One degree of separation

I am reading "Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop". I had a very weird moment while reading through the front of the book. There are the typical thank yous from both Frankie Manning and the author, Cynthia Millman. As I read through them, I began to see many names I recognized, and then people whom I know ... specifically Lance Benishek and Peter Loggins ... or more interestingly than people whom I know, they are people who know me.

This was an odd moment for me. I have known famous people before, talked to them, interacted, and not found it too exciting, and except in the case of Sam Kinnison, not too exciting either.

For some other reason, seeing these names in print, in a book, was a different story. It was all of sudden I thought, hey these people know who I am, only one degree of separation between me and written history. Wild.

Someone wants to clean your screen

I got this as a link in an e-mail, click here for full window size.

Two sad letters: OJ

When I was a kid in the 70s, sports stars were nothing like they are now, there were hardly any national endorsement contracts, no gratuitous appearances in TV shows or movies, they didn't appear on late night TV, and no reports in US or People magazines about their latest going ons.

There was one major exception to this. OJ Simpson. Don't laugh, OJ was celebrity. Oddly enough it was Hertz car rentals that I remember best, OJ would run through airports leaping over things. As a little boy, I remember setting up the ottoman in the living room, grabbing a football, and jumping over the ottoman just like The Juice.

The latest of OJ's troubles are not just troubling, but stupid too. Armed robbery in a Las Vegas casino?

I think it's sad that the two biggest sports stars of my youth, OJ Simpson, who was a celebrity, and Pete Rose, who was not, have shown themselves to be role models ... of the what not to do variety.

OnionBoy, now with 0g of transfat

I had the unfortunate experience of having a coworker explain what trans-fat is to me the other day.

Usually I can go ahead and pretty much shove thoughts out of my mind and just eat things, but this has really grossed me out. I tried to eat some McDonalds fries the other day and ended up throwing half of them away because I just couldn't get them down without thinking about it.

I hope this trend does not continue and I can eat stuff I like without worrying obsessively.

A Compromise

Time to get serious...

Let's face it, I'm not going to write any updates on Cowtown Jamborama, Matt's Birthday Party, or even the latest crisis in my life the bee attack and resulting swollen hand blues. You can see pictures of Cowtown Jamborama here, Matt's Birthday Party here, and fortunately there are no pictures of the swollen left hand of death, which kind of looked like something out Spanky's latest game, Bioshock.

Everything is going well for me, the new job is going well, and I'm cycling back into "non-summer" mode, all of sudden I have time, money, and enough sleep. Odd.

I'll be updating more, and actually reading other peoples blogs.

Goodbye Roseana

I didn't just lose a friend here, I lost a coworker, or should I say that the other way around? I am so confused.

Roseana and I at Mike and Roxy's wedding.

Roseana got her dream job in Dallas, and moved away. I can never fault anyone for following their dreams, it's just this life is an odd combination of too short and too long, too short for all the things you want to do while you are, and too long when you miss the people who have traveled out of your life. I got some quality Roseana time the day she started packing, I had the day off so I went and helped.

You know me, what was said is hardly ever important, the time together is. I don't really know Roseana as well as I know other people, but I do know she uses her mirror for something other than for combing her hair, she sees herself as a flawed but loved child of God, and is always looking for a way to be a reflection of His love to others, and following through on it. I could be more like that.

Roseana has had an odd sort of influence in my life. She has been right there when I have needed something ... like getting me to help with the 1314 Jones building project, or with encouragement when I might have been slipping a little. Odd how those sort of things happen, it's like she has been led by God to be where he wanted her to be. I could definitely be more like that.

People in Dallas, you got yourself one of the good ones, treat her well.

---

On August there was a party for her with a Cowboy theme.

This here posse is going to round up all the good times.


The best part of this picture is I am wearing white basketball shorts and tennis shoes, but from the chest up, I look authentic.


Smeade is explaining the best way to ride a horse.


Not really any action with this one, I just think it's a good picture.

Transitioning to Autumn

Welcome to September. I usually survive the first half of summer without much in the way of a time crunch, it is usually the second half of summer that gets me. Last year, starting at Billy and Lindsay's wedding and running right through Cowtown I had something going on almost every night. This year was about the same, starting at my birthday, I had something going on almost every night, add in the stress of being burned out on my schedule and waiting for the new job to start, and I felt overwhelmed pretty much for the last forty-five days or so.

With the holiday weekend here, I purposely planned nothing, and I intend on keeping it to a minimum if I can.

The new job is great, I felt fairly useless on Monday and Tuesday, but I started to feel like I was a contributing part of the team the rest of the week. My new bedtime has me befuddled, in order to get eight hours of sleep, I don't have to be in bed until 2300, and to get six it's 0100. I hardly know what to do with myself after 2100.

I'll have three posts with pictures about three events over the last few weeks coming up here in the next few weeks ... right after I relearn how to live one breath at a time.