It’s time for the annual pilgrimage to Big D for the DIFF, The Dallas International Film Festival … does that make me a film pilgrim?  I digress, (with assonance, I might add) … It’s great fun … and sometimes I actually get to see a film or two, but a lot of the time […]

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  Even my friends who hate motorcycles (and blogs about motorcycles) have probably heard or seen the slogan:  “Loud Pipes Save Lives.” Apparently I needed some louder pipes the other day.

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    It’s one of the more common themes in Sci-Fi — the parallel universe — a place where everything you know exists but everything is different. Ha!   Well, I experienced a little PU in my hotel room the other night in Pocatello, Idaho.  It’s a long story … The disaster team, traveling on […]

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When I met the man who compiled a priceless collection of Asian art, I was honored and shook his hand quite formally. When he told me that he bought 60 jade artifacts in a shoebox from a store in Philadelphia for a thousand bucks in the ’70s — including a jade cicada ornament from the […]

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    The incredible preparation for an International Space Station,  an ISS, orbit goes unnoticed by many. First, I set the Mr. Coffee Bro to percolate black magic, precisely 15 minutes ahead of the flight plan over Texas.  After buttering yesterday’s flour tortilla and sticking a space-ready-and-already wrapped banana in my pocket … and of […]

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“Never give up on your team.”  I preached that to my kids for years, the kids that I coached, or anyone who would listen.  It makes me a little furious when I see fans leaving the stadium before the game ends … even if their team is behind by three scores or whatever. Never give […]

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The Dirty Gig is full of characters … never a dull moment … And Puerto Rico was no different.  Working at the storied El San Juan Hotel in Carolina, Puerto Rico, one of my colleagues supervised a laborer named Ura who just stood out above the others … for his personality and attitude … not […]

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Puerto Rico … take two. As with many a mainland kid in the ’60s and ’70s, Puerto Rico first showed up on my radar with the reading of Pastor Nicky Cruz’s “coming of faith” book “Run Baby Run.”  The gritty Christian bestseller chronicled Cruz’s take on Puerto Rican culture, dating back to his childhood memories […]

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  One of the pitfalls of no longer drinking alcohol is knowing that raw oysters on the halfshell is a dish best served with cold beer. Regardless, give me some crackers, horse radish and red sauce, and I will make it work.  I’ve had oysters on my mind since I hit Houston last month. For […]

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    Houston versus Texas Tech … a great matchup pretty much ignored by the favor-playing, subjective major media, but #IIWII.  The reality: the most prolific offense in college football was facing a team on a winning streak … a team led by the best defender in the country … a D squad that was […]

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