Monthly Archive for October, 2006

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Random ramblings.

Published on October 12, 2006 in This and That. 1 Comment

Random ramblings.

Thus far, the coolest thing about this week is that the girl who lived next door to me with the miniature Doberman that barked all day and all night….the same dog I spent 50 bucks on an “bark stopper” for…and the same dog I’ve been planning to assassinate ever since it became apparent that the stopper didn’t’ work…. is gone! THEY MOVED OUT !!!!!! WHOOOOHOOOO!!! Now that little demon dog can keep someone else up.

I have top secret plans that I’ll get to blog about soooooooon. Should be cool. Why? Because I’m a cooool guy. A cooool friend. And just coooool in general. Well, I tell myself that anyway. Makes me feel better.

Can’t wait to go back to Lubbock for the UT game.

Tipping…. Why is it that some servers rock, and others just outright suck? You never really understand the value of a good server until you get a crappy one. A fantastic server is worth a %50 tip. A crappy one isn’t (profound huh?).

I need to start Christmas shopping now. That way I can be broke now, instead of broke at Christmas. The only thing this will really achieve for me will be the fact that I’ll get to start bitching before everyone else, and hopefully it will be out of my system by the time the rest of you start bitching just before Christmas. I don’t work connected to a mall anymore….that’s no fun when it comes to Christmas shopping.

T.V. -I’m convinced the writes of LOST don’t even have any clue as to what’s really happening on the show. I think they all get boozed up and start writing. The girls on Deal or No Deal…. HOT. I wonder if you can trade your case for a date….might be worth it. When is Jack Bauer going to team up with Jet Lee and break out of China?
JUDO CHOP!

Tech plays CU this weekend. They are 0-6. Either we are going to destroy them (please God…), or we will lose and Mike Leach will eat a Freshman. Or maybe he will let Bobby Knight eat one on his behalf. Can’t wait to go back for the UT (echo echo echo) game with Blake and John. Good times will be had. I may have to edit some things out on the blog post since Keni (Blake’s Girl-o) reads my ramblings. I think this is the 6th or 7th year we have gone back. I’m getting old.

I like a lot about Yoga….but I’ve come to the conclusion that I suck at it. I think they let me stay in class so that when the yoga instructors go to happy hour with each other, they have good stories to tell. “This week I told my class that if they couldn’t touch the floor, they could put their hands on their ankles…but this one doofus couldn’t even did that, so I told them they could also put their hands on their knees. Dorkus still couldn’t do that, so I said they could rest on their thighs. Wanted to tell him to rest on his beer belly, and kick him in the head.” Hahahahahahahaha.

Is it Friday yet?

Sooners vs. Longhorns, and a Red Raider stuck in the middle.

Published on October 8, 2006 in Texas Tech University. 0 Comments

OU vs. Texas

UT vs. OU, a Red Raider in the middle of the Red River Shoot Out.

What a nice day!

First of all, I need to say a big thank you to Aubrey McClendon and Chesapeake energy for the fantastic tickets to the game! Gram, Uncle Bro, Richard (Brodie’s friend) and I were fortunate enough to get 50 yard line tickets to the OU vs. Texas rivalry game at the Cotton Bowl. We headed down to the game early so we could enjoy some of the State Fare of Texas before the game. We went to the car show and a few other exhibits before going in search of Fair food (yum!). I got a burger and beer at Jacks (hoped to see Jack, my old skydiving friend, but ran into his daughter and Dennis, another skydiver as they were working one of the stands). We also got Fletchers Corny Dogs, which is a tradition that has to be almost as old as the 100 year long rivalry between UT and OU. The seats were fantastic. We sat under the 2nd deck (read- in the shade!!!), on the 50 yard line.
My family is split. My Grandmother and most of her family are OU alum. My Dad and all of his brothers, including Bro(who was also a Silver Spur), are all from UT. So there I sat, the lone Red Raider in the middle, getting to enjoy one of the great college football traditions and rivalries of all time.

OU vs. Texas

If you want to read a blog post about the game itself, you are in the wrong place. There are 9 million other blogs out there where you can read about all of the stats, and how OU fell apart in the 4th quarter. I plan on having a little more fun. I’m going to give a scorecard to both teams based on everything BUT the actual game.

OU vs. Texas

Girls: Ok, I have to admit I was a little surprised. I’m sure there were plenty of really good looking Longhorn girls at the game, but I didn’t notice many. All of the super beautiful ladies that day seemed to be dressed in red, hailing from Soonerville. Apparently they also like to party since the young Sooner Theta that my grandmother (a Theta from the 40’s) introduced herself to, had her head buried in her lap hiding her head from the painful and dizzying light by the 3rd quarter. Boomer Sooner! Made me proud. 
A+ for beautiful girls for OU, and B+ for party skills.

Band: Before the game both bands played on the field. The UT band was HUGE, loud and awesome. When the OU band took the field my first thought was…. Is that it? Not only were they small, they were hard to hear. In fact, I didn’t realize that they were playing the national anthem until about a third of the way into the song because I just couldn’t hear it. If the UT band would have been playing, all 80,000 people in the crowd would have known it. A+ to the UT band.

Crowd: I’m a little bit torn on this one. The Sooners were much louder than the Longhorns were for most of the game. The Longhorns didn’t really seem to get into it until the beginning of the second half. So for outright school spirit and crowd participation, I have to give the Sooners the better grade.

On the other hand I think the Sooners need to work on their heckling skills. All of their anti UT stuff is pretty rudimentary. There is the UT sucks campaign. Basically they add “SUCKS!!!” onto the end of any of the chants that the Horns are doing. So Longhorns! Fight!” Becomes “ Longhorns!” followed by the Sooners screaming “SUCKS!”. They also have the “Horns Down” hand sign. They don’t really have their own hand sign that I can think of, and you have to admit that the Hookum! Sign is pretty cool. So not having your own sign and just turning UT’s sign upside down leave something to be desired. On the other hand the Longhorns alter their own fight song to slam their opponent. The official, unofficial version of Fight Texas Fight when playing OU includes: Give um Hell, Give um hell, OU SUCKS!!! So the two schools are in different leagues when it comes to hand signs, chants, and taunts. To this end, the horns make the grade, where the Sooners fall short.

The last award I want to give is the hillbilly award. This one has to go to the Sooners. The guy sitting in the row in front of us brought in a 20 year old, black and white portable TV. Now, I don’t mean he brought a little Watchman, or hand held TV. He brought one of the 20 lb. monsters that was cutting edge in the early to mid 1980’s requiring 10 D cell batteries to operate. First of all, he had 50 yard line tickets….why would you want to bring at TV? Second of all this thing was big and heavy! The seats at the Cotton Bowl are not what you would call spacious, and thus he had to hold this thing in his arms like a baby for the whole game (which most of the time everyone was standing). It cracked me up to see this guy with this big TV in his arms, messing with the antenna to try to make the ghosts and static in his black and white picture to get better…when 100 feet in front of him the actual game was right there!!!! So the Sooners get the best grade for Hillbilly fans.

OU vs. Texas

It was a great game and a great way to spend time with my grandmother and uncle.

OU vs. Texas

Kacy Crowley at Standard and Pours

Published on October 8, 2006 in Dallas Area Live Music. 1 Comment

Kacy Crowley

Miss Kacy Crowley at Standard and Pours.

I have to admit, I thought I might be making a bad decision by going down town to see a show on the Friday night before Texas vs. OU weekend. There was a lot more traffic getting down there, but I was happy to find that the South Side Lamar area was pretty tame once I got down there. I dont think I really have a choice though. I pretty much had to go to save face!!! I told Kacy the last 2 or 3 times she was in Dallas that I was going to try to make it to her show, and every time I couldn’t’ make it. So to keep from being a total chump, I had to go! After all it was Kacy! She blew me away at Bend Studio the night she played with Salim and Billy Harvey for Anju’s dream bill at Bend Studio.

Kacy Crowley

She was playing with two other acts that I would like to see in the near future: Johny Goudy and Taylor. Due to other plans I was only able to stay for Kacy.
I think in my last review of her show, I said something along the lines of : Kacy proves that big voices hide in little women. Once again that proved to be true. Kacy is a tiny person, (maybe 5 feet tall?) but that little frame contains this amazingly strong voice that will blow you away. I love her witty and fun song writing style. “Badass” is a great example of that as it starts out with serious tones about being the underdog, and climaxes as Kacy looks shyly at the crowd to see how they will react when she sings the hook (click the link to her myspace below, you can hear the song there). Good stuff! Kacy puts on a great live show, and it is easy to see how passionate she is about what she does. She is one of the acts that I’ll always go see if I can, so it goes without saying that you should defiantly check her out.

Kacy Crowley

Standard and Pours has an interesting dynamic that I get a real kick out of. The dynamic can be summed up in one word : Pascal!!! Pascal is the owner and just cracks me up with her antics and humor. First of all, she is the best merchandise person an artist cold ever hope for. Between songs she will pick up a hand full of CD’s and walk around the shop to see if anyone would like to buy one. She has sold more stuff for the artists than the people who come withi the acts to sell merch…by far. Between songs at one point Pascal yelled up to Kacy, “Kacy, will you sign this CD if I sell it to this guy?” She also made Kacy sit back down after her set was finished because she hadn’t played “Kind of Perfect” yet. We were all thinking it!!!! And it cracked me up that Pascal asked her to play one more song before turing over the stage. Pascal does a great job of keeping the mood relaxed and casual. A task that is hard to do in a venue like hers.

Have I done a full review of that venue yet? Maybe I need to do that soon.

Standard and Pours

Kacy’s Myspace

Albert Aguilar at Bend Studio

Published on October 8, 2006 in Dallas Area Live Music. 0 Comments

Albert Aguilar

Let’s see. Where to begin? This last week and a half has been pretty busy for me. I think this is the first chance I’ve had in that time to be at home, and not asleep for more than an hour or so. So there is much to blog about, but still not much time. I’m thinking this post is going to be a double post for the two shows I went to go see this weekend. Or maybe I’ll just do two shorter reviews…..After I get this one wrapped up I’ll move on to the UT vs. OU post.

The first show I went to see was the CD release party for Albert Aguilar. Albert saw some of the pics I took on Ian Moore’s myspace page, and sent me a note to let me know about his show at Bend. I really didn’t think I was going to be able to make it to the show, but it turns out that I was meeting someone down in that part of town that same day, and we were finished right about the same time as the show was supposed to start. Wouldn’t you know I had my camera with me, so it worked out just perfectly.

Albert had a great turn out for his release party. It was standing room only, and more packed than I’ve seen any Thursday night show. The audience was filled with younger people than I’m used to. I asked Albert if he had any female friends who were not beautiful. If he does, none of them made it to the show. Pretty much every girl in the studio was stunning. I have to admit, it makes the show that much better when you are surrounded by beautiful people!

Adam Aguilar

The show opened with Albert’s brother Adam playing a solo set. Adam has a very strong booming voice and an uptempo style. He was a lot of fun to listen to and did a great job of getting the crowd warmed up. After hearing Adam and Albert, I think I’d also like to hear them play together.

Shortly there after, Albert took the stage with a bass and drum player backing him up with his guitar. The music I would say was light rock(ish), with a very instrumental and vocal focus. Albert’s voice is a lot more gentle than his brother’s voice. If I had to take a stab at who is voice sounds like, I would have to say Jason Kay from Jamiroquai. Be not confused! Albert’s voice sounds like Jason’s , but their styles are very differnt.Now his style isn’t like Jason’s, but his voice sounded very similar. However, if Albert ever wanted to do some funky cover songs durring a set, he has the tools to do it for sure.

Albert Aguilar

Since I see a lot of small music shows, I have come to the understanding that there tends to be two types of guitar players. The first is proficient with the instrument. They play well, keep the rhythm and make great music. However, the guitar for them is something they use to back up their real skill and talent : singing and songwriting. The second type are passionate about the instrument and take the musical experience to another level. Albert is a guitarist. He is the type of person who could make a living in music just playing the guitar even if he didn’t sing. Having that type of talent on top of a great voice really improves the quality of the show and of the listening experience. I really enjoyed his music, as did the rest of his friends and family who made it out to celebrate his CD release. I would defiantly recommend going to see Albert or his brother Adam play if they are in your area.

Bend Studio
Albert’s Myspace

Port Aransas 2006

Published on October 1, 2006 in Travel, trips, and such. 0 Comments

sunset

Port A 2006
Ahhhh sweet success. I guess we can say that the fall Port A skydivers trip has been officially revitalized. I look forward to our Port A trip every year, but over the past few years the trip has been slowly been losing participants and it’s origional flare. But this year….this year we put some gasoline on the forest fire and got things going again. I didn’t make it to the first Port A, but my understanding is that it was a 4 day weekend trip over Labor Day weekend to Port Aransas with about 15 or so skydivers renting a beach house. We soon learned that the prices for beach houses go down about %60 if you wait until after Labor day, and since then have been going down at the end of September. I think this is the 7th or 8th anual trip.

What better to do when you have 7 hours to kill in the back of a car heading home from vacation. Port Aransas, Skydives Vacation 2006 has come to a fantastic conclusion. I’ll try not to get bogged down with too many details and just hit some of the highlights (that almost never really happens, but I like to say it anyway…makes me feel better). The big overriding highlight is the fact that it really revitalized the traditional trip and got a lot of the old school players back into the game. The other really cool thing was how many people ended up coming at the last second, and those who traveled from across the country to make it down to the beach with us. The group of people who make it to the trip has always been the key factor in the trip, and this trip was epic in that regard. As a quick aside, next year I hope to have it even more epic with more people and back to a full week down there.

The group

The week went quickly, but also as smoothly as could be hoped for. We consumed more food and more booze than should be humanly possible. One of the things I noticed is that our power drinking skills seem to be more honed and refined now. There were not many hangovers and I don’t think anyone had to sit out a day. I never remember so much Gatoraid and water being consumed to help prolong the drinking and stave off the ill effects of our game. Everybody was ready for their 9 a.m. Ke Ke and OJ, and the games were going in earnest by noon every day.

One of the first highlights and memories I’ll keep with me was just after we showed up on the island. Nikki and I made a trip to the store and ran down to the beach while we were waiting on everyone else to make it down and get checked into the house. We bought a six pack of 16ozers but soon realized we didn’t have a cooler… It’s a party foul to let your beer get warm at the beach, so before lunch, we made sure to dispose of the beers before they got warm.

first day on the beach, Zach and Nix. Taken for Victoria!

During the rest of our trip we went to the beach a few times to swim. Marcus jinxed himself one night by saying that he’d never seen any stinging jellyfish in Port A. One decided to introduce himself to Marcus the next day while he was swimming by wraping around his neck. The water was warm, and the weather was pretty fantastic. This time of year weather is always hit or miss (hence the %65 price reduction on renting beach houses). We were very fortunate this year in that regard; last year we were evacuated half way into our trip because of Hurricane Rita, and in several years we have had cold or raining days. We made it to a few of the bars and restaurants in town, some of the group had great success fishing (pics to come I hope). We danced and listened to good music. The last night dancing usually meant making sure that Ron didn’t fall over, but it was dancing none the less!

That night, and our last night of the trip were also pretty amazing. Ron brought one if his big fire caldrons and tons of wood down to the beach. There is something about being out on the beach at night with your friends that is hard to explain. Just being out there under the stars, with the warm sea breeze and blazing fire creates an atmosphere that is hard to beat. The first night we went out to the beach was during the week so we were totally alone out there on our; it really seemed like we had a private beach. Times like those are the moments that you can’t plan into a vacation, but in themselves make the trip worth while.

Dane tending the fire

Jesus did smile down on me the second night we were out there. I should have filleted my foot into about 1000 scraps of meat, but walked out pretty unscathed. The only way for me to get where I needed to go was by walking between the two Harleys that were parked about 3 feet apart. Between the bikes was a cooler that I had to step over in such a way that once I made the big step, all of my weight was going to be on my front foot. Well, in the dark I wasn’t able to see the empty beer bottle that someone left next to the tire of Dane’s bike. I stepped on it bare footed about as squarely as you could. I didn’t break it into a few pieces, I shattered that thing into about 200 schards directly under my bare foot.. When I swept my hand across the bottom of my foot to check for damage, about 6 big pieces of glass fell to the floor. Not good. I ended up with a hand full of blood. After I washed it off, all I was able to find was one very small puncture wound and the bleeding stopped.. Maybe someone upstairs knew I still had more partying to do that night, but I defiantly got out lucky.

What a great trip it turned out to be. We revitalized the Port A trip and got a great group of old friends together to chill out and enjoy 4 days on the beach. I’m pretty sure it’s say to say that everyone had a great time.

Ron's smil!