Work Work Work

Final morning at the NBA Draft Combine.

*Yawn*

TBG - Exit, pursued by Da Bears

Read - Write Rant For Blog - Reread - Delete

The five stages of blogging strike again...

Hanging out in Messico City doing IT support, basically a warm-up for next month in Sydney and I am doing way too much reading on my right-leaning RSS feeds.

I spent a good bit of the morning writing up a screed on Immigration and the battle for America, with a nice smattering of Doomsday shouting at the end.

I saved it off and went to lunch, then looked at it again a few hours later.

Ooooh that stinks. And of so very borderline racist. The razor's edge...

I'm going to cut out the inflammatory rhetoric and just leave a couple quotes and part of the doomshouting...
=================================================

Thoughtful quote regarding Immigration:

“Now, just to understand better what's going on, let's imagine the shoe on the other foot.
Let's imagine that hundreds of thousands of badly-educated Americans, white Americans, were pouring across the border into Mexico.
And let's imagine that they were insisting on instruction in school in English rather than Spanish. Let's imagine they were asking for ballot papers in English rather than Spanish, they were celebrating Fourth of July rather than Cinco de Mayo, buying up newspapers, publishing in English, television stations, radios, all publishing and broadcasting in English, and that there were so many of them coming in that they threatened to reduce Mexicans to minority.
Do you think the Mexicans could possibly be tricked into thinking that this was enrichment, this was diversity, that this was great?
No.
No. They wouldn’t stand for it for a moment.
This would be to them an impossible unacceptable invasion of their country. And you would find the same reaction in any non-white country anywhere in the world.
Can you imagine, say, the Japanese or the Nigerians, the Pakistanis, the Costa Ricans accepting this kind of wholesale demographic change that would change their country, transform their country, and reduce them to a minority?
No.
These things are impossible to imagine.”
- Jared Taylor

Truth.

The next part was basically a "What Me Worry?" paragraph to lighten the mood after I went off on the state of Immigration in the US:

Neil DeGrasse Tyson says we are screwed anyway...

"On Friday the 13th of April 2029, an asteroid large enough to fill the Rose Bowl as though it were an egg cup, will fly so close to Earth, that it will dip below the altitude of our communication satellites. We did not name this asteroid Bambi. Instead, it's named Apophis, after the Egyptian god of darkness and death.
If the trajectory of Apophis at close approach passes within a narrow range of altitudes called the 'keyhole,' the precise influence of Earth's gravity on its orbit will guarantee that seven years later in 2036, on its next time around, the asteroid will hit Earth directly, slamming in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii. The tsunami it creates will wipe out the entire west coast of North America, bury Hawaii, and devastate all the land masses of the Pacific Rim. If Apophis misses the keyhole in 2029, then, of course, we have nothing to worry about in 2036"- NDG - Space Chronicles - Facing the Ultimate Frontier

Apophis is a huge cosmic question mark, since a shit-ton of elements will still affect it's trajectory... There's questions on it's shape, center-of-mass, spin characteristics, and a bunch of other outside influences that could affect the event.

Wonder what it would be like if the rock splashes down?
Read Larry Niven's Lucifer's Hammer... Great book on life after a meteor impact.

For more info on Apophis, have a peek at NASA's Near Earth Object Program's notes on Apophis and their much-watered-down predictions, including a date change from Friday the 13th, to Easter Sunday, 2029, read here.
==============================================================
There.
Consider yourselves lucky that I thought better of subjecting you to the original
load of horseshit... You dodged a bullet.

TBG - - ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Perception - The '(fillintheblank)' Capitol of America!

Sitting in the office, minding my own business (a/k/a eavesdropping) and folks are discussing dinner last night and how one woman (a New Yorker) had to order some seafood dish on the menu-
"Because San Francisco is the seafood capitol of America."




*Ding!*

This woman needs a high-five.
In the head.
With a chair.
Sadly I am not in a position where I can administer such a much-needed corrective action.


Uh- Honey-
There's this place- Florida?
I don't know if you've heard of it...
Florida= Oysters, Stone Crab, Lobster, Snapper, Grouper, Shrimp, Wahoo, Cobia and the list goes on ad infinitum...


Yeah- San Fran = blah blah blah - Dungeness crab... Whatever.
SanFran MIGHT be the capitol of the US for one specific species of one type of seafood.
(And she's lucky no one from the Chesapeake Bay region was around to school her on blue crabs...)

Now - I will grant that SF (and especially the Tenderloin, where I am staying) is the California capitol of crazies/crackheads/wacked out meth heads/shouters & screamers...
There has been a shooting within 3 blocks of my hotel every night this week.
Even I don't go out late at night around here...


TBG - - ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Compare - Contrast...

Concession prices at the Oracle Arena during game 1 of the NBA Finals...



As compared to The Masters...


Wow.

I guess if you only have a couple hours to screw over 19,596 people, you have to make the best of the situation.

TBG - - ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Doin' Time on Planet NBA

Welcome to June -
I'm firmly embedded, not unlike the storied Alabama Tick, in SF- doing my part for the Finals.
Sadly, I am City One Johnny- I won't be going to Cleveland.
(Breaking my heart here...)

So-
In celebration of the NBA's year-end hoop-de-doo,
cast your eyes upon this little supercut...

Nothin' but net, baby...

TBG - - ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Mexico - Último Día

The last day in Mexico kinda sucked.

I had the early shift for the day- I arrived at the Arena de la Cuidad at 9:00am.

Columna del la Independencia on Paseo de Reforma

At that time it was just me, security, and 8 firemen/paramedics...
Staff started trickling in around 10:30 or so... Even that was kind of early for the hoi polloi since the game had a scheduled start time of 9:30 PM.

I killed most of the day doing basic IT support, and a little pre-strike prep- moving cases to locations handy for breakdown but out of the way, etc.

The bulk of staff were in the house by 5:00pm and we didn't have any major issues.
(Thankfully. Last year at 45 minutes before tip-off there was an electrical short that filled the arena with smoke and the game was cancelled.)


So the game went well- no issues, no fires, no problems. Yay.

Strike started at 11:45pm, and at 2:15am (Thursday) we loaded the last equipment case in truck that was headed back to the good ol' Estados Unidos...
We were back at the hotel by 2:45am and were in need of sustenance so we headed to a taco joint around the corner from the hotel - Tacos Don Güero  (at 65 Rio Nilo) ...

My man & partner in grime Kui, posing with the Giant Cone of Pork - Oh My.


Some of our guys deciding on how we would divide and devour the existing stock.


The Master carving up the al pastor... We put a hurtin' on that thing...


Mmmm. Look at that strata of pork, spices, trichinella and spirochetes. Yum.


El Maestro de la Plancha - he kept the tacos and gringas coming for a good hour.

Everyone had two or three items, drinks, etc- the bill was about $34...
I paid the tab and tipped the guys and we headed back to the hotel.

My shuttle to the airport was at 4:30, just enough time to shower and pack my bags and head downstairs...

No issues at the airport in Mexico, and United was only an hour late departing from Houston with one gate change during my layover, so I'll count that as a minor victory.
Back to Jax by 5:30pm and home at 6:30...
One long damn day.


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Hencho en Mexico

Handy phrases to know if, like me, you are on a short trip to Mexico City...

"Un chupacabra está en mi armario de cableado."

"¿Qué tipo de carne de perro es en este taco? Prefiero terrier en lugar de chihuahua."

Learn to recognize this phrase when approached by a bribe-seeking public extortionist police officer:

"Usted tiene el derecho a permanecer en silencio. Si usted renuncia a este derecho, todo lo que puede puede ser utilizado en su contra en un tribunal de justicia. Usted tiene el derecho a un abogado."*

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
*this is actually a joke. You don't have any rights in Mexico.

Texas, By Ghod. Texas Women & Repression

Last week I was in Texas...
San Antonio, via Houston to be exact.

When I booked my ticket, the San Antonio Spurs had just won the NBA West Conference Finals and were going to be playing the Miami Heat.

I had checked the tickets the day before (to see what it would cost to go to Oklahoma City, in case the Thunder won the West) and the tix were an oh-so-reasonable $419.

The following morning the tickets were $1000+.
Fucking Air Pirates.
It was more economical to fly into IAH and rent a car for a day to drive the 4 hours to San Antonio (and the same going back) - full size rental was $71 and gas was $29.
Was it worth the time? Probably.
(What was my choice? A connection in IAH, and another 40 minutes in the air and claiming my bags in SA, and a $60 taxi ride to downtown?)


After a week of Tex Mex & BBQ, a bomb scare, a heavenly burrata, and a close encounter with a clueless security drone, it was time to head out...

But not before telling stories of a couple more interesting encounters...


First- during the bomb scare I headed a couple blocks away and found a bar to cool my jets in while waiting for the all-clear.
(Because standing across the street [like the 50 or 60 other displaced people like me] from a building that may or may not have a bomb in it is, in my opinion, a stupid idea.)

It was a small, dimly-lit little wine-and-cocktails place with a snotty bartender- unimpressed when I asked for iced tea rather than a $10 mojito or a $12 Pinot Grigio.
There were 4 women also at the bar- looking a little more "In town for a business conference" than "Ladies Who Lunch" or something more social...

Since there was only about 8 seats at the bar I was relatively close to them and could hear the gist of the conversation, I gathered a) they were from a conference at the hotel and they were also displaced by the Drama Therein and b) they were Texas Women and that means trouble.

I did my best to become part of the scenery and was mostly successful, in that I did not intrude in their conversation, neither was I drawn into any interaction, but merely observed the species in the native environment- where I got to see the Texas Transformation...
Things were relatively calm: chatter regarding alcohol, fashion, the Drama at the hotel and upcoming business plans- mundane stuff- until one of the girls mentioned another's Ex.

Holy Mother of Ghod- one of them, a stereotypical big-haired blonde of statuesque proportions went from Zero-to-BatshitCrazy in .005 seconds.

This woman went from reserved and elegant to fire-breathing cast-iron bitch in a heartbeat. I've never seen such a shift in personality so fast...

"ThatfuckingbastardIshouldacuthisfuckingballsoffthefirsttimethatfuckercheatedonmeI'llkillthatbastardnexttimeiseehim..."

Whoa. Check please!

I got the hell out before I became a target of convenience...

-------

My work location in San Antonio was in a conference room populated with a few Yankee females that seemed somewhat humorless and probably not willing to Put Up With My Shit...
(My Shit= That's What She Said, Firearm Humor, Conservative Commentary, and Southern Colloquialisms)
They spent a reasonable amount of time on the phone and I had to repress a huge number of opportunities to TWSS the comment, which would have ended with a phone call to, or an email from Human Resources.
I also had to repress the urge to preface or close every conversation with Honey, Sugar, Sweetheart or Darlin'... Again... HR would be involved, aspersions cast, ogres chastized for insensitivity.
Nope, don't need none of that.
I was afraid, however- those comments and quips have to go somewhere, and repression like that would be detrimental to my alimentary system- you know: if it doesn't come out one end, it will probably come out the other...

But I survived without offending my co-workers- neither by my language or by repression-caused flatulence... Thank Ghod.
(Because a steady diet of Tex Mex doesn't make that kind of good manners easy.)

Next: Wiener Schnitzel Chicken Fried Steak and Good Company

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Stupid Request of the Night - 6/8

I was standing in the sub-concourse of the AT&T Center last night about 10 minutes before the start of the game...
I was in kind of a central location so I could get to courtside easily or get to the other support offices with as much ease...

So I was just standing back, out of the way because the Heat players had just left to court to go back to the locker room between the pre-game shoot-around and the actual spotlights & music re-entry. Everyone from the cheerleaders to maintenance guys, tech support and various league personnel all milling around to get a look at King James and DWade.
As I stood back minding my own business, a security guy approached me from my right...

SG: "Sir... Who do you work for?"

I looked at him like he was speaking Kyrgyzstani... (Keeping in mind I'm wearing a 5"x7" credential around my neck with my picture, company name & "all access/all games" notation. I'm allowed to be here.. I'm even trying to keep the hell out of the way. Why is this idjit fucking with me?)

Yours Truly: "I work for the league. Scoring and IT Tech Support. What's the problem?"

SG: "Sir, are you carrying a weapon?"

He's speaking to me, but watching the hallway and the 'sterile' hallway area.

Ok... Now I'm puzzled.

YT: "No..."  Thinking: Not that I couldn't kill you right here, right now, since you are waaaay too close to me and not really paying attention to what I'm doing.

Security note: If you think I'm enough of a threat that we need to chat- you better fucking pay attention to me when we're talking...

SG: "Sir, it looks to me like you have a knife in your pocket."

Jeebus Pete- you must be fucking joking.
In the realm of 'dangerous shit' a Leatherman donesn't even show up on my radar of Offensive Weapons. (Improvised Weapons, sure- along with most of the other crap in my pockets including the handful of change.)

YT: "My Leatherman? It's not a weapon, it's a tool."

SG: "Sir- I need you to unclip it and put it down inside your pocket."

I gave him my patented "You're shitting me, right?" look.
It's not going to be worth the time to explain to him what a stupid request he was making.

YT: "Fine. No problem."

I unclipped it and slipped it in my pocket. Like 2.5 inches down my pocket is going to make a difference if I had malice aforethought.

There you have it...
The world is safer since my Leatherman is not clipped to the top of my pocket.

I wish the TSA would have a similar policy about multi-tools.
Just keep it out of sight so the sheep don't get nervous.
As opposed to outright confiscation.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

AAR - Oklahoma City

"Something called 'the Oklahoma Standard' became known throughout the world. It means resilience in the face of adversity. It means a strength and compassion that will not be defeated."
- Brad Henry (D) - Gov. Oklahoma

Let me throw a few little comments from JAFO for you to start this off...

First- In Oklahoma City, the Airport is not on Airport Rd...
(And just to add to the irony- Terminal Rd is NOT where the Terminal is located.)

And since we're starting on The Airport...
It's called the 'Will Rogers World Airport'?
Because Will Rogers International Airport was taken?
Will Rogers Intercontinental, maybe?
Meh.

(Looking at the flight displays there weren't many flights to Madrid or London.
There was a flight to LA so I guess its KINDA like an international flight.)


Now, the Chesapeake Energy Arena- now this was a nice place, and the guys running it were top-notch...

But - the name...
With the 'Chesapeake' in the name I would expect it to be in Baltimore or Norfolk... It might be reasonable to give that name to an arena in Richmond VA (University of Richmond- Go Spiders!)...

But in Oklahoma City- How about a local Fortune 500 Company?
Why not The Sonic Arena, or the Braums Forum, or maybe the Hobby Lobby Center?
(I would even suggest the name "Love's Shack" as an arena name, as Love's Truck Stops & Country Stores is a large corporate entity in OKC, and they have a decent marketing presence inside the arena already. Not sure how it'd go over with the B-52s though.)

Anyhoo-
Quite the trip. It was a last-minute gig, and on the spur of the moment I took a chance at reaching out to Famous the Evyl Robot and his inestimably better half- Jennifer to see if I could coax them out to a nosh and good conversation over tiffin.
And glory be- they acquiesced! And they brought along That Guy (a/k/a TeenBot) from Intelligenttrousers.com... A soft-spoken young man, but from reading through his 'blog, he might well be a force to be reckoned with in the 'blogosphere if he continues his writing...

Michael suggested we met up at a little joint in beautiful downtown Edmond OK,
Zarates Latin & Mexican Grill...
Holy mackerel! Such food, you would not believe...
Check out their menu-
I highly suggest a visit any time you are within 100 miles of the place.
I had the Pabellon- a Venezuelan version of Ropa Vieja... shredded beef, peppers & onions in a red sauce... Sooo good.
Michael had the chuleta and Jennifer had the Peruvian saltado (I think...).

I got to see Michael's modded Leatherman, and man, I'm going to whip up a pair of them tout damn d'suite... Go check it out...
Michael and I also discussed my desire for some custom leather for the the 92F Twins and my Anaconda. We'll see how that works out... From the photos and examples I've seen of his work, it should be amazing.

The conversation ranged far and wide- I got to hear the first-hand tales from the NRA Convention, which has steeled my resolve to attend the festivities in Indy next year. We discussed the different bloggers we have all met over the years, talked about firearms, blogging, family, shooting (and lack thereof recently) and all manner of things we find fun...


I got Jennifer to tell the tale of her banner pic with the KSG by Oleg Volk, and we discussed rampant stupidity of mouth-breathing droolers (Those colors don't go together!)
Jennifer and & broke out our iPads and shared pictures, and generally we all had a great time.

But- all good things come to an end- they had obligations and I had an airline employees to make miserable, so we parted company- only briefly, I hope.
One never know who will show up at a blogmeet.

They are Good People-
Odd how that works- JayG and all the NE Blog Crew, Borepatch, the folks in Indy, and all the Texas bloggers like KX59 and Belle in Houston, to BobS and good folks up in Dallas, to the danged Florida bloggers like Robb and McThag that I can never seem to get around to visiting even though they are 3 hours away....
The GunBlogging community are just amazing folks to be around, and I count myself fortunate to be able enjoy their company now and then.


Wrapping up- Michael, Jennifer & Teenbot- y'all are awesome- thanks for a great afternoon.


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Recovered Post: NBA Finals 09 -- Orlando TWSS

I was checking under the hood on Blogger this morning and found some posts that got hung up under the chassis and were never formally posted... Like this gem from back in 2009...

Rios: "I don't share my bananas with anyone."
TBG: "That's what she said."


Other fun quotes...
Sean: "...the rats are going to outlive us."
MichaelM: "Them and Cher."

Good times, good times...
TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

The Starbucks Monologues

One thing that Pat G and I did as we killed time during the USAB events in Madrid and Athens was sit outside Starbucks on the Plaza de Cortez or on Avenue Alexandrou and practice our Snark & Snide...

The following posts are a somewhat stylized narration or talking points from those conversations...

Starbux Monologues  -  Part the First

A memo to women (and European women especially):
Tight white pants and granny panties? Really?

It takes the concept of VPL to a whole 'nother level.

Resist the urge, please.
Thanks-

The Guys

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Pimpin', Madrid Style...

Dude is pimping out his sister...


 She's gonna kick his ass if she finds out...

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Grarr!

The Coat of Arms for the City of Madrid...


Bear attacking Strawberry Tree...

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Arena Fun - Madrid

During our installation & testing phase yesterday, we were treated to an exhibition of Spanish dancing...


No... Not this kind, silly...

Something a little more traditional, for basketball, anyway.



 I was once again on standby to perform CPR or mouth-to-mouth, in case one of the poor malnourished waifs was to pass out from from hunger, or perhaps getting conked on the head by a scoring laptop launched in a low trajectory from courtside something heavy.

That's me, always willing to do my part for the team...

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Bootlegging 101

a/k/a "It fell off  the back of  a truck!"






Non-Licensed NBA gear being sold on the street across from TD Garden...
Where are the Trademark Police when you need 'em?

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Out of Context - Boston

Sitting at a table in a pizza joint across from TD Garden in Boston...

BL:  "I'd like to see you go to the bathroom."
TBG: "Whoa there, big fella!"
BiF: "Check please!"
BL: "Wait..that's not what I meant!"


Sure... That's always the way it starts...
And it usually ends with me in a holding cell, half-blind from pepper spray.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Smack Talkin', Jersey Style- via Boston

John: "When I get back from lunch, that's it. We're throwin' down!"
Tasha: "Oh, you wanna go? We'll go. I'll bring the Vasaline and you take the razor outta your mouth and it's on."
John: (realizing the depth of his error)
"I'm not coming anywhere near you."

It is a wise man who realizes when his cojones are in danger.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Turning Into A Pumpkin at Midnight.

So the festivities were just getting rolling at Room18 with Sean, Kirkwood and the guys from NBA Taiwan.

All their flights have been canceled, but I still have a car coming to get me at 600...

Everyone was gathered at a booth table near the back wall and an (obviously) inebriated Chinese man came up and started greeting everyone in typical drunk Asian - leaning in close, speaking in tongues, elaborate enthusiastic handshakes, and a huge face-splitting grin...

He gets around to Kirkwood and as gets a good look at him, he reaches up and puts one hand to one side of Kirkwood's face...

"Ah!...Black people!" He said, grinning even wider.

Awesome.

Kirkwood broke up laughing...Sean just turned away to keep from laughing in the guys face...

On that note I was outta there...



Gotta pack my bag and keep the positive waves going for my flight...



TBG - ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

NHL / NBA TWSS

While watching Stanley Cup Final Game 6 during halftime of NBA Finals Game 3...

Rios (Shouting during Red Wings power play): "Put it in! Put it in!"

Yours Truly: "That's what...well, you know."



TBG - ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ