I *Heart* Texas

A number of my blogger friends have recently done "Things I Love" posts. Whether the posts are about every day items they can't live without (the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, TiVo and the automatic sliding doors and liftgate on my van are three of mine) or their collection of favorite summer shoes (I just cleared out 25 pairs of shoes from my closet, so this would not be a good one for me to post about), the lists are fun and have gotten some great responses in the "Comments" section of each blog.

I've been wanting to do one, but no particular subject has caught my eye -- until now.

As you know, I do some mindless at-home work for my former full-time employer, MySanAntonio.com. Mostly I proofread and publish comments on the pages that contain blogs or I answer feedback from livid readers, people who can't find the story they need or, every so often, someone who wants us to know that we're doing a good job. The work is not exciting and it's certainly not rocket science, but it is something to keep me from turning into a vegetable who only knows how to cook grilled cheese sandwiches and sing, "If You're Happy and You Know It" to very short people.

Recently, one of my projects has been to gather and verify data from nearly 400 high schools around the Central Texas region.

Now let's just stop right there. For those of you who aren't from Texas, I'll need to do some 'splaining.

You see, high school football in Texas isn't just a sport -- it's a way of life. Families spend entire weeks preparing for the big Friday night game by perfecting their recipe for hot chocolate, gathing up the coziest stadium blankets and bringing out all things team-related like sweatshirts, hats, stadium seats, pom poms and so on and so forth. Tickets are bought weeks or even months in advance and there's very often a tailgating party in the parking lot before the game.

And these aren't even people with kids playing. You should see the parents of the team members. The movie Friday Night Lights was no exaggeration. This is a part of Texas' culture.

Okay, that being said, MySanAntonio.com has an entire section devoted to high school sports and, namely, football, come August.

It's been my job to input the names, addresses, phone numbers, school colors, mascots and stadium locations and, in doing so, I have been united and reunited with some of my favorite crazy Texas town names.

So now, without further ado, here are some of the best small towns in the Lone Star State. And yes, every single one of these does indeed exist.

Dime Box
Old Dime Box
Cut-n-Shoot
Beeville
Agua Dulce (means, "Sweet Water" in Spanish)
Banquete
Bruni (as in "The Sultan of..."
Comfort
Dripping Springs
Edcouch
Louise
Mercedes
Geronimo
Nome
China
San Diego (don't go looking for the Zoo, though...you'll be sorely disappointed)
Shiner
Utopia
Van Vleck
Grit
Noodle
Paris
Atlanta
Eden

And a few, just to throw you off
Pflugerville (pronounced "Flooger-ville")
Boerne (pronounced "Bernie")
Gruene (pronounced "Green")
Helotes (pronounced "Hell-o-tis")
Burnet (pronounced "Burn-it")
Manor (pronounced "Main-er")
Buda (pronounced "Bue-duh")


Texas is a big state, so I'm sure I've missed a few obvious ones (and maybe some not-so-obvious ones), so post some of your favorites.

And while Texans like to think we're the only state in the Union (the only state worth mentioning, right? *BIG SMILE*), we aren't and there are plenty of good names for towns all over the USA, so post 'em and see what we come up with!