Vacation

Into week 2 now and it is flying by. The weather has been good so that has been a big plus.

Yesterday the boy and I went to the driving range together. That was a lot of fun.

Then Joan and I went to see Slumdog Millionaire. This was a really good movie and it was great to have a date night.

Tomorrow night is the annual New Years dinner party with friends. We take the young master to the Grand parents for an over-nighter and the girls go their own way.

One more day of 2008, how did this happen?

Tamale Night

To start the festive season off we had Tamale and Pictionary night. The parents, older brother, oldest daughter with significant other and son, and all of the other children came together at our place on Sunday evening. Earlier I had picked up 5 dozen tamales from Joe T. Garcia's bakery in Fort Worth. The evening started by devouring the delicious tamales. All really enjoyed this and gut busting goodness was had.

Then we had a great game of pictionary. These were the advanced set of cards Joan had made. Two teams were made and off we went. Nothing like the free association that comes pouring out when your trying to figure out what the person is drawing. Lots of family fun.

The highlight was my brother trying to get us to guess zombie. Here he is below as well as the zoom in of the clues. Needless to say we didn't get it. After the timer went off and he was explaining it I'm still not sure I followed his logic. This included his picture of the pituirary gland... So all night the phrase "Chris, is that a pituitary gland?" kept coming up!!



More activities are planned, can't wait!

Merry Christmas yall!

Man Shack

Yesterday I took advantage of the beautiful weather and played a round of golf with the club. Afterward we went over to one of the members house for the post festivities.

We had the gathering in his new man shack! This baby sported a shop, gym, ping pong table, pool table, soon to be indoor driving range, and 50" HDTV. Outside the shack was his new putting green and outdoor driving range with markers.

Wow, now that is a man shack like I have never seen...

Random Cell Phone Picture

Texas Winter

Yesterday it was a beautiful 80 degree day. The boy played outside all day. Positively shorts and t-shirt weather. Then about 7pm a front blew through and the temperature dropped 40 degrees! Today's high will be in the 30s! But don't worry by Thursday it will be back in the 70s.

Such is winter in Texas. A see saw of temperatures for several months. I was in Chicago a few weeks ago and those people already had their winter regalia out. Layers of heavy clothes. You could tell they were dressed for the cold and ready for it to be cold for a long time. My wardrobe hardly includes any long sleeves. When it gets cold I just throw on the coat and power through knowing in a couple of days it will warm up again.

SNOW!

The girls texted at 7am this morning to report the ground was covered in snow! This is a rarity in south Louisiana. Here are some pictures from New Orleans at the French Quarter and St. Charles St. Very weird indeed!

Stove again...


As Joan pointed out the dead stove makes a great storage cabinet for the toaster oven!

The Stove

We have your typical stove, oven on bottom, burners on top. Our stove decided to kill itself about 6 months ago. For some reason it went into full self clean mode all on its own and burned itself up.

So far six months it has sat there with breaker off. And we have cooked without it. What is suprising is that so far we have not missed it. The kitchen is so full of additional cooking appliances that it turns out the stove is really just not necessary. While we have discussed getting a new one so far there has been no rush to do so. In fact its now like a mission to just avoid buying one.

I suppose there are a lot of things we have that we would get along just fine without.

Planets

Maybe you have been noticing at dusk the last couple of weeks two bright objects in the southwest sky. The moon has been passing through them this last week. These two objects are Venus and Jupiter. Both are very bright and you can see them clearly before it gets dark.

So take a few minutes, go outside and take a look at dusk.

Vacation

-The Saints ROCKED the house last night! Even without Reggie. And Duece set the all time Saints touchdown record. DEUUUUUUUUUUUCEE!
-It's nice to be on a full week of vacation. The company has a use it or loose it policy so about this time of year people really start disappearing. I'm using 3 days to get the week off!!
-Winter is real tough here in Texas - NOT! I was in Chicago last week and forgot how people really layer and dress for cold. I don't have any of that stuff so maybe I should quit complaining about the cold we get here.
-The kid and I have been playing football and basketball everyday. Great fun. I'm going to try and get him to the 9 hole golf course this week too.
-My brother had his first kid, a son. I'm so excited for him. He and his wife will have a lot of joy with the little prince.
-This year for Thanksgiving my Mom is cooking a prime rib instead of turkey. Yum, Yum!!
-I can't get enough of the new XM channels. Between the Grateful Dead channel and the JAM ON channel I'm listening all the time.
-I still can't believe how low gas prices have become! At racetrack yesterday it was $1.58!!! Wow.

Chicago...



Traveling to Chicago in November is usually not fun. And when its for me to give a customer demo with lots of buisness implications it's really no fun! But you know what makes it all better??

That's right, yummy, delicious Portillo's!! Especially the Italian beef and sausage combo with sweet peppers on a roll plus crinkly fries on the side. Man that is to die for.

It just may have to be deep dish tonight at Lou's...

Thoughts of the Day

-Thanks Dad and all the other veterans who fought for our country. We will never know your sacrifice but will benefit it's reward.
- Nothing is as perfect as Joan's sweet tea
- Traffic in Denton is horrible. But gas there was only $1.84/gallon today!
- Google maps on my Motorola Q phone is pretty awesome
- I have to go to Chicago next week for work. Talk about winter shock, ug.
- Very much looking forward to the holiday time off coming up soon.
- For the most part cars are there for you but when things go wrong it can be painful.
- Is anybody really going to shop this Christmas season???

Polotics 4

I know a lot of one side is saying the sky is falling and the other side is pointing fingers at the current administration. But really if you look at it the president's office over time it oscillates back and forth between right and left. That means most people are in the center. After 8 years one way it's time to drift back the other way and so forth. To much of one thing, especially in politics, is a bad thing. And change in our government is always slow no matter who you are. So I think this will be good for the country and in 4 years we can all decide again which way to head.

NASCAR Nation

Today was Monday after one of the big NASCAR races. I drive to work down 35W so go right by the track. I could avoid it but I love to see the spectacle of NASCAR nation leaving sacred ground. Monday morning all the thousands are peeling out of the track and heading home. The freeway is bumper to bumper RVs with all the faithful. In a sense I'm people watching as I'm driving. You get to see all kinds. And they all have crazy flags, stickers, trailers, custom BBQ pits, and the best of all suped up golf carts. These people know how to have a good time and they come prepared!

This evening I drove home in the dark, it was only 6pm :-(

Winter...

Yesterday there was frost on the ground. Our electric blanket has been used twice this week. The mornings and evenings are getting dark. Even though I'm still wearing a short sleave shirt to work with no jacket the season has changed. Let the long winter stretch begin as my depression sets in...

Politics 3

I think the old adage that if the economy is good the incumbent party wins and if the economy is bad the opposing party wins is about to play out.

I get at least one email a day from a concerned friend passing along a detailed account of why it is party X's fault we are in this economic mess. Of course one day its from a Republican friend and the next its from a Democratic friend. Some things just don't change.

Maybe I will vote this week to get the drama over with. I still have yet to decide. Barr is looking pretty good at this point...

Stuff...

- The Bosox went down in the 7th game. Nobody took their eyes off of them until that final out was done because those guys prove over and over again how scrappy they are. Funny how a few years ago the Red Sox were everyone's favorite underdog (besides the Cubs) and now they are the dynasty winning machine. So overnight the world has become Ray's fans. Its a great story, I'm on board.

- Fall is here :-( And looming is the worst day of the year for me. We shall not speak of the day when the clock hands move in the middle of the night 1 hour.

- The wife and I are secretly lamenting our age. It seems to be that point when you realize everything really has changed and you are on the other side of it. I recently had 2 great aunts die. One from my Dad's side, one from my Mom's side. Both of these were the last of their generation in our family. So my Mom pointed out that now they have moved up into that oldest generation slot and therefore I have moved up in the order as well! doh!

- My answer to polotics and a bad ecomony is sports. Give me college football, MLB and NFL so I can ignore the problems of the world!

- It's time to retire the traditional Elvis mask I wear on Holloween. I need something new, going to have to make a mask run.

- The Texas State Fair has come and gone again and I didn't make it, again :-(

- I'm not going to miss the King Tut exhibit

- Happy Monday.

Baseball

You got to love playoff baseball. Last night's Red Sox come back was amazing and exciting! Within two innings to go from being down 7-0 and winning 7-8 was incredible! The bad part is I wish both teams could win. Not sure Bosox have it to come back all the way this time though.

Looking forward to some more games like this.

More Politics

Things are heating up. We were discussing this the other day.

Person 1: "I vote straight regardless of what the name is. It doesn't matter who the actual person is and I'd never vote any other way." This person went on to say almost everyone is this way and that its rare for people to vote based on the person and to not follow a strict party line.

I have to admit I do see this behavior from the majority of the people. I guess I'm in the minority. Although I have been registered with one party all my voting life on every election I decide based on the information I have on the person running and party is just part of the equation.

Person 2: "I'm not registered to vote and have never been registered to vote. I have no opinion and just don't want to be a part of it."

I can see a lot of people opting for this as well. The alternative is to seek opinion of others and that usually goes down the path of there is only one right choice...

Politics

I'm pretty a-political but had to comment on this. Yesterday I was behind a car that had two bumper stickers on it. The first was "Protect America, Nobama" and the second was just "NO" with the O being the Obama logo.

So this person took the time to adhere two bumper stickers to their car for what they were against. Yet they did not bother to add any sticker to endorse who they were FOR!

That's politics in a nutshell....

Back from Austin

It was good times and a plethora of live music. We festivaled all day and then went to an after show each night. Austin is the live music capital of the world so its only fitting that it have such a festival. Much like New Orleans' Jazz Fest its a community event instead of just a concert production.

We got to see a lot of great bands including the unknowns to the well known. The varieties in the line up keep things interesting all the time. And the intimate after shows were a nice addition to the festival this year (that's Jakob Dylan in the picture).

Thanks Austin!

ACL Festival

Thursday I'm off to the Austin City Limits Festival for 3 days of live music! I guess I need to go look at the line up and see who is playing...(!)

STRIKE!


His second game pitching was much better then the first. Good improvement He had a fair number of strikes and really stayed in control! Way to go son, we are very proud!

Live Music

Last Friday I ventured to the Granda and caught a great Umphrey's McGree show. They were fantastic and really put on a great show.

IKE Cometh

(As seen from the International Space Station)

Another massive storm in the gulf, this time Texas will take the hit. Hopefully everyone gets out that is told to. The kids are reporting that strong wind and rain started in Baton Rouge this morning.

Twin Towers

I'll never forget that feeling.... vulnerable, exposed...

Proud Dad Alert

Saturday was the opening game for Fall Little League. The son has a new team this time around so things are going to be different. He has also been going to the baseball gym all summer to improve his skills including pitching training. Pitching is something he has never attempted before.

In preparation for the first game the coach tells him that he is pitching first! He pitched the first inning and even threw a few strikes. I was very proud just to see him take it on, to get up there and go for it! It was a great moment!

Gustav Pounds Baton Rouge

We arrived Friday night in New Roads. The girls came in later that night. The next day we all had a great day on the river. The weather was perfect. But this was the calm before the storm.

All day the news was consumed by Gustav. Fortunately, the storm never slowed down over the Gulf so Cat 3 was all it could muster. But this meant the storm was coming in earlier. Instead of Tuesday it would hit Monday. LSU's football game kick off was moved up on Saturday from 5pm to 10am, the earliest kick-off in school history. The Contraflow plan was moved up from 6:30AM Sunday to 4:00AM. My cousin spent the day putting everything away and trimming tree limbs. He was hoping it was for precaution that would not be needed.

South Louisiana seem to mobilize Saturday night. My coworker left Thibideaux Saturday at 7:30pm on HWY 90 with his family. Thidideaux was in the direct path of the storm. It took him 12 hours to get to Shreveport (normally about 4 hours). The girls left to return to LSU Saturday night before the Contraflow began.

We decided to leave Sunday morning. At 7:45am we headed north on LA1 avoiding HWY 190 and I-49 south of Alex. LA1 was deserted so we made easy time. Joined I-49 North at Alex and all seemed light. But about 50 miles up the road traffic stopped. It would remain thick the entire trip back to Dallas. Mostly moving at the speed limit but with bunches that would slow down and stop occasionally. Almost all Louisiana plates getting out.

Spent Monday watching CNN. Not much was reported on the Baton Rouge area. But it took a beating. Lots of wind, not as much rain. Worse for this area then Katrina or Rita was. The power went out around noon. I got text messages from the girls into the late evening but its been silence since.

Now waiting for the day after damage reports. Although Gustav was no Katrina it was still a very scary storm. Thank goodness for all the preparation this time.

Into the Eye...

It's Labor Day weekend so we are doing the traditional road trip to Louisiana. This year we get to visit two daughters that are in residence at LSU. Daughter #2 is a senior. In her first week as a freshmen in 2005 Katrina hit! Welcome to Louisiana. Now Daughter #3 is a freshman and Gustav is heading straight for Louisiana to welcome her. Hopefully things will be far less mayhem then the devistation that Katrina brought.

We will get in late tonight. The govenor has order New Orleans to evacuate Saturday. Gustav is due to arrive Tuesday. So we maybe leaving early to avoid storm and traffic.

fit... wii fit!After hearing about the wii fit for so long I finally decided to get one. The boy says its fun and I know it can't end up as a clothes hanger collecting dust in the corner.

Well getting one proved quite the challenge. You can't just buy these things, they are harder to get than the wii itself. I had to employ serious technology to get one. I found a wii stock tracker page and set it up to send me a text message whenever it found one on line. The first few days I kept missing getting one. One would pop up and then be gone in seconds. But finally I scored one from Toys R Us!!

The Wii Fit arrived a few days later and I was committed. I found out rather quickly this thing was serious! And how out of shape I was :-( First time up I take the body test and it gives me my wii fit age.... 49. Ouch, even the family winced.

But me and my personal wii fit trainer have been at it for 6 days now. He keeps telling me to keep working at it, one day I'll be in shape but only if I excercise everyday.

The truth is I'm enjoying it. It's a fun way to approach excercise. It's easy to do. Whether it works or not its got to beat sitting on the couch.

Game Time!

Today the little widget thingy on this page for LSU football changed indicating this week's game! College football is here and I'm excited. LSU goes into the season with uncertainty at the quaterback position like many other SEC schools are facing. Unfortunately the loss of Perrileaux now reflects on what just could have been a much more certain repeat trip to the BCS. But none of that matters once ball is kicked off on Saturday.

My Morning JacketRock and Roll brother called Saturday to invite me to his work. My Morning Jacket was playing at the Pladium and he knew I liked them. So I headed down to the Palladium and hung out with the bro at the sound board. Very cool since the place was jammed packed. And since he is the sound man the best seat in the house is where the sound man's ears are!!

The band was great! This was a stronger set than what I had seem them do a few years ago. I really enjoyed the full 3 hours. I was really amazed by the light show, tons of lights. Erika Badu made an appearance and sang one of the songs in the encore.

Love live music, thanks bro!

The King



I was thinking that night about Elvis
Day that he died, day that he died
I was thinking that night about Elvis
Day that he died, day that he died
Just a country boy that combed his hair
And put on a shirt his mother made and went on the air
And he shook it like a chorus girl
And he shook it like a Harlem queen
He shook it like a midnight rambler,
baby,
Like you never seen

- Gillian Welch, Elvis Presley Blues

Well she drew out all her money from the Southern Trust
And put her little boy on the Greyhound Bus
Leaving Memphis with a guitar in his hand
With a one way ticket to the Promised Land
Hey little girl with the red dress on
There's party tonight down in Memphis down
I'll be going down there if you need a ride
The man on the radio says Elvis Presley's died

- Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Bye Bye


Aug 16, 1977. RIP Elvis.

Nest is emptier...

Kid #3 left for college on Sunday. She drove by herself to Baton Rouge. And we are left a bit emptier. She will be fine...

But we are loosing critical mass. Down to only 2 kids in the house. One of them is a high school senior so she is rarely seen. Thus leaving the house feeling very empty. Kind of one of those things when I was a younger parent and heard about that I just didn't get. Empty nest? Woo Whoo!! But then when it starts to happen you get it...

Geekfest '08

Last week I traveled to Austin to attend NIWeek 08. This is a week long technology conference presented by National Instruments. Not exactly a household name. But for 3,000 experts in instrumentation, automation and graphical programming its mecca. This is an Austin based company that lives the moto, keep Austin weird. They take innovation, engineering and out-of-the-box all together and produce gee wiz stuff for us engineers.

This technology is exciting and spectacular. Part of NI's vision is to create more engineers and technologist. With our enormous appetite for all technology such as cell phones, hdtv, wireless internet, video games, ipods, etc. you would think ever kid in America would want to be involved. But not so. It seems our kids measure success by Derek Jetter or Hanah Montana with little room for much else. Technology is cool and so many oppotunities are out the for the taking. NI is working to get to kids into techology, primarily with their Lego Mindstorm robots. This is NI's brain child and one of their most exciting projects (slightly cooler then their fully automing the beer making process at the Spotzel brewery in Shiner, Texas).

So I applaud companies like this and really am awed but the power of innovation when its fueled. A modern day Edison lab for sure. And yes, that makes me fall into the geek squad. As Joan pointed out, "We have seen the enemy and they is us!". But I'm ok with that. Enjoy your techology!

RIP Jerry

See here how everything
lead up to this day
and it's just like
any other day
that's ever been
Sun goin up
and then the
sun it goin down
Shine through my window and
my friends they come around
come around
come around

Hail Caesar!



Last night we went to the Caesar Salad competition in Dallas with a group of friends. This competition is hosted by the American Institute of Wine and Food. Some of Dallas' best chefs and restaurants serve their Caesar Salad and an appetizer. They included:

J.W. Foster * The Fairmont Hotel
Mansour Gorji * Canary Cafe
Chad Kelley * The Oceanaire
Daniel Nemec * Kirby's Steak House
Mike Owens * Morton's of Chicago
Scott Romano * Charlie Palmer
John Tesar * The Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek
Jason Weaver * The French Room
Brian Wubbena * Truluck's
Michael "Buzzy" Zeve * Sevy's Grill

There were 10 restaurants in all. We tried every one of them! So it was very filling and delicious. All of the salads and appetizers were really good. The appetizers included escargot, crab (crab, crab and more crab), filet mignon, sweetbreads, quail, duck, and others. Very much a variety.

It was lots of fun, a night out and good eats. Joan and I thought the Canary Cafe salad was the best. But the winner this year was the Mansion at Turtle Creek. They did have a great salad and their fried sweetbreads were very tasty.

So it begins....

LSU's first SEC match up will be at Auburn on Sept. 20!

I'll wait to start complaining about USC and Ohio State's soft schedule. They deserve to play each other... oh wait, I guess I just did complain!

USA Today Poll

1. Georgia (22) 0-0 1,438

2. USC (14) 0-0 1,430

3. Ohio State (14) 0-0 1,392

4. Oklahoma (3) 0-0 1,329

5. Florida (5) 0-0 1,293

6. LSU (3) 0-0 1,163

7. Missouri 0-0 1,143

8. West Virginia 0-0 1,008

9. Clemson 0-0 999

10. Texas 0-0 979

11. Auburn 0-0 888

12. Wisconsin 0-0 747

13. Kansas 0-0 714

14. Texas Tech 0-0 644

15. Virginia Tech 0-0 568

16. Arizona State 0-0 560

17. Brigham Young 0-0 547

18. Tennessee 0-0 506

19. Illinois 0-0 422

20. Oregon 0-0 399

21. South Florida 0-0 350

22. Penn State 0-0 313

23. Wake Forest 0-0 203

24. Michigan 0-0 112

25. Fresno State 0-0 91

Oysters

On Saturday Joan and I went to a Oyster eating experience at the Oceanair Seafood Room. This was a special event where the executive chef led an oyster tasting. He educated us on oysters themselves, where they are found, flavors, differences, etc.

The tasting included a list of 4 different west coast oysters and 4 different east coast oysters. We received 3 of each on the half shell and he required us to eat then straight up, no crackers or sauce (naked). That way we could compare the flavor differences of each of them.

I was very suprised by the variations. Even though many are the same species, the environment they grow in has big influences. Some where chewy, others buttery. They all had various flavors in them. And each had a different saltiness and ocean taste.

Joan isn't a big fan of oysters but she did a respectable job tasting (and passing the rest to me!). Two dozen oysters is a lot for a non-oyster eater, especially when they have to be eaten naked!

It was a lot of fun and a really enjoyable afternoon!

Take Your Child to Work Day

Last week we had take your child to work day. This has been around a number of years but this year engineering took on the coordination of activities and events.

A full day was planned and the kids got to see a lot of neat stuff that happens in the day of the life of an engineer at Motorola. We had tons of phones and electronics, x-ray machines, guassing magnets to change the TV screen colors, soldering, assembling, sound tests, and so on.


And of course engineers are a different bunch. Many of them have "toys". So the highlight of the day was the Tesla Coil. This demo started with a Jacob's ladder. Then a Van de Graaff generator to use static electricy to make the kids hair stand out striaght. Next the demo moved to a small tesla coil that made light bulbs light with amazing colors. And finally was the big Tesla coil. This was the big show and the kids oo-ed and aw-ed all the whole time as electric charges shot all over!



It was a good day for all.

All Star Fun




My son and I watched part of the all star game last night. I love to see his excitment just because so many stars from all the different teams are there at once. We missed the opening when they introduced each postion with hall of famers first then the player for this year. But we did talk about some of those historical players. "Yogi Bera, who's that?"!


And I have a feeling he will want to add a Hamilton t-shirt to his Ranger collection next time we go. What a performance at the home run derby!

Got to love baseball. Now I'm feeling like I need me some more baseball soon!

The Quiet Before...

We strolled around campass last week just to walk around and visit Mike. Mike was asleep in his spot. The campus was empty, closed, totally dead...

Hard to believe that in a month this ghost town will transform to life. Two of our girls will be living here, one for the first time to move out of the house.

And, of course, Death Valley will open for buisness... dun dun dunnnnnnn

4th of July

In our family we have this thing about traditions. I'm the instigator of most of it. But once a tradition is established it must be followed at all costs. And we have a bunch of them.

One such tradition for the last many years to go see fireworks on the 4th of July while sitting on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River. They are set off on a barge in the river at the I-10 bridge in Baton Rouge. We sit on the opposite side on the levee with the state capital lit up in the back ground and the fire works show before us.

Well the last two years had not gone so well. Two years ago something blew up on the barge right at the start and the show was ended right then. Then last year the show was just a dud, seeming to just end mid stream. So when it came time this year I was thinking maybe it was time to skip the show, avoid the 30 minute drive, and just do our own little show that always follows instead. The adults were all for this.

So I go to take the consensus with the kids asking them what they want to do? They answered, its a tradition, we have to go. Enough said, lets go...

This year the show the most spectacular we had ever seen. Several times we thought we were in the big finale only for the show to slow down and keep going. I guess the organizers knew the last two years were disappointing and were making up for it. Even after all was finally done and we were all leaving one more shot off. As if to put the exclamation mark on the end.

Thanks kids. It was a great, traditional 4th of July.

As it should be...

Sometimes a lyric just strikes you.

Sometimes the lights all shinin on me
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip its been...

It seems like that is the way things are right now with kids growing up and life passing by.

Have a great 4th. We are off to Louisiana to sit by the lake and watch the grass grow.

Half way there.... Happy Birthday!!




Today our 'baby' turns 9 years old! Yikes, how did this happen.... Happy Birthday!

Bocce!

The father's day gift this year was a bocce ball set. This has proven to be great family fun! It is easy to do, outdoors, and creates fun and excitement. Of course my son perfers bocce on the wii....

Blogger...


Its been a week! Sorry about that, time flies by so quickly. This week started with one kid going off to college orientation and finished with the other kid totaling her car (she is ok, no injuries to humans). Its a tough stage to be a parent of kidults.

CWS finished up with the cinderalla Fresno State winning it all. What a great story and exciting finish. To bad nobody watches the CWS... it was some great action and drama. Congrats to the Fresno State Bulldogs!

And the Rangers are holding around 500. Not in last and some things are looking bright. I need some more baseball. I'm definately going on the next fireworks night. This year was the first time I had attended a Rangers fireworks night and I was really impressed! Baseball and fireworks, you can't beat that.

Texas Rangers

Bask in it while you can! The Rangers are over 500!!!


CWS close out

LSU lost to UNC in the 9th ining of their CWS elimination game. It was tied 3 all into the ining. But UNC hit a grand slam in the top of the ninth and that was all she wrote. Good run Tigers! It was great to be back in Omaha and it was some exciting baseball to watch along the way.

UNC would go on to loose to Fresno St. Leaving Fresno and Georgia as the final teams.

Pine Cove

The boy is at Pine Cove this week. They post pictures for each day and we dig through all of them in hopes he was in a picture or two. We got big smiles when we found this one. I'm sure he is having a blast.

We miss him badly. But we have taken advantage of the time to get a few dates in!

Can't wait to get him Saturday and hear all about the great week he had.

College World Series Update

LSU lost to UNC in the opening game throwing them into the longest run through the loser's bracket. Not good. So now its focus on one game at a time.

Yesterday they did just that in the first elimination game. In dramatic fashion they beat Rice in the bottom of the 9th innning with 4 desperately needed runs!

Next up is an elimination rematch with UNC (who lost to cindarella Fresno St.)

Geaux Tigers!

Bonnaroo!

It's Bonnaroo weekend!

This is the greatest music festival ever. Its 4 nights and 3 days of music all day and all night long! There are multiple stages with multiple genres of music all happening at once. You are musically enveloped!

Me and a friend went to Bonnaroo in 2003 and 2004. It was a 12 hour road trip to the middle of nowhere Tennessee. We camped out, met lots of people, had crazy adventures and listened to a lot of great music. All the music was fantastic. Stages start going around noon. There are 4 main stages and a few smaller ones. They go all day until the about 9pm when that night's headliner plays. After the headliner finishes the other main stages start up again and go from midnight to sun up. Then start over the next day! The amount of music we heard and saw was just an incredible experience.

My Bonnaroo days are over but I'm glad to see it still going strong...

College World Series!
Way to go Tigers! A decisive 21-7 defeat of UC Irivine in game 3.

Double Bugs

Crawfish season is fast coming to an end. This weekend we decided to have one last boil. Saturday I got 2 sacks and we had a gathering at the house to hang out and eat mudbugs. They were very good and satisfied that last urge before they go away until next year...

But about an hour after my parents left they called back to say that my cousin was having a crawfish boil the next day! Their daughter is graduating at Lewisville HS and wanted to have a crawfish boil for her party. So Sunday evening we went over there and had another fill of the crawdads!

Plus Sunday after I had mowed the lawn the wife made a yummy crawfish etouffee for lunch with the Saturday left overs.

I think I ate my weight in crawfish this weekend! Got to love that...

P.S. LSU lost its first game in the super regionals against UC Irvine. But they won the second in exciting fashion scoring 5 runs in the 9th to win!! Last game is tonight. Geaux Tigers!

Dorf junior

Sky Rocketing

In my blog on 4/14 I lamented how my little car required $50 to fill up. Well only 6 weeks later and its now $60!

Buffalo Wings - Old School

In my freshman year of college I met a buddy who was from Buffalo, NY. We called him Buffalo Paul. This was in the early 80s and at that time buffalo wings were unknown in the world except in Buffalo! So Paul had wing parties and taught us the beloved dish of his home town. They were simple yet tasty.

I hadn't thought of these in years. But my wife went out of town this weekend to her College reunion. That got me thinking back to those years for me and I remembered Paul's wings. Since it was just me and the boy we went for it. And they were just as delicious as I remembered.

Original Buffalo Hot Wings:

1. Cut wings into sections.

2. Fry wings sections as they are with skin on, no batter or breading.

3. In a bucket (Paul used a coffee can) mix 1/2 cup butter with 1/2 cup Louisiana Hot Sauce. Add a pinch of salt.

4. Drop fried wings in bucket and shake vigorously. Remove, serve and eat.

That's it, yum yum.

The shaking bucket:

Final result:

LSU continues the streak!

Add three more wins as LSU runs the Baton Rouge regional entirely in the win bracket!

Bring on the super regionals. Geaux Tigers!

New Fridge Blues

Our fridge of 14 years started leaking water. We had the repair man out and he discovered many things wrong and pronounced it dying. Great, so now we have to get a new fridge.

The wife and I went looking. Just like everything these days refrigerators have become complicated. We decided we just want your standard fridge, freezer on top, fridge on bottom, one door each, and no water/ice dispenser in the front. Basically what we have now!

Well apparently we are the only ones in the FloMoPlex that wants such an animal. Oh well, no problem because they can order whatever we want. So we pick out a nice Maytag from Home Depot. The first alarm bell went off when they realized the ice maker had to be ordered separately. This is odd since all fridges come with it installed. But the ice maker model number is specified so its added to the order. We payed the tally, saving tax since it was free tax weekend on all green star purchases.

Yesterday the delivery truck arrives. The two works unload the fridge, take off the packaging and then start looking into a smaller box. After about 45 min the guy informs me he can't install the ice maker, it seems to be the wrong one. He also admits they usually don't have to install ice makers. He also lets me have the install manual so I'm sure not to order the same model again. This manual is 27 pages of many various was to install an ice maker. I never saw him or his partner actually open it. Inside it looks pretty complicated. My personal conclusion is its just beyond them.

Now I have to decide what to do. I had been previously warned that if the order arrives and its not exactly how you want it reject the whole thing. The delivery guy reiterates the same thing. I told him to take it away... :-(

I call Home Depot and they will have to look into it. I'm sure a big mess will ensue. Our punishment for ordering the basic, simple fridge.

Seeing Gold!

LSU won the SEC tournament! They also have an unprecedented 20 game win streak going.

The Tigers will host a regional for the NCAA College world series starting on Friday.

Geaux Tigers!!

Ski Texas!


Bear Fire Ski Resort in Fort Worth, TX

That's right, Fort Worth, TX is going to get a ski resort! I hope it comes through, it looks like a lot of fun.

LSU wins!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They scored the go ahead run in the bottom of the 10th.

Final score was 5-4!

SEC Tournament update: Tigers were down 4-0 in the bottom of the 9th... and have just tied it! Going to exta innings!!

The SEC Baseball Tournament starts tomorrow. LSU finished #1 in the west coming off of a 16 win streak and climbing up the national rankings. LSU will be the #1 seed in bracket 1 and will face South Carolina tomorrow morning at 10.

Geaux Tigers!

Book list has piled up high!! I need to get busy (wish I could have a week on a beach somewhere). Here is the list:

1. The Remnant : On the Brink of Armageddon (Left Behind Series #10) by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

I had never read this series before. Last fall I came across it in the library and got started. At first it was good but I'm now at the point were I've become bored with it. But I'm 10 books in and don't want to quit! So its on very slow mode... will I make it to #11? Dunno...

2. The Omnivore's Dilemma : A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan.

A very eye opening book that has been generating a lot of discussion amongst friends. Basically how our food has been changed into food like substances made out of corn. Very interesting reading I hear so I'm anxious to get to it.

3. In Defense of Food : An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan.

Kind of the sequel to book 2 above. Answers the question of so what do we eat then!

4. 1 Dead in Attic : After Katrina by Chris Rose

Written by a Times-Picayune columnist about the year after Katrina in New Orleans

5. The Barbarian Way : Unleash the Untamed Faith Within by Erwin Raphael McManus

A book my Mom gave me about organized religion.

6. To Own a Dragon : Reflections on Growing up without a Father by Donald Miller

Not really applicable to me but its a Donald Miller book and I'm interested in stuff he writes.

7. Break 100 Now : From Hacker to Golfer in Just 90 Days by Mike Adams, Mike Corcoran (With) , T. J. Tomasi

The on-going quest. So what does an engineer do to improve something? Reads a book! Probably worthless but I need all the help I can get!

Colon continued

They just wont let it go. This morning I go to the lab and this was on the door...

I shall say no more about the colon episode of 2008....