A Blog about Blogs

One month ago today I was persuaded to try this thing called Blogs. I really didn’t see it working. I thought to myself, we will do it for about a week or two and then it will fall off. I thought, “There is no way possible to write something every week that is entertaining enough to read”. Boy was I wrong.

One month and going strong. I have greatly enjoyed blogging. I feel like I am getting to know my long time friends better and keeping our friendship fresh and strong. I can see how blogging is expanding my friendship with the ‘Ab Show’ and Viki and Jelaine. It is good to know about the everyday things, I think it will help when we do see each other and feel like we have been there all along.

So here is to the next month.

So I played Cornhole or ‘Bag-o’ as my friends call it. They are good Midwesterners from Nebraska and Iowa. Last night they drug out their bags and boards and we played guys verses girls. While I am no expert I will say that the guys won all three rounds. I contributed my fair share. At one point it was 20-0 guys!! I don’t understand how a whole league could surround this sport. Three games were good for me! A cross-cultural experience, for sure. Does Bag-o count in the Presidential Challenge?

An Open Letter to the Current President:

Have you ever looked at a map of the world? Look at Texas with me just for a second. That picture, with the Panhandle and the Gulf Coast, and the Red River and the Rio Grande is as much a part of you as anything ever will be. As soon as anyone anywhere in the world looks at it they know what it is. It's Texas.

Pick any kid off the street in Japan and draw him a picture of Texas in the dirt and he'll know what it is. What happens if I show you a picture of any other state? You might get it maybe after a second or two, but who else would? And even if you do, does it ever stir any feelings in you?

In every man, woman and child on this planet, there is a person who wishes just once he could be a real live Texan and get up on a horse or ride off in a pickup. There is some little bit of Texas in everyone.

Did you ever hear anyone in a bar go, "Wow...so you're from Iowa? Cool, tell me about it?" Do you know why? Because there's no place like Texas.

Texas is Sam Houston capturing Santa Ana at San Jacinto.
Texas is "Juneteenth" and Texas Independence Day.
Texas is huge forests of Piney Woods like the Davy Crockett National Forest.
Texas is breathtaking mountains in the Big Bend.
Texas is the unparalleled beauty of bluebonnet fields in the Texas Hill Country.
Texas is the beautiful, warm beaches of the Gulf Coast of South Texas.
Texas is the shiny skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas.
Texas is world record bass from places like Lake Fork.
Texas is Mexican food like nowhere else, not even Mexico.
Texas is the Fort Worth Stockyards, Bass Hall, the Ballpark in Arlington and the Astrodome.
Texas is NASA.
Texas is huge herds of cattle and miles of crops.
Texas is skies blackened with doves, and fields full of deer.

Texas is the Red Raiders with Texas Tech
Texas is the Longhorns with University of Texas
Texas is the Aggies with Texas A&M University

Texas is larger-than-life legends like Michael DeBakey, Denton Cooley, Willie Nelson, Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Janis Joplin, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Landry, Darrell Royal, ZZ Top, Eric Dickerson, Earl Campbell, Nolan Ryan, Sam Rayburn, George Bush, Lyndon B. Johnson, and George W. Bush.

Texas is ocean beaches, deserts, lakes and rivers, mountains and prairies, and modern cities.

If it isn't in Texas, you probably don't need it.

No one does anything bigger or better than it's done in Texas.

By federal law, Texas is the only state in the U.S. that can fly its flag at the same height as the U.S. flag. Think about that for a second. You fly the Stars and Stripes at 20 feet in Maryland, California, or Maine and your state flag, whatever it is, goes at 17 feet. You fly the Stars and Stripes in front of Pine Tree High in Longview or anyplace else at 20 feet, the Lone Star flies at the same height - 20 feet.

Do you know why? Because it is the only state that was a republic before it became a state.

Also, being a Texan is as high as being an American down here. Our capitol is the only one in the country that is larger than the capitol building in Washington D.C. and we can divide our state into five states at any time if we wanted to! We included these things as part of the deal when we came on. That's the best part, right there.

Texas is the Alamo . Texas is 183 men standing in a church, facing thousands of Mexican nationals, fighting for freedom, who had the chance to walk out and save themselves, but stayed instead to fight and die for the cause of freedom. We send our kids to schools named William B. Travis and James Bowie and Crockett and do you know why? Because those men saw a line in the sand and they decided to cross it and be heroes. John Wayne paid to do the movie himself. That is the Spirit of Texas.

Long Live Texas!

It’s Like Rain on Your Wedding Day

So there are two kinds of drivers in Texas, those who can drive in any weather and those who require perfectly sunny and clear days. Today is not sunny and clear…

Let’s look a little closer.

All Weather Drivers (of which I am one)
We understand a basic concept that road and weather conditions require caution, but not stupidity. We know to increase space between cars and adjust speed closer to the actual speed limit. We understand that rash decisions and breaking is not smart. We understand to look out for the other class of drivers, cause they ain’t looking for you. We understand that it will take longer, but only because the other class of drivers are on the road twenty minutes early so they ‘won’t be late’ in the ‘traffic they cause.’

Sunny and Clear Drivers (of which I am NOT)
These people think that the very mention of rain, and thus water on the roads, induces a sever driving hazard. To compensate for the hazard they must drive 40 in 65 in the left lane. They do this because they feel the road will be slick. They equate water to ice. They equate ice to an immediate trip to Hell. They start braking for turns, lane changes, exits, lights, etc no less than three times the require stopping distance. They get mad at All Weather Drivers because we are ‘unsafe’ and ‘unruly.’

I had one of the most frustrating drives into work this morning. It was a sea of Sunny and Clear Drivers with five All Weather Drivers all trying to help each other through the maze. The lady in front of me was driving 40 in a 65. There was no rain. The road was wet from the overnight rain, but it was not unsafe. She was leaving no less than a football field and a half between her and the car in front of her, while being in the left lane. If a car went around her she hit her brakes to increase the distance between them. It took a while, but I finally started to get around her. As I passed her she looked at me and gave me this look. I looked at her and pointed to her to get out of the left lane. She flipped me off. So I got in front of her and hit my brakes to go 30. She got mad and changed lanes to get around me. I immediately sped up and the whole line behind her passed her, on the left, as it is designed to do.

I love Dallas.

Annual Rite of Passage Into Spring

The one true thing unique to homeownership is mowing the freakin’ lawn. Saturday was ‘lawn day’ in the Noble household. It is an annual rite of passage into spring. You spend the day pulling weeds, performing the first mow, weed-eat, and planting new flowers. We did just that. Friday night, to avoid the crowds, we went to Lowes and purchased new flowers for the beds. Holly prefers to buy annuals each year so we can have different colors and styles. We also purchased a few new perennials and a new bush. So we spent the morning digging and rearranging our current plants to make room for our new plants. While Holly planted the flowers, I mowed and weed-eated the yard. It was quite a daunting task, yet the payoff was nice. We now have flowers of yellow, orange, pink, red and purple. The whole front of the house will be full of color in a couple of weeks as they grow and fill in.

I have to admit that I was a skeptic. Last summer Holly planted 98 of these tiny flowering plants. For weeks I thought we wasted our money, they were small and scrawny. About a month later they took off. Before long they were falling out of the bed and I had to avoid mowing them. They looked great and made the whole front of the house rich. I am a believer now.

One note to the homebuyers among us, two words, sprinkler system. Spend the little extra money and have a sprinkler system put in. Last summer I spent the better part of an hour each day after work and three to four hours on the weekend moving hoses and sprinklers to keep the yard and flowers going. It was a lot of time and energy that I came to hate. So late this winter we had a sprinkler system put in. It has been a great addition, despite the cost. The pain has been to put it in after the sod is laid you have to rip your yard to pieces. We now look like we have an overactive gopher. It will go away, I know, and to not haul hoses is very worth it.

Now the real fun begins. Mowing and yard work become a weekly task. Ahh 100 degree mowing days, can’t wait.

Ding! You are now free to move about the country!

A new job is so much fun, but so much anxiety. I turned in my two week notice yesterday and am officially leaving UT Southwestern Medical Center. How odd to say that. I have truly enjoyed my job here, but somtimes you know it is time to leave.

Where am I going you ask? Well glad you did. I am headed to Southwest Airlines to work in their Internal Audit department. I am excited!

So lets all "Set Love Free" (www.setlovefree.com) so I can move about the country for free easier! Maybe that Cub's game isn't so far fetched now, right Viki?

Comment Moderation 101

My wife and I greatly enjoyed our trip to Eureka Spring, Arkansas. We had limited WI-FI internet, so I decided one afternoon to fire it up and check out our blogs. I thought it would be nice to blog from somewhere other than Texas. It took ten minutes to load my blog, so I gave up on reading anyone else’s. I did look long enough to see no comments had been made on my previous blogs.

I got off the blog and thought to myself, how weird. Why doesn’t anyone want to comment on my blogs? Am I too boring with my philosophical baseball mumbo-jumbo? At least A3 could comment on Febreze, come on.

I get to work today and start looking through blogs. By sheer alphabet, Viki is last for the daily reading. I was startled to find JUSTIN!!! as the subject. Uh Oh. What did I do? Comment blocking thing? What?

So I researched and sure enough, people do like me. I mean

I’m good enough
I’m smart enough
and dog-gone people like me!

Now how in the heck did I get myself into this? Ah, I remember, it was the pop-up debate. Should comments pop-up or be on a new page. Pop-up won by my count, and I must agree. But you see I am a guy, and guys have to figure things out. What is this comment monitoring thing? I don’t know, let’s turn it on and see. Didn’t do anything I can tell.

And that, my friends is how I am got myself into this mess. So the odd thing is that Viki both got me into and out of this mess. Thanks Viki!

News on the home front soon!

Baseball: Six Minutes of Action Crammed Into Two and One Half Hours!

If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. ~Dave Barry

Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer. ~Ted Williams

I have discovered in twenty years of moving around a ball park, that the knowledge of the game is usually in inverse proportion to the price of the seats. ~Bill Veeck

I have heard it said that life is like baseball. Some people have written poems and articles on this topic. I find it an interesting analogy. I won’t claim to be the biggest baseball fan, although I do love to go to the games, but I will claim to be one of those thought provoking fans.

First, everyone knows that the best place to view the game is at the top of the stadium. Head out to The Ballpark in Arlington (d.b.a Ameriquest Field in Arlington) and take the three escaladers, which are very precariously hanging in mid air, to the top. Find you a good rail seat and really watch the game unfold. Let the rich corporate types watch the game for ten times the cost on the base lines. They are missing the true action.

Isn’t life like this too? Often we are so close to home plate that we miss the action in the outfield. As decisions unfold in life and we are trying to call the shots, the best place to make the decision is at the “top of the stadium” not behind the plate.

Second, how odd is it that the game is built around the defense throwing to the offense? As I transverse corporate America, I quickly see this principle unfold. How often am I left to deal with a project, which I knew nothing about, but am expected to hit out of the park? It is thrown at you, but you don’t know if it is a curve, sinker, fastball, or even if it is going to go into the dirt. You have a split second to decide, swing or not? Swing and it could be the winning run or a pop fly. Don’t and you could be called on a strike or get a freebie walk. Obviously, swinging is more gratify, but much more risky. Everybody like the homerun, but rarely notice the ‘base on balls’ guy who made an equally as smart decision.

Lastly, you have to understand that the game can be won in a multitude of ways. Unlike most other sports, in baseball one person really can win the game. While a team effort surrounds him, one pitch in the bottom of the ninth can mean the difference between a ‘W’ and an ‘L’. That is just the way the game goes. Nine and two thirds innings can be perfect, but one swing can send the home team celebrating. I think life is this way too. A person can be a great person their whole life. Do good, make all the right decisions and be a great friend. Yet in the bottom of the ninth they choose to drink and drive, experiment with risky businesses, invest a fortune of time but neglect their family to find it all gone soon after. A life of good lost in the bottom of the ninth. Thankfully the opposite is true as well.

Well that is my ramblings on baseball and life.

Ranger’s fans will understand this:
“Hello Win Column”