Skattershooting as I kick myself for writing so infrequently . . . .

• Dallas ISD certainly loves their new school superintendent. (Why shouldn't they, considering the the two nut cases that preceded him). Did you notice that the school board boosted his salary to $310,000 in order to keep him from leaving for the top job at Texas Tech? No superintendent in the country makes more. New York City pays $245,000 and Houston pays $210,000.
• After reading the above, how many bitter teachers do you think are out there?
• I think I'm a smart guy, but I had to struggle a bit, in light of the campaign reform debate, to understand how campaign donations = free speech.
• What an awful accident it was last week that took the life of five Abilene Christian students on I-20 in Parker County. They had driven all night to make it back to church for Easter services.
• I wonder who will replace Phil Ryan as sheriff if he takes the Denton County job?
• Did you see that David Walker, one of the higher-ups at the WCSO, is a Bridgeport delegate to the State Republican Convention?
• Oklahoma's women's varsity basketball coach, Sherri Coale, is kind of hot.
• Is it just me, or are the Walmart greeters not very friendly these days?
• I have yet to buy a DVD player.
• I saw Moulin Rouge again the other day and confirmed that I really liked it.
• Oscar talk: Sharon Stone and Reese Witherspoon are very good looking while Gwyneth Paltrow has lost her mind for wearing that outfit.
• More Oscar talk: The pre-festivities "red carpet" show on network TV (not the Joan River's show on E!) may have been the worst produced show ever.
• Death to Smoochy may be the worst movie I've ever paid money to see.
• The defense lawyer in the California dog mauling case, Nedra Ruiz, was a complete goofball. In a case where emotion needed to be eliminated, she took just the opposite tact. (Arguing that the prosecution was to please the gay/lesbian community was sheer genius, wasn't it?)
• Is there any chance that Taliban/American John Walker Lindh voluntarily provided the confession to his U.S. interrogators? Does this post-arrest photo maybe change your mind?
• The Texaco near the Texas Motor Speedway has magically re-opened again. Perhaps it will close it down after the big race weekend.
• Talking sports: Arizona pitcher Randy Johnson, on opening day, pitches nine innings and gives up zero runs. And we wonder why the Rangers will never reach the big time.
• The Rangers starting pitcher, Chan Ho Park, got shelled and immediately was placed on the DL because of leg pain. The newly signed free agent will receive $71 million over 6 years.
• The crowd in Oakland for the Rangers second game of the season: 10,267.  That isn't going to cut it.
• I was lucky enough to go to opening day last Friday for the Ranger-Angels game. Total time for game to be played: 2:17. I'd go more often if all games were like that.
• Pitcher Chuck Finley missed his opening day start after his wife got arrested for beaning him in the head with one of her high-heeled shoes. The wife, Tawny Kitaen, who used to co-host America's Funniest People, doesn't look so hot in this book-in photo.
• There seems to be a disturbing national phenomenon that requires the family members of any high profile decedent to appear on NBC's Today show within 48 hours of the death in order to answer the question "Can you tell us what kind of man he was?"
• I'm not sure I understood all the controversy surrounding the Hewlitt-Packard/Compaq merger, but there were a ton of full page ads in the major newspapers urging stockholders to vote for or against the proposal.
• Did you see that three people have been killed while pole-vaulting this year alone?
• Fox's Celebrity Boxing (which included an opening match of Barry Williams vs. Danny Bonaduce) was the most entertaining TV I've seen in a long time. The look on Greg Brady's face of "I can't believe my life has sunk this low" is enough reason to watch.
• I don't understand why President Bush keeps asking Israel to show restraint in response to the suicide bombings. A terrorist group attacks us and we go and destroy a country. What don't they have the same right?
• By percentage of population, Israel has lost more citizens in the last month than the U.S. did on 9-11.
• On April 2, 2002, the Justice Department issued a travel alert for Israel. Thank you very much.
• Texas sends a lot of folks to prison, but we sure do have a lot of folks that escape therefrom.
• I still don't know what I think about Andrea Yates.
• Thank goodness the Supreme Court is finally going to review the ridiculous "Three Strikes" rule which allowed one California crook to receive a 25 year prison sentence for stealing a few videotapes. Yeah, he needs to be punished but let's be reasonable about it.
• Have any of you noticed "The Game Room" on 287 shortly after you pass the Tarrant-Wise County line while heading towards Fort Worth?  What the heck goes on in there?
• When someone writes to Dear Abby or Ann Landers, why do they always disguise the name of the person they are concerned about. "Dear Abby, I have a friend I'll call  "Cindy" who has a drinking problem."  If the real name had been used, do you think she would have found out?
• Anything HBO produces (Sex in the City, Six Feet Under, 61, Taxicab Confessions) is great.
• If you want to get sick to your stomach over the destruction of the World Trade Center, take a look at the opening scenes of the old Wall Street movie starring Michael Douglas. (It's been playing a lot on HBO lately).
• Former NBA star Jayson Williams gets arrested after a limo driver is shot with a shotgun in his home. Regardless of the merits of the case, did you see the size of that 30,000 square foot house?
• When a television station pops the word "exclusive" in the corner of the screen during an interview, what exactly does that mean? With the exception of a press conference, isn't every interview "exclusive"?
• Every time the radio or TV plays the sound of a telephone ringing, I'm scrambling to answer my own.
• On Larry King Live the other night, Larry promoted some upcoming shows featuring Glen Campbell and Lawrence Welk. And CNN wonders why Fox News is beating them senseless?
• I picked up a 1996 Sports Illustrated the other day and was surprised to see an article on then college sophomore Tiger Woods. The consensus of the pros was that he was a "good amateur golfer".