A Year Later...

I sit in my favored spot on the patio, enjoying a cigar and a scotch (which my wife had hidden, but I found), whilst reddened leaves from my crape myrtle are unhooked by infrequent breezes and flutter onto my keyboard. At odd intervals, pecans are jarred loose from their branches and fall like lugnuts onto the roof. Our friendly cat, Poofus, sits idly on top of an outdoor ottoman across from me. She is safe, and ignores all of the menacing sounds. It is always unclear on the patio whether she is protecting me or I am protecting her.

It is November 12, 2007 and I am clothed in summer-wear...athletic shorts that have never seen an athletic endeavor, bare feet, and my favorite shirt which was purchased in the summer of 2001 (or thereabouts) for one American dollar at the annual charity sale held at the Possum Kingdom Volunteer firehouse. The shirt advertises the 1996 4-H Horse Show in Abilene, with a horsehead emblazoned over the 4H cloverleaf. The shirt is very large, as is necessary to gird my supra-Rubenesque torso. It is spattered with random food, blood, tobacco, and other detritus of my loafing existence. It has holes. Many holes, caused by overzealous cats and drunken collisions with sharp edges between the drinking zone and the sleeping zone. This shirt is a winner.

I noticed my last post was about a year ago, just short of Armistice Day 2006. What's changed?

I came in second at the club billiard tournament for the fourth year in a row. I'm going to have to get my bridesmaid dress altered. But I did get to shoot a few games with women's champ Vivian Villarreal.


Our frequent contributor and conservative voice from times past Jim is now a talking head on CNBC.

Seems like I've had about four jobs since my last post. I'd say that I'm now a project manager with Carter & Burgess, except Carter & Burgess just got acquired. Who knows what the future holds?

It appears the local FW blog scene is maturing. I've recently caught on to some of the following sites...some focusing on local politics (gas drilling), some on architcture, a few on food, some on culture, and some photography (with some live music photography included.)

Our twenty-year reunion was held. I was involved with the initial planning, but was frankly too busy drinking and regretting to follow through to the execution. These were all mistakes.

My wife and I went to Telluride in May with a buddy of ours which was a great getaway in a truly idyllic setting. The dog:human ratio in Telluride is rapidly approaching 1:1, which is not a bad thing, and I never saw dogshit anywhere. The girls there tend to the granola side, which allowed me to spend more time looking at dogs. Here's a few pics that I'm working on:

and...

and....

As was the old routine, I hope to post frequent topical posts that generate comments and conversation. We had a good thing going there for a while until I volunteered for separation from RadioShack and too much time on my hands for anything but waking up late and drinking late. Cogent thinking wasn't really in the mental portfolio back then.

I don't know that I'll be able to keep up the posting rate that I maintained while I was waiting to be laid off, but I hope to be able to chime in a few times a week. As always, anyone that wants a forum is welcome to become a poster and all readers should feel free to comment at will, but be aware that the comment forum is a lion's den...so if you're posting on issues, be prepared.

I'll be following this up with an email with link to all of our former contributors. Forward as you please.