balexhowe

LIVESTRONG Day is the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s one-day initiative to raise awareness and funds for the cancer fight. LIVESTRONG Day 2008 will occur on Tuesday, May 13.

As most of you know I work at the Lance Armstrong Foundation. LIVESTRONG Day is the biggest day of the year for us. So this year Lance and Doug (the President of the Foundation) decided to send the entire foundation to local events all over the US. Some people are going to Vegas, some are going Oklahoma, and other to New York and New Hampshire. We did not get to choose where we were going or what we were going to be doing.

Last week or so, I found out where I am going. Looks like I am headed to the bluegrass state. The home of Muhammad Ali as well as the Kentucky Derby. I am headed to Louisville, Kentucky.

My event is to go to the Cincinnati Reds AAA affiliate Louisville Bats baseball game and hand out wristbands. But here is the coolest part, I am about 90% sure I will get to throw out the first pitch. So I am flying out the morning of the 13th and returning the nite of the 14th.

Since I have found out I am going to Louisville, I have been doing a little research to see what I can do while I am there. Makers Mark Lounge and the Louisville Slugger Museum are two of the stops I am planning on making.

Should be a fun time, and I will def take photos to share.

So thanks for everyone wishing me a happy birthday.

Not only is it my birthday, its also my anniversary. 10 years ago today, I could legally purchase alcohol. Mind you I was purchasing before then, just not legally.

So again thanks for the well wishes. I might hit LW’s to celebrate my anniversary, and feel free to help me celebrate my anniversary. I will hit the Happy Hour thread with plans later, as my parents might be coming to town to take me to dinner.

Again thanks for the well wishes.

I have been going through a bunch of old stuff and i came across this article that i clipped from the Sam Houston student newspaper from a few years ago.

Sam Houston student has near-death brush with alcohol poisoning
A female student at Sam Houston State University almost died from alcohol poisoning Saturday night, the University Police Department said.

Two men, neither of them students found the intoxicated 19-year old woman at the main entrance to Belvin Cafeteria close to midnight.

They told police that as they approached her, she fell backwards striking her head on the concrete. They then helped her to a friend’s room in Belvin-Buchanan Hall.

“Had they not found her, she probably would have died,” said Chief Charlie Tackett.

Police said they arrived at Belvin after a resident administrator at the dorm called to say that the intoxicated student needed medical assistance. When police arrived, they found her on a bed lying face down vomiting. She was unable to communicate, her face was discolored and she was having difficulty breathing, according to police.

Tackett said her blood alcohol level was three times that of what the law says is legally drunk.

“Her blood alcohol level was was above .3,” said Tackett. “You are legally intoxicated at .1.”

Paramedics took the student to Huntsville Memorial Hospital for hospital. Police refused to release her name.

…. the two men who found this lady were my best friend Travis and I. We had been out drinking one night in the grand city of Huntsville. I have no idea why we were there, or even what year this was. So anyway we are headed back to where ever we were staying and saw this girl who was so drunk she couldn’t even stand. At first it was funny, cause you know we were drunk as well, but after she fell and hit her head we knew we had to do something. We tried taking her straight to the hosp, but honestly we were drunk and she was adamant about going home. She told us what dorm she lived in and we brought her to the front door. Of course after hours you had to go to the front door where the RA was. We dropped her off and headed home. A few days later that article was printed in the paper. Kinda scary, and maybe we really did save her life. I wonder who and where she is now.

I cant even remember the last time I bought new sneakers. It had to have been at least 4 years ago. I just don’t wear sneaks that much. That being said I have been shopping around looking to get some new kicks. I thought about ordering some custom ones from NikeID and I might order a pair from there soon enough, but last nite Jacky and I were at the mall and I decided to try some Puma’s.

Now here is the strange part. I usually wear an adidas 12, and my reefs are 13, cause I like my sandals to be big and easy to slip on. So here is the deal… apparently I wear a size 14 in Puma. That is forking crazy to me.

So here are my new kicks….

On my way home from work I needed to drop by HEB and grab a gallon of milk. You see I had some tasty brownies ( not the magic kind ) last nite and wanted something to wash them down with tonite. Usually my trips to HEB are uneventful, but today was a different story.

So I walk up to the milk freezer and right before I grab the door to open the cooler for the 2% organic this old blue hair cuts me off and parks her cart right in front of the cooler door. She then proceeds to walk three doors down, leaving her cart, and hunt and peck for the correct creamer for her coffee. She stands there with the damn door open for a good five minutes. Being the nice guy I am I decide to wait and see how long she really takes to figure out what creamer she really wants.

So I cruise over to the next aisle and perch in a very strategic position in order to snipe this photo….

And then it dons on me. The old hag has no cart control. she is all over the place with her buggy. It’s a damn good thing she had blue-blockers on. I mean the light that was being emitted from the grocery store was blinding. Thankfully she had her purse wrapped around her in the manner she did, or else I would have robbed her like she had just bought the last marble rye.

… Oh and by the way…. the creamer she had her mitts on in this photo, was not the one she ended up buying. Here’s to you …. you old bag. Good thing you got enough toilet paper to last at least until next week.

So as I was driving into to work this morning the weather man spewed out that there is a chance for hail today.

Now I am fortunate enough to work for a company that built a very nice parking garage for their employees, you know for the dog days of summer and the chance of driving rain and golf ball sized hail. They wanted to protect their employees cars. Such a nice thing to do, plus it’s free for us to use.

So when I heard the forecast for hail….

I hope it hails like Pac-Man Jones makes it rain.

this weekend i went to bandera. it was a nice weekend away from the city. although i stayed busy helping out on the ranch. cutting wood, clearing land, cooking, all kinds of good fun stuff. we did make some time to head into town and i bought a few leather scented candles. wow do they smell incredible.

anyway here is a snap shot as i was putting up the tractor for the evening.

so last nite i was at the bar, little woodrows. probably there for way too long, and probably drank way too much, but hey it had been a while and i was with friends. with that being said i am so glad that i stayed as long as i did. i shared in some very deep conversations with people that i respect and cherish their friendships. i learned a lot about myself, was on the verge of tears all nite long, and came away with a deeper friendship. one that i know will last as long as we are both above the ground. but more of nites like that, probably will put us down way before its time. thank you for opening up and letting me inside.

so at some point in the evening my boy 925ag engaged in conversation with this chick that was in the booth behind us. she starts showing her tattoos and what not and i am half listening and looking at the ink and right there on her left bicep, was my name. millions of people have names tattooed on their arms, and what makes me think that it was *my name*.

proof is in the pudding.

at this point in the evening, my memory was a little fuzzy, but needless to say, i was coherent enough to capture the proof with my phone. the story from what i remember was that her nickname was boom balex. she had boom on her other arm. it was pretty cool seeing my name tatted on some grl. ha… austin. gotta love it.

Tonite we are headed to the UT vs. ARK basketball game and it reminds me of a story that happened while I was in high school. Some people … scratch that, almost everyone knows I am from Waco and I went to Waco High. Waco High has a pretty rough reputation, I mean shootings, fights, and stabbings were not out of the norm at my school. But I have a very strong sense of pride of my alma matar. Anyway… so such great athletes as Derrick Johnson, and Kwame Cavil attended my school, and I was and still am good friends with Derrick Johnson’s older brother Dwight. We went to school together from the 5th grade on and their mother was my 6th grade math teacher. So in high school I was on the golf team, well I started each year on the golf team until inevitably, I would get kicked off for one reason or another. So all the kids who were kicked off their sports teams all had PE last period. It was nothing but the worst of the worst… and there was me and my fellow golf buddies who were canned. Basically PE was this… the teacher would call roll at the beginning of class, get a basketball, and let the hoods play until either they got bored and left, or class was over. 9 times out of 10 people would play a game or two and just leave.

Waco High has two gyms, one for the basketball team and one for all the PE classes. Well the basketball team would practice last period as well, and they would always come over and want to play pick up games. During my sophomore year, Lee Wilson, who went on to play at Arkansas with the likes of Corills Williams, Todd Day and the rest of that team that went to the National Championship game in 95, would always want to show off. If I remember correctly he was 7 foot tall and the only basketball player to ever have his number retired at Waco High. So one day I was playing a pick up game with all of the guys and of course I got stuck guarding Lee. So one of his team mates dropped the ball to him down on the low block and he was trying to back me down and hit a shot. So he turns around and tries to take a shot over me… BLOCKED. I threw that shit into the first row. He looked completely stunned and all of the guys started clowning him. Relentlessly. Needless to say Lee was not pleased about getting blocked by a white guy and being made fun of. So they inbound the ball and Lee calls for the ball at the top of the key. I am still guarding him, and of course laughing on the inside. He grabs the ball, holds it in his hands, stares dead in my eyes, drives the lane and dunks it nasty on me. But hey it was worth it. I blocked his shot.

A few years later I saw Lee at Crickets in Waco. This was after a stint for him in Europe playing ball. I went up and said hello to him and I am pretty sure he remembered me.

Waco High is playing for the 4A state championship this Friday nite at the Alamodome. I will be in attendance, cheering my former high school on.

went to atlanta last weekend for the nascar races. hung out with my new buddy junior. he let me take a picture while standing next his car. you know everyone says that after attending a nascar event you fall in love with the sport and become and instant fan….to them i have to call bullshit. over the weekend i saw a little over 2000 left turns. i am still not a fan.

more photos for you to enjoy