Aggie87

Thanks for the reminder, Mark. I need to submit mine still, and had actually forgotten about it until your timely reminder. I'm submitting Option 2, since I lived overseas for 5 of the years in the settlement (don't have my old statements, or I'd consider going with Option 3). edit - I don't like this FAQ question/response: When will I get my refund? Refunds will be paid after the Court finally approves the settlement, and approves any award of attorneys' fees, awards to the class representatives, and allocation of the settlement fund among Settlement Damages Class members, and any appeals related to that approval are resolved. It is possible that this could take several months, or, if appeals are filed, several years. You may want to check this website from time to time for updates.

Cowboys needed a young WR to start grooming, and could have had Mario Manningham, Early Doucet, or Andre Caldwell with their 2nd round pick (#61), all of whom could have easily been selected in the 2nd. So what do they do? They pick TE Martellus Bennett. Despite the fact that he's an Aggie, I think it was a bad choice. They traded backup TE Anthony Fasano (a Parcells guy) to Miami a day or two ago for a 4th round pick. And then spend a 2nd on his replacement, who I don't think will be any better. Strange logic. They STILL need a WR, and hopefully one falls to them at pick #92 or #100.

I think Rashard Mendenhall is a better overall back than Felix Jones, and Dallas could have had him with #22 as well. But it looks like the Cowboys think Jones will be a better platoon back alongside Marion Barber. Felix Jones ran for almost 3,000 yards in three year as a backup to McFadden! I think the Cowboys will alternate series like Barber and Julius Jones did last year, or they'll ride the hot hand in any particular game. I don't think they wanted a single stud back - or they would have tried harder to package their two #1's (and something else) to move up to get Darren McFadden, and maybe shipped Barber off to Miami for another pick in the process.

Well I got that half-right. I guess they're not completely convinced Pacman will be reinstated, or even if he is, they want more depth at CB. Cowboys nabbed Arkansas RB Felix Jones with pick #22, then moved up from 28 to 22, and picked CB Mike Jenkins from S Florida. Looks like a ton of decent WRs left (not a single one has been drafted yet, through 27 picks.

That's not just your opinion - he DID kill them! 41 points, career high. I think picking up the Big Cactus may have been a mistake - the whole team dynamic has changed, and they don't seem to play to their strengths as much. Stoudamire played well again, but got little help.

RIP Jimmy. Will also spin "Emphasis" later, as well as "Free Fall". Was "Conversations with a Goose" his last studio recording?

Muster is a ceremony held each year to honor the Aggies that have passed away in the past year. The main one is held on the A&M campus, but they are also held all over the place, wherever Aggies are able to get together. I thought I'd share this write-up that one of our soldiers in Iraq posted on an A&M forum, about the Muster they held in Bagdad on Monday. It's touching, and gives an interesting insight to life there. Please, no comments about the war in Iraq, and it's validity. I don't support the reasons we went in there myself, but I do support the men and women that have been sent there, to do what they're called upon to do. ******************** Last night was Muster night here in Baghdad, and let me tell you, it was an amazing experience. Muster ceremonies in Iraq are usually small affairs of just two or three people – when they happen at all. It’s sometimes hard to find other Ags around, and when you do, getting an organized function together is next to impossible. Nonetheless, that’s exactly what a group of determined Aggies accomplished. Last night, a group of about 20 Ags got together for what we think is probably the largest muster ceremony ever held in Iraq. I was hoping that there would be a Muster on my base here, but unfortunately no such luck. Nonetheless, after digging around, I found out about a group organizing a muster at the U.S. Embassy. The problem is, the Embassy is 10 miles away, on a road winding through the heart of Baghdad. So, after getting permission from my commanding officer to get some time off work, I put on my body armor and hopped onto the old armored Bus and headed to the green zone. The trip was a bit nerve-wracking, but in the end passed without incident (both ways). I spent the rest of the afternoon getting a tent to sleep in and doing a couple of errands around the IZ. I was a bit late for Muster, but most of us were. At 6 p.m., I was waiting by the pool – yes, the folks in the International Zone live right – when the alarms went off. They’d gone off an hour before and it was a false alarm, but you never take chances. So we ran to the bunker and quickly got under cover. Sure enough, a few seconds later, we heard a loud boom off in the distance. It was indeed some kind of indirect fire, but it apparently missed the IZ and landed in a civilian area. After they gave us the all clear, I grabbed dinner and went to the room where Muster was being held. Most of the other people had been delayed the same as me, and when everybody eventually showed up, there were about 20 of us. Most of the folks were Army, and there were a couple of Navy folks like me as well. There were three civilians, including two who worked at the Embassy. One of them wasn’t an Aggie, but was an Aggie Mom attending her first Muster. Most of them had been in the Corps, but there were two of us – myself included – who had been non-regs who had joined up after 9/11, or in the case of another of us, after Somalia. We’d taken over a conference room and there was a laptop hooked up to a slide projector at the head of the room, displaying slides of life at A&M through the years: The Corps forming a line on Simpson Drill Field in the 1940s. The Band doing a Block T. Lawrence Sullivan Ross. A photo of Bonfire in 1955, with the old teepee shape. One of bonfire in a more modern era, like the ones I worked on. Corps march-in. Elephant Walk. The Ross Volunteers. An old photo of Kyle Field. As we took our seats around the table, we silently watched these photos while eating dinner. A couple of Army guys started talking. One mentioned the Corps company he had been in. Another guy across the room gave a short Whoop! As the photo of the Corregidor Muster came up on the screen, one of the older guys mentioned that his father-in-law was in that picture. And here he was, in Baghdad. Finally, the ceremony got underway, and we all went around the room and did introductions. One Navy Captain (0-6 for you non-Navy folks), said that he remembered his time fondly. “I majored in the Dixie Chicken and Dudley’s Draw.” “And you probably graduated with honors,” another officer threw in. An Army Major got up and gave the history of Muster, recalling the original celebration of the glorious Texian victory at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. How that evolved into the Muster we know today. How the 1942 Muster on the embattled Island of Corregidor had forever imbued the Muster tradition with a more sacred, higher meaning. It was the same story I’d heard before in musters in College Station, Uvalde, Oyster Creek, Dallas and in the Texas House of Representatives Chamber in Austin. Thinking about all those musters I had attended reminded me of how enduring and widespread this tradition has become. Finally, Col. George Brinnegar, ’82, the organizer of the event, got up and gave the keynote address. “I’d like to welcome you to the 2008 Aggie Muster in Baghdad,” he said. “The fact that we’re doing this means a lot to Aggies all over the world, and I know that they’re with us now.” He talked a while about his time at A&M, and the lessons he learned from the old sages in the Ag department. And then he talked about the subject that was on all of our minds, but which had hardly been brought up: the war. “This year, 2008, is no different than 1942,” he said, recalling the men on Corregidor. “And Aggies again are the tip of the spear. We are at war, and it is a war with serious consequences for the world. Tonight, Aggies are gathered here, as well as in Afghanistan, Korea, Kosovo, the Horn of Africa, and of course, in College Station. “We are the Aggie Spirit, whether we are in College Station or in the Green Zone. It lives and dies with us. That is why we’re here tonight, because there is something bigger and more important than us.” With that, we calmly stood and held our candles before us. The list of names we read was not just those of fallen Aggies from the past year, but we also read the names of all Aggies who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan in the last few years. There were dozens of them. As their names were called out, we all realized the cost, and how these brave men and women, our brothers in arms, had sacrificed everything for their America, for Texas and their way of life. The way of life that we were celebrating tonight. I called out “here” whenever they came to a 1st Lieutenant, since that’s my rank. Ditto to the 2nd Lieutenants as well. As the names were read out, they were a cross section of Aggieland. Old and young. Male and female. Enlisted guys who probably had held dreams of returning to finish a degree, and officers who had put their bright futures as graduates on hold in order to serve their country. When all the names were read, and all the candles were lit, we stood at attention as Silver Taps was played on the laptop computer at the front of the room. In quiet, subdued notes, we sang “The Spirit of Aggieland.” Muster, indeed, is so meaningful because we all know that someday Muster will be called for us as well. Maybe not soon, but someday. Whether we succeed in life, or whether we fail. It’s all the same, and Muster will be called for us. If we serve, it will be called for us. If we don’t, it will be called just the same. For the oldest, whose years at Aggieland are just a distant, but happy memory, it will be called. For the youngest, claimed perhaps in a tragic accident which cut their lives short, it will be called. In war and in peace. It will be called for us all, the greatest and the least. That’s what muster is all about. Gig’ em.

Hope you get it. It's great! Got it! Looking forward to listening to it! Thanks vibes! PM, response, package received - all in less than 60 minutes! Yowsa!!!

Cowboys finally got Pacman Jones from the Titans, for a 4th rounder this year and a conditional 4th next year (if Jones is reinstated this year, I think). Jeez. I hope the triumvirate of Pacman, Tank Johnson, and Terrell Owens don't explode - guns, strippers, and ego, yikes! On the field he's going to be a great pickup in the secondary I think - Jones and Terence Newman will be formidable corners, and I suspect they'll either make Anthony Henry their nickel corner, or move him over to safety (to help Ken Hamlin and liability Roy Williams). What it does for the Cowboys on Saturday is to allow them to (hopefully) use their two first round picks for a WR and a RB, both positions of need.

Happy Birthday!!

How about an Edgar Allan Poe bobblehead?

Thanks again for all the well wishes! Here are a couple of pictures from the Saturday night Hooks/Roughriders game. My son got to stand next to the center fielder during the National Anthem, so he was a little nervous, but proud: And here's a picture of him and some of his teammates watching the game later. I like the "Americana" vibe of this picture: All in all a great day!

The NFL Draft is coming up this weekend, so for an entertaining mock draft from everybody's favorite terrible analyst, here's Emmitt's.

Happy Birthday Mark! Thanks for all of your contributions here, and for being an all around great guy!

I'm a homer, but that was a great win for the Spurs yesterday in double-OT. They need to come out and play hard in Game 2 though, and if they can pull out a win, I think they take the series in maybe 5. If the Suns win, I think it goes to 7. Finley had a great 3 pointer to send the game into OT, and then Duncan made his first 3 pointer of the season to send it to 2OT. Then Popovich made a great decision. The Suns were out of timeouts at the end, and after making the tying free throws, Popovich didn't call timeout. This meant the Suns couldn't bring Shaq back into the game to defend the basket, and Ginobili took the ball to the hoop for the game winning shot.

Congratulations -especially to big sister Zora! When my son was born, we got my daughter a t-shirt that said (proudly) "I'm the BIG sister", and made sure to include her during all the chaos and busy-ness of the new baby. Best wishes to all of you on a wonderful new part of your journey!

Thanks gents! My son had a baseball game this morning (he's in coach-pitch this year), and then we're going to a friends for a pool party this afternoon (not for me, but it'll still be fun!). Then this evening I'm taking my kids to the local AA baseball team's game (the Corpus Christi Hooks, AA affiliate for the Astros, and they're playing the Frisco Roughriders). So it's an outdoor sports kind of day, and I'm spending it with my kids. Doesn't get much better than that! Thanks again for putting up with me and my sometimes cantankerous ways here - I've learned more than I could ever have thought here, and more than I could ever contribute. I lub u guys and girls! PS - thanks for that great artwork, Chris! That's not your normal everyday soccer mom there! PPS - Corpus Christi recently enacted an ordinance banning all mention of LONGHORNS in town here, Al!! Keep that in mind for the summer!

As Vizzini would say, "Inconceivable!!"

Happy Birthday Flurin! Zum Wohl!

Miguel Tejada "confessed" to the Astros today that he's actually 33 years old, instead of the 31 he's previously claimed to be. Not sure if that will affect anything, except maybe his next contract (whoever that's with), since he's suddenly getting up in age.

Sounds like another: I'd go see the group if they come down here, but I dunno about the recording. Hope it turns out well!

I'm interested in Steven Bernstein's "Diaspora Suite" that came out a few months ago. I've enjoyed the previous releases in his Diaspora series (and Sam Rivers is on "Diaspora Blues" if anyone didn't already know that). I also want to pick up the new Zorn "The Dreamers" set, which is a sequel of sorts to "The Gift". Man with the Golden Arm has a copy for sale(sans packaging) for a good price right now on this board, if anyone's interested.

Prefabricated disco-pop group from Germany, by the same producer that foisted Milli Vanilli on the world.

I haven't been watching the show (I usually only watch the first few episodes each time, when the strange people are shown - that's funnier and more worthwhile than watching the "serious" later episodes, which are dragged out and boring, IMO). But I just discovered the guy with dreadlocks is an Aggie, so I'd have to root for him, regardless whether he has any talent or not. I haven't seen him sing, so I have no idea.

Disc received today, in fine shape! Thanks, Vint!