Letting the Cat Out of the Bag

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Tim Frazier

By now those closest to me know that I have submitted my resignation and am moving on.

Many have asked where I am going to next, and I have been relatively closed-mouth on the subject.

But I’m ready to spill the beans.

Sometime back I located a distant relative on the Native American side of the family, Morose Hyena. He has recently invited me to join his tribe and earn my keep by herding Alpacas in the Smokey Mountains. It will be a hard living, especially since my addition to the tribe will swell its ranks to two.

Morose Hyena has a herd of 40 Alpacas, give or take. An accurate count is not possible since he hasn’t seen them yet. The internet site he ordered them from assures him they were released on a ridge in the Smokey Mountains – a range he has claimed as his own through ancestral inheritance.

I am currently fitting a monster truck mud grip to the rear of my Triumph for the rough riding that is to come as we locate the herd. Once we’ve found them we’ll begin to work at a huge enterprise of making woven Alpaca throw rugs, selling nutritious Alpaca milk, and Alpaca jerky.

Fortunately I’ll be able to keep the mobile phone and tablet powered and connected since Morose Hyena tells me he has about a thousand shares of facebook private stock and will be an instant millionaire by the time the IPO launches. Thus you’ll all be able to keep up with my adventures at this site easily.

Stay in touch.

Hooray for Fox DFW News and Brownie the Pit Bull

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Tim Frazier

After all the years I’ve spent ranting at the media for sensationalizing every negative story involving a dog that looked the least little bit like a Pit Bull, I must congratulate Fox news DFW channel 4 for broadcasting a positive story and specifically mentioning that the dog involved was a Pit Bull.

Our boy Moses appreciates it, too.

Pit Bull Protects Toddler Lost in Woods: MyFoxDFW.com

WFAA also published a positive story and mentioned Brownie’s breed. Kudos to them as well!

Photo courtesy WFAA

Links to the Right

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Tim Frazier

Well, there isn’t much justice done to my fellow bloggers if all they get is a three or four word link in the right hand column. So let me tell you why those links show up here at 4Fraziers:

The Press Box Grill

Tom Melesky was an early boss and mentor to me when I was a fledgling manager in the information technology outsourcing business. He also became one of my best friends and quite the entrepreneur in the last few years. A while back he purchased The Press Box Grill, a downtown Dallas sports bar and grill, and with the help of his amazing wife and family turned it around.

He did such a stellar job of reviving the place that he recently bought another restaurant, this one in Grapevine, and made it into a second successful Press Box Grill location.

In the interest of full disclosure, I continue to work for Tom once in awhile when he needs a bit of network cabling or point-of-sale system troubleshooting done, but I’m not being biased at all when I say the Jalapeno Pork Chops and Shiner Bock Chili dog at the Press Box are simply outstanding.

Not to mention the great selection of draft and bottled beers (even great tasting oddities like “Dogfish Head IPA”). The Press Box Grill’s opening in Grapevine, Texas was recently announced in Indulge magazine.

UPDATE: For an unbiased review see this article at DFW.com released today: Review: Press Box Grill in Grapevine

40 Years on Two Wheels
There are lots of us who have a desire to become Peter Egans. When I run across a motorcycle blog writer who can make me chuckle and also provide interesting history as well as current news about two wheelers, I spread the word.

Doug at 40 Years on Two Wheels is one of those guys who probably could rival Mr. Egan if he took up writing full time. His site is a treasure trove of humorous gleanings from his own mind and the web, as well as some outstanding photography.

As the Dude Abides…

Danilo Gurovich chronicles his thoughts on motorcycles and occasional funny rants about daily adventures. His blog is an eclectic collection of whatever he feels like spouting off about, and that pretty much makes him a kindred spirit. I try to keep it mainly about motorcycles, and so does he, but sometime we just have to tell everyone what ticks us off or makes us laugh.

It’s a ludicrous world, someone needs to document it.

Bill Muneio

Bill is a motorcycle lover, artist, and t-shirt designer. Something of a renaissance man.

He shares great rides, including the maps so you can duplicate his experience. He also turns up great tidbits from around the world wide web, as any responsible blogger should.

Dale’s Motorcycle Blog

Dale Franks presents reviews, news, and opinions. Sometimes a minor rant. He doesn’t care much for squids…and neither do I.

In his last post, he let slip that he sometimes drives a Ram 2500 Long Bed. It completely ruined my imaginary picture of him as a long haired biker who owned nothing more than an antique Indian Scout for transportation.

Hey Dale, it’s been too long! Post something new!

By the way, Dale has some great WordPress motorcycle themes he’ll let you download free of charge. I’ve used one of them in the past on this site.

We’re only about a quarter through the list. My next post will cover some more of them.

Beatin’ the Odds Again

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Tim Frazier

Back in the day American middle class folks, especially the men, could count on building a final career with one company after an initial decade of job hopping to find one that suited them. They’d finally settle down with an employer and spend the remaining 20, 30, or 50 years of their working life with that company, then retire gracefully with a gold watch and a livable pension.

Nowadays the corporations have learned that pensions are an albatross which grows larger and heavier with every generation, thanks to vampiric unions that have sucked all the future benefits out of the system.

Thus generation X is stuck with 401ks and our own savings – and if you dare to trust it to last ten more years – social security.

The benefit of staying in one place for 20 to 50 years has evaporated.

I recently looked around me and saw that I and one other person were all that was left of the original crew I hired into as a night shift server operator 17 years ago. With those guys also went most of the fun.

For that and other reasons it became obvious that the time had come for me to seek out new territory and a place that could better appreciate my experience.

I wanted – NEEDED – a fresh start. Miraculously, God provided.

It’s time to learn and teach once again, and I’m going to be just enough out of my comfort zone to give work life the energizing shot it’s been needing the last few months.

My best to the colleagues I leave behind, and I sincerely hope the customer I have served for the past 17 years continues to succeed in what we all hope is the tail end of a massive recession.

Hopefully my replacement there will arrive with the same energy and drive I intend to bring to my new employment.

So now you know the reason for my posting of the “Hazy Shade of Winter” clip last night. Parting is such sweet sorrow. There’s a bit of sadness, a bit of nostalgia, and a lot of excitement and relief all at the same time.

That old Simon and Garfunkle song, especially as interpreted by the Bangles, perfectly captured those emotions.

And to my dear sweet wife, Robin (my little “Victory”), here’s a song for you from those genious southern rockers, Molly Hatchett. I love it when we’re beatin’ the odds like this:

Beatin’ the Odds – Molly Hatchett

Well she grabbed me and asked me,
If I had a name,
She told me she was interested to see,
If I could play the game,
She said her name was Victory,
She didn’t want to know the rules,
That’s just the way I wanted to play,
In a game designed for fools.

We were beatin’ the odds, we
were beatin’ the odds,
We were beatin’ the odds again,
We were gambling with our souls,
We were playing to win,
We were beatin’ the odds again.

Well I rolled the dice feelin’ cold as ice,
And Victory drew the cards,
We knew that loosin’ when the stakes were high,
Could really hit us hard,
I strapped into the drivers seat,
With Miss Victory by my side,
She knew at a glance she was takin’ a chance,
By coming along for the ride.

We were beatin’ the odds, we
were beatin’ the odds,
We were beatin’ the odds again,
We were gambling with our souls,
We were playing to win,
We were beatin’ the odds again.

Time and space stood still that day,
With Victory’s soul and mine,
We were running a race between heaven and hell,
And we could not find the finish line,
And when it was all over we won it in the end,
We were splittin’ the prize
when she opened her eyes,
And said Baby let’s try it again.

Changing Lanes

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Tim Frazier

It’s the springtime of my life…

Come back tomorrow evening and you’ll know why I embedded this video. (And I think this is an excellent illustration of how a cover can be a hundred times better than the original…sorry, Paul and Art)