YouTube Thursdays: What REALLY Happened To Osama

***DISCLAIMER***
There is foul language used in this and I definitely understand the severity of 9/11 and also appreciate the fact that we finally got Bin Laden. That being said, this is some funny stuff. Enjoy.

-M.G.M.

YouTube Thursdays: Look At Me Now

I think I've grown to like this version better than the original.

-M.G.M.

YouTube Thursdays: Ever Wanna Punch A Kid?

I think all my blog is good for right now is YouTube videos. I'm hoping to change that but until then, this quick one is for everyone that has ever wanted to punch an annoying kid. If you haven't seen Due Date, it's a pretty funny movie. Enjoy.

-M.G.M.

YouTube Thursdays: Impersonations

I've had a rough past couple of  weeks and haven't been able to blog like I want to. Working over 40 hours a week, taking 9 hours of graduate business coursework in the evenings until 10pm is taking it's toll on me a bit.

That being said, I'm definitely not complaining. I know there's plenty that have it way "worse." I'm just really looking forward to this weekend. One thing that always helps me get over that hump is a good laugh. Leave it to one of my favorite YouTubers to provide that for me. If you're a Jay-Z, Nutty Professor (or just movies in general) or Busta Rhymes fan you'll definitely enjoy this one.

-M.G.M.

YouTube Thursdays: That's How You Tackle!

So this video is a day late but for good reason...I only saw it last night.

Was over at Doc & Pink's house watching Grey's and saw this come on the news.

In Texas, FOOTBALL is KING. Even if you're playing fútbol. Enjoy.

-M.G.M.

YouTube Thursdays: Furious Thoughts 10

This dude always gives me my 7 chuckles.

Weekend Recap: March Madness + T&F + Huntsville

I'll start out with this bit of foolishness:

That was me at the pump to fill up my truck a few days ago. Seriously considering a Prius or a Ford Fiesta. Yall think I'm playing. Look up one day and you might see my big ass on a skateboard. And they say prices are supposed to get worse this summer. SMH.

Anyways. On a weekend where the music world has descended upon my hometown of Austin, TX for SXSW I decided to play it a little bit different. That being said, I think I'm going to plan to attend the whole sha-bang next year.

March Madness is in full swing and I took some early hits to my bracket but my Horns managed to pull it out on Friday against Oakland so that's all that really matters. For the record, I picked UNC, Texas, Kansas and Pitt to make it to the Final Four with Texas taking it all in one bracket and UNC, Duke (with the news that Kyrie Irving was playing), Kansas and Pitt to make it to the Final Four with Kansas taking it all in another bracket.

Back to Texas. I wish we had one more solid big man to go along with Tristan. Gary Johnson is a junkyard dog but I'm talking about having a true power forward that can get down low and bang and help out more on the offensive and defensive end. I know Wangmene and Matt Hill try real hard but they just aren't enough IMO. I watched most of the game online while doing some paperwork in my office at work and decided to jet home at halftime so I could catch the rest of the game.

On the way home, I saw my local sno cone spot finally decided it was time to open up since our temperatures have crept back into the 80s now and I couldn't resist. My favorite concoction: Peach daiquiri, Strawberry daiquiri, Pineapple and Cream in the middle and on top (***pause***). Shout out to Lauren for picking up the tab on my next one of these in Austin in a few weeks.

Made it home in time to catch the 2nd half of the game and fortunately we pulled it out. Now I hear all these reports that Tristan and Jordan Hamilton have said they are coming back next year. Quick: name the last player that has ever been asked if they are coming back DURING the tourney, while they have yet to be eliminated and responded, "No. I'm taking my talents to the NBA." Don't worry. I'll wait. For the record, I think Tristan comes back and Jordan goes pro. If we get them both back along with Myck Kabongo (who's coming in next year) WATCH OUT!

I made the quick drive out to Fort Worth to check out some friends who were competing in the TCU Invitational. I watched Jeremy Wariner and Sanya Richards-Ross run the 200m. Both won their respective races as their season openers and most importantly for any athlete, came away healthy. It was good to see my boys A Ross (Aaron Ross of the New York Giants/Sanya's husband), Darold Williamson and even Big Bruce (Bruce Johnson - one of my strength coaches at Texas - now has his own private gym and does Sanya's strength training as well as a lot of the NFL guys from Texas during the off season) taking in the events as well. Doc and Pink (Crystal Patton, Doc's wife/my neighbor but we all call her Pink) were at the meet also so afterwards we went to Red Hot & Blue BBQ down the street from the track facilities. It was an ok meal but they had some really good sauces. One was called Hard Luck Vinegar Sauce so I bought a bottle to take back home with me.

By the time I finally got home it was already 6ish so I grabbed a quick shower, threw a bag together and decided to shoot down to Huntsville to hang out with my brother Matt for the weekend. He goes to school at Sam Houston State University so I thought it'd be cool to spend a little time with him in his element. My parents also came to visit him so it turned out to be a full on family weekend. I got in late so I just went by his crib for a little bit to watch some tv before crashing for the night.

Saturday morning we got up, ate a little breakfast and lounged around until about noon or so. I've been hearing Matt rant and rave about some place called the Potato Shack so he took us there and it didn't let me down. My brother, mom and I all got Spicy CCRs: baked potato with fried chicken, bacon, cheese and hot sauce. My brother's girlfriend Jasmine had a spud loaded with chicken fried steak. All in all, the place was a real cool college joint that I could see myself frequenting quite a bit if I had one near me.

The itis set in pretty strong so we went back to my brother's apartment and I crashed hard for like 3 hours. By the time I woke up, everyone was ready to eat again. LOL. This time, we decided we'd try the famous Church BBQ. If you're thinking that sounds like BBQ at a church, you're correct. Basically, they took what looked to be their fellowship hall and turned it into a full fledged BBQ spot.

We chowed down on some brisket, sausage, chicken, beans and potato salad. They had some sweet tea that was pretty amazing also. It's worth the trip but I'm still convinced my pops could open up a BBQ stand and do some serious damage. Ask anyone that's ever been blessed to have some of his food and see if I'm lying.

Our platter:

My plate:

Went back to Matt's crib to chill out some more and pretty much watched TV the rest of the night. I caught one of my all-time favorite movies, Tombstone, on TV and watched it with my pops. Favorite line: "I'm your Huckleberry." That boy Doc Holliday did NOT play.

Sunday morning I got up, ate some breakfast and lounged around a bit before making the drive back to Grand Prairie.

I went straight to Doc and Pink's house for dinner (Pink was making her famous smothered pork chops) and to watch the Texas/Arizona basketball game. By now you know the outcome - we lost in the final seconds. I said this on Twitter as soon as it happened but I really don't care that the 5 second call was really 4 seconds. I'm still pissed that we snagged a defensive rebound with under 15 seconds left, Arizona had no timeouts and we call a timeout instead of letting the clock run out. That being said, the refs really screwed up on this one. It's been a rough tourney for officials all around. Oh well. Between Texas and Pitt losing, all my brackets are shot to hell. After the game and me randomly screaming out a few expletives in my frustration, we watched some TV (I'm hooked all the sudden on this show Shark Tank) before finally heading home and calling it a night.

Another solid weekend in the books.

-M.G.M.

A note to all the cheaters and those who help them...by Doc Patton

Mark Block, coach/agent, has been suspended for 10 years from track and field (read the story here). There's so many things I'd like to say about this but I don't think many will be able to say it better than my boy Doc Patton did on his blog.

A note to all the cheaters and those who help them...
by Doc Patton

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard the Mark Block doping news. I typically don’t jump into this type of conversation, but since everyone is talking about it, I thought I’d chime in – from a different perspective.

First let me say that I’m glad USADA and the IAAF are taking a strong stance against doping. As an athlete who has been in the game for almost 11 years, I think it’s long overdue, and let me tell you why.

Last year I was named the 2002 US 200M champion because the gold medalist who won was slapped with a doping sanction. Now pause and let that soak in. Last year – 2010 – I was named the 2002 US 200M champion. That’s EIGHT years after I crossed the line.

Now don’t get me wrong – I’ll take the title all day long, but NOW, that is “all” that it is. I don’t have a medal. I don’t have the prize money. I don’t have podium pictures to show my daughter. I don’t have a videotape of me crossing the finish line first. My point: is the damage is done. The memory is already etched in history.

I guess what I’m getting at is…yes, doping damages the perception of track and field and it dampens the excitement that comes with reaching the highest pinnacles of the sport…but it also impacts lives – our lives – athletes like me who are out here grinding every day, trying to make the most of our God-given talents. WE are the ones who have to answer the questions and RE-set the example for the boys and girls who want to grow up and be the fastest men and women in the world. WE have to show them that shortcuts kill your integrity, disappoint your fans and bring shame to your family. WE have to show them that cheating doesn’t pay.

Chew on this for a second: If I could have won fair and square in 2002, I would have become a US champion ONE year after turning pro. I would have been a back-to-back US champion going into the 2004 Olympics…a champion who helped my team bring home a silver medal. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, and only God knows what WOULD have been…unfortunately I can’t rewrite history, even if stuff is taken out of the record books.

In the eight years that it took for the dope folks to issue the doping sanction that gave me the 2002 US title, I made five teams, recovered from two injuries and a recent surgery. Meanwhile the cheaters prospered and reveled in the glory that their greed gave them. Eight years later, they’re on to the next one. ..

I want to be very clear. I’m not taking a shot at USADA, the IAAF, USATF, or any other governing body of the sport. What I AM doing is telling all of the cheaters, cheater-aides and anyone who is thinking about cheating that when you make the decision to cheat, or help someone cheat you create a ripple effect that has lasting repercussions. Cheating is bigger than YOU. And, if you’re a cheater, then I’m sure you don’t care. But, for the record - I do. Just think about it.

Well said my friend. Very well said.

Be sure to follow Doc's blog. It's almost as good as mine. LOL.

-M.G.M.

YouTube Thursdays: The "I Have A Man" Excuse

I know the tourney is in full swing but here's another one of my favorite YouTubers: Jerry LaVigne Jr.

His topic of choice on this video? The "I Have A Man" Excuse.

Enjoy.

-M.G.M.

The Jalen Rose "Controversy"

I watched the Fab 5 documentary on ESPN on Sunday night and I thought it was outstanding. Not as good as the 30 for 30 documentaries on The U and Two Escobars but very, very good in it's own right. I remember watching them play in the early 90s like it was yesterday and the documentary helped me to relive some of that.

Many have already heard the controversy that arose when the clip of Jalen Rose aired in the commercials previewing the film. I know one message board I frequent (***cough*** Orangebloods.com ***cough***) that went into a tizzy on a couple of threads when Rose said the following:

"For me Duke was personal. I hated Duke, and I hated everything I felt Duke stood for. Schools like Duke didn’t recruit players like me. I felt like they only recruited black players that were Uncle Toms."

As always, we don't get the full story in just the previews...



Look at that again:

"I was jealous of Grant Hill. He came from a great black family. Congratulations, your mom went to college and was roommates with Hillary Clinton. And your dad played in the NFL — a very well-spoken and successful man. I was upset and bitter my mom had to bust her hump for 20-plus years. I was bitter that I had a professional athlete that was my father that I didn’t know. I resented that more than I resented him. I looked at it as they are who the world accepts and we are who the world hates."

Jalen Rose went on ESPN's First Take yesterday to discuss those comments again.

“As a 17-year-old recruit, that’s exactly how I felt. I felt like I was an inner-city kid from the public school league that was waking up with kerosene heaters for heat in the house, boiling water to wash up, sleeping with hoodies and skullies, that at that time I felt like I wasn’t good enough for certain stages. That’s just a fact,” Rose said. "But also it was something I used as motivation. Now, I understand what their program represents because I’m a mature adult. I know that it’s a private school. I know that they do recruit players from well-to-do, affluent families, but also I understand some of the reason why. So that they don’t see some of their players selling goods or selling their rings for money. Also they want to get kids that are going to represent the program the right way. I get all of that. But that’s the minority, I was speaking for the majority. That’s exactly how I felt then.

Skip Bayless: “So you don’t feel that way today nearly as strongly?

Rose: “Well the bottom line is this, they do recruit a certain type of player. They recruit a lot of players from private schools

Dana Jacobson: “Would they recruit you now?”

Rose: “I think they would recruit my kids. I don’t think they would have recruited me. I never seen Coach K in Detroit, but that’s just me.”

In my opinion, this really isn't the hot button topic that media (or even society as a whole) wants it to be. It's one guy's opinion. I don't think it's necessarily right or wrong but society is so sensitive to race discussions these days that we HAVE to talk about it. That being said, I believe Rose is saying what a lot of people from his upbringing feel. They long to have the type of two parent home life they see in other families and everything else stems from that.

Everyone will continue to discuss it and try to dissect it all kinds of ways. I even read that Grant Hill is working on a rebuttal through the New York Times (edit; here it is: Grant Hill's response). At the end of the day, Duke and Coach K recruit a certain type of player for their program. In my opinion, it has more to do with those who will be extremely disciplined within a set system and have a greater propensity to stay four years (and not so much the one and done types) than it does where in a city you're from. Ironically, Chris Webber went to a private school and was never near the thug he tried to pretend to be. Coach K recruited him (and as Rose pointed out, Webber went to the same school Shane Battier attended). Generally speaking, players from affluent families that send their kids to private high schools tend to fit that mold of a "Coach K player." Is there anything wrong with that? I don't think so. Doesn't necessarily mean those are the best players to go after for every system either. But it works for Duke. They go for certain players that play within a certain scheme. Some players just don't fit that mold (think Allen Iverson types).

That's no different than a player from Stanford (or somewhere similar) commenting that the old Miami football teams recruited fast guys from the hood and as a result, wouldn't even look at the suburban kid that always loved Miami growing up. You don't see Florida teams beating down the doors of players in the northern states because for the most part, their "type" of player doesn't come from that area. Not to say that if a kid there were to fit their mold they wouldn't go after them but on the whole, they don't have. I have friends that HATE Texas with a passion because we don't recruit junior college football players. It doesn't mean they hate me but just points more to the fact that at one time they were huge fans of Texas growing up, had to go a different route out of high school and soured to the fact that for whatever reason, we chose not to recruit them out of junior college. I have absolutely no problem with that at all and I think that is very similar to the situation here, just without using the racial undertones.

Too often we get hung up on a person's choice of words that we miss everything else that was involved with the conversation. In this case it's the phrase "Uncle Tom." Personally I think the context in which Rose used the term was incorrect anyways but ultimately I think it's a big deal over nothing. I come from a two parent home where my parents worked hard to provide for my brother and I. I have cousins who were less fortunate in that regard that used to pick at me when we were younger and call my brother and I "white boy" and stuff like that just because we talked a bit more proper than they did or dressed a certain way. It was all in jest and I don't harbor ill feelings towards them because of it. It's just a reflection of people expressing their opinions, often out of the frustrations they experience in their immediate vicinity or the unfamiliarity that comes when you see something "different" than what you're used to on a daily basis.

I could go on and on about this topic but honestly I don't think it's needed. Sometimes we should all just take a step back and chill out. It helps to read more than just a headline or a snippet of a conversation too before forming an opinion.

What do you think?

-M.G.M.

Weekend Recap: Austin

To Austin I went. I had no real plans set in stone...just wanted to see some family and friends I hadn't seen in a while.

Friday night I went to Pappadeaux with my mom and some friends. I polished off a couple Hurricanes along with some fried alligator (tastes like spicy chicken if you've never had it) and one of my favorite meals there, the Crawfish Trio. It's not on the menu but its basically fried crawfish, crawfish etoufee and sauteed crawfish. We sat up and drank and laughed about random stuff and it was just an overall good time.

After dinner, my boy Kevin and I went out. This was the first time I'd actually been to 6th Street in a LONG time so I was curious to see how it would go. It was good to catch up with Kevin and chop it up. Our schedules are so hectic that between our jobs and me living in Grand Prairie now (and most of my friends still living in Austin or Houston), I don't get to see everyone as often as I'd like to. That all being said, 6th Street is NOTHING like it was when we were in college. Sure there's plenty of bars to still hop to and from but they just aren't of the same quality. I remember going to Daiquiri Factory, Amazon, The Drink (ahhhhh The Drink) and Colorado Room (which became Zero Degrees which has now turned into God knows what). There just aren't any real go-to spots these days. I actually prefer the Warehouse District anyways as of late. All the same, we had a good time and bumped into a couple of my college teammates that were in town so that's always a plus.

I'd heard good reviews about VY's restaurant and my mom kept asking about it so we decided to check it out. A friend hooked us up with reservations in the Perfect 10 room (thanks Bita) so my folks, my Auntie Donna and my grandpa (we call him Paw Paw) were all able to enjoy a nice evening at Vince Young Steakhouse. I plan on bringing my brother back here during Texas Relays (he had to work and couldn't come with us this time around). It's really great to see my teammates step out into other endeavours so I always try to support them whenever I can.

We were seated right away and Paw Paw and I decided on having a few inVINCEables (Patron Silver, Patron Citrouge, agave nector,
fresh lime and citrus salt rim).

My mom and Auntie Donna settled on Burnt Orange-Tinis (Savvy vodka, pomegranate liqueur, fresh orange and candied orange garnish). My pops settled on some H20 on the rocks.

We all shared some lamb chops and calimari for an appetizer while trying to figure out what we'd eat as a meal. My mom went with the 12 oz Filet Mignon and Auntie Donna went with a Grilled Caesar Salad (she added chicken to it). Paw Paw went with the 16 oz Prime Rib Eye Steak and my pops and I went with the 22 oz Prime Bone In Rib Eye Steaks. I topped mine with blue cheese crumbles.

We ordered a bunch of sides so we could all have some: Bacon Mac and Cheese, Brocolli and Cheese and Spinach Two Ways (Sauteed and Creamed). We left just enough room to share some Chocolate Cake and Crème Brulee before we called it a night. All in all it was a great evening and we really enjoyed the meal. Real relaxed atmoshphere and great service.

Sunday I just lounged around a bit. For whatever reason losing that hour when we spring forward each year always seems to take a toll on me. Watched some TV and went to my Auntie Donna's house for a bit before heading back home to Grand Prairie. I got home just in time to watch the Fab 5 documentary on ESPN. I remembered watching them in the early 90s like it was yesterday. This was actually the first time I ever saw that Chris Webber was actually encouraged to call a timeout by people from his own bench. I became an even bigger fan of Jalen Rose too. I'm not going to go too in depth with my Jalen Rose commentary just yet because I want to do a blog about some comments he made (and some of the reaction received) tomorrow. It was a great documentary but at the end of the day I still think the 30 for 30 documentaries about The U and The Two Escobars were better.

Pretty good weekend if I do say so myself. Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

-M.G.M.

YouTube Thursdays: Betty Can't Get Wright

Part of me thinks I might be going to hell for posting this. The other part of me knows I'm saved and prayed up. Just watch and have a great Thursday. Weekend is almost here.

-M.G.M.



BONUS: Phill Wade - Eat Food (Cee-Lo - Forget You parody)

Philly Steaks

I meant to do a weekend wrap up but never got around to it since I had a midterm in my management class last night.

All the same, this is where I kicked off this past weekend:

For anyone in the Mansfield/Grand Prairie/Arlington area Donnie's is located at 8020 Matlock Rd. in Arlington, TX. On this particular day I made the trip with my boy Doc Patton. The second you walk in the door you'll hear "Hey! Love you!" I'll admit, this caught me off guard at first but I'm used to it now. It's just Donnie's way of greating you. She does it ALL by herself. No help whatsoever. She doesn't write anything down. You place your order and she goes to cooking and tells you to "pay me later" (as in after you eat). She's originally from Philadelphia and while I've never been there, I've concluded this Philly Steak has to be just as good as anything I can find in Philly. From what I've been told, many people from Philly often frequent this place to get their taste of home. I'm going to bring my boy Steve here one day and get his take.

Quick peak at the menu:

My version sports mustard instead of mayo, no tomatoes, grilled onions, peppers and jalapenos, cheese (provolone...not the Cheese Whiz variety) and some special sauce she throws on them as well. She also does fries with salt and vinegar (or sweet potato fries if you prefer). At any rate, mine didn't last long:

She also makes tons of different desserts from scratch including all kinds of cheesecakes (my favorite is the sweet potato cheesecake...it didn't last long enough for me to snap any pics), bananna pudding and even gets Tastykakes flown in from Philadelphia. My mom loves the butterscotch ones so I always buy her some when I can.

Give Donnie's Hot Dog Shop & Philly Steak a try if you're in the area. I don't think you'll be sorry.

-M.G.M.

The One-Armed Bandit

I only have one arm for 10 more days.

Literally.

On Wednesday, February 9th, I had shoulder surgery to repair my torn labrm in my left shouler. It looks similar to this:

I tore it in college playing football and pretty much self diagnosed myself with a torn labrum the more and more I researched it but I just kept plugging along. We devised a nice little pad that rested between my shoulder and shoulder pads to minimize the impact on it during contact but it never stopped hurting. It eventually gave out on me during my Pro Day in March of 2007. Yea. DURING Pro Day. Within the crowd of NFL talent evaluators was Lovie Smith, head coach of the Chicago Bears, and I even think the GM of the Packers was there. Talk about bad timing.

Now I was by no means anything close to a star in my time at Texas. I was a role player that worked hard and enjoyed the experience. That being said, I knew if I could put together a decent Pro Day I might get a shot at trying out for some NFL team. Well God and my shoulder had other plans.

I was in the middle of doing reps of 225 on bench press and when I got to about 6 or 7 it tightened up really bad, pain shot through my arm and I just couldn't physically do anymore. Despite that, I was approached about playing in some arena leagues in the following months but I'd always told myself I'd give it one solid shot and let the chips fall where they may. I wasn't going to chase it. For some guys, they're ok with the journey. In my situation, I just wasn't comfortable with the ups and downs of always having to move every few months and never knowing what the future held.

I still have really tough days where I miss football to no end. That'll be a good blog one day. Prob a pretty long one. But for now I'm just counting down the days where I can successfully tie my shoes on my own again.

-The One-Armed Bandit aka M.G.M.

YouTube Thursdays: The Favorites

YouTube. I can seriously get lost in YouTube for hours. Below are some of the users I subscribe to as well as just some of my favorites over the years. I know I missed plenty so be sure to add them in the comments.

Foxxhole radio replays - I used to be a HUGE fan of the Foxxhole back when Claudia Jordan was an active member but she's no longer there. All the same, it's an entertaining show that comes on Sirius/XM radio on Friday afternoons and the segments are broken up by this user and reposted on YouTube. These four audio clips of Jamie Foxx and Kevin Hart crackin on each other was classic. It'll probably take out at least 30 minutes of your time but I PROMISE it's funny.










Phill Wade - Extrememly interesting. Pretty funny as well. The first two videos are what started it all.








Kid Fury - This dude is a little bit of everything but he's a damn fool too. Speaks a lot of truth but the comedy is all in the delivery. I don't care that's he's gay. Doesn't matter one bit to me for the record.








hotdamnirock - He's pretty much a damn fool. Complete tom foolery. Uses lots of foul language though so be careful where you are when you decide to watch any of his videos.







The rest are just some of the favorites. Enjoy.

Return of 4eva

I'm back! Ok so I never really "went" anywhere but I realized I suck at this blogging thing. I haven't blogged since August 11th, 2010.

That was 196 days ago. Or 28 weeks ago. Whichever you prefer.

At any rate, a lot has gone on in those 195 days so I figure I'll try to get you caught up as quickly as possible and to do that I'm going to put a slight spin on something I saw my homie Ben Baller do on his blog several entries ago. This is basically going to be huge chunks of what I did each month. I probably won't go into much detail at all on this thing but I figure it's a quick way to give you a brief overview of what I've been doing since I last posted. I figure I have a fairly limited following but from what I list here, feel free to ask me to blog about something in a bit more detail if you're interested. It'll be random words, phrases, locations, etc to describe what my life has been like the past few months. Some will have links to click, others will be just brief descriptions...who knows. At any rate, here goes...quick snapshot of August to February.

1. Swindled DirecTV for Sunday NFL Ticket
2. Buc-ee's, City Meat Market - Giddings, TX, Picked up a BBQ pit in H-Town for my pops, Chi'Lantro
3. Frost fantasy football league draft, bannockburn fantasy football league draft and NED Fantasy Football draft
4. Flew to Chicago on Friday morning for my boy Matt Melton's surprise birthday party that night. Flew to Houston on Saturday morning for Labor Day weekend. Texas football vs. Rice at Reliant Stadium with my brother and his girlfriend, my mom and dad. We got the W but it wasn't pretty. Jonathan's house for our live fantasy football draft. Remotely drafted for two more fantasy football leagues.
5. FFPC fantasy football draft. If you're keeping score at home, that's 7 fantasy football leagues total. 
6. Started graduate school. Working on my MBA at the University of Texas at Arlington in the evenings.
7. Texas football vs. Wyoming. We got the W.
8. Drove to Lubbock to visit my grandparents and to watch Texas play Texas Tech. We got the W.
9. Drove to Austin to watch Texas play UCLA. We got embarrassed at home. Sign of things to come.
10. Texas/OU weekend. House party the Friday night before. Torre aka DJ Swavor ripped it. Texas lost to OU in relatively inspired effort. Still doesn't matter much though. We still lost and all my Sooner friends let me hear it.
11. Off campus recruiting for work.
12. Texas went to Nebraska and kicked their teeth in. Gave me a false sense of hope.
13. My Aunt Brenda passed. Funeral was the same day as Texas losing to Iowa St at home. Yep. Iowa St.
14. Texas lost to BAYLOR at home. Officially done with this team for 2010. We don't lose to Baylor in football. Just shouldn't happen. Texas goes on to lose to KState, Okie St and A&M (with a meaningless win against Florida Atlantic in there somewhere.
15. Drive to Austin then San Antonio then Houston over the course of the Thanksgiving Holiday.
16. Finished the semester with a 3.5 GPA. Suite tickets to see Mike Vick and the Eagles beat the Cowboys at Jerry World.
17. Got some new furniture for the crib
18. Christmas party at the crib
19. Hooping on Saturdays at the gym with Marty, Mike, Toasty and the fellas. Church on Sundays. Pretty consistent weekends.
20. New watch from Ben. I'll have to go in detail about how I was able to "meet" him in a future blog. Whether he knows it or not, he's inspired me a great deal here recently.
21. My Godson was born. Charlvin Torian Doty.
22. Christmas in Austin and Houston. Managed to get out of the H with my Aunt Lorraine's legendary Lemon Cake. Love getting to spend time with my family.
23. Crowned champion of Jonathan's, FFPC's AND MILF's fantasy football leagues. Finished 3rd in two other leagues. Netted about $4,900 on the year from that. Who says fantasy football is just a hobby?
24. Flew to Austin and back in the same day to make sure I had enough AAdvantage miles to carry my status' into 2011 (I'm gold)
25. New Year's dinner with the neighborhood crew (Doc, Pink, Coby, Andrea, Art, Michelle, Trey, Tammy, Jorge and Carmen)
26. New Year's Eve party at the crib. Fish fry at Trey & Tammy's crib.
27. Added on to my outdoor kitchen
28. Started my second semester of grad school. Taking statistics, ethics and a management course this semester. So far, so good.
29. Got hooked on Big K.R.I.T., Dom Kennedy, Kendrick Lamar- preciate the recommendation Kandyce. Also started jamming Vado, Yelawolf and Big Sean a lot more. Keep Rick Ross, Wale, Bruno Mars, J Cole, Kid Cudi, Travie McCoy and Wiz in the rotation.
30. Stupid snow on top of ice
31. Super Bowl 45 festivities in Dallas with my brother Matt and my patna Ernest (Torre bailed out too early..sucks for him). Ended the night at Onyx and saw Keri Hilson, Money May, Drake, Jeezy, Drake, Trey Songz, Ace Hood, DJ Khaled, Andre Johnson, Eric Berry, etc. Nuff said. Super Bowl 45 watch party at the crib that night with a few friends.
32. Stupid ice and snow...again! Surgery to repair my torn labrum in my left shoulder. Oxycodone. Promethazine. #every4hours Thank. You. God.
33. Post-op appointments. Rehab.
34. Back to Dallas. Met up with my pops at the airport.
35. Picked up truck from being serviced. Had inspection done. 
36. My boy Coby's wife's (Andrea) birthday celebration that night at Skye Bar.
37. UTAAA conference at work. Discovered Delicious, HootSuite and Google Reader. Streamlined my life.
38. Rehab. Work. Class. Story of my life these days.
39. Love conference at church. BJs Restaurant Brewhouse for dinner. PIZOOKIE!
40. Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Errands. Back to the crib. NBA All-Star Saturday night. Church. Picked up my Little. Errands. Flipped between the NBA All-Star game and TV shows.
41. Discovered Kid Fury on YouTube. Hilarious. Thanks Lauren.

That's the quick recap. I'm sure I missed a ton in there obviously but I'll try to keep this thing a little more regular from here on out so hopefully I never have to do that again. I think I safely say that I'll blame Twitter for my lack of blogging. I think I say so much in my tweets that I don't have anything to blog on...then again...I only get 140 characters on Twitter...maybe this will turn into a continuation of my tweets.

At any rate...that's my Return of 4eva.

-M.G.M.