The New England Borings

There's talk of the New England Patriots being boring now. Sure they're 16-0, and pretty much have a championship all sewn up, barring a loss somewhere in the playoffs, but they're winning without much fanfare. I guess just winning is not enough for some people. Doing things in the team-first concept makes you... uh, boring. This sort of talk reminds me of the San Antonio Spurs and their championship runs of late.

Sports pundits have always described the Spurs as being a boring team, but all this doesn't not really surprise me. I've always seen the Patriots and Spurs as franchise siblings. Both teams have won championships with this, new fangled thing called a "team-first" concept and led by a not so glitzy leader, Brady and Duncan, respectively. During their runs, neither team had a sexy, me-first star. Until now...

About a month ago, I told my brother that the 2007 version of the New England Patriots, with Randy Moss, are like the San Antonio Spurs if they had acquired Kobe Bryant. Moss up to this point in his career has been like a Kobe Bryant, but has finally who relinquished his me-first attitude for the sake of winning championships. While with the Oakland Raiders, all one heard from Moss were complaints. Well... duh! He opted to play for the money and that got him nowhere. But all of a sudden, he has this epiphany and wants to win. Sheesh...

New England could've won without Moss, especially since they picked up Wes Welker, who's putting up some gawdy numbers of his own. But the rich got richer this year. And another thing. Did they really need to cheat to win? In two words: heeeeeell no!

Recipe for a Favorite

Anytime I get asked for my favorite song, I always have a hard time deciding which one is my favorite-- I usually cannot come up with one... ultimate favorite. A question of my top 10 songs was posed to me a while back, perhaps as long as a year ago, but I could not stick to a list of 10. Needless to say, it was more like 30 or 40. Now if I could narrow the field into several musical categories, maybe I have a shot of giving one my favorite heavy metal song, my favorite piece of classical music, or even give one my opinion of the best Beatles hit. Maybe.


But what makes a song great in our mental soundtrack? What makes it special for us? Does it move us, emotionally or even physically? Does its transport you back to a specific place and time? Does it remind you of a certain someone? Or does one like the way the music is put together? Well, all these questions are valid ones and any answer will suffice, because anyone's favorite is their own.

For me, it boils down to this-- when listening to a song, if I get the chills, it's a good song. I don't know why it happens, but if a song gives me a nice case of the goosebumps, it's a keeper. This morning however, Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin, moved me beyond mere goosebumps and head-bobbing. This piece had me up and around my bedroom, waving my arms like a crazed conductor, singing to the beautiful notes of the french horn and forceful rhythms of Gershwin's magnum opus.

I don't know why it happened, but I can now say Rhapsody in Blue is my favorite piece of classical music. I think it has everything that a classical song should have: sweet melodies, gorgeous accompaniments, and powerful staccato textures, all overlaid upon a piano solo- it is a piano concerto for orchestra if you want to get picky. It tells a specific story, that of New York City and you can essentially hear the hustle and bustle of The Big Apple Gershwin put to music. It's not split into movements as it's a stand alone composition. One will hear the subtle intonation of the woodwinds, most notably the clarinet at one point, and then it's balanced with a vigorous and robust finale.

From a personal standpoint, when listening to it, it brings back particularly pleasant memories. I once listened to it on a trip to Mexico back during my undergraduate days. I can see Monterrey's Cerro de la Silla in my mind. And then I remember the time when I watched Fantasia 2000 with my daughter when she was a toddler. Each is a treasured memory.

Prior to this reckoning, I've said that Stravinsky's Rite of Spring was my favorite classical song, if you will, with the first movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony right there as well. But haven't spent the day thinking about it, I am quite satisfied with Rhapsody in Blue being my favorite classical song.

It's Beginning to Sound a Lot Like Christmas

The weeks and days leading up to Christmas is probably my favorite time of the year. The weather starts to get cooler and one begins to reminisce about the years past with family and friends. However, nothing gets me in the mood like Christmas music.

There are radio stations around that start to play holiday music just as the calendar turns over to November. But you won't catch me listening to them until maybe mid-December at the earliest, otherwise I get burnt out. That happened once and by the time Christmas came around, I was ready to for the holidays to be over. Music and movies... everything. So it's all about moderation for me.

Anyhow, here are some of my favorite Christmas albums of all-time:

Harry Simeone Chorale's Little Drummer Boy:
It's not Christmas unless I've heard this album. It is my numero one all-time favorite. It's full of traditional songs and these are my favorites from the album:

1). Go Tell it on the Mountain
I've always thought James Earl Jones sang this tune because the guy who does has the coolest baritone. Of course, I always have to sing along with it in the lowest voice I can muster.
2). O Holy Night
We once tried to sing this at a Christmas mass several years ago, but thought better of it because the girls in the group couldn't hit some of the notes. Though us guys could in falsetto, hence why we nixed the idea.
3). Little Drummer Boy
I've always had a certain affinity to this song, because I too, was a little drummer boy at one time. Maybe I'll give my favorite all-time drummers one of these days.
4). God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Though part of a medley, it's only a short version of this song, but it's long enough to make an impact.

Bing Crosby's White Christmas
I think this is my mom's favorite, and since it's listed here, it's also one of mine. These are the classic standards of American Christmas music. My faves:

1). White Christmas
Who doesn't like this song? Like I mentioned in a past posting, this song has an all new different meaning to me after having witnessed a "white Christmas" in my hometown, down near Corpus Christi, in 2004.
2). I'll be Home for Christmas
This used to be my mantra for the time after finals and before I went home for the holidays. Now, it's just another Christmas song since going "home for Christmas" is not necessarily a feasible thing to do every year.
3). It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas
Classic.
4). Mele Kalikimaka
Apparently, if you spend your Christmas in Hawai'i, this is what they'll say to you. Thanks Bing for the heads-up!


George Strait's Merry Christmas Strait to You
Another family favorite. My dad is a huge George Strait fan, and so am I to a certain extent, and he has always said that George is his twin. Of course, that's debatable, but my dad's a handsome dude, so I'll give him that much. Among my faves here:

1). There's a New Kid in Town
A country twist on something like, O Little Town of Bethlehem.
2). The title track is a 2-step dancin' type.


Rebecca St. James Christmas
This album consists of updated, rockin' versions of many famous Christmas standards. I totally dig these:

1). Happy Xmas (War is Over)
This song seems to be sung by anyone who has any musical talent and St. James' version is quite good.
2). Come, O Come Emmanuel, O
3). One Small Child
4). O Holy Night
An up tempo version of this Christmas classic, replete with back beat. I would have never thought I'd say that O Holy Night could rock, but it does.

Sarah McLachlan Wintersong
She is one of my all-time favorite musical maidens, and she does a fairly good job of doing Christmas music. Check these out:

1). What Child is This?
2). River
3). Although it's not on the Wintersong album, I love Sarah's featured voice on The Barenaked Ladies version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings.


Okay... after having written all this, now I'm ready for Christmas music!

Spurs - Scola = Rockets?!?

Okay, can anyone tell me why Luis Scola is playing with the Houston Rockets this season after having been a draft pick with the San Antonio Spurs? For the longest time the Spurs had the rights to his contract, but after some contract snafu he's playing for the Rockets. How did this transpire? Better yet and more importantly, why is he playing for a division rival?

That dude can play with the best of them. He's a future all-star. I love his hustle and hard work. He kind of reminds me of Eduardo Nájera, but without the fouls and dirty play. Don't get me wrong, I like the Houston Rockets and their roster with Scola on it, but I don't like that he's playing for a team that could beat the San Antonio Spurs come playoff time.

Hands on Astronomy

I came across a quick little article about how us amateur astronomers can put in our "two cents" in a new web-based project called Galaxy Zoo. The cool thing is that this project wants to enlist the general public's assistance to help the Sloan Digital Sky Survey classify a million galaxies. This endeavor will help scientists better understand how the cosmos evolved by asking participants to distinguish the subtle differences, for example, between spiral and elliptical galaxies. Apparently the human brain is more adept at figuring out these variations than a computer program. After folks do a short online tutorial, Galaxy Zoo will show galaxy images to participants in the hopes that we could spot any minute differences between galaxies, and maybe even to decide which way a particular galaxy is rotating! Exciting stuff to be involved with I say.

So Long Sidle

The original CSI show lost a major character last week as CSI-Sara Sidle left the show. I wonder what Gil Grissom will do now without a love interest? I'm sure he'll figure something out.

Not only did CSI lose a huge component to it's award winning cast, but it lost a major hottie. I've got to admit that she was one of the main reasons why I watched the show. There's something about her, Jorja Fox, that is, that really struck me. I think it was her eyes. She has these amazing soul piercing eyes that just pull you in. And the thing is, as Sara, she really didn't do anything to draw attention to herself such as wearing revealing clothes and etc. To me, everything starts with the eyes-- it could be eyes of blue, or in this case, her dark-colored eyes.

Maybe the television audience will be blessed with her presence in another show before too long. Let's hope.

Climbing the Great Wall of Yao

My brother sent me this link of the San Antonio Spurs' guard Manu Ginobili slam dunk over the Houston Rockets' center Yao Ming last week. Talk about a ferocious facial. Manu's elbows were in the rim!

Here it is, check it out: Manu's dunk.

Healthy Television

I've become a big fan of NBC's reality television show, The Biggest Loser. You gotta say that this show is probably the best in terms of providing a healthy lifestyle. I love to see these folks change from their old, obese selves into the lean, healthy machines most become at the show's end. Even the contestants who get voted off the show during the season continue the exercise regimens learned in front of America and look just as great.

Over the past several months, I've told my friends that I wish I could join the cast just so I can workout all day and eat well. Of course when I tell my friends this, they usually raise an eyebrow and say that I don't need to do that. Well, they have a point. Even though I'm quite overweight, I'm about at that halfway point for those guys who start off near or over 300 pounds. I'm about 255-260, down from near 280 a couple years ago. I just wish I had more time to lose the 30 pounds or so that I think would be a good weight for me. Now if I was on this show, I'd probably be voted off before too long because I'd lose the weight too quickly. A good problem to have I guess.

A Good Week for Astronomy

Here are few quick astronomy hits for this week.

First of all, did anyone see or hear about that amazing spacewalk by a couple of astronauts over the weekend? Wow! I found some wonderful pictures on Space.com that described the dangerous mission to fix one of the space station's solar arrays. The astronaut dangled precariously off the space shuttle's robotic arm in order to untangle some wires. That electrified array carried upwards of 100 volts of electricity. And talk about getting the right guy to do the job-- the guy, Dr. Scott Parazynski, is a former emergency room doctor! It took him 7 hours to get the job done, including a harrowing hour to get back into the shuttle. I bet his parents are very proud of him.

Last Saturday I read that there would be an interesting celestial conjunction in the eastern skies later that night. However, I didn't think that I would have to be up in the wee hours of Sunday morning to see it. No, I wasn't out and about doing who knows what, but I did happen to be out of the house for a few hours between 2 & 5 am because we took our daughter to the emergency room. It was nothing serious thank goodness, but there it was, almost in a straight line up and down from the horizon, a beautiful conjuction-- starting at the bottom, Venus, the Moon, Jupiter and Leo's alpha star, Regulus. Even though we were up because my daughter fell ill in the middle of the night and everything turned out alright, seeing this conjunction made me feel that everything indeed would be alright.

News flash: There's an exploding comet in our skies! Comet Holmes, which is a fuzzy spot in the constellation Perseus, has become a surprise to many astronomers. Comets as they enter the Solar System, usually have a increasingly long tail as it nears the Sun, however in this case, Comet 17P/Holmes is tail less. No one's unsure how long the comet will last at its present state, but experts say it could last weeks, if not months. Check it out before it's gone!

And last, but not least, astronomers have found a star outside our Solar System with at least 5 planets. This is the first time that a star has been found with at least 5 planets. The fifth was found to orbiting relatively distant from its home star, but is much bigger than our planet Earth.

A Tale of Two Stars

In the last week or so, two sports superstars made headlines from opposite ends of the contract negotiation spectrum. Not only was each case different in how the contract was handled, but it also showed how each decision impacted their respective team and sport. The stars I speak of are Tim Duncan and Alex Rodríguez. And if you delve deeper into each instance, you'll notice a stark difference between the apparent selfishness of the two and how that selfishness has taken one to sports championship immortality and the other still waiting for his first shot at a championship.

The Rodríguez story started the night the Boston Red Sox clinched their second World Series championship in three years. During the telecast of the Series' game four, the sportcasters and sports reporters broke the news that Alex Rodríguez would opt out of his contract with the New York Yankees, thus setting him onto the free agent market. What he and his agent, Scott Boras, did was step into the limelight that should have been strictly for yet another historic Red Sox playoff run.

But we all know that this is nothing new with Rodríguez and Boras. They seem to make every contractual agreement about them and how much money Alex (Scott) will garner. Who can blame them really? They're really good at what they do and we're here along for the ride. Some poor sap of a MLB franchise that will pay through the nose to have Rodríguez play on their team. Alex will continue to hit like none before him has, yet will he and his team be around come World Series time? Who knows. Whatever team picks him up may not have enough money to field a decent team anyway because Rodríguez will demand an astronomical amount of cash to fulfill his (Boras') need.

And then there's Tim Duncan. Selfish, Tim Duncan that is. Yes, he is selfish. Even Tim has caught the selfish bug, where it's all about "me, me, me." However, it's not about how much endorsement money he needs to make. Or about how many times he's on the highlight reel each night. Or even about how many shots he needs to take. For Tim Duncan, it's about winning. He took an apparent pay cut when he signed his contract extention this week so that it will pave the way to re-sign Manu Ginobili and even another top free agent down the line. What all this means is that he has set up himself and his teammates for more years of championship runs. This the good kind of selfish that the NBA needs, and the sports world for that matter.

How the Mighty have Risen?

It's somewhat surprising. It's something quite remarkable really. It's even a little bit unbelievable. The thing that is surprising, remarkable, and unbelievable is the gritty and gutsy rebounding of the University of Michigan's football team after their 0-2 start.

Prospects were bleak for a winning season after that debacle in losing to lower tiered Appalachian State in their home opener and then the following week losing to a very talented Oregon Duck team that's fresh off a defeat of USC and is currently ranked #5. Yet weeks later, Michigan finds itself undefeated in the Big Ten Conference with more than meaningful games (re: important now) still yet to play against Michigan State, Wisconsin and the season finale at home against Ohio State.

Go figure. Big Blue still has a chance to make up for those two early season losses and even making it to a BCS bowl if they win out. It probably won't happen, but they're still in contention after all this. Go Big Blue!

The First Polish Texans

A few weeks back I made a trip home to South Texas to attend the funeral of a dear aunt, my dad's only sister, and along the way, we passed through many small towns including one that stuck in my mind. Although we didn't drive directly through this town, but the highway we used was a few short miles down the road from Panna Maria, Texas-- the first Polish settlement in the United States of America.

Several years after Texas became a state, a large group of Polish immigrants settled in an area that is now approximately 40 miles southeast of San Antonio off of State Highway 123. Many of the surrounding communities are made up of the descendents of the initial Polish settlers.

Believe or not, Panna Maria, Texas does indeed have its own website and one should visit it to brush up on its history. Better yet, if you find yourself in South Texas, take State Highway 123 south from San Marcos and you'll see signs pointing in Panna Maria's direction. You could also take US Highway 181 south from San Antonio towards Corpus Christi and you should come across highway signs prior to arriving in Karnes City pointing you towards Panna Maria.

Stupidity abounds

Here's a quick rant:

NFL quarterback Michael Vick got himself in trouble again during this past week for apparently having marijuana in his system. Well, you can't fault the dude since he no longer has to conform to NFL rules and regs because he's not playing right now, but what kind of idiot is he though? The guy is already in so much trouble for his dogfighting charges and now he's in a different kind of legal trouble because of the drugs. He's really showing to us all that he wants to make a positive change in his life.

And on a similar vein of thought, what about these immigrants getting deported from a Dallas suburb? It's the same kind of stupidity. Here's why: to begin with, these folks were in jail for breaking the law in some way and the City of Irving is running checks with the U.S. Immigration department to make sure these public offenders are here in the country legally. Sounds like a good plan, right? I don't have a problem with sending law breaking, illegal immigrants back to their country of origin. Nor do I understand all the hubbub concerning this policy. There's all sorts of upheaval and protests going on because of the City of Irving's proactive stance. People feel that they are being singled out because of their ethnicity; most of the deportees are of Hispanic origin. Unless the offenders are jailed illegally and their human rights were violated, there should be no hesitation in making sure any of these folks are legal residents of this country.

You would think that if you're here illegally that you would try to stay as clean as possible so that way you won't have any chance of being kicked out. Keep your nose clean, so to speak, and maybe, years down the line, you can get some sort of amnesty to stay in this country rightfully and legally. In Vick's case, you'd think that he would steer clear of any sort of illegal activity since he's also being indicted by the State of Virginia. And there's still that issue of reinstatement back into the NFL that he has to contend with when he's completed his jail time.

Nature and Man versus Man

I just read an article about a guy on Galveston Island who got into some legal trouble for shooting a cat. The thing is that the guy, Jim Stevenson, is a naturalist and bird expert. Stevenson, who was charged with animal cruelty by a Galveston County grand jury, is the founding member of the Galveston Ornithological Society and insists that the cat he shot belongs to a feral cat colony that threatens the Island's bird population. And what makes matters worse is that Galveston Island is a natural stopover on an active bird migration route that crosses the United States. Some of Stevenson's neighbors and friends see him as a "respecter of nature," but others think otherwise, especially the "owner" of the cat involved in this case, John Newland. Right now there's a lot of legal wrangling going on regarding whether or not Stevenson broke any state laws.

I consider myself a animal lover and have owned several pets at various times in my life, so I feel for both sides of this case, but are these feral cats a natural part of the local environs? Probably not. Do these cats pose a threat to the birds in this area? Stevenson's actions deem it so. Unfortunately, people who "care" for these animals only exascerbate the problems associated with feral animals. And if one person decides to "care" for these animals, he or she should think about keeping these "pets" indoors, capture them in order to have them spayed or neutered, or have them moved to another location for de-feralizing, so as not to endanger the naturally occurring animals and their habitats of a given locale.

Perhaps it's not Mr. Stevenson's responsibility to take on this polemic endeavor to make the ferals cats go away, but those who care for these feral cats in some way, should bear some of the responsibility that goes with helping them survive in the wild.

Sore Loser

I just read that Kanye West said that MTV "exploited" Britney Spears for ratings. Duh! Doesn't he do the same thing? Doesn't he exploit MTV for his own personal gain? Not only did he say this about Britney, but he also complained about not winning any awards and said that MTV disrespected him. Wow, tough words from someone who was MTV's darling just a few short years ago. Yo, sorry dude, you can't win 'em all!

Dropped shot(s) and Winner

Over the Labor Day weekend, I spoke to my dad and youngest brother about the US Open and about tennis in general, and spoke at length about how I felt about the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus. I said that they should win every tennis tournament they enter because of their tremendous talent, BUT because of their occasional mental lapses, they usually don't play up to said talent. I consider myself a fan of theirs and cheer for them at every chance, but they sometimes do not play up to their potential. So it did not surprise me to hear Serena say what she did after losing to Justine Henin. It's really sad that she had to stoop to that level than to admit that Henin flat out beat her. And by the way, has anyone noticed that Henin has won 7 major titles in her career?! She's quietly moving up the majors list...

And speaking of winning, how 'bout Roger Federer? That guy is the best player I've ever seen. Through the years my favorites have been John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Goran Ivanisevic, Andre Agassi and Roger Federer. I like to call him the Tim Duncan of the tennis world, because all he does is win. He wins without too much flair. He wins without too much fanfare. He just wins. Sure, he hasn't won the French Open, but neither did Pete Sampras and he really never made it past the opening rounds. Federer on the other hand has usually met and lost to Mr. ClayCourt, Rafael Nadal in the laters rounds. Pete never had to compete with such a clay court specialist. Roger is on the verge of being the all-time leader in majors.

The Bonds Burden

It's been a few weeks since Barry Bonds passed Hank Aaron on Major League Baseball's all-time home run list and he's still slugging away. At last check, he was at 760 and unless he hurts himself rounding the bases or taking first base on an intentional walk, he'll probably finish the season at or about 770 home runs. Not bad for an old guy, huh? Back on July 24th, Barry Bonds turned 44 and for him to still be productive is a miracle all onto itself as he's hit 26 home runs, driven in 59 runs and is hitting a pretty solid .280 so far this season.

Although he's never tested positive for steroids, just the shadow of performance enhancing drugs over the last third of his career is unavoidable. I hate to sound like a Bonds apologist, but it's hard to dispute the numbers he's put up. And the one thing I hold on to when talking about his numbers is his bat speed. Sure he's bulked up tremendously, but to still have the flexibility to get around those pitches on the inner half of the plate, is incredible. One would think that he'd be too big to get around those pitches, much less hit them over the outfield fences. But therein lies the conundrum-- he's strong enough now to get them over [insert head scratch here]. My argument is still that you cannot teach bat speed.

I've always thought that he had reached a point in his career where he had to do something significant to his workout regimen in order to keep up with the younger and stronger players that now make up this league. Perhaps some sort of anabolic steroids were included, but where's the proof? I still haven't heard of him failing one of those tests yet. And if it ever comes out that he did do it, MLB may have to share some of the culpability.

Whenever Bonds calls it quits, he may end up somewhere around 800 career home runs. And yet, someone down the line should eclipse him. It'll probably be Alex Rodríguez who will break the record, barring a major catastrophe. I remember at one time that Ken Griffey, Jr. as the one to surpass Hank Aaron's record, but his body thought otherwise. Too bad for us. We would not have had to worry about the burden Barry Bonds has put on one of the most cherished and sexiest records in all of sports history.

Not so new now

Several months ago, I stumbled across a very good music cd and I can't tell you how much I dig this album: Astralwerks SXSW New Music 2006. It quickly became one of my favorites and I would say it's the best compilation cd that I've ever listened to, save for one that a friend made for me. Well, maybe not, but holy moly, is it good. This is who's on it, along with a few comments.

1. Beth Orton Conceived
A wonderful start to the album with a mix of Orton's vocals and instrumentation.

2. Willy Mason Oxygen

3. Sondre Lerche Everyone's Rooting for You
Reminds me those jazz/big big band standards from way back. Good to know that good jazz is still being made today.

4. The Concretes Chosen One
This song could belong on a Grey's Anatomy soundtrack.

5. Hot Chip Playboy

6. Small Sins Stay
Another future Grey's Anatomy track. Great singable chorus.

7. Athlete Half Light (Michael Brauer Mix)
I once woke up with this song in my head. Needless to say, it's a catchy tune.

8. Placebo Infra-Red
My initial favorite because of it's beat and grit but the song's intent is a little out there: song for the obsessed.

9. Sia Breathe Me
Ahhhh... what music. I get the sense she's channeling Jewell, Tori Amos and even Sarah McLachlan. Dig the marimba, too!

10. Audio Bullys I'm in Love

11. Candi Staton When Will I?
Speaking of channeling, along the lines of a female Otis Redding. Fantastic.

12. k-os Crabbuckit

13. Stephanie McKay Tell It Like It Is
Wow. This is instant head-bobbing music. Lyrically smooth, rhythmically moving.

14. The Juan Maclean Tito's Way

15. VHS or BETA You Got Me (Baby Daddy Remix)
Sounds like this one was taken straight the '80s New Wave dance movement, but with an updated twist.

16. Prophet Omega The Right Thing
Ooooh yeah. This song just rocks!

17. Fatboy Slim Weapon of Choice
This song was made famous by its video starring everyone's favorite funky actor Christopher Walken.

The Bard in Love

I saw Shakespeare in Love the other day for the first time in several years. Actually, the last time I saw this movie was during its initial theatrical release and at that time, it didn't strike me as a bonafide Oscar winner. Sure it was a good movie, with a wonderful premise and equally impressive performances by Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes & Geoffrey Rush, but Academy Award winning material? No. Perhaps Oscar voters were too turned off by Saving Private Ryan's intense realism to give that epic the Best Picture nod.

Anyhow, several years later, I found this Shakespeare movie much more inviting and real. This probably stems from having matured enough to understand and feel the true emotion associated with it. The passage in the film where Shakespeare wrote the sonnet with probably the most famous first line in literature, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" hit me like lightning bolt. Wow, I knew exactly what he meant and in the movie's context, I grasped the sheer intensity of the sonnet's intention.

Chalk it up to maturity or in my case, life experience, but my eyes to a better extent now see the greatness of this film. I can relate on some levels to the gamut of emotions encountered by Shakespeare that was translated onto the silver screen by this 1998 film. My personal experiences since 1998 have let me appreciate this fictionalized tale of William Shakespeare's life.

(But I still say Saving Private Ryan should have won that year's Best Picture Oscar!)

UnOriginal Okies

On the way home the other day, I saw something that really irked me for some reason. Maybe it was just an accumulation of seeing these things every so often that set me off, so to speak. The object of my irritation was an Oklahoma Sooners fans' upside-down, chrome Longhorns decal. Occasionally you'll see Sooner fans wave a crimson flag adorned with an upside-down white longhorn. I've never really understood why they would choose the upside-down 'Horns symbol as their symbol of choice, perhaps just to rile their UT neighbors, but to me, this only smacks of unoriginality.

In my eyes, this means that they are not necessarily pro-OU, but anti-UT. Do they really care more about dissing their archrival than promoting their own university? Who knows.

And another thing... the formal name of the aforementioned university is The University of Oklahoma and not vice-versa. So why do Sooners call their school OU? Seriously, what's up with that?! Like one of my good friends, who happens to be from Oklahoma, once told me it's a part of the state's culture- "where else would a state choose mistletoe as their state flower?" Mistletoe is a parasitic weed.

Only in Oklahoma, I guess.

Nice try, but it doesn't compare

There are people out there that say that Canada's healthcare system is better than what we have here in the United States. Yeah, maybe... Then there are others that say that some of our European counterparts also have a better system than we do. Uh, yeah, it's possible. But the thing is that the US has too many low income, poverty striken families in this country to have a true universal system. And I doubt that our first-world counterparts have the same percentage of folks that live near or below the poverty line.

I'm all about helping those who can't help themselves, but there are many folks out there who can work but choose not to. They unfortunately choose to ride the back of the welfare system as far as it is allowed. We can't afford to have a universal healthcare system because we have too many poor folks- they would flood the market, so to speak. We just need to get folks to work. What would be nice is to have a system that would reward those who do have a steady job. This system would alleviate the lower-middle class of the astounding insurance premiums they have to pay. Many families go without providing their respective families health insurance because these deductions from their paychecks are much too high to afford on their meager salaries.

So you have these people who are hard working and are making a decent living, yet they cannot afford to have the least bit of health insurance, and in the end, have to go on Medicare/Medicaid or some other type of public assistance to take care of their families. If health insurance wasn't so expensive, they would be able to fend for themselves. And therein lies the problem. Those who should, really can't.

You have to commend Michael Moore for going after the medical industry in his new movie, Sicko. I'm glad that someone has infiltrated the industry and helped bring out some of its negative aspects. Hopefully, what this will do, is show the people at large that something needs to be done to our healthcare system, because it does need work. There are too many corporations out there are making too much money off of those ever increasing insurance premiums. And there are far too many physicians getting kickbacks because they prescribe particular drugs from a specific drug company. Making a quick buck at the expense of others is not necessarily the American way.

Politicians are speaking more and more of making changes to our beleaguered healthcare system and that's a great thing. They are finally realzing that there is a problem. And realizing that there is something amiss, is the first step.

Interstate rivalry

Rivalries get a little nit-picky and that's what's going on between Dallas and San Antonio, albeit somewhat under the radar. A couple years ago, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban casually described the San Antonio Riverwalk as a brown, muddy mess. Of course he said that with a lot more flash than I could achieve, but you get the picture. I will not deny the San Antonio River's varied brown hues, but the actual river itself does not the Riverwalk make.

To me and to those who still live there, the Riverwalk is first and foremost a tourist trap, with scenic views and a few top-notch restuarants lined along the river, but the Riverwalk is much more than that. City leaders back-when had the foresight to build this unusual feat of engineering that would not only serve as a money magnet for businesses, but also as a necessary tool for flood relief. The Riverwalk portion of the SA River is a part of a larger flood control project that encompasses a great deal of central San Antonio beyond just the downtown area. Through a series of pumps, dams and even tunnels dug beneath the city, flood waters are diverted away from downtown San Antonio. During the major flood event of October 1998 (see my previous "top ten weather events" post) , there were stories written afterwards saying that if the current pumps and tunnels were not in place, the business along the Riverwalk would be under 6 to 8 feet of flooded river water.

I hate to say this, but a few folks here in Dallas will mock and put down something that they don't have and need. And I am referring to two specifics things here. First, the city of Dallas needs another downtown attraction to bring tourists dollars to an anemic downtown district and to revamp its levee system. There has been an initiative in the works to upgrade the levees and revitalize the Trinity River. I hope that it passes only if it's intended to serve as a safeguard against major flooding and if it becomes a scenic park that's a stone's throw from downtown.

The second and last thing I want to comment on is how all this got started in the first place. As usual, this came about because someone would rather point out something negative about someone or some city in this regard, than to realize their own shortcomings. You can't blame Mark Cuban or any Mavericks fans in Dallas for feeling the least bit jealous of San Antonio's successes that stem from the San Antonio Spurs recent run of 4 NBA championships. Petty comments only reinforce the shame connected with them. Don't knock what you don't have or need.

It has a nice *RING* to it!

Houston, for while, was known as "Clutch City" during the Olajuwon era in the mid 1990s. If you want to look at what happened in the 2006 Finals, you can call Dallas, "Choke City", after the Mavericks debacle against the Miami Heat. And you can even group Tony Romo's botched snap in last season's NFL playoffs in there as well. With all this said, I'd like to call San Antonio something new after the Spurs clinched their fourth title in nine seasons:

"RING CITY"

I gotta say it has a nice "ring" to it...

All Hail the Champs

Last night the San Antonio Spurs won their 4th NBA title in 9 years in a 4 game sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers. In winning their 4th championship, the Spurs joined the Boston Celtics, the Minneapolis/Los Angles Lakers and the Chicago Bulls as NBA franchises that have won at least 4 championships. I don't know about you, but that's pretty elite company and the word dynasty should now be mentioned when referring to the present day San Antonio Spurs team.

It was another day at the office for San Antonio as the Cavs did not prove to be as formidable a foe as the Spurs' Western Conference opponents. I personally did not think that the series would end in a four game sweep but maybe in five or even six games, so it was a little surprising to see them win like they did. The Spurs totally outmatched the Cavaliers in all aspects of the game. LeBron James, after having a coming out party against the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals, looked human. He never got in a rhythmic groove where the game came to him, as in his 48 point explosion against the Pistons. He hardly took advantage of his size/strength against Bruce Bowen. If Bowen looked like he needed help, a quick double-team came and forced James to look at other options. Otherwise, Bowen played a remarkable defense against the future Michael Jordan type player of the NBA.

I love to watch the Spurs play defense. It's all about teamwork. I usually look away from the ball to see how the defenders move through the picks and screens set up for the offense. If a defender gets picked off on a pick down along the baseline, another teammate will pick him up and will guard him for as along as necessary. From time to time you'll hear about a motion offense where the players move all around the court, well in this instance, you can say that the Spurs have a motion defense. Their defensive rotations are crisp and their one on one defense is superb from the starters down to the bench players. They all have a job to do, and seen by their four championships, they do that job extremely well. Everything they do revolves on their defense.

Speaking of a coming out party, Spurs point guard Tony Parker, otherwise known as the 2007 NBA Finals MVP, has vaulted himself onto the list of elite point guards. He pretty much outplayed every point guard the Spurs encountered: Allen Inverson, Steve Nash, Derron Williams, & Larry Hughes/Daniel Gibson. He might not have outplayed them all numberswise but he outhustled them fairly handily. Hence why the Spurs won.

I will be the first one to say that this Finals series was rather boring. It was anticlimactic. You can even say that it was a foregone conclusion that the Spurs would win the series unless some miraculous event occurred. Prior to game four, I heard people propose something like reseeding all the playoff teams from both conferences in order to get a meaningful Finals matchup. One of the talking heads on ESPN said that the Finals would end up being the Spurs against the Phoenix Suns. Most, if not all would agree with that outcome as that was the most entertaining series in this years' playoffs. Right now, it is not unfair to say that most of the talented teams reside in the Western Conference and might be for while as the top two players in the upcoming draft, Greg Oden and Kevin Durant should be drafted by the Portland Trailblazers and the Seattle Supersonics, respectively.

Who knows if the Spurs can duplicate this year's magic next season, but hopefully the league will finally realize what kind of franchise they have residing in San Antonio. It's a team led by the most consistent, fundamentally sound player this side of Michael Jordan in Tim Duncan, who is considered to be the most unassuming and plain superstar in the league, and by my reckoning, is the only tattooed Spurs player. They have a young and supremely talented point guard in Tony Parker who is now considered one of the top players at his position. Then there's Manu Ginobili. What player in the league is more unselfish than this guy. This all-star caliber player is asked every year to come off the bench in each game, but is entrusted to secure a Spurs win with the ball in his hand at crunch time. There's nowhere like him. Nor is there a team out there like the Spurs who thinks defense first, led by it's defense minister Bruce Bowen. Whether or not the NBA wants to consider such a team a dynasty, but it is hard to miss a group of players that thinks as one and that thinks of only one thing, winning a championship.

Motivating Medium

I've been on a consistent health kick for about a year and half now, but the last five months or so, I've been working out a lot harder and it shows. My clothes are fitting better: loose around the middle and because of my upper body regimen, I'm filling out my shirts a little differently, too. On top of looking better and getting compliments on how thinner I look, my emotional well being has also improved. Of course, the occasional ego boost from the opposite sex doesn't hurt either.

What has kept focused while I workout is listening to music. Most if not, all of the music I listen to while I workout is usually some form of techno/trance music. The omnipresent pulsing beats serve as a natural metronome when I'm on the elliptical or treadmill: I try to keep my gait faster than the bass drum beats that keep the music pumping, which in turn make my workouts that much more efficient.

Try it and you'll see what I mean!

The Act You've Known for All These Years

Forty years ago, last Friday, June 1st, The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It is the quintessential concept album, music-wise and, of course, album cover-wise. While the rest of the pop music world tried to play catch-up, the Fab-Four cranked out sounds that were, you know, unheard of at that time.

I had always considered Sgt. Pepper's as my all-time favorite Beatles album, but as my musical tastes have matured over the years, I've leaned towards Revolver as the better album. BUT- my favorite song is from still from Sgt. Pepper's, A Day in the Life. Now if Strawberry Fields Forever was on Sgt. Pepper's to begin with, there would be no question what the best Beatles album would be. You know, it's always surprised me that SFF was not added to Sgt. Pepper's because it was recorded at the same recording sessions, and it even sounds like it belongs to Sgt. Pepper's!

Nevertheless, The Beatles were always ahead of their time. They were only together for several years, yet their musical legacy is still felt today and will be for decades to come.

Field of Frustrations

I've been a Texas Rangers fan for as long as I can remember and I can never remember ever feeling so frustrated with the team's performance so early into a season. Yeah, I'm used to the team begin their usual "summer wither" 'round about August, but this is ridiculous. And yes, there have been injuries to key personnel (Blaylock and Millwood), but two people being out does not an abyss create.

I cheer them on as often as one would a winning, contending team, but it has gotten a little difficult to sit through a week's worth of losses from home. Of course nothing beats being at a game in person, but lately it's been easier to click over to something else on cable. I've always joked that if I ever left the Dallas area that I would order a high-end satellite cable package just so that I could get Rangers games. That's pretty gung-ho, but the way things are going right now, I might as well save my money and nix that idea.

As noted above, I consider myself a die-hard Rangers fan, however, with the personnel decisions the team has made these last couple of years, it's hard to keep up with the ever changing roster moves and lackluster play. They have traded away productive fan favorites, Kevin Mench and Francisco "Coco" Cordero for a player they got nothing for in the Milwaukee trade last year, Carlos Lee. They traded an up and coming home grown starting pitcher in Chris Young for a decent bullpen guy in Akinori Otsuka. They gave up on John Danks for another semi-mediocre starting pitcher in Brandon McCarthy. The list goes on and on. There's even a chance the team may not re-sign Mark Teixeira to a long term deal. Well, that's not a big issue because they have someone in their farm system who could fill his spot if that were to occur. Wait a minute... nevermind! They gave away the possible heir apparent, Adrian González, in that Otsuka trade with the San Diego Padres!!!

Do you see what I mean? I haven't figured out if any of the blame rests on manager Ron Washington. It could be that he's been given a roster full of losers (sorry guys!!!) or he's too much of a nice guy to motivate his team to win. Whatever the case may be, Jon Daniels better have something up his sleeve to remedy this problem because all he's done up to this point is trade away popular players and young talent for quick fixes in otherwise losing situations. Talk about sailing up you-know-what creek without a paddle.

Faith in Signs

I saw one of my favorite movies over the weekend, M. Night Shyamalan's Signs. I don't know what it is about this move that gets me but it does. One of my favorite scenes is the video footage from that Brazilian birthday party where one of the aliens emerges from the alley. It makes my skin crawl each time I see it. But what makes this one of my favorite films is that to me, I feel the film is about faith and how things happen for a reason.

Like in the movie, everything happens for a reason: Morgan's asthma saved him from the alien's poisonous secretion; Merrill's strength and cherished bat brought down the creature; all the half-empty glasses of water Bo left behind exacerbated the aforementioned creature's demise; Graham's job was to "see" it all come to fruition as the family's caretaker and without his wife passing, none of this would have happened. Her death was the key to the entire story. It was not until the very end did the former priest see why everything occurred.

Things in life happen for a reason and we have to endure what it brings. This film serves as a reminder to be patient, for what ails you will be remedied in the end.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
"The ends will justify the means." -Niccolo Machiavelli
"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you made." -The Beatles, Abbey Road
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." -Tolkien, Lord of the Rings

N.O. got me enTRANCEd

One thing I really enjoyed back in the day is going to a good dance club. Yep, it’s true and I’d probably still do it if given the chance. It may strike one as strange but the kind of music I really enjoy dancing to is called Trance. There's something to that ever present, pulsing beat that gets to the heart of me. One of my coolest dancing experiences happened in Mexico when I got invited to rave a few blocks away from Monterrey's Gran Plaza. I was a little leary about going into this apparently abandoned building, but after going through a few doors, there in darkness you felt the thumping music emanating from the DJ's table. That rocked.

Today, as you can tell, I am a huge fan of trance music and I can trace this specific musical leaning towards my introduction to one of my all-time favorites bands, New Order. In the late 1980s, New Order’s Substance and Technique, were a couple of my favorite albums. In my own modest, musical tastes, I’ve always considered N.O. as the vanguards of the 80s new wave movement and the godfathers of today’s techno-trance music. This assumption was confirmed when I read the liner notes from their 2000 release, International. This is an excerpt from those notes:

New Order doesn’t dance, but really like it anyway.
They stood there, without saying a word to their audience. It was cool.
If New Order hadn’t played in New York, they would have never discovered Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage and John Jellybean Benitez’s Fun House.
They would never have worked with Shep Pettibone, Arthur Baker, John Robie or Steve Silk Hurley.
And the history of House music wouldn’t have been the same.
Without New Order, rockers would still listen to rock.
The true punks do dance music.
The techno generation is still running 20 years after Blue Monday.


Through the years, New Wave eventually became House and Techno, which could be lumped in the all encompassing Electronica genre, and finally we get Trance. After New Order, Depeche Mode, and even Nitzer Ebb, came Front 242, then into a certain extent, Nine Inch Nails, Republica, & Garbage. In the mid to late 1990s there were the likes of The Chemical Brothers (formerly the Dust Brothers), Fat Boy Slim, & today's Paul Oakenfold. But the most remarkable aspect of all this is that it's amazing to know and even hear that New Order's music is still relevant to today's music scene all these years later. It just goes to show that good music is hard to put aside.

My Top Weather Moments

The Weather Channel starts a new series called 100 Biggest Weather Moments this weekend. And since I'm a big weather buff, I thought I'd come up with my own, personal biggest weather moments. Here's my top "10":

10). Winter drought of 2005-2006
This period of time was one of the driest on record in the D-FW area. Not only was this winter fairly warm, it was also very dry and windy. This dry and windy weather got on my nerves so much so that I went and removed both sets of windchimes from our balcony, because they became a daily reminder of how dry and windy it was.

9). Summer of 2000 & Hurricane Gilbert
A). The D-FW area endured one of the driest summers on records in 2000, if not the driest 3 months ever. No rain fell this summer and when it did, there was much rejoicing. I remember seeing people running outside just to feel the rain hit them.
B). Although Hurricane Gilbert did not make a direct hit on the Texas coast, our football game the week of its landfall took a direct hit. The football game that week was supposed to be our longest trip out of town. We were all looking forward to it- the trip was slated to take at least 2 1/2 hours. All us band folk were supremely disappointed that the game got cancelled. My family did take a trip that weekend anyway, but we ended up at a hurricane evacuation shelter in Seguin.

8). Thunderstorm at a Texas A&M-Kingville football game 1993
My buddy and I drove down to Kingsville to see an A&I (old habits die hard) football game. A&M-K is a perennial powerhouse in Division II football, so we decided to make the 45 minute trek so see our first college football game. As the third quarter progressed, storms started to make their presence known with an ever-growing lightning show. Early in the fourth quarter, the winds picked up dramatically, along with intense lightning, which made the officials call the game with the Javelinas up by three touchdowns. The lightning show was spectacular, albeit quite dangerous. On a side note: this was the Javelinas' first conference game and entered the game 0-5, having lost each game on their non-conference schedule. However, they did not lose again until they reached the Division II championship game.

7). Ice & sleet 1996
This wasn't that big of an ice storm but most of San Antonio was shut down for a few days until what ice accumulated had melted. I remember having to stay in my apartment for three straight, subfreezing days, as both school and work were closed, and before I knew it, I started to get what I equated to was cabin fever. In other words, I had to get out of there, well at least for a while, because being cooped up started to suck.

6). Valentine's Day Snow 2004
This was my first significant snowfall. I had seen, up to this point, only a few dustings of snow, perhaps an inch or so of accumulation, but what this memorable is that both my wife and I had to work that day, so we had to call a sitter for our then 16-month old daughter. After the sitter arrived I had to drive my wife 7 miles in one direction, retrace my steps, as it were, drive back seven miles back towards home and then drive the 11 miles to my job. All this in the 4 or 5 inches of snow that had fallen, mostly, overnight. Flurries still fell until noon, but all I was wishing to do all day was to take my daughter outside and make a snowman for her. I did make one that evening, but my little girl was fast asleep by this time.

5). Hurricane Brett 1999
This hurricane hit the Texas Gulf Coast between Corpus Christi and Brownsville. In other words, it hit a bunch of nothing. There's nothing out there except a bunch of brush and ranches. Good thing too, if it had traveled about 75 miles up the coast it would have directly affected Corpus and the rest of the Coastal Bend. I had just moved to Dallas, when my cousin invited me to make the trip, the day before landfall, down to help our respective families board up or anything else. But what made it extra memorable for me was that my sister-in-law had just given birth to my nephew the same day we arrived- the day before the hurricane made landfall. Although the storm hit far enough away, that they really did not need to evacuate, my brother and his family, including my day-old nephew, took off for Central Texas.

4). Summer of 1980 and Hurricane Allen
My recollection of that particular heat wave aren't that great, other than remembering the intense heat when we ventured outside, which was rather infrequent, seemed different than summers past. But I do remember our Hurricane Allen induced evacuation to San Marcos that August quite vividly.

We set out for someplace away from the coast that day and I think we left with no specific place in mind. I'm sure that's still a given for hurricane evacuees nowadays. That day was hot and it took us almost two hours to get to the next town over, 7 miles away! The rest of the trip was a mix of my Dad's frustrated rumblings, my Mom's worries about the family and house we left behind, and my younger brothers' respective fussiness. We arrived, sometime in the middle of that same night, in San Marcos. We were given refuge on the campus of what was then called Southwest Texas State University. Even though we were a few hours inland, we were not necessarily out of the woods. As with landfalling hurricanes, inland areas are susceptible to tornadoes, and we were evacuated once (again) on account of a tornado touching down nearby.

When we returned home, we were greeted with a backyard full of water. My younger brother and I walked out there and found spots where the water came up past our knees. Thinking back on it, that wasn't a very smart thing to do. Who knows what could have been lurking in those waters!

3). 1998 Weather Weirdness
I call it weird because of how the weather played out year. We had at least three separate hailstorms pass through the San Antonio area in one February evening. Then, about a month later, the Friday before Spring Break, sleet pellets fell even though it was maybe a paltry 40 degrees. Two months later, began one really hot summer. By mid May, most of Texas had experienced above or near normal temperatures, with many cities topping 100 degrees! I had never been one to complain about hot weather, but by the end of June, I was already wishing for cold weather. That was a abnormally hot and dry summer, and things evened out before too long, but unfortunately, it did in one day.

Many people who live in San Antonio know that any little rain that falls usually causes some parts of town to flood. So when a 500-year flood occurred on a Saturday in mid-October, you know it would be pretty bad. I went to bed the night before the flood event occurred thinking about the company paintball game planned for the next day. We did have a slight chance of rain the next day, but it was forecasted to arrive something after our paintball match. But lo and behold, I had a rude awakening the next morning. Tremendous flashes of lightning, accompanied with jarring thunder eventually kicked me out of bed. Car alarms, including mine, were going off with the jolts of thunder. So much for that slight chance of rain that afternoon... I got up and went over to the living room TV and saw that the local stations had their storm coverage up and going and it was barely 6:30am!

I got myself ready for work as I had to put in a few hours of work before the paintball game that afternoon. Well, needless to say the game was cancelled. Although most of the rain had stopped by mid-day, the subsequent runoff was just beginning. The area around the Olmos Dam, namely along Highway 281, was under water. Different parts of town were also under significant amounts of water. I remember trying to take this girl I dated to work, but all roads leading there were under water. Weeks later after the water receded, the high water mark along 281 was visible high on the trees- not on the tree trunks but high up on the leafy canopies!

2). Jarrell Tornado May 27, 1997
I did not actually witness this tornado personally but I followed the storm's path of destruction southward from Waco through Jarrell and then through San Antonio that afternoon and evening. As I readied myself for work, the Weather Channel was already on top of this fast breaking story. The storm essentially worked its way south along the I-35 corridor, where Jarrell took the brunt of the storm.

As soon as I walked outside you could just feel the humidity. It was pretty oppressive to say the least. I remember looking up at the tops of the utility poles and you could actually see the haze and humidity. I thought to myself, "if something comes in today, it's going to get nasty."

When I arrived at work, I chatted with one of my new co-workers, who was a classmate at UT-San Antonio and a former storm chaser in Oklahoma, about this storm. For a second he and I thought about actually chasing this storm! Anyway, we didn't go, but we both kept up with the storms progress via the good ol' internet. After the storm passed Austin, it weakened a bit and turned west, and we thought would pass San Antonio entirely. But after this westward veering, it gain a little bit of strength, put down a brief tornado near Boerne and put out this impressive looking cigar-shaped, rolling cloud in the part of town where I worked.

We in San Antonio were lucky that the storm weakend before it reached us. The reason why I placed this event so high on my list is because of its storm history and that I witnessed the remnants, thankfully, of this historical storm. Please check out this site that talks about the Jarrell tornado even further.


1). Coastal Bend White Christmas 2004
I spoke of this weather event on a posting back in December 2006. I still can't believe, that to this day, I had my first White Christmas, in all places, in my hometown near Corpus Christi. We received about 7 inches of snow at my parents house, which was one of the higher totals in the immediate Coastal Bend vicinity. We were so taken with the pristine nature of the snow around our house that we didn't even build a snowman. I'm sure if we had the time to build one, it would have been huge with all the snow on the ground. Please read my posting from this last December for more of a play by play of events.

Honorable Mention: I wasn't around to endure the following storm, but I love to hear my parents talk about their experiences when Hurricane Celia hit in 1970. Each of them had their stories to tell, but I especially like to hear my Mom's harrowing tale. Her story started with her drive to work that day. She stopped to put gas in her car on her way to work that morning, when the lady behind the counter asked her where she was going. My mother told her work and then the lady asked her why that was so with the hurricane expected to arrive sometime that afternoon. Wow, can you imagine not knowing that a hurricane was on its way?! Anyhow, my Mom went back home and stayed with the rest of her family and awaited the hurricane's arrival.

They endured the first half of the storm in my grandmother's house where they felt the roof shudder and the walls sway. As soon as the calm of Celia's eye arrived, they had heard that folks were being sheltered in our church a few blocks away, so they all went to the church to avoid being in a house that may blow away during the second half of the storm. When the stronger side of the eyewall came ashore, my mother's family and a few other people huddled in the church's sacristy. A few moments later they heard a tremendous crash. One of the ladies with them said that the roof and the walls of the church had just fallen down. With this, they immediately left the church and went to the priest's house adjacent to the church. Because of the ferocious winds occurring at this point of the storm, each person was tied to the other with rope. Apparently this was a good thing, since my Mom's youngest sister, who was 5 at the time, was blown horizontally by the winds that were probably close to 100 miles an hour. After the storm passed, someone looking out the window, saw something really big sitting on the front lawn of the priest's house-- it was a chunk of the roof of the very house they were in.

These are the stories I never get tired of hearing!

The Undoing

What's that old saying, "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it"? Considering the current state of the world, it would seem that some of us have certainly forgotten this old adage.
Consider this: a war started on what could be seen as a whim; a quick end to said war was forecasted by the ones who started it; and no true objective was laid out at the outset by the conflicts initiators, and even when the war was well underway. Am I talking about the war in present day Iraq? No. I am talking about a conflict that set the world on fire almost 100 years ago. I speak of The Great War. In G. J. Meyer's A World Undone, he writes that "anyone inclined to believe that some dark force beyond human comprehension intervened again and again to make the Great War long and ruinous would have no difficulty in finding evidence to support such a thesis." A great point to describe the great conflagration initiated in what would later be called, Europe's Tinderbox- The Balkans.

What brought much of the European continent into a constant state of chaos occurred, inauspiciously, on the edge of the vast, yet declining Hapsburg Empire. The news of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, hardly sent a ripple across Europe, much less create a sense of crisis. The archduke's uncle, Emperor Franz Joseph, "seemed almost grateful" at the reports. Both Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia scarcely reacted to the news, with Tsar Nicholas only declaring "three weeks of mourning in honor of the slain archduke." With this much "fanfare", it is a wonder that the war started at all.

A unique aspect of this massive tome is how Meyer split each of the six separate parts into smaller entities, those of which include a brief introductory synopsis of those disparate characters involved in the war itself. What he did was deconstruct these characters so as to introduce them to the reader and give one an insight on how and why a given person or group of people behaved the way they did and how they came to be, for example: who were the Junkers and why were they so militaristic? This anecdotal filler before a new chapter begins, fits in wonderfully between Meyer's tremendous play-by-play.

Many times througout the conflict, each side squandered opportunities to breakthrough, figuratively and literally; the Germans could have laid siege to Paris soon after the war started, as they followed their Schifflen Plan; as did the British when they broke a thinly garrisoned line at Neuve Chapelle. I found this description of the British leadership by German war planner, Max Hoffman, quite telling. The British "soldiers fought like lions, but were led by donkeys."

As the war roared on, or better yet, stumbled on, battles were initiated to gain or retake useless sects of land; land usually made useless by constant bombardment or useless for tactical reasons: the Battle of the Somme, the Brusilov Offensives of 1916; and the Battle of Verdun, a microcosm of the entire war itself for its "length and cost and brutality and finally in its sheer pointlessness."

Yes, Meyer makes an amazing point about how it seems that some "dark force" aided in the tragic prolonging of the Great War. But the problem can be described in much simpler terms: humans began the war, stupid humans that is. Communications between nations in those years were mediocre at best, but not to the point where people would rather not wait for a formal response to an ultimatum.

Many may ask if there was a point of the war and others will ask if there was anything to be gained in the end. From an American standpoint, US generals gained valuable battle experience, such as Gen. Douglas MacArthur, but other than that, I would say there was little to be gained as the world is still paying for the sins of The Great War.

How Germany fared post-war is in direct relation to how World War II started. Problems with poorly conceived partioning of already inhabited lands, such as the Middle East by Britain and France still resonate today. Genocide and the like became the norm in the everlasting fractured region of Yugoslavia. To revisit what occurred during this tumultuous era, is an immense undertaking and Meyer's analysis proved as readable and entertaining as any best selling novel.

Madrileño Dreaming

Eight years ago today, I left a place that I called home for three months. I did not know what to expect since I was a whole day's worth of travel away from home and in a distant land where very few people spoke English. So there I was, a small town boy, arriving in a bustling city-- a capital originally planned by King Felipe II, and excited about the prospects of the unknown that was to be three months living in Madrid, Spain.

Seriously, I really did not know what to expect. I had never been out of the country for an extended period of time, save for an occasional long weekend in Monterrey or Saltillo, México. Up until then, Spain had been this far off destination that I had only dreamt about. Nevertheless, the excitement that awaited me outweighted any misgivings I had about leaving my family and friends behind in Texas.

I arrived with a head cold, which for two weeks, made my stay rather miserable. The cold had gotten so bad, that I even entertained the notion of leaving, but that thought was thankfully scraped after a visit to my local farmacia. Hurray for those green neon crosses!

Although I lived in Madrid for those three months, the town I miss the most is Granada. I was so enchanted with this town, that I paid it a second visit the last weekend before I returned home. I don't know what it was about this town, but it's like there must have been magic in those cobblestone streets. I was drawn to the Alhambra and to the Albaycín and to the people too. I used to say, and still say it to my friends, that if I had stayed one more week, I probably would've stay in Granada indefinitely.

Having lived in Spain for so long, I listened to my share of flamenco music and saw a couple shows, mainly in Madrid. A great number of flamenco troupes flock to the capital where it's more financially feasible. I've always found it difficult to put the passion of flamenco music to words, but I think the following piece does it quite well.

Spanish Dancer
by Rainer Maria Rilke

As on all its sides a kitchen-match darts white
flickering tongues before it bursts into flame:
with the audience around her, quickened, hot,
her dance begins to flicker in the dark room.

And all at once it is completely fire.

One upward glance and she ignites her hair
and, whirling faster and faster, fans her dress
into passionate flames, till it becomes a furnace
from which, like startled rattlesnakes, the long
naked arms uncoil, aroused and clicking.

And then: as if the fire were too tight
around her body, she takes and flings it out
haughtily, with an imperious gesture,
and watches: it lies raging on the floor,
still blazing up, and the flames refuse to die -
Till, moving with total confidence and a sweet
exultant smile, she looks up finally
and stamps it out with powerful small feet.

There were so many other memories I made during my short time there, that would take so long to jot everything here: Toledo was just brilliant- El Greco's El Entierro del Señor de Orgaz is one amazing piece of art. I certainly believe that his artwork is vastly underrated. Sevilla is a gem- I actually had time to visit the Archivo General de Indias for a project I was working on back home. Talk about old school. There's nothing like holding a 300+ year old document in your hands and reading the goings-on in colonial Mexico. And then there's Barcelona. Although I only stayed for a day and half, it was a dream come true of sorts. We had an exchange student in high school who hailed from Barcelona and I was captivated with stories of her hometown. My enchantment grew even more when Barcelona hosted the '92 Olympics. What I wanted to see more than anything there was Barcelona's grand, unfinished church, La Sagrada Familia by Antoni Gaudí.

Now that eight years have passed, I feel so far removed from everything Spain, literally and sadly, figuratively. I almost forgot this year's 8th anniversary and I do have reasons for almost forgetting: a death in the family and another relative diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer, all within a few weeks time.

I miss Spain tremendously. And my poem below gives you an idea how I feel.

my love

nothing’s diminished mi querida.

i still feel the same as if i were still with you.
the memories still feed the hole in my soul.
i still think of you often, on any given day.
the memories are wonderful, yet bittersweet.

oh how i miss your smile mi querida.
oh how i miss your warmth mi querida.

nothing will make me happier
than to hear your voice again
nothing will bring me joy
than to see your beauty again and again.

i wish for more time than
what we had the first go ‘round.

i wish to see more of you than
i did the last time.

how can i return to enjoy your charm and grace?
how can i regain that which is now unattainable?

songs and photos of you can only
distract me for so long.
dreams and thoughts of you can only
sustain me for so long.

oh how i wish i was with you again mi querida!

you are the stuff of dreams.
you are the dreams that i still have.

this relatively short time is getting too long for me.
it’s become too long to be without you.

eres la novia de mi ser,
you are my soulmate,
mi querida España.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
fj de g y l
28 I 2007

Musical recollections

I love music in most of its forms, hence why I've always said that listening to music is one of my favorite things to do. I've had the chance to check out some fantastic classical related cds lately, especially those that included songs that I had the pleasure to play when I was in high school.

One cd that I checked out from my local public library a couple months ago, included a song called Folk Dances by Dmitri Shostakovich. It's a lively piece that is compromised of several ethnic "folk dances" akin to the cultures of Russia. It had a lot of, what out director called, "noodles," lengthy run of notes usually done in complicated rhythms. I have many fond memories playing this song with my classmates, especially the times we spent practicing the song for competition.

Another song that I appreciated from the get-go, because I played it early on in my musical career, was Theme from Marche Slave an arrangement of Tchaikovsky's Marche Slave. Playing these selections throughout my musical career influenced my tastes as I enjoy Russian themed music to this day.

American Civil War Fantasy by Jerry Bilik also brings back great memories of playing music. On the way to work this morning, I listened to a cd that included this selection. It was the first time in days that I listened to something other than John Mayer's Heavier Things, which is a great album, by the way. Bilik's ACWF is also one of those montage inspired songs, among which includes these Civil War era favorites: Dixie, Listen to the Mockingbird, Maryland My Maryland, Rally Round the Flag, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, The Yellow Rose of Texas, Just Before the Battle Mother, and a soaring finale made quite memorable with The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Now talk about a moving piece of music.

Something to share

Pablo Neruda is one of my favorite poets, as you've seen on a previous post. Here again I am sharing another one of his pieces, but this time in Spanish. Check out this website: http://www.neruda.uchile.cl/index.html

¡Disfrute!

NO HAY PURA LUZ
No hay pura luz
ni sombra en los recuerdos:
éstos se hicieron cárdena ceniza
o pavimento sucio
de calle atravesada por los pies de las gentes
que sin cesar salía y entraba en el mercado.

Y hay otros: los recuerdos buscando aún
qué morder
como dientes de fiera no saciada.
Buscan, roen el hueso último devoran
este largo silencio de lo que quedó atrás.

Y todo quedó atrás, noche y aurora,
el día suspendido como un puente entre sombras,
las ciudades, los puertos del amor y el rencor,
como si al almacén la guerra hubiera entrado
llevándose una a una todas las mercancías
hasta que a los vacíos anaqueles
llegue el viento a través de las puertas deshechas
y haga bailar los ojos del olvido.

Por eso a fuego lento surge la luz del día,
el amor, el aroma de una niebla lejana
y calle a calle vuelve la ciudad sin banderasa
palpitar tal vez y a vivir en el humo.

Horas de ayer cruzadas por el hilo
de una vida como por una aguja sangrienta
entre las decisiones sin cesar derribadas,
el infinito golpe del mar y de la duda
y la palpitación del cielo y sus jazmines.

Quién soy Aquél? Aquel que no sabía
sonreír, y de puro enlutado moría?
Aquel que el cascabel y el clavel de la fiesta
sostuvo derrocando la cátedra del frío?

Es tarde, tarde. Y sigo. Sigo con un ejemplo
tras otro, sin saber cuál es la moraleja,
porque de tantas vidas que tuve estoy ausente
y soy, a la vez soy aquel hombre que fui.

Tal vez es éste el fin, la verdad misteriosa.

La vida, la continua sucesión de un vacío
que de día y de sombra llenaban esta copa
y el fulgor fue enterrado como un antiguo príncipe
en su propia mortaja de mineral enfermo,
hasta que tan tardíos ya somos, que no somos:
ser y no ser resultan ser la vida.

De lo que fui no tengo sino estas marcas crueles,
porque aquellos dolores confirman mi existencia.

TX A&M CC-inderella's gone dancing

In terms of sports, this time of the year is my favorite, handsdown. There's no other thing I would rather be doing than sit and watch as many NCAA basketball tourney games as I can. Because of my work schedule and a death in the family this past week, this year's tournament has not started with it's usual oomph. I did not get my tourney picks in time, so I can't see how my picks would have stood up with everyone else's. I only saw a few games on the tournament's first day because of our return trip back to town, so I'm looking forward to the games after work this weekend.

Since we drove down to South Texas Sunday afternoon, I missed one of the biggest games this season. Texas A&M Corpus Christi, new to the Southland Conference this year, was in their first conference championship game, and had a shot for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. I had my brother periodically text message me to update the game's score. Although I am not an alumnus of this university (UT-San Antonio, '97), the success that this team has had this year is a big thing for the Corpus Christi area.

This was the first year that A&M-CC was able to join an NCAA Division I athletic conference. The basketball program is in its eighth year and had struggled to get quality opponents to play them, much less make the trip down to Corpus Christi. Even though they beat Florida State in Tallahassee last season, this year they played, and lost, against three perennial winning basketball programs, two of them '07 NCAA tourney teams: lost at Purdue 79-61, lost at UNLV 67-57, and lost at Mississippi State 96-72.


I feel that the team deserved a better seed than the 15th they received. Considering that they had received votes in the last two AP polls, I hoped they would get at least a 14th seed or even a 13th seed. But at this point, tournament newbies can't really complain can they?

This season was full of firsts for A&M-CC. They won the regular season championship in their inaugural season to the conference. Then they won a conference tournament championship and a spot to the Big Dance all in their first season as newcomers to the conference. I hope that this will be the first of many conference championships and the first of many visits to the NCAA tournament in the years to come.

They'll have more than their hands full with Wisconsin, but this fan will be chanting what the student section at Islanders home games chant: A&M-C-C! A&M-C-C! A&M-C-C!

Not much really

Not much to preface here other than to say that I came across this poem, a while back, in the first few pages of Martha McPhee's 2006 book, L'America. The poem's author is McPhee's husband. Although I haven't read the book, I thought the poem quite compelling and I thought I'd share it.
-------------

To an Unknown Poet, Dead at 39
Phil Perelson, 1956-1995

Love, it seems, when all is said and done,
kept you (maintained, withheld) indefinite.
In bits and pieces you offered your Te Deum.

To disappear was your "natural condition,"
but what to keep (guard, record) against the infinite,
when love, it seems, when all is said and done,

(so utter, complete) so obliterates someone?
Your "Five Keys to Anonymity," the ball & chain habits?
In bits and pieces you offered your Te Deum.

I still say "you," a mistake I see, for the third person
holds you (faithful, spellbound now) separate--
love it seems, when all is said and done,

need not answer back, or get a word in
edgewise, or feel at all compelled to speculate
in bits and pieces. You offered you Te Deum,

and what remains? What space along what margin,
what wisp in a rented room, what scrap, however delicate?
Love, it seems, when all is said and done.
In bits and pieces, you offered your Te Deum.

--Mark Svenvold

Yo, cover me Berlioz

I've never been a big fan of cover songs, but I've enjoyed a few of them through the years, most notably, Alien Ant Farm's cover of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal and 311's cover of The Cure's big hit, Love Song. However, the reason why I bring this up is because of another cover song of sorts.

Now with the NBA All-Star game just a few weeks away, you are starting to see some interesting NBA commercials in sports related telecasts, the best of which is Nike's newest. Nike has always been known for their fun and edgy advertisements, such as the contraversial Instant Karma ad with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen from the early 1990s. The newest one showcases some of the NBA's best young talent, including Amare Stoudamire, Chris Paul, and Tony Parker. But what really got my attention is the music used in the commercial.

The original song is not contemporary by no means nor is it a Top 40 hit from the late 20th Century. If anything, it's from one of my favorite pieces of music from the 19th Century. What the commerical uses as its background music is the Dies Irae portion of the Dream of a Witches Sabbath movement of Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. The original piece is a fantastic example of what Berlioz called idée fixe or where a fixed melody or rhythm is figured prominently throughout a song or movement. The low tones from the Dies Irae portion is an example of this. And in the commercial, set with a kickin' hip-hop beat, the song sounds very interesting and great for that matter. Who was the creative genius to meld these two genres together?

I unfortunately am not as well versed into today's hip-hop as I was back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but either way, keep an eye out, or in this case, both ears out for this extraordinary entertaining bit of modern advertising.

At last, good riddance

The news of Bill Parcells' retirement has Dallas Cowboys' fans breathing a collective sigh of relief. Jerry Jones brought him to town with the hope of restoring the team to greatness, but after mediocre four seasons, Cowboys' fans are bidding him a welcomed bon voyage.

I'll be honest, I have never liked him. I thought him to be overrated. He hasn't won a Super Bowl since his New York Giants days and I think it's because all his talented assistants were no longer with him. He had a terrific run with great assistants there in the late 1980s and early 1990s when his staff included the likes of current New England Patriots head coach and 3-time Super Bowl winner, Bill Belichick. I've been known to say that his assistants won him those two titles because he apparently can't win without them.

Could Parcells' meager 34-32 record over a 4 year span be traced to a lack of talented assistants? Or could it be attributed to other things? There were times during these past few years, where Bill looked tired and frustrated. I guess I can relate since I've gotten more irritable and frustrated as I've gotten older, but that shouldn't make or break the season of a fairly talented team, especially this year. I 've continued to say that the 'Boys did so well this season, in spite of Parcells shortcomings, because of Tony Romo's inspired play.

As much as I am happy to see Parcells leave, I was a little disappointed to have him leave so soon. My reasoning is that I would love to have seen Jerry Jones, finally make a great football decision, by hiring a real NFL coach. In that I mean, hiring longtime Steelers coach, Bill Cowher. If Parcells had stayed one more season, that would've given Cowher at least one "retired" season away from football, and then the 'Boys would be primed to hand the reigns over to Cowher.

The team could hire former offensive coordinator Norv Turner as "interim" head coach, and when Cowher's ready to come out of "retirement", Turner could become the new offensive coordinator. Who knows, Jones might make Cowher an offer he can't refuse.

This probably won't happen, but you never know. Can't a fan dream?!

Saving the Best for Last

January 1st is historically known as the day set aside for the best of college football, and January 1, 2007 was no exception.

Most of the bowl games were exciting in there own right, but two of them stood out more than the others. The first, played at the Gator Bowl, between West Virginia and Georgia Tech had most of the scoring done before halftime, but the second half had its share of offensive fireworks. During one stretch of the game, Georgia Tech was up by 11, 35-24, early on in the third quarter. At this point, I had to step out and when I came back, perhaps 5 to 7 minutes later, West Virgina had erased that aforementioned 11-point deficit and now led 38-35! I thought this would be the most exciting game of the day... but, THE game of the day, would occur much later and would end, excitingly enough near midnight. I'll get to that game in a bit.

What turned out the be the most disappointing game of the lot was the much anticipated Rose Bowl match up between USC and Michigan. The last two Rose Bowls went down to the wire, with both games coming down to last second plays to decide the winner and perhaps, interestingly, both games were won by the University of Texas. This years' game, however, did not live up to the hype. I hate to say it, but it was a boring game. Yes, the game had its exciting moments, namely when Michigan cut the USC lead to 8, 19-11, but that was the closest the Wolverines got to the Trojans in the second half.

The game was decided in the first half, even though the teams exchanged fields goals, when the USC defense stifled the Michigan running game. Wolverine running back Mike Hart, finished well below his season average, which in turn, made Michigan rely on the pass(I lost how many times UM QB Chad Henne was sacked). What really irked me was the lack of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties called on USC star wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett, on two separate occasions. Jarrett blatantly showed up his defensie counterparts. The first occurred on his way into the endzone, and the second after an important third down conversion. Why wasn't he called for taunting on his way to his long 4th quarter touchdown? I guess pointing at your opponent on your way into the endzone is okay to do in southern California. Then a little bit later, after converting that third down pass play, the Jarrett handed the ball to the defender while he sat on the turf, in that "you-can't-cover-me" taunt. And I guess, showing up your opponent is not a penalty either.

[On a side note, I was given one of those Michigan wrist bands when a good friend of mine went up to Ann Arbor a couple months ago for the Michigan-Michigan State game. Well, I wore the wrist band to show my support of the Wolverines during the game, and as I took it off afterwards, the band snapped and broke. It's not big deal really, but it is telling because my friend and I are no longing on speaking terms.]

Anyway... the best game of the day, by far, took place in Glendale, Arizona at the Fiesta Bowl between Boise State and Oklahoma. And in my eyes, it was one of the best college games I've ever seen, second perhaps to last years National Championship game when Vince Young led Texas over USC in the Rose Bowl.

Boise State held a fairly substantial lead in the fourth quarter before Oklahoma mounted a comeback to tie the game with less than two minutes to go. I'll be honest with you, I seriously thought Oklahoma had the game in hand after that interception return for a touchdown. Once a team such as OU has been down and then gets the lead, one normally thinks that the momentum is now with them and the game is essentially over. Nope.

Boise State's QB Zabransky masterfully moved his team down the field with a quickly evaporating clock and thanks to a bit of trickery, the Broncos sent the game into overtime. Oklahoma scored first in extra time on Adrian Peterson's first down run. Boise State did not score as quickly or as easily as Oklahoma, but they did it with more style. On 4 and 2 on the Oklahoma 5 yard line, on a wide receiver option play, WR Vinny Perreta lobbed a touchdown pass into the endzone. And there was still one more trick to go. On the ensuing 2 point conversion, QB Zabransky acted out the "Statue of Liberty" play to perfection, when he faked a wide receiver screen pass to the right, while tailback Ian Johnson took the no-look handoff and ran into the endzone for the game winning two-point conversion!

It really doesn't get any better than that. Boise State showed the nation that an underdog, non-BCS program does deserve a shot at a BCS game. And being that they are undefeated, they should have a chance at playing for the national title.