Texas UIL announces steroids testing rules, student-athletes react

(Another fine mediocre JRT parody)

AUSTIN (JRT) - The University Interscholastic League yesterday released it's proposal for steroids testing procedures for high school sports. The sanctioning body of Texas high school sports is seeking comments on the program.

Highlights of the program include random testing of about 3% of high school athletes, will not screen for illegal drugs, and will allow parents to witness the testing procedure.

Under the program, a first positive would bench an athlete for a month and require a positive test before they could be reinstated. A second positive would ban them for a year and a third would result in a permanent ban.

"We think it'll be a reasonable deterrent." said Seamour Eisenman, UIL spokesperson. "But we'll see what the public thinks and make changes from there."

High school athletes we talked to about the program had mixed comments.

"	I think I'll stick to the 'roids	"

"Wow, they're only going to test three percent of us," said Arlen High School junior Joey Holts, third-string quarterback of the school's junior varsity football team. "Obviously the odds of getting caught are slim, so I think I'll stick to the 'roids. Maybe I'll be able to move up to second on the depth chart next season with them."

Kenton Berry, the starting center on Arlen High's varsity basketball squad, had a very different reaction.

"I've never touched steroids," said Berry. "I've always been afraid of my [testicles] shriveling up like raisins. The star basketball player can't have that! At least I won't have to give up all the yeyo I've been doing."

It should be noted that not all athletes are thrilled with the program. Tennis player Grace Alcocke thinks that the program doesn't go far enough.

"[The proposal is] weaker than wet toilet paper," said Alcocke. "The odds of being caught are next to none and the punishment is too weak. You have to sit out longer if you fail a class than if you test positive."

Those wishing to comment on the program are welcome to send their comments to steroids@mail.uil.utexas.edu. The comments are open for about two weeks.

Back and... who am I kidding, I suck just as much as before

The hiatus is officially off.

I needed some time to more or less reboot that part of my mind that deals with blogging.

<sarcasm>If I'd known it would take this long to reboot I would have upgraded the system while it was down!</sarcasm>

Anyways, I'm BACK!

But can the blogosphere handle my now-rejuvenated bloggy-ness? We'll just have to wait and see, huh?

Saving kitteh's toes

I'm taking a hiatus.

For how long? I haven't decided yet.

I've just been a little burnt out on the whole blogging thing I guess and just feel like I need a break.

You know, before I commit blog suicide and endanger Posey's toes.

But hey, keep checking me out, I still plan on doing Friday Photo during the hiatus (tho I think I"m going to skip this week).

Oh yea, I'll still be on Twitter.

Updated: I'd do something about how the new Zune software kicks ass, but...

...I'm stuck with this:

Bad omen if you're stuck trying to update firmware for 20 minutes.

UPDATE: After uninstalling and reinstalling the Zune software, it's working fine now.

Carnival of the Cats #190 - The 'quick and dirty' edition (fixed)

It's that time again. Time when the Carnival of the Cats gets weird because a dog's helping host.

Yes, that's right, Bruiser's helping host again.

Unfortunately, some stuff out of our control has popped up this time and I'm more or less stuck copying and pasting the BlogCarnival HTML. Pesky life, getting in the way of things!

Anyways, Bruiser, you ready to start?

Soon as I can get into the bathroom!

Alright then, I'll start without ya.

• jams o donnell presents Robyn posted at The Poor Mouth.
• Aloysius presents How to fall safely posted at Catymology.
• K T Cat presents Pulling an All Nighter posted at The Scratching Post.
• Debra presents Fresh and Clean posted at MANX MNEWS.
• Blueberry presents Running Behind in Catblogging posted at Texas Oasis.
• Parker presents Tasty Tuesday - Kitty Kookies! posted at Perfectly Parker.
• melinama presents Feline Friday: Hannah's cat posted at Pratie Place.
• Lab Kat presents Friday Cat Blogging: Yoga Edition posted at Lab Kat.
• sbpoet presents Prairie Mary's Cousin's Kittens posted at Watermark.

Ah, Bruiser's finally joining us.

Taffy said she wants to help too.

Fine by me.

• leucanthemum b presents Tuesday Tummy #13 and Friday Catblog: we're still having trouble focusing posted at composite drawlings.
• Jan Bussey presents Seal Proves Once and For All that on Gentlemen, Grey is Distinguished and In which Spectra poses for a high ISO test. posted at CascadeExposures.
• Mog presents Wordless Wednesday, Tummy Tuesday #67, Back and Dosed On Meowza posted at Mind of MogAs well as Wordless Wednesday and Dirty Clean posted at iMeowza and Right Neighborly and Kitties Three posted at iInfidel.

Can Petey help too, daddy?

I've got a bad feeling about this, but I guess...

• Sissy Willis presents "Blame someone else and sue" and You like me at sisu.
• Catherine presents Weekend Cat Blogging: Do We Have To? posted at spectacular imperfections.
• CatSynth (Amar and Luna) presents Weekend Cat Blogging and more Comfy and Clean posted at catsynth.com.
• Rahel presents Elms in the Yard posted at Elms in the Yard.
• Cassie presents Lion Cut In Winter? Or Not? and Man Cat Movie Monday posted at This, That & The Other Thing.

Since they're helping you can I go take a nap?

No, you promised me you'd help.

But I got you helpers!

You can nap after we're done, there's really not much left.

• Pet Monologues presents Caw to art! #1, a carnival of artistic animal pictures
• Samantha Black presents Photo Hunt #83-Flexible posted at Life From A Cat's Perspective..
• Gemini presents Tabby Tuesday Reports posted at Chey's Place.
• Megan & Bad Kitty Cats presents Dirty Trash Cat posted at Bad Kitty Cats Journal.
• john presents Maddie chimes in... posted at StrangeRanger.
• Cassie presents Woman Cat Wednesday #8: Indigo posted at This, That & The Other Thing.
• Babeth presents The weary warrior posted at House of Chaos.
• China Cat presents BKC Theme: Clean or Dirty posted at china cat's blog.
• willow presents BKC Theme: Clean or Dirty posted at willow's cat blog.

Alright y'all that's all I've got. Next week's supposed to be at Pet's Garden Blog.

If anybody's wondering, the problem that I had with the links was that in the code it used the " symbol twice instead of once for some reason. Windows Live Writer, my blogging software of choice, thus butchered the code royally. But hey, it's all worked out now.

At the ranch

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

This week it's a couple photos I shot at the ranch we dropped Ashley off at on Monday:

I forget this pretty girl's name, but she's an adopted Australian Shepherd (mix I'm thinking) that serves as the watch dog for all the horses. She was really sweet.

And these are a few of the horses at the ranch. The white one you see in the front was actually walking up to me. It stopped right in front of me and demanded attention, so it got some petting.

Sassy's puppies

As part of my adventure to Houston the other day, I snapped some pictures of Sassy's puppies. Here are a few of the best ones.

As you can clearly see, these are some very adorable, and healthy, five week olds.

Next week they'll go to the vet's office for their first round of shots and they'll be for sale a week later.

And to think, with Ashley (another one of my mom's dogs) spending the week with Maverick (the daddy of these puppies) we'll be doing the puppy dance all over again in about two months.

The six way tie

Laurence got this week's weekly challenge posted. I participated in this crazy topic, and I thought I came up with a good story:

As Joe walked through the gates of hell, he watched a lime-colored pumpkin release a puff of blue smoke.

"What's that for?" he asked the ghostly squirrel guarding the gate.
"Means it's time for Satan to get his rocks off," said the squirrel. "If you see it, you have to report to Satan's castle and give him an orgasm."

"Oh, f***," said Joe. "Can I get around it?"

"There's a rumor that if you can tell him a really good rhyme he'll let you off," replied the squirrel.

"A sublime rhyme?" asked Joe.

"Try that one," said the squirrel.

So go and vote for the ones you think are best. Remember, they're checkboxes for a reason!

Having listened to the recording I should explain the beep. I've always thought that the beep left more of an impact than saying the word. Just listen to the recordings of Johnny Cash as Folsom prison and San Quentin and you'll see why.

Fighting? In hockey? You've got to be kidding me!

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

Texas Wildcatters' number 59 Riley Emmerson jaws with the Florida Everblades bench during the first period of their game Sunday afternoon at Ford Arena.

After a goal that brought the score to 2-0, the Wildcatters' Riley Emmerson and Florida's Brad Herauf drop the gloves.

Riley Emmerson delivers the finishing blow to Brad Herauf, bringing Herauf to the ice. Both players were assessed five minute penalties for fighting in a game that the Wildcatters went on to win 5-3.

If y'all are interested, here's the box score for the game. I've got some other good pictures from that game which I'll probably run on here in the near future.

And, yes, I know Emmerson's way bigger looking than the other guy, but when you're 6'8" everybody looks small next to you.

The hammer throw

H/T: Deadspin

Why where you stand means everything:

I can sympathize with that actually. To an extent.

When I was in high school, I was on both newspaper and yearbook. I was a crappy writer (mainly out of laziness) but I was probably the best sports photographer on staff and was pretty good in the layout/design department as well.

My favorite thing was shooting football games. Lots of action, lots of fun, and the element of danger that at any moment a WR could run you over if you didn't watch yourself.

Thankfully that never happened!

However, one time when I was shooting a varsity game an incomplete pass one-hopped the ground and caught me square in the nuts.

Yea, it hurt.

Good times, eh?

Halloween

Halloween was last night.

Though you wouldn't have known it in our neighborhood.

As is usual, we didn't get a single trick-or-treater, which leaves a whole huge thing of candy for us to not let go to waste.

I can feel my waistline expanding now.

The trend in this town seems to be that kids will skip over most neighborhoods and either go to big events organized by churches or just do your standard trick-or-treating in the rich neighborhoods in the west end.

Honestly, I'm impressed. I would have never thought to do that.

Then again I grew up in said west end, so it wouldn't have really mattered anyway.

In semi-related news, here's a ghost video for y'all. I'd never heard the story behind that ghost before, but it's from a newspaper-sponsored blog, so it must be true.

I believe the word you're looking for here is 'insanity'

Just watch:

Stanford-Cal has nothing on this if you ask me.

I got the biscuit!

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

Texas Wildcatters defensemen Mike Madill moves the puck down the rink during a second round playoff game against the Florida Everblades at Ford Arena on April 27, 2007. The Wildcatters lost the game 5-2 and ended up dropping the best-of-seven series four games to two.

I wanted to get a hockey picture in this week since the 'Catters have their home opener tomorrow night against the Everblades. I don't plan on bringing the camera to opening night, but I'll probably bring it to Sunday afternoon's game.

24: Season 7 trailer came out today

First, watch it:

Yea, I know, Kiefer refers to the UK but it's all the same, trust me.

My thoughts below the fold:

Now, to me it was worth it to see that red-headed FBI agent (especially if it's the one played by Jeanene Garofalo) have this exchange with Jack:

FBI Agent: Do whatever it takes, torture him if you have to.
Bauer: I’m going to enjoy this.

You *KNOW* that line would make her blood boil.

In all seriousness, it looks like we've got a really good season in store for us come January. Of course, as Blogs4Bauer noted, last season's trailer made it look really good too. Yes, the first four episodes were probably the best the show's ever put out, but the rest of the season, while still better than most of the crap on TV these days, was pretty bad by 24's standards.

As far as Tony, I was surprised enough when I heard that he was back (from the dead, nonetheless) so it was kinda nice to see Jack as surprised as me.

Good guy turned bad. And not just any good guy, but one of Jack's closest friends. One of the few guys who'd probably be able to guess Jack's every move.

Now that I think about it, that sounds a lot like Alec Trevelyan in GoldenEye. Oh well, GoldenEye's one of the better Bond movies if you ask me.

Anyway, it looks like an interesting plot. Very techno-geeky and different than the kind of threats we're used to seeing on 24.

I've got a good feeling about it.

Puppies, flat tires, and ex-girlfriends oh my!

Went to Houston today.

On my way, I stopped at my mom's vet's office in Nome and picked up a bag of dog food for her.

On the interstate, I was driving in the right lane. I moved onto the shoulder to avoid what looked like tire treads in the roadway and managed to thwack a chunk of wood that was on the shoulder before I could get back in the lane. Made a loud thunk, so I got off at the first exit and gave the underside of the car a look-over. Looked good to me.

More on that later.

When I got into Houston, I exited off of I-10 to take the toll bridge to get to my mom's house. The only eventful aspect of that was that for the first time in two years I went through a cash lane since the car didn't have an EZ Tag yet.

I got to my mom's house fine, looked at their brand new motorcycle and Sassy's puppies, which are three weeks old now and ADORABLE!

Then my mom took me to Chili's for lunch. I had the soup and salad and it was good.

And then the fun began.

When I got out, I noticed that the left front tire was flat. We aired it up at the first gas station we could find and my mom took me to Discount Tire to get it taken care of.

Apparently I ran over a nail when I hit that board and that's what took out the tire. They were able to patch it and I was on my way.

I spun down to the South Belt to take care of the stuff with the toll authority and get an EZ Tag. I had to go do it in person because, while the PT was a rental car, someone blazed through the tag lanes without one. Once they saw the bill of sale and made a copy, I was clear to get a tag on the car.

From then, I was off to Katy, on the far west side of Houston. The tire thing put be behind the eight ball a bit on time. Instead of getting out there just before rush hour as I'd planned, I was stuck in the middle of it. I decided to take the beltway to the Westpark tollway and go up SH 6 to get to the Katy Freeway and my destination.

That worked pretty well, actually. Westpark was a bit slow right around the beltway, but I knew it would be because it always is.

SH 6 was a real breeze most of the way, at least for a surface street. About the last mile or so, however, was stop and go. Much more stop than go. Tons of fun.

Once I got on the Katy Freeway it was a breeze. Past SH 6 there's no construction and the traffic was thick but moving at a good clip.

Finally, I got to my ex-girlfriend's house. Yes, you heard me right. Ex-girlfriend. The one that was doing something with that boot at an Astros game last year. We get along really well, but hadn't seen each other in about a year so I offered to hang out for a while next time I was in town.

We went to a mall near her house and pigged out on Cinnabon cinnamon rolls since she'd never had one before then did a little window shopping. I can honestly say I enjoyed it.

After I dropped her off I headed home. There was a bit of a slowdown on the east side of a town because of a wreck, but nothing too bad.

I got home about 9:30 to discover that my TV tuner software didn't record House for me like I'd set it up to. Yea, fuck you too Pinnacle. See if I ever buy your crap again.

Thankfully there was an awesome recap on TV.com.

Now it's time to get some sleep, so peace out!

Random thoughts: Inspired by my car

Here goes:

• Today I got an envelope from GEICO. It had FOUR insurance ID cards for the new PT Cruiser. Oddly enough, those four cards were for my current policy term which ends Saturday and not the new one which I've already made my first payment on. Seems kinda crazy, doesn't it?
• Chrysler and GM have the buttons on their car remotes in reverse order. You wouldn't believe how many times I've locked my car when I want to unlock it.
• Apparently the PT's previous owner had a habit of occasionally cruising through the EZ Tag lanes on Houston tollways without a tag, so I've got to show them a bill of sale that I bought the car before they'll let me get a tag for it.
• Speaking of Houston, I'm thinking I'm gonna go over tomorrow. I've got nothing better to do. Go to my mom's, see the puppies, get taken to lunch, and goodness knows what else.
• I started reading The Godfather last night. Not really far enough into it yet to say much about the book, but considering that it's my favorite movie I should love the book too.
• I was called over to a lady's house to look at her computer. She said her printer's not working. The problem: Dry black cartridge.
• That little prediction I made isn't looking so hot right now. Thank goodness I said I wouldn't post those naked pictures.
• Jim Thompson hails Xenu on Twitter. I wonder who I should hail...
• The Wildcatters haven't quite figured out their mail merge system for emails yet apparently. I got an email from them last week that started off with "Hey First Name!" I simply replied that I felt so loved.
• Speaking of them, I picked up my season tickets today. They had a get together for us at Rio Rita's (a local Mexican restaurant)where we could have picked them up, but I decided to pass because their food sucks. They obviously are using a different printer, since they came in big sheets instead of a book. I thought the book was more convenient
• I hate that I have to install QuickTime to get MP3's to work in Firefox. I hate it more that the damn thing nags me to install iTunes too.
• I. Love. Tweetr. Best Twitter app I've ever tried out.

And that's all I feel like saying.

I am SO outta here!

My new ride

2006 PT Cruiser:

Ain't she a beaut? And no, I'm not talking about my brother's Matrix parked behind it.

She's a quirky little car, but I'm liking her.

Here's some of the things that have thrown me so far.

• The button for the automatic transmission shifter is on top instead of on the side.
• The door handles have a button on them to open the door, they don't pull out to open like my brother's Matrix and my grandmother's Corolla. You have no idea how many times I've pulled on the things.
• Closing the hood. I'm used to easing them down all the way and pushing down a little to close 'em. On these, the manual says you have to lower it to about eight inches up and then drop it. Trust me, the other way doesn't work. I spent ten minutes in the driveway like an idiot trying.
• The cup holders. The big cup holder for the driver is way bigger than the one the Alero had. I used to be able to put the straw in the cup holder and then put the cup from McDonalds (or wherever) in and they'd both stay. Well, I tried that and the straw fell between the center console and the drivers seat, so I had to fish it out.
• No cruise control. Not a big deal, just an accessory that wasn't on this one.
• The headlights don't turn on automatically when it's dark. This is the first car I've ever driven that didn't do that. There may be a way to turn that on, but I haven't looked through the manual to see yet.

Of course, those'll come in time.

On a side note, my grandmother got talking with the sales guy about her days teaching first grade, and as the conversation evolved we'd found out that she'd actually taught the salesperson's wife. My grandmother remembered her name and everything.

Small world, aint it?

Crossposted to Through our eyes

Sunset at Minute Maid

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

The sun sets on Minute Maid Park during opening day April 3, 2006.

I figure this is a wallpaper-quality image (Heck, I used it as wallpaper for a long time) so I uploaded it to Flickr so y'all could grab the full size image use it as wallpaper as well.

The full size image is a little grainy, but that's just a result of the ISO setting and it looks fine shrunk down to 1024x768 (or whatever you use).

Man, this car shopping thing is HARD!!!

Really.

I found out from the insurance company today that my car's being totaled. Apparently replacing Alero's airbags is a really expensive proposition.

Since that's the case, I'm looking for a new one. My grandmother's going to help me get one before I get the insurance check and just have me sign it over once I get the check.

When I bought my Alero back in '05 it was simple. I had no real idea what I wanted, I just showed up at the dealership, told 'em I wanted a car with good gas mileage, and they showed me a few cars.

Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

This time I'm hopping online, looking at dealer inventories for used cars, researching the cars I see, all that good stuff.

And my head's spinning.

If you follow my Twitter account you saw that I went out earlier to look at a vanilla PT Cruiser. I don't mean boring vanilla, but that the color resembles Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream.

One of my neighbors has a PT Cruiser, so I went over and asked them a few things about it. She said that overall it's a good car, so I decided to go take a look.

When I got to the dealership I saw it right in front of the building. I opened the doors, looked at it, all that good stuff. It was a 2005 with about 34,000 miles listed on their website for $9,995. Only knock it had was some paint chips on the front, probably from bugs or something.

Then a salesperson comes out and breaks my heart when he says "Someone's inside signing the papers on that one right now."

The sales guy suggested a few cars in about the same price range. Two Dodge Neon's and a Kia. I dismissed the Kia right away because I've heard pretty lousy things about them and one of the Neon's because it was red, and cops love red cars. So I wondered over to the black one and asked the sales guy to grab the keys for it.

When he got back I got in and sniffed. It had a weird smell to it, similar to what the PT Cruiser had, so I figured that was something that the dealership did. But, even above that strong smell, I could smell that it'd been smoked in. Smoke smell's a deal-breaker for me because the smell overwhelms me. I probably could have febreezed it out of the fabric or something, but I shouldn't have to when I buy a car.

So we left.

Some digging around on the web showed me a couple more PT Cruisers that were available in my range at other local dealerships. Then I got a call from my neighbor's husband/boyfriend/whatever he is and he told me that while a good car it has some problems with gas mileage, occasionally getting under 20 mpg in town. No biggie, my Alero did the same thing on me a few times when I did purely city driving in it, a rarity for me.

Then I did the research. I found through fueleconomy.gov the government's fuel numbers on them and was like "eh, I'll pass." Of course, if I'd read closer I'd see that they'd applied the new mileage formula to older cars and that the numbers were about the same as my Alero was showing, and when I noticed that PT Cruisers came back on the table.

So tomorrow afternoon I plan to buy my grandmother lunch somewhere and then go head to the dealerships that had PT Cruisers listed. One's got a silver 2006 and the other's got a blue 2005, along with whatever else the dealerships I go to have to offer, just a bit more educated about what I can get.

It'll be a blast, I'm sure.

Crossposted to Through our eyes

Giving Amazon MP3 a shot

This is *NOT* a Pay Per Post or ReviewMe.com ad. I'm doing it of my own free will in part because I don't believe in blogging about something when wads of cold, hard cash are involved.

I tried Amazon MP3 last night.

For those that haven't heard, that's Amazon.com's new DRM-free music download service. The prices vary, but you can download a song for under a dollar or an album for (on average) $7.99 and download it as a crystal-clear 256kbps mp3 file (or set thereof, if you download an album).

The significance of the songs being DRM-free is that you can take the file and burn it to a CD, copy it, put it on mp3 players. Anything. You could even put them on file-sharing services. BUT DON'T or we'll likely lose this wonderful tool we've got.

Now, I'm one of those holdouts that still prefer buying CD's to downloading my music off of the web. In fact, before this the closest I'd ever come to buying music online was ordering a CD off of Amazon. So needless to say, I was new to this...

Anyways, last night I wanted to download Feel Good Inc. from Gorillaz. It got stuck in my head, long story. Anyway, I hopped on the site, got to the page for the album it was on easily, and clicked the "Buy MP3" button next to the song.

Now, the next steps may not be exact, but you'll get the idea.

I was prompted to download and install a small application that would set up the mp3 file and automatically put it in your iTunes or Windows Media Player library. So I did.

Next page I got was the download of the song. It doesn't send you the mp3 file itself, but a different file. From that file, the program I'd just installed placed the mp3 file in my My Music folder in a folder named Amazon MP3. The program then deleted the file that was originally downloaded, leaving just the mp3.

I opened Media Player and there it was in my library, just like it said it would be.

When I connected my Zune, I had to manually add the song to it's library. No shocker really, the Zune software in it's current design sucks. Whenever I rip a CD in Windows Media Player I have to do the same thing. Can't blame Amazon for that.

All in all, I was happy with the experience. So much so that I might just finally stop buying CD's and download my music.