Seems if you look hard enough you can get anything on Craigslist (CL). I have admitted in the past to skimming through the ads looking for naked pics of supposed real peeps. Las Vegas seems to be the jackpot if you want to see ads of hookers with their pics advertising their do's and don'ts. Usually, the older the lady, the more options she will allow. Anyways, this week I found an interesting ad and I mention it only because I thought it interesting for discussion and most of the week I am alone at work. The ad was for a lady looking for an ANR relationship. What is that you ask? I looked into it and apparently, it is an Adult Nursing Relationship.
This is exactly what it sounds like, now the why is what I do not understand and in that is where the nuttiness of the woman has to be entwined. I do not think there is a shortage of males looking to suck on some fat titty, if only for the fun in that, but the fact that the woman's goal is to produce milk with no baby in the picture cannot be normal.
The ad goes on to say this will be a non-sexual relationship, but if the woman is halfway undressed in a strange man's house, how can it be non-sexual? It goes on to say she cannot host but hoping for a connection and plenty of intimate breast time together.
In theory, I love this scenario to think about it being part of my life (I said in theory, Mother). Wife is gone all week, I have the house to myself most mornings, I could stay up an hour to suck on a big ole boob or two. I don't necessarily need the sexual relationship aspect, I could enjoy some strange woman coming over and undressing for me, sounds like great motivational stuff, at least for awhile. These are a few pluses I can think of
The reason I couldn't do this, is because to me, the girl has to be nuts. Maybe there was a child lost, or maybe she doesn't want children but has a motherly instinct. Neither of these sounds like normal chick tendencies. Then there is the thought "what if I am one of ten guys suckling on those giant areola, that can't be sanitary. The biggest thing that bothers me in this, is what if I am successful at stimulating lactation? I don't want to be drinking milk from some woman I don't know. I remember this kind of happening even a year after the boys had stopped drinking from Wife, and I was shocked and grossed but like a trooper I kept going, because that is what a man does.
I am sure diseases could be passed this way and I know I suck, surely I would have success, as DJ Khaled says, "All I Ever Do Is Win Win Win". But this might be a win I do not want. The point is moot, it's not like Wife would let me partake on some random lady's milky boobs. Plus, I am always tired, I really couldn't waste time in the mornings for some weird fetish lady to show up, you think someone like that is punctual? I think these people live in their own worlds where normality left a long time ago. I think I will just keep this a fantasy, one of many I think about when I am bored.
Friday, June 30, 2017
Thursday, June 29, 2017
6/29/17 Halfway Through The Year Already?
Saw it written on Facebook somewhere yesterday, but it didn't dawn on me until now that I wrote today's date. We are pretty much through the first half of the year. Honestly, we still have our Christmas tree up in the living room, what with Wife only here on the weekends. It has been all sorts of busy, as I wrote just last week, it is rare to have a weekend where we aren't obligated to do something outside the norm.
Probably the biggest event of the last six months was dealing with my leg. It is almost healed, I am down to two small-ish holes that need to close up all the way and then maybe if I could molt like a snake and loose my skin there and have it replaced by newer skin underneath as the area still has a purple look to it right now.
The second biggest thing is that Wife continues to work out of town, which is OK, but I do wish she could get back into town. Every weekend seems too short and like we don't do enough. I know it's for a good cause, so I will continue to put up with it.
The third biggest change was my pay cut. It hurt me in that I had to get rid of my truck which I loved. Selling it also gave me the extra cash to pay off our RV, and with the selling of my AMD stock last week, I am on pace to pay off three more credit cards. Our goal is to get off relying on credit cards all the time. Maybe we will keep one for emergencies and stuff, but I don't want to be where we used to be with over 20 credit cards.
The boys are doing fine, Chubs is off to 7th grade, and Boy is down to a year and a half or so to finish. He is in the process of interviewing here and believes he has a job, we shall wait until they officially call him. He was told Cypress is really cool about keeping temps and converting them to full time employees, so that might be interesting. Another interesting point is that the chemistry lab affiliated with the fab is looking for a new temp, they just lost a guy. It would be kind of cool to have Boy work here in the same place, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.
Everything else is going ok. My two renters are holding steady and their rent money is helping me pay off my medical bills, but by the end of the year, that money will be going to installing new wood floors which was something I almost started a year ago, before I hurt myself. Let's see what the rest of the year brings for us.
Probably the biggest event of the last six months was dealing with my leg. It is almost healed, I am down to two small-ish holes that need to close up all the way and then maybe if I could molt like a snake and loose my skin there and have it replaced by newer skin underneath as the area still has a purple look to it right now.
The second biggest thing is that Wife continues to work out of town, which is OK, but I do wish she could get back into town. Every weekend seems too short and like we don't do enough. I know it's for a good cause, so I will continue to put up with it.
The third biggest change was my pay cut. It hurt me in that I had to get rid of my truck which I loved. Selling it also gave me the extra cash to pay off our RV, and with the selling of my AMD stock last week, I am on pace to pay off three more credit cards. Our goal is to get off relying on credit cards all the time. Maybe we will keep one for emergencies and stuff, but I don't want to be where we used to be with over 20 credit cards.
The boys are doing fine, Chubs is off to 7th grade, and Boy is down to a year and a half or so to finish. He is in the process of interviewing here and believes he has a job, we shall wait until they officially call him. He was told Cypress is really cool about keeping temps and converting them to full time employees, so that might be interesting. Another interesting point is that the chemistry lab affiliated with the fab is looking for a new temp, they just lost a guy. It would be kind of cool to have Boy work here in the same place, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.
Everything else is going ok. My two renters are holding steady and their rent money is helping me pay off my medical bills, but by the end of the year, that money will be going to installing new wood floors which was something I almost started a year ago, before I hurt myself. Let's see what the rest of the year brings for us.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
6/28/17 Every Man For Himself?
It has been a weird week without Chubs or Wife here. Usually, I have structure from having to go to bed quickly after I drop off Chubs at school knowing I have less than 6-7 hours before I have to go pick him up. He is done with summer school and school at this point, so we thought it would be a good idea for him to go visit with Wife and hang out with his cousins from my side of the family. According to Wife, he has had a good time, although they are working him. His cousins are little jocks, so Wife says he is outside catching football, and playing basketball.
Back to us here in Austin. Boy took the week off from work, as he thought he would be getting called to start at a new place, but he has not gotten called, although he heard from friends that he did get hired. I guess since he isn't working, he is hanging out with extra power, however that happens. He had friends over Monday afternoon and they just seemed to be watching cartoons waiting for some girl I had not met before. Once this new girl showed up Monday afternoon, they left to go eat. I was left to enjoy leftovers from Saturday night. It kind of sucked, but it was free. I did the same thing Monday night when I came home from work, ate more leftovers.
Today was more of the same. I can't see myself going and getting a burger or something expensive when I know I can eat a peanut butter sandwich and fill up. I really need one of the kids to tell me they are hungry before I'll go spend for fast food.
For a second, I thought Boy had manned up and dealt with the trash can out on the street all by himself. Nope, I came home for lunch and saw it sticking out behind the A/C in front of the gate. I had to remind him to take it to the back yard.
I was going to continue cleaning Chub's room and move things around to continue painting, but then the girl that came to hang with Boy and his friends decided she was going to sleep in there. This messed up my plans a little bit but I plan to continue today. I would like to have it all done before they get back on Thursday evening. I am not looking forward to breaking up his bed and removing the TV from the wall, but it's the only way, I guess. Boy had his friends there all day Tuesday as well, but they were gone by the evening when I came home for lunch. Today might be the two of us, he already said he managed to pick up a shift from someone else for Thursday, so we'll see.
Back to us here in Austin. Boy took the week off from work, as he thought he would be getting called to start at a new place, but he has not gotten called, although he heard from friends that he did get hired. I guess since he isn't working, he is hanging out with extra power, however that happens. He had friends over Monday afternoon and they just seemed to be watching cartoons waiting for some girl I had not met before. Once this new girl showed up Monday afternoon, they left to go eat. I was left to enjoy leftovers from Saturday night. It kind of sucked, but it was free. I did the same thing Monday night when I came home from work, ate more leftovers.
Today was more of the same. I can't see myself going and getting a burger or something expensive when I know I can eat a peanut butter sandwich and fill up. I really need one of the kids to tell me they are hungry before I'll go spend for fast food.
For a second, I thought Boy had manned up and dealt with the trash can out on the street all by himself. Nope, I came home for lunch and saw it sticking out behind the A/C in front of the gate. I had to remind him to take it to the back yard.
I was going to continue cleaning Chub's room and move things around to continue painting, but then the girl that came to hang with Boy and his friends decided she was going to sleep in there. This messed up my plans a little bit but I plan to continue today. I would like to have it all done before they get back on Thursday evening. I am not looking forward to breaking up his bed and removing the TV from the wall, but it's the only way, I guess. Boy had his friends there all day Tuesday as well, but they were gone by the evening when I came home for lunch. Today might be the two of us, he already said he managed to pick up a shift from someone else for Thursday, so we'll see.
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
6/27/17 Green Is A Bold Color For A Room Chubs?
Chubs changed rooms about six months ago upstairs. I held him down as much as I could, I really wanted that room for my own. In the model home which was the same floor plan as ours, it was open and the pool table fit perfectly in there, with room for small tables and a bar. I even imagined tearing a hole in the wall and making the huge closet a bar I could work from, keep all the liquor in a closet when not in use. Chubs did the math and figured the room was a little bigger than his room, so he jumped over, abandoned the twin bed he had and took over the king size bed in that room.
Since I had plans it would be my room, it was painted longhorn orange a long time ago. I intended for that color to stay, but little turd nugget started complaining he would rather have any other color than orange. He is a walking hemorrhoid, and won't stop until he accomplishes what he needs. We finally discussed what color he would prefer at Home Depot and he locked in on green. I am not a fan of green, but what are you gonna do?
I chose a green I could live with and bought the high end paint that promises one coat to cover the previous color. I found it hard to believe that the paint accomplished this as the orange was very thick and beautiful. The can of paint floated around the house since the school year ended, I hesitated to start because he has so much junk on his walls.
This Sunday, he left with Wife to visit my folks and I said enough is enough, I will do this while he is gone. I took down everything from the two walls that looked the easiest and proceeded to start. I painted from about 1:00am until 6:00am, it always takes longer than planned, but I made the room look different, for sure. I have about a third of a can and two more walls. I think I am going to do three walls in green and then a different color for the remaining wall. It is too much green, it feels weird. The computer at Home Depot had the green matched with a cream color and black. Black would look bad ass, but I definitely want a second opinion, these colors are aggressively bold.
I can't say much, I painted my bedroom a blue the color of Dr. Who's TARDIS and it is still sitting with that color thirty two years later. My brother has had the room, he could have painted it, but when you are lazy....
Boy is kicking the ground wondering when he can paint his room now. Dammit, it all turns into work for me. I do like a little change. Now that I am about done spending money on my leg, I want to refocus and spend money on the house, such as installing wood floors starting in a couple months.
Since I had plans it would be my room, it was painted longhorn orange a long time ago. I intended for that color to stay, but little turd nugget started complaining he would rather have any other color than orange. He is a walking hemorrhoid, and won't stop until he accomplishes what he needs. We finally discussed what color he would prefer at Home Depot and he locked in on green. I am not a fan of green, but what are you gonna do?
I chose a green I could live with and bought the high end paint that promises one coat to cover the previous color. I found it hard to believe that the paint accomplished this as the orange was very thick and beautiful. The can of paint floated around the house since the school year ended, I hesitated to start because he has so much junk on his walls.
This Sunday, he left with Wife to visit my folks and I said enough is enough, I will do this while he is gone. I took down everything from the two walls that looked the easiest and proceeded to start. I painted from about 1:00am until 6:00am, it always takes longer than planned, but I made the room look different, for sure. I have about a third of a can and two more walls. I think I am going to do three walls in green and then a different color for the remaining wall. It is too much green, it feels weird. The computer at Home Depot had the green matched with a cream color and black. Black would look bad ass, but I definitely want a second opinion, these colors are aggressively bold.
I can't say much, I painted my bedroom a blue the color of Dr. Who's TARDIS and it is still sitting with that color thirty two years later. My brother has had the room, he could have painted it, but when you are lazy....
Boy is kicking the ground wondering when he can paint his room now. Dammit, it all turns into work for me. I do like a little change. Now that I am about done spending money on my leg, I want to refocus and spend money on the house, such as installing wood floors starting in a couple months.
Monday, June 26, 2017
6/26/17 Shitty Drivers And Dash Cams?
I recently got a thumbs up on my Dash Cams: Good Or Bad? from a couple months ago. I am still obsessed with the many different kinds of ways these usually ten minute videos are put together. I love when the asshole is running away from the cops and he crashes horribly, mostly because I hate douchebags that run. I cannot understand why more bullets aren't fired on these assholes. At a certain point, they are more a danger to the city they are running around in than they are worth. You might think that all life is fragile and worth saving, but you are wrong. People that are constantly messing with police, have histories a mile long where they did this and that bad, what good do they provide general society? People get up in arms because cops appear to be shooting up a certain race, yet when you look at enough videos, you will be left with the same thought as me: "why don't you just put your hands up and quit resisting arrest?" Many times when the cop yells "hands up, out of the car!!", that is when Mr. Bullet catcher decides he is going to clean under his seat by reaching down, even with a pointed gun in his face.
There are also the tons of videos from Russia or at least that what the accent sounds like, man are they bad drivers over there. They have no sense of their surroundings. If everybody in front of you is slowing down, do the same. No, instead we'll see this one motorcyclist trying to continue at 60 between a bunch of cars stopped for a light or an accident. I hate that law that allows these idiots to drive between cars on the dashed lines. That is never a good idea, as it always seems to end in an accident.
As much as people whine and bitch about stuff here in the US, believe me, we should be thanking our government. Our cars can take a hit and protect us. Cars in other countries seem to take very little to flip over, like they are all top heavy. And man, people still haven't figured out it is a horrible idea to make a U-turn just anywhere. You see the idiot flash his lights at the other idiot making a U-turn, but he also doesn't slow down, so a few seconds later, crash. Why? you saw what was happening. Why don't these people dance around the bullshit too? I have had to avoid accidents and you just jump lanes without overreacting, and then correct slowly, not like a maniac. If these guys even attempt a lane change, their cars are doomed to the embankments.
Honestly, these dash cams are more interesting than anything going on in television these days. I tell Wife I want to see real life, not scripted television. I like Big Bang Theory, but it is not real, everything is too perfect and clever. Give me crap on YouTube to watch, some is scripted, but a lot of times, if it looks like it hurt, there was no stunt guy getting paid hazard pay, it was the idiot who thought it would be a good idea to cut in front of the semi coming 70mph, and you are barely crawling at 10mph.... it's gonna get ugly, fast!
There are also the tons of videos from Russia or at least that what the accent sounds like, man are they bad drivers over there. They have no sense of their surroundings. If everybody in front of you is slowing down, do the same. No, instead we'll see this one motorcyclist trying to continue at 60 between a bunch of cars stopped for a light or an accident. I hate that law that allows these idiots to drive between cars on the dashed lines. That is never a good idea, as it always seems to end in an accident.
As much as people whine and bitch about stuff here in the US, believe me, we should be thanking our government. Our cars can take a hit and protect us. Cars in other countries seem to take very little to flip over, like they are all top heavy. And man, people still haven't figured out it is a horrible idea to make a U-turn just anywhere. You see the idiot flash his lights at the other idiot making a U-turn, but he also doesn't slow down, so a few seconds later, crash. Why? you saw what was happening. Why don't these people dance around the bullshit too? I have had to avoid accidents and you just jump lanes without overreacting, and then correct slowly, not like a maniac. If these guys even attempt a lane change, their cars are doomed to the embankments.
Honestly, these dash cams are more interesting than anything going on in television these days. I tell Wife I want to see real life, not scripted television. I like Big Bang Theory, but it is not real, everything is too perfect and clever. Give me crap on YouTube to watch, some is scripted, but a lot of times, if it looks like it hurt, there was no stunt guy getting paid hazard pay, it was the idiot who thought it would be a good idea to cut in front of the semi coming 70mph, and you are barely crawling at 10mph.... it's gonna get ugly, fast!
Saturday, June 24, 2017
6/25/17 A Day To Relax In The New Era?
It has been a whirlwind ride the last couple of months and with no place to stop and just be ourselves. Each weekend it seems that we have obligations making us reach outside of ourselves. We had the graduation, end of school year, boy interviewing, boy going to Dallas, folks coming to visit, going out for Father's Day.
Today, we finally hit the brakes and relaxed. Wife specifically told me not to wake her, so as I usually do on Saturday mornings, I got up around 10:30am and started heading down to drink a cup of coffee and scan the internet. Wife caught me before I came down and suggested we go eat breakfast. I didn't really feel up to it, as I really wanted a cup of coffee after all the excitement the night before running to San Antonio and back. Wife then suggested tacos from Bill Miller and I said sure, if I can stay home and chill. Boy was walking in about that point, seems like the newest Transformers movie is a dud, he said the theater was mostly empty, they sent him home early. He was good enough to go with his mama to get the tacos.
We ate like a happy family, jus the four of us, our two renters were asleep (he has a 2nd job as a bouncer on the weekends) and with her family (she has been visiting her folks more, recently). After eating, Wife suggested I go watch Moana in the bedroom with her and Chubs. I said "if I do, I will be asleep in two minutes". I stayed on the laptop a little longer, but went upstairs eventually. Sure enough, I rolled Chubs off my spot on the bed, and within minutes I was out.
Wife woke me around 4:30pm and eventually we headed towards Kyle, Boy said he would join us if we went to Cabela's and also got ice cream (which we did at Baskin Robbins after), so we did. We then went to Lowe's, where I bought a new pump to drain the hot tub, it had gone brown on me and with my leg still not waterproof, I cannot be getting my injury wet. We then headed to HEB and loaded up for the week. Wife wanted hamburgers and hot dogs. Grilling is always ok by me. Boy was told to stock up since Chubs is finally done with his summer enrichment program for math, he is going on vacation. He is headed to Visit my folks and cousins for the week with Wife. It is only fair for him to go and be with mama a couple weeks, let me breath for a bit.
I told Boy he is on his own, if I feel like sleeping, I will sleep, if I feel like going into work early, I don't want to have to worry about him. He is a big boy and should find stuff to do with his friends, not that he usually relies on me.
It was a nice day, I bought that pump and actually cleaned the hot tub without using a bucket and my back to remove the old dingy water. It went a little slower, but eventually, all the water was sucked out and replaced with new fresh water. I put some chlorine in it for tonight, but I will go buy some bromine when I get the chance. I also bought a new toaster for the kitchen, the kind that will toast a small plate, we have needed one of these for a while. It feels nice to have a couple nickels in my wallet and buying stupid shit like the voracious Americans we are.
Today, we finally hit the brakes and relaxed. Wife specifically told me not to wake her, so as I usually do on Saturday mornings, I got up around 10:30am and started heading down to drink a cup of coffee and scan the internet. Wife caught me before I came down and suggested we go eat breakfast. I didn't really feel up to it, as I really wanted a cup of coffee after all the excitement the night before running to San Antonio and back. Wife then suggested tacos from Bill Miller and I said sure, if I can stay home and chill. Boy was walking in about that point, seems like the newest Transformers movie is a dud, he said the theater was mostly empty, they sent him home early. He was good enough to go with his mama to get the tacos.
We ate like a happy family, jus the four of us, our two renters were asleep (he has a 2nd job as a bouncer on the weekends) and with her family (she has been visiting her folks more, recently). After eating, Wife suggested I go watch Moana in the bedroom with her and Chubs. I said "if I do, I will be asleep in two minutes". I stayed on the laptop a little longer, but went upstairs eventually. Sure enough, I rolled Chubs off my spot on the bed, and within minutes I was out.
Wife woke me around 4:30pm and eventually we headed towards Kyle, Boy said he would join us if we went to Cabela's and also got ice cream (which we did at Baskin Robbins after), so we did. We then went to Lowe's, where I bought a new pump to drain the hot tub, it had gone brown on me and with my leg still not waterproof, I cannot be getting my injury wet. We then headed to HEB and loaded up for the week. Wife wanted hamburgers and hot dogs. Grilling is always ok by me. Boy was told to stock up since Chubs is finally done with his summer enrichment program for math, he is going on vacation. He is headed to Visit my folks and cousins for the week with Wife. It is only fair for him to go and be with mama a couple weeks, let me breath for a bit.
I told Boy he is on his own, if I feel like sleeping, I will sleep, if I feel like going into work early, I don't want to have to worry about him. He is a big boy and should find stuff to do with his friends, not that he usually relies on me.
It was a nice day, I bought that pump and actually cleaned the hot tub without using a bucket and my back to remove the old dingy water. It went a little slower, but eventually, all the water was sucked out and replaced with new fresh water. I put some chlorine in it for tonight, but I will go buy some bromine when I get the chance. I also bought a new toaster for the kitchen, the kind that will toast a small plate, we have needed one of these for a while. It feels nice to have a couple nickels in my wallet and buying stupid shit like the voracious Americans we are.
Friday, June 23, 2017
6/24/17 Celebration For Nephew's Graduation?
We finally had another graduate in the family. By family I mean immediate families from whence we both come from. We are not like your typical Mexican families with tons of kids on both sides of the family. Boy is the only other graduate, this time it was Wife's younger sister's boy, who just turned eighteen a couple weeks ago. Anyways, he graduated last week, we went to the graduation at the Alamodome and then we had dinner.
Tonight was a party more than anything else. They rented a small "ballroom" type of place with tables set up all around a dance floor and stage where a DJ played the hits all night, from Selena Quintanilla to whatever was cool in the late 90's. The music was a little dated, but it still worked.
I thought it was super dorky when he put on Macarena but plenty of people hit the floor to dance in that dopey line dance way and then surprisingly Chubs wanted in. He wanted me to dare him on the floor, I told him $5 if you go dance with your mom who was dancing with her sisters. Chubs went in there and it made the song cool afterwards, although it seemed to go on forever. He played some Spanish music and at one point I tried to go and dance with Wife as she was all over the place, except with me, serving food and talking on the microphone, and serving cake. We danced a couple of times around for a cumbia and I quickly ran out of breath trying to commandeer her into a series of turns and complicated spins. I opted out before I embarrassed myself and passed out or something. I found out I really need to get off my ass and start walking and stop using my leg injury as an excuse. I am terribly out of shape if I got winded that fast.
If we got there around 5:30pm (because Wife needed/wanted to help), Boy and his friends got there around 7:30pm. It was fine, the place was actually pretty big for the size crowd that showed up. It was the immediate family, family from Crystal City, and some friends of theirs. I say friends, as I didn't know some of the faces and I have been around this family going on thirty years. The graduate had almost two table's worth of friends there, mostly boys, but a couple of cute girls too. It was funny to see the boys go out and try to dance the country stuff, line dancing style, "we don't need no chicks!!"
Everyone looked to be having a good time, I always worry a bit, as my boys offer no support for me, Boy had his friends and got there at his time then left early, Chubs runs around until he feels like a wet towel on legs, Wife tries to take over any kitchen duties, and I am left to mingle, but I kind of suck at that. I sat with my brother in law and we get along OK, then Wife's cousin who we sold the boat to showed up, and he sat with us, telling me how much he loved the boat and thanking me, it is in such great condition. He has had to buy a couple of things but nothing surprising as I had told him about the battery, the stereo and even possibly the starter. He is currently obsessed with stuff he can use and showed me some fin things that you hold onto and get pulled behind the boat and the fin actually takes you underwater, it looked crazy and different on the YouTube video. His sister eventually came and sat with us, and I've known her forever as we were classmates from kinder, and even the other sister's best friend came and joined us, she lived with us for a year or two in our old house, so I stayed surrounded by people I knew, all in all, it was a good night. We got home around midnight, and I am about ready to go to bed.
Tonight was a party more than anything else. They rented a small "ballroom" type of place with tables set up all around a dance floor and stage where a DJ played the hits all night, from Selena Quintanilla to whatever was cool in the late 90's. The music was a little dated, but it still worked.
I thought it was super dorky when he put on Macarena but plenty of people hit the floor to dance in that dopey line dance way and then surprisingly Chubs wanted in. He wanted me to dare him on the floor, I told him $5 if you go dance with your mom who was dancing with her sisters. Chubs went in there and it made the song cool afterwards, although it seemed to go on forever. He played some Spanish music and at one point I tried to go and dance with Wife as she was all over the place, except with me, serving food and talking on the microphone, and serving cake. We danced a couple of times around for a cumbia and I quickly ran out of breath trying to commandeer her into a series of turns and complicated spins. I opted out before I embarrassed myself and passed out or something. I found out I really need to get off my ass and start walking and stop using my leg injury as an excuse. I am terribly out of shape if I got winded that fast.
If we got there around 5:30pm (because Wife needed/wanted to help), Boy and his friends got there around 7:30pm. It was fine, the place was actually pretty big for the size crowd that showed up. It was the immediate family, family from Crystal City, and some friends of theirs. I say friends, as I didn't know some of the faces and I have been around this family going on thirty years. The graduate had almost two table's worth of friends there, mostly boys, but a couple of cute girls too. It was funny to see the boys go out and try to dance the country stuff, line dancing style, "we don't need no chicks!!"
Everyone looked to be having a good time, I always worry a bit, as my boys offer no support for me, Boy had his friends and got there at his time then left early, Chubs runs around until he feels like a wet towel on legs, Wife tries to take over any kitchen duties, and I am left to mingle, but I kind of suck at that. I sat with my brother in law and we get along OK, then Wife's cousin who we sold the boat to showed up, and he sat with us, telling me how much he loved the boat and thanking me, it is in such great condition. He has had to buy a couple of things but nothing surprising as I had told him about the battery, the stereo and even possibly the starter. He is currently obsessed with stuff he can use and showed me some fin things that you hold onto and get pulled behind the boat and the fin actually takes you underwater, it looked crazy and different on the YouTube video. His sister eventually came and sat with us, and I've known her forever as we were classmates from kinder, and even the other sister's best friend came and joined us, she lived with us for a year or two in our old house, so I stayed surrounded by people I knew, all in all, it was a good night. We got home around midnight, and I am about ready to go to bed.
6/23/17 Finally Sold My Stock After Seventeen Years?
I have been working here at the same place for over twenty years. When I was young and full of testosterone and adrenaline, I signed up for the stock purchase plan. This was the place to be I thought. An underdog in an exciting industry, the David to Intel's Goliath. We were going to take that sumbitch down with our newest weapon, the Athlon. Back in the late 90's things were great here, exciting even. I was hired in a time where it seemed like every month a new batch of recruits was brought in to fortify and battle Intel. It looked and sounded like it was going to happen.
As a reward for working with the Little Engine That Could, we could purchase stock at a discount. They would take a certain percentage of our check and first they would match that percentage and then give us a discount. For a fleeting second this stock actually went as high as $99 dollars a share, I had almost $18,000 worth of cheap money. But as is the story of my life, I got greedy and refused to sell when I should have, we lost a tremendous battle with Intel and the stock price never recovered. We would mount little battles and even attempted to attack in the server market which was Intel's stronghold. We did make inroads, but we just never had enough to hurt them and make them back off. Eventually, AMD was broken into two companies to survive, the microprocessors went to Germany since it was the newest FAB and we kept the Flash market, which we were sold to Spansion.
For years those stocks in paper form stayed in my closet and in my underwear drawer. I would look at them now and again and the value seemed stuck in the $1-$2 range. I considered selling, if for maybe $500, but I was never that desperate. About two-three months ago somebody mentioned if I had looked at AMD recently, I said "why? It's been a piece of shit for about ten years." They told me, "it's finally making some moves." Well shit, the little mofo is finally worth something again.
It has just about cannibalized itself completely, if it was a human, it would be down to a brain in a jar. It sold all other divisions, it sold its fabs and pays other companies to produce its chips. It is down to a design firm which still makes a decent microprocessor, whatever the magic is, if we know anything, it is that it won't last.
I stopped dreaming and pulled the sell tag on it. I am walking away with a few thousand bucks, enough to pay off three credit cards that I love shopping at, so we'll see how long I can go without charging stuff. I always said that the stock money would buy my next boat, and maybe it won't but at least it can help me float for a little while longer.
As a reward for working with the Little Engine That Could, we could purchase stock at a discount. They would take a certain percentage of our check and first they would match that percentage and then give us a discount. For a fleeting second this stock actually went as high as $99 dollars a share, I had almost $18,000 worth of cheap money. But as is the story of my life, I got greedy and refused to sell when I should have, we lost a tremendous battle with Intel and the stock price never recovered. We would mount little battles and even attempted to attack in the server market which was Intel's stronghold. We did make inroads, but we just never had enough to hurt them and make them back off. Eventually, AMD was broken into two companies to survive, the microprocessors went to Germany since it was the newest FAB and we kept the Flash market, which we were sold to Spansion.
For years those stocks in paper form stayed in my closet and in my underwear drawer. I would look at them now and again and the value seemed stuck in the $1-$2 range. I considered selling, if for maybe $500, but I was never that desperate. About two-three months ago somebody mentioned if I had looked at AMD recently, I said "why? It's been a piece of shit for about ten years." They told me, "it's finally making some moves." Well shit, the little mofo is finally worth something again.
It has just about cannibalized itself completely, if it was a human, it would be down to a brain in a jar. It sold all other divisions, it sold its fabs and pays other companies to produce its chips. It is down to a design firm which still makes a decent microprocessor, whatever the magic is, if we know anything, it is that it won't last.
I stopped dreaming and pulled the sell tag on it. I am walking away with a few thousand bucks, enough to pay off three credit cards that I love shopping at, so we'll see how long I can go without charging stuff. I always said that the stock money would buy my next boat, and maybe it won't but at least it can help me float for a little while longer.
Thursday, June 22, 2017
6/22/17 Wife Can't Help Herself?
One thing I thought we had both decided was that we would be off the week of 4th of July. I don't care if the best we can come up with is to hang around and just go to the mall and watch movies at Alamo Drafthouse for free, thanks to Boy. Anyhow, Wife tells me today what would I think about us spending two nights in Dallas because there is a conference on how to sharpen a no.2 pencil the right way and she CANNOT miss this because somebody in the disctrict needs to know the newest developments in pencil technology. I surprised myself that instead of getting pissy, I kind of went along with it. She will be the one getting up early, me and Chubs will probably stay in the hotel room and just sleep all day until she gets done. From my end, it sounds perfect. Somebody else is paying for the hotel and even gas, and we get to go hang out somewhere relatively new, for us.
I personally think it's kind of stupid of Wife to do so much all the time, specially since she was pulled aside and told "we don't have money in the budget for raises", but help us in hiring a whole new coaching staff, and we are creating new positions internally to promote people we really like. All she does is work, even when she comes home on the weekends, if she finds one of the laptops open, she will get on something that "just needs a few minutes, I'm almost done." This bugs me, not because she is a workaholic, but because stuff like this does not matter to the powers that be.
The only good thing is we will be together and she will gain a couple of days she was going to be off, so she can take more days off, if the Knucklehead does it, we'll see. I kind of worry the summer is moving so fast, she will leave days on the table because she wants to get this and that done. It is not like the summer vacation days carry into the next school year.
I really thought we would end up in Corpus that week, my mom keeps offering us to stay in her RV, so it would be relatively cheap to do that, but with my leg not quite yet healed, I am hesitant to get near water. We have enjoyed ourselves the last couple of years, staying in nice hotels, cranking down the AC to eskimo temperatures, better if we can get a suite to kick Chubs to another room. Boy won't join us, he would rather stay behind and make some money, plus then he gets to hang with his friends. Unfortunately, we are too boring for him. Ehh, it won't surprise me if Wife tells me tomorrow "I signed up, but I have to go with a coworker and y'all can't go." That will piss me off, because I have planned on being off that week since the beginning of the year. We'll see what the Capitan wants to do.
I personally think it's kind of stupid of Wife to do so much all the time, specially since she was pulled aside and told "we don't have money in the budget for raises", but help us in hiring a whole new coaching staff, and we are creating new positions internally to promote people we really like. All she does is work, even when she comes home on the weekends, if she finds one of the laptops open, she will get on something that "just needs a few minutes, I'm almost done." This bugs me, not because she is a workaholic, but because stuff like this does not matter to the powers that be.
The only good thing is we will be together and she will gain a couple of days she was going to be off, so she can take more days off, if the Knucklehead does it, we'll see. I kind of worry the summer is moving so fast, she will leave days on the table because she wants to get this and that done. It is not like the summer vacation days carry into the next school year.
I really thought we would end up in Corpus that week, my mom keeps offering us to stay in her RV, so it would be relatively cheap to do that, but with my leg not quite yet healed, I am hesitant to get near water. We have enjoyed ourselves the last couple of years, staying in nice hotels, cranking down the AC to eskimo temperatures, better if we can get a suite to kick Chubs to another room. Boy won't join us, he would rather stay behind and make some money, plus then he gets to hang with his friends. Unfortunately, we are too boring for him. Ehh, it won't surprise me if Wife tells me tomorrow "I signed up, but I have to go with a coworker and y'all can't go." That will piss me off, because I have planned on being off that week since the beginning of the year. We'll see what the Capitan wants to do.
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
6/21/17 Do I Want Boy Following My Footsteps?
I have been telling the boys ever since they were young enough to hear me, that they should do what makes them happy. I would never tell Boy to follow me and do what I am doing as a job or career. As it turns out, he just interviewed yesterday and already has a follow up interview for tomorrow so he may be here quicker than I thought.
I love those boys and I am honored if they want to be like their dad and follow me, but it has to come from them. One thing I am adamant on is that he will not work night shift. I believe I have sacrificed enough of my life so that neither of them should have to do that for the opportunity of a job. I'm not sure it has been the healthiest thing for me to do, remaining on a reverse schedule as the majority of the world for over twenty years, and for a shitty 5% now, but Boy can wait for a better chance if this is required.
Boy says they are kind of pushing the intern applicants to volunteer for the various night shifts. I told him if it is only for the summer it is up to you, but I don't want you accepting anything long term on nights. You will get used to the extra money, and luckily there is no wife or kids, you could end up relying on it. When you start working here, they tell you naïve shit like "the compressed pay or the night shift differential should not be thought of as your regular pay", but if you get it for more than say 3-4 years, it becomes part of what you see all the time.
On the one hand, it would be cool to work on a project or have him submit work I could help on to help solve a problem, or even train him some day and work side by side with him. This industry is still one of the better paying compared to anything else out there. If he jumps and doesn't get too comfortable, he could benefit from stocks and other bonuses I never really profited from. Being on shift, we could align our schedules a little better and be off at the same time, to do activities outside the house, such as vacations.
On the other hand, as I was discussing with my coworker, this is a field that has probably peaked and there aren't many new innovations coming from the manufacturing section. We do have more layoffs, as an industry, so he might be stuck at home if he isn't working out with whatever group he ends up with.
Ultimately, it is up to him, Boy technically gets paid more at Alamo Drafthouse currently than what they are offering him as an intern, so he isn't desperate for a job, plus he lives at home and we are not rushing him off. An internship would probably turn into a job offer later, when he graduates, so the short term sacrifice might not be a bad thing. We support whatever he does, just no nightshift, please.
I love those boys and I am honored if they want to be like their dad and follow me, but it has to come from them. One thing I am adamant on is that he will not work night shift. I believe I have sacrificed enough of my life so that neither of them should have to do that for the opportunity of a job. I'm not sure it has been the healthiest thing for me to do, remaining on a reverse schedule as the majority of the world for over twenty years, and for a shitty 5% now, but Boy can wait for a better chance if this is required.
Boy says they are kind of pushing the intern applicants to volunteer for the various night shifts. I told him if it is only for the summer it is up to you, but I don't want you accepting anything long term on nights. You will get used to the extra money, and luckily there is no wife or kids, you could end up relying on it. When you start working here, they tell you naïve shit like "the compressed pay or the night shift differential should not be thought of as your regular pay", but if you get it for more than say 3-4 years, it becomes part of what you see all the time.
On the one hand, it would be cool to work on a project or have him submit work I could help on to help solve a problem, or even train him some day and work side by side with him. This industry is still one of the better paying compared to anything else out there. If he jumps and doesn't get too comfortable, he could benefit from stocks and other bonuses I never really profited from. Being on shift, we could align our schedules a little better and be off at the same time, to do activities outside the house, such as vacations.
On the other hand, as I was discussing with my coworker, this is a field that has probably peaked and there aren't many new innovations coming from the manufacturing section. We do have more layoffs, as an industry, so he might be stuck at home if he isn't working out with whatever group he ends up with.
Ultimately, it is up to him, Boy technically gets paid more at Alamo Drafthouse currently than what they are offering him as an intern, so he isn't desperate for a job, plus he lives at home and we are not rushing him off. An internship would probably turn into a job offer later, when he graduates, so the short term sacrifice might not be a bad thing. We support whatever he does, just no nightshift, please.
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
6/20/17 War On Everyone? (Netflix Movie)
It has been awhile since I have seen a movie that I like as much as this one. It is a dark comedy, I believe they call it, when the comedy is at the expense of others, I guess. The movie is called War On Everyone and it came out in 2016. I believe it is one of those cult movies that will find its audience and be beloved in time. It is set weirdly in present day New Mexico, but the two cop leads of the movie drive around in cars from the 70's. There is some sort of homage to those cop movies from back in the day, but instead of being good and standing with justice, the two cops start the movie running down a mime, making a dry joke to the effect of "I wonder if a mime makes a noise when you hit it with a car?" They don't explain why but they take a thermos size wad of cocaine from the mime, which they are then enjoying in a scene and using to force a citizen to give them information.
There are many weird scenes, the two guys Michael Pena and Alexander Skaarsgard are the two cops and although very different, they are loyal to each other. Pena is a Hispanic whose backstory indicates they have been on suspension for going after a racist cop. Skaarsgard plays a very alcoholic punch happy kind of guy. Pena is the smarter one, the other the muscle.
They get some information that some local bad guys are planning to rob a million bucks from somewhere, so the movie is based around trying to stop it and then trying to figure out where the money goes. There is a funny-ish scene where after all the bad guys who were supposed to steal the money are surrounded by SWAT, they get killed. The guys in SWAT are standing over there like oops, shrugging their shoulders like our bad. The police Chief played by Paul Reiser sighs and says at least they weren't all black. Like I said it is a dark comedy, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Hispanic cop has a couple kids which are funny for some reason, he kind of talks to them like I talk to my boys, so I was LOL'ing pretty good over that. The other cop kind of plays hero to a stripper taking her in "for her protection", but she is pretty hot and it doesn't take long for him to be playing hide the salami with her. I don't think the movie did well enough for a part 2, but dammit, these two cops deserve to be known, if anything, for their quips. They kind of reminded me of John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, carrying on their deep conversations while making the world a little better, for them.
There are many weird scenes, the two guys Michael Pena and Alexander Skaarsgard are the two cops and although very different, they are loyal to each other. Pena is a Hispanic whose backstory indicates they have been on suspension for going after a racist cop. Skaarsgard plays a very alcoholic punch happy kind of guy. Pena is the smarter one, the other the muscle.
They get some information that some local bad guys are planning to rob a million bucks from somewhere, so the movie is based around trying to stop it and then trying to figure out where the money goes. There is a funny-ish scene where after all the bad guys who were supposed to steal the money are surrounded by SWAT, they get killed. The guys in SWAT are standing over there like oops, shrugging their shoulders like our bad. The police Chief played by Paul Reiser sighs and says at least they weren't all black. Like I said it is a dark comedy, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Hispanic cop has a couple kids which are funny for some reason, he kind of talks to them like I talk to my boys, so I was LOL'ing pretty good over that. The other cop kind of plays hero to a stripper taking her in "for her protection", but she is pretty hot and it doesn't take long for him to be playing hide the salami with her. I don't think the movie did well enough for a part 2, but dammit, these two cops deserve to be known, if anything, for their quips. They kind of reminded me of John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, carrying on their deep conversations while making the world a little better, for them.
Monday, June 19, 2017
6/19/17 Father's Day Came And Went Like A Silent Fart?
This was another one of those events that sucks because Wife is working so far away from us. The one good thing about it was that at least I got called in to work OT. By now we know the routine, that Wife has to leave early. Because of this, we had already planned the weekend beforehand. Earlier in the week I decided I wanted to eat at the Salt Lick, it had been awhile, with my leg situation and my pay cut, we really haven't been going out much. I told Wife "we can go to the movies either Friday or Saturday and go to Salt Lick the other night." This idea worked out perfectly.
Boy usually gets with his friends on Friday nights, and this weekend was no different. I respected his plans, he in turn got us free tickets to go see Wonder Woman at the Alamo Drafthouse. It was really a good summer movie. I like how AD shows you earlier versions of the movie you are about to see, if you arrive early enough. Wonder Woman had been trying to get to the big screen since 1967. There were goofy versions attempted until Linda Carter's version in 1975. I was young, but I do remember seeing the show on TV.
Anyways, Saturday was a lazy day. I woke up at 10:00am, went down for my coffee and pan dulce and paid some bills online, waiting for Wife to come down, but not wanting to wake her up. I finally got antsy at noon, and she was barely getting up. She showered, I laid in bed, then I suggested we watch a movie I had seen on Netflix earlier War On Everyone, this movie should have been a hit, it is hilarious and stupid. Hopefully, it becomes a cult classic. We finished watching the movie and of course, I fell asleep. Boy woke me when he got home, after his shift at work, around 4:00pm.
We finally headed out to the Salt Lick around 5:00pm or 6:00pm, stopped for gas and sodas, and made our way out to Driftwood. I love this place, but so does everyone else. We had to wait an hour and 45 minutes before getting a table, but this is one of the few places I don't mind waiting. By the time we got back home, I was in a food coma, and couldn't help but go back to sleep. Wife watched a few episodes of Orange Is The New Black, and then we went to bed. I was asleep on one of the chairs in our bedroom and moving to the bed, I lost my sleepiness and then I was up until 6:30am. What do I do about it, I work nights?
Anyways, I slept until 1:30pm, we went to eat at Zaxby's, my choice, but we all like it, and then Wife left back to Crystal City. I went home, showered and headed in to work. All I have left to do is thank the people that wished me "Happy Father's Day" on Facebook and this holiday can be put out of its misery.
Boy usually gets with his friends on Friday nights, and this weekend was no different. I respected his plans, he in turn got us free tickets to go see Wonder Woman at the Alamo Drafthouse. It was really a good summer movie. I like how AD shows you earlier versions of the movie you are about to see, if you arrive early enough. Wonder Woman had been trying to get to the big screen since 1967. There were goofy versions attempted until Linda Carter's version in 1975. I was young, but I do remember seeing the show on TV.
Anyways, Saturday was a lazy day. I woke up at 10:00am, went down for my coffee and pan dulce and paid some bills online, waiting for Wife to come down, but not wanting to wake her up. I finally got antsy at noon, and she was barely getting up. She showered, I laid in bed, then I suggested we watch a movie I had seen on Netflix earlier War On Everyone, this movie should have been a hit, it is hilarious and stupid. Hopefully, it becomes a cult classic. We finished watching the movie and of course, I fell asleep. Boy woke me when he got home, after his shift at work, around 4:00pm.
We finally headed out to the Salt Lick around 5:00pm or 6:00pm, stopped for gas and sodas, and made our way out to Driftwood. I love this place, but so does everyone else. We had to wait an hour and 45 minutes before getting a table, but this is one of the few places I don't mind waiting. By the time we got back home, I was in a food coma, and couldn't help but go back to sleep. Wife watched a few episodes of Orange Is The New Black, and then we went to bed. I was asleep on one of the chairs in our bedroom and moving to the bed, I lost my sleepiness and then I was up until 6:30am. What do I do about it, I work nights?
Anyways, I slept until 1:30pm, we went to eat at Zaxby's, my choice, but we all like it, and then Wife left back to Crystal City. I went home, showered and headed in to work. All I have left to do is thank the people that wished me "Happy Father's Day" on Facebook and this holiday can be put out of its misery.
Saturday, June 17, 2017
6/18/17 Boy Is Becoming A Man?
Boy is wanted by a few places at this point and it feels good to have gotten him this far. He has worked at Alamo Drafthouse (A.D.) long enough that his supervisors know him well enough that they have figured he is a good one to keep and promote within. Boy tells us of other people he has known who have climbed the corporate ladder and are now sitting in important roles for the company. If he was graduating this semester he said they would be willing to offer him a new-ish position where he would be a technical advisor involved in the building of the newest Alamo Drafthouses. The company is growing at a rate of about fifty new theaters a year, so there seems to be growth, all the time. He has also been offered managing positions a few times, but his degree is on the technical side and he is not a people person.
He has been given a project to see what he can do. There are two goofy robots outside the Alamo Drafthouse he works at, and he has been told to recommission them and make some usage of them. He has some ideas and is ready to move forward, so if anybody goes to the A. D. on Slaughter and sees the robots outside moving or with new electronics, that was Boy getting them back to work.
He has been working here long enough that although he is a runner that delivers food, he also carries a toolbag with him, and says he regularly fixes chairs/ replaces them, replaces the $10,000 bulbs in the projectors, and does a lot of the maintenance behind the scenes. All we can do is encourage him, and I tell him, if you are going to carry tools, carry everything you might need, even basic stuff like hammers and pliers.
As much as they like him, this semester he has been taught by one of the engineers at Spansion, now Cypress Semiconductors. He came up to Boy last week and asked him for a resume, telling him he was sure he could get him a co-op job. Because Boy is still in school, best they could offer him is an internship, which he says will pay in the $12/hr range. Not bad for a beginning guy. This should expose him to the different modules of building semiconductors,
If he gets the job, we will both be working in the same facility, which I think is really cool. He was told interns start at $12/hr, so we will be making about the same, now that my pay has been raped. If all goes well, one of the modules will offer him a job which last I heard starts in the mid $50s.
All we need now is for Boy to get real and finish at Texas State University and see who gives him the best offer. I still want him to continue at A.D. because we get free tickets to watch movies and the higher management people sometimes even get cards to get all their food compensated. We would totally mop up, but it would also be fun if he worked on site with me.
He has been given a project to see what he can do. There are two goofy robots outside the Alamo Drafthouse he works at, and he has been told to recommission them and make some usage of them. He has some ideas and is ready to move forward, so if anybody goes to the A. D. on Slaughter and sees the robots outside moving or with new electronics, that was Boy getting them back to work.
He has been working here long enough that although he is a runner that delivers food, he also carries a toolbag with him, and says he regularly fixes chairs/ replaces them, replaces the $10,000 bulbs in the projectors, and does a lot of the maintenance behind the scenes. All we can do is encourage him, and I tell him, if you are going to carry tools, carry everything you might need, even basic stuff like hammers and pliers.
As much as they like him, this semester he has been taught by one of the engineers at Spansion, now Cypress Semiconductors. He came up to Boy last week and asked him for a resume, telling him he was sure he could get him a co-op job. Because Boy is still in school, best they could offer him is an internship, which he says will pay in the $12/hr range. Not bad for a beginning guy. This should expose him to the different modules of building semiconductors,
If he gets the job, we will both be working in the same facility, which I think is really cool. He was told interns start at $12/hr, so we will be making about the same, now that my pay has been raped. If all goes well, one of the modules will offer him a job which last I heard starts in the mid $50s.
All we need now is for Boy to get real and finish at Texas State University and see who gives him the best offer. I still want him to continue at A.D. because we get free tickets to watch movies and the higher management people sometimes even get cards to get all their food compensated. We would totally mop up, but it would also be fun if he worked on site with me.
6/17/17 Wonder Woman (2017)
We finally saw what all the fuss about this girl hero was about, and man, she did not disappoint. She is first of all, a stunning beauty, I don't know where Hollywood was hiding her, but wow, she is nice. Gal Gadot plays Wonder Woman in the latest attempt, and I think they got it right. She is created of clay and desired by the queen more than anything" or so the queen of the Amazons tells her. By the time she is full grown she has been taught to fight by all the Amazonian Women and then a guy shows up. Of course, the guy is handsome enough to make her immediately want to follow him wherever he is going.
It turns out the island is in the middle of where the fighting is taking place in the water, and although they have peace on their island, they find out most every country is involved, by the timing I would say World War I. Princess Diana goes against her mother's wishes and she leaves with Steve who claims to be a British spy in a German outfit, when he crashes on the island. He has a notebook which he stole from the Germans and they are planning to use chemical weapons to tilt the battle in their favor. Diana is sure that the evil being manifested is not Ludendorff, but Aries in disguise. Steve rounds up a small gang and they head to the front of the battle. They have been at a standstill for almost a year, but Diana heads out in open field where she gets shot at by all the bad guys and this is enough of a distraction to allow the men to charge and take the trenches with the Germans. In the process they also free a city, which seems good, but this is then punished by that city being bombed with the poison gas the next day.
Diana at a certain point just becomes Wonder Woman, she is larger than life, and inspires men to fight. She confronts Ludendorff, but he turns out not to be Aries in disguise. Aries finally presents himself and there is much philosophical discussion about how shitty we humans are. How we squander our gift from god, how all we know how to do is destroy. He claims that man is happiest when he is in this state, of war. If you look to both sides, both sides seem to enjoy killing, so it is futile to try and stop the slaughter.
Wonder Woman has a second where she starts thinking maybe he is correct, but then remembers Steve who just sacrificed himself so that everyone else could live. This reminds her there is good in the world, if you look. Thinking about Steve who represented good in the world, made Diana stronger and ultimately was able to overcome Aries. All she really needed to do was believe that she could, because that is what she was created for by Zeus, she was a god killer.
I like how they tested the waters with her last year in the Batman movie, and then committed to her full heartedly. She is already locked in for Justice League, which looks good, and the fact that Wonder Woman already cracked 100million, so I am sure we will see WWII
It turns out the island is in the middle of where the fighting is taking place in the water, and although they have peace on their island, they find out most every country is involved, by the timing I would say World War I. Princess Diana goes against her mother's wishes and she leaves with Steve who claims to be a British spy in a German outfit, when he crashes on the island. He has a notebook which he stole from the Germans and they are planning to use chemical weapons to tilt the battle in their favor. Diana is sure that the evil being manifested is not Ludendorff, but Aries in disguise. Steve rounds up a small gang and they head to the front of the battle. They have been at a standstill for almost a year, but Diana heads out in open field where she gets shot at by all the bad guys and this is enough of a distraction to allow the men to charge and take the trenches with the Germans. In the process they also free a city, which seems good, but this is then punished by that city being bombed with the poison gas the next day.
Diana at a certain point just becomes Wonder Woman, she is larger than life, and inspires men to fight. She confronts Ludendorff, but he turns out not to be Aries in disguise. Aries finally presents himself and there is much philosophical discussion about how shitty we humans are. How we squander our gift from god, how all we know how to do is destroy. He claims that man is happiest when he is in this state, of war. If you look to both sides, both sides seem to enjoy killing, so it is futile to try and stop the slaughter.
Wonder Woman has a second where she starts thinking maybe he is correct, but then remembers Steve who just sacrificed himself so that everyone else could live. This reminds her there is good in the world, if you look. Thinking about Steve who represented good in the world, made Diana stronger and ultimately was able to overcome Aries. All she really needed to do was believe that she could, because that is what she was created for by Zeus, she was a god killer.
I like how they tested the waters with her last year in the Batman movie, and then committed to her full heartedly. She is already locked in for Justice League, which looks good, and the fact that Wonder Woman already cracked 100million, so I am sure we will see WWII
Thursday, June 15, 2017
6/16/17 Callous Attitude Towards The Freaks Is Justified?
It is a bit confusing, to be talking about the "Freaks" from Freaks and Geeks and think of them as losers. Yes, Seth Rogen and James Franco are going twenty years playing stoned out losers, but they play characters, the persons are actually well paid actors, Seth Rogen has addressed Congress, James Franco has earned degrees and teaches classes at NYU, UCLA, and other universities. Even the other two freaks Busy Phillips, and Jason Segel have about become household familiar faces, as they have both done plenty of TV shows and movies, Busy was on Cougartown and Jason did Forgetting Sarah Marshall, with Mila Kunis.
Anyway, the point is on the show, the counselors and even the teachers are fierce in pointing out the "freaks" as losers and a waste of time. In one episode the math teacher, who is a hard-ass, tells Lindsey that yeah he has cute bedroom eyes and his curly hair makes all the girls swoon, but don't kid yourself, that boy is going nowhere and if you keep wasting your time with them, you will end up in the same boat. This only serves to piss her off more, so what does she do? Go and prove him right by helping the pretty stoner cheat. She ends up painting herself into a very uncomfortable corner, but alas, she is saved by a counselor who tries way too hard and her parents.
I was kind of taught that we all have a chance to make something of ourselves. I add to that fact that it may not be through academics. There are many ways to find success in this world, but none of them come if your goal is to be a lazy F**k. That is what we see from this little gang. They don't like going to school, they want to say everything is boring, meanwhile, all they do is stand against the wall taking up oxygen. If these kids were real, they would be looking for a way to get high since life has already started shitting on them. We don't really see that, but who would play hooky to just sit in a car doing nothing? I remember playing hooky once or twice, but it was in the quest of the mighty beaver. That was such a distraction, back in the day, nowadays, I could barely care who sits next to me.
I guess my point is, should we just turn our backs on the "freaks"? Do we deem them undesirable as soon as junior high, or do we wait until they graduate high school? Let them hang their own noose and hang themselves? As a grown up, it is easier to see the shitty kids, and it may not be their own faults, but if they risk slowing down the few good ones, do we shame them into hiding? One of the freaks had a father in the military, and he was insistent on sending him off, to make a man out of him. Should we be doing this with more of today's youth? In the show, Lindsey, the main girl, was trying to "save" him by maybe having him tryout with a real rock band, only for him to find that he has not put in the time and discipline to play good. In his head, he is a music god, but in the real world, not so much. I laughed as the cameras faded in that episode, Lindsey is stuck listening to a drummer who thinks he is good, but can't keep time. That should be her hell, for interfering in what his dad's good intentions for his idiot son were.
Anyway, the point is on the show, the counselors and even the teachers are fierce in pointing out the "freaks" as losers and a waste of time. In one episode the math teacher, who is a hard-ass, tells Lindsey that yeah he has cute bedroom eyes and his curly hair makes all the girls swoon, but don't kid yourself, that boy is going nowhere and if you keep wasting your time with them, you will end up in the same boat. This only serves to piss her off more, so what does she do? Go and prove him right by helping the pretty stoner cheat. She ends up painting herself into a very uncomfortable corner, but alas, she is saved by a counselor who tries way too hard and her parents.
I was kind of taught that we all have a chance to make something of ourselves. I add to that fact that it may not be through academics. There are many ways to find success in this world, but none of them come if your goal is to be a lazy F**k. That is what we see from this little gang. They don't like going to school, they want to say everything is boring, meanwhile, all they do is stand against the wall taking up oxygen. If these kids were real, they would be looking for a way to get high since life has already started shitting on them. We don't really see that, but who would play hooky to just sit in a car doing nothing? I remember playing hooky once or twice, but it was in the quest of the mighty beaver. That was such a distraction, back in the day, nowadays, I could barely care who sits next to me.
I guess my point is, should we just turn our backs on the "freaks"? Do we deem them undesirable as soon as junior high, or do we wait until they graduate high school? Let them hang their own noose and hang themselves? As a grown up, it is easier to see the shitty kids, and it may not be their own faults, but if they risk slowing down the few good ones, do we shame them into hiding? One of the freaks had a father in the military, and he was insistent on sending him off, to make a man out of him. Should we be doing this with more of today's youth? In the show, Lindsey, the main girl, was trying to "save" him by maybe having him tryout with a real rock band, only for him to find that he has not put in the time and discipline to play good. In his head, he is a music god, but in the real world, not so much. I laughed as the cameras faded in that episode, Lindsey is stuck listening to a drummer who thinks he is good, but can't keep time. That should be her hell, for interfering in what his dad's good intentions for his idiot son were.
6/15/17 Re-watching Freaks And Geeks On Netflix?
I remember loving this show the first time around, and even being pissed when it got cancelled after barely 1 season back in 1999. It has been almost 18 years since it came out and watching it now, I can't help but get pissed at the Lindsey character for being a fucking idiot. Back when I was 25, I accepted she was acting a little rebellious, much like teens are supposed to, as so many TV shows tell us. In the show though, she has an intact nuclear family, dad owns a sports store, mom is a stay at home mom, Lindsey the older teen and Sam, her freshman brother.
I believe it is mostly because she has a crush on the character played by James Franco that she allows herself to go down that slippery slope of slowly becoming an asshole with no character and no substance. She agrees to a party in the first or second episode and is even OK with older guys coming, which means dirtbag adult men-child dudes show up and of course they want to trash the place. After she sees that the party is a waste as she is not going to get to make out with the good looking bad boy, she cries to one of her brother's friends who has always been in love with her. He heroes up and calls the cops to break up the party and save her. She should have been done with the "freaks", or stoners at this point, but in the next episode there she is again, vandalizing houses by breaking pumpkins and throwing eggs. Not until she accidentally eggs her own brother does she realize she is being an asshole, but does she stop hanging out with the troublemakers? I then watched the next episode and she then brings the other girl in the gang home with her and she ends up getting in a fight with the James Franco character, completely disrespecting her house. Surely this would put a stop to her shenanigans? No, she is a stupid girl. I never understood why her parents didn't make her take up an after school job, they did own a store, or come down on her when they met the fuck-ups.
Boy hung out with some would be, could be troublemakers, but I never really allowed him to leave the house with them. They came over and if they were being idiots I was quick to call them on it. These were kids without father figures at home, of course, the first sign of possible troublemakers. I loved them and treated them as my own, meaning I yelled at them just like I do my own Boy. If they were going to be around, I was going to try and affect their behavior, they were not going to affect my son's behavior.
I love how the younger brother and friends are trying to prop her up as they have always worshipped her as their pretty girl and they see her being shitty, but in the real world you can't really save those who don't want to be saved. I guess that's why the show didn't make sense. She was never really running away from anything, she had plenty of love at home. She saw in the troublemakers how rough their home lives were, yet there kept going the dopey girl trying to find herself and relate. She should have just kept trying to be herself and not tried so hard at fitting in.
I believe it is mostly because she has a crush on the character played by James Franco that she allows herself to go down that slippery slope of slowly becoming an asshole with no character and no substance. She agrees to a party in the first or second episode and is even OK with older guys coming, which means dirtbag adult men-child dudes show up and of course they want to trash the place. After she sees that the party is a waste as she is not going to get to make out with the good looking bad boy, she cries to one of her brother's friends who has always been in love with her. He heroes up and calls the cops to break up the party and save her. She should have been done with the "freaks", or stoners at this point, but in the next episode there she is again, vandalizing houses by breaking pumpkins and throwing eggs. Not until she accidentally eggs her own brother does she realize she is being an asshole, but does she stop hanging out with the troublemakers? I then watched the next episode and she then brings the other girl in the gang home with her and she ends up getting in a fight with the James Franco character, completely disrespecting her house. Surely this would put a stop to her shenanigans? No, she is a stupid girl. I never understood why her parents didn't make her take up an after school job, they did own a store, or come down on her when they met the fuck-ups.
Boy hung out with some would be, could be troublemakers, but I never really allowed him to leave the house with them. They came over and if they were being idiots I was quick to call them on it. These were kids without father figures at home, of course, the first sign of possible troublemakers. I loved them and treated them as my own, meaning I yelled at them just like I do my own Boy. If they were going to be around, I was going to try and affect their behavior, they were not going to affect my son's behavior.
I love how the younger brother and friends are trying to prop her up as they have always worshipped her as their pretty girl and they see her being shitty, but in the real world you can't really save those who don't want to be saved. I guess that's why the show didn't make sense. She was never really running away from anything, she had plenty of love at home. She saw in the troublemakers how rough their home lives were, yet there kept going the dopey girl trying to find herself and relate. She should have just kept trying to be herself and not tried so hard at fitting in.
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
6/14/17 Is It Possible Trump Is A Genius?
I started and went further to the left at the start of Trump's presidency because the man kind of scared me. He seems racist, elitist, sexist, and just about any other -ist you can think of. The left has spared no punches going for him at every opportunity, from Bill Maher on HBO to the Daily Show on Comedy Central. I admit I find funny in everything they declare about the man. But something just doesn't compute. Is he a buffoon like I had thought or is he really going to generate some change to help our country back to the top of the heap?
The biggest issue right now plaguing the world is the spread of Islam, which makes those raised with a Christian leaning leery and gives the free world something to think about. I consider myself open minded and at first I want to believe that they come in peace and all that beautiful "COEXIST" crap. But then when you look at the news, they are bombing a new location almost weekly, so why would we want their kind spreading this way? This has been Trump's big war cry, to keep enemies of America away. I am for this too. A 26 billion dollar wall is not going to stop them, but refusing refugees from middle eastern places, such as Syria will help.
Then we hear of Trump shaming other countries on NATO. I assumed everyone chipped in, that we pay for everything is fair how? Why is the United States charged with keeping the peace of the world? Nobody seems to respect us, in that regard.
Pulling out of all the environmental programs seemed very irresponsible as well, but if the other countries are not really following the rules, why charade like everything is cool? A program only works if all the participants are truly doing the work.
I don't know the right answer, so I don't want to sit and be all judgmental when I don't know the full story. If I end up being right, I can always say "I told you so." If I am wrong, I have officially shut my mouth, so I can say I started coming around to the different perspective this outsider to Washington brings. I don't like what I hear about his policies, and his efforts to bring in his family isn't right, but to the victor go the spoils. I don't believe we are headed in the right direction with a population that wants to sit on welfare and these corporations diluting us for their bottom line. We have to start somewhere and maybe the right path is to be selfish as a country until we gain our strength back. We keep letting the world suck on out titte and the sum bitchesdon't even seem to appreciate what we do, so fuck 'em all!!
The biggest issue right now plaguing the world is the spread of Islam, which makes those raised with a Christian leaning leery and gives the free world something to think about. I consider myself open minded and at first I want to believe that they come in peace and all that beautiful "COEXIST" crap. But then when you look at the news, they are bombing a new location almost weekly, so why would we want their kind spreading this way? This has been Trump's big war cry, to keep enemies of America away. I am for this too. A 26 billion dollar wall is not going to stop them, but refusing refugees from middle eastern places, such as Syria will help.
Then we hear of Trump shaming other countries on NATO. I assumed everyone chipped in, that we pay for everything is fair how? Why is the United States charged with keeping the peace of the world? Nobody seems to respect us, in that regard.
Pulling out of all the environmental programs seemed very irresponsible as well, but if the other countries are not really following the rules, why charade like everything is cool? A program only works if all the participants are truly doing the work.
I don't know the right answer, so I don't want to sit and be all judgmental when I don't know the full story. If I end up being right, I can always say "I told you so." If I am wrong, I have officially shut my mouth, so I can say I started coming around to the different perspective this outsider to Washington brings. I don't like what I hear about his policies, and his efforts to bring in his family isn't right, but to the victor go the spoils. I don't believe we are headed in the right direction with a population that wants to sit on welfare and these corporations diluting us for their bottom line. We have to start somewhere and maybe the right path is to be selfish as a country until we gain our strength back. We keep letting the world suck on out titte and the sum bitchesdon't even seem to appreciate what we do, so fuck 'em all!!
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
6/13/17 Compare And Contrast Of Newly Going In And Met Their Obligation?
There are so many stories in Orange Is The New Black, I could go on for a month, but I will share one or two more that I noticed. This one has to do with chef Judy King and the administrator from MCC, Linda Ferguson. Chef Judy spent the better part of last season in "prison", but even then, she was kept in a separate room from the inmates, was given a soda machine, and so many other things normal prisoners don't get. She pretended to make nice with the other inmates she was forced to mix with. She ended up befriending the black community and at one point was photographed kissing black Cindy for the tabloids. Judy told her there would be money but it never came.
Linda, who was responsible for the gradual degradation of the food quality as an executive with MCC, who privately owned the prison. She was responsible for changing the food from stuff cooked there to pre-packaged slop that barely qualified as food. However, once she found herself behind bars and with no recourse to get out, she took her role like a fish to water. She lost her fancy clothes, was quick with a new name and a story she was willing to repeat. She became Connie, the cunt from Connecticut, expert in forgery.
Chef Judy was never really a criminal in the hurting someone sense. She turned herself in for tax evasion and was supposed to do a minimum sentence, mimicking what happened to Martha Stewart. Because she was a celebrity, everyone in Litchfield new she was coming and although she didn't ask for the special treatment, as she told Yoga Jones, you don't say no when someone gives you more.
I think Linda did have a little evil in her. She seemed to have no problem rising in her sorority, even if it was her fault her big sister froze to death. She found an opportunity and she took it then and while imprisoned found the biggest strongest girl, Big Boo, and formed a bond with her for protection, even if it meant having to put out, because that is what a survivor does. She did get a little brazen though and after leaving Piper and Voss, she even landed with the big crowd and acted as a judge sitting there in the middle of all the prisoners with her flimsy story of being in for forgery when she too should have been a hostage, but becomes a prisoner, learning things to possibly make her better at her job, such as the living conditions mostly because of her business decisions to save MCC money and make the executives richer.
Linda, who was responsible for the gradual degradation of the food quality as an executive with MCC, who privately owned the prison. She was responsible for changing the food from stuff cooked there to pre-packaged slop that barely qualified as food. However, once she found herself behind bars and with no recourse to get out, she took her role like a fish to water. She lost her fancy clothes, was quick with a new name and a story she was willing to repeat. She became Connie, the cunt from Connecticut, expert in forgery.
Chef Judy was never really a criminal in the hurting someone sense. She turned herself in for tax evasion and was supposed to do a minimum sentence, mimicking what happened to Martha Stewart. Because she was a celebrity, everyone in Litchfield new she was coming and although she didn't ask for the special treatment, as she told Yoga Jones, you don't say no when someone gives you more.
I think Linda did have a little evil in her. She seemed to have no problem rising in her sorority, even if it was her fault her big sister froze to death. She found an opportunity and she took it then and while imprisoned found the biggest strongest girl, Big Boo, and formed a bond with her for protection, even if it meant having to put out, because that is what a survivor does. She did get a little brazen though and after leaving Piper and Voss, she even landed with the big crowd and acted as a judge sitting there in the middle of all the prisoners with her flimsy story of being in for forgery when she too should have been a hostage, but becomes a prisoner, learning things to possibly make her better at her job, such as the living conditions mostly because of her business decisions to save MCC money and make the executives richer.
Sunday, June 11, 2017
6/12/17 Daya Represents So Many Stupid Girls Today?
I am a big fan of Orange Is The New Black, and the fifth season has not been disappointing yet. The only thing that has let me down has been Daya, who I really thought was going to do her time and come out unscathed, but goddaammit, she goes from one fuck up to another and not in a smart way. They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and really, Daya's mother is a monster in every sense of the word. She takes up with a drug dealer who is doing all his drug activities amongst her kids. When they get busted, the mom takes the blame, because a woman will do less time, never mind she has about five young kids she is fixing to walk out on. Eventually, the apple does the same thing as mother and lands in jail for the mom's shitty drug dealing boyfriend.
The rules are simple, keep your head down, don't be a problem, don't fraternize with the guards. Before the end of season one, she gets pregnant from one of the guards but blames another one that no one likes. All this ruins at least four lives, not that it matters. The one-legged guard who likes her, but runs away. The jerk guard who gets blamed and fired, and who goes a little nuts, Daya, as the mother who gets her baby taken away, and the baby who is now floating around in the foster system. Whores that reproduce like this should be on Norplant, it took her weeks to find a dude willing to impregnate her, stupid girl. She pretty much plays it quiet the last couple seasons, but when the gun goes flying in the last episode of season four, she ends up with it.
She had absolutely no excuse to shoot the guard anywhere, much less saying she had aimed at his pecker, but the gun had too much kickback. She is taunted by the other inmates who go berserk without structure and law. Several inmates start kicking the shot guard and Gloria, who acts as her guardian tries to calm Daya down, but she will hear none of this.
Showing how immature she is, after shooting the guard she wants nothing more than to go lay down and nap, but refuses to give up ownership of the gun, because that is the center of power. It takes the other two "Spanish" girls talking about her future in max prison for her to realize what she has done. Gloria tries talking to her and the first time she still has her ignorant on full power. She is trying to blame the shooting on the guard who brought the gun in. Then she tries to blame the other girls who were pushing for her to do it.
Eventually, they have a heart to heart and she accepts that it was her who picked up the gun and it was her decision to pull the trigger. It doesn't matter who cheered or how she got the gun. We all have free will and what we do, we must claim as our own actions.
I feel bad for her, in the end, she could never escape her mother's shadow, I believe some of her bad decisions were done to get her mother's attention, but I don't know that that she monster needs to be involved in anyone's life, unless to make it worse.
The rules are simple, keep your head down, don't be a problem, don't fraternize with the guards. Before the end of season one, she gets pregnant from one of the guards but blames another one that no one likes. All this ruins at least four lives, not that it matters. The one-legged guard who likes her, but runs away. The jerk guard who gets blamed and fired, and who goes a little nuts, Daya, as the mother who gets her baby taken away, and the baby who is now floating around in the foster system. Whores that reproduce like this should be on Norplant, it took her weeks to find a dude willing to impregnate her, stupid girl. She pretty much plays it quiet the last couple seasons, but when the gun goes flying in the last episode of season four, she ends up with it.
She had absolutely no excuse to shoot the guard anywhere, much less saying she had aimed at his pecker, but the gun had too much kickback. She is taunted by the other inmates who go berserk without structure and law. Several inmates start kicking the shot guard and Gloria, who acts as her guardian tries to calm Daya down, but she will hear none of this.
Showing how immature she is, after shooting the guard she wants nothing more than to go lay down and nap, but refuses to give up ownership of the gun, because that is the center of power. It takes the other two "Spanish" girls talking about her future in max prison for her to realize what she has done. Gloria tries talking to her and the first time she still has her ignorant on full power. She is trying to blame the shooting on the guard who brought the gun in. Then she tries to blame the other girls who were pushing for her to do it.
Eventually, they have a heart to heart and she accepts that it was her who picked up the gun and it was her decision to pull the trigger. It doesn't matter who cheered or how she got the gun. We all have free will and what we do, we must claim as our own actions.
I feel bad for her, in the end, she could never escape her mother's shadow, I believe some of her bad decisions were done to get her mother's attention, but I don't know that that she monster needs to be involved in anyone's life, unless to make it worse.
6/11/17 Finally Resting My Way?
Friday night turned into a twelve hour shift I had not expected. I figured it was a night unattached to anything else, so I had gotten up early, went and did some things I had been meaning to do. As a result, I finally will have access to my extra bit of money trapped in my stocks, which I have had since as long ago as 1999. They just sat in my closet, hidden in a book. I want to say I will sell at $13, but then the stock has hit $13 twice in the last month and gone back down, maybe I get greedy and wait for $14-$15.
Either way, I feel like a man with a new lease on life. Last week I was in a true panic, I was scared we might even loose our house after the terrible cut in pay I experienced from work. This, after twenty plus years of solid quality work. Anyway, selling my truck to Carmax ended up giving me enough extra money to even pay off our RV which we had about a year to go. I had deduced I would use the stock money to pay off the RV, not figuring I had owned the truck enough to have built any equity in it.
If the stocks go on a positive run this week, it will just be more money to help pay off other credit cards, and really give us some room to breath, or I can sit on them and wait. I know that this pay period that just passed was OK and getting better, and the extra night worked will finally give me some money to put in my pocket, separate from our bills and obligations. This is a little WAM (Walk Around Money), something I hardly ever experience anymore. I'm feeling positive enough I may even buy Chubs the new gaming system Boy bought for himself. Boy lets him play it, if he feels like it, otherwise he will randomly tell him to beat it, and I don't like that. As I said, we give money to Boy in other ways, so he can't say we favor Chubs over him, although he still says it all the time.
I have some other plans I can get back to scheming for at this point, so I am glad about that. I want to be able to keep sending the credit cards the same I have been sending them and pay them off with the money we make. This would allow me to give Wife about half of my renter's money so we can work on our Disney stash money. I don't think we can make it happen this year, but you never know, Christmas break is a while away.
On a side note, I hate to admit I slept the whole day away and now at 4:30-5:00am I am full of energy, but that is how it goes when you work nights. This week is a short week for me, I should only be working three nights, so I feel pretty relaxed, even if I did work 60 hours this past week, on paper. Wife was here all week and she started out strong and putting all sorts of pressure on me, but I finally snapped one too many times and she said she would be cutting it out. With our bills back in order, the solar cells finally making power, Chubs going to a couple weeks of summer school for Math enrichment, and Boy working almost full time during the summer, I don't see where she has any room to harp about. I think we are back on track, financially, and that gives me the biggest "aaaahh" I can enjoy. At least until I go buy a new toy. :)
Either way, I feel like a man with a new lease on life. Last week I was in a true panic, I was scared we might even loose our house after the terrible cut in pay I experienced from work. This, after twenty plus years of solid quality work. Anyway, selling my truck to Carmax ended up giving me enough extra money to even pay off our RV which we had about a year to go. I had deduced I would use the stock money to pay off the RV, not figuring I had owned the truck enough to have built any equity in it.
If the stocks go on a positive run this week, it will just be more money to help pay off other credit cards, and really give us some room to breath, or I can sit on them and wait. I know that this pay period that just passed was OK and getting better, and the extra night worked will finally give me some money to put in my pocket, separate from our bills and obligations. This is a little WAM (Walk Around Money), something I hardly ever experience anymore. I'm feeling positive enough I may even buy Chubs the new gaming system Boy bought for himself. Boy lets him play it, if he feels like it, otherwise he will randomly tell him to beat it, and I don't like that. As I said, we give money to Boy in other ways, so he can't say we favor Chubs over him, although he still says it all the time.
I have some other plans I can get back to scheming for at this point, so I am glad about that. I want to be able to keep sending the credit cards the same I have been sending them and pay them off with the money we make. This would allow me to give Wife about half of my renter's money so we can work on our Disney stash money. I don't think we can make it happen this year, but you never know, Christmas break is a while away.
On a side note, I hate to admit I slept the whole day away and now at 4:30-5:00am I am full of energy, but that is how it goes when you work nights. This week is a short week for me, I should only be working three nights, so I feel pretty relaxed, even if I did work 60 hours this past week, on paper. Wife was here all week and she started out strong and putting all sorts of pressure on me, but I finally snapped one too many times and she said she would be cutting it out. With our bills back in order, the solar cells finally making power, Chubs going to a couple weeks of summer school for Math enrichment, and Boy working almost full time during the summer, I don't see where she has any room to harp about. I think we are back on track, financially, and that gives me the biggest "aaaahh" I can enjoy. At least until I go buy a new toy. :)
Saturday, June 10, 2017
6/10/17 FInally, Some OT?
Friday was supposed to be the start of a restful weekend, after going to our nephew's graduation in San Antonio and getting back pretty late. I managed to get up at 9:00am as I had plans for the day. I went downstairs while everybody was asleep and paid our bills for this cycle. Since I sold my truck a couple of days ago, I wanted to make sure the money was in the bank to go pay off the last couple of months of our RV. These two acts go a long way to getting us back where we were prior to my pay cut. While drinking my coffee around 10:00am, I got a call from my supervisor if I was interested in working OT tonight. I can't say no to extra money, but I was going to need a nap before 5:00pm
I thought it would also be a good day to go deposit my paper stocks at Scottrade being that I just found out what to do with them to make them useful. With paper stocks, they can be deposited to a place like Scottrade and then they become electronic stocks which are much easier to manage and sell. After doing this, we ate at Firehouse Subs since it is almost next door to the Scottrade place down south by the Costco.
Boy left for a Comic Convention in Dallas. I wasn't going to help him, but all of a sudden, we are not so tight on money with the selling of my truck, so I gave him the gas card and $50, to be nice. They left probably at 3:00-4:00 in the afternoon, and we just missed him because we got back around that time. I took my hour long nap in Chub's bedroom since Wife had stripped the bed naked to wash the sheets and stuff.
I got into work right at 5:30pm or so, I got a little distracted because I stopped the XMSirius satellite service on the truck and figured I could transfer it over to my Excursion, since that is what I will be driving regularly, for awhile. It didn't want to activate, but I think I was parked too close to the house, and it was interfering. After moving it halfway out the driveway, it started working.
I got to work in time to get the HOT work from the customer, come in and start working on it. I am probably staying an hour or two extra, but I was late on Tuesday, so this should square us up. It feels good, all of a sudden, getting rid of the truck and RV bills makes me feel a lot lighter. I could also sell the stocks and pay off a handful of other smaller credit cards and that would be awesome, but I want to play it cool, if OT picks up, I would rather keep my stock money for maybe another watch.
I thought it would also be a good day to go deposit my paper stocks at Scottrade being that I just found out what to do with them to make them useful. With paper stocks, they can be deposited to a place like Scottrade and then they become electronic stocks which are much easier to manage and sell. After doing this, we ate at Firehouse Subs since it is almost next door to the Scottrade place down south by the Costco.
Boy left for a Comic Convention in Dallas. I wasn't going to help him, but all of a sudden, we are not so tight on money with the selling of my truck, so I gave him the gas card and $50, to be nice. They left probably at 3:00-4:00 in the afternoon, and we just missed him because we got back around that time. I took my hour long nap in Chub's bedroom since Wife had stripped the bed naked to wash the sheets and stuff.
I got into work right at 5:30pm or so, I got a little distracted because I stopped the XMSirius satellite service on the truck and figured I could transfer it over to my Excursion, since that is what I will be driving regularly, for awhile. It didn't want to activate, but I think I was parked too close to the house, and it was interfering. After moving it halfway out the driveway, it started working.
I got to work in time to get the HOT work from the customer, come in and start working on it. I am probably staying an hour or two extra, but I was late on Tuesday, so this should square us up. It feels good, all of a sudden, getting rid of the truck and RV bills makes me feel a lot lighter. I could also sell the stocks and pay off a handful of other smaller credit cards and that would be awesome, but I want to play it cool, if OT picks up, I would rather keep my stock money for maybe another watch.
Thursday, June 8, 2017
6/9/17 Graduations: Yet Another Reason 5% Is Bullshit?
By all accounts, today was a beautiful day. My nephew on Wife's side of the family graduated from high school in San Antonio. Everyone is proud of him and even more so because he started out rough in his youth. His mama was 15-16 when he was born, he was labeled ADHD at a young age and it wasn't until he got into about junior high when he was put on Ritalin and other pills to control his explosive temper that he started behaving and progressing well in school. If not for my in-laws who have always treated him like a fifth child of their own, even with his mom always present, that he finally started not just passing but excelling.
I don't know if he finally outgrew his extra energy which made him a handful, but he has become a sweet boy who I liken to an overly friendly saint Bernard. He is 6ft 2in or so and lucky for us he is a loveable kid at heart because someone that size could be hard to handle if he behaved like he did when he was younger. There was a point he went from one tantrum to another, I didn't care for him then, but we went to Florida two years ago with them and I found him very likable. He was excited to be there and excited to be in Disney World with us.
My complaint for today just has to do with timing. The graduation was at 3:00pm, which meant we had to live Austin by 1:30pm, the latest and hope for no delays. This meant I had to get up around noon, if I was going to shower and eat something to attempt to poop. Since I was getting up at noon, and I worked last night until 7:00am, and I didn't get home until 7:15am, one can do the math on how much I was given to sleep. Even though I planned last week to be out and I even worked an extra day, I didn't plan on having to get up this early. Most graduations I have gone to have been later in the day. After cutting my pay to save a couple of nickels, there is no way anyone above me understands that I still have to function on whatever sleep I can manage. What am I supposed to do, miss two days of work because a member of the family is graduating? That sounds ridiculous, no I just have to tough it out. So there I am, falling asleep at the graduation, stopping for a coffee on my drive up there, even though it is 95 degrees outside and I hate drinking hot stuff in the heat, falling asleep standing around while they are all taking pictures, falling asleep while we go to the restaurant to eat as a family because I slept less than four hours.
I guess it is my fault, I accept that my discomfort is worth a shitty 5% more than the people who work normal schedules. It wasn't that long ago that I would just laugh it off when people made fun of me because I had fallen asleep at the table while dining, at least I could tell myself I get compensated well at 15% to tolerate the jokes plus I am important and needed on nights. Now I just feel like an idiot punishing myself and going night after night not seeing my family for a measly 5%. Fuck that, I might as well lose that and work dayshift. I just have to learn to sleep in the dark again, which is a little scary for me right now.
I don't know if he finally outgrew his extra energy which made him a handful, but he has become a sweet boy who I liken to an overly friendly saint Bernard. He is 6ft 2in or so and lucky for us he is a loveable kid at heart because someone that size could be hard to handle if he behaved like he did when he was younger. There was a point he went from one tantrum to another, I didn't care for him then, but we went to Florida two years ago with them and I found him very likable. He was excited to be there and excited to be in Disney World with us.
My complaint for today just has to do with timing. The graduation was at 3:00pm, which meant we had to live Austin by 1:30pm, the latest and hope for no delays. This meant I had to get up around noon, if I was going to shower and eat something to attempt to poop. Since I was getting up at noon, and I worked last night until 7:00am, and I didn't get home until 7:15am, one can do the math on how much I was given to sleep. Even though I planned last week to be out and I even worked an extra day, I didn't plan on having to get up this early. Most graduations I have gone to have been later in the day. After cutting my pay to save a couple of nickels, there is no way anyone above me understands that I still have to function on whatever sleep I can manage. What am I supposed to do, miss two days of work because a member of the family is graduating? That sounds ridiculous, no I just have to tough it out. So there I am, falling asleep at the graduation, stopping for a coffee on my drive up there, even though it is 95 degrees outside and I hate drinking hot stuff in the heat, falling asleep standing around while they are all taking pictures, falling asleep while we go to the restaurant to eat as a family because I slept less than four hours.
I guess it is my fault, I accept that my discomfort is worth a shitty 5% more than the people who work normal schedules. It wasn't that long ago that I would just laugh it off when people made fun of me because I had fallen asleep at the table while dining, at least I could tell myself I get compensated well at 15% to tolerate the jokes plus I am important and needed on nights. Now I just feel like an idiot punishing myself and going night after night not seeing my family for a measly 5%. Fuck that, I might as well lose that and work dayshift. I just have to learn to sleep in the dark again, which is a little scary for me right now.
6/8/17 Death Comes For All Of Us?
Yesterday, Boy's friend, who stays with us said his grandfather had been given medicine for pain, but they will not be doing anything to make him better anymore. From what I have gathered, that is pretty much the person will be passing away in the next 24-48 hours. Sure enough, he got the call at 3:15am that the Grandpa had passed away in his sleep. It is of course always sad to loose someone, but he did live to the age of 80 and the last few years were rough on him, as he had lost his eyesight and was living in a nursing home, away from his wife of 49 years.
I first met the man like in 2007. He was an old school Hispanic man, very proud and very nice. We visited them a few times, they invited us over for an Easter and maybe a birthday party. They lived out on some acres in the country, and it was nice to have open lots like that, the man grilling away in his backyard. Even then, when we met Boy's friend, in 7th grade, he would have mini break downs, that Grandpa was going to die because he was admitted to the hospital all the time. After a while, it was like Chicken Little and I decided this man is going to be around a long time, his grandson needs to take a chill pill.
Surprisingly, the old man lasted another ten years, we didn't see him much over the last few years, as sometimes you grow apart from people as fast as you grow together. His mama started dating a new fellow and he didn't care for our shenanigans and quick witted conversations, so we didn't hang out anymore.
I don't hold it against his Mama, after all, she was looking for a partner to help make her life easier, and I guess this dude fit the bill. He told us that the Grandpa was going to be cremated which is an option for me, but I didn't realize it happened so quick. He said it was going to happen the same afternoon, but now they have backed off and are going to have some sort of church ceremony. I am not sure how it is supposed to work. Does the body have to be paraded around town, or can he be in the process of getting delivered to a crematorium while the church ceremony is in process, or does his body have to be there?
I don't know how it will play out. I don't know if we show up out of respect for Boy's friend or do we give them space as a family with the new hubby who might be sensitive and not like us being there. The last time we interacted, he went and sat in the car while we were in the middle of a Halloween Party. We also have our nephew's graduation today in San Antonio which is going to be rough, as it is at 3:00pm at the Alamodome, and I am at work until 6:30am or so.
I first met the man like in 2007. He was an old school Hispanic man, very proud and very nice. We visited them a few times, they invited us over for an Easter and maybe a birthday party. They lived out on some acres in the country, and it was nice to have open lots like that, the man grilling away in his backyard. Even then, when we met Boy's friend, in 7th grade, he would have mini break downs, that Grandpa was going to die because he was admitted to the hospital all the time. After a while, it was like Chicken Little and I decided this man is going to be around a long time, his grandson needs to take a chill pill.
Surprisingly, the old man lasted another ten years, we didn't see him much over the last few years, as sometimes you grow apart from people as fast as you grow together. His mama started dating a new fellow and he didn't care for our shenanigans and quick witted conversations, so we didn't hang out anymore.
I don't hold it against his Mama, after all, she was looking for a partner to help make her life easier, and I guess this dude fit the bill. He told us that the Grandpa was going to be cremated which is an option for me, but I didn't realize it happened so quick. He said it was going to happen the same afternoon, but now they have backed off and are going to have some sort of church ceremony. I am not sure how it is supposed to work. Does the body have to be paraded around town, or can he be in the process of getting delivered to a crematorium while the church ceremony is in process, or does his body have to be there?
I don't know how it will play out. I don't know if we show up out of respect for Boy's friend or do we give them space as a family with the new hubby who might be sensitive and not like us being there. The last time we interacted, he went and sat in the car while we were in the middle of a Halloween Party. We also have our nephew's graduation today in San Antonio which is going to be rough, as it is at 3:00pm at the Alamodome, and I am at work until 6:30am or so.
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
6/7/17 Crazy Ass Tuesday?
Tuesday started out like any other day. I was supposed to get up with my alarm clock at 3:00pm and get my truck ready to sell at Carmax. I did not jump out of bed, actually, Wife ended up calling me around 4:00pm wondering what I was doing. I told her I was asleep, and thanks for waking me up, sarcastically. I remembered we did talk about it and I had meant to be up and moving around by then, so I got up and headed outside. I turned the truck 180 degrees so the tailgate faced the house, I sold the truck but kept the fifth wheel hitch and it is not a light piece of metal. It is solid iron and easily over 100-150 pounds. I almost managed to fall with it on top of me. As I lifted it and took a step back from the truck, my Croc caught the edge of the cement that steps up into the garage. If I hadn't thrown the other foot back and basically dropped the hitch straight down, I might have gone backwards and dropped the thing on my legs, like I haven't had enough problems with either one lately. Chubs came outside just in time to see me in a panic, and he has the balls to tell me he is doing all the hard work because I told him to go get me some bags to collect all the stuff from inside the truck.
About this time Girlie got home and was asking me about how many stamps to put on an envelope, she got a speeding ticket over the weekend and was filing whatever she needs to do to take defensive driving. I told her it looked like a normal letter and one stamp should be enough. Chubs and I kept cleaning the truck, it went fairly fast. Just as I was walking back in to go take a quick shower and go take the truck, Girlie comes out to the garage crying that she is in pain holding on to the door. I was sure she was going to pass out, but where she was I could not really help her. She managed to take baby steps out into the garage and I prompted her to get in the truck. It must have took 5 minutes for her to get across the garage and into the truck. Meanwhile Chubs ran in twice to get her some sandals and then to get her purse.
We got to the hospital as quickly as we could, I called her mom and Wife while on the way. Her step-dad happened to call her and she handed me the phone, she was in too much pain to talk, I told him where we were headed. I got her off and in the emergency doors and she got some paperwork to fill out. I then went out to move my truck from the emergency lane. By the time I walked back her folks were there. I said hi to everybody and since she wasn't alone, I figured I could leave, not wanting to be some weird third wheel.
I called Wife who had just made it home and told her to meet me at Carmax. In my rush to be a hero, I forgot the spare keys to the truck I sold and the paperwork they had given me. Wife had all that, and the rest is history. I no longer own the truck, and I have enough money to pay off the RV. Taking care of those two things goes a long way to helping us be more comfortable financially, which is the reason I did it. I didn't make it in to work until a little after 8:00pm, but it was a lot to do. I thought Girlie might be kept overnight, but by the time I went and took a shower and dressed after eating a quick burger, she was already home. The doctor told her she either had a muscle contraction or she passed a kidney stone. Either way, it was a harrowing experience.
About this time Girlie got home and was asking me about how many stamps to put on an envelope, she got a speeding ticket over the weekend and was filing whatever she needs to do to take defensive driving. I told her it looked like a normal letter and one stamp should be enough. Chubs and I kept cleaning the truck, it went fairly fast. Just as I was walking back in to go take a quick shower and go take the truck, Girlie comes out to the garage crying that she is in pain holding on to the door. I was sure she was going to pass out, but where she was I could not really help her. She managed to take baby steps out into the garage and I prompted her to get in the truck. It must have took 5 minutes for her to get across the garage and into the truck. Meanwhile Chubs ran in twice to get her some sandals and then to get her purse.
We got to the hospital as quickly as we could, I called her mom and Wife while on the way. Her step-dad happened to call her and she handed me the phone, she was in too much pain to talk, I told him where we were headed. I got her off and in the emergency doors and she got some paperwork to fill out. I then went out to move my truck from the emergency lane. By the time I walked back her folks were there. I said hi to everybody and since she wasn't alone, I figured I could leave, not wanting to be some weird third wheel.
I called Wife who had just made it home and told her to meet me at Carmax. In my rush to be a hero, I forgot the spare keys to the truck I sold and the paperwork they had given me. Wife had all that, and the rest is history. I no longer own the truck, and I have enough money to pay off the RV. Taking care of those two things goes a long way to helping us be more comfortable financially, which is the reason I did it. I didn't make it in to work until a little after 8:00pm, but it was a lot to do. I thought Girlie might be kept overnight, but by the time I went and took a shower and dressed after eating a quick burger, she was already home. The doctor told her she either had a muscle contraction or she passed a kidney stone. Either way, it was a harrowing experience.
Monday, June 5, 2017
6/6/17 Selling Another Truck?
I just can't seem to keep them. With the recent adjustment to my salary, I have been playing with the numbers and it seemed like it might be fine if we did some small things, such as reduce our insurance coverage, and return a couple of cable boxes, and honestly, the numbers line up, on paper. The problem is we live in the real world. It didn't take but the weekend of hearing Wife in a bit of a panic as we walked around Academy looking for a new liner for our grill. Normally, I would have just bought a newer bigger grill and been done with it, but the new and (what is the opposite of improved?) broke Mando must resort to living like the huddled masses and fix what I have. Wife talks a good game and everybody sides with her, but she is the little dagger in my rib cage that is never completely relaxed, even when we have been doing good. She was making up things we're going to need money for, such as her school clothes at the end of the summer, school clothes for Chubs, what about taking a vacation, she suddenly has a messed up tooth, and on and on.
I finally flailed in the aisle with the inflatable pizzas and turds for swimming fun, I told her "relax, we'll sell my truck, and things we'll even out to how it was before my cut in pay. This seemed to help, and instead of giving y'all theoretical ideas, I'll cut to the chase. We went today to Carmax where I sold my last truck and got a quote from them. They said they would buy the truck for $38719. I owe $35160, so I can even walk away with $3500. This is great because that extra allows me to pay off the RV as well. I will then have removed the RV payment of $343.60 and the truck payment of $676.19, which combined and throwing in the fact that I will no longer pay for insurance on the truck, add another ~$70, and my savings are closer to $1100. Add to that the money we were still sending to Chase to deposit in Boy's bank account ever since we opened it, which is another $200 a month and that pretty much takes me even with what was taken away from me.
On the one hand I do not want to do this, as I do love that truck, it still seems new, but on the other, as the responsible party for losing so much money for our household, I had to do something. Management keeps talking about new contracts and OT in the near future, but it is just warm air right now. We just spend too much, this weekend my folks were here, and we didn't do much, but still eating out added up, we have managed to cut down what we spend at the movies but even with free tickets and ordering water to drink, we still end up with a tab over $40, and that is just us three, not including Boy. Throw in a new shirt for the graduation, some cheap shirts we found for Chubs for next school year, 3 white Polo type under $20, and we still spent a pretty penny. Oh yeah, then my renter is paying me a week late because he didn't get paid because a customer stiffed them.
All these things make me realize I can't live on the edge like "on paper" tells me we can. In due time, I will get me another vehicle, probably not a big truck anymore, it did suck that it never rose above 12mpg. Maybe a sexy little sports car, but let me loose some weight first.
I finally flailed in the aisle with the inflatable pizzas and turds for swimming fun, I told her "relax, we'll sell my truck, and things we'll even out to how it was before my cut in pay. This seemed to help, and instead of giving y'all theoretical ideas, I'll cut to the chase. We went today to Carmax where I sold my last truck and got a quote from them. They said they would buy the truck for $38719. I owe $35160, so I can even walk away with $3500. This is great because that extra allows me to pay off the RV as well. I will then have removed the RV payment of $343.60 and the truck payment of $676.19, which combined and throwing in the fact that I will no longer pay for insurance on the truck, add another ~$70, and my savings are closer to $1100. Add to that the money we were still sending to Chase to deposit in Boy's bank account ever since we opened it, which is another $200 a month and that pretty much takes me even with what was taken away from me.
On the one hand I do not want to do this, as I do love that truck, it still seems new, but on the other, as the responsible party for losing so much money for our household, I had to do something. Management keeps talking about new contracts and OT in the near future, but it is just warm air right now. We just spend too much, this weekend my folks were here, and we didn't do much, but still eating out added up, we have managed to cut down what we spend at the movies but even with free tickets and ordering water to drink, we still end up with a tab over $40, and that is just us three, not including Boy. Throw in a new shirt for the graduation, some cheap shirts we found for Chubs for next school year, 3 white Polo type under $20, and we still spent a pretty penny. Oh yeah, then my renter is paying me a week late because he didn't get paid because a customer stiffed them.
All these things make me realize I can't live on the edge like "on paper" tells me we can. In due time, I will get me another vehicle, probably not a big truck anymore, it did suck that it never rose above 12mpg. Maybe a sexy little sports car, but let me loose some weight first.
Sunday, June 4, 2017
6/5/17 Sovereign Citizens Rule?
I recently found a sub-group of human beings who believe they are above the law and their actions always end up in the same place, with them on the ground and about five cops on their backs. It always seems to be the same story with these guys. They get stopped over some ridiculous shit like running a stop sign or speeding a little bit and then the hilarity ensues.
The first thing these geniuses like to say is "am I being detained?" Yes Idiot, you got pulled over, you are being detained. This action must be like fingers on a chalkboard for the officer involved because it's not like the cop has ever responded with I'm sorry, go on your way. The cop is after all the authority and he is going to double down and call for back-up. Once the sovereign citizen hears the call over the radio for back-up, he should cut his shit and present ID. No good is coming for him in about 3-5 minutes time.
If the cop is in a good mood, he will entertain the citizen for a few minutes, giving ample time for his buddies to show up. At a certain point, if he is not already wearing gloves, he'll put those on, and then it'll be time to get interesting. The small gap which was being used by the citizen to converse with his detainer becomes the perfect handle for Mr. Officer to grab the glass and pull out causing the glass to shatter in a most satisfying way. I don't understand why the citizen is always surprised he is being pulled out of his car, he has been told about twenty times to "get out of the car."
Right before the inevitable glass breaking, the citizen tries a Jedi trick to just leave and act like nothing happened, never mind that this results in 99% gun draws from any officers present. Upon retreating back to turning off the car, there is an "ok-ok, I didn't do nothing", if attempting to run over a cop is doing nothing.
I don't get this thinking. I have been stopped 2-3 times in my life. I am quick with the driver's license and insurance, and they are quick to send me on my way. We had the alarm go off in our house a couple years ago because we had the alarm on and I ran out of the house to pick up Chubs. The officer was parked in front of the house when we got back, and I apologized for my error. He said he figured it was something like that, he was equally friendly, I did show him my ID again, no big deal, and actually knowing they respond that quickly is a good feeling.
These citizens forget they enjoy everything the United States provides, such as paved roads, clean water, free schooling for their shitty kids, and then they have the temerity to sit there like they provide everything for themselves. Try acting that way out there in the middle east, free thinker, see how ling your head stays attached to your body. Be glad you were lucky or blessed enough to have been born in this country and do the right thing. No, what the voices in your head tell you are usually not the right thing, Stupid!!
The first thing these geniuses like to say is "am I being detained?" Yes Idiot, you got pulled over, you are being detained. This action must be like fingers on a chalkboard for the officer involved because it's not like the cop has ever responded with I'm sorry, go on your way. The cop is after all the authority and he is going to double down and call for back-up. Once the sovereign citizen hears the call over the radio for back-up, he should cut his shit and present ID. No good is coming for him in about 3-5 minutes time.
If the cop is in a good mood, he will entertain the citizen for a few minutes, giving ample time for his buddies to show up. At a certain point, if he is not already wearing gloves, he'll put those on, and then it'll be time to get interesting. The small gap which was being used by the citizen to converse with his detainer becomes the perfect handle for Mr. Officer to grab the glass and pull out causing the glass to shatter in a most satisfying way. I don't understand why the citizen is always surprised he is being pulled out of his car, he has been told about twenty times to "get out of the car."
Right before the inevitable glass breaking, the citizen tries a Jedi trick to just leave and act like nothing happened, never mind that this results in 99% gun draws from any officers present. Upon retreating back to turning off the car, there is an "ok-ok, I didn't do nothing", if attempting to run over a cop is doing nothing.
I don't get this thinking. I have been stopped 2-3 times in my life. I am quick with the driver's license and insurance, and they are quick to send me on my way. We had the alarm go off in our house a couple years ago because we had the alarm on and I ran out of the house to pick up Chubs. The officer was parked in front of the house when we got back, and I apologized for my error. He said he figured it was something like that, he was equally friendly, I did show him my ID again, no big deal, and actually knowing they respond that quickly is a good feeling.
These citizens forget they enjoy everything the United States provides, such as paved roads, clean water, free schooling for their shitty kids, and then they have the temerity to sit there like they provide everything for themselves. Try acting that way out there in the middle east, free thinker, see how ling your head stays attached to your body. Be glad you were lucky or blessed enough to have been born in this country and do the right thing. No, what the voices in your head tell you are usually not the right thing, Stupid!!
6/4/17 Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales? (Movie)
We went and saw the new Pirates movie last night and as far as movies go, it did the job as a summer blockbuster. I was not looking forward to this installment as I was sure that I had only seen one or two of these Jack Sparrow movies, but dammit, it was actually funny if you catch Depp's nuances and tiny one liners. He is still drunk and for the most part still being saved by his men who are loyal and love him, but on land, he is no more than a drunk.
Not until he is needed and the scene becomes do or die that he really acts like the hero we all expect him to be. In this fifth chapter to the Jack Sparrow saga we find a young Henry, son of Will Turner, boarding the ship his dad is cursed upon. He promises his father he will undo the curse and bring him home. This is nine years in the past, we then fast forward and catch up with present day Henry in the British Navy and upon seeing the Devil's Triangle attempts to stop the captain. Henry is put in jail and accused of attempted mutiny. When the ship is then caught in the Devil's Triangle, all the men are killed, except for Henry who is to take a message to Jack Sparrow that Captain Salazar and death are on their way for him. Henry is obsessed with getting Poseidon's trident which would release his father from a curse, and soon ends up siding with Jack. There is always a girl and this is no exception. She is smarter than most men around, for that she is called a witch which she must pay with her death.
She was left at the door of a convent and was raised an orphan. All she has is her book which she too is obsessed with solving a puzzle and getting answers about her past. We soon realize who her father is and she finds out just a little too late but in true Hollywood fashion, heroically. But in all the activity and action, they both end up on a ship with Jack and off they go, looking for Poseidon's Trident with a map no man can read (But a woman can...).
Just when it seems like you can relax, Captain Salazar has finally escaped the Devil's Triangle and is on hot pursuit of Jack. Jack leaves the ship they are on to save the men aboard and make way for a tiny island. It is a full on race to get to the beach. Once upon the beach of course, more shenanigans ensue.
Eventually, they make it to the unmarked island and find what they are looking for, there are some really cool special effects and before you know it, Jack and the gang are running around on the ocean floor trying to take control of Poseidon's Trident. All comes to a head, and of course Jack's trusted crew is there to save him, yet again. They loose a captain in the process, but he does it to save his treasure, so of course, it is heroic.
In the end, all is at peace. Henry has a small reunion with his father who he saved, the girl figures out who her father is, and Jack who had lost the Black Pearl (his ship), gets it back and in the closing scene is setting sail to only he knows where. Guess we will see his next adventures in a couple years, when they get it done.
Not until he is needed and the scene becomes do or die that he really acts like the hero we all expect him to be. In this fifth chapter to the Jack Sparrow saga we find a young Henry, son of Will Turner, boarding the ship his dad is cursed upon. He promises his father he will undo the curse and bring him home. This is nine years in the past, we then fast forward and catch up with present day Henry in the British Navy and upon seeing the Devil's Triangle attempts to stop the captain. Henry is put in jail and accused of attempted mutiny. When the ship is then caught in the Devil's Triangle, all the men are killed, except for Henry who is to take a message to Jack Sparrow that Captain Salazar and death are on their way for him. Henry is obsessed with getting Poseidon's trident which would release his father from a curse, and soon ends up siding with Jack. There is always a girl and this is no exception. She is smarter than most men around, for that she is called a witch which she must pay with her death.
She was left at the door of a convent and was raised an orphan. All she has is her book which she too is obsessed with solving a puzzle and getting answers about her past. We soon realize who her father is and she finds out just a little too late but in true Hollywood fashion, heroically. But in all the activity and action, they both end up on a ship with Jack and off they go, looking for Poseidon's Trident with a map no man can read (But a woman can...).
Just when it seems like you can relax, Captain Salazar has finally escaped the Devil's Triangle and is on hot pursuit of Jack. Jack leaves the ship they are on to save the men aboard and make way for a tiny island. It is a full on race to get to the beach. Once upon the beach of course, more shenanigans ensue.
Eventually, they make it to the unmarked island and find what they are looking for, there are some really cool special effects and before you know it, Jack and the gang are running around on the ocean floor trying to take control of Poseidon's Trident. All comes to a head, and of course Jack's trusted crew is there to save him, yet again. They loose a captain in the process, but he does it to save his treasure, so of course, it is heroic.
In the end, all is at peace. Henry has a small reunion with his father who he saved, the girl figures out who her father is, and Jack who had lost the Black Pearl (his ship), gets it back and in the closing scene is setting sail to only he knows where. Guess we will see his next adventures in a couple years, when they get it done.
Saturday, June 3, 2017
6/3/17 Essential Summer Tool?
I know we live in Texas and any weekend is a good reason to grill outside, so we never really put away the grill. I like to cook once a week or so outside or Wife would say she ends up cooking once a week or so outside, either way, that grill gets a lot of usage. We have probably gone through seven or eight grills in our twenty two years of marriage and alas it seems like we are in need of a new one. I would love to buy a thick steel or iron one like the kinds my Dad and brother have bought back home, but I don't have any connections with welders up here. The kinds of grills I get are the cheap stamped metal from Academy. This last one seemed to be doing alright, but then it got windy and because it wasn't super heavy, the wind pushed it off the backyard patio and bent it pretty good.
It could have survived one fall, but those wind storms come in packs of threes and eventually the thermometer screwed into the door shattered, and the barrel shape itself became slightly warped, and the body swayed on its frame. Because it was fairly new, I decided to try and use it anyway, and it held itself together. This probably happened two years ago, as the grill is probably on its third season, but I don't think I can go on with it. The liner inside where I load the charcoal and could be adjusted height-wise, has now broken and bent into two pieces. Without this, my choice is to now put the charcoal on the bottom of the metal barrel or go looking for a new liner. I looked yesterday at Academy since I bought it there, but no luck. Plus, do I want to spend money on this grill, it has not been even in my top five of favorite grills?
My favorite type of grill to own would have to be the combo charcoal and gas ones with two grills side by side. We went through two of those prior to the one we have now. I don't care for cooking with gas, but the gas side was good for keeping food warm while cooking with the other side. When done right, it could almost double our cooking area, but that was also one of its flaws. The gas side was temperamental and after awhile worked only if coaxed just right. I don't like to be messing with things. Plus if just using the charcoal side, it was almost too small, so it barely worked for us, but I did like the massiveness of the unit, as a whole.
I think I am going to try the Hondo or New Braunfels type this next time. It is what my dad has always used, the long barrel, usually about three feet long and 18-20 inches deep. My dad always dumps a whole large bag of charcoal in, and he can be cooking as soon as the match hits the lighter fluid. He takes the term "burning some meat on the grill" to new levels, but you will never get sick from eating raw meat with him, everything is well done. I joke, but this is one of the things he always did right. That man is not cheap when it comes to grilling, he always buys too much meat which is a good thing. He also taught me about variety, not everybody wants to eat chicken, some people prefer ribs, some like sausages. I always try to have two or three different meats involved.
With the size of one of these grills, I could pour my charcoal on one side and create a hot and a warm zone. I just need the next grill to have some heft to it. This dinky metal stamped varieties do not last long enough. Plus, if they are heavy enough, maybe the wind will quit bullying on them.
It could have survived one fall, but those wind storms come in packs of threes and eventually the thermometer screwed into the door shattered, and the barrel shape itself became slightly warped, and the body swayed on its frame. Because it was fairly new, I decided to try and use it anyway, and it held itself together. This probably happened two years ago, as the grill is probably on its third season, but I don't think I can go on with it. The liner inside where I load the charcoal and could be adjusted height-wise, has now broken and bent into two pieces. Without this, my choice is to now put the charcoal on the bottom of the metal barrel or go looking for a new liner. I looked yesterday at Academy since I bought it there, but no luck. Plus, do I want to spend money on this grill, it has not been even in my top five of favorite grills?
My favorite type of grill to own would have to be the combo charcoal and gas ones with two grills side by side. We went through two of those prior to the one we have now. I don't care for cooking with gas, but the gas side was good for keeping food warm while cooking with the other side. When done right, it could almost double our cooking area, but that was also one of its flaws. The gas side was temperamental and after awhile worked only if coaxed just right. I don't like to be messing with things. Plus if just using the charcoal side, it was almost too small, so it barely worked for us, but I did like the massiveness of the unit, as a whole.
I think I am going to try the Hondo or New Braunfels type this next time. It is what my dad has always used, the long barrel, usually about three feet long and 18-20 inches deep. My dad always dumps a whole large bag of charcoal in, and he can be cooking as soon as the match hits the lighter fluid. He takes the term "burning some meat on the grill" to new levels, but you will never get sick from eating raw meat with him, everything is well done. I joke, but this is one of the things he always did right. That man is not cheap when it comes to grilling, he always buys too much meat which is a good thing. He also taught me about variety, not everybody wants to eat chicken, some people prefer ribs, some like sausages. I always try to have two or three different meats involved.
With the size of one of these grills, I could pour my charcoal on one side and create a hot and a warm zone. I just need the next grill to have some heft to it. This dinky metal stamped varieties do not last long enough. Plus, if they are heavy enough, maybe the wind will quit bullying on them.
Friday, June 2, 2017
6/2/17 Freeway Construction?
What is the difference between building on I-35 vs. building on a toll road? Not that we were told, but I looked up what was going on and it seems a lot of construction on I-35, south of Ben White or Highway 71. It seems they are converting the freeway from a three lane freeway to a four lane freeway to ease congestion during rush hour, I presume. Traffic seemed tolerable a few years ago before the flyovers, joining HWY 71 to I-35. It seems day or night, there is a steady flux of vehicular traffic. Since the people are not slowing down on the feeder lanes and gradually letting vehicles in, it is like there are four lanes where the flyovers meet, but that disappears entirely by the time the traffic gets to William Cannon. That is the first major slowdown past Ben White.
It appears they have already done the rough cut in, put in the proper plumbing underneath and elevated and even put down asphalt in the middle to connect north and south lanes from Ben White all the way to William Cannon. I don't think that is nearly enough, I hope the plan is to extend the four lanes past Slaughter Lane. Another idea would be if they move the exit from I-35 closer to William Cannon to have the option to get off when traffic is not moving on the highway. I can only assume they have begun working on something past Slaughter and further south, as traffic was stopped going south. I kind of ignored Wife's warning because from the flyover it looked pretty open to making it all the way home quickly, but as soon as we climbed that hill past William Cannon, traffic just came to a stop.
Meanwhile, if you drive on the toll road east of Austin, you can get from Seguin to north of Georgetown on toll road 130. Those people must have been paid in real money or with bonuses because that highway went up fast. They need to get rid of the toll road shenanigans and let truckers ride for free on these roads to move them away from Austin's traffic, it is already too congested. But all we gotta do is wait. In four years we will have another lane going both ways on I-35, just in time as when we will be needing a fifth lane. I can imagine before I die, we will have lanes above and below like we do where UT is at. There isn't that much more land to grow, in the future, we will just have to get more creative with our solutions.
It appears they have already done the rough cut in, put in the proper plumbing underneath and elevated and even put down asphalt in the middle to connect north and south lanes from Ben White all the way to William Cannon. I don't think that is nearly enough, I hope the plan is to extend the four lanes past Slaughter Lane. Another idea would be if they move the exit from I-35 closer to William Cannon to have the option to get off when traffic is not moving on the highway. I can only assume they have begun working on something past Slaughter and further south, as traffic was stopped going south. I kind of ignored Wife's warning because from the flyover it looked pretty open to making it all the way home quickly, but as soon as we climbed that hill past William Cannon, traffic just came to a stop.
Meanwhile, if you drive on the toll road east of Austin, you can get from Seguin to north of Georgetown on toll road 130. Those people must have been paid in real money or with bonuses because that highway went up fast. They need to get rid of the toll road shenanigans and let truckers ride for free on these roads to move them away from Austin's traffic, it is already too congested. But all we gotta do is wait. In four years we will have another lane going both ways on I-35, just in time as when we will be needing a fifth lane. I can imagine before I die, we will have lanes above and below like we do where UT is at. There isn't that much more land to grow, in the future, we will just have to get more creative with our solutions.
Thursday, June 1, 2017
6/1/17 Summer Time?
Wife told me Chubs was going to school until Thursday, I did not realize we were going to get into June before school let up, what the heck? We didn't start later than normal, why the long year? Anyways, it seems Boy has been in vacation mode at least for two weeks which always seems unfair to Chubs, but whatever. Chubs has asked for a little get together with his buddies, and although I don't like it, I am letting them have their get together tonight, even though I am going to be at work. If they get together tonight, I can send his friends home tomorrow and then my folks can visit as they planned. I haven't got any official word, but Wife lives with them during the week and my Dad told her they are coming up Saturday. I am surprised they are coming, they had threatened to boycott me because I have too many renters, but I guess if they want to see their grandkids, they'll make it up here, heh heh.
Chubs has one other request and that is that we buy him a video game. We put the condition that we wanted to see his test scores before committing to anything new, but his test scores won't be released until June 15th, and he did get into the National Honor Society, which we didn't attend because they moved it around and it just seemed like too much last week with another school function earlier in the same week. So maybe we kind of owe him something, he is a good boy, and he has had to grow up a little bit this year, spending time alone in the house when he doesn't have a choice.
He will also have to be doing a math summer enrichment program for three weeks since he didn't do great in the math portion of his testing. I kind of blame that on happenstance. He was scheduled to go with his mom to Crystal, so last year when there was a summer program for the Einstein kids, we said why should he attend if he is headed to Crystal? Then he spent three weeks in Crystal where he said they were doing stuff he had already done in the previous year. When he came back, he was behind the rest of the kids and never caught up.
Enough with the excuses, today is about having a little fun and cutting loose. I'll probably get him his game this afternoon at Target. Wife will even be here tonight, as she has started working four day weeks, so at least for the summer, she will be coming up Thursday afternoons and leaving on Sundays, which sounds a lot nicer.
Chubs has one other request and that is that we buy him a video game. We put the condition that we wanted to see his test scores before committing to anything new, but his test scores won't be released until June 15th, and he did get into the National Honor Society, which we didn't attend because they moved it around and it just seemed like too much last week with another school function earlier in the same week. So maybe we kind of owe him something, he is a good boy, and he has had to grow up a little bit this year, spending time alone in the house when he doesn't have a choice.
He will also have to be doing a math summer enrichment program for three weeks since he didn't do great in the math portion of his testing. I kind of blame that on happenstance. He was scheduled to go with his mom to Crystal, so last year when there was a summer program for the Einstein kids, we said why should he attend if he is headed to Crystal? Then he spent three weeks in Crystal where he said they were doing stuff he had already done in the previous year. When he came back, he was behind the rest of the kids and never caught up.
Enough with the excuses, today is about having a little fun and cutting loose. I'll probably get him his game this afternoon at Target. Wife will even be here tonight, as she has started working four day weeks, so at least for the summer, she will be coming up Thursday afternoons and leaving on Sundays, which sounds a lot nicer.
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