tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19359274340835414992011-11-27T17:18:08.229-06:00The Young New Mexican Puppeteer<br/> He saw the people all lived in fear<br/> He thought that maybe they'd listen to<br/> A blogger telling them what to doChrisnoreply@blogger.comBlogger301100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-72170324383647106972008-06-24T15:38:00.003-05:002008-06-25T14:57:01.891-05:00

I have lived and worked in the Houston area for the greater part of my life. Over the years I have gone through periods when I rode the bus to work and back. Ages ago the benefits of riding the bus were pretty simple; it was relaxing, reduced wear and tear on my car and I didn't have to remember where I parked (which in any major city can be a pain). Never once in all my years of riding the bus

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-73782588439486687772008-06-19T15:49:00.004-05:002008-06-19T16:44:04.205-05:00

Over the weekend I bought myself a new SD card for my Canon SD700 IS camera for the expressed purpose of having a little fun with it. For those of you who don't know me, when I use the word ‘fun’ in the context of something electronic, it means that I'm planning to hack it. I have always enjoyed hacking electronic things to make them more useful, like getting my iPhone to work with the t-Mobile

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-74455446860433780762008-06-17T12:59:00.005-05:002008-06-17T13:51:48.011-05:00

In the past forty-eight hours I have developed a new Internet addiction. This isn't a normal Internet addiction like posting photos of cats with grammatically incorrect captions or Myspace or porn. This Internet addiction will be short lived yet for the rest of this week I imagine that it will populate my history like no other site I visit. My Internet addiction is to Camp Cullen's online photo

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-10924128955281409612008-06-11T09:33:00.008-05:002008-12-12T00:07:50.102-06:00

Last night Melissa and I went to see Eddie Izzard with our friends Matt and Julie at Jones Hall here in Houston. We got awesome seats for the show on the fourth row in the center of the stage. Izzard was about twenty feet from us on stage and looked comfortable in blue jeans, a blue shirt and a vintage tux jacket with tails.I've been a fan of Izzard's stand-up since seeing his Dressed to Kill

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-61190982297945391482008-06-10T13:51:00.001-05:002008-06-11T10:14:57.133-05:00

Ugh. Another long gap in my blogging. This is not what I wanted to happen at all. Chalk up my absence to the move I suppose. I promise to get back on track with my blog and post a bit more often.

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-2841354419240047952008-05-28T16:18:00.004-05:002008-05-29T16:00:58.272-05:00

Has it really been a week since I last scribed a post on this blog? For shame, for shame. I should have posted earlier in the week, but alas, I had a busy week.Taking a sweat soaked shirt off for the umpteenth time on Tuesday evening I sighed with relief. The long weekend was over and I looked forward to returning to work in the morning. I tossed the shirt into the pile that I'd been building

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-52686552842865016062008-05-22T16:17:00.004-05:002008-05-22T16:37:06.623-05:00

Here's the thing, I can do this; I have the skill. Back in the summer of 2005 I spent a good deal of time learning how to operate heavy machinery. Me and the guys would occasionally park our diggers behind the fence near the bus stop and sneak people's hats off or tie their shoe laces together just for practice. Everyone on the crew knew that the real test of skill was undressing a woman.The

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-41444641278955903362008-05-22T13:02:00.002-05:002008-05-22T13:53:49.549-05:00

Tomorrow Melissa and I get the keys for the lease house and the moving starts. I can't decide if I'm excited or nervous, probably a combination of both. Moving into a house together, with our kids, is a big step towards our dream of having a big happy family. It marks a significant change in all four of our lives and a part of me worries that the change will have adverse effects on the

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-87521506443858927362008-05-19T13:58:00.005-05:002008-05-19T14:44:53.759-05:00

This past weekend was one of those rare weekends that Melissa and I get to ourselves. While Colin is often at his mother's for a weekend; Melissa has Chelsea all to herself and it is rare that she is gone for the entire weekend. Usually when we have a weekend to ourselves we like to plan it out to make the most of our alone time. This weekend we couldn't plan anything big as we're moving starting

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-26694220192207158402008-05-18T20:04:00.002-05:002008-05-18T20:10:31.788-05:00

PWNDChelsea started using this word after a weekend with her friends for their birthday. John McCain is going to have a lot of trouble in this campaign. He says whatever he things people want to hear, but this time around we don't want to hear comforting phrases that assuage our fears; we want to hear honesty. Honesty won't tell us what we want to hear; honesty will say things are going to be

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-50656805777825150382008-05-16T13:27:00.002-05:002008-05-16T15:09:26.346-05:00

Dad called me this morning to let me know that my grandfather, his father, had passed away. This wasn't completely unexpected as Grandad was 93 and we'd been notified that he was failing fast earlier in the week. I didn't expect the end to come so soon though, I really expected that my parents were calling to let me know their month long motorhome jaunt to California was over and that they were

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-19900906532628750142008-05-16T10:13:00.003-05:002008-05-16T10:31:58.568-05:00

The world is going to hell in a hand basket isn't it? It seems like every week there is a story about some teacher in some school getting busted for having sex with a student. What is strange is that more and more often the teacher is a young attractive woman and the student a teenage boy. This phenomenon raises a lot of questions in my mind; for example, which of my high school teachers wanted

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-60168002119092689132008-05-16T09:50:00.003-05:002008-05-16T10:11:30.532-05:00

The Washington Post has followed up on Bush's Golfgate troubles with an article pointing out three occasions that Bush played golf after the date that he claimed to stop. The article is another one of the WaPo's typical fluffer pieces, and by fluffer piece I emphasize the term fluffer. There is no commentary on how often and easily Bush uses lies like this to deceive the American public. There

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-50419538040194096902008-05-15T12:06:00.003-05:002008-05-15T13:14:43.744-05:00

Did you see the interview Bush did with online news source Politico and Yahoo News on Tuesday? (video here and here's a transcript if you're like me and feel physical revulsion when hearing George W. Bush's voice.) I sure hope not, because if you did then you're liable to be pretty pissed off (of course, if you're not outrage then you're not paying attention) because Bush used the interview as

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-58967106535890796232008-05-14T15:52:00.005-05:002008-05-14T21:38:31.062-05:00

This video and song has been keeping Melissa and I tickled for the past few weeks. I've been playing it on my iPhone, my computer and even on the Wii and each time we're cracking up laughing and singing along.The video features Mike O'Connell and Dr. Ken Jeong who shine their spotlight and lyrical wit on that certain breed of barfly who thinks that he is a gift to women. You may recognize Dr. Ken

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-10501040525860697082008-05-13T15:55:00.006-05:002008-05-13T17:22:59.025-05:00

When I was originally contemplating restarting my blogging interests one of the topics that I wanted to cover was protest music. In this period of our history where the means of mass communication are owned by those who have vested interest in their own agenda it is rare to turn on the radio and hear a protest song. Clear Channel, owner of over 1,100 radio stations in the US, made decisions about

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-49029932241553923312008-05-13T09:26:00.008-05:002008-05-15T18:31:33.047-05:00

Last week I touched on the topic of the paranoid parental fear that seems to be gripping the country. As a parent of a young child I am constantly being told by friends, family and even people I hardly know that the world is a very dangerous place for my child and that only through constant vigilance will I assure my child will reach adulthood without being kidnapped, molested, murdered or

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-37083687058547002492008-05-12T10:33:00.005-05:002008-05-12T13:01:02.528-05:00

Houston is the fourth largest city in the United States with a little over 2.1 million people calling the city home. If you don't know two million people, it is a pretty staggering number. If Houston were not just a city but instead a state then it would be the thirty-sixth most populace in the United States, between Nevada and New Mexico. If Houston were a its own country then it would be the

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-64439165196528544662008-05-11T13:59:00.004-05:002008-05-11T14:10:54.562-05:00

This weekend we went to the art car parade with cheeses and crackers, then to Star Pizza and finally to watch the ballet perform Madam Butterfly at the Miller Outdoor theater with cherries, cheeses and crackers and wasabi ( わさび ) almonds. I'll tell you about it in more detail tomorrow. This video above is pretty much how I felt this morning after breakfast when I decided to put an end to this

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-72382681839155147562008-05-09T11:55:00.003-05:002008-05-09T12:48:00.649-05:00

Friday has arrived and you find me in a good mood. My day has been close to perfection so far from the moment that consciousness wrestled me from sleep. I''m telling you, it's been that good.In no particular order, let's review the events leading up to this perfectly wonderful end of the week.The rent house is ours!After five days of worry and trepidation Melissa and I got word yesterday that the

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-35863827462641046082008-05-09T11:52:00.002-05:002008-05-09T11:55:24.587-05:00

When Keith Olbermann used to be a sportscaster on ESPN I enjoyed his humor and light touch. Now that he's on MSNBC covering national news I find him to be one of the most refreshing and honest news men on cable news. In this special commentary Olbermann he lists all the excuses that Hillary has hoisted to keep her campaign going. It is wonderful.

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-52558877099114287402008-05-08T12:59:00.002-05:002008-05-08T13:23:14.276-05:00

Do you remember the story of the emperor with no clothes? As I recall it the emperor was duped into wearing an outfit made of thread that would be invisible to anyone not fit to be emperor. in fact, the outfit wasn't anything at all, just a swindle to take advantage of his vanity. It wasn't until a child pointed out the obvious truth, that the emperor had no clothes, that the people saw through

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-967810849405469412008-05-08T10:20:00.005-05:002008-05-08T12:10:54.392-05:00

Yesterday's post about Hillary's refusal to accept defeat got me thinking about the reasons that I'm not supporting her in this election. One of the most important reasons that I'm not throwing my hat in to Hillary is because she is a Clinton.I voted for Bill twice and hell, I even invited him to my wedding many years ago. Bill Clinton was the first person I voted for in my life, having only

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-48414286785936267742008-05-07T12:39:00.002-05:002008-05-07T12:42:29.015-05:00

It's like parkour for your pants.

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-70201162830114477552008-05-07T09:23:00.005-05:002008-05-07T11:52:29.725-05:00

A few years back my ex-wife announced that she was going to move out of the house we'd lived in for eight years leaving me at home with Colin to get a hang of being a single parent. Our marriage had been having troubles with both of us finding ourselves unhappy with the way things were going. I'm not going to go into all the details about how my marriage fell apart. Millions of people divorce

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-51607774088788794922008-05-06T13:58:00.004-05:002008-05-06T15:07:48.807-05:00

This morning I came across a Flickr group of people leaping out of swings. As I flipped through the photos in the group (and tut-tutted at the photos that were obviously not swing jumping related) I remembered how much fun it is to launch yourself into the air from a swing.When I was in elementary school I can remember being a good swing jumper was a badge of honor. Jumping from a swing asserted

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-90512289127942709592008-05-05T13:01:00.004-05:002008-05-13T16:01:30.602-05:00

They used to say that the best thing about the Internet is that nobody knows you're a dog. In view of this aphorism I feel the need to clarify a few things about the title of this post. First off, I am not in New Mexico. Secondly, I am not a puppeteer. Third, and this one is debatable, I am not young, or at least as young as I used to be. I'm thirty-seven, which to me feels pretty old. I can

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-26451187213475678032008-05-04T13:55:00.003-05:002008-05-04T14:02:28.251-05:00

On Friday I had one of those days when my normal commute route is deviated from, and I enter parts of the city that I am unfamiliar with. I left the 610 loop before I-45 for the hell of it really as I was in no hurry to get home. I turned my Honda south and drove through an economically overlooked part of the city. While driving along I saw this building across the street from Kelly's, the

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-70078890018103097232008-05-04T13:22:00.001-05:002008-05-05T13:07:44.139-05:00

Yesterday morning I woke at nine, which isn't an odd thing for a Saturday morning, and got right out of bed and into the shower, which is an odd thing for a Saturday morning. After showering myself I chivvied Melissa unmercifully to get out of bed and in the shower too. The reason for such an uncharacteristic display of alacrity on a weekend morning had to do with an appointment that Melissa and

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1935927434083541499.post-18302807026845991212008-05-02T16:04:00.001-05:002008-05-05T13:07:24.445-05:00

Please excuse me as I stretch my fingers and try to tap into that vein of creativity that used to flow unimpeded from my fingers. The last time I posted to a blog of my own was about 18 months ago, and even then my posting was sporadic at best. That's an odd thing from someone who used to scribe a thousand words a day in blogs gone past. But times change and people change. The aspects of my life

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com1