Winter weather or midget wrestling?

I recently posted a note on the facebook page making fun of an event at a local watering hole. The event is "Extreme Midget Wrestling." This isn't just wrestling. It's extreme.



For several days leading up to this event, I ran into several people who seemed to be excited about such a thing. They planned to go and see these people fight each other under the banner of "midgetry."



One of my reporters at the television station pitched a story idea about covering the crew that puts this show together. I agreed because I'd heard enough people talking about it, and wondered what people of short stature would think. That's one of the monikers that's preferred by an association dedicated to little people, "people of short stature."

You can see reporter Maddie Garrett's dispatch here.

The other big story of the day is winter weather. Of course it was the first story of the 6 O'clock news. The wrestling piece was at the top of what we call the B-Block. One side note about our business- Usually when journalists cover stories at ticketed events, the venue will let them in free of charge. Today when Maddie and producer Stormi O'donnell were asked by organizers if they were coming to the big event, they said they were. The organizers told them they could buy their tickets for just $12.

As for me, I've declined to attend.

When it rains... or snows

Winter weather is about to move in again. I'm a vocal proponent of Spring and its beauty. Spring teased us a little with temperatures in the early 70's. The warm air moved in not long after a bout with near-record cold. But the hint of warmth in the North Texas air is about to end, at least temporarily.

Earlier this month, temperatures were in the teens and the wind howled from the north with a fierce bite. It cut through me every time I stepped outside. I'm glad to see this round won't be like the last.

But it's still dreadful to me.

Spring time will be here before we know it.

I hope so.

Accomplishments in the new year (and before)

Christmas wasn't really that long ago but it sure feels like it. At least to me it does. I looked up at the calendar on my office wall just now and noticed we've moved past Martin Luther King Jr. Day, New Year's, and Christmas. Funny how that happened. I barely noticed.

What I did notice were some minor things that I've accomplished since Christmas. A couple of weeks ago, the temperatures dipped into the teens and the cold wind froze the water in our pipes under the house. At the time I discovered it, it was too early to tell if the pipes had burst. As I put on the old, thick coveralls and prepared to crawl underneath our home I certainly hoped the damage was minimal.

It turns out they were only stopped up with ice. It took several hours and a half-day off from work but with the help of a blowtorch, I managed to thaw out the frozen pipes. So far this year, that's probably my biggest accomplishment to date.

It's almost a shame too because millions of people have raised billions of dollars to help thousands of people in Haiti. That's quite an accomplishment. The earthquake there turned every one's attention to a country that already had major problems before the event. My co-anchor visited Haiti once around two years ago to help her dad, who is a doctor. He volunteers there and she went along for a few days once. She saw first-hand how the people in that country lived before and her stories weren't promising then. She doesn't talk much about the trip, but I know she had a good time giving aid to those who needed it. I remember she returned bearing gifts. I received a nice bottle of rum.

That bottle sits on a shelf in my workshop, not far from the blowtorch I used a few weeks ago. Both haven't really been used to their full potential since I acquired them.

I've never been a fan

The phrase "humpday." It means you're over the hump of a long week and it's supposedly a downhill slide to the weekend. Humpday. It's not anywhere near my favorite made-up words. I can't say I hate it but I sure don't use it.

Wednesday is one of my "long days" at work. More on that in a future blog. But Wednesday does mark a small accomplishment for countless people who do the Monday through Friday schedule so i guess that's why the verbal garbage remains part of our collective vocabularies.

When I see the word hump, it brings to mind several things. Of course there's the sexual reference, but that's usually not the first on my list. Really.

I come from a railroad family so the phrase "DO NOT HUMP" is up there. The "DO NOT HUMP" sentence can be see on rail cars that carry mixed freight across the country. It's usually on rail cars that are "piggy back," meaning the flat cars haul shipping containers or trailers that are pulled by 18-wheelers on the highway.

Then there's the "HUMP IT" phrase from my days at Texas A&M. During football games and yell practices, the yell leaders down in the front would holler, "HUMP IT AGS" which signaled us to bend slightly forward and put our hands on our slightly bent knees and prepare to start yelling those chants you hear at Aggie athletic contests. Those are often the subject of humor by people from outside the world of Aggieland, but I digress.





Humpday. Not a fan. Any day I can get away from the windowless office of mine (including while I'm still on the job) is a day I claim allegiance to.

Dreams of the big city

The other night I had a dream I was in a large city. This is notable because I don't remember dreams very often these days. I've been told by somebody it's probably because I don't sleep very well. I don't remember who. The dream was short and I remember being sad.

This episode begins in the middle of a city block with old towering

buildings near and far. I assume this city was New York, but I don't know. The buildings were brick and mortar with old style windows. There weren't any glass skyscrapers that I can recall. It was a cold and overcast day. No sun was seen in the sky. Only gray. There may have been ice on the ground, but not much.

All that happens in this dream? I stand there on the sidewalk looking out onto the street in front of me and the towering buildings that dotted the skyline for as far as can be seen.

People hurried by. Cars traveled down the wet and icy road. I don't remember noise, but I remember the activity around me. I remember starting to feel sad. It was the same kind of feeling you might get when you weep. Or maybe it's the feeling you have just before you start to bawl. And I felt homesick.

When I say homesick, I don't mean longing for my home and family here. I wanted to go back to De Kalb and see my parents and other members of the family. I remember thinking of them while standing there on that street corner and how far away I felt from all of them. The irony is (don't all dreams have some hint of irony?) some of these loved ones of mine have been dead for years now.

The dream fades from memory shortly after the sadness overtook me. I woke up barely remembering I'd even dreamed at all. I may have even awoke in a good mood. This was several days ago, so I don't remember for sure.

I wonder what it all meant?

Back to the books

Lately, the region where I spend most of my time has been graced with weather that's not characteristic of January. It's been sunny with temperatures reaching until the upper 60's and lower 70's. That could be why I've been feeling a bit restless lately.

In addition to the urge to get up, get out, and go do something, I've also started to read more. For one reason or another, I got away from reading books. About the only thing I've read on a regular basis besides articles on the Internet has been Texas Monthly. That magazine comes every month to the mailbox in addition to its online additions.

Last week, I went back to the hometown for a minute or two and caught up with my mother and father. Mama had just finished Teddy Kennedy's autobiography, "True Compass." She offered to loan me her copy, so back to Sherman I went with the book in tow.

So far, it's a quick read. It's easy to follow along the usual path of the Kennedy dynasty, especially if you're already aware of those events that lead up to Ambassador Joseph Kennedy's assignment in London before World War II, Jack Kennedy's ascension to the White House, etc. I suppose what makes it quick to follow is the book is filled with the back stories you don't know. How their father and mother managed to amass their wealth... Where they lived, what they did in the summers, and so on. I'm half way through the book right now. So far, very little of this book is what I'd call political ideology. Of course, there are a few paragraphs but what do you expect? Kennedy was a politician and one of the most well-known of our time.

In addition to the reading, I spent part of the weekend outside. I washed off the front porch of the home place and let the kids play in the front yard. They don't get to do this often even though they seem to prefer it. My wife wonders why. I think it's because there's no fence out front. I remember that feeling as a kid. There was more to see. More cars passing, more people on the sidewalks, and the lack of a fence make the yard feel more wide open.

I began to start daydreaming about things I'd like to accomplish with the house. A NEW fence is desperately needed in the back. The kitchen and bathroom are screaming for handy work. There's that problem of the old pier & beam foundation needing a level. After the reading and the mental list making, I got tired and went in the house for a nap.

Here's a look at my reading "list" at work. These are magazines, catalogs, and other essays from near and far about journalism, broadcasting, technology, and other related materials. The metal object shoved among the stack is the CD player from a closed-down bar just up the street. It doesn't work.

Even this pile makes me want another nap.

2010: A Space Oddity

Do you remember the movie 2010? It's a science fiction flick that deals with HAL 9000 the supercomputer and a big trip to Jupiter. It picks up where the movie 2001: A space Odyssey left off.

Now that it is 2010 for real, I think I'll have to look at this movie again to see what they were thinking when that filmed it all those years ago. The web nugget wikipedia has a long list of differences between today and when the movie was made. There are plenty of interesting facts like how the Astrodome is referenced, the cold war is over, and other inconsistencies.

On another note, happy new year! Here's to hoping there aren't any HAL 9000 malfunctions this year.