Back in Houston

I went to Roller Derby straight off the road from San Antonio.
I spent the early part of the day in S.A. pricing restaurant equipment and talking to a pool table vendor. The bottom line is that no matter whether I buy the stuff new or find it in a dumpster, I'll be hauling everything out to West Texas myself. The typical "free delivery and set-up" with a big order is not applicable for such a long distance. Since El Paso and Midland are both 3 hours away as well, I doubt there's any difference at all in policy.
No biggie, I'll just be sure to take at least one huge item every time I go out. Between the 18 foot flatbed and the 4X8 enclosed RC cola trailer I'll be able to get everything over time. Much cheaper, too.
At Roller Derby Mistilla "The Killa" was explaining new rules for this season. The team captains and trainers all went to Tucson to see the Dust Devil tournament last weekend and the rule changes are so our league can better adapt to interleague play. The pictures above were taken during demonstrations of new penalities, changes, etc. The biggest difference the new rules will make its that the "pack" of blockers, led by the team's individual pivots will be skating more as a unit, or individuals may face penalties. It's hard to explain the effect this will have, but I believe the girls are right in instituting this change and as our league gets more pro and the pack speed gets faster in general (like our DDD/HRD bout) it will all make sense. This will be more conversationalist fodder for my "exclusive" podcast interviews with Derby girls before, during, and after the bouts.