Random Thursday – The Wednesday Edition

Random observations while contemplating an age-old question: exactly how much Angel Food Cake is the equivalent of one piece of chocolate cherry fudge cake?

Oh, and reader beware. Here there be snark. In large quantities. And possibly *gasp* sarcasm.

• Think the EPA isn’t out of control? First, they* want to shut down the oil and gas industry in West Texas because of a lizard, and now they’re going after the U.S. Navy, claiming bin Laden’s burial at sea is an egregious example of ocean pollution.
• OK, maybe that’s a bad example; hard to disagree with that judgment. But it’s interesting to note that BP was all in favor of the burial at sea, so they wouldn’t be the only ones responsible for scum in the ocean.
• You were warned, weren’t you?
• Julianne Hough was the featured entertainer at last Saturday’s American Cancer Society Round-Up at the CAF Hangar. You probably know her best from Dancing With The Stars, which she has abandoned in order to pursue careers in music and movies. She’s billed as a country musician, though, and while my definition of country music is pretty broad and flexible, I just couldn’t stretch it far enough to encompass most of her music. Much of it was so pop-ish as to be indistinguishable from every other young energetic blond female singer on the scene today.
• That’s not to say she isn’t talented – she is, very much so – but her musical choices didn’t work for us. Ironically, the most country-sounding songs were also the ones that rocked the hardest, and those were very good indeed. It’s hard to say what demographic she’s shooting for, but I’d like to see her stay a little edgier. She’ll never compete with Gretchen Wilson or Miranda Lambert in that regard, but even Carrie Underwood can play the bad girl (or mad girl) when it suits her.
• Frankly, Julianne was upstage by the other act that played before and after her, Midland’s own The Rankin Twins. They graduated from Midland Lee High School a few years ago and are now based in Austin, with one CD to their credit and another coming out this week (May 14th, to be exact). Their music is danceable rockin’ country, even if they have one of the geekiest-looking backup bands in the business. And to top it off, they’re Aggies. Whoop!
• One last thing about Round-Up (which is a hugely successful fundraiser for the ACS…the live auction alone raised more than $200,000 Saturday night): the CAF Hangar is a marginal venue for such an affair. I’m sure the organizers couldn’t predict the 99 degree temps that were present at 7:00 p.m., but they surely suspected that the non-air-conditioned facility wouldn’t be too comfortable, as they provided cardboard fans at each table. And to add insult to [imagined] injury, they appropriated all the men’s restrooms for the women, and place a few porta-johns outside for the guys. And did I mention that they didn’t light them? I’ll leave to your imagination the condition of those facilities at the end of the evening, factoring in the effects of the open bar.
• The drought continues in West Texas. It’s so dry that the deer are coming into town looking for water. In fact, someone slammed one with their car last week, just down the road from us (on Mockingbird Lane just west of Hwy. 349, for those who live around here).

*OK, technically it’s the US Fish & Wildlife Service that’s hot and bothered about the lizard, but the joke** doesn’t work as well if it’s factually accurate. Work with me here, will ya?

**OK, technically it’s debatable whether this qualifies as a joke. Give me a break, will ya?