1/31/16 Do People Not Understand Space?

    Why do people insist on sitting right next to me?  When we go out to lunch and dinner, I love sitting at a booth, they are kind of intimate, you face the people you come with, and focus stays in there, for the most part.  I don't sit in the popular areas, like when Chubs was smaller and I sat by the playscape at Chick Fil A, you are kind of asking for other parents to sit nearby.  I am talking about when the restaurant is mostly empty, there might be five tables and six booths open, I can bet good money, the next person to come in will sit directly behind me.
    What doesn't make sense is that because I am a big boy, I will manhandle the booth and push it open, so I can be comfortable.  That means that the booth directly behind me has enough room for children to sit in, but it is usually adults, I'm sure they are brain dead, otherwise they would notice all the other booths are much more comfortable.  Today (Friday), we went to Fuddrucker's and all the booths but one were taken when we walked in.  I did a slow grrr in my head and then told Chubs and Wife to sit at the table with the metal chairs (those are real comfy), Chubs wanted to try the counter overlooking the grilling area.  I told him to knock himself out, we would sit like people over here.  The one open booth was tempting, but since there were people on both sides, I wouldn't be able to open it to my comfort size, so table it was.  By the time our burgers came though, everybody seemed to have finished from the booths and I told Wife I wanted to move.  We quickly collected all our stuff, and jumped over.  I swear all the other booths were open, but in comes this happy little family.  Guy, gal, and baby.  Where do you think they sat?  I cannot understand the part where the booth attached to my booth was mostly under the table, yet where does Mama sit with her precious cargo?  Right behind me on that half a booth I left.
    I don't really watch my mouth, my boys are used to my language, but these people are standing in my flight zone, so anything goes.  If you don't like the cussing, sit away from the ornery fellow.  Chubs is trying to tell me a would you rather do this or that after we ate our meal, and baby mama's vibrating thing is on the table going off.  I can't handle stuff like that not getting taken care of.  Bzzzt bzzzt bzzt, and nothing.  She has the baby in her arms.  I don't know where her dude went, but as I am trying to listen to Chubs and Wife, I am checking my phone, asking Wife is that you buzzing, where is your phone?  She says it's not that, it's the vibrating food thingy, which I know, but I wanted the babay mama to get off her ass and turn it in.  I understand they have a baby, but again, sit the fuck three booths down then whip out a tittyand feed the baby, why sit right next to us and then bother me?  How did she fit in that space, she had to have the table  cutting circulation to her lower extremities, I will never understand this type of people, but dammit, they are easy to hate.

1/30/16 Mercy Kill That Delusional Dream?

    This morning on the radio, one of the local deejays was talking about getting pressure from a family member to try and help out a younger niece or something break into the music business.  He felt bad because he heard her demo, and he kept saying it didn't sound that great.  He was finally talked into playing some of it on the radio, and of course, she was horrible.  I thought it was an interesting question, who has the right to kill someone's dream?  Obviously, she was bad, she seemed tone deaf, couldn't stay on tempo, seemed to get lost starting and stopping, even her energy didn't match the song.  It was that stupid song about a girl getting cheated on and she is going to take revenge by messing up his truck.  Just take your whiskey drinking, pool playing ass and find another dude.  In the real world you didn't teach him a lesson, you showed the world what we already think, "bitches be crazy!"
    But back to the singer, bad song choice aside, if she was a teenager, sure let her delusion carry her through high school, as long as she doesn't start thinking of dropping out to make it on her own talent.  But the girl in question was in her late twenties, married, and saddled with two kids.  At what point do you stop her?  If she starts talking of going to Nashville, or Los Angeles, do you tell them they suck.  Music is so fickle, maybe she finds the right person, sells her soul to the devil, and gets on the radio like Ke$ha with all that auto tune craziness.  Few musicians last more than an album or two, but it does seem anyone can get hot with a song and enjoy fifteen minutes of fame.
    Look at the "nerds" running TV right now.  I love The Big Bang Theory, but how did all those varieties of nerds get on TV and rule?  Stuart who runs the comic book store is not what you would call a leading man, but he has found a niche that is very much his.  That little weird guy has been on TV longer than a lot of beautiful people who have tried just as hard.
    I guess it is hard to squash a dreamer.  I started out writing this supporting the kill the dreamer, but there are a lot of examples of people who succeed who have no business succeeding.  Maybe the deejay should just get himself removed out of the equation and let the niece continue doing her thing.
    There are plenty of reasons to abandon your family, some people do it just because they prefer getting high, others because they like chasing different girls every week.  This chick taking off and abandoning her family for music success, as long as she can look at herself and accept what she is doing, then go for it.  We live in an age where many weak-spined grandparents are raising their grandchildren because their children need to grow up and mature way into their 40's.
    Actually, my belief is that you can dream and be anything you want to be until you decide to have kids.  Once you have kids, you cease to matter, your job is to ensure your kids can dream and be anything they want to be.  The reality is too many self obsessed a-holes can't stop thinking about me-me-me-me, an a-holes favorite person, and even with kids, they will do what fancies them.
    If the niece could find a way to succeed while the kids are at school or asleep then more power to her, otherwise, get your ass to your minimum wage job and be there for your kids, that should be all the wealth and power you need.

1/29/16 Attack Of The Mexican Candy?

    Boy seems to hurt himself on purpose, sometimes.  He does not abuse alcohol, but still finds ways to hurt his body, almost like he refuses to think.  This past weekend he took it upon himself to take the whole weekend off from work, first of all.  We kind of didn't realize he had done that, but it was the first week of school, so we said it was ok.  Friday night, his crew and him actually joined us in going to San Marcos to eat at Fuego's and drop off Chubs for his sleepover at his cousins in San Antonio.  I like that Boy hangs out with us, but I did tell them, I can't be paying for everyone's meals, it's just too many of y'all.  Wife had a mini van which she rented for her field trip Saturday, and she insisted on taking it.  I was a bit bothered because while she was at work, me and Chubs had gotten my truck washed, and I even gave it a wax before she got home, knowing we were going to see her family, I wanted my truck to shine.  Oh well, it just sat in the driveway, all shiny and nowhere to go,
    Saturday, Wife was busy all day, and she finally got home around six.  She was being hella aggressive for me to wake up and get going and she was also complaining her phone wouldn't charge.  She also happened to mention that Boy was already in San Antonio, they wanted to make sure and go to a store specializing in Mexican Candy.  At this point, all I heard was Boy is in San Antonio, I told Wife "we just saw your whole family yesterday, get Boy to bring Chubs home, we can deal with getting you a new phone while we wait."  She hesitated for a minute, but not having a phone was a bigger concern, so we texted Boy and after a lot of ummm and uhhhh, I finally talked to him and I told him to tell me "I will bring Chubs back to Austin."  I didn't want any confusion to happen, as he is good at acting dumb when necessary.
    He brought back Chubs fine, we waited at the house, with some of our friends after they found out we weren't going anywhere.  When they got home, Boy, I shall call him DumDum the rest of this story, had his Yeti full of an assortment of Mexican Candy.  He had a container that weighed five pounds of "tamarindo", and the rest of the stuff was easily worse for you.  There was a jar of pickled pickles in a spicier vinegar concoction you could smell as soon as he opened the jar five feet away.  All sorts of gummy candy swimming in red chile powders and even a green almost neon colored one.  DumDum has periodically had problems with his stomach throughout the years.  One time, he ate a ramen noodles cup at our neighbor and his head swelled to the size of a basketball, at least once a year we go to the ER because he is "dying" of some pain.  He overdosed on Monster sodas one night, drinking about eight of them.  We then had to sit through his crying as he crashed from his caffeine high.
    He left Sunday night to school, talking about "I have candy for the rest of the school year, I told him "don't be dumb", not realizing DumDum needs things explained better than that.  Tuesday night he calls that he needs to go to the ER, he probably has gout (self diagnosis) and his fingers and toes are swelled.  Wife told him to take Benadryl, stop eating the stupid candy, and to just go to bed.  Wednesday he shows up during the day and wakes me.  "Mama needs to take me to the Minute Clinic at least."  He was demanding.  He told me about all the swelling, I said "let me see".  He said it was all gone, but he did feel like he was wearing a diaper, his legs were swelled.  I said "let's see".  He pulls his pants down, my arms are thicker than his legs, I didn't see any red patches or skin irritation, or anything abnormal.  We went and picked up Chubs, told him to get something simple, like a burger and fries, nope!!! DumDum has to get a salad with all sorts of this and that, then after he finished eating he is showing me his fingers are swelling up.  I am a swelled up fat-ass, Chubs is a stocky boy with thick hands, looking at his "swelled up fingers", I see Skeletors hands, just skin and bones.  He says look at how red they are, my hands are redder.  I am touching them, they aren't hot or anything.
    Eventually Wife takes DumDum to the clinic, and guess what she told him?  Stop eating the crap from the third world country.  She didn't use those words, but she did say it might have MSG or something else that has given you hives.  I guess it takes a few times to let the really good lessons sink in.

1/28/16 We Suck At Grocery Shopping?

    I honestly think this was made harder by the douchebags who banned plastic bags here in town.  We go to the HEB about once a month and really fill a basket up.  Wife has gotten smarter and when we know we are going to do this, we head to the HEB in Kyle.  It is a little further out, but then we don't have to dick around with the issue of plastic bags.
    Some stores like Central Market will "give you" a couple paper bags, which is what the a-holes at HEB should have done, convert to paper bags.  It has been over a year, and I still don't think about carrying bags with me.  I have a job and kids and a busy ass life freaking hippies, I don't sit around thinking about carrying a bag of bags when I want to purchase something, it is so inconvenient.  HEB sells these hardier plastic bags for $1.00 which I usually end up buying 3-4 every time I go to the store.  What are you going to do with the one that carries the meat, it usually gets blood residue, throw it away.  Is that any better than the other bags which get stuffed in the closet with the other 1000 recyclable bags?  When I get pissed at our collection of plastic bags, guess where they go?  Yeah the same dump you didn't want the super thin translucent ones going to.  Guess which one is going to take even longer to decompose?  I hope you a-holes dislocated a shoulder patting yourselves on the back.
    Anyways, because there is never any food at home, we end up eating out every day.  This morning I was in the mood for a little orange juice, I asked Wife next time she goes to the store, which she must have fallen off the wrong side of the bed, cause she snapped that I could just as easily go to the store.  I said fine, so now I will start going more often.  I always take it personally when I am snapped at, so I was feeling "alright bitch, I'm only gonna buy healthy food, see what you do to eat."  Then I remember I too am a fat ass, and we like too much of the same food, so I get over it. 
    We do need a better system than what we are doing.  After I went and got the food, which there was sandwich material, we still ended up going to eat at Whataburger.  I am now ordering a single meat instead of a double meat, but I'm sure a sandwich at home would still be better, for the ass and the wallet.
    Chubs is going to have late days on Mondays and Wednesdays, but still get out at three the rest of the week, this is the kind of stuff where I say it is easier to just eat at Bill Miller, it's on the way.  Or maybe we feel like some ChickFilA, never disappoints, always delicious, or a burger at Wendy's.  Maybe a fancy burger at Fuddrucker's, I do love those fat fries.  See? We will never succeed at dieting, all these places are within a mile of the house.

1/27/16 Timeshare Is Not Being Cool?

    I have mentioned before that we bought a timeshare.  It was working good enough that we even bought from just having access in odd years, now we have full membership.  Last year, we spent Spring Break in Galveston in a two bed/two bath condo, year before we went with my folks out by Lake Palestine, same unit type, 2 bedroom/2 bath. 
    I told Wife I was very fluid when we bought in to the idea of the timeshare.  As long as we can get a unit when we want it, it will be cool.  I am open to almost anywhere, except the location up in Maine because it looks so far away.  Well guess which is only place that has availability for Spring Break?  Yup, up in Maine.  I dread the idea of a thirty hour drive for just the three of us, Boy does not join us anymore for Spring Break.
    I cannot believe that every unit in all 13 places are reserved.  She called and talked to somebody, they said there is no availability through June.  What kind of shit is that?  We are paying almost $400 a month and they can't get us a unit?  We knew we wanted someplace for Spring Break, but they don't let you just reserve anytime.  You have to be within three months, so we wait, we follow the rules, and this is what we get.  The good thing is we don't have to use it this year, we could let the week sit around until 2017, as long as we are in good standing.
    So now the question is "do we say fuck it and default"?  We have never done this before, but is a timeshare a real property thing, would we be penalized?  If we buy something and we can never use it, because it is always full, what are we getting out of it?
    In theory, I loved the idea of the get away weekends, which we could use any three days followed by seven days of non-activity, then we could go another three days and on and on.  The reality is that we are always too busy to do anything as free as that.  I do believe some day, when the kids are fully grown, we will be able to travel light and fast, just Wife and me, but we will see.
    Wife says that now we can split our week, so if we do use it during the summer after 4th of July, we can do a four day weekend maybe in Galveston, and another three day weekend somewhere else, closer to the house.  I only have so many days I can take off.  Another thing we could do is save this year's week and use it next year and get two condos side by side at same time to go either with family or with friends.  That would be cool, last year in Galveston, it was nice, but four days in or so, it got a bit too quiet and relaxed.  I like having people joining us to add that wooh hoo factor.

1/26/16 Lucifer, The TV Show Was Entertaining And Fun?

    This is a brand new show with tonight showing the pilot on FOX.  The premise going into the show is that Satan or Lucifer is tired of running hell.  He has taken a vacation and as the commercials were saying, if Satan took a vacation on earth, where would he end up?  In Los Angeles, of course.  The beginning shows him speeding in a sexy car, and then getting pulled over by a motorcycle cop.  Instead of outrunning him or causing more mayhem and bringing attention to himself, he simply pulls over.  He smooth talks the officer, explains that he has a gift for letting people tell him their innermost desires, and before long, the officer is admitting to loving the feel of speeding himself, he bribes the cop, and soon is on his way.
    He ends up in a bar, which apparently is his, at least one of the bartenders is some sort of wench from hell who came along but isn't happy to just be tending bar, she wants something to happen.  Before long a celebrity singer walks in and she seems to be having a heart to heart, accepting the idea she is talking to Lucifer and asking if she is going to hell because he owns her soul.  He seems downright nice and appears happy that she is realizing that she needs to get her shit together.  He tells her the only payment you owe me is to clean yourself up and be the best you can be.  Two seconds later she gets shot dead by a drive-by killer who then crashes into a bus.  Lucifer grabs him before he dies and the guy just admits that it is about money, sorry.
    Enter a female cop who plays it as straight as an arrow because she already screwed up last time, as we are told right away.  who eventually catches up with Lucifer after they exchange names and information that first night.  All the while he is not hiding who he is Lucifer Morningstar, proclaiming he is immortal, to which he gets eye rolls by the cop lady.  They both separately end up in a house full of hip hop people, and of course, they all packing heat, in the most cliché way.  He goes right for the leader, and even gets shot in the act, which of course doesn't hurt him.  He dangles King bad guy over the edge of an elevated floor and he spills whatever information he needs.
    The guy playing Lucifer totally steals the show.  He is cool, and in control, the ladies just melt in his presence, except for the lady cop, which he admits she is complex and a bit of a pain in the ass, but he likes her and possibly helps keep her alive when she gets shot.
    He finally gets the person responsible for the girl's death and in the mirror they show him as a demon like Lucifer should look like, all red and scary.  Other than scaring a little girl who is acting as a bully to the lady cop's little girl by turning his eyes red and fiery, he is perfect and English the rest of the time. 
    This one could stick around for awhile.  Lucifer is haunted by questions, does he run hell because he is bad or because God sent him down there to do it.  An angel keeps showing up and threatening him to get back to hell and do your job.  He seems more interested in doing good.  What happens if Lucifer only does good deeds, could he be forgiven?  See if they can keep it fun and lively.

1/25/16 Stress Is Good If You Mean To Succeed?

    I got carried away showing how in  my personal life stress has been a part of who I have become.  I never thought of it as a bad thing, just something that you either step up and challenge the stress, or go find mommy's hug and hide from the bad feelings of losing.  Either way, my thoughts were prompted by reading a chapter on stress in The Lucifer Principle.
    The chapter starts out with a very reasonable quote from the bible "There is nothing better for men than they should be happy in their work, for that is what they are here for."
    There is then a long explanation how we confused stress caused by succeeding at work, versus stress from a social loss.  It is easy to understand the decline in a man who has lost a spouse to death or divorce, or even to lose the vocation that gave their life meaning.  The author sees those problems coming from as he sees it:
- each of us is sewn by invisible threads into the super organism.  We are cells in the beast of family, company, and country.  If those social ties are severed we begin to shrivel and die.
- Hard work and the pursuit of challenge have seldom demonstrated to hurt us, but we can be damaged powerfully by the lack of control.  Without striving to achieve, we cannot control our lives,
- Then there is position in the pecking order making an additional contribution to many of the symptoms blamed on stress.  With our dream of eliminating competition, we try to wish away the pecking order.  But we will continue to live in pecking order structures whether we like it or not.  The brutal fact is that the more we opt out of competition, the lower our position is likely to be.  Can that be summed up better than "if you snooze, you lose!"
    Bloom (the author), continues "consequences supposedly beaten into our lives by stress are the product of pecking order slippage, otherwise known as defeat."  Studies show that one of the greatest causes of high blood pressure in humans, is low position in a social order.  Raise a human's status and you reduce his hypertension.  Similar results were seen in baboon colonies, where the lead baboons were much healthier and the lower ranking baboons were seen with higher levels of stress hormones.
    Excessive relaxation is a slow form of suicide.  If you fail to use your organs, your body begins to dispose of them.  The phenomenom shows up clearly among women who don't exercise, their skeletal systems start shrinking and stop collecting calcium.  Same things happen to muscles that are not used regularly, they atrophy and shrink.
    The consequences are worst for infants, when they do not receive sufficient sensory stimulation, their neural circuitry fails to develop.  It has been shown though, both in infants and adults that the density of connections in their cerebral tissue can be increased, by mastering new experiences.  To both body and brain, taking it easy is death, vigorous activity, on the other hand, is life itself.
    The rest of the chapter he expands on this thought, on how stress on an individual is good, but the same holds for a nation.  We should not be relaxing, letting the Japanese outperform us, we will soon find ourselves in a pecking order where we are no longer number 1, but further down, and that will not sit well with us.

1/24/16 Celebrity Plastic Surgeons Of Beverly Hills?

    I just finished watching the whole season in about three days.  It was interesting like a car wreck is interesting to watch.  Dr. Robert Ray seems to be the leader of the band, although he is very much a one man show unto himself.  He loves himself and I think only himself.  He spends his days working on beautiful girls who are already perfect looking, and has gotten so comfortable with his role, "let me see you naked" just rolls off his tongue.  In the douchebag territory, only his wife seems able to match him.  She accuses him of this and that, only to be corrected in the worst possible way.  He yells at her and throws a purse saying he was out shopping for her.
    The other surgeons actually seem likable in that their personas match what they should be.  They all seem to drive or have access to cars we normal people dream about.  They parade around each other in Ferraris, and other expensive cars, which I actually love.  If you have the money, you should drive around in something special.  I didn't understand the whole confusion with the wife thinking a $400,000 car was a gift for her for having baby #3, when the car only sits two people.  Come on, at that point, get the $400,000 Meredes SUV, or any other multi passenger vehicle so you can travel with your kids.  But I did love the show of excess, from the gliders to the mansions, to the huge boat with the three bedrooms and all their cars.
    They did not spend enough time showing their work, and if we are willingly watching it on Netflix, slap an R rating and let us see the boobs and carnage, we aren't all children.  I do worry about some of those clients, when they need to be constantly touched up.  Some of those older ladies had the funky lips where too much work around the mouth has already been done.  The lady with the two girls who both got nose jobs while she got touched up is exactly what I mean.  Those girls were cute enough, when will it stop for them?  If it is that easily accessible, I think once you are in, it is a very slippery slope.  But as long as there doctors needing to keep up with new Ferrari cars for their wives, there will be someone needing a boob job, a nose job, a liposuction job, a facelift, or some hair restoration.  I hope there is a second season, I did enjoy this first one.

1/23/16 Stress Tempers The Soul?

    I grew up a competitive kid, everything seems like, when we were growing up set up around competing.  I never thought of this as stressful, I thought you belong on top, prove it.  With most things, I did usually end up near the top.  As early as fifth grade, I was interested in band, and we started with the recorders in middle school.  I remember always sitting within the first three chairs pretty much all the time.  What was great about band back then is you could compete for your spot, and it was a normal thing.  I was always good enough to join the jazz band, as well as sit on the symphonic band, which the marching band was composed of over one hundred students, so in the off season, we were broken into symphonic and concert bands.  All this band stuff while also competing with the nerds and managing to stay in the top ten of my class.
    My point to all this grandstanding is that I never thought of any of this as stressful.  I did what I felt had to be done.  When I was competing and went to state, I was practicing 3-4 hours a day after school, just me and my saxophone.  I would sit with the different band directors and they would coach and give nuances, and then it would be up to me to go and perfect whatever tiny thing they suggested, whether it be rolling a finger off a key versus just pulling it up, or extending a breath to allow a part of a passage to sound more fluid.
    All that discipline went with me to UT.  I would never claim to be the smartest person in any classroom, but nobody was going to work the problems over and over like I did, until I understood them.  It was my routine to work all the problems at the back of my math chapters, the only way to know something is to apply it to death.  This has served me well.  I don't take shortcuts, it may suck, but even when my boys ask for help on a math problem, I have to break it down and work it completely.
    There is a new trend of not stressing the children of today, why?  If they don't challenge themselves past their comfort levels, how are they going to become better?  The brain, like any muscle, must be worked to be made stronger.  What favors are being done to a child who takes it easy, is never pushed?  This seems like the perfect recipe to create a slacker, not a leader, or a role model.  I see all around me, parents that want to be BFFs with their kids, parents who want to protect their kids from anything that might worry them.  A kid needs to be kicked in the ass once in a while, just so he realizes what real life is about.  Taking the path of I'll be buddies with my kids, leads to kids who walk all over mama, again much easier without daddy around.  That may work internally at home, but out in the real world, nbody wants your whiny son/daughter who wants to work only 3 days a week, they will end up bouncing from job to job, wondering why the "boss" never like them.  The other end of that spectrum is the parents who won't even let mijo/mija get a sun burn.  They'll run around with the kid holding an umbrella over them, for protection.  Nevermind dealing with outside stressors, daddy will handle it with money.  Daddy might be special, but why should his kids be anything unique when they never rise to challenge reality on their own.  I tell both my boys, I am not your friend, and the choices you make today are setting up how you will live tomorrow.  They both know I love them, but they also know I expect them to be positive contributors to our crumbling society.

1/22/16 What Happened To Shame In Our Society?

    What is more pathetic than these grown ass men standing on our busy street corners asking for money day in and day out?  I understand and will look the other way when it is an old man or a female of some sort, but these men-children, there are jobs to be gotten, have some self respect and quit begging.  Every day, as I am driving in, it is the same faces I see.  You can look at a man's face and see when they are young.  Some of these "bums" look 30-40, get off your young ass and work.
    These freaking cold sores that just pop up and expect the rest of us to support them, worse yet, some of you are dumb enough to give them money, why?  They want beer money, not your half eaten burger, Dummy!  They seem to be spreading.  Usually, I see them working the lights around the freeway on Slaughter.  There are plenty of gas stations and lights there.  The other morning just this week, I saw one set up with his little sign of desperation at 6:00am, when I am coming home after working twelve hours.  He was at 1st and Slaughter, it is not even lit well there, maybe he is working it to see how it'll feel later, they are putting bigger signal lights, I think they may be fixing to add another lane or two.
    Tonight, I was gassing up at Walmart around midnight, coming back to work, and I got the now common "hey Buddy, can you help me out with a gallon of gas?" No!  This guy has been doing this routine for at least four years, he sits in the Walmart parking lot, waits for you to start gassing up, then approaches with his five gallon container.  How convenient to have the right size container in case some "good guy" wants to give a little more.  When I was driving a diesel he asked for diesel, back when it was $3.80 a gallon.  I thought fuck you, if you can't afford a man's truck, get a different vehicle.  He hit me up a couple of times, it gets easier to say no, after a while.  Maybe it was a different guy, I said no, I had already seen him sitting in his car, it is turned on the whole time I stop, run my card, start gassing, the wind was chilly so I walked to the front, then he did his begging routine, I said no, he stopped and stared like he had never been told no before.  I turned away from him, not giving him a chance to engage the conversation, then he slowly went back, but his car was still on, I guess he needed his heater on because it was cold.
    Is this a crime?  He didn't do anything more than ask a question, but I certainly had avoided gassing up at night for awhile because of this.  I just didn't want to stop in the morning when it'll be colder.  These people are like roaches and it is all you dumb a-holes who give them money and food that continue the cycle.  If a roach comes into your house and it is very clean, it will move on, but if the same roach comes into a new territory and people take pity and start feeding them, why would they leave?

1/21/16 Allergies Under Control?

    It took longer than it should have, but I finally stopped my skull from leaking.  I have progressively gotten worse every year, but they say it happens to people who move to central Texas.  I was fine through most of the Christmas break, but right before going back to work I started sneezing and with a constantly running nose, I was going through rolls of toilet paper in bed just blowing my nose every time I opened my eyes.  I generally don't like taking pills, as I like Carolla's advice of wait three days and most things will pass.  This works for a mild ear infection to a regular cough.  So I put off dealing with my cough thinking if it is a cold, it will pass, just what I deserve for going on vacation, my body punishing me.
    After being at work two weeks and the symptoms not changing, I told Wife or she probably suggested if I wanted something from the pharmacy to try.  My initial response is no, because it seems she is always looking for a reason to stop at a different store and give them our money, but after leaking for two weeks, I had enough.  She brought pills that would make me drowsy and some non-drowsy.  Since I work a twelve hour shift, I can't really afford to take the drowsy variety, those are probably formulated for the non-employables, keep them on their asses and out of trouble.  I took two pills after hearing my friend that she was taking double the amount because she was a big girl, I thought hmmm, that sounds like something.  Wife had discussed this idea with the pharmacist, which she asked is he big, like 180lbs? Wife said "no, big like 380lbs."  Oh, yeah, one pill isn't going to do much, he can try two.
    I had to call myself a genius and thank my friend for this suggestion.  I had taken antihistamine pills before and not noticed anything, so I thought they were useless, but two of just these generic pills that covered all my symptoms stopped my coughing and hacking almost instantly.  I had a sore throat from where I had been hacking so much and that has gone away too.  My question now is how do I figure how long should I take the pills for.  It has been over a week, and I tried today going out and as soon as I did, I sneezed about ten times just while saying hi to the school crossing guard, and talking to Wife while we ate had me feeling like I was choking with something in my throat.  I took one pill, instead of two, then another one four hours later, at dinner.  I am trying to ween myself off, I don't like taking pills for anything.  I will admit, I haven't been dreaming deep in a while, with dreams and stuff, so I took the drowsy type pills and they do help to get you into that REM sleep.  Woke up feeling refreshed, should probably keep doing that, but again I don't want to rely on pills.

1/20/16 Acting Dumb Is A Skill Of The Masses?

    I am almost done reading The Lucifer Principle, and the ideas it keeps proposing still astonish me, even with less than thirty pages left to read.  The latest one starts out being proposed at the animal level.  He is talking about his german shepherd dog and how he loves going out to the park, his dog normally is bigger and thus usually wins in their sniff each other and bounce around thing that dogs do.  He loves the interaction because for the most part he comes out on top.  There are exceptions and it seems that when he is encountered by a bigger dog, such as a great dane, his dog acts blind, or aloof.  He will not head in the direction of the larger animal, he already knows he will not win.  This tactic is seen all the time in the wild.  It is observed in baboon populations when the established male is being challenged by a new alpha male who might best him, sometimes all the older male will do is ignore the new challenger.  He might act like he doesn't notice him and instead act real interested in a paper wrapper, like he is studying it.  If he has been a good leader and has good relations with the other males, sometimes this can be enough to deter a new challenger and keep the old male in power a little longer, but the end is coming, he knows it.
    He uses this to explain what happened in Cambodia shortly after we were "defeated" in Vietnam.  We did not have the fortitude to go in again, we had in the world view been knocked down a few pegs, and could not take another challenge to our psyche.  Our best approach was to ignore what was happening to the millions of people that were slaughtered by Pol Pot.  Because we have not risen back to the top seat as the world's police, he insists, is the main reason we do not engage currently in what is happening in Africa.  We are letting the slaughter of millions of innocent Africans happen because we do not want to engage only to find that we are again short handed and left embarrassed on the world stage again.
    After World War I, America's standing army had been reduced to almost nothing, they declared after winning the first World War, they would not involve themselves again, America was in a recession, this must have given the Japanese the heads up and ambition to think if we strike and take out their navy, we can keep the Americans conquered.  I can see why then they would risk doing what they did in Pearl Harbor, unfortunately for them, America was in a position to react thanks to the steel industries and the military complex spread throughout the United States.  Ships were being built on both coasts, it would have been impossible to take out the building shipyards, as ships were coming out of Maine all the way around to San Francisco.  Once forced in, GI Joe would not stop until Hitler was forced into a suicide situation and Japan tasted the first two nuclear bombs.

1/19/16 Stuff Really Goes On For MLK Day?

    I will be the first to say because I work nights and going downtown is only slightly worse than getting kicked in the nuts, I never look for reasons to go down there, then what, pay to park or risk getting towed or a ticket?  Ughhh, keep your downtown and all its horrible problems.  Yesterday, after running to Cooper's BBQ and hanging out at home, our friend came over for a visit.  This is all great and swell, but then her kid said quietly but proudly that he was going to march in the MLK parade.  I was trying to enjoy my meat coma and initially just said mmm-hmmm.  But he seemed to stare like he had more to say, so I had to make fun of him for a bit for talking in a quiet tone, which his mom wanted to correct and say I am teaching them manners, to which I said I teach boys to be men, now son, address me like you got a pair of testicles and let me hear you Sir, Yes Sir!!!!  I love teasing the young 'uns.
    Turns out there was going to be a parade downtown, which we missed.  His mom told Wife there was a whole festival, food, bands playing.  I thought MLK day meant no school sometimes, extra pay, sometimes, I didn't think anyone was really going out of their way.  School kids write essays but you know, that's between them and their English teachers.  We should get out to some of these festivities, but I fear they are geared for the unemployables, it doesn't feel right to party on a Monday.
    I feel the same way about these celebrations when done Beaner style.  Cinco de Mayo is the same thing, find a venue frequented by the brown population and put on a "jamaica."  I remember going to one back when I was still at UT.  Nothing but Hispanics and brown attitude.  At the time, being 21, you think this is great, Mexican flags labeling ourselves chicano this and chicana that.  To what end?  Look in the mirror, of course you're chicano, nobody is going to confuse me for anything else. 
    Of course we should be proud of where we come from, but we need to accept that we are now Americans, and what makes us great is the American part.  So yeah, come the Fourth of July, we grill too much meat and pop too many fireworks, but that is what makes a good American, having too much of a good thing.  But to the great man that was MLK, here are some of his thoughts:

- "Let no man pull you low enough to hate him."
- "The time is always right to do what is right."
- "We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools."
- "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

1/18/16 Time Sure Flies, When You Run Back and Forth on I-35?

    Two weeks ago, my brother in law, his wife, and four kids showed up in Austin for some Big Mando love.  I think that since gas has fallen below $1.60/gallon, he has been trying to get his vehicle slowly to 1,000,000 miles.  They called about getting together somewhere between San Antonio and Austin, but at the rate I move, they ended up getting here.  I thought it was good because we wound up eating at Mandola's, which I really do like.  After finishing our dinner I proclaimed this was great and we should do it again in a couple of weeks.  My brother in law quickly said yeah, that would be good, I said since you all drove all the way up here, we'll drive down and meet you in New Braunfels at Cooper's BBQ.
    Time passes, as it always does, last week I didn't even leave the house and spent most of my time asleep, so when Wife said we have a dinner date with my brother this weekend, I was all what? What are you talking about?  I figured it was a nice day and I do love driving around in my new truck, so hell's yeah, let's go burn some of this cheap fuel while we can.  They were already on their way to Cabela's, so we headed there, and while we waited, we found some "cheap" $10 gloves for Me, Wife, and Boy.  Boy was at work, but he has a sixth sense and knows when money is being spent.
    Eventually, Brother in Law and his family arrived at Cabela's, we walked around another half hour, and we then headed to Cooper's BBQ.  Eating was pretty good, I enjoy their blackened brisket, which they smoke until cooked.  There was sausage and potato salad and coleslaw, but good brisket is why I drove so far.  Wife ordered some more to bring home for Boy and we then headed back.  Just before  we left, like an infection on my leg, all four of my nephews circled me and asked if they could come to the house.  I said sure, Chubs doesn't have school tomorrow, so there is no rush to get to bed.  I asked my Brother in Law if he was going to drive back to Austin, considering they had already driven most of the way there, to get to Cabela's earlier.  He said they didn't have anything better to do, so it would be alright.  Chubs rode with them, they headed to the house, me, like a junkie who can't help himself, stopped at Buc-ee's just to fill up a little bit with their $1.50/gallon gas.
    We got home to the kids already running around, Boy ate some of the brisket, and was getting ready to leave to his apartment as classes start this week, but decided to spend one more night here with us, since we're probably going to be up late.  Wife had talked with Girlie's mom earlier, and she stopped by to say hi to my brother in law and just to see their four kids, she did not recall them having that many kids.
    I write this around 11:00pm on Sunday night, I will now relax the rest of the evening, catch up on some TV, check out the football scores, if I'm lucky maybe even see a House Hunters or one of those shows.  Right now, I want one more soda before starting the week back in diet mode.  This was a good weekend, did not sleep as much during the day, but I do wish it was warmer.  Allergy pills are working, no more coughing, but my sinuses are super dry.

1/17/16 Mini Quest?

    Wife has been on my rear end to traverse the great hills of the central plains of the great land of Texas.  She needs to inspect the condition of our summer cottage, which has been hidden in plain sight at one of our many parcels of land that I have garnered through worthy battles.  The powers that be have granted me so many small parcels of land, that sometimes I am not sure which land I have left my mobile cottage, but alas. as the saying goes, "start at the last place you looked."
    Before mounting my vessel and making sure I have feed for my 385 horses, I check to see who will mount this journey with me, and behold but one fair maiden and her squire surely with nary a thing on thine dockets, find themselves available to quest with this noble knight and his maiden and of course, their young squire.  A map of the lands was drawn, and our quest thus began.  The distance to be tracked shall approximate 58 miles, but with their magical enchantments, the vessel shall mark of the distance in a mere hour or so.
    As was suspected by the great knight, the summer cottage is in decent shape, except for needing to be washed down, and waxed.  They did carry the keys to the locks and so an inspection of the insides were also done with a fine tooth comb.  It appeared to the untrained eye, that the cottage appears to just have been placed their yesterday, but then again, the sun was making for its evening resting place upon the hills.
    After securing the confidence of mine Wife that our rolling cottage was ok, I then made for the shores of the great waters of Canyon Lake of the Greater New Braunfels territory in central Texas.  Easily the waters were at an all time high from what I had noticed the last time I had seen this majestic lake.  We would have gladly stayed with the lake to see the Sun disappear completely for the evening, except that the winds blowing from the North did not let us enjoy the view and forced us into the safety of my magical vessel and its many horses.
    Feeling celebratory after a successful quest, I then offered a feast of ice cream in the form of blizzards from the land of the Dairy Queen.  All were content as her castle was sitting warm and wonderful.  Heading back to the major thoroughfare known as IH-35, my horses needed to be fed, so I stopped at Buc-ee's for more of that magical elixir for my horses.  We were at my main castle by 7:00PM, and frankly, I needed a quick resupplemmenting of my sleeping strength, lately, any venture outside of my castle, expends my energy to the point of making me fall into a sleep pattern.
    The evening was ended by going to feast at Torchy's Tacos down on the southside of the magical land of Austin, on the streets of South Lamar.  We waited until almost 10:00pm to go looking for dinner, so most of the normal feasting venues were closed.  It was another glorious day.

1/16/16 Perfect Days Just Happen?

    This morning sucked like no other day had sucked all year.  I was told to complete some samples and I did not.  I tried my hardest, and even stayed an hour extra.  After getting home, I even had trouble going to sleep, it didn't help that my supervisor wanted reasons why I didn't finish the job on time.  After giving my side of things, I turned in and decided yesterday sucked.  I didn't get up with much gusto, and barely made it to Chubs school on time, only by not showering.
    He wanted Whataburger, after I told him I was hungry and Friday is always a cheat day for our diets.  The burger hit the spot, Wife apparently worked late, and Boy went to San Marcos to hang out.    Upon getting home, the burger had already beat me and home and it was ready to come out.  I went and pooped, followed by a shower.  We then headed outside so Chubs could "work out" his burger.  It turned into a beautiful afternoon, he is getting very close to being able to ride as he is doing some peddling, but panics and stops for no good reason.  Girlie was texting along with her mom about our plans for the evening.  Wife texted about the same time that we would be doing homework with our old neighbor.
    Wife finally got home, after 6:00pm.  By then Chubs had gone inside, he was frustrated and about reaady to cry/fight/hit someone/needed a hug.  He got mad because he can't quite ride his bike yet, but he knows it is right there.  I was on phone with my mom, then Wife.  I came inside to hear Chubs whimper that his legs were cramping up, so I took him some Ibuprofen.  From last week to this week, he is really doing a ton of "working out" now.
    Wife mentioned that we were out of chocolate in our candy bowl, so I took off toTarget.  I love that Target and the whole Southpark Meadows thing is about a mile from the house.  It was a fun evening, the class was anatomy and physiology, which I took back in 1992-3 sometime.  It was like playing a trivia game, the questions just seemed to answer themselves.  Throw in some pizza, my brand of humor and shenanigans, and I could not have asked for a better day, although some hottubbing would have been..... nevermind.  Babysteps...

1/15/16 Chubs Started A Diet?

    Our baby is a big boy, he was born 9lbs, 9oz and he has not let go of the throttle, he has been constantly putting on weight to the point where even I am starting to think we need to slow it down.  I see him and at this point he just kind of reminds me of my younger brother, I saw him go from baby to oversized big guy and I am also built that way.  The last thing I have wanted is to shame him for how he came out.  I always figure he will hit a growth spurt and hopefully his height will catch up with his girth, but at eleven years old, he is already about 5ft 3in, and in the 215lb range.
    Santa bought him a bike for Christmas and with the mild weather the last couple of days, we have been outside trying to get to learn how to drive it.  I am kind of excited at this idea because he could be my partner that Wife never was.  We have a huge greenbelt area behind our house, and before he came along, I spent a lot of time on my bike.  Getting off the bike is one of the reasons I put on an extra hundred pounds myself.  Once he can ride, it would be easy to imagine us going for long bike rides into the woods and going around town to the different trails I used to ride.
    He really got his own wake up call when the school sent him a note home, saying they had been evaluated, his height and weight were taken, a little spotting around the armpits indicating possibly early onset diabetes signatures, plus his overall lifestyle which we accept has been lazy and non-healthy.  Now that a light was shone on him from the outside, he seems motivated to do better.  Wife was talking about no more eating out after school, of course that only applies when it is the two of us, if she comes early or on the weekends, then of course we should eat lunch somewhere outside the house.  Chubs was not happy with her coming around and breaking our routine of eating a sandwich and some fruit, but he was strong enough to just get a fajita salad, and he avoided the tortillas with honey which he would fight us and eat even two if we dropped our guard after finishing his tacos before.
    It is going to be an uphill battle for the three of us, but if we want to stick around long term, it is in our best interest to start making healthier choices.  I am all for the bike thing, because it was something that worked for me in the past.  It is a very simple math problem:  calories consumed - calories burned off = fat in the ass.  If we can burn the calories on a bike ride, there will be less calories to settle on our big fat heinies.

1/14/16 Tom Segura: Mostly Stories

    This guy is quietly hilarious.  This is his second Netflix show that I have seen, and they are both just as good.  He has a confident, natural delivery and nothing appears to be off limits.  He works the stereotypes, but never to be mean or insulting.
    He begins by making fun at small talk, which does work to get people talking, but he admits he feels like an asshole when he mentions in Seattle "sure does rain a lot."  Cab driver can't argue, just says "yep".  After a while, he goes into his "I'm going to be a dad" bit.  Jokingly, admits, I didn't do anything, just I didn't pull out.  Declares "all you pull out guys, should try it once, just stay in while you cum."  It feels fantastic.  I like how he makes it sound like he discovered busting a nut feels good.
    He then bounces out of that topic and into poking fun at losing weight.  He says "I have been fantasizing about telling people how I lost the weight that I haven't lost yet."  Then goes building around that, like every self important actor who puts out a book... "first off, it's a lifestyle choice, make smarter choices, drink more water...." after making some jokes about his weight trainer, who talks to Jesus while working out, he brings up religion for a bit, but really spends much more time complaining about parents who take their babies to the movies, if you can't afford a sitter, you shouldn't go out, just ruining the movie for everybody else.  Describes a couple scenarios which almost lead to fights at two separate movies.  I am just grateful we live in a world with Alamo Drafthouse.
    He brings up the old system when kids used to skip a grade, and how it would be great if we could skip some years as adults and land all the way in retirement.  He has a couple of examples of why he doesn't want to live a long old life, including friends of his dad.
    For awhile, he brings up people from different parts of the country, and he's surprised at how much they are just like he thought they would be.  He does take a poke at Texas, and it is funny.
    The last story involves Mike Tyson, and how he befriended him on a flight to Pittsburgh, Mike had seen him on Netflix, and then turned the tables on Tom, when Mike started calling him, that they would be showing up for his show.  I love that story, Mike Tyson has stuck around as a minor celebrity, and although his face tattoos are scary, he just seems like a guy who belongs up there, I think he has star power in him.
    I watched his last comedy show like five times, Tom is a funny guy, his observations are spot on.  I'll be watching this show a couple times over and over.

1/13/16 Spring Break In All Shapes And Sizes?

    We are one of the dumb ones, we bought  a timeshare, but we are OK with it and how it works.  We have opened up our vacation palette much more than we would have without this purchase.  Normally, vacation has meant going to Corpus Christi and hanging out there.
    Because of the timeshare, we spent last Spring Break in Galveston, the previous year up northeast Texas on Palestine Lake, and for this year, I think we might be heading to Conroe Lake, which is above Houston, not too far from The Woodlands and a short drive to downtown Houston (~50min).  We were considering going and staying as far north as Branson Missouri, but we have plans for Florida, I don't want to get in a position where we overspend during Spring Break, specially since Boy already said he is not joining us.  He said he would rather stay and work, make some extra money, so he and his friends can do their own thing.  At one point this might have hurt my feelings, but I remember the last Spring Break he went with us, and he acted like a complete A-hole.  I told him fine, he can stay, but he does go on the Florida trip because all the family is going, as in my folks and siblings and their kids.  My parents also were on less than stellar behavior last time, when we were on Palestine Lake and my mom's concern seemed more to LOL on FB instead of talk and laugh with us, there.  My dad was not that much better, me thinking he would enjoy fishing a new lake, he seems to be over it, as he would rather spend all his free time in a casino environment.
    We shall see, I enjoyed going to Conroe Lake last time.  We were invited for a weekend, and the drive is beautiful, and the grounds are pretty good too.  We managed to find a heated pool at night, after we jumped in a regular pool, but got bumped when it looked like a storm was coming.  The pools are situated where you can see the lake, it is all very nice and relaxing.
    To make this trip even better, I would like to take my boat in for a tune up and take it with us.  I want this to be the year we start boating again.  We will be on a lake, the drive is three hours, if Boy doesn't go, we can take our truck, if my brother joins my folks, we can still use the Excursion, it will also tow the boat, with no problem.  Honestly, I would love to spend enough time on the boat, that Wife starts thinking we need a bigger one for next year, and we go ahead and get a pontoon boat, but alas, baby steps.

1/12/16 This Is Your Brain On Drugs Really Worked?

    This is kind of a weird point, but I was trying to relate to a kid from a friend of ours who got busted smoking weed.  First of all, I have never put a weed "cigarette" or whatever to my mouth, but I have been in concerts and other venues where the smoke was thick with the smell.
    I should rewind even farther to about 6th or 7th grade, maybe younger.  We used to live where our house was surrounded by four lots that were empty, then gradually people bought them and built their houses.  But while all that was going on, we played in the tall grass, no internet, but there were kids all the way at the end of the street, behind us, a few lots over and around the way.  I always remember this moment as being very serious, I am not even sure who was in charge, but one afternoon we found ourselves with a small hollow metal pipe, like the rear axle of a three wheeler, and of course we were surrounded by grass that just grew taller than us.  I remember taking this regular tall grass, breaking it down with our hands, and we were trying to smoke it.  We would fill the pipe with grass and just light it.  All we got was lungs full of smoke, it did not work well, and I think one try was all we needed to learn how stupid that was.
    Another curious remembrance just forming now, was when we would have BBQs or just sitting outside, my dad would let us turn on a cigarette for him from time to time, there was something there, when you inhaled, it was enticing to keep doing it, like it whispered to you to do it again.  Cigarettes always scared me, I don't know if it was because my mom was always saying how disgusting, or the whole "you'll die of lung cancer".  Luckily, I guess, my dad's father, did die of emphysema, so it was easy to point to what happens when you smoke, you don't live long enough to meet your grandkids, as we figured.
    Nowadays, it is just economics.  There is no way in hell I am buying a pack of cigarettes for $7-8 and you only get twenty.  My dad smokes two packs a day, and when he runs out, he is a shitty little old man.  When they come and visit, I don't know how he runs out (between the two knuckleheads), he always seems surprised he ran out, and like a modern day hero, won't say anything, except eventually he explodes, usually while we are eating, because he needs his fix.  I've told my mom for about the last ten years to just carry an "emergency" stash, but I guess after 40 plus years, they like the dance that they do.
    I am not sure how I avoided not smoking.  I even tried to be Mr. Cool, I went and bought cigars when everyone on TV was smoking them, think Sopranos era.  I bought small ones and huge fat ones.  Cheap ones for $5 to expensive (to me) at $15 a cigar, wrapped in its own insulating case to keep humidity just right.  We had a party, maybe it was for my birthday or a fourth of July, I couldn't do it.  First off, you have to commit your mouth, this felt like what sticking a penis in my mouth would feel like.  Then you also have to suck with some energy to move that fire through and keep that thing lit.  I couldn't do it, some of those cigars are still in my makeshift humidor.
    I guess I am safe, even when I have tried to force a nicotine addiction, on myself, I am too cheap to do it.  As far as the weed goes, I guess when people see you as a "square", they never offer it to you.  I have never been offered it, except for my old neighbor who liked to joke that he was gonna get me high one day.  Well, my egg brain from the commercial analogy is cooked at this point, in my mid 40's, I don't think one round of puff-puff, pass would hurt, but at this point what would be the gain?  I guess once a dork, always a dork.

1/11/16 Maybe All This Man Needs Is A Quest?

    I hate to say that most of the weekend was spent lying around in and out of sleep.  I know other people are doing the same thing, shoot Wife got up both days after I did.  Chubs got up after we both did, so why do I feel like a failure?
    I think what really separates the men from the squires is the responsibility of a quest.  I need to pack a spare underwear and get on the road, maybe save a damsel in distress.  I might have lost my mojo when we sold our original house, it certainly has felt that way.  Life has seemed too easy as of late, bills are just a murmur, regardless of Wife's Lectures.  We eat too much, we have too much on our DVR to watch, we leave the house only to go buy more snacks.
    How do we change this happy go lucky lifestyle?  Wife insists we do have "questy" things to do.  She is always carrying on about our RV out on our lot by the lake.  I hate the idea of driving out there to look at it and say oh, ok.  My new truck doesn't yet have the fifth wheel hitch, so even if I needed to bring it back to civilization, I wouldn't be able to do it.  Then when she gets tired of bringing up the RV, she brings up the boat.  The boat has been in a storage unit in Kyle, I have used that place for like five years, occasionally they call and we've had to move sites in the past.  It has now been over a year that we have seen the boat, and although I would love to pick it up and get it ready to run for the summer, we have a fear for the cost of a tune up, so again, why go visit it, if all I can do is look at it and say oh, ok?
    I'm a lame fatass, my quests happen before sun up and sun down, I loved it when we were looking for our second house, driving from San Marcos to Dripping Springs, to as far as Round Rock and even up to Taylor.  A great new quest would have me on a new boat full of half naked hotties chanting "Mando's #1".  That would be a great kickstart to the spring.  All the lakes are mostly full again, a boat would get me outside getting some sun on my skin, maybe rescue somebody out on the lake, have people call me Don Armando or Capt. Mando.
    It's up to you peeps, y'all need to see my greatness and recognize it.  I don't mean just tip your hat, or say "watcha, Este Vato!!!!" no, I mean name your firstborn after me.  Or next time you're with your Sancha, bounce a quarter off her ass, if it lands on tails, say "this is for Don Mando!"

1/10/16 What of Zoos?

    Over the break, I had a brief discussion with one of Boy's friends concerning zoos.  I said something generic like maybe this spring break we'll be near Houston and we can go to the Houston Zoo.  His friend made her stand that zoos seem cruel, what with keeping the animals in small spaces, and not letting them live natural lives.
    I agree, but I think it is important that we be able to see the animals up close, if anything it makes us appreciate the animals more, or worse, we get to see what species animal we are failing.  Efforts in zoos have led to miraculous comebacks, I am sure it was studying the bald eagle in controlled environments like zoos that we learned that DDT (a pesticide) was responsible for giving their eggs weakened shells which would not last a full pregnancy.  Every day new and miraculously clever ways to help a different animal comes from the efforts of our zoos.
    If not for zoos, how many of us would even see elephants?  I have zero interest in traveling to Africa or Asia to see them in their natural habitat, but I love knowing such an animal is out there.  On the other hand, they can be destructive just by their sheer size.  The same can be said of their brethren, like tigers, bears, lions, any other apex animals that might be tempted to eat man.
    We have become too much for this planet, I wish zoos would work on minitarizing some of these troubling animals.  Imagine an elephant the size of a pug, how cute would they be as pets?  A one pound Bengal tiger would still be a handful, but still cuter than the 500 pound variety that exists right now.
    It sounds harsh, but we have changed the planet to serve our purpose.  Do we need Bengal tigers in the jungles, when we have already killed every other animal they consider lunch? 
    As a species, we suck, I love that Agent Smith in the Matrix called humans a virus, we will someday, leave our beloved Earth behind along with all the animals we can't easily get along with.  If any of the "cute furry" ones wish to tag along, they better get cute quick.  I can see some miniature elephants going, not full size ones, but pygmy type the size of regular dogs?  yes please.
    I guess I got off topic of the zoos and their contributions, but they are many, same as the SeaWorld parks.  They dedicate their efforts to studying the ocean.  It would just be impossible to follow and study all the different species kept in captivity.  Again, it becomes if we can't take the Mohammed to the mountain (ocean), then we bring the mountain to the Mohammed.  As long as the research can get done, I don't have a problem where.
    Sure, I wish the zoos had double or triple the land for each animal, but then it would take longer to just find the animals in that environment.

1/9/16 Friday Was A Weird Day?

   Friday was a weird day, which was started by them telling me at work to go home early.  This has never really happened before, that I can remember, but my boss told me to take the early release I normally do on my second weekk, if it is slow on the first week, and hopefully it will pick up before next week.  Since I was already dragging butt from my previous two week vacation, and my slight sickness, I figured I would make this a blessing and not a damnation.  I came home, ate a salad with Wife and supposedly went to bed early, by six hours.
    The problem was that I don't normally sleep straight, and after a couple hours, I was awake and having a hard time going back to sleepy time.  I farted around the computer until around 5:30am, and only then went to sleep so Wife wouldn't get me to be Chub's breakfast runner.  My plans to get up early and do some things was now ruined.  I slept until 9:30, got up, thought about working out, then  went back to bed.
    Wife finally texted about 1:30pm, asking what I had been up to.  Told her I was still asleep, and miraculously, she let me continue my bad ways.  So much for doing the bills before she got home.
    I did get up, Boy and I went to pick up Chubs, then I took my truck to get washed, I wasn't sure because it kind of looked like rain, but I did buy me an unlimited supply of car washes for a year, so we ate at Fuddrucker's, in the mean time.
    I then got a text from our old neighbor, my phone had not rang in a week or so.  After playing twenty questions and making sure her BF was not included, we invited her to dinner with us.  Wife had been texting her too and they were talking about Cooper's BBQ and its grand opening.  We drove around downtown, but did not see it, we kind of gave up and settled on Habana's Cuban Restaurant, which we probably ate there like ten years ago.  The appetizer nachos was proably the best thing on the table, the mojito did not appear to use mint leaves, there was no minty smell.  None of us loved our meal, it was all like a bad mexican meal, maybe that is why it had been so long between our visits.
    We then took our friend to the house for awhile since it was only 10pm or so.  We talked about this and that, showed her what we've been doing around the house, moving beds and such, and made loose plans for next week, if it stays warm-ish to maybe try out the hot tub.  It was a good start to the weekend, I hate that we are not busy, but I love that at least we got peeps to hang with on the slow nights.

1/8/16 I Think I'm Sick?

    Sucks after being off two weeks to come back to work, not new and feeling strong, but sick, coughing and dreary.  I just burned through too much personal time off (PTO) that I can't take anymore.  I save those hours for good times, not to lay home in bed feeling like crap.
    Part of the reason of getting sick has to be Wife likes to keep the house near freezing.  There was a time when I was fine with keeping a window open during the cooler months, but I have to stop with this.  We play a game of chicken when we turn off A/C.  I tell her turn on heater if you are cold and she tells me the same thing.  I don't want to be a wimp, but then I get sick.  The little heater in the bathroom will routinely say it is 59, and it can't be good for us to sleep in that cold a temperature.
    Boy long ago found a loophole by keeping a small heater in his room.  He keeps his room a toasty 80 degrees while we freeze, I don't think he worries about our electric bill like we do.  Chubs is a little barrel shaped heater, like his Mama, he rarely complains of the cold, but we did get him his own room heater too, if he was feeling cold.  As perfectly as things can go, when we bought Chubs his heater, I got one for our room, of course, Boy's heater burned out because he runs it way too much, so I gave him what would have been my salvation, the sacrifices we make for our kids.
    Tonight, I came home for lunch with a painful throat and pounding ear, and I said enough, downstairs the thermostat read 66, I turned on the house heater and within 10 minutes I felt my body finally relaxing with the warmth.  I am not sure if it is because we keep a cold house, but I told her after this warm up the next few days, I will be running the heater, for my health.
    All my symptoms could be from allergies too, it is mostly congestion, which I snort in every couple minutes, which makes my ears stop up, then I can't hear normally and my ears start hurting, then if I burp or cough my ear hurts a lot, so all the symptoms build on themselves.
    There is also the stiff back pain, which I think I caused by starting my walking again, since coming back to work Monday night.  It could also be the new bed, but I was fine Saturday and Sunday night, with no pains until after I worked Monday night.  I swear, this getting old business is no fun, I feel like I need to get in shape just to age better.

1/7/16 Boy's Shower Is Operational?

    I decided to start with Boy's shower problem, and it seemed quite easy to fix.  He showed me the water spout in the tub has a diverter, which you pull and the water goes up to the shower head.  I took off the old one like a champ, but then there was a brass piece which had no rhyme or reason to be there, but it made the copper pipe a challenge to connect to.  Since I seemed to be back to square one, I thought maybe I could take the old diverter off and put the new one from the new spout on the old spout and just put it back together.  I wasted half an hour doing this, before deciding I was late for work during my lunch break.
    Today, I went to Lowe's and, luckily they sell Delta brand replacements, and it too had the brass fitting.  Since it looked almost identical, I figured I could just leave the old brass piece and use it to hold the new spout.  That idea worked great, the new shower head sprays a beautiful round pattern, no leaks seen on lower spout, all water is going to the shower, I kick ass.
    I will continue today, installing the new towel racks, so both boys can start getting used to using that bathroom.  I also need to install those curved shower curtain holders, but I don't want to rush it and screw it up.  For a finishing touch, the bathroom will need a couple of robe holders since Chubs got a really nice TARDIS robe from Wife's parents.
    The downstairs toilet is still "leaking/sweating" too much water to ignore.  I changed the inlet water hose, but maybe I just am not cranking down hard enough by hand.  The curved shower curtain will also be installed downstairs.  As far as chores around our water sources, if I am going to be honest, it is time to redo the caulk in the kitchen behind the faucet, where the graite and tile on the wall meet.  It is worn through, rusty colored, and just needs to be done.  Along with a better solution for all the electrical wires going to the lights we installed under the cabinets in the kitchen, lighting the counter tops at night.  Staying on top of these chores is not easy, not because as Wife says "house is too big", I just never really learned to do this.  I wish there was a class or a tutorial when you buy a house, something that tells you to remove and redo tub caulk every year, or every two years, whatever it is.  Oh well, house is looking alright.

1/6/16 To Do List, Now That We're Staying?

    We have refinanced our house, so we aren't going anywhere for awhile.  Time to get off my ass and make the house as nice as possible.  I have been lazy, maybe lethargic as far as doing simple maintenance on things to keep house going.  For a while, Boy had told me his shower was not draining properly, but he showers so fast, I didn't know it was a real problem.  Turns out, nobody uses the secondary bathroom upstairs for anything more than peeing.  I finally got the message, he had a handful of people over for three nights, but they all lined up for bathroom downstairs, mostly ignoring bathroom next to his room.
    I rarely go in this bathroom, but I have been shooing away Chubs from our bathroom in the mornings, yet he refuses to use it.  So not only was the water draining slowly, the diverter that sends the water up was not working, so shower had very little pressure and most of the holes were plugged up.  I am working on this, hopefully in a day or two, all will be squared away and like new.  I realize I also need to hang new towel holders and even a toilet paper holder as my animals or their friends knocked them off the wall.
    The bathroom downstairs which I used a couple of times during the break, because I was too lazy to walk upstairs needs some changes.  I bought that curved shower curtain holder and even some thicker shower curtains because nothing sucks more than showering and having the cheapest of shower curtains clinging to your skin as you are cleaning yourself.  There also appeared to be a tiny leak in the downstairs toilet from the freshwater inlet, but the new hose still seemed to be leaking, I didn't want to lean all my strength into it, but I might have to go stronger.
    I am really wanting to change some floors in the house, the kitchen linoleum is ok, but I tore a small area out a couple years ago moving furniture and that spot has always bothered me.  I want wood floors, but I worry with the kitchen getting water spills and what not.  Maybe a linoleum which looks like a dark wood floor would work.
    The pool needs to be dealt with this year.  I had found a company that dealt with finding leaks in plumbing, maybe I should get them to fix it before the spring, so we can actually use it this summer, at least enjoy it aesthetically.  If we get our finances under control, I would love some sort of shade mechanism in our big hunk of concrete in the back, so we can hang out outside before the sun sets, it is so hot, when the sun just beats down.

Something like this for shade

or maybe even something like this.

1/5/16 Evaluating My Time Off?

    I really think my almost two weeks off was something I needed and although I used up a lot of my vacation time, what I got for it, was a very good trade off.  I had noticed other coworkers in the past, save their time so they could take the two weeks off, and I used to think "sucker", more OT for me.  But I see with the given days off, it isn't too hard to stretch the time and do both weeks for a minimal hit on our PTO (personal time off), plus I was with my boys and Wife every day, and miraculously, we didn't hardly fight or argue like we usually do, so the time was overall enjoyable.
    The first weekend of the Christmas break was good, what with last minute shopping, and my folks coming in, I enjoy the built-in "need" to go shopping for loved ones and friends.  Because Santa takes care of the boys big items, I have taken to making it my job to filling their stockings with smaller gag gifts and interesting things I find while we are shopping.  Both boys got a pen, that has a reversible screwdriver on the opposite end, one of the sides has markings to measure up to four inches, and even a level is in the pen.  I also found some cool Dr. Who goodies, like earphones that look like the TARDIS for Chubs, Boy got a carabiner with 14 tools he can also use as a keychain.  I also look for exotic candies at Central Market and throw those in there.
    My folks and I had a misunderstanding, but I have made what I believe are the necessary changes, to keep everyone happy (meaning I added more beds).  Now to see when somebody comes back to test the house again.  I am sure everyone will sleep happily ever after from now on.
    Most every day was sleeping until 2 or 3 in the afternoon, followed by eating, then napping, then more eating, maybe a shower, then settle into some late night TV watching, while I wrote these blogs which sometimes feel like homework, when I don't have a new thought in my head.  We have been visiting a lot with our friends who had left the state and came back suddenly right before christmas.
    We did manage to drive down to Crystal City, my hometown, to drop off gifts, we only went for the day, it worked out good, Boy even took his friends to show them around.  The next day we drove to San Antonio for New Year's, and to take christmas gifts to them.  My father-in-law had a big scare, he was making menudo (mexican delicacy, consisting of cow stomach chunks in a broth), when he went to take the top off his pressure cooker, it malfunctioned and burned him brutally all over his stomach and hands.  He ended up with 2nd degree burns, and my mother-in-law was not happy with me joking about having some menudo with a hint of father-in-law as the secret sauce.  Boy again took some friends, and after the fireworks and fun, we were home by 3:00am or so.
    Time has of course moved way too fast, but we cleaned the house waiting for our new mattresses, put away the christmas trees, decorations on the stair rails, oh yeah, we got the guy at the mattress store to throw in two free pair of bed frames so the mattresses in the guest rooms are off the floor and we don't look so ghetto.  Only thing I need to work on is turning on pool pumps to get rid of green algae.  I hate messing around outside in the cold.

1/4/16 Newest Toy, Let's See?

    I am writing this on my newest toy/medical device/furniture, either way, Wife fought it up to a point.  We got a new bed for our bedroom, not only in King size, but also with the functions of having feet and head that go up and down.
    This is now the fourth bed we have bought for us, as a happily married couple.  The first one was from Sam's Club, probably when we were still in the Royal Crest Apartments.  Back then I was rolling through life in a California King Water bed, I loved it, and it loved me.  Wife came to live with me after we found out she was preggers.  First thing to go with a pregnant wife of course, was my beloved waterbed.  Since we were low on funds, we headed to Sam's, and bought a cheap king sized bed, since Boy was coming and he would be sleeping between us for the next ten years.
    Because it was a cheap mattress, it only lasted a few years in our room before I convinced myself I needed a better bed.  We then went and got a pillow top bed, and moved the king bed to Boy's room for a couple years.  We moved to the big house with the pillow top as our bed, but when we went to Rooms To Go to buy a bedroom set for the room where Boy's friend slept for a year, we bought in to the foam mattress excitement, and moved the pillow top over to the guest room housing Boy's friend. That mattress I was never fond of, and very quickly wanted out of, but I was stuck with it until we paid it off.  It was, first of all, a hot mattress, because we had to keep a waterproof liner, basically a plastic sheet on it at all times.  Then because it was foam, there were no springs to help with the lovemaking.  Get on your knees and you'll start sinking like a cow in quicksand, moo!
    So now I have a foam/spring combo.  It is a very thick mattress, with a thick layer of foam over a layer of springs.  I've been on it enjoying it being lazy all afternoon and evening, but I'll decide in the morning if I like it or not.
    If the first night is any indication, it should be a great bed for years to come.  At one point, around 11:00am, I even got up with a spring in my step to go pee.  Because we have been staying up late, I came back to bed, and slept until 2:00pm, but that is besides the point.  The sales guy said they have worked on the foam layer, it is no longer a heat trap, and actually, for the first time, I was thinking we could have used an extra blanket, something I haven't thought in years.  So for now, yeaih!! for the new bed.

1/3/16 Ode To Vacation? (poem)

To be free of work, perchance work for free

that might be what I would do if I weren't me.

Because I am shitty, and selfish, and petty, and mean

all I have managed to do is sleep, and eat, and act like a Frankenstein.

Wife said we would clean the house, make it much nicer

maybe the xmas decorations will be put away, she should be wiser.

We've visited family, both near and far

took Boy's friends along which were both at once shock and awed.

to dance with the devil requires some good insulated boots

listening to my brother dispense thought requires diluting his toots.

It has been nice, everyday sleeping til 2:00

it is not often that we hang low and move as fast as glue.

At night, we are busily working on catching up with our shows

kinda sux that we don't get any of the northern peoples' snows.
twas the night before Christmas, we were expecting at least cold
nope said the weather gods, how's 80 and the sun looking like gold?
It is after New Year's, the toys have all been played with
did Santa grow more powerful or is he now just a myth?
Chubs has stopped worrying about his behavior
acting like his Mom is not his Savior.
He is becoming a pre-teen adolescent, full of questions and spice
not outright rude, but not quite as nice.
We suspect he will become a bit of a handful as he gets bolder
Daddy will just remind him "I am a Master Moulder."
I take knuckleheads and make them winners
if that doesn't work I just get meaner.
But here we are, a couple more days of rest
at least I don't feel quite as stressed
I figure getting back to work is the next thing I can do
After all that I have spent, it is probably overdue.

1/2/16 "Gifts Make Slaves"?

    I got distracted by the Carolla book the last couple weeks, but I will stay on this one until I finish it.  I read another chapter last night titled Poverty With Prestige Is Better Than Affluent Disgrace.  The title of the blog is a quote from Claude Levi-Strauss.  Claude was a French anthropologist and ethnologist, wrote a book whose central theme focused on his belief that the "savage" mind has the same structures as the "civilized" mind and that human characteristics are the same everywhere.  His book reached into many fields helping to define "structuralism" as "the search for the underlying patterns of thought in all forms of human activity."
    Getting back to the latest chapter, it starts by laying down the fact that Americans in dealing with other countries have used every one of the old Chinese techniques to establish peace.  Since the 1890s, we have toyed with disarmament, we have extolled the virtues of diplomacy, and we have also used the third arsenal of pacification- tribute.  This is justified because we call it development funds, and the tribute itself is termed "foreign aid."
  The first two techniques deal with "equals" reducing their armaments, or coming to a table for discussions and finding a middle ground.  Foreign aid or tribute is seen as insulting in some cultures.  It is akin to the baboon who has made a kill and having the other lesser baboons come and feed off his "kill."  He may feed you, but you will accept in his eyes you are less than. 
    Although foreign aid may have started where there is real need just in basic essentials, such as food, clothing, and shelter, one's needs are not necessarily another cultures essentials.  In South America, when women were given a minimum amount of funds, instead of using it for food or medicine, a lot of the women went off buying lipstick.  Lipstick brings the admiring glances of men and the envy of women.  The same evidence unfolded here in the United States, where instead of worrying about food, clothing, and shelter, adolescent boys feel compelled to wear designer jeans a couple times a week to "look fly" (dress up).  Looking towards the wealthy folk downtown, the same thing happens with these people spending considerable sums of cash on "flimsy plastic luggage" because it has the Vuitton logo.
    Claude Brown, author of a couple of books and a lifelong resident of Harlem, noted teenage Harlem's preoccupation with prestige is the fault of a society afflicted by materialism.  Brown fails to realize that virtually every tribe or nation ever studied has been obsessed by some sort of status symbol.  Even naked spear carrying Pacific Islanders wore "penis cones", whose decorations showed off their rank.
    This all goes back to being counter to a larger source of power trying to "save" the people.  Regardless of how Americans see other cultures, they don't need saving or to be brought up to our standard of living.  Living in a vacuum, those women of South America know nothing of how people in other countries live.  They have their own beliefs that sickness and disease are caused by things outside which they could control.  Being hungry is just a state of being.  Most animals, I would say, live in a state of hunger, the lion pride does not eat three square meals a day, they may go a couple days without success in the hunt.  If we take it upon ourselves to feel sorry for the pride of lions and start feeding them regularly, we will disrupt their natural order.  Who would eat the weaker gazelle, who would keep the other grazing animals in top shape by chasing them regularly.
    There is a long description of what happened in Iran, but it follows the same path.  We show up, try to tell people how to live, and then the people get offended.  Why we haven't learned from that is beyond me.  The examples are from the 70s and Ayatolla Khomeini and Ghaddafi.  It is 40 years later, and we are still trying to force democracy into that region of the world, I don't believe the people want it there.

1/1/16 2015 Was A Good Year?

    It is the first day of the new year, but let's look back at the previous year for a second.  I want to stand up and give it a nice round of applause.  I thought 2015 was a good year, for our family at least.  I mean Wife with her Master's Degree, eight years of experience at ACC, and eight years of being part of the administration group in Bastrop was promoted to bus driver by her new supervisor, I am sure it is part of a long term goal which will land Wife in charge of Logistics or something we don't even understand yet.

    Boy continued his work at Texas State, moving out of our house and into an apartment in San Marcos, at least during the week.  His job is still at Alamo Drafthouse, so he has a great reason to come home every weekend.  Chubs got to finish his final year at his elementary school, which was touch and go during the summer of where we would be living.  

    Speaking of houses, we went through a lot of energy expended to decide whether to sell our current house and move back to our first house or vice versa.  In the end, my ego could not live in the first house, we sold it, paid a bunch of credit debt, bought a new F-250 truck, and ended the year refinancing our newer home after a couple of attempts.

    So for now, we are staying where we are, 2016 will hopefully be more of the same.  It is hard to even contemplate moving as we have looked around and noticed that even houses half our size are approaching $250,000-$300,000.  The next step for us will be a new SUV for Wife, but she wants to see our credit debt down to zero before we get more into debt.  But if there is a way, I would love to see a new SUV for my partner in crime.  

    Other than that, we have our timeshare for the spring, our trip to Florida with my folks in the summer, whether we take our RV to the coast this summer or keep using hotels.  We just got new tickets to SeaWorld, and our friends who had moved out of state are back, so we will probably also be looking at doing some rough camping, in a tent.  I would like to get my boat running again, and this might be the year for that.  So much to do, the year is already feeling packed with fun.  Woo-hoo!!