations doesn't really understand that there's another way to dial into the internet that may be actually easier; using a regular web browser and an email client program. But after years of carping about fixing her AOL problems, I've come to realize that she does well on it so let sleeping old ladies lie.

But....over the last weeks she's been complaining about being disconnected from AOL after only 3 or 4 minutes. Again, quite proud of her....she actually called the AOL helpline and explained to me [after asking me if I knew what she had to go through to talk to a real person...gee really!] that the nice man in India checked her system and the problem is that she's never updated her AOL software. She's on Version 5....AOL is on Version 9. Thus the disconnect problem.

I called and verified this with a nice AOL guy in Pakistan who confirmed this and said all we had to do was to go to Wal-Mart, pick up the new Version 9 CD and install it and our problem would be solved adding that to be sure I uninstalled the old AOL software before installing the new. Check. So off to Wal-Mart I went last Friday to pick up the CD and install it. And this is where Craig's Law of Cascading Problems began.

Craig's Law of Cascading Problems says that, with computers, whenever you are faced with an answer that is too easy beware; in applying the easy fix you will generate a never ending series of new corollary problems that become increasingly harder to fix. And so it was.

I uninstalled the old AOL version and ran through the entire install of the new AOL Version 9...that is until at the end a warning box appeared stating, "Version 9.0 requires at least Internet Explorer Version 6.0, please install IE 6.0.....Good-Bye". My Ma has IE Version 5.5. Muffled cursing ensued as neither the nice guy in Pakistan, nor the instructions on the software CD nor on the AOL help website had made any mention of this. I had no clue that AOL was in any way linked to Explorer. But being the model of serenity these days I told Ma that there was a problem and I would have to download something on my computer, put it on a CD and return the next day, thinking that surely I would find IE version 6.0 on a download site somewhere and retrieve it.

Silly me. Microsoft©, being who they are, likes to expunge all earlier versions of a product once a new one comes out. There is not a complete IE Version 6.0 to be found on the internet. So, I thought, I'll go to Microsoft© and download the larger Version 7....the new browser. Being somewhat savvy in these things I looked up the machine system requirements necessary to run Version 7.0...Ma's computer being 5 or so years old. It looked like her machine would handle IE 7.0 or so I thought until I read the fine print. Version 7.0 is not compatible with Windows Millenium Edition. Ma has Window Millenium Edition. More cursing ensued. How can they offer a new browser that won't run on one of their own operating systems. Apparently Microsoft© is trying to expunge the Millenium edition too.

I found this out over the weekend and knew I would have to report my findings, Ma has become an email junkie and is getting the jitters about not having the Internet. So today I just had to, in the simplest of terms, explain to her the problems. "We couldn't update your AOL because the browser, which you didn't even know existed and have never seen is out dated. They no longer offer the best updated browser that is the simplest fix and the newer browser won't run on your operating system, which I know you've never heard of, because Microsoft© rushed a dog of a product out and now denies it ever existed".

I asked her if she understood any of this. She said, "well maybe I need to call an expert.......the nice man in India said all I needed to do was get a new CD at Wal-Mart".

Fall at last....?

Though the weather feels like early September instead of the 1st of November, at least last evening I could imagine that it really is Fall. As I was watering the flower beds, while Daphne frolicked with her ball a flight of 10 Canadian Geese flew over at tree top level, several honking their lungs out. The geese are part of the recently returned wildfowl group that winters at the "A" Street duck pond not far from my house. Apparently not chased south by cold weather up north, I suppose they just determined that it was time to come on down.

It was nice to see and hear them, they are pretty spectacular flying close over head. Too, I could imagine that I was back in Minnesota or Michigan where possibly the leaves are changing color a bit.

The Immaculate Lateral [s]...

[Precise running patterns not to scale]

By now, most of you have seen the video of my alma mater, Trinity University, and their instantly famous "immaculate lateral" football game on Saturday. This is actually a play that the then Quarterback Forrest Dunlap and I drew up at the Nugget Lounge in 1970. I'm surprised they waited so long to use it, but glad it worked. Except for the 8th, or was it the 10th, pitch back they ran it just they way we drew it up!

To the uninitiated the play looks like a hodgepodge, or at best extremely complicated. Which is why I decided to recreate our original diagram above. When seen this way, the obvious simplicity of the plan becomes evident. Doesn't it?

Update: The Immaculate Lateral [s] has taken on a life of it's own. Here is the Wikipedia analysis of the game and the The Play, which ESPN is now speculating may be the longest play, timewise, in college history.

Christmas for Our Troops...

Our service men and women, volunteers all, do a magnificent, tough job of protecting our freedoms. You can do a small, but hugely important part in showing them that they are appreciated by sending a small token of thanks this Christmas. And it's pretty darned easy. Just go to Christmas for Our Troops check our "needs" page and then take your gifts to one of our pick-up points.

Thanks to the Midland Reporter-Telegram for today's front page story, if you didn't catch it in print, here it is online. Also, frequent reader Jeff, contributes an article that he wrote mentioning Christmas For Our Troops.

Malibu fires....

As some people know, I have a connection past and present to Pepperdinie University. Pepperdine, sits on one of the most beautiful spots of any college I know of and has been in the path of the horrendous wildfires raging around Malibu. I have had several people email me and one reader, a news anchor with a premier outlet even called to see if I had any news. I didn't at the time, but do now courtesy of a contact there, Ronnie Zamora in the sports information office.

Hey Wallace,
Thanks for the concern. We're all doing fine at the moment, the fires seem to be moving east, away from campus. There is no school today and offices are closed again, but there's been no word on tomorrow yet. The winds are supposed to calm down today, and that will help the firefighters contain the fire, because wind gusts have been crazy- up to 80 mph in some areas. The school hasn't been too affected, some trees and grass have burned and a few cars in the parking lot, but all the buildings are still intact. Hopefully the fires will be put out today and people can go about their lives again, because PCH has been closed throughout the city and that has really shut Malibu down. Thanks for your concern again. I guess we just need to pray that the fires get under control and stop spreading and affecting different homes and buildings.
-Ronnie

Tennis Final....

Although you'd always like to win the big enchilada, coming in as runners up in the womens singles and doubles at a major tournament is a grand accomplishment. That's what our Pepperdine girls did today. It could have gone either way in both finals. Not to take anything away from the girl from TCU in singles, nor the great doubles team from UCLA who defeated the Wave girls, but Sylvia Kosakowski our #1 player was in both the singles and doubles finals and to get there had to play three matches a day for three straight days. That's about six hours of continuous competition level tennis each day. She was tired. I was tired watching her.

We were proud of the girls, but since Sylvia has dominated the tournament for the last three years, having previously won championships in both singles and doubles, we wished that she could have taken home one more trophy. Still, a great match for the girls.

Tennis Time...

Perhaps the best tennis event occuring in the USA this weekend is underway in Midland. The best kept secret too, apparently, with hardly a word appearing in the local paper. The attendance by local folks is well, underwhelming. I am a great tennis fan, but it sure makes me wonder why we need to spend several million dollars on a new tennis center with 30+ courts and stadium seating when no one seems interested in attending a premier event at a facility we already have.

But, none the less, this is your chance to see some of the top college players in the nation at the Racquet Club NCAA Invitational. The number and quality of teams that I noted today in attendance is amazing. UCLA, USC, Duke, the University of Miami, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UT Arlington, North Texas, Oklahoma, SMU, TCU, Rice, Boise State, Arkansas, New Mexico..and I'm sure I've left some out. Like Pepperdine, my grad school alma mater and perennial top seeded womens contenders with players like Sylvia Kosakowski. I've known Sylvia for four years now through the tournament. Sylvia is a senior this year and is the 8th ranked doubles player in college tennis, she was also recently named an "All American". Sylvia won the womens tournament 2 years ago and was a finalist in womens doubles last year.

She looked good today winning all her singles matches and with doubles partner Anete Bandere from Latvia, she should be a potetial doubles champion again. Of course Anete always looks good, winning or losing. If you have any interest in tennis or just want to spend some time up close and personal with some great college athletes, try and make it to the Racquet Club this weekend.

The War.....

I've been meaning to comment on "The War" since it aired on PBS. I knew I would and seeing Ken Burns speak Tuesday night made me not let the opportunity slip away. I won't go into what a great series The War was, if you saw it you know, just what it meant to me. And that's a great amount.

Most of you know that my Dad died last November, one of a trilogy of tragedies in my life that occured last Fall that I'm still dealing with. My Dad fought in Italy and like most veterans of that age talked about it very, very little. Only in the last 5 or 6 years of his life did he reveal anything other than than he'd been in Italy, saw his best friend killed the first day there, later had his feet frozen and had been evacuated back to England for the duration of the war.

In going through records my Mom has had but had not shown me until my Dad's death, I've learned more. I knew that he'd been in the 45th Infantry Division but that was the extent of things. I've recently learned that he was a replacement in the division, sent to re-man the 179th Regiment after the horrendous losses they had sustained after they landed in Southern Italy. My Dad landed at Anzio.

Many people think of the ground war in Europe as starting with the "D-Day" invasion in France. "The War" did a brilliant job of portraying, in detail, that the war in Europe had started in violent fashion in Italy more than year before our forces landed at Normandy. Italy saw some of the bloodiest fighthing with the heaviest ground losses of the war. My Dad was with the 45th in their march up Italy, until two months after "D-Day" when they were sent to start a second front in France; they landed in Southern France near St. Tropez and started slogging towards Germany. My Dad didn't finish the march. After 8+ months in combat his feet were frozen in the French Alps.

What made "The War" very special for me occured in one 3 or 4 second clip in the 2nd episode. In this small slice of video a group of soldiers was shown standing around talking in Italy after the Anzio breakout. Nothing special about a group of grunts standing around talking except that one of them was the spitting image of my Dad. This was a fairly close shot, the soldiers being without helmets and one looked just like my Dad, young and handsome. Now, I know, the odds against this being my Dad are great...but wasn't it wonderful to believe it was and to get to see him all those years ago.

Sputnik....

I couldn't let today's anniversary go by unnoticed. Frankly it would have been lost on me unless I had read a small blurb in today's local paper. Today, 50 years ago, the world went into space. The Russian's launched the 183 lb Sputnik I into orbit to do nothing more than to prove it could be done and send out weak radio signals to prove that it was there.

I remember the day, or rather night, well. I was a young lad living with my family in New Orleans and vividly remember the entire neighborhood being out front in the street trying to catch a glimpse of Sputnik. I don't believe that we did, but just knowing it was there was science fiction come to life.

Just 12 short years later the US would land men on the moon. Fairly amazing considering the technology of the time.

Hear Sputniks actual transmission......

One more Air Show...

The 2007 version of the CAF Air Show is a done deal. I'm always excited when Air Show weekend arrives and equally glad when it's over. I had some great friends, new and old, help me out with my responsibilities all went well and we all had a great time. I got some great photographs from the ground and in the air....

The Big Gold Dog...

This week marks one year since the passing of Tres, The Big Gold Dog. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about that sweet big dog and all he meant to me. When he slept at night in the hallway, sometimes his paws would be touching the wall and when he was dreaming his feet would make a running sound as they brushed the walls. Sometimes I think I can still hear that sound as I go to bed at night. It is sad, but most of all he makes me remember what true loyalty, love and friendship is all about.

Destroy it and they will come...!

It's very interesting to me that some people, and frankly some that I know quite well, seem to think that tearing down buildings in downtown Midland is the solution to redevelopment of the area. Especially when the replacement is a parking lot.

Having been in the office building business in a prior life I know from an economic standpoint it is hard to redevelop some of these older buildings; still with some vision it has been done in other cities and quite successfully.

But perhaps my friends have a vision too. Midland as the parking capital of Texas. I suppose they see people from Dallas, Houston and Austin coming to Midland to park. Locals too. "Say Honey what do you want to do tonight"? "Well Bobby Sue let's go to downtown Midland and park, I hear there are some real parking bargains down there".

Off and running....!

Some projects that you undertake reach a point at which you know, "this is the break through". Today was that day in our efforts to restore the Chaparral Racing test track back to it's important place in auto racing history. Today we got owner and racing legend Jim Hall's enthusiastic approval to begin.

Our first goal will be to host a regional competition of the Society of Automotive Engineers Formula SAE competitions. Several years ago I had met Midland native Dr. Ron Matthews, the Formua SAE's founder and director of the University of Texas' General Motors combustion engineering research center. Formula SAE has grown to be the largest student engineering competition in the world with over 300 universities around the globe participating. In a strange twist, Jim Hall was one of the first judges of the competition in 1983. Today Dr. Matthews flew out to visit with Jim , the first time they'd seen each other since the original event and the reconnection was immediate.

Hosting this event next summer will require the track to be resurfaced and draw national attention to the Chaparral facility, a good start to further plans.

Life....!

If you don't already, I hope that you have the opportunity to live in the same city as your aging parents. You'll enjoy the experience.

This afternoon at 2:58 my cell phone rang, showing my mother as the caller. You'll learn that when aging parents call your cell phone in the middle of the day, nothing good can come of it. In that microsecond when you see their name in the caller ID you pray that nothing serious is happening then wonder what the hell is wrong now.

Today it was a flat tire. "Hell-o, I must have run over something, I'm in a parking lot and my tire is flat. I wonder what I should do"? You think......"gee Ma I wonder too" knowing full well that I'm on my way to change a tire. So after I changed clothes there I was. Luckily she was on a good flat surface and not in the middle of the street. So after reading the manual on jack placement etc. for that car I got started. Lug nuts loosened, small doughnut spare tire out of the back, car jacked up. So I go to put the spare on and its as flat as the doughnut that it is named after.

My Dad came to the rescue once again. He had had a micro air compressor in his car which I, luckily, took for my own when we sold his car. It actually worked very well. As I was changing the tire I noticed that there were some severe scruff marks around the edge of the original tire, then I spied the valve stem.....completely chewed up with the end broken off.

I asked Ma if she had hit a curb anytime recently. "Well", she says, "I did just now as I was pulling into the cleaners. I like to get real close to the drive in window." And indeed she did! "I did hear a hissing sound but I thought it was the steam cleaners inside the laundry".

But all is well now, I got the tire changed and followed her over to the Exxon station that still has full service, and in a twinkling of the eye they had the valve stem changed, the tire was OK and off to home we went to await the next "event". And I have no doubt that this is God's plan, payback for all those telephone calls from me when I was a kid, when they undoubtedly thought in that microsecond...."What's wrong now?"

Attention racing fans....!

I've been away, been busy and had out of town company. Not a whole lot of interesting news there.......but. One of the things that I've been interested in for the last several years is revitalizing the old Chaparral Racing test circuit, Rattlesnake Raceway south of Midland. This Friday I hope the dream will start to come true.

Late last year I was invited to be on the advisory board of the Chaparral Racing Museum at the Petroleum Museum, thus allowing me to "officially" start talking to people I had met who were interested in preserving this piece of racing history. Friday some of these interested parties are coming to Midland to discuss details and talk about development plans with owner Jim Hall. Should be fun, but more importantly productive in once again having world class racing machines, including the Chaparrals, back on the track.

Happy Labor Day..!

Hope you and yours have a happy Labor Day. I'm taking my Mom out to dinner and then we thought we'd visit the local Teamsters Union.

The Big Ride...

Like most dogs, D. Daphne loves to hear the word "ride". She may be having second thoughts in the future though. Her normal "ride" is to the store or post office so she couldn't quite comprehend how a "ride" turned into a 900 mile trek where she slept in various locales without coming home. But she did well and had some grand times having never seen mountains, streams and cows and horses up close. All in all Daphne's big adventure...

Be back soon....

Streams will be closed temporarily...we've gone to New Mexico. Be back shortly. Please come again...!

Mississippi Kites.....

If you've never seen a Mississippi Kite in action....come to the 1400-1600 blocks of Country Club, Bedford and Harvard. I counted at least 14 birds hovering and hunting this morning, they've been here most of the week; mornings and evenings are best for viewing. Thought not rare, they are not too common in the US and to see this many in one spot is an experience. Kites are falcon-like hawks that eat mainly insects, but with 14 overhead they are causing quite a stir among the dove population. They're pretty amazing as they hang in the air then fold their winds back and dive bomb insects at 6000 mph...or somewhere thereabouts. They've also been known to dive bomb golfers at Midland Country Club who get too close to their nests...

The Night Sky..

I have just returned from the semi-darkness of the Sibley Center grounds where we went to watch one of those events in the night sky that is not all that spectacular unless you consider what you are seeing, then it becomes pretty amazing.

At 10:04 pm, both the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle were in view as they sped over West Texas. Not only in view but one [the shuttle] pretty much right behind the other [the space station]. Flying in tandem at around 18,000 mph they were only clearly visible for less than a minute. It is, I suppose, rather natural, but still sad that so much of the population has become so blase about the thought of two huge man made objects flying together at 18,000 mph in space.

In 1996, courtesy of my brother at NASA, I had the opportunity to be in the VIP seating area, three miles from the launch pad, for a night time space shuttle launch. I think truly the most amazing, spectacular and awe inspiring thing I've ever seen in my life. I try not to get too blase after that. Sometime soon I'll describe what it's like seeing an object the size of an office building go from zero to 6000 mph in one minute....

Meet the Dawgs....

A large crowd of media, family and fans was on hand on a beautiful night to meet the 2007 Dawgs!

My, how things change...

Cody Parker is one of the players on the MHS Bulldog football team who is expected to make a difference this year. Cody is a nice kid. A big one too, to be that athletic.

I had a nice talk with Cody's mom tonight at the first Bulldog Booster meeting. She's very nice also, a teacher. Although I've seen Cody at the first practices, I still asked Mrs. Parker how her son was doing.

"Well", she said, "he gained some weight over the summer but he's lost 25 pounds, he's back down to 317 pounds". Down to 317......Lordy!

Man that's a big kid! In my ancient days, we had one kid on our football team who weighed over 200 pounds and he struck fear into opposing teams. Luckily for the Dawgs, Cody is not the only one breaking the 300 pound mark....by my count with have 3 more!

Fooootball

Fooootball season.......is here again.

August 11th...

Today is my Dad's birthday, the first since he's been gone. He would have been 84 years old. It's a strange feeling knowing that this is a special day, but that the special person is no longer here. It's best to try and remember loved ones as they were at their best. My Dad loved Golf, Football and Tennis.

Shangri La update...

I haven't mentioned it of late, but I've still been working on my proposed trip to Afghanistan I mean Shangri La. And this week I got the go ahead to represent a local TV station; sending images, stories and perhaps some videos back as an embed.

Obviously, there is much to be done yet in order to make the trip come to fruition, like waiting the long wait for a passsport these days, but the press credentials were the first big hurdle passed. My contact in Bagram says that if I wait much longer I'd better repack my vacation luggage, switching from shorts and luau shirts to wool pants and parkas, from golf clubs to skis. It, apparently, gets quite cold where I would be going.

Erroneous Reports...

It's a horrible and powerless feeling when you get an email from two great old friends who are touring Germany telling you that they've heard that another great old friend has died.

It's a really great feeling when you finally get an email from the supposed deceased, telllng you that he is still quite alive. A bad three days until that happened though....

I owe my Mother....

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."
2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."
3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"
4. My mother taught me LOGIC.
"Because I said so, that's why."
5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.
"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."
6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."
7. My mother taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."
8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."
9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"
10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
"You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."
11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."
12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
"If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"
13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."
14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
"Stop acting like your father!"
15. My mother taught me about ENVY.
"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."
16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
"Just wait until we get home."
17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
"You are going to get it when you get home!"
18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way."
19. My mother taught me ESP.
"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"
20. My mother taught me HUMOR
"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."
21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.
"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."
22. My mother taught me GENETICS.
"You're just like your father."
23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
"Shut that door, you'd think that you were born in a barn"
24. My mother taught me WISDOM.
"When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

And my Dad taught me about medical science! Whenever I would whine about some small thing he would always say....
"That dripping you hear is my heart bleeding for you".

Knowing my Dad would be laughing, I brought this point up in the eulogy I delivered at his funeral.

Drainage: it never rains here....

Why spend money on basic drainage systems....it never rains enough here to warrant the expense. I suspect that these people, like me, disagree.

A word of thanks......

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.