What Were You Doing?

That photo of an iPad on yesterday's post is ridiculous. Massive. Couldn't control the size on the iPad  (maybe that was their evil intent). And the Blogger app for iPads/iPhones looks like it was crafted for the Apple II E (circa 1988). It looks like I will not be blogging via iPad, at least until I can find a nice blogging app.

Ever wonder what other people are doing RIGHT NOW? I find that happening to me occasionally. Walking out of LOWES today at about 4:30 pm I wondered what so-and-so was doing at that instant. Weird.

Tomorrow JDW will entertain the masses with a song at Central Church.

This is a test

Okay. I won an iPad last week from my school district. 100 teachers were selected from essays that we wrote discussing how we'd use the thing in our classroom. So now I'm experimenting with blogging on the thing. I'm skeptical to say the least. So if this post looks weird you'll know why. I've only had it four days but I feel the iPad is slowly robbing me of my humanity. I'm addicted. Beware of school districts bearing gifts.

SLC 2012

Just back from the AP World History Essay Grading.

This year our venue moved from its five-year home at Colorado State University in Fort Collins to the Great Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City Utah. I was a bit trepidatious about going to SLC because FoCo was such a great experience. But I enjoyed my stay in Salt Lake. It's always good to see the Wolfpack and I made quite a few new friends this year as well.

The College Board doesn't do anything second class. My and my roomate (yes, no more private dorm rooms) were booked in the Grand America Hotel. I was surprised to see it's a Five Diamond hotel. It was one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in. Rumor was Liam Neeson checked in while we were there. Wouldn't surprise me.

SLC is very clean and easy to get around. There's a lot more eateries, bars and restaurants to hang out and talk in. They have a free downtown light rail system and two great urban shopping centers.

I have to admit I was a bit unnerved by the LDS Temple complex. I was fine until I saw all the big murals of stories from the Book of Mormon. To see this rubbish presented as truth caused me to have shivers. But the complex was pretty amazing. Amazingly weird. Sorry if I offend folks. I'm pretty tolerant. But Joseph Smith is recent enough figure in history to know that he was a fraud. And Brigham Young, dozens of wives and complicit in the coverup of the Mountain Meadow Massacre...sorry. That's not a religion, it's a cult.

Anyway, SLC is a great city and I certainly hope to be invited back next year. Oh and I have a new favorite African country.

Mavs Mania

Basketball is in the air in DFW. Larry Brown takes over as coach for my current alma mater SMU earlier this week and the MAVS start their playoff run versus the OKC Thunder this Saturday.

 

Last week we took Jackson to his first Mavericks game. It was the last home game of the season and JDW was stoked. I have a buddy who teaches next door to me who works part time for the American Airlines Center. He now is the attendant for the visitor's locker room. He got us down to the tunnel to give high fives to the Mavs as they came out on to the floor. I got a fist bump from Dirk. JDW got a five from Jason (JET) Terry. We also got fives from Brian "The Custodian" Cardinal, Delonte West and Jason Kidd. One of the ManiAACs gave Jackson a silver beaded necklace. Then we headed to our seats for a rousing game which the Mavericks won. They gave out free Mavs hats and we made a "Go-Witzki!" poster in the concourse before the game. We are ready for the playoffs!

Interestingly enough, my suspicion is that had the Thunder been in OKC while I lived there I probably would be a Thunder fan today. After all OKC is my birthplace. But they weren't around back then and I adopted the Mavericks when I moved to Dallas in 1997. The Mavs were pretty lousy then but I needed a team. I had been in the NBA lurch since my original fave the Kansas City Kings had migrated to Sactown. In fact, it was at a Mavs game in old Reunion Arena when I asked my father-in-law for his blessing to marry Kimberly. The only way we persuaded him to go to a game was that Larry Bird (they grew up together in French Lick, Indiana) was in town coaching the Indiana Pacers.

Eventually the AAC would be built, Cuban buys the team and they begin a twelve year run of playoff basketball culminating with last year's NBA World Championship. I'll never forget watching the first couple of games of the final series in Fort Collins with a couple of other diehard Mavs fans in a room with Miami fans during the AP grading in Colorado. Then once back in Texas, JDW, Kim and I raced back home from an FC Dallas soccer match to watch the Mavs clinch over the hated Heat. We watched the victory parade on the big whiteboard via LCD projector in my classroom during my summer school sessions.

So everyone is counting out the Mavs this year since they let Chandler, Barea, Stevenson and Butler go. But they wrote them off last year as well. We picked up Vince Carter, Delonte West and some other nice parts. Plus, Brandon Wright and Brendan Haywood have played nicely. I wouldn't count out the little Mavs out just yet. Now that Odom has been ditched the Mavs should do okay. I know everyone is counting on signing Deron Williams and perhaps Dwight Howard next year but I think this group could make a nice little run. Especially since everyone's healthy.

So don't count the Mavs out. You heard it here first. I don't expect a repeat. But I am predicting a finals appearance.

Bye MINI

 

Well, we knew this day would come but that foreknowledge doesn't make it easier to deal with. We have sent our MINI Cooper S to a new home. After almost seven years it was time to move to a four door vehicle. It's stupid to develop attachments to things but it's easy to do. We had ordered and customized the MINI to our exact specifications. We followed the creation process over the internet as it was built in a factory near Oxford, England. We tracked its travel over the Atlantic and it's disembarkation on the shores of America.

We will never drive a car as fun as the MINI. It handled like a go-cart and accelerated like a vette. I liked having a car with an engine that wasn't turbocharged but...supercharged. A supercharger just sounds cooler, a relic from the old days of British racing. Yes it had quirks. Repairs were expensive and it did rattle a bit inside. But it took corners like nobody's business. It was a breeze to park and manuever in tight spaces. It darted in and out of the Dallas mixmaster at will.

But JDW's legs are getting longer. Our family might expand. We need more room for luggage and traveling since my truck is now ten years old. MINI's are also known for having very expensive issues after 100,000 miles (i.e. rumours of $8,000 tranmission replacement). With our odo at 84,000 we didn't want to take the chance. It was a good car. Really didn't require a lot of work (only the brakes, a water pump replaced and some other minor repairs...usually about one issue a year). Tires were expensive but the gas mileage was fantastic...despite using premium gas.

We will miss the looks on the road or in parking lots or the smiles from children. We will miss the waves from other MINI motorists (all MINI motorists wave at each other). I will miss owning a car that has dozens of fan clubs dedicated to it.

We toyed with the idea of a MINI Countryman and that may be an option down the road. But we have been mightily impressed with the new VW Passat V6 SEL Premium. So it's done. The Brit is gone (although owned by Germans) and the People's Car is now in our driveway looking very sleek and sophisticated and even faster than the MINI.

Breck

JDW didn't last the whole day at ski school. They called me around lunchtime and told me he was saying he was too exhausted to continue for the afternoon, which was possibly true since the day before he had ridden in the car 10 hours. So the next day Kimberly and I practiced with him on a hill on the bunnyslopes. He seemed to have picked up a lot at ski school and did pretty good. The next day was the real test. We took him on the Quicksilver Lift and planned to have him do a run or two down the long Silverthorne Run on Peak 9. I was nervous about him getting on and off a lift for the first time but we got him on and off with no problems.

Then he astounded us. He skiied great! No fear and he didn't want to quit. We were expecting to knock off at lunch but he wanted to keep on skiing. We even did some tree skiing designed for kids. We skiied from when the lifts opened at 8:30 am to when they closed at 4 pm. Even then JDW did not want to quit. He was having a blast. Above is one of the videos of him going down Silverthorne. After awhile he asked to lead us and we had to remind him to practice his turns. He wanted to ski faster and faster and not bother with boring turns. The Little Man is quite the skier and it made the trip even more fun.

Busy Busy Busy

Busy busy busy. I have little time to blog these days. Late January through March is the busiest time of the year for me. Two nights a week calling and running the scoreboard for the Kaufman Lions soccer teams. Another night a week at SMU in grad school. Jackson's starting spring soccer this week. That's another night of the week for practice plus Saturday morning soccer games starting in March. Getting things together to finalize the foster to adopt process. The homestudy is going on right now as I type (waiting my turn for individual interview). Running running running.

Taking "Democracy and Development in Southeast Asia" at SMU this semester. Excellent class so far. Just turned in an eight page paper on Modernization theory, Neoliberalism and Asian Values. This week my assignment is to lead the class in our three hour discussion over democratic and economic development in Thailand. Busy busy busy.

Okay, gotta go!

2011 Reading List

 

 

So here's the final list of books I read in 2011. You'll notice a lot of Lost Generation novels in the list. That's due to my course at SMU on Lost Generation writers in the post-World War One era. Also a few books from my SMU Silk Roads course are on there.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

1919 by John Dos Passos

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Nightwood by Djuna Barnes

Verdun by Jules Romaine

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Combray by Marcel Proust

The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland

The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson

Old World Encounters (Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times) by Jerry H. Bentley

Confessions by St. Augustine of Hippo

Religions of the Silk Roads by Richard Foltz

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

How We Are Hungry by Dave Eggers

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

Game of Shadows

 

Saw the new Sherlock Holmes (Game of Shadows) flick over the holidays. Really enjoyed it. A bit more action oriented than the books and stories but the movie successfully retained the vibe of Arthur Conan Doyle's world. My European History classes are beginning the second semester talking about this period (1870-1914) in Europe and I was glad to see mention of the anarchists. It's a nice reference point for the students who saw the movie.

I see very interesting parallels in this era of European Mass Politics and the protest movements of 2011. TIME magazine named "The Protester" as person of the year. 2011 will be remembered for protest movements throughout the world. From the Arab Spring to the Occupy Wall Street movement people who felt marginalized by the institutions of governments and economic systems rallied to affect change or at the very least have their voices heard.

This phenomenon bears eerie resemblence to the movements that arose in the late nineteenth century. Feminism, Anarchism, Zionism, Socialism and a host of movements became prominent challengers to the status quo in Europe. Each group experienced varying degrees of success in reaching their goals. All had in common the belief that they were marginalized and excluded from the decision making processes of society. Some of these movements failed miserably. Others were the catalyst for enormous change (i.e. women's suffrage).

Check out the movie. Good stuff.

Flickr Update

Finally got around to updating the Flickr site. More to come. Click HERE.

Putting the Fun in Disfunction

When it comes to sports, the major professional sports leagues that interested me the most were the following...in order of interest...   1.) Major League Baseball 2.) The NFL 3.) Major League Soccer 4.) The NBA 5.) The NHL   Some years, one or two would move up or down a spot depending on what was going on with my rooting interests in a particular year.   But I have to say that as screwed up and as dysfunctional as the National Basketball Association is, it has moved up to number one on my list. The Association became firmly ensconsed in the number one spot when the Mavs played the evil Heat in the finals. The Mavericks won the title and then it seemed that we were doomed to David Stern's "nuclear winter." The lockout should have soured me as a fan. I should have been disgusted by the greed and idiocy of both players and owners.   But then something weird happened. I found myself entranced by the drama of it all. There were bad guys (Stern, Billy Hunter, Derek Fisher and of course, always Kobe). There were good guys (Kevin Durant at Rucker Park, Dirk throwing a World Series first pitch, Delonte West working at Home Depot). Everything was on, then it was off and then they were all going to court to decertify unions, sue each other and then BOOM! The season's back on! And it's starting Christmas Day. And the season starts with the Mavs playing the Heat on Christmas Day at home. And Lebron, DWade and Bosh (RuPaul) get to watch Dirk and Co. get their rings and raise the banner.   A Chris Paul trade to the Lakers gets voided by Stern in an obvious conflict of interest by the Association since they currently own the Hornets. The Mavs benefit by picking up an angry Lamar Odom (and a Kardashian to boot!) for next to nothing. Kobe, Fisher and the rest are highly ticked their management gave Odom to their divisional rival which makes the whole thing sweeter. Anything that makes Kobe cry and whine is a beautiful thing.   CP3 eventually gets traded to the Clippers to play with my favorite non-Mav and Sooner legend Blake Griffin. You think Gary Payton to Shawn Kemp or Chris Paul to Tyson Chandler (back in the OKC Hornet days) was awesome? Paul to Griffin will be EPIC! Backboards will shatter across the nation.   Speaking of Tyson Chandler, it does really stink for the Mavs to lose him along with Caron Butler and JJ Barea (The Little Rican). But I'm over it now and the Mavs made some great gets to take the sting off a little. JJ has been more then replaced by Delonte West. If West stays on his bi-polar meds and keeps his guns locked up he will actually be step up. If Carlisle can make Vince Carter care than we may see "Vinsanity" once again. No one replaces Chandler, but Odom will be a monster force if his reality show doesn't distract too much and Khloe Kardashian is happy in Big D. Plus, with the financial flexibility we might be able to make a run at Dwight Howard next off-season.   So the NBA may be rigged. It may be a soap opera run by a mafia don. The players may all be tattooed drama queens. But it's better than any "reality" show. And for sheer entertainment value no other league comes close to this semi-pro league pretending to be a major league. I'm all in this year. GO MAVS!

Fried Flamingo in Detroit

I was assigned to write a story with these five words: flamingo/Detroit/fried/astrophysicist/quarrel. Here's what I came up with...

I was eating fried flamingo down in Detroit on 8 Mile Road when suddenly an astrophysicist came crashing down through the ceiling and on to my table. She began to raise a ruckus and quite a quarrel about why my table was in her way.

"Way to what?" I queried.

"The floor. I supposed to hit the floor."

"Um, am I being filmed? Is this on YouTube?"

"YouTube? Ah...no. Much more important than that. If things go well or as I envisioned then I may have solved the secret to the universe."

"The secret to the universe is going to be found in Detroit?"

"Sir, Detroit is the secret of the universe."

"Really. I woulda figured Kansas City."

"You're obviously not an astrophysicist."

"How'd you tell?"

"You don't have a moustache."

"Ma'am, you don't have one either."

"That's cause I wax."

"Then how do your peers tell you're an astro..."

"My white coat is a dead giveaway."

"And falling from ceilings in soul food restaraunts."

"Hazards of the job."

"So what, you were time traveling and got off track and ended up on my flamingo sandwhich?"

"The Delorean took a wrong turn."

"Detroit never liked Deloreans."

"That's why Detroit is stuck in the past."

Reflections while reading F. Scott Fitzgerald

Dick Diver. Freakin' Dick Diver and his easy F. Scott Fitzgerald charm. The full evolution of his race? I knew Dick Diver in 7th grade. His name was Craig Palmer and he was a drummer who was too cool to play in the band. He went to school dances with 8th grade girls and played in a garage band called Public Interest. His band was a band of Rick Perry frat boys and could only cover cheesy 60's songs like Woolly Bully. His hair was never messed up and he had a Tom Cruise "grinning like an idiot" smile. He wore Izod and Polo golf shirts with the collar up and never wrinkled khakis. He looked like a yachting instructor or a Young Republican. Craig Freaking Palmer never spoke to me or hassled me or even knew I existed. He was too busy hanging Union Jack flags in his room thinking that made him edgy between golf lessons and lacrosse practice.

Rangers!

We Will Crush Them!

 

Standardized testing should be used as a prejorative in the English language. It is the bane of education.

Standardized testing stifles the humanity of students everywhere. It quashes the creativity of our youth. It crushes the human spirit of individuality.

While the Chinese teach their students quantum mechanics and string theory we teach our students test taking strategies.

Yes. This is how we will be victorious. We will crush them with our test taking strategies!

I'll put my multiple choice test takers against your multiple choice test takers anytime and anywhere.

Our nation will have the greatest multiple choice test takers in the world!

Rest in Peace

Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs. I learned how to use a computer on an Apple II E back in elementary school. Your iPod has allowed me to listen to music anywhere. Your vision of minimalism and artistic integration with technology was inspiring. Thanks...

Pecha Kucha Night

So last Thursday I had the opportunity to attend my first Pecha Kucha (roughly pronounced puh CHA chuh). Pecha Kucha originated with an architectural firm in Tokyo that grew weary of long-winded design presentations. Their remedy was to create a presentation format that emphasized speed, clarity and cohesiveness. Each speaker or presenter in a Pecha Kucha gathering is allowed to use a maximum of twenty powerpoint slides. Each powerpoint slide rotates after a maximum of twenty seconds. The result is that each speaker has only six minutes and forty seconds to get their idea across to the audience.

The main emphasis of Pecha Kucha is the open exchange of ideas in a casual forum. Creating time limitations forces speakers to be creative and inventive in the way they organize their information. Some Pecha Kucha's have a guiding theme. The theme of the PK I attended was education. Other PK's are a smorgasbord of new ideas from architecture, graphic design, music, art, politics, etc...

A classmate of mine at SMU, Sarah Jane Semrad, is the co-organizer of the Dallas Pecha Kucha. The PK they hosted last night was the seventh edition. There are over 300 PK chapters around the world and has become a true global phenomenon.

The setting for Thursday's Pecha Kucha was interesting in and of itself. The Texas Theatre is notorious in the annals of Dallas history for being the location where Lee Harvey Oswald was nabbed by police after the JFK assassination. The seats have been replaced but theater employees can show the geopgraphical location where Oswald was found slumped down in his seat as he tried to avoid arrest.

The Texas Theatre shut down for many years until recently when it was renovated and reopened. Today it shows both classic and arthouse films. It also hosts all kinds of local events. This next weekend they will be hosting an OU-texas (mainly Sooners) watch party. The restored interior stuco design is undulating and organic. They truly do not make theaters the way they used to.

Kimberly and I watched twelve presentations. There was a ten-minute intermission at the mid-point. Speakers included Sarah Jane's twelve-year old daughter, principals, administrators, teachers, school architects,a participant in the Special Olympics, tutors and more. The evening ended with a rousing presentation from the newest trustee on the Dallas Independent School Board.

We walked out charged up and ready to make a difference in our educational system. Fortunately Kimberly and I are in the trenches so to speak as educators. It's not hard for us to become involved since that's our actual profession. As we walked out of the Texas Theatre a rare and spectacular lightning storm was exploding over our heads. We got in the car before the downpour began. I found the metaphor obvious: lightning fast ideas sparking a downpour of innovation and achievement.

Google+ Migration

Facebook is wearing me down. FB made quite an improvement a few years ago when they simply posted status updates in realtime as they were posted. But this week they brought back "Top Stories" where they spoonfeed you updates based on what "they" think you want to see. I don't want someone else to determine what news I see. Plus they garbled up the site by adding all these other features that really muddies things up. What happened to the clean and simple Facebook? Everything is so complicated to change and adjust. It's becoming what MySpace used to be.

So I've opened up a profile on Google+ which opened up the doors to everyone this week after a two month invitation only trial period. It's cleaner and simpler. It features the elegant minimalism you see on Apple products or Google itself. I'm still testing it out and I've only been on for three days. So far only six friends have connected but I'm sure the number will increase as others ditch Facebook.

If enough of my friends ditch Facebook I'll be all in on Google+. My friend numbers on Facebook had become too bloated anyway. I've deleted 80 people in the past two weeks who I barely knew. I originally intended to just have close friends and family on Facebook. But that blew out of control as people I hadn't seen in 20 years who I didn't even like back then requested friendship.

In Google+ you create circles of people and can easily control who sees what on your profile. You can easily control where your stream of information goes. Facebook is trying to remedy this but their options are clunky. Google+ seems very intuitive and easy to figure out.

My only beef with + so far is that you can't send private messages to friends. At least I haven't figured it out yet. And to send a public post to a single friend rather than to a circle requires you to post on your own page then type in who you want it to go to. Quite a change of thinking from FB where you simply found your friend's wall and posted on it. Everything on Google+ starts with your page.

So just as + is in the beta stages, I'm in the beta stages of trying it out. If none of my friends or family shift over I guess I'll stick with FB. But I hope they try it out.

Photo: The Dynamo. JDW is second from the left

Flickr Madness

Big update on my Flickr page. Click HERE to see recently updated photos.

Just Say No...

 

I'm sorry. I really don't want this site to be too political. However I have lived in Texas for fourteen years. As an educator I have seen firsthand how Rick Perry has attempted to dismantle public education in favor of private school vouchers. So many people outside of Texas are ignorant of his record. They are simply impressed by his fiery speeches and good hair. But here are several facts you should know about Rick Perry. These are not simply my interpretations or opinions. These are facts...

1.) Perry wants to repeal the 17th Amendment which calls for the direct election of senators. He believes the federal government had no right to take that power away from the state legislatures.

2.) Perry pushed for a new trans-Texas corridor highway to be built and run by a Spanish company that he was invested in. He was going to force people to give up their private property to make new right of ways for this multi-billion project in which he was personally invested in financially.

3.) Perry ran Al Gore's presidential campaign in Texas in 1988. AL GORE!

4.) Perry has raised taxes twice since being in office.

5.) Perry is in favor or eliminating the federal income tax.

6.) Perry is in favor of eliminating public education in favor of private education. He believes that universal education is not something the government should be involved with.

7.) Perry publicy supported Hillary Clinton's health care plan in the 1990's...while he was a Republican.

8.) Perry endorsed Rudolph Gulliani, a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage Republican candidate for president in 2008.

9.) Perry pushed for federal bailout and stimulus funds.

10.) Perry supported welfare for illegal immigrants.

11.) Perry believed that the children of illegal immigrants should be allowed to enroll in state universities and set up a roadmap for graduates to attain full citizenship.

12.) Perry tried to force 12 year old girls to be vaccinated against the HPV virus by executive order.

13.) State debt in Texas has doubled since he became governor.

14.) Texas now has 25 billion dollar budget shortfall.

15.) Perry is cutting 4 billion dollars in education funding for the next two years...including 3 million dollars for my own school district.

16.) Perry pushed for a law allowing concealed handguns on college campuses (he made the initial statement one month after the Virginia Tech massacre).

Some of these positions I actually agree with (see 9, 10 and 11). But my point is that he's not an authentic Tea Partier. He's a hypocrite. He decried the second bailout as federal overreach but accepted the funds nonetheless. He incorrectly stated that Texas retains the right to secede ( a matter that was settled once and for all by the Civil War ). He simply follows the political winds. And if you ever saw the video of him cussing out a highway patrolman for giving him a speeding ticket you would never vote for the man. The only reason he has been elected and re-elected is because there has been no viable alternative on the Texas ballots. The Democratic Party in Texas is a joke. Perry takes vacations to the Bahamas on the taxpayer dime. Suddenly he's talking about being a Methodist. But his foul language and actions seem to belie his words.

And what does it mean when the governor prays for rain yet we get nothing but fire in Texas. Please Please...vote for ANYONE...ANYONE (even that loon Bachmann would be a better choice) than Rick Perry!

 

Jackson's Hat-trick plus one

Jackson's first ever soccer game was yesterday. Because of strep throat he had only been able to make one practice. We were just hoping he had fun. He ended up not only having fun but dominating the game with FOUR goals! The boy looked like a natural. I know I'm biased but he did lead all scorers from either team. He had a big cheering section made up of both sets of grandparents, Uncle Sam, Aunt Kristie and cousin Adia and even Great Grandma White was there from Oklahoma.

This video is one of his most spectacular goals. He grabs possession at mid-field, avoids a scrum, sweeps to the left flank and never looks back. Sweet goal!

Blur

What a blur.

Once school started, the usual chaos ensued. It has been quite a blur. Labor Day usually serves as a nice breather after three weeks of madness. Things usually hit their groove beginning the Tuesday after the holiday.

Turns out JDW has soccer practice on Wednesday evenings and I didn't want to miss them. So 48 hours before SMU's classes started I swapped my Wednesday Revolutions class for a Monday Modern Lit class. It was a class I was originally planning to take but the revolutions class intrigued me. But to make soccer practice I went with my initial choice which I think will be a great decision. The Monday class called "Americans In Paris" is about the literature and philosophy of the American literary expatriates who gravitated toward France following World War I. We'll be analyzing some of my favorite authors including Hemingway and Fitzgerald. We're also looking at Proust and James Joyce among others. I really enjoyed the first class and I am excited about the possibilities.

The Tuesday night class, Creativity: Historical and Personal, has been fascinating as well. We're studying everyone from Leonardo da Vinci to Steve Jobs. It's a writing intensive class which has been a nice chance to free-form write again.

Soccer's still acomin'

More proof that soccer is slowly creeping up on and threatening to take over hockey as the 4th major league sport in the United States came last week. NBC and MLS announced that beginning in 2012 NBC and the NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus) will be broadcasting MLS games for three years. This deal takes MLS away from the Fox Sports Network. ESPN will still air their slate of MLS games and the MLS Cup. But now MLS and several National Team games will be shown on a network that has twice has many households than the FSC. Plus, seeing MLS on NBC itself will be a huge boost for the game.

Attendance is up this year for the MLS. It has more corporate sponsors than ever before. The USMNT attracts a huge following. MLS is now outdrawing the NHL in average attendance. In fact it's threatening the NBA. The big hole it has to make up is in TV ratings. MLS still lags behind the NHL and is way behind the NBA in television viewership.

But it's coming. Fox has broadcasted the UEFA Champions League Championship game two years in a row on it's regular network. Within ten years MLS will be considered a full legit major league on par with the NBA and NHL and right behind MLB and the NFL. The Beautiful Game is here and it's not going anywhere.

photo: Jackson at his first MLS game at beautiful Pizza Hut Park, home of the Western Conference Champions F.C. Dallas.

Blogger Minimalism

Leo Babauta is one of my favorite bloggers. But he would not like how my blog is arranged. He would say it is too cluttered. See HERE why I believe this to be true.

I Jest Not

I rarely give up on books. When it comes to books I'm task oriented. I wanted to get to the end and check it off my list. Although when a great read comes along I slow down to enjoy the ride. I'm also a bit of an optimist, especially when it comes to books of good reputation. So I figure the first part may be a bit slow but if I keep plowing through it may be well worth it by the end.

But I finally gave up on Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. My Kindle says I only made it 20% of the way through this thousand page behemoth. This book was one of the most famous fiction works of the 1990's. It's author, Wallace, a literary star. His suicide three years ago only magnified his literary reputation. Earlier this year one of his posthumous works was released to great fanfare and acclaim. Many of the authors and literary critics I admire most are big fans.

So I took the plunge a few months ago and quit after about 50 pages. A month later I began again. I made it significantly farther (or further?) but finally gave up last week. I got tired of the pretension and literary gimmicks. Some consider his numerous endnotes a fascinating literary device. I found them annoying despite the fact that the Kindle makes reviewing the endnotes a snap. I grew weary of show-offy vocabulary that seemed thrown in simply for effect. Believe me, I love obscure, polysyllabic words as much as the next guy but not when they seem arbitrary and disrupt the narrative. Of course, disrupting the narrative flow was what Wallace said the endnotes were for so maybe that was his point.

So I probably just ticked off a bunch of literary hipsters with my dismissal of their hero. Granted he's much more of a novelist/writer than I could ever hope to be. I did see real talent, amazing talent. I saw flashes of brilliance. But the story and the characters never grabbed hold of me. I'm sorry I don't dig Jest. I'm not deleting it from my Kindle. Maybe down the road I'll give it another shot. I am capable of reading difficult works. I read them all the time. I love Joyce, Nietzsche, Tolstoy, Kierkegaard and whoever you want to throw at me. Just not this guy and this book. Maybe I'll check out one of his other works.

He certainly doesn't belong in the triumvirate of today's super-novelists David Mitchell, Douglas Coupland and Dave Eggers.

The Race

So the GOP race is shaping up. Here's my observations so far. Of course it's early and things can change dramatically.

Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain have little support and no chance. They're out.

Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul have rabid support but it still lies on the fringes. Most Republicans know that Bachmann has no chance to beat Obama. They're out.

Pawlenty and Huntsman have no buzz although that could change with a surprise win in one of the early states. But I think neither will capture the nomination. They're out.

Palin probably won't run. She's just out for the attention (showing up when Mitt announced and in Ames on the day of the GOP debate). She has virtually no chance to capture the nomination. Her star reached it's apogee last year. She has or is about to jump the shark. She's out.

So that leaves the race to Mitt Romney or Rick Perry. I believe this is a two man race. I'm not sure about Perry's ability to raise cash outside of Texas. And he will have a tough time when he gets the type of scrutiny he has never had in Texas. Even Republicans in Texas don't like the guy. He's only won because there's not been any alternatives or the field's been split. He once won with only 39% of the electorate. But he has positioned himself as a Tea Party conservative and that may be appealing to a great many Republicans who don't know him as well as Texans.

Mitt probably stands the best chance at beating Obama but he may have a tough time getting the nomination. Most conservatives are suspicious of Romney. He does seem to flip flop on issues like abortion and health care. But he is an ATM machine and has loads of cash.

So I can't guess who the nominee will be. But at this point is sure looks like a two-man race between Romney and Perry.

Converting Youtube to iTunes

One of the best ways to preview new music without purchasing it first is by checking out the artist's youtube page. That way you won't have wasted your money with a one-hit wonder. Youtube is one of my favorite music resources. I also download documentaries, shows and interviews and upload them to my iPod to watch on trips and whenever. There's a lot of free software programs that enable you to convert youtube videos to iTunes but one that has worked well for me is DVDVideoSoft. I first read about this site on cnet so it should be safe. I've been using it for a few years now and have never had a problem.

You can download a whole suite of software for free with one click or pick and choose what you want.

Their website is HERE

video: I haven't posted a video of JDW in awhile. This is Jackson earlier this summer playing around in slick rock...a creek area in Indiana on Dram's farm.

Odelay!

This Beck. Not this one.

Yes. I am offended by you.

While we were at Seaworld San Antonio I saw a middle aged  man wearing a t-shirt with a Confederate flag on it. Beneath the flag was written "if you are offended by this flag you need a history lesson."

I really wanted to go up to the man and say "Sir, I am an historian and here's a lesson for you..." But since I was there with my wife and son I ignored the ignoramus and went on with our fun.

But here's the deal and there's no getting around these facts. The Confederate flag represents a regime that supported human bondage. No if's, ands or buts about it. The Confederate flag represents a regime which betrayed the United States of America and then fought and killed to have the right to enslave other human beings.

If you are offended by that you need to go back and study your history.

Beginning of the End

Well. Today is the beginning of the end. The end of summer. This is our last week before teachers report to work. I always have mixed feelings about the end of summer. I am excited about the opportunties a new school year affords. One of the best things about being a teacher is getting a fresh start every nine months with a new school year. And I have some interesting opportunities in store for 2011-2012.

I will have two students returning who scored 5's on AP exams which is phenomenal. I'll be coaching a student who qualified for the state UIL tournament last year as a sophomore. Hopefully we'll make another run for Austin at the state tourney. There's always a great crop of students ready to tackle AP every year. I always make changes to my curriculum and syllabus so it should be a fun year.

But I also know that once summer is over the madness begins. Two nights a week I'll be in class at SMU. Jackson is starting soccer for the first time. In the spring I'll once again be calling games for KHS soccer as the PA announcer. Plus there's the usual busyness that springs up unpredictably.

I get to spend less time with the family during the school year. We are spoiled getting to spend every day together during the summer. It is hard to be away from each other during the day.

So I'm going to try to enjoy my last week. Hopefully I'll wrap up my recovery from last week's oral surgery and be ready to go!

photo: Jackson and his best friend Jack sword fighting last week.

The Believer

I've subscribed to a variety of magazines during my life. Boy's Life, Golf, Golf Digest, Road & Track, National Geographic, Adventure, Backpacker, SKI, Skiing, Sierra and many more. But I find my time limited these days so all those have gone by the wayside in recent years.

I'm only subscribing to one magazine nowadays...The Believer. The Believer is a literary journal from McSweeney's Publishing run by Dave Eggers and his wife Vendela Vida. It features short works of fiction, poetry, micro-interviews and social commentary from the best and brightest in the literary world. I always find it inspiring me to open up my moleskine and start writing. It will take you away from much of the insipidness that exists in today's journalism and writing.

Good stuff and you can check it out HERE.

Microlending in Tajikistan

I've been microlending to Kiva for several years. It's a great organization. Lend $25 to help an third-world entrepreneur get out of poverty. It's easy to set up. Try it! Here's my current loan...

Inoyat Ayubova: Istaravshan, Tajikistan. She sells clothing. Take a look at her story HERE.

 

One for One

Tom's has been around for awhile. They donate one pair of shoes to someone in need for every new pair you buy. I'm finally diving in. The next pair of shoes I buy will be from Tom's.

Trip Advisor Reviews

I always check out tripadvisor.com before heading out on trips. They have comprehensive reviews and info about hotels, restaurants and attractions. I have found it an invaluable resource. I now take the time to write my own reviews for trip advisor after I have visited a place. You can find all my reviews on the trip advisor link to the right.

photo: Kimberly with the Dallas skyline in the background during our recent stay at the Belmont Hotel in Oak Cliff.

SMU - Comparative Revolutions

This is the class I will be taking on Wednesday evenings this fall at Southern Methodist University. The photo is a picture of Dallas Hall (the oldest building on campus) where the class is held.

Comparative Revolutions: An Historical Perspective (AMS) (GLO) (HRJ)

SOSC 6367
Class # 5023
Wednesdays
3 Credit Hours

What is the nature of modern political revolutions?What are the conditions which tend to produce a revolutionary explosion? What are the characteristics of revolutionary leaders? Why do people follow them? By considering answers to these and other related questions, this course attempts to provide interdisciplinary perspectives on a topic of special interest in our age of monumental upheaval and rapid societal change. Drawing especially on the American, French, Russian, and Chinese revolutions as case studies, a comparative analysis underscores the common denominators of the revolutionary experience.

SMU: Creativity - Historical and Personal

It's shaping up to be a busy fall. This is the class I will be taking at SMU on Tuesday evenings. I took the professor, Dr. Gary Swaim, last semester and he was great. This course counts as a writing intensive requirement. The building pictured is the new Simmons Hall where many of my classes are located at SMU.

Creativity: Historical and Personal (WI)HUMN 7336
Class # 5036
Tuesdays
3 Credit Hours

This seminar will focus, in particular, on two periods in history: the Renaissance and our current moments in time. The two time periods are bound together in unique ways by creativity. Through a historical analysis of aspects of the Renaissance (among the most creative of Western cultural times), we will explore methods for advancing our own personal creativity. Materials for the seminar will be highly interdisciplinary, and we will aim to apply the ideas of creativity to each student's current interests.

The Dog Days

Supposed to be near 110 degrees in Dallas today. DFW is now in the midst of the second longest consecutive triple digit heat day streak in Dallas history. In two weeks we could break the infamous 1980 summer streak.

It's the first of August and we now only have two weeks left until teachers report.

Congratulations to my Uncle Richard for the release of his new novel, POX. Check out his author website and excerpts from the novel HERE.

Photo: Me hanging out in Austin on the corner of Congress and Willie Nelson Blvd with our hotel in the background.

Stoved Up

A few years ago I learned that in Texas when one is incapacitated due to sickness or injury you are "stoved up." I am definitely stoved up. The third day after my surgery (today) has been the worst. Half my face looked like Richard Nixon's...all jowly and swollen. The pain isn't bad because I'm on serious pain meds for the next few days. Which basically renders me useless. I get dizzy when I attempt to walk around. So I am pretty bored. But the doctor says everything is going according to plan and I should be back to normal in a few days.

You can see that in my forced free time I finally have made some updates to the old Internet Lounge. I've added my twitter feed to the front page. Yes, I finally broke down. Once I had internet access on my phone I decided to tweet. You can also see a few pics from my flickr site to the right without having to actually go to the site. I'm sure more changes will be in order depending on how long I'm laid low by hydrocodone. It's about time. I haven't made any changes to the template and design to my blog since I started it five years ago.

I have also been able to keep minute by minute tabs on the debt ceiling crisis. What idiocy on both sides. I want to vote them all, Democrats and Republicans, outta there. Ridiculous posturing that jeopardized my savings bonds! I emailed and tweeted all my reps with groggy exhortations to man up and get something done. I'm sure my pain med fueled rants made the difference.

Photo: Me and JDW lobbying at the Texas State Capitol in Austin

Orcas, Bats and more...

Been a busy three weeks. First, the annual family reunion trek to Indiana. Then we were back in DFW for a few days before we headed south to San Antonio. We spent two and a half days in San Antone where we spent all our time either at Seaworld or the hotel. We fed dolphins, sea lions and exotic birds. We rode rides and saw all the shows including two different Shamu shows. I had never seen an orca show and it was spectacular.

Then we drove to Austin and spent two nights watching the famous evening bat migrations at the Congress Avenue Bridge. Our hotel, the Radisson was right next to the bridge and was the perfect place for bat viewing. The first night we watched from a hillside beneath the hotel. The second night (pictured above) we watched from the bridge itself. It's an amazing sight to behold. As soon as the sun ducks down behind the horizon millions of bats fly out looking for their evening meal of insects. Hundreds of people watch the event from the bridge, river bank and in all sorts of watercraft.

We also spent time in Austin tooling around Congress Avenue. We visited the state capitol building, went to the ArtHouse at the Jones Center ( a new modern art gallery) and ate at many great restaurants including The Shady Grove ( a former RV park), The Green Mesquite BBQ, Berry Austin (for yogurt), Hey Cupcake! (best cupcakes in the world) down in SoCo, Annie's Cafe and a small pizza joint next to Patagonia...one of my favorite stores. On they way back to DFW we stopped at the massive outlet mall in Round Rock to shop.

Then we got back to DFW in time for me to have my fourth oral surgery in two years. This time they harvested a small part of my jawbone and grafted it to the upper left gum line to shore up for two future tooth implants. I've had no pain but the meds have pretty much left me useless save for blogging, tweeting and facebooking. I should be back up and around in a few days. This should be the last of the surgeries. Once I have the two implants done my former British style teeth will be distant memory.
Pictures of our trip can be found on my Flickr site HERE.

BTW, I am on twitter now. You can find me at @DavidWhite007.

Flickr Update

Major photo dump on Flickr. Highlights include our trip to Indiana, Austin and Seaworld San Antonio.

Click HERE

Analog Sunday

This is my goal for Sundays. I wrote and set this to post automatically so I wouldn't violate my analog goals...

time

Dude One: Sorry I'm late.

Dude Two: That's okay. Time doesn't exist.

Super Perfundo...

Super perfundo on the early eve of your day!

The Oak Cliff Experience

When I first moved to Dallas back in October of 1997 I was warned not to wander south of I-30 and the Trinity River. I was told that Oak Cliff was to be avoided if you valued your life. The story was that Oak Cliff, once a separate town from Dallas, had been a beautiful enclave for the upper middle class back in the day. But beginning in the late 1960's it had become a drug infested ghetto. The story had a ring of tragedy about it since everyone admitted that to this day Oak Cliff by far possesses the prettiest topography in the city. Too bad you can't go down there without risking your life.

What a load of crap that was.

First of all, what defines Oak Cliff has long been in dispute. Most white north Dallasites pretty much describe everything south of I-30 stretching to I-20 as belonging to Oak Cliff. But most of what is described as Oak Cliff (including South Oak Cliff High School) actually lies outside the boundaries of the original OC. And most people who warn you about the Cliff haven't ever been there except for a quick trip to the Dallas Zoo or Methodist Hospital. The amount of ignorance regarding Oak Cliff is staggering.

Well, I finally met some people who live in Oak Cliff. As part of an SMU class project back in May I attended a community gathering of activists and organizers in the beautiful Kessler Theater on Davis Street. Besides trips to the aforementioned zoo and Methodist Hospital it was my first visit to Oak Cliff. As soon as I exited Sylvan and crossed underneath the I-30 overpass I was amazed at the beauty of the drive. Rolling hills, live oaks and beautiful classic homes greeted me.

I was inspired by the community gathering. These people are fighting to make their community a vibrant and colorful place. One described Oak Cliff as playing the same role to Dallas as Brooklyn plays to Manhattan. It's full of artists, entrepreneurs and activists. Sure there are sketchy areas that you might want to avoid at 2 am. But things are getting better and the citizens of Oak Cliff are fighting hard to make their neighborhood a better place. They were quite passionate and I left inspired and encouraged about local grassroot movements.

So to celebrate our anniversary my wife and I headed south of town. We stayed at the newly renovated Belmont Hotel which is quickly becoming the hippest boutique hotel in Dallas. The Belmont was built decades ago on a hill overlooking Dallas. It was rescued and completely renovated a few years ago. It is a true destination hotel in Big D. It has retained the flavor of a 1950's art deco motor court while upgrading every room to near upscale status. The pool has stunning views of the Dallas skyline. The Belmont has become one of the anchors in the restoration of Oak Cliff.

We visited the Bishop Arts District a couple of times. We ate at Tillman's Roadhouse for dinner and had pie at Norma's Cafe. We ate lunch the next day at Bolsa. We shopped at the specialty stores which all seemed much more authentic and supportive of local artists and business than the West Village or Stonebriar Mall. We had a wonderful time and we will return. We even got to drive by (embarassingly for the first time) the school where my Mom teaches kindergarten (the Tyler Street Christian Academy) right around the corner from the Bishop Arts District.

Yet, when I told people about our sojourn into Oak Cliff many of the same ignorant prejudices came to the surface. Some people had been down there and shared our appreciation of the area. In a city that likes to tear down and build everything new it was nice to find an authentic neighborhood where history and uniqueness is celebrated. So get on down there. Cross the bridge and visit The Cliff.

Photo: me at the Belmont

The FoCo Wolfpack

One of the things I like best about traveling to Fort Collins is reuniting with the crew...or the Wolfpack. We come from all over. In this photo is (starting top row and going right to left, then bottom row right to left): James (McLovin') from L.A., Chas from Saipan, Jerry from Stillwater, OK, Wes from Keller, TX, Curtis from Chicago, Eric from Detroit, me from Forney and Corey from Hurst, TX. Ernie from Denver was out somewhere and didn't make the pic.

There are other guys we hang with but this is the crew that hangs out the most and commandeers the same corner table at the cafeteria every evening. Good group of guys who understand all the World History jokes.

67 in FoCo

Nice to beat the Texas heat by flying off to Fort Collins, Colorado to grade AP World History exams.

Speaking of Heat...did you see the Mavs amazing comeback? Amazing! Watched the game at the legendary FoCo establishment Woody's which you can see here is closing. This is a very popular and historic joint, yet they're closing it to build apartments. Ridiculous.

Supposed to get down to the fifties tonight. Mid-70's for a high tomorrow.

Things going well so far. The whole crew is accounted for and ready to roll. Started grading essays today. Got the dreaded Document Based Question (DBQ) this year. But it's not so bad. Assigned the legendarily ghetto Corbett Dorm. But its not too bad, actually has new carpet. It was my turn after lodging in the Taj Mahal of Summit Dorm for two of the past three years.

Last year we're grading in Ft. C. Next year we're heading to Salt Lake City. Since we're not going to be in a dorm situation we'll have to share hotel rooms with a roomate. Got mine lined up.

Okay...beat the Heat!

Keep Austin Weird

Last week I spent a couple of days in Austin, Texas. Love Austin.

That might surprise some people because I'm a big Sooner fan.

I even love hanging out on the campus of the University of Texas. I can seperate athletics from academics. I can hate the Longhorns on the field but dig what goes on in the lecture hall.

I like Austin because it's weird. Yes, I know that's an old slogan down there, "Keep Austin Weird." But it really is weird. Weird in both bad ways and good ways. I like how people are not afraid to be who they want to be.

Who wants to eat the same bowl of cheerios every day? Throw in some Apple Jacks or Cinnamon Toast Crunch! Variety is the spice of life.

Ate at The Shady Grove, The Green Mesquite and The Oasis. All great eateries. I think the fam and I will have to make a quick trip down there this summer.

Arcade Fire in Dallas

Last Saturday's Arcade Fire was transcendent (am I overusing that word?). Lead singer Win Butler started the set by saying "We're gonna give you all we got. We just ask you to meet us halfway." Then the eight-piece band whirled and bashed and soared, running to different instruments between songs. In evidence were concertinas, accordians, hurdy gurdys, double basses, pipe organs, megaphones, two full time violinists plus the usual guitars, keys and drums. Butler ended the show with an exhortation to "take care of each other." Unbelievable musicianship and showmanship. It is truly inspiring to see such creativity in action. Much better than the usual hum drum pop garbage.

Arcade Fire Setlist Dallas 2011:

Ready To Start
Keep The Car Running
Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
Haiti
Rococo
Sprawl I (Flatland)
Intervention
Suburbs
Month of May
Rebellion (Lies)
No Cars Go
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
We Used To Wait
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)

Encore

Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Wake Up