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My mate Mike McIlvain has written up a fine article on blogging for the monthly magazine LareDOS.
Check it out.

I’ve never given much real thought to taking off and traveling through Europe until I read Charles Sizemore’s first literary publication, “Cowboys and Catalans – A Texan Rambles Through Europe.”
Born and raised in Dallas, Sizemore is a full time financial analyst and part time world traveler.
But prior to taking a full-time position with Harry S. Dent, the twenty something author takes off to the London School of Economics for a master’s degree, and finds his focus is quickly taken from school and directed towards the women, bars and sights of Europe.
Reading the book feels like reading letters sent home from a good friend.
The reader is caught living vicariously through the Texas Christian University graduate as he travels across the continent and studies in London for a year.
Humor and adventure abound as Sizemore learns about Roman debauchery first hand, realizes the difficulties in riding the Eurail and dates an Iraqi girl — shortly after the American invasion of her home country.
One night we stepped into an Irish pub to get out of the cold. I ordered two Stellas and walked to the table where Leyla was already sitting.
“You hear that?” I asked, pointing to the Irish band in the corner. “They’re singing Pancho and Lefty. That sounds weird in an Irish accent.”
“What’s Pancho and Left?”
“You know, the Willie Nelson song.”
Leyla:
“Never mind. I guess that one didn’t make it across the desert.”
It was a bit surreal to be sitting with an Arab in a London pub hearing an Irish band play Willie. I pondered this while I waited at the bar for another Stella.
The book flows and reads with ease, other than a few spots where Sizemore takes the opportunity to share the extended history of the places he’s visiting.
I’m not saying it was a bad decision to do so — I personally enjoyed it — but I can think of numerous friends who will be attracted to the stories of beer and women and likely skim over or stop reading anything to do with history.
Sizemore spends much of his time overseas with his newly acquired Spanish companions and the time spent in Spain and with them were some of the most enjoyable and heartfelt reads in the book.
He also realizes quickly the misconceptions many Europeans have about Texans and at times takes advantage of the stereotype, traveling the country in a well worn pair of Cowboy boots.
Not having traveled overseas myself, I can only imagine the enjoyment this book might be to anyone who’s traveled to Europe on their own, but regardless, it’s a great read even for those who have only considered traveling to visit our European neighbors.
“Cowboys and Catalans,” 2006 iUniverse; $19.95 at Amazon.com and other major booksellers.

It’s official, there will be five candidates on the November ballot for governor:
From the SOS office:

Secretary Williams certifies independents for the November ballot
AUSTIN, TX — Secretary of State Roger Williams today notified candidates and minor parties who filed for a place on the general election ballot if they met the statutorily prescribed qualifications. By state law, candidates were required to submit an application for a place on the ballot accompanied by petitions with the required number of signatures.
“Texas has a process for verifying the eligibility of independent candidates for a place on the ballot and today we have finished that process,” Williams said. “Our method of verifying every signature is the most accurate, has been upheld by the courts and was done faster than in years past.”
Williams notified the campaigns of Richard Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn today that they had met the requirements for a place on the ballot in the upcoming gubernatorial election. Both Candidates exceeded the 45,540 signatures required by state law. After a preliminary review of the 170,258 petitions submitted by Mr. Friedman, Secretary Williams’ office has certified that 137,154 met the requirements. Similarly, Secretary Williams certified that 108,512 of the 222,514 signatures submitted by Ms. Strayhorn were valid signatures that met all statutory requirements.
In addition to the two gubernatorial candidates, five other candidates submitted applications as independents with Secretary William’s Office; including Robert Belt and Arthur W. Loux for U.S. Senator, Bob Hise for U.S. Representative District 3, Steve Stockman for U.S. Representative District 22 and Harold Pearson for State Representative District 17. None of these candidates met the state requirements for a place on the ballot, and therefore will not be certified by the state. The Green Party also applied for ballot access with the Secretary of State’s office but did not submit the appropriate number of signatures to qualify.

According to his testimony, Congressman Joe Barton, R-Ennis, is a big video gamer. Looks like the House has nothing better to do than debate video games again. And apparently the video games only affect poor black children in the ghetto. Rich white kids in the suburbs don’t need to worry – they’re apparently immune to the video game’s influence. So here’s my theory. Rather than getting rid of all video games, lets just increase welfare and get rid of the poor kids in America. Then we won’t have to worry about the influence of video games.
Also we’ll have to work hard to get the Senate on board, because they just voted down another possible increase in the minimum wage. As if the poor didn’t have enough problems.

And next week:

From Pink Dome: