Andre Crosses the Rainbow Bridge

during Christmas this year

Just over three years ago, we adopted a very large dog.

We'd been going through a rescue that specializes in Golden Retrievers, and got something we thought was a mix.  A 110+ pound mix of Golden Retriever and... something.  Our new boi swiftly got healthier and was now a 120+ pound mix.  And, as it would turn out, not a Golden at all, but a Great Pyrenees mix with a dollop of Pit Bull.  

But because the rescue thought he was a gigantic Golden, they'd named him Andre the Giant.  When given a chance to rename him, we figured he'd just been given a new name, and he sure seemed like an Andre.  

In the end, his breed explained a lot.  As a Golden, he'd had a hard time getting adopted out because he would bark at people who came to meet him, which could be intimidating.  But, Pyrs are sheep guard dogs, and they bark at people entering their territory.  We didn't have that problem - he came to meet us at our house - and it was kind of love at first sight, but when we thought he was a Golden, his behavior was super odd.  

When he didn't want to do something badly enough, or he got scared, he would sploot - just go to ground and dare you to move him.  He didn't want to be in the backyard at all, even with us, and he was very confused by things Goldens love, like toys, pleasing people, and following commands - which is not a thing Pyrs care about at all.  

A Night at The Austin Symphony - The New World

So, back during covid lockdown, I spent a lot of time watching YouTube.  And, as some may remember, during the first days of lockdown in March of 2020, famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma offered up a song of comfort with Dvořák's "Coming Home".  

At the time, this was the thing that wrecked me as I realized how we were all in this together, for a long time to come.  But, I also realized I didn't really know anything about Dvořák, or this song, which we've all heard out there somewhere.  But if Ma picked Dvořák, I thought it was worth looking into.  

There's a pretty great explainer here from 2020 (hopefully the link doesn't die).  And one from NPR on the full symphony.  

I learned it's the second movement of Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, "From The New World", written circa 1893.  You will know this symphony - it's been used in movies, television, etc... in bits and pieces. 

Longhorns Surprisingly Good Season Ends at the Cotton Bowl - and Year One in the SEC

A few years ago, my alma mater, former employer and preferred college sports program - the University of Texas - announced that they were leaving the Big 12 Conference for the SEC.  I hated this decision then, and I hate it now.  In fact, it's fair to say the past fifteen years have seen me come to really dislike the "business" of college football, including NIL deals and the way the tail is now wagging the dog on college campuses - even as I totally get that there are people who will genuinely believe universities only exist so we can have football.*

My beef with the move to the SEC stemmed from my belief this was shortsighted and only benefited one of the many NCAA sports in which the university competes, while also punishing the athletes, who now had to travel across the continent every time the Longhorns had a match, meet or game.  Which is fine if you only play on Saturdays in the Fall semester, but sports like Volleyball, Soccer, Tennis, Swimming, etc... would have to *also* travel like this, and be in their Econ 302 class by 10:00 AM the following day.  Despite whatever money Quinn Ewers made this year from Dr. Pepper, these athletes are still students.

Christmas 2024

the official White House 2024 ornament, amongst some family ornaments

Our mode the past decade or so has been to throw as much Christmas as we can at the wall so when something doesn't pan out or something bad happens, at least *something* Christmassy occurred.

This year we got up decorations inside and outside the house early.

We put up the Super Tree

Happy Thanksgiving, Pals

Here in the US of A, it's Thanksgiving.  

I love Thanksgiving.  It's about food and hanging out.  Ideal. It's also a nice break between the shenanigans of Halloween and the all-consuming maelstrom that is Christmas.

May you find yourself with some quality plans.  Watch the parade!  Watch a dog show!  Put on some football!

We're not hosting this year - that honor lies with KareBear and The Admiral.  Mom is prepping a bird, she'll have potatoes and green beans, and I'll be a happy boy.  Jamie is pitching in.  She started prep a few days ago, staling bread for stuffing.  And Wednesday, she both prepped the stuffing (making the house smell amazing with butter and onion).  She also cooked a turkey breast to ensure we'd have turkey for sandwiches if the turkey was fully consumed at my folks' house.  

No - We will not have too much turkey.  I love turkey.  I understand people don't, and that's fine as it means: more turkey for me.  The likelihood I'll just slowly eat a couple of turkeys given the chance is greater than zero.  As is the possibility I'll make like a 1930's cartoon and just inhale a turkey, leaving a pile of bones.

I wish those of you who can be with family the absolute best.  It could be a colorful year.  Take care of yourself.  But it may go really well.  Here's hoping.

Our plans currently include dinner with my folks and watching football both Friday with some Nebraska fans, and Saturday - as we see if UT can beat A&M in the their first match-up in some time.

And, of course, we'll be putting up our share of Christmas decor, inside and outside the house.  

US Women's National Team (soccer) comes to town! We went!

Hey, friendos.  

Jamie and I went to see the US Women's National Team (in soccer) play Iceland this evening at Austin's Q2 Stadium where we usually take in Austin FC.  

The game started a tad early - 6:40 or so.  And so we drove in rush-hour traffic all the way from Lower Austin to Howard Lane to catch the train to Q2.  The drive:  terrible.  The train - amazing.

lightrail!  It works!

I've liked to try to follow the USWNT since being completely won over by the team in the 1999 World Cup.  Brandi Chastain's goal is, in my book, one of the great sports moments of my lifetime.  I followed the team through the Mia Hamm era, Abby Wambach, Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan...  The US women tend to dominate globally for a variety of reasons.  However, the World Cup in 2023 did not go our way.  But!  the current line-up under coach Emma Hayes won Gold in the 2024 Olympics, and is... great.

So, yeah, finally getting to see this team is 25 years in the making, for me.  Also, Austin needs an NWSL expansion team.  Just saying. 

Jamie has watched USWNT with me since 1999, and so getting to go to this together is real partner stuff for us.

For posterity, here was our starting XI.

Not bad, right?  I've wanted to see Rose Lavelle play for a long time - but this whole line-up was pretty awesome.  (spoiler: Lavelle did not disappoint - nor did anyone)

Me and "Batman" (1989) - at 35

Today marks the 35th anniversary of the release of Batman.   

Our final episode of The Signal Watch PodCast covered this movie.  I invite you to join Jamie and me through a chipper discussion of the movie and the forces around it.  And I've previously written about me and Batman.

To repeat some of what's the podcast and maybe elsewhere - I very much recall my excitement around Batman in 1989. 

I'd really come to comics in 1986, and like a lot of readers at the time, I mostly read X-books and the Bat-titles.  Bat-comics were kind of exploding at the time in the wake of Dark Knight Returns and with the arrival of the terrific talents of folks like Alan Grant on writing chores, veteran Jim Aparo and fresh talent Norm Breyfogle on pencils.  I think this era is one of the many well-loved eras for the books, and with good reason.  

Even in the era of Indiana Jones and Star Wars, Batman was the first movie I ever followed through development and to release date - then through box office and into home video.  It was not the first movie I ever loved, but it was the first movie I felt a level of personal attachment.  

I recall articles in Comics Scene, then the paper.  Reading Nicholson was the Joker and feeling uncertain how that would go.  Prince would be on the soundtrack, which seemed bizarre.

So excited was I - I purchased the novelization prior to the release of the film, and was half-way through reading it when I realized "this is a very dumb thing to do" and I cast the book aside.  I didn't know the term "spoilers" then, but I realized I was going to maybe ruin the experience a mere 4 or 5 days prior to seeing the movie.

My memory of seeing the film itself will always be tied up with a few unrelated things.