Florida Worse Than Third-World Democracies?

Voting arrangements in Florida do not meet "basic international requirements" and could undermine the US election, former US President Jimmy Carter says.

The 25th Hour by David Benioff

I finished The 25th Hour by David Benioff this weekend. It was a good book. It is basically about this guy Monty who is about to go to federal prison for 7 years. Spike Lee made it into a movie a few years ago. He is going into the pen the next day and he has one night out on the town. He was arrested when the DEA came into his apartment and found money and drugs in his couch, but they knew exactly where it was. He knows someone ratted him out to the feds, but not who. This book reminded me of Chuck Palahniuk and a little like J.D. Salinger. It was a gritty crime drama, but was so unlike any crime drama I have ever seen or read. I don't want to ruin the plot or the interesting twists, but I would highly recommend this book.

Suddenly I feel like I just flashed back to elementary school doing a book report or something.

I also saw the Spike Lee movie The 25th Hour that was based on the book. It was a good movie. It followed the book very closely. Only a few things changed. Spike Lee did a good job as he usually does. If you don't like to read or like a good movie, I would recommend this movie.

The Quitter who Quit Quitting

Nick, whom I have spoke of before, quit football earlier this month. He is in jr. high here in Lubbock, and decided he had enough. He was the kicker, but during the scrimmages the coaches never kicked, so he thought he would never play. Last week his team lost a game by one point because they didn't have a kicker. So earlier this week some of the coaches talked to him and asked him to come back. I saw him play last night and he has quite a leg.

He is only fifteen, but was able to kick the ball pretty far. The stand out moment was when he tried for a thirty-five yard kick against the wind. He had the distance, but he was slightly to the left. After some more practice he could be awesome. He was also the punter and he was also able to catch the ball on the snap (which he was worried about) and kick a good 30 to 40 yards with plenty of time for the rest of his team to get to the receivers.

Anyway his team won last night 7-6...because of the extra point he scored.

Amish in the City

I don't know if anyone has been watching Amish in the City on UPN, but if you haven't you have been missing out. The show is basically like the real world where eleven people live together in a house in L.A. The big twist is that five of the people are Amish. The five Amish kids are on "Rumspringa."

Rumspringa: Some Amish groups practice a tradition called rumspringa ("running around"). Teens aged 16 and older are allowed some freedom in behavior. It is a interval of a few years while they remain living at home, yet are somewhat released from the intense supervision of their parents. Since they have not yet been baptized, they have not committed to follow the extremely strict behavioral restrictions and community rules imposed by the religion. They may date, go out with their friends, visit the outside world, go to parties, drink alcoholic beverages, wear jeans, etc. The intent of rumspringa is to make certain that youth are giving their informed consent if they decide to be baptized. About 80% to 90% decide to remain Amish.

It was a very interesting show. These kids went from not having electricity or running water, to L.A. The Amish also only educate their children until the eighth grade, after that they feel education is useless. In the beginning it seemed like the Amish would not fit in, but by the end one had gotten his G.E.D. and was considering going to college, and the others all had goals outside the Amish community. It was fascinating to see a culture that I knew so little about. If you catch the reruns, I would highly recommend it.

John Kerry's "Top 10 Bush Tax Proposals" are:

10. No estate tax for families with at least two U.S. presidents.

9. W-2 Form is now Dubya-2 Form.

8. Under the simplified tax code, your refund check goes directly to Halliburton.

7. The reduced earned income tax credit is so unfair, it just makes me want to tear out my lustrous, finely groomed hair.

6. Attorney General (John) Ashcroft gets to write off the entire U.S. Constitution.

5. Texas Rangers can take a business loss for trading Sammy Sosa.

4. Eliminate all income taxes; just ask Teresa (Heinz Kerry) to cover the whole damn thing.

3. Cheney can claim Bush as a dependent.

2. Hundred-dollar penalty if you pronounce it "nuclear" instead of "nucular."

and the number one Bush Tax Proposal...

George W. Bush gets a deduction for mortgaging our entire future.

Keep Your Free Throws In...

I was just thinking of my brother-in-law. He is fifteen and like most boys his age he likes rock music. We went to the Metallica concert here in Lubbock a few weeks ago. It was a lot of fun. But after the concert we were talking about one of the highlights, Enter Sandman. If you are familiar with Metallica you probably know the first part of the song goes like this:

Say your prayers little one

don't forget, my son

to include everyone

tuck you in, warm within

keep you free from sin

till the sandman he comes

Nick was singing the song and he thought the "keep you free from sin" line was "keep your free throws in." It was priceless. I think everyone has had moments like that, where they love a song but sing it wrong for a long time until someone says something. Anyway now whenever I hear Enter Sandman I think of Nick and our night at Metallica. He is a pretty cool brother in law.

Texas Tech Post Game

Tech played pretty horrible the first quarter. Cumbie was not quite what Tech fans had in mind. If he was going to follow in Kingsburry and Sims shoes, he would have to make some plays. TCU had scored 21 unanswered points. Then at about 8 minutes until the half Tech started playing. Tech answered by putting up 21 points of their own before the half. At that point it looked like it could be anyone's game.

Tech continued to play great and dominated the rest of the game. TCU continued to try and actually made two quick touchdowns with about 11 minutes left in the game. Unfortunately that was not enough because Tech also continued to score.

Final Score

Texas Tech 70

TCU 35

The Apprentice

Ok, yesterday I couldn't watch the apprentice so I Tivoed it and watched it today. The only problem is today when I was getting ready for work I accidentally learned who got fired on the Today show. Anyway even though I knew who got fired I had no idea how or why? Now that I have watched the show I only have one question. What the hell happened? I have to say those last 20 minutes were crazy. Don't read any further if you don't want to hear spoilers.

I thought Ivana, the project manager who totally sucked was gone for sure. She was a horrible leader. I will admit that it wasn't the smartest thing for Bradford to waive his immunity, but I didn't think it was the absolutely critical mistake that Trump made it. Anyway it was super exciting and I gotta say one of the best moments in The Apprentice ever.

Survivor was my favorite reality show but this season I had to reorganize my season passes on Tivo so that Apprentice is #1. I am just totally bored by Survivor now. It is just the same thing, different season. I will still watch it, but the Season Pass shows where my priorities lie.

TCU vs. Texas Tech

On Saturday morning, at 11:30 TCU and Texas Tech will show down in a great offensive battle. Tish and I will be there on the 24th row to enjoy the show. This is Tech's first home game of only five. It should be a lot of fun.

Get Your Guns Up!

What threat to the Bust administration am I?

Threat rating: High. The Bush administration is
concerned that it may not get a second term.
Therefore, we are going to change the rules so
that each Democrat vote only counts as 0.2
votes because Democrat is a shorter word than
Republican


What threat to the Bush administration are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Ebay

I am sitting here with approximately 3 minutes left on 2 TCU v. Texas Tech tickets for Saturday. It is the first game of the season and of course I waited until the last minute to get tickets. It actually worked to my benefit because we are gonna get the tickets for a good price. This also happened a few weeks ago. I got Metallica tickets the day of the show for half the price they were selling them on select a seat. Ah...Capitalism.

Oh crap...at the last minute someone rang up the bidding to like $50.00. Too rich for my blood. But I did find better seats in the same section for ten dollars cheaper. Woohoo. Ebay is so exciting.

Go Tech!

Client Pet Peeve

You know what really ticks me off...I am a self employed attorney. This means that the only source of revenue for my family is the fees I bring in from my law office. I am a nice guy. I try to treat clients the way I would want to be treated. I understand that sometimes it is tough to come up with money. That does not mean clients can get out of paying my fees. I call clients, set up fee schedules, take credit cards, etc. I will go out of my way to find a way to help them. But what do I get in return, very little. I have had maybe 5 clients who I have not had any problems with. The rest just expect me to forget about payment or do the work for free or something. It is really tough when you don't have a steady income. You never know what is going to come through the door. I just wish the people that did come through the door were a little more reliable and thoughtful. I just wanted to vent a little.

HBO Sunday Nights

I recently (as in the past two years or so) began watching HBO. I have been blown away by just how good the drama and comedy are on this station. I began by watching the Sopranos. That was and continues to be a great show. I was definitely on the edge of my seat at the end of this season. Six Feet Under, the show that made me think of this post, is one of the best dramas on television. This last season was simply amazing. If you have never seen it, I would highly suggest you check it out. Tish got into Sex in the City which is actually pretty good also. Recently I began watching new shows on HBO solely because they came on after one of the above favorites, just to see if they were good. I was impressed by both Deadwood earlier in the year and Entourage more recently. Deadwood is kind of like the Sopranos set in the west. It also has some great acting and was a good show. But I have to say my favorite show other than Sopranos and Six Feet Under is now Entourage. That show is hilarious and I just can explain it but I really really love it. It is kind of like a male version of Sex in the City. Just four friends in L.A. who break each others balls and talk about things. It is only 30 minutes so it goes by so quick, but for that 30 minutes it is television zen.

Anyway I just wanted to publicly confess my undying love for HBO and its dramas and comedies. I didn't think there would be that much of a difference between regular shows and HBO. Just more nudity and cursing, but I was way wrong. These are shows of exceptional quality that go above and beyond anything I thought I could watch on T.V. Do yourself a favor and take a look if you haven't already.

I'm Back...

I decided to create a new page. Texas Tech cut me off of their server about six months ago and I never got excited about making a new page...until now. Hope you enjoy it.