A Little G in a Big D

Hey all:

I will blog about my experiences and such for the next few weeks on the Morning News’ Olympics Blog, which you can check here.

My first post is up and running. See it here.

Thanks for looking. More soon!

- gerry -

Hi all:

Long time no post — been busy. Like some of you may have seen on Facebook or SportsShooter, I’m getting ready to head over to my first Winter Olympic Games. I head out in a few days and will be there till March 3.

I’ll have plenty of updates as time sees fit. In addition to posting photos as often as I can here, I’ll be contributing to the Dallas Morning News’ Olympics blog. As soon as I have the URL for that, I’ll share.

In the meantime, here’s a smattering of recent to semi-recent photos from daily grind stuff the last few weeks. Figured I’d try to get one more post in before disappearing for a few weeks … in case, as many people tell me, I’ll barely have time to sleep in Vancouver, let alone blog. We shall see.

Sorry as usual for the lack of cutline info. Info is as follows:

001 — Photo from a presser with missionaries who were trapped in Haiti following last month’s earthquake. They found out shortly before the conference that one of their colleagues died from injuries she sustained in the disaster.

002 — UNT One O’Clock Lab Band practice. They were nominated for their fifth and sixth Grammy Awards this year. Didn’t win, but still a hell of on honor. I believe they are the only collegiate lab band to be nominated for the prestigious musical award.

003 — Sand truck wreck on a highway downtown. They call that stretch — US-175 and I-45 — ‘dead man’s curve’ for a reason.

004 — Portrait of Chuck Greenberg, the head of the new Texas Rangers ownership group, Greenberg-Ryan.

005-008 — Photos from National Signing Day, shot at Rowlett High School and the big DISD shindig in south Dallas.

That is all. More soon!

- gerry -

Hi folks:

Here are some photos from last night’s Dallas Mavericks game against the Detroit Pistons.

It was a pretty physical, and at times sloppy, game. Dallas trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half before rallying in the second to beat Detroit 98-33. This came off the Mavericks’ really brutal loss to Lakers Sunday. And I do mean brutal — 131-96 … that’s not a basketball score; that’s hypertension.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the photos. I opted to shoot from the elevated TV decks but also mounted a low remote on the goal post, so I felt like I had the game decently covered. Even with both those vantage points I still missed Drew Gooden’s nice dunk of a honey of a pass from Jason Kidd. Those are the breaks some time.

Cheers,

- gerry -

Hi all:

I had the opportunity Sunday to shoot the Cowboys’ final home game of the regular season. I was actually there for the first game of this season — it being the first at the new, ginormous stadium — so it was nice to bring it full circle.

Dallas decided to buck the December trend of slumping and came away with some pretty darned good wins last month, including bringing New Orleans’ undefeated streak to a close and shutting out the Redskins 17-0.

Then came the second shutout in a row this past weekend as the Cowboys trounced Philly 24-0. It all left many of us asking ourselves, “Who are these guys out there?”

Whatever the answer, the post-season is on and Dallas clinched the NFC East. Now if they can just beat the Eagles, in less than a week, back home again — that I’d like to see.

Anyway, as far as the game goes, I had kind of a shit shoot. I was on the wrong side for everything, and my timing felt pretty off all night, too. That’s how it goes sometimes. Here’s hoping I get my act together before the “real” games start.

Here’s a selection of photos from the last game. Hope you enjoy.

Cheers,

- gerry -

So just to bring everyone up to speed, Cato (pronounced Kay-Toe, named for the Inspector Clouseau character), our long-time cat, disappeared from our house on Christmas Day.

He probably ran out while we were loading presents in the car to take to Fort Worth, where we were celebrating the holiday. He tries to sneak out often but usually makes too much noise, or we catch him right away. This time we didn’t notice, though, and were not aware of his escape until we returned home much later that night.

A good five days later and there’s still no sign. We’ve pretty much papered the neighborhood with fliers, have called vets in the area and are in touch with local shelters; there is no good info yet.

We have reason to believe he actually crossed our neighborhood and ended up in a nearby creek/wooded area, where I’m told there’s known to be coyote activity. I’m actually about to head off on a walk now and may stroll over there. I doubt I’ll find anything, but maybe I’ll feel better after I look.

We’re not giving up, of course.

In my head I still do think of Cato as sort of “Michelle’s cat” — she adopted him as a kitten back when we were in college. But, I’ve known him the whole time, too, and together we’ve carted that silly black cat all over this country.

For the better part of several years (about eight or nine, I think) I’ve watched him go from an insanely hyper kitten to a lackadaisical, middle-aged cat who sleeps seemingly nonstop and loves to soak in warm, afternoon sun.

It’s cliché, I know it, but we think of him as our son — our “furry child,” a friend once called him. The “love” he gave us is probably nothing close to what a human gives, but it’s nonetheless unconditional seeming and really pure, to my mind. Simplistic (all we really do is give him food and water, petting here and there), to be true, but still pretty pure.

This has been a tough year for us, especially as cat parents. During the holiday last year, our other long-time cat, Grazie, got very sick and needed to be put down. We’d had her since getting engaged in Fort Worth more than five years back.

We didn’t want her to suffer, and as tough as the decision was to euthanize Grazie, we new it was right. With Cato, it’s the unknown that’s driving us crazy. I’m sure this sounds awful, but I almost wish I could find evidence that he was gobbled up by a feral canine, or hit by a car or something; at least then I’d know what happened. The thought of him still running around out there — cold, hungry and scared — is even more awful to me.

I hope he is OK, wherever he is.

And as I write all this, with Cato still missing, we have an interloper in the house.

A couple of nights ago, a neighbor who feeds strays called to say she’d been seeing a new cat recently she thought might be ours. He wasn’t. Sort of similar looking, but definitely not Cato.

What we found instead was a very, VERY sweet and very upset kitty who looks like he escaped, too. We’ve not seen any fliers for him, and I’ve called around the usual places to see if anyone’s asking after the little guy.

As we’d hoped someone would do with our sweet Cato if they found him, we’re taking this cat in hoping his kitty parents, should they care, come calling. I even took him to the vet today to get him checked out — fixed, remarkably healthy (no FIV or FeLV) and without any injury save a small cut to his tail.

He’s living in our guest bathroom now. The Bathroom Cat, I sometimes call him. The vet named him “Blackie” since apparently they can’t “admit a pet without a name,” but I don’t think it’ll stick. I’m afraid to name him anything because I don’t know if he’s staying.

Maybe his cat family with find him, and maybe we’ll find Cato, too. That’s the hope, anyway.

We’ll see what happens from here.

- gerry -