"USA = A OK!"

Could it be that time of year again? I think it is! I'm at work right now and I've dealt with three-count em-THREE people who were born on July 4th! That's too eerie!

There's a virtual statewide ban on fireworks this year. The reason why? We were short 27 inches of rain in 2005 which resulted in innumerable (always wanted to use that word lol) wildfires, one of which I could see on my way home one evening. Even with the windows closed and the AC on my car still got smoky. Moving on...now we are short about 9 inches this year and no one is taking any chances with a spark launching a thousand flames. So...what do we do now? (shrug)

"Superman Returns" came out this weekend. Funny how something as American as the Man Of Steel coming back to the big screen coincided with the 4th of July! It's like...they planned for that to happen or something...very strange.


Now I kind of ragged on this guy a while back. The truth is we criticize those we envy. I think about flying all the time. When I'm standing in my front yard at night and the moon comes into view I want to just take off and see everything from high above. One of those "pipe dreams" that barring some unforseen miracle will never happen...but sure is fun to think about.

Not sure what's going on this weekend. There MAY be a swim party at my aunt's house but so far no one seems to know when it is. Plus my wife's cousin is in town for an undisclosed period of time. She's funny. She uses sarcasm and ironic statements when she's mad at her daughter. Things like "Oh no, you sit there and watch TV! You're 12 so you should be able to relax. Let me put the laundry up!" I didn't want to laugh but it was hard not to. Now I would never say that to my kids. Part of being a good dad is realizing when "less is more' in terms of discipline. Kids never have a problem finding something to feel bad about. Why should I add to the problem ya know?

Any pipe dreams ya care to share?

"The End Of The Innoence"

Okay, so maybe our beloved Mavericks aren't so innocent i.e. Jerry Stackhouse's ownership foul of Shaq in Game 4, but the playoffs are over. We are left with a few memories and no NBA championship to hoist. Who takes the blame? The easy direction is Dirk Nowitzki. While Dwayne Wade decided this was his to win or lose, Dirk decided "Eh, somebody else will handle it." Jason Terry didn't handle it. Erick Dampier didn't handle it. Dirk needed to step up and do what was needed and he did neither. Always next year, right? Better get used to saying that Mavs.

Roger Clemens made his return to baseball last night. Lost to the 2006 Rookie Of The Year Francisco Liriano 4-2 unfortunately. Will be a sad day when he hangs up the spikes for good. Was such a thrill to see him pitch against another Texas legend, Nolan Ryan. You talk about power vs. power. There it was.



I bought this a week after the Super Bowl. Won $6.50 from newphew Jack on that game. "Seahawks will win Uncle Mike...just wait." Well, I waited...wanna know what I saw? I saw the mighty Steelahs (with the help of the referees of course) steamroll their way to victory. So I went to Big Lots and bought this guy.

Going to Disneyworld in Orlando FL in exactly 3 weeks and 6 days. Am SO excited!! Haven't been on a vacation since April of 2002 for my honeymoon. And to be honest...the 4 1/2 years leading up to it have left me feeling kind of burned out. In the words of Jeremy Gray in "Wedding Crashers", I need to shut down my engines and get myself back into neutral. Will need lots of rechargable batteries for my camera and assorted handheld devices for the drive down there. Looking at 17 hours and change to get there. Now I see why I remember every tv show and movie I watch! Like having Comcast On-Demand in my head ha ha.

Where would you like to be right now?

"Father's Day"

Finally...my day has come!! I can't remember which president put forth the bill to honor the pops of the country...Coolidge I wanna say...maybe one of the Roosevelts...but whoever it was, appreciate it! I just found out I may be in the running for a gift of some sort come Sunday. I wish it was what I saw at Barnes & Noble on Wednesday...



Someday...someday...moving on.

These guys right here have made me one happy dad. Everyone wants "good kids". The eternal question is...HOW!? I think a big part of making sure your kids become productive adults is to show them how to make decisions for themselves. Will they always make the right decision? Of course not. No one does.




I bought my dad a card at Party City the other day. Does he deserve it? Probably not. Posted about something back on Jan 20. Don't feel like talking about it right now. My job to keep the peace with him though. Bad fathers can create magnificent fathers sometimes *wink*. If your dad gives a damn let him know. Me and Emmy spent Wednesday together. In eight hours we went to:

Starbucks
Toys 'R' Us
Cici's (took Cari out to lunch...big $pender I know)
Back to Toys 'R' Us to return something
Downtown Ft Worth
Barnes N Noble
Kroger's for some dinner necessities
Zach's babysitter to pick him him
Home

Man! I got in bed that night and was sore! Was totally worth it Thursday morning when Emmy said "I had fun with you yesterday Daddy!" Good times.

"Aliens"

No, I'm not talking about the thousands of illegal ones that pour into my state every year. There's enough news stations and politicians doing that for me. For me personally, it doesn't really matter if they want to come work here. Just do it by the book. There's a reason we make green cards for ya. We want you to be able to live here without constant threat of "la policia" dragging you back to Mexico at any given time. Hmm, maybe I AM talking about illegal aliens. Must move on!



Rented the special edition of "Aliens" last Saturday. After many short viewings I have finally finished the whole thing! If you're not familiar with the storyline, go to IMDB.com and search Alien. The special edition shed some light on a few things but didn't have as much action as I was hoping for. There were some cool deleted scenes where they set up sentry guns that shot at anything outside of their "perimeter". Don't know why James Cameron left it out, but ah well.



Can you believe these Mavericks!? Normally I wouldn't be discussing them due to the fact that they never figured out how to get to the Finals! But here they are, up 1-0 against the Heat...who after game one may need to be called the Lukewarm. They were terrible! Apparently the league strategy is simple: Put Shaq at the free throw line. He shot ONE of 9 from the line and they lost by 10. Let's see...a little quick math...gee, maybe if Shaq had made a few more of those, the Heat might have won. Did I oversimplify things? Good!

Mavs in five...making a prediction right now!

"How 'Bout Them Mavericks!!"

I cannot believe they got past Pheonix! I don't know what Avery Johnson is making the guys drink before each game but he could be a millionare by selling it. The last time I posted about the Mavs it was last year and they were on the verge of getting past Houston to play San Antonio...which they promptly played their way out of. But not this year. Now we have a chance to win it all. Against Miami of all teams!? They're old, inconsistent, and never could dominate the way other championship teams have in the past. I guess they didn't need to though since they're in the same boat as we are. Exact same boat. Except that our side is more polished, not as old, and easier to maneuver. Hey, I should be writing for ESPN eh?



Took Emmy and her cousin Ethan to the flower gardens Saturday morning. It has been so long since we've gotten up early and done that. Something about having a new baby around will keep ya from doing that ya know. But I digress. They always have fun when they get to go there together. I just want them to have some kind of place they can think about and go to to remind them that they were little kids at one point.



Went out to Campbell, TX on Memorial Sunday. This is where my great-grandparents are buried so once a year isn't too much to ask to make the drive (about an hour). Plus I know it means a lot to the family that I go out there. Wanted to take Zach with me and Emmy but general opinion stated he was a little too young. So maybe next year. We had a really nice time. Very rare the whole family give or take gets together. Too rare it seems these days. It's weird, I never gave a thought to my own mortality until I hit the big 3-0. Then all of a sudden it occured to me that I may not be here forever. But I got some good years left...right? Sure hope so.



Grandpa is going to be 84 this year. I've kind of prepared myself for when he isn't with us anymore. It's too bad it took me having his great-grandkids including a boy to carry on our name for us to have something to talk about. But I'm glad he got to see Zach with his own eyes. Always get a picture of them together when I get a chance. But now I see a lot of me in him and vice-versa.