The Red State Blues: September 2005 Archives

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September 30, 2005

MNHS vs. MHS (Crosstown Game)

Tonite was the big "crosstown game" where McKinney HS played against Alanna's McKinney North HS. MHS beat North savagely last year, so the expectations were not high (on our side) going.

The usual Friday afternoon ensued; I left home around 4:00 pm to get Alanna some food and spend the next eight hours helping out and taking several hundred photos. As predicted last week by the volunteer coordinator, there were more Band parents showing up to volunteer at this game (but not an avalanche more). I asked Mr. Harkey (the Band Director) for a Press Pass so I could photograph from the Press Box and he lent me one. Alanna shared her french fries with her other band fish friends (Emma, Melanie [the other redhead], Aimee and Katie) before heading out to the JV field for warmup practice.

When they came back in from the heat (it was nearing the mid-ninties on the thermometer) they looked awful. They marched badly, primarly because Mr. Harkey decided to have them march to the visitors side, where MNHS would be sitting. We had the "home" side last year, apparently. This didn't bode well. It turned out that Harkey overruled the MNHS principal and had the band march to the vistor's side, which meant I couldn't photograph them from the press box, either.

After arriving at the MISD "complex", I ran into Jim West and his son on their way in to the game. Jim took a few minutes to tell me his past experiences at the same complex, built when Faubion Middle School was MHS, and he was on the football team with no equipment.

After three home games, I was surprised by how scummy the visitor's side of the McKinney ISD stadium is. Mud and trash pooled by the concession stands and the bathrooms were substandard. The metal benches were flimsy and would bend when you stepped on them, making it easy to fall. It was embarrasing how bad it was, compared to other district's stadiums we've visted. And the MISD kids who were swarming around out back were down right feral.

We got to see MHS's performance, and while the musicianship sounded fine to me, the theme, which involved Crayola™ flags, see-saws, and large colorful props, was weird. Actually, a group of A/V students I hang with at the game called it "gay" and then later amended it to "gay, and retarded". So much for political correctness.

The real surprise, however, was the football game itself. MHS continually got flagged on plays. They were rough. They hurt a few of our players; one was removed by stretcher to an ambulance. They ran one TD and had it rescended on a penalty. The score at half time was 13-0 in their favor. We were going down.

Then a miracle occurred. We scored two TDs, and made both field goal kicks (a flag was called on one -- they charged the kicker!). At 4:56 left on the clock in the fourth, we had the lead. MHS worked the ball all the way down to the 26 yard line area, and then missed a field goal attempt at 0:07 on the clock.

We won!

MNHS fans went nuts. The game was brutal, but we eeked out a one point victory. The band was jubulant, and hoped that the good luck would carry over to the the Tournament of Champions tomorrow. We took forever getting back to the band hall and unpacked; Alanna and I were home around 11:30pm.

Posted by Steven at 11:55 PM | Comments (0)

September 22, 2005

Experience McKinney!

Ok, I've volunteered to sell tickets to an event at the McKinney North HS that directly benefits Alanna's band and Alanna in particular. The event is called Experience McKinney! and it features performances by local HS talents, and an agora-like area where local restaurants display their menus and foodstuff.

On Monday, October 17, the McKinney Independent School District will host the first ever district wide event called Experience McKinney. This special event, to be held at McKinney North High School, involves local restaurants hosting booths for the public to sample their menu selections and numerous student performances including fine arts, career and technology education.
Approximately 40 local restaurants will provide samples of their menu items and students from all grade levels in the district will entertain visitors to the event with music, art, drama and career and technology class talents. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. and concludes at 8:30 p.m. and will be held throughout the hallways of McKinney North High School.

Tickets for the event are $15 for adults and $5 per child (ages 4 – 11. Three and under free). All proceeds from tickets will go directly to the MISD organization of your choice (i.e. PTA, PTO, boosters, clubs, principals fund, etc.).

Tickets sold by my family directly benefit Alanna's band trip account (each student has a seperate fund raising account that subtracts from their eventual trip cost on the April band trip to Colorado). If you live in Plano, Allen, Frisco or McKinney, please consider buying a ticket and attending -- you might find a restaurant you didn't know about!

Posted by Steven at 06:00 PM | Comments (0)

20th Anniversary of Sasha

Twenty years ago, Mike Jones and I made a deal we'd both later come to regret. He offered to let me drive his leased RX-7 if I made the payments and kept my existing car insurance. In effect, I was "borrowing" his car -- long term. When I finished RPI, I agreed to assume the lease on the car from GE Leasing.

When I was offered what looked and drove like a new car with no money down, I really didn't see the need to read the fine print. Consequently, I wholeheartedly agreed to the deal, not knowing the first thing about leasing, car finance, or credit ratings (it's very likely my credit rating at the time would have disqualified me from assuming the lease). This was bad on my part, and (frankly) a little bit underhanded on Mike's. I'm sure he rationalized a few things about the arrangement to make it seem like he was doing me a big favor, but the truth is, there was a large upside for him.

The car (nice as it was) had been totally rebuilt by a less-than-stellar chop shop after it had been cleaved in half by a three ton dump truck while Mike had it down in Boca Raton, FL. What neither of us understood was that the lease was wildly "upside down". At the time, I had no idea how a lease worked, especially the fact that a leased car's depreciation was the responsibility of the leasee, and would have to be paid out at the end of the lease. This car was going to have a large balloon payment at the end of the lease, thanks to that wreck (which the lein holder certainly knew about).

The fact that I drove all the remaining lease miles (about 20,000) in the time I had possession of the car only made things worse. Long before the lease was finished, the leaseholder would be acruing a mileage charge of fifteen cents per mile. The car would have to be purchased outright at the end of the lease.

Mike took a long, long time getting the lease paperwork to me (I don't recall seeing it before March of 1986), and when I read it, I realized I had been expecting a very different financial burden than I was facing. As a result, I made a tough (and I admit, self-serving) choice to renige the deal and return possession of the car to Mike. I gave Mike the car keys, and shortly afterward, I moved in with Russ Brenner in Nyack, seeing as how I was now on Mike's shit list (as well as our other roommate in Danbury, CT). I could hardly blame him for being upset and frustrated with me.

Everyone in the Ilk knows how this played out: had I not done that, I would not have ended up with Anne (a long story made short: moving to NY put me in the same building as Barbara Decker).

Things went downhill for Mike and the RX-7, after R. Gary had a wreck in it and then it was repossessed. I did try to make some amends to Mike when I left for England to work at Petroconsultants: I paid Mike for the miles I added to the car (@ 15 ¢ per mile) from Sept. 1985 until May 1986, but by then the car was gone (I didn't know this at the time) so it was a lot more than a "day late". I didn't have to do this, and it certainly didn't mitigate the damage caused to his finances, but I still feel it was an attempt to extend an olive branch. Until I was leaving Matrix for Petroconsultants, I simply didn't have any extra money to give Mike for his car.

Anyway, it's not entirely fair to dwell on the bad here. I really, really enjoyed the car, and it is still my favorite car. I especially enjoyed driving to Albany with my roommate, Tom White, to eat at Spaghetti Express on Lark St. during the week, and the trip I made to Boston with an RPI woman (whose name eludes me to this day -- but I have pictures!) that was magical.

You can see my loving tribute to the RX-7 I called "Sasha" here.

Posted by Steven at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)

September 19, 2005

Terrifying HS Phenonema

Now that my daughter is in High School, I'm running into a phenomena that is borderline terrifying: running into previous co-workers and bosses.

For months now I've been seeing Tim Hegwood from DG Systems. Tonite I came face to face with Lyle Griffith, former VP of Micrografx (and the man responsible for my first "death march"). My Universe is imploding.

Posted by Steven at 09:12 PM | Comments (1)

September 13, 2005

New Band Photos Webpage

I've created an index page for the MNHS band photos: click here.

Posted by Steven at 04:54 PM | Comments (1)

September 10, 2005

McKinney North HS vs. R. L. Turner HS

Alanna's third marching band football game was tonite. They finally wore their uniforms! The photos are here.

The uniforms look like Star Trek: The Next Generation costumes (minus the helmets). They're very form fitting, which is awkward on some of the kids. The silver sash makes it difficult to photograph them with a flash, so on some photos there is a distinct glitter shining off their faces.

I'll point out some of photos with Alanna in them since there are seven hundred and twenty-nine images from the night (hey, I can shoot and shoot and shoot), starting with the one (fitting the helmet) here, here, (with Monse Garcia) here, here, and here. She won "Freshman of the Week" so she gets to wear the "fish hat" seen here (looks like a transporter accident to me, Capt. Picard). Apparently she's been working hard to earn the right to wear this hat (she is the first Frosh to pass her music for AC/DC's Back in Black) and she prizes it greatly, wearing it all weekend long around the house.

The photos start with the post-game gathering at CiCi's pizza, in case you were wondering. That's Alicia giving Alanna a neck rub in line -- she met us there after the game.

Anne volunteered to man the Band tchotky booth, which is buried in the photos pages.

Oh, and the MNHS football team won the game ... they're 2-1 for the season and have a better record than the cross-town McKinney HS team. If they do really well, the band will have to perform more than ten games.

Posted by Steven at 02:00 AM | Comments (0)

September 09, 2005

Ruby's Gone

We took Ruby to the vet this morning and put her to sleep.

Needless to say, today's a miserable day here.

She was still eating, but her breathing was labored and she was starting to have trouble simply walking. We were torn between wanting more time with her and wanting the suffering to end. Last night, Anne decided that she couldn't wait any longer.

This morning Alanna and Leo "said goodbye" to Ruby. After Leo's bus picked him up, I drove us to the vet with Ruby in the back seat, in her basket, with Anne. The whole process was swift, and relatively painless for Ruby (the first shot hurt and she cried). It's awful seeing your beloved pet of 16 years not breathing, lying on the blanket in the exam room. But nothing was going to change that.

Rubix de Oro Fame, b. Oct. 1989, d. Sept. 2005. How we'll miss her.

Update

I took several photos of Ruby during her last days. The ones of her in Anne's lap are the morning we took her to the vet for the last time. As you can see, she really was Anne's cat.

Posted by Steven at 08:44 AM | Comments (1)

September 06, 2005

A Really Big Ad

And then there's Carlton Draught's ad.

It's a big ad.

A really big ad.

Posted by Steven at 01:36 PM | Comments (0)

Take ... On ... Chris?

Check out this hommage to the 80's via The Family Guy.

Posted by Steven at 01:30 PM | Comments (0)

Departing Earth

Here's what it really looks like to leave Earth (in a chemical propellant rocket).

Joe Bob sez, "That's just what it looked like when I got abducted!"

Posted by Steven at 12:10 AM | Comments (0)

September 04, 2005

AnimeFest 2005

The whole family (and Collin) went to AnimeFest 2005 today.

Here are the photos.

Posted by Steven at 08:06 PM | Comments (0)

September 02, 2005

McKinney North HS vs. Mesquite Poteet HS

The photographs from Alanna's 2nd football game/marching band event are here.

Alas, they did not wear their uniforms due to the weather. Hopefully next week they will don the gear.

I rode with the band in bus #1, along with the band directors and Alanna. The drive down US 75 (Central Expressway) and I-635 (LBJ) was surprisingly traffic free (perhaps $3 gasoline had something to do with that).

Poteet has an enormous stadium with an equally impressive radio/TV/cell tower next door which I could not stop photographing.

Last week I took 514 photos, including the after-game get together at CiCi's pizza. Tonite I tood 563 photos, including what I think are better shots of the actual marching on the field. Next week I promise to get in front of the band when I do this.

Thanks to a construction constriction on Scyene Rd., we took almost thirty minutes driving onto LBJ. We got to MNHS around 12:15pm and after taking Monse Garcia home, we got home around 12:30am, with little more than seven hours to go before having to get up for AnimeFest 2005.