It looks like 2016 can't end fast enough for celebrities who are falling by the wayside. It was a shock to hear of George Michael who was relatively young and last I saw him, still looked very handsome. Then the big shocker of Princess Leia passing was almost unbelievable, followed very sadly by her mom, Debbie Reynolds. They weren't the only ones, this past year saw a bunch of celebrities passing away. It was also one of my shittier years at work, hardly any OT, my hours were reduced, and it ended by me making a crazy jump into another department, hoping for better in the future. There was also the two sided coin of Wife getting a great promotion, but living three hours away during the week.
Hopefully, 2017 will be much better. I am hoping to take off once I finish my training in any OT opportunities that come up. There was also the idea proposed by our boss of a raise and/or a bonus of some kind. Wife will be trying to request a raise since the job presented to her initially is vastly different and instead of being in charge of one thing, she is heading like fourteen departments. If they can't come up with a little more money, she will begin looking for jobs closer to home. We are both good with the idea provided we are getting compensated appropriately.
Some lighter things to improve upon for the new year is putting the phone down and resuming my reading schedule. By focusing and making a list of books, I managed to read twelve books in 2015. I noticed that most of my free time in the past few months has been wasted maneuvering through a handful of application sites looking at half naked girls, well some of them are crazy enough to show everything for free.
The next thing to do is finish healing of my leg, seriously, this nothing injury is going to cost me over $1000, and like six months of half mobility. I've been in the gym all year, but I admittedly, use the leg as an excuse when I should be pushing myself to get to the next level.
What else can I say? Even a bad year like this one is not bad enough to make me get down, it was still ok. We went to Florida, we got rid of our timeshare we weren't using, Wife got her new job, Boy moved back home and continues to go to school at Texas State Univ. Chubs has been doing very well in his new school. We got bonuses, so work is as far as I know, looking up.
All we can do is be glad we are still around, reset the clock for another year and do what we do. I feel pretty good about this coming year, I already promised Wife no new purchases, so my Rolex collection will have to wait until at least 2018. If anything, maybe I can still make 2017 nice with a new Hobie Kayak. There are other things to get that don't cost so much I need her permission to buy.
Have a Happy New Year everyone, thanks for reading my thoughts.
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Thursday, December 29, 2016
12/30/16 Chub's Room Is Now Modified For A Teenage Dude?
I finally got around to rearranging Chub's room to what I consider a more sociable and friendly spot. I had noticed there was a lot of room between his dresser and bed, and then it was kind of tight between the bed and the TV. By moving the bed to another wall, I opened up the bigger space where the boys can sit on chairs that Boy gave up recently. The chairs I got for him at IKEA are great, they are like single futons, so two boys can sleep on them separately, then two or three boys can sleep on the king sized bed. He also has another small sofa that opens up into a short full size bed.
I told him I would get him new covers for the futons, the mattresses seem new and I replaced the couple of screws that were missing on the frames so they open and close properly, I am hoping for many more years of service from these chairs. Santa bought him three new controllers for his XBOX 1 and since his birthday last month and the holidays, he has gotten about ten new games for the various systems he has in his room. Now that I have cleaned up the garage some, I want to take more of the Halloween stuff out there, giving him more of his closet to store his toys and clothes.
Apart from his bed and dresser, I also moved a lot of his posters and decorations so they wouldn't be covered just randomly by the new locations of his furniture. Buying him a desk a year ago and a good sturdy chair were a great idea. He sits there like it is his territory to fiddle with things, or to get on his laptop. Occasionally, he does his homework there, but most of the time, we finish it together downstairs.
This is his third room, he had a room in our old house, then when we moved to this house, we had him in the room closest to us, which seems a little smaller but is still quite a large room. His older room was a little more longer, this room is more square. I like the windows in this room, he has three that face the front of the house and one that faces the side. When we get a cold front, this room feels it the most, it will usually be the coldest room in the house. He has told me a couple times he wants to paint his room some sort of blue, but I painted it a very cool Longhorn burnt orange, as this was supposed to have been my room, my man cave and I secretly don't want to give it up.
In reality, his childhood toys are still all over the house. There are bins and boxes in the old closet in his old room that Girlie took over. There are also bins in the garage full of old toys and legos and stuffed animals. We have an old "arcade" game that I can't figure out where to put. The games, about nine or ten different versions are very basic, not even at the level of a Pac-Man, but I can't just throw it away. Wife doesn't want it in Chub's room because it is starting to look crowded, but I think it would fit alright. Oh well, all we need now is a quiet weekend where he can have his boys over and we can give the room a test run.
I told him I would get him new covers for the futons, the mattresses seem new and I replaced the couple of screws that were missing on the frames so they open and close properly, I am hoping for many more years of service from these chairs. Santa bought him three new controllers for his XBOX 1 and since his birthday last month and the holidays, he has gotten about ten new games for the various systems he has in his room. Now that I have cleaned up the garage some, I want to take more of the Halloween stuff out there, giving him more of his closet to store his toys and clothes.
Apart from his bed and dresser, I also moved a lot of his posters and decorations so they wouldn't be covered just randomly by the new locations of his furniture. Buying him a desk a year ago and a good sturdy chair were a great idea. He sits there like it is his territory to fiddle with things, or to get on his laptop. Occasionally, he does his homework there, but most of the time, we finish it together downstairs.
This is his third room, he had a room in our old house, then when we moved to this house, we had him in the room closest to us, which seems a little smaller but is still quite a large room. His older room was a little more longer, this room is more square. I like the windows in this room, he has three that face the front of the house and one that faces the side. When we get a cold front, this room feels it the most, it will usually be the coldest room in the house. He has told me a couple times he wants to paint his room some sort of blue, but I painted it a very cool Longhorn burnt orange, as this was supposed to have been my room, my man cave and I secretly don't want to give it up.
In reality, his childhood toys are still all over the house. There are bins and boxes in the old closet in his old room that Girlie took over. There are also bins in the garage full of old toys and legos and stuffed animals. We have an old "arcade" game that I can't figure out where to put. The games, about nine or ten different versions are very basic, not even at the level of a Pac-Man, but I can't just throw it away. Wife doesn't want it in Chub's room because it is starting to look crowded, but I think it would fit alright. Oh well, all we need now is a quiet weekend where he can have his boys over and we can give the room a test run.
12/29/16 Hoboes Want Money, Not Charity?
It was Christmas Eve this week and Girlie and her Folks posted pics they were on their way to feed the homeless. I hate to be suspicious of everything but I turned to Wife and asked her "what is this shit? Homeless people don't really want food, they want money" I decided not to ask them questions because maybe they are better people than us. Luckily, the aunt showed up, our old neighbor and we got the gossip on the attempt at feeding the homeless. They did it on their own, possibly as a "feed the poor challenge", much like the ice bucket challenge or all those other silly challenges that pop up on the internet. Anyways, they had baggies filled with sandwiches, water bottles and even a Christmas candy cane. The only problem was they were missing a homeless population. They drove around aimlessly, with a big heart but small patience. The only person we heard about was a lady that looked homeless, but she had a beer or alcohol in a paper baggie and that was enough to not get a bag or even a candy cane. It was unclear if any homeless were eventually found, but the aunt's daughter eventually came back home frustrated at the waste of time.
I am not chuckling at our friend's effort, I know they meant well, but the homeless population is getting out of control here by our house. There are tons of "men" out there every day, working the street corners for change. Some of these guys look younger than me, "come on, get a freaking job already!"
Last summer, one of Boys ex-girlfriends was worried about the homeless on a particularly hot day and she decided she was going to take water bottles to them. She got yelled at and told to beat it by many of the homeless. They asked for liquor or change, they were not interested in her water bottles. Similar thing with my Father in law who stopped a couple times to help "vets", he gave them info for the VA and again, the guys were uninterested. After he asked more questions, one of the guys said "leave me alone, I didn't serve, I get more tips if I say I was in the military."
Wife said she and a coworker many years ago were downtown and when they came out of a restaurant, they came face to face with a bum saying he was hungry if they had money. Wife's coworker offered him her leftovers, which he took but when they looked back they saw him open the Styrofoam box, look at the food and then he just threw it on the ground. I've been approached a few times by this idiot who carries a gas can and asks for gas. I see them parked by the Walmart gas pumps, and many times I gas up at night headed back to work. This guy has no shame, it must work more times than not. "Hey buddy, can you spare a gallon of diesel?" This back when diesel was near $4.00 a gallon. It was easy to tell him no. I just thought if you can't afford the fuel, get rid of the vehicle.
Something needs to be done about these parasites. I wish everyone would cut the shit feeding them, why do you think they don't relocate? Stupid people are feeding them enough loose change to keep them around. I know the heart wants to help and do good, but ughhh, I think it is better to spend the little free time we have with loved ones.
I am not chuckling at our friend's effort, I know they meant well, but the homeless population is getting out of control here by our house. There are tons of "men" out there every day, working the street corners for change. Some of these guys look younger than me, "come on, get a freaking job already!"
Last summer, one of Boys ex-girlfriends was worried about the homeless on a particularly hot day and she decided she was going to take water bottles to them. She got yelled at and told to beat it by many of the homeless. They asked for liquor or change, they were not interested in her water bottles. Similar thing with my Father in law who stopped a couple times to help "vets", he gave them info for the VA and again, the guys were uninterested. After he asked more questions, one of the guys said "leave me alone, I didn't serve, I get more tips if I say I was in the military."
Wife said she and a coworker many years ago were downtown and when they came out of a restaurant, they came face to face with a bum saying he was hungry if they had money. Wife's coworker offered him her leftovers, which he took but when they looked back they saw him open the Styrofoam box, look at the food and then he just threw it on the ground. I've been approached a few times by this idiot who carries a gas can and asks for gas. I see them parked by the Walmart gas pumps, and many times I gas up at night headed back to work. This guy has no shame, it must work more times than not. "Hey buddy, can you spare a gallon of diesel?" This back when diesel was near $4.00 a gallon. It was easy to tell him no. I just thought if you can't afford the fuel, get rid of the vehicle.
Something needs to be done about these parasites. I wish everyone would cut the shit feeding them, why do you think they don't relocate? Stupid people are feeding them enough loose change to keep them around. I know the heart wants to help and do good, but ughhh, I think it is better to spend the little free time we have with loved ones.
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
12/28/16 Landlubber, Forever More?
I finally lost one of the things I had been clenching with both arms which I determine made me special. Wife slowly eroded me to the point of flailing my arms long enough for her to pry my love and joy in a calculated play to save storage fees.
I have to admit we had been paying storage fees for years and at $75/month, I guess it did add up. In the end, I gave up my seafaring vessel for $1000, a pittance. The only thing that made it acceptable was that we will also be saving the $75 a month and to add a little kick to the nuts, the receptionist told Wife that next month the rates were going up to $92 and change. I guess after a year we can say we got $over $2100 for the boat.
The first step was finding someone to take our boat and hopefully restore it to its glory days. Wife might have already had him in mind (her cousin) because it took her half a day to come back with "I have a buyer." I was agreeing to such a low number with her a couple weeks ago because I thought it was just hype, I didn't believe we would get rid of it. Once I put $1000 out in the ether, I could not put it back in the bottle, so that became the agreed to price. I decided we needed to at least get the trailer tag so we could move it with no problems from the cops. This seemed like such a hassle to me, I hate dealing with paperwork, but Wife seems to love it. In one half of shift I was gone, I came back and she had the new tags and the paperwork to make the transfer of the boat legal, that is a handy woman!
The second step was finding time when we could drive it to the new owner. This week is as good as it is ever going to get since we are both off and we had no big plans. I was making the tires a big deal that I might possibly need to buy new tires to avoid a blow out on the road. Wife convinced me that her cousin has money and he can fix whatever, we just need to deliver it to him. Today, things just lined up. We went to my doctor for my leg, ate breakfast, went and did some exchanges at the mall, then we were at a point where I could either nap and hide the afternoon away or put on my big boy undies and take care of some business. I took our pancake pump and was able to fill both tires fast.
Full of adrenaline and a fuck it attitude I said "let's do it!" We got on the road around 2:00pm and the boat was dropped off close to 5:00pm. Wife's cousin seemed very excited saying he had already talked to a mechanic friend, asking me all sorts of questions as to what else he needed to do. He said he would be bringing it to our area lakes as soon as he got it running and to not hesitate to borrow it. I loved everything he had to say. I added that if it didn't work out, I would buy it back from him, no problem.
The rest of the evening was used to get us back home. Wife of course was swayed to stop at her folks house in San Antonio by the allure of free tamales which her folks had been making all day. We were finally home by 10:30pm, a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. No more boat to boast about, but no more drain from our wallets either.
I have to admit we had been paying storage fees for years and at $75/month, I guess it did add up. In the end, I gave up my seafaring vessel for $1000, a pittance. The only thing that made it acceptable was that we will also be saving the $75 a month and to add a little kick to the nuts, the receptionist told Wife that next month the rates were going up to $92 and change. I guess after a year we can say we got $over $2100 for the boat.
The first step was finding someone to take our boat and hopefully restore it to its glory days. Wife might have already had him in mind (her cousin) because it took her half a day to come back with "I have a buyer." I was agreeing to such a low number with her a couple weeks ago because I thought it was just hype, I didn't believe we would get rid of it. Once I put $1000 out in the ether, I could not put it back in the bottle, so that became the agreed to price. I decided we needed to at least get the trailer tag so we could move it with no problems from the cops. This seemed like such a hassle to me, I hate dealing with paperwork, but Wife seems to love it. In one half of shift I was gone, I came back and she had the new tags and the paperwork to make the transfer of the boat legal, that is a handy woman!
The second step was finding time when we could drive it to the new owner. This week is as good as it is ever going to get since we are both off and we had no big plans. I was making the tires a big deal that I might possibly need to buy new tires to avoid a blow out on the road. Wife convinced me that her cousin has money and he can fix whatever, we just need to deliver it to him. Today, things just lined up. We went to my doctor for my leg, ate breakfast, went and did some exchanges at the mall, then we were at a point where I could either nap and hide the afternoon away or put on my big boy undies and take care of some business. I took our pancake pump and was able to fill both tires fast.
Full of adrenaline and a fuck it attitude I said "let's do it!" We got on the road around 2:00pm and the boat was dropped off close to 5:00pm. Wife's cousin seemed very excited saying he had already talked to a mechanic friend, asking me all sorts of questions as to what else he needed to do. He said he would be bringing it to our area lakes as soon as he got it running and to not hesitate to borrow it. I loved everything he had to say. I added that if it didn't work out, I would buy it back from him, no problem.
The rest of the evening was used to get us back home. Wife of course was swayed to stop at her folks house in San Antonio by the allure of free tamales which her folks had been making all day. We were finally home by 10:30pm, a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. No more boat to boast about, but no more drain from our wallets either.
Monday, December 26, 2016
12/27/16 Office Christmas Party Was Great? (movie)
Although Office Christmas Party was full of cliché activities, it was still a fun movie to get out of the house and watch. We rarely stay locked in, but once the evening of Christmas Eve forms, pretty much everything shuts down for a couple days. The only place we know that was open and we enjoy is the movies. Poor Boy, who was told to make himself available more during the Christmas break, worked both Saturday and Sunday. At least Sunday morning he didn't have to go in until 9:00am, so we were able to open gifts from Santa before he left.
After he left, it was still super early, so we went back to sleep, and that is pretty much all I have been doing. Wife got antsy, and the minute Boy offered tickets, Wife said yes. All I could choose was either 9:00pm or 11:00pm. I like the later showings, as there tends to be fewer people.
The movie opens on Jason Bateman at a lawyers office in the morning, he has just finally gotten divorced, and of course, he is so straight laced, it doesn't even affect him. He proceeds on to work, going about his normal routine. Everyone in the company seems to know each other a little too personally, which is good if you want your company to be like family, bad if you want a professional environment. TJ Miller, who keeps showing up in movies as the overgrown child, is the son of the former CEO who recently passed away. Jennifer Aniston is his more serious sister, and she is being chosen for the new role of CEO. She has bitchiness written all over her, and starts out quite unlikable, totally different from most of her characters. The Aniston character shows up to threaten her brother that she will be forcing a 40% layoff cut at the end of the quarter, and while at it, overhears that they are fixing to have a party that night. She says absolutely not, and they want to listen, but of course don't. The doofus brother proposes to Aniston what if we can get this big account, will you spare the branch and not do any layoffs. The sister, seeing that it is impossible, says sure.
They then pitch to him their servers and whatever else they have to offer, and he says thanks, but I'll probably go with Dell. His big complaint is that companies are no longer like families, they are driven by the mighty dollar, so the guys invite him to their party to show him this company is different.
All sorts of shenanigans ensue, A lot of familiar faces were in the crowd, for example, the taxi driver from Deadpool is an IT guy who keeps bragging he has a hot girlfriend, he then is forced to produce a hot girlfriend, so he hires an escort girl who is giving handjobs to any and all while he is running around from ATM to ATM getting enough money to keep her for the night, after she changed her price. Her pimp was also very familiar, Jillian Bell, she played the wife of Seth Rogen in a very familiar movie The Night Before, a Christmas movie last year. The dad from Fresh Off The Boat, Randall Park, also comes out as a bit of a freak.
In the end, they come up with a solution internally to solve their problems of mass layoffs, the security guard saves the building from being destroyed, Rob Corddry adds his salty flavor, as he is allowed to run amok loose and angry and horny as he usually is. Jason Bateman finds love, as he usually does, TJ Miller lands on his feet, as he usually does. Maybe the movie was not original, but who cares, there were plenty of laughs, if you wanted them.
After he left, it was still super early, so we went back to sleep, and that is pretty much all I have been doing. Wife got antsy, and the minute Boy offered tickets, Wife said yes. All I could choose was either 9:00pm or 11:00pm. I like the later showings, as there tends to be fewer people.
The movie opens on Jason Bateman at a lawyers office in the morning, he has just finally gotten divorced, and of course, he is so straight laced, it doesn't even affect him. He proceeds on to work, going about his normal routine. Everyone in the company seems to know each other a little too personally, which is good if you want your company to be like family, bad if you want a professional environment. TJ Miller, who keeps showing up in movies as the overgrown child, is the son of the former CEO who recently passed away. Jennifer Aniston is his more serious sister, and she is being chosen for the new role of CEO. She has bitchiness written all over her, and starts out quite unlikable, totally different from most of her characters. The Aniston character shows up to threaten her brother that she will be forcing a 40% layoff cut at the end of the quarter, and while at it, overhears that they are fixing to have a party that night. She says absolutely not, and they want to listen, but of course don't. The doofus brother proposes to Aniston what if we can get this big account, will you spare the branch and not do any layoffs. The sister, seeing that it is impossible, says sure.
They then pitch to him their servers and whatever else they have to offer, and he says thanks, but I'll probably go with Dell. His big complaint is that companies are no longer like families, they are driven by the mighty dollar, so the guys invite him to their party to show him this company is different.
All sorts of shenanigans ensue, A lot of familiar faces were in the crowd, for example, the taxi driver from Deadpool is an IT guy who keeps bragging he has a hot girlfriend, he then is forced to produce a hot girlfriend, so he hires an escort girl who is giving handjobs to any and all while he is running around from ATM to ATM getting enough money to keep her for the night, after she changed her price. Her pimp was also very familiar, Jillian Bell, she played the wife of Seth Rogen in a very familiar movie The Night Before, a Christmas movie last year. The dad from Fresh Off The Boat, Randall Park, also comes out as a bit of a freak.
In the end, they come up with a solution internally to solve their problems of mass layoffs, the security guard saves the building from being destroyed, Rob Corddry adds his salty flavor, as he is allowed to run amok loose and angry and horny as he usually is. Jason Bateman finds love, as he usually does, TJ Miller lands on his feet, as he usually does. Maybe the movie was not original, but who cares, there were plenty of laughs, if you wanted them.
12/26/16 Can An Atheist Have A Merry Christmas?
Yes, why not? We were at the mall on Saturday afternoon doing the last of our Christmas shopping and I decided to go over to one of the stores I really like and say hi to a sales lady that helped me out and has continued to help me, lately, she gave me a and Chubs a tutorial over their pearls, and once she started explaining things, I saw that they weren't just white circles attached to a rope. But anyways, as we were leaving, Wife and I said Merry Christmas and she said the same back. Chubs, growing up in a world too wrapped up in political correctness, tried to correct me, "umm, Dad, isn't it better to say Happy Holidays instead of Have a Merry Christmas?" I said why? I'm the atheist here and I don't get offended when someone says that. It is what you say, nothing offensive is meant by it.
Christmas has always meant time away from school or work, hanging out with those closest to us, our family and sometimes friends. Last year I tried it for a first time and I have done so again, being off for a whole week. The reason being is that Wife is here and we can theoretically spend a lot of time together. So far, I have been sleeping when I should be awake and I've been awake when I should be asleep, but twenty years on night shift will do that to a person.
Right before I declared myself an atheist, I was dating another girl and I remember the dreaded midnight mass I got dragged to once or twice. Nothing made me more miserable than being at a church service in the middle of the night, when at my folk's house, my family was opening presents, there was food galore, and we got to be as free as we ever were because it was Christmas break. For a kid, there is no better time than no school, no bedtime, new video games, and cold weather so you just want to be in your room playing said video games.
That is all my boys asked for Christmas, was new video games, which they both got, Boy had to work, but he has his buddies coming in tonight (Christmas day at night) to play his new games and Chubs has been in his room trying out his new games all day long. If I can make them happy for a little while in between their studies which are slowly shaping them into the adults they will one day become, what more can I ask for?
The answer is no, for you dim witted folks that still think atheism is equivalent to Satanism. We are not practicing any dark arts around here, some of you are almost "little yellow bus slow." Here at home, we have our white Christmas tree with decorations the boys have made over the years at school, we have our kitchen stocked with all sorts of food from cakes and pastries from Central Market, to fajitas and ribs which I grilled last night. We sat and watched National Lampoons Christmas last night which I fell asleep to rubbing my stomach from eating and drinking too much egg nog. After being lazy all day, getting up first to do the Santa toy reveal way too early, and then to eat brunch at 1:00-2:00pm, we got tickets from Boy to go watch a movie tonight at 11:00pm, so that should be fun.
Christmas has always meant time away from school or work, hanging out with those closest to us, our family and sometimes friends. Last year I tried it for a first time and I have done so again, being off for a whole week. The reason being is that Wife is here and we can theoretically spend a lot of time together. So far, I have been sleeping when I should be awake and I've been awake when I should be asleep, but twenty years on night shift will do that to a person.
Right before I declared myself an atheist, I was dating another girl and I remember the dreaded midnight mass I got dragged to once or twice. Nothing made me more miserable than being at a church service in the middle of the night, when at my folk's house, my family was opening presents, there was food galore, and we got to be as free as we ever were because it was Christmas break. For a kid, there is no better time than no school, no bedtime, new video games, and cold weather so you just want to be in your room playing said video games.
That is all my boys asked for Christmas, was new video games, which they both got, Boy had to work, but he has his buddies coming in tonight (Christmas day at night) to play his new games and Chubs has been in his room trying out his new games all day long. If I can make them happy for a little while in between their studies which are slowly shaping them into the adults they will one day become, what more can I ask for?
The answer is no, for you dim witted folks that still think atheism is equivalent to Satanism. We are not practicing any dark arts around here, some of you are almost "little yellow bus slow." Here at home, we have our white Christmas tree with decorations the boys have made over the years at school, we have our kitchen stocked with all sorts of food from cakes and pastries from Central Market, to fajitas and ribs which I grilled last night. We sat and watched National Lampoons Christmas last night which I fell asleep to rubbing my stomach from eating and drinking too much egg nog. After being lazy all day, getting up first to do the Santa toy reveal way too early, and then to eat brunch at 1:00-2:00pm, we got tickets from Boy to go watch a movie tonight at 11:00pm, so that should be fun.
Saturday, December 24, 2016
12/25/16 Happy Anniversary?
We have now been happily married for twenty three years, plus the six years we dated, means we have been together for twenty nine years. That is a long freaking time. I believe the math is right, we started dating on a Friday the 13th, in November of 1987. I just verified, thanks to Google, and November did have a Friday the 13th. Our first date was to the Spinach Festival, which is our hometown's big celebration in the fall. You ask how does a harried fellow like myself latch onto a busty bossy passionate woman like Wife, and it required some expert work that night. First make her relax by showing her off in public, second, separate her from the pack and third, attack in the dark., when in doubt leave hickeys to mark your territory.
If I remember correctly, we went to the Festival, said hi to her folks, then because I had just broken up with a long time girlfriend the week before, I didn't feel like I should be gallivanting around, I wanted to find a nice quiet place to seduce my young (14 at the time) fresh meat (I was only 16, so not that creepy). I suggested we drive around and we ended up in the park. We walked up to the swings, and I started pushing her back and forth. This is innocent fun for her and a way for me to grope the butt as I pushed her back and forth. I don't consider myself such an animal but she always says I ripped her off the swing in mid air and threw her to the ground where I then pounced on her like a puma before she knew what happened. This is how we did our first kiss, I like to think it was romantic and spur of the moment, she said it was a little rape-y. The whole affair left her like Cinderella, losing part of her costume in the dizziest part of the act, which we were able to find the next day.
This is how I knew she liked it, and didn't mind me being rape-y. She called the next day that she lost her earring, and if we could go and look for it. We did and there it was, on the ground where we tore up the grass and the earth as two lost souls found each other. Once you get some Mando on you, I don't wash off, very much like the proverbial herpes, I get in your blood to stay.
Our love would be cemented by too many pizzas at Pizza Hut, which is the place to go when you live in a small town, and then later she would stick her claws in me permanently by getting 'knocked up' right as I was fixing to graduate from UT. Boy popped out nine months later and that maybe changed my trajectory a bit, but Wife has been the perfect Wife for me. I don't think many people could stand my temperament and my moods. I was kind of standoffish back in my 20's when I felt I had to prove myself somehow. I believe I am a much better human now that I have mellowed, maybe a lowered testosterone level has made me less of a dick.
I am proud that Wife has never just sat back and let life happen to her. She has quietly continued her schooling, and she caught up with me a couple years later getting her Bachelor's degree, and then a Master's degree in 2007, right before the big recession. It has taken longer than we both foresaw, but she is finally on pace to maybe even make the kind of money I make, which could send us into a higher tax bracket in a couple years. She is now a Director, but in a school three hours away. We figured she could gain the experience down there, time will pass, quickly as it always does, and eventually she will be able to come back, hopefully to a six figure salary, and with Boy almost done with school, we might finally be able to live like I have always wanted and believed we should be living. Our big house here in Austin, a cabin in the woods next to some waterfront, a Cessna to get around, a new F250 every few years, and a collection of nice watches... these are some of my favorite things (I dream about).
I love you Babe, thanks for being my pain in the ass. You could be out there inflicting your brand of fear and bitchiness on any number of dudes or even chicks, but you chose me. :) Thanks.
If I remember correctly, we went to the Festival, said hi to her folks, then because I had just broken up with a long time girlfriend the week before, I didn't feel like I should be gallivanting around, I wanted to find a nice quiet place to seduce my young (14 at the time) fresh meat (I was only 16, so not that creepy). I suggested we drive around and we ended up in the park. We walked up to the swings, and I started pushing her back and forth. This is innocent fun for her and a way for me to grope the butt as I pushed her back and forth. I don't consider myself such an animal but she always says I ripped her off the swing in mid air and threw her to the ground where I then pounced on her like a puma before she knew what happened. This is how we did our first kiss, I like to think it was romantic and spur of the moment, she said it was a little rape-y. The whole affair left her like Cinderella, losing part of her costume in the dizziest part of the act, which we were able to find the next day.
This is how I knew she liked it, and didn't mind me being rape-y. She called the next day that she lost her earring, and if we could go and look for it. We did and there it was, on the ground where we tore up the grass and the earth as two lost souls found each other. Once you get some Mando on you, I don't wash off, very much like the proverbial herpes, I get in your blood to stay.
Our love would be cemented by too many pizzas at Pizza Hut, which is the place to go when you live in a small town, and then later she would stick her claws in me permanently by getting 'knocked up' right as I was fixing to graduate from UT. Boy popped out nine months later and that maybe changed my trajectory a bit, but Wife has been the perfect Wife for me. I don't think many people could stand my temperament and my moods. I was kind of standoffish back in my 20's when I felt I had to prove myself somehow. I believe I am a much better human now that I have mellowed, maybe a lowered testosterone level has made me less of a dick.
I am proud that Wife has never just sat back and let life happen to her. She has quietly continued her schooling, and she caught up with me a couple years later getting her Bachelor's degree, and then a Master's degree in 2007, right before the big recession. It has taken longer than we both foresaw, but she is finally on pace to maybe even make the kind of money I make, which could send us into a higher tax bracket in a couple years. She is now a Director, but in a school three hours away. We figured she could gain the experience down there, time will pass, quickly as it always does, and eventually she will be able to come back, hopefully to a six figure salary, and with Boy almost done with school, we might finally be able to live like I have always wanted and believed we should be living. Our big house here in Austin, a cabin in the woods next to some waterfront, a Cessna to get around, a new F250 every few years, and a collection of nice watches... these are some of my favorite things (I dream about).
I love you Babe, thanks for being my pain in the ass. You could be out there inflicting your brand of fear and bitchiness on any number of dudes or even chicks, but you chose me. :) Thanks.
12/24/16 Oh, Holy Week Off?
We are upon another Christmas Eve, I have decided to take the upcoming week off, so as of this writing (Friday morning ~4:00am, I am a free man for a week). We started my freedom by going out to eat, although I wanted Mod Pizza in Kyle, just about everything was closed except for McDonald's. We ate there, Wife wanted a Mcrib after hearing those commercials a bit too much. They did not have them in stock, what they had was a staff of Mexican ladies shrieking and cackling like it was party time. They were most annoying, but all their machines beeping and bells ringing made it feel like we were in a Mexican casino.
We then headed to the big HEB where we stocked up for the weekend. We have decided that since the weather is going to be nice and a little warmer than normal, we shall barbeque on Saturday night. We bought some fajitas which have been turning out just outstanding on the grill, some ribs for Chubs and Wife, and some chicken wings. For sides we have some jalapeno bombers and we shall figure out the rest as we go along. We decided we would try a brisket for Christmas Day, so we bought one of those as well. For tomorrow night, Boy said he was sure he could get us tickets to the new Star Wars Movie, Rogue One, so that sounds exciting. We will probably fill out the day with some last minute shopping, and some nice family time.
Boy has just totally sucked the fun out of Christmas. He didn't ask for much, a room for a couple nights when he goes to his comic con in San Antonio, which is kind of hard to wrap-up or display as a gift, and a new backpack for school, which he ordered through Amazon, and we get to pay. It is supposed to be here in time for Christmas, so I guess we shall receive it tomorrow, but that is cutting it close. I was telling Wife, maybe we can get him some shirts or something to pad his Christmas morning Santa delivery, otherwise Chubs will have an assortment of different things and Boy will have a backpack. (finishing this tomorrow night)
Well, his backpack arrived, so he'll have something under the tree. Wife told me she has other small gifts, and I managed to track down a Pelican waterproof case for smaller things like his phone and wallet. He does go to the river and tube in the spring, so this case could be useful in preventing his phone from getting wet.
I am trying to just relax and let it go, but I don't think it's fair that since November Wife has been telling me not to spend money on things, and then she shows up as a last minute hero with Boy, they sit down on Amazon and order what he wants while I'm sitting with my thumbs up my asshole trying to be a good guy who listens and doesn't spend any money. Oh well, the boys have their gifts, everybody else has a gift, so let's see how Christmas plays out. Merry Christmas Everyone from your favorite atheist.
We then headed to the big HEB where we stocked up for the weekend. We have decided that since the weather is going to be nice and a little warmer than normal, we shall barbeque on Saturday night. We bought some fajitas which have been turning out just outstanding on the grill, some ribs for Chubs and Wife, and some chicken wings. For sides we have some jalapeno bombers and we shall figure out the rest as we go along. We decided we would try a brisket for Christmas Day, so we bought one of those as well. For tomorrow night, Boy said he was sure he could get us tickets to the new Star Wars Movie, Rogue One, so that sounds exciting. We will probably fill out the day with some last minute shopping, and some nice family time.
Boy has just totally sucked the fun out of Christmas. He didn't ask for much, a room for a couple nights when he goes to his comic con in San Antonio, which is kind of hard to wrap-up or display as a gift, and a new backpack for school, which he ordered through Amazon, and we get to pay. It is supposed to be here in time for Christmas, so I guess we shall receive it tomorrow, but that is cutting it close. I was telling Wife, maybe we can get him some shirts or something to pad his Christmas morning Santa delivery, otherwise Chubs will have an assortment of different things and Boy will have a backpack. (finishing this tomorrow night)
Well, his backpack arrived, so he'll have something under the tree. Wife told me she has other small gifts, and I managed to track down a Pelican waterproof case for smaller things like his phone and wallet. He does go to the river and tube in the spring, so this case could be useful in preventing his phone from getting wet.
I am trying to just relax and let it go, but I don't think it's fair that since November Wife has been telling me not to spend money on things, and then she shows up as a last minute hero with Boy, they sit down on Amazon and order what he wants while I'm sitting with my thumbs up my asshole trying to be a good guy who listens and doesn't spend any money. Oh well, the boys have their gifts, everybody else has a gift, so let's see how Christmas plays out. Merry Christmas Everyone from your favorite atheist.
Friday, December 23, 2016
12/23/16 Bonus, For A Job Well Done?
Wow, it can still happen. We got an email earlier this week that we were getting a bonus in our next paycheck of $500. This is a very nice gesture from our CEO who said 2016 was more profitable than 2015. In fact, it leads me to believe we are doing a little better than I thought. It had been at least two years since we had gotten a bonus like this.
I think the fact that we got rid of a very costly section last quarter helped us achieve this. Around two or three years ago, we went and added a section involving some equipment, a small lab, and about three people out in the Boston area. This made absolutely no sense to the rest of us. We were told they had a technique that was going to revolutionize some BS or other in some ceramics packaging for an up and coming company. Days after we bought the company, the ceramics venture filed for bankruptcy, it was almost comical, other than it cost us financially. For the last two years we carried these bozos, and I never care how smart or how special people are, if they don't make money, they are being carried by me, is how I see things. We could not make a profit, and I kept thinking, well, of course not, we gotta pay $200-300k a year in salaries, plus their floor space, for what? After two years, we finally unloaded the dead weight, and voila, we are profitable again.
Just talking to my buddy here last week who encouraged me to join the chemistry group, then backpedaled and said not to expect overtime, and maybe I should volunteer to work Thursday through Sunday, in a weird conversation where I am going to leave it at he must of eaten a bad batch of grapes or something. In that same conversation, he was telling me he was sure that we weren't doing well financially, and just being a little too negative for my taste.
One of the shortfalls of our boss is that he wants to be positive all the time, and sometimes when things aren't great, he avoids letting out any information. I have to guess things are going well, in spite of Mr. Worries Too Much, as we got the bonus our boss also mentioned we would be getting reviewed in the 1st quarter and either get some sort of bonus or get a raise. It has been over eight years since I have seen a raise, so the idea of it coming up is exciting. It would be foolish to be talking raises and stuff if we were at the brink of bankruptcy, as was indicated by my buddy, it just doesn't make sense. My opinion is we are doing well, so here's to an even more profitable 2017.
I think the fact that we got rid of a very costly section last quarter helped us achieve this. Around two or three years ago, we went and added a section involving some equipment, a small lab, and about three people out in the Boston area. This made absolutely no sense to the rest of us. We were told they had a technique that was going to revolutionize some BS or other in some ceramics packaging for an up and coming company. Days after we bought the company, the ceramics venture filed for bankruptcy, it was almost comical, other than it cost us financially. For the last two years we carried these bozos, and I never care how smart or how special people are, if they don't make money, they are being carried by me, is how I see things. We could not make a profit, and I kept thinking, well, of course not, we gotta pay $200-300k a year in salaries, plus their floor space, for what? After two years, we finally unloaded the dead weight, and voila, we are profitable again.
Just talking to my buddy here last week who encouraged me to join the chemistry group, then backpedaled and said not to expect overtime, and maybe I should volunteer to work Thursday through Sunday, in a weird conversation where I am going to leave it at he must of eaten a bad batch of grapes or something. In that same conversation, he was telling me he was sure that we weren't doing well financially, and just being a little too negative for my taste.
One of the shortfalls of our boss is that he wants to be positive all the time, and sometimes when things aren't great, he avoids letting out any information. I have to guess things are going well, in spite of Mr. Worries Too Much, as we got the bonus our boss also mentioned we would be getting reviewed in the 1st quarter and either get some sort of bonus or get a raise. It has been over eight years since I have seen a raise, so the idea of it coming up is exciting. It would be foolish to be talking raises and stuff if we were at the brink of bankruptcy, as was indicated by my buddy, it just doesn't make sense. My opinion is we are doing well, so here's to an even more profitable 2017.
Thursday, December 22, 2016
12/22/16 Morons Still Do High Speed Chases?
Someone on our Facebook feed showed a high speed chase in Kansas yesterday afternoon. These things always piss me off, first because it shows the shitty side of humanity when way too many people find this entertaining and/or actually support the a-hole committing the crime like he is doing something wonderful for mankind in the comments section. Second, we know how these things end, half the time the a-hole crashes into some innocent family or some unsuspecting older person. No value of life is given to all the victim's involved since we "keep a distance" so as not to aggravate the criminal.
The one in the story shown was driving around in a Nissan Truck, then actually because cops weren't close to him, he managed to pull up to another vehicle, rob the owner and continue his cruise of the neighborhood in a different truck. He kept getting on and off the highway/freeway in the opposite direction. At this point, someone in the helicopter should have fired shots at him. Big Fucking deal if you hit him accidentally, he is a criminal who sideswiped a police officer, means he was trying to or wouldn't have minded killing a cop. This is the worst of criminals, those who target people. Instead of the lame attempts to blow his tires out, have someone go for the tires and someone go for the windows with a gun. Maybe you get his attention, maybe you hit him and he is the only victim in a senseless act of stupidity.
Most of the time there are cars damaged all along the path. We pay for cop cars via our taxes, throw one in front of the speeder, give him something solid to crash into if that is his game. Why should the cops hang back and let the crash with some old lady be how this one ends? These high speed chases give the troublemaker camera time, sometimes they act the fool, like it's a game, I've seen where they are high fiving people as they drive around the same neighborhoods over and over again. I say it is risky for an officer to shoot his weapon, but I say it is riskier for the son of a bitch to keep driving around until he encounters a driver not paying attention and causing a crash leading to death of innocents. I think a couple of examples where speed chases end in cops shooting you, and maybe the sane drivers will rethink their stupidity. If someone wants to commit suicide this way, same thing. Why do we treat every life like it is precious, some people are empty vessels who just take and never give back anything? Then things don't go their way and they cause all this death and destruction, take them out, like the trash they are.
The one in the story shown was driving around in a Nissan Truck, then actually because cops weren't close to him, he managed to pull up to another vehicle, rob the owner and continue his cruise of the neighborhood in a different truck. He kept getting on and off the highway/freeway in the opposite direction. At this point, someone in the helicopter should have fired shots at him. Big Fucking deal if you hit him accidentally, he is a criminal who sideswiped a police officer, means he was trying to or wouldn't have minded killing a cop. This is the worst of criminals, those who target people. Instead of the lame attempts to blow his tires out, have someone go for the tires and someone go for the windows with a gun. Maybe you get his attention, maybe you hit him and he is the only victim in a senseless act of stupidity.
Most of the time there are cars damaged all along the path. We pay for cop cars via our taxes, throw one in front of the speeder, give him something solid to crash into if that is his game. Why should the cops hang back and let the crash with some old lady be how this one ends? These high speed chases give the troublemaker camera time, sometimes they act the fool, like it's a game, I've seen where they are high fiving people as they drive around the same neighborhoods over and over again. I say it is risky for an officer to shoot his weapon, but I say it is riskier for the son of a bitch to keep driving around until he encounters a driver not paying attention and causing a crash leading to death of innocents. I think a couple of examples where speed chases end in cops shooting you, and maybe the sane drivers will rethink their stupidity. If someone wants to commit suicide this way, same thing. Why do we treat every life like it is precious, some people are empty vessels who just take and never give back anything? Then things don't go their way and they cause all this death and destruction, take them out, like the trash they are.
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
12/21/16 Continuing With Yesterday's Psychology Lesson?
Yesterday's foray into how we operate in our environment came from listening to bad music Sunday night. The radio in the garage which I decided needed to be cleaned, sticks from soda being spilled on it, so once I got a decent sounding station, I left it alone. I generally don't listen to 96.7 anymore, lately I've been revisiting Spanish music and the Garth Brooks channel on XM satellite.
The message in one of the songs made it seem like all the girl had to do was break up with the guy that treated her like crap and he would then do everything in his power to make her happy. What the singer doesn't realize is that the girl is exactly where she needs and wants to be. Girls in bad relationships learn at home that this is normal. They have a fairy tale in their head that they are going to change the bad boy into a functional member of society. I've seen it more than a few times now and all I can do is cringe. It is like witnessing a very slow moving train accident right as it is happening. My advice is always "Have fun if you insist, just don't have kids because I can tell you, that guy is a fucking idiot, and I am at least ten times smarter than you." Nope, first things first, let's have a kid, the fact that the genius BF is still thinking about a GED isn't going to affect my kid who will surely go to UT in a couple years. Then come the stories of having to make decisions for the guy: "do I buy the good weed, or do I buy diapers for the kid?" Fuck it, that's mama and grandma's job, apparently. I'll make it up to the kid by showing up on his birthday, maybe.
Eventually, you work yourself into section eight housing, where you tell the world how "I don't need a man!, I can do it on my own!" Great, except for the fact that you think making it on your own is paying $50 a month for a two bedroom apartment like that is living in the real world. Don't worry, you and your kid won't be alone for long, the baby daddy will talk your little brain into another round of unprotected sex and give you a second kid to raise while he keeps being a bad ass with his homies. Don't worry, there's a guy out there who will stick around, you'll just have to kind of support him and in return he'll give you a couple more dumb kids to feed and cloth, but that's ok. Some day this guy will get it going and then it'll be BMW's all around.
The sad part is this girl will pat herself on the back and say well, I did as good as my folks. Not knowing you're supposed to do better than your folks. The sacrifices of the last generation should push you further up the socioeconomic structure, not make you a clone of your poor ass parents.
But Mr. Singer on the radio, keep singing your diluted thoughts, it makes great foreplay for Joe Knucklehead to impregnate your princess.
The message in one of the songs made it seem like all the girl had to do was break up with the guy that treated her like crap and he would then do everything in his power to make her happy. What the singer doesn't realize is that the girl is exactly where she needs and wants to be. Girls in bad relationships learn at home that this is normal. They have a fairy tale in their head that they are going to change the bad boy into a functional member of society. I've seen it more than a few times now and all I can do is cringe. It is like witnessing a very slow moving train accident right as it is happening. My advice is always "Have fun if you insist, just don't have kids because I can tell you, that guy is a fucking idiot, and I am at least ten times smarter than you." Nope, first things first, let's have a kid, the fact that the genius BF is still thinking about a GED isn't going to affect my kid who will surely go to UT in a couple years. Then come the stories of having to make decisions for the guy: "do I buy the good weed, or do I buy diapers for the kid?" Fuck it, that's mama and grandma's job, apparently. I'll make it up to the kid by showing up on his birthday, maybe.
Eventually, you work yourself into section eight housing, where you tell the world how "I don't need a man!, I can do it on my own!" Great, except for the fact that you think making it on your own is paying $50 a month for a two bedroom apartment like that is living in the real world. Don't worry, you and your kid won't be alone for long, the baby daddy will talk your little brain into another round of unprotected sex and give you a second kid to raise while he keeps being a bad ass with his homies. Don't worry, there's a guy out there who will stick around, you'll just have to kind of support him and in return he'll give you a couple more dumb kids to feed and cloth, but that's ok. Some day this guy will get it going and then it'll be BMW's all around.
The sad part is this girl will pat herself on the back and say well, I did as good as my folks. Not knowing you're supposed to do better than your folks. The sacrifices of the last generation should push you further up the socioeconomic structure, not make you a clone of your poor ass parents.
But Mr. Singer on the radio, keep singing your diluted thoughts, it makes great foreplay for Joe Knucklehead to impregnate your princess.
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
12/20/16 Does A Successful Marriage Have To Do With Marrying A Parent Clone?
Psychology fascinates me more than even chemistry which I got a degree in. The way our minds work is astounding. This is the main reason I liked listening to Dr. Drew with Adam Carolla on Loveline back in the day. I went through their whole ten year library when I found it and I would listen to two and sometimes three episodes in a given twelve hour shift at work, along with other stuff, of course.
Some of the stuff that seems to happen naturally with humans is that they learn normal from their environments. If s person grows up in a family that does nothing but argue, then normal to them is a family that argues, so they will search a partner that helps recreate that normality with them. I have found in my immediate world, that is true. My mother, for instance, was a very strong head of the household type when we were growing up, mostly because my dad was a truck driver who was gone most of the week, this made my mom a person who lead us with no problems, and I have noticed Wife is that type of person, kind of a ballbuster, who does not hesitate to take the lead. It is sometimes annoying because if I hesitate for even a second, she will take the reins and make decisions for us. This makes for a great partner, but I don't get to take it easy around her if I want to be the alpha male I like to be. I also notice many similarities between her father and myself. He has always been a good provider, and a good father, but he is a quiet man. Her mom just dotes on him though, always serves him food, coffee, any little thing to show him she is there for him, but not in an underling kind of way, just as a show of love and respect. Wife does this for me, and I love it, my folks don't get it and always tell Wife to make me get up.
To push the matter with one more example, I have noticed many similarities between my brother in law and my dad. My brothers both even like to joke that my dad finally found the son he always hoped for in our brother in law. My sister found a great guy to marry in our brother in law. He is a jock, and he is raising little jocks, and life is centered around whatever sports is in season for them. We were never like that. My younger brother and I could give two shits about most sports events, my other brother likes some sports events, but I think it is more the act of liking something expensive because he goes to baseball games, but rarely stays through a whole game.
This one got away from me, as I filled the whole thought bubble without getting to my point. I will continue exploring this field, as it is one I find interesting. Does the type of partner you have chosen tell you whether it will be a successful relationship?
Some of the stuff that seems to happen naturally with humans is that they learn normal from their environments. If s person grows up in a family that does nothing but argue, then normal to them is a family that argues, so they will search a partner that helps recreate that normality with them. I have found in my immediate world, that is true. My mother, for instance, was a very strong head of the household type when we were growing up, mostly because my dad was a truck driver who was gone most of the week, this made my mom a person who lead us with no problems, and I have noticed Wife is that type of person, kind of a ballbuster, who does not hesitate to take the lead. It is sometimes annoying because if I hesitate for even a second, she will take the reins and make decisions for us. This makes for a great partner, but I don't get to take it easy around her if I want to be the alpha male I like to be. I also notice many similarities between her father and myself. He has always been a good provider, and a good father, but he is a quiet man. Her mom just dotes on him though, always serves him food, coffee, any little thing to show him she is there for him, but not in an underling kind of way, just as a show of love and respect. Wife does this for me, and I love it, my folks don't get it and always tell Wife to make me get up.
To push the matter with one more example, I have noticed many similarities between my brother in law and my dad. My brothers both even like to joke that my dad finally found the son he always hoped for in our brother in law. My sister found a great guy to marry in our brother in law. He is a jock, and he is raising little jocks, and life is centered around whatever sports is in season for them. We were never like that. My younger brother and I could give two shits about most sports events, my other brother likes some sports events, but I think it is more the act of liking something expensive because he goes to baseball games, but rarely stays through a whole game.
This one got away from me, as I filled the whole thought bubble without getting to my point. I will continue exploring this field, as it is one I find interesting. Does the type of partner you have chosen tell you whether it will be a successful relationship?
Monday, December 19, 2016
12/19/16 Prolonging The Magic?
I don't like lying to my boys except when it comes to the holidays. I don't go around saying there is a Santa, but I have told them, including Boy, the minute you start slamming Santa that he doesn't exist is when he stops bringing gifts to you Christmas morning. This has been effective in shutting up even Boy who can be a curmudgeon and sours most everything if it doesn't interest him.
In the last couple years we were introduced to the kind of creepy Elf On The Shelf and Wife somehow got one. Through telephone technology and various aunts, we created a voice for the Elf and Wife was good at moving the Elf to various places around the house when she was here before. She had quietly asked me to keep doing it. I thought it was kind of stupid, but I did it and I got a kick at how Chubs was scratching his head about him. I think we call him Snowball and he just stands back muttering "Snowball was in my stocking..." if he keeps moving off the tree I'm going to put him back in the glass cabinet where we keep him the rest of the year. I have since then moved him to ride a reindeer that we keep by the front door. It took Chubs two days to see him, I just moved him and forgot about it. I then get to act like I am as uninterested as usual saying "I don't touch your creepy elf, you know me." "Hmm," he says, "it isn't Boy, he doesn't care about anything." I add maybe it's Girlie, he says "nah, she's only interested in her phone."
Friday I tucked the head and torso into his back pack and he went to pick it up. He was a little confused I mentioned "He heard you weren't doing great in a couple classes, he was probably checking your work. He just said hmmm, I'll put him back on the tree, but he is confused. It kind of reminds me of an episode of Dr. Who where the angels come out. They are made of stone and appear motionless, but they will move when you blink your eyes or in the dark. This works remarkably well in the show as every time there is a blink or a flashlight going off, the statues move closer to the people. The people are then converted to statues in the dark. That was a wild episode and it required them to create a hole in space and time by destroying the TARDIS, the big blue phone booth to defeat them.
If I really thought the freaking Elf was moving around in the middle of the night, I wouldn't be cool with it, but then again, he is the ambassador for Santa, and that means he has a correlation to how many toys he gets, so he must just tolerate the creepiness. Wife is back in town, so I am sure the elf will be moving around more regularly. Is this cool or are we secretly tormenting our child in an effort to amuse ourselves? Santa is always generous around here, so there is no reason to disturb the status quo. I guess both boys will just put up with whatever crap we throw their way, provided Santa keeps delivering the goods. As their friends tell them all the time, they are lucky. Santa doesn't visit all of Chub's friends anymore. All I can do to salvage that is tell him well, that's what happens when you stop believing, so close your eyes and be thankful Snowball is still around.
In the last couple years we were introduced to the kind of creepy Elf On The Shelf and Wife somehow got one. Through telephone technology and various aunts, we created a voice for the Elf and Wife was good at moving the Elf to various places around the house when she was here before. She had quietly asked me to keep doing it. I thought it was kind of stupid, but I did it and I got a kick at how Chubs was scratching his head about him. I think we call him Snowball and he just stands back muttering "Snowball was in my stocking..." if he keeps moving off the tree I'm going to put him back in the glass cabinet where we keep him the rest of the year. I have since then moved him to ride a reindeer that we keep by the front door. It took Chubs two days to see him, I just moved him and forgot about it. I then get to act like I am as uninterested as usual saying "I don't touch your creepy elf, you know me." "Hmm," he says, "it isn't Boy, he doesn't care about anything." I add maybe it's Girlie, he says "nah, she's only interested in her phone."
Friday I tucked the head and torso into his back pack and he went to pick it up. He was a little confused I mentioned "He heard you weren't doing great in a couple classes, he was probably checking your work. He just said hmmm, I'll put him back on the tree, but he is confused. It kind of reminds me of an episode of Dr. Who where the angels come out. They are made of stone and appear motionless, but they will move when you blink your eyes or in the dark. This works remarkably well in the show as every time there is a blink or a flashlight going off, the statues move closer to the people. The people are then converted to statues in the dark. That was a wild episode and it required them to create a hole in space and time by destroying the TARDIS, the big blue phone booth to defeat them.
If I really thought the freaking Elf was moving around in the middle of the night, I wouldn't be cool with it, but then again, he is the ambassador for Santa, and that means he has a correlation to how many toys he gets, so he must just tolerate the creepiness. Wife is back in town, so I am sure the elf will be moving around more regularly. Is this cool or are we secretly tormenting our child in an effort to amuse ourselves? Santa is always generous around here, so there is no reason to disturb the status quo. I guess both boys will just put up with whatever crap we throw their way, provided Santa keeps delivering the goods. As their friends tell them all the time, they are lucky. Santa doesn't visit all of Chub's friends anymore. All I can do to salvage that is tell him well, that's what happens when you stop believing, so close your eyes and be thankful Snowball is still around.
Sunday, December 18, 2016
12/18/16 If Darth Vader Seems To Be Right, You Might Need To Rethink Your Way Of Being?
I have been fumbling around with this idea in my head for a couple weeks. My brother was here with my folks a couple weeks ago and while we were driving around came up with the theory that as he has gotten older and less sympathetic to the liberal agenda, he can't help but think the rebels were the troublemakers. I know he was being cheeky, as I was taking cheap shots at the similarity with Trump and Senator Palpatine in the Star Wars saga.
I then went in and was reading online information and I don't know whether I am surprised anymore or not. There is plenty of evidence that in reality we are cheering for the terrorists to win, as Luke and the gang go and destroy property that is not theirs in the Death Star and Darth Vader and the gang weren't really doing anything bad other than collecting taxes and controlling how to do business between thousands of different planets. The reason we find ourselves rooting for the rebels is that they are such a small group, so maybe in our heads we form a battle of David versus Goliath and the smaller force has to overcome.
One could then bring up, well the imperial forces used the Death Star on peaceful Alderaan to goad Princess Leia to divulge where the information they had stolen was. That weapon was not fooling around, it exploded the planet out of existence almost like it was a piñata with some firecrackers inside (since it was done in 1977, probably how they did it too). She cried when it happened that Alderaan was a peaceful loving planet, so we believe that, but I am now reading that the planet was where the rebels first gained strength and the planet was where the alliance were getting their munitions. Leia Organa was also carrying out rebel missions using her diplomatic immunity as princess of Alderaan. It stands to reason that with a weapon of that magnitude, it should be tested to show any resistance what their capability was. Alderaan was a logical choice if you wanted to get certain people's attention.
So does using such a devastating weapon make you a bad guy? It was not that long ago we used some bombs that obliterated cities in Japan and we are the ultimate good guys. Too bad first the robot armies and then the clone army reminds us so much of fascism and Nazi Germany.
In the end, Princess Leia bartered her planet for the abilities of a magical wizard, a Jedi who managed to get his hands on a much younger and gifted future Jedi who would learn everything from another magical creature who had already lived a long and blessed life as a Master Jedi.
It would be from a strange position to cheer for the Imperial forces, but I guess people do like to cheer for a winner. Do we hate paying for taxes and order that much that we automatically cheer for the rebels without knowing what they do? Upon destruction of the Empire and its higher elites, who takes over as supreme Chancellor or whatever title, does Princess Leia Organa have a chance, maybe that was her interest in helping the resistance. Poor Darth Vader, went through most of his adult life not even knowing he had fathered two children with his one love Padme Amidala. In the end, he sacrificed his life and all his power to save his child and destroy a sith Lord, so Darth Vader is the real hero of this franchise.
I then went in and was reading online information and I don't know whether I am surprised anymore or not. There is plenty of evidence that in reality we are cheering for the terrorists to win, as Luke and the gang go and destroy property that is not theirs in the Death Star and Darth Vader and the gang weren't really doing anything bad other than collecting taxes and controlling how to do business between thousands of different planets. The reason we find ourselves rooting for the rebels is that they are such a small group, so maybe in our heads we form a battle of David versus Goliath and the smaller force has to overcome.
One could then bring up, well the imperial forces used the Death Star on peaceful Alderaan to goad Princess Leia to divulge where the information they had stolen was. That weapon was not fooling around, it exploded the planet out of existence almost like it was a piñata with some firecrackers inside (since it was done in 1977, probably how they did it too). She cried when it happened that Alderaan was a peaceful loving planet, so we believe that, but I am now reading that the planet was where the rebels first gained strength and the planet was where the alliance were getting their munitions. Leia Organa was also carrying out rebel missions using her diplomatic immunity as princess of Alderaan. It stands to reason that with a weapon of that magnitude, it should be tested to show any resistance what their capability was. Alderaan was a logical choice if you wanted to get certain people's attention.
So does using such a devastating weapon make you a bad guy? It was not that long ago we used some bombs that obliterated cities in Japan and we are the ultimate good guys. Too bad first the robot armies and then the clone army reminds us so much of fascism and Nazi Germany.
In the end, Princess Leia bartered her planet for the abilities of a magical wizard, a Jedi who managed to get his hands on a much younger and gifted future Jedi who would learn everything from another magical creature who had already lived a long and blessed life as a Master Jedi.
It would be from a strange position to cheer for the Imperial forces, but I guess people do like to cheer for a winner. Do we hate paying for taxes and order that much that we automatically cheer for the rebels without knowing what they do? Upon destruction of the Empire and its higher elites, who takes over as supreme Chancellor or whatever title, does Princess Leia Organa have a chance, maybe that was her interest in helping the resistance. Poor Darth Vader, went through most of his adult life not even knowing he had fathered two children with his one love Padme Amidala. In the end, he sacrificed his life and all his power to save his child and destroy a sith Lord, so Darth Vader is the real hero of this franchise.
Saturday, December 17, 2016
12/17/16 Thinking Closer About A New Role In The Company?
I think I will be making the change, if slowly, to the other department here at work. I was talking it over with a coworker who does imaging and she said well if you go over, you will be helping to meet their demands and by you going, that in itself might eliminate the need for overtime. I said "yeah, but becoming proficient in another department will make me available to do work here and work there, so I will double my chances at any extra opportunities for OT. She had to agree with my logic, then she added " it will be a new technique you can add to your resume skills that you know how to do if this place ever goes under. I don't like to think that is going to happen, but it could, I guess.
My buddy that has been my biggest cheerleader this week pumping me up with all this information that they are overworked suddenly started applying the brakes tonight, which didn't make much sense other than to temper my expectation that going over will not mean that I have a personal ATM to print my own money. I understand that much, I also wouldn't expect to hog all the OT, if it comes to that, but from experience I also know that if there is work to do when nobody wants to do it, then I usually will volunteer and be here when most people would rather be home. He was trying to change my way of thinking and to maybe be open to changing my shift, but that does not make sense when I am the only one working nights. If the company wants night coverage, great, but if they are only going to commit one person to being on nights, it doesn't seem fair to then tell that person "well it's great that you are willing to keep our machines going through the night, but can you do it on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday when we don't even bother to make people work weekend hours during the day?" I have been here twenty years, why would I be moved to cover the weekends and have a new person work the shift that I work now? Again, that doesn't make sense, specially when nobody else has ever really been forced to work hours they didn't want to.
I am really flexible, don't think I am old and set in my ways, I'll work Tuesday through Thursday nights, or even Sunday through Wednesday nights, but if Wife is only here on Friday evening and leaving Sunday afternoon, I need to make those hours available for her. If I have to be away at work when she is here, I need to at least be getting paid time and a half, otherwise why move, I have a pretty cushy spot right now.
I already felt a taste of OT and I just started working over there. I was called in Thursday night to go in and run five hours of work. It seems I joined at the right time. Two of the people in the group went out of town, it is near the holidays, and the third guy was admitted to the hospital as his wife thought he might be having a heart attack. He was going into his second night of observation since they didn't identify a heart attack had occurred. The only person left to do work is the supervisor, and although he has no problem rolling his sleeves up, he is feeling a tad overworked, so he appreciates the added worker.
My buddy that has been my biggest cheerleader this week pumping me up with all this information that they are overworked suddenly started applying the brakes tonight, which didn't make much sense other than to temper my expectation that going over will not mean that I have a personal ATM to print my own money. I understand that much, I also wouldn't expect to hog all the OT, if it comes to that, but from experience I also know that if there is work to do when nobody wants to do it, then I usually will volunteer and be here when most people would rather be home. He was trying to change my way of thinking and to maybe be open to changing my shift, but that does not make sense when I am the only one working nights. If the company wants night coverage, great, but if they are only going to commit one person to being on nights, it doesn't seem fair to then tell that person "well it's great that you are willing to keep our machines going through the night, but can you do it on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday when we don't even bother to make people work weekend hours during the day?" I have been here twenty years, why would I be moved to cover the weekends and have a new person work the shift that I work now? Again, that doesn't make sense, specially when nobody else has ever really been forced to work hours they didn't want to.
I am really flexible, don't think I am old and set in my ways, I'll work Tuesday through Thursday nights, or even Sunday through Wednesday nights, but if Wife is only here on Friday evening and leaving Sunday afternoon, I need to make those hours available for her. If I have to be away at work when she is here, I need to at least be getting paid time and a half, otherwise why move, I have a pretty cushy spot right now.
I already felt a taste of OT and I just started working over there. I was called in Thursday night to go in and run five hours of work. It seems I joined at the right time. Two of the people in the group went out of town, it is near the holidays, and the third guy was admitted to the hospital as his wife thought he might be having a heart attack. He was going into his second night of observation since they didn't identify a heart attack had occurred. The only person left to do work is the supervisor, and although he has no problem rolling his sleeves up, he is feeling a tad overworked, so he appreciates the added worker.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
12/16/16 Boy Lives The Life?
It is that time of year for Boy. Another semester about wrapped up, just a couple more tests to go and then he has a month to reflex and think about what he learned, or sleep late and play video games all day long. Because he changed his degree he is still going to be in school for another year or so, which is fine, but he is starting to cost me money. The best news I heard from him this week is that his boss wants him making himself available to work more hours during the Christmas break. I think this is great. Normally, he only works on the weekends and what he earns is for his spending and going out. Since he is off for the next five weeks, he has a great opportunity to work a lot of extra hours. He is starting this week off right with two double shifts for the release of Rogue One, the new Star Wars movie. He works at Alamo Drafthouse, as I have mentioned. We won't get free tickets to the Star Wars movie for a couple weeks, they have a rule that he can get free tickets, but only to movies that have been out at least two weeks.
I did like him telling me that he had applied for three internships at Silicon Labs here in town. I find this exciting because they are one of our customers, so it would be cool if he ends up working there and we get to do work with each other. Doing internships for a semiconductor company sets him up for working in the field and although it can be tough with the constant layoffs always looming in the background, it can also be very lucrative, and this is one field where pay is more than normal.
Before he can do whatever he feels like, he does have to get through the final exams though. He bugged me this weekend because it was his friend's birthday and they spent the whole weekend celebrating. That is great, but I am sure he could have helped himself reviewing a little more. Instead, he came in Sunday night and went straight to bed, leaving all our guns laid out on the floor by the entrance. When I yelled at him "what the hell!?!?" He said he needed to clean them, but he needed to go to sleep for an exam at eight in the morning on Monday.
He went for his Monday exam, then he came home and slept. I thought he was going to spend Monday studying for the next exam, but no. They called him from the card shop and some new Pokémon cards or some such shit came in and he had to go pick them up. I don't care that this is what he does for fun. I care that he is doing fun things when he should be focused on his Exams. Next week, do whatever, this week, there are still classes and stuff to take care of.
I did like him telling me that he had applied for three internships at Silicon Labs here in town. I find this exciting because they are one of our customers, so it would be cool if he ends up working there and we get to do work with each other. Doing internships for a semiconductor company sets him up for working in the field and although it can be tough with the constant layoffs always looming in the background, it can also be very lucrative, and this is one field where pay is more than normal.
Before he can do whatever he feels like, he does have to get through the final exams though. He bugged me this weekend because it was his friend's birthday and they spent the whole weekend celebrating. That is great, but I am sure he could have helped himself reviewing a little more. Instead, he came in Sunday night and went straight to bed, leaving all our guns laid out on the floor by the entrance. When I yelled at him "what the hell!?!?" He said he needed to clean them, but he needed to go to sleep for an exam at eight in the morning on Monday.
He went for his Monday exam, then he came home and slept. I thought he was going to spend Monday studying for the next exam, but no. They called him from the card shop and some new Pokémon cards or some such shit came in and he had to go pick them up. I don't care that this is what he does for fun. I care that he is doing fun things when he should be focused on his Exams. Next week, do whatever, this week, there are still classes and stuff to take care of.
12/15/16 Girlie Has Quietly Become A New Roommate?
Girlie has finally taken the plunge and moved in with us. We have been offering her a room since she was in high school and has stayed with us from time to time for a weekend here or a month there. This decision was only after she looked around, deciding she didn't want to share a room with one of her siblings anymore, which she had been. By the way, Girlie is not a random girl we just met, she has been in our lives since she was about three or four, she is a cousin of our old neighbors and has always been comfortable and close with us. She is the seventh or eighth person to stay with us for an extended period of time. It was easy for us to offer a room, considering we have a five bedroom house with two empty rooms, and with Wife gone, it feels especially empty, both our Boys stick to their computers when they are awake.
She was going to stay with a friend of hers, but the cheapest place they could find was like $1200 in the rougher east side and that did not include any of the utilities, or nice things we have like a washer and dryer and free internet and cable plus a kitchen that always has some food in it. We offered the room at $500 with some conditions and she agreed, so far so good. The biggest condition being that during the week, we keep a quiet house, no guy guests and be in before midnight. When I leave back to work after midnight, any visitors have to leave. Our chief concern is the boys focused on school and resting at night. If you want to be out past midnight, make plans to stay with a friend or whatever. It is a bit of a double standard, but when Boy's friend was staying with us, I knew him since he was in junior high, I wasn't worried he was going to steal something or try and get too comfortable in my house.
She started in the downstairs room but the closet is probably 3ft by 3ft. She wanted a big closet, so she has taken over the empty room upstairs, it has a huge walk-in closet and she has already filled it with all her clothes, and shoes. You hear jokes about women and their shoes, I never got it because Wife will buy a pair of shoes once in a while. She must have sixty pairs of shoes in boxes, and probably another 30-40 pair in the hanging shoe thing on the closet door and the shoe rack that holds another four levels of assorted sandals and heels.
She has visions of a highly decorated room that she says will be her escape, she wants the walls pink/lavender and the blankets white and fluffy. This is a breath of fresh air, as the boys could hardly give a rat's ass, Boy especially. Chubs is doing an OK job of keeping his room clean, but you can hardly walk into Boy's room, he is like a hamster, piles of stuff everywhere. He wanted shelves, which we got him, but I think he will need shelves all the way around before he can put everything away.
She was going to stay with a friend of hers, but the cheapest place they could find was like $1200 in the rougher east side and that did not include any of the utilities, or nice things we have like a washer and dryer and free internet and cable plus a kitchen that always has some food in it. We offered the room at $500 with some conditions and she agreed, so far so good. The biggest condition being that during the week, we keep a quiet house, no guy guests and be in before midnight. When I leave back to work after midnight, any visitors have to leave. Our chief concern is the boys focused on school and resting at night. If you want to be out past midnight, make plans to stay with a friend or whatever. It is a bit of a double standard, but when Boy's friend was staying with us, I knew him since he was in junior high, I wasn't worried he was going to steal something or try and get too comfortable in my house.
She started in the downstairs room but the closet is probably 3ft by 3ft. She wanted a big closet, so she has taken over the empty room upstairs, it has a huge walk-in closet and she has already filled it with all her clothes, and shoes. You hear jokes about women and their shoes, I never got it because Wife will buy a pair of shoes once in a while. She must have sixty pairs of shoes in boxes, and probably another 30-40 pair in the hanging shoe thing on the closet door and the shoe rack that holds another four levels of assorted sandals and heels.
She has visions of a highly decorated room that she says will be her escape, she wants the walls pink/lavender and the blankets white and fluffy. This is a breath of fresh air, as the boys could hardly give a rat's ass, Boy especially. Chubs is doing an OK job of keeping his room clean, but you can hardly walk into Boy's room, he is like a hamster, piles of stuff everywhere. He wanted shelves, which we got him, but I think he will need shelves all the way around before he can put everything away.
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
12/14/16 Fixing To Break This Curse?
This year has not been great for me, personally. It is almost the end of the year and I have to accept that I only worked OT about three or four times. I was just telling my Wife this weekend, first, I had a dream that my boss had cast me aside like I had been let go. The dream felt real, I was going from room to room in a big building trying to get hired on with different groups, but I couldn't find anybody. Then, I decided that since I switched over to this cool yellow wallet, it has not been good times, like the wallet is allergic to money. I told her I was going to break my curse by getting a new wallet. We were at the mall, but I didn't see one I liked.
Then in a weird coincidence, my supervisor texted me Monday afternoon to tell me that I would be working in a different section tonight, because they were swamped. I said OK, what else can I do, say no? I came in and I know the people well over there, our company is only about 18 people at this point and the two I was talking to used to do what I do in imaging. My lifting partner was over there and he said if I really wanted OT, I needed to go over there, they are all tired of working every weekend, the lady that was training me a year ago before they went and hired a new person said she doesn't even like overtime, but they don't have a choice with so much work. This is the kind of chatter I have been missing. I love working 60-70 hour work weeks, well, I love the money from doing that. The main reason for this is that our sales guy is an expert at that kind of stuff and has very limited experience with imaging, so nobody has been out looking for new customers for us.
I honestly don't care what I am doing. I love imaging because you can visually see the thing you are trying to take a picture of, but chemistry is fine too, I did get my degree in that field, so I should technically and probably should be over there. Foremost, though, I am a whore, and I go where the money is, I have no shame in saying it. I got a quick rundown tonight on how to run the tool and although it had been over a year, most of it started coming back. I didn't want to tear into the data, that requires a lot of detailed knowledge, but just running the samples which is the bottleneck in the process over there, helps them. I was a few weeks from being fully trained a while back, but they hired a new person, and then the imaging group picked up for a bit. It just seemed easier for them to focus on training the new person which I understood, but then they moved her, so they still ended up short staffed in this other technique. It is a sign, it has been waiting for me all along.
I want so much OT that Wife won't "meep meep meep" when I go buy Rolex watches for my ankles and even my neck. I want to just hear the battle cry of Facebook "You deserve it!!!"
Then in a weird coincidence, my supervisor texted me Monday afternoon to tell me that I would be working in a different section tonight, because they were swamped. I said OK, what else can I do, say no? I came in and I know the people well over there, our company is only about 18 people at this point and the two I was talking to used to do what I do in imaging. My lifting partner was over there and he said if I really wanted OT, I needed to go over there, they are all tired of working every weekend, the lady that was training me a year ago before they went and hired a new person said she doesn't even like overtime, but they don't have a choice with so much work. This is the kind of chatter I have been missing. I love working 60-70 hour work weeks, well, I love the money from doing that. The main reason for this is that our sales guy is an expert at that kind of stuff and has very limited experience with imaging, so nobody has been out looking for new customers for us.
I honestly don't care what I am doing. I love imaging because you can visually see the thing you are trying to take a picture of, but chemistry is fine too, I did get my degree in that field, so I should technically and probably should be over there. Foremost, though, I am a whore, and I go where the money is, I have no shame in saying it. I got a quick rundown tonight on how to run the tool and although it had been over a year, most of it started coming back. I didn't want to tear into the data, that requires a lot of detailed knowledge, but just running the samples which is the bottleneck in the process over there, helps them. I was a few weeks from being fully trained a while back, but they hired a new person, and then the imaging group picked up for a bit. It just seemed easier for them to focus on training the new person which I understood, but then they moved her, so they still ended up short staffed in this other technique. It is a sign, it has been waiting for me all along.
I want so much OT that Wife won't "meep meep meep" when I go buy Rolex watches for my ankles and even my neck. I want to just hear the battle cry of Facebook "You deserve it!!!"
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
12/13/16 Sixth Grade Rocks For My Little Javelina?
Chubs is in sixth grade and he is loving every minute of it. He has a good sized posse of friends, he is playing saxophone in a quite large band, his grades have put him on the AB Honor Roll the first two six weeks and he has even mentioned he liked a girl and talked to her about it. One of the things that could have or would have changed his devil may care attitude was at the start of the school, when he went to school for about three weeks in Crystal City. Those were rocky times, we discussed it all summer when Wife found out she was offered a job with a huge raise, which she couldn't really turn down if she wanted to be promoted to the Director level which is where she has belonged for some time. We decided it would be better since he is still relatively young, he should be with mama, so he went, but he missed his friends and although I was excited for a couple days to be rid of my shackles and responsibilities, Chubs and I are tight and I missed my little hemorrhoid. Boy and I were as tight at that age, but Mr. Man is now in college and isn't available for lunch with Dad every day.
After three weeks, Chubs demanded to come back and he would put up with anything to try it out. This meant he would be alone, for example, on Tuesday nights, when Boy was in lab until 9:00pm. One good thing to come from his travels to Crystal City was he picked up a nickname, his coach for PE happens to be from Carrizo Springs which is a neighbor of Crystal City. The coach found out he had transferred from Crystal City and has since called him the Javelina, which is the mascot of our hometown. Last Friday, he came home saying he had signed up for football for next year. He said the coach pulled him aside and asked him, they need guys like him. I know he will end up on the line, at 220 pounds and already taller than Mama and gaining on Daddy, this one is going to be a big Hamma Jamma.
He is actually walking a very fine line between being a cool guy and perhaps being a bit of a tough guy, I don't want to say bully, but he is different than Boy and myself. I was very shy in school and did not like confrontation. He has had a couple of small confrontations and he is not intimidated. Some kid told him "watch it, I got boots, I'll kick your ass" after our son ratted him out for cheating. He said very camly "I got boots too, maybe I'll kick your ass." He does run with some tough kids who have told other kids "you don't fuck with Chubs or I'll kick your ass." Some skinny Indian kid was trying to mess with him about his weight, I told him "I can't pick you out of all the kids after school, everybody is Chubby nowadays. He got back at him when he forgot his favorite pencil or something, Chubs said he picked it up and debated whether to return it. Finally he said YOLO and threw it in the trash, said that's what he gets for being rude.
After three weeks, Chubs demanded to come back and he would put up with anything to try it out. This meant he would be alone, for example, on Tuesday nights, when Boy was in lab until 9:00pm. One good thing to come from his travels to Crystal City was he picked up a nickname, his coach for PE happens to be from Carrizo Springs which is a neighbor of Crystal City. The coach found out he had transferred from Crystal City and has since called him the Javelina, which is the mascot of our hometown. Last Friday, he came home saying he had signed up for football for next year. He said the coach pulled him aside and asked him, they need guys like him. I know he will end up on the line, at 220 pounds and already taller than Mama and gaining on Daddy, this one is going to be a big Hamma Jamma.
He is actually walking a very fine line between being a cool guy and perhaps being a bit of a tough guy, I don't want to say bully, but he is different than Boy and myself. I was very shy in school and did not like confrontation. He has had a couple of small confrontations and he is not intimidated. Some kid told him "watch it, I got boots, I'll kick your ass" after our son ratted him out for cheating. He said very camly "I got boots too, maybe I'll kick your ass." He does run with some tough kids who have told other kids "you don't fuck with Chubs or I'll kick your ass." Some skinny Indian kid was trying to mess with him about his weight, I told him "I can't pick you out of all the kids after school, everybody is Chubby nowadays. He got back at him when he forgot his favorite pencil or something, Chubs said he picked it up and debated whether to return it. Finally he said YOLO and threw it in the trash, said that's what he gets for being rude.
Sunday, December 11, 2016
12/12/16 Stay Connected Get Free Coats?
Wife is good at networking and getting stuff for her needy kids. When she was in Bastrop, she participated with the Coats For Kids, which is a program here in Austin that recycles jackets in the name of preventing kids from suffering the cold season. I used to tease Wife that Bastrop fell out of the Austin City Limits and she was "cheating" and taking jackets, mostly because I didn't want to get involved in picking them up.
She got the call from them this past month and she explained that now she was working three hours away in a very small school district and they were still willing to let her participate. They just want to spread those coats to cover as many kids as possible. Our pick-up time was for 9:30am Sunday morning. I hated the idea of getting up that early, but she didn't really have a crew she could get involved. She volunteered Chubs and myself and we were there maybe ten minutes late. We went to the Parmer Events Center and it seemed like we were going to be in line as the parking lot was full of vans and big box trucks. Wife told me to drive her to the front instead of parking like all the other cars were. She walked in the building and I was told to back up the Excursion in one of the 8 back up lanes leading to the huge warehouse building. It is a huge building, I peeked in one side and it was just an empty football field, and then a security guard told me they were probably in the other side. By the time I spotted Wife, she had two rolling bins as tall as me loaded with four hundred jackets. Luckily, there was a smattering of volunteer girls and they helped bring the bins out to the truck. I loaded one of the bins in by myself and the girls managed to load the other bin. The Excursion was filled to the roof, even with taking the 3rd row of seats out. Although it seems Wife took a lot of jackets, the lady in charge told Wife that over the weekend, they had given away 45,000 jackets to the area schools. Here is where you say WOW!
Our reward for helping was breakfast at Garcia's Mexican Restaurant. It was weird in that every time we go it is filled with people out the door, but I think we just beat the churchgoers in. We arrived before 10:00am and were sat down instantly. I had some barbacoa tacos and some egg and bacon and chorizo tacos, Chubs had a large burrito plate as he usually does, and Wife had a big plate with eggs and meat in a chili sauce of some kind. They do have good coffee, I enjoyed two cups and some water. We were home around noon. We did stop at HEB to get some meat to BBQ and other stuff to get through the week.
Wife wanted to leave early since she was taking the Excursion instead of her new car. I checked the tire pressure on all four tires, and oil quantity before she left. I could not help myself, I went to bed as soon as she headed west. I woke up scared, not knowing if Chubs was at school, or I had failed to pick him up. As it turned out it was still Sunday, I was not late anywhere, it was just a dream.
I got up around 6:15pm then made the meat on the grill. Chubs and I ate a couple of hamburgers off the grill and a sausage dog for good measure. I threw in some steak strips which are great on a tortilla, hopefully for afterschool or dinner tomorrow and spent the rest of the evening washing clothes and ironing.
She got the call from them this past month and she explained that now she was working three hours away in a very small school district and they were still willing to let her participate. They just want to spread those coats to cover as many kids as possible. Our pick-up time was for 9:30am Sunday morning. I hated the idea of getting up that early, but she didn't really have a crew she could get involved. She volunteered Chubs and myself and we were there maybe ten minutes late. We went to the Parmer Events Center and it seemed like we were going to be in line as the parking lot was full of vans and big box trucks. Wife told me to drive her to the front instead of parking like all the other cars were. She walked in the building and I was told to back up the Excursion in one of the 8 back up lanes leading to the huge warehouse building. It is a huge building, I peeked in one side and it was just an empty football field, and then a security guard told me they were probably in the other side. By the time I spotted Wife, she had two rolling bins as tall as me loaded with four hundred jackets. Luckily, there was a smattering of volunteer girls and they helped bring the bins out to the truck. I loaded one of the bins in by myself and the girls managed to load the other bin. The Excursion was filled to the roof, even with taking the 3rd row of seats out. Although it seems Wife took a lot of jackets, the lady in charge told Wife that over the weekend, they had given away 45,000 jackets to the area schools. Here is where you say WOW!
Our reward for helping was breakfast at Garcia's Mexican Restaurant. It was weird in that every time we go it is filled with people out the door, but I think we just beat the churchgoers in. We arrived before 10:00am and were sat down instantly. I had some barbacoa tacos and some egg and bacon and chorizo tacos, Chubs had a large burrito plate as he usually does, and Wife had a big plate with eggs and meat in a chili sauce of some kind. They do have good coffee, I enjoyed two cups and some water. We were home around noon. We did stop at HEB to get some meat to BBQ and other stuff to get through the week.
Wife wanted to leave early since she was taking the Excursion instead of her new car. I checked the tire pressure on all four tires, and oil quantity before she left. I could not help myself, I went to bed as soon as she headed west. I woke up scared, not knowing if Chubs was at school, or I had failed to pick him up. As it turned out it was still Sunday, I was not late anywhere, it was just a dream.
I got up around 6:15pm then made the meat on the grill. Chubs and I ate a couple of hamburgers off the grill and a sausage dog for good measure. I threw in some steak strips which are great on a tortilla, hopefully for afterschool or dinner tomorrow and spent the rest of the evening washing clothes and ironing.
12/11/16 The Arrival (Movie)
Not having anything better to do on a shitty wet Saturday evening, we went to the movies and saw The Arrival. The movie started as a downer with Amy Adams as the main character. She has just had a child, started raising the child, and you can tell immediately that that child ain't gonna make it. We see clips of her moving along, and by the time she is almost full grown, she has some rare disease and passes away. Good movies don't start this way, my opinion.
So now she is left to collect her tattered life, although she is a college professor, and has this house overlooking an awesome lake, I find it hard to believe a professor would be able to afford this type of house on one person's salary. Suddenly, the focus of the frame is finally off her and we start seeing other people, she is on a campus and nobody seems to be paying attention, not much different than any ordinary day, with kids distracted by their phones. One of the kids tells her to turn on a TV to the news, and finally we start hearing something interesting. They are talking about twelve extraterrestrial objects, but we still don't see them, unless you saw a preview, of course. She doesn't seem interested and despite looking like the world might end, she is still going to campus and sitting at her office trying to look busy.
Finally, Forest Whitaker shows up as an important army guy, her country needs her, for she is an expert in languages and they want her to translate between the aliens and humans. She hesitates, based on crappy voice recorders, saying she needs to interact with the aliens, when the army says no, we will go to the next guy, she pretty much says, test him first, he is a fraud. A while later, the army shows up scaring the crap out of the lake with a night time helicopter landing in her tiny backyard. They figure out they need her and they want her, so she will get to see the aliens.
We finally see the alien spacecraft, floating just above the earth, it looks like a pistachio half shell, or something like that. It takes awhile, but eventually Amy starts figuring out their language, and while she is doing so, is starting to have more and more dreams of her daughter. Of course, a movie has to have an impetus and thus she can't keep working at her pace. The Chinese are being pains in the ass demanding they will start a war with the pistachio shell over their country. Just when the Americans are breaking down and fixing to start their own attack, she has a flash dream where she figures out how the aliens communicate and she understands that their language is not controlled by time, so she can go back in time and in the future at will.
It gets very confusing here because in order to stop the Chinese guy in charge she has a dream in which she sees his phone number, and he whispers something very delicate in her ear which she is then able to call her and he repeats this delicate phrase. This essentially stops him and allows the exchange between Amy Adams and the aliens to continue.
The confusing part was Hannah was the daughter's name before the aliens show up. It turns out, the daughter had drawn scenes of Amy and Daddy with a bird in a cage, which we see in front of the aliens. She also has a scene of an alien playing with them. In the end, the Amy character and the scientist played by Hawkeye fall in love, and they go have a kid named Hannah. Now did she have two kids and named both of then Hannah? That seems a little cruel. Was she seeing the future in dreams and finally had Hannah after she met the scientist Hawkeye? Is the second little girl also going to die of the rare genetic disease, and Hawkeye is still the scientist guy who leaves her or does she only have sex with scientist dudes and names all her children Hannah. I want to think that she was having a sort of dream sequence in the beginning, that Hannah did not really come into being until after she met the scientist, but then again Amy's book was dedicated to Hannah.
So now she is left to collect her tattered life, although she is a college professor, and has this house overlooking an awesome lake, I find it hard to believe a professor would be able to afford this type of house on one person's salary. Suddenly, the focus of the frame is finally off her and we start seeing other people, she is on a campus and nobody seems to be paying attention, not much different than any ordinary day, with kids distracted by their phones. One of the kids tells her to turn on a TV to the news, and finally we start hearing something interesting. They are talking about twelve extraterrestrial objects, but we still don't see them, unless you saw a preview, of course. She doesn't seem interested and despite looking like the world might end, she is still going to campus and sitting at her office trying to look busy.
Finally, Forest Whitaker shows up as an important army guy, her country needs her, for she is an expert in languages and they want her to translate between the aliens and humans. She hesitates, based on crappy voice recorders, saying she needs to interact with the aliens, when the army says no, we will go to the next guy, she pretty much says, test him first, he is a fraud. A while later, the army shows up scaring the crap out of the lake with a night time helicopter landing in her tiny backyard. They figure out they need her and they want her, so she will get to see the aliens.
We finally see the alien spacecraft, floating just above the earth, it looks like a pistachio half shell, or something like that. It takes awhile, but eventually Amy starts figuring out their language, and while she is doing so, is starting to have more and more dreams of her daughter. Of course, a movie has to have an impetus and thus she can't keep working at her pace. The Chinese are being pains in the ass demanding they will start a war with the pistachio shell over their country. Just when the Americans are breaking down and fixing to start their own attack, she has a flash dream where she figures out how the aliens communicate and she understands that their language is not controlled by time, so she can go back in time and in the future at will.
It gets very confusing here because in order to stop the Chinese guy in charge she has a dream in which she sees his phone number, and he whispers something very delicate in her ear which she is then able to call her and he repeats this delicate phrase. This essentially stops him and allows the exchange between Amy Adams and the aliens to continue.
The confusing part was Hannah was the daughter's name before the aliens show up. It turns out, the daughter had drawn scenes of Amy and Daddy with a bird in a cage, which we see in front of the aliens. She also has a scene of an alien playing with them. In the end, the Amy character and the scientist played by Hawkeye fall in love, and they go have a kid named Hannah. Now did she have two kids and named both of then Hannah? That seems a little cruel. Was she seeing the future in dreams and finally had Hannah after she met the scientist Hawkeye? Is the second little girl also going to die of the rare genetic disease, and Hawkeye is still the scientist guy who leaves her or does she only have sex with scientist dudes and names all her children Hannah. I want to think that she was having a sort of dream sequence in the beginning, that Hannah did not really come into being until after she met the scientist, but then again Amy's book was dedicated to Hannah.
Saturday, December 10, 2016
12/10/16 This Week Was Almost Too Much?
This past week was a pain in the ass. Honestly, it is time for Christmas break, I hope this coming week is just a whisper compared to last week. Monday, Chubs had an after school practice with the band to prepare for the concert on Tuesday. I picked him up at 5:15pm, we ate quickly at Bill Miller and then I had to go poop and shower before heading in to work, a little later than normal. Tuesday, there was no way around it. We had Chub's concert at 7:00pm, but we had to be there by 6:15pm. The event itself was awesome, but I had to use a couple hours of PTO (Personal Time Off) to make up the difference of me being out for a few hours. Wife and my Mom came to town in time to catch the concert. Wife then stayed the rest of the week for a conference. My Mom stayed overnight then left by 8am the next day to head back to work before noon. It was weird to have my Mom here during the week. We did figure we should celebrate Chub's big night, so we went to Longhorn Steakhouse and let him order whatever he felt like eating. He ordered a sirloin, as usual.
Wednesday was only a little rough because I stayed up talking with my mum until she left, and then Wife got out early from her conference, so that meant going to lunch after Chubs got out after 4:00pm. This is not usually a problem, but by the time we get home it is around 5:00pm and I have to rush my routine of poop and shower. To add to the busy feeling we also got our first cold cold front of the year. It is embarrassing to realize your chubby kid only has shorts and what's worse, he refuses to go shopping, so as a result, he went to school both Thursday and Friday in shorts. I felt a little bad for him as he got off the truck in a hoodie and shorts, but he does have a heavy jacket he also refuses to wear.
Thursday was more of the same, going to lunch after school with Wife and the Boys, we ate at the Mexican place, I was feeling like trying a new place, and by myself, I never would have ventured to try something so different. The place was sketchy, but the food was very good. I am still enjoying the sweet breads and looking forward to waking up Saturday morning and eating the rest of it with a cup of coffee.
Friday was another busy day, I don't even know how, but by the time I looked at the clock, it was already past midnight. Wife picked up Chubs from school, they came and picked me up to go to Target. We had a little pizza and drink there. Chubs got snacks for his sleepover, we bought some more Christmas gifts, and we also got a gift for our friend's grandson, who turns one tomorrow. After spending two hours in Target, Chub's friends started getting dropped off there at Target because we were taking too long, we went home so they could all get together. We then went to a couple of stores, including Best Buy and stayed past there closing hours, but we took care of one of Santa's responsibilities. We then wanted to eat at a couple of places, but everything was closed. We found Rosa's Tortilla Factory open and Wife and I ate there and then took some food for our sleepover boys. By the time I came to pee upstairs it was already 12:30am. I just finished writing this at 5:10am after folding and ironing clothes, paying our bills, and once again, pooping and showering before settling down to write this.
Wednesday was only a little rough because I stayed up talking with my mum until she left, and then Wife got out early from her conference, so that meant going to lunch after Chubs got out after 4:00pm. This is not usually a problem, but by the time we get home it is around 5:00pm and I have to rush my routine of poop and shower. To add to the busy feeling we also got our first cold cold front of the year. It is embarrassing to realize your chubby kid only has shorts and what's worse, he refuses to go shopping, so as a result, he went to school both Thursday and Friday in shorts. I felt a little bad for him as he got off the truck in a hoodie and shorts, but he does have a heavy jacket he also refuses to wear.
Thursday was more of the same, going to lunch after school with Wife and the Boys, we ate at the Mexican place, I was feeling like trying a new place, and by myself, I never would have ventured to try something so different. The place was sketchy, but the food was very good. I am still enjoying the sweet breads and looking forward to waking up Saturday morning and eating the rest of it with a cup of coffee.
Friday was another busy day, I don't even know how, but by the time I looked at the clock, it was already past midnight. Wife picked up Chubs from school, they came and picked me up to go to Target. We had a little pizza and drink there. Chubs got snacks for his sleepover, we bought some more Christmas gifts, and we also got a gift for our friend's grandson, who turns one tomorrow. After spending two hours in Target, Chub's friends started getting dropped off there at Target because we were taking too long, we went home so they could all get together. We then went to a couple of stores, including Best Buy and stayed past there closing hours, but we took care of one of Santa's responsibilities. We then wanted to eat at a couple of places, but everything was closed. We found Rosa's Tortilla Factory open and Wife and I ate there and then took some food for our sleepover boys. By the time I came to pee upstairs it was already 12:30am. I just finished writing this at 5:10am after folding and ironing clothes, paying our bills, and once again, pooping and showering before settling down to write this.
Friday, December 9, 2016
12/9/16 Feeling Mexicano?
I woke up feeling like I wanted some Mexican food, and I wasn't thinking Taco Bell, Wife. It has been a very busy week but it has also been pretty nice with Wife in town. She got out of her conference early enough to join us for lunch yesterday and today. She has told us to stop eating out every day, but this is special, because she is here. We had Wendy's yesterday which was ok, but I could not decide on anything from Southpark Meadows today. Because of traffic, sometimes I think it is easier to loop around to William Cannon and Congress to head back home after picking up Chubs. Hidden in plain sight, with plenty of Mexican signs and pictures of food, was our destination for the day.
The place we ate at was called "Las Delicias" which says it is a combination Taqueria, bakery, and carniceria along with a standard mini market. Taqueria is basically a place where tacos and other Mexican foods are sold. Bakery in this sense means Mexican pastries which are different than American donuts, and quite delicious with some coffee. Carniceria is a meat market, and although we were not shopping for meat, they did have some good looking meat and a man who looked like he spent his days cutting it. They managed to fit a pretty large fruit/vegetable area in that tiny building too.
I love a good barbacoa taco, when it is real it is meat from the head of a cow, usually cooked in the ground in a hole wrapped in palm leaves. I got the feeling it was real barbacoa because of the huge chunks of fat/gristle and funky texture on the meat. I ordered two tacos, but got three. The boys were kind of scared and ordered by looking at the pictures and only after Chubs whined if we could eat somewhere else. Boy played it safe and ordered a gordita which he said was too messy. I asked "but was it good?" he said "yeah", so then who cares if it was messy, you finished it. Wife also got three taquitos, small tacos, she said they were good as well. We all had the aguas dulces, sweet waters. Mine was flavored as pineapple, Chubs and Boy had a red drink. Usually, there are little chunks of pineapple, this one did not have the little chunks. I couldn't decide what it was, it is not soda, and it is not juice, so what else can it be? Wife said it is made from a powder? Maybe, it had a metallic after taste, like it came from a can though.
I got some stuff from the bakery and what I have tasted so far, is pretty good. It is a shame that places like this get overlooked by the general population because everything seemed good, it is just in a sketchy looking building
The place we ate at was called "Las Delicias" which says it is a combination Taqueria, bakery, and carniceria along with a standard mini market. Taqueria is basically a place where tacos and other Mexican foods are sold. Bakery in this sense means Mexican pastries which are different than American donuts, and quite delicious with some coffee. Carniceria is a meat market, and although we were not shopping for meat, they did have some good looking meat and a man who looked like he spent his days cutting it. They managed to fit a pretty large fruit/vegetable area in that tiny building too.
I love a good barbacoa taco, when it is real it is meat from the head of a cow, usually cooked in the ground in a hole wrapped in palm leaves. I got the feeling it was real barbacoa because of the huge chunks of fat/gristle and funky texture on the meat. I ordered two tacos, but got three. The boys were kind of scared and ordered by looking at the pictures and only after Chubs whined if we could eat somewhere else. Boy played it safe and ordered a gordita which he said was too messy. I asked "but was it good?" he said "yeah", so then who cares if it was messy, you finished it. Wife also got three taquitos, small tacos, she said they were good as well. We all had the aguas dulces, sweet waters. Mine was flavored as pineapple, Chubs and Boy had a red drink. Usually, there are little chunks of pineapple, this one did not have the little chunks. I couldn't decide what it was, it is not soda, and it is not juice, so what else can it be? Wife said it is made from a powder? Maybe, it had a metallic after taste, like it came from a can though.
I got some stuff from the bakery and what I have tasted so far, is pretty good. It is a shame that places like this get overlooked by the general population because everything seemed good, it is just in a sketchy looking building
Thursday, December 8, 2016
12/8/16 Living In The Future, How About You?
It took a good four months from the first time I let Solar Girl in the house, until we got our solar panels installed, but I am now part of the solution, whereas most of you poo flinging monkeys are still part of the problem. Yes, our house is now powered by the sun, provided the sun decides to shine. Fifty percent of our roof was outfitted with enough solar panels to give us an 85% theoretical power supply when averaged out year round.
I honestly did not do this because I am a steward of the environment, although if you want to applaud me for my actions feel free, I am still currently waving left and right like I am on a float in a parade. The reason I chose to do this is that theoretically we are going to be getting free energy for half the life of the panels. They are warranted to still be producing at 85% after 25 years. We are going to be paying them off in twelve years at a cost of $311 a month. This might sound high, but every summer we battle our utility bill which goes into the $700 range. The light portion can be close to $500, and as they showed us on a fancy graph, has energy ever been offered to us cheaper than it was or do we gradually pay more every year? With our own production of power, we can tell the light company to suck it, although I won't, because our system still works in unison with the light company.
During the day the system produces a surplus of power, hopefully, if we don't use it all up, it feeds it into the city line and makes our meter run in reverse. If it runs far enough back in reverse, we will then have a surplus of power that the light company holds for us, when we do use city power, like at night, we can count on the meter being reversed enough that it does not have a net positive movement.
The system also has some cool features, such as monitoring of each panel separately, so if a panel stops working, we can tell right away. Plus, our house looks cool, admit it, those panels look fancy, think of it in twenty years everyone will have them, why not? People like to cry about us not doing anything for the planet, well, this does something, it is that much less fossil fuel or coal being burnt to run our house. I truly believe the rest of our roof will one day be covered in solar cells and either one or both our cars will be charged off these systems to give us free mobile power.
I honestly did not do this because I am a steward of the environment, although if you want to applaud me for my actions feel free, I am still currently waving left and right like I am on a float in a parade. The reason I chose to do this is that theoretically we are going to be getting free energy for half the life of the panels. They are warranted to still be producing at 85% after 25 years. We are going to be paying them off in twelve years at a cost of $311 a month. This might sound high, but every summer we battle our utility bill which goes into the $700 range. The light portion can be close to $500, and as they showed us on a fancy graph, has energy ever been offered to us cheaper than it was or do we gradually pay more every year? With our own production of power, we can tell the light company to suck it, although I won't, because our system still works in unison with the light company.
During the day the system produces a surplus of power, hopefully, if we don't use it all up, it feeds it into the city line and makes our meter run in reverse. If it runs far enough back in reverse, we will then have a surplus of power that the light company holds for us, when we do use city power, like at night, we can count on the meter being reversed enough that it does not have a net positive movement.
The system also has some cool features, such as monitoring of each panel separately, so if a panel stops working, we can tell right away. Plus, our house looks cool, admit it, those panels look fancy, think of it in twenty years everyone will have them, why not? People like to cry about us not doing anything for the planet, well, this does something, it is that much less fossil fuel or coal being burnt to run our house. I truly believe the rest of our roof will one day be covered in solar cells and either one or both our cars will be charged off these systems to give us free mobile power.
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
12/7/16 Chubs Had A Concert?
One note. That's all it takes to define you as a band student. If you loved it, everything said to you made that note just a little better, good posture, deep breath, focus relaxed air stream, hold instrument firm but relaxed. I was all those things. I respected that one note. Take away the flutes, and the clarinets, and the brass instruments and you would definitely hear my saxophone above the others. Add them all back in and they would all blend around my note as the root of all that was good. There was a time in my life when I lived for nothing more than making music with my instrument.
Tonight, I find myself on the spectator side and I see my Chubs starting out, hopefully on a stretch of seven and maybe even more years playing that one true note. It was a warm-up routine, the kids have only had their instruments since late August, and still, that one note defines you. Some hit it on their first try, sounding like they have been born to do it. Others, were hit and miss, and even with only a few months, I could see those that belonged in the 2nd band, those that are just fidgeting, faking it, overwhelmed by the beast in their hands. To tame it and bring it under control would help them conquer a fear of doubt some of them will carry all their lives, but to do so would mean to commit and too many times that is problem number one, kids don't want to commit.
After plenty of practice and going through the challenging sections, we were treated to a concert flavored in holiday music. Chubs was horribly worried about the spotlight when their section, the saxophones all played a solo together. His worry was because there are only five saxophones, it would be easy to tell if they messed up. There was a little fumbling, but it was over in a few seconds, overall we could tell what song they were playing, so I call it good.
I was also very surprised that they call it the beginner band and it was composed of 6th graders and it was over one hundred students. This is just one middle school that fills Akins High School, no wonder their band reaches numbers up to five hundred students. I was thinking we had a good band back when I was in high school, our total headcount was around one hundred members, it was only after I told the band director this that he said this band was that size. The school also has a band for seventh graders and a band for eighth graders, not to mention an orchestra band with violins and cellos, and to make sure the brown peeps are represented, their even exists a mariachi band that accompanies the ballet folklorico group.
After this treat by the youngest in our household, we went and celebrated by eating dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse. My mom made the three hour trip, which I thought was very nice. It is very hard to get the family to be involved as it is for us to be involved in their activities because we live so far apart, and it doesn't help that these things are scheduled for middle of the week instead of the weekend. I had to use a few hours of vacation time to be there, but it was worth it.
Tonight, I find myself on the spectator side and I see my Chubs starting out, hopefully on a stretch of seven and maybe even more years playing that one true note. It was a warm-up routine, the kids have only had their instruments since late August, and still, that one note defines you. Some hit it on their first try, sounding like they have been born to do it. Others, were hit and miss, and even with only a few months, I could see those that belonged in the 2nd band, those that are just fidgeting, faking it, overwhelmed by the beast in their hands. To tame it and bring it under control would help them conquer a fear of doubt some of them will carry all their lives, but to do so would mean to commit and too many times that is problem number one, kids don't want to commit.
After plenty of practice and going through the challenging sections, we were treated to a concert flavored in holiday music. Chubs was horribly worried about the spotlight when their section, the saxophones all played a solo together. His worry was because there are only five saxophones, it would be easy to tell if they messed up. There was a little fumbling, but it was over in a few seconds, overall we could tell what song they were playing, so I call it good.
I was also very surprised that they call it the beginner band and it was composed of 6th graders and it was over one hundred students. This is just one middle school that fills Akins High School, no wonder their band reaches numbers up to five hundred students. I was thinking we had a good band back when I was in high school, our total headcount was around one hundred members, it was only after I told the band director this that he said this band was that size. The school also has a band for seventh graders and a band for eighth graders, not to mention an orchestra band with violins and cellos, and to make sure the brown peeps are represented, their even exists a mariachi band that accompanies the ballet folklorico group.
After this treat by the youngest in our household, we went and celebrated by eating dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse. My mom made the three hour trip, which I thought was very nice. It is very hard to get the family to be involved as it is for us to be involved in their activities because we live so far apart, and it doesn't help that these things are scheduled for middle of the week instead of the weekend. I had to use a few hours of vacation time to be there, but it was worth it.
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
12/6/16 Boy Is Reaching Far?
As much as I usually feel like choking Boy, I don't want him to go to far, and I would prefer if he stays here in town. He is looking at a fellowship which the professor he is working for recommended. What can I say to that? The fellowship seems to be a big deal, it would award him something like $108,000 for schooling for three years. He would be doing research for the Department of Defense, and going to school somewhere there, in Washington DC.
The application process is kind of confusing though. It is for a graduate student, but one can apply if they are within a year of graduating at the end of this school year. I don't want him to stop going to school without a Bachelor's Degree, but the opportunity does sound pretty great. He then needs some letters of recommendation, and to show his grades and GPA.
Boy has always been interested in military stuff, but I did not and will not encourage him to go out and fight in wars that don't make sense. What has been accomplished in Iraq? We killed Saddam, and? We put him in power in the first place. Stupid shit on top of stupid shit. But if he does end up working as a civilian on weapons, it would have to be linked to a Northrop Grumman, or even a Lockheed Martin which would be a solid paying job for years to come, considering our need to be involved militarily all over the place.
He needs a high paying job, because shhh, between us, don't tell Wife, we're buying a plane one day. I'm gonna knock her ass out like they used to do Mr. T on the A-Team and fly her all around the world. Even if he thinks he's going to work up north somewhere, we will just be a plane ride a couple hours away. If you find out Wife, decide on whether I should sock you on the head or you prefer pills to go quietly into that plane ride, socking you is cheaper but probably not good for you. I kid.
Boy is nearing the end of another semester, he says it is driving him crazy. You can feel the end of the semester, the professors start acting like they don't care as much, nobody is focused in class. Finals start next week. I asked him how he was going to do, and honestly he is taking a pretty heavy workload, each class sounds harder than the next one, even for me. Oh well, my goal was to produce productive individuals, and it is looking good.
The application process is kind of confusing though. It is for a graduate student, but one can apply if they are within a year of graduating at the end of this school year. I don't want him to stop going to school without a Bachelor's Degree, but the opportunity does sound pretty great. He then needs some letters of recommendation, and to show his grades and GPA.
Boy has always been interested in military stuff, but I did not and will not encourage him to go out and fight in wars that don't make sense. What has been accomplished in Iraq? We killed Saddam, and? We put him in power in the first place. Stupid shit on top of stupid shit. But if he does end up working as a civilian on weapons, it would have to be linked to a Northrop Grumman, or even a Lockheed Martin which would be a solid paying job for years to come, considering our need to be involved militarily all over the place.
He needs a high paying job, because shhh, between us, don't tell Wife, we're buying a plane one day. I'm gonna knock her ass out like they used to do Mr. T on the A-Team and fly her all around the world. Even if he thinks he's going to work up north somewhere, we will just be a plane ride a couple hours away. If you find out Wife, decide on whether I should sock you on the head or you prefer pills to go quietly into that plane ride, socking you is cheaper but probably not good for you. I kid.
Boy is nearing the end of another semester, he says it is driving him crazy. You can feel the end of the semester, the professors start acting like they don't care as much, nobody is focused in class. Finals start next week. I asked him how he was going to do, and honestly he is taking a pretty heavy workload, each class sounds harder than the next one, even for me. Oh well, my goal was to produce productive individuals, and it is looking good.
Sunday, December 4, 2016
12/5/16 Cold Is Here, Seems Early?
This week is looking to be a cold wet mess. This weekend started that way, and I am looking at the rest of the week and I saw some 20's for lows later in the week. I feel we usually have more warning than this. If the cold is here and real, I need to go unplug the water hoses and put those weird Styrofoam bowls to prevent them from freezing. I need to make sure the pool and hot tub pumps are safe from a freeze. One year I was lazy and ignored the pumps and it cost me a new heater to the tune of $1100.
I will have to be tougher this year, I love the cold, and coming home after a night of work and just a quick hot shower and hiding under my blankets. Nowadays, I have to come home from work and take Chubs to school, so I will have to go back in the cold after I have showered, that will not be fun. I know that is we have a sprinkling of moisture and freezing temps, we will probably get an in-service day for the kids, so there is that to look forward to. Last year, we had a couple days like that. Hopefully, it works out that Wife gets stuck up here and has to stay an extra day or two versus her getting stuck down there and then we don't see her for a weekend. Being the worrywart she is, she is already contemplating scenarios where we don't see each other. I like to stay positive and although I know stuff can get dicey, there is always a way, if you really want it. For example, if we know it is supposed to freeze Friday afternoon, take a half day and drive up at noon. With the daytime traffic, roads usually stay drivable until it gets dark.
I was scanning info on my phone and caught the Green Bay game being played in snow and ice, just miserable, but then again, they are men and getting paid millions. How about the poor boys still playing high school football trying to get to state? Sure, some will get glory and a state title, the rest will have to remember coming up short. Meanwhile all the college games are mostly done, save for the bowl games and those four teams in the "college playoffs." I still think they need to expand the playoffs into maybe the top ten or twenty teams, make it really interesting. I know it won't because the bowl games cough up too much cash, and half the teams end up thinking they won something worthwhile.
I am hoping this weather holds up through the Christmas break, too often we are up on Christmas Eve and the day was 85 degrees. It just doesn't feel holly jolly when we have to turn on the air conditioner, but I guess it is safer for those traveling.
This week will be interesting in that Wife has a conference here in town, so she will be back Tuesday and stay the rest of the week, hopefully, in time for Chub's music recital. My Mom also said she was coming, so we should see her and my dad in the middle of the week, which rarely happens. I am planning on taking a couple hours off to attend and then to go eat dinner with the family. Should be fun.
I will have to be tougher this year, I love the cold, and coming home after a night of work and just a quick hot shower and hiding under my blankets. Nowadays, I have to come home from work and take Chubs to school, so I will have to go back in the cold after I have showered, that will not be fun. I know that is we have a sprinkling of moisture and freezing temps, we will probably get an in-service day for the kids, so there is that to look forward to. Last year, we had a couple days like that. Hopefully, it works out that Wife gets stuck up here and has to stay an extra day or two versus her getting stuck down there and then we don't see her for a weekend. Being the worrywart she is, she is already contemplating scenarios where we don't see each other. I like to stay positive and although I know stuff can get dicey, there is always a way, if you really want it. For example, if we know it is supposed to freeze Friday afternoon, take a half day and drive up at noon. With the daytime traffic, roads usually stay drivable until it gets dark.
I was scanning info on my phone and caught the Green Bay game being played in snow and ice, just miserable, but then again, they are men and getting paid millions. How about the poor boys still playing high school football trying to get to state? Sure, some will get glory and a state title, the rest will have to remember coming up short. Meanwhile all the college games are mostly done, save for the bowl games and those four teams in the "college playoffs." I still think they need to expand the playoffs into maybe the top ten or twenty teams, make it really interesting. I know it won't because the bowl games cough up too much cash, and half the teams end up thinking they won something worthwhile.
I am hoping this weather holds up through the Christmas break, too often we are up on Christmas Eve and the day was 85 degrees. It just doesn't feel holly jolly when we have to turn on the air conditioner, but I guess it is safer for those traveling.
This week will be interesting in that Wife has a conference here in town, so she will be back Tuesday and stay the rest of the week, hopefully, in time for Chub's music recital. My Mom also said she was coming, so we should see her and my dad in the middle of the week, which rarely happens. I am planning on taking a couple hours off to attend and then to go eat dinner with the family. Should be fun.
12/4/16 How Far In Debt Should Santa Go?
We have been working on a plan to get us out of debt all year. We're not using our credit cards like we used to, only a few for emergencies. Everything has been in a fine balance, but now Christmas must be thrown in digested and passed out. Do we throw caution to the wind, go crazy to enjoy that spender's high and see our kids and loved ones happy for a second? Or do we cheap out, get everybody the lump of coal they probably deserve and walk past the holiday unscathed?
Wife always starts sometime around the end of August "we are not going to get into debt buying gifts for everybody..." All I can manage is a "yeah", what else can you say when it is 105 degrees and she wants to discuss Christmas gifts? As it stands right now, we got a new Target card with no debt, we headed there to buy Chubs some video games for his birthday the week before Thanksgiving. While we were there and figuring we were gonna lose that card's virginity, we might as well hit it hard. We bought pajamas for all her nephews, sounds lame, but that is what the parents have suggested we buy them. Since we were on a role and we never see my nephews playing with toys other than IPADS and phones, we figured why waste good money on toys? All the kiddos got pajamas on my side of the family as well. I thought of adding a toy, but why?
Along with this, we went to Dillard's last week and took care of pretty much everyone else that we were planning on buying gifts for. I have kind of stepped back. I told Wife you are in charge, if you want to be frugal, fine, we were about done with everybody.
Last night we went to Toys R Us, Chubs has pretty much given up playing with toys, but all of a sudden, he needs to go scouting for Santa. Since he still had about $150 he got from his birthday gifts, he also bought himself some things. Wife and I were both like "really?" He got a couple of figures you put together like Legos, but not Legos. He has bins in his old room that I don't know what to do with full of Legos and toys that you put together. I figured as long as it wasn't my money, I wouldn't stop him. He also threw in some Pokémon cards and then he was home putting them into his own photo book, maybe in an attempt to relate to his old friend from the blog yesterday. I found out since yesterday that the kid doesn't have a cell phone and that is almost a necessary tool as I notice Chubs does group texting with his gang, so that is a connection tool that keeps the boys talking to each other. Chubs has always been a loving, caring boy, I think he'll try to be friendly, but the other little boy needs to step up too, it can't just be my son doing all the work.
Anyways, Wife was kind of trying to engage me about buying toys for the nephews and I was not really interested. She spends months telling me we need to do this because our money this and that, so ok. But then it is getting closer to Santa time and she wants to give flashy gifts, I'm like, nah, stick to the cheap shit, we'll be out of debt for this in 2-3 months instead of 6-7 months.
Wife always starts sometime around the end of August "we are not going to get into debt buying gifts for everybody..." All I can manage is a "yeah", what else can you say when it is 105 degrees and she wants to discuss Christmas gifts? As it stands right now, we got a new Target card with no debt, we headed there to buy Chubs some video games for his birthday the week before Thanksgiving. While we were there and figuring we were gonna lose that card's virginity, we might as well hit it hard. We bought pajamas for all her nephews, sounds lame, but that is what the parents have suggested we buy them. Since we were on a role and we never see my nephews playing with toys other than IPADS and phones, we figured why waste good money on toys? All the kiddos got pajamas on my side of the family as well. I thought of adding a toy, but why?
Along with this, we went to Dillard's last week and took care of pretty much everyone else that we were planning on buying gifts for. I have kind of stepped back. I told Wife you are in charge, if you want to be frugal, fine, we were about done with everybody.
Last night we went to Toys R Us, Chubs has pretty much given up playing with toys, but all of a sudden, he needs to go scouting for Santa. Since he still had about $150 he got from his birthday gifts, he also bought himself some things. Wife and I were both like "really?" He got a couple of figures you put together like Legos, but not Legos. He has bins in his old room that I don't know what to do with full of Legos and toys that you put together. I figured as long as it wasn't my money, I wouldn't stop him. He also threw in some Pokémon cards and then he was home putting them into his own photo book, maybe in an attempt to relate to his old friend from the blog yesterday. I found out since yesterday that the kid doesn't have a cell phone and that is almost a necessary tool as I notice Chubs does group texting with his gang, so that is a connection tool that keeps the boys talking to each other. Chubs has always been a loving, caring boy, I think he'll try to be friendly, but the other little boy needs to step up too, it can't just be my son doing all the work.
Anyways, Wife was kind of trying to engage me about buying toys for the nephews and I was not really interested. She spends months telling me we need to do this because our money this and that, so ok. But then it is getting closer to Santa time and she wants to give flashy gifts, I'm like, nah, stick to the cheap shit, we'll be out of debt for this in 2-3 months instead of 6-7 months.
Saturday, December 3, 2016
12/3/16 At What Age Should Parents Stop Forcing Friendships?
The topic today stems from this morning at Chub's award ceremony. Before I had sat down a parent from one of his close friends from his previous school came and pretty much got in his face. She started asking him what was going on, why he had stopped playing with her son? Then she flat out told him that her son had come home crying numerous times because nobody wanted to play with him, especially Chubs who had been his best friend before. Chubs was caught off guard and I could not figure out what she wanted out of him. She even said that the only one who was still nice to him was Chub's friend who was seated on the other side of him.
Chubs said I try to talk to him every morning when I see him. "I say hi to you" Chubs said to the boy directly, the other little boy said "no you don't", then Chubs said "I say hi to you, but you are always messing with your Pokémon cards." I noticed the kid had a photo book full of different cards and then a thick deck in his hands. Chubs went through the Pokémon phase a couple years ago, but lost interest, I don't recall him asking for cards in a long time. He might go and look at the cards at Target, but he never asks for any.
The mom finally turned to me as about pleaded "they were best friends and now they don't even play because so and so don't like my son." I said we encourage our son to play with everyone, we don't like him to exclude anyone. She said they had heard of our son having sleepovers and her son used to come over all the time last year.
I really do feel bad about it, I said "we have mentioned why doesn't your old bestie come over anymore?" He has said to us that he is a control freak who only wants to play what he wants to. He wants to dictate to whatever group he is with like he is the leader and you can't always be the leader.
I didn't want to tell her there in front of a bunch of other kids that her son is kind of a dick, I just said kids do grow apart, they develop new interests. All I could add is we don't have a problem with whoever comes over, if he has four or five or six, they are in his room stinking it up over there, the boys don't bother me or my wife.
I was left thinking "was this cool?" Should a parent dictate who is who's friend? Kids form new groups by their likes and dislikes. Band kids hang out with other band kids. Jocks look for other jocks. Gamers look for gamers, there has to be something in common. Is it my place to tell her that the kids don't play with her kid because he's hard to get along with? In the end I just sat there, told her that her kid is welcome at our house if my son invites him. I said we would discuss this more at home, but what is there to say? If a person has a problem with everyone, the problem is probably with the guy in the mirror, not everybody else.
Chubs said I try to talk to him every morning when I see him. "I say hi to you" Chubs said to the boy directly, the other little boy said "no you don't", then Chubs said "I say hi to you, but you are always messing with your Pokémon cards." I noticed the kid had a photo book full of different cards and then a thick deck in his hands. Chubs went through the Pokémon phase a couple years ago, but lost interest, I don't recall him asking for cards in a long time. He might go and look at the cards at Target, but he never asks for any.
The mom finally turned to me as about pleaded "they were best friends and now they don't even play because so and so don't like my son." I said we encourage our son to play with everyone, we don't like him to exclude anyone. She said they had heard of our son having sleepovers and her son used to come over all the time last year.
I really do feel bad about it, I said "we have mentioned why doesn't your old bestie come over anymore?" He has said to us that he is a control freak who only wants to play what he wants to. He wants to dictate to whatever group he is with like he is the leader and you can't always be the leader.
I didn't want to tell her there in front of a bunch of other kids that her son is kind of a dick, I just said kids do grow apart, they develop new interests. All I could add is we don't have a problem with whoever comes over, if he has four or five or six, they are in his room stinking it up over there, the boys don't bother me or my wife.
I was left thinking "was this cool?" Should a parent dictate who is who's friend? Kids form new groups by their likes and dislikes. Band kids hang out with other band kids. Jocks look for other jocks. Gamers look for gamers, there has to be something in common. Is it my place to tell her that the kids don't play with her kid because he's hard to get along with? In the end I just sat there, told her that her kid is welcome at our house if my son invites him. I said we would discuss this more at home, but what is there to say? If a person has a problem with everyone, the problem is probably with the guy in the mirror, not everybody else.
Thursday, December 1, 2016
12/2/16 Tis The Time For Comforters Instead Of Quilts?
There are two types of bed/sleeping covers that we use. Quilts and comforters. Quilts are generally thinner and not filled like a comforter with material to make it fluffy. Quilts also tend to be more stitched to keep everything in its place. At this point, we have quilts for every bed and also comforters which are not used often but when needed get the job done against Chilly Willy.
I love having the house be as cold as possible but not in the summer when our utility bill already goes over $700 a month, so when the cold fronts start coming, we will leave the windows in the bedrooms upstairs open. I could not believe my sister when they came before Thanksgiving and fired up the heater like she owned the place. I still had windows open in my bedroom and was looking forward to a chilly night. I let the house warm up a bit, then I turned it off. I did get called the worst host in the world, but that's OK, I want to be comfortable too.
Anyways, we use the quilts probably nine months out of the year. Once I start packing multiple quilts on top of one another, I figure it is time to bring out the big guns. Last night was down to about 39, and it was chilly when I came in my room from work in the morning. Sleeping with the two light quilts had me attempting to curl up into a ball, but 400 pounds don't really curl up.
Out come the comforters tonight, I am making the change, this weekend is supposed to be shitty and cold and wet anyway. I was telling Wife earlier that it would be awesome to just stay in bed all weekend, specially if the high will only be in the 50's. Nope, she is already eyeballing that sale she has been waiting for at Bath and Bodyworks, where the 3 wick candles that normally sell for $24, sell for $8. We bought like 3 or 4 packages, so for awhile we had over 20 candles in a corner of the room.
Since the comforter will be on the bed, is it time to wash the quilts? I think so, but I waited too long to start that process tonight. I have a ton of things to do tomorrow, so I probably need to go to bed early tonight.
Chubs has another award ceremony for the second six weeks at 7:50am at his school, Wife wants me to get the tags for the boat, and also get the Excursion current on its tags too. We finally found a buyer for our boat, so I am supposed to get it in a moving condition, and last we looked, both tires were mostly flat.
All that I can hope for is some rain, they don't do testing of vehicles if the roads are wet. Then I can come back home and just sleep. I am tired right now, but I can't fall asleep, it is too early. Once I am finished writing this, I am planning on going upstairs and ironing Chubs school shirts, which I do every weekend.
I love having the house be as cold as possible but not in the summer when our utility bill already goes over $700 a month, so when the cold fronts start coming, we will leave the windows in the bedrooms upstairs open. I could not believe my sister when they came before Thanksgiving and fired up the heater like she owned the place. I still had windows open in my bedroom and was looking forward to a chilly night. I let the house warm up a bit, then I turned it off. I did get called the worst host in the world, but that's OK, I want to be comfortable too.
Anyways, we use the quilts probably nine months out of the year. Once I start packing multiple quilts on top of one another, I figure it is time to bring out the big guns. Last night was down to about 39, and it was chilly when I came in my room from work in the morning. Sleeping with the two light quilts had me attempting to curl up into a ball, but 400 pounds don't really curl up.
Out come the comforters tonight, I am making the change, this weekend is supposed to be shitty and cold and wet anyway. I was telling Wife earlier that it would be awesome to just stay in bed all weekend, specially if the high will only be in the 50's. Nope, she is already eyeballing that sale she has been waiting for at Bath and Bodyworks, where the 3 wick candles that normally sell for $24, sell for $8. We bought like 3 or 4 packages, so for awhile we had over 20 candles in a corner of the room.
Since the comforter will be on the bed, is it time to wash the quilts? I think so, but I waited too long to start that process tonight. I have a ton of things to do tomorrow, so I probably need to go to bed early tonight.
Chubs has another award ceremony for the second six weeks at 7:50am at his school, Wife wants me to get the tags for the boat, and also get the Excursion current on its tags too. We finally found a buyer for our boat, so I am supposed to get it in a moving condition, and last we looked, both tires were mostly flat.
All that I can hope for is some rain, they don't do testing of vehicles if the roads are wet. Then I can come back home and just sleep. I am tired right now, but I can't fall asleep, it is too early. Once I am finished writing this, I am planning on going upstairs and ironing Chubs school shirts, which I do every weekend.
12/1/16 Anybody Really Working Right Now?
This time of year is really hard to be inspired to focus and work. I believe we are all just going through the motions. I took the whole week of Thanksgiving off for the first time and although I would have rather worked, this whole year has been slow. I figured I would make lemonade with the lemons handed to me and so I spent the whole week with Wife. I already wrote about that, but my point now is I have this overall feeling of laziness. Why crank myself up to work at 100%? This week is a short week, I am done after tonight. Next week is basically the last long week of the year. I will have another short week and then the week before Christmas is long, but I am going to probably take a night or two off making it short also.
I already planned to be off the week between Christmas and New Year's, and Wife will be here for two whole weeks. I don't believe we'll be trying to work hard until January. I feel slightly guilty, in year's past I was always the one volunteering to be the skeleton crew and be here when everybody else was off, mostly for the money. With Wife moving up the ladder, I no longer feel I need to be desperate for every nickel out there. Don't get me wrong, if we were busy, I wouldn't be singing this song, I would be planning on making that time and a half money.
I would love a cold front on Christmas to drop some snow our way and force us to stay indoors. The days after all the Thanksgiving hoopla were really relaxing, just laying around eating and sleeping, I want more of those days.
We had almost forgot about our solar panel system, but they called this week. I guess they had been doing what they said getting permits with the city, and whatever other paperwork. Hopefully, they are installed before the end of the year, I want to be green. I envision a day in which our whole roof is covered in solar panels and even our cars get charged from them. The system we are getting will cover two of the four sides, so it isn't impossible to think this is a possibility in the near future. How awesome would it be if we could buy a couple of small commuter cars for work that charge overnight with the power made during the day? If they were super cheap, I would even drive a single seat funky car, save my truck for family outings. Hmmm, a little clarity perhaps, or just blowing smoke out my butt?
I already planned to be off the week between Christmas and New Year's, and Wife will be here for two whole weeks. I don't believe we'll be trying to work hard until January. I feel slightly guilty, in year's past I was always the one volunteering to be the skeleton crew and be here when everybody else was off, mostly for the money. With Wife moving up the ladder, I no longer feel I need to be desperate for every nickel out there. Don't get me wrong, if we were busy, I wouldn't be singing this song, I would be planning on making that time and a half money.
I would love a cold front on Christmas to drop some snow our way and force us to stay indoors. The days after all the Thanksgiving hoopla were really relaxing, just laying around eating and sleeping, I want more of those days.
We had almost forgot about our solar panel system, but they called this week. I guess they had been doing what they said getting permits with the city, and whatever other paperwork. Hopefully, they are installed before the end of the year, I want to be green. I envision a day in which our whole roof is covered in solar panels and even our cars get charged from them. The system we are getting will cover two of the four sides, so it isn't impossible to think this is a possibility in the near future. How awesome would it be if we could buy a couple of small commuter cars for work that charge overnight with the power made during the day? If they were super cheap, I would even drive a single seat funky car, save my truck for family outings. Hmmm, a little clarity perhaps, or just blowing smoke out my butt?
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