You Leaguers know I don't normally post cat pictures, but this is so cute, I may need some insulin...




The cat looks remarkably like Jeff the Cat, except Jeff knows nothing of shame or remorse. And, in fact, would bite you just to spite you after eating your cookie.

Hey, fellow, KO Panthers!

Apparently the Klein Oak Panthers are making a go of it with the football team this semester. It seems that the football team is no longer a source of shame!

The KO Panthers have entered into the state play-offs. If you went to KO in the 90's, then you know that just batting a .500 for the season is a victory in and of itself.

Read some here.

more here

Dave Cockrum Passes

Dave Cockrum, former X-Men and Legion of Superheroes artist, has passed away after a lengthy illness.

RIP, Dave.

more here

for a gallery of Dave's outstanding work, go here

Christmas time is here...

Thanksgiving fell early, and traditionally, in the days after Thanksgiving, one must start thinking about Christmas (well, if you are of the Christian or secular-present swapping Christmas variety). So, I guess we're sort of stretching the Holidays a bit this year, but that's okay, provided I am not totally sick of Christmas by the 24th.

WE ARE STILL HAVING THE 2006 HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR. So come by. BYOB.

So today I made some Kirby Lane gingerbread pancakes for breakfast, then we inventoried a bit as to our Christmas Decoration stash. I tell you, Leaguers, it is hard to maintain my war on Christmas, what with my love of the season.

Anyhoo, we were just supposed to head to Lowe's and pick up some lights, but after living in Austin for close to decades, I decided to finally head to The Famous Christmas Store. The FCS was pretty neat, but I was surprised how limited the merchandise was at a store which had dedicated itself to Christmas decorating. There was just a lot of repetition of themes and a lot of stuff that was surprisingly expensive. We did, however, find several bulb ornaments which will live on our tree.

We then went to Hoover's Cooking for our big meal of the day. Some people love snails or fish eggs. Some people love a fine cheese or an elaborately prepared sushi dinner. Not The League. Give me Hoover's Cooking any day. Half of a perfectly smoked chicken, green beans, okra and delicious sweet potato pie... Sure, I didn't need all that coming off Thanksgiving, but it was my first trip back to Hoover's since getting back to Austin.

Unfit to do much more, I headed to Lowe's, picked up several strings of lights, a garland/light combination, a red bow and headed home.

We've got the tree up, undecorated. The garland is hung on the stair-rail. We've got stockings over the fireplace (including Jason's stocking), but we still have quite a bit to do, especially outside.

Seem early? A lot of houses in the neighborhood already have lights on (including three on my street) and several had lights partially or fully up, but not on. I am hoping we are NOT a neighborhood that people will drive through to see all of the lights, but I am not planning to be a house-light slacker. At the same time, despite the weak effort put in during Halloween, these folks are stepping up to the plate in a way I am not sure I am ready to go bankrupt outdoing.

Jamie's been practicing some carols, so hopefully all who attend the Holiday Spectacular will be able to gather round the 'ol piano and sing along (JAL will be solo'ing with "Christmas in Holis").

Lt. Larry Lee (atty. at law) Reports Out From the American Music Awards


Hey, Leaguers. Larry Lee is an old friend of Jason's and Steans' in general. He's a former Marine, a lawyer, a father of three, a husband and a coach of some sort. In short, he's already done more with himself than The League shall probably ever accomplish.

LL loves him some music, and somehow scored seats at the American Music Awards (an achievement as I don't think he's been involved with music since quitting the trombone in 9th grade). When word of this opportunity came to light, Lt. LL suggested he take the opportunity to share. An opportunity I jumped on.

Reposted from the comments section (Lee, I have e-mail, man...)

Still waiting for Reed Shaw's report on the final Phish tour from three years ago.

Here is my report from the American Music Awards:

1) The seats: I was fourth row, center stage. They were phenomenal. Face value of $750 each, though nobody pays for them, so who knows how much they really cost. Most of the show I sat two rows directly behind the dudes from Nickelback, who seemed genuinely happy to be there and to win an award for best something or other. To my left, only a couple seats away, was William Shatner and his wife. In front of him was Mario Lopez (Saved By The Bell/Dancing with the Stars) and in front of him, Snoop Dogg. That's right...the D.O. double G himself. Odd to me that Mario Lopez had better seats than William Shatner, but good to see things were corrected with Snoop Dogg's seating. I sat in front of Tori Spelling (she's five months pregnant) and a few seats to the left of Paris Hilton, who was text messaging furiously for most of the time that I saw her. At one point, Nelly Furtado sat immediately in front of me. The stars rotate seats depending on their performances and if they win, etc. The coolest celebrity sighting was Beyonce (she sat front row), who I saw walk in on the red carpet and then later, when she and her entourage nearly ran me over backstage on her way to the stage for the opening act. She was amazingly beautiful to see in person. She seemed to be a star in every sense of the word. Only her and Jamie Foxx were like that out of every celeb I saw. They just had something about them that nobody else had in terms of sizzle.

2) The live performances: Mary J. Blige was the best, hands down. She was amazing. I've never heard a better voice live. Next, Jamie Foxx. He's got the chops, man. Honoring the history of the AMA's was Lionel Richie, who sang All Night Long and the crowd went absolutely nuts for him, including yours truly (I was on t.v. briefly shaking my booty during Lionel's performance). He's still got it and looks great, too. Another throwback artist was Barry Manilow. His voice was still good, but he's had waaaaaaay too much plastic surgery. Jay Z was good. I got a big kick out of watching Beyonce dance to her man's music while he was onstage and she was in the audience. Also very good and extremely pretty was American Idol Carrie Underwood. Dixie Chicks couldn't have looked less interested to be there, but the biggest letdown was probably Tenacious D, though Dave Grohl gave them a sweet introduction. They just didn't rock like I thought they would. They did have lots of fireball effects in their show and said their song was about their battle with Satan, so they were kinda funny.

3) The venue. Held at the nearly falling down Shriner Auditorium in Los Angeles, near the campus of USC (which is basically in the middle of Compton). A total dump. It was filthy and disgusting inside. Probably sat 5,000 or so, with a balcony. I understand that next year they are holding the AMA's in a new theater being constructed across the street from

Man, I guess I wrote too much. The only other cool story is that I met Weird Al Yankovic at the after party. He was walking by with a plate of food, stuffing his face, when I saw him and said, "Loved what you did with 'Eat It'". He stopped, paused for a moment, got the joke, and then laughed genuinely, saying, "That's pretty funny, man". Somebody with us asked for his picture and he happily agreed, but our camera battery died an extremely untimely death, so Al scooted off to finish his food and alas, no photo was had. Such a bummer. It would have made for a great Christmas card.

All in all, good times. If you ever get a chance to go to a music award show, don't miss it. And wear a jacket. With the exception of the musicians, all the men wear jackets to award shows, even in Los Angeles. But don't wear a tie. Only the body guards wear ties.

Where we're at

I'd post on the Thanksgiving weekend a little more, but Steanso is doing a terrific job over at his site.

Here.

I'm still reeling from the UT game. They just looked awful, like the whole team came down with the flu but felt like they had to go out there and put on a game, what with all the people who showed up. As unhappy as I was with the offense, the defense just couldn't wrap it's head around A&M's admittedly spirited offense.

The late hit on McCoy at the end of the game, and the helmet-to-helmet hit he took before being carried off did quite a bit to sow some ill-will in what has become a lackluster rivalry.

A&M fans may be sad to hear this, but one of the revelations I had coming to UT from A&M-centric North Houston is that UT doesn't consider A&M to be it's primary rivalry. Sure, they want to win, but the OU game is the big kahuna of football rivalries. When I both went to and worked at UT, the A&M thing was great if we could win it, but mostly the lead up to the weekend involved being a bit mortified at A&M's pathological behavior as the game approached.

This year, of course, was a HUGE exception with bowl games still in UT's grasp. That said, a loss was unexpected, and hardly desirable. In a way, though, I think a lot of UT fans were just waiting for the other post-Vince Young foot to drop.

It's my impression from the post-game coverage that the consensus after the game was that the real concern wasn't over the score, but over McCoy's health (he's apparently okay and expected to recover). When your QB leaves the game on a stretcher, it takes whatever fun was left in the game and makes it all seem sort of dumb.

McCoy wasn't supposed to be this year's hero... he was our red-shirt promise for two years from now... Plus, you know, people seem to genuinely like the little guy.

Congrats, A&M. It's too bad your two cheap shots stained an otherwise impressive win. And it's too bad UT's entire team was apparently suffering from a massive turkey overdose.


I have to start decorating for Christmas.

I know this, because we have a Holiday party coming soon. Even JAL is coming. And he might even bring his long-suffering wife.

I also know this because (a) one house in our neighborhood already has up lights, (b) when I bought a pair of jeans today the store was blasting Holiday tunes, (c) News 8 has launched a new feature called "Sounds of the Season" where they show local bands playing Christmas songs, (d) the grocery has made the full conversion to festive Christmas mode, and (e) I've begun to crave nog. Nog is not something I seek out in July.

I suppose by next weekend, the house may be fully decorated. And that will be weird.


I took The Admiral to the comic shop today. There's nothing like bringing your old man to the comic shop to remind you how completely off-their-nut most comic shop patrons really are (grammar). Sure, I occasionally get irritated with the "it's our clubhouse, not a store" mentality some patrons seem to have, and the inevitable crude and crass conversations some folks seem willing to have without actually knowing the other patrons... But there's a whole subsection of the comic-shop audience that is a few more degrees skewed from the center than the average bear... the good folks who get involved in Cosplay, the sweet natured geeks who go to the parks and dress up as wizards and throws tennis balls/ "spells" at one another on the weekend, ...and the staple of the comic shop: the guy who believes he's a bad-ass because he reads titles like "Wolverine" and "Ghost Rider".

This guy ALWAYS knows more about EVERYTHING than ANYONE around him. Usually harmless, he physically cannot turn his voice down below 80 db's, and usually will ignore anything said by store managers, other patrons, or police officers who bring up any point which might contradict the reality he has carved out for himself. This might include topics as far reaching as the origin of an obscure comic character or the inner-workings of the NSA.

You never know what you're going to get in a comic-shop, and today we had The Expert, and "the Role-Player" (a lady wizard, I believe). Luckily, The Admiral is a pretty open minded guy, plus he was mostly interested in finding out why they don't publish Sergeant Rock anymore... so I don't know how much he actually had to listen to the two conversations going on in the shop, but it was all I could do to get the heck out of there my comics safely in tow.

I am fascinated with folks who voluntarily separate themselves from reality by creating elaborate scenarios that do not just exist within their heads. The folks who dress up as elves and wizards and run around in the woods are doing something that I have about fifteen mental signal lights warning me not to get involved with, and I think I've fallen pretty far down the rabbit-hole when it comes to aberrant social/fantasy behavior. I literally CANNOT imagine making the leap from bags and boards to "This weekend, I am going to buy this red material, make a cape, and go fling tennis balls at my friend at Pease Park". Yet I could watch these folks for hours if Jamie would let me.

I don't honestly see a lot of difference between the geeks in the home-made wizard capes and the folks who dress up as a soldier on the weekend to "re-enact" Civil War battles, people who build elaborate dioramas of long-ago fought battles, the guys who know waaaayyy to much about Japanese feudal society, folks who become "serious" Beatles collectors, the ladies who collect thousands of porcelain cats, guys who spend weeks of their lives managing their "fantasy" sports teams, and the millions of people who spend energy keeping up with the lives of celebrities as a hobby through magazines and by keeping Mary Hart of the air. It's all about cutting up reality and pasting it back in a way that works for you.

Heck, in a lot of ways, I sort of think that at least those folks are doing something that they probably know doesn't really jive with "reality" rather that being a stick in the mud who assumes their way is THE way.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the inhabitants of my LCS, I constantly waver between trying to be a "live and let live" sort of guy , and wanting to shake them and say "YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW THE NSA OPERATES! YOU ARE A BUS BOY AT EL POLLO LOCO!!!".

And that, Leaguers, is why I will never own or manage a comic shop.

Turkey Day Re-Cap

Last night I went to bed with what I would describe as stomach cramps. There has been some speculation that I was tense and nervous regarding hosting Thanksgiving. I, personally, attribute it to my exhaustion from the previous night's journey to the Doggy ER, mixed with possibly a case of indigestion and/ or food poisoning from Short Stop (which I had for lunch).

So, anyway, Wednesday night my folks came into town, followed closely by Heather "Daredevil" Wagner. Wagner is staying at my house as part of her Turkey Day Holiday, back from Lubbock where she is attending grad school.

We had dinner last night with the parents, Wagner, Jason and Mandy, chatted for a while, and then played a game called "Balderdash" (FYI: The League totally dominated).

This morning I woke up not feeling right. I had some coffee, some coffee cake, etc... but mostly I just wanted to lay there and watch the parade. I don't know what was wrong with me, but I felt pretty bad, but as I didn't think I had the flu or anything, I wasn't too concerned. People kept trying to get me to help, but when I'd stand up, I just wanted to sit back down and maybe go to sleep. Jason arrived fairly early with Cassidy in tow.

Eventually, around 11:30, I gave up on the lame/rain-drenched Macy's Parade and crawled back into bed with Jeff the Cat.

I was up and showering by 12:30. About 1:30 our other guests arrived. Tom and Marlene Leih, Cousin Sue, then Juan and Matt, followed closely by DK and Liz (Jason's friends have become Steans Family friends, and Liz and DK are now a Steans-Family Thanksgiving staple. Like yams. If they ever skip out on us for Thanksgiving, it just won't be Turkey Day.).

I felt sort of out of sorts, and had felt queasy in the morning, but I love deviled eggs, and DK had brought some as an appetizer. I figured they were a great way to see if my stomach would hold for dinner. After I ate two, I decided I was in the clear, and began to attribute my fainting feeling to a lack of food since the Short Stop meal.

We had a CRAZY amount of food. Including the stuffing Jamie had made, whichw as enough to feed a battalion. She had doubled her family recipe, and somehow this equated a metric ton of stuffing. At least it was good. We're just going to be eating stuffing for the next four weeks.

Turkey turned out well. Nice company. No real awkward pauses. Nobody went off the rails into discussion of sex/religion/ politics, and by the end of dinner I was right as rain.

So, anyhow, after that was lots of chatting, playing with dogs, and eating of pie. All very Norman Rockwellesque.

Eventually our guests departed, only to resume the festivities tomorrow for the UT/A&M game.

We're going to be serving stuffing. Come on by.