STICKY DOORKNOBS

Blogging For Fair Havens: Midland photo blogger commits to 24 hour event, July 26-27

   Twenty years and a few cameras ago, J.P. Hearn was a photography intern with the Midland Reporter-Telegram. Although the Midland High graduate never became a working photojournalist, Hearn spent time as a portrait photographer and ultimately evolved into an "artistic street photographer" who relies on angles and lighting to enhance the photos he captures for his local BleuChocolate.com web blog. And thankfully, he has a kind and giving heart with a penchant for worthy charitable causes.
   Hearn will join me in staying up all night with hopes of raising $10,000 for Midland Fair Havens in this year's 24-hour fund-raiser, "Blogging For Fair Havens," July 26-27. Last year, generous people from across the state (and country) helped bring in $7,000 for the transitional housing facility for women and their children. The event begins at 7 a.m. Saturday, July 26, on the H-E-B parking lot and closes 24 hours later.
   Hearn's blogging must be done close to his house for photographic production and computer reasons but he promises to stop by the H-E-B parking lot frequently to take some photos and post them on his photo blog for the round-the-clock blogging effort.
   "Not only is there the charitable part of this, but the challenge to plan all the photos for 24 hours is really cool," Hearn said.  
   Hearn said when the 24 hours of photo-blogging is over, he plans to publish the photos he took during the event in a book, giving it to one of the prize winners that registers and donates during the "blogathon." If he finds there is an additional market for the book, he says he will sell the books and donate the profits, after expenses, to Fair Havens.
   A graduate of the Cordon Bleu School in Austin, Hearn is a chef and is in the process of opening a mobile eatery in Midland in the coming weeks. He will soon drive to Miami to finalize plans for the franchise opportunity.
   There was another time during his working career that driving figured prominently in his responsibilities. As a portrtait photographer for a company hired by Wal-Mart, Hearn once had to drive from Kilgore to Tucson, Ariz. -- a 1,200 mile stretch of road --  in 24 hours, to be there in time to begin taking portraits when the Wal-Mart opened. When he left Tucson after that week's assignment, he had to drive 900 miles in another single day to "the middle of Colorado" for his next assignment.
   Despite all his driving, loyalty and effort, Hearn recalls that he was fired from the company for not dancing.
   "They had a big company conference in Dallas and I'd been sick and not feeling well," he explained. "They tried to get everyone to get up and dance at this particular session, to give everybody an attitude adjustment, and I didn't want to because I didn't feel well. One of the officials of the company came over to me and told me since I wasn't participating, I could just leave. And they fired me."
   Hearn has been married to wife Beverly for 14 years. When the couple said, 'I do,' Hearn inherited four sons, and jokes -- in all seriousness -- that he has been a grandfather since he was 26.
   Although many of his 24-hour photographs will be taken outdoors, Hearn says he will also shoot in miniature several tiny items he has collected over the years. It is a method of shooting he says that he was inspired to attempt after seeing the work of a Canadian photographer who captured a series of miniature bees on film.
    "I have some railroad figurines, a miniature B-24 bomber, things like that," he said. "I'd like to do some flower shots, and when the sun comes up on Saturday morning have that be my first shot. I'll be at the H-E-B parking lot some during the event, but chances are there won't be too many people to photograph at 3 in the morning."
   I'll be there, too, along with the post-party goers who line up in the Whataburger drive thru after the local nightclubs close down. Reason enough to stay up all day and all night to see what goes on there in the wee hours.

   "BLOGGING FOR FAIR HAVENS" OR "BLOGATHON?": When we did this last year, it was called Blogathon and the efforts put forth through MyWestTexas.com raised some $7,000, which represented the largest amount raised during Blogathon out of more than 325 bloggers around the world. The people in charge of Blogathon are not organizing the event this year. We asked if we could continue to use the name Blogathon for this year's event but our emails went unanswered. Never fear, though, "Blogging for Midland Fair Havens" is the same event for us here in West Texas, and we'll reveal where and how you can donate to this very worthwhile cause in the very near future.
   Blogging for Fair Havens: All Day. All Night. All Good.
   7 a.m., July 26-7 a.m., July 27. H-E-B Parking Lot.

Assorted notes ...

A few random opnions ...

• As noted here, former NewsWest 9 weather specialist and friend Darrell Ward has resurfaced as an advertising exec with KPEJ-Fox 24. Sounds like Darrell might be also trying to convince 24 they need a morning weathercast with some headlines tossed in ... stay tuned. And good luck to one of the good ones in the bidness.
• "Black Gold" returned last night with Episode 103. The Hooters scene and the tawdry predictability of the pool segment and all the cat call comments (these guys act like they've never even laid eyes on a woman in their entire life) were enough to test even the toughest gag reflexes, but the rig action and the educational aspect of the show remained top notch info-tainment.
• I really really tried to like this book. But the complete unconventionality of the premise was just too much (and I'm as unconventional as they come). But my images of God and the Holy Spirit are pretty distant from what they ask you to see in the book: I don't see God as Hatty McDanile's character in "Gone With The Wind" nor do I envision the Holy Spirit as the sort of Naomie Harris Cajun swamp princess-like character from "Pirates of the Carribean Dead Man's Chest." But that's what the book tries to get you to do: expand your imaging of the Holy Trinity, and I do commend the author for that. There were good moments and great insights into theology that I did not disagree with, and some that I did. I found the author's statements on how we shouldn't judge God and a couple of other arguments worth remembering, but largely it was a forgettable story that was at times trite, cliche and corny. And it kind of fizzled off in the end. I know these won't be popular thoughts. Sorry. I tried. My only suggestion would be to read it and form your own opinions. It is at least mind-expanding and eye opening.
• "Get Smart." Two words: Funny. And funny. Steve Carrell is fast shaping into one of our most reliable and down to earth goofball comedians. From his insensitive and dead-on perfect portrayal of Michael Scott in TV's funniest sit-com, "The Office," to Maxwell Smart in "Get Smart," Carrell is a joy to watch work. And Ann Hathaway is a joy to watch, too.

Music for your weekend

It was a long time coming, but the end of June finally gave us what are so far the two best musical offerings of 2008 (so far): Coldplay's long awaited "Viva La Vida," and John Mayer's live effort, "Where the Light Is."

The first six months of '08 have been unusually dry from the popular music standpoint, but these two more than make up for it.

Coldplay received a creative booster shot from producer Brian Eno, who has worked with U2, the band Chris Martin so desperately wants his band to be. Fortunately, Coldplay doesn't resemble U2 as much as just a re-invigorated Coldplay. After an apparent self-imposed excitement hiatus with their 2005 album "X&Y," the band is back with what may ultimately prove to be its strongest effort yet, although "Rush of Blood to the Head" will be hard to beat when rock music historians look back over the band's contributions one day. "Viva la Vida" is uplifting, upbeat and memorable with almost every song. You half way expect these guys to break into "I Melt With You" on this CD. "Yes" is one of the best songs they have ever recorded with "Strawberry Swing" and the title track also among the ranks of their most ambitious. It's good to see Coldplay back.

Mayer's "Where the Light Is" casts that light squarely where it needs to be: on Mayer's superb craftmanship as a guitarist. Channeling SRV one moment and Hendrix the next, Mayer is much more than a "pop star," he is an axman of considerable renown and should be remembered as such. While Hendrix's "Bold as Love" is uneccesarily dragged down by an odd verbal mantra on love, Wrapped around the bizarre two minute speech is some great blues guitar work. If you like your blues uninterrupted, check out the SRVish "Every Day I Have the Blues" and then Mayer's great live re-creation of "Gravity."

This is more a blues album than a pop album, as it should be ... but with a solo set, a second set with the John Mayer Trio and a third with the entire band, it's sort of like getting three albums in one. Best album of the year so far.

A Dozen More CDs of Note (and worthy of purchase)
January-June 2008
"Wheels" Dan Tyminski
"Revelation," Journey
"Home Before Dark," Neil Diamond
"Nine Lives," Steve Windwood
"Mudcrutch," Mudcrutch
"Just Us Kids," James McMurtry
"One Hell of a Ride," Willie Nelson
"Troubadour," George Strait
"The Hits," Dave Clark Five
"Soul Speak," Michael McDonald
"Seeing Things," Jakob Dylan
"Backwoods Barbie," Dolly Parton

True Story No. 2

My daughter works at a local establishment that provides gasoline for motorists.

The other day she came home and told us that a woman came inside her store complaining.

"Why, the woman asked, "don't you have gas pumps for cars with tanks on the right side of the car?"

No really. Honest.

True Story No. 1

Many of you may know that I have a second job working for the Catholic Diocese based in San Angelo.

I have a cell phone through Sprint that is paid for through the diocese and I just reached the end of my contract and so I figured it was time for an upgrade, so I set the wheels in motion and decided I'd like to have this phone called a Sprint Mogul. My advice to you (should you ever ask for it) would be to avoid this phone at all costs.

Once the phone became completely intolerable and minimally functional after about a month of use, I set out on another journey to see if it would be too late to return the Mogul and instead acquire a Centro, which was similar to the Treo I had been using. Of course all verbal transactions on the phone must come from the central office of whomever you work. In my case, all negotiations with Sprint had to originate through the chancery office in San Angelo. And so the diocesan financial director handled everything for me and then emailed me to say that my new Centro was on the way. But of course, it would be shipped to San Angelo first, and then repackaged and sent to me in Midland, since Sprint couldn't ship me the phone directly.

So, the new phone comes, and the next day I get an email from the diocesan financial director in San Angelo. "By the way," she said, "Sprint forgot to send the return envelope so that we could send back your old phone, so could you call them and arrange for them to send you the envelope?"

Sure, I thought. It was the least I could do for the trouble the diocese went through to get me a new phone.

Having seen my wife deal with Sprint on a number of occasions to clear up assorted problems, I decided it would be best to reserve an entire night to negotiate with the phone company representative the mailing of the return envelope. Surprisingly it didn't take all night after all. However here's what happened:

To me, it seemed like a wise thing to ask them if they would just send the return envelope directly to me in Midland so that we could avoid the middle man and the additional postage and transit time that would be involved.

So I asked the woman at Sprint if we could do it that way.

She put me on hold and 10 minutes later she returned and said she would not be able to send me the envelope directly. It would have to be sent to San Angelo, and then on to me by my employer.

So, instead of just returning a cell phone through a simple box in the mail on my own, I must now wait for a return envelope to come to San Angelo and then to me. I must then re-package the phone, return it to coworkers in San Angelo who must then return it to Sprint.

And we wonder why corporate America and real everyday American people are no longer on good speaking terms with each other.

Eleven Ignoble Moments That Will Live Forever in Texas Rangers History (not counting Wednesday night in Yankee Stadium)

Update: The Rangers' recent success, including taking two of three from the Yankees this week in the Bronx, came to a temporary crashing thud with an 18-7 loss Wednesday to NY).

---

After yesterday's post about the Texas Rangers' sudden newfound success and today's morning-after glow of what will be at least a series win in Yankee Stadium on their last visit to the vaunted hall of athleticism, I stand accused of being somewhat of a bandwagon jumper-onner. But let me assure you, as I may have done in the past, I have never climbed off this turbulent ride, I have only changed seats a few times. I have sat at the front in the mid 1990s and late 1970s, and I have wallowed in the back in hopes of not being noticed for pretty much the remainder of the team's existence.

So if it appears I have jumped on while the gettin' is good, so be it. I have earned as much. Any fan that has stuck with this fiasco for all 36 seasons is entitled to criticize freely. And I have. And now the time has come again when I find my fist high in the air Tuesday night when Ian Kinsler steals third in as gutsy bit of base running as the Rangers may have ever been party to.

Being friends with a number of Chicago Cubs fans, including one who professes that his wife must be a fellow fan as a condition of their nuptials, I grow weary of the talk of the Cubs' curse. How they haven't won in 100 years. Boo hoo. Sure, there's Bartman, the curse of the goat, Ron Santo leaving for his final season to play with the White Sox, a three game sweep at the hands of the Padres in 1984, the first night game at Wrigley rained out, and other sordid and sorry tales, but below I submit to you a list of frustrations that would rival or better anything any team has to offer in three and a half decades. Maybe ever. Yes. Ever. Frustrations and low moments that no other team dare lay claim to. And I posit, therefore, that it is indeed more frustrating to call one's self a Ranger fan than a Cubs fan. Losing is not the only thing, after all. Not when you have a team history full of things like this:

In 1977, second baseman Lenny Randle slugged his own manager, Frank Lucchesi, breaking his jaw and leading to Randle's dismissal from the team. Lucchesi, who had called Randle a "$90,000 a year punk" to prompt Randle's outrage, was fired weeks later, after the Rangers continued to lose.

Succeeding Lucchesi was Eddy Stanky, who managed the Rangers for one game in 1977 before deciding he'd had enough. He called three of his players from an airport, on his way home, to tell them he would not be back.

The David Clyde experiment. Precisely the way how NOT to nurture and develop a pitcher straight out of high school. So desperate for pitching even in 1973 were the Rangers that Clyde, thought at one time to be the future of the franchise, was done at 26, his arm toast from overuse. Clyde had one decent season. Owner Bob Short said the fans wanted to see the young star and manager Whitey Herzog went along with it. Clyde was left in too long in too many games and flamed out far too quickly. According to Wikipedia, Clyde recently retired from the lumber business.

Ranger relief pitcher Frank Francisco was arrested (suspended and later sued) after throwing a chair into the stands, left, during a game against the Oakland A's in September 2004. Frank remains on the Rangers' 2008 active roster.

Kenny Rogers was not as lucky as Frank. Rogers achieved fame for shoving a television cameraman after a disappointing pitching performance in June 2005. Rogers was released by the team at the end of '05 and he remains with the Detroit Tigers.

On May 23, 1993, Former Cleveland Indians infielder Carlos Martinez hit a home run that bounced off the head of Ranger outfielder Jose Canseco. Three days later, Canseco convinced manager Kevin Kennedy (now an expert baseball analyst with Fox) to let him pitch the eighth inning of a blowout loss to the Red Sox. He would eventually retire the side, but not before walking three, allowing two hits and three runs. Injuries received through the pitching motions that Canseco was not accustomed to brought ligament surgery and an early end to his season.

On June 4, 1974, the Texas Rangers were the visiting team at Cleveland Municipal Stadium during the ill-fated 10-cent Beer Night promotion. The crowd drowned themselves in both teams' sorrows, tanked themselves up good, began a riot and forced the cancellation of the contest. Rangers players were pelted with hot dogs and other debris. An empty bottle of Thunderbird thrown from the stands narrowly missed Ranger first baseman Mike Hargrove, who would later enjoy his finest seasons in baseball as manager of the Tribe.

Although I've been unable to pinpoint the date I remember clearly that Doyle Alexander, who pitched for the Rangers from 1977-79, once threw a pitch that sailed into and rolled up the screen that protects fans from foul balls behind home plate.

The only historical book (excluding photo books and coffee table books) ever written about the Texas Rangers is entitled "Seasons in Hell With Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog and the Worst Baseball Team in History -- The 1973-75 Texas Rangers."

Chan Ho Park.

While it should be said that there is nothing funny about this, it must be included on the team's list of ignoble moments. In 1978, before a scheduled start, pitcher Roger Moret went into a catatonic trance, standing stark naked and holding a shower slipper at arm's length for more than an hour. The scene prompted manager Billy Hunter to respond, "I need a starter, not some *&^% statue."

With all that said, it's no wonder Ranger fans are riding such a wave of optimism of late. There is, however, much time left in the season.

And so, the gauntlet has been laid down: if you are a fan of a team with more humbling moments than these, please stumble forward.

And ... GO RANGERS!

Dewey defeats Truman (or why Eric Siegmund should not blog about baseball)

I don't wanna say he didn't tell you so, but, ummmm, he didn't tell you so.

Eric over at the Fire Ant Gazette has admitted that he's not a big baseball fan, and now we actually have had some light shed on exactly why that may be.

On April 24, Eric wrote:

"Let me extend my sympathies in advance to Texas Rangers fans, for whom this summer appears likely to be long and brutal. After last night's embarrassing 19-6 loss to Detroit, the Rangers are one game away from wresting the worst record in MLB from Washington, and they've already got the worst home record in baseball."

Ahem, where to start. Oh, here's a good place: I find it somewhat interesting that in the 60 games since Eric's historic post, the Rangers have played ball at a clip of 11-games over .500, to the delight of long-suffering fans everywhere. Spread that percentage out over an entire 162-game season, and you'd have a Ranger team playing ball at about 28 games over .500 for the entire year, which would be, roughly, a 95-67 W-L record for the entire season. Which is good enough to qualify the Rangers for at the least another first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Yankees.

Further, since Eric pointed out that the Rangers had the worst home record in baseball (which they did at the time), they have recorded a 19-12 mark at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

And, since April 24, the Rangers have won 13 out of 18 series and split 2-2 in the two four-game series they've played.

Ah yes, they won at Yankee Stadium Monday night, something I don't believe they've done since 1940. Actually, it was the first time they'd won in the Bronx after scoring just two runs since 1992. Which only begs one question: Are the Rangers' pitching woes finally over? While they have shown flashes of good,  their team ERA is 4.84 and still last in the American League, even if it is only 1.5 runs per game behind league leading Oakland (3.39 ERA). So let's not order any World Series tickets yet.

Lest we forget what gets the Rangers where they go every year, a team batting average of .279, one point behind the best hitting team in baseball: the Boston Red Sox. They also have arguably the game's best player (and its most inspirational comeback story) this year, Josh Hamilton. With Ian Kinsler and Milton Bradley in the Top 10, Texas has three of the game's top offensive producers.

Monday night's win put the team at two games over .500 for the first time since September 2006, so obviously this winning stuff is still a baby-step process for Arlington's Little Team That Could. Still, that W-L achievement is what has everyone is talking this morning. That, and how this whole turnaround was spurred by Siegmund's ill-timed post in April.

So, thanks Eric. AIn't it fun when words come back to sting ya? Just ask me, I'd be the expert in that area.

Desert Candle: When no news is bad news

So, I pick up my "Desert Candle" today, turn to Page 3 and learn that this is it. No more. The newspaper/ magazine that has covered Big Bend and delivered well written features and great photography is no more after this issue. So ... what say we go in together to keep it going? I'll do the moving-to-Big-Bend and writing parts, I just need someone to handle the funding :)

"Desert Candle" will be missed by the folks in the region and anyone who has a love for Big Bend and Far West Texas.

Thanks for the memories ...

What goes on behind this door is anything but gross

Sometimes we send our kids away to college and wonder if they're going to be OK, take it seriously or just make it from one day to the next and come out all right on the other side.

We did.

And then we went and visited our oldest last weekend and were given a whole new perspective on not only her, but on a lot of things.

Our oldest is studying occupational therapy. She began the program in earnest in May and has been chin deep in studies, practicals, tests and non-stop homework. It seems, for good reason, they front load the course with the toughest stuff in order to separate the do-ers from the others.

One other thing they toss at the students in the first semester is gross anatomy, perhaps a misnomer if ever there was one. What goes on behind this door is truly fascinating. It presented to us a new side of our daughter we didn't know was there, but I guess had suspected all along. To see your kid pull on a pair of latex gloves and touch and move limbs, torsos and heads will honestly do a parent proud. We thought we would become squeamish at the site of cadavars.

No.

That squeamishness, though perhaps in the back of our minds, was replaced instead by watching a 22-year-old kid -- who just a short time ago could blow milk through her nose when she laughed -- act with a high degree of professionalism, care and total respect that I thought improbable of someone her age.

Seeing what goes on behind this door gives a parent a sense of pride, and a profound sense of respect for those who donate their body to medical study.

There is much good being done in this world. And it's uplifting to see.

Black Gold: Officially a hit ...

... what with the Chicago Tribune weighing in.