I’ve been really busy since SXSW.  Met some really great people there that convinced me to start my own SM “firm”.  I put that in quotes because I am not so sure just how firm it is.  But it feels firm.  Sometimes firm feels fake, but this firm feels real.  Firm but with flesh.  So kinda firm.  Fleshy-firm.

I’m going to start managing Social Media for third parties.  I’ve already obtained a lot of useful twitter handles that I think will drive business, like @comcastreallyreallyreallyfreakingcares and @buyafordbecausetheywontkillyoulikeToyotawill and @Ilovethefactthatwalmartletsmespendmoneyintheirstores

The really long twitter names are not an accident.  I really don’t want to work too hard on this stuff and really long names give me even less characters to “share” with your customers – who really don’t care who I am except for the value I add to you.  Besides – you pay me by the character so I am saving you a TON of money since I charge only 75% on the characters in the handle (LIMITED TIME OFFER!)!

I want a check and I am measuring my worth by dollars/character – so short conversations mean I make more – which adds value to you.  And if I make more I know my customers are happier.  Because that is what motivates them – making me happy.  And that is how your business wins, and gets to that next amazing level – of making me happy.

But it is all about the customer – so I hope I get a couple.  Especially some with money, because they rock.

I want to help you sell more stuff to your customers.  I have Twitter bots, spambots, robots, and ding-bats all ready to help me help you help your business grow!

I’m an online social media expert. I am a wizard at talking to your customers.  I will make you millions and take only about half of it. Sometimes I take less than more than half.  Call me – I am open to almost anything that moves money from you to me!

That is just the way I guru it.

Together we are twice as good as I am without your money!

Please feel free to contact me with proposals that gain me more than 50% of your company – but sorry – I don’t accept debt anymore.  I’m so beyond that!  So make sure you at least make enough money to pay me enough to make you look amazing and make me feel marvelous.  If you underpay me you will be perceived as weak.  And in some cultures with a small penis.  Go big or stay home.

And if you just don’t have time to talk to me, but want the benefits of working with me, just send some money to kr8tr on PayPal and we’ll both be happier. And your investors will be amazed by what you have accomplished!

And don’t forget - I don’t make money unless I take money from you.  Really! 

I guarantee it!

This should be an amazing new stage in my career – and in your business.  Prove it to yourself – take that first step now.  SEND ME MONEY.  The results won’t be measurable but they are guaranteed.

BTW – I am currently offering a 1% discount (on pseudo-services only) to anyone that gets me an iPad before 05APR10.

I run Adium on my Mac.  Between AOL, and Yahoo, internal Jabber at work, Microcoft Live Messenger, and multiple GChat accounts, I have over 5,000 contacts.

And each day, at least once, sometimes many times, I get a spam IM.  How they get through security procedures on the platforms, I don’t know.  But sometimes they do.

I “always” just click “block” and close the window.

But several times over the last few weeks -  a “girl” – always with the same name followed by random and changing numbers – would send me messages.  They looked like spam.  So I blocked each of them in turn.

Until things turned.  The messages started to actually talk about things I did, or said.  Usually something I posted on Twitter, but sometimes a link to a comment I made on a random blog.

Then I got, “You need to mow your grass – but I do understand that is has been raining a lot, and your mower would trench the yard”.

Whoah!  This was odd.  While the person could have assumed that I needed to mow, how would “she” know that I have a large commercial mower?  Unless “she” knew me?

Still, I blocked the message as spam – just as I had the many others.

Until late last week.  I responded to one of the messages, “Who are you, do you know me?”

I received no response.  About 20 minutes later I clicked “block” on her message and went to make something to eat.  I almost immediately heard the “ding” sound informing me of a new message.

The message was simple, “To find me again, you have to block my IM – for I am.  You follow me on Twitter, but I don’t follow you”.

Aha!  I could narrow it down!  But there are about 2200 people that follow me.  And I follow under half of them.  So I couldn’t narrow it down too much.  But still – assuming she was a she, and that she lived near me, I could whittle the list down to about 60.  Based on those of the 60 I knew, or knew of – I got to 52.  I could have made a mistake here, but was pretty careful to only “remove” those I knew for certain weren’t the mysterious IM’er.

52 might as well be 500.  And then I thought, what if it is a friend just messing with me, or perhaps it is actually a guy?  The 52 seemed like a useless number.

Anyway, I blocked the latest account and didn’t hear? anything for a couple days.

Then I got a new IM that said, “Be honest and be rewarded – how large is your suspect list?  <50?  >50? >100? <500?.  Win a clue.”

I replied >50, then blocked the account.  It was now an amusing game.

Fifteen minutes passed before I got a new IM, from yet another account – it said, “Not good.  Not bad, but not good.  I’m two blocks away, at a place you like, but I’m leaving now”

OK.  There are four places within two blocks of me that I have talked about publicly (or checked into from FourSquares).  Three are VERY public places.  One is a quiet store where I am usually the only customer.

I replied back, “Did you enjoy your drink?”  – thinking this would narrow things down to two places.  I should have worded it better so it could have been narrowed to one – but I wasn’t that clever.

Same routine – blocked the account.  Woke up the next morning to this: “Drink was great. I’ve been reading your blog – five posts from APR 2007.  Are you IP-Savvy?”

OK – at this point I am pretty much having a good time with this entire game.  So my curiosity was really peeked.  Whomever this was had a sense of humor, and some tech savvy.

I replied back, “I see your IP. You humor me.”

Blocked.

Next day I went to both of the local bars I have been know to hang out in and connected to the open WiFi – and checked the IP address assigned.  < Bingo!  Had her/him!  Blanco Tavern.

Later that day I received a new IM that said, “Bet you figured it out.  But I am never there when you are, but am often in other places you are.”

Damn!  This was getting pretty interesting

So I wrote a private blog post.  I sent her a link, “Here’s what I’ve found, let me know if it is sound”.

Then I blocked her.

And watched for an IP address to hit that post (and yes, with Woopra, I can see in near real-time).  Just 8 minutes later someone was reading my private post – from the Lion and Rose Pub, just two blocks away (it was one of those IP addresses I had checked earlier).

I didn’t respond then – I didn’t want her/him to know that I was on to them.  I grabbed my laptop and keys and hit the door.

5 minutes later I was sitting on the patio – the lone patron outside that day.  And I opened my laptop.  I sent a simple IM back to “her”, “I am on your sub-net.  And I am on the patio. – Step out”.

Then I blocked her/him.

And waited, but just a moment.  The door opened, and the waitress came out.  She handed me a napkin with “DSL” written on it.  Said a woman (yes!) had asked her to give it to me, and that I would know what it meant.

I did – that is the “name” of my primary WiFi network at my house!  I paid for my drink and quickly headed back home.  As I pulled in front of the house, there was nobody in the driveway – just one car – up the street.  Tapping it’s break pedal.  I took it as a signal, and followed.

It was 1.5 blocks and a stop-sign ahead of me, but I rushed to catch up.  I didn’t – but I saw where the car went – Blanco Tavern.

I finally crossed the busy Blanco Road and walked into the bar – which is very dark, and it was very bright outside.  So I could barely see.

But I heard, “Hello, Rob.  That took you a while”

As I approached the table at the nearly empty bar I could finally make out the face of someone I had met before, but wasn’t sure where.

“Interesting game”, I said. “You play well.”

She laughed and professed that she didn’t mean to get “caught” just yet.  Yes, she was attractive, and yes, she was younger than me.

“I don’t recall where I met you – I’m sorry”, I offered.

“You haven’t”, said she.  Just call me (and she gave another variation of the numbers based yet always changing name she used on IM). “We’ve been in the same places, but never met”.

We chatted about how she pulled this off – “easy”, she said.  What a Geek – and a Linux hack at that.  We were getting along wonderfully, and chatted for 35 minutes.  But not about who she was, or how she knew me.  I figured that would all come out eventually.  The conversation did not seem as if it were about to stop anytime soon.

Until the door opened and a man yelled, ‘Sam, I know you are in here”.  To wit “Sam” told me – “you better go” – which I did – by taking advantage of him being blinded coming in from the sun.  As I took the long way out of the bar I heard him yelling at her about “no wife of mine”…

Two days later I got another IM from her.  I replied, “No wife of mine…” and have blocked the last several chats without responding.

Perhaps I should – but I don’t want to get in the middle of any drama – and certainly not in the middle of a marriage.

But if Geeky Sam figures all that out, and wants to spar again without the baggage – you know my IP’s

And yeah – I know this wasn’t a really happy ending, but it was fun playing the game.

I woke up early, which doesn’t always happen anymore.  I used to be up at 7 am no matter what.  Lately I’ve been staying awake much later than normal.  Call it part of my job.  But I love waking early.  My problem is that I also love staying awake until the wee hours of the morning

Anyway, this morning I woke to this drawing, emailed to me from my daughter.  She drew it on her Wacom tablet.

My daughter is always thinking of me.  She will make a great artist (and perhaps even a great wife and mother, should she decide to push her skill-sets) some day.   Love her to death.

Later my kids did the grocery shopping, and fixed me a wonderful meal, which they insisted we ate at the table together (at 18 and 20, my kids are rarely home for meals, much less eating together!).

My son has recently started cooking – and he has a knack for it.  Love him as well!

It was a wonderful day.

But not for everyone.

This conversation, which my friend Robert Scoble started, explains why.  Hard to enjoy this day when so much of the world is in pain.

If you can stomach it, here is the before and after photos of one father’s daughter on Father’s Day.  Don’t click if you are squeamish.  She was shot and killed while walking in a peaceful protest with her father.

I am proud that I served my country, and am inspired by all of those in Iran who are doing the same.  Sounds like a cliche, but freedom really isn’t free.

Ask Neda’s father.

Because we can’t ask Neda.

I lost ownership of my domain name, lagesse.org for several weeks.  I won’t go into the ugly details, but I could certainly have prevented this.  Now I have the domain locked, set to auto-renew, and the email address I have the domain registered under is NOT an email address hosted on the lagesse.org domain.

It took a LOT longer to get my domain back because of (I assume) the Holidays.

What really sucked is my entire family has email on the lagesse.org domain – so I wasn’t the only one affected.  Bummer, family – and sorry about that!

So, the blog is back, the email is back, and I won’t make that mistake again

And that is all (for now)

Thanks,

Rob

In the iPhone 2.2 update you can now delete podcasts.  But not really.  When you re-sync with your computer they get copied back to your phone.

As for software updates, you can now select “Update All”. It doesn’t work, but you can select it.

Simple Software QA should have caught these issues.

But who tests software anymore?

I was looking at this Milwaukee 2310-21 Cordless M-Spector Digital Inspection Camera on Amazon.com.

I need it for a variety of reasons – looking at the connectors on the back of my TV, so I don’t have to move the TV just to plug something in, looking at the connectors on the back of my PC, etc.

But looking further down the page at the “People who bought this also bought…” section, I find this:

The Bank Job is a movie about a bank robbery.  Somehow I don’t think everyone else is buying this tool for the same reason I am!

I captured this image at the end of the NBC show “Big Bang” tonight – it was only displayed for a few seconds (but thanks to my digital video recorder and an iPhone picture of the screen, here is what I saw).

It reads:

“CHUCK LORRE PRODUCTIONS, #225

We exist to bear witness.

We had to be.

The infinite needs us to see it.

Without the perceiver,

the perceived does not exist.

That gives us leverage.

Don’t look until you get what you want”

What does it mean?

Today on Twitter I suggested that I am tired of all the political hate, and that I didn’t really care for either candidate, and that I wasn’t going to vote in the Presidential Election.  Mostly though, I don’t like either political party.

Neither are “people serving” – and both are “self-serving”.

I don’t know why this was received with such fanfair – especially by my ex-fellow panelists on NewsGang Live, a show I was “dis-invited” from tonight – simply because I stated that NOT voting is an option that might be realistic for people to consider – for MONTHS I have stated that I am a libertarian (with a small “L” – NOT a member of the party).  Actually, I was asked not to come on and talk about NOT voting.  Since it is prety much a political show (and Obama Rally) now, that basically means, “don’t show up”.

But why the hate?  Because I decided NOT to support Obama?  Sorry – that is MY decision – and I have as much right to Tweet about it as I do anything else, and as much of a right as anyone else has to Tweet in favor of their candidate.

But I did NOT accuse John McCain of being a traitor on Twitter today, and I did NOT call Palin a “bitch” on Twitter today – others did.  “Friends” of mine did.  I didn’t bash them.  I didn’t ban them from a show or suggest they have no business Twittering their opinions.  I didn’t even unfollow them. I DID react to them though – they made me realize that if you vote in this election based on HATE, you fail.  If you get others to vote based on HATE, you fail.

They just helped me decide that I didn’t like how politics works – and even, to some extent, how they are working politics.

So I won’t be on NewsGang Live anymore – which is fine.  I haven’t been on much lately anyway, and the last dozen times were just about politics – I enjoyed it more when it had a broader audience/subject matter.  I DID have a lot of fun on NGL though.

I’m really disappointed in the American political system, and how powerless we Americans feel to fix it.

Neither candidate is for “change” – they both just want “their version of change”.  Real change is drastic, and would destroy our two party ssytem – so they have no reason to “change” anything.

So I checked out of the ugly political debate, and I will check out of the election.  Sorry.  I have a right to.  And I have no obigation to vote for a candidate I cannot support, and in this election, I find little to like.

And don’t tell me I “have a duty” – I have served on Active Duty for this country and I have AT LEAST earned the right to not fucking vote for people I don’t fucking like – don’t you fucking think?

So be it. Hate me for not voting.  Hate your ass off.  I won’t hate you for it

But I was also accused of “voter suppression” which firstly, I think is a felony and thus a dangerous “McCarthyism-like accusation”, and second, is just *rude* to suggest.  I am NOT going to manipulate others into not voting, prevent people to attend the poles, etc, etc.  Just going to share my opinion that voting for a bad canditate isn’t any better for not voting for one at all.

Deciding NOT to vote, and even encouraging others NOT to vote is NOT voter suppression.  And I was persnally offended at the suggestion.  Especially since a “friend” suggested it.

I don’t know what a “Chee Wa Wa” is, but this sign was plastered all over my neighborhood, including on my bank’s ATM (pictured).

I assume they are talking about a lost dog – to wit, the Chihuahua, which is a yappy little thing.

The company you are transfering it from makes it as much of a pain in the ass as possible – and then, even when it works, they send you an email saying it failed.  *sigh*

Joshua, the guy that sold me three iPhone 3G’s was great – from the start to the finish.  I had his personal cell phone number and woke him bright and early this morning – I couldn’t have asked for or expected more from him.  Great Sales experience.

ATT Activation?  They could do better.  First off, they had me validate my contract on each phone – individually, even though I bought them all (three of them) at the same time. Even though I added them to the ATT “Family Plan”.

I never signed a contract.  I “agreed” to some poorly defined “contract” over the phone (assuming it was actually me pushing the buttons – NOT admitting that it actually was – it could have been anyone) – there were few details, and NONE of those details included anything about pricing.

I wonder how legally binding his entire thing is – I think a decent lawyer could argue that I don’t have a contract at all, since it was NEVER disclosed to me what my monthly costs would be, when the bill is due – basically, there were no Terms of Service discussed at all

Can I be legally bound to a contract that wasn’t fully disclosed?.

So do I have a contract with ATT at all?  I think I *might* – but I don’t know what the terms of the contract are – which probably invalidates it. 

I do have three iPhones – which honestly, I like.  Not knowing what they are really going to cost me?  NOT liking that so much.

So listen up, ATT – fully disclose the costs and have me agree to THOSE costs – not some “you also agree to Apple’s Terms of Service” BS on a telephone (details of which were also not disclosed to me).

I figure I just got three iPhones contract free since the terms were not defined, and I signed nothing.  I am sure Apple and ATT will think differently.  But they cannot produce a contract with my name on it – a least not one I have signed.

I don’t get this model at all. Do they really think that I will bound by a set of terms that didn’t include any cost info? If so, I think they are making a mistake.  This was a very “fuzzy” transaction at best.

Sending me a new converter box that has a remote that is not even remotely like my old one doesn’t do me any favors.

Why would you provide me two completely different remotes?  Do you actually use your products?  Don’t you just get to the point that you can operate a remote by touch?  Doesn’t it become that familiar to you? Pause is where pause is – it should NOT be moved to where Play is.  It inconveniences me.  You don’t really want to inconvenience me, do you?

Oh – do you use your products? (Sorry – asked that already!)

No?  Well that is probably because you have multiple remotes that randomly rearrange the buttons (for no apparent damned reason!).

And if you *must* send me a new remote, offer to replace my other remotes with the same “new” remote.  They are Universal Remotes, so they will all work with all of my boxes.

Multiple 60-plus button remotes that move the buttons like pieces on a checkerboard just isn’t a good customer experience.

I would think a company as large as my cable provider could mandate the button layout on their remotes.  Standardize it even!

Or at least make sure that the remotes they give me match!

It has been about four years since I first decided to step into the consulting lifestyle.  In that time one of my “children” has completed High School, and then his first year of college.  Next year my daughter will finish High School as well.

It has been an amazing four years for me – I have been able to spend time with my kids as required – but mostly I have been able to spend an inordinate amount of time learning.  Ten years ago I learned by reading books – today I learn more by surfing the Internet – it is still reading, but it is so much faster, and so much more available (and “find-able!”.

One of the things my time in consulting has taught me is that I miss people.  I miss the challenge of building teams – not just hiring people, but building functional groups that work well together to build more than any single persons could have done.

So, taking stock of my life, as I am often wanton to do, I asked myself, “What is next”?  In a year I will have two kids in college, and perhaps neither of them left at home.

It was time for me to answer the question, “What does Rob want?”.

So I looked back in my life experiences and tried to zero in on what made me the most happy – what did I love to do so much that I could do it for the rest of my life?  Raising children certainly tops my list – but I can’t raise them forever – in fact, I am already being outsourced in that position – by my children themselves.

Raising children is like building good teams – the end goal is that eventually they won’t need depend on you anymore.

I decided I needed to go back to work with people – preferably young, energetic people, and certainly people smarter than I am.  I have always been lucky in surrounding myself with people smarter than I am (and please – PAUL! – no comments that this should be easy – it isn’t).

This realization came over a several month period – I didn’t wake up one day having come to this “epiphany”.

I missed building teams.  I need to work with smart people.  I MUST work for a company that understands that I am a unique person – I am opinionated, passionate, determined, outspoken, opinionated, and outspoken.  And I am sorry if I repeated myself.  And I am sorry if I repeated myself.

I need a company that doesn’t exist outside of startups – I needed security, because I will have two kids in college.  It must be nimble.  It must be willing to listen, and learn – even as it teaches.  But I also needed the excitement that keeps me engaged.  I need to constantly invent.  I need to work with smart people that will make me smarter.  I needed to be someplace that allows me to make a difference every day.  I needed to build something that affects a lot of people, because after helping build WiFi – it takes a big project to be a “big deal”.

And most of all – I need to be able to help.  My work must have value – to me, and to the people I work with.  And to the customers – who I never shy away from or refuse a conversation with.

In the next day or two I hope to share with you the company that is all of that, and more.  How much more is something I expect to find out soon – and something I hope to grow over time.

But don’t worry – I won’t change my blogging style/habits.  I wouldn’t work for a company that thought they could control my freedom of expression outside the office.

The list of companies I wouldn’t work for is rather large.  So I’ll save you that and instead share with you in the next couple days who I would work for – and I will tell you exactly why I made that choice.

It is just too much trouble – not the dog, mind you – Yoshi is awesome on a leash. I taught him early and he is very controllable.

But as we walked through an alley we walk through often there was a lady in the garage with the garage door open, and a little bitty “yippy” dog. She was smoking a cigarette – the dog was doing dog stuff.

But just as we passed the home the outdoor floodlight lamp exploded – it was a loud boom, with a lot of flying glass.

I called out, asking if she was ok (since the circuit blew and the garage lights had also gone out).

“What did you do?!?!” she hollered.

“Nothing – I am just walking my dog”, I replied.

“Do you have a BB-gun?” she asked.

“No – just walking my dog”, I answer. And I keep walking.

I expect the police to show up at any time because – well, they sometime gravitate towards me. But they did not, and Yoshi and I made it home safely.

But that is two night is a row that walking my dog causes unusual questions.

So I think Yoshi will self-exercise in the back yard. It is 3/4 acre, so it should be sufficient. He will miss the neighborhood cats though. Except for the random stupid ones that come into the back yard.

I was walking my dog, as I am prone to do.  Often very late – sometimes at 1 or 2 am.  Today is was at 11pm.

I passed a parked police car on a quiet residential street.  He had his engine running and headlights on, and appeared to be busy.  I waved as I passed, but I didn’t really pay much attention.

A half block later I saw a Marlboro cigarette pack laying in the road.  I picked it up and put it in my pocket.  I often pick up trash on my walks and dispose of it when I get home.

But suddenly the police officer pulls next to me and asks what I put in my pocket. 

“A cigarette pack”, I answer.

“What is in it”, he asks.

“It is just trash – I was picking up trash”, I respond.

“Can I see it?”, asks he.

Now here I could have been smarter, or more capitulating, I suppose.  But I am neither.

“I don’t know – why do you want to see it?”, I ask.

“I could get a warrant”, he says.

“For what?”, I ask.

“It looked suspicious”, says he.

“Picking up trash looks suspicious?”, I ask.

“Cigarette packs are often used to transfer illegal substances”, he says.

“And they are often thrown out of car windows into streets”, I reply.

“Can’t you just let me see it?”, he inquires.

“You can follow me home, and watch me throw it in my trash can – then you are free to do what you want”, I say.

“I can’t look in your trash without your permission either”, he states.

“You have my permission to look at my trash, just tonight, ok?” I state/ask.

“Why are you being stubborn"?”, asks him.

“Why are you abusing my rights?”, ask I.

“Look, don’t be stupid – this could be easy – if you have nothing to hide, why aren’t you cooperating?”, he questions.

“Cooperating?  I am walking my dog – and picking up random trash.  Why aren’t you being as productive as I am"?”, I argue. (I admit, this might not be a good move on my part.  But anyone that reads my blog over time realizes that I have had an odd set of experiences with members of law enforcement – to include them running over my mailbox.  It is not that I do not respect them – I just do not fear them).

And then I notice it – this is not even a cop from my town!  This is a cop from an adjacent city that has absolutely ZERO business asking me ANY questions here.  I pull out my cell and start dialing.

“What are doing?”, he asks.

“Calling MY cops”, I answer.

“Fuck-head”, he says as he races off – looking for easier prey, I think.

My youngest brother just recently became a Police Officer.  I hope he is a better one than the one I met tonight.  I figure he has to be.  And since I know him, I know he will be.

These idiotic messages spamming Twitter can’t be making it any easier for Twitter to keep the service up for the actual humans who are trying to use it.

NINE TechCrunch posts in 3 hours telling me the exact same thing.  If this isn’t spam, it is at least annoying.

Come on, TechCrunch, shut off these auto-notifications.  They are just annoying, and they almost certainly make me NOT want to see what you are spooling.

There is a way for you to set the message manually every time – so maybe it Tweets, “I am spooling live video at a Google Event” – that might at least be interesting.

And yes, I pick on TechCrunch, but WAY too many people do this.  TechCrunch should know better though.

QIK should change the default to NOT sent Twitter Spam unless the user specifically chooses to (and sets a real freaking TOPIC!).

To say our state Dept of Transportation has an image problem is a huge understatement.  What they have is an EGO problem. 

They think we work for them. They think my money is their money.  They think I (and any other concerned taxpayer) am an idiot.

You can’t even sue them when their projects destroy your property – so I guess they actually ARE above the law. 

Perhaps that causes the arrogance they exude at every opportunity. So maybe it isn’t really their fault at all.

No, scratch that – they an are arrogant, power-corrupt operation that needs reeled in.  And that is exactly what I will be looking for in the next candidate for Governor  I vote for.  And I’ll be looking for the same “Tame TxDOT” quality in ANY state representatives I vote for – be they Congressman or Judges.

So I was quite pleased to see I am not alone in my displeasure with TxDOT.

The confidence of the Legislature and the public are very important to us," says Lippincott. "We still have work to do, but we are confident that our ongoing efforts to improve the transparency and accessibility of TxDOT are making a positive impact. We look forward to our continued work with the members and staff of the Sunset Commission.

Commission releases scathing report on TxDOT – Austin Business Journal:

This post is going out at ~2am on a day that was a long one for me, as you will see, should you choose to read on.  So forgive my typos, or how the story is disjointed – I just wanted to get it out while the events were fresh in my mind.

One of my younger brothers (Eric, younger than me by two years) was in town tonight for a bowling tournament. Of course I asked him to stay with me, and I drove him and his two kids to the bowling alley (bowling centers, I think they prefer) dropped them off, and went to dinner at one of my friend’s house. 

I knew bowling would take longer than I cared to spend watching – I thought it would be excessively boring.  So I missed the first 90 minutes of it.  But I came back from my friends house in time to watch my brother play a few games, and actually win a bit of money.  I was just sitting with my niece and nephew and enjoying a cold beer and their conversation.

And it turned out to be anything but boring.

Eventually I felt the need for a smoke, so I went outside (yes, even bowling alleys are off limits to smokers now – even though 90% of the bowlers smoked).

So I am outside and I see a group of people (who happened to be mostly black)surrounding one very drunk woman and similarly drunk guy (both white) and asked someone what was going on.

It appears the drunk white dude had rammed his truck into the sober black guys brand new dealer-loaned Audi.  He hit it hard enough to move it 6 feet (the Audi was parked and unoccupied at the time).  And he tried to run.  And he almost ran over a half dozen people in the parking lot before he was pulled from the truck and detained.  His "girlfriend" was also removed from the truck.  She was too drunk to even stand.  Someone went to take the keys from the truck, and guess what?  There were no keys.  The ignition had been ripped out.  The truck was obviously (probably) stolen.

Now I didn’t see any of this – I came out right after they were pulled from the truck.  But I did come out right after they were pulled from the truck in time to see that they were treated quite well – they were held, asked to sit down, and then the calls to 911 started.  There were probably 15-20 people out front now – most of them black.  And they were detaining two white people.

So when the two drunk white people got up and got back into the truck, about 20 minutes later, nobody knew quite what to do – and by the time they figured it out, the drunk white people had driven off.  Nobody struck them, harmed them, or were even overly rude to them.  But the drunks were ready for a fight and the crowd wasn’t interested in one.  Certainly the police would be along any moment.

About this time I go back in and tell my brother and my niece and nephew what happened, and of course the kids (not so much kids anymore!) wanted to see.  So we went back outside.

This is now 45 minutes after the San Antonio Police received the first 911 call.  The young black man who had his Audi hit was back on the phone with the police, begging for them to dispatch someone.

Me, being me, yelled out to him, and into his cell phone, "Tell the cops there are white people here too – maybe they will show up".

Almost exactly one hour after the initial call a lone female officer arrived and started to get the Audi owners information.

During the near hour of no police response the drunken fool had driven back past the bowling alley twice!  We can only guess that the drunk white chick with him still had her car at the bowling alley, and that they were trying to recover it.  Or they were so drunk they just thought cruising past the ever-growing crowd was just cool.

But they had several things working against them.  By this time there were about 50 people in the parking lot – black, white, Asian, Indian.  And they were all mad.  Mad at the cops for taking an unforgivable amount of time to arrive – especially since it was made clear to them that a citizen arrest (for lack of a accurate legal description for it) had been made – against a drunk driver who hit another vehicle, tried to run, and in doing so almost ran over innocent people – including children.

Finally as the Audi owner was talking to the officer the drunk drove by a third time!

Everyone started pointing and yelling, and the officer took off in pursuit.  But she must have lost the guy because we didn’t see her or him for another ten minutes..  Until he drove back by for the fourth time!  And just to be clear – at this point the guy had done a lot more damage to his truck – it was apparent that he had hit something else (again and again!).  He saw the now probably 50 person crowd and started to take off down a side street.  He clipped some other vehicles/trees/whatever and spun out and headed back in the general direction of the bowling alley – he was about a half block away, but it was an open field and we all had an open view.

I had my niece and nephew with me (both older teens), but I still closed in on the truck as the female officer pulled up behind him, hit her lights and finally dragged the driver out of the truck and struggled with him – in the middle of Austin Highway – a very busy five lane highway.  She quickly subdued him (Mace, brute force, her will to win, and his drunkenness all worked against the idiot).

At this point I was across two lanes of traffic, but I noticed 3-4 of the other witnesses were rushing the truck – which was still moving,  I think we all expected the drunk woman to be in the truck.  She wasn’t.  But the truck was in gear and rolling down a very busy highway (and the truck was not in good shape – it had fenders rubbing on tires, etc)`- and I ran over and noticed that there was another occupant in the vehicle.  A very nervous looking dog.

A half dozen of us got the truck under control and pushed it off the main highway (I had the steering wheel and the poor dog was looking at me with such a confused look on her face)  – even as the female officer was cuffing the man and calling for assistance.  Amazing how quickly other cops showed up when an officer asked for help.

When a citizen called for police it took an hour – and caused the situation to escalate to a near riot.  There were at least 60-80 people on the street when the arrest was finally made – and many of them were quite angry – with cause, I might add.  The police took way to long to respond.  Their poor response time put a lot more people at risk – the other drivers that were facing this drunk on the road, the people trying to restrain the drunk, etc.  People were actually talking out loud about the fact that police were not responding to an urgent request from a black citizen.

Then, and now, a couple hours later, I cannot fault them for their perceptions – the reality is that the response time was pathetic.  For whatever reason.

But at the end of the evening, I saw an amazing group of dissimilar citizens band together to watch the drunk, keep track of when he went where, and finally point him out to the lone officer who took the man down.

And I helped stop the runaway truck, in the middle of busy traffic, and I helped save the poor dog with the idiot for an "owner".

And my niece and nephew saw it.

And somehow, I think they respect me a bit for not just standing back and watching – the situation was definitely not in control when I got involved – the cop was still wrestling with the drunk in the middle of the highway, and I was helping stop an unmanned, yet still moving, pickup truck.  Which was stolen, by the way.

I have no idea where the drunk girl was.  She could have been let out (or fallen out) anywhere.  At this point it was getting late, and we needed to head back to my house before anything else interesting happened.

And now I am going to sleep – wishing I could have taken the poor dog.  It deserved better.  But the cops called animal control.  I guess if you are a dog with a stupid ass drunk for an "owner" you still belong to the stupid-ass drunk.  Even if they go to jail.

And yes – this shit really happens to me.  And I have witnesses!

This picture of Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana) seems to have struck a very odd chord.  At least from my perspective.

Some people have actually called this father/daughter pose "lewd".  I want some of what they are smoking.  Actually, I don’t.  It’s got them all fucked up in the head.

What I see here is a father who appears to have a meaningful relationship with his teenage daughter.  And not a lot of fathers can make that claim.

Me, I kiss and hug my 17 year old daughter every day and my 19 year old son kisses me hello and goodbye – even in front of his friends.  I am PROUD of that.

People who see evil in this lovely photo of a caring father and a loving daughter are seeing a reflection of the evil in their own hearts, as far as I can tell.  I can’t understand why anyone who has a pure heart would have an issue with this photo – or a photo with her with a "naked back" – a picture the press is calling "topless" because that gets more attention.  I am VERY conservative with my daughter (my son as well, for that matter) – still, her bathing suit on the beach shows more than Miley’s "topless" photo.

Personally, I love it when my daughter and I are watching a scary movie and she sits closer to me.  I LIKE being the guy in her life she can trust, and count on, and feel safe with.  I love her being 17 us still have that relationship. I hope we always do.

And I think Karoli (who is my age) put it best in Twitter today, in response to my ramblings about this issue:

And my response to her was, "Me too".

Sometimes we al need our fathers, or or mothers.  Or just a good friend.

Someone to lean on for a bit.

And I see nothing wrong with a daughter leaning on her father.  In fact, I think it is totally fucking awesome.

Miley, if you haven’t learned it yet, learn it now.  What other people think of you should no define you.  And it will not.  Unless you allow it to.

 

You get the best of both worlds, Miley Cyrus sings in the theme song of her hugely popular Disney Channel show, Hannah Montana. Its a reference to her characters secret double life as both a rock star AND a normal schoolgirl. Offscreen, though, this 15-year-old phenom is starting to learn how hard it really is to have the best of both worlds: as a G-rated Disney superstar AND a real-life, growing teenager with an eye on a long career.

Growing pains for the Miley Cyrus phenom – Celebrities- msnbc.com