Much sadness: Chanda lost to Myskina. Damned Russians. She and Kournikova (naked photos! Kournikova nude porn! Hello, Google!) lost in doubles too.
Now I just have to track her down so she can come to our high school reunion in May. Having drawn the proverbial short straw, I have to organize the damned thing. So my question, to loyal crabwalk readers: anyone have any suggestions? Any great reunion experiences you’ve had that might be worth replicating? Great ideas are always welcome. (One note: our alma mater was a very small rural school in south Louisiana, so we had only 43 graduates. So even if we get a high attendance rate, we’re still talking about a small gathering.)
Category: Uncategorized
swappingtons
Swappingtons. “Inside, you will find all sorts of books, CDs and DVDs that other folks own, but wish to swap away. The way it works is simple: You list items that you don’t want, and someone will swap you for those items. When they swap you, they transfer swap points to your account, and you mail them the item in question. Once you have the points, you can go and spend them on other items that other folks list on the site. In short, Swappingtons is a great way to get rid of any books, CDs or DVDs that you don’t want anymore, and get other items in return for them.”
Go sign up and give my name as the person who referred you (username: jbenton), so I can get me some point mojo.
cheap date no. 2
Remember some months ago, when I mentioned I’d be writing an occasional column for the Dallas Morning News called “Cheap Date,” in which I’d take some lucky woman out on the town for $30 or less?
Well, the first piece ran some months ago. The second is in today’s paper. (So what if the date in question took place back in August? At least the woman in question can still stand me.)
chanda at aussie open
Longtime readers remember that crabwalk.com’s favorite tennis player is Chanda Rubin, primarily because I went to high school with her. Well, Chanda‘s rocking again, this time at the Australian Open. (The Aussie is where Chanda’s had her top grand slam performances — winning the whole thing in doubles in 1996, the same year she got to the semifinals in singles.)
This year, she’s made it to the fourth round in singles, disposing of Barbara Schwartz, Mary Pierce, and Melinda Czink. Up next: Anastasia Myskina, the eighth seed. In doubles, she’s paired again with Anna Kournikova and is in the third round. And unlike the U.S. Open, she and Anna are on the opposite side of the draw from the Williams sisters, so a spot in the finals is entirely possible.
Everyone say it with me: Go Chanda!
bush quotes me
Another unexplained week-long absence — could Josh have been kidnapped by aliens?
No such luck — just a combination of slacktitude and a work trip to Austin and San Antonio.
As an aside, I just realized that President Bush quoted one of my stories in a speech a couple weeks ago. On December 2, I wrote a piece on Del Valle High School in El Paso. In it was this quote from the principal, J.R. Guinn:
“You have to make the expectation of success part of your belief system,” Mr. Guinn said. “Whether it’s athletics, academic competitions, band
de la soul
Sign No. 34,683 that I’m getting old: Coming home from the CD store with a new disc — then discovering that I already own it.
pat conroy, wuss
On NPR the other day, I heard an interview with Pat Conroy, a novelist whose entire career has essentially been spent repeating one theme over and over again: “My dad was an asshole.” The interview seemed a little too pat. As he told stories about how mean his dad was, he seemed a little too pleased with himself. Really, he didn’t seem very likeable.
Now he’s written a non-fiction memoir about (surprise!) how mean his dad was. A central scene involves his dad beating him up during the annual athletic banquet at his D.C. high school, Gonzaga. In the book, Dad punches his son on the jaw; when his classmates see him get socked, “a free-for-all began” as all the other fathers come to his defense.
“They had no idea who my father was and did not care,” Conroy writes. “They saw a stranger knock a Gonzaga boy to his knees and came roaring to my defense.”
(As one Gonzaga official said about the book: “Everything he writes, his dad beats him up
tuition dereg story
Here’s my story from today’s front page, on Texas universities’ push to raise tuition.
quality counts story
Oops, forgot to link to my story in yesterday’s paper. Perhaps because it wasn’t all that interesting.
nytimes photo shoot
You know, there are worse ways to kill an hour than being the subject of a New York Times photo shoot. Then again, when the photo actually runs in the Old Gray Lady, all of you will know what I look like. That could send hit counts plummeting.