Posted: February 15th, 2010 | Author: Chris
Catagories: Politics | Tags: election, Texas
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Since today, February 15, is the start of early voting in the Texas Primary, I thought I would list the candidates so I know who is running and who to vote for. The following is the most current information I could find as of January 30, 2010.
Texas Secretary of State website lists Important Dates for 2010 Elections in Texas:
- Primary election day: March 2, 2010
- Primary runoff day: April 13, 2010
- May uniform election date: May 8, 2010
- November uniform election date: November 2, 2010
The Secretary’s website also lists What is on the ballot.
First, look at the congressional district map for Texas. I live in the 17th congressional district for the U. S. House of Representatives; south central Texas including Waco and Bryan.
Election Candidates:
I live in the Senate’s 5th district and House’s 14th district.
Election Candidates:
Election Candidates:
Rick Perry (R) Next Election: 2010
Election Candidates:
Here is some interesting news. Texas Senator Steve Ogden (R-District 5) is Chair of the Senate Finance Committee. This position has an automatic seat on the Legislative Budget Board (LBB). The LBB decides, among other things, the State’s support to public universities. So, one of the people that lowered property taxes (temporarily) and raised cigarette taxes (permanently) in the name of education* will help decide how that money is spent. It’s good to be in Finance.
* From Steve Ogden’s website, I’m Proud of What We Accomplished in the Special Session: ”Other tax changes included revising the calculation of sales tax on used cars and raising the cigarette tax by $1 per pack effective January 1, 2007.At the end of the day,this means state tax revenues will now fund about half of public education, up from approximately 38 percent today.”
Posted: January 19th, 2010 | Author: Chris
Catagories: Higher Education, Politics | Tags: budget, funding, Politics, recession, Texas
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In 2009 I said the recession isn’t over. I guess it needs to be said again – for future reference: history repeats itself! This is the third time I’ve gone through a recession or slow-down or bubble-burst in the 15 years that I’ve lived in Texas. In the public sector, especially higher education, I think the recession doesn’t really hit until 2 years after the worst of it hits the rest of the world. If we say the recession started in 2008, it was at its worst in 2009, then higher education can expect the worst (at least in Texas) in 2010-11. It’s no coincidence that the Texas legislature is deciding the biennial budget for 2010-11, and universities are facing huge budget cuts – some as much as $14 Million each year. The worst is still to come.
Texas A&M may have to cut $28 million out of its budget over two years. Source: Texas A&M looking for funds to cut after state mandate | The Eagle.
What does it mean to be the worst for an institute of higher education? It means the legislature cuts state monies going to the university systems. In Texas there are at least 6 major university systems: University of Houston System, University of North Texas System, University of Texas System, Texas A&M University System, Texas State University System, Texas Tech University System.
Texas A&M-College Station is in the early stages of identifying potential cuts. Officials have asked departments to prioritize projects in case the state doesn’t provide all the requested funding. Source: Texas universities to cut back after endowments hit | Dallas Morning News.
Posted: November 24th, 2009 | Author: Chris
Catagories: OIT, Politics | Tags: governor, Texas
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This isn’t the Texas two-step, more like musical chairs. Continuing what I wrote about having a web site to be a candidate, those web sites will come and go and they may switch focus before we vote in November 2010.
Just as soon as Tom Schieffer announced that he will not run for governor, Houston Mayor, Bill White, had a press conference to announce that he will decide by (Dec 4) if he will run for governor or stick with his original plan and run for a US Senate seat – the one presumably vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison – but White wants to hear from the people of Texas as to what he should do. You can tell him what to do at his web site.
Seeing as how KBH said she will not vacate the Senate while health care is up in the air. I don’t see White filling that seat. The others on the Republican dance card are Larry Kilgore and Debra Medina.
The Dem-dance so far includes Farouk Shami, Felix Alvarado, Kinky Friedman, Hank Gilbert.
Looking at their web sites, I want to scream, “Neeeext?!”
Posted: November 17th, 2009 | Author: Chris
Catagories: OIT, Politics | Tags: governor, Texas
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It seems like a truism these days: “You aren’t in a political race until you have a web site.” Looks like another gubernatorial candidate joined the World Wide Web. In addition to Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison, these guys hope to make their mark as governor of Texas.
Farouk Shami fires up his campaign Web page
Hair care millionaire Farouk Shami fired up his Farouk for Governor Web page today in anticipation of his official launch Thursday into the campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
Others in the race include Felix Alvarado, Kinky Friedman, Hank Gilbert and Tom Schieffer.
Source Farouk Shami fires up his campaign Web page | Texas Politics | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle.
Posted: July 16th, 2009 | Author: Chris
Catagories: OIT, Personal | Tags: drought, Texas
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How bad is it? With triple-digit temperatures for the past 45+ days and only a trace of rain in the same time period, it feels like we are baking in the Texas heat. But, when we step back and look at historical drought percentages, it doesn’t appear all that bad. It’s not as bad as 2006-2007.
“LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) – Ovenlike heat continues to bake Texas, and the map that charts drought in the United States shows the worst-stricken areas of Texas have wilted further. The U.S. Drought Monitor map released last week shows areas of Central and South Texas in extreme and exceptional drought expanded since last week. The two worst stages of drought now cover 14.1 percent of the state, up from 11.1 last week. Texas is the only spot in the nation with extreme and exceptional drought.” Source: KBTX.com July 16, 2009.
I guess time will tell. I don’t think it will be the driest summer ever, but it sure is hot.
Posted: July 4th, 2009 | Author: Chris
Catagories: Personal | Tags: bbq, brisket, Texas
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In Search of the Wabba Wabba
I wanted to chronicle my experience with cooking Brisket on July 4, 2009. First, a few words of prologue, Brisket (with a capital B) scares the hell out of me! That is why I’m writing this post – for future reference. I’ve heard horror stories about how easy it is to f*#k-up brisket, and how it is such a tricky meat. Me and wife decided at the store, “what the heck,” it’s time to give it a go. And at $0.99/lbs for untrimmed brisket we couldn’t loose too much. It was $13.57 for 13.71 lbs untrimmed brisket (July 3, 2009, Kroger special price).
Prepare the meat
I used “Meathead’s” (seriously, that’s his nickname) Big Bad Beef Rub recipe with a few modifications:
3 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
3 tablespoons table salt
1/2 tablespoon cayenne
1/2 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoons mustard powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
For the top:
3 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
3 tablespoons table salt
Important Tip: Beef rub is different than pork rub. Pork loves sweetness, but beef does not.
I rubbed the first set of ingredients on the bottom, or meaty side. Then I rubbed the salt and pepper mixture on the top, or fatty side.
We’ll have the Little Penguin Merlot with dinner. The watermelon will be part of a red (watermelon/strawberries), white (RediWhip) and blue (dark cherries) on angel food cake dessert – yum.
After the rub down I wrapped it in plastic wrap and let it set up in the refrigerator overnight.
Prepare the grill
Important Tip: Get the temperature stabilized at about 225 F. It is crucial to keep the temperature low or else the proteins can seize up and squeeze out all the juices. This can happen fast on brisket, so monitor your temperature carefully. Brisket is a lot less forgiving than pork shoulder.
I figured it was going to take 10-12 hours to cook so I woke up at 8:30 AM and got right to work stabilizing the heat. But first, I had a problem. The brisket was too big for my drip pan. Note to self: buy two big, disposable pans when you buy brisket or ribs. So I did what any other quick thinking chef would do, I cut the brisket in half and put the “flat” half in the oven and the “point” half on the grill. The grill heated up to about 225 F on only one burner. I double checked the grill’s thermometer with my handy oven thermometer.
On a side note, the forecast was 101 F and no rain; another scorching day in Texas. I checked on the grill every couple of hours to make sure it stayed at 225 F and that there was liquid in the foil.
Cook the meat
Finally, it was time to cook, check liquid levels and temperature, and cook, and check, and repeat, for 10 hours. Needless to say, I had time to go buy a meat thermometer; actually my wife got a really nice one. It will come in handy especially when you hit the “stall.” That’s when the temperature stays around 140-160 F and takes hours to climb. At about 7 PM – the 10th hour – we were somewhere in the stall. The temperature was 170 F, and everything looked and smelled good.
Some time between 8:00 and 8:30 PM I took both halves off the heat, wrapped them in heavy-duty foil, pored half of bottle of beer in each half, and let them sit in the cooling grill. At 9:00 PM we all sat down to dine on a rather well cooked, dry brisket. It looked good on the outside. The meat near the fat was delicious and soft. My theory is that I should have mopped/basted/injected the meat during the latter part of the stall. I didn’t do that and it dried out.
We still enjoyed the meal. Put some sauce on the dry brisket and it tastes great. The corn was good, the baked potatoes where great, and the red, white, and blue dessert was an explosion of flavor.
Labels: OIT personal
