Ramblings Of A Caffeinated Mind 011313.1

I don't mean to sound like a hater BUT...

I had a feeling the Houston Texans were going to lose against the New England Patriots and well...they did.  There's always next season.  The good news is that since they're not going to the Super Bowl and neither are the New Orleans Saints, I don't have to watch the whole game.  In fact, after Beyoncé performs at halftime, I won't have to watch the second half although I do like the commercials.

So...I'm sitting here watching the Golden Globe Awards.  I remember when I was a kid and this show was recorded and shown a week or two later on a Sunday afternoon.  I'm trying to figure out when they went primetime?  It's been an enjoyable show and congratulations to Adele for winning for Skyfall!  That is a classic James Bond song and deserved to win.

Yesterday, I posted about the Miss America Pageant.  I was only half-listening to the contestant interviews and it seems that I missed Miss Iowa talking about recreational use of marijuana being OK.  The twitterverse was alive with comments.  You can read more about it here.

And I really did enjoy Miss New York's tap dance number.  You could tell she was really enjoying herself.  Judge for yourself.

Ramblings Of A Caffeinated Mind 011213.1

It's a bit after 10:00P and I'm wide awake because I took a nap around 5:00P.  You see...

I worked today and had to get really early.  When I awakened from my nap, I realized that the Miss America Pageant was on the telly.  It's been awhile since I watched the pageant.  At one point, it seems that it was on it's last breath.  The organization started making changes and it went to a cable network and it changed from a weekend in September to a weekend in January and well, I just couldn't keep up.

So...I watched it tonight and actually enjoyed watching it.  There are some new twists to the show and it was rather enjoyable.  It was also the first time that I watched the show and followed the comments on Facebook and the tweets on Twitter.

Congratulations to the new Miss America, Mallory Hagan from New York!  You can read more about her here.

Today has also been a bit of an odd day.  You see...

The Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Houston Half Marathon runs tomorrow.  I'm not running and I'm heading up a hoopla station either.  In fact, the route goes past The Calvinator's Crib but it's supposed to rain tomorrow and I'm not sure if I'm going to get out in the elements and cheer.  Normally on this day, I'd be very anxious or spend the day getting ready for the hoopla station.  It's been sort of nice to have to worry about it. Good luck to everyone running tomorrow.  It's gonna be a wet one.

And in case you didn't see this...

New York Times listed Houston as  #7 on 46 Places To Go In 2013.  It states things that we Houstonians have always known.  So we're rolling out the red carpet, stocking up the Welcome Wagon and preparing the crib for all of our visitors!  Y'all come!

Jukebox Wednesday

September has always been an odd month for me. It always signaled the beginning of the school year. When I worked at a university in the admission/financial aid office, it always meant that the freshmen class was coming in and it was time to start a new recruitment year.

Labor Day is usually considered the line of demarcation for the end of Summer. The Miss America Pageant used to be held in September. Throw on top of this, the peak of Hurricane Season is September 10.

Somewhere in September, the temperatures actually start to drop from the high 90s to the high 80s. The daylight hours are definitely getting shorter in September. Football season begins in September. September also signals the beginning of fun runs in Houston because now people can run and actually enjoy it.

And how can we forget September 9, 2001 (9/11)?

There are some sad songs about September: See You In September and September Song

And then there is the song by Green Day. I will always associate this song with Hurricane Katrina & Hurricane Rita. Even though Katrina made landfall on August 26, 2005, much of the month of September was spent dealing with the aftermath of the storm. In September of 2005 when Rita was threatening Galveston-Houston, it lead to the biggest evacuation of a major American city only to have the storm go into southwestern Louisiana and finish off what Katrina left behind.

Even though my birthday is in September, I really don't like the month.

(btw...the music starts around 3:55)

There she is...

As mentioned in a previous post, in the olden days this would be the day that the new Miss America would be crowned. To refresh your memory, the pageant was started to keep tourist on the Atlantic City Boardwalk for a few days beyond the Labor Day holiday. The pageant originated on September 7, 1921 and was originally named the Atlantic City Pageant. In 1922, the name was changed to Miss America Pageant.

Like clockwork you could always count on Miss America being crowned close to my birthday…until they moved it to later in the month and then changed the month to January or February or something like that. Let’s get to the point of my rambling.

On September 9, 1961 there were two things happening. Hurricane Carla was pounding the Texas coast and the new Miss America was going to be crowned. Linda Jacklyn Loftis who was originally Miss Ft. Worth went on to become Miss Texas and was favored to win Miss America. My mother was having labor pains and wanted to see if Linda would be crowned as the new Miss America before she would leave for the hospital. As it turns out, Miss North Carolina (Maria Fletcher) was crowned that evening. Miss Texas was 3rd runner-up.

I have romanticized the story and tell people that I was almost born at home because of the Miss America Pageant. (I was actually born the next morning at 6:58A in a hospital.) And even though Ft. Worth (Haltom City) is nowhere near the Texas coast, I have romanticized it and said that the change in barometric pressure induced my mother’s labor pains.

Many times in my life I have pondered aloud, “No wonder I turned out the way that I am. What choice did I have? I was born during the weekend of a hurricane and the Miss America Pageant!”

For various reasons, I used to have an obsession with the Miss America Pageant. Texas always sent contenders to the pageant and usually they ended up in the Top 10. The first Miss Texas to be crowned Miss America was Jo-Carroll Dennison. She was Miss America 1942. So you can imagine the screaming that happened in my house the evening of September 11, 1970, when Phyllis George was crowned Miss America 1971!

I remember the headline on the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram the next morning was something similar to: By George, she did it!

And then 4 years later, Shirley Cothran did it again! And this is where the story gets good.

OK…so my sister and I sang in a choir at church. It was a small group; a folk choir. Because it consisted of guitars and voices we would practice at different homes ‘cause we really didn’t need to be in the church.

So one night we’re at the McMullin’s home. The McMullins were very active in the Miss Texas Pageant association/system/corporation/whatever and were chaperones. During our rehearsal Shirley Cothran, THE FORMER MISS AMERICA...I’ll repeat that…THE FORMER MISS AMERICA…comes walking into the living room and tells us that we sound really good. They never told us she was in the house!!!! I was stunned. And just in case you’re wondering, no she wasn’t walking around in a tiara or a beaded gown. She was just as normal as normal could be.

Anyway, I outgrew my obsession with Miss America shortly after everything blew up with Vanessa Williams, Miss America 1984A. (That isn’t a typo.) It really had nothing to do with the scandal. And don’t get me wrong…I’m a big fan of Vanessa Williams. Talk about someone who was handed lemons and rather than making lemonade she poured some vodka on them and now look at her, she’s Wilhelmina Slater on Ugly Betty!

My obsession with Miss America was quasi-renewed when I moved to Houston and would attend Miss Camp America. They held this event the same night as Miss America and it was truly one of the best events in town.

So that’s the story. Guess it also sorta explains my obsession with hurricanes. And to let you know how big of a nerd I can be, I used to memorize the list of major hurricanes that hit the U.S. I used to know the name, the year and where it hit.

Go ahead and say it, “You need a life.”

Labor Day

Labor Day is one of those holidays that emits mixed emotions from me. The holiday was created to recognize the workers of America. Because my birthday is so close to the holiday, I used to think it was also a day to recognize the mothers in America...going through labor and all before giving birth. :-) For many people it also marks the end of summer and the last day to wear white shoes and linen attire.

My first recollection of Labor Day was when I was five years old. You see, school started about the 3rd week in August and because I wasn't six years old, I wasn't old enough to start school. However, the nuns decided to give me a test to see if I had the skills to start school at the age of five. Puhleeeeze! My sixth birthday was just going to be a few weeks later.

Anywho, I passed the test. There were a few others in my first grade class that were in the same predicament. Turns out, three of us went through 12 years of school together and of the three of us, two of us also graduated from college together...yep, sixteen years of being together.

OK. So back to Labor Day. So here we are a couple of weeks into school and now we get a day off. I didn't like 1st grade so I welcomed the holiday but I also dreaded going back. This dread continued all through my school years.

I also associate Labor Day with Jerry Lewis and the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon. This isn't meant to sound mean but it always bothered me that he would trot the kids out on his show and pull at the heartstrings of Americans to donate money. And then he would end the show by singing You'll Never Walk Alone. Most of the time he couldn't finish the song and would have to leave the stage. I would sit there and wonder if this was going to be the year he could actually finish the song?

I also used to associate Labor Day with the start of the new television season! The season premiers started the first week in September; that has since changed.

And speaking of things changing, the Miss America Pageant is no longer held during the week of Labor Day. Like clockwork you could always count on the new Miss America being crowned the Saturday after Labor Day. And just as you can bet on the sun rising, you could bet on me sitting in front of the telly waiting to see who would be crowned the new Miss America.

SIDEBAR: The pageant was actually started as a gimmick to keep tourists in Atlantic City on the Boardwalk for a few extra days. At some point they moved it to later in September and then to a completely different month.

As time went on and I became a laborer, I did appreciate the holiday. For a few years, I would venture over to New Orleans for the festivities. I haven't done that in awhile.

At my former place of employment we would have the annual sales meeting starting the day after Labor Day. Once again, I started to dread the holiday because that meant I had to spend all day Monday getting ready to be gone for the rest of the week. Then when I took ownership of Calvin, it meant that I had to figure out what to do with him before I left for the week.

So this Labor Day is sorta odd because I have no feelings about it. I have The Calvinator by my side and I don't have to worry about what to do with him.

RunnerOne wanted to go for a run this morning. At first I was going to say "No" because it was a holiday but then I remembered that all summer has been a holiday for me. :-) I also almost said "No" because I thought about doing a 5K today. I had read on Will Run For Martinis and Run 4 Your Life" that they were doing the 5K and since I already feel like a slacker I thought the 5K might be a good motivator.

As it turns out, we did a good 3 miles this morning at Memorial Park. It was quiet. I stopped by the office and read the paper. Because I got out of bed this morning and went running, I rewarded myself with a chocolate donut. LOL

Not sure what is in store for the rest of the day. It is supposed to rain later...go figure...so I'll probably plan some indoor chores for this afternoon.

Take care and enjoy your day.

Ramblings Of A Caffeinated Mind 3.3

Carl Rove

The assistant, deputy chief of staff and senior advisor to George W. has turned in his resignation. I'll let these photos speak for themselves.

Unfortunately he is returning to Texas.

Speaking of Texas

It's been hot! And the heat reminds me of an episode from All In The Family. They were having a heat wave and Edith Bunker kept singing (as only Edith could): We're having a heat wave, A tropical wave... Of course Archie told her to shut up.

So guess what's stuck in my head today? My apologies to Irving Berlin.

Even though it was 83 degrees at 630A this morning when I did my 3 mile run, the humidity level must have been lower than previous days. It didn't feel like I was running with two sweaters on.

Tropical Storm Dean is out in the Atlantic heading on a western course. Too early to tell if it will continue west or dog leg and go north.

A tropical disturbance could be forming in the Gulf which could help lower the temperatures in the Bayou City. You see...this is what happens when the calendar flips to August....disturbances, depressions, storms and hurricanes reenter my vernacular.

Tiara revisited

So yesterday's tiara sighting happened to fall on the same day that the Miss America Pageant announced it has found a new home on the telly. They are moving to TLC. CMT opted out of their contract with the organization. CMT picked up the pageant after ABC didn't renew their contract. Prior to ABC, the show was broadcast on NBC for many years.

More on Miss America in a future posting.