Seek The Substantial

I talked to my Mom today and she said that she was reading my little project and I think she enjoyed it. She said that she’s been working on her own writing project and it consists of a journal about her and Dad from the day that they met. I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to have people who are creative and who write. I know that it’s time consuming, but generations will thank you for it.

It’s nice to know that I have readers out there other than Ben.

There is nothing else worthy to post about today. Just a picture of Blue with her favorite towel that she likes to chew.

I was thinking of this the other day and I ran across this writing assignment. Write your biography in 400 words or less. For those of you who do not click the link, once you’ve done this repeat and do another biography using different facts. What do you think about yourself? Here’s my submission:

I was born in Tyler, Texas and grew up on golf courses. Some of my fondest memories are walking along the fairways with my brother and father, shoes and socks completely wet from the dew on the grass. We moved to Austin, Nashville, Richardson, and Kaufman and I have four siblings. I am the second oldest of the group and my youngest brother is ten years younger than me. I had two open heart surgeries performed on me before the age of six. I can remember stitches and shots. I did most of my growing up in Kaufman. My family owned a turfgrass farm which ended up providing us with all we could ever ask. Countless summer days picking up rocks and stacking sod. As a child I resented most of these summers, but as I grew older I appreciated them to no end. As I look back high school it was a blur. I received my high school diploma from Kaufman in 1992 and did not think it was that big of a deal. I started my college experience at Texas A & M and eventually transferred to Texas Tech (I thought I wanted to be a teacher). I received my undergrad at Texas Tech and did not think it was that big of a deal. I taught high school English for a year, but I thought I was not done learning. I started law school in August of 1998 and I received my law degree at the University of Tulsa and I finally thought that this was a big deal. Law school was studying, Pickles Pub, Golden Tee and fellowship. Some of my closest friends are from Kaufman, but not from high school. My other group of friends are from law school. I met my wife wife in 2002 at a friend’s wedding. I didn’t want to leave her that night. I will never forget the black dress that she wore. We were engaged in October of 2003 and married in May of 2005. She is the light of my life. I am an attorney now and my wife and I have three dogs: Blue, Olive and Zoey. I lost one dog along the way, Rage, because her kidneys would not and could not function. She was a sweet puppy dog.

Linkys:

Amazing photographs.

The Ranger’s presence in the Dominican Republic.

Another good Cowboys article (and another) and it’s not from the DMN or FWST.

Listal is a great place to organize your DVD’s, music and books. I’ve been looking for a place like this for a while and I think that this is the best one. Here’s Puppy Dog Blue’s Listal.

Church of the Guadalupe.

Picture of Nasher sculplture from across the parking lot.

Contrast of old church against a mirrored building.

The Belo Mansion.

An otherwise lovely day doing continuing education in Dallas was soured a little bit by an older woman, maybe 50 to 55, who was asked numerous times by individuals, including myself, if the seat next to her was taken. Everytime, she replied that the seat was being saved. I should let everyone know that this particular class was completely full. Even I was running a little late, mostly due to my ignorance of where to park. Nevertheless, this lady refused tat least 10 people who asked to sit next to her.

The entire morning session is finished and no one sits next to her. The afternoon session starts with no one sitting next to her.

Why would a person taunt God in such a way?

During my lunch hour I talked around the Belo Mansion where the class was being held and took a number of pictures. I really wanted to spend the afternoon in the Nasher Sculpture Center, but admission was $10.00 and I would have only had my lunch hour to explore.

The Dallas Museum of art is right next door to the Nasher and amazingly enough there was not one public school in attendance. Every child I saw had wool pants/skirt and a sweater-vest (i.e. private school). I remember going to museums and plays, but do public school children get to go on field trips any more? There’s a ton of beautiful things to see in Dallas. Things that I would think would inspire young people. I propose a field trip to the Nasher sometime this spring.

Back to the conference, I believe that attorneys are nice average folks, however, we are some of the most pretentious and self-involved professions. Everyone is talking on their cell phone. Most of them do not have the common courtesy to step outside to answer the phone and no one can be bothered to turn off their phones. We are all so damned important.

As an aside, the costume for the generic white-guy attorney: khaki pants, a light blue shirt and a blazer if it’s cool outside.

Most of the attorneysthat I see are not the attorneys that I went to school with at Tulsa. We all studied hard and most of us did very well in terms of grades, but we had a damn good time too. We had plenty of time for Golden Tee and Pickles Pub and washers and Tulsa basketball games and fellowship. Looking around yesterday, there didn’t appear to be a mo-fo that I would want to hang out with, with. The conference would have been more fun if I was playing “What Celebrity Does That Person Look Like?” Unfortunately, the game would have gotten very old very fast since every other guy looks like Mr. Belding, Mr. Drummond or Alan Alda.

I should have a neat writing assignment for everyone by Saturday morning.

Good times. Good times.

Linkys:

Marquis Daniels’ tattoos (via bob sturm). You should right click and open in a new window.

Stay tuned for what looks to be a pretty good NFL mock draft.

I’ve never been that in love with Britney and here’s another reason why.

Jessica Alba link for Duk.

I love this guy’s art.

Maverick’s Big Wave Surfing Contest picture gallery.

Gordon Keith is funny and he is Britney Spears.

You decide for yourself. Was Big Ben in? I don’t think so.

I’ve been meaning to post about this for quite a while and I’ve been thinking about it for quite a while. Ryan is my brother, we do not have the closest relationship, much of which I blame on myself for various reasons, but this is not what this is about. Ryan is a baker. That’s right, a baker, in the very old sense of the term. He bakes cakes, breads, cookies, etc. Ryan has always fought the good fight in employment. Lots of people say that if you have can have job satisfaction then you will find happiness. No one has been beaten down by the prospect of doing something that he obviously loves, but it seems that no employer will return that love with a bigger paycheck. He has always wanted to bake. This is what he does. He doesn’t want much in return. Just a salary, and I don’t think that this is too much to ask. How many of us would take job after job and never back down from his passion? I dare say that few of us would keep up that desire. In all honesty, he could try and do something else, but I believe that he wouldn’t be doing what he loves and he wouldn’t be happy. It would just be nice if someone returned the favor.

Well, it’s been a tiring week, thus the lack of links and posts. Exhaustion is a funny thing. I started thinking the other day that it’s been 8 months since my last vacation (honeymoon). Through no one’s fault but my own, I just haven’t taken any time off. Luckily, my wife and I are going to Destin in March and we’re very excited about the prospect of getting away for a while. Granted, we’re not going to Cabo like other folks, but we are getting away.

Linkys:

Photo project, a guy buys photos at flea markets, thus they are, or were, completely lost, but now found.

Cowboy notes.

Matt Mosley has a good article on Rayfield Wright getting into the Hall.

Mavs win their 11th game in a row.

Excellent article on gliders in WWII.

Happy Superbowl!

Gainesville, TX Train Station

Cooke County Courthouse – under construction

The straight and narrow, Gainesville, TX

I would like to remind Ben that women and children may be reading this blog. Quite possibly my own children some day. Nevertheless, I laughed out loud at the gift that Melissa would keep of yours and Miranda thought it was just gross.

Update from last night’s post: My wife and I don’t owe any “real bills” until April. Good times. Good times.

There will be nothing inspirational about tonight’s post or linkys:

Incredibly awesome video of David Hasselhoff (via The Superficial).

The Rangers’ top 30 prospects.

More Rangers, Minor League Ball has discussion on the AL West and who is in the best shape for this year and for years to come.

An incredibly detailed blog about NFL draft prospects.

Beano will get this car, I’m sure of it.

For all of your construction needs.

Lifehacker says that TurboTax is the best.

It’s supposed to rain Saturday.

The Mav’s are tied with the Spares.

If you love recruiting (i.e. Tech commitments) then please read the DMN’s recruiting blog, it’s good.