Nearly at 100

As I near my hundredth post, i wanted to take a moment to thank you, the readers. I could sit here and type whatever I felt like, but it is YOU the readers that make this a blog.

For the past six months I have been a member of the Online Blog Community. What started out as the infamous "notes section" on an independent website morphed into a full blog site. As much as I enjoy typing my reactions to the world, what has made this whole time special is the core of readers who visited the site each and every day. Not an entry has gone by when I didn't receive a thoughtful e-mail from a reader about the content. Whether it was a compliment or criticism, it was always written in the best of taste and expressed an articulate, poignant viewpoint. Time and time again, it is you the readers who have demonstrated why you are considered amongst the most passionate and intelligent individuals out there in cyber space.

I have always written in a straightforward and uncompromising way, and I have always been appreciative that you allowed me to question certain truths. You indulged me in my quest to understand the election of 2004. You went with me when I questioned the underlying darkness of the Democratc Party Leadership and the people behind it. We found and lauded the real winners of life and thumbed our noses at the real losers that I have encountered. Many times I went against certain people or groups that are revered for a myriad of reasons. While many replies I received were negative, most of your responses were factually based. If I made a mistake, you let me know in a way that was kind, courteous, and frank.

The poet Robert Frost once wrote..."Two roads diverged in a wood and I- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." Frost's credo reflects how I have chosen to attack the world of blogging and in many ways the way I live my life: Unflinching. Unapologetic. Uncompromising. Unwavering. Whether you loved me or hated me, agreed with me or were staunchly opposed, thought I was a good writer or convinced I was smoking the ganga, hopefully, if nothing else, you respect me. Because, truth be told, I respect all of you. I can't even begin to tell you what an honor and pleasure it is to write for such a smart and well-read audience. Without knowing it, you inspired me to push myself on every entry.

I'm also proud to have helped to expand the types of yall would read. I made you think as I connected the dots from one point to another as i weaved together an opinion based on facts. In doing so, I received a e-mails from readers who told me that they were going to look at the world differently after reading one of my entries. In fact someone once told me that they never realized the myriad of dynamics that really do appear in life. She even said that will critically analyze what she sees in an effort to better understand the world around her. A greater compliment I have never received.

I am not writing this as a way of saying goodbye, but as a way of saying thank you. Blogging is hard work and takes a certain amount of time out of a person's day. While I will not be able to update daily, I will certainly try to update 3 times a week. If you want to comment, you can email me or comment directly on my posts.


And for anybody interested in speaking to me in person, you'll be able to find me on the corner of State and Monroe in Downtown Chicago. I'll be the one standing on the cold, hard pavement Texans hat on my head Texas flag in hand. Afterall, what else would you expect from the man known to the world as BIG TEX.

Yeah I know

Yes, I realize it has been a while since my last post, but I have just not been up to it. I am in the midst of mid term season with 1 paper, 2 presentations, an analysis, and an exam and have been pushing myself quite hard. Becuase of that, I started feeling fatigued and needed to slow down a bit. On top of that the first couple of the interviews that I am doing for an externship practicum expierence are scheduled(one done) and I am getting ready for the others.

As I sit here on Thursday I realize how little I did last semester in comparison to this one. I am only taking one extra class, but with the application process, interviews, etc for the practicum it really feels like I am pulling to exra classes this semester. The nice thing about practicum though is that it should be over(the application process) by the day after Easter.

I do not have that much more to say, but I will comment my dissapointment on the cancellation of the NHL season. I enjoy hockey and it was something I was looking forward to when I moved to Chicago. I sincerely hope that the players and owners come together and hammer out a deal so that we can have a season come fall.

I will comemnt on the Spring Training and the NFL draft in subsequent posts.

You ever have one of those days...

You ever have one of those days when you sleep a lot, but the quality of sleep is shitty so that you feel like a zombie walking through the rest of the day? That was me today. I went to bed pretty early last night, but just did not sleep well. I know i woke up a coupel of times at 4:56 am and then later at 7:53 am. I eventually woke up around 10 am but felt pretty groggy.

Pretty much from the moment i got up till essentially now I have felt like I am just not runnign on a full battery. It feels like I am a step or two behind where I want to be and I just cannot catch up. Luckily I have noc lass tomorrow, so hopefully I can get back on schedule tomorrow.

In other news Howard Dean is now the head of the DNC. Looks like the Democrats have decided not to listen to me this time. It will likely come to bite them on the ass and I will be the first one to laugh at them. I have said numerous times why people like Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton are bad for the Democratic Party. Both candidates would push the party far too left for the average voter. In order to win in these days you have to be able to get moderates and cherry pick either the conservative democrats or the liberal republicans. In essence an extreme candidate may get their base, but will not get nearly enough cross over votes to win a National Election. If the Democrats are smart they will not run Hillary in 08. Then again, they havent listened to me before, and look where it has gotten them...

What a difference

So i was sitting in one of my classes this week and we were discussing the Erickson's stage theory. If you want to know what this is, simply google it, it is not easy to explain in a line, and I am too lazy to even try. So while talking about these stages, someone made a comment about things they did at a particular stage. As the person spoke I was reminded of things I did 10 years ago.

It seems so long ago, but I can still remember some of those days. At that point I was barely in middle school and had just started going to the school I would eventually graduate from highschool years later. I remember that for the first time I was taking about 7 classes, had to switch classes, and had to keep my stuff in a locker. I felt like such a big person to be able to do that. That feeling wore off within a couple of months, but I remember that feeling even to this day.

I also rememebr those days becuase in 1993, I picked up a 486 DX Gateway 2000 PC. In 1994, just months later I was hooking up my PC to something called Prodigy. It was not prodigy.net but old school prodigy. A few months later, in 1995, I hooked my computer up to a program called America Online. AOL was on version 1.0 at that time. In this time period there were not a ton of internet sites and the modem speeds were really slow. But that was where I got my start. In fact when I first got onto the internet, I told myself one day I too will design a site. And years later I was able to do so . Those days really helped make me the person I am today: the Big Tex, you have come to know and love!

One more and its a long wait

As much as I love football, there is a part of me that hates the Superbowl. I mean the game itself progresses at a crawl due the multitude of commercial breaks. Also it represents the last pro footbal game until September. (And before I get any email or comments on this, no I do not watch the probowl. ) This is a bit of a void period in the sports world for me.

The NFL draft is still a few months away , MLB spring training begins in a few weeks, and there seems to be no ice hockey on the docket this season. So on Monday the only professional sport left is basketball! Now I do not like basketball at all so this will not be a fun sports period for me. I suppose I can try following some AHL and arena football but it isnt the same. In fact I will be going to the All State Arena for some ice hockey and possibly Arena football so I will tell yall about that.

I have more to say, but I will create another post for it.

Hmm, Its a tough Game out there

So I am now applying to practicum sites. Basically this is a place where I will be given the oppertunity to apply the skills I learned in the classroom in a "prctical setting", hense the name practicum. Catchy name isnt it!

Anyway, so I need to apply to these places. Before I was even allowed to apply I had to give my school's "practicum committee" a list of sites I wanted to apply to, and then based on my CV, and statement of interest would determine if that site would be a good place for me, and either allow or deny me the right to apply to it. It also help to make sure that not too many people from school end up applying to the same spot. But, of course I am not only competing wth people from my school, but I am competing with all other students in Chicago. so it should be an interesting expierence.

I am not quite ready to send out my applications yet. I stll need to write the cover letters, get the recomendation from professors, amonst other things. However, I am excited over the process. It should be over in a couple of months and I am hopeful I will get soem choice as to what end up doing and the location where I end up working. I of course will provide further deatils on this front as they come.