While current governor Rick Perry may have plenty of experience in Texas politics, former Houston mayor Bill White has decades of experience in actual leadership. Perry has been an excellent PR rep for Texas for the past few years, mostly because his role as governor required very little. For many of the challenges that face our state in the coming ... [Read More…]

I don't believe in travel mugs. Don't get me wrong, I love coffee. The taste of coffee is more pleasing than any food, and the caffeine in coffee is more beneficial than a full night's sleep. I just can't dig the travel mug. The  point of a travel mug is to free the coffee drinker from the house or neighborhood coffee shop. The handy sippy-cup ... [Read More…]

I was in my car the other day going somewhere or other, and in the dry grass of the church on my right, I noticed a dog. The late afternoon sunlight gleamed off his thin fur coat to reveal an impressive musculature for such a young Labrador. He was well-groomed and clean, which I thought was odd for a stray. His fur was a brownish-yellow, sort of a ... [Read More…]

There's a new pair of socially responsible shoes in town. Every time you buy a pair of these shoes with a one syllable name, a pair is donated to a child in an impoverished part of the world. The canvas slip-style shoes come in a variety of colors and patterns. Of course, I'm talking about BOBS. Sound familiar? Obviously BOBS, produced by the ... [Read More…]

They say actions speak louder than words, and most of the time, I would agree. Watch someone long enough and you'll learn why he chooses to laugh loudly, talk frequently or hug often. But what if you don't have a person's actions to learn from? I discovered this past week, when there is an absent of living action, words can be the best guide to the ... [Read More…]

I hate flying. The thought of being several thousand feet in the air sitting with a bunch of strangers in uncomfortable chairs for a couple of hours just doesn't appeal to me. Not to mention my constant paranoia that a catastrophic, one-in-a-million accident will plague the flight, bringing the plane down - and me with it. I also worry about my ... [Read More…]

Last weekend I received a phone call from a Bhutanese refugee here in Abilene.   In English so much improved from when she first arrived in the U.S. two years ago, she asked if I would look over a paper she wrote for a college class she's taking. I said of course, and spent a half hour over chai tea, correcting her spelling mistakes and finding ... [Read More…]

OMG. This is OOMWPP, BTW. Why do we AENAD? In MOO, using TL outside of TM is SNF. Translation: Oh my goodness. This is one of my worst pet peeves, by the way. Why do we abbreviate everything nowadays? In my own opinion, using texting lingo outside of text messages is so not funny. Before I begin my non-abbreviated diatribe against using texting ... [Read More…]

Sometimes I wonder why I went to a university whose school color is purple. We claim we are Christian and have a huge focus on the 'C' in our name, yet our color is blatantly unchristian. At VBS I learned a song called "Jesus Loves the Little Children." This song seems to have a pretty inclusive title. Yet in the middle of the song it has clear ... [Read More…]