Doug Van Pelt

Dat Nguyen

I reviewed a really cool pair of earphones for the last issue, which I really like, because of the lightweight nature of the earbuds. They are high-end headphones that don't come cheap, but unlike others that are a little heavier, these are super lightweight, snug like an earplug, and thus achieve a lot with lower volumes. Anyway, I got an email from the publicist about a special offer, which I'll pass the info on here...





As you can see, it's a buy-one, get-one-free deal. I reviewed the m5 earphones. For more info, go to www.futuresonics.com/atrio/




I am reading Dat Nguyen's book, Dat, which is a fun read. The guy has great attitudes about life and its challenges. It was no fun to see him play for the hated Texas Aggies, but was real fun to see him play so well for the Dallas Cowboys, who I have liked since I was a little kid. I grew up in Dallas and was there when they won Super Bowl VI, but for some reason I latched on to the Miami Dolphins at the time. I didn't come around to the silver and blue side until watching their great "Doomsday II" defense during the season of 1974, when we were living in the suburbs of Washington, DC. If you can root for the Cowboys there, you can root for them anywhere. Living in the Austin area, I'm able to see all their games on tv here, which is not the case in Dallas, due to the ocassional "blackout" of non-sold-out games.

We are here in the Houston area, and we think that my wife's grandfather will pass away any day now. His wife died last year about this time and his health just whittled away, as if he lost the will to live on without his wife. He is a believer, so the good news is that he will soon transition out of life in this body into a new, wonderous life in another one. It's hard to imagine what that will be like, as even an old, tired body and spirit will both likely get rejuvinated in a miraculous and instantaneous way. I believe that death is a part of life. It's just odd that our culture tries to kind of not think about it. 100 years ago it was not so much this way. The whole family would likely see "grandpa" die in the bed in the living room; but our culture tries to ignore it -- probably because it's kind of uncomfortable to face our own mortality.