Old Friends

While in Lubbock for Christmas, I got to hang out with for a couple of hours with my big brother from Farmhouse, Randy Smith. I had not seen Randy in person for about 5 years and seeing him was one of the highlights of the trip. Randy got me threw some difficult times when I was trying to figure out where my life was going. He was a sounding board and someone I could really relate to during times when I wasn't sure where I was headed. It was sad when he couldn't make my wedding because of his basic training in the Navy.

I had to drive by myself home from Lubbock and was also able to catch up with Ty Jensen and Chris Gerwig on the phone. Ty was in Kansas for Christmas so I missed him and Chris now lives in Fairbanks, Alaska. All three I would consider my best friends and each of whom I don't get to see on a regular basis anymore. Sad, but at the same time, years can go by without talking to any of them and its like I talked to them everyday. Some things are truly priceless and I consider each of their friendships exactly that.

Christmas 2007

With yesterday being Christmas Eve, tradition has been recently that we go to my parents house for opening presents and dinner. Gran Gran and Gran Fran join my parents, Emily and Daniel, and Mikey and Erika, along with Westin, Reid, Kristy, and myself. Yesterday was no different. We had food, beverages, and opened presents. Michael had his great new camera snapping tons of pictures of everything, but especially Reid and Westin. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Also, my sister recorded a conversation with Gran Gran. We got his thoughts on the War, life with Gran Fran, and more. I hope to have the audio from Emily soon. I have heard these stories many times, but it is nice to have them documented.

On Christmas Day, we were at the Whitfields. Santa came and Westin was all excited about getting a robot and a remote controlled Jeep (I like that one the best personally). Good times and memories were made. The day ended with the traditional Neal desert party. Good to see Noel, Rob, Cory, Aunt Mel, and Uncle Larry among others. Somethings never change thankfully.

A Book Recommendation: Lone Survivor

I recently finished reading Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell. It is the true story of a Navy Seal team dropped in Afghanistan to scout and kill a Taliban leader. Shortly after they are dropped, a couple of young Afghan goat herders discover them. The Seals are then faced with the moral and ethical question of do we let them go and risk being discovered or kill them and perhaps face murder charges and public disgust back home?

Marcus Luttrell is a Christian and ends up being the deciding vote in the team. He votes to let them go and that decision ends up costing the lives of the remaining members of his team. Not one hour after letting them go, 200 Taliban attack the Seals and in the end kill the other 3 members of Marcus' team. Marcus ends up badly wounded but avoids capture before a small group of local tribesmen take him in. He finds out later they made a sacred pact with him by taking him in and refuse to turn him over to the Taliban despite many threats made to the village by the Taliban fighters.

This is truly a fascinating book and it has become one of my favorites that I have read recently. Mr. Luttrell shows the side of war that most of us civilians don't see in the news. The decisions he made ended up impacting the lives of his friends and himself, but even in a desolate place such as Afghanistan, kindness can be shown.

I highly recommend this book and add Marcus Luttrell to the list of people I would like to meet some day.

Michael Crabtree is Unanimous Consensus

Michael Crabtree was named to all 5 All American teams today. He is one of only 4 players to be on all 5 lists. Too bad the Dallas Morning News could not see fit to name him Freshman of the Year for the Big 12. Jeremy Maclin of Missouri was named by Dallas' only daily instead. Now Maclin is a terrific player and a former Tech target, but for him to win this honor over Crabtree was a complete farce. Not only that, but Crabtree is a former high school star at Carter High School in Dallas. Unbelievable.

I cringe when I hear fellow Tech fans complain about media bias and a conspiracy to keep Tech down, but I have a hard time not believing it this time. The Big 12 sports staff of the Dallas Morning News should be ashamed. You can rest assured if a unanimous consensus player from Texas or Texas A&M was in the same situation, there would be no doubt who would have been Freshman of the Year.

Observations from the Cowboys game today

Roy Williams = Awful. I was really excited when the Cowboys drafted him as I got to see first hand as a Tech fan how good this guy was in college. He would literally take over a game in college from the safety position which I feel is extremely hard to do. When he first entered the league I thought he was pretty good and was a good tackler, but how much of that was due to Darren Woodson back there with him?

Today, I saw poor angles of pursuit, attempts just to throw himself into a play to get on film without any regard to the ballcarrier, and horrible pass coverage. The Cowboys gave up over 400 yards of offense to a struggling Lions team and a lot of that yardage was on the ground, especially in the first half.

Thankfully, Tony Romo got it together and seems to be turning into a hybrid of Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman. I always thought he compared more to Jake Delhomme than to either of those Cowboy greats, but not anymore. He is the real deal, and I am now ready to acknowledge that. As an eternal skeptic having grown up with the 90's Cowboys I have been reluctant to admit this.

Jason Witten is terrific and even with that fumble on the 1, he still got it done. 15 catches is just great. Terrell Owens didn't have much impact, but he doesn't have to with Witten open like he was and Barber catching the ball out of the backfield. I am really looking forward to the rest of the season now and for once, the playoffs.

Time to give this a shot

OK, thought I might give this whole blog thing a try. Sure have had an interesting week in that my youngest son was hospitalized for 4 days with RSV. Pretty scary stuff in that he had a lot of trouble breathing and getting oxygen. He had to keep those tubes off and on all week!

I also happened to turn 29 on Thursday. Not a great birthday to be spending most of it at the hospital. I was actually born in the same hospital that Reid was at. Guess you could call it going full circle.

Anyway, thanks for reading the inaugural post. Comment away...