Puttering in the Study

New weblog banners

I redid the banners for my EDTexweblog and Puttering weblogs this week.  I had a professional redo the federal court weblog and he used a banner than was much wider and simpler, and I liked the way that looked, so I tried to do that with the Puttering banner as well.  It's wider but I kept some height so it's not just a shelf detail.  It took a while to get the lettering superimposed in a way that I thought looked okay, but I finally got it the way I wanted it.  I'm still not happy with the grainy nature of the lettering, but it'll do for now.

The Sherlockian - Graham Moore

Just finished this book - a murder mystery set among the Baker Street Irregulars that are the most devoted of the fans of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.  It alternates between the real Arthur Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker exploring a murder in 1901 which eventually leads to Doyle's resurrecting Holmes (killed off in 1893) for new adventures, and the present day, when an Irregular explores the mystery of another Irregular, and searches for Doyle's missing diary for the 1901 period which would presumably explain why he brought Holmes back to life.

I kept stopping reading the book because the characters were just so lacking in interest.  But because the book on the Crimean War that I was trying to read was even less interesting (yes, that actually surprised me) I kept coming back to it, and by the end I was actually looking forward to seeing how it came out -- or at least getting it over with. 

The book reminded me a lot of a distinctly lesser version of my of my recent favorites The Rule of Four, by Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason.  Flipping back to my post on that book, I saw that it had the same elements I like - a historical mystery, good characters and a budding romance, but it was a far poorer treatment.  It may have had something to do with the way the lead character was "cast" - he was peculiarly uninteresting (probably not a shock given that his raison d'etre was to be a Holmes geek) but no one ever treated him any differently.  Without giving away too much, no one ever gave me a reason to care about the guy.  I was actually far more interested in seeing how the stiff Arthur Conan Doyle worked - as well as how Bram Stoker acted. 

Anyway, probably an interesting book if you like Holmes (I just can't seem to get into the subject - I prefer my mysteries with a really smoky brunette, a la Castle or Bones).  But if you don't, I'd recommend Rule of Four.  I think I may have to reread that one now.

Wild Friday Nights: My Life in East Texas High School Football (Volume 1) - Mac Abney

I picked up a  copy of Mac Abney's new book on his career officiating at East Texas football games, and read it Thursday evening while Grayson was at Pee Wee football practice.  It was a good read, and I really enjoyed the descriptions of the various small towns Mac travels to to officiate.  But I could quickly see that something he told me Thursday was true - that the really good stories he couldn't tell because as soon as you knew the school, it would not be hard for residents to figure out precisely who the coach was (well, duh) and who the specific players were.  So he's right - he's going to have to go into fiction to tell the really interesting stories!

In Memoriam: Paul Michael Jackson (1964-2011)

I learned a couple days ago about the death of one of my best friends from elementary school, Paul Jackson, while we were on vacation last month.  Paul and I were classmates at St. Joseph's Elementary School, and eventually graduated together from Marshall High School, where he was on the football team while I was in the band. 

My memories of Paul are mostly from when we were in elementary school when he, Curvey Sneed and I spent every recess playing football.  Curvey was the running back, I was the quarterback, and Paul was the wide receiver - primarily (to me) because he shared the first name of Miami Dolphins receiver Paul Warfield.  We were inseparable in fourth grade at recess - so much so that when I went to prep school in Dallas for a year in fifth grade, on one of my weekends home our parents set up a play date where we could toss the ball around - at which this picture was taken.  (I'm the one on the left).

But things had changed when I came back for sixth grade because the fall before, the Pittsburgh Steelers had named as starting quarterback a young man from Tennessee State, Joe Gilliam, who became a playground favorite at St. Joseph's.  I remember like it was yesterday trying to rush Paul when he was playing quarterback (which was my job, after all!) and he was running around yelling that he was "'Jefferson Street Joe' Gilliam ... evading the rush!" (which, looking at the picture to the right you can tell wasn't too effective). I've never forgotten that was the first time I learned how important role models were because neither Paul nor I had ever seen a quarterback that wasn't white before (we were too young to remember Marlin Briscoe, who started for the Broncos in 1968).  Before him, it was a given that I was the quarterback, probably because I looked like a quarterback (that I couldn't catch and was scared to get tackled probably factored into it - I may have been the playground equivalent of that weird thing you use to kick and throw in electric football because I couldn't do anything else).  But once Joe Gilliam was playing - even for the few weeks he played that season - the clock couldn't be turned back, and we all shared time at each of the positions (I even learned how to catch).  I never forgot how much what you think you can do depends on what you've seen others before you do.  Paul was active for many years in Little League football and I have no doubt was a role model for a lot of kids. 

But Paul was a man (or sixth grader) of varied interests.  I remember one day when the teacher took a break in class (why I can't remember - we might have gotten caught passing written CB messages or something) Paul sang "Convoy" by C.W. McCall for the class. For those of you that missed 1975, "Convoy" was the monster radio hit that sparked the popularity of CB radios nationwide for ... well, at least six weeks.  While we all loved the song and could sing the chorus ("'Cause we got a little old convoy, rocking through the night...), only Paul could repeat the lyrics of the CB breaks word for word ("Ah, breaker one-nine, this here's the Rubber Duck.  So the teacher had us sing the song and let Paul do the CB breaks on "air CB."  Paul Jackson - Renaissance Man (East Texas style).

Paul, you will be missed.

The Pacific - HBO miniseries

I was devastated when I learned this miniseries wouldn't have anything about the carrier battles, but watched it anyway.  Very well done, but rather dark compared to Band of Brothers, which is so closely copies.  I still haven't made it through the book, and I'll post on that separately, since the movie is far better than the book tie-in.

I was glad to see - unexpectedly - the story of Marine Bob Leckie, who was the entire reason I got interested in World War II in the first place.  He wrote the history of the war that was at Mom & Pop's house and was the forst book I read on the war.  Incidentally, he also wrote a similar history of the game of football that was also my introduction into that - although it did come after the Punt, Pass & Kick and Next Year's Champions books.

MHS Band "senior will" - 1982

Was looking for a few pictures tonight in the old band scrapbooks and ran across this little tidbit - the original 1982 "senior will" by the seniors of the MHS band.  It was a tradition back then for the seniors to "will" something to the students returning in the fall.  The will is always full of inside jokes, digs, and so forth - some of which I even remember.  (I'd forgotten about the "goat vibrato" - now that's funny - I don't care who you are).

Stan Brannon, Robert Byrd and I read this at the band banquet.  Of course I even have a picture of that (two, actually).

As the interlineations note, we made just a few last minute changes.  Between the three of us we had almost the good sense of one person, so we dropped a few things.

 

Grayson's Marshall Mavericks Pee Wee Team Wins First Game Against Sulphur Springs Wildcats

So proud and happy for Grayson tonight after his Pee Wee football team (wearing Marshall Mavericks colors) beats the Sulphur Springs Wildcats 26-0.  They scored touchdowns on every offensive possession but one, and ended every SS possession with a fumble.  Great job, guys!

(Grayson's the one in the glasses, by the way).

Personally, I credited the win to Grayson's watching the America's Game: The 1971 Dallas Cowboys DVD on the way over, and Grayson initially agreed, but said that that had pretty well worn off in the hour and a half they waited before the game.  Still, the team displayed some serious attitude before the game, as shown here (not from Grayson, unfortunately).  Grayson played on the defense in the first half, and is shown here in action as nose tackle. 

In the second half he played right tackle most of the team's long drive down the field,  and is shown here displaying what I can only speculate is the "spin" move I  taught him - but that's when he's playing defensive tackle - not when he's blocking!  Hopefully he didn't hurt anyone.

He was so proud and happy after the game - it was great to see he and the rest of the team have a great time and come out with a win.

 

MHS Band Alumni Reunion / Game

Enjoyed getting together with former MHS band alumni Thursday night at the band hall (see video here on YouTube where all the attendees introduce themselves), and playing the Fight Song with the current band members at Friday's night home game.  We marched in with the band, sat with them in the stands and sightread their charts and then watched the (excellent!) halftime show from the track, then played the Fight Song from the sideline (pictured).  Fellow band alum Melissa Dotson documented the event well, and has a lot of great pictures posted at the Big Red Pride Marching Band Alumni Facebook page here.

Grayson, Jay and Mom

At camp in July Grayson insisted that his mom had to be in his picture with Jay Novacek because she's his biggest fan.  And, of course, she is.