Got out of work early yesterday, so my wife and I took the boys down to our favorite (and relatively unknown) park on Lake Austin to go swimming with the mutts.

Just a boy ad his dog playing in the lake

Lake Austin is a constant-level lake that is sandwiched between the Mansfield Dam on Lake Travis and the Tom Miller Dam on Town Lake. The wonderful thing about swimming in Lake Austin during a scorching summer day (was 104 yesterday) is that the water that fills this lake is released from the bottom of Lake Travis, which is about 200′ deep at the dam.

Which means that the water is wonderfully cold (not Barton Springs 69 degree cold, but very, very close). I know some of our friends’ swimming pools here in Austin are already as warm as a hot shower, but Lake Austin is closer to 72 degrees (at least on the northern part of the lake where we swim).

Angus the incredible swimming and retrieving Great Dane

Angus is now swimming entirely and confidently without his life jacket. Turns out this Great Dane is a freak when it comes to retrieving. It’s pretty much all he wants to do while we’re at the lake. He’s got more enthusiasm for it than our Lab does. And our Lab loves to retrieve.

Happy dog

Happy Independence Day to all you stop by here. I hope your holiday weekend is filled with much food, friends, and family having fabulous fun.

Austin, Dogs, Great Danes, Holidays, Texas | 2 Comments »

• RT @krlooney: Economic news: 467,000 jobs lost in June, but 50 gajillion jobs “created or saved” (via @allahpundit) LOL political geniuses #
• @RWSparkle I promise never, ever, to hire anybody who ever worked for McCain. To include McCain himself. in reply to RWSparkle #
• Limbaugh: Michael Jackson “flourished under Reagan,” “languished under Clinton and Bush,” “died under Obama” #
• We are not being represented, in Congress, but milked… #
• Our office is serving hot dogs and apple pie right now to the entire company! Awesome #july4th #
• If my CrossFit coach could see all the chili-cheese dogs and homemade apple pie (w/ ice cream) I shoveled down my pie hole, he’d be mad. #
• Shinedown: “You can sleep with a gun, but when are you going to wake up and fight for yourself” songs of revolution. #
• If you believed Obama’s campaign promises, you’re gullible. If you ’still’ believe him, then you’re just an idiot. #
• Yes, honey. There is extra apple pie for you. I’ll bring you home a slice. Mucho love. #
• For the record, I oppose ALL politicians speaking at Tea Parties. This is a time for citizens to speak and our reps to listen (for a change) #

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One of the smartest men in all of Austin — Dr. Daniel Bonevac, a Professor of Philosophy and a core faculty member of the Program in Western Civilization and American Institutions at the University of Texas at Austin — on the incredibly stupid Cap and Trade bill that the House just passed:

The House has passed a climate bill—more than 1,500 pages that no one has read—to respond to a nonexistent problem with a solution that would be ineffective if there were a problem, at a gargantuan cost.  We’re already on track with the Great Depression; now we have our Smoot-Hawley, at roughly an analogous point in time after the initial crash.

Idiots.

Yep. That pretty much sums it up.

________

And just a reminder to the Cap-and-Tax 8 Republicans RINOs that betrayed the principles of small government for a tidy payoff from Nancy Pelosi: Not One Red Cent!

The US Senate is going to debate and vote on this insane bill tax next week. Even though Sen. James Inhofe (R- OK) claims that Cap and Tax is dead in the water when it hits the Senate, get on the horn and call your Senators and tell them to vote NO against it anyway.

Culture of Corruption, Defending the American Dream, Politics | 2 Comments »

• @CarolCasey I’m an everyday rider. Wear my helmet 98% of the time. ‘Cause it makes my wife happy. in reply to CarolCasey #
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Our little boy, Jersey turns 6 months old on Monday. We got him when he was 6 weeks old.

Here’s how damned fast Great Dane puppies grow:

6 weeks old, the day we brought him home

Cute little bugger. Here he is three short weeks later:

9 weeks old

And here he is about a month later:

14 weeks old, and he can almost see over the pagoda

And here he is today, a week shy of his 6 month birthday:

6 months old and almost a big boy

As big as he is now (100 lbs), he’s still just a bit smaller than his big brother, Angus, who is 27 months old:

Jersy and his big brother Angus

A far cry from this:

6 week old Jersey and (almost) 2 year old Angus

Dogs, Great Danes | 6 Comments »

Knox County, Tennessee officials have posted the names, pictures, and rap sheets of the “Top prostitution offenders in Knox County”.

And all I can say after seeing their mug shots is, WTF?

Seriously…what the hell is the matter with the men of Knox County that they would pay these women for sex?

I can’t imagine having sex with a single one of them for free…but seeing that they are the the “top offenders” it appears business is good for these lovely ladies and there are plenty of men who are willing to play…

If these are the top prostitutes in Knox County, I’d hate to see the bottom ones…

From The Weekly Vice:

Knox County authorities believe dozens of prostitutes in the area are infected with syphilis and many of them don’t even know it. It’s hard to imagine how they’d miss the lesions and oozing sores - but the Knox County Health Department says the outbreak hasn’t slowed down business.

In fact, authorities have recently learned it has an even worse problem on it’s hands. One prostitute, Tiffany Moore, continued plying her trade despite being infected with HIV.

Tiffany (bottom right), who has been arrested three times for having sex while infected with HIV, must now register as a sex offender…. But arrests like these haven’t slowed down the prostitution trade. In fact, it’s growing.

Crime, Stupid News | 5 Comments »

Jason Oglesbee pulling Patricia Ralph-Neely from the Des Moines River

Heroes almost never see themselves as being heroic. They simply see someone in need of help or lifesaving, and they simply react.

Often at great risk to their own lives.

There’s just something in some men that allows them to walk towards danger while others are either running away or standing by helplessly.

Whatever that something is, Des Moines construction worker Jason Oglesbee has it. In spades.

Going Over the Dam

Earlier today 60-year old Patricia Ralph-Neely and her husband went over the Center Street Dam on the Des Moines River.

Patricia got caught in the turbulent hydraulic caused by the water sucking back on itself at the base of the dam. There is almost no way to escape this powerful suction on your own.

Rescue workers tried and failed several times to rescue Mrs. Ralph-Neely as she was sucked under the water repeatedly. She was getting battered by the falling water, and it was apparent to onlookers and rescuers that she probably couldn’t hold on much longer.

Rescued

Thankfully for Mrs. Ralph-Neely, a nearby construction crew had a crane that could reach across the river to where she was trapped.

Even more lucky for her was the fact that one of the construction workers, Jason Oglesbee, was already wearing a safety harness.

With almost no time to consider the danger to himself, Oglesbee was hooked up to a chain dangling from the end of the crane and hoisted out over the dam to rescue Mrs. Ralph-Neely.

Jason Oglesbee attempting to save a drowing woman

Sadly, her husband, who was not wearing a life vest, was later pulled from the river after drowning.

Go here to watch a video of the rescue. And more pictures here.

Reluctant Hero

Asked later by a reporter if he had volunteered for the rescue, Oglesbee humbly stated, “I happened to have the harness on, see. That’s all I want to say.”

Mr. Oglesbee initially declined to be interviewed by reporters, but reluctantly gave a brief statement:

They just harnessed me up and dipped me down in the water and I grabbed her and drug her — the crane drug her — to the boat and that’s it. What are you going to do if she’s like that? It’s no big deal. The whole crew did it. So that’s all I want to really talk about or have to say. You know, my supervisor…they all did a good job.

Then he went back to work.

You’re right, though, Mr. Oglesbee…it wasn’t a big deal. It was a huge deal. And while you might think that anybody else would have done the same thing if they were in your shoes…you’d be wrong.

Random | 10 Comments »

• Rain. At last. Sweet, sweet, glorious rain. #
• @_OB_ Our Great Dane swims with a life vest, too (the XXL from REI). Here we are swimming together on Lake Travis: http://bit.ly/zlcEL in reply to _OB_ #
• RT @krlooney: Franken getting elected is our modern American equivalent to Caligula putting his horse in the Roman senate #
• RT @RWSparkle: Obama welcomes the election of Stuart Smalley to the Senate. Looks forward to gazing in the mirror with him for affirmation. #
• http://twitpic.com/8w0mu - @marinemajor actually, it’s Lone Star time #

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I make the same drive home from work everyday, driving south on Loop 360 from Mopac to Bee Caves Rd.).

First of all, to those not familiar with this stretch of scenic road in west Austin, Loop 360 (which is not a loop) is a 2 lanes north and 2 lanes south, divided by a wide grassy median. There are approximately 7 traffic lights between 183 north and Bee Caves Rd, which is about a 9 mile stretch of road. Oh, and it’s winding and hilly. Very hilly. Which means that large trucks and small, under-powered cars often have difficulty gaining or keeping their speed going up these hills.

Just a few comments and observations from my drive home from work yesterday around 4:45 p.m:

• To the lady in the red Toyota Prius: get off the cell phone and get out of the fast lane; you’re holding up rush hour traffic. You’re car doesn’t have enough horsepower (76 hp) to get up most of these hills while maintaining the 60-70 mph that most cars are doing in the right hand lane. And because you’re on the cell phone, you’re too busy to care that you’re holding up traffic.

• To the lady in the gold Honda MVP mini van with the four kids along for the ride: put down the sandwich and drive, oh and while you’re at it, get out of the fast lane too. Minivans are woefully underpowered compared to how heavy they are. Besides, if you’re hauling around a bunch of children, you probably should slow it down, move over into the “slow” lane, and focus more on your cargo than on trying to Fred Flinstone your minivan up some of these hills.

In fact, let’s just go ahead and say that ALL mini vans and under-powered little fuel-efficient hybrids just stay out of the fast lane. If I were Traffic Czar, I’d immediately make it illegal for minivans or micro-cars to drive in the fast lane. Yeah, yeah, yeah…I know your cute little Prius will eventually get up to 105 mph…it’s just that it takes it 32 minutes to get there, and it’s never going to do so going up some of these hills.

Seriously, people. They make a lane just for people who drive like you do: it’s called the slow lane. Now get over into it.

And while I’m wearing my Traffic Czar hat, ALL cell phone and texting while driving will be made illegal. Anybody caught violating this law can be pulled from their car and beat with a stick and their cell phone smashed to pieces.

• To the guy riding the black Honda VTX 1800 motorcycle: yes, I know it’s hot out (nearly 106 during the ride home). But I don’t know why you even bothered to put on a skid lid (half-helmet) when the only other things you are wearing are a pair of Tennis shoes and a pair of cargo shorts. That’s it. No long pants, no shirt, no glove. Just shorts and a helmet. Which makes you an idiot. That helmet is going to do you know good when you’re entire body is exposed to the gravel and asphalt when you go down. Riders like you who have no respect for your bike or for the dangers of riding are nothing more than soon-to0be Darwin Award winners. Oh, and you look like an idiot, too.

• To the two young girls in the gold, late model Toyota Corolla with the Obama sticker and a “Hard Core Texan” bumper sticker: Please immediately remove the “Hard Core Texan” bumper sticker from your car. Hard Core Texans embody a remarkable Conservative, hard-working, personal-responsibility ethic that is the antithesis of everything that Obama stands for.

OK, I feel better now.

_____

Edited to add image of my helmet sticker:

Letting the world know exaclty how I feel about our Community Organizer in Chief

Austin, Stupid News, Texas | 24 Comments »

From the N0 Shit department, I snapped this image from this morning’s Houston Chronicle:

So..doctors have concluded that having more sex results in more pregnancies. Brilliant!

I hope they didn’t get a tax payer funded grant for this ground-breaking work.

Stupid News | 1 Comment »

• Curious — how did Justice Souter voter on the Sotomayor reversal? This should be the end of her chance at SCOTUS. Though it won’t be. #
• RT @lana_berry: tomorrow all Pok-e-Jo’s menu items will cost same as in 1979, the year they were founded. Beer= .70 — One near my office! #
• RT @michellemalkin: Not so wise now, eh, Judge #Sotomayor? FYI, the Ricci opinion is now available here: http://bit.ly/VMevn #
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I didn’t watch the BET Awards show last night.Yeah, I know…shocked, aren’t you?

Nope, not even to see the over-the-top tributes to The Gloved One (not to be confused with over-the-top tributes to The Won).

Perhaps the reason I didn’t watch is best summed up in this story:

Chris Brown wanted to pay tribute to Michael Jackson during the BET Awards and was D-E-N-I-E-D.

Who played a major part in preventing it from happening? Jay Z!

The network execs also wanted no part of Brown because they feared his involvement would TRUMP the actual tribute. So they wouldn’t allow him on stage.

So, the woman-beater was barred from performing for fear he would upstage the tribute to the pedophile?

How people can idiolize degenerates like this is beyond me…

Celebrities | 1 Comment »

From the Houston Chronicle:

A couple discovered a man they did not know shot to death in the bathroom of their southwest Houston apartment early Sunday, authorities said.

The couple were asleep at their apartment in the 5800 block of Fondren when around 5:30 a.m., they awoke to the sound of gunfire and saw two men running out of their apartment, said Houston Police Department spokesman Jodi Silva.

While searching the apartment to make sure nothing was taken, the couple found a man they did not know dead with multiple gunshot wounds in their bathroom, Silva said.

His identity is pending notification of next of kin.

Investigators suspect a possible motive for the shooting is robbery.

I don’t know…but if I were a Detective, I would start by testing the two home owners for gun shot residue. Though, I suppose if a drug deal goes south in my apartment, that’s the story I’d use, too.

Otherwise, let’s look at possible alternatives to what might have happened:

The Coincidental Burglars

Two groups of burglars, neither of whom knows each other, both decide to rob the exact same apartment at the exact same time. They get into an argument over who gets to steal the flat screen TV and who gets to steal the new Mac laptop. Instead of a deciding game of Roshambo, the two burglars simply shoot the lone rival burglar to death, leave him in the bathtub, and then flee without taking anything.

The Backstabbing Burglars

Three burglars who do know each other, decided to partner up and go rob this apartment. However, once inside, they get into an argument over who gets the medicine cabinet full of prescription drugs and who gets the jewelry box and two of them shoot the other to death, leave him in the bathtub, and then flee without taking anything.

The Anonymous Vigilantes

A single man is burglarizing the apartment. Two good Samaritans walking down the street see him through an open window. The sneak into the apartment and kill the would-be-robber, but flee before police arrive so that they can continue their anonymous crime fighting.

________

Considering that this is Houston — and if you’re at all familiar with this part of Southwest Houston, than you know that gun violence and shootings are a nightly occurrence — this might have been any of the above.

Or the apartment couple might have shot this guy for reasons they’d rather not admit to. Nor have to show the weapon they used to shoot him (illegally owned, used in a previous crime, etc.).

Crime, Houston, Stupid News, Texas | 1 Comment »

• USA , USA, USA — GOOOOOOAAAAALLLL for Dempsey. USA leads Brazil 1-0 #
• Tim Howard, US Goal Keeper, having a huge game so far. #
• GOOOOAALLLLL — USA shocking Brazil, 2-0 now. #
• Ouch. That didn’t take long. Brazil scores in first minute of 2nd half. USA still leads 2-1 #
• Brazil has taken the moment…another US goal here would help the knots in my stomach #
• Davies is an exciting player…but he’s got to learn to give the ball up sooner. USA still leads Brazil 2-1 w/ about 18 minute remaining #
• Damn. #
• Regardless of the outcome…this was still an amazingly positive match and experience for the US squad. #
• @shannonpoole What does it take to get kicked off a golf course these days? in reply to shannonpoole #
• @shannonpoole You should come to Texas, then. IF they kicked all the drunks off the course, they’d have to shut down for lack of business. in reply to shannonpoole #
• RT @mattbramanti: A John Edwards sex tape? I wonder what the girl stuck in his ass. http://tinyurl.com/l3gyol — funny, cause it’s true #
• 9:00 p.m., the sun is down, and it’s STILL 98 degrees here in the ATX. #

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