I've been very careful not to say anything about the Tigers and Hurricanes in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. To be honest, I didn't have a clue how it would turn out. Now it's over, so I can give you my most amateur analysis.

This is two stories, really. One is the tale of the elite power that is the Miami Hurricane football team. A couple of months ago, this Miami team destroyed a very good Virginia Tech football team - in Blacksburg. That set the tone for their run for the national championship. Then, they were humilited by Georgia Tech.

Some people said they had lost some of their mystique, but "they're still Miami." They still have some of the fastest, most talented players in the country, so don't sell them short.

When they accepted the Peach Bowl invitation, it was like a let down. They thought they deserved better. After all, they were still ranked number 9 in the country. But, they said okay, and decided to show the college football world what they were all about. They may have had a couple of slip-ups along the way, but they were "still Miami."

The LSU Tigers had one helluva season starting off with two real life hurricanes (Katrina and Rita). They had to juggle their schedule to deal with the aftermath. Even with all the craziness, they managed to lose only one game and win the SEC West. They went into the SEC championship game against Georgia completely worn out.

They had played 12 straight weeks under some extreme conditions and their fatigue showed in that game. They were flat and to make matters worse, their star quarterback went down with an injury. They lost so badly that they dropped in rank from number 4 to number 10 and were passed by all the big bowls until they were finally invited to the Peach.

So, the stage was set. Both Miami and LSU had lost key games late in the season to end up in the Peach Bowl. It was the first time ever that the game had two top 10 teams playing. Both teams had something to prove.

LSU had to play their backup quarterback Matt Flynn. Everybody who knows LSU football knows Flynn is very good. But, he didn't have any experience - especially in a game as big as this one. The injured Jamarcus Russell had been the team's leader and star for this entire emotion filled season. How would Flynn do as a substitute? How would the team play around him?

Those were questions every Tiger fan had been asking for a couple of weeks. Miami's defense was one of the top defenses in the country. This could be the recipe for disaster. I have to admit, I had a bad feeling about this game for a while. Miami was favored by 6 points. I knew the Tigers had a chance, but I was hoping they would at least keep it close until the end.

Well, the Tigers totally dominated the Hurricanes in this game and won 40 to 3. Un-freaking-believable! I never would have guessed that in a million years.

Two major things became evident in this game.

One - Miami is not "still Miami" anymore. The mystique that was once there is gone. When Larry Coker decided to punt instead of going for it on fourth and inches in a key point of the game, I said to myself, "We've got 'em." They had lost confidence in their offense early in the game and never got it back. When the Tigers sensed that weakness, they did like any good team will do and went in for the kill.

Two - Matt Flynn showed the world that he is good enough to play with the big boys. How intimidating it must have been for him to come into a game like that, against a top defense without ever starting a college game in his life? He was outstanding. Even with pressure, he never got rattled. He made good decisions on every single play. All I could say after watching his performance in that game was "WOW!"

So, today I'm as proud of my Tigers as I can possibly be. We didn't win the SEC and get to play in a BCS game, but we showed the college football world that we'll be a contender next year.

This year will be remembered as the year of the hurricanes. The story will be how the Tigers' season started with hurricanes and ended with Hurricanes, and how they went on to defeat every one of them.

Geaux Tigers!

posted by Dash | 9:30 AM | |

When I was a kid growing up in the city, I yearned for the times I could go to the woods and hunt with my grandfather. You see, my father wasn't and isn't a hunter and he had no idea how to teach me. He wouldn't have even known I was interested if not for his father-in-law introducing the outdoor world to me.

I don't blame my father for not taking me hunting. His father didn't hunt, so he never learned how. His idea of outdoors was golf on Saturday and yardwork on Sunday. And when I got big enough to mow the lawn, he started playing golf on Sundays, too.

I had several friends whose dads took them hunting and occasionally they would invite me along, but my woodsmanship learning came largely from my mother's father.

When I was a kid, there weren't any girls hunting with us - at least none my age. I never gave it a second thought. My sisters never showed any interest and I'm pretty sure my grandfather would have scoffed at the very idea of taking a girl to the woods. After all, that was a man's activity. Why would a female want to go out there and do that sort of thing? I remember one of my friend's mother would go bird hunting with us sometimes and I always thought that was kind of cool. Weird... but cool. She was a good wingshot as I recall, too.

My wife grew up in the country with an older sister. They were taught riflery and archery by their father and are both very proficient at those even today. But Paw-in-Law wasn't a hunter. He was a great outdoorsman and handler of most any means of firearm or bow, but he never developed the love of hunting. Consequently, his daughters never became interested in hunting.

Being blessed with two smart and beautiful daughters, I just assumed I wouldn't have anybody to teach the wonderful world of the outdoors. I thought maybe I would be like my grandfather and be lucky enough to have a grandson to take under my wing and try to teach him.

Both of my daughters as well as my wife love to eat venison, wild duck, doves, or pretty much anything else I drag home and put on the table. I never really thought about any of them wanting to go hunting with me, to help me bring home some of these good eats. Well, I was mistaken.

My older daughter who will turn thirteen in a few weeks has always been interested in riflery and archery. I started her off with a Daisy Red Rider BB gun when she was about 7 or 8. We would sit out on the deck and shoot coke cans in the yard until she became a crack shot. It didn't hurt that her mother is a great marks(wo)man herself. The two of them would have shooting competitions out there that would go on for hours.

When Number 1 daughter started asking about the .22 rifle, I knew it was time to take her to the range for some more advanced shooting. She took to it like a duck to water and was soon making patterns that were pretty impressive. I thought she might get a little tired of it after a while, but she didn't. She wouldn't want to stop until the ammo was gone.

At 11, I decided she was ready for a little more of a challenge, so I took her dove hunting. She had not shot a shotgun before, so I didn't know how she would handle it. Let's face it, going from .22 to 20 gauge shotgun is a big leap. She handled it with no problem. We didn't get many birds to shoot at that day, but we had some clays and a thrower. She was soon hitting the clays with little effort. And she really seemed to enjoy it.

Last year during deer season, she asked me when she would be big enough to shoot a deer. I said I thought she would be ready by this year. She's been deer hunting with me before, but I've never let her carry a gun, much less actually shoot a deer.

I took off work for two weeks during the holidays to recharge and spend some time with my family. On the day after Christmas, she and I headed to my lease in the hill country. We are over run with does, so we try to take as many as we can every year to try to thin out the herd.

When we got out there on Monday afternoon, all we saw was a nice 8 point buck that was obviously too young to take, so we just sat and watched him for about 45 minutes. It was fun just to experience that with her. We decided to stay over that night in our camp and try it again the next morning.

We had the whole camp to ourselves, so we cooked some supper, watched a little TV and talked about what our plan would be for the next hunt.

Tuesday morning we got up and made it back out to the blind before daylight. My favorite time of the day is right at daybreak when all the birds and other animals wake up and start moving around the woods. We saw three or four deer early, but it was still too dark to see what they were. By the time we could see, they had moved on and were gone.

At about 8:30, I was thinking we wouldn't see anything and we would have to go home empty handed. I thought she would be a little disappointed we didn't see any more deer that morning, but that it would be a good lesson to learn that you don't always get a deer every time you go out. That's why they call it hunting. I told her about the hundreds of hours I had sat motionless in the woods and not seen a single thing. It's all part of it, I said.

Just when I was getting ready to say, let's go, I looked to my left and saw a doe walking through an opening about 75 yards away. I told her to look and asked if she wanted to shoot it. She said yes, so I let her get situated and coached her through the shot.

She shot and the deer dropped to the ground like a rock. I was surprised. It's not unheard of, but it's unusual, even with a perfectly placed shot to the chest, for the deer to not run a few yards before dropping dead. We were excited. I don't know who was more excited. Actually, I think I was.

We walked over to the deer and discovered why it had dropped so fast. In her excitement, she had missed the chest she was aiming for and hit it right in the neck for an instant kill shot. I said, "If you're gonna miss, that's a good place to hit." I know some hunters who actually aim for the neck, but it's a tricky shot. The target is a lot smaller as is the margin of error. But, she hit it in the neck and all is well.

After we got the deer back to the camp, it was time for a little breakfast and then it was time to get to work. With her help, I cleaned and quartered the deer to be put into the cooler for the trip home. The first thing we had to do was call home and tell mom and little sister all about it.

When we got home, we had to finish the butchering and get it into the freezer. This weekend we're going to have some chicken fried venison backstrap chops with some mashed potatoes and cream gravy. I think this one's going to taste better than any I've ever had.

posted by Dash | 2:32 PM | |

"And there were shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And the Angel of the Lord came upon them and said "Fear not: for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy. For unto you is born this day a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.' And there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, ' Glory to God; peace on earth, good will to men.'

"That is what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

-Linus

Merry Christmas, everyone.

posted by Dash | 4:40 PM | |

Yesterday was the first day of winter. Basil says "no way." He says winter started about three weeks ago and he doesn't know why the calendar says otherwise.

Around here, we don't really have much of a winter. Compared to you folks north of the Mason-Dixon, we don't have a winter at all. I always tell people who aren't from here that we have three weeks of winter every year. But, they don't all come at the same time. We have one week in December, one in January and one final week in February. That's about it.

Some of my friends from way way up north in Dallas would argue with me about that. I think they have about six weeks of winter. But those down in McAllen have only one week of winter. So, things balance out. After all, Texas is a big state.

I often wonder how my life would be different if we actually had stuff like... snow. I've never deer hunted in the snow, but I'm sure I'd enjoy it - at least until my fingers and toes became numb and fell off. Tracking a deer in the snow has to be easier than in grass, though. That must be like cheating.

I have been snow skiing before and I love it. But, I'm glad I don't have to shovel snow in my driveway to be able to leave the house. A friend of mine moved up to Alaska several years ago. He told me about plugging his truck in at night to keep the fluids from freezing. He also told me about wearing those bunny suits when he's working up on the North Slope. That doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me.

Today in South Central Texas, it's clear and cool. The high today will be in the high 50's and the low tonight will be in the low 40's. I know some of you think that's shirt sleeve weather, but it's winter to me.

posted by Dash | 8:00 AM | |

For My Democratic Friends:

"Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2006, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. And without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher."

For My Republican Friends:

Here's wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

From the e-mailbag.

posted by Dash | 8:32 AM | |

I made it back from the brush country in one piece. What a trip! The weekend got off to a slow start, but ended with a bang... so to speak.

My original plan was to leave the office Friday morning no later than 11 to be able to make it to the camp in South Texas in time to make an afternoon hunt. But, the meeting that was supposed to start at 8 and be over by 10, actually started at 10 and didn't finish until 4. I just love when a plan comes together.

I guess I could have told the client I was sorry, but I have a previous engagement with a whitetail, but these people are virtually laying a $44 million project in our laps. That one might be a little difficult to explain to the old boss. Besides, my team and I had been working day and night for two weeks to get ready for this meeting, so it was time to fish or cut bait.

Once the price was agreed to and the contract was hammered out, I said "adios amigos" and down the road I went. I got to the camp around 7 - just in time to eat some fried fish and shrimp, down a few Crown & Waters, smoke a Partagas and tell a few bullshit stories with the guys. We also made our plans for the next day in the brush.

At 0600 on Saturday, it was time to head to the stand. I was to hunt in the north pasture of the ranch which is where some of the big boys hang out. I was excited. This ranch is extremely well managed for whitetails and I was about to get a chance to see some really nice deer.

At about 7 AM, I was finally able to see down the road and the senderos that were cut into the brush. I could see a couple of does walking toward me. This was a good sign. The rut was in full swing, so I knew if there were does, there would be at least one buck nearby. The rut is the breeding season and the bucks tend to let their guard down when they have love on their minds.

Sure enough, two nice bucks showed up right behind the does. I watched them run around for a while and even though they were both awesome, I decided they were both too young to take. It was fun just watching them chasing the does around my blind. They had no idea they were being watched.

At about 7:30, a big mature 11 point showed up. That was the one I was waiting for. I aged him on the hoof at about 6-1/2 to 7-1/2 years old. When he came in, the other two younger bucks kind of got out of the way. I watched him strut around for about 10 minutes before I decided he really was what I had come for. He was a big bodied deer weighing in at 200 pounds. I know he was heavy because I had to get help to load him on my jeep and haul him back to camp.

Two other bucks were taken this weekend. One was a huge 14 point that no one had ever seen before. That's unusual because these guys ride the roads almost every day and chances are, if there's a big deer out there, they've seen it somewhere. The rut tends to make bucks travel more than normal. Bucks in search of does will go miles outside of their normal territory. So, every now and then you'll see a buck that's a stranger.

The third buck was one that was obviously very old. The guy who shot him said the buck was walking with a limp and his muzzle was solid gray. We looked at his teeth and they were worn down to almost nothing. It was time for him to be taken from the herd.

Here's a little picture of the happy hunter with his big buck. You can tell the weather was misty and cool. But, I didn't care about the weather. I was just happy to be able to say he was mine. Now I get to butcher him and put him in the freezer so my family and friends can have some good venison all year.


December 17, 2005

posted by Dash | 6:31 PM | |

A friend of mine from Baton Rouge sent me this link to a video of the Katrina aftermath in New Orleans. First let me say it's 12 minutes long and takes a while to download.

If you have the capability and the time, watch this. It's worth the wait.

Obviously a flood of emotions came over me while I sat and watched this. I know a lot of people from that area and it has been devastating. One thing that I thought about while watching this is that this is just videos and pictures from New Orleans.

It doesn't even scratch the surface of the hundreds of square miles of property that was utterly destroyed by the storm. My sister and her family live almost two hours away from NOLA and their town was virtually wiped off the map. The Mississippi coastline has been permanently altered.

Time tends to make people forget about how bad it was and still is in some areas of the Gulf Coast. Let us not forget.

posted by Dash | 7:35 AM | |

TOP 5 SMART ASS ANSWERS FOR 2005

Smart Ass Answer #5:
A flight attendant was stationed at the departure gate to check tickets. As a man approached, she extended her hand for the ticket. Iinstead he opened his trench coat and flashed her. Without missing a beat....she said, “Sir, I need to see your ticket not your stub."

Smart Ass Answer #4:
A lady was shopping for a turkey at the grocery store, but she couldn't find one big enough for her family. She asked a stock boy, "Do these turkeys get any bigger?" The stock boy replied," No ma'am, they're dead.

Smart Ass Answer #3:
The cop got out of his car and the kid who was stopped for speeding rolled down his window "I've been waiting for you all day," the cop said. The kid replied, "Yeah, well I got here as fast as I could." When the cop finally stopped laughing, he sent the kid on his way without a ticket.

Smart Ass Answer #2:
A truck driver was driving along on the freeway. A sign comes up that reads, "Low Bridge Ahead." Before he knows it, the bridge is right ahead of him and he gets stuck under the bridge. Cars are backed up for miles. Finally, a police car comes up. The cop gets out of his car and walks up to the truck driver, puts his hands on his hips and says, "Got stuck, huh?" The truck driver says, "No, I was delivering this bridge and ran out of gas."

#1 SMART ASS ANSWER OF THE YEAR 2005.
A college teacher reminds her class of tomorrow's final exam. "Now class, I won't tolerate any excuses for you not being here tomorrow. I might consider a nuclear attack or a serious personal injury or illness, or a death in your immediate family, but that's it, no other excuses whatsoever!"

A smart ass guy in the back of the room raised his hand and asked, "What would you say if tomorrow I said I was suffering from complete and utter sexual exhaustion?"

The entire class is reduced to laughter and snickering. When silence is finally restored, the teacher smiles knowingly at the student, shakes her head and sweetly says "Well, I guess you'd have to write the exam with your other hand."

Ouch! H/T to Dr. Matt

posted by Dash | 7:22 AM | |

Last weekend I was able to get away from the grindstone for some down time in the woods. Five friends and I have a 1,000 acre hunting lease slap dab in the center of Texas. It's in San Saba County where there are more cows and deer than people. That's a good thing.

A couple of the guys on the lease live up in Dallas and it's a little harder for them to get to the lease than for me. Their drive is about 4 or 5 hours where mine is only about 2.

We have had this place for 5 years now and the group has changed a little over those years, but we have a pretty good group of guys.

This past weekend was the first one I could get away since opening weekend about 5 weeks ago. A couple of the guys were scheduled to meet me at the camp on Friday night. Well, as luck would have it, neither one made the trip. Both of them had something come up that prevented them from coming.

So, I decided to wait until Saturday morning to go. I knew I needed to be in my blind before daybreak, so I left my sleepy house at 4 o'clock. With thermos o'coffee in hand, I made my way through the hills to the camp and at 6:20 I was in my blind - ready for action.

That morning was chilly, but not too cold. I planned for it and wore my insulated coveralls, so I was comfy. At about 6:50 it became light enough to be able to see the woods come alive. One of my favorite times of the day is when the birds and other animals wake up and start moving around.

About 7:00 was when I saw the first deer. A doe and her twins were grazing down a fence line just behind me. I watched them for a while and decided to have a look in front just to see if anything was going on.

A nice 8 point buck walked up to my feeder and started to eat. He was big and his rack was wide, but I could tell he was fairly young. His antlers were thin and the tines were short. His body looked like that of a large doe. I figured he was about 2 or 3 years old at most. While I watched him eat his breakfast of corn, another 8 point buck showed up. This one was also young looking, but his antlers were the opposite of the first buck. They were very tall and had good long tines, but were very narrow.

I decided to let both of them go. I want to see what they look like in a year or two. We've been managing this ranch for five years now and the improvement in our herd is getting more and more apparent.

By management, I mean we have basic guidelines regarding what we can and can't harvest. First of all, there are a lot of deer on this property. The biggest problem with most of these ranches is overpopulation. There's only so much food in a given area and if you have too many deer eating that food, then your herd will not be as healthy as it should be. Just like with cattle, there is an optimum number of deer a piece of property can support. Once you go over that number, you put the entire herd at risk of such things as disease and malnutrition.

With that in mind, we take a lot of does every year. In our county, each hunter can legally take three does per year. That means we can take 18 does from our property every year. We also try to take out genetically inferior bucks. If we leave the good bucks, like those two I saw on Saturday morning and take out the poor bucks, our gene pool has to improve.

Three things affect antler size in deer. Those are genetics, age, and nutrition. With our management program, we can affect all three of those. For example, if we make sure we don't take out too many of the deer with good genes, do cull the ones with inferior genes, supplement their nutrition, and let them grow up to maturity, we will be able to see results.

Last weekend, one of the guys shot a nice mature 12 point buck. If one of us had shot him when he was young, we never would have been able to see his potential. Also, hopefully he was able to pass on some of those good genes over the last few years.

Saturday afternoon I went back out to the same blind. I saw a few deer running around but the one I took was what we call a cull buck. He was obviously a mature buck, but his antlers were poor. He had long (11 inch) spikes that didn't branch out. That's a clear sign of genetic inferiority. I figured he needed to be culled from our herd and I needed some venison in the freezer so I shot him.

I usually clean and butcher my own deer, but this time I decided to give my local meat market my business. Besides, I like their venison sausage. Since I live in an old German community, sausage is king. We even have a festival here called Wurstfest. It's a 10-day salute to sausage where your "wurst" day is your best.

This weekend I've been invited to hunt on a large ranch (20,000 acres) in south Texas. This is where the deer are a lot bigger and the Mexicans call the giant whitetails "Muy Grande." I will be in search of a wall hanger. I'll tell you about the trip when I get back.

posted by Dash | 10:15 AM | |

I'm back from my little hunting trip and I'll tell you all about it soon. I promise.

Meanwhile, two of my blog relatives have seen fit to tag me with another meme. Oh, goody. Can you hear the excitement in my voice? Yeah, sure.

My charming lil blogsis Amelie and my adopted blood brother Redneck both had the same brilliant idea. I owe both of you.

The meme is to list five things about yourself that others might consider weird. Let me tell you. After reading some of the others and their comments, nothing I do could be considered weird by comparison.

Anyway, here are some of mine.

1. I cannot leave any food on my plate when I'm eating. Even if I'm as full as a tick, I'll eat every last morsel on my plate. I guess that's from when I was a kid, my mom would severely chastise me for "wasting food." As a result, either I give myself smaller portions from the start, or I over eat.

2. I hate to forget anything if I'm going on a trip. So, I continuously go through a mental checklist to make sure I don't forget anything. I also tend to over pack. If I'm going on a two day trip, I'll take enough clothes for four days - just in case. Some say I should write the list out and check off the things as they get loaded, but I don't do that. That would be too easy. I'd rather beat my brains out trying to remember everything I need to take.

3. I'm left handed, so when I eat at a long table, I have to sit either at the end or on the far left side. Otherwise, I knock elbows with the right hander sitting to my left. I hate that. It makes for a very messy meal.

4. I love to mow grass. Since I was a little kid, I've loved cutting grass. There's something about the smell and the look of a freshly mowed lawn that I love. I always thought I'd grow up to be a farmer because I love to drive a tractor so much. The solitude and the feeling of accomplishment is a great feeling - instant gratification.

5. Every morning, I shave before I shower. All the experts say you should shower first to soften up the old stubble and then shave last. I've always done it the other way around. I'm thinking that it started when I would routinely nick myself while shaving and I'd wash the blood away by taking a shower afterwards. Of course, now it's just part of the routine.

Well, there you have it. Weird? I don't think so, but some might say these are weird. I'll spare the blogworld by not passing this on.

posted by Dash | 7:17 AM | |

Work has really been crazy lately. I've been working 12 - 15 hours a day for the last 12 straight days and I'm ready for a little down time.

At about 4 o'clock in the morning I'll be headed to my hunting camp in San Saba County (home of Tommy Lee Jones - BTW) to commune with nature and maybe bring home some tasty venison for my family. It has actually been cold here this week, so I'm going to have to be sure to bring my long johns and my insulated overalls this time, but that's okay.

Hopefully, next week I'll have a story or two about the great deer hunt, or perhaps the one that got away. Either way, I'm just happy to be able to go. I hope everybody has a great weekend!

posted by Dash | 1:28 PM | |

December 7, 1941 was a "day that shall live in infamy." At least that was what FDR said. Today is a day of remembrance of those who gave their lives on that day. It's been 64 years, but we should never forget the sacrifice those people made for this country.

If you see a WWII vet today, thank him for his service to our great country. Also, remember to fly American flags at half staff today in remembrance of those who lost their lives.

On a much less significant note, today is also the first blogiversary for this little blog. Who knew one year ago today that I'd still be hacking away at this endeavor? And who would've thought I would have been able to achieve a little over 20,000 hits in a year? Certainly not I.

I sincerely appreciate everyone who has come by here to read what I have decided to post. I've tried to keep it on the lighter side with some stories about me and my experiences. I've kicked in a few economics lessons and some of my observations of current events along the way.

Mostly, I have enjoyed getting to know some of you personally. I've met several bloggers and I have to say I've liked every one I've met. By and large, bloggers are good folks.

To those of you I've had the good fortune of meeting - Thank you for your friendship. It means a lot to me. If any of you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask. I'll do whatever I can to help. To those I haven't met yet, I hope I do someday. My world is richer because of all of you.

I wanted to re-post my very first post, just to give you and idea of what I was thinking when I started this. I think you'll agree that I've stuck with my original intent, with maybe a few sideways jaunts into a few controversial subjects. But, life is full of twists and turns.

Here it is.

Let's Do This

Well, after spending some time reading several blogs over the last year, and after getting tired of hearing, "If you're going to comment so much, why don't you just go ahead and start your own blog?", I bit the bullet last night and created (with a lot of help) The Boiling Point. Unlike most bloggers who tickle my fancy, I'm not really what most would consider to be a writer. If you haven't already figured that out, you will in about 30 microseconds.

I think I have a decent grasp of the American language and I can put a couple of coherent sentences together, but whether I can effectively make a point while keeping your attention is going to be a challenge I'm sure.

I can't really tell you why the thought of doing this appeals to me. I've always been a confident person, but typically a quiet one. One of my favorite quotes is, "It is better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you are ignorant, than to open it and remove all doubt". I probably butchered that and I'm sorry I can't give credit where it's due, but I see a lot of wisdom in that.

I've never thought of myself as being overly intelligent or creative; however, I'm rarely intimidated by anyone who apparently is. The older I get, the more I come to realize we all have our own little insecurities and idiosyncracies. Some people are just a little better at camoflaging those than others.

In my opinion, bloggers tend to be on the extroverted side, but have an inherent need for ego stroking. I hope I don't fall into that too much. Although, I think it's probably the nature of the beast, to use a well over-used cliche'.

What I do like to do is tell real life stories about things I've experienced. I like to comment about news events that I find interesting or humorous. I've become an inveterate web surfer, so I usually find something that's either really cool, totally ridiculous, or just freakin hilarious.

Personally, I'm interested in a lot of different things. That fact is probably more detrimental to me than even I can understand at this point in time, but I'm fascinated by almost everything. Being a typical red-blooded American male, I'm seriously into almost all sports. Not just team sports either. I'm one of the rare people in this world who enjoys watching golf on TV. I know, I know... it can being pretty boring to those who don't play and probably even most who do.

I like to hunt and fish... a lot. In fact, if I'm not working or spending time with my family, I'm probably either in the woods or on the water. I have a retriever that I have trained and continue to train. We have spent many an hour in the fields of Central and South Texas looking for the elusive dove, duck, goose and quail. Teamwork is what it's all about. To me, watching a fine sporting dog do what he was meant to do is heaven on earth. To the animal rights whackos out there who say it's cruel to make a dog go out and search for game, I say come watch my dog in action and tell me he's not having the time of his life. My dog would rather hunt and retrieve birds than eat or drink. That's a fact.

I like to play games for fun or profit. The love of card games is something that was passed down to me and my family for generations. Poker is a game that I love. I love it for a lot of reasons, but the main reason is that I get to spend some quality time with people I like. Whether it's with the guys or with my family, we always have a blast. I play online sometimes, too. Every once in a while it's fun to match wits and playing skills with total strangers. It kind of gives you a real world perspective of your abilities. I'd love to play in some of the big money tournaments that have become popular lately. I just haven't figured out where to come up with the required bankroll that's necessary.

I guess that's enough about me for a while. But, at least now you have a little bit of an idea of who I am. I'll be posting some personal stories as well as my take on current events from time to time. So, if you want to comment, please feel free. I have a pretty thick skin, so if you happen to disagree with something I say, just let it all hang out. After all, that's what this is supposed to be about. Right?

posted by Dash | 8:19 AM | |

In the last post I mentioned I was a college football addict. Beyond that, I'm an SEC addict. Well, the big game we've been waiting for is here.

Tomorrow afternoon the 2005 SEC Championship game will be played in Atlanta and I think we have two fine teams playing - the Bulldogs of Georgia and the Fighting Tigers of LSU. The prize to the winner is an invitation to the Sugar Bowl (which will also be played in Atlanta this year because of Katrina).

It's no secret that I'm an LSU fan and have been since I was knee high to a grasshopper. So my bias will show from time to time. Hell, I can't help it. I was born in Baton Rouge to two LSU students. My first home was on East State Street which borders the campus. I started following LSU sports during the days of Pistol Pete Maravich and Bert Jones. I listened to stories by my grandfather about the great Y.A Tittle as well as those by my parents about Billy Cannon and his famous punt return on Halloween night 1958, leading the Tigers to a national championship.

When it was time for me to pick a college, even though I had been living in Texas for five years, I knew where I had to go. My high school friends tried to talk me into going to the University of Texas or Texas A&M, but the purple and gold blood was still flowing through my veins.

Anyway, back to the big game. I think this should be one of the best conference championships you'll see this weekend. The two teams are very well matched and for the first time in several years, didn't play each other during the regular season. That's a good thing. I hated it when we had to play Georgia twice in the same year back in 2003. It's extremely hard to beat a good team twice in the same year.

The jury is still out on just exactly how good these two teams are. LSU beat the two teams that beat Georgia this year and Georgia beat the one team that beat LSU. Georgia has a slightly higher ranked offense and LSU has a slightly higher ranked defense. So, they're pretty even.

Georgia will win this game if they can capitalize on some of LSU's mistakes. The Tigers have had 21 turnovers this year which is terrible for a top ranked team. The Dawgs will not be able to roll up a lot of offense against this Tiger defense, but if they can win the turnover battle, they might not need to.

LSU will win if they can contain Shockley and not allow him to make a lot of big plays. Also, the Tiger receivers are going to have to stop dropping passes. It doesn't mean a thing if your offensive line does a good job blocking the pass rush and your quarterback throws a perfect pass to the fastest player on the field, if the receiver can't make the catch. If the Tigers can play error free football like they did against Alabama, they should have enough fire power to pull off the win.

Despite the two good defenses in this game, I think it will be a shootout.

My prediction: LSU 31... Georgia 27

UPDATE: So much for my prediction. Georgia just put a whuppin' on my Tigers. Final score UGA 34... LSU 14

Russell never got it going and the Georgia run defense was awesome. Shockley is da man. He played one helluva game. Congrats to the Dawgs. Do the SEC proud in the Sugar Bowl.

Congrats to my Tigers for a great 10 - 2 season in spite of the trials and tribulations of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. They played 12 weeks in a row with no off weeks.

We're damn proud of you. Now rest up and go win the Peach Bowl.

posted by Dash | 10:49 AM | |

When I was a kid growing up, we lived in the same town as my dad's parents. So we were able to see them at least a couple of times a month throughout the year. They weren't really into the whole holiday scene anyway, so we usually packed up and headed over to my mom's parents' house for Christmas and usually Thanksgiving.

There it was always a big deal. All the family would come over and we would feast on turkey, two types of dressing, giblet gravy, sweet potatoes, turnip greens, pies, cakes, etc. It was serious.

Of course another big part of it was watching a lot of football. I guess that's when I got hooked on watching college football. I remember those holidays as being a lot of fun. Maybe it was because I was seeing everything though the eyes of a naive kid or maybe times were just more laid back in those days. Regardless, times are different now.

One thing that makes it harder now is the prevalence of split-families that now include yours, mine, theirs, and ours. My parents divorced and married other spouses when I was in college. So, by the time I was in my mid-twenties, my family had basically tripled in size. All of a sudden I had step-parents and step-siblings.

That was okay while I was single. I could just split time with my parents and their new families and it was really no big deal. But then I got married and added a whole new dimension. Now I had my wife's family to add to the holiday time sharing matrix. Thank goodness her parents were married to each other.

All of a sudden, this holiday thing became almost like a competition. Each one of our families wanted us to spend the holidays with them. Believe me, this is a competition where nobody really wins.

It's bad enough by itself when you first get married, but this phenomenon hits an even higher level when grandkids enter the picture. Whose family gets to spend the most time with the grandkids? The grandparents start putting a guilt trip on you. You must not love us as much as you love them. You don't let us see those kids as much as their other grandparents. Holy crap! How did this happen? When they say your parents become like children again when they get older, I know of what they speak.

Luckily, I have a very wise wife who came up with the brilliant idea of "We're going to create new traditions - ones that are unique to our own little family." Hey - that's sounds great to me.

But, this year has been a little different. Both of our families have been through some rough times this year. Through deaths, other health issues and hurricanes, both of our families have seen their share of craziness this year.

So, when my little sister (who lost her house and everything in Katrina) called and asked if we would consider hosting Thanksgiving this year, we gladly agreed. After all, it might be the last time we're all able to get together in one place at one time.

Everything went pretty well considering we had at least 20 people together in our house for most of three days. They didn't all stay at our house the whole time, but there was never a time when we weren't either cooking, cleaning, watching kids, or just basically entertaining. That tends to wear on you after a while.

I shouldn't make it sound like we didn't want the folks at our house, because we did. In fact, the ones who did stay there were very easy to have as guests and we would love for them to come back. It's just that with everything else that was going on, it got a little hectic from time to time.

This Christmas we will have two or three people over for a few days and we will cook and watch football and have a great time. But, we've decided Christmas is for the kids and we will continue our new traditions in our home.

We'll make every effort to see all the families sometime during the holidays, but Christmas will be just us at our house. Besides, how will Santa know where to deliver our loot if we're not home for the holidays?

posted by Dash | 10:57 AM | |