SERIOUSLY???

In case no one noticed ... it's summertime and schools are not in session. But for some reason the school zone light near my house always blinks from 7:15 a.m. to 8:15 a.m and from 3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. What's the protocol on something like this? Are you still supposed to go from 40 mph down to the marked 20 mph? I usually split the difference at around 30 mph. I guess I got my answer today. No, I didn't get a ticket. But there was a police car set up to catch people as they came up over a hill inside the school zone. Luckily there were others in front of me that I saw slowing down. But seriously, is this all our police officers have to do? The guy is trying to catch people speeding in a school zone when school is freakin' out for the summer. Go figure.

BEST JOB EVER .... EVER!

I'm getting this info second or third hand, but it's come from several different and reliable sources so I will assume it is at least 90% authentic and go ahead and tell you the story. (not that it had to be even close to 90% authentic for me to tell it)

So for you non sports fans, Sammy Sosa hit his 600th career homerun the other night. Again, for you non sports fans ... that's pretty good. He's only the 5th player in the history of the game to have achieved this number of homers. Whether he was on steroids in the late nineties or not ... it's still pretty impressive. He signed a one year minor league deal with the Rangers and since he only needed 16 homers this year to reach this mark it was pretty much a given that he would do it in a Rangers uniform. So apparently since spring training the guys in the bullpen, headed by reliever C.J. Wilson have been hatching the following plan on the off chance the home run landed in their bullpen in right center field ... which it did.

For a long time I've been of the belief that being a major league bullpen catcher is in fact the greatest job on the planet. You don't make much money but compared to the average person you probably make a decent salary. Enough to live on for sure. The thing is you get to go to every baseball game during the season. You get to play catch with major league pitchers and just when you're down on yourself about not having nearly as much money as the actual players around you, you remember that you're friends with most of them and if they ever invite you out with them or on vacation they will most likely pick up the tab just to have you along for the ride ... that is assuming you're cool enough for them to want to hang with you and when I think about this job I see myself doing it and I know I'm cool enough ... so go with it. So anyways, back to the story of the 600th homerun. The ball actually landed in the Rangers' bullpen and seemed to be picked up by reliever Akinori Otsuka. Apparently after he got the ball he slyly rolled the ball over to the bullpen catcher. The catcher did not know what the other guys were trying to do so he picked the ball up and handed to a security guard. Once in the hands of the security guard the bullpen catcher was the official retriever of the ball. It was his to do with what he wanted. He could put it on eBay and see how much money he could get for it. He could display it on his mantle at home. He could simply give it back to Sammy (which was probably expected). Anything he wanted. Apparently this guy drives some sort of old beat up Cadillac. Actually according to him it's not that bad of a car, but you can imagine it's nothing like the ones his coworkers drive. So a day or two after Sammy hit the homer, the bullpen collectively announced they were holding the ball hostage until Sammy bought the bullpen catcher a new car. This is genius. Absolute genius. Of course the guy would have given it back if Sammy really insisted. It was just a joke. And you asked me, it's a pretty funny joke. I haven't heard if the guy got his new car yet ... but if he does it will in fact confirm my thoughts bullpen catcher is the greatest job ever. I haven't seen any postings for one on monster.com but if anyone runs across one, let me know. So congratulations to Sammy and congratulations to unnamed bullpen catcher. It was a hell of a week.

SWEET SIXTEEN

So as per my usual, I'm watching a little MTV the other day and this show called "Sweet Sixteen" comes on. I've seen parts of several episodes of this show and as much as I love MTV, this show really pisses me off. It's ridiculous. These girls they feature on this show are some of the worst people I've ever seen in my life. So in this particular episode there is a girl named Audrey who I think was from Miami. The only part I watched was a scene where her mother surprised her a day early with a brand new Lexus coupe. I don't know how much this car cost but I have a feeling it's in excess of $50K. It was a sweet ride and apparently what she had asked for. When she saw it though she threw a fit. She started crying and yelling at her mother about how she ruined her birthday but giving it to her a day early. I guess she wanted it delivered at her party maybe? I don't know. This fit was insane. It just went on and on and her mother just took it ... although she did return the car to the dealership. I'm sure the salesman was thrilled to see that commission go down the drain. In the end I just couldn't help but wonder how a 15 year old girl could end up like this. Is it because of the millions of dollars? Or are her parents just not that good at parenting? It seems like all the girls on this show are spoiled brats that want every piece of attention they can get. Can MTV not find any respectable 15 year olds ... or would that not be good t.v. And why am I watching this stuff anyways? And more importantly, why am I writing about it. I apparently have some problems. Okay, enough.

SINGER/SONGWRITER NIGHT

Okay, so I haven't played music in front of anyone in a really long time. I used to do it a lot. And when I say in front of people, I don't mean like over at their house or out on somebody's back porch. I mean somewhere with a stage, microphones, maybe a light or two and a little beer. I would say that my musical stylings haven't really changed that much over the years, it's just that I choose to let more of certain types out than others and sometimes that tends to change. So if you knew me and the music I was making 5 years ago you would be a little surprised at what I'm writing these days. But understand that it has all always been there, I'm just letting a different type out now. To me it's roots music. For two reasons. First of all it's based on and influenced by the original types of American music that were at the beginning of modern music in this country. Taking the simplest parts from that style and incorporating them into something that is modern and relevant but also holds the structure and stylings of the older traditional sounds. And secondly, it's the kind of music I grew up on. It's where I came from. It's me. So that's what I've been playing.

As I said earlier, I haven't played in front of anyone in a long time so when I heard about a singer/songwriter competition that was being hosted by 95.3 The Range here in Dallas I decided I would give it a go. If nothing else it would give me a deadline to finish a few songs I've been working on for a while. So I went out about a month ago to play and it went really well. I played one song and then was asked to come back and play one more before they made a final decision. I was then asked to come back for the semifinal round several weeks later. And if you were wondering ... it looked a little something like this.
















So I went back lastnight for the seminfinals. I had a great crowd of family and friends that came out for support. I found out I would be going on first and right before that one of the judges would be playing a few songs. His name was Daryl Lee Rush and he is a very well known Americana/Country musician in the area. He won the Shiner Rising Star competition a few years ago and has a great record out called "Llano Avenue". Point being, not an easy act to follow. I really like that guy's music though so it was great to hear him play.

Anyways, long story short, I thought I played a couple of pretty good songs but I didn't win so we gave them all the double birds and went across the street for burgers and beer at Kellers. Honestly, it wasn't a big deal. The competitive side of me will always want to win, but the rest of me realizes that music competitions are not the best thing in the world. I heard someone talking about this on the radio a while back and they made the point that Bob Dylan would have never made it on American Idol. At the end of the day it was great to be back in front of people playing music. It's makes you very vulnerable to be all alone in front of a crowd. Especially when you're singing your very own thoughts and musings. It's a good feeling to put that stuff out there and I appreciate all of you who came out to listen. I'm hoping to get the opportunity to play every now and then so stay tuned. Until then ...

TIME FOR SITUPS

It has been brought to my attention (by that I mean I looked in the mirror and noticed) that I have apparently developed what we're going to call a little "extra". I have no idea how this happened. Actually I guess I do have some sort of idea. It goes something like this. I was in high school and worked out every day. I also had a very quick metabolism. I was in college and pretty much rode a bike everyday. And I had a high metabolism. After college I started to work and never worked out. But I still had a high metabolism. Within the past few years I still worked and did not work out very often. And I could actually sense my metabolism slowing down. And see the extra starting to form. So at the start of this year I started biking ... a lot. And I got into decent shape (comparatively speaking versus where I was before). Currently I've taken a little break from the bike and of course the old metabolism is right where it was before so here comes the extra. Damn the extra. And it all likes to congregate at the front or sides of the ole' belly. Being a guy who started losing the hair very early in life ... this is something that cannot happen. Guys who get guts can at least say, "at least I still have my hair." And guys that lose their hair like to be able to say, "at least I don't have a gut." So where does that leave me? Working out. That's where it leaves me. And I hate working out. But I like food more than I hate working out so that's pretty much how it has to happen. And it's actually good for me and makes me feel good so I guess it's not all bad. And then hopefully I can say, "at least I don't have a gut."

I'm pretty sure this is the most vain post I've ever written, but it was on my mind. I'll try to start focusing on the more important things in life. Right after I workout.