Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

So, put another year in the books.

Since this is a not-quite-yet-abandoned personal blog that’s sometimes also about politics, that requires some sort of personal statement, right?

Damned if I know what that is, except blogging has kind of jumped the shark, hasn’t it?

I had thought the blogging impulse would come back this year, but instead … it was a lot more interesting spending time with actual people (social instead of media?). Grilling (with neighbors and friends). Wine (with neighbors and friends). Travel (50,000 paid miles, another 12k of reward travel, and aiming for roughly the same in 2012). Face-to-face interaction of all sorts. And my nose in the Kindle more (but in the woods much less, which is not so good). And yeah, a bit of social media (okay, probably too much time on twitter) and some home improvement. There’s your 2011. With plenty of (parentheticals)! Woo! (By the way, Parentheticals wouldn’t be a bad blog/tumblr name, wonder if it’s taken?)

Here’s wishing a Happy and Fulfilling 2012 to the folks who may still be following the little blog. I won’t promise there will be lots of blog posts in 2012, but maybe we’ll have the chance to grab a beer or sip some wine or share a campfire or… well, you get the idea. Hope to see ya around!

Biking Pawhuska

Here is today’s bike ride around Pawhuska, courtesy of Android/Google My Tracks:


View 2011-11-24 14:43 in a larger map

Observations:

1) The ride UP to Skyline Drive is a good way to burn off Thanksgiving carbs.

2) Gravity is your friend if you’re *ahem* overweight and riding downhill.

3) Uphill, not so much.

Okay, back to Thanksgiving football.

A day in the blockquoting life…

But while all of us have been known to quote and excerpt–myself included–no major blogger takes entire blog posts and articles, and reproduces them entirely on his/her website with anything approaching the frequency displayed on Brad DeLong’s website.

It’s a silly blogging style, when you think about it.

By “major blogger” he really means national blogger with a big following. Locally, we can easily point to a celebrated blogger who has mastered that “style.” Indeed, those compelling “I don’t know much about…” ledes represent a refinement (of sorts) to the approach.

Chron does its thing with Phillips

Somehow, the Dallas Cowboys seemed notably lacking in technique and fundamentals as they lumbered out to that 1-7 start under head coach and defensive coordinator Phillips.

He’s been a pretty decent defensive coordinator across the league, but he failed badly in his last gig with some pretty good defensive talent. Maybe he can restore his good reputation (without good 3-4 talent) in Houston.

Sadly, the headline wasn’t even the most outrageous part of McClain’s article. The most outrageous part would be the Texans’ 2009 payroll, which ranked as third-highest in the league and is even more evidence that the Rick Smith/Gary Kubiak combo haven’t a clue when it comes to managing talent. Better give them a vote of confidence, though! They make the owner feel good. *eyeroll*

Hello 2011

Hello all,

The blog has been “back” in terms of the slightly updated appearance and totally new WordPress backend* for a few days now. But I wanted the top post to remain a tribute to my mom through 2010.

To be completely honest, I haven’t been that motivated to post anything to the personal blog until recently anyway. Of course, my mom loved the stuff here (probably the personal and travel stuff a lot more than the political), and losing that audience really kind of sapped the motivation (and the heart, and, well, you know) for quite a while.

Quite a lot has happened since 11 July 2010, some of it documented on twitter/facebook/flickr/diigo/elsewhere. I don’t intend to rehash it (it’s 2011 now, onward!), but there have been some really good times — travel, friends, family, wine, Kindle (!), grilling, backyard, etc — mixed in with those moments of just aching that my favorite reader will no longer be eagerly checking out my little pixel patterns almost as quickly as I could arrange them. Life’s oscillations, hmm?

Anyway, Happy 2011 everyone. I think it’s going to be a really great year.

* We went through a short period on the Expression Engine blog platform. And then they went and revamped everything and introduced an expensive, screwy pricing structure that makes NO SENSE to me (ultimately designed to make the thing exclusively a commercial tool instead of one for hobbysts, I guess). So I gave in and went with WordPress. Old entries and comments have been imported from Expression Engine and Nucleus, mostly successfully it seems.

Louise Whited (1943-2010)

Louise Whited passed away on Sunday, July 11 2010 at Jane Phillips Medical Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Louise was born in Pawhuska, Oklahoma on May 28, 1943 to Joe Smith and Mary Katherine “Mitzi” Smith.

As a young woman, Louise enjoyed exploring new places, and spent time working in both Denver and the Grand Canyon areas. She later returned to Pawhuska, where she worked for some years at the Manhattan Cafe and Duncan Hotel restaurant. She married her husband of 42 years, Frank Whited, on March 20, 1968 in Honolulu, Hawaii. After a short time in Orange, Texas, they returned to Pawhuska, where she devoted herself to family. In recent years, she worked as an Avon representative and also was active on the internet.

Louise is survived by her husband Frank, son Kevin and his wife Callie, sister Sabra Trochta, brother Charles R. “Chuck” Smith, and numerous nephews and nieces. She was preceded in passing by sister Sandra Jackson and brother Joe “Brownie” Smith. She was a devoted daughter, wife, mother, sister, aunt, and friend.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, July 15 at 10 AM in the McCartney’s Johnson Funeral Home chapel. Longtime family friend Rev. Lottie Adams Ozbun will officiate. Interment will be in the Pawhuska City Cemetery.

Think Ford might like this one back?

Photo of the gas cap from our Ford Fusion rental (a below average compact class car) in Alaska:

I’m thinking Ford might like that one back about now.

Linkpost (06/24/2010)

Oh yeah, I have this blog going again…. I better put something up before BigBro yells at me.

Happy Father’s Day…

… to all you dads out there!

We’re headed back to Houston later today after spending the weekend with my dad (who’s busy cooking us breakfast, ‘cos some dads just don’t take a holiday no matter what the greeting card industry decrees).

Linkpost (06/19/2010, the “made in Oklahoma” edition)

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