I should be working but I’ve scanned and am in the process of retouching 382 photos for a client, an old-school photographer who still does it the old-fashioned way. After a while, the last thing I want to do is look at a computer monitor, so here I am…uh…well…anyway…
- Looks like we’re headed for a record string of consecutive 100+ days. The current record is 14 days – which is actually pretty tame compared to some Texas cities; we were in Dallas during the Great Heat Wave of ’80 when it topped the century mark for a staggering 42 straight days. Today should make ten for Midland. So, these are good days to sit in an air-conditioned room and ponder random stuff.
- Verizon continues to roll out its 4G LTE wireless network, announcing that it’s being activated in 19 additional cities today. That makes 74 cities, only five of which are in Texas (Bryan-College Station, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Temple-Killeen). I guess anyone west of I-35 is just out of luck.
- Who says old-fashioned attention to detail by skilled craftsmen has disappeared? Well, no one, probably, but I can’t think of a better way to introduce the following video, which shows an Indian artist hand-striping the gas tank of an Enfield motorcycle. I can’t draw a straight line with a rule, so I find this highly impressive. [Link via Neatorama]
- I was going to post a link to an article listing the “10 Most Poisonous Spiders on Earth” but it creeped me out, so you’ll have to look for it yourself.
- Don’t you hate people who post their musical playlists? How narcissistic is that, assuming that anyone would be interested in knowing the last ten songs that came up on your iPod?
- Of course, the exception is if your musical tastes are obviously superior in every respect. Well, like mine…
- Cry Cry Cry by Trick Pony – Another “laughing on the outside, crying on the inside” song because the girl friend left
- Nothin’ About You Is Good for Me by Tricia Yearwood – In which she explains why Trick Pony is crying
- We’re From Texas by Eleven Hundred Springs – Another in-your-face, unabashed anthem celebrating just how cool we are
- Delicious Surprise (I Believe It) by Jo Dee Messina – In a perfect world, Messina would be in Taylor Swift’s shoes
- American Woman by Lenny Kravitz – Is Kravitz this generation’s Jimi (and by “this generation” I mean anyone who’s thinking “Jimi who?”)?
- Baby Rocks by Phil Vassar, who is not to be confused with Phil Vischer
- Little Bit of Life by Craig Morgan – A happy redneck song
- No Trouble on the Mountain by Mario Biondi – I may have mentioned this one before; Biondi is an Italian jazz/blues singer with a distinctive voice.
- Until It’s Gone by Radney Foster – Foster is an under-appreciated Texas (born in Del Rio) songwriter and singer who might have been the first country artist to record with Darius Rucker before the latter became a big country star in his own right.
- Cool Me Down by Jenai – Is Jenai this generation’s Carlene Carter (and by “this generation” I mean…well, you know)?
- I’ve submitted a few phrases to The Phraseology Project but none have come up yet on their portfolio. I’m trying not to take it personally, seeing as how it’s so cool.
OK, I guess I’m ready to head back to the retouching. But I swear, if I see one more photo of a high school senior posing with a brand new Hummer or ‘Vette…
I remember the summer of 1980 as a young budding pharmacist working on the North Side of Ft Worth for Revco in the summer of 1980.
The air condition unit at the store I worked in couldn’t keep pace with the heat. I think on the day we set a record of 113 degrees, it was a cool 91 inside the walls of the pharmacy. I was later told that most A/C’s of that period had the capacity of cooling approximately 20 degrees cooler that the ambient outside temp.
Never thought I see temps below 100 or rain again until December. It was a miserable time.
OBTW ** Read the article at MWT concerning Mr. C. Williams. Another Ft. Stockton Panther. Hmmmmm. Norm, Clayton and You. Pretty fine line-up.
I was commuting from Garland to downtown Dallas on a motorcycle during that stretch. I remember my boot soles sticking to the asphalt on the tollroad heading home one afternoon; the pavement was literally melting.
You know, there was a time that I’d consider being mentioned in the same sentence with those guys an honor. Not so much anymore…and I still hold Norman in the same high regard as ever.