Mike

For those interested in this page, it is full of my favorite things. Mostly of things I like. Not wanting to appear to be to pompous, I have downgraded this page from a menu item to a link on the Stuff That Works page.

If you would like to know more about me and my Family then the Poppadillo Blog is the place to be. For example "Straddling the Atlantic" , give you an idea of how I have got to where I am.

Poppadillo Blog Category entitled "Growing Up in Dublin, Texas ". There are a bunch of stories about my growing up with my Brothers and Sisters in Dublin Texas, ( from my point of view, ha-ha :-) ) with a few from my teenage years in Sinton, Texas.

The "Family Stories" Category, are stories from various Family Members. Recently my Mother, Virginia Vauthier, has been sharing stories she remembers and have told us though the years.

Thanks to Mom for recording them and my Sister Sue for typing and forwarding them to me to include on the Blog for everyone's viewing. Aunt Mary, also recorded information from Grandpa and Granny Ragland, titled "Our Story : Moms Part " and then another titled "Our Story : Dads Part", both tell a little about there lives as kids and what it was like during their time..

And of course my ramblings under the "Mike's Philosphy" Category.

Please feel free to comment below the individual stories or by emailing me at :

mvauthier@texastortillafactory.com

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoyed the Blog.

Mike

Partial List of my Favorite Things

Color: Blue

Quotes:

“You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas”

by Davey Crockett, 1786-1836

-----

"'Tis impossible to know the end of this days business before it comes.
But it's enough that the day will end, and then the end be known.
And if we meet again, then we'll smile.
And if not, then this parting was well made. "

by Col. Rhodes, played by Gene Hackman in the Movie "Uncommon Valor", 1983

Hobbies: “Photography” Camera Nikon D-60 and “Computers” Apple Mac Pro

Places to Relax: “Texas” Hill Country and Gulf of Mexico

Book: “1984” by George Orwell

Food: Tex-Mex

Songs

Song: This is a tough one and varies with my Mood. But if I have to pick ONE it is...

... actually the message from the two songs, "In My Life" by John Lennon and The Beatles from their "Rubber Soul" Album, and "Bob Dylan's Dream" from the "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" Album, by Bob Dylan.

Both songs speak to our friends and loved ones, whom we have had in our life, but for whatever reason have pasted along the forks and bends on the roads we have travelled in our time.

In My Life	Bob Dylan's Dream
Rubber Soul (Wikipedia Link)	The FreeWheelin' Bob Dylan (iTunes Store Link)

( Note: Clicking Clicking the Album Cover or Title of Song will PLAY the Song in a Pop-UP Window)

Short Movie

The Last Real Cowboys



The Last Real Cowboys
Click on Picture above to Play Movie
(a Pop-Up Window will open where it will Play)

PFilm Credits

Director: Jeff Lester

Principal Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Mickey Jones

Writers: Jeff Lester, Rudy Gaines

Atom Films "The Last Real Cowboys" Page

Long Moive

LOS ANGELES NOVEMBER, 2019 - Early in the 21st Century, THE TYRELL CORPORATION advanced Robot evolution into the NEXUS phase - a being virtually identical to a human - known as a Replicant. The NEXUS 6 Replicants were superior in strength and agility, and at least equal in intelligence, to the genetic engineers who created them. Replicants were used Off-World as slave labor, in the hazardous exploration and colonization of other planets. After a bloody mutiny by a NEXUS 6 combat team in an Off-World colony, Replicants were declared illegal on earth - under penalty of death. Special police squads - BLADE RUNNER UNITS - had orders to shoot to kill, upon detection, any trespassing Replicant.

This was not called execution.
It was called retirement.


Film Credits

Director: Ridley Scott

Principal Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh, Daryl Hannah, william Sanderson, Brion James, Joe Turkel, Joanna Cassidy, James Hong, Morgan Paul, Kevin, Thompson, John Edward Allen, Hy Pyke

Writers: Hampton Fancer, and David Peoples

Voiceovers: Roland Kibbee



Blade Runner
Click on Picture above to Play YouTube Movie Clip
(a Pop-Up Window will open where it will Play)


One of my Favorite Scenes is towards the end of Blade Runner :
(Note: The words from Script)

..... Deckard gets up and looks for escape - he runs towards a trapdoor, but Roy comes through it (clutching dove in one hand).

Deckard runs and tries to jump to the next building, but he hasn't enough strength left to completely make it and just manages to grab on to a protruding girder.

Roy looks on. He then thinks (Dove pose) then jumps across the gap easily. He looks down on Deckard.

Roy: Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.

[Deckard's grip slowly fails until he lets go. As he drops he spits at Roy. Roy catches him by the wrist.]

Roy: Kinship!
[(Note: There is debate about whether this is actually said. Hauer claims he didn't, but that is irrelevant as it could have been dubbed in by Scott later (as I think it almost certainly was.)]

[Roy lifts Deckard up and throws him on the roof. Deckard can now do nothing more. Roy sits.]

Roy: I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate. All those ... moments will be lost ... in time ... like tears ... in rain. Time ... to die.

[Roy's head bows. The dove flies away. Deckard watches Roy die.]

( OV only )
Deckard (voiceover): I don't know why he saved my life. Maybe in those last moments he loved life more than he ever had before. Not just his life ... anybody's life ... my life. All he'd wanted were the same answers the rest of us want. Where do I come from? Where am I going? How long have I got? All I could do was sit there and watch him die.
( End OV )

Script from Blade Runner Site

Click Here To Go To the You Tube Blade Runner Clips.

Travel Texas

The Official Site for Texas Tourism. I Love my Home State of Texas, so I would have been remiss by not mentioning this site. If you want to know about what to do and see and do through out Texas then check Travel Texas seb site.

One of my favorite Cities to visit is San Antonio, whcih is full in Texas History, with the Alamo, and the Spanish Missions in and around the city. Most of all I always enjoy the Riverwalk Cafes, they are delicious.

Texas, it is like a whole other country. Travel Texas

Dr. Pepper, Especially Dublin Dr. Pepper

What can I say but next to a Big Glass of Ice Tea on a Hot Day in Texas, my favorite Beverage of choice is
Dr. Pepper. The other cool thing is that the first and oldest Dr. Pepper Bottling Plant, is in my Home Town Dublin, Texas, still uses the original formula and ships all over the world.

From the FAQ page on the Dublin Dr. Pepper Site :

"Dr Pepper was created in Waco, Texas in 1885 by Charles Alderton. He worked at the Old Corner Drug Store owned by Wade Morrison. Morrison actually named the drink after the father of a young lady he loved in his home state of Virginia. He did not win favor with the father, but the name took hold. For several years, Dr Pepper was sold only as a fountain drink, but when businessman Sam Houston Prim tasted the new drink, he decided it had a promising future as a bottled drink. He established the first Dr Pepper bottling plant in Dublin, Texas in 1891."

10  2  4 Dublin Dr. Pepper Site

Other Links:      WiKiPedia : Dr. Pepper      Dr. Pepper : Dr. Pepper.com

Levi Strauss

I have been wearing Levi's® 501® 'Shrink to Fit' Button Fly Jeans, since I don't know when, and they seem to last forever. I wear a pair 365 Days of the year. The longest time I have woren a pair before they began tear was around seven years.

The last time I purchased Jeans was around my Birthday of this year. Before then around 2003, when I was in Texas. So two of the four Levis I had finally sarted to tear just above the knee in February of this year. Those two were some I had brought over when we came back to the Netherlands in 2000.

Jean links : Levi 501 Jeans, Michael Shanks Site : The History of Jeans, and Jeans that won the West by Joseph Caro

Tony Lama Boots

Tony Lama Boots
Although I have wore a few different Brands of Boots over the years I have found that Tony Lama's Boots to be the most comfortable, and as long as there is a cobbler around to half sole and heel them they last forever.

Ford Mustang - FoMoCo

The First Mustang I ever road in was my Brother Kenneth and Mellissa's, 1967, Tan Mustang Coupe. It was so cool, I was in my Senior Year of High School, and I remember a road trip we took, I believe it was to see Mellissa's Parents in Marshall, Texas.

Anyway on the way back Melissa was asleep in the backseat, Ken was driving and I was in the passenger seat. We were on an open road with not to much traffic as it was late.
Ken and I were singing along with the songs on the Radio, and the Supreme's came on with "Baby Love". We started singing along with them and both of us were moving our arms from one side to the other, singing, "WEOoh-Oohwee Baby Love Oh Baby Love....". IT was fun until we got a bit carried away and we ran off the road and onto the sholdier. We both immediately stopped the dancing of our arms. Kenneth guided the Mustang back onto the road, so just about as soon as we were off the road and onto its soft shoulder, we were back oonto the pavement.

Melissa woke up and asked what was going on, of course we played innocent, but I do not think we were very convincing.

The first Mustang I owned was a 1975 Blue Fastback, while stationed at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. When my Son John came along, we traded it in for a Ford Pinto Station Wagon to carry all the Kids.

I did not own another Mustang until 1996, after retiring from the Air Force, and we had returned to Austin, Texas. As fate would have it, we had to sell it and just about everything else in 1999, to move back to the Netherlands. It is the one in the foreground in the picture above.

Then in April of 2002, and back in Austin, Texas, it looked like a project I had with the Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Texas Department of Economic Development was going to take off, so I bought the 1999, Ford Mustang. It is the one in the Background in the picture above.

Well the project fell through, but seems they used my ideas, ha-ha, but I still have the Mustang and I am working on another approach to the original idea.

I drive it when I am back in Texas. In between trips, Jethro, Mary and Ethan baby sit it. :-)

Thanks to them.
Mike

Ford Mustang