Month: July 2007

The Kroger across the street has these five balloons tethered high above the store and swaying in the wind. They are bright yellow balloons, hard to miss. Two thoughts cross my mind upon seeing them some 50-to-70 feet into the sky.

First, I wish I had a decent rifle because it would be great fun to pick them off even though it probably wouldn’t be any great feat of marksmanship.

My final thought is that if I had a rifle to shoot down the Kroger balloons I would want to have sufficient money to extract myself from jail after the deed is done.

What is one man’s fun is another’s misdemeanor.

It has been difficult for me to verify but CNN has reported today about a Web page which archives dead My Space members. I tried My Death Space but it didn’t connect. Perhaps it isn’t a hoax.

But one might ask, why would they want to read about dead My Space members? Actually, it’s perfectly understandable.

For years now I have read obituaries in the newspapers as well as having written a few in my time as a reporter. Obits, of course, gives notice of a person’s death as well as sometimes chronicling their lives. For some people it’s the only time their name is in the paper.

But obits also tell stories. These stories are of an indivdual’s accomplishments, their passions and other information which are a written testimonial of the person’s life. In newspapers they are definitely much read.

Once at a newspaper where I worked a fellow reporter accidentally listed the name of the man from the funeral home who was giving him information over the phone instead of the decedent’s. The next morning, this poor fellow (the funeral home guy) walked into church and the old ladies there all started screaming and crying seeing that the fellow was not dead. He had not read his own obit so the guy was understandably befuddled until he found out what had happen.

And if that isn’t bad enough, this same reporter was later an editor at another publication and he got the names of a fairly famous dead guy mixed up with a relatively famous country singer. The former co-worker who told me this said her friends were calling the erroneous editor “Serial Killer.” He really was a nice guy and tried hard but I guess one would say he had a little trouble with details.

It is a rainy day on the upper Texas coast from one of those tropical waves that ooze up from the Gulf of Mexico from time-to-time. There really isn’t much to do on days like these except watch it rain.

Rainfall has kind of a relaxing effect, somehow to me, Getting out in it and driving through monster puddles as well as dodging oblivious drivers is nonetheless a pain in the ass.

No relaxing for me, however, having once more to deal with the good old U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It seems like I spend all my days off with them. Perhaps they should start paying me.

Adieu for the weekend. Bring on the Freedom Fries.

Driving along this morning virtually out in the middle of nowhere my serenity was jolted by … something. I was on Texas Hwy. 12 between Vidor and Mauriceville where not really much of anything is around except some trees and maybe a few houses. All of sudden something came barrelling out of the sky and struck my window shield, leaving a boomerang-shaped chip no larger than about an eighth of an inch. The object was dark and about the size of a piece of iron ore so perhaps it was some sort of cosmic debris. There was no overpass around and whatever it was came hurtling out of the sky. Whatever it was, it certainly broke any chain of thought but fortunately it didn’t shatter the glass.

At least some of the Southeast Texas area will see a collective rise in their IQs as Houston rock station Rock 103.7 no longer airs the Walton and Johnson show in the mornings.

This hideous waste of air time that passes for entertainment is going to a new right-wing news talk station in Houston. Good riddance. The show which is about as funny as a Hummer dealership in Darfur had taken the morning spot post Stevens and Pruitt at what was once KLOL-FM before it changed format to an Espanol station. Stevens and Pruitt were rude and talented where Walton and Johnson was just — pathetic. But I suppose I should tell you how I really feel.

Now if Rock 103.7’s Wendy Miller would just STFU (the first definition) for a little while. Miller is one of the best “on-air personalities” in the area but she talks just a bit too much. No, make that way too much.