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We still LUV you, Chris Jessee.

Hook 'em Horns!

Christmas Cocktails

Ready to make those nice drinks we shook up on the radio show today? Here are the recipes:

Woodford Reserve’s Liquid Bourbon Ball
1 oz. Woodford Reserve
1 oz. Amarula Cream Liqueur
¼ oz. Hazelnut Liqueur

Fill mixing glass with ice, add ingredients and shake. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with chocolate shavings.

Tuaca Hot Apple Pie
1 ½ oz. Tuaca Liqueur
5-6 oz. Warm Apple Cider

Pour all ingredients into a coffee mug. Garnish with whipped cream and a cinnamon stick.

Amarula Elephant Nog
By the Glass:
2 oz. Amarula Cream Liqueur
1 oz. Woodford Reserve Bourbon

Pour over ice and dust with nutmeg.

Special Delivery Saturday

Last show before Christmas and I will have plenty of tips and gifts. Again we will be giving away a Sony VAIO laptop courtesty of Dreamray. You've got just a little while longer to enter. Just find me on their website.

We'll be sharing last-minute gift buying tips like photo cards and calendars and getting them printed and pick up immediately to gift giving tips like pre-loading software on kids' computers so they can immediately play them.

Having holiday parties? My friends from Downing Street Pub and Woodford Reserve will be in studio with easy cocktail making recipes and ideas. No alcohol will be imbibed duirng the show but all bets are off at 2:01pm.

Links we plan to talk about:

Operation Fruitcake (see fruitcakes exploded, cannon-launched, blended)

Lycos Top 50 search terms for 2007 (poker?)

The Garfield Boys get elved

Better video sharing websites (Forget YouTube, try Veoh)

KTRH Monday Morning

As if your weekend wasn't boring enough...I will be sitting in for Joe Pags on 740 KTRH Monday from 9a-11a. I'll try to open my mind and yours a bit by staying away from tech topics as much as I can. Andy Pettite, HGH, Ron Paul's Money Bomb, Dolphins win, Romo hurts thumb, Dan Fogelberg dies should be some of the topics we hit. And of course I will try for the "get" of the year - a live Roger Clemens interview.

Congratulations to P. Solliman from Houston who won a Sony VAIO laptop on my show last Saturday. We're giving away another one this weekend and you can start now by going to the Dreamray website and "finding me."

And typing of Ron Paul, why is he so popular on the Internet? He's got more MySpace friends than any other Republican candidate. He raises millions of dollars simply by asking people to click. For Paul, it's a shame that we don't go to the polls in November online.

Greatest Headline in NY Post History

Saturday Surprises & Links

Lots to talk about this time of year so fire up those radios beginning at 11am. I've been giving away some sweet prizes these past few weeks but get ready to burn up the phone lines and email tomorrow. We're giving away a brand new Sony VAIO laptop!

My boys at Dreamray wanted to do something nice, fun and big for the holidays so they were kind enough to purchase two - yes TWO - VAIO laptops. We'll give away one tomorrow and the other one the following Saturday.

I've got a few other prizes to hand out including 3 months of free U-verse from AT&T. To be eligible, make sure your home can get the advanced TV service. Find out here.

For you runners and people prepping for the Houston Marathon and Aramco Services Half Marathon, I'll speak live with Andy Krafsur, CEO of Spira Footwear. Their running shoes use a special WaveSpring technology that allows for a nice bounce. So nice, in fact, they are banned in several races.

Interested in video editing software? Jan Ozer will call in with all the info you need about Studio 11 from Pinnacle Systems.

Plus here are some links we'll talk about:

Elf Yourself (my Elf, courtesy of a listener)

Scrooge Yourself

CompUSA

Hannah Montana On Steroids

Wait a minute, I think I got those headlines mixed up. The airwaves and blogwaves around Houston have been buzzing today with the news that Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte were named among others on the infamous Mitchell Report.

I was listening to Mike & Mike on ESPN this morning around 8:30am when Greeny read the breaking news bulletin about Clemens. I was not surprised in the least that he was accused of taking 'roids and HGH. The man is 45 years old. He is large. He still brings heat that rivals pitchers 20 years his junior.

Look at him in old ESPN SportCenter spots from his Blue Jay days. He's thinner than I am. He's just as plump as Barry Bonds now.

Guilty? Who knows. But he immediately went out and hired superlawyer Rusty Hardin, who got some nice facetime on this evening's national newscasts. (I still associate him with Anna Nicole Smith's hilarious line to him while she was on the witrness stand..."Screw you, Rusty!).

It is a very sad day for baseball but sadder for R*cket fans, Astros fans and UT fans. Clemens has always been a major supporter and vocal proponent of the Longhorns. He's not alone in this scandal but he's the biggest story today and that was by design from the Mitchell people to make an impact.

Guilty or not his name will now be synonymous with this report and the MLB steroid era. Maybe this will finally clean the game up. (and I don't plan to get rid of my R*cket autographed paraphernalia just yet).

Even bigger local news today (at least to parents and young girls) is that the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo announced a random drawing opportunity for the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concert during the 2008 Rodeo. Lots of rules but beginning this Monday anyone can register ONE TIME ONLY (duplicate entries will be discarded) to win the right to buy 4 tickets to the event. Kind of a mini-PSL thing.

Check out these rules:

• Enter Monday, Dec. 17, 8 a.m., through Friday, Dec. 21, 2007, midnight
• Internet only: randomdrawing.rodeohouston.com
• One entry per e-mail address
• No more than four entries per household
• Duplicate entries will be discarded
• Drawing held Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008
• Winners notified via e-mail Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008, by 3 p.m.
• Non-winners will NOT be notified
• Notification e-mail will provide winners with instruction on how to purchase tickets
• Tickets start at $16, plus handling and service charge
• Winners must purchase four tickets between 8 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 5, and 5 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 6, 2008, on ticketmaster.com
• To purchase tickets, in the event that you are a winner, you must have an account with ticketmaster.com. If you have an existing ticketmaster.com account, use the e-mail address and password associated with that account. If you do not have an account, to expedite your purchase, we strongly recommend that you create an account prior to 8 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 5, 2008.
• Tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served, best-available basis, and are not guaranteed to be four tickets together
• Once all seats are sold, a limited number of Standing-Room-Only tickets will be sold
• Season and Mini-Season tickets still are available at 832.667.1080
• Odds of winning are dependent on number of entries
• For an online listing of these rules and regulations, visit randomdrawing.rodeohouston.com
• This is the only opportunity to purchase individual tickets for the Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus performance that the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and Ticketmaster will offer.

Good luck and I'll see you on eBay if you get them.

You better watch out

From USA Today:

Microsoft quickly shut down Santa Claus' Web privileges after it found out the automated elf it created for kids to instant message with was talking naughty, not nice.

Hanukkah Harry wouldn't be caught doing that stuff. He's too busy stuffing his face with latkes. BTW, happy 2nd night of Hanukkah.

No surprise to learn that the Nintendo Wii is the most searched-for product in November, according to a survey of British online shoppers. I'd bet if you asked American shoppers, Australians, Canadians and Japanese they would tell you the same. The Wii is harder to find than a Cabbage Patch Kid in 1982. If you find them on a store shelf, buy them all.

Many PC users still are afraid to upgrade to Vista until SP1 is released. It's getting closer. Microsoft said it has reached the "release candidate" with the first service pack for Windows Vista, with plans to make the test software available publicly next week.

Cell phone customers of AT&T can now use any device and software app they want including email and music downloading. And you don't have to sign a contract. How it works: If you want to use AT&T's network but don’t want to sign a contract, you’ll have to buy your own device and pay full price. Customers can purchase devices in AT&T phone stores or any retailer that sells GSM phones that are compatible with AT&T’s network.

To activate service, you'll also have to buy a $25 "SIM" card from AT&T, enabling the phone to connect to the carrier’s network. Some users may also have to pay an activation fee, which costs $18-$36, depending on the rate plan.

This follows Verizon Wireless' announcement last week to open up their networks to other devices. That move is not expected to happen until late next year. I smell a big change in the entire wireless industry.

Hello Dubai

I've been following the big news from Emirates Airlines the past few months. Big, at least locally, since they announced non-stop service between Houston and Dubai.

Today was the first day of service and I was live on the tarmac at IAH as flight 211 touched down at 3:26pm, 44 minutes ahead of schedule. Water cannons welcomed the 777-200LR which traveled nearly 17 hours carrying 266 passengers.

Houston is the second U.S. gateway for Emirates (after New York) and will operate three times a week, increasing to daily on February 1, 2008.

I note all of this because this is indeed great news for Houston as it continues to put our city in the International spotlight. Tourism will certainly be a draw on both sides of the flight service. Before this travellers needed to connect through New York or a foreign city to reach the hot country of Dubai (hot as in heat and hot as in happenin'). Now we can sleep straight through.

From the first class cabins I saw at the press conference a few months ago, sleeping would actually not be my first choice. Emirates recently swept three top awards at the World Airline Entertainment Association’s (WAEA) Avion Awards. The 600+ channels of on-demand entertainment on the airline’s ICE (information, communication, entertainment) system also offers seatback SMS and email services and live text news updates throughout the flight.

The only way to fly. Get your passports.

A Heartbreaker of a halftime show

Tom Petty is no Paul McCartney. Or Prince, for that matter. What was the NFL thinking when they named him to perform at the Super Bowl next February in Glendale, AZ?

Oh, the money.

Petty is closely aligned by Bridgestone Corp., whom - oh by the way - just happens to be sponsoring the Super Bowl's halftime show. Why not go with Geritol, Depends or even Brylcream?

McCartney played the big gig seen by 140 million Americans a few years ago, then the Rolling Stones and now Petty? I can understand why those previous acts were chosen and even last year's performance by the reclusive Prince. Michael Jackson even moonwalked at Super Bowl XXVII (we will try to forget his sister at the Houston game in 2004).

All big names in music. But Tom Petty? I'd rather settle for Celine Dion; she's at least more well-known around the world. I can quickly think of at least five other "big name" performers who would be much better choices:

Elton John (oops, he's gay so that probably wouldn't sit well with the NFL and corporate America)
The Eagles
Bon Jovi
Garth Brooks
Bruce Springsteen

I actually care about this because I think the Super Bowl is the coolest spectacle of the year. Even more so, I expect to BE at the Super Bowl since the Cowboys are looking like they will be in it for the record 9th time. Hope they pass out earplugs along with those commemorative seat cushions.

The NFL is free fallin'. I won't back down from my stance - I don't like it.

Houston-based MMA Fighter Dies

Get prepped for several days of sports talk and columnist shouting matches about the safety of mixed martial arts (i.e. UFC). And the story will have a Houston dateline.

Sam Vasquez, who was stopped by Vince Libardi on Oct. 20 at the Toyota Center, died Friday at the age of 35. Vasquez is the first to die in a regulated MMA match. After enduring separate surgeries to remove blood clots from his brain as well as a massive stroke, Vasquez was discharged from downtown Houston's Saint Joseph Medical Center Critical Care Unit and transferred to an area hospice on Nov. 26.

According to Sherdog.com:

Vasquez, who was licensed to compete by the Texas Boxing and Wrestling Program, took rapid combinations and a hard right punch to the chin from Libardi (4-3) in the third round.

In his third professional fight -- each of which were promoted by Saul Soliz, a veteran trainer who has worked with several UFC champions and a host of local Texas fighters, including the fallen Vasquez -- the referee allowed Vasquez (1-2) to stand after he was dropped. When the fighter subsequently collapsed the bout was called. Repeated attempts to reach Soliz for comment went unreturned.

Eight minutes elapsed while Texas-mandated EMTs attended to the
incapacitated Vasquez, who was eventually placed onto a stretcher and supported with a neck brace. His exit from the arena to Saint Joseph Medical Center was marked with a slight, occasional seizure visible to the cage-side audience. Vasquez's hospital stay was first complicated by what doctors called a large "acute clot" that formed within the brain and required surgery on Nov. 4 to relieve pressure.

The first clot was not a result of the initial injury Vasquez suffered,
said his wife, Sandra. A "rare" second clot developed soon afterwards, said Vasquez's doctor, demanding another invasive procedure. Listed in critical condition, the fighter was placed in a medically induced coma after suffering a stroke on Nov. 9 that prompted Vasquez's family to contact LifeGift, an organ donation center.

Like in the case of Dedge, concerns about Vasquez's pre-fight health have surfaced. At his age, Vasquez would have been required to undergo extensive pre-fight medical screening to gain a license in Texas.

Steve Bruno, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, said federal laws prohibit his agency from disclosing particular information regarding a fighter's application.

Prior to Vasquez's death, Bruno said the state has no plans for any sort of moratorium on mixed martial arts competition.

I emailed my friend Steve Sievert who covers MMA for the Chronicle for comments. Here is a link to his story about Vasquez's injuries in the Nov. 26, 2007, column.

I don't understand the sport too much but I do know how popular it is. Boxing matches seem to be a thing of the past as MMA provides fans with an all-out combat featuring a wide variety of fighting techniques like striking and grappling.

If past stories of sports-related deaths hold true this time, expect MMA and leagues like the UFC to gain more exposure and popularity. As tragic as the death of racing legend Dale Earnhardt was, NASCAR has increased in popularity since his Daytona Speedway accident in 2001.