College and NFL Football Break

After going 2-3 in my FIVE and 1-2 in my NFL 3 & OUT last week I'm forced to take a week off from doing picks due to business travel.  I won't have time to properly run the numbers and analyze the games.

I MIGHT be able to provide some thoughts on the games, possibly on Wednesday, but won't be able to handicap.

So, enjoy the games next weekend.  See you the week afterwards.

Some down time.

When I bet it's usually on football, college basketball and horse racing. I've never been very good at handicapping the NBA and betting on baseball, to me, seems to ruin the experience. (I watch baseball to chill out, so betting on it would just make me nervous).

Last Saturday they ran the big(ger) prep races for the Kentucky Derby so I'm sure I'll have something about that in a couple of weeks.

Until then, I'm taking a break.

I'll be back before the Derby on May 7th.

Yellow! Spring. Glad you could make it.

Today was the first day I noticed that my formerly red car was now covered in a powdery yellow sheen.  It also means that folks with hay fever are missing work at increasing rates and Houston is in for a slight drop in productivity at the workplace. To my surprise, there are some that sell this pollen for food.

The good news is the weather is beautiful (despite wanna-be weatherman Eric Berger telling us that we're just one stop away from a stay in Climate Changes EZ-bake) although a little dry so some rain would be welcome.  But given the proclivity of Houston drivers to go into panic-mode at the slightest sign of moisture I'm hoping the rain comes overnight, or on a day when most don't have to drive into work.

With all that said It's sure to be a beautiful week (and possibly week-end) in Houston so the blog is going to go on a little hiatus while I spend most of my free time outside doing yard work and grilling various pieces of animal for dinner.

Not a long break mind you, just enough to let me figure out my Houston Political Dictionary entries for E, F,G & H.

Oh, and to drink the Mourvedre Rose that just arrived from the fine folks at William Chris Vineyards

I hab a code in my node. (read this instead)

I had planned a long, eloquent blog piece today on some silliness that's going on in the Texas Lege but I've come down with a fairly nasty head cold and, after writing one paragraph, all of the words are beginning to run together reading more like an Apple Dumpling Gang editorial than an actual blog post.

With that said I encourage you to go read the following piece from On the South Steps, which is far more entertaining and eloquent than anything I could cobble together right now.


Isn't it worth asking? On the South Steps.

My apologies to my three (or so) regular readers.  I'm off to lie down in a fog of Vicks and OTC cold medicine.

Wheels Up (part II)

Time for some time off, no posting until Tuesday.

Everyone have a great weekend.

Wheels down

Always fun flying around a weather front......


Quick business trip over. Back in town until next weekend when I'm off again.

In the interim, a fresh set of stuff to ponder.


Fight Brewing over O'Hare and Parallels with Intercontinental, Stephen Seagraves, badice.com - In which Stephen offers some much needed counter-balance to some of the more fanciful rhetoric surrounding the HOU/IAH issue. Good read. (Worth some time pondering because it discusses DEN, a real option that the 'm-word' pro-Southwest clan has missed.)

Former Chronicle Reporter Claims Discrimination, Chron.com - Kyrie "MeMo" O'Connor must be thrilled that this ex-employee of hers is raising this kind of stink. (Alternate headline: Former reporter/stripper accuses Chronicle of waging 'war on women')

Rumors about UT President's Job Spread Online, Joe Holley, Chron.com - The 'rumors' were started by "Texas bestest political reporter" running prematurely with an unsubstantiated rumor. As things progress it appears that Mr. Burka is going to have considerable egg on his face but, in true reporter fashion, He's doubling down. (Addendum: The question now is this: If Burka is considered the best political reporter in the State, what does this tell us about the sorry state of political reporting in Texas?)

Speaking of sorry reporting: One day after President Obama's controversial switch on Gay Marriage, The Washington Post issued an unflattering report on Romney's childhood antics that portray the candidate as anti-gay. The problem? The story is not standing up to scrutiny and is looking flimsier with each passing hour. The take-away from this is that news media outlets do work with oppo research teams and time stories to have the desired effect. Quite often it doesn't matter if the story in question is correct or not. In this case, based on what is looking like an erroneous story, Romney is already being shredded. How sad that it could be for something he didn't do. (At a minimum, you'd think the call would be for more research but, in this case, it's all hands on deck and guns ready as the Obama campaign team ramps up the troops.)

Chevron's Brazil Spill Shows Drillers Still Trip in Crises, Bloomberg via Fuel Fix at Chron.com - On the contrary, everything that Chevron did in this situation was correct, until those who aren't concerned about correct got in on the game and waged a war of environmental terror against the company. Yes, they didn't respond well to that. However, given the current mindset of global ecomentalists I would argue it's impossible to respond "correctly" to them. (The only "correct" responses being that you're going to suspend all operations, fire all of your employees and stop exploring and drilling altogether or that you're turning over all operations to the government. The problem is not oil and gas exploration, it's PRIVATE oil and gas exploration.)

Say this about Obama's Biden-forced gay marriage epiphany, It's given the Left an issue that's not the economy.

The Power of Marriage, Emily Deprang, Texas Observer
The Out Candidate, Kuffer, Off the Kuff,
 4 openly gay candidates seek Texas House Seats, Daniel Williams, Dallas Voice

The true test will not be who's running, but who wins. Is America evolved enough on these issues to actually elect several LBGT candidates to office? In Texas, I'm not so sure. (The bigger issue is whether or not this will distract enough from the economy to provide Obama with a boost. I think no, because it's all going to come down to how the economy is doing in November)


Good to be back.

Wheels up.

No, the blog isn't going on hiatus (I just took it off hiatus after all) but posting could be spotty for the next few weeks due to business/personal travel. 

Until then, I'll try to keep abreast of things on my Diigo page so, if you're interested I'll be trying to keep that going.  The Diigo feed is a good thing if you're interested in short takes on a lot of articles (rather than a longer-form blog post) and it's where I try shuffle and sort most of the days news.

In the interim, it seems that the United/Southwest kerfuffle has all but been decided, if you still think there's any way the City is NOT going to approve Southwest's request here's some more of the back-and-forth: (and various and assorted other quick links)

Tori Gattis is pro Southwest.

Stephan Seagraves is pro-United

The City Attorney weighs in on Southwest's side.

Remember when correlation didn't equal to causation? - Of course, you'd also have to remember when the scientific method was meaningful in science.

The comments to this editorial are why I don't write about education any more. - Everyone thinks they know the answers and, if you're answer is different then there's they say you just don't understand the issue.  Education in Texas is rapidly turning into a circular firing squad with the children in the middle.

US SENATOR: It could be Dewhurst w/o a run-off. - THAT would anger a lot of tea party groups.

Patrick vs. Carona - You know you've failed if you've made State Sen. Zaffrini look like the calm, rational participant.  My State Senator continues to embarrass.  Unfortunately, given the political make-up of our district, there's no way he gets primaried out.

Next they'll be demanding we take off our underwear. - Just you wait.  The TSA will overreact to this in time.

Today's election tempest in a teapot. - The problem that Obama has here is that he's spent the last few months trying desperately to convince anyone that the "wealthy" (read: those making over $100K/yr) are somehow un-American.

Are Airfares getting more expensive?  The answer might surprise you.

This is a good trip report. - Keep it in mind because I'm going to try a similar trip report on a rather mundane business trip....in coach.  Not because you don't know it by now, but b/c I think it will be funny to see the stark differences.

'Twas the night before, the night before, the night before Christmas

(used via a creative commons license.)


And all through the house, not a blogger was blogging, not even the lightly read and intermittently updated.

In other words: Happy Christmas y'all. Here's hoping you spend it with good times, good friends, all of your loved ones around you safe and happy (and warm) and free from food-borne illnesses.

If you comment on here, don't be surprised if it's not approved until after the Holiday has passed. I've got tamales to eat ya' know?

Enjoy your weekend.... (UPDATED!)

Friday is my 12-yr wedding Anniversiary, so I won't be blogging until next week.


Until then have a great weekend and here's a little grist for the mill....



There's been an ethics complaint sworn out against Terry Lowry, it's not on-line yet but some good Samaritan saw fit to mail a copy of the letter to my house outlining the charges. It was an unsigned envelope with a font adress, no handwriting. (In case you're wondering)


I'll have more on this next week, but I've given Mr. Lowry a chance to respond before going into further detail.

So far it hasn't been listed on the ethics commission's on-line website I'm not sure what (if anything) that means.



UPDATE:

Whoa....

(Metro announces $49M budget shortfall, KHOU staff, KHOU.com)

The Metro Transit Board announced on Thursday that Metro will have a budget shortfall of $49 million this year.

The board blamed a decrease in ridership and lower tax revenue for the shortfall.

The shortfall has slowed spending on Light Rail construction, and the board was asking Metro staff to develop other ways to cut costs.

Mark Greenblatt blasted this out on Twitter about an hour before the story hit the website.

It should be noted that local anti-rail activist Tom Bazan has been predicting (and tracking) this for years.

I'm sure this news will dominate the weekend.

Time off is good. (UPDATED)

It's time for HCA to go on a long, long hiatus. Real life, football season, the paying job, the sorry state of ChronBlog, and a general weariness rejecting comments from anonymous idiots who aren't sharp enough to understand sarcasm have sucked my will to blog.


If, for some odd reason, you feel you need to know how I feel about things I'll still be updating my Diigo feed, and will be moving it to the top for easy reading. That will be like a daily "noise machine" but without a comment feature which means less work for me. If you're REALLY sick you can follow me over at 3CB where I'll be spending a lot of time writing about football and other sports that probably don't interest you.



Until then: You stay classy Harris County.



UPDATE: Fortunately, I've been 'reassigned' at work rather than "laid off", which means that irregular blogging, at least, might appear from time to time.

Independence Day

Courtesy of Eagle Sam and the Muppets.


Enjoy the day doing the things you want to do with the people you choose to be with. That, after all, is what freedom is all about.

This thing called life...

...is really getting in the way of blogging.


Or, more accurately, I'm finding a ton of stuff to do that's more fun than reading how the Democrats hate Republicans who hate Democrats who are supported by the InterLeft who hate everyone but politicians who treat them like they are people. (That last bit is true)


No, I'm not shutting down. (You, over there, stop moaning.) I'll just be slowing down for a while until things settle down out here in the real world.


Of course....


By the time that happens this blog could have an entirely different name. (and location for all I know)