Category Archives: Fun

Random Thoughts 3/9/12

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My brain runs all over the place these days but doesn’t necessarily chew on any one topic for a long time. Here’s a sample:

  • I went flying this week to maintain currency for work and went to Atlanta and back. As expected, the airport was extremely busy and dominated by Delta aircraft. The Delta flight information board takes up an entire wall with 10-12 screens. Amazing.
  • I like Ben and Jerry’s weird concoctions, especially Phish Food, much more than their plain vanilla. For normal flavors, give me Blue Bell above all else. No one does it better.
  • I wonder why abortion opponents focus so much on trying to make abortion illegal again, which is extremely difficult if not impossible to achieve, instead of trying to prevent unwanted pregnancy, which is much easier to achieve.
  • A guy asked me this week about my job and was interested in applying. He asked three or four different questions about how much we earn and one question about what he needed to do for eligibility. Yes, pay is important to nearly every worker, but if that’s all you care about, I don’t think I want you as a coworker.
  • I feel badly for Peyton Manning, but I think the Colts’ management made the right decision in releasing him.
  • I want an iPad 3. With 4G LTE capability. Yes, I am concerned about the treatment of the workers who produce them and feel a bit selfish for wanting to spend that much money on what’s undeniably a toy, but those things are seriously awesome.
  • No matter how smart or tough you think you are, or how many degrees you have, or how successful you are in your chosen field, raising children will humble you.
  • My department’s VP left abruptly to become a senior VP at JetBlue. Southwest execs don’t often leave for other airlines, so this feels odd.
  • Sallie Mae somehow found out that Jenny was back in school and deferred her student loan payments. We hope to pay off her loans in a lump sum within the next year or two anyway, but in the meantime it’s nice to have a little extra cash in the bank.
  • Natalie Merchant is performing with the Fort Worth Symphony in April 2013. If I remember it by then, we might go see her. Interesting idea for a concert.
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Men in Tights

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Spandex is a privilege, not a right. – Life Time Fitness poster

I’m sexy and I know it. – LMFAO

We’re men, we’re men in tights /
We roam around the forest looking for fights – Mel Brooks, Robin Hood: Men in Tights

This week I bought my first pair of compression pants. I’m calling them “compression pants” because their more traditional name, spandex tights, just doesn’t sound like something a grown man is supposed to wear.

Why am I buying such a weird garment? For a perfectly masculine reason: to boost my athletic performance. Since I’m running and riding quite a bit this winter, I initially bought some dri-fit athletic pants that fit pretty loosely. They work well for running, but they tend to get caught in the chain when I ride. That’s a bit of a problem. So I tried tucking the ends into my socks. It works OK, but…yeah. To avoid looking like a dork, I needed some cold-weather tight tights that can’t get caught in the chain.

Shut up. I can hear you.

So I tried on some compression pants at Target. (hint: they’re $23 at Target vs. $80-100 at a speciality shop) Black ones. And they were definitely tight, so tight that I had to work to get into them like a middle-aged guy trying to squeeze into his wedding tux. They felt like super thick panty hose. (Um…don’t ask.) So I huffed and I puffed, and I tugged and I tugged, and finally they were on. I felt very official, almost like a real athlete.

They were surprisingly comfortable. Is that bad?

I was hoping they would make my legs look ripped. I work hard on my legs, and to be honest, I’m a bit vain about them. However, the compression aspect of compression pants actually compresses things, including my leg muscles, which now looked like skinny black chicken legs. I run 15-20 miles a week for this? Hmm. Well, at least they felt good. Plus Runner’s World says they also help one’s muscles recover more quickly during and after a long workout by squeezing out lactic acid, blah blah.

My other concern was…um…modesty. My regular readers might be surprised to hear me speak of modesty, but I think it’s safe to assume that the general population doesn’t really want to know the intimate details of my manly areas. (you’re welcome!) But guess what? Compression pants can compress other body parts besides muscles. BLAM!

Hmm. Maybe that’s not something to get too excited about.

Anyway, I hope to try them out during my long run tomorrow. The forecast high is 47 degrees. I need to log 10 miles. 10 very cold, very compressed miles. I wonder if guys in spandex are more or less likely to get a “Run, Forrest, run!” from passing cars. Will advise.

Coffee

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Anderson, I want you to take a long, hard look at this cup of coffee. Now, I LOVE my coffee. It’s probably the only thing I cherish on this God-forsaken mud ball called Earth! What I’m trying to say, Anderson, is that most examiners rely on this clipboard. I don’t believe in that $%!*. What I do believe is in my cup of coffee. – License to Drive

My first cup of coffee occurred at age 17. While on a date with a girl from my church, she suggested we grab some coffee at the Barnes and Noble coffee shop. It sounded good to me, although coffee had always seemed like something adults did, so I didn’t really know how it worked or what to get. She suggested I get a mocha – nice and safe, chocolate with minimal coffee bitterness. And whipped cream on top, of course. Quite tasty. However, it was a bit humbling to realize that my 15-year-old, 100 lb date was more sophisticated than I was.

The idea of drinking coffee for the caffeine didn’t take hold until my freshman year at Baylor. My girlfriend at the time went to TCU, which meant I drove home every weekend and spent as much time with her and my family as possible before I drove back Sunday night. My parents wisely tried to convince me that driving back to school late at night wasn’t the smartest idea. But I can be a bit…stubborn at times. My solution? Coffee. Usually I stopped at some gas station and got a big cup of sugar-laden vanilla cappuccino. My 33-year-old pancreas would have hated me, but my 18-year-old pancreas manned up and handled it. What I didn’t realize at the time was that my body isn’t very sensitive to caffeine. Occasionally at Baylor, I would buy the same sugar-laden vanilla cappuccinos at the local gas station on nights that I needed to stay up and study, even though it never made much of a difference.

By sophomore year, coffee became a more important and frequent companion in my dorm room. I was taking a full load of classes with lots of reading and also working at an after-school care program 15-20 hours a week. The time had come to step up my coffee experience. I got my own coffee pot – small and cheap, maybe a 4-cup Hamilton Beech or similar. I knew nothing about brewing coffee except that my dad was always obsessed with using filtered water in his coffee instead of tap. I had no discerning palate and no filtered water, so I brewed up Folgers or Maxwell House with water straight from the bathroom faucet. Since my goal was to force my eyes open and my brain awake while I read Coriolanus or King Lear at midnight, I brewed a full pot and made it extra strong. To make it palatable, I added tons of sugar and creamer. Even they couldn’t make it pleasant.

That was a rough year.

Somehow, though, it felt noble to be a struggling college student alone with great works of literature and a pot of nasty coffee, as if I’d joined a grand fraternity of hallowed martyrs of liberal arts. And then that rat bastard prof gave me a B in World Cultures III for my troubles. But I digress…

At some point, I learned that when properly brewed from quality ingredients, coffee could actually be quite delicious even without 500 grams of sugar dissolved within. If I had to guess, I’d give my grandfather the credit. He has the magic touch. Thanks to him, I discovered the heavenly combination of coffee and birthday cake. And the pleasure of a mid-afternoon cup of coffee with a snack. And even – gasp – coffee with breakfast like normal people enjoy. Thank you, Granddaddy, for opening my eyes to the truth.

So now I’m an adult (sort of). I brew my own coffee in a stainless steel Cuisinart 12-cup using filtered water and organic, fair-trade Honduran coffee with a mild roast. It’s so good that I usually drink it black with breakfast every afternoon (I work nights). My friends James and Alexis know about good coffee, too. At family gatherings, I know to ask which pot my sister made because she knows how to brew it right. Am I a coffee snob yet? Depends on your definition. I buy my coffee at Target and drink the commercial-brewer Folgers at work with a bit of doctoring, so I’m not a total snob. But I’ve brewed Jamaican Blue Mountain (love it, but not worth 3x the price) and occasionally buy my coffee at Central Market, so I guess you could say my standards have risen a bit since the ignorance of my college days. And THAT’S A GOOD THING, believe me.

So I salute you, noble coffee bean, and all my fellow coffee drinkers. May your coffee always be hot, your grounds fresh, and your cup reusable. Cheers!

The Future Is Now, Man!

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Hello, 2012! The first thing that comes to mind regarding the year 2012 is the whole Mayan end-of-the-world thing. And the disaster movie by that name in my Netflix queue that I should probably move higher on the list. You know, just in case.

But aside from all that dramatic stuff, actually reaching 2012 presents some interesting time-related tidbits:

  • The Cowtown Half Marathon that was next year is now next month, less than eight weeks away. My training is going great, so well that I’m having to fight the temptation to run more than my training plan prescribes.
  • My younger son turns two later this month. TWO.
  • Jenny’s nursing school, which has been a fairly nebulous future concept, is now an event that starts next August. Whoa. Which means that in about 3 1/2 years (May 2015), she’ll be an official RN.
  • Brenden starts kindergarten next fall (Aug 2013), probably at Bear Creek Elementary right by our house.
  • Jonathan just started preschool for the first time! (pics soon, I promise!).
  • In less than a year, Jenny and I will hit our 10-year anniversary. That almost sounds like we’re grown-ups.

So I am excited about this new year. It’s also a big year for me at work with new aircraft (737-800 and 717-200), the beginning of integration between Southwest and AirTran, and a new labor contract if the negotiators can get it done. I wish all of you a wonderful 2012!

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Things I Don’t Get

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A few things to ponder this beautiful Saturday morning…

  • Why do normally modest women, women who wouldn’t dream of hitting the beach in a bikini, buy formal dresses that flaunt their boobs? (not a complaint, just a question) And why is significant cleavage considered appropriate in a formal setting but potentially questionable or even slutty in other settings, such as work or school?
  • Why do we still observe daylight savings time in most parts of the country? Do you know anyone who thinks it’s a good idea? And for that matter, why are we still the Neanderthals who use the English measurement system instead of metric?
  • Why are donut shops around here run almost exclusively by Asians? (again, not a complaint, just a question)
  • Why am I willing to contribute to Baylor’s new on-campus stadium campaign but not to its scholarship fund? If I remember correctly, I went to maybe three football games as a student, but Baylor convinced me to enroll with a generous scholarship package. Seems like I got a bit more benefit from the latter.
  • Why is obesity skyrocketing in our country? And why do so few people seem to care? We’re gradually ostracizing and limiting the smokers enough to force people to quit, which is awesome, but as a society we’re taking the opposite approach with obesity.
  • Why does $25 buy a cheap sit-down dinner for two in America but nearly a month of food for a child in Africa?
  • Why do baseball players, fans, and managers continue to tolerate the wildly inconsistent strike zone used by the various umpires throughout the league? The Hawk-Eye technology used in tennis could solve that problem right now, but it seems that everyone prefers not knowing where the strike zone actually is on a given night.
  • Why is it legal for men to run around without a shirt but not for women (except in New York City and some other places)? Many men have bigger boobs than many women. They’re called moobs. They’re not cool, but they happen. Without the hairy chests, you might not be able to tell the difference.
  • Why does the US government still mint pennies? I’d rather have everything rounded to the nearest nickel. Pennies get on my nerves.
  • Why do so many people, especially in Texas, hate Obama so much? I can understand disagreeing with some of his views. So do I. But it’s amazing to me how quickly people label him a foreigner, even though he’s published his Hawaiian birth certificate, and a socialist, even though many of them don’t even know what that term really means, and a Muslim, even though he’s been a documented member of a Christian church for decades, and even the Anti-Christ, even though that term (as they understand it, in the Left Behind sense) is an product of the American evangelical church rather than the Bible itself. I guess people just believe what they want to believe.
  • Why roaches? (I’m looking at You, God.)
  • Why do so many people use Christianity as an excuse to hate and look down upon people who disagree with them?
  • Why do labor contract negotiations in the airline industry generally take 2-5 years?
  • Why don’t we have the ability to vote online? (this article tries to answer the question, but I still think the explanation is flimsy)

What about you? What exactly don’t you get?

Highlights from My Week Off

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The Baylor Line rushes the field after the clock runs out. Had the goalposts not been surrounded by security guards, the freshmen would have torn one down and hauled it back to campus. This was a HUGE win for us.

It’s been a very full and fun week, as expected. Here is what you need to know:

Most Thrilling – My Baylor Bears shocked TCU on Friday night 50-48 in one of the wildest games I’ve ever seen, in person or on TV. Honestly, I went to the game hoping not to lose as badly as we did at last year’s 45-10 schooling by TCU. Instead, I got to share in one of the biggest wins in our football program’s history. Sic ’em, Bears!


Jenny and me at the game


Jenny, Jon, and Amber. Yeah, the Seastrunks were pulling for the Frogs, but nobody’s perfect.

Best Upgrade – Our friends Jon and Amber convinced us to upgrade to a Waco bed & breakfast instead of a moderately priced hotel. The Cotton Palace is an excellent b&b in a converted Waco mansion on Austin Avenue, maybe a mile or two northeast of the stadium. Our beautiful room (Emily’s Room) featured a king-sized bed, jacuzzi tub, homemade cookies, and free wifi. I was sorry we couldn’t spend more time there. The innkeepers are Waco locals and very friendly and accommodating. Becky’s delicious breakfast (sausage and cheese quiche with fresh fruit, bacon, and a biscuit) filled me up without making me explode, and Dutch kept us all entertained while we ate.

Lowlight – After driving to Richardson Bike Mart to get my bike, after confirming via their website and a phone call that the bike was in-stock, I was told that the bike had been recalled due to a fork problem. Instead, I ordered my bike from Bicycles, Inc. in Keller. It should arrive sometime this week.

Best Surprise – My knees haven’t bothered me during my runs this week. Perhaps my decision to get a bike has scared them into compliance.


Jenny at Rangers Ballpark just prior to the Texas-Tampa Bay game

Most Important – As planned, I got lots of good family time this week, including fun with the boys, dates with Jenny, and a birthday party.

Weirdest – Tie: Either seeing my kids dressed up as pirates while wearing Mardi Gras beads (?)…

and pushing a doll in a stroller (?)…

or 2) Being back on campus 10 years after graduation, thinking about how young everyone looks, and feeling more like a parent at the game than a student. When the freshman rushed the field after the game, I decided to stay put and let them have their moment, as if I didn’t belong down there anymore. I’m not complaining at all – I just found it interesting.

Most Unexpected – Our kitchen faucet’s water flow had dropped significantly. I assumed that something was clogging the line, so Wednesday around lunchtime I investigated. Unfortunately, I found no problems in the lines and pointed the finger of doom at our two-year-old kitchen faucet itself. Since I could replace it myself for roughly the cost of a visit from the plumber, I bought and installed a new kitchen faucet. I actually like this one better than the old one because the spout pulls down, which feels quite Southlake to me.