Column hiatus

My column has been temporarily placed on hold due to a company-wide moratorium on personal columns. I hope to continue soon.
Thanks for reading!
Joe

October overloaded with activities

Maybe it’s the cooler weather.

Whatever it is, October is filled with more sports and regional events than I’ve seen in a long time. There are so many things to see and do that it’s creating scheduling conflicts across my calendar and probably yours as well.

The biggest conflicts came last weekend as I had to juggle my timing to cover the Astros in their divisional playoff against Tampa Bay and the Sugar Land Skeeters in their Atlantic League Championship Series against the Long Island Ducks. Along with that, Oct. 5 was the Come and Take It celebration in Gonzales. Although that’s not a local event, it is one of the major re-enactments I go to as a volunteer in the Texas Army. Sunday brought with it the Houston Texans game against Atlanta, followed by Game 5 of the Skeeters-Ducks championship series.

Losing out was a chance to see Neal McCoy at the Fort Bend County Fair. He was there Friday night and I really wanted to see him. Alas, when it comes to choices, sometimes you have to make sacrifices, especially in a time crunch.

The weekend of Oct. 11-13 is not as hectic but has potential conflicts. The priority will be coverage of the Austin County Fair. There are four key events I really want to cover. They include the parade, the rodeo, the Urban Cowboy Reunion concert with Mickey Gilley and Johnny Lee, and John Michael Montgomery’s concert. Covering those, however, will likely mean I don’t cover the American League Championship Series, assuming the Astros make it.

The following weekend of Oct. 18-20 brings the Fandemic Tour Comic Con to Houston, along with the Wings Over Houston airshow. I’m really excited about both of these. Airshows are always a big thrill and Wings Over Houston is one of the biggest and best in the nation. I very rarely miss this one.

Fandemic is a new comic con in only its second year. I love going to comic cons and this one promises to deliver some very cool celebrity guests. I recently had an opportunity to visit with Fandemic CEO John Macaluso, who said the show at NRG Center is going to be fantastic.

Celebrity guests include Sebastian Stan (Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: infinity War, Gossip Girl), Milo Ventimiglia (This Is Us, Gilmore Girls, Heroes), the Phelps Twins (James and Oliver Phelps – the Harry Potter series), Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings, Rudy, Stranger Things), Jon Bernthal (Punisher, The Walking Dead), Summer Glau (Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles), Emmy Raver-Lampman (The Umbrella Academy), Tom Hopper (The Umbrella Academy, Merlin, Game of Thrones), Houston’s own Jason David Frank (Power Rangers), Houston native Sean Patrick Flanery (The Boondock Saints, Dexter), Ray Park (Star Wars, X-Men), Charles Martinet (Nintendo voice actor), Cooper Andrews (The Walking Dead, Shazam), Pollyanna McIntosh (The Walking Dead), Kevin Sorbo (Hercules, Andromeda), and a reunion of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast, including Amber Benson, Juliet Landau, James Masters, Emma Caulfield, Clare Kramer and James Leary. 

Although called a tour, Houston is the show’s only stop. Macaluso said the show may eventually tour, but for now Houston is big enough.

“There are 9.3 million people and only one other show,” he said in reference to Comicpalooza. “People are excited we’re coming back.”

With a comic con being just a couple weeks before Halloween, Macaluso said it’s a perfect time for cosplayers can casual fans to give their costumes a test run.

“We highly recommend people come in costume,” he said.

I was not able to make last year’s event but plan to this year. I will have to split time with Wings Over Houston, which this year features the Air Force Thunderbirds, the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, Team Oracle with stunt pilots Sean Tucker and Jessy Panzer, and the popular Tora! Tora! Tora! Pearl Harbor re-enactment with pyrotechnics. That weekend is going to be a thrilling adventure!

The Tuesday after that is the start of the World Series, which will very likely be a match-up between the Astros and Dodgers.

Oct. 26 is Texian Market Days at George Ranch Historical Park in Richmond. I will once again be there with other members of the Texas Army doing demonstrations and am also on call to work the booth for the Fort Bend County Historical Commission, of which I am a member. The next day I’ll be back at NRG Stadium for the Texans as they host the Raiders.

If all of that were not enough, we are already into the 45^th season of the Texas Renaissance Festival. My son Luke is working there for this third season. My wife Sandy is making plans for us to go several times, but I don’t know where on the calendar I can squeeze it in this month. Maybe this Sunday? Definitely in November.

Now, I know some of you have caught on that most of these events are regional and not local to Austin County. Don’t worry, we’ve got that covered, too. The Sealy News is again holding Bras for a Cause at Saddleback Saloon on Oct. 26, and Boo Bash downtown on Halloween. And peeking ahead into November, San Felipe de Austin State Historic Site and Museum is holding the annual Father of Texas celebration.

The fun never ends, and I encourage you to get out and have some fun now that the weather has cooled off a bit.

It’s National Make Up a National Day Day

I have decided that today is National Make Up a National Day Day.
Be sure to post it to Facebook and all of your social media sites and share it with everyone!
The purpose of National Make Up a National Day Day is to make sure that nothing worth recognizing gets left out. After all, we have national days for just about everything, especially food. I’ve lost count of the number of National Taco Days we’ve had this year. I can recall several pizza days, donut days, hamburger days, ice cream days, popcorn days, and, not to be forgotten, the inevitable upcoming National Pumpkin Spice Day.
For the record, according to Nationaldaycalendar.com, Sept. 26 is National Compliance Officer Day, National Dumpling Day, National Johnny Appleseed Day, National Shamu the Whale Day, National Pancake Day (again!), and National Situational Awareness Day.
I guess since it is National Situational Awareness Day that it is only appropriate that we also make today National Make Up a National Day Day to help you better be aware of the situation around you. If you’re aware enough about something to make up a day about it, then that mission is accomplished!
To get us started, I’m going to declare that Jan. 2 is National Stay on Your Diet, You Can Do This Day. This will be followed on the first Monday after Jan. 2 with National Get Back on Your Diet Day. In fact, there should be multiple observances of National Get Back on Your Diet Day. They should come the day after the Super Bowl, your birthday, every legitimate holiday, and the day after every national day involving food – which is pretty much every day.
Actually, after doing some very careful deductive reasoning (AKA daydreaming), and probing no deeper than the depths of my imagination, I have concluded that there is someone working at Facebook who has found the answer to getting his or her colleagues to buy lunch or bring snacks to work pretty much every day.
If they get a craving for something, they make a meme about it being that national day (for example, National Hawaiian Pizza Day), and spread it widely across the platform. Inevitably someone sees it, gets a craving, and brings pizza topped with Canadian bacon and pineapple to the office. The next thing you know there is a run on Hawaiian pizzas at all the pizza chains and local pizzerias. Come to think of it, maybe there is collusion between Facebook and Pizza Hut!
I guess the next national day I’d like to propose is National Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Day. Oh wait, I just looked it up; it’s May 18. Darn, I don’t want to wait that long.
Of course, not all national days involve food (though they should!). We have had multiple siblings days, cousins days, take a pet/child/whatever to work days, teachers days, first responders days, cancer awareness days, nurses days, dog days, green days, yesterdays, etc.
Some others I’d like to see include National Sleep an Hour Longer Day, National Hug a Journalist Day, National Stop the Political Rhetoric Day, National Rest on a Beach with a Drink with a Tiny Umbrella in it Day, and, the ever popular National Stop Tom Brady and the New England Patriots From Going Back to the Super Bowl Day.
Actually, the latter is a weekly celebration that has been carried out with dismal results for many years across the NFL. That’s why we need it so bad, to help inspire the other 31 teams! Of course, the Jets, Bills, and Dolphins won’t participate; they never do.
Moving on, another national day I think we need in this country is National Underdog Day. It used to be called National Losers Day, but underdog is much more inspiring. It might also help the aforementioned Jets, Bills, and Dolphins.
I was going to suggest that we need a National ’80s Rock Music Day, but that’s pretty much every day for me. I like the idea of a National Star Wars Day, but we already have May the Fourth (be with you).
As we get older, I find it important to have a National Day of Remembrance (remembering where I put my keys, glasses, phone, etc.)
The more I think about it though, the more I like the national food days best. Is anyone else interested in National Dark Chocolate Day? How about National Cherry Glazed Donut Day or National Fried Pickle Day? Shoot, if I keep this up, I’m going to need a whole lot more National Get Back on Your Diet Days.