Wanderings

A Hunting Trip in Video

2011-11-09T15:10:00.002-06:00

This year's hunting trip was another one for the record books both in number of animals harvested and shenanigans shared. This time, however, instead of writing a lengthy recap, I decided to use video to tell the tale. The story starts about 2 hours outside of Dallas as I am getting into to the hills just this side of the west Texas nothingness. Enjoy...

See you boys next year.

Laters,
jth
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My Sister the Hero

2011-11-04T11:59:00.010-05:00

She likes German cars and purebred dogs; some people just see that side of her. But those that do miss the heroic person that she is. I think that is the marrow, the greatness. I take my family for granted. I always have. Those of us who grew up with surrounded by amazing families don’t realize what they have usually until it is too late. Wreckless, tragic. I have never met anyone, except maybe my mom that takes such great care in taking great care of those around them. It’s uncanny. No matter where I have wandered in this world , she has always led the cheering section for me. It’s easy to get used to those that give more than you do and to just expect that it will always be there. Luckily for me, it always will be. But it must be recognized and appreciated.
I remember once in 7th grade I was dating, for a short time, a girl named Jami. I was meeting her at the county fair for a date. Well she dumped me that night for a guy named Justin; who could blame her. He was a year older than me and at the time, the starting runningback for his football team. Jami, Justin and all of their friends were standing around snickering at me saying that Justin would kick my butt if I had a problem with it. I felt about as small as a kid could. My sister grabbed me by the hand as we were leaving and walked me straight through the taunting teends and told justin to shut up. I think he was more afraid of her than I was of him. Even when I was in high school and she was in college, she would drive home on the weekends to see me play ball, foregoing her college weekends.
It’s always been that way; her worrying about me and me worrying about myself.
She is funny, beautiful, smart and has always been there for me. And these days I find myself worrying about her and looking forward to going antiquing and eating at French restaurants so we can spend time doing what she likes. Honestly, I don’t care what we do as long as we can hang. These days we’re great friends; I guess I am finally becoming as cool as she has been for years.
If this blog entry is too sentimental for you, shoot me an email. We can meet up and I will return the favor she did me when I was in 7th grade… Laters,
Jth
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Guess who came to the office with me today

2011-08-04T11:50:00.005-05:00

Moseley, aka "Moses", aka "The Mose" decided to come to work with me today. I guess the office could use a mascot from time to time and today ours is alternating between laying on the floor next to my desk, running around visiting with everyone else in here, and then coming back to put his head on my leg until I pay attention to him.

I was thinking of having him do some data entry but he has no opposable thumbs. I guess he can just keep hanging out then...

Laters,
jth

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Analisa turns 8!

2011-08-01T15:37:00.005-05:00

Can you even believe it? My favorite little girl in the world is not so little anymore. My good friend Analisa turned 8 this past weekend. Celia and I shot down to Mansfield for the celebration at the Gonzalez house where there were good friends, good family and and great times. (There is a belief that the Gonzalez' and Hughes' are related somehow..." I grabbed a couple of party pics and one really poorly shot video of Analisa blowing out the candles. All in all it was fantastic.

Andre enjoying life:
Here is Andre preparing to take yet another pic that he can use later on for one of his 90-minute videos.

Me and my favorite little girl.

Here is an Iphone video of Analisa blowing out her candles:

Happy birthday!

Laters,

jth

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NERDS!!!

2011-07-18T12:16:00.012-05:00

Yes, yes I am a big nerd. Even Yoda seems to be looking at me with wise, aged, disgust. But I just don't care. Star Wars is awesome and when my sister told me that the Star Wars Exhibit was visiting a museum in Houston, I was stoked. As I was already visiting for her birthday, it was easy to slide on over to the exhibit. Man they had everything from a life size recreation of the Millenium Falcon's cockpit, to hundreds models of crafts, to costumes used in the movies.

My mom, sister and I thoroughly enjoyed the sights. Hope you enjoy them too.

Laters,

jth

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Evening Glass

2011-06-28T10:44:00.005-05:00

Yep, that's Celia doing work monday evening on her Ronix Dahlia. Calm wind conditions mixed with a lake void of other boats made for a perfect session. Richard snapped a quick pic of her as she passed in front of the sunset. Good one.

Of course less than a week from now Celia will NOT be hoping for calm conditions as she takes off for Nicaragua. It's the country in yellow sandwiched in between Honduras to the north and Costa Rica on the south. While Nicaragua has both Pacific and Caribbean shores, she will be on the Pacific side with the big surf.Celia will be attending surf school with Holly Beck - pro surfer. She is super excited and I for her. She has always wanted to surf and now she will be able to in one of the best and most beautiful surf beaches in the world. Of course I will miss her but it is good for her to wander on her own... it's good for the soul to explore by yourself sometimes. If she takes good pics, I will put them on here.

Pete's coming into town for the 4th so that will be cool. With the wife out of the country you know what that means,,,, GUYS WEEKEND!!
Laters,

jth

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Why I wish I was in the funiture business

2011-06-15T17:21:00.002-05:00

I was on BoingBoing.net today and discovered these 2 gems, both furniture ads. It makes me wish that I was in the furniture business because then I could just make the worst commercials in the world and people would think that it is funny. Because it is...
Enjoy.

Have a good one, I am going to ride my bike over to Umair's to go swimming because it is another triple digit day here in the Big D.

Laters,
jth
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Anderson Boomhauer

2011-06-10T13:36:00.002-05:00

So I was eating lunch the other day watching TV when I had a revelation: Anderson Cooper looks just like Boomhauer from King of the Hill. Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself....

That is my nugget of awesomeness for today. I am grabbing Subway and going wakeboarding now. Have a good weekend, GO MAVS!

Laters,

jth

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Sunday Funday

2011-05-17T16:06:00.014-05:00

So I was over at Ferrari's on friday evening just hangin with him and Reid. Celia was off doing something aquatic as usual so she came later. Since we had a couple of beers, I decided to roll with Celia home leaving my truck there. No big deal. Well I didn't need it on Saturday but by mid-day Sunday, it was time to get it back. I decided to ride my bike from my place to Richard's to retrieve the truck because I had never done it and plus Celia would think that I am awesome. So I had to plan my trip to avoid major roads and maximize park routes using Google maps. When all was said and done, the journey was to be just a touch under 14 miles. Pretty much halfway across Dallas. Sweet.

I decided to take my camera and document some of the trip for this blog. One thing is for sure, Dallas drivers do not pay attention to cyclists so within the first 2 miles, an old man in a Range Rover pulled out in front of me and I had to lock my brakes to keep from smashing myself on his passenger door. He was totally freaked out but I just wanted to keep going. So as he sat there with his face in his hands, I pedalled on. I made a map so that you can see where everything went down.I stopped in the park for a rest on a bench about half way. Dallas has great bike trails. Once I crossed 75 on Royal, it was mostly park trails until the last mile or so.My trusty backpack. I have had this thing for 10 years now and it has been everywhere with me. Europe, the Caribbean, Central America, and of course all over the states. Love it.I powered on toward White Rock Lake which was sure to be all abustle on a Sunday with light breezes and temps hanging in the low 80's.

The sailors were out if force.As were the people flying kites. I'll have to do that sometime. I haven't had a kite since I was a kid.Further down the trail folks were kayaking and paddle surfing. Well maybe not paddle surfing per se, perhaps just paddling.

Then there I was, the final couple of miles. They were sweet and I was almost sad that it was over. I arrived at Richards and knocked, no one home. So I took one last pic of my LeMond Reno in his front yard as proof of my 1 hour and 15 minute journey that covered 13.87 miles. As I was about to load up the bike in my truck, he and Sarah rolled up. Good times and a small wander for me.

Laters,

jth

Culinary Perfection with Opposable Thumbs

2011-05-12T11:19:00.000-05:00

So Lorraine came over to make stuffed peppers. It was a blast so I'll give you the play by play:

Lorraine shows up and dons the apron my mom and sister brought me from France. I had to crop the picture for not so obvious reasons on this blog. But if you saw it in real life, you would get it immediately.

And if Lorraine shows up, then you know Diablo's not too far behind.

Chris came in from the back porch to hang and prepare some delicious fruit and put on some music.

Lorraine started making the stuffing for the peppers which smells really good.

So then Moseley showed up in the kitchen.

It was time to stuff the peppers and throw them in the oven. So this:

Turned into this:

Then this

As Celia strode in, the peppers finished up cooking and everyone had delicious foods for dinner and Chris put on some music for us as the night wound down.

Cooking is fun for the whole family and also for friends... But not dogs, stuffed peppers will give your dog the trots. And I have never seen a dog cook but I imagine it would be a huge disaster since they don't have opposable thumbs.

Laters,

jth

Nate Kills It

2011-05-06T13:00:00.002-05:00

Seriously, watch the video. This is my youngest brother in law dominating the world on his guitar. I heard him play over Thanksgiving and was impressed.. but this is pure unadulterated genius.

Nate, when you play the American Airlines Center here in Dallas, I want back stage passes. Keep it up brother.

Laters,
jth
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Dr. Hughes is Lost...

2011-03-04T11:45:00.014-06:00

So it's been a bit since I last reported anything. Well, not alot has been going on. We had freezing temps, a couple of birthdays, a holiday or two. Winter is my least favorite part of the year. Anyway, where is my dad? Has anyone seen him; I always thought he might be a spy and now the photos that I receive from him via email somewhat confirm my long lived suspicions. Either way, Dr. Hughes is lost!

No not really, he is working with Dolphin Energy in Abu Dhabi. Of course when he got there, he had to buy a car, this is what he came up with.

It's a new 4x4 Nissan Xterra... sweet. So then I imagine one day he was driving between Abu Dhabi and Dubai and saw strange, wonderful animals and miles and miles of desert sand. Maybe something like this: So what did he decide to do then? Well he decided to do what any of us in the same situation would do...this: Some spies never grow up I suppose. Since I am not wandering, it's good to see someone is. Have fun dad, see you soon.

Laters,

jth

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The Prettiest Girl at the Dance

2010-11-16T19:46:00.015-06:00

Well actually we think if the Killer Bee as a boy; but staying the course (pun intended) of nautical tradition, in this blog entry the Bee is a hot chick. In human form, something like this:Because otherwise, if its a dude bee, you end up with the following:

Ok, enough of the nonsense. Days are getting shorter and for the Bee, that means time to get cleaned up and winterized for the coming cold. So Ferrari and I brought the boat to my house to clean it up and ready for storage. We have never done it before; usually we pay to have it done but this year we decided to take a crack at it. 5 hours and lots of cleaning supplies later the bee was the finest vessel in North Texas once again.
We also tested everything to make sure it made it through the summer ok. We blasted the stereo which I am sure the neighbors loved... $5k can get you one hell of a stereo in a boat. We even polished the speakers hanging from the tower. Shiny. Next was the lights. The series of 6 directional lights on top of the tower don't look very bright in the sunlight.. but at night on the water, it is like the second sun. Good for wakeboarding at night... WHICH WE NEVER DO BECAUSE THAT IS ILLEGAL! (for any legal inquiries into our wakebarding practices, please direct all questions to Tailim Song Esq.)As evening fell, we covered her up for transport and a long winters nap. It was tough.. I mean it is the equivalent of taking a hot chick in a bikini and wrapping her in a snuggie. But there is nothing like unwrapping a beautiful boat in the spring and rocketing across a glassy lake for the first time of the season. Sleep well little brother.

Laters,

jth

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Belizean Dreams

2010-10-19T22:59:00.004-05:00

This picture was taken of the sun coming up over the western Carribean Ocean early in the morning off the balcony of our house in Placencia. Tonight as I watch the Rangers try to make it to the world series, I wish I was back there. Every day was fresh and exciting and donn't worry I am not sad... it's just that when I was there, I was surrounded by family and friends and a crisis was running out of beer and having to walk a quarter mile to the store to grab another case of Belikin. Here, there are more things to worry about.

If I happen to dissappear one day and you can't find me, these pictures are of a place where you might want to look...

Laters,

jth

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Hangin' with the boys...

2010-10-11T01:07:00.008-05:00

Ignore the video, just listen to the music and bask in Top Gun volleyball scene glory. Because what did I do this weekend? Hangin with the boys. The ladies were out of town so it was full on awesomness. It was myself, Chris, Caven, Ferrari and Reid. There were drinks jokes and Reid actually spelled his full name on the fence with his urine. I swear he is the pee ninja. Sure he is a marine who did several tours in Iraq,,, he can snipe your ass from 300 yards with open sights and a hangover. But his greatest gift bestowed upon him by the USMC is the ability to create caligraphy with his leftover juices. USA! USA! USA!

We ordered pizza, had some drinks, watched multiple episodes of Tosh.O and told stories. Our bodies were warmed by brotherhood, laughs and pinion pine burning white hot in the iron chiminea. Good times. If you are jealous, don't feel bad, you should be....

Laters,

jth

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Nothing But You

2010-10-05T18:20:00.018-05:00

Jeg har ingenting
Men jeg har alt
Nar jeg har deg.

This is what I am listeneing to right now. The lyrics are Norwegian and mean: "I have nothing, but I have everything when I have you. Good song and hopefully an ad doesn't pop up before the song starts but if it does, oh well.

I went wandering recently with my dad. We took a road trip out to where I spent my early childhood in far western Oklahoma to see what we could see. It is hard to describe the land to someone who has been up I-35 through OK as this area is much closer to Colorado as it is to Dallas. It doesn't look like what one would think. It is beautifully desolate; the air is soft, sweet and wild. The breaks separate river valleys where the ghosts of native american warriors from intertribal battles and Cavalry massacres wander at night, surveying their lost kingdoms. It feels enchanted to those who know enough to quiet themselves, lonely to outsiders, and like home to lost country boy like me.

We took off on friday as my dad had to work and rolled out of Dallas around 6pm. I will start by saying that it was a truly great road trip as the radio wasn't on once as we just told stories the whole time. We followed blue highways up through northwest TX until we rocketed across the Red River around 10:30. As we rolled down 2 lane country roads we came to a bridge that must have been almost a mile long around midnight. No traffic allowed for us to stop the truck in the middle of the bridge and hang for awhile. The closer we got to Shattuck, the more deer we saw and since he hit one with his truck on this same highway when I was about 6 yrs old, we took caution. Then we were driving a 1 ton, 4 door Chevy dually with a 454 in it. The deer did its damage on that truck so we weren't looking for a repeat performance 20 yrs later in his Chevy half ton. We got a stinky room in the only motel in Shattuck (population 1,207) around 2 am and called it a night. The morning brought bright sun and blue skies that can only be seen hundreds of miles away from any city or interstate for that matter.

We drove around and saw the farmhouse in which we lived, the land where we kept our livestock, Flat Top - the cross crowned diminutive mesa that overlooks the the town from the north. To me the land was beautiful, I could see a long way - from our old house the grain silo in Darrouzett, TX is visible over 20 miles away - the air is very clear as the elevation there is almost half a mile up. We tried to eat at Ed's cafe but it was closed. I got to see my old elementary school with the odd star shaped kindergarted building. We visited a few of my dad's old friends, one a famous knife maker who gifted his own knife to my dad. I listened quietly as they talked about Vietnam the way that retired soldiers do; i enjoyed it. After that it was time to head back south through the Black Kettle National Grasslands through Lawton where we HAD to stop at a couple pawn shops... its a thing.All in all it was a great trip and good bonding time. Now it is especially great since dad is leaving at the end of the month to go work in Abu Dhabi for a couple of years. Oh he'll be back for vacation and stuff and I'll go visit but mostly I am very excited for the adventure he is about to have.. and a little jealous. Mom and Sam are in France right now and I get picture texts from them. Today they are in Dijon so I think they are going to get me some mustard.

So the title of this particular entry is Nothing But You. Of course it is the name of the song I am listening to, but how do I tie it all together in my way. I guess the simple lyrics of the song help me realize that the only thing that we really have are worth anything are family, friends and the experiences we share that turn into memories. And to quote my main man C.W. McCall: "And as I saw the morning star come up over the mountains, I realized that life is just a collection of memories. And memories are like starlight: the go on forever." CW's cowboy poem is just below-

I haven't forgotten about my promise to do my Belize blogs, I will. I feel that since i was there for so long that the teling of the story will be quite an undertaking so I have been putting it off... I know, slacker. I will get it done. Phi phi.
PS, Celia was on tv.. she's hot.

Laters,

jth

I'm still alive

2010-08-05T02:08:00.005-05:00

Dont worry friends, I have been out of the country for awhile. But I am alive; I've been over 100 ft. under the ocean, met great people, lived on an island that is smaller than my high school, fought fires, had a gun pulled on me in a 3rd world country... all just fuel for stories and you know how I like to tell stories.The picture is of me, Richard and our neighbors on Caye Caulker,; a doctor (she took the pic) and her husband, a marine and his lawyer girlfriend and a guy that has a weekly soccer show on the Sky Network. Stay tuned for the rest of the story....

Laters,
jth
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Texas Deep

2010-06-08T09:41:00.009-05:00

Well, the hard Texas heat arrived with a hammer this past weekend. Both Saturday and Sunday, the guage hung just under 100F. With no wind and no clouds, options for outdoor activities were severely limited. “So where does one go to escape the violent heat?” you may ask? That’s an easy one, you go underwater. (The pics are all of me and the video is of Richard)With Celia and Sarah busy all weekend, Ferrari and I grabbed the scuba gear and headed to ASP on Saturday and then CSSP on Sunday. We got tons of diving in and even got some good pics and video with Richard’s nifty underwater camera setup. We dove on a sunken airliner, a few unlucky sailboats, and even a golf cart. It was a blast. Of course it is going to be much better when we touch down in Belize City on Thursday. We spent last night with the world famous Johnny Johnson: advanced scuba instructor, pilot, world traveler, boat expert, and a list of about 15 other things. He got us Nitrox certified so we will be able to dive longer on enriched air in Belize.

Congrats to Chris on accepting his new job at Warren Douglas. Well done sir.
I am sure Patrick, Laurie and Jackson are having a blast down in the Keys right now. Hope you guys took some good pictures.
I will be blogging while I am in Belize so check back for updates. Happy Birthday Superman, I can’t believe we made it into our 30’s without some awesome yet tragic skiing accident or crashing a truck while trying to jump it (if you don’t know what this means, then it is not for you, I still love you though)

Life is moving fast and changing even faster. I'm just trying to hang on; it is a great ride so far though.

laters,

jth

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Congrats Chris

2010-05-24T17:49:00.006-05:00

You didn't think I forgot did you? Come on.... I wanted to say congrats to Chris who crossed the stage at Moody Coliseum, Southern Methodist University, with a Masters in Business Administration. Well done sir. And since this is your 2nd Masters, you now have more degrees than anyone that I know...

PS, dont forget to check out his sweet shoes in the video..

Laters,
jth
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The House That Wouldn't Let us Leave

2010-05-24T17:25:00.006-05:00

As a modern family, we are pretty cool; Celia Chris, Moseley and I... that's my opinion anyway. And I have heard of objects that have feelings such as cars, or ships or whatever. but who knew that our house would be so upset that we are moving this week that he would try and stop us by knocking down one of the trees in the front yard? And there wasn't even a storm or anything... Well that's what happened and it was a huge tree. It fell, a crew came and chopped it up for pickup, and that was that. (I put Celia in there so you could have a size reference)Too bad house, although we love you very much, it's time to move on....

Laters,
jth
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For those that are still around...

2010-05-13T12:58:00.010-05:00

Ok, so I realize that I have been a major slacker on here. But before the stones begin to fly, I do have several fantastic excuses:
1. They have blocked this site at work, probably my fault for blogging during office hours.
2. Nothing has been going on at all. But we have a bunch of stuff coming up so be excited.

There, so,,, yeah. In your face, I bet you feel like a jerk now! Nah just kidding, no worries.

So coming up, well I’ll just dive right in. Chris’s graduation is this weekend, awesome job buddy; I know for a fact that getting an MBA from SMU is no easy challenge; as a matter of fact, I’m like the only one of us that doesn’t have one. So I guess my overall feeling is that I hate all of you over-achievers. Thanks a lot for reminding the rest of us that we are mediocre at best… btw, the party is on Saturday. I’ll be the one sulking in the corner.

We’re moving at the end of the month. Not far though, just a couple of blocks west. I will miss the place on Waggoner Dr. but its time to go try out a new place.

We’re going to Belize in June. It will be a fantastic trip full of Scuba, tours, fishing, and relaxing. Everyone will be there for atleast 2 weeks, some of us longer. It is a big crew of atleast 8 people. We will be in Placencia and Hopkins Village. Ferrari and I are going to shoot over to Guatamala for a day or so. Action. When we get back we will be getting the boat out of storage for the season; Wakeboarding, skating and general sunset chasing. Of course when you are on a lake, the sun chasing is sort of in vain since you run into shore pretty quick. But one day, oh crafty Sun, we will take you down!
It’s going to be an exciting summer so get ready.

Oh yeah, Jacob came by to take pictures of Chris. I had to catch that…

Laters,
jth

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3 of my Favorites

2010-04-19T14:33:00.003-05:00

I know it has been a few days since my last entry. But not alot has been going on.. Bret came down and we had a blast shooting guns, going to Damian's concert and then staying up til 6 am playing guitars and singing like old times. Then Caven was in town this past weekend and we mostly just hung out. Celia and I are looking for a new house and Chris is about to finish up his MBA. Bing bang boom. See what I mean? Not alot to write about... So I will entertain you with 3 of my favs.

Anyway, I hope that was the best 5 minutes you have had all day.
Laters,
jth
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The greatest thing to come out of South Korea since Hyundai...

2010-04-09T15:00:00.006-05:00

It was a clear night with plenty of visible stars through the Bedouin cloud cover. I was sitting in my favorite hunting chair on the back patio. Casual conversation was the order of the moment as I was opposite Chris and flanked by Genevieve and Celia. Moseley let out a series of barks, not the warning kind, more of the “I’m happy because I see people I know walking up.” Chris had mentioned earlier that Tyler and Rob were thinking of stopping by. But he was mistaken. It wasn’t tyler and Rob; it was Tyler Rob and someone else, someone not so familiar.

수는 중대하다

I studied her form as she slinked down the back stairs into the party room. From the bottom up, simple but elegant pumps, a khaki skirt and white blouse, sleeves playfully rolled up. A double strand of pearls graced her stately neck; I surmised that at some point in her teenage years, she had most likely retrieved them, with nothing but a dive mask and a pearling knife from the magical depths of the Sea of Japan or possibly South China Sea. Her look was smart and appropriate for our informal gathering as well as she could have blended in at a Congressional session. I took a sip of my drink as I wondered who this woman, this Jade Princess might turn out to be…That’s right ladies and gentlemen, I met my verbal match this past weekend: Sue
Oh Sue, why is your banter so fantastic and clever? Tyler Rob and Sue were in town for easter and they stopped by the house for some drinks. A few drinks in, I was being verbally dominated by Sue who obviously takes no prisoners. She works at Capgemini with the boys. We had a lovely evening of smack talking and story telling. Sue even got to hold her first firearm. Sue I know that your first trip of length to Texas ended up to be one ridiculus stereotype after another, but you’re welcome any time. We have Damian G concert this weekend at Liquid Lounge Saturday night at 10:30. Come earlier for the opening bands. Bret is coming down from NYC this afternoon. Fantastic. Hope to see you at the concert. Laters,
Jth
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1st Anniversary

2010-03-31T17:20:00.013-05:00

Yesterday was my 1 year anniversary with Celia. Man this past 12 months has FLOWN by,, I can’t even believe it. She wanted to go down to Pioneer Square in downtown. The place has special meaning for us because when we first started dating, I lived in a loft right across the street. One night we decided to go ride our bikes around downtown around midnight. Well, we came across all these giant iron cows (40 in all) being herded by cowboys through a stream. We got the great idea to climb up on the last cow in line and try to crawl to the first cow without touching the ground. Celia made it, I fell once. It was a blast and we hadn’t been to that particular spot in years. So we headed down there to check it out. I got some great pics. It is also a graveyard that holds the sleeping founders of Dallas. Their graves are all from the 1800’s.
Lastly, there is a memorial to the Confederate soldiers that fought in the Civil War as Texas was a one of the seceding states.After that, we headed to one of our favorite restaurants, Lover’s Pizza. I got the lobster ravioli which is AWESOME! Good evening all together.
BTW, Richard started a blog. http://outboundanddown.blogspot.com/ Go to it and click on Follow to stay updated.

Laters,
Jth

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M3 Mistake

2010-03-22T16:22:00.002-05:00

Last Thursday at lunch, a couple of my buddies and me went to Best Buy. My friend Mike wanted to pick up an HD flip camera so he could record his laps on Saturday in his BMW M3 at the race track. Well he came to work today and said that he made a slight mistake by not letting his tires warm up before he took a corner at 90mph. See the video below for the result. Mike said that mud and grass were everywhere:

He is fine and the video is sweet.

Laters,
jth

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Where I spend most of my time - not always on purpose..

2010-03-19T10:17:00.007-05:00

The first question you will most likely have is, “Hughes, why are you showing us where you work?” Well, really there a few answers for that. Firstly, it is where I spend the majority of my time. I don’t think I was made to spend my time indoors, it doesn’t feel right. But I have been doing it for 6-7 years now so suck it mother nature. Another reason is that my building is sort of an anomaly. Literally, it is a giant office building in the middle of a field. It is the oddest thing, I look out my window and I can see downtown Dallas in the distance, I-635 is a little closer, and then… a field full of round haybails. There are tractors out there constantly, and here we are in an office full of computers, digital phones, faxes, etc. Weird. Lastly, I had to tell you the story of how these pictures happened. I came up here last weekend to shoot some pics that I might be able to use on my other blog. I never figured that they would end up on this one, but my foolishness provided the ammo to accomplish that unlikely goal. So I come up here and am taking pictures out of my window of the field outside, Downtown, blah blah. I was not happy with them as you may know that the quality of a picture is not very good if you are taking it through a tinted office window. Out to the balcony I walk. It is a lovely sunny day so I snap away. Satisfied that I achieved what I wished, I turned to go back into the building only to discover locked balcony doors. That quick shot of panic/adrenaline surged through me,,, you know, the one you feel when you discover your keys are locked in the ignition of your truck in the middle of nowhere because you pulled over to pee on the side of the road? (don’t ask). Yeah that one. So I set the camera down, rattle the doors violently and sit back to accept my situation. What to do? I have my cell phone so I could call Richard and have him drive across the city to come let me in, but that would allow him to tell the story to everyone and when you do something stupid it is always better for you to tell the story than someone else. That way people feel sorry for you instead of violently insult you. Atleast that’s what it says in my brain. So anyway, back to the balcony of an empty office building around 3pm on a Saturday. I decide that I should probably just wait it out til Monday morning that way when someone comes out to have a smoke, I can act like I was out there getting some air or something and casually stroll back in like everything is great. But the fact that I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt/smell like I haven’t showered in 2 days might give me away; back to the drawing board.
I painfully concede and pull my phone out of my pocket to dial Ferrari (Richard) when I notice a small lever hidden underneath the handle of the most evil door in the world. As I turn it and the door opens, I realize 2 things:
1. I will never get those 20 minutes back.
2. I have to share this story with you because it is pretty funny.
And because I made that decision you are required to feel sorry for me, and not make fun…. Atleast that is what my brain says…

Laters,

jth

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Top Gear

2010-03-11T13:11:00.006-06:00

Have you ever seen the show Top Gear on BBC? If you haven't then stop whatever it is that you are doing and go to your house if you arent already there and set your DVR to record it. If you don't have a DVR, then please join the rest of us here in the 21st century and call Dish Network then set it to record.

It is a brilliant show that has great cinematography and cars. The music aint bad either. I have a lot of favorite bits from the series but the following is one of my top 5. Jeremy Clarkson is driving the new Aston Martin V-12 Vantage in this clip. He is talking about how he loves the car but he is sad. Anyone who knows me knows that AM's are one of my favorite cars so you can see why I like this clip: I like the car, the commentary and the music. The video is in HD so feel free to click on the button that makes it go to full screen. If you have speakers, turn them up!

If half of the video is cut off preventing you to see the right side of the picture, click HERE to go to YouTube to see it there.. it is worth it.
Laters,
jth
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Snow Day

2010-03-09T14:25:00.006-06:00

I know I am a little late telling you about the crazy snow we had a couple of weeks ago but better late than never, right? We have had a pretty extreme winter for Dallas, TX. And while I completely understand relativity, this was a rough day regardless of where you live. Now I know there will be some guy from like Wisconsin or something that will read this and be like, “Ah man, you guys had a foot of snowfall in a 24-hour period, we have that all the time! Wussies!” You know what guy from Wisconsin, we don’t want to win the “who has more snow” contest. You sir, may keep your snow… and your curling for that matter. Our athletes are faster, our chicks are hotter and we get to wakeboard 8-9 months of the year! --- now look what I have done, I went and got myself all riled up.

So yeah, it snowed like the dickens. It started on a Thursday afternoon and by the time we got home, there was a good 6 inches. There was mandatory snow ball fighting and snow man construction. Actually we made the biggest snow man I had ever seen. He was about 8 feet tall and his name was Topo Chico. He was glorious looking in the back windows.As Thursday night wore on, we lost electricity, so we retreated to the back room because it has the wood stove. Luckily it was already pumping out heat so we brought every candle from the house in, lit them and played cards to the sound of battery powered IPOD player thing. We went to bed around 2 am. When I woke up for work on Friday morning, it was 40 degrees in the house. When I came home from work that afternoon, it was 35. We got electricity back later that evening just in time to bounce out to the Damian G concert in Deep Ellum which was AWESOME! Laters,

jth

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Happy Birthday to me

2010-03-03T13:04:00.006-06:00

So my birthday was yesterday; not really a big deal if you are a guy. One year pretty much feels like the rest and we don't take getting older too hard,, well unless you are metro I suppose. Celia being the awesome one that she is surprised me with Dropkick Murphys tickets. Sara also got them for Richard so off we went. It was fantastic. We missed the first band because we were invited to the VIP room so we stayed there until DM went on. The Foundation Room is dimly lit bar/room with several living room environments for lounging. The molded ceilings are reminiscent of Versailles and there is an overall feeling of comfort.
We moved onto the the concert hall I recorded the opening song for your enjoyment.
The show was loud, raucous and very entertaining. A nasty, but appropriate mosh pit formed in front of the stage. Needless to say it was good to be in the balcony. The show ended with tons of fans onstage with the band for the final number.Greatness. By the time we left, voices were strained from screaming the lyrics to the songs we knew.

Thanks Sara and Celia for a great birthday.

Laters,

jth

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Guilty Pleasures - Challenge

2010-03-01T14:45:00.003-06:00

This song is a guilty pleasure of mine. And before you make fun of me too hard (Chris pretty much let me have it already) I challenge you to listen to it without it getting stuck in your head and/or making you feel like you need to fix a building, volunteer at a homeless shelter; generally improve your community. Game on:

Let me know how it turns out.

Laters,
jth
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Auto Reviews By Me

2010-02-25T17:36:00.006-06:00

This past weekend Celia and I were down in South Florida. Her family has a couple of vacation houses in Jensen Beach. Since we were there for a wedding that was in Vero Beach, we just stayed at her family's place... which brings me to the point of this entry: I drove a vehicle that I had never even heard of before Friday. Our rental was a SUV called a Jeep Compass which we put about 250 miles on. This medium size SUV is packing a 2.4 litre Inline 4 cylinder engine that applies an embarrassing 172 horsepower to the pavement. It comes in 4 different trims. We were rocking the Sport 4x2 version which runs around $19k. Let me start by saying that I never expect too much out of a rental but this was the worst rental ever. For one thing, it had NO power. There are times when we were driving along the 2 lane beach road and I had to pass someone. Now I have been doing this my whole life since I grew up in rural Oklahoma... and I have had to do it in some under-powered autos; but this was something altogether different. I was actually nervous to pass because the power was so bad. Nextly, it is a really loud car (At this point I refuse to recognize it as an SUV so I will be calling it a car) on the highway. You can hear and feel every bump and the wind noise is noticeable. Not to mention that when you actually press down on the gas pedal and the engine winds up, the noise drowns everything else out. I would expect this from a vehicle with some cajones, but this was an annoying, remote-controlled-airplane whine. The buttons were all in the wrong places as well. The cruise control handle was underneath the steering wheel. Celia noticed that I was getting annoyed with that.

In closing I would like to congratulate Detroit on producing another turd that is supposed to compete against foreign models. Fail.

Laters,

jth

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Golf Tourney Trouble

2010-02-24T14:05:00.005-06:00

Song of the day, “Feeling a Moment” by Feeder. Listen…

Ok, so I have been a huge slacker on here. Lay off, it has been snowing and unless I am in the mountains skiing, there is no room for snow in my life. I am a tropical brotha. So what happened in the last few weeks? Well, several things that I will write about this week but today we will focus on the first one: The Hughes Family Golf Tournament.

There was high sports drama as the back to back winners from the last 2 years were de-throned and a new pair of champs were crowned. That’s right, there finally gets to be some other names affixed to the prize besides “John and Celia”. How did it happen? Well there might have been a little foolishness on my part which let to the final score. It seems that I was rather impressed with myself after last year’s victory and while the family was vacationing in La Jolla, CA at the Hilton Torrey Pines, I vowed that I would not pick up a golf club after that day until the next family tournament and Celia and I would still win. Well, after 9 holes, we were down by 7 strokes. And while we won the back 9 by 3, it wasn’t enough to make up for our deficit. Takeaways: Don’t write checks with your mouth that your golf game can’t cash.
Either way, it was a blast and congrats to Sam and Josh for taking the prize. Looks like the trophy gets to live in Houston for a year, but it will be back in Dallas where it belongs soon…

Laters,
jth
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New Hotness

2010-02-03T10:25:00.004-06:00

Ok guys, just wanted to throw this out there quick, I started a 2nd blog that is just going to be photographs in and around Dallas. SO if you have any to share, shoot them to me and I will post them. The URL is http://dallasphotocoop.blogspot.com/

This beauty was taken by Kyle and Julie. I will post more of their stuff on the other site.

Laters,
jth
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Have You Heard?

2010-01-29T10:58:00.004-06:00

My main man Damian G. has a concert coming up. For those of you that can make it to Dallas that weekend for the show have a free place to stay at the Hughes/Byrd Compound. Plus there will be an after party at our place following the concert and the man himself will be there to jam the night away. You will not be disappointed with the evening.

Let me know and have a great weekend.

Laters,
jth

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Greatest Song Ever

2010-01-20T10:57:00.000-06:00

New Year's / Celia's bday

2010-01-12T16:36:00.012-06:00

We have been busy folks here in the dead of the Texas winter. (Actually it's almost 60 degrees today so I can't complain. What has happened? Well 2 things, Earl and Katrina came down for the Cotton Bowl/New Years Eve and then this past weekend, we celebrated Celia's bday.

Let's start with New Year's. Well it was a bitterly cold night over at Ferrari's house that ended around 4 am with Earl dragging me out of there because I was arguing with Richards brother about hockey. I was telling him that it was boring, he disagreed. Richard and Sarah made the best queso I have ever tasted. We revelled and revelled until we could not revel any more. Oh yeah, the next day we went to go get firewood and my truck got stuck in the mud. That is nooo fun. But a guy from New York on a tractor pulled us out. I know,,, it's weird. We were in freakin' Lucas, TX in a field and the one guy around that had a tractor was a new yorker. We figured witness protection plan.

OSU decided not to show up against Ole Miss at the Cotton Bowl and so they were handed their butts on a tray. E was none to happy about this. Hell, i was none to happy about this and I didnt even go to OSU. It was great as always to see E and K. They headed back on sunday.

Celia's bday- Well we went out to eat at a fantastic little Mediterranean joint. She likes that kind of food. She got fun presents and then we moved on to the Stone Elephant for some bday drinks. Not me though.. i was the DD. I got some of it on video. Enjoy them.

Hurry back Superman, we'll be holding it down til then...

Laters,
jth

Quick Thursday

2010-01-07T08:55:00.003-06:00

So it's icy in Dallas, and what does that mean? Well it means that the spoiled drivers of north Texas are crashing all over the place. Let's face it, it never snows or ices here so when it does, the best thing to do is lock yourself in your house and hope a ford pick-up doesn't come crashing through the wall.

My high school teammate Matt Holliday just got a career pay day. He signed a 7-year, $120 million deal with the Cardinals. Well done sir. The thing I like about this isn't the fact that I got to grow up with a superstar, it's the fact that he was always a nice guy. Coming across someone with world class talent is one thing, that person being a solid individual... well that's something else altogether. Maybe Kharma does exist.

Enjoy some fine guitar playing from the movie August Rush and for crying out loud, drive slowly today!

Laters,
jth

Snow

2009-12-30T15:08:00.005-06:00

Since we went to Houston for Christmas, we missed the blanketing of white that Dallas got. Chris saved a snowball in the freezer for us but that was all we got. So I got so excited that it was supposed to snow all day yesterday and last night. Well it snowed for about 2 hours in the evening but it never could seem to drop below 34 degrees. So we were left with a light dusting that was mostly gone by midnight. Very sad..

I had an interesting memory yesterday. Growing up on Orchard street, I had a friend that lived a couple of streets over on 5th. Her name was Leah Wilsey and she was awesome. We used to hang out alot because we lived so close together and because we got on quite well. Although she was a year younger than me, we were very tight til I graduated and left. Actually, the summer after my freshman year in college, she was up at KU moving in for her freshman year and I went and spent the day with her. That was the last time I saw her as I moved down to Dallas a few weeks later. I believe she is living in Kansas City now, I'm sure she is doing great. Ok, that's enough background.

So I must have been in 8th or 9th.. maybe 10th or 11th grade, I cant remember. It was over the Christmas holiday break because I remember that all the college kids were gone and the town was empty the way that it gets. you get used to that growing up in a small town that is home to a large university... during the summer and christmas breaks, you can drive half way across town without seeing another vehicle. Anyway, it was a normal day, nothing special except that it had been snowing for a couple of days straight so the town was under a bunch of snow. It was piled up everywhere. I had been hanging out at Leah's... she had a great house, both of her parents were doctors. I don't remember what we were doing, probably just talking. Anyway, it was probably around 10-11 at night and I was walking back to my house through our neighborhood. Our neightborhood had been there for 70-100 years so the houses were old but nice and there are huge mature trees everywhere. I remember walking and enjoying the cold weather and the quiet as there were no cars or pedestrians the whole way back. It was just the most odd thing. I remember turning the a corner and seeing a snow covered silent street and I was filled with an enormous sense of loneliness. It was like nothing I have ever felt before or sense. Everything was just lonely. I kept walking and it passed as I strode up my front steps. It must have been pretty powerful for me to remember it so well. Anyway, that's all- end of story.

Yeah so, SMU Mustangs... puttin' the hurt on Nevada and dominating the Hawaii Bowl. Well done gentlemen. And for all the Mustang faithful out there, it's been 25 years... cheers.

Laters,
jth

Slacker

2009-12-23T11:05:00.003-06:00

Good song

Yes I am. I have completely neglected this blog for over a week. In my defense, however, I have had absolutely nothing to write about. Work has been crazy with everyone trying to get set up for the 1st quarter of next year before they leave for the holidays. We have been working out in the garage... oh yeah, we had the boat winterized and took it out to Richard's uncle's warehouse to store for the winter.
We are going to Houston for the weekend to see my parents, sister and aunt/uncle. It appears that it is going to be a mild Christmas as it is 67 degrees outside right now. Look at this.. I am talking about nothing. Ok well sorry nothing is going on. I will take some pics this weekend so there might be something somewhat interesting to look at next week. Merry Christmas to all and to all, Laters.

jth
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Gray Friday

2009-12-11T16:24:00.003-06:00

I am about to leave the office.. it is gray and cold outside. I don't want to go out there but I have to in order to get home. What am I listening to? Thanks for asking: its Take a Picture by Filter. Good song. This weekend will be mellow. Tonight just hanging and Saturday night, dinner then Sarah's bday party at Barcadia. Sweet. Oh yeah, the song at the top there is from John Mayer's new album. Chris got me listening to it and it is greatness.

I am ready for summer already. I guess I can just dream of warm evenings on the lake for now. It won't be long...

Have a good weekend and holler at me if you want to hang

Laters,
jth
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The Setup

2009-12-08T15:20:00.010-06:00

It has been cold around here lately. It even got below freezing a couple of nights this week. I know that may sound silly to some, but when you live in Texas, you spend most of the year sweating not freezing. However, there is one great thing about cold weather,,, it brings Christmas. Christmas is AWESOME!Last night was the annual setup at the Hughes/Byrd compound. So out to the garage we went to get all the boxes off the shelves that had been there all summer. Sure they were a little dusty but in the time it took me to go get the camera, Chris and Celia had them open and it looked like a Christmas tree had vomited in our living room. Moseley was supervising.Naturally there was a problem with the lights. We could only get them to come on in sections and sometimes if you could get one section to turn on, another one would go out. Oh wait, did I mention that there was Christmas music blaring through the house? Well that’s kind of important because that shows the level of commitment that was established. That and my Christmas hat… that was pure commitment as well.The tree takes the longest… you see, when you fold a fake tree up in a box and leave it there for 11 months, the boughs tend to get a little squished. If you want the tree to look authentic, you have to fluff the boughs,, so to speak. Plus you have to get all the branches evened out so that there are no gaps in the tree. This is not an easy job and I usually end up doing it because I am somewhat psychotic about it. If you are going to do something, DO IT RIGHT!!!So we finished putting all the ornaments on the tree and arranging the Nativity scene in time to catch “Santa Clause is Coming to Town” on tv. All in all, great success.

Have a great week.

Laters,

jth

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Hill Country Holiday

2009-12-01T13:43:00.025-06:00

Thanksgiving is a tasty, tasty occasion. This year was no exception as family and friends gathered just outside of Dripping Springs, TX for the 4-day holiday. Of course half the fun is getting there… Chris, Genevieve, Celia and I loaded up in the Tahoe Wednesday afternoon for the 3-4 hour drive south. Of course as soon as we hit the intersection of I-35 east and west just south of Dallas, the traffic was epic. So we hopped off the interstate at Hillsboro and decided to take the blue highways. This makes for a slower pace, but much better scenery. Plus there are always fun and interesting things to see in small towns. This started with the Hill County courthouse and then a magical downtown Christmas display.

We arrived at the house later that evening and settled in. Of course, getting used to being out of cell phone range took awhile but I am glad that I didn’t hear phones ringing. Daylight brought lots of exploring as the property is fantastic. Wide open fields below hills, plenty of woods, and a creek/river that runs directly through the middle of it all. The water is perfectly clear making the rock bottom easy to see. There was also a small waterfall. Mom cooked up an awesome Thanksgiving dinner as she always does with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce and rolls. Greatness.

Of course the main event every night was the fire. We made some good ones too. Storytelling and reliving the youth at night by a fire… a time honored tradition. And what is the deal with fire? Why is it so great to just sit and stare into one?

Every afternoon we went for a hike which yielded some scenic views and sore calves. There are some steep hills but the property owners seem to know right where one would get tired and strategically place picnic tables to on which to rest. We were sad to leave but I think everyone felt recharged. We took the backroads once again on the way home and stopped to get some of the world’s best beef jerky in Marble Falls. Moseley was really excited to see us as we left him home while we were gone. Although we paid a service to come by and feed him, he was still extremely overjoyed when we walked in the front door.

Headin' South

2009-11-25T13:38:00.003-06:00

That's right compadres, we are rolling out of Dallas shortly. Dripping Springs, TX is our destination for a 4-day weekend. We have rented a small ranch in the heart of Texas hill country for our Thanksgiving celebration. At present, it looks like it is going to be mom, dad, sister, Genevieve, Chris, Celia and myself. Moseley the wonder dog is going to stay behind and guard the house.. we have someone who is going to stop in and feed/check on him. I am excited as it has been awhile since i have had a few days off.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. My mom is one of the world's finest cooks so there will be eating and napping. Plus the property that we have leased is heavily wooded with rivers and creeks running throughout. I will make sure and take lots of pics.

Travel safely everyone and Happy Thanksgiving,

jth

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My Wife

2009-11-24T15:08:00.005-06:00

Is pretty sweet. When I say sweet, I don't mean she's sweet like caramel, I mean she is sweet like she will dominate you in the conference room, on the wakeboard, and in pretty much every other aspect of your life. Like when you are talking about a Bugatti Veyron and you say, man that is sweet, that means you are kind of afraid of it.
- Great wakeboarder
- SMU MBA grad
- Division I college rower
- US National Rowing Championship Silver Medalist
- Managing Director at a Mergers and Acquisition firm
- decent cook
- Ok driver (She killed Spud McKenzie with her Infiniti G35 Coupe)
- Good boat driver (for those of you who ride a wakeboard, you know how important this is)

So you're probably asking yourself, what she is doing with me... I can't figure it out either! I'm just gonna ride it til it throws me.

Thank you to David Elmore for changing the battery in my truck today. You are a gentleman and a scholar. I hope lunch at Zense suffices. Btw, Ferrari I got you some Pad Ke Mow and tom Yum soup. Be happy! I will drop it off tonight. Tomorrow we leave for the Texas Hill Country to celebrate Thanksgiving. Right now it looks like it will be my family + Celia, Chris and Genevieve. I will update before I take off.

Laters,
jth

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Leavin' on a Jetplane

2009-11-20T15:40:00.007-06:00

(Scroll down to the bottom of this entry and play the Matt Wertz song as you read. That makes it nice)

Yep, I just dropped Celia off at DFW so she can fly to Chicago. Jim is getting married and Celia and her sisters are throwing a shower. Good times all around.

So what do I do this weekend? Well, I have wood to chop and maybe I will change the battery in my truck. Mine is getting low and I should do it before it is too late. Ferrari has to get back surgery again on monday... bummer. Maybe I will grab Diablo and Lolo and head over to his house tonight and have a few beers with him. We got to get him better so he can do this again next spring.

It is cold and rainy here today. I want to take the boat out for a drive this weekend since we haven't run it in a few weeks. Soon it will be time to winterize and put it away to sleep the winter away. Have a good weekend, I will be with the boys since the girl is out of town. Holler if you want to play.

Laters,

jth

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My 10 Favorite Rivalries +1

2009-11-16T09:07:00.012-06:00

10. SMU/TCU

Ok so maybe this won't make too many top rivalry lists but it is close to my heart has I experienced this one personally. These 2 schools are so close in location and culture, it is difficult to tell them apart. The trophy is the "Iron Skillet" and its origins are unknown although lore dictates the following: "No one knows the original names to the story of the Iron Skillet, but it has been rumored that TCU and SMU fans originated this tradition back in the 1950s. During a pre game festivity a SMU fan was frying up some frog legs as a joke before the game. A TCU fan, seeing this desecration of the "frog", went over and told him that eating the frog legs was going well beyond the rivalry and that they should let the game decide who would get the skillet and the frog legs. TCU ended up winning the game and the skillet and the frog legs went to TCU. The tradition eventually spilled over into the actual game and the Iron Skillet is now passed to the winner between TCU and SMU." - Wikipedia

TCU currently leads the all-time series, 41-39-7... grrrr.

9. MacGyver/Murdoc

Sure laugh if you want but if you didn't like Macgyver when you were a kid, then you are probably communist. These two masterminds battled it out week in and week out. It was great that it wasn't just a physical battle, they day had to be won by the mind. And with Penny Parker (Teri Hatcher) on the line, battle they did! Many a modern day nerd owes his confidence to this brillian rivalry.

8. Liono/Mum-Ra

If you have no idea who these two characters are, then I am not going to explain it to you. Needless to say, you are missing out on the greatest cartoon in the world.

7. USA / USSR

Awesome. Not only did we win, so many great machines and movies were made without a single shot fired. One word... WOLVERINES!!!!

6. Robin Hood /Prince John

I am talking about the Disney cartoon made in the 70's. ONe of my tob 5 favorite movies of all time. I can hear it in my head now, "Robin Hood and Little John go walking through the forest..."

5. Maverick /Iceman

Forget the 5"2 Maverick and the bird-chested Iceman squaring off in the locker room in towels.. and forget the fact that a young, hot fighter pilot is chasing a quasi-cougar that is twice his age and looks it... no really, forget it. The magic was in the skies over southern California where they were taught, and I quote: "ACM, air combat maneuvering" (Thanks Jester). Just remember, the trophy for 2nd place is in the ladies room.

4. Barry Sanders / The Lions' offensive line

My favorite player of all time spent as much time dodging his supposed blockers as he did defenders. If only he had played for another team, he would hold every record in the book.

3. Me / The screaming lady from "So You Think You Can Dance"

She doesn't know it yet, but I am her biggest rival. She literally causes me to make faces like I am in pain when she screams,,, it's involuntary I swear! I would like to put her on a hot tamale train into the side of a building. And yes I do watch that show,,, shut up.

2. Swiss Family Robinson / The Pirates

Oh Pirates why are you so stupid, everyone knows you don't attack up a steep hill. Especially when there are Swiss folks up there. Switzerland is practically Germany and you know how clever they are. Oh and while I am giving war advice, you should never go in against a Sicilian, WHEN DEATH IS ON THE LINE! HAHAHAHAHA!! (which leads me to #1)

1. Inigo Montoya / Count Rugen

Here's the deal Count, his name is Inigo Montoya, you killed his father, prepare to die. really a short lived rivalry for the Count as he didn't really know that Montoya was looking for him until the last 20 minutes of his life. But those were the most rivalrous 20 minutes of all times.

Runner up:

Oklahoma State / Texas A&M

Both Aggie schools, both in the Big XXII both second best football teams in their states,, always. So there is some disdain, a healthy amount anyway. But that disdain took a small break this weekend when 2 people put their school pride aside and decided to get married. Congrats Julie and Kyle. All the best.

Laters,

jth

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Halloween Delight

2009-11-10T15:38:00.011-06:00

The annual Halloween party at the Hughes/Byrd compound was fantastic as usual. The weather was cool but we got to try out the outdoor firepit that we got back in March. It was awesome. Chris did a great job of getting the fire going and maintaining it until we finally called it a night around 5 am. We have some Ferrari video but I don't think I can put it on here.

All was well as the Bacchanalia came to a close and everyone made it home safely/stayed at our house. Ferrari did not even fight too hard this time when we loaded him up into the car so Sarah could drive them home. Sarah, you are a keeper..

p.s. If you have never eaten cheese sticks from Sam's Club at 3 am, you haven't lived!!!

Laters,
jth

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2 Funny Videos

2009-11-05T12:43:00.002-06:00

Happy Thursday everyone. This is going to be brief as I am busy but I wanted to throw these 2 videos at you. Bothy dorky and funny. Chris sent me the first one.

I don't know where I got this one, I am sure someone sent it to me.

Tomorrow I will have halloween pics. See you then.

Laters,
jth
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Weekendend

2009-10-26T13:35:00.008-05:00

Good afternoon chaps.

The weekend is over... that's no good. What happened? well several things. Lets' start with my board. Dr. Tom gave me some hot pink Ronix stickers to put on my board... because it's funny. And since my bindings look like they were designed by Ronald McDonald, it is just sort of the natural progression to make the board look ridiculous as well.

I thought I would go crazy and put them all over, but after look at them, I decided to go with 2 stickers,,, one big at the bottom of the board, and then the number 1 under the number 1 that was already on the board. You can see the difference. I am definitley not finished though... I need some different stickers. Oh yeah, Celia and I went wakebording on saturday afternoon. Wetsuits were donned as the water temp is getting down in the 60's. It was fun but muscles tighten up very quickly in water that cold.

Sunday I made chili and we watched the Dallas Cowboys dominate on the gridiron. Everyone was pumped except for Moseley. He slept on the couch completely uninterested in the game. He kind of reminded me of someone else who is prone to end up on the couch...

Good day friends,

jth

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Cold Friday

2009-10-23T08:32:00.004-05:00

I stepped outside this morning... BRRRR! 47 degrees is way to cold. Ok, I'm ready for summer again. :)
It is friday and I don't really have anything to talk about, so I will just leave a couple of videos on here; one funny, one a good song.
I will have some pics on here this weekend of the transformation of "Fruitloops" the great white Ronix One wakeboard. I am going to tatt it up(put stickers on it.)

Abra Moore - Four Leaf Clover Vers. 2 Music Videos SPIKE.com

Anyway, have agood weekend and I'll see you on the other side.

Pura Vida,

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First Fire + Babies and other Randomness

2009-10-20T14:39:00.014-05:00

That's right folks, the temperature has been coming down these last few weeks and it has finally hit the point where I make the first fire of the season. Is it little premature? Sure. I have a mild pyro streak in me.. I think we all do. Anyway I grabbed some nice pinon pine logs on the way home the other day and got it going. Man that wood smells great when it burns. Anyway, the room heated up nicely.. actually a little too nicely, we might have had to open the doors. Either way, it was fun.

So babies, yep it seems that our house is like The Loon (read the reviews) for children under the age of 2. They hang out at our place. Or maybe we just have a bunch of friends with kids,,, either way. There is Andre and Anna newest edition (strongest baby in the world). You remember the scene in Superman when the baby llifts up the truck? Yep he's that strong.

Then there is the Berv's kid... we'll call him musical Max as he likes to play the drums. Either way, both good guys.

Oh yeah, Dibello came by a few times.

I can see by my Sitemeter that there are people all over the world reading the blog now. How cool is that. I guess there is boredom everywhere. I am hoping to have some pics from Richard's housewarming party this past saturday to put on here in the next few days so be excited.

I found this video of my sister's graduation from the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University this past spring. It was pretty awesome when a New Orleans style band led the graduates out the door.

And on that note, I'll let Kevin Rudolph lead us out of this blog for the day.

Kevin Rudolf - New Music - More Music Videos

Laters,
jth
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Climate Change or “Blog Action Day”

2009-10-15T15:07:00.007-05:00

So I am taking part in the world wide Blog Action Day. It is basically a way for bloggers around the globe to all talk about this year's topic which is climate change on the same day. It is a good thing and I am glad to add their link to my blog, every little bit of traffic they can generate will help.

Of course the type of climate change I am going to talk about is a little more personal and less reaching. I have spent the last 5 days in Denver at the 2009 MGMA Conference. It was a typical conference I suppose, lots of talking to people, answering questions, dinners and such. Of course when I landed there on saturday it was snowing. brrrrrr! I am not ready for that kind of weather. I spent alot of time walking downtown as my hotel was 4 blocks from the convention center. I like Denver... I could live there I think. The winters would be rough but I think that would be somewhat counterbalanced by the abilityto ski on the weekends.

One evening I was able to go up into the mountains to Idaho Springs and the famous BeauJo's Pizza. The sunset mountain views were fantastic and one of my companions took a few pics. I forgot how clear the night sky is in the mountains.

So I woke up wednesday morning in the cold of Colorado, and by evening I was wakeboarding in the warmth of Texas. Talk about climate change...

Celia picked me up from the airport and we shot out to meet up with the Killer Bee. The water was fantastic... like glass only smoother. Plus there wasn't another wakeboard boat in sight,, just a few anglers. I took a short video of the area where we were riding. We landed a few tricks and headed to the house. It was good to see Celia and go wakeboarding at the same time... it was like Christmas. Either way, I am just glad to be home.

Don't forget, if you want to see the video you actually have to come to the blog site.

Laters,

jth

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I Dream of Tara and Santorini

2009-10-07T13:23:00.005-05:00

It's true. I totally had a dream about Tara Lizak(Nixon) last night. Don't worry, it was totally PG. She was taking me skydiving and my parachute came off. I yelled at her as I was falling and she caught it and flew over and put it on me... backwards. But it still worked and I was saved. We then went skidiving 5 more times and had a blast. After that was all over, we went back to hang out with our friends and we told them the story and they were all like, "Ah man, that was close, you almost died Hughes!" And I was like, "dude, i totally know!" That was the end of the dream. Either way, thanks for bailing me out Arat. (if you don't know what that line is about, then I am not going to explain it to you.

I also dream of Santorini. But I do most of that dreaming while I am awake. There are 2 webcams that I check out every morning while I am at work. I literally pull them up so I can see them while I work. Since we are 8 hours behind Greece here in Texas, I get to watch the sun set over the island every day. It makes me want to be there. Just follow the links and enjoy. If you find that you cant see anything on the screens, that means it is night. The best viewing time is in between 9am-11am CST.
View of the Caldera.
View of the Volcano.

Also, you can check out Earl's dog, Diesel not doing a very good job of catching a fly. Live and let live, I guess that is Diesel's philosophy.

I was thinking this morning of wakeboarding. It has been almost 2 weeks because it has been raining non-stop. I am hoping to go either tomorrow or friday before I leave for Denver. Anyway, I was looking for some inspiration and I thought of the movie August Rush. I really like it and the music is fantastic. If you have speakers on your computer, turn them up and play the video below.

Also, Jana posted a new blog and her pics are amazing. Click here.

One more thing, for those of you that receive this as an email, make sure and come to the actual blog website. Celia told me that the videos don't get sent in the emails. If you have missed them all, there are some funny ones so get your hind parts to Wanderings !!

Laters,
jth

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Summer Hangs On

2009-10-01T09:25:00.008-05:00

Hang on baby, hang on. So the water is cooling off,,, noticeably. And we experienced this, on saturday while we were out riding. "Wave Walker Wendy, Texas Teacher", Dr. Sweet Air, Justin and Sarah. The air was warm, low 90's as we spent the afternoon riding and trying to do backflips off the wakeskate. Tom got it on video and he is going to send it to me in a day or so; i will post it quickly after that. Also, Nixon and Tara (Tara's the one in the air) were in town for a couple of days, taking a break from lawyering and dancing. Nixon did Hyperlite work and now plans to take up wakeboarding as time permits. Well sir, you will have stop working for Gibson Dunn first. We also took pics and video of that day but I need to get it from Andreus "Topo Chico". The Owens' met the Nixon/Hughes coalition for a fantastic dinner at Soho, great time. We missed the Houghtons but 3/4 aint bad.

I should have all the videos and pics from the past 2 weeks soon. I just need to collect them so be excited. Also, there is the story of the IPhone, but not today little children, we'll save that one for another time. Guten Nacht - jth

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Nada

2009-09-25T14:51:00.002-05:00

I got nothing today folks. We went out last weekend and took videos and pics but I haven't gotten them from Andre yet. I will this weekend. All I have is a couple of links to really awesome videos. Enjoy and I will holler at you soon.

http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2009/08/05

http://dudeperfect.com/ (Check the Kyle Field shot)

http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2009/09/16

JTH

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Healthcare and Such

2009-09-18T14:21:00.010-05:00

I don't have anything to write about today except for the fact that we are actually going wakeboarding today. But I had to do a blog entry for my company's blog so I thought I would just copy and paste it on here. It'll give you something to think about...

Programmed Obsolescence

Or “planned obsolescence” as is the term first popularized by Bernard London circa 1932 in his pamphlet titled, “Ending the Depression Through Planned Obsolescence”1. Basically the idea was for the government to impose rules of obsolescence on consumer goods which would cause guaranteed production and spending which would in turn create predictable, stable growth. The Wikipedia article that I referenced for this piece compares it to the recent, “Cash for Clunkers” program. Get rid of the old, replace with new; move ‘em on down the road.

Of course PO exists in every industry without a government mandate. There are several different categories; technical obsolescence, systemic obsolescence, style obsolescence. Each one is a premeditated, calculated economic strategy. Some say it is unethical, but who cares? It works. When the original product fails, there is another newer, faster, shinier product on the shelf for the consumer to snatch.

So what happens when an existing product that desperately needs to be replaced has no upgraded version? Well the only option is to keep on making small fixes to keep it running even though it is broken.

I read an article this week on CNN.com about malpractice insurance and how the costs are driving doctors out of practice. One case involved a 55 year old OB/Gyn that had a patient base of over 5,000 individuals that went out of business. She was spending over $125,000 per year for her coverage.

Another case was that of Dr. Douglas Evans, a pediatrician.
“"I had a young football player in my office [this week]. His symptoms indicate a problem with his neck," he said in an example. "But I have to get authorization from his insurance company first to get an X-ray or an MRI. It's an example of how insurance companies dictate to me what I have to do." Evans is frustrated that this process will delay treatment by several days. "My first concern is that he's young and has his career in front of him," he said. "My second concern is that there's a predatory lawyer out there," meaning that if his patient's condition worsens while he waits to get authorization, it could expose him to a malpractice suit.”2

Broken, obsolete. So what are the long term solutions to getting these costs under control? One way the problem is being attacked, is by mitigating one of the major elements that is driving up premiums: malpractice suits.

A USA Today article delves into the details of several possible solutions that include in-facility risk management programs, and specialized health courts.
“For nearly a decade, the University of Michigan Health System has been using a program in which patients report errors to a hospital "risk-management" program before filing suit. The hospital investigates and, if warranted, issues an apology and an offer of compensation to the patient. If the patient turns that down, he or she can go to court. The vast majority settle.
The system moves quickly, sometimes catching errors before they're reported.In August 2001, there were 262 open claims against the medical center. In 2007, the number was 83. Some Michigan lawyers who represent patients praise the system — quite a testament to its ability to treat injured patients fairly.
Similar systems are proving their worth at as many as 300 hospitals and university medical centers across the country. A few malpractice insurers are using such programs for their insured doctors. In 2005, then-Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton proposed a law to encourage such systems and build a national database of disclosed errors to help physicians avoid them. This promising measure died in a committee.
Another intriguing idea is specialized health courts, where experienced judges using impartial experts would decide malpractice cases without juries. Awards would be more consistent and quicker. Yet no state has even tried a pilot program.”3

Sure it’s good to work for Delta which is member of the oligopoly of locums firms. But the fact of the matter is that we are a short term fix for the problem of physicians that close their practices to work under our malpractice insurance. Only a small number of our physicians have come to us for this reason but the data suggests that many more will be walking that road in the near future. And believe me, we are happy to do it and will continue to do it until the malpractice issue is resolved. It is time however for a shiny new product for the industry to consume, because this clunker we are in now is on its last wheel.

1. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/London_%281932%29_Ending_the_depression_through_planned_obsolescence.pdf

2. http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/14/news/economy/health_care_doctors_quitting/index.htm

3. http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/06/our-view-on-doctors-vs-lawyers-tired-malpractice-debate-ignores-promising-solutions--risk-management-programs-and-heal.html

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Biblical Rain and Boredom

2009-09-17T18:38:00.000-05:00

Light rain-drops fall and wrinkle the sea,
Then vanish, and die utterly.
One would not know that rain-drops fell
If the round sea-wrinkles did not tell.
-Sidney Lanier

Oh can it Lanier. The rain is lousy, and I should know,,, it has been raining for over a week now.. non-stop. It is absolutely ridiculous. I mean, there is nothing to do, no wakeboarding, volleyball, nothing. I don't even have anything to write about; I havent talked to Andre or Tom, Richard hurt his back again. What the hell man? September has pretty much been crap since I got back from hunting.

Maybe we need to find something intimidating to scare off the storms, like a posessed Mosely the super dog, or Julie Smart dressed like the Soviet Secret Police.

It has rained so dang much that a huge limb fell off of the tree in the backyard and landed in the middle of the yard. That's not a terrible thing though, I am going to get a chainsaw and chop it up for firewood. Whatever, I am tired of whining about it; I just want to see some sun.

GO GET 'EM JULES!!!!

-jth

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Rainy Days

2009-09-11T10:04:00.007-05:00

I am not a fan,, unless I am trying to take a nap.. but naps are for the wintertime. It has been a week since I wakeboarded so I was itchin' to get out yesterday afternoon. But the fates had different ideas and the Bee stayed on the hoist. We tried to wait it out but no go on the show. i snapped a few pics while we were waiting because it is better to see our plight than to hear about it. Empty board racks, dark skies, boards laying on the ground... all adds up to one thing, us sitting on the boat doing nothing. Not cool. We will try again this afternoon. Have a great weekend and holler at me if you want to get together.

-jth

West Texas Reunion

2009-09-10T10:41:00.030-05:00

You know, there is something about early September that just gets a guy going. About mid august, I start looking to the sky much more often than normal to see that outline; dove shadow against blue Texas sky. The trigger finger starts getting itchy and I feel the need to start packing my truck up weeks in advance. And what’s the cause for all this angst? Simple: the Annual Vilfordi Dove Hunting Trip to Haskell, TX. It is a fine tradition in which I have had the honor of partaking these past 4 years, and this year was no different. Of course it begins with a drive out to Haskell in NW Texas.

Northwest Texas is hauntingly beautiful; It can be hilly, covered in mesas, or so flat that it hurts your eyes to try to make out the landscape just below the horizon. It gives you the sense of great adventure as you can easily picture cowboys riding through the country or Indians hunting buffalo, but it is easy to look around and feel very lonely as well.

In between the abandoned farm houses and small towns, is an open wilderness dotted only with cattle and oil wells. The roads are long and straight with traffic being almost non-existant. I took my time driving up on Friday and avoided interstates or any other major roads. I wanted a chance to see the land and get some pictures taken. Aaron and I had taken this route 4-5years ago but it was mostly dark and I couldn’t tell what was beyond the reach of the headlights. I made my way out of Ft. Worth heading west and instead of following I-20, I exited off and followed the blue highways up through Weatherford, Mineral Wells, Graham and Throckmorton. The trip took longer but was well worth it. I saw all the above mentioned features and even ran into a lake; of course it was run down.

After arriving in Haskell , I met up with the guys and the fun began. Of course the first night there was grilled steaks, baked potatoes and plenty of yellow bellies. Banter was solid as we caught up from the past years trip. One of the things I love about this particular group of guys is the fact that we don’t see each other often and when we do get together, usually in west texas, we don’t miss a beat. There is no small talk or uncomfortable social pleasantries, we just roll in to where we had left off. It’s good. Predictability seems to be at an all time premium these days and the Haskell crew is definitely a dependable supply. Of course we stayed up way too late (some of us later than others Aaron) but the hunting the next morning was fair. After the birds were cleaned and bagged, we headed to the red Rooster for some pancakes and biscuits/gravy. Nap time was followed by the afternoon hunt that was a little warm but the most successful afternoon hunt I have ever been on. Saturday night’s dinner was masterfully grilled up by Adam “the sports encyclopedia” Vilfordi. Pork, beef and chicken grilled to perfection along with veggies and served fajita style hit the spot as we settled into our circle of folding chairs once again for telling lies and reliving our college days. That lasted once again til about 2 am when we turned in. That was pretty much the end of the trip as the next morning we woke up, packed and left. Another memorable year that will be remembered as a great one… not because the hunting was phenomenal, although it was pretty good. Just to go spend another weekend with the guys telling tales about tails centers me enough to last another 11 months. But there is no doubt that I will still violently look skyward as birds dart over my head for the next several weeks; it’s hard to get the dove fever out once it has taken hold.

Gentlemen, til next year,
jth

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The Rest of the Week

2009-09-02T14:22:00.006-05:00

Ok, it's wednesday and man is this week dragging on like, like... well like I can't even think of a decent simile. NOW THAT'S A LONG WEEK!

Tonight we have volleyball but only 4 of us can make it creating a 4 on 6 situation. I still think we will win though. Actually, it doesnt matter because we are already a lock for the playoffs, now its all about seeding. I have only ridden once this week. Celia and I went out by ourselves on monday afternoon. The wind was out of the NE making it difficult to find a long run but we made do. My new board arrived; I was super excited to get on it and try it out, but I was also quite judicious as it is a pro model and the board I had before was a beginner/intermediate. It is a Ronix One Pro. Man I couldn't have been more wrong about this thing. It is so easy to ride; it is light, responsive, the kicker off the lip is much stronger as I believe the board has a much faster rocker. The thing that I noticed the most was how stable it was not only as I hit the wake, but through the air and on the landing. I was tired when we went out on monday afternoon and still I jumped higher and better than I have this whole season. I am in love.. of course my crazy bindings don't match the board but I will take the ride over fashion.

I leave friday for the annual Vilfordi Dove Hunting Trip. Off to Stamford to kill many birds for a couple of days and then come back to feast on them. Man, it is hard to beat dove breast stuffed with cream cheese, jalopeno, and then wrapped in bacon. Good eatin. It will be good to see everyone again, the Vilfordi brothers and Grego from NYC.

I will try to get some pics from the hunt so I can put them on here. Travel safely this weekend and I'll catch up with you on tuesday,, unless I decide to put something on here tomorrow which is doubtful.

-JTH

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Stranger In Turkey

2009-09-01T10:57:00.015-05:00

Who is This???Well I believe it is Julie Smart's little sister, Jana. I found her blog because it is linked to Umair's. I saw the title and I was intrigued. You should definitely check it out, it is fantastic. Basically she is in Turkey working and in her spare time, she wanders around exploring; I must say that I envy her a great deal. And her pictures are fantastic. You will find it at http://janastravellog.blogspot.com/

It got me thinking... maybe I should go do something like that. You know, just take off. I spent alot of the summer between my junior and senior year of college in Europe wandering about. Jana's blog reminds me of the feeling I had when all I had was a backpack and a vagabond heart. OH the places I saw, Inverness Scotland, Santorini Greece, Natters Austria, Cinque Terre...

Maybe, just maybe I spend too much time behind a desk. and maybe one day I'll leave it all to wander all over again. If so Jana Smart, I hope to meet you someday on the road; because if you are anything like your older sister, we will get along just fine.

Via Con Dios,

jth
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Vision Splendid

2009-08-26T16:26:00.009-05:00

The Killer Bee is glad to see them, but his stillness might deceive them.
For the Rumble he produces shakes the wakeboards racked on bars.

And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit water extended,
And at night the wonderous glory of the everlasting stars.

Ah yes, the ballad of the Killer Bee (some of which was borrowed from Clancy). Either way, it is fitting for the kind of riding we have been doing these last several weeks. Mostly evening sessions which offer great water and epic sunsets. Yesterday was no different. The water was so calm, that we were riding all over the lake instead of pressed up against some shoreline hiding from the gusts. It was pretty sweet. Richard got his new board in,,, it looks like a snowboard but he did well. Tom had me get on the wakeskate which is sort of like trying to rope a steer while wearing iceskates. But it is great for popping off the wake and doing a cannon ball. Tom was great as usual, making the rest of us look like a bunch of amateurs. Thanks alot jerk. Oh oh, look at me, not only am I a doctor, but I can wakeboard better than you! Yeah Tom, that's what you sound like. Nah just kidding, you're a good dude.

SO anyways, got some good pics of Tom riding the wakeskate. That's pretty much all I got. The week is almost over; see you on the lake tomorrow. Hey Tom, if you can remember bring that camera you were talking about yesterday.

Laters,

jth

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Night Riders

2009-08-21T10:20:00.008-05:00

Nope, not that one. I'm talking about wakeboarding in the dark. It is AAAAAWESOME! Yes we did that yesterday. And Andre's shorts were longer,, which was kind of disappointing for Richard. He didn't say so, but I could see the look of let down all over his face.
The bindings... yep, they are bindings. They are Liquid Force "Shane Bonifay's". And they are colorful. Whatever board they end up on will be dubbed "Fruit Loops". I didn't give the nickname but it is appropriate in adn inappropriate manner. Let that one marinate for a minute...

It went down like this: we met up to ride and the water was flawless. Barely a breath of air on the water. We didn't even have to stick close to the bridge like we normally do. Literally, we could pull eachother across the middle of the lake. Plus there were only 1-2 other boats out there. Andre was brave, Tom almost landed a backflip, Wavewalker Wendy: Texas Teacher rode like a woman posessed, Richard caught big air and I did alright too. The sun left us but we didnt leave the lake staying long enough so that we could slide across black water chasing a boat that was lit up like the 4th of July. As a matter of fact the couple of pics where Richard and I are standing on the back of the boat about to drop in and ride, the light that is allowing the pic to be taken is from the boat lights, not the sun as it is already down. Good times. Tom got some great pics from the day and I will put them on here. We wanted to stay longer but we were ushered off the like around 9 by lightning in the distance.

Have a great weekend and holler if you want to get together.

-jth

Tuesday Shenanigans

2009-08-20T09:37:00.010-05:00

So it's thursday, I just wanted to get that out of the way since the title of this entry is Tuesday Shenanigans. I am of course referring to the day before yesterday. It was a grand day of wakeboarding with the boys and general tomfoolery (I wanted to use the word "shenanigans" instead iof tomfoolery but I think that would be over kill.)(---The above picture has nothing to do with today's blog entry. Umair's brother actually took this picture and I thought it was hilarious so I decided to put it on here---)

I stopped by the Warming Hut to demo some bindings as I need some new ones. I got some Liquid Force Alpha boots and attached them to one of Dr. Sweet Air's old boards. Taking it easy and just getting the feel was my plan as it was the first time I had ridden since July 4th. The riding was fine as I didn't really jump or surf too low.

But it was Andre's first time to ride and let me just say that the guy is a genius, or unhinged... maybe a solid mix of the two. His second try, he got up and rode around like he had been doing it for awhile. By the end of the afternoon, he was attempting jumps: brave, yes -successful, no. Tom caught the first attempt on his I Phone. Just click on the picture to see the greatness.

Not only did Andre dominate the water, but he did it in absolute style since his bathing suit is from the 80's. I mean, the last time I saw a suit like that, I was watching CHIPs and Poncherello was at the beach solving a crime on his day off. What a guy.. there is no rest for fine officers like Ponch. No wait, I have seen shorts like Andre's since CHIPs. I watched Reno 911 last week. We'll have to start calling Andre Lt. Dangle.

It turned out to be a fine afternoon in spite of the shorts. It was just the boys, myself, Ferrari (Richard), Dr. Sweet Air(Tom), and Andre. As we racked the wakeboards, stowed the rope and handle, and turned on the boat lights for our 1-2 mile cruise back to the safety of the marina, Tom caught a shot of another great Texas sunset as a storm rolled in from the East.

Obama-stravaganza

2009-08-14T14:14:00.007-05:00

So I promised an update on Obama. Of course you have seen from my previous entries that Chia Obama is supposed to look nice and neat with the plants growing nicely, close to the scalp so it resembles hair.

I don't know if we have good air, or great water, or we just got a magical batch of seed, but the growth is incredible... except directly on top of his head. He just won't stop growing longer hair! The funny thing is that he is sitting in front of the window so the "Hair" is always leaning toward the sun so you can do funny things with it. Either way he kind of looks like a more stable Phil Spector. Have a good weekend. We are off to Houston.

PS, Enjoy a quick video of Nate doing work on the tube while he was in town...

Love, Hate and Blue Skies

2009-08-13T15:26:00.014-05:00

What do I love? I love my friends and family, how cool are they! What do I hate? I hate Go Fast boats on the lake. First of all, they are absolutely pointless. They were designed as high powered off-shore ocean racing boats. Then they were utilized by the drug cartels to smuggle narcotics into the US. They could outrun the Coast Guard boats of the day. Then the coast guard wised up and got their own. These days every redneck idiot with a little cash drives one and sometimes kills himself and his passengers in the lakes of the south. They have 600 horse power and can go 120 mph. Well, if you keep them on a lake that is 8 miles long and 4 miles wide, you can get from the tip to the tail of the lake in 6 minutes. Then what? Well you turn around and do it again. It is really quite absurd, they drive like hell from one place to the other. And its not like you can ski or wakeboard behind them. They are always flying through the middle of the run while every one is trying to ride. Hey, if I lived in Miami and I would probably have one. But then I could go like hell to Key West or Tampa.

Blue skies + Killer bee. We had both of them this past weekend when Nate was in town. Nate was brilliant as expected on the wakeboard. Got up his first try and had several nice runs. The Bee is fully repaired and the new system can blow your bathing suit off. Monster even named an energy drink after our boat. (check the very top of the can) We were thrilled of course...

Stay tuned, tomorrow I will give you an update on Chia Obam... be excited!!

I'm Still Alive

2009-08-07T14:48:00.005-05:00

Oh, she walks slowly, across a young man's room

She said I'm ready...for you

I can't remember anything to this very day'

Except the look, the look...

Oh, you know where, now I can't see, I just stare...

I, I'm still alive

-Pearl Jam

It's true, dead men don't write blogs and I am sitting here doing it. But there was another John Hughes that passed away yesterday. A brilliant man that made some of the greatest movies of my generation. It is interesting to think also, that when I was watching Ferris Bueler and Breakfast Club, I was also looking at the school and town in which my future wife lived. Weird. Either way, the man was a genious.

I have alot of pics to put on here from last weekend when Nate the Great was here but I have been too busy to transfer them from camera to SD to hard drive. I will do it this weekend. Hopefully we are going out to the lake this afternoon aothough my back is still too sore to ride. I 'll holler back later. Have a great weekend.

PS welcome back Dr. Sweet Air.

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Kings of L'Yonne

2009-07-31T14:27:00.014-05:00

No I am not referring to the band with similar name,

I am referring to the royalty of the land of L'yonne, home of the Green Knight and all things evil. The same land that challenges the soverignty of the good guys. So I guess that would make us bad guys since that is who we represented last night on our epic trip to Medieval Times. It was fantastic: there was Umair, the Prince of Persia and his lovely concubine Brandi. Genevieve the Conqueror, Nate the Pure of Heart, Hughes the Sleepy, and Princess Celia the Sassy Muffin.

It was a grand time, being the rowdy section of crowd fight against all that is good. I even heckled the King as he walked by. Good times. We ate with our hands, drank out of chalices,

enjoyed eachother's company and for one night,

we were royalty.

The Sun is out again and breaking through the trees; both physically and metaphorically. Here in a few minutes, I leave to go pick up the Killer Bee. Three weeks and over $6000 later (Thanks State Farm), Clint called and said he is 100% and ready to go. So here we go, it's time for greatness once agan. Now we just have to figure out a way to protect the boat. We have discussed everything from motion lights to game cameras with signs saying "Smile, You are on Camera." Who knows what we are going to do.. All I know that is for today, all is good with the world. I am going to throw some random pics in here from Arkansas, my back yard, Oklahoma and other stuff.

Later on,

jth

Welcome Monday

2009-07-27T13:06:00.007-05:00

Who would ever write that? Welcome Monday? That is stupid.

The reason for my madness is the fact that this weekend was a BEATING! We moved Richard which hurt my back enough to where I can't really walk without looking special. It was over 100 degrees but we got it done. Also saturday morning, Celia orchestrated the greatest garage sale in history. There were TONS of folks there and almost everything sold. There was well over $1000 made. Well done C. Max's party was fun butI was only there for a couple of hours because my back was hurting. So I guess, welcome monday... I'm glad that weekend is over with.

Dr. Robert Joseph Hughes Jr. returned safely from another cross country solo motorcycle trek. He went up through Oklahoma to Missouri. I think he had a good time. It kind of reminds me of one of my favorite songs of all time by Tracy Byrd:

If you really love me if you care at all you'll gladly step aside

I've given you the best of me and now the rest of me is gonna take a ride

There's a gravel road that turns into a two-lane blacktop highway

That stretches out for miles and miles and miles

And the mileposts and the road signs are pointin' out a white line

To a man I haven't been in quite awhile

There's a half a tank of freedom in my Chevy and I'm leavin'

And there's nothin' in this world you can say

So don't insist on standin' in my way

I can't find me if I stay

Great song for a solo road trip. He took some pics on the way and I have included them. These were all taken in Oklahoma.

So Nate is coming into town on Wednesday and we are looking forward to that. I am hoping the Bee will be ready by thursday so we can ride on friday after work.

I will catch up with you folks later on this week; who knows where our road will take us in between now and then...

Pura Vida,

jth

Sorrow Breaks Seasons..

2009-07-24T14:38:00.008-05:00

Sorrow breaks seasons and reposing hours, Makes the night morning, and the noontide night. - W. Shakespear

Child of mortality, whence comest thou? Why is thy countenance sad, and why are thine eyes red with weeping? - Mrs. Anna Letitia Barbauld

For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been. - John Greenleaf Whittier

Ok so what's with all the sadness and sorrow? Well I'll tell you, the great Killer Bee is still out of comission and we miss him greatly. No failed tricks, no getting outside the wake and feeling like you are floating on a cushion of undisturbed air, no gliding across liquid glass, stereo pumping, with family and friends. I know I said it the other day but it really feels like an imbalance. I get so used to looking forward to being out there that when it suddenly goes away, my life isn't as fun. I am sure I sound like a drama queen but it is the truth. I think we all miss him. Hopefully it won't be long. Clint has the money from the insurance company and hopefully has started is surgery on our injured friend.

So, what to do then? Well I say we focus on what is in front of us. And what do we have in front of us, one might ask? Plenty: The Garage sale of the century is tomorrow, Richard is cleaning and moving, and Max's mohawk party is saturday night. Busy weekend. And most of the crew is going to be involved in atleast 2 of the 3 above mentioned activities.

The Garage sale: Celia has amassed items on a CostCo-esque level. It is going to be quite the deal. That of course means labelling everything and getting up super early or the garage sale crazies will be breaking down the door at around 6:30 am.

Cleaning and moving Ferrari: It starts tonight; most of the work that was being done inside the "Anchorman Hideaway" is completed but from what I understand, there is cleaning to be done on a massive scale. I guess thats why he is offering free drinks for whoever joins in the campaign. People will do almost anything for free beer: well done Richard. BTW - I cancelled my 3pm massage to help you move....YOU'RE WELCOME!!! Nah just kidding, I just rescheduled it for next week.

And finally, the mohawk party: What can I say,,, Max is an animal. I think he is turing 6 but there will be adult beverages there. It shall be a textbook example of summertime Bacchanalia. We are all excited.

On another note: I found an awesome recipe for Carne Asada on the internet and grilled it right up. Of course we used ours for fajitas. It was awesome!! Here's the recipe: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/carne_asada/

Farewell friends, talk to you later/ jth

The Doldrums

2009-07-22T10:21:00.005-05:00

I am sad today. Work is a beating and the boat is still out of comission with no end in sight. I feel imbalanced; no wakeboarding in the near future, plus no breaks either. Richard came through last week with a great picker-upper. It was a video he took while we were in Mexico earlier this year. A couple of local musicians came by and played us a great song as we were having lunch on the beach. It was great. Check the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dicmontgomery/3435397538/

I need a vacation and luckliy we have started planning our trip for November. It appears that

we will be going to Nicaragua. I have never been but I bet it will be great. That's all I have today folks, not feeling much like talking. Just dreaming of warm winds and slow days...
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2 Thumbs and Five Fingers

2009-07-14T14:03:00.009-05:00

Well, that's an odd title. Don't worry little birdies, I will feed you...

Let's start with the 2 thumbs part of the title. Monday was my fair sister's thirty... er... 24th birthday. She was out partying in Houston with her crew and I get the following text message: "Who has two thumbs and is celebrating her birthday??? THIS GIRL!" The picture was attached to the text and while it is hard to see because it is dark, it is obvious that my Samantha has 2 thumbs and effectively wields them in jest.

Moving on to 5 Fingers: I am not sure you are familiar with the expression, "5 Finger Discount" when referring to petty larceny. I you haven't, it means to steal. And steal someone did this past week. About $3000 worth of stereo equipment and wakeboarding stuff out of the Killer Bee. I went out with Dr. Sweet Air and "Walks on Water" Wendy (that's her Cherokee name) on Friday afternoon to do some riding and as we were walking up to the boat, I noticed that the cover was half off and the ski locker was open. That's a strange feeling. I pretty much knew what the deal was before I got to the boat. A quick inspection confirmed suspicions. After reporting to the Marina and reporting to the Dallas Police, It was back to the house to try and start sorting out what to do.

Aside: I must say that the ineptness of Bay View Marina was paramount. But more importantly, my interaction with the DPD was really impressive. After I called them, they promptly sent an officer out to meet me, inspect the boat and make a report in the 100+ degree heat. He was friendly, professional and understanding. Great job DPD.

Anyway, the rest of the weekend passed without incident and now after speaking with State Farm and making a claim with them, Ferrari and I are going to pick the boat up after work and deliver it into the capable hands of Clint and Texas Vessel Repair http://www.texasvessel.com/. Hopefully the KB will be back to proper fierceness soon. We will miss you buddy, get well soon...

Made in the USA

2009-07-10T10:35:00.013-05:00

There's no way to ease into this... LAST NIGHT I ORDERED CHIA BARACK OBAMA OFF AN INFOMERCIAL!! I am not quite sure how I feel about it. I do know this: I had a few drinks before I saw the ad and made the call. In hindsight, however, I would definitely do it again. Hell I might call and purchase another one. I ordered the "determined expression" Obama. I might want to experience the other option: "The Smiling Obama". Although that one has the teeth showing and it reminds me of how Han Solo's teeth looked while he was frozen in carbonite in Return of the Jedi. Creepy. Oh man, I shouldn't have made that comparison: everyone is giong to give me crap about being a Star Wars geek. Of course since I am typing this, I have the option to change it before people read it, but the fact that I am leaving it on here because it is f-ing brilliant further speaks of my geekiness.

I guess my confusion of feelings on the topic comes from the absolute absurdity of the product, and the borderline racist nature. Our first black president and the folks over at Chia get all excited because chia plants mildly resemble the texture of african american's hair? I mean forget the historical significance... Only in the USA my friends, only in the USA. Either way, I think both Chris and I decided to focus more on the ridiculousness of the thing and proudly display Obama in the living room.

Soundtrack of the morning? Dave Matthews Band - "Old Dirt Hill"

Ride my bike down that old dirt hill

First time without my trainin' wheels

First time I kissed you I lost my legs

Bring that beat back to me again

Scream and shout out loud our innocence

Days when all we did would never end

Great song.. talks about growing up and wanting to go back to being a kid again. Richard has been being a wiseguy lately and I have had to put in his place with my vicious rhetoric! After yesterdays blog ended with me saying that I looked forward to falling asleep with Celia, his response was:

"Dude that is the ****** **** ever. Unsubscribe me from this thing."

My reply? "Don't make me burn down your new house..."

I'd say I dominated that one. and then, the following email exchange regarding me transferring money to his account for my half of the boat payment:

Richard: This is the amount of the boat payment. Make sense to you?

John: OK its in your account… and I gave you 1 cent too much… SO NOW I OWN YOU!!

Richard: Consider that the Juice! Its been runnin since the first!

John: Ok, I just transferred another 11 cents. ADVANTAGE, HUGHES!!!

Richard: "No Reply"

When the kids get out of line, you gotta put 'em back in. I mean hey, I don't want to be a mean father-figure but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. BTW, do what this email says. It's our good friend Damian G and we want to get him as much press as possible. see email:

"Hey guys,

My music is now featured on the 106.1 KISS FM website as an up and coming artist. I need everyone’s help to get their attention and possible air time. The program director is paying attention to how many plays I am receiving. I am asking you to please click on this link once a day and play my songs. Also, please forward this to your friends asking them to do the same! I can't do it alone and would really appreciate the support on this! thanks guys! "

-Damian

http://www.1061kissfm.com/new2/artists/damiangiglio

Ok so that's enough for now. Have a good weekend and holler at me if you want to do anything. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------END

Thursday 7pm and I'm Still at the Office

2009-07-09T19:12:00.007-05:00

But this is for another reason.. going to shoot a video this evening. So no big deal. What's my soundtrack of the day? Well right now I am listening to Nine Days "Bob Dylan":

"Stop depression of my own

walk the only road I know.

if I am only dreamin' then I am not that far from it.

Sow the strength that grows from seeds

worship creativity. If I am only dreamin'

then me an' Bob are not that far today.

So long as I'm young."

Great song, Damian G tuned me onto that band. Oh, I believe we have a first time reader today... a Mr. David Elmore. What's up Elmore. Tell your preggers wife I said hi.

SO yeah, tomorrow is Friday, I am only working til noon then it is out to lake for this guy. I have a date with Dr. Sweet Air and the fair Wendy (Tom and Wendy). Gonna do a little work in the Texas sun. Maybe get a little burned.. maybe pull off a backside lipslide.

Either way, it is now 9:30 and I am going to cut this short. BTW, Ferrari's house is sweet. I'll put some pics on here.

Tom, congrats on finishing your test, don't drown yourself too deep in margaritas tonight, we've got work to do tomorrow afternoon.. you know, walking on water.

Sorry this isn't deep or insightful or entertaining tonight...my brain and heart are tired. It's been a long day and I need to go home and see the lovely Mrs. Hughes. See you soon baby, can't wait to fall asleep next to you tonight...

Long Weekends

2009-07-07T13:10:00.007-05:00

Are just fantastic. There was so much that we did, and yet, we spent alot of time relaxing. of course there was wakeboarding on Thursday afternoon. Celia, Chris and i went out. It was a great afternoon; the water wasn't the best but it was still great because no one was out. After watching the wakeboarding videw, Chris was awewome getting up everytime he tried. Celia nailed the switch and riding goofy.

Then it was over to Richard's new house that he had begun working on. He closed a week ago and has been in the thing everyday since. There is a lot of work to be done but it is going to be SWEET!! More wakeboarding early Saturday morning followed by breakfast at Barbec's and a nap. That evening with all the tv's in the house tuned to the Boston Pops 4th of July Extravaganza, we fired u

p the grill and cooked a feast worthy of,,, well worthy of a bunch of starving people that like meat. There was corn on the cob, potato salad, brats, steak and the fanciest 4th of July cake I had ever seen.

Sunday we relaxed and here we are once again, facing down another week. No worries though, good friends and good times are waiting for us on the other side.

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Stillwater, OK

2009-07-01T15:45:00.009-05:00

Today is Wednesday, 4th of July is right around the corner. This past weekend we were in Stillwater for Earl and Katrina's wedding. What a blast. It was great seeing everyone and the ceremony was fantastic. Of course the reception and after party were even better,, or so I'm told as memory of the event... little fuzzy. Nah just kidding, I remember it all and it was legendary. Everyone acted a fool, there was the John/Tyler/Chris fued next to the bar at about 1 am after 6 hours of drinking, Celia making suggestive gestures for the camera, and of course HUNTER. You have to whisper his name it is so epic. Like "Sanjaya". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJZQVDRj4XA

Either way, we are all pretty sure that Gen will get her shoes back.

We ate at Mom's Place, Mexico Joes and we even visited the only winery in Stillwater (Red barn is winery). We all bought several bottles.

I found it strange to be back in the town in which I grew up. It was very different as it has changed drastically. There is alot more there, so much that it didn't feel like the same town. I went by the house I lived in on Orchard St. It seemed smaller and whoever lives there now has let it run down; the garden is grown over, the windows need to be repainted, the deck in the backyard needs to be completely replaced. I went to the back yard that I used to run in and do linebacker drills and I could hardly remember it. It was too far away or maybe it looked so different than it did when I was there. Either way, I guess it's true what they say: Once you leave home, you can never go back.

Congratulations Earl and Katrina and thanks for making all of us feel so welcome. Now it's time to begin my 4th of July vacation. Take us away oh chubby Lord of the Dance and Son!!!

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Today We Travel

2009-06-26T09:59:00.001-05:00

Ahh yes, the feeling of waking up on a travel day. Even if you have to go to work first, it just feels different. You know that the next time you go to bed, it will be in a different place. I love it. Even though we are going to Stillwater, OK for my buddy Earl's wedding and not the other side of the planet, it just feels nice. Plus it is giong to be great to see Earl and Katrina. Plus Tyler and Rob are coming in from NYC and my parents from Houston. Today's soundtrack? I'm listening to Emerson Hart- "Green Hills Race for California", great song.

"Oh my dear, what a race that we have run

Oh my sweet, what a face we've become

How do I go back to California

How do I leave the green fields here

Warm nights and your sweet magnolia

How do I leave the green fields here

Oh my friends, what a long trip it's been

Many nights, and the friends that we have made..."

Anyway, we have been many places so far this year, Mexico, Costa Rica, Tulsa Oklahoma. How do you leave out the great town of Tulsa? That's God's country brother. I got some sweet pics too... The collection is growing. I think we have it backwards in the US though; it has been said that in the US, people go on vacation so they can work and in the rest of the world people work so they can go on vacation... or something like that. All I can say is that at 4 pm today, we hit I-35 and head North for 4 hours.

I miss that place and that time. It was fantastic growing up there, it seemed much safer than the world does now. I think every generation says that though. I wonder sometimes how I got here and the winding road I took to reach this point. It has involved many cities and states and lots of folks that I knew for a short while. Even though Dallas is 250 miles south of Stillwater, my road here feels like a million miles long. The funny thing is, when I left Stillwater, I left alone and now I return with an army of family and friends. There are worse things.

Either way, that means no lake this weekend. Richard, Sarah, Celia, Genevieve and me are in OK, Tom is in Chicago. I dont remember if Wendy was going with him. So travel well this weekend friends, may fair winds and following seas bring you back safely... SO YOU CAN READ MY BLOG NEXT WEEK!!!

Ineptitude

2009-06-24T13:56:00.000-05:00

I will start this blog with a pretty picture. I was talking the other day about my dad's motorcycle. Well he sent me a picture that he took last december of his BMW R1200GS near Sanderson, TX on his way to Big Bend

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Now into the ugliness we go. Yesterday was a great day to be on the lake. Without question, the sweet combination of cloudless sky, high 90's temp, no wind and few boats on the lake is hard to beat. So how stoked were we as Celia, Ferrari and I headed out toward the lake to meet up with Dr. Sweet Air and the Killer Bee. As we drove we had good conversation about wakeboarding, going back to Costa Rica in November, and the political situation of Iran. Needless to say, spirits were high. We are almost to the lake when we realize that we forgot the boat keys. Richard and I argued about where they were but since Genevieve was at our house working out (taking a nap) we had her look around and she found nothing. So we proceeded to Richards to look in his truck where they were sitting in the glove box. He was so annoyed that he refused to go back to the lake. So Celia and I headed back out.

Fast forward 45 minutes of traffic, we arrive at the lake and find Tom (DSA) reading a book about radiation chemistry or something like that so he can become a great Radiation Oncologist and never have to work as a locums doc. Celia and I felt bad but he took the waiting well. We loaded the boat, dropped it in the water, and then I truned the key. Nothing. I guess we left the stereo on when we left saturday and both batteries were drained. The fates were surely frowning upon me. Fast forward another hour and we found someone to give us a jump and we were motoring out onto the glassy lake.

Lessons were learned, the hard way but I think the 3 of us would agree that just being out to see the sunset was worth the drama. Not that I want to go through that regularly, but it turned out ok in the end.

Friends

2009-06-23T15:20:00.000-05:00

They are awesome. I was sitting here thinking that I like my friends and that is a good thing. They all have their quirks. Not me though, I am sweet and mostly fantastic. Of course this is just an excuse to put some of their pics up since I dont have anything interesting to write about it today.

It is 3:18 on a tuesday afternoon and I am about to roll out to go wakeboarding with Ferrari, Celia, and Dr. Tom, the 2nd year Radiation Oncology resident that catches sweet air. So for the purpose of this blog, we'll just refer to him as Dr. Sweet Air. Umair didn't supply me with any sweet video today so no go on the show. Of course after he sees this, he will come running over with one and ask me to put it on. We'll see.

Looks like everyone is enjoying themselves in this picture. I think we were drinking beer in the parking lot of a family fun center,, you know, go carts, batting cages, arcade. Very classy. Of course Diablo is having most of the fun. Umair is just hanging out trying to impersonate the evil fighterpilot from Iron Eagle.

Monday Afternoons

2009-06-22T14:12:00.000-05:00

They all seem the same to me. It is a struggle to get through them and it is never a good feeling to be at the beginning of a full 5 day work week. The weekend was good though. Friday night we hung out and had some drinks.. had to get up early to go wakeboarding. Good riding all around, I only went once because my ab was bothering me. on the way back in it was literally like Deadliest Catch Lake Edition. Huge waves everywhere due to the mighty Southerly wind blowing the hot air from Houston. We made it in safely packed up the boat and went to go meet Dad for breakfast. Good breakfast, nap time, drinking then he took off early sunday morning on his motorcycle. He rides that sweet 1100 cc bike that Ewen McGregor and Charlie Boorman ride on The Long Way Round. I dig 'em.

Sunday was spent watching movies, cooking and generally getting ready for the upcoming week. Here we are again. This coming weekend will be fun as we are heading to my hometown for Earl and Katrina's wedding. It should be a blast. But for now, I will take a break from work and go watch Umair and Mark listen to techno and dance with bubbles. (Ipromise I will have some other videos on here than bubbles)

Til next time, jth

1st day

2009-06-19T09:32:00.000-05:00

Never done a blog before, but I thought I might get something down. Of course it's friday morning at work and no one is doing a thing around here. Umair is playing with bubbles as I type... Weekend planning and nursing thursday night hangovers. Anyway, I am sure I will get better as I go. Soundtrack for today? I am listening to my buddy Damian Giglio. Good album.
Celia rocked yesterday on the the wakeboard cathcing big airs and somewhat successfully riding switch.

Of course there was drama with us getting a rope caught in the prop of the boat and having to use goggles to get it free. And then rescuing some unfortunate sailors that had flipped their catamaran. Exciting all the way.

That's all for now. See you on the lake tomorrow morning around 6:30 for an early morning session before breakfast at Barbec's. Mmmm, barbecs...

(Umair and his bubbles)