If it feels good, do it.

Call me: I've been contemplating getting a phone for a couple of months now for two main reasons. 1. I want one with a keyboard for texting. 2. The battery life on my current phone has gone to crap. I usually get my new phones directly from AT&T's website. So, my plan of action on Friday was this: find a phone with a keyboard (duh), and one that was free*. After perusing my options I decided on the Palm Pixi Plus. It got stellar reviews, but the main complaint is that the battery life seems a little low, but I think I can live with that. The keyboard was the main thing. When I placed the order I got huge notice saying there are no deliveries on weekends or holidays, so imagine my surprise when I got home Saturday and it was already in. Score one for me!

*Free after you sign a 2 year commitment, but that is no biggie for me. I wasn't planning on leaving anyways.

Gatekeeper: As I have mentioned before, I work out of my boss' house. This school year his neighborhood has decided to keep the gates to the neighborhood closed. And man is that screwing some people up.

First, they made this decision then end of last school year, and the the first day they kept the gates closed? The first day summer vacation. Good one. Then last week I was going to eat lunch, and as I left two cars drove by expecting to cut through and one lady just stood there staring at the gate and keeping me from turning into the street. When I cam back from lunch, another lady almost took the gate all, and came to a screeching halt when she didn't realize the gate would be closed.

The thought that occurred to me this week is school busing. I don't know where they go now to pick the kids up. Last year I would drive by three different locations in the neighborhood that had pick-ups for the kids, and now I wonder were they go, or if their parents are forced to drop them off at school now. Hmmm.


Thank you: I got a nice compliment from my roommate a week or so ago. I do enjoy watching a lot of the cooking "reality" shows: Hell's Kitchen, Iron Chef America, and Top Chef. I don't watch them every week, but if I catch them on I will watch them. anyways, my roommate told me,"You know these people make all of these sauces, and foams, stuff. But you make food I would actually eat."

Legion Sketchbook #34

Ah, the great Tellus appears this time. Tellus was drawn by Nate Bramble. I think his cartoony style fit Tellus perfectly.

This is actually the last of my Legion sketches for now. There is a show in just two weeks, so hopefully I will get some more done then. If not, I have some other things in store.

Sports Edition

Dateline Arlignton: Well last week the auction of the Rangers finally came off, and in the end I didn't care who ended up owning them as long as Tom Hicks didn't any more. In the end the Ryan/Greenberg group won the auction after like 15 hours from Mark Cuban and his team. Remember the important part: no more Tom Hicks. After losing his shirt in so many other ventures I am just glad to see him go. I got tired of hearing how good the concession sales were at the end of the year, but merchandising was down at the end of the season address. The fans don't care; we want to know what you are going to do to make the team better. This new group has already talked about it. The day after the auction Greenberg was on the radio talking about how they are going to really go after Cliff Lee (oh thank you). Resigning Josh Hamilton, etc. With Hicks as owner, for the past several seasons, the payroll was always going to be the same as the year before or lower. The Rangers are a top 5 market team with a bottom 5 market salary. All you need to know about Tom Hicks as an owner of a sports franchise is this: Hicks also owns the Dallas Stars, and he said the worst thing that happened to them was they won the Stanley Cup. What a penny-pinching jerk.

One thing that did bother me about the auction was afterwards Mark Cuban said he did what he came there to do. Didn't he go there to win the franchise? He didn't, and if he did what he planned to do what was that? To drive up the price of the franchise? For what purpose? Some accuse him of driving up the price since he actually own some of the Rangers' debt. Yet, he owns such a small portion he spent more on his lawyers on this than what he will make from the owning the debt. I just wonder what it was.

A final thing about the sale that worries me is GM John Daniels. There is a clause in his contract that allows him to leave if the Rangers change ownership. A bunch of people think he might bolt to the Mets the team of his childhood. Hell for the Mark Teixeira trade alone he should get like 10 years of immunity.

Quick bonus: Congratulations to the great Norm Hitzges, who today is celebrating his 35th year of doing sports radio in Dallas. He has hosted numerous shows, worked for ESPN, and has worked for just about every pro team in the are outside of the Dallas Stars. That is a good long while, a true icon around here.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary, Nolan!!!