Get ready!

Our first wintry-hard freeze day is coming on Thursday. Unfortunately, there will not be any sticking of the cold stuff because:

1. It will be 42 degrees outside, not cold enough for freezing
2. The day before the high temps will be in the high 70's, low 80's and the ground will be too warm to allow the ice to stick (which really sucks, because it would be awesome if school and work can be cancelled!)

But is still exciting nonetheless. In the northern counties, there is a chance for sleet/freezing rain to fall, so that is still awesome. I just need to obtain a nice, thick winter coat :)

Happy Monday!

RIP Chopsticks

Today bulldozers are demolishing a beloved Denton icon on Fry Street: Mr Chopsticks. Also set for demolition today is the old building that housed Uncommon Grounds that is on Oak St. Yesterday, they gutted the insides to prepare it for the bulldozer today. A candlelight vigil was held last night in memory of one of Denton's favorite eateries.

Click here for Debbie Denmon's report (WFAA-TV)

Click here for Raw Video from KNTU and the Denton Record Chronicle

And, as always, you can get information about the Fry Street debacle at www.savefrystreet.com

To Chopsticks : We will miss you in your original state... we, the students of the University of North Texas will be back in full force when you make your return to Fry Street.

To the Houston Investor : You are an idiot.

Fox pulls the plug on the Juice

Unfortunate for OJ, the publishers and FOX has pulled out all of the plans for the book written by Simpson which was to detail how he would have committed the murders if he had did it. It was stupid for him to write it in the first place and even stupider for a publishing company to back him on this venture. Now from what I have heard in the media for the last few days, it was the publisher who made him to do it to "realize" his guilt, but even still, this is OJ's way to say "haha, you never convicted me!"

It is unfortunate that despite all of the evidence that a California jury did not find him guilty. I know that if this would have happened in Texas, he would have already faced the fate of infamous needle in Huntsville.

The people of California failed the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

Shame on you Mr Murdoch and Mr Simpson for trying to make money on this sad event in American History.

Resurgence of the Draft

A Democrat from NY, Charles Rangel thinks that it would be a good idea to stop the temptation of starting wars by reinstating the draft for men and women from the age of 18 to 42. What the heck is he thinking???

Yes, I understand that there is a need in the military because numbers are dwindling, a lot of that has to do with the fact that many are loosing their lives for an unjust and unwinnable cause, however, a draft is not the answer. Even the Department of Defense says that it does not want a draft. Why would an organization want a bunch of people in their organization if the people do not want to be there in the first place.

A draft could be very counterproductive. There may be people who would do stupid things just to get out of having to go to a warzone. Unfortunately, I do not think that a draft is a part of the answer.

It is a very honorable privilege to serve one's country, but I think that you should want to do it and not be forced to do it. Not everybody is cut out for military service.

Also, when all of this happened with the Vietnam war, there was a backlash, and there will be another one again if it is passed by the House.

Additionally, (I just keep thinking of things..) this Representative thinks that being that the House is of a Democratic majority, he thinks that he will be able to pass his bill a lot easier, but I have to break it to him now, I do not think that the Dem's are going to back him on it. There is a lot of argument about the war to begin with and I think that it would not be productive to any representative's career to agree to a draft bill. If they do that, they should kiss their job goodbye...

Been in Office 2 days and already causing waves...

Shelly Sekula Gibbs, now Congresswoman in the 22nd TX Congressional District (Tom Delay's former district) is thrusting herself into the limelight in our Nation's Capitol. On the first day, her staffers walked out and left her high and dry. Supposedly she was mistreating her staffers..

"Never has any member of Congress treated us with as much disrespect and unprofessionalism as we witnessed during those five days," said the former Chief of Staff

Before they left, they deleted some of the files on the office computers and now she is starting an investigation into why they were deleted.

All I have to say is, it is probably best that she was not voted in for the full term. The people of the 22nd district needs somebody who is willing to work hard for them and fight for their needs, not to be picking little fights here and there for arbitrary causes. There has been enough controversy with that district and the people of the 22nd district needs some peace and quiet.

Shelly just needs to take a chill pill. Being that she is a MD, she can just prescribe some to herself. It will be interesting to see what other sparks that she can cause in the next 6 weeks that she will be in office...

P.S. The Washington Post has called her a "Lame Duck." That is just hilarious.

P.S.S. I was reading about all of this yesterday, and I can't remember where I read it, but I read that she was upset that President Bush and VP Cheney did not come wish her well at her introduction party. In attendance was Kay Bailey Hutchinson and fellow Rep and Houstonian Ted Poe. My first thoughts were : "what makes you think that you are that special? You are only going to be there for a short time, so what does it matter?"

Clear Channel Merging and diffusing...

Today Clear Channel has been acquired by 2 investor groups. They are doing this to become a private company (not traded publicly on the NYSE). They have raised the price of the stock to "buyout" their shareholders.

We all know Clear channel from the outdoor billboards that we see on the roadways everywhere (I even saw some in the UK), radio stations, and Television stations (there is only one in Texas, San Antonio's NBC station).

As a result of this merger, they will be selling off some of their radio stations and all of their TV stations. Not to worry though, they are only selling off the stations that are outside of the Arbitron rated top 100 (which included all of the major TX radio markets).

I am really interested who will pick up the TV group. There isn't a TV company really looking to buy right now, but I am sure that somebody will pick them up.

The only thing that is a little sad is that WOAI in San Antonio is the anchor station of the Clear Channel stations, and I will wonder what will happen to it once it leaves the arms of Clear Channel...

Tesco in the US!

Sorry it has been so long since I have last written... school and life has been crazy with something always going on.. to my avid readers, I thank you for your patience... :)

So now on to business...

Tesco is coming to the US! Tesco is the major grocery chain in the United Kingdom. They are like the Kroger of the UK. While I was there, I got the privilege to shop there, and I had a great experience there. They had a great selection of foods from all over the world, really high quality produce and their private label (store brand) products were superb. They also had a great wine and alcohol section too. For the most part, they were mainly grocery stores, but some of them had general merchandise in them too, such as movies, TVs, clothes, stuff like that.

Right now, they are looking to start out on the West Coast of the US and are going to start things out by bringing over their Express style store, which is projected to compete with 7-11's. It has not been said if they will sell gas (or petrol in the UK) but I would not think that they would. A lot Tesco's sell petrol in the UK, but they have not really said anything about that.

I hope that they will be successful. I would fly out to California or the Left Coast to visit one of these stores. However, the grocery market is really competitive in the United States due to Walmart and there is no telling as to what will happen until it happens.

Tesco is the 5th largest grocery chain worldwide and they already have stores in Eastern Europe and Asia, so with that kind of experience and a base, they have a really good running chance.