The Office Season 3 Notes (so far)

Let me just say that this season of The Office has been great so far. I will have to admit that I am really sad that Jim and Pam and separated from each other and have not been in contact with each other. That relationship was one that really drew me (and many others) to the show. I kinda can connect with Jim on some levels. And I will miss the pranks that he pulls on Dwight. In the first episode, there was a long distance prank (only Jim and Pam knew) because Jim sent Dwight a "Gaydar" which was actually a metal detector and he tested Oscar to see if it would work and it did. He then checked himself, and it went off and he then got worried... It was funny, but also sad because Pam watched the whole thing and then they show her quietly chuckle to herself and it was just sad that she couldn't really share that experience with Jim.

I know that the show's writers did all of this on purpose. If Pam and Jim got together, then it would have been too easy and they wouldn't have a lot to go with the other story lines. This allows their story line to go farther instead of getting together and then allowing for them to fade into the sunset of love. I will definitely keep watching to see what happens to our favorite Dunder-Miflinites. It will be interesting how they work with the 2 different offices and try to cover them both. I wonder if there will be an impending merger of the 2 offices in the future? That would be interesting to see how they work with that.

I am not sure if anybody else noticed, but there are some rather large differences with the Scranton and the Stamford offices. The Stamford Office was NICE. It was a real office and was very classy. The Scranton office, you can definitely tell is in a warehouse. It is not all that. You would think that the Stamford office is in New York because of the classiness of the office. It is like Dunder-Miflin cares more about that office to keep it nicer than they do the Scranton branch... Oh well, but that was something that caught my eye. You would just think that they would be somewhat similar, not as different as they were.

P.S... It was awesome when Jim walked into Dwight's room and only saw Angela's legs and thought that he had a hooker in his room.. It was hilarious to see his expression as he was running away from the room. And yet sad again because he had no one to share that with..

Traditions Lesson: Mean Green

We are the Mean Green. The Official mascot of the University of North Texas is an Eagle, so officially, we are the Eagles. However, we have a secondary moniker; The Mean Green. This stems from one of our famous alumnus: Mean Joe Greene. Many people may know Joe Green from his great playing with the Pittsburg Steelers. Those who know him, should also know that he attended what was then North Texas State University. He was a defensive tackle and that is how he earned the name of "Mean Joe." In the late 60's, we (the University) asked Joe if we could use the combination of his name, "Mean Green" because of his great skills and the service that he provided to the defense of the football team and he obliged. So now in addition to being the UNT Eagles, we are also the UNT Mean Green and have been proud to sport the additional moniker since the late 60's. And this is why we are the MEAN GREEN!

Pictured above is Mean Joe being presented his UNT Football Jersey in 1969 by UNT Officials, one likely being President Kamerick..

Game time!

Well it is that time of year.. Football season! This weekend, the Mean Green is playing Middle Tennessee State (MTSU). This game will also start our Sunbelt Conference Play. In the past, we have won 5-0, so hopefully we will repeat history. There is a pep rally tonight starting at 7pm in Clark Park. It was pretty fun for the SMU game, so it should be just as fun tonight. Be sure to get out your claws and Green shirts and get ready to cheer on our Mean Green team to VICTORY!
The game is Saturday at Fouts and starts at 6pm. You will notice that there will be an influx of people in the stands and this will be attributed to all of the families in town this weekend becasue it is Family Weekend. Stay away from 288 because it will be bad this weekend with all of the extra people in town!

Senate passes Wright Bill!!!

This is freaking awesome. Maybe thing will finally change at Love Field after 30 years of oppression by the Wright Amendment. It still has to pass the House of Representatives, but if it does, then immediately Southwest Airlines is allowed to sell tickets for continuing flights for outside of the "Wright" states. I assume that this will not be too long after it is passed through the House. It still sucks because about 15 gates will have to be destroyed at Love Field (they are unused as of now) because that was a part of the agreement. I will keep you blogsted... (get it.. posted + blog).. ha...

This is why being a teacher is difficult

An elementary Art teacher in Frisco is being reprimanded for what a child saw on a field trip to the Dallas Museum of Art. A 5th grader told their parents that while on the trip, he saw a nude body. When the parent heard of this, they complained to the school district. I should say that the parents were required to sign a permission slip before their child was allowed to go on the field trip. Personally, I don't understand what the big deal is. It is just Art... And it is not like the teacher can control what is put on display. As long as it was not falic, I don't see the big deal. At this point in life, 5th graders are learning about their changing bodies and they show videos about these changes and they are graphic too. It is time that our society stops being so sensitive to things of that nature, especially when it is art. If it was something else, like a movie with sex or something of that nature, that is one thing, but this was ART... GET OVER IT.. The teacher is now on paid leave and Frisco ISD has made the decision not to renew her contract at the end of the school year when it expires. It has not been said if she will be taken off of paid leave or not. It is just ridiculous and this is one thing that makes teachers quit and not teach, because they always have to walk on eggshells to not to offend anyone in order to avoid loosing their jobs. And we wonder why we have issues with teacher shortages....

Source : Dallas Morning News

Part 4 of 4: Gov. Rick Perry

In the final part of the gubernatorial election series is the current Governor Rick Perry. Prior to becoming Governor, he was Lieutenant Governor for former Governor George W. Bush. After Bush left to run for President, Perry took over for him and has won re-election in the subsequent elections. Here is his information below.. as always, visit his website for more details... http://www.rickperry.com/

Experience: Lieutenant Governor, Commissioner of Agriculture 1985-1991, Texas House of Representatives

Issues: (Instead of listing what he will do for the people of Texas, he has listed what he has done for the people of Texas...)

Education: His highest priority... Required schools to spend 65% of every dollar on classroom instruction, signed $2,000 teacher pay raise, require all Texas HS students to take a college-preparatory curriculum..

Health Care: Established Children's Health Insurance Program, instituted medical liability reform, required parental consent for minor abortions, improved Texas mental health system..

Transportation: increased road funding without raising taxes, improved highway safety, created the TransTexas Corridor plan, relocated urban freight rail lines...

Once again, I was a little disappointed with the website. All it had what what he has done for the people of Texas. Being a resident of Texas, I ALREADY KNOW WHAT HE HAS DONE! (sorry) I really wanted to know what he WILL do for the people of Texas. To see for yourself, please check out the website at http://www.rickperry.com/. Also, feel free to use the comments section as a place to list more information that you may know about a candidate or any debates you may have.

I hope that this has been helpful for you as you make a decision about the candidate that you will choose for our elections on November 7. Please remember to register to vote by October 7th because according to state election code, you must be registered 30 days prior to an election to vote.

Desperate times call for desperate measures...

After years of declining sales in the American market, auto makers GM and Ford are possibly discussing a merger of the two companies. Lately, they have had to issue pink slips to many employees because they are not making any money domestically. Their main flaw is that they are still trying to push gas-guzzling vehicles onto the consumer and consumers do not desire these types of vehicles due to the current issues with gas prices. Also, dependability and consumer confidence in the product does not help the situation. Everybody knows the old addage that Ford is an acronym that stands for Found On Road Dead. Unfortunately, Asian auto makers know how to make a good, dependent vehicle that are fuel efficient. The American automakers need to take this idea and run with it. They have made some improvements in the last few years, but they are not good enough. They also need to start developing alternative fuel vehicles because there will be a day where oil will be non-existant.

Story source: Houston Chronicle, Sept. 18, 2006

Part 3 of 4: Kinky Friedman

Next up is Kinky Friedman. Over the past year, he has stirred up a lot of attention for his run for Governor. He had a reality show, has done many interviews, has an action figure, and has been making his way around the state making speeches (making a pitstop here at UNT for a speech). It seems to me that his main audience is college students and those "non-traditional" voters. If you want more specific details, visit his website at www.kinkyfriedman.com. Here are his stats:

Experience: Writer and Musician

Issues:

Education: Raise teachers pay, legalize casino gambling to fund education, stop the practice of "Teaching to the test".

Healthcare: Does not agree with the cancellation of the CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program)

Energy: Wants to encourage development of new methods of energy generation, really pushing for the use of biodiesel.

Visiting his site, I was a little dissapointed with the amount of information provided for his stance on issues. They are really scant and sketchy at that, where you have to interpret his stance instead of reading it directly and knowing exactly. As I said before, please consult his website for more details... www.kinkyfriedman.com

Gubernatorial Election Part 2 of 4: Carole Keeton Strayhorn

No matter how you know her, Carole Strayhorn, Carole Keeton Rylander, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, one thing that she wants you to remember is that she is 'One Tough Grandma'. Strayhorn, our State Comptroller, is running for the governors office. She is going about things a little differently, as State Comptroller, she was elected as a Republican. For Governor, she is running as an Independent candidate. Being that Rick Perry is running for re-election, she cannot run as a Republican, because things just don't work that way. One of her biggest soapbox issues deal with education, which as Comptroller, she has seen many of the in and outs of education funding. Here is how she stands on key issues per her site www.carolestrayhorn.com :

Experience: First woman elected as State Comptroller (1998-current), Austin ISD Board of Trustees, Mayor of Austin (1977-1983), State Board of Insurance, Texas Railroad Commission

Public Education: Improve public schools and ensure students knowledge retention, Recruit/Retain quality teachers, Provide long-term reliable funds for schools, Make Higher Ed more affordable and accessible.

Transportation: Stop TTC(TransTexas Corridor), Increase capacity on IH 35, improve state rail system, against new toll roads.

Health Care: Fully restore CHIP (Childrens Health Insurance Plan), creation of "Affordable Health Care for Texans" plan.

Miscellaneous Issues: No Income Tax and repeal of New Business Income Tax, end of wasteful spending, fully fund and expand the State Parks System, property tax relief, stop fast tracked 'dirty' coal plants

There is the information about Carole Strayhorn. For more details about specifics please check her website : Carole Strayhorn.. Also feel free to use the comments section to post any thoughts about Carole.

Wright Fight Continued.....

Today a US House panel reviewing the proposition that a consortium of the Cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, American and Southwest Airlines, and, D/FW and Love Fields wrote to propose an end to the Wright Amendment. They have approved all parts of it, but they have taken out the language regarding the anti-competition laws. From my understanding of all of this, this would allow Southwest Airlines (SWA) to be the sole airline at Love Field. Personally, I do not care if there are other airlines at Love. I just think that the Wright Amendment should be revoked. The Wright Amendment, written in 1979 by House Speaker Jim Wright, was put in place to protect D/FW International Airport in its time of growth. Basically the Wright Amendment places a restriction on where SWA can fly from Love Field (the 8 states that surround the State of Texas). With its repeal, SWA would be able to fly anywhere within the contiguous 48 states. Wright is wrong because D/FW is one of the largest airports in the nation and they do not need the protection anymore. SWA is being penalized because they run their business efficiently and can afford to charge consumers less than the traditional airline. This proposal needs to be passed soon because the agreement that was signed by the consortium expires at the end of this year. Hopefully this removal of language will not put a snag in the effort to repeal Wright.. More to come... Source: WFAA-TV

Blog Special : The Gubernatorial Candidates Part 1 of 4, Chris Bell

Well, it is getting to be that time again.. We are in an election season and the fights are fixing to become heated. In Texas, we have a coveted spot up for grabs (so to speak), Texas Governor. There are a lot of candidates this time around, 2 Independents, a Democrat, and the incumbent. Politics is usually not my thing and I keep at least a good arms length away from it because sometimes politics can be really retarded. However, I feel that this election is important because I feel that we need a change in leadership in the Governor's Office. We as a state have many issues and they are not being addressed by the current administration. In my quest to research candidates for myself, I will share a condensed version of the candidates stances on important issues. FYI... The information is coming directly from the horses mouths, via their respective websites and I will include links to their websites so you can investigate them for yourselves. This year, Election Day is November 7, 2006. In order to vote in this election, you must be registered to vote in the county that you reside in 30 days prior to the general election, which would be October 7, 2006, so please register to vote before then. You can get information about registering to vote here : VoteTexas.

Chris Bell (D)- Houston -- website : ChrisBell.com

Past Service: Houston City Council Member 1997-2002, Congressman 2002-2003 (ousted due to redistricting)

Solutions to problems:

Education: Create a Bi-partisan commission to work on education problems instead of working separately, create some type of tax to assist with School Finance

Higher Education: End tuition deregulation, tax-free textbooks, increase funding to public universities, defend the Texas Grant program to make college more accessible for disadvantaged students

Environment: Strengthen environmental regulations, protect air quality, develop new energy solutions (alternative energy sources), protect water quality, push for smarter land management and conservation

Toll Roads: Stop TranTexas Corridor in its tracks

Immigration: Secure the border with National Guard, crack down on illegal hiring practices

For more information, please visit his website : www.chrisbell.com. You can get more details on plans listed above and how you can get involved in his campaign if you choose to do so.. Please feel free to use the comment section to participate in debates..

ABC is stupid

Ok.. So I just got done watching the ABC dramatization of the events that lead up to the events of 9/11. I was not able to watch the first part last night, but I do have it taped. After watching the conclusion of the "drama," I do not think that I need to watch anymore. The whole thing just reaks of nastyness and I think that ABC made a bad move in putting this crap on the airways. When they returned from the Presidental address, and before it initially started, they had a loooong notice stating that this was a dramtization of events listed in the 9/11 Commission's report and that it was not a documentary. Going on my own knowledge of the movie and television industry, documentaries are to be informative and dramas are to be entertaining. I was NOT entertained. Also, with all of the hype about it and their own proclaimation that it was a dramitization, I could not it seriously. If it is not factual, then why put it on the air? Especially on a day such as today when we are supposed to be reflecting on and remembering these people who were the first responders to the attack on our freedom. That was without taste and I personally am dissapointed with ABC. They should not have used an event such as this as an opportunity to cash in on ratings. I have lost respect for this organization. I really do not want to watch ABC anymore, which sucks because I enjoy Grey's Anatomy and I really respect the local affiliate's news and weather departments, but as for a network, I am disheartened by their actions. It was just another opportunity to politicize another eveny that has touched our hearts and another chance for a company to take advantage of their fellow man while they are down..

We Won!

This weekend, the Mean Green played the ponies of SMU. It was a great game. Johnny Quinn kept us afloat by receiveing some great passes from our new QB. Jamario tried to get some plays, but everytime that the ball was passed to him, he was tackled immediately. It is like everybody knows to take him down after a pass. The same thing happened with Patrick Cobbs.. The score, by the way, was 24-6. Great 4th quarter. I am still horse from Saturday night.

I was very suprised and excited about the amount of people in the stands. The student section was filled with a sea of green, which is unusual because it is hard for our campus to come together due to our status as a commuter school. I just hope that this new attendance will stick and more people will come to the game to root on our team.

---Update--- The attendance was 25,231, the 3rd largest crowd to ever watch a UNT football game... Keep it up!

Facebook Changes

This week, Facebook has made changes to their website. Now when you login, you are bombarded with EVERY single change that any of your friends have made on their site, or who they have friended, or messages that they have sent. Reading the Dallas Morning News this morning, there was a story about it... this is just wild that a change like this can make the newspaper. I am in agreement though, the changes suck! Why can't they just leave things alone? It was just fine the way that it was.. I mean, I love Facebook...more than Myspace and I don't want to have to have to switch to Myspace because it is just not as good as Facebook... I just thought that it was interesting to find a news article about a change on Facebook.. it just shows how much technology really envelops our lives...

Update: No Action from FB City Council

This is in response to my original post about Farmer Branch City Council taking action against illegal immigrants within their city limits.. (click link for original post)

The City Council met last night and they decided that they are not going to take any action against illegal immigrants at this time. They did, however, promise to take action this fall if the US Senate does not begin the process of dealing with illegal immigrants within the U.S. They suggested that they would write letters to Senators Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn in addition to each city and school district within the State of Texas. Source : Dallas Morning News

I agree that something needs to be done with illegal immigration, but I do not think that it should be up to a city to make that sort of determination. Yes, employers should be fined for hiring illegals, but I don't think that a city should restrict these people from living within their city limits, unless they are causing problems and crime, and at that point, the police should do a proper investigation and alert the INS or ICE (whatever you want to call it these days..) I just think that it is not the place for Farmers Branch or others cities for that matter to meddle in Federal issues..

Update: Farmers Branch Debacle

The City of Farmers Branch is meeting tonight to discuss the controversies that one City Council Member has brought up about making it harder for Illegal Immigrants to do business in the city of Farmers Branch. Tim O'Hare, the council man who proposed the new ordinances disallowing illegal immigrants to live in or own businesses in Farmers Branch is supposed to be meeting with the LULAC President to discuss the proposed rules after the council meeting tonight. Some residents in FB have cheered on O'Hare and some are calling for his removal from office. The Mayor of FB is saying that everything is being blown out of proportion and that the city council is supposed to just discuss the legalities of such ordinances... More to come on this issue.. See the Dallas Morning News article for more info...

UPDATE: Katie was awesome!

"Hi, everyone. I'm very happy to be here with you tonight," was how a new legacy of CBS network news began tonight. With the exception of a small word fumble, it was great! Despite all of the critics, I think that she will do an awesome job. The show did have a new and fresh feel to it, comparing it to the old days when Dan Rather used to be the host. The theme music was good, but it did not sound exceptionally special, even though it was created by James Horner. It was very apparent that it was the first show because she made several references of "newness." I liked the "Snapshots" and the "Freespeech" segments. This one was with Morgan Spurlock, of Supersize Me fame. She brought a personal touch to the newscast, which is very important to it because that is something that viewers want, a personal touch. She invited viewers to interact, read her blog, etc. She even asked for help in determining a proper signoff. They played a montage of all of the CBS Evening News signoffs and one of "Anchorman's" Ron Burgandy. She just ended it with the standard "Thank you for watching, I hope to see you again tomorrow."

I have been a long time NBC newswatcher, but I think that I will now have to split my time between the two just to see what is going on with each. Brian Williams had a spirited sign off tonight wishing Katie welcoming her to the time slot and good luck, but not too much. I am interested to see what will come in the future and will have to keep tabs on it. I just may add her blog to the list of blogs that I read in the mornings.

TV History Happening Tonight

Tonight, Katie Couric will be making her hyped up debut on the CBS Evening News, replacing Bob Schieffer, who replaced the old block Dan Rather last year. Katie will be the first woman to be the sole anchor for a national evening news program. Last year, Elizabeth Vargas with ABC started the "trend" by co-hosting ABC World News Tonight after long time anchorman Peter Jennings passed away from lung cancer. With her new presence on CBS, they gave her a new theme song, and they will be the first network to offer a live simulcast of the evening broadcast. In addition, she will be offering a "Free Speech" period for viewers to speak their mind and also she and her "company" will be maintaining a blog talking about issues or stories that they were not able to put on the Evening News or that they could not elaborate upon. They want to just make the show more personal and seem more accessible for viewers. Couric is now joining the ranks of Walter Cronkite, Edward R Murrow, Tom Browkaw and numerous of others in Broadcast TV history. It just sucks that whenever they first started talking about Couric joining the network that there were those out there who doubted her abilities because she did some "fluff" work while she was on NBC's Today Show. She has an excellent resume and I thing that she will do a great job at CBS. It will just be weird seeing her in the evening instead of the mornings.. I am excited to see this history making broadcast...

Small town affiliates share with the big dogs..

Fellow blogger Mike McGuff made a post about Fox O&O's (Owned and Operated) sharing their news coverage with nearby smaller market affiliates. That is just weird. Personally, I would prefer my news coverage to be covered by a local team who knows my community, not somebody from a few hours away trying to talk about things they don't really know about.. Also, it is cool to watch the news of a different city, but, then again, I would prefer my local news over some cities news from several hours away. In areas that surround North Texas, like Sherman and Tyler/Longview, they some of their own affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox, but on cable (and over the air in Sherman), they can get the D/FW version of their network station in addition to their localized station. I would think that residents of those areas would not appreciate their local stations shutting down and switching their signal to the DFW station. It would help those bigger affiliates, because they would make more money in advertisement sales and would have a better opportunity to do well with ratings, but it is still a little crazy...

Just nod your head in agreement...

After going on my trip, I think that it would be cool if I could live in the UK for a couple of months. What better way to do that than to Study Abroad again, except, it would be for a semester. With my graduation in December, it will make it harder to do a study abroad. Masters programs are not set up to accept transfer credit, so I don't know how all of it could work. I could take some undergrad classes there and just take some of my masters classes online. I don't know how all of that would work out.. It is possible, but I don't know how. Also, there is also the thing about a job and bills and money to spend while I am there, and I don't know how all of that would work out. I think that it would be easier to live over there if I did a study abroad program because otherwise, I could only live there for like 2 months, and it is not worth it to find an apartment for that amount of time and also it would be really expensive to live in an accommodation for that period of time. Whatever I do though, it will be really expensive, so I don't know. I definitely need to go back so I can explore those places that I missed, like London and the southeastern portions of the UK. I already have priced flights, and the prices are not bad. Just all together though, it would be a very costly trip...

We Scored!!!

Yay!! The Mean Green played the National Champion Texas Longhorns this weekend. Last year when we met up with the Longhorns, they totally clobbered the Mean Green 63-0. This weekend, we made a good effort and scored 7 points. I was excited to hear this. On Saturday, we will be playing SMU at home. This should be a good game because SMU and UNT used to be rivals back in the day. SMU played Texas Tech this past weekend and they only scored a field goal, so this is promising for a Mean Green win this weekend.. I CANT WAIT!

Weekend in Aggieland

This weekend, I went to College Station to get a taste of the culture at Texas A&M and to take in a football game. It was really cool. Everybody there was proud to be an Aggie and they had no problems showing it. The campus was really cool. It is huge. It takes about 20 minutes to get from one side of the campus to the other. While walking around on Saturday, we visited the Bonfire Memorial. It was a nice site. It looks somewhat similar to the Murrah building memorial in OKC. They did a great job with it. When they have football games, they have yell practice the night before called Midnight Yell. At A&M, they do not have cheerleaders. They have Yell Leaders. Whenever they want the crowd to do a yell, they start giving signals to the crowd (that you learn during orientation and at Yell Practices) and based on that signal, the crowd knows which yell to perform. So on Friday, we practiced all of the yells and the yell leaders told stories to inspire the crowd and to get the crowd pumped up for the game on Saturday. They were the most random stories that I have ever heard. One had to do with Canadians and the Citadel. I hoped that there weren't any Canadians in the crowd because I am sure that they would have been insulted by the story. The game was an interesting experience all in itself. First off, you have to stand the whole time because of the spirit of the 12th man. If a player were to be injured, then you have to be ready to go play. This came about back in the early 1900's when TAMC (at that time) only had 11 players total (just enough for a team) who had to play both defense and offense. A player got hurt during the game and they faced forfeiture if they could not get anyone else to play. A guy in the stands jumped up from the stands, suited up and joined the game. So at every game, all spectators (or really hard core fans) have to stand up and be ready to join the game if needed. Also, there was a lot of people there. The count for the night was 70k people. It showed it, but I was a little disappointed because I figured that they whole stadium would be filled to the brim like I hear that it usually is during games. They also had a jumbotron built. The picture was great and you could see everything in good detail, but every single video on there was "Brought to you by..." and it was just a little annoying. Overall, I had a great time. It was cool to see what happens at a different university. It kinda gave me an appreciation for my own...