Red Deer Creek Bridge Collapse

A friend of mine and I had plans to watch today's Cowboy game, but he called me just before I was getting ready to leave and told me he was having to detour traffic at the bridge in Miami.

He said there was a huge hole in the bridge so I thought I'd just go down and see for myself.

I made it across the bridge just fine; the highway crew was keeping the one lane closed, of course.

All truck traffic heading to the north of Miami on Hwys. 282 and 283 would have to reroute via Canadian or go all the way on Hwy. 60 and cut across on the Hoover hwy.

The hole wasn't as big as I thought it would be, but it was still large enough to be scary.

I decided I'd slip off down the creek, get under the bridge and take a photo of the hole from below.

Coincidentally enough, the last time I had been under the bridge was with my friend's female cousin. She went down there quite willingly, but slapped my face after the first kiss.

Looking at the underside of the rest of the bridge, I was struck as to how many other places looked as though they could crumble and fall at any moment.

I was horrified at how thin the pavement was...and dismayed to think that most of our nation's infrastructure is probably in the same shape.

I suppose "collapse" was a bit of hyperbole.

genuflect

genuflect \JEN-yuh-flekt\, intransitive verb:
1. To bend the knee or touch one knee to the ground, as in worship.
2. To be servilely respectful or obedient; to grovel.

I certainly remember the first time I ever heard this word used in a sentence. I was best man at a Catholic wedding and at the rehearsal was instructed to genuflect in front of the altar. I told the bride's mother "You want me to gen-you-flecked? Right here in the church?"

I knew what the word meant, but I didn't want to do it. This was during my heathen stage of life and I had no respect for churches or their customs.

(actually, I still pretty much feel that way, but don't consider myself a heathen now. Even today I find the thought of "groveling" in front of an altar to be repulsive.)

Of course, I went ahead and did it because I didn't want to embarrass the groom...any more than I already had.

I had already made his face red by joking about the little latrine in the foyer.

It was a little uncomfortable the next night, after the wedding at the reception. I didn't know anyone other than the groom so the priest and I got drunk together. I had fun until he made a pass at me.

Gmail Emoticons

I usually don't use the "rich formatting" editor at my online Gmail, instead preferring to use my OE program to read / send mail.

Cleaning out the spam Checking my mail a few minutes ago, I noticed Gmail has now added emoticons to insert into mails, so I may have to rethink how I acess my email.

After all, ya can't beat this emoticon for to show folks just how you really feel:

Nutbush City Limits - Ike & Tina Turner

This song reminds me of my college days when we'd go to a little disco/dive bar in Amarillo. None of us danced, but we loved to get drunk and play foosball and air hockey under the blacklights.

There were other renditions of this song, but this was the only one I found that was from the era.

Ike got to beatin' on Tina around this time and she left him. Good for her. I used to think she had some of the best lookin' legs in show biz.

Miami City Limits

Thump

(click for a little bit larger view)

I found this after downloading the contents of my MSN Groups storage site which means I have it on one of my many clipart disks. I love these old trippy posters. A friend of mine had one that had so much detail on it, I would see something new each time I saw it. The main theme of his poster was an overpopulated Earth, with people edging out into the water, either to try to find space to live or a peaceful place to die. I think what I really like is the apocalyptic nature of these things.

Speaking of trippy, I need to find my old Freewheelin' Franklin rug.