tomsepper.net

Classic example of how important football is to Texans.

Lubbock is currently under a state of emergency due to heavy flooding. All three colleges cancelled classes. The local school districts cancelled school. Many daycares did not open.

Where did some first responders go on Friday?

Texas Tech Athletics is grateful for the support of the Lubbock Fire Department and other campus groups who came to the rescue in order to get the field prepared for Saturday’s game. The Lubbock Fire Department had four trucks on the scene on Friday to help drain the field and other campus groups were able to help get the campus pumps back up and running.

http://texastech.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/091208aab.html

That’s Texas folks.

Now that it has been more than a month since we moved to McKinney, the time has come for my satirical observations and ramblings on our move process.

• It is wonderful seeing my car without a layer (or forty) of dirt on it. I had forgotten my car was a great shade of blue.
• It’s amazing seeing green all around us. Additionally, there are these wonderful features of Earth called hills.
• IKEA is a great store.
• It’s nice that Netflix discs are sent and received twice as fast as they were when we were living in Lubbock.
• Seeing beer and wine in Walmart is strange. Lubbock was dry, and Arlington (where I grew up) was dry as well.
• I have greatly missed highway driving.

Here is a list of ‘what not to do’ as a seller — unless of course Monica and I are buying the house..

• Leave 10,385 nails, screws, and anchors in the walls. (Okay, maybe that number is a bit exaggerated, but the number was still very high.)
• Leave an car oil drip container (full of oil of course) in the garage.
• Leave the toilet scrub brushes in two of the three bathrooms.
• Leave butt-ugly window covering in the master bathroom.
• Leave thumb tack strip board upstairs.
• Leave a patio table on the patio — without matching chairs.
• Leave two large armoires at the end of the driveway for the Salvation Army to take — or, in our case, not take due to their condition thereby violating City of McKinney code resulting in a violation notice.
• Leave random dog toys in the backyard.
• Leave plastic ironing board and iron holder attached to wall — preventing the laundry room door from fully closing.
• Leave the oven in the most disgusting condition ever seen by man.
• Leave 137 hangers in the master closet. (Okay, maybe another exaggeration.. but still annoying nonetheless.)

Having now experienced this process as both a buyer and a seller, my advice is as follows:

• At all times, remember that you are involved in a business transaction. 
• The process is give and take. Do not expect the world if you yourself are not willing to budge and compromise.
• You reap what you sow. 

People keep asking me if I miss Lubbock. The answer to that is no. While I naturally miss the friends we left behind, the metroplex is my home.

Besides.. whenever I miss Lubbock, I can just step out the front door, gaze over some houses, and see our little reminder of Lubbock.

Looks like the marquee operator-changer-person needs to go back to kindergarten to learn how to spell ‘kindergarten’..

Photo taken at Smith Elementary in Lubbock, TX

You may or may not know, but I’m moving back to Dallas this summer. I’ve lived in Lubbock for almost eleven years now, and a few things have come to annoy me about Lubbock. This is the first of what will probably be a series of my “Lubbock annoyances”..

For some idiotic reason, Lubbock gas stations carry 86 octane as their low grade even though most (all?) modern vehicles require a minimum of 87 octane. The lone holdout to that has been 7-11/Fina stations; they carried 87 octane and charged a few cents more per gallon than other stations.

This past weekend I discovered 7-11/Fina changed to 86 octane – but it still charging a few cents more. While I’m sure that one octane difference wouldn’t cause too big of a problem, the fact that the stations carry 86 octane is annoying.

</rant>

This will be a hodgepodge post containing a random assortment of topics. So clear your mind, start reading, and try to keep up.

Family & Friends
Monica and I have some of the greatest family and friends. Everyone has been exceedingly generous with baby gifts. To everyone that has been kind enough to send us or give us cards and gifts, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Additionally, a huge thank you to my Mom, my sister Kim, Monica’s sister Amanda, and friends Dru, Stephanie, and Mandy for throwing two wonderful baby showers for Monica.

Fuel Costs
Gas costs significantly less in DFW then it does in Lubbock. By significant I mean $.10 – $.20 cheaper. Ridiculous.

Tollways
I love tollways. Sure you have to pay, but it’s worth the money. Driving from Irving to Frisco took ten minutes. Can’t beat that.

Texas Tech
I hate using this phrase, but once again, it fits. Typical Tech. Come off a great win versus Texas A&M, get cocky, get put in your place by Mizzou. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Mike Leach is not the man to lead Tech to the next level. Until we hire a head coach that realizes a team is only as good as its weakest link, Tech will continue to be the red-headed stepchild of the Big XII South. On a happier note, we received our Red Raider and Lady Raider basketball season tickets in the mail. This is the first year we’ve bought both men’s and women’s season tickets, so we’ll have an abundance of games to attend!

Chicago Cubs
Swept out of the first round. I’m definitely not a fair weather fan, but it’s rather repetitive to have to keep saying “Just wait until next year”. I guess it could be worse..

NFL
The Bears are struggling for consistency. It’s too early to assess whether or not they can rebound and turn the season around. The best news is that Grossman was finally benched; he was given far too many chances and failed almost every time. On a happier note, I’m in a fantasy league for the first time, and through yesterday, in first place! Let’s hope I can sustain that for the rest of the season; I could use the $120 prize.

Work
I’ve been at my new job for over a month now and I’m loving it. Like all jobs, there have been some stressful situations – namely a rather large one that still is on my mind. It’s a different kind of stress than my former job, and I am much happier where I am now. It’s what I was born to do.

2007-2008 TV Shows
Lots of great shows this year – new and returning!

• Damages – GREAT new show on the FX network. If you haven’t been watching this show, wait until they start over and replay it from the beginning. It’s another “serialized” show in that you can’t just pick it up mid-season. It was a summer show that I would imagine will come back next summer. The season finale airs this coming Tuesday.
• CSI: Las Vegas. We have too many shows we DVR, so we’re only following CSI: Las Vegas this year. We don’t watch the Miami version as David Caruso is a horrible actor. We’ll put CSI:NY in our Netflix queue.
• Heroes. After a rather slow start in the first episode, it’s gotten far better. I don’t know how long this show will last after last year’s fantastic rookie season.
• Back To You – A new show on Fox staring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton.
• Carpoolers – A new show on ABC staring Jerry O’Connell and a bunch of other people I’ve never heard of before.
• Grey’s Anatomy – This is more Monica’s show than mine, but it’s actually not that bad.
• Private Practice – As we watch Grey’s Anatomy, of course we’d watch its spin-off..
• Desperate Housewives – We’ve watched this show since day one, and this season is already far better than last year’s.
• Jericho – After the widely-covered fan outrage, CBS will be bringing Jericho back as a mid-season show to close up the storylines.
• Cold Case & Without A Trace – We love these mystery-type shows!
• The Big Bang Theory – This is definitely Monica’s show.. I’m not really that sold on it.

Hmm.. that list makes it seems like we have no life! Oh well – we enjoy it.

Well, that’s the end of this post.. I’ll be surprised if anyone makes it this far!

To put it bluntly: Lubbock media sucks.

Don’t get me wrong – Lubbock is a wonderful place to live and I love living here. But there are a few things about Lubbock that annoy me and its media is high on that list. Lubbock has a skewed idea of what news is.

First of all – the newspaper. It’s called the Lubbock Avalanche Journal. I haven’t subscribed to it since my third year in college. Why? Because there is absolutely no point in subscribing as most articles are horribly written. The online edition is worse. It’s difficult to even find the crappy articles between all of the advertisements. Its layout is horrendous and not user friendly. If anyone from the AJ comes across this entry, I highly suggest reading Jakob Nielson’s book, “Designing Web Usability : The Practice of Simplicity” as well as “The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems” by Jef Raskin.

The local affiliate television stations are interesting to say the least.

KCBD (NBC)
This is the station we watch. Unfortunately, I don’t know whether it’s because we like it the most or if it’s the lesser of four evils. The news anchors are pretty good and have a great vibe. The meteorologist is also very good at what he does. The sports guy is okay though. Even though I thought I didn’t like her, I miss Emily Jones who left KCBD for FoxSports in Dallas. She was actually very very good looking back on her time at KCBD. KCBD’s website is decent; it’s not too over-the-top with ads and organized decently.

KJTV (Fox)
KJTV has the only hour-long newscast in Lubbock, but it broadcasts at 9pm. That’s too early for me. I would consider watching them if they were on at 10. KJTV is so much better without that idiot weatherguy (Bryan Hughes). KJTV’s website is really bad however.

KAMC (ABC) & KLBK (CBS)
I really don’t know what to say about these two stations other than they’re apparently still owned by the same organization. They’re both horrible enough that I’d rather read the AJ than watch one of their newscasts. Their joint website is a mess of unorganized crap.

Am I being too harsh? I don’t think so. Lubbock as a city is sheltered and needs to wake up – starting with the media. How you ask? For starters, join the 20th century by redesigning user-friendly websites, implement RSS feeds, and realize there’s much more to news than weather and local high school sports.

I’ve made it no secret; I like American Idol. I enjoy music and watching people perform.

During season five, there was in my opinion a clear-cut front runner to win. His name? Chris Daughtry. He got voted out early though; better for him that he did.

He’s now fronting a band appropriately named Daughtry, released an album, and touring in support of it. This tour included a stop in Lubbock on Sunday night, and Monica and I were there for the fun.

First off, the opening bands. Man they were loud.

1. The Vanished – Based out of Dallas, very hard rock-ish. Not a group that I figured that I’d like based on appearance, but I actually did. Their sound is still a little unpolished, but that may just be how they sound live. I’m buying their latest EP on iTunes tomorrow, so we’ll see.
2. Cinder Road – From Maryland, again very hard rock-ish with an ability to sound mellow. The best band of the three opening acts. Very solid performance. Their new album comes out in May and I’ll definitely be purchasing it.
3. Eve To Adam – The final opening band, and by far the worst in my opinion. Too much screaming and not enough singing. Although they did get points from me for dedicating a song to the deserving people in the Armed Forces.

Those three bands took about an hour and forty-five minutes.

On to Daughtry.

What a performance. The set lasted about an hour; I believe ten or eleven songs. My favorites were played: Used To (written by someone I’ve mentioned in a previous blog post, Zac Maloy), Breakdown, Over You, Home, and of course It’s Not Over.

Of interest, a new song was performed by a solo Chris acoustically. The interesting part is that he said it was co-written with Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty and that it’ll be on “the next record”. It was VERY good.

All of you guys out there too embarrassed to admit you watch American Idol and like Chris Daughtry’s music need to wake up. Chris Daughtry is the real deal, and will be a force in the music industry for years to come. Mark my words.

All in all, this concert was well worth the $25 ticket price and the hassle of a last-minute venue change.

Now if I can only get rid of this damn ringing in my left ear..