Jay Leno's First Show in Prime Time

I thought it was a great first show. The monologue was very timely.

The Car Wash segment was hilarious. Jerry Seinfeld was a good choice for first guest. The Obama interview segment played on past skits but was current.

A bit of a coup to have Kayne West on only 25 hours after the incident on the VMA show.

I  thought Jay asked a good question ... the 10/9 slot is different than the puff ball slot AFTER the news and it wasn't harsh, it's something we'd all like to know but Jay asked it in a GREAT way ... "What WOULD your mom think" ... wow ... makes a person stop and think!. And props to KW for being man enough to face the heat and apologize.

Closing with headlines on a Monday .. awesome. Too bad none of them were min - but I'm sure I'll have some show contributions soon. 

Stay tuned!

Wasp Spray

Thought this was interesting and might be of use ...

I have a friend who is a receptionist in a church in a high risk area who was concerned about someone coming into the office on Monday to rob them when they were counting the collection. She asked the local police department about using getting a Concealed Handgun permit or even using pepper spray (where could she get some GOOD pepper spray?). 

They recommended that she get a can of wasp spray instead. 

The wasp spray, they told her, can shoot up to 20 feet away and is a lot more accurate, while with the pepper spray they have to get too close to you and could overpower you. The hand gun has its own problems. The wasp spray temporarily blinds an attacker until they get to the hospital for treatment. 

She now keeps a can on her desk in the office and it doesn't attract attention from people like a can of pepper spray would. She also keeps one nearby at home for home protection. You could also keep it in your car (in the trunk, NOT inside the passenger area during the heat of the summer) and it's perfectly legal. 

You no longer need to keep your .45 or AK-47 sitting out on the coffee table ... a can of wasp spray will do! 

Never would have thought it !!!

Eating in Chicago

Headed for the Windy City?

Here's my food suggestions for Chicago ... 

My favorite places to eat are Giordano's and Gino's ... I can eat

there two or three times each trip and never have the same thing.

My favorite is Giordano's ... several locations .. and I now get my

Chicago Italian fix when I go to Florida.

http://www.giordanos.com/main.php

They have a good selection of Italian cuisine in addition to the pizza.

Gino's ... aka Gino's East

http://featuredfoods.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/a-store/c-GinoAns_East.shtml?E+scstore+ginos

They also serve thin crust pizza and you can get pizza by the slice

For "hamborgerz" and history, there's nothing like the Billy Goat

Tavern ... which originated "The Curse" on the Chicago Cubs.

http://www.billygoattavern.com/locations.html

The original is downtown and there are other locations.

And what's a trip to Chicago without a hot dog (or two)??? There's a

real Chi Town treat!!!

My recommendations are:

Superdawg ... it's MY favorite ... great atmosphere

http://www.superdawg.com/

Another with a great history is Demon Dogs but when I was looking at

the web, they don't have a dedicated site - several locations - but

can't tell which ones are open. If you see one, enjoy.

http://www.hollyeats.com/DemonDog.htm

Portillo's is another great hot dog spot (and they have several

locations ... and the family has other restaurants)

http://www.portillos.com/

if you're out towards Evanston there's Bill's Drive In for hot dogs.

If you're by Wrigley Field, there are several places ...

Cubby Bear and Murphy's Bleachers are bars ... activity will vary

depending upon the baseball schedule. Both are legends!

Harry Caray's Tavern, Dugout Bar and Grill, and Vines on Clark offer

bar and grill type food and unique atmosphere.

Here's a note for Astros fans not used to the concept ... you CAN carry in food (and drinks) to Wrigley!

Finally ...

Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse ... a little pricey but a good

value. Very good steak! Lots of baseball memorabilia!

http://www.diningchicago.com/2008/show_banner.php?restID=270

I have a friend who recommended it over some of the more well known and pricier steak places.

there's also the Weber Grill. You know the grills in the backyard? This a restaurant where they just cook on the kettles ... YUM

http://www.webergrillrestaurant.com/

if you like beer ... Goose Island is a local brew ... they have brew pubs ...

http://www.gooseisland.com/pages/home/56.php

Those are the places I've been to and eaten or have a good recommendation from Neal Scott and my sister (who goes there often).

Lots of good food to choose from in Chicago ... let me know how your trip went and where you ate.

Blogging

I saw the movie Julie & Julia yesterday. 

Friends now understand blogging a little better, but they all probably wonder - who cares? or ... who reads what you write?

Julie Powell does what we'd all like to do (well, those of us who fancy ourselves as writers or journalists) ... write ... and then write a book ... get it made into a movie ... and then write another book ... and get PAID to do it. She's done two books ... and she still blogs.

I remember an interview with John Grisham. Bryant Gumbel asks - "does it bother you they changed things from your book to the movie?" "No," Grisham replies with that Southern boyish twinkle in his eye, "the check cleared." And in Grisham's case, there's lots of 000's on that check. Writing and getting paid. What a concept!!!

Julie and Julia was well done ... one of the kinds of movies I like. It's semi-factual, funny and serious ... and it made me wanna do something. I left the movie and bought butter at Sam's Club. Four pounds for $6. The movie did not seem 123 minutes long. It was well paced.

It also made me wanna write more. I looked up Julie Powell on the internet ... read the articles, bookmarked her blog.

It got me misty eyed ... twice. Once, where Julie puts a pound of butter by Julia's picture in the Smithsonian (as close as Julie came to meeting Julia). When I visited Jack Buck's grave at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in July, someone had left a 2009 Cardinals schedule at his grave. The other time ... well, that's personal.

You'll enjoy this movie more if you like to cook, I think. Or have ever tried a recipe from the paper or PBS or the Food Network and failed.

I always tell my photo students, if you are afraid of taking bad pix, don't pick up the camera. Julie and Julia had accidents in the kitchen but it didn't stop them from cooking. They adapted and had fun.

And maybe THAT is the moral to the movie ... don't worry about failing ... do what you love ... and have fun!!! Blogging!

Two Tours

The first tour was the Boy Sc outs of America Museum. 

Neal and I are both Eagle Scouts and Order of the Arrow.

It was a great tour and we could have spent more time there.

Cool part ... about a DOZEN Norman Rockwell ORIGINALS in their own special room.

I'll add more later.

Tour two was the brand new Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

What can you say about the new eighth wonder of the world?

Things are big in Texas.

The TV screens, there are two of them for the sidelines and two more smaller ones for the end zones. The main screens weigh as much as a 747 fully loaded. The speakers are the size and weight of 18 wheelers. and they're hanging from the rafters!

The place seats 80,000 and can hold 30,000 more on 6 party decks (SRO tix are $29).

We toured the suites, the seats, and the Cowboys Locker Room.

I'll write more later.

Some pix are posted .

pix are at ...

http://picasaweb.google.com/mikerine56/

click on Dallas Road Trip 02 and 03

Dynamo Loose

From the Houston Chronicle ....

FRISCO — Jeff Cunningham scored in the 20th minute to help FC Dallas beat the Western Conference-leading Dynamo 1-0 on Thursday night.

Cunningham, fresh off a four-goal performance in last week’s 6-0 victory over the Kansas CityWizards, beat Dynamo defender Geoff Cameron to a loose ball and dribbled past two other defenders before firing from outside of the penalty arc and into the right corner of the net of goalkeeper Pat Onstad. It was Cunningham’s ninth goal of the season and 113th in MLS play, leaving him one behind Chivas USA’s Ante Razov for second place on the career list.

FC Dallas (6-9-5) won consecutive games for the first time this season, while the Dynamo (10-6-5) missed an opportunity to extend their six-point conference lead.

Seven minutes before Cunningham’s goal, Onstad had denied the forward on a penalty kick that was earned after Dynamo defender Bobby Boswell was called for a reckless foul on Cunningham.

Onstad made a diving save to his right. He finished with two saves.

The Dynamo never mounted a serious challenge to tie the game, forcing only one save out of FC Dallas goalkeeper Dario Sala.

FC Dallas outshot the Dynamo 11-6.

The game featured seven yellow cards — four to the Dynamo and three to Dallas — as well as a bizarre red card in the 73rd minute.

FC Dallas midfielder Dave van den Bergh slid to chase a loose ball into the Dynamo bench area, and several Dynamo players got up in an apparent attempt to avoid van den Bergh and get the ball to their teammate for a throw-in.

Brad Davis, who had been substituted out of the game, was then issued a red card, possibly for leaving the technical area.

Dynamo captain Brian Ching left the game at halftime due to fatigue, the team said.

Ching, the club’s leading goal-scorer with seven goals this season, was replaced by fellow forward Kei Kamara, who returned after missing a game with a quadriceps strain.

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Mike_in_Richmond wrote: Great to see all the Dynamo fans at Pizza Hut Park ... about 75 in section 120 and probably another 25 orange jerseys scatted throughout the stands. Also, thanks to Wade Barrett, Craig Waibel, and Bobby Boswell for coming over and recognizing the fans. It made the trip worthwhile, even in a loss.. Also, the waves of Coach Kinnear were appreciated!!!! 8/7/2009 12:08:07 AM Recommend: (15) (1)

made it to Dallas

Took the back roads in the MX-5 ... not a Miata ... used to be ... Mazda changed their names.

Went through Anderson, the County Seat of Grimes County and stopped at the court house and the Confederate Park. Neat old courthouse. Pix upcoming.

From there it was through Roans Prairie, Singleton, and Madisonville. M'ville was our second courthouse of the day - it had all the ambience of a bank.

We then stopped at Buc-ee's. The first time Neal and I stopped there was on the same day but 8 hours apart. To our disappointment, they we sold out of bear claws. We wandered and looked at all the stuff in the outdoor store ... great BBQ stuff, chimneaeas and other interesting items. A hat from recycled truck tarps in Brasil.

Neal had never been to the Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, neither of the stores. We stoped at the freeway location for a pit stop and email check - they have free WiFi.

We are now at the Knox Street Apple Store in Dallas ... just north of Downtown. dallas has fiev stores - soon to be six with the new one in Frisco the concierge just told us. We're updating the Mac OS with the latest software update.

Visiting Apple Stores is another hobby. It doesn't cost anything, doesn't take up space, isn't fattening.

Photos to follow - I'm using a digital camera and downloads and uploads are still a bit convoluted. We're off to lunch ... some where ... headed to the hotel ... meeting up with Terry for a quick bite before game time.

Weather in Dallas is 95. The Texian Army left Houston at 11:30 on their bus (it's 1:00pm now). Several of the Dynamo went to The Cheesecake factory for dinner last night, according to the tweets of Mike Chabala and Brian Ching.