The Sheriff Is Coming

I have to admit, I'm a bit nervous, even a bit intimated. In all honesty, I'm downright scared. The Sheriff is coming back to town. And you can see from his picture below that he's not in the mood for any foolishness, and foolishness is what I specialize in.

Recent photo of the angry sheriff; he takes no prisoners. Actually, he looks more like a ruling monarch in this photo; perhaps even a tyrant or despot.

The Sheriff doesn't put up with much nonsense; you can see from the above picture that he's a pretty serious fellow. I go out of my way to behave myself when he's around. He's in charge, and he knows it, and so does everyone else.

The little guy will be coming to town this weekend with his entire posse, so we'll spend the week getting everything ready for them. He's finally putting on some weight, and he seems to be throwing that weight around quite a bit.

You can bet I'll be on my best behavior this weekend.

Good Eats: 3 Parrots Taco Shop

I haven't posted a dining review in quite a while. Since Donna and I have not traveled recently (we'll be hitting the road again soon), we really haven't had much opportunity to try anything new or different.

Since our return to San Angelo earlier this year, a new eatery has opened on Knickerbocker Road. 3 Parrots Taco Shop has sort of a Jimmy Buffet/Caribbean/Mexican theme. When I first noticed the place, I visited their website to see what type of food they offer. Basically, this is fast food Mexican. The web site says that it was created to bring "quality and consistency to a fragmented Baja taco market." It further states the business is built around a "surf/beach theme environment with great art and music to instill the ideas of summer year round."

I'm sure that a lot of people will like this sort of place. Frankly, though, the price of the food and the taste will probably keep me from returning.

When I first saw the menu, I noticed that prices were a bit higher than other local places, and the menu is a bit limited. Quite frankly, there are full-service establishments in town with better food and better prices. I'm not saying the food is bad; I'm saying it is not to my taste. Again, there are many folks who, I'm sure, would enjoy this place.

We've been there twice now. After the first visit, I withheld writing a review because I just wasn't sure about how I felt about the place. But after our second visit earlier this week, Donna and I both agree that this is not the type of Mexican food we prefer. I admit we are kind of stuck in our ways on some things. I prefer traditional Tex-Mex cuisine.

On both visits, we used coupons we received in flyers. On our last visit, for example, our bill came to over $23; after the coupons were applied, the final amount was just over $15. $23 for fast-food is simply too much for us to pay unless we are getting some really good food. We can visit local fast-food Mexican places like Rosa's or Julio's Burritos and pay much less (as little as half that) and be much better satisfied. In fact, I was still hungry when we left 3 Parrots the last time, and I'm not a big eater.

On our first visit to 3 Parrots about 2 months ago, I had the beef fajita plate while Donna had the taco plate. On our most recent visit, I had the cheese enchilada plate while Donna had the burrito bowl. We shared an order of nachos. A bottle of chipotle mojo sauce adorns each table. I found it to have a very strong vinegary taste, unlike the strong smoky flavor of other chipotle sauces I've tried and liked. Most of the food also seemed to be heavily salted.

On our first visit, the place was doing a good business, with customers streaming in and out. On our more recent visit, which occurred at about the same time of day, only a handful of customers were present.

Again, I'm sure that there is a market for this type of food, but for traditional Tex-Mex fans like Donna and me, we probably won't be returning.

Gambling in the Movies

If you've followed my blog then you know we frequent casinos. We enjoy gambling, and consider ourselves serious and knowledgeable gamblers. We understand odds, and we're selective about the games we play. We spend quite a bit of time studying gambling techniques, so when we do play, we do so intelligently. Our game of choice is video poker, and we prefer to play in Las Vegas rather than other gambling locales because the odds are better.

I enjoy reading books and watching movies about gambling, and over the years there are some that have had an influence on me.

One of the first gambling movies I ever saw was The Hustler, starring Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, and George C. Scott. This 1961 movie follows the development of "Fast" Eddie Felson as a professional pool player. Now, some people may not equate shooting pool with gambling, but when you play for money, that's precisely what it is. And one of my favorite all-time movies scenes appears in this movie.

Early on, Eddie engages the legendary "Minnesota Fats" (Jackie Gleason) in a night of high stakes pool. They begin by playing for $200 a game, but soon up that to $1000 a game. Eddie surges ahead, but begins drinking heavily. When behind almost $20,000, Fats stops playing, steps into a side room, and starts cleaning up. He washes his face and straightens his clothing, and a heavily intoxicated Eddie believes he is quitting. Instead, Fats returns to the game, and soundly teaches Eddie a lesson not only in playing pool, but in character. And it is this central lesson about character that separates a successful gambler from an unsuccessful one.

Another gambling movie that influenced me in my early years was The Cincinnati Kid, starring Steve McQueen. This movie was produced in 1965 but set in depression-era New Orleans. It follows Eric "The Kid" Stoner (McQueen) as he pursues a career playing poker, most notably five card draw. The film boasts a superb supporting cast, with Edward G. Robinson, Karl Malden, Ann Margaret, Tuesday Weld, Jack Weston, Cab Calloway, and Joan Blondell. My buddies and I used to get together in high school and play small stakes poker, dealer's choice, and five-card stud was always my preference, largely because of the influence of this movie.

A more recent movie about gambling is 21, produced in 2008. This film, based on the book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich, follows a team of MIT students led by professor Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey). The team members learn the finer arts of card counting and are able to win large sums from various casinos. The cast also includes Laurence Fishburne and Jim Sturgess among others. Although both the film and book accurately show card counting methods, the actual incidents did not really occur. Also, the movie does not follow the book closely.

Still Walking

I enjoy our morning walks. Now, don't get me wrong; I don't bounce out of bed each morning eager to beat the pavement, but once I do get going, I enjoy the walk, and I enjoy feeling that I'm keeping fairly fit for a man my age. I don't expect walking to help me lose weight, but I do expect some heart benefits from these walks and I hope to keep my legs in good shape for upcoming hikes. Once cool weather starts moving in, we hope to start hiking again. One upcoming scheduled hike is Enchanted Rock near Fredericksburg next month. We'll meet my brother and his wife there and spend a few hours doing the loop trail at that state park (see Enchanted Rock State Natural Area).

I guess our pace is slowing. Several years ago, I measured the walks we took when we lived in Kilgore, and I found a good 3 mile route for us. We could usually walk this route in less than 55 minutes, usually around 50-51 minutes at our normal pace. This figures out to a mile about every 17 minutes or so, and I've used that as a barometer for recent years in not only our walks but our hikes.

Now, when hiking as compared to walking, you slow a bit. After all, trails aren't the same as walking on paved streets. On trails, you have to avoid roots and rocks and other obstacles. Trails may go up or down hills, and paved streets generally aren't very steep, though I have seen some steep ones in my time. On decent trails with few obstacles, we normally walk a mile every 25 minutes or so (at least, we used to). With stops for photos or just enjoying views, the rough estimate is 2 miles per hour. Long distance hikers (think Appalachian Trail, for example) will top that easily, but for a couple of old folks, 2 mph in the woods isn't bad. And we can sustain that pace for several hours.

But I guess our pace is slowing. Since moving into our new home in April, we had been walking a route I had calculated to be about 3 miles based on the time of 50 minutes or so it took to walk it. Actually, I estimated it probably came up just short of 3 miles, perhaps 2.9 or even 2.8. However, we measured it recently in our car and found it to be just barely 2.6 miles. So, I guess we've lost a little bit in the 8 or so years since I last measured our route and pace.

Since then, we've extended the route by weaving up and down alleys, adding an additional 15 minutes or more to the walk. I haven't measured it yet, but I'm hoping we're up to at least 3 miles now.

Movie Review: Lee Daniels The Butler

Donna and I watched Lee Daniels' The Butler earlier this week. From the get go, let me say that the movie is a good one; however, I was a bit disappointed.

The movie is loosely based on the life of Eugene Allen, who was a butler in the White House from 1952 to 1986, a span of 34 years. The movie follows the life of Cecil Gaines (the Eugene Allen character, who was actually born in Virginia) from his boyhood in the Carolina cotton fields until 2009, shortly before his death.

From what I had heard of the movie prior to watching it, I was expecting more of a glimpse into the lives of the presidents and the many pressing issues they dealt with. I was hoping to be taken on a journey through my life, much as I was when I watched Forest Gump, a movie which was a journey that touched on Elvis, the Viet Nam War, John Lennon, and numerous other events and people that have been a part of my life.

Instead, the movie focused almost exclusively on civil rights. There is a moment with Nixon when that embattled President is struggling with the idea of resigning following the Watergate scandal. Other than that, though, almost all of the scenes involving the various presidents focus on their handling of the racial problems that confronted their administrations.

This is not to say that I did not enjoy the movie -- I did enjoy it. And it showed in depth the struggles of the Freedom Riders as they encountered resistance throughout the South of the 1960s. I just wanted a broader view of the White House behind close doors.

There are some fine performances in the movie, and I expect it will receive several Academy Award nods. I was particularly impressed by the performance of David Oyelowo, who portrays Louis Gaines, the elder of Cecil Gaines' sons. Cuba Gooding also has a strong supporting performance as a colleague of Cecil Gaines in the White House. I'm sure most people will find Oprah Winfrey's performance to be entertaining, simply because it is Oprah. She is cast as the wife of Cecil Gaines, and her character shows great development throughout the movie.

Of course, Forest Whitaker in the central role provides a strong performance. I've always liked Whitaker, a native of Longview, Texas. While most people probably cite his performance in movies such as The Last King of Scotland and  even Fast Times at Ridgemont High, I've always preferred his more thoughtful characters, those who show that slight pause, that slight hesitation, that ability to consider all possibilities. These characters show up in Phenomenon, Good Morning, Vietnam, and even The Panic Room.
 

Water From the Air

I saw an interesting story in my local paper, the San Angelo Standard Times, this morning. Entitled "Water source out of thin air," the story concerns new technology that uses humidity to create fresh water. Elizabeth Jacobo, a local entrepreneur, lives outside the city and was concerned about the quality of her drinking water. After some research, she discovered a Florida-based company that was using a machine to create drinking water from humidity in the air.

She researched the company and machine for a couple of years, then took the plunge and purchased the smaller of the two machines, the Skywater® 14 Office/Home, which produces up to 10 gallons a day. This machine initially costs about $2,200 and produces chemical free water according to one water-testing company. I would expect that further testing should be done sometime. According to the literature, only 2 filter changes are needed per year, and no installation is needed -- just plug in and start making clean water from the vapor in the air.

Jacobo is now marketing the machine locally. She calls her company Skywater, and her website provides the details about the technology.

There is a larger machine, the Skywater® 300,  that can produce up to 300 gallons per month, but it costs more than $30,000. That is quite an investment, and installation into the home's (or business's) plumbing system is required. Still, a machine which potentially produces about 9,000 gallons a month basically eliminates your need for a local water source. It would take a lot of years, though, to recoup your initial investment.

I want to be clear that I am not endorsing this product; I personally do not know how well the technology works. I simply found the story interesting. It is good to see this type of technology being developed. With ongoing droughts throughout many parts of the country, alternative water sources must be developed. And as more of these machines are produced, costs should come down over time and the resources for making fresh water will increase.

The New Sheriff Comes to Town

The new sheriff in our family is visiting us this week, and he let us know right away that he was in charge and was in no mood for foolishness.

Little Camden is about 3 weeks old now, and he rules the roost. The little tyke is a prodigious eater, consuming mass quantities of milk daily. And when he isn't fed on time, everyone suffers. He rules with an iron fist.

Camden doing what he does best -- eating. He's kind of like his Gammaw -- he likes his bottle!

And when he doesn't get his bottle on time, he lets us know. Of course, it could just be Donna; she has this effect on a lot of people.

But after he's had his bottle, he calms down -- again, kind of like his Gammaw!