Aggie87

Rest in Peace, Robin. I didn't like every movie he made, though a handful were excellent IMO - Dead Poets Society, Good Morning Vietnam, The Fisher King, Good Will Hunting, World According to Garp. And maybe What Dreams May Come. His quick wit, intelligence, and comic talent were undeniable.

Listening right now, thanks, CJ!

On the topic of Norah Jones, I actually somewhat enjoy her two country albums (The Little Willies group she leads). And the rock album she did as well - El Madmo. Her "normal" albums haven't really impressed me as much, though I certainly think she's very talented at what she does.

Welcome back, haven't seen you in a while!

Happy Birthday, Mike!

Happy Birthday!

I knew who J.A.W. was referring to, and it would seem fairly clear to most posters who have been on this board for a number of years. I also didn't think it was a personal attack on Aloc, just a comment on the sheer volume of threads he starts, the majority of which get little response.

Agree with both Hans & Flurin!

Happy Birthday Shawn - I'd buy you a beer if you were still in Austin!

Happy Birthday Lon, enjoy your trip to Texas. I admire you for what you're doing for your parents.

I agree, BT - another 100 loss season is on the tap for next year. And it's gonna be a while before they're even a .500 team again. The Astros' lone World Series appearance in 2005 seems like it was decades ago now. Even at the time I figured it would be a while before they returned, but never envisioned what's happened since. Decent roster then too, shame they were completely swept by the White Sox : Roger Clemens Andy Pettite Roy Oswalt Brad Lidge Jeff Bagwell Craig Biggio Lance Berkman It hasn't been fun to be an Astros fan for a while now. Probably the highlight of my "fandom" was in 1988 when the Astros came to Olsen Field in College Station for an exhibition game vs. the Aggies. I went with a friend of mine who happened to be in a wheelchair, and enjoyed the game. But afterwards he was invited down on the field to meet the Astros, so he dragged me out there with him! So I got to stand and chat with Hal Lanier, Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott, Glenn Davis, Bill Doran, Alan Ashby, Denny Walling, Billy Hatcher, and Gerald Young. I managed to grab a dirty baseball from the field and got autographs even!

I just looked up the MLB minimum player salary which this year is $490,000, so if ALL Astros were paid the absolute minimum on the 25 player roster would come to $12,250,000 I saw that figure in an article on the Houston Chronicle's website: http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2013/07/31/young-get-younger-as-astros-make-several-moves/?cmpid=sportshcat I don't know how all the numbers are calculated, but that's still a crazy figure.

With the trade of Bud Norris to the Orioles, the Astros' 2013 team payroll has now dropped from an already MLB low of $16M to $13M. For the ENTIRE team!

Rangers have now won 3 nights in a row with walk-off HR's against the Angels!

I think it's obvious that either William or Catherine is a Seinfeld fan - George Costanza, Jason Alexander, and Julia Louis Dreyfus.

I'm not the best person to answer this, but: King Edward abdicated the throne to marry a divorced American, Wallis Simpson. At that point Edward's younger brother George became King of England. Further info: A couple of years ago the U.K. changed the law so that a first born child of the ruler, regardless of gender, becomes next in line to be ruler. So if William & Catherine's baby had been a girl, she would be next in line after William.

Currently he's a Prince, not a King. Once Elizabeth dies, Charles becomes the King. Once Charles dies, William becomes King. Once William dies, Prince Babyboy becomes King. I read somewhere that his regnal name will be George, regardless of what his actual name ends up being. Dunno if that's true or not.

Fortunately for me there is no photographic evidence of my attempts to conquer the coast!

Boogie-boarding with my son today, at Padre Island National Seashore...

Yes, that was a forced requirement as a condition to the sale of the team to Crane. None of my relatives in Houston (or any Stros fans in the rest of Texas that I know of) were a fan of the move in the first place. BT - the Astros' AA team is located here in Corpus Christi, and they've got some decent talent, fun to go to their games, too (they've got a great stadium with a swimming pool behind right field that you can rent and watch the game from, even). Hopefully that talent transitions up the chain to AAA and the bigs some day. Part of the problem for the Astros is that they gutted any talent they had over the past couple of years, and traded it all away for prospects, and then moved too many of them up to the majors before they were ready.

...and in other news, the Houston Astros are bringing up the rear for all of MLB. Go 'Stros!

Who cares what a jazz musician is wearing offstage? I know I don't care about it at all. I don't have anywhere near all of Zorn's recorded output, but from what I have, his compositions do not sound the same at all. In fact, I am not aware of many jazz composers who have written music as varied as Zorn. He is however a poseur. 100 more compositions. Why he is a poseur? Please explain. That is a strong charge against an artist, and I am genuinely unaware of what Zorn may have done to deserve it. Translation: He just dropped 200 more versions of the same thing. Blue Train, you seem to intensely dislike John Zorn. Could you explain why? I truly don't understand what there is about him that would inspire such dislike. I agree with Hot Ptah's entire post. Ditto.

Shout-out at 3:45: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OFabhEPCpnw

Mike's a monster! He's also currently in Europe, performing on keys with ZZ Top, believe it or not. Played at the Montreux Jazz Festival tonight.

Whataburger is crap. And I say that in their hometown, where there's one on practically every street corner. It's too expensive and slow, and not particularly tasty at all. Give me 5 Guys any day of the week over Whataburger.