Aggie87

Yes, the Stearman is a Confederate Air Force plane, Bob! Though they've apparently changed their name to Commemorative Air Force now. Hope you're doing well! I miss our Stuttgart days! Well, day anyway.

Our Air Show is this weekend again. The Blue Angels got in yesterday and did some rehearsing. They didn't practice today due to the weather - low cloud cover and storms forecast. Hopefully Sat/Sun is better for the actual show. I did get to check out the static displays and some of the practice flights though. N2S Stearman - this was the US Army Air Force's primary trainer through WWII. A different B-25 from previous years, the Devil Dog. This is actually a Marine variant of the B-25, called the PBJ. The nose doesn't have a glass bombardier compartment, but is solid and contains 8 50 caliber machine guns. V-22 Osprey - these things are fascinating to me - helicopter/airplane hybrid. Watched a vertical takeoff and then the transition of the rotors/engines to the forward position for higher speed travel. And of course the Blue Angels, parked along the sea wall:

Hail to the King!

The "down and back" will cost you probably the equivalent of what a roundtrip airline ticket would cost from Dallas to Houston though. And takes longer than a flight - though I'll grant that the time getting to an airport early these days adds quite a bit too. So maybe the time difference between a plane and a train between the two cities is basically a wash. So what's the gain to be had for investing the $$$ to make this train system a reality, and are there really enough travelers that would prefer that to a flight or to driving? Who is the customer base? Business travelers? Vacationers? I can't imagine Houstoners vacationing in Dallas/Ft Worth specifically, or vice versa. But either way they're going to need a rental car or something once they get to the train terminal at the other city. If I'm a business person going up for a meeting it would almost be easier to drive, since you then have your car and can get to your business destination without having to take the time to get out of the train station and to a rental car location, rent the car and then drive to where you're headed. And then reverse that process for your return trip.

I ordered it from Amazon, but it's being "bundled" with the Yes Progeny 3LP set that isn't due out until May. Sigh. The Yes LP set was listed as $16.99 originally though (perhaps a mistake?), so I'm willing to wait.

I travel to San Antonio (2-2.5 hrs), Austin (3.5 hrs), and Houston (3 hrs) regularly. Occasionally to further destinations like Dallas, College Station, & San Angelo. When I was in college at A&M we thought nothing of driving 8-9 hours to Lubbock for the football game - luckily that only happened twice, but that's a long haul. Had to plan ahead when we got there too, because Lubbock was dry and you had to drive out of the city/county limits to Pinkie's to buy beer back then. I do appreciate these regular concert updates that include Austin, Houston, and SA though!

Maybe the one doing the hooking should be called The Hooker. Pitching sucks? "We want The Hooker, bring out The Hooker!!!" I could get behind that chant.

Fishing hook - it's a coastal thing. Kind of a silly name, but it's grown on me over the 10 years they've been here. Hunter Pence played for the Hooks before making it to the bigs, and is still beloved here, as is Altuve. Delino DeShields Jr was also a Hook last year, until the Rangers stole him away this offseason. The Hooks are the Astros' AA affiliate.

Caught the Houston Astros vs my hometown Corpus Christi Hooks tonight. 'Stros won 7-4. It was fun seeing the former Hooks who are playing for the Astros now (Jose Altuve & George Springer among others), versus some up and coming talent that will make it's way to Houston before too long. Carlos Correa (1st overall pick in the 2012 draft) looked good for the Hooks, hit a monster homer. The Astros aren't going to make the playoffs (again), but they're taking steady steps toward being respectable, at least.

Not quite the same topic, but some good recs in this thread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqU9PqIhuIY edit - I'm not sure it actually was a Top 40 hit, but it hits your other criteria..

Again??

Does it have to be Al's?

I happen to know he's alive and well, and I'm sure he appreciates all the well wishes!

I suspect their goal with the introduction of that OS was to "dazzle" everyone into upgrading their hardware to touchscreen technology. Force an iteration of PC sales. Obviously it didn't work too well.

Feliz Cumpleanos, Tecolote Grande!

Thank you for the continuing list, KH! It is much appreciated.

Org. board member Soulstream is all over the Billy Gibbons episode, check it out - Mike's rockin' the organ! And he's got his regular organ trio gig at the Continental Club in Austin, go see him if you're in town. It's well worth it! You might see him with Jimmie Vaughan or many other fantastic guitarists. And he's a great guy to boot.

I see the LTIA sun on that poster! This was the poster for the first KC show I saw, at a large festival in Wiesbaden:

Or pay employees reasonable wages, negating the requirement for a tip in the first place.

Something I don't understand about tipping (at least in the U.S.) - why does Starbucks expect you to tip them but McDonald's doesn't? Is there any fundamental difference in what the service is? They are preparing food or drink for you and you pay them for said food/drink. Why does Starbucks have tip jars by the register and at the drive-thru window? Are their employees more deserving of a tip than a McDonald's employee?

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/160678/twitter-reaction-to-seattle-seahawks-fourth-quarter-interception All of these NFL players (who I'd assume have more knowledge about football than you, but then again there are no guarantees) feel like it was a terrible play call. I don't see a comparable article compiling NFL player comments that say "Great Call! Too Bad it was intercepted".

I apologize. Clearly you are the expert and we are all idiots and you hate us. Whether we are older than you and have watched and evaluated more football than you or not. Simply doesn't matter. You're the expert. Your opinion rules. Nobody else's can possibly be valid for themselves.

So YOU are saying it's NOT common sense to defend against the most likely play the Seahawks would and should call?? That's exactly what the Patriots did.

If I'm Pete Carroll and the Pats come in with that defensive package, I either run Marshawn Lynch up the middle anyway (since there's a 50/50 chance he gains a yard or two anyway, since he'd been averaging 4+ yards per carry the entire game), or run a QB option around the end with Lynch trailing, giving Wilson the option to keep it or pitch it. Never a pass. That wasn't a tricky or clever defensive call by the Patriots, it was common sense to try to defend against what the Seahawks likely call in that situation on the 1 or 2 yard line - i.e. Lynch up the middle. Carroll tried to be clever instead and it cost them the game.