I’m just back from the sixth Stupid Guy Trip, an annualish gathering of my brother, me, and a few of our oldest and dearest. This year Chris McMains, Daniel Priest, Mike Brack, Ben Mengden, Ross Richie, Jason Young, and Jonathan Hunter made up the roster. More than ever this year, it was an experience I [...]
This year we decided to do Sandfest properly. I went prowling for places to stay a couple months ago, and somehow managed to secure a wonderful house right on the beach, an easy stroll from Sandfest itself. The big, open house with lots of places to sleep worked out great for our mob, which numbered [...]
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Posted 24 April 2008
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Sunday, April 20, 2008 This past weekend, the family was down in Port Aransas for Sandfest. As we were leaving town, we decided to stop by Bo Jon’s Surf & Gifts, a big gift shop near one of the central intersections with an entrance made up to look like a shark’s mouth, about 2:00pm. While [...]
Happy New Year All! Socrates tells us that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” In this era of YouTube exhibitionism, one could extend his maxim to be “the life unexamined by other people is not worth banner ads.” So, in the spirit of the age, welcome to our annual unsolicited “What the Clan McMains [...]
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Posted 04 January 2008
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As many of you know, Kathy has been back in school now for a couple of semesters. This coming spring semester, however, she’s taking a break from classes in favor of completing some outstanding correspondence courses and attending a Therapeutic Recreation conference in Australia, for which the school is picking up the tag and providing [...]
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Posted 26 November 2007
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Family
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A few months ago, David Barnard tipped me off to the existence of the Canyon Lake Gorge, a feature formed in 2002 by the torrential overflow from Canyon Lake during that year’s floods. We were both able to secure one of the scarce reservations for a hike through the gorge, and embarked on our little [...]
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Posted 14 November 2007
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Friends
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Over the weekend, the three youngest kids, Kathy and I met up with Chris, Becky, and Mom McMains for a long afternoon at Pedernales Falls State Park. We enjoyed a picnic overlooking the falls, nibbling from each other’s collections of goodies and catching up on the goings-on in each others lives. Floating through the falls [...]
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Posted 26 September 2007
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Family
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The weekend after the L.A. Bachelor Party, I returned to Los Angeles for Ross & Johanna’s wedding. This was a quicker trip than the last, but was a huge treat as well. Ben Mengden, his wife Emily, and I came in Friday morning and headed to the Tuxedo shop to pick up our formalwear. Fortunately, [...]
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Posted 25 September 2007
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Friends
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I spent three days out in Los Angeles two weekends ago for the bachelor party of one of my oldest and dearest, Ross Richie, who married Johanna Stokes, his lady love of 7 years, last weekend. I left Thursday along with Ben Mengden, my traveling companion and another close long-time friend. Ben was not only [...]
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Posted 28 August 2007
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Friends
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One of the traditions I’ve enjoyed a great deal over the past six years has been the Stupid Guy Trip: an annual-ish assembling of several long-time male friends for a testosterone-fueled visit to some city or another for food, beer, and endless “your mom” jokes. Past trips have been to Las Vegas, Chicago, Santa Fe, [...]
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Posted 18 July 2007
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