Hot practices, Bucks and fawns

Great article on h.s. football on Amarillo.com today.

It mentions my alma mater and speaks highly of the football field. I tried to leave a comment, but it's either been rejected (the story of my online life) or hasn't been approved yet.

I believe I've mentioned it before (and I did in my comment at the website), but the field wasn't nearly as nice when I was playing as it is today. There were so many sticker patches, we named it "Goathead Bowl". Back then, coaches thought going without water would make us stronger (duh, we weren't camels, fer cryin' out loud) and would give us only one water break for a three/four hour practice.

"Drink water, you'll just have to stop and pee it out!" they'd bellow at us.

So many times, when a water break was called, we would all rush over to the irrigation pipe, turn it on and start gulping down water only to have a salamander (or two or three) crawl out (of the hose, not our mouths) after slaking our thirst.

We finally learned to let it run for a while and shake the hose to rid it of any amphibians. I don't remember any "Ewwww"s being said, as most of us boys had quenched our thirst several times in horse troughs/cattle tanks...just pushed away the scum on top and drank our fill.

Fade to Black

No, not about movies, nor am I talking about the end scene of the last episode of The Sopranos.

I leave my computer on most of the time (not too green here, sorry) but I do set my monitor to go off after fifteen minutes of inactivity. I really like the LCD monitor that came with this computer; it's flat and doesn't take up nearly the room as did my other computer monitors, and the picture is... well, was... nearly TV quality.

The other night I got up and lay down in my recliner to watch TV. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a "flash" and decided it was just my monitor going off.

Well, it went off all right. It bit the dust. The power light wouldn't come on, even with me trying another socket for the plug.

I thought to myself "Well, this might be a good thing; I can get some stuff accomplished, read a book, get out more, do a lot of things."

I did go get a couple of books but I didn't get too much accomplished. I DID get out; went to Wal-Mart to price monitors.

I knew I had the PC Jones when I kept going back to the computer, wiggling the plugs and wondering if I could use one of the monitors off one of the other computers I have. I went up to the library today to check Amazon or Wal-Mart for a replacement monitor, but all I could find online were used models of this type.

Went and talked to a computer guy; he said it would probably cost nearly as much to fix it as it would be to buy a new one.

So, earlier today I went back to WM and bought a new monitor. I bought a 19 in. model one (saving 40 bucks over the 20 inch model). It was fairly expensive, and I noticed that I could've bought a new computer, even a laptop, for a few hundred dollars more.

That's all I need, another computer. (and it did cross my mind, 'cept I'd have to go with Vista)

The recommended resolution is 1440x800, and it's driving me nuts. I know I'll get used to it, and I've tried other resolutions, but I can't get the font size to my satisfaction except with the recommended.

Like I said, I'll get used to it...about the time this monitor and/or computer bites the dust. Hope that's a few years down the road.

Maybe I can finish my books by then.

When the wife doesn't listen...

Runnin' Down a Dream - Tom Petty

Noticed the original had been taken down, so I found this one.

Alliterative Insults

A few days ago, the Word of the Day (the sticky feed in the right-hand column) was "pussillanimous".

From Dictionary.com:

pusillanimous \pyoo-suh-LAN-uh-muhs\, adjective:Lacking in courage and resolution; contemptibly fearful; cowardly.

It's one of my favorite words and is really good to throw back at those who like to call me retarded.

I don't stop there, though. With my fondness for alliteration, I like to team it up with a couple other insulting pejoratives.

"I might be retarded, but you're a pussillanimous, puerile pissant."

It works better than "Yo momma!"

Kick Them All Out

From The "Kick Them All Out" Project website.

While I don't agree with everything on the site, I do agree with the "throwing the bastards out" premise.

"Politicians are like diapers. They need to be changed often and for the exact same reasons."

- Tom Dodd (from the movie Man of the Year)