2/29/16 Texting Has Taken Over?

    I saw the first license plate last night with "I M LMAO", cute, I guess but it indicates that texting has reached the masses.  I took to it like a duck to water, loved it instantly because it is my thoughts without my stammering and uh or ummm while you're thinking to say something clever.  Texting allows me to sound clever-er than I ever could on the phone.
    Even my mom seems to prefer to text, I try not texting her all the time, as it is a bit more impersonal, but if I think she might be working and I need to tell her something, then yes, I will use it.  It is also great when there is information such as an address, since they can always go back and recall the info.  Plus one can always add a picture to a text, much like an e-mail to convey a message.  If I am talking to someone who won't see things my way, I might call them a donkey, then add a pic.


It is cute, but still insulting.  Then there is the language that has developed from talking with abbreviated words, such as LOL, LMAO, BRB, and many others.  How about on shirts:

 (Be Right Back)

Keep an eye out, the license plate in front of you might be saying something clever, but you will only get it if you aren't busy on your phone when you're driving.  A quick look on google shows many are out there: "LOL WTF", "LOL FAIL", "STFU PLS" as a few examples.  Keeping this one short since the 29th is the leap day, it barely exists.

2/28/16 God's Of Egypt, Tonight, Maybe?

    All right religious peeps, here we are with another movie about gods.  This one God's of Egypt sounds self explanatory where the gods are from, a little different than Hercules or Wrath of the Titans, which uses Greek gods.  To keep all on equal footing, there was Noah which used ideas from the Holy Bible. 
    These are three separate religions, all great, in their time, but what of so many others?  Why don't we see movies with Mayan or Aztec gods, not fair to say Mexican gods, because when the Spanish conquered, they brought Christianity and forced it on the people at the tips of their sword starting near the end of the 1500's. 
    Looking at them, why did we go from believing in polytheism to eventually monotheism and shouldering everything unto one god?  It seems every group of people from the greeks in the south to the Vikings in the north believed in many gods.  It was the same in primitive North America, before the Europeans came and conquered.  The indian tribes had different gods they would pray to for whatever activity was being pursued.
    There do exist a handful of religions that fall under monotheism, Islam and Christianity being the biggest.  I kind of like the idea of different gods being responsible for different things.  If we don't get our way in one request, well you can say a god is mad at us, but if something doesn't go your way, then you must assume God doesn't want you to succeed.  That is a much heavier burden. 
    I love the idea of believing in any of the religions.  To have existed when the Greeks were in their prime and the gods would come and mingle with man, creating demi gods like Hercules is just awesome.  The thinking behind building the great pyramids is also nice.  Using up to 100,000 people and enormous resources, kings would build this contraptions that would help them reach the heavens and start their new lives.  They were buried with riches, I had even read that servants were buried with them, you know, for the king's comfort.  Best case scenario, there are about 130 pyramids discovered in Egypt, maybe 130 royals ride their magic stone pointy ships to the next reincarnation, what of the 100000 people that worked on them?  Too bad, so sad.
    How about Christianity?  2000 years later, man is still born with a sin because two idiots ate an apple?  really?  Taking a little bath in water cleanses your soul enough to get you to heaven, but no water even if you're a baby and you get stuck in purgatory.  Wow, I guess JC and the crew don't like parents who procrastinate about dunking that baby.  And I hate that you can be an asshole your whole life, kill a few people, never contribute to society, but if you ask for forgiveness on the way to the electric chair, sure you too can hang out with God and all the fat little cherubs.  I call BS.

2/27/16 Highway Thru Hell Seasons 1 and 2?

    I just finished binge watching Highway Thru Hell and I cannot understand why some men are drawn to that kind of work.  The show focuses around Jamie Davis' tow truck company in Canada.  The large tow trucks are just beautiful pieces of machinery, no doubt.  They specialize in pulling out big rigs out of crashes, and rollovers.  Their primary focus is helping to manage roads, specifically the Coquihalla Highway which goes through the mountains and can go from clear and sunny to blizzard like in a matter of a few miles.
    The show is brought to life by examining the guys that make up the company.  There is James, who is a good solid guy, probably too nice to be a boss, but he does what he does.  Very knowledgeable and patient.  Then there's Adam Gazzola, Jamie's right hand man.  Drives the lead truck and according to him makes 80-90% of the companies money.  There are at least ten other guys, each with his own character and demons they seem to be fighting with.  There was Bruce who was 64 in his first season and one of those crusty old dudes who seemed like would last forever, always smoking and pissed off.  Kevin, who drives the emergency ambulance and seems to think of James as a father figure.
    When it gets bad, they will be out chasing accidents for three or four days with no sleep in brutal blizzard and snow storms.  They pull cars out of sides of mountains, one required a cable that was like 200 feet long.  They don't really discuss their pay much, but one of the drivers in a regular tow truck for cars was expecting to make $40,000 had only made $10,000 through the winter.  Again, I wonder what compels these guys to do this.  They talk about oil fields where they could be driving for more pay. 
    The part that sucked the most was that after the winter and everything calmed down, half the guys were laid off.  It just sounds like a horrible place to work your butt off during the worst part of the year, jumping in and out of a truck, only to be laid off and have to go out and look for work during the nice time of the year.
    At the end of the second season, it looked like Jamie had decided to go test his tow trucks in the oil fields 900 miles away after encountering too much competition on the highways he had grown up towing.  I couldn't stop watching personally, my dad was a truck driver and these men just seem to be cut of the same material, men that don't bitch, just go out and do what needs to be done.

2/26/16 Is It Better To Die Slow Or Fast?

    I've been thinking about this, our friends dad is in the hospital and this is second or third time he ends up in there.  I hope he makes a full recovery, but at a certain point in someone's life, if they aren't going to make changes, what will be the outcome?  The hardest death I've had to deal with was probably my Grandma on my Mom's side, we saw her a few times a week when I was growing up,  she was the keystone for our family, not to mention she worked in the cafeteria, so she always had a couple extra burgers on Thursdays and pizzas on pizza day.
    Once she got sick though, she was never the same.  She got shingles, which doesn't sound like much, a rash really, but it comes on stronger the older you are, and it tends to affect one side of the body.  This kind of sidelined her, and she then avoided being out in public which I think contributed to making her bedridden.  There were a few years they talked of therapy, but I don't think she was ever into it.  Eventually there was a blood disorder which made things worse and then in one of the many hospital visits, she contracted MRSA, which fortunately for the hospital, we are not the suing kind.  But for a woman who was strong and managed the school cafeteria with 20 ladies and then turn around and be bedridden and confined to a small room on a twin size bed.  There was a huge quality of life drop-off.
    My Dad hasn't started with the necessary doctor visits, but he certainly is not being smart about his day to day shenanigans.  He's retired, so he has time where he could dedicate an hour a day to working out, which I know would reduce all his aches and pains, but no, instead he matches his aches and pains with even more lethargy.  He claims to have bad shoulder rotation, and every time he lifts his arms, it's "ay ay ay ay ay"  If he started lifting weights, I think this would go away.  We'll see where he is in a few years. 
    If I have a choice, I'd rather get to about 75-80 then one good heart attack, no muss, no fuss.  I don't want all that hospital time, nurses cleaning my ass, arguing with the boys who is getting the house or whatever.  I don't want to be a burden, seeing our friends spending all their evenings visiting in the hospital.  Everyone's life is put on hold, they can't go out and have a good time knowing a loved one might be dying. 
    It sucks either way, it is not a topic I am comfortable with, but we are grown ups and no one can avoid it, eventually. 

2/25/16 Yesterday Shows How Old I Am Getting?

    Yesterday, could have been a glorious day full of freedom and possibility.  Wife went with Chubs to Waco to go visit Baylor University and then a museum located in Waco.  As luck would have it, Wife decided to take the shackles off of me and even turned off the chip in my neck which she uses to track my every move.  The stage was set for this big dog to go out and sniff around like a big dog does.  What did I do with all my freedom?  I slept until they got back, almost 6:00pm.
    Used to be if she left town to visit her folks or for whatever reason, I'd be up at noon having lunch with one of my many wonderful friends.  I figured I could always catch up on my sleep later.  I thought about it, I even knew Girlie was going to be off on Wednesday, she never says no to a free lunch.  The stage was set, I did get up at 11:30 or so to go pee, all I had to do was send out a text or two, instead I jumped back in bed, felt the warmth of the comforter, and thought screw it, I am sleeping unless somebody texts me.
    Shoot, normally I am waking up all the time to go pee, but I didn't wake up again until 2:30 when Wife texted that they were on their way.  I normally get up at this time, but nope, rolled over and fell back to sleep.  Then she texted at 3:20 they had driven back to pick up some kids, the 2nd bus broke or something.  I should have been up by now, if even to just go to Best Buy or something, but no.  Still sleeping, telling her at each text that I was fixing to get up.  Not until she said they were fifteen minutes away did I finally get up asked her to get me a burger since it was going to be six and I was already technically running late.
    I ate my burger a couple minutes later while she filled me in on the shitty busses with no A/C, and Chubs showed me a bunch of pics on his phone.  I sat there eating thinking I wouldn't mind sleeping some more. 
    Wife has started feeling it too.  Normally, she stays up with me when I come home for lunch, until about midnight, then she goes to bed.  This has been our routine going on twenty years this November, but this week she has been going to sleep early.  I don't know if it is age, or just because she has been working OT on the weekends, and then she had this trip yesterday and she was at campus until 7:00pm on Tuesday.
    The really sad part of this is that it is only Wednesday, we still have a Thursday and it's looking like an OT Friday, just looking at the work getting backed up.  I need to rally and stop being such a wuss.

2/24/16 Out In The Country, Respect Is Given To The Scary Guy?

    I come from a small town, I know the howl of a narrow mind very well.  Whether it's from my brother who does such a good job imitating the ignorant masses, he might have become a part of them, to the actual Simpletons that make up the bigger populations out there.
    I had to go meet Wife halfway to Bastrop from Austin, and the people there all seemed out of this world.  The lady in front of me in line apparently had never been in a McDonald's, took her as long to order as it did my Wife to run to the bathroom and back.  She didn't order for a baseball team either, just for herself.  Before we got off the truck, I parked next to a random car with tinted glass.  The guys appeared to just be sitting there, with the windows rolled up, I didn't notice them until I turned off the truck.  I thought great, I'll open door, they'll mug me.  Just then a van with also dark tinted windows pulled up on other side, I immediately told Chubs not to get off, were they waiting for him to open door and then try to kidnap him.  The van was parked in the In coming lane, as we were on the edge of the parking lot.  Even Chubs thought it was weird the way he parked.  Just then Wife parked on the other side of the suspicious car and started waving us to hurry, oblivious to our Mexican standoff.  I said "fuck it", jumped off cussing like I had been punched, went around told Chubs to get off and move, not to think about it, and I grabbed him and yanked him towards the door.  Nobody's kidnapping a 200lb Chubs with momentum headed to the building.  At that point, I noticed an idiot get off the passenger door and the van left, so I guess he was just giving someone a ride.
    The stupidest one was an old man drove in on a big pick-up truck.  Although there was enough space for two cars on the passenger side of Wife's car, he managed to park about 10 inches from the car.  I told Wife to just honk the horn, let him know we're watching.  My little Chihuahua runs outside yelling you're gonna scratch my car, she's been working in a small town too long, her ghetto is showing.  The old lady riding passenger started cussing about stupid shit this and you don't have to honk that.  She came back in heated but satisfied.  Five minutes later, the old man was repeating the procedure of shrinking himself by walking sideways.  This time we were done eating, so I said let's go outside, see if he scratched anything.  I walked out in front, just staring at the truck, ignoring the lady who was in my path, she was guiding him out.  Instead of cussing at me, she started with he's deaf, he can't speak too good, almost apologizing, and hurrying to get in the truck and leaving.
    The suspicious guys were still in the car, as I jumped into my truck, but Wifey decided to clean out her trunk, getting Chub's backpack out, then rummaging through a big box of hers, I can't leave, with the two idiots sitting in the black car waiting for who knows what?  Finally, she got her ass in gear, and I could finally head back to the city.

2/23/16 What Happened To Porn?

    As a porn enthusiast, I am befuddled as to what to make of this new era.  Used to be growing up, I knew where every dirty mag my dad kept in the house was.  I could go over to my friend's houses and they too knew and cared for their small magazine collection.  My mom was always proud of my cleaning abilities, I'd tear into a closet and throw away trash and end up cleaning a room.  Great for my folks, but I was really always searching for nudie mags in the closets.  My best friend in high school actually had a Beta player and that is where things got interesting, he actually had Debbie Does Dallas, probably the most famous porn movie, but really a lame movie as far as pornos go.  There were many others, god bless busy parents. 
    I quickly got a subscription to Playboy and Penthouse when I moved out, later I got turned off by Penthouse, although it was more risqué, it got carried away with females needing to urinate on everything.  Sorry, but it just isn't attractive, to me.  I probably got Playboy for 8-10 years and people say it all the time, but it had good articles, and even some good stories from celebrated authors, not to mention the dirty jokes.  I then discovered Voluptuous in 2003 or so, and man... comparing the Playboy stick figure girls to these women was not even fair.  I don't even care if society thinks of the playmate as perfect, the Voluptuous chicks just made me lose interest in Playboy.  All this time, I had been renting VHS tapes which were easy to copy, but then switching to DVDs was a pain, because the picture was way better, but a lot of them came with pirate technology.  They couldn't be copied from a DVD player, gradually I stated losing interest in renting the movies if I couldn't copy them for my collection.  Of course, the internet was exploding with its own share of naked entertainment, and who can compete with that, when it is free, it shows up on your computer, there is no walk of shame, going into the porn store.
    I know it will survive on the internet and even change and grow, but I miss the days of finding that magazine buried under the bed, or hidden in a closet, or even really hidden in the upper kitchen cabinets.  It was like Easter with a boner.  My last magazine around the house is probably from 2007 or so.  Sometimes I feel like I should kick start a Playboy subscription again, but the lame asses announced they were doing away with the nude girls as of Dec 2015.  I guess I could really say I was reading it for the articles now, blahhh.  I hesitate to try Penthouse, if the were peeing on each other ten years ago, ughhh, they could be pooping on each other by now.  Hmm, but I guess I am Jonesing for a trip to the Megaplexxx, it's been awhile, Old Friend.

2/22/16 Sundays Suck The Most?

    I have always hated Sundays.  Sure, they are a lazy day, but to us people always in a rush, Sundays need to get with the rest of the week.  First of all, some businesses still hold the idea they can be closed on Sundays.  If it was a family business, fine I guess I understand that.  But big stores shouldn't be playing these games, Hobby Lobby is a million dollar business, good thing everything they sell can be bought cheaper at Wal-Mart or some of its competitors.  Chick-Fil-A, which I do love, is another business headed by a dummy who insists it is a good idea to close on Sundays. 
    My hatred started back when I was going to UT in the early 90s.  I would periodically go visit my folks for the weekend, but coming back on Sunday evenings, there would be nothing but crap on the radio.  I am not sure if like Boy says, they put in the D squad, or if by law all stations have to slow it down, but music on the radios on Sunday is never right.
    Then there are the hours, if a business is open, they will have earlier hours on Sunday.  Sometimes there is an emergency, and you need something from the mall, or even Home Depot or Lowe's.  The mall closing down on Sundays at 6:00pm seems so antiquated.  But I guess we are used to it, nobody really complains about it.  I do notice the longer hours during the Christmas season, no harm there running the mall to 11:00 or even midnight.
    My one favorite thing on Sundays is breakfast.  I loved it growing up, whether we went to church or not, my dad would tend to be there, even if he worked every other day of the week, and we would go get barbacoa.  Barbacoa I guess is a Mexican thing, the head of a cow gets cooked, and the meat is all removed, including tongue, cheek and brains (anyone wanna try an eyeball?).  Back then you could see the texture of the brain which my Dad would ask for some to be included on purpose.  It would be white and spongy, not good by itself, but mixed in it added a weird yummy texture.  I buy barbacoa nowadays, just had it today, but it has to be something different.  I haven't noticed any brains in it, or the texture of the tongue, which you would remove the outer skin, a tongue is all muscle or meat, very good.
    Then there is the evenings nowadays.  Boy comes into town, to work, we just happen to exist in his back-up house, but usually is in a rush to get back to San Marcos, so he doesn't even eat dinner with us.  Usually, we get him on Friday or Saturday, but I worked both those evenings, and he had plans anyway on Saturday.  And even ole Chubs goes to bed early, to start the week strong, so again, other than being restful, Sundays have always had that solitary feeling to me.
    Ehh, it is probably a good thing to slow down.  I was ready to go work again for the would have been 7th night in a row, I am not young anymore, it was for the better that I stayed home and just slept and acted lazy all day.  We did go get a Dairy Queen blizzard, that was fun, with the top down, right at sunset, followed by grilling a little BBQ just the three of us.  Tomorrow is another week, getting closer to Spring Break, see what happens then.

2/21/16 If A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words?

    I stumbled upon a bag of old 35mm 4x6 pictures and even better, the packets had CDs which have the pics in digital format.  I started loading the pics on my laptop and realized I had already done this before on our last laptop.  Being that the pictures were also physical in their 4x6 existence, I also have them in photo albums, which I personally really like.  What do people do with their pictures now?  I know most of us just carry the newest pictures on our phones, but it wasn't even that long ago people still used dedicated cameras for picture taking. 
    I have several underwater cameras myself, Wife has a handful of 35mm cameras in our storage boxes and I even have a giant SLR camera with different lenses when I thought I might have artist potential in me.  In reality, I just tried talking people into letting me photograph them naked.  It was much harder back then, because the film still needed to be produced somewhere.
    Today, pictures are just done on your phone, sent to the people involved and occasionally uploaded to Face Book or Instagram.  Quality is so good, they can even be blown up to poster size if you wanted.  Was there a time people carried a photo album with them, to show people at work what their baby did, or is that just a new thing where we show our coworkers and friends way too much of what happens behind closed doors?  My mom just has her house filled with pics on every wall of us in our various stages of life.  From little kids to married family men with our own kids.  What is the proper reaction to pictures of ourselves?  At one point of the spectrum, it can be sad how fast time has flown, we are no longer babies, time is fleeting.  On the other hand, our parents get to see the fruits of their labor.  We are all grown and successful, with our own little families doing it the right way.
    Ten years ago, more or less, we were up to like 50 rolls of unprocessed rolls of 35mm pictures.  I didn't even know what was on the rolls, Wife and I made a concerted effort to start taking all the rolls in.  Most we took to Best Buy, they had photo drop off with next day service, and we could pay with Best Buy card.  If we dropped off 10 rolls, and each was $12-$14 to process, that was $120-$150.  Eventually, all the rolls were turned into pictures and CDs, we bought a bunch of photo albums and I put them together.  At the time, I thought it would be interesting to see if we would have a whole wall of photo albums in due time.  We filled one big book shelf, before going completely digital, and we probably have more pictures in this laptop I am writing on than the bookshelf I thought would continue growing.
    Wife has three old phones, loaded with pictures which she intends to develop somehow.  She brings them out occasionally, I figure they are her pics, she's a big girl, she can handle them.  I have the same problem, but I connect my phone to the laptop, once in a while, so most of my camera pics are also on laptop.

2/20/16 Back To The OT, Finally?

    It has been awhile, but it looks like we finally backed up enough workwise that they asked us to come in and work the weekend.  Since the start of the year, we had not had even enough work to keep us busy most nights, it was starting to get a little worrisome.  This week, though, at the beginning of the week we had an old customer come back asking for some work which just takes a long time to do.  Because this was made Priority, meaning the customer is willing to pay double our rates, he goes to the front of the line.  All the other work sat until this customer was appeased.  I did a lot of the work, because I am here alone at night, so that was fine.
    By Thursday night, we already knew we were backed up to need some work over the weekend.  Because we have also been having trouble with our tool, today was mostly lost to the maintenance guys who I guess did fix at least the tilt function.  I was then expecting to maybe get a full night of OT, but today my supervisor asked if I could come in all three nights this weekend.  Several customers need their data as soon as possible.  By working through the weekend, they should get their data by Monday morning.
    Another angle to worry about is that working OT becomes like anything else, a part of life.  When we don't do it for a long time, it does feel like a huge burden.  I have enjoyed the last few months of hanging out at home, taking it easy with Wife and the boys.  But the reality is that the OT is what gives us the "extra" income to do whatever we like doing.  When I am working  a lot of regular OT is when I routinely take $200-$300 out every paycheck just as WAM, walk around money.  The other side of that deal is that when I don't work any extra, I must tighten my belt and go without.  I had put away a couple of bucks which got me through the last few months, which of course, is the first thing I will try and replenish is my fun stash I keep for a rainy day.
    We are trying to wean ourselves of credit cards, so Wife is wanting me to start getting used to paying for things with cash again.  I just like having a little bit on me, when Chubs asks for lunch money, or now I am giving him $20 every payday to put in his Disney piggy bank.  I don't want to be the kind of duffus that has to ask his wife for a couple bucks, that is demeaning. 
    She has been doing a great job picking up the slack though, working her version of OT by taking kids on college visits and stuff on the weekends.  It is this form of team play that makes me feel better when things go slow for me that I know we will be alright.  Disney is mostly already paid for.  At this point, she is just making money to make sure we can all walk around the Disney parks enjoying ourselves and feasting like the fat Americans that we are.

2/19/16 When Is The Message Meant For Me?

    I've heard it a few times that if you want honesty, look to a drunk or a kid.  Everyone else is working hard to keep their demons from coming out.  If you're a little racist, maybe you smile at those you consider below you.  You'll be just polite to get out of that scenario as quickly as possible.  If you're sexist, you'll let the woman explain before getting a second opinion from a man.
    How about this one?  All I can say is to be naïve... After the "scandal" caused by TYGA, I kept looking into him, mostly because a certain friend of mine likes that type of music.  Of course, different strokes for different folks, but some people don't deserve a second chance.  Chris Brown, his buddy, of beating up Rihanna fame, I refuse to hear any of his music voluntarily myself.  I've looked at the lyrics, texted with her to get information on what is so worthy of this guys music?  Her response was that he has changed, his first two albums were more her style.  I forced myself to listen to most of the first album she recommended and it was pretty generic stuff about making it out of the ghetto.  A lot of dreaming about running around in Ferraris, and normal teen fantasy stuff.  The problem I noticed, as a female listener, every female he refers to is a bitch.  Why would any self respecting woman pay for any of this guy's merchandise?  "I don't take it personal, it's not meant for me."  This is how my friend got herself out of the corner I painted her into.
    I'm sorry, but if you are the listening audience, he is referring to you as a bitch.  We all listen to bad music at a certain age, but heavy metal music was never calling me a fucking fag or anything derogatory, and if a band did, I probably would give up on it. 
    I also feel this way about Donald Trump.  He hates illegals, with a passion, although he has yet to marry a bonafide American gal.  I guess the whiter the better.  Some members of my family like his style saying they are considering voting for him.  My guess is that after he does away with the brown people who are here illegally, he would start harassing Hispanic people born in the US.
    Every election cycle, the people on the left or the right pick up the same handful of items to divide us into our regular colors, red or blue.  I think Trump is going at it by attacking a different color scheme altogether, brown versus white.  I haven't been paying that much attention to the potential electorates, but I am not hearing the usual division between who can marry, or stances on abortion.  These are normally hot topic issues, not that they should be, but by bringing in issues of race, the normal arguments are being avoided.
    In conclusion, sorry family, you can't stuff your hands in your ears and say he is not referring to me, when he says he hates illegals, it is just code for hating anybody not of European ancestry. 

2/18/16 The Importance Of Being Earnest? (Book)

    I kind of forgot to do my review of the latest book I read, The Importance Of Being Earnest last week.  After reading The Picture Of Dorian Grey, I am a big Oscar Wilde fan.  Oscar grew up at the wrong time.  Because he was gay, he ended up spending time in jail (about two years), and his life was probably shortened by the fact that this ruined him financially.  He died penniless, even though he was working on a good library of stories and plays that were generally liked by society.
    The Lucifer Principle, the other book that distracted me so much from reading more light hearted material had a section on Oscar Wilde.  It stated that as England started sliding down from being ranked number 1 in the world, people looked for a scapegoat, much like happened here in the 80s, when the ignorant religious masses started blaming Heavy Metal as devil music affecting the youth, Oscar Wilde was used as the face of homosexuality and the decay of morality.  In truth, England started to fall behind technologically, the US had far superior steel for ship building.  In the same way, we started falling behind the Japanese, because they work harder and their kids spend more time studying.
    Anyways, the story starts out in the city, two close friends are discussing their days, and one lets on he has a fictional persona who he uses to go out and get away from his country existence.  The city guy then admits he does the same, he calls his alter ego Bunbury, then makes it a verb, saying he goes bunburying when he chooses to use the alter ego.  The country fellow is smitten with the city fellow's cousin and then later the city fellow follows the country guy to his estate and falls for his ward,  a naïve but I assume pretty girl.
    It is a fairly short play, about 100 pages long in the book.  The book appears much larger, but there are three or four more plays included in the book.  Mr. Wilde does a great job with the conversations, making everyone appear clever.  After coming clean about his name and the city guy's gal insisting that Earnest is the only name of the man she plans on marrying, well a long explanation and some clearing of the air, in the end, the name he has been using about town to escape his country life, is in fact his real name, since he was named after his father, Earnest.
    In the end, everyone is happy, as the city guy, although belonging to high society by birth and behavior, is poor, but Earnest's ward is to get a great sum of money once she prepares for marriage, Earnest is a wealthy man, and thus is fit to marry the other man's cousin, which mother approves once she hears of his earnings and visits his estate in the country.
    The story is in play form, but I found it very easy to read, and almost preferred the name of the person saying this and that to know who was carrying on the conversation.  I look forward to reading the rest of his plays in the book.

2/17/16 Respect Those That Forged A Path For You?

    I guess the Grammys just happened.  I am not a big fan of these kinds of awards because frankly, the people being recognized are already rich, and it is the same close knit cast year in and year out.  For me or you to feel this way, ehh, whatever, we don't matter to these people, don't kid yourselves.  I found it shocking that A young upstart chose to ignore literally music royalty.  There is a story going on about Sir Paul McCartney, and Beck not being allowed into an after party hosted by Tyga.  Tyga would be a new hip hop singer, with classics like "Bitches And Marijuana", "Girl You Loud", "Faded", "Make It Nasty"...  But don't forget TYGA stands for Thank You God Always.  I looked up the lyrics thinking maybe he is more clever than what I would expect, but no, the songs go on about the usual stuff, getting high, getting rich, I don't understand where God fits into his title?
    That was just a quick introduction of someone who probably has a short career, considering how long most people last in the music business.  If you do manage to have enough spare change to then host a party, and someone like Paul McCartney comes a knocking, get off your ass and recognize fool, have a fruit basket waiting for the man.  This man started entertaining countries in the 1960s.  He was walking or trying to walk in with Beck, maybe not a Beatle, but that man has had all his albums released nominated for Album Of The Year the year he releases them, and has won two or three times.  There was even a third fellow with them Taylor Hawkins who is the drummer for the Foo Fighters.  Another band that has been around since the 90s.  This fellow might not be as worldly, but he was named Best Drummer in 2005 by some British magazine.
    It makes no sense to keep real musicians out on a night celebrating music.  You should all be gathering and showing the love for each other, idiots!  How long before one of you hip hoppers wants to borrow a Beatles song or hook, does this help the collaborative effort?  Does this show any kind of respect for people that were making music before you were even born?
    His excuse was that he was performing on stage, why would he keep out a Sir Paul McCartney?  Well, it was your party, the behemoth working the door doesn't think on his own, he takes orders from above.  I am sure it will blow over, these guys have way more class and talent than the people inside, but had it been the other way around, wouldn't we be hearing the wahh machine of racism?  Funny how in this instance, it'll just get swept under the rug as a big misunderstanding, hopefully TYGA gets swept under too.  He can come out when he realizes you can't have it both ways, if you are going to acknowledge Thank You God Always, maybe make some music that doesn't just talk about getting high, because God would not be impressed by your posing.  Idiot!

2/16/16 Kind Of A Nice Weekend?

    This was going to be a pain in the ass weekend, luckily Wife is not a needy woman who must be impressed with stones and jewels.  All she requires is her boys to shine some love on her.  Boy showed up around 6:30, which was perfect because Wife was home not much earlier than that.  We started not sure where to eat, so we just headed out.  Being that Wife was working Saturday as well as Boy, I wanted to stay close to home.  We crossed the freeway to go eat at a Chinese place, but it closed down, then Boy suggested Roadhouse, in front of Walmart so we came back around to this side of the freeway, but it was packed, as well as Friday's, so I said screw it, jumped on the freeway and headed to Logan's by Cabela's.  I am really not a big fan, it had probably been more than a year since we had been, but honestly, we had a really great meal.  We all had steaks and they were delicious or we were hungry, but even the baked potato I found myself finishing, not to mention a handful of peanuts, a few buttery biscuits and even a little of a free appetizer Wife got through her coupons from her phone.  We all left thinking, didn't this place used to kinda suck?  Maybe they are turning it around.
    Saturday found me hanging out with Chubs all day, not that we did anything, we both stayed up late, so we didn't get up until 2 or 3.  All we managed to do was go get some candy for Valentine's Day at Target.  By the time we got back home, Wife was back from her field trip, and we both decided we needed a nap while we waited for Boy to get home.  He got home, but we had to wait for his posse, apparently this Boy doesn't fart without taking 3-4 people with him anymore.  We finally got on our way.  For Wife's birthday, I told her we would eat in SA with her family, since she didn't want anything material.  We ended up at Chaparral, which I have always enjoyed because they know how to refry a bean.  Along with their fajitas, this place kicks ass.  We probably left around 10:30pm, and we were back in Austin by midnight.  We watched some TV, and slept in Sunday.  Boy managed to get even more people in the house, sometime after midnight, and they were up until at least 5am, so was Chubs, which I thought was fine, because they were also off Monday.
    Sunday, we all started kind of slow, except Boy, who had to go to work at 8am  (heh heh).  He was in miserable shape, but that is how you learn.  We were in pajamas until 7pm, and even as we headed out to eat, Wife told me "I don't think you even took a shower."  I said "hmm, you're right, but I haven't pooped either, so it's all good." 
    We went and dined at Mandola's, dressed like we were going to the Dairy Queen, in warm-ups and Crocs (like I don't wear those all the time).  Dinner was good, but we had to pick what they had left, they were out of about half the menu, at nine, guess making more fettucine alfredo is too much to ask of an Italian restaurant.  They have awesome desserts there, is why I really love eating there, and Wife noticed the crowd on the dessert side and got inline before all the cocoanut cake slices were gone.  We enjoyed our meal, then we headed back home to enjoy the dessert in front of the TV.  We tried watching Interstellar, but I don't think they did a great job explaining the beginning.  There are no scientists, maybe it's after a war or something, but smart people are always necessary.  Engineers can engineer on food or boats or buildings or anything.  Bullshit, you're better off being a farmer than some sort of scientist, maybe that is where America is headed, but I don't believe it.  Movie did not make much sense to me, saw about half then stopped, Wife was snoring.
    Monday they both took it easy, it being President's Day, I slept as normal, since I still had to come to work.  Here we are, Monday night and I believe back to normal.

2/15/16 Who Is The Idiot?

    I can't help but notice couples, and some just make me scratch my head.  We were at a restaurant eating for Valentine's Day and in the next table over was what looked like a well put together woman, dressed in a pretty red blouse, some of them tight yoga type pants, and maybe some 5 inch heels.  I was not the only one that noticed this ray of sunshine.  Of coourse, what is she sitting with, but a dude who looked more at home out on a playground, wearing gym shorts and a white t-shirt.  I'm not saying we were at a fancy restaurant, but if clearly the woman outclasses you, at least wear shoes or boots.
    A larger thing of notice is why is this woman wasting time dating "beneath" her?  For that matter, we know a few gals who insist on dating mama's boys and man-childs.  I've mentioned them before, and from our eyes, these guys aren't worthy of taking my trash out to the curb, but this girls are planning lives with these guys.  I guess if you can pick up your bag of stuff and move in to his mom's house or apartment, and you get to live there for free and not have to work, then that might be a win for some.  What some of us see as a prison sentence with a personal warden, others see as shangri-la, where you can finally retire from the minimum wage jobs you've been bouncing from.
    Another family member who has yet to date a quality dude recently broke up with a tattoo'd wonder.  His longest career path was doing some not so honest work, so I looked at the dingbat and asked her "what were you thinking?"  "Well, he was very nice?"
    Growing up, I thought a man had to be the best version of himself to try and become a man worthy of a family.  Maybe having both parents gave me that false confidence that that was the way of the world.  Now I see, women are either very gullible or wear such rose tinted glasses or the pull of wanting to start a family makes them constantly feeding the poor side of the balance.  Once a baby is in play, well you've started a new generation of poor.  With this logic, I don't see how we are going to turn things around.  The poor are busily and happily making babies while the people who are hard at work getting educated stay behind the baby making business.  My solution has always been put some birth control in the water supply.  If you can't afford the antidote, you can't afford kids.  And while we are at it, if the government has paid for say two kids, then you get some long term birth control shot in you.  Nobody nowadays needs 4,5 or 10 kids for any reason.  Nobody is working crops out in the back 40.

2/14/16 Motorcycle Gangs Or Clubs?

    I don't understand grown men who prefer to ride around in groups together, there are plenty of single mamas to know that some of these men are at least sperm contributers, if not fathers.  Add the new-ish face masks that look like skull jaws, I interpret that they want to look bad ass and of course, I wouldn't want to mess with them.  Understanding their mentality then, they would rather run around in packs with other men, dressed in leather.  If you have a child, how about getting of your bicycle and acting like a father?  I might be the goofy fuck you scare when you go vroom vroom, but my boys know I am there for them, and if I am not headed to work, they are actually probably with me.
    I don't know for sure if these guys are good or bad, but running in a posse is not a representation of who you are, it is a sign you must be with something larger than you.  A male lion doesn't run in a pack with 20 other male lions, he gets himself set up with some female lions and calls it his family.  Zebras run in herds for protection, so do fish (again, confuses prey) , maybe buffalo, but none of the apex animals in the wild run in packs, they got their own back.
    I have tons more respect for a man who looks out for his family.  I've thought about getting a motorcycle myself, but then Wife puts thoughts in my head: what if I crash?  what if I lose control?  In my truck, no big deal, few vehicles are bigger than either my F-250 or Excursion, plus I am an excellent driver, I started driving at age 12, and driving on my own since I was 14, plus at one point I even had a CDL license and drove the school bus at my junior college.  On a motorcycle, all that experience goes out with the trash.  First of all, just turning, one could slip and lose control, and end up with the bike on its sides.
    I honestly hate the ROT Rally, nothing but bikers making unnecessary noise, in an effort to impress each other.  What if all these men-children would  make the same effort to keep their families together?  I don't know, maybe if they are jerks, they would just make their kids jerks even faster.  Maybe the kids are better off being raised by mama and her family.  The real question is why is ignorant mama attracted to this type of idiot?  She will never be #1 in his heart, that is reserved for his boys.  The idea of mama wanting a bad boy or a thug for a hubby is what is making our great society crack at its foundation.  Ladies, have some self respect, choose a man who wants to be there for you.

2/13/16 What Is Going On With This Weather?

    I love the mild evenings where it might be nippy outside, but inside the house is a perfect 69 or 70. It just feels perfect to have that one window open to allow a perfect breeze to come wash over us.  I do worry this is the second year in a row we really don't have a winter.  It has been cold a couple of days, but no cold front has kept it freezing for more than a couple hours.  During the fall, there was talk of an especially cold winter due to movement of El Niño but so far I have not noticed even more rain than usual.

    We are in our 2nd or 3rd week of temperatures in the 70s to low 80s during the day, falling into the upper 40s and 50s, at night.  Downstairs, the temperature stays pretty constant and comfortable, upstairs it is sometimes iffy on whether we should turn on A/C in the evening.  If I go through and open the windows, it has been enough to get thermostat to read 72 or lower by midnight.  Are we blessed or are we cursed?  On the one hand, we don't have to worry about snow on the roads, or ice to slide us off the road.  On the other, winter can be downright boring, such as Christmas being in the low 80s, so it didn't feel like a day to stay inside and enjoy the family.  That is one day I always hope is covered in snow, although it never is.

    Tonight (Friday) finds the weather at a very mild 59.  We have a few windows open upstairs, and I haven't even covered myself, except for the bedsheet.  A comforter feels like overkill, I really need to change the comforter back to our quilt, which is lighter.  By the way, this is my favorite reason to have a two story house.  I love that we can sleep with the windows open and not worry about aholes seeing a window open as an opportunity to break in.  All the windows and doors are alarmed downstairs, but not upstairs.  This used to piss me off when we moved in, until I realized that the windows are high enough on the 2nd story, that a criminal would need to show up with a ladder, possible but unlikely.

    Chubs and I are sticking with shorts, for most days.  We know that even if it seems cool in the morning, by the afternoon, the weather will acclimate to the warmer feel.  Thinking about it, I should probably go cut the grass, it is still kind of growing, again, because it hasn't been that cold, I don't think the grass is fully hibernating.

    The one thing that does piss me off is the little spurts of drizzle that seem to happen after I wash my truck.  The truck is black, so I want to keep it spotless, but what can you do against a drizzle?  It seems silly to go back the next day and rewash the truck, I could, it'd be free, but I don't think I'm that douche-y yet.  Oh well, I shouldn't complain, people up north are covered in snow, some people are drowning in floods, whining over a little drizzle seems petty, and I do love sleeping with natural, clean air coming in, with only a fan to cool us.

2/12/16 When Do We Let My Baby Become My Man?

    We were watching one of our favorite shows tonight and the issue of mama not wanting to let her baby boy go through the beginning of adolescent "boy necessities" came up.  First of all, The Goldbergs is one of the best family shows on TV.  The mom played by Wendi Mclendon Covey is over the top, playing helicopter mom before the term was invented.  The dad is also a perfect stereotype, Jeff Garlin, owns a furniture store, and when he is home, prefers doing all his dad duties from his favorite chair, preferably in underwear and watching the Philadelphia Eagles.  Then the three siblings an older know it all sister trying to be super cool but always saving the middle brother who steals most scenes he is in because he is always going at 110%.  Finally, there is the youngest, who plans on being a director and thus most of the time is working with a camera.  It is his film clips that are used to show the real life scenes that produce the ideas for the show.  I can't say enough, I think I like this show more than even Big Bang Theory which has been my favorite for awhile.
    Anyways, in tonight's episode, the younger boy in about 7th grade comes up with the perfect plan, they are going to buy tickets to watch Annie and instead sneak in to watch Porky's, which in the 80's was a must see for any teenage boy.  They do a voice over explaining how the multiplex came into existence in the 80's, so sneaking in was a possibility because people could be in there all day, if they wanted.  His mom, who overhears everything butts in and tells him you will not, under any circumstances, go and watch that movie.  In the next scene, he is standing with a couple friends and they are debating going in and hoping to not get caught.  In the end, they show him in the theater with all the younger kids watching Annie, and not boobs.
    The next day even the dad, who rarely gets involved is depressed his son is not becoming a man, choosing to do exactly as his mama tells him to do.  It is a rite of passage, we must accept that at some point boys need to be horny boys.  My dad always had his collection of nudie mags, nothing obscene, just normal naked girls, I thought it right then to have a collection of nudie mags Boy could access, not knowing the internet was backing up right to our doorsteps and fixing to deliver ANYTHING your perverted eyes wanted or didn't want to see in the late 90s.  I don't even buy magazines anymore, I don't rent dirty movies anymore, it is all online.  If you misspell a word while searching for something, you might end up on a porn site, it is so widespread.
    This blog was all over the place, but the mom is in a hard spot when boys start getting weird.  They need to do stupid things to prove themselves to the other stupid boys, not much different than monkeys, whether it's jumping off the roof of the house, or driving recklessly, racing friends on the road, daring each other to do things or eat things.  Most of it comes from too much testosterone.  Mama just has to hope that she taught her little knucklehead enough so he doesn't hurt himself permanently.  Eventually, a man's testosterone comes down, in his mid 40's, I barely grope my female friends anymore, I notice I am just losing that edge I used to have.

2/11/16 New Furniture, How Often?

    Here is a new question, since I am such a tool to marketing.  How often do people change out their furniture?  I know the commercials say mattresses double in weight every seven years, and that is not true, but it gives some general lifecycle of a bed, although the last mattress we bought had a ten year warranty.  Should we be changing our sofas out every fifteen years, or do we just wait until they tear or the family pet leaves them smelling like animal?
    We have had the same dining table for probably ten years.  It is still in pretty good shape, although I gave it a tremendous gash on the edge when I loaded it in the Uhaul.  We keep using it because it gets the job done.  I see the new counter height tables and I think they would be great.  I would even like a slightly smaller table for the space in the kitchen.  Our current table can fit 6-7 chairs around it, but that means that it is a good sized round table and most of the time, it takes up that space.  It just makes it a little harder to access the pantry doors and to open the window when we are not running the A/C.  I love the idea of a round table, like King Arthur no one is more important when we sit to eat, we are all equals and all that good stuff, round is a hard shape to fit in a square house.  A rectangular table would be a much better fit to the space we have.  Maybe someday.
    Same thing goes for the sofas.  We have a sofa and four leather armchairs set up in the living room.  They kind of match in color, but two of the chairs are a slightly different style, they are all leather.  I have them all against the wall, we rarely sit in the living room unless we are going to watch TV.  When friends come over, we stay in the kitchen, turning on the TV usually turns off the conversation.  But anyways, are we supposed to have a coffee table, only I drink coffee, when the boys were smaller, I worried they would hit their heads on such pieces of random wood furniture, so we never shopped for a good table for the living room.  I do like those that the table top kicks up so one can eat on them, maybe we'll add one of these one of these days.
    The rest of the rooms for the most part are bedrooms, I figure no new bedroom sets, unless one of the beds breaks, a possibility with our big butts.  We don't have the waterbeds I originally had when we married but the other beds are still in the house.  They serve as beds in the guest rooms, and I wouldn't consider throwing them away, my Dad says he sleeps better on those beds than his own back home, so they must still be ok.
    I should stop listening to all the marketing, otherwise I'll be shopping for a new house every seven years.  A new car every five years, bed every seven years, new underwear every six months, new shoes every nine months.  Sounds like they just want us to replace stuff that doesn't normally get replaced, and  I thought those guys were being honest.  Hmmm.

2/10/16 The Yin To My Yang, Or Something Like That?

    Happy Birthday to My Wife.  It seems only yesterday we were eating at the Pizza Hut in Crystal City figuring out where we were gonna park my folk's van to do it.  Twenty eight years later and here we are.  I think it has been a good life so far.  For all your fidgeting and worrying, we have always had a surplus, whether of house, and/or of love.  We have been able to keep our bond strong and help people that come in and out of our lives, sporadically.  We may get laughed at by outsiders, and ridiculed for being how we are.  But I insist that being good people, we will keep opening ourselves up and allowing people to get close enough to hurt us.  It is the only way we can be, we help those we help because it always seems like the right thing to do.
    I may bitch and moan at how you might let Boy talk you into a new computer or a new board game, but if he asked me, I'd probably cave in, just as easily.  Those two boys are our proudest accomplishments, and although they still need a lot of spit and shine, I know that them being made of us half and half, they will be dynamic people who will matter.  The days just blend into a tangled mess and we always seem to be running, at least we both seem to want to keep running in the same direction.  I can't say that anything we do is the right thing or not, for example Chubs and those magnet schools, as long as we all tackle it together, it should be doable.  I saw the competition when I took him there, and most those parents looked unemployable.  We are both capable of kicking ass, but our best feature is that when one of us gets pissed at the boys, the other one will go into defend mode to take care of our delicate flower, usually Boy, cause Boy really tests us right now.
    Remember, when you are stressing about all the wonderful stuff you like to stress about, we are still number 1, mostly because no one else knows life is a game.  Keep playing like you enjoy it, remember, you can enjoy it or worry about it, we all die in the end.  But while we are here, we could make it fun for us and anybody on our side.  I only hope I can continue giving you the little things: my free time, yearly trips to Disney, a couple of trips a year to the Brazilian Steakhouse, a couple new purses a year, to keep the beetches jelly, and some loose change so you can always stop at Buc-ee's to pee and get a soda.
    I love you, even when you are being a freaking monster pain in the ass.  It would be hard at this point to think of a time you haven't been a part of me.  Let's find us a Clydesdale (cause a normal horse won't hold our two fat-asses), and ride off into the sunset together.

2/9/16 Cable Has Gone The Way Of The Dodo?

    Wife started discussing getting rid of cable recently.  My first reaction was slow down, Cowboy.  We need TV just as much as the daily paper, whoops got rid of that two years ago.  We then started discussing it, and we don't turn on the TV until late in the day.  Apparently rabbit ears will get reception of the biggest channels: ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and PBS amongst a couple others. 
    If we go this route, we do need to keep a high speed internet connection, nowadays, that is more important than cable, because of YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and other services I am not even aware of.  Netflix brings us movies that are fairly new, plus they have been doing their own shows and some are top quality, with none of the bullshit conservative overtones.  If people fuck, titties will be out, I hate the regular stations that never show nudity even in context.  If watching a show with bad guys, no one utters one cuss word.  Shit, even the good guys say fuck when they are shot at in real life, I believe.
    Hulu shows most regular TV programming, maybe a day or two late, and we watch most everything saved and at our convenience, since I am working when things play normally.  Which means strike two for the cable companies.  The other thing that is pissing me off is that we changed from Time Warner Cable a few years ago because we were paying $280 or so a month for cable, internet, and a home phone.  U-Verse gave us pricing in the $180 region for the same, so it seemed like an easy savings of $100.  Yet here we are a year or so later and the bill has creeped up into the lower $200s.  Last I looked it was at $215, give it a couple more years and it will be around $250 or more.  Do bills ever creep down, instead of up?
    I was real excited when we switched, because without realizing it, we got the Longhorn channel, BUT, the Longhorns have been fizzling for about four years now.  I am not sure they deserve their own sports channel.  It seems every time my dad comes down and he doesn't like leaving the house he catches the greatest Longhorns game ever, the 2005 National Championship against USC.  It certainly was a great game, but I've now seen it about three times, nothing changes re-watching it.
    I have tested the rabbit ears.  I hung a small 20 inch TV in the bathroom, so Wife can see the news in the morning, and the 7-8 channels that show up are very clean and crisp, and the antenna is a very cheap old fashion rabbit ears type.  There are new antennas that have further range and some even require hanging outside of the house, I'm not sure about that.
    It certainly is starting to feel like a new world.  I thought cable and the paper were essentials at some point, but apparently not.  I don't think things will change much.  Those of us that choose to be ignorant can certainly get lost in the tons of distractions that exist, and if we choose to stay connected with a faster evolving world, well the internet might be a better tool.  We can go look for the news instead of waiting to be told what is important to us.

2/8/16 Busy Ass Weekend?

    This was a rare weekend, where we had no company, but we did go visit friends to watch the Super Bowl.  Friday afternoon started much like they always do.  I wake up, hurry to pick up Chubs, finally got his haircut, he was looking rather shaggy, and needed to clean himself up.  We did the normal faux hawk, where he can spike it down the middle if he wants to with some gel.  I then took advantage of my truck washes, and did that.  Meanwhile, Wife was texting about what to do on a nice Friday night.  Since we have a connection at Alamo Drafthouse, and we were both interested in Pride And Prejudice And Zombies, we got Boy to hook us up with free tickets.  He did not join us, saying he has plans to see it with his friends.
    Saturday we slept until about 1:30pm, then we got up and I waited for breakfast.  I had told Wife after the movies I wanted to stop for stuff like doughnuts or cookies, she said no, that she would figure out breakfast in the morning. She showed me five lousy eggs, a can of spam, and a can of beans.  It worked, but I thought tacos were too much beans.  I then tried to get pool pump going to start cleaning the water, but the pump was smoking and not really moving the water.  I unplugged it and got Wife to go with me.  Guy at the store said if he can clean it out, it's probably ok.  He called back Sunday that he was able to clean it up and it was working fine.  We ended up going to Lowe's, I either need to change the guts out on toilet downstairs, or buy a new one.  The replacement flushing mechanism was $9.99 versus a new toilet, cheapest one I saw was $139.99.  We'll see if leak stops with new flushing mechanism which includes new rubber gasket.  I also got a new toilet seat for Boy's bathroom, his looked like it had never been cleaned, I figured a new seat was easier than scrubbing like crazy.
    Sunday, I woke up at 1:00pm, looked at my Wife deeply into her eyes (past the eye boogers),  and decided to take her, like a viking of yore.  We shook the house to its foundation for what felt like a lifetime or five minutes, but it was what the doctor ordered.  I apparently fell back to sleep until 3:00pm, when Wife said get up, we have a party to go to.  We went to my friend with the new house in Buda, to see the game, he had called us the week before.  When we got there, he had a fry pot outside for wings, and was running the grill with hotdogs and burgers.  It honestly feels weird not being in charge of all the cooking or buying the food, but he insists.  I ate a bit of everything, then fell asleep through the first half of the game.  Halftime was ok, then I started moving around, we were watching the game downstairs, but he has a media room with a projector screen like ours, I watched about the last quarter up there, just to enjoy that setup.
    We got back home, and I felt energized (probably from all the napping).  I took out the trash, replaced Boy's toilet seat, threw some christmas boxes in the trash can since it was mostly empty, changed the light bulb on our projector, watched a show with Wife, then she went to bed, I showered, but then decided to go finish hiding all the wires from a project I did about a month ago.  I installed lights that change from red to green to blue to white, in about 20 combinations, but I had left all the wires dangling.  I found little hooks and catches at Lowe's that look like they worked very well, wait til the morning to see if glue sticks well.  Everything just came together, right now I just need to change guts out in lower toilet, then I see what other chores I will do.

2/7/16 Pride And Prejudice And Zombies?

    We went and saw this cool adaptation of an otherwise boring girlie movie.  Just last summer I forced myself to read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.  The original book is about five Benet sisters living in the country, sort of upper middle class, but with a desperate mother trying to marry them to men who will improve their station in life.  There is no action other than the word play between the girls and their respective suitors.  The movie version through in some zombies and now things are interesting.
    Just going to visit from one estate to the next, people might encounter a swarm of zombies, so people must be prepared for this.  In the intro, we are told the aristocracy either trains in Japan for the upper class who will be protected or in China where the individual trains to protect themselves.  The sisters are shown to be very close and well trained in hand to hand combat as well as skilled with swords.  All of London is falling to the plague of zombies, the military is fighting to keep them in.  The same characters exist but their jobs are slightly different.  Mr. Darcy, is a high level fighter and is constantly saving everybody.  He falls for the elder sister in the first scene when he sees her fighting.  Mr. Bingley is the rich bachelor who summers in the estate next to the Benet family.  He is best friends with Mr. Darcy, and thus all their lives cross paths when the meddling mother forces introductions in hopes he will be interested in marrying any of her girls.  Wickham, instead of being a fake aristocrat who convinces one of the sisters to run off like in the book, is the "bad" guy in this version.
    I'll save the rest of the plot, so I won't spoil everything, but it was an interesting way to make this old novel hip for todays market.  The five sisters didn't talk much but they jiggled about as much as you can considering they were in corsets.  The flavor of the original book remains, such as the father is the polar opposite of the mother who is nearly nuts in her obsession with money, he just wants to see his girls happy, and able to fend off a zombie when needed.
    Things have changed so much, I'm not sure girls today are looking for any security when they marry a man.  Shoot with a 50 percent divorce rate, idiots are just giving it  the old try, see if it works out.  There was a charm back in those times.  If they met and were agreeable, the man could propose and that would be it.  They would get married and live happily for the rest of their lives.

2/6/16 Shooting For About FIfty Washes?

    I bought an unlimited washes contract for a year for my truck.  I felt weird at first dropping it off and not doing the manly part of washing my own vehicle, but Austin sucks in that you can't waste water on your own property.  It has been a couple months and I believe I am getting the hang of it.  Today I was thinking it was too cold, but as I drove to pick up Chubs, I couldn't help but notice all the pollen/dirt on the hood of my truck.  I wouldn't have washed it if I had to get wet and do it at home, but.... they are set up to do it and as the manager told me, "come on in, if the guys aren't busy, I have to send them home early."  She said the only time they close is if the temperature drops below 32 degrees.  I guess then I am doing them a favor by coming in, even if the weather seems shitty for me.
   Now that I am past my weirdness over other people doing my job, we just drop the truck off and go eat.  Rosa's Tortilla Factory is on one side and Fuddrucker's is on the other side.  We walked to Wendy's lat week, but that was a little too far.  This afternoon Chubs and I dropped off the truck around 4:30 and walked to Fuddrucker's.  We ate a burger, argued, and texted for a bit.  By the time we headed back at 5:15, it was washed and shiny.  We took off and went around through the lights which coincided perfectly with catching up with Wife.  We both got home at the same time.
    I paid roughly $550 for a year of washes.  Figuring if I wash the truck once a week for a total of about 52 washes, each one will average about $10.57.  I have been tipping $5.00 each time.  It is not reqired but I figure I should put something in there.  Two weeks ago I even washed it twice, I had washed it Monday, after it rained over the weekend, then it rained during the week, but the weekend looked pretty, so I rewashed it Friday.  The lady manager/owner also through in a card for two free washes on a separate vehicle and a $50 card if I want to do other services like detail, or wax or engine wash.
    It sounded like a lot of money upfront, but I am loving my truck looking new and clean more often than not.  With the metallic black color it almost needs to be shiny to make the paint look beautiful and I love those tires with that oily shine against the aluminum 20 inch rims.

2/5/16 Gambling Is Illegal After All?

    I am not tempted by the idea of gambling.  Boobs, yes, all day long, giant or dainty, I love them all, but gambling never made sense to me.  Any study into casinos tells you right away that the house has an advantage over the gambler, and that is if they aren't cheating somehow.  You think that the common person walking in with below average intelligence has a way to "beat" the house?  Come on, get real.  I have only walked into one casino, Harrah's in New Orleans close to the French quarter.  We walked in Wife and I with some friends, expecting to see like in the movies, people alive and gambling as champagne is poured and smiles are flashed by all.  NOPE!!!!  It is easily the saddest environment, next to funeral homes, I have ever experienced.  Half dead people, with cigarettes dangling from their mouths, feeding the slot machines in a never ending style.  I didn't see a single smile, I actually felt my soul getting sucked out of me.  I got separated from Wife, so I sat at a bar area and just looked around, wondering why would people come in voluntarily.
    That experience was at least legal, fast forward to about three years ago when my dad said there are now casinos in our small town, my first and only words were "umm, I hope you don't go in there, they are illegal."  I then asked my mom and she said there are a few of them.  Up until yesterday, there were about nine different gambling homes.  No, my hometown does not have a large and varied Indian population that explains this.  FBI and all the important systems that make sure our civilization works correctly finally got off their asses and arrested a few people that were allowing the casinos to operate.  I hate that it took this long because a certain fellow that provided half my DNA loved going and pissing away any pennies, nickels, and dimes he found, not that I ever saw him do it.
    Either way, the laws are such bullshit.  It is OK for churches to have Bingo Nights, which is gambling, we have the lotto, which is gambling too.  The United States is OK with gambling, allowing it in Las Vegas, Louisiana, New Jersey (?), and anywhere you have enough Indians to organize and get paid.  Stupid people need places to gamble, our government should realize and figure that they can get their share out of it.  Why are they holding onto any religious or conservative thoughts on this?  You allow alcohol to be sold, that ruins more lives than anything else combined.  The lotto was going to be used "only" for education, but it is such a cash cow, it is helping in other sectors, or it is being abused, either way.  Try out some legal casinos, the only people who are going to be scammed are the DumDums who think they can out think a machine that doesn't think. 

2/4/16 Better Call Saul 1st Season Was Great?

    Better Call Saul is a prequel to Breaking Bad.  Saul is the lawyer that constantly gets involved with Walter White once he is introduced, helping him in shady ways, he is in fact a shady lawyer.  His beginning has a sad twist to it as I saw it, always an upbeat character trying to earn his brother's approval, which eventually becomes something he can never achieve.
    The first two episodes show how close to death he comes dealing with some of the criminal element, as only his gift of gab saves him from getting murdered quite early.  There are flashbacks which show his younger days, all the way back to when he is playing little con games to swindle other drunks out of their money with his best friend Marco in Chicago.  He ends up getting in pretty big trouble when he decides to defecate through the sunroof of a powerful guy who had an affair with his wife.  In comes his brother who is already a big lawyer himself and "saves" Saul, who initially is going as Jimmy McGill, his birth name.  His brother works in New Mexico, so he heads out there with him. 
    There is another flashback where he fills us in that he has been taking online courses and even entered some sort of law school and even though it took him three tries, he has just passed the bar, and is officially a lawyer.  Any sane person would see this and realize he is emulating his brother who he loves and respects probably more than anyone else.  He has been working right under him in the mail room of his law firm.  Jimmy has nothing but love for his brother, almost like a puppy looking for his brother's approval.
    His brother then falls ill, and it appears to be a bullshit sickness where radiation from electrical signals makes him sick.  He becomes an invalid over the course of the following year.  He gets off the grid, but doesn't leave his home.  I believe if I really had this affliction and I had been partner at a big law firm, I'd take a big check, build a cabin out in the woods and live out in nature.  Instead, his brother becomes his lifeline, bringing him everything from ice, to meat to the assorted newspapers he likes to read.
    The end of the first season has Jimmy figure out it wasn't the other lawyer who wouldn't hire him, it was his own brother who did not want him working in the same office, doing the same thing.  Michael Mckean does a great job playing the older brother, but even as an old man, see him as Lenny, from Laverne and Shirley.  His main reason was that he is not a real lawyer, he didn't do it the "noble" way, he found shortcuts and scammed his way to become a lawyer.  This breaks Jimmy's heart and starts him on his way of changing his name to recreate himself away from the McGill name.
    The series also follows Mike Ehrmantrout, a scary dude who fixes things for Saul all the time in Breaking Bad.  Here,  they barely met.  Mike is working the gate at the courthouse parking lot and Jimmy is constantly trying to get him to pass through without paying.  Mike also has a tragic past, and moved to New Mexico to follow his granddaughter and be near her.
    Jimmy, or Saul really is a good guy and he cares about the people he helps.  He is gentle with the elderly people he is helping and takes huge pay cuts in order to help them.  I found myself on the side of the "shady" lawyer because there are people out there far worse than that.

2/3/16 How Many Yous Reside In You?

    Billy Joel once said "We all have a face that we hide away forever and we take them out and show ourselves when everyone has gone."  I suppose that is the real person we wish we were if we were comfortable being ourselves.  How many other versions of us are hid under our skin though?  It is safe to assume that a version of work Mando and a home Mando exist.  There could be a vacation Mando if I vacationed more, there is a drunk Mando, I like that pervy guy. 
    Is it better to have these different personas inhabiting your skin, or should there only be one version of me?  I was discussing with my Mom a certain sibling, I won't say which one, but she has always been a bit of a pain.  I worry that her only persona is the work version of her.  That version is a no nonsense tough as nails old school nun.  Punishment is the first and only consideration for an unruly child.  This is what you want, to exert your will on general population if you ran a small prison, but it becomes a very agitating person when the children are your own and love and understanding should be the first, second, and third forms of principle discipline.  This sibling needs to hide that work version of themselves and find one that is happy she has two healthy boys, a good man for a husband, a kick-ass new house, and all the niceties that a hard working life afford.
    Boy, who I have seen grow up, I see as an immature spoiled brat at times, but then we talk to his roommates and they say he likes to lead the charge when they clean, he helps cook dinner for them, and in general they always mention how thoughtful he is.  At home, he can't remember to bring his plate of food back from his room, and more than once, we have found plates with food under his bed.  If I am to believe his roommates, then we are dealing with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde right here.
    Wife is another interesting case in that her work version is a strong character, I sometimes get the feeling she may even be a pain in the butt, but maybe that is what is required for the job.  She interacts with everyone from the superintendent down to illegal alien parents and has been doing just fine for the last eight years.  Enter the new guard, and that beautiful brown face could not muster more than a position where she drives a bus.  Probably the only bus driver in Texas with a Master's degree in education, but that must be what her new boss saw when she saw brown skin trying to be an administrator. 
    Does one reach a higher level of understanding when one can exist as the one true self?  Maybe it takes us most of our lives to figure out who we really are.  Maybe the more complex a person, the more layers, or personas live within. 

2/2/16 Tipping Is Becoming Even More Confusing?

    I hate being the "dick" that doesn't tip, but there are some places where I am not even sure if it is appropriate or not.  The other day we went and ate at Mandola's, which has become a favorite of mine.  You walk up in line to the counter and order.  They give you a glass, which you then go and pour your own soda, tea, or lemonade.  The servers will bring bread to the table, then the meal and or appetizers.  If we had gone to a fast food place, we would order from a counter and gotten our own drinks, no problem.  The weird part is that they do bring out the food, do we tip 5-10 percent?
    There is no way those servers are doing what goes on in a restaurant like Longhorn Steakhouse.  There, you wait to be seated, the tables are cleaned and set, everything is brought by somebody, sure if 15-18% is the custom, fine.
    Then there is a place like Culver's.  I love their patty melts and that custard ice cream.  But again, you order at a counter, then you get your own drink, but they do bring you the food to you.  This place is very much like a fast food restaurant, but for some reason attracts more old people than young.  I'm not sure if it is a location thing or a cost thing.
    How about Luby's?  We walk in, get our own food and even drink.  It used to be that a person would walk around with a tray and refill the water or tea when he/she got to a table back in the 80's.  Now, waitresses seem to be assigned to areas at the restaurant.  After you carry your own stuff, and pay, they come around the tables asking if we need any more butter, lemons, and refills on the drinks.  This is a hard one indeed, because we have done 90% of the work.  Even Chubs carries his own plate, though he did spill his tea as he hit the table.
    Not all places are the same, screw that.  I personally don't like leaving anything at Luby's, but Wife will leave 2-3 bucks.  I have not left a tip at Culver's either.  I will not, because it is too much like any other fast food place.
    Oh yeah, how about Jersey Mike's, the sub place?  Those subs are delicious and fat.  I just don't think what they do merits a tip.  They stay behind the counter the whole time an order is placed.  We pick it up at counter, we get our own drinks and refills.  But when you get the receipt, it has a spot there for a tip.  I always write a zero, am I wrong?  I also am not a big fan of the little jars in places where fun food is eaten, like ice cream places.
    Don't get me wrong, if it is a sit down place, and a person takes care of everything, I don't mind paying a proper tip, provided the service was good.  I might drop down to 10% and not go back for a long time if the service is shitty.

2/1/16 Living In A World Of Self-Entitled Schmucks?

    You all know my opinion of people that generally humans suck.  I had not been out in a crowd in a while, and OMG, even the kids headed to the smart schools have families that suck gonads.  Chubs was testing today (Saturday), at a local school which meant that we were surrounded by a couple hundred kids and their parents.  First of all, there were the parents who got there right on time.  That is a fallacy, if the test was to start at 11:00, how about putting the crack pipe down at 9:30 and getting going a little earlier, you know, so you aren't walking into the building as your kid is supposed to be starting the test.  It pissed me off to get there at 10:30, have one of the monitors tell everyone "we are going to line up over here (signaling with her hands), but not yet.  Of course, all the good good parents started lining up immediately.  The monitor did say to wait another ten minutes, but by then all the good people were mostly lined up.  I then lined up when she finally said "parents go ahead and line up with your kids."
    I would say thirty percent of the people arrived at this time, and they kept lining up like a snake with no end.  The last parents showed up around 11:10 but the line was still filing in.  Once the kids went in, only the parents and their younger siblings remained.  I ended up yelling at three kids, I was half expecting the parents to give me shit, but I guess the parents are as shitty as the kids.  Two boys started running up a half height brick wall, then it had a slope like a slide next to where I was sitting.  They did it once, fine, then again, getting a little braver, by the fourth time they were running and starting to get loud about it.  I put my hand up on the wall, firmly said no and stop it.  They looked at each other confused and ran outside.  No parents around it seemed.  After thirty minutes or so, they came back and from the other side climb the wall that looked like a slide and slid again.  I looked at them with anger in my eyes and asked them "do you understand what behave means?  For a second, I thought they might be little beaners, but they ran back outside.  After the test was over, they came inside with a woman in a burka thing covering everything but her face.  If the mom was outside, why were they so comfortable running around inside the building?  Another little girl (7-9yrs) lined up on the wall directly behind me and tucked her feet and hung from the hand rail.  I looked back and told her "you better not kick me, I don't want apologies after."  The kid looked over and her mom was sitting right there next to me, but didn't tell me anything.  She gave the kid a look like "that's what you get."
    Another incident had a dude, happened to be black, knocking on the cafeteria doors.  I turned around and said "hey, they are testing in there."  He looked at me like he was in the middle of saving the world and said to me "yeah, this kid needs to get in there to finish his test."  Two hundred students in the middle of a test, don't need to be distracted by your idiot ass smacking the door so mr. Small Bladder runs back in after he peed.  Which was another thing that bothered me.  There was a 40 minute essay, 20 minute break, then a 50 minute exam.  Halfway through the 40 minute essay, 5-10 kids had to go to the restroom.  They were all told to go to the bathroom before, if your bladder can't hold for 40 minutes, magnet schools can''t help you, Son.  One of the kids was walking around wasting time after he went to the bathroom, he had to be called back in.  All kids are not created equally, and if this is this kids best attention, he doesn't need to be with the future leaders distracting everybody.