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I used an electric smoker until the heating element burnt out. You can smoke good meat on it but I definitely prefer my charcoal smoker with wood chunks. Find a decent quality lump charcoal to use. I order fogo from Amazon but it is a bit pricey, avoid the cowboy brand... It is the only lump charcoal I've thrown away for bad flavor. This is a good resource for lump charcoal reviews, even if the web site looks like it is from 1992.

Get some decent temperature probes, one you can put on a small clip and attach to your grill and another to get internal temp of meat. Something like this.

A cheap boning knife like this is great for trimming meat. If you plan on doing brisket I'd consider it a necessity for fat trimming.

Get kosher salt and use it liberally on your meats. I usually try to rub everything a day before I cook it with salt, like a dry brine. If not a day at least a few hours.

Use hickory or oak to start out. They are really good for all around smoking and have great flavor.

An electric charcoal starter is also handy if you are going to cook frequently.

Franklin's YouTube channel is a great resource for smoking.

I think amazingribs.com is a good resource for when you are looking to cook a meat you've never cooked before.

So it took a year of on-and-off reading, but I finally finished Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.

Anybody here ever give it a read? I think the salient takeaway I had was that almost all of the social issues discussed via old and new media today (racism, economic freedom, war, politics) have occurred and been solved -- to an extent -- with relative frequency over the history of the US. There's a lot to take away from our history that grants perspective regarding modern struggle, which in turns has a calming effect.

Time is a flat circle, I guess. Everything we have done or will do we will do over and over, forever. Something comforting in knowing that.

We've been doing a ton of Spanish food this year. My wife's best friend bought one of these and this and we've been doing different paella recipes like once a month.

We also went to Curate in Asheville, NC and spent like 4 hours eating tapas. Here's their menu (maybe it will make you homesick). We tried every one of their jamons!

I was curious about this so I did some digging. I definitely remembered it being called the shootout when I was a teen in the late 90s.

It possibly began in 1995.
Here is an article from 1996 that mentions that is the 2nd year that it is called the Dr Pepper Red River Shootout. Unclear if it was just called the Red River Shootout before that.

Here is a program from 1997 that you can buy that illustrates the name, and similar items can be found on ebay.

Similarly, programs from the late 80s can be found on ebay that do NOT call it the shootout. There seems to be a gap in available programs from the early 90s.

Here is what I find most interesting:
You can search old newspaper archives for the phrase, and it seems the Red River Shootout name was invented in 1988 for a golf tournament between Texas, OU, and some other schools. The "shootout" bit is a specific style of golf tournament starting with 19 players, where 1 player is eliminated each hole, until you crown a champion after the 18th hole.

I think someone just thought the name sounded cool (despite the specific meaning of shootout in golf), and lifted it from the golf tourney to be used for the football game.

Before Hornfans there was LonghornBob getting kicked off GoBig12, which was a heck of a feat. He posted up the address of a friend of mine with directions on how to get there, and speculated the whereabouts of the guy's wife.

He met Longhorngirlie at a tailgate, and motivated her to help him create Hornfans. When he turned out to be a loon, her and her husband bought him out. Then LonghornBob started his own site/network, meanwhile slashing LonghornGirlie's tires.

LonghornBob disappeared after collecting several thousand dollars to rent a luxury bus to go to the Oklahoma State game, then never showed up. Then he wrote this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Forged-Hotter-Fire-Lessons-Little/dp/0595290779

In the meantime, Mack Brown made a campaign to get on LonghornGirlie and her husband's good side, inviting them to his table at the banquet, and other official functions. Plus, they're really just good people. They hosted one of the most generous tailgates in all of Longhorn land.

But they didn't care for fans who couldn't be positive. I don't know how many times I had my posts edited or deleted, but I was finally suspended for making a tasteless joke following Eddie Griffin's death (former Rocket).

It's interesting that shaggytexas has become the biggest UT-centric site on the internet. I think it's pretty reflective of the UT student body over the years, for good or ill.

I'm getting back into it. And yeah, start with just a few minutes and build up. Check out the app Headspace. Use the trial period to learn the basics then delete it. Or pay if you like it. Check out the book 10% happier. Or if you want to try something in February, try this book. A friend recommended it, and I'mm going to give it a whirl.

Yep. I use this one because it was the cheapest at the time. I just use the USB input/output and the switch button and leave the VGA cable hanging behind the pcs.

The one above works fine, but I'd probably buy this one since it has more usb ports and doesn't have the unnecessary VGA cables. (Check to make sure everything you need is included. Looks like that might be missing a power source).

I listened to this book on tape on my way to New Mexico with my Wife and Father-in-law. It was pretty damned good https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Pass-American-Reinvention-Football/dp/1508211744

Get some of these high fidelity earplugs and your ears will love you. They cut out the high decibel shit, while still keeping most of the sound quality of the performance. I bought those things for SXSW back in the day and absolutely love that you could just pop them out and have a normal conversation with someone, no tinnitus.

These work well also.

Lazy? Throwing a party? Check this out: https://www.amazon.com/Beistle-60721-GD-6-Pack-Theatrical-Cowboy/dp/B007ODR0JU

Added a new item to my Christmas list

Eric and Paul breakdown his annual edition of Thinking Texas Football....

Link to Amazon

This is the one I used. My only issue with it is that, when I did start to kick again, the ankle straps would come loose. I'd go with a waist tether if you want to be able to kick without worrying about the tether.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000T9SCZ2?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_pd_title

I was a little iffy on the price, but it is worth every damn penny.