Farewell, Robertson Stadium

On November 24th, the Houston Cougars played their last football game in Robertson Stadium, a facility that has hosted the Coogs for 70 years, with the exception of the seasons they played in the Astrodome as repairs were being made. The lot was filled with tail-gating fun and the band did their traditional march across campus and into the stadium.







I'm sure the new stadium will be nice, but it's the end of an era.



Jerry in front of the stadium - one more time!



And out among the Alumni pavilions ...



One of the more famous Coogs' wall tiles ...



Heading in for the final game



These concession stands are a familiar sight. Very "low tech" compared to newer facilities!






Heading up the ramps



JB with our last set of Robertson rental chairs ... they told us to take them home after the game, but the seats didn't say UofH or Robertson Stadium on them, so we left them for the wrecking crew. They also held an online auction, selling the box seats ... needless to say, we do NOT have either of these memorabilia items!



Cougar band on the field ...



UofH formation ...



Team takes the field



School song, to which no one remembers the words!



Action on the field



Shadows fall



Last shot of the Robertson Stadium scoreboard



We left just after half-time, it was cold, and unfortunately we missed the post-game program and festivities. The Coogs posted this photo of "lights out".



They've since surrounded the stadium with construction fencing and will begin demolition in the coming weeks. The Coogs will play in Reliant Stadium next season and then back on campus to open the new stadium for the 2014 season. We'll be there!

Running for Pie

Continuing our running program, Jerry and I ran the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning with Ed and Martha. Ed and I did 6.2, although he finished much faster than I did. Jerry and Martha ran the 5K (3.1) and it was a good run for everyone.

Here is our official "finisher" photo ...



Ed & Hope hosted the family for Thanksgiving lunch and through the wonders of technology, we have a group photo. The photo resolution is fairly low, but we're all in there!

FIFTY Years

It's hard to believe that Jerry has been out of high school for fifty years, but the Austin High School class of 1962 celebrated their 50th reunion in November. The event coincided with the 75th anniversary of Austin High School, so they had lots of activities Friday and Saturday.

Here's a photo of Jerry with classmates and friends - Glen Cook, Herman Wehner & Pat McCraken on school grounds at the 75th Anniversary program.



A shot of Darrell Cherry, me and Jerry at the 50th reunion party at the Hilton/Doubletree downtown that Saturday night.

It's the Great Pumpkin!

Once again, I'm way behind with my blog posts, but catching up with some fun photos this morning. If you're following me on FaceBook, you may have seen a few of these.

In our continuing effort to get back in shape and stay there, Arthur talked us into running the Great Pumpkin Fun Run with him on October 27th. Actually, it was a snap at 3.1 miles with very cool weather that morning.

They're BAAAAAAAACK! After a running hiatus of about 10 years, the dynamic duo - dedicated runners since the late 70s - are back in form!



Here we are after the race ... headed to La Mexicana for breakfast!

An Amazing Sunrise

I hope that everyone was able to see this live, as it was happening. Sunrise, October 16th, the sky was on fire! It was so pretty, I had to pull over and shoot this photo with my iPhone on the way home from working out.



Even looking over the morning traffic on 610, it's a thing of beauty.

Unveiling the New MacBook Air

In my business, many people have asked me why in the world I don't use a Mac. The biggest reason has been software compatibility, and my own comfort/knowledge with the Windows XP and Windows 7 operating systems.

When you're on your own - like that commercial says - you are your own marketing department, accounting group, sales team and tech support. I've been in the PC world since the beginning and only dabbled with an iMac early on in my marketing career at TCB. My clients rely on me to produce and manage complex spreadsheets, for media buys, marketing plans and budgets and what I send them needs to open on a "regular PC" and vice versa. I've been happy within the Windows world and just stuck with it - Windows 7 has been a stable and smart operating system, although I was grateful to have skipped the Windows Vista "mis-fire".

Since all good things must come to an end, and early feedback on the newly released Windows 8 operating system is not good, I started considering a switch to Mac as a replacement for "Jerry's computer", which is my back-up (in case of disaster) and travel laptop. For some time, I've needed to wipe the drives and get rid of two partially functioning PCs - one ten years old and the other eight - and just haven't done it until now.

Enter the survey feedback ... including responses from a long-time, would-not-have-it-any-other-way Mac user and the other from Jason, electrical engineer at Texas Instruments - a mecca of traditional PC use. I knew what Randy would tell me, but hearing Jason rave on and on about his shiny little MacBook Air pushed me over the edge.

He said his purchase of the MBA was "frowned upon" by the corporate office and he was soundly warned that tech support would not be able to help him, but what he discovered was that he needed no support. Like Randy said, the Mac products "just work". This has been my experience with the iPhone and iPad products and since the Mac Operating System - Mountain Lion - is almost identical to the iOS of the other devices, I figured I could make it work.

Enter the beautifully designed and surprisingly powerful 13" MacBook Air ... YES, it's really as thin as this photo on the box shows.



The brushed aluminum case with lighted Apple logo (who knew?) is another elegant "Apple touch"



There's no fuss, no muss ... a beautiful, thin laptop and an electrical cord! If you want to use is as a desktop computer, just buy the stunning, new 27" Thunderbolt Display and connect your laptop with ONE CORD. No extra cables, no external speakers, no mess.

I don't own a Thunderbolt, because they're pretty proud of those and it will have to wait until next year!



Set-up was a snap and in a few clicks of the keyboard, your new laptop is running and linking with your iCloud account, meaning every "iDevice" you own is communicating seamlessly, wirelessly and with no further effort from you. Your calendar and address book on the phone is on the MBA. I'm not making this up - apparently, it doesn't have to be difficult.



This laptop weights just a smidge over two pounds, is a little bit thicker than a pencil at the widest edge and easily slips into a purse for travel. It has a solid state drive - so no moving parts to damage. There's no CD/DVD drive on this model, but I already owned an inexpensive Samsung external drive that works just fine plugged into the MBA when you need to load software or view a DVD. Movies/TV shows are in iTunes anyway, so there's no need to carry the drive when traveling.

It boots up and is ready to use in 15 seconds or less (I timed it), the Microsoft Office Suite for Mac is 100% compatible with the PC version and it handles complex graphic files and software better than my 2 year old, tricked-out Dell. I'm still learning the ins and outs of Mountain Lion and understand that if you have PC programs that you just can't live without, you can use Boot Camp to partition your hard drive and run Windows simultaneously. Amazing!

I use my bigger Dell on a daily basis, but it's highly likely that when the Dell retires, it will be replaced with a 17" Mac product!

Better Living Through Pharmaceuticals

Well, it's that time of year again ... no, I'm not talking about fall, I'm talking about Elvis' annual vet visit. Always a fun and exciting experience for me, the staff and other patients at Memorial 610!

Our new game plan was to use what worked during last year's ear debacle (tightly wrapping him in a towel and not using the car kennel) and layer on a ThunderShirt and pharmaceuticals. So I found him a large cat-sized ThunderShirt and we practiced the day before our vet visit.



The ThunderShirt was invented as a device to comfort dogs who are unnerved by loud thunderstorms or other loud noises. There is something about the light compression of the "shirt" that makes them feel supported and calm.



Elvis, looking disgusted at wearing his shirt ...



Some time after these ThunderShirts came on the market, people were reporting that their dogs - and later cats - were experiencing less anxiety in a variety of situations ... storms ... separation anxiety ... riding in the car, etc.



Dr. Rose and I also decided to experiment with "pharmaceutically enhancing" Elvis' public persona with 1/2 of a magic happy cat pill. The happy cat pill would normally "knock out" a regular cat, but it only "took the edge" of of our Elvis. Thankfully, it was enough!

Here he is in the car - sans car kennel, as that seems to make him LIVID on trips to the vet. Why he lounges around in it headed to the beach is beyond me ...



We had a good vet visit - Dr. Rose looked in his ears, looked at his teeth (!!!), poked around on his belly and vaccinated him without one swipe of the claws. He did get off a few threatening hisses at a vet tech that I tried to warn. Of course, the next one in the room he happily let pet him on the head.

We left, legally compliant and vaccinated, and Elvis was quite relieved when we pulled into the garage.



Unfortunately, two weeks later, we were back to see Dr. Rose because I discovered a strange, hard knot on the outer edge of Elvis' right wrist. It feels like a deformed or damaged joint, but after much inspection and a series of x-rays it was determined that he (somehow) damaged the wrist, resulting in a "jutting out" of fluid/cartilage from the joint, which formed this knot. The radiologist said osteoarthritis has set in the joint and there were signs of healing in one of the bones, but the actual joint is not damaged. Overall good news.

Although it seems tender and bothers him off and on, it's not really slowing him down and hasn't gotten any larger. Hoping to avoid any type of surgery to remove it, since he isn't the best patient. I'll spare you all the details of how we got the x-rays, but let's just say it was a team effort between me and the vet techs!

As a side note, Denny also went to the vet and was his usual pleasant self. Scared of them poking around on him, but never misbehaving!

Cats ...

Elvis, chillin' out on the patio:



Washing the Elvis!



"We didn't do it!"



Looking innocent working on Denny's fur



Denny, kicking back in my office after a hard day of doing nothing.

Farewell Endeavour

Growing up in Pasadena, with my childhood friend's dad being one of the engineers at NASA - responsible for designing the training simulators to teach the astronauts to fly the shuttles - the space program has always been close to my heart. Kenny Mansfield passed away many years ago, but when the Shuttle Endeavour toured the greater Houston area for the last time, I couldn't help but think of him and how proud he would have been of this remarkable sight.

Endeavour rocked the house on this fly-over September 19th:



The following morning, headed to its final docking space in Los Angeles, the shuttle again flew right over the end of our street ... amazing!



During their brief stay in Houston, the crew toured the area - out of respect for NASA and the men and women responsible for so many space flights. Here is a beautiful shot of Endeavour and the escort jet flying over the San Jacinto Monument:



Another beauty shot taken at Ellington Field:



Following Endeavour's progress, many Twitter followers posted photos as it flew over iconic landmarks ... here it is flying over Alcatraz ...



Looking up at Endeavour aboard it's huge transport plane:



Approaching the Golden Gate Bridge ...



Beauty shot, with the escort jet at its side.



It's the end of an era, but one that we can look back on with pride. I know in my heart that Mr. Mansfield was smiling down from heaven as he watched that shuttle circle our area ... not only was the shuttle itself an amazing example of engineering, but attaching it to that transport plane must have taken a few mathematical calculations as well!