calendar April 27th, 2009 by Romack


Last summer, I went to UMARMY with my good friends David and Karen Runnels - which was an absolute blast. While I was on the trip, I ran out of one of the most essential items packed in my travel bag - Electrashave. You see, friends - I have sensitive skin. If you ever see me walking around, or even going to church, with scruff on my face, it’s not because I don’t know how to shave, didn’t want to shave, or don’t know how to shave - it’s because it’s incredibly painful to shave. David was making a Wal-Mart run and asked if I needed anything. I asked him to pick up a bottle for me…and he came back with one - and even picked up the tab on it.

…and now, almost a year later, I have a little bit left in this bottle. I shave about three times a week, so it’s a pretty good bargain. I say all this to say - David Runnels is a true friend. He has warmed my heart and soothed my skin.

calendar April 23rd, 2009 by Romack
Heard a woman’s phone go off in Disability Services this morning and it was this funky, almost hip-hop, ringtone. It didn’t really catch me off guard because it sounded a lot like a default ringtone - but it did get me thinking…

What’s your ringtone? What’s the jam that bumps when your friends and family call? Do you have different tones for different folks, or is it a standard ringtone? Most importantly, why is this particular tune your ringtone?

Give me some feedback in the comments section. I’d love to hear what songs are gracing the ringtone selection on your cellular.
calendar April 16th, 2009 by Romack
When we got our new car, I decided to setup the satellite radio for Angela, since she had such a long commute to and from work. I’ve also noticed, since it has been in the car, I’m also listening to it more at home as well, whether it be online or via the DirecTV channels broadcasting some Sirius/XM channels. Three channels I am constantly turning it to are: (1) Alt Nation (2) the “80’s” channel and (3) the “90’s” channel. Now, I love the country stations and the pop stations, but these three are my go-to stations when I want good music. I love asking folks what they are listening to or what songs have really influenced them. So I’d like to ask:

What song was the best song from the 80’s? AND, what song was the best from the 90’s?

Comment below and let me know what you think. There were so many artists in those two decades that influence me greatly musically and some songs that I cannot help but divert my attention when I hear them. What are yours?

calendar April 4th, 2009 by Romack

If you live in the Lufkin or Nacogdoches areas, I know you’ve seen them - the buses owned and operated by the Brazos Transit District (or now known as the District). The District operates several fixed and paratransit routes for able-bodied individuals, as well as many elderly and disabled individuals. In fact, the route I use primarily has a stop at the VA Clinic in Lufkin. The route I am mentioning (and the one I am most familiar with) is called the Lufkin-Nacogdoches Express and it operates three round-trip routes to get folks from either Lufkin to Nac, Nac to Lufkin, or there and back during the business week. When I lived in Lufkin, I did use one of the colored fixed routes to get to the mall and downtown once - however, the buses would rarely stop for me, so I was unable to utilize the service most of the time.

Many of you know when I am using the bus. I tend to Twitter about my adventures on the route, whether they show up to get me or not, and the people I have met while on the bus. Yesterday was quite a different experience for me, and I wanted to share it.

For those of you reading this that do not know me, I a student at SFA in Nacogdoches, TX. I have been visually impaired since birth, lost all vision in my left eye at age, 3, and then lost nearly all of the vision in my right eye last May. I travel with the assistance of my yellow lab guide dog, Larry, who was with me yesterday, while riding the bus to Lufkin. I see very little light, and that’s about it. To put it into perspective, I have to stare into the sky for a minute or so to find out where the sun is at on a cloudless day. Pretty stinkin’ blind, eh?

I needed to get into Lufkin to have lunch with my mom and brother and then, eventually, go run errands with my wife, Angela, and possibly go to the Lufkin zoo and have dinner together. I decided to catch the second route of the day, which departs from the SFA Administration building at 11:10am. I caught the bus around that time and met with the driver, who was a substitute for the regular driver. As we stopped at the Nacogdoches City Hall, The driver had a discussion with two friends that were outside of the bus while we were parked there, waiting for folks to get on the bus. The discussion was friendly, just shooting the breeze, but then they started talking about the bus and the District. The driver was asked how his bus was driving now, to which he replied - “It’s a bit better.” Then there was discussion about how they were going to replace this bus with a nice, new diesel bus with air brakes. They also talked about a station or building being constructed in Nacogdoches - which I assumed was for a bus station or facility for the buses. I didn’t think anything of this discussion in that moment.

We arrived into Jennings Station in Lufkin at around 12:10pm or so. My brother was going to meet me there. The driver pulled into the station and parked the bus, then opened the doors and said “All right. Jennings Station.” I started to get up and head forward with Larry, and all of a sudden I was flat on the ground. I heard a thud noise as the bus thrust forward. It happened really quickly. Larry even fell to the floor, poor guy. I was absolutely humiliated! There were at least two gentlemen in the back plus the driver on the bus. I hate the perception that blind individuals are clumsy and don’t pay attention (and that we fall or run into things all the time), so I was angry that I fulfilled the stereotype. However, more interesting was that the driver didn’t ask if I was “OK”, nor did he get up to assist me. Instead, he said “The brakes have been acting up today.” I started walking back towards the door, a bit agitated, and he asks if I’m going to be all right - to which I respond “I bet you were pretty scared to see a blind man laying flat on the ground in your bus.” We both laughed and I said I’d make it off all right. I was a bit disoriented because most drivers at least let me know where I am being dropped off at - so I stumbled around for a few minutes trying to get my surroundings. I called the customer service supervisor as soon as I arrived at my parent’s office. She did return my call to file an initial complaint. Suprisingly, when I spoke to her at 3pm, she was unaware that this had happened on the bus - seeing as how most of the time, the driver will file a report on an incident like that.

Reality - I am OK. I am still alive. I didn’t break any bones, but I am in a little pain and pulled a few muscles trying to catch myself on the way down. However, there are several things wrong with this situation. First off, why didn’t the bus driver get up to assist me. I was on the ground for a few seconds, and he had plenty of time to ask if I needed any help. I understand he needed to get control of the bus, but even a simple Do you need a hand up” or “Here, let me help you” would have been extremely helpful and meaningful. Secondly, the driver had made mention that the brakes had been acting up all day. Remember that I mentioned that disabled and elderly individuals ride this bus - even how one of the stops on this very route was at the Lufkin VA Clinic? Why is a bus that is having operating issues so severe as the brakes,even on the road to begin with? Imagine I had more severe mobility issues. What if I was 80 years old. I could have been injured very severely.

This is absolutely unacceptable that the District even had this bus on the road to begin with. Next, to make matters worse, the drive hadn’t even let the offices know that there had even been an accident. To give him the benefit of the doubt, he might not have had time to fill out paperwork regarding it. However, he did have enough time to place a personal cell phone call while stopped at Angelina College around noon on the stop before mine. Could he have not phoned or radioed in to let his supervisor know of the incident? There is some serious liability in that.

I will be honest - I love my independence. I love being able to fight the struggle against my disability in limiting what I can do, and getting out into the community to be productive. I utilize this route to make it to band rehearsals, see my wife and family, and take care of business that I may have. I don’t feel safe on these buses now. There is no telling what kind of breakdown could be present in the vehicles that are on the road, and it’s frightening that this bus would be allowed on the road to transport the elderly and disabled. I refuse to pay money to a service that has such little respect to its patrons that it cannot maintain its vehicles, yet it can increase its rates by a staggering amount. I encourage you - if you live in the Lufkin or Nacogdoches area and you feel this is wrong, please contact the Brazos Transit District and let them know how wrong this is. I know many folks who rely on a safe service to provide them with transportation around the cities of Lufkin and Nacogdoches - and it’s inappropriate that an incident like this has happened. You can find the District on the Internet by clicking here or you can contact their customer service personel by called (936) 639-3055 and choosing Option #3 at the voice prompt.

I will keep you updated as events unfold with this matter.

calendar March 31st, 2009 by Romack

There are a few acknowledged and undeniable guidelines that society has established as “norms” involved in the usage and participation on an elevator. Though there is generally a few bad apples out there that don’t adhere to these unwritten rules - generally speaking, we know that activities such as talking loudily on your cell phone (or talking loudily in general), flatulence, and martial arts practice are all behaviors we want to abstain from while riding the above mentioned elevator. Well, after this afternoon, I’d like to add an additional behavior that belongs on the list I just mentioned - and that is to not conduct a lengthy conversation in the doorway of an elevator with an individual down the hall, while holding the door open - thereby causing anyone waiting on the elevator to close (and go up) to have to endure your ridiculous conversation about how drunk you are going to get this weekend because, believe it or not, we don’t care. Oh, and another thing - don’t act like we are the ones’ who have an issue when we politely ask you to either get in or out so the elevator can depart on its journey. You’re in the wrong, Buster Brown.

That is all.

calendar March 30th, 2009 by Romack

My good friend, Todd Wright, and I had a conversation a while back about people who “discover” new artists in an attempt to become the end-all-be-all music guru. I am not that guy. In fact, I am the first to admit that my iPod is full of music like Ashley Parker Angel, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, and Ashlee Simpson. So, as a shock to some, I have been trying to immerse myself into the alternative music culture - and so I dialed my XM-Sirius tuner into “Alt Nation”. No “Britney’s” or “Ashlee’s” here, folks. Below is a list of artists that I have found particularily enjoyable. And yes, I will take credit for sharing anything “new” with you:

- Kings of Leon
- Coconut Records
- Shiny Toy Guns
- Hot Hot Heat
- Iglu and Hartly
- Matt and Kim
- Rise Against
- Matthew Good Band
- Dead Confederate
- Amberlin
- the Daylights
- People in Planes
- the Spill Canvas
- Does it Offend You, Yeah?

**DISCLAIMER** Please note that I am not saying these are “undiscovered” artists. Smarty-pants comments such as “But Romack, I’ve been listening to these guys for years” are not acceptable comments. If you’ve heard of any of these bands and like them, post something constructive such as, “You like ______, then you’d like ______.”

calendar March 25th, 2009 by Romack

1. “Is that one of those ‘seeing guard dogs’”?”
2. “What’s that things on his back for? Is it for when he gets a little rowdy?”
3. “Mommy, I don’t think they’re allowed to bring a dog in here.”
4. “Is he gonna’ bite?”
5. “Shoot, he’s a big dog. How much does he eat?”
6. “She’s beautiful…” (as he is licking himself).
7. “I bet he smells my dog.”
8. “(Insert random story from the person from #7 regarding their dog at home.)”
9. “I know you’re not supposed to feed them anything, but I just gave him a little piece of my sandwich.”
10. “I’ve never seen one of those ‘seeing’ dogs before.”

calendar March 22nd, 2009 by Romack

calendar March 17th, 2009 by Romack

Angela had the day off today, so we decided to tend to our car a bit. We needed to get our oil changed, get our tires rotated, and investigate the small leak in the rear passenger side tire (we’ve been filling that bad boy up almost every two or three days). We called Tire Max and found out that they only charge a small fee to repair tires that weren’t purchased from them, which was fine with us. A few minutes after they took our car back, a service tech comes in to ask us which tire we were having trouble with, to which we remind him - the rear passenger side tire. He tells us that he was surprised we didn’t say anything about the rear driver’s side tire because it has a nail in it. We didn’t notice it, but not a problem - they’ll just repair it, too. Then we go to pay for all that they serviced and they inform us that there were two nails in the other rear tire - so now, three nails in total. This motivates me to pose a question:

Why do we have so many nails in our tires? Did we happen to stumble into a construction site that we were unaware of? And more importantly, who is going around, being incredibly neglegent with their nails? In a failing economy, shouldn’t we be mindful of excessive waste in our construction supplies?

I am not a driver. I cannot see the road on which our car is travelling. All I know is that I walk a good bit on roads and have never encountered a nail in my shoe, so one would think that picking up a nail would be somewhat difficult to do - but three on the same vehicle that we’ve owned for a mere month?

You tell me. Is three nails a bit excessive? Am I wrong to suppose that some disgruntled construction worker is going around Nacogdoches-Lufkin with a stolen container of nails, chunking them onto the road in a desperate attempt to seek vengence on the failing housing market?

calendar March 17th, 2009 by Romack

I just wanted to add this stupid video..

This one stupid video that really, in the grand scheme of things, means nothing. I just wanted to put my name back in the blogosphere with a simple and slightly humerous video to get me back in the game. But what happened? A big ordeal, with the end result of me trashing all of my posts, comments, links, content, etc etc. I was irritated. But, I have put together something slightly updated and should have a bit more content up in the coming days.

Oh, and here’s the stupid video…




Question for Todd Wright from Justin Romack on Vimeo.