Happy Birthday, Lady Miss Kier

Today marks the birthday of musician, fashion pioneer and all-around-good-idea, Lady Miss Kier.  You will remember her as the vocalist and go-go dancer fronting 90's house music crossover stars, Deee-Lite. 

I don't know how she's spending her birthday, but I know I could never keep up.

Happy Birthday, A'ja Wilson

Today is the 30th birthday of A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces.

At just 30, Wilson is one of the most accomplished players in sport, and I'm not even including the League of Melbotis Favored Player Award.

Wilson has so many accomplishments, it would be taxing to transpose them here.  So, I invite you to visit this Wikipedia page.  

Yeah, she's that good.  And that's on a team where *everyone* produces (ask me about Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young and NaLyssa Smith - who is also a birthday girl today, but only 26).  

If you only know the WNBA through the Angel Reese/ Caitlin Clark pinhole, like I did initially, I highly recommend actually watching the games.  There are some great players the press ignores, better teams than the Fever (although, can we discuss Kelsey Mitchell?), and most of what you see people saying on social media is nonsense.

A'ja Wilson is statistically the best player, and the Aces are one of the most fun teams to watch in no small part because Wilson plays a ton of minutes every game, has moved the bar for what "the best" looks like, and has an incredible attitude for someone in her position.  

I did get to see her play in the pre-season at a Dallas Wings-heavy game here in Austin.  I was glared at for cheering for A'ja and Chelsea by name, but you cannot ask me to hide my fan status under a bushel, no.

Post B-Day Report Out

Well, I'm 51 now.  Whoo-hoo.  

Every year I do a post on my birthday with a song about the year.  You can listen to the playlist here.

I'm also raising money for the Austin Humane Society, where we adopted Jeff the Cat, Scout and Emmylou.  So feel free to donate a ton of money.

Just imagine being someone who has been reading this blog (and The Signal Watch) since I started posting in 2003.  Good gravy.

I don't hide from the birthdays as they come, but what I want to do for my birthday has changed greatly.   For our 50th birthdays (Jamie is about 3 weeks older than me) we had a joint party.  This year all I wanted to do was nothing.  Like, let me just do the absolutely normal weekend things I always want to do and usually find a reason I can't or shouldn't.  

Happy Birthday, Ma!

The Admiral and KareBear drop by League HQ

Hey!  It's my mom's birthday!  I'm not allowed to discuss numbers, but it is a round number.

Happy Birthday, JimD

Today is the 50th Birthday of JimD.  

We're giving him a special 50th birthday shout out as Jim is the person who harangued me into start blogging back in the early 00's.  

I met Jim in a screenwriting class back at the University of Texas when, before class, he asked what comic book I had out on my desk.  I thought it odd a very straight-laced looking fellow would care, but I did not know how high Jim's freak flag truly flew.  We talked comics, sci-fi, etc...  

Anyway, Jim's understated sense of humor won me over immediately, and we pal'd around til we graduated and he went to Baylor for law school and I did whatever the hell it is I'm doing.  

These days, he's a successful practicing attorney!  Who sends me piles of post cards - which are now kept in a Krypto popcorn bucket.  

mail bag!

Jim facts:  

• Has seen more bands live than you and all of your friends combined, with a greater variety of genres and styles
• Knows more music than you do - I promise
• Has known RHPT longer than the World Health Organization has deemed safe
• Ran a successful law blog for years
• Genuinely enjoys the work of Ingmar Bergman
• Has sent me multiple separate autographs from separate Lois Lanes (Noel Neill, Margot Kidder, Elizabeth "Bitsie" Tulloch)
• Called me after seeing Batman vs. Superman and relayed the entire movie's plot to me in 10 minutes

What will the next fifty years hold for Jim?  None can say.  I expect it will be mostly practicing law, fighting crime and high kicks.

Here's to Jim, who deserves a damn good birthday.

I turned 50

look at me, enjoying time with Jamie at a ball game while my dad photobombs us

Well, I turned 50 this weekend.

I always acknowledge my birthday at the media review branch of League of Melbotis by finding a song and lyrics that seem to articulate the way we're feeling at the time.  I have a playlist if you want to jam out to my vibes the past several years.  

It's been a wild few years, to be honest.  But that's just life as an adult, I think.  I try to be zen about it all.  Things are tough sometimes, but we have a great family support system, and that does a lot to keep you going.  I've refocused.  You keep moving.

To celebrate my birthday, I managed to pull together family that was in town (Dug and K live elsewhere, but more details on that shortly) and we all did one of my favorite things.  We went to a baseball game.  We watched the Round Rock Express triumph over the Oklahoma City Comets on a windy, sunny day.  

Jamie's Birthday

Today is Jamie's birthday.  

I met Jamie when we were both 18 and starting college, although I was at the big university 90 minutes up the road, and she was at the smaller college in San Antonio.  I'd come down to partake in a party at a house off-campus where my brother and his pals would be, and Jamie was the randomly assigned roommate of a pal from high school.

I *did* try to ask her out that fall, but she wasn't feeling well and dating was off the table.  Fair enough.  Fortunately, a couple years later she let me know she *was* now open to dating, and I signed up immediately.  This fall, it'll have been thirty years.  

Which means we've spent our adult lives together.

But that's the thing.  She's still as new to me today as she was when we first went out, and I still want her company even more.  Working from home has spoiled me completely - my one-day-per-week in the office is a drag.  I still want to impress her and see if I can make her laugh, and make dinner for her and be there for her.  Because she's the best.  She is maybe not someone who is loud or incredibly demonstrative with her love, but she has a lot of it.

She's always my biggest supporter (sometimes taking me by surprise as my hype-man when I was playing it cool), and always my best counsel.  I think the past decade, I've gotten really good at listening to her as the person who knows when I'm on to something and when I'm just spinning my wheels.  You need a Jamie to keep you honest, team.

We're now old enough that everyone has put up with something in their lives, health-wise or in their personal history.  But Jamie has dealt with her own challenges since she was 17, and she's done it with a strength and grace I envy.  It is very hard to explain all the challenges, scares and bad-days she's had, and she still gets up and lives every day.  

This is a milestone birthday, and it means the world to me that I get to spend it with her.  

Happy birthday, baby.  I love you.

SEC Champions! UT Women's Basketball Game - 03/02/2025

your geniuses at work

On Sunday, March 2, we headed to the University of Texas campus to catch the UT Women’s Basketball team play in the final game of the year. I thought I was being a smart boy and bought tickets for my parents, Jamie and myself. 

This week is my mom’s birthday, and my parents are both alumnae of the University of Florida, who we were playing. I called to surprise them, and they informed me they’d already purchased tickets to the same game. This is how things work at my house. 

Steanso, The Niece and Yours Truly

So, Sunday afternoon my mom and cousin met up with me and Jamie, and then Steanso's family.  We had seats in separate sections, but it worked out.

Birthday 2023 - The Anti-Vibe, Very Good B-Day Week

Wednesday was my birthday.  The celebration lasted a full week as we had some neighbors over last Saturday, and this week we went to see Austin FC play Vancouver.  In the middle was the big day.  I'm now 48.  

Holy cats.

Jason: Half a Century of Rocking America

I have no recent photos of Jason and Family

March 17th marks my brother's 50th birthday.  

That's a peculiar milestone, because I can remember his birthday parties from elementary school and taking him for a beer while he was just finishing law school and I guess maybe he was turning 25 at the time (we were under the tent at Dog & Duck).  

Jason's birthday was always tricky as it falls on St. Patrick's Day.  In recent years, he's had his own way of keeping his birthday (pizza and beer, essentially) and it's worked well til Covid hit.  Also, he's got kids that went from small and distractable to elementary school age, and I think there's a different gameplan.

Happy Birthday JimD

Our Birthday Boy Stands in Repose

Happy Birthday to Dug!

Happy B-Day, B-Dug.

P-Squared, if you need help saving Christmas, we're your buddies!

Birthday Girls

Happy Birthday to Ms. Lauren Roth, who had a birthday last week, and who was so kind as to invite us out to Austin's premier Karaoke bar, Common Interest, on Friday night.

Steven sang two songs in my presence, wowing the crowd in particular with Hank Williams Jr's immortal classic "A Country Boy Can Survive", peppered with a lot of "Thank you, Austin!" thrown in.

Lauren, who looked lovely, gave us some rockin' 80's before tuning introspective with "Yesterday".

I am sad to say The League never screwed up enough courage to get on the mic and sing any of the tunes he was considering, and only upon departing did he realize "I totally should have sung 'Tomorrow' from 'Annie'".

Thanks for the invite, Team Roth-Harms!

Saturday we joined FunHeather and friends to celebrate the birthday of Heather Wagner, newly returned from Lubbock and now a practicing speech therapist. It was a lovely dinner, but a lot less singing happened. Except for the requisite "Happy Birthday" rendition, I suppose.

Met some new folks, felt a little old, and enjoyed a lovely meal at one of Austin's favorite spots, Fonda San Miguel.

Happy B-Day to both, and thanks for making sure we had an action-packed weekend!

Patrick Henry Preddy Enters Existence

Congratulations to fellow KO alum Marshall, and his lovely wife, Jordan.

Today they welcomed their first child, Patrick Henry Preddy. He arrived a bit after 2:00 PM.

Welcome to the world, kid. You got a heck of a set of parents there.

Pics and more here.

Happy B-Day to The Admiral

Happy B-Day to The Admiral!

Today The Admiral turns 562. To be truthful, I just don't feel like doing the math. Anyway, he's a geezer.


The Admiral feels this birthday thing is a trap.

Next week, the Admiral is headed for Africa. It's a first for The Admiral, and we're hoping it goes swimmingly.


The Admiral (on left) makes a new pal

Anyway, I hope The Old Man has a good birthday weekend before heading off for adventure.

Birthdays: Nicole and Judy

Monday is the birthday of League-Pal and former house-mate, Nicole. We all wish Nicole a happy birthday.

Nicole is so nice, we're celebrating twice. Saturday we went out, and we're going to Long John Silver's Monday evening for her B-Day.

It is ALSO the birthday of League-Mother-in-Law, Judy.

Look, I know how these mother-in-law things can go. I hear stories. So I thank my lucky stars each and every day that I got Judy as part of the package.

Happy B-Day, Judy!

More from Troubles, including pictures.

Happy B-Day to my boy, RHPT

May the universe bestow you with all you desire for your birthday. Or at least a meal at the Olive Garden.

Noah arrives

So, a very important announcement to Leaguers near and far...

Yesterday, Letty and Juan Garcia welcomed their first child to the world. After Sloane reigned supreme for less than a week, Noah is now our littlest Leaguer.



We at The League salute you, Noah. And Letty and Juan, too. You landed yourself some awesome parents. I look forward to your dad Twittering your every move and your mom trying out all her recipes on you (and hopefully us).

Best of luck, kid.

New Lil' Leaguer (Sloane Shaw!)

I would be remiss if I did not mention the birth of Sloane Julianne Shaw. Sloane arrived June 7th at 8:33am to happy parents Reed and Jennifer Shaw.

No pictures yet, so...

here's a puppy with a blanet to tide you over.*



*We understand that Sloane is neither a puppy or blanket, but adding an image always makes for a better post.

Happy B-Day to Norma Jean

So, apparently today Marilyn Monroe would have turned 83.



In high school, I was unlikely to hang a poster of Kathy Ireland or the other favorites of the day on my wall, but somehow I decided that it was perfectly acceptable to hang a poster of Marilyn Monroe. Actually, several images of Monroe, if memory serves.

I did watch a few Monroe movies (although my favorite still only really has her in a small part, John Huston's crime drama, "The Asphalt Jungle"), and read up a bit about Monroe in the way you did before the internet made that sort of casual interest all too easy.

Monroe's fame comes far more from her all-but-confirmed extra-curricular romances with JFK and possibly Bobby Kennedy, her downward spiral and the mysterious events surrounding her death than her film career, although she was in a few classsics. She also managed to marry not one but TWO American legends in Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller. (You put all this in one place, and its sort of mind-boggling.)

Her early death, of course, froze her in time in the mind's eye of America. And, I am certain, there have been many a theses and dissertation written on what it means that the American gold standard for WASPy beauty and sexuality is represented by Monroe.

Her contemporaries haven't enjoyed the same household name status, and its hard to think of anyone in the past 40 years who has attained her status as American Icon, even if stars such as Jane Russell and Jayne Mansfield enjoyed similar film careers. Moreover, it's difficult to imagine the entertainment industry of today creating another Monroe, either by intention or blind luck.



In the past twenty years it does seem that Marilyn (like Elvis, James Dean and others) has become such a part of the cultural landscape that it can be forgotten that she was ever more than a Halloween costume, or a caricature for failed starlets to dress as, standing out in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater for the tourists.

Maybe that's okay. The films will always be returned to by enthusiasts, and enough ink has been spilled for those willing to read up on the person behind the soft-lit photos. And that's far more than most can expect out of even such a short life.

Happy birthday, Marilyn.

Probably Monroe's most famous sequence: