Javalina is finally becoming a young teen/man. A month ago he could care less for a watch or anything else, and now, all of a sudden, he is the one dragging me through the mall to take a look at the various jewelry stores to look at different watches. We went to the mall Friday night to get me fitted for a tuxedo for my niece's quinceanera. Wife had thought I might have to buy, so we didn't take Boy, he was on a date anyway with his GF. Anyways, after we took care of my suit fitting, he asked if we could go to Ben Bridge to look at some watches. This is where I bought my watches and I didn't think he was serious as this store is really too expensive for a started watch. Still, we looked at a handful of Tag Heuer watches, from $2,000 to $5000. Great looking watches but too much for just any walk in and purchase then and there. He was prompted to look because he managed to round up $250 in Christmas funds and it has been burning him to spend.
We went back to the mall today to measure Boy for the same tux I will be wearing, this only after checking with my brother that the tuxes were going to be appropriate for the occasion. That didn't take too long, I then suggested to Javalina to go to Zales, but the lady was kind of a dick, maybe she was real busy, but I also had decided to take a couple of my watches to get new batteries and she looked at me like I was begging for food and answered coldly "no, we don't handle that, anymore." before I even finished asking. I could only think "Bitch, you're selling 2nd tier jewelry at the mall, loose the fucking attitude." but whatever, even Javalina refused to look after hearing her. We went to a repair shop behind the Ben Bridge and the lady was super friendly and had exactly what we needed. When I graduated from High school or for a Christmas around then, I got a beautiful watch on a leather strap. I wore it every day and the strap just about fell apart. After getting interested in watches I got the idea to re-strap this watch and while I was at it, decided to put a new battery on another beautiful diver's watch I got when my mother in law worked at Zales, she had a great employee discount which I took advantage of all the time.
I told Javalina that I was not giving him either watch but him and his brother could share and use both of them. I know we have other nice watches that really just need new batteries. Boy reminded me I had given him a Movado watch for graduation from eighth grade and that one needs a battery to be used again, so I might take that one in when I go back to pick up my other two.
Before we were done walking around the mall, we walk into another jewelry store that sells Mido watches and we saw a couple of watches closer to $900-$1000 that would make decent graduation gifts for him from eighth grade in a couple months, but then the sales guy showed us his Citizen watches and Javalina loved a black on black on black watch on sale from $500 down to $400. He liked it so much, he was willing to cough up his $250 right then and there, but I think I'd like this for a graduation gift.
Monday, December 31, 2018
Sunday, December 30, 2018
12/30/18 2018 Is Pretty Much Done?
It seems like only yesterday we were trying to remember the 8 and stop using the 7 and here we are, a couple of days from doing it all over again. It is weird how slow an hour can appear while you are waiting for it, like at work, to go home, but you look back at a whole year and wonder how it went by so fast. Everyone experiences things differently, so what can appear to be something pure and good to one can be a weakness to another and that is something I have been trying to understand better.
Looking back at the year, I would have said it was another average year if not for the loss of our uncle Fred. Our family is let's say tight knit and you don't just get to walk in and become a member. Fred is probably the last of the older generation that just showed up and just loved from day one, I don't think he cared or realized that this family keeps you at arm's length until they trust you. Like a big ole golden retriever with tongue out and tail a wagging, Fred could not be denied a hug or a welcome word, he became a part of the family almost overnight. My brother just said it a couple days ago, he was a good man just looking to hang out with loved ones and make people happy. To say he was taken too soon does not do justice to the man. Love you Fred.
After this, my dad decided to do a full check-up and found most everything in full working order. He does have a small problem, but is already in the process of getting that fixed, and the doctor told him he has worked on thousands of cases with his diagnoses, and has not lost one man (my family gets mad when I get too specific). I expect this old Fart will still be complaining in ten years, although we all still want him to give up smoking, he doesn't seem to want to.
My mom keeps visiting the fountain of youth as she seems a good ten-fifteen years younger than my dad, I don't know if it is from chasing the grandkids, but she remains in strong health, for the most part. My brothers and sisters are fine (they definitely don't like to be mentioned when I do so I will just say that).
Wife is in her third year already of working over in La Pryor and although it has been a great learning opportunity, I am really hoping 2019 is the year she gets back. It's not that I am dying from doing all the domestic work, but I feel bad leaving Javalina alone so much in the afternoons when I leave for work. She belongs here, the house feels different when she is here, like these two weeks have been great having her leadership and love around. All I want to do is sleep when she is gone, with her here I just want to nap but in the same room she is at.
Boy is Boy. Sometimes I want to choke him and sometimes I want to hug him. He is now 24, so I have to accept that on a certain level he is a man and I must give him more space with his GF than when he was in high school. He also has to remember that without Daddy, he has no roof over his head, so he still needs to do as we say. Few people his age are living without paying something in rent. He has a hard time paying me for the computer he promised me he would pay for and the gas he uses in his car that we are paying for. Word on the street is he should be graduating in about two more semesters, the Spring here and finally the Fall of 2019. Everyone at his work seems to love him, and he has said a few times, "my boss says if I had a degree, he would have hired me with a real salary already." I cannot wait for Mijo to deliver that diploma and we can go all out on another dinner with the family.
And of course our young Beast, the Javalina. We always saw him as a big boy and he is coming into his own. He is playing football and fixing to start training for Track and Field in the Spring. He was kept out of so many peewee leagues because he was a jumbo sized shrimp and they were scared a big boy could hurt a smaller framed youth, but as a lineman, I don't think that hurt him too much. He likes getting dirty in the trenches pushing people around and he has been good at it, but now in the off season, he wants me to be in better shape to push me around. This is where we are, I see mostly good and mostly moving in a positive direction, but only time can tell.
Best case scenario, Wife will be back in town in 2019, Boy will have graduated and at least take charge of his car payment, Javalina will be in high school, if not starting on the freshman team, then having an impact on the JV team, I don't think he is tough enough for the varsity level, although he is there weight-wise at a solid 250.
Looking back at the year, I would have said it was another average year if not for the loss of our uncle Fred. Our family is let's say tight knit and you don't just get to walk in and become a member. Fred is probably the last of the older generation that just showed up and just loved from day one, I don't think he cared or realized that this family keeps you at arm's length until they trust you. Like a big ole golden retriever with tongue out and tail a wagging, Fred could not be denied a hug or a welcome word, he became a part of the family almost overnight. My brother just said it a couple days ago, he was a good man just looking to hang out with loved ones and make people happy. To say he was taken too soon does not do justice to the man. Love you Fred.
After this, my dad decided to do a full check-up and found most everything in full working order. He does have a small problem, but is already in the process of getting that fixed, and the doctor told him he has worked on thousands of cases with his diagnoses, and has not lost one man (my family gets mad when I get too specific). I expect this old Fart will still be complaining in ten years, although we all still want him to give up smoking, he doesn't seem to want to.
My mom keeps visiting the fountain of youth as she seems a good ten-fifteen years younger than my dad, I don't know if it is from chasing the grandkids, but she remains in strong health, for the most part. My brothers and sisters are fine (they definitely don't like to be mentioned when I do so I will just say that).
Wife is in her third year already of working over in La Pryor and although it has been a great learning opportunity, I am really hoping 2019 is the year she gets back. It's not that I am dying from doing all the domestic work, but I feel bad leaving Javalina alone so much in the afternoons when I leave for work. She belongs here, the house feels different when she is here, like these two weeks have been great having her leadership and love around. All I want to do is sleep when she is gone, with her here I just want to nap but in the same room she is at.
Boy is Boy. Sometimes I want to choke him and sometimes I want to hug him. He is now 24, so I have to accept that on a certain level he is a man and I must give him more space with his GF than when he was in high school. He also has to remember that without Daddy, he has no roof over his head, so he still needs to do as we say. Few people his age are living without paying something in rent. He has a hard time paying me for the computer he promised me he would pay for and the gas he uses in his car that we are paying for. Word on the street is he should be graduating in about two more semesters, the Spring here and finally the Fall of 2019. Everyone at his work seems to love him, and he has said a few times, "my boss says if I had a degree, he would have hired me with a real salary already." I cannot wait for Mijo to deliver that diploma and we can go all out on another dinner with the family.
And of course our young Beast, the Javalina. We always saw him as a big boy and he is coming into his own. He is playing football and fixing to start training for Track and Field in the Spring. He was kept out of so many peewee leagues because he was a jumbo sized shrimp and they were scared a big boy could hurt a smaller framed youth, but as a lineman, I don't think that hurt him too much. He likes getting dirty in the trenches pushing people around and he has been good at it, but now in the off season, he wants me to be in better shape to push me around. This is where we are, I see mostly good and mostly moving in a positive direction, but only time can tell.
Best case scenario, Wife will be back in town in 2019, Boy will have graduated and at least take charge of his car payment, Javalina will be in high school, if not starting on the freshman team, then having an impact on the JV team, I don't think he is tough enough for the varsity level, although he is there weight-wise at a solid 250.
Saturday, December 29, 2018
12/29/18 One Fat Penguin At Your Service?
I was all set to go buy a suit yesterday afternoon. Wife had kind of convinced me that renting a tuxedo would run me about $250, and buying a suit would be closer to $400, but at least I would get to keep it. I mostly look st Men's Wearhouse for our dress up needs and I know they have a tuxedo rental system in the back of their store. We went through these guys when Boy graduated high school and I bought a real nice suit tailored to my body as did Boy.
Anyways, the first question I asked was how much is a tuxedo rental vs a tuxedo purchase. The prices cannot even be compared. The rental price was $121.31 with taxes and that included a shirt, shoes, socks, vest, tie, and the fancy little buttons, along with the jacket and pants. If I had chosen to buy, the jacket and pant alone would have been $280 for the cheap entry level variety.
I am a fat fucker right now. He took a measurement with a long tape measure around my chest and arms and was in the middle of saying he had never measured anyone over 70 inches and then my measurement was 75 inches. All the other measurements were equally as jumbo sized. The biggest surprise for me was the feet. I had told him I usually go for a 13 wide in my tennis shoes and stuff. He had a 13 wide test shoe and I couldn't even slip it on with a shoe horn. I ended up in a 15 wide and that shoe size felt comfortable.
To make sure I didn't up set anyone in charge, I texted my brother a photo of what I was getting which he said he too was going to just get a basic black. He even gave me the choice of a cummerbund or a vest and I am not going to fight a cummerbund all night hiding under my gut. I thought of the vest since the first thing we do at a dance is take off the jacket to breath a little better. To match the court, I got my tie in the champagne color, to match Javalina in his tie and vest.
It was very easy, all the measurements were taken in house, they only wanted $20 down and pay the remaining $101 when we pick it up, two days before, just to double check it if we need to send something back and get a better fit. The only thing we need to do now is get Boy to come and try on the same style tux in his size. He was busy playing Dungeons and Dragons tonight, but said he would be available on Sunday.
Anyways, the first question I asked was how much is a tuxedo rental vs a tuxedo purchase. The prices cannot even be compared. The rental price was $121.31 with taxes and that included a shirt, shoes, socks, vest, tie, and the fancy little buttons, along with the jacket and pants. If I had chosen to buy, the jacket and pant alone would have been $280 for the cheap entry level variety.
I am a fat fucker right now. He took a measurement with a long tape measure around my chest and arms and was in the middle of saying he had never measured anyone over 70 inches and then my measurement was 75 inches. All the other measurements were equally as jumbo sized. The biggest surprise for me was the feet. I had told him I usually go for a 13 wide in my tennis shoes and stuff. He had a 13 wide test shoe and I couldn't even slip it on with a shoe horn. I ended up in a 15 wide and that shoe size felt comfortable.
To make sure I didn't up set anyone in charge, I texted my brother a photo of what I was getting which he said he too was going to just get a basic black. He even gave me the choice of a cummerbund or a vest and I am not going to fight a cummerbund all night hiding under my gut. I thought of the vest since the first thing we do at a dance is take off the jacket to breath a little better. To match the court, I got my tie in the champagne color, to match Javalina in his tie and vest.
It was very easy, all the measurements were taken in house, they only wanted $20 down and pay the remaining $101 when we pick it up, two days before, just to double check it if we need to send something back and get a better fit. The only thing we need to do now is get Boy to come and try on the same style tux in his size. He was busy playing Dungeons and Dragons tonight, but said he would be available on Sunday.
12/28/18 Getting Javalina Back In Jock Status?
Javalina was at a disadvantage last year when he decided he wanted to do track and field. We thought he would be good for both discus and shot-put, as it turned out, there were plenty of kids trying to be on the team, so he only got to represent the school in shot-put, although he was a back-up on the discus.
The main reason he was behind the other kids was that he is on the Einstein program, which is an academic program where he has a chance to take college courses in high school but there are rules he has to follow. One of the rules was that he must be passing everything with at least an 80 and because he wasn't, he could not participate in sports activities until the three week period, if he had gotten his grades back up.
Long story short, he missed about half the season of track and field his 7th grade year and that sucked because he was technically passing all his classes, I believe he had gotten a 70-something in english or reading. By the time the had what I believe was an all city tournament, he was doing pretty good on the shot-put, but was only a back up in the discus, as they take three boys and three girls for each grade from each school. In the big tournament, he placed 7th out of 30 boys in 7th grade, which was awesome, being he only practiced about three weeks and had two other competitions beforehand.
Living in the day and age we do, I decided to order him a shot put weighted for junior high and one weighted for high school through the magic of Amazon. He had originally said he didn't care for the discus, it is more about having good form and finesse. He loved the shot-put because there is no way around it, it is a sport completely dependent on strength and delivery. He was mad because in the tournament he placed 7th, he threw for 27ft. He swears he threw 30ft. the week after in practice, but then the final tournament was cancelled because of the weather or something.
Wife was sitting there on the computer looking at Amazon the day after Christmas and I told her to order two discus, again, one weighted for junior high and one weighted for high school. They arrived quickly, as in today. We spent about two hours throwing and marking the yard. I know he wants to walk away with the first place for shot-put, at least. We'll see, if we can at least get him ahead of his classmates. He is now in 8th grade, we need to start seriously lifting weights which will help get him to the next level.
The main reason he was behind the other kids was that he is on the Einstein program, which is an academic program where he has a chance to take college courses in high school but there are rules he has to follow. One of the rules was that he must be passing everything with at least an 80 and because he wasn't, he could not participate in sports activities until the three week period, if he had gotten his grades back up.
Long story short, he missed about half the season of track and field his 7th grade year and that sucked because he was technically passing all his classes, I believe he had gotten a 70-something in english or reading. By the time the had what I believe was an all city tournament, he was doing pretty good on the shot-put, but was only a back up in the discus, as they take three boys and three girls for each grade from each school. In the big tournament, he placed 7th out of 30 boys in 7th grade, which was awesome, being he only practiced about three weeks and had two other competitions beforehand.
Living in the day and age we do, I decided to order him a shot put weighted for junior high and one weighted for high school through the magic of Amazon. He had originally said he didn't care for the discus, it is more about having good form and finesse. He loved the shot-put because there is no way around it, it is a sport completely dependent on strength and delivery. He was mad because in the tournament he placed 7th, he threw for 27ft. He swears he threw 30ft. the week after in practice, but then the final tournament was cancelled because of the weather or something.
Wife was sitting there on the computer looking at Amazon the day after Christmas and I told her to order two discus, again, one weighted for junior high and one weighted for high school. They arrived quickly, as in today. We spent about two hours throwing and marking the yard. I know he wants to walk away with the first place for shot-put, at least. We'll see, if we can at least get him ahead of his classmates. He is now in 8th grade, we need to start seriously lifting weights which will help get him to the next level.
Friday, December 28, 2018
12/27/18 Delight For An Engineer?
Boy is more of a real engineer than I will ever claim to be. I might have the title in my work, but I have always thought of myself as a button pusher as Wife calls me. Boy, on the other hand, loves tinkering with stuff that I would rather just leave alone and be happy it works. This year, maybe because they were advertised so heavily, he decided Santa needed to bring him a Roomba, which at first I thought was kind of lame, but then again, we couldn't come up with a better gift. We saw them pretty much everywhere we went. They had them at Lowe's, Best Buy, Target, and even at several stores at the mall.
Fast forward to Christmas Day and he seemed excited about it, but did not open it. I told him it would be best if he cleaned his room first, so it wouldn't get stuck on a towel or something lame like that. He said yeah, but of course that means nothing. Last night, he couldn't wait anymore, he opened it up only to find it needed to be charged for a couple hours first. He plugged it in right outside our bedroom around midnight. For some reason, we all were in the mood to stay up. I took a little nap maybe from 11:00 to mignight, when Wife woke me since I had decided to run a load in the wash. I threw that stuff in the dryer and said F it, I'll wash all the stuff on the floor in the wash. I kind of lost my sleepiness at this point and was watching stuff on the computer. I love looking at waterfront lots like I am a land barron and am going to buy this one and that one, some day. Since Wife loves watching her sometimes crappy shows, she can do this, while I listen to music and look at the prices of lots all over Texas.
At some point after 2:00am, we start hearing a small electric motor and the two boys are giggling with madness. They are excited because the thing we bought that is supposed to vacuum, is vacuuming. They are so excited at never having to vacuum again that they are considering pooling their money together to buy one for downstairs. Boy comes in the room and asks me what I think of Steve "McClean", he already has a cute nickname for this toy that happens to clean. Wife liked it too, asking if they sold one that would also wash the carpet while it was at it. Nice idea, but no.
Boy was then going on about how some people use the pattern the Roomba does to set up their Dungeons and Dragons path or something super dorky, I just said "you still need to clean your room, but I do like the nickname." We finally called it a night about 3:00am, I like it when we all rally around something, even if it is in the middle of the night.
Fast forward to Christmas Day and he seemed excited about it, but did not open it. I told him it would be best if he cleaned his room first, so it wouldn't get stuck on a towel or something lame like that. He said yeah, but of course that means nothing. Last night, he couldn't wait anymore, he opened it up only to find it needed to be charged for a couple hours first. He plugged it in right outside our bedroom around midnight. For some reason, we all were in the mood to stay up. I took a little nap maybe from 11:00 to mignight, when Wife woke me since I had decided to run a load in the wash. I threw that stuff in the dryer and said F it, I'll wash all the stuff on the floor in the wash. I kind of lost my sleepiness at this point and was watching stuff on the computer. I love looking at waterfront lots like I am a land barron and am going to buy this one and that one, some day. Since Wife loves watching her sometimes crappy shows, she can do this, while I listen to music and look at the prices of lots all over Texas.
At some point after 2:00am, we start hearing a small electric motor and the two boys are giggling with madness. They are excited because the thing we bought that is supposed to vacuum, is vacuuming. They are so excited at never having to vacuum again that they are considering pooling their money together to buy one for downstairs. Boy comes in the room and asks me what I think of Steve "McClean", he already has a cute nickname for this toy that happens to clean. Wife liked it too, asking if they sold one that would also wash the carpet while it was at it. Nice idea, but no.
Boy was then going on about how some people use the pattern the Roomba does to set up their Dungeons and Dragons path or something super dorky, I just said "you still need to clean your room, but I do like the nickname." We finally called it a night about 3:00am, I like it when we all rally around something, even if it is in the middle of the night.
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
12/26/18 A Good Christmas Day?
As I said yesterday, I was totally out of it last night and missed out on the Santa activities. Wife eventually gave up on me and left me on the sofa. Tonight, I was about to take some allergy pills and Wife said that is why you were like you were last night. I thought allergy pills were meant to function during the day, but these said they were made with whatever is in Benadryl, so they have the ability to make one sleepy. I took three last night because I am tired of my left nostril running like a broken faucet and always being wet and fixing to run out and onto my mustache.
We were pretty much dead until about 2:00pm when Boy got home, this prompted Wife to get up and shower. After she showered, we sat with a snack of summer sausage, cheeses, and crackers to watch The 10th Kingdom, which is a little lame, but Wife likes it and wants Javalina to be familiar with it. I saw until about 6:00pm, the old roommate Dirty Dog, now Domesticated Dog came over with his GF and younger sister. I don't think we had seen the sister in a good six years, I wasn't sure who it was at first. Well, they showed up around 6:30, I had run upstairs at 6:00 to shower.
Before I went upstairs, I cleaned the grill, set it up, and turned on the fire for our BBQ. We had bought three New York strips and three ribeyes, along with about 5 chicken breasts, and a bunch of sausages. I came down, said hi to everybody, it got loud until they all decided they had to learn how to play Dungeons and Dragons, so they headed to the front of the house to play on the pool table. At this point, I called my mom to wish them a Merry Christmas. They were busy, so the convo was super short and succinct.
While we grilled, we caught the last parts of Griswald Christmas vacation which is always fun, then while we ate we caught pieces of A Christmas Story, which we were surprised Boy's GF had never seen, either of them. We tried explaining somewhat, but she was more interested in the idea of teaching new people D&D, and after eating they all went up to Boy's room. We sat and saw the pilot to Travelers on Netflix which I had seen at work and thought looked good enough for Wife, she likes that sort of stuff.
DD, the GF and his sister all left about midnight, he said he had to work in the morning, Boy started gathering leftover BBQ as he works tomorrow as well, and Javalina took some medicine and went to bed as he has been kind of fighting a cold or something all weekend. We took the last hours to watch TV and try to relax some here together. Without the allergy pills, I have been awake most of the day, which I am so proud of myself. It turns out I can be up for more than twelve hours at a time, if I focus on it.
We were pretty much dead until about 2:00pm when Boy got home, this prompted Wife to get up and shower. After she showered, we sat with a snack of summer sausage, cheeses, and crackers to watch The 10th Kingdom, which is a little lame, but Wife likes it and wants Javalina to be familiar with it. I saw until about 6:00pm, the old roommate Dirty Dog, now Domesticated Dog came over with his GF and younger sister. I don't think we had seen the sister in a good six years, I wasn't sure who it was at first. Well, they showed up around 6:30, I had run upstairs at 6:00 to shower.
Before I went upstairs, I cleaned the grill, set it up, and turned on the fire for our BBQ. We had bought three New York strips and three ribeyes, along with about 5 chicken breasts, and a bunch of sausages. I came down, said hi to everybody, it got loud until they all decided they had to learn how to play Dungeons and Dragons, so they headed to the front of the house to play on the pool table. At this point, I called my mom to wish them a Merry Christmas. They were busy, so the convo was super short and succinct.
While we grilled, we caught the last parts of Griswald Christmas vacation which is always fun, then while we ate we caught pieces of A Christmas Story, which we were surprised Boy's GF had never seen, either of them. We tried explaining somewhat, but she was more interested in the idea of teaching new people D&D, and after eating they all went up to Boy's room. We sat and saw the pilot to Travelers on Netflix which I had seen at work and thought looked good enough for Wife, she likes that sort of stuff.
DD, the GF and his sister all left about midnight, he said he had to work in the morning, Boy started gathering leftover BBQ as he works tomorrow as well, and Javalina took some medicine and went to bed as he has been kind of fighting a cold or something all weekend. We took the last hours to watch TV and try to relax some here together. Without the allergy pills, I have been awake most of the day, which I am so proud of myself. It turns out I can be up for more than twelve hours at a time, if I focus on it.
12/25/18 Mom Was Right, Christmas Needs Young Blood?
I cannot complain, Christmas was exactly what we planned and wanted it to be. We were home, we stopped and got all the snacks and junk food and even steaks to grill so we could sit at home with no rush or worry. Christmas Eve came though and we were so organized and we limited who we were giving gifts to that there was nothing Christmas-y to do. To top it off, Boy said he was going to go spend time with his GF and the little shit has been gone almost 24 hours. Normally, I would complain, but we did take his GF on Thanksgiving and we can't not be equal or whatever.
Wife wanted to rest after coming in from work Friday after driving her 3 hour drive, spending Saturday shopping here and there, and then the six hours on the road for the 10 minutes of practice my son got for that big upcoming dance. We were in bed, well she was in bed for over twelve hours. I woke up at 6:00am, wrote a couple of blogs yesterday, drank coffee and ate all sorts of sweets and breads, then retreated back to bed at 9:30am. We slept until after noon, woke, had a quickie, showered, and celebrated by eating at Taco Bell. It was kind of funny, the young 20-something kid working the register was all hyped up, he was going to get off in two hours and go and propose to his GF. I just ordered and went and got my drink and sat down, but Wife kept talking with him for a few minutes. I thought about giving him advice, but then decided nah.
Getting back home, I ran to the bathroom as Taco Bell will make you do, and showered. That was about all I remember. I laid down to take a nap at 6:30pm or so, got up at 8:30pm, came down, Wife had the ham just about ready to take out of the oven and we sat and watched the start of some Christmas movie. I hate to admit that after finishing those delicious sandwiches of fat ham and cheese on white bread and a touch of mayo, I just went over sideways and was done for the evening.
I woke up around 4:00am, alone on the sofa, Santa had already laid out the gifts for the boys, as I got up confused at how time had flown by so fast. I got up, intent on writing this at 5:00am and getting it out of the way, but I couldn't focus on the keyboard. I just sat in front of the computer and saw road crashes and people fighting over it for about an hour before watching a couple of people I follow. I finally went to bed at 9:30am and slept until 11:30am. I got up to eat a ham sandwich as they were delicious and while I was responding to various Merry Christmas good mornings, Boy and the GF showed up. This prompted Wife to come down, Javalina came down and the boys opened their Santa gifts. I eventually got my sandwich and here I am at 2:00pm. Wife is taking a shower, she told me to cut some summer sausage and cheese to eat with crackers and whatever other snacks while we watch some Christmas movie.
We are supposed to get the grill going later. Since the weather is shitty Texas weather and we are going to be in the 70s, we figured we might as well grill some steaks, chicken and sausages with some potatoes, yee-haw to you too. But seriously, Merry Christmas, love you all.
Wife wanted to rest after coming in from work Friday after driving her 3 hour drive, spending Saturday shopping here and there, and then the six hours on the road for the 10 minutes of practice my son got for that big upcoming dance. We were in bed, well she was in bed for over twelve hours. I woke up at 6:00am, wrote a couple of blogs yesterday, drank coffee and ate all sorts of sweets and breads, then retreated back to bed at 9:30am. We slept until after noon, woke, had a quickie, showered, and celebrated by eating at Taco Bell. It was kind of funny, the young 20-something kid working the register was all hyped up, he was going to get off in two hours and go and propose to his GF. I just ordered and went and got my drink and sat down, but Wife kept talking with him for a few minutes. I thought about giving him advice, but then decided nah.
Getting back home, I ran to the bathroom as Taco Bell will make you do, and showered. That was about all I remember. I laid down to take a nap at 6:30pm or so, got up at 8:30pm, came down, Wife had the ham just about ready to take out of the oven and we sat and watched the start of some Christmas movie. I hate to admit that after finishing those delicious sandwiches of fat ham and cheese on white bread and a touch of mayo, I just went over sideways and was done for the evening.
I woke up around 4:00am, alone on the sofa, Santa had already laid out the gifts for the boys, as I got up confused at how time had flown by so fast. I got up, intent on writing this at 5:00am and getting it out of the way, but I couldn't focus on the keyboard. I just sat in front of the computer and saw road crashes and people fighting over it for about an hour before watching a couple of people I follow. I finally went to bed at 9:30am and slept until 11:30am. I got up to eat a ham sandwich as they were delicious and while I was responding to various Merry Christmas good mornings, Boy and the GF showed up. This prompted Wife to come down, Javalina came down and the boys opened their Santa gifts. I eventually got my sandwich and here I am at 2:00pm. Wife is taking a shower, she told me to cut some summer sausage and cheese to eat with crackers and whatever other snacks while we watch some Christmas movie.
We are supposed to get the grill going later. Since the weather is shitty Texas weather and we are going to be in the 70s, we figured we might as well grill some steaks, chicken and sausages with some potatoes, yee-haw to you too. But seriously, Merry Christmas, love you all.
Monday, December 24, 2018
12/24/18 Running To Crystal City For The Day?
What can I say, but family. Am I right? This Sunday was the first time Javalina would have to get with the Quinceanera group to practice for the big day coming up here in January. I had told my dad that we were thinking of showing up Saturday and Sunday, which he clarified that my mom would be spending the day shopping. I took this as my cue to do the same, figuring my mom would be calling me later to "remind" us of coming to practice on Sunday. That never happened, but of course, it isn't her thing, it is my brothers and with him, we must read minds and understand things by the way the sun rises.
I got up, as usual, to write, early in the morning, then went back to bed by 9:00am. At some point Wife woke me and I decided I needed to go to the bathroom, which I did and then managed to take a shower before 10:30am. This was too early to attempt to leave, so I laid back down. At noon, Wife was showered and telling me to get up. As far as we knew, we had been told repeatedly, practice is from 3:00-6:00pm. We got there, probably closer to 4:00pm, thinking we would still have two hours of practice, but of course no. Nobody had mentioned that the guys were only practicing from 3:00-4:00 and that from 4:00-6:00pm it would just be the girls practicing yet another dance routine. It was spectacular, we drove three hours, Javalina got about 5-10 minutes of dance instruction and my brother tried to get after me about maybe next time I want to show up on time. There was no thank you for coming out of your way on your vacation time when you would rather be relaxing. It is now Monday morning, Christmas Eve, and MAYBE today will be the first restful day we can have as a family, staying in and just watching some movies and relaxing.
I don't think they realize how hard we actually work, as a family. Wife works over there and then drives the three hours, she doesn't own a teleporter, the road sucks, I don't know how she does it so much. I have my own problems working night shift, I just wanted to enjoy my time off, but I don't think that is happening until after January.
I sat and talked with my mom about whether they were coming up to Austin and she said yeah, they were thinking about Thursday, which would work, as they could bring Javalina back with them Saturday or early Sunday, if they left then. An hour later my niece says "oh yeah, the next practice is on Thursday at 3:00pm." To which my brother curtly added and try to be on time this time. All I could manage was to roll my eyes because this practice is just consuming the holidays. What if I didn't have the vacation time and I had to work? Again, the tone is not Thank you for coming, the tone is "Hey Fuckhead, try not to be late!" I mean, you would want to show up on time, wouldn't you?
I got up, as usual, to write, early in the morning, then went back to bed by 9:00am. At some point Wife woke me and I decided I needed to go to the bathroom, which I did and then managed to take a shower before 10:30am. This was too early to attempt to leave, so I laid back down. At noon, Wife was showered and telling me to get up. As far as we knew, we had been told repeatedly, practice is from 3:00-6:00pm. We got there, probably closer to 4:00pm, thinking we would still have two hours of practice, but of course no. Nobody had mentioned that the guys were only practicing from 3:00-4:00 and that from 4:00-6:00pm it would just be the girls practicing yet another dance routine. It was spectacular, we drove three hours, Javalina got about 5-10 minutes of dance instruction and my brother tried to get after me about maybe next time I want to show up on time. There was no thank you for coming out of your way on your vacation time when you would rather be relaxing. It is now Monday morning, Christmas Eve, and MAYBE today will be the first restful day we can have as a family, staying in and just watching some movies and relaxing.
I don't think they realize how hard we actually work, as a family. Wife works over there and then drives the three hours, she doesn't own a teleporter, the road sucks, I don't know how she does it so much. I have my own problems working night shift, I just wanted to enjoy my time off, but I don't think that is happening until after January.
I sat and talked with my mom about whether they were coming up to Austin and she said yeah, they were thinking about Thursday, which would work, as they could bring Javalina back with them Saturday or early Sunday, if they left then. An hour later my niece says "oh yeah, the next practice is on Thursday at 3:00pm." To which my brother curtly added and try to be on time this time. All I could manage was to roll my eyes because this practice is just consuming the holidays. What if I didn't have the vacation time and I had to work? Again, the tone is not Thank you for coming, the tone is "Hey Fuckhead, try not to be late!" I mean, you would want to show up on time, wouldn't you?
12/23/18 Last Minute Shopping?
I am now a day behind in writing, so bear with me. We spent the day Krull-style, chasing the sun for six hours, thanks to Wife, there is no way I would have tried that in my present state of perpetual tiredness. We were able to go and not worry about any last minute shopping thanks mostly to the fact that our list for gift giving is rather short this year, thanks to my niece's Quince, my sister proclaimed we should maybe only give gifts to the kids, and I agreed with her, as that sounded like a good way to save a buck.
We took care of most of my nephews with one visit to Target. In comparison to last year, I remember we charged something like $1200 during the Christmas rush. This year, Wife said it came out to around $550. This was very good as we took care of most of the "toy" gifts for the younger kids. There were video games, sharks, pajamas, even knives, and all the other goodies Target is perfect for.
Saturday morning was interesting in that the four of us managed to go out together as a family. Wife had an appointment to meet the lady who gives her child sized blankets from a program that has been doing this since she worked for Bastrop. We exchanged pleasantries with her, she is always excited and happy to see Wife. After this 5 minute exchange we were headed randomly west on 71 and were going to eat at Jim's, but we drove by another Mexican restaurant we had never eaten at, and decided to try there. The biscuits on the waitresses were yummier than the food, but it was alright. I determined it must have been a family restaurant as the girls had a certain similarity. Surprisingly, my stomach decided to behave itself, so Wife suggested we head on over to the Dillard's in Bee Caves to get my Mom a gift. As much as my ass of a brother likes to say I would get my mom's gift at Wal-mart, no. For certain people, I feel compelled to stick to certain stores and my mom is Dillard's or nicer, exactly because my brother likes to cut in and insult my every move.
We came home after Dillard's, I hadn't even showered and we spent a long time relaxing, and waiting. Girlie called and said we would be getting a delivery, if we were going to be home. It came later than we thought, but she got us cookies and brownies from a delivery place that managed to deliver them warm. They were delicious and so soft they were breaking apart just picking them up.
After the cookies, it was still only 6:0pm, so we headed out to Academy and bought a couple more gifts, a simple one being good quality socks for Boy. For some reason, we buy them packs of socks and they both get down to 2-3 pairs in a matter of months. Boy was down to 2 pairs but after I have been wearing this thick wool socks which I have fallen in love with, I want Boy to have some of these. He wears shoes and is on his feet all day, I figure he can appreciate some thick wool socks. We ended the day by picking up snack stuff at Central Market and then Javalina suggested Whataburger for dinner.
Oh yeah, coolest thing I saw all day. At Dillard's, in the James Avery display case, one of the charms one can buy is a tiny Whataburger soda cup charm, trimmed with a W and the orange color that goes with Whataburger. I thought this was totally awesome and totally Texas.
We took care of most of my nephews with one visit to Target. In comparison to last year, I remember we charged something like $1200 during the Christmas rush. This year, Wife said it came out to around $550. This was very good as we took care of most of the "toy" gifts for the younger kids. There were video games, sharks, pajamas, even knives, and all the other goodies Target is perfect for.
Saturday morning was interesting in that the four of us managed to go out together as a family. Wife had an appointment to meet the lady who gives her child sized blankets from a program that has been doing this since she worked for Bastrop. We exchanged pleasantries with her, she is always excited and happy to see Wife. After this 5 minute exchange we were headed randomly west on 71 and were going to eat at Jim's, but we drove by another Mexican restaurant we had never eaten at, and decided to try there. The biscuits on the waitresses were yummier than the food, but it was alright. I determined it must have been a family restaurant as the girls had a certain similarity. Surprisingly, my stomach decided to behave itself, so Wife suggested we head on over to the Dillard's in Bee Caves to get my Mom a gift. As much as my ass of a brother likes to say I would get my mom's gift at Wal-mart, no. For certain people, I feel compelled to stick to certain stores and my mom is Dillard's or nicer, exactly because my brother likes to cut in and insult my every move.
We came home after Dillard's, I hadn't even showered and we spent a long time relaxing, and waiting. Girlie called and said we would be getting a delivery, if we were going to be home. It came later than we thought, but she got us cookies and brownies from a delivery place that managed to deliver them warm. They were delicious and so soft they were breaking apart just picking them up.
After the cookies, it was still only 6:0pm, so we headed out to Academy and bought a couple more gifts, a simple one being good quality socks for Boy. For some reason, we buy them packs of socks and they both get down to 2-3 pairs in a matter of months. Boy was down to 2 pairs but after I have been wearing this thick wool socks which I have fallen in love with, I want Boy to have some of these. He wears shoes and is on his feet all day, I figure he can appreciate some thick wool socks. We ended the day by picking up snack stuff at Central Market and then Javalina suggested Whataburger for dinner.
Oh yeah, coolest thing I saw all day. At Dillard's, in the James Avery display case, one of the charms one can buy is a tiny Whataburger soda cup charm, trimmed with a W and the orange color that goes with Whataburger. I thought this was totally awesome and totally Texas.
Sunday, December 23, 2018
12/22/18 My Three Roommates Are Pretty Great?
I meant to write this yesterday, but I got distracted by the load of bills and then Wife had plans for us to go meet the lady who gives her the little blankets which she disperses to "needy" kids at her school. I had gotten up at 4:00am and tried to write and do everything and instead, I ate some junk food, fell asleep on the chair, and finally said screw it and went back to bed. Back to the title though...
I was just thinking of what to write about and I was thinking about what my boys had done in the last few days and it just hit me. My two boys are pretty awesome. My brother used to do this warning when he first became a lawyer, just wait until your son is a teenager, he'll do something stupid and you'll be glad you have a lawyer at hand. He was already jaded by working every day with troublemakers, it has become his world. We could argue that the people he deals with are not all bad, should marijuana even be considered a drug? All that goes out the window because even with the gradual changes in a freer marijuana community as more and more states make it free, here it is still a jail worthy offense.
Back to my boys, though. Boy is now 24, never made that big mistake of hanging out with troublemakers, and better yet, he doesn't really like going out to party. This Friday, again, when people are out getting drunk, he is here at the house playing what I could best assume was a version of Dungeons and Dragons around the pool table which they use as their platform. It's a good handful of "nerdy" guys and gals and it all sounds like good clean fun. He is also still at school and he is finally sounding like he is closed to finishing, saying he is down to this spring semester and then one more next fall.
I can say the same about Javalina. He was finally off from school on Friday and after noticing we hadn't put up the new Christmas tree, Big boy volunteered all by himself. He came into bedroom and wanted me to look and help him a little bit. It has both clear and colored lights and the colored lights had weird plugs he couldn't figure out. We keep joking around with Boy that he should think about taking us out to dinner as his gift to us, and he is hemming and hawing trying to get out of it, but Javalina shows us his wallet with his WAM, walk around money, and he is up to $182 and he says I want to take us out to eat at Outback Steakhouse. We were both impressed because this is just money he has rounded up since his birthday. He has another wallet we keep for him with his "Florida vacation" money, so the boy knows how to save a buck.
Then of course, I have Wife as my third roommate. She comes in like a wrecking ball of energy when she shows up. This week, she was gone all week, since Sunday and when she is back, the whole house feels it. "Move, I need to check if the stuff I ordered has all been delivered online, after she gets the washing machine going, and she is looking at me and Javalina because we aren't ready to go and she is hungry. We need that energy to move us, otherwise, we would just sleep all day, not thinking on our own as to what is next to do.
I was just thinking of what to write about and I was thinking about what my boys had done in the last few days and it just hit me. My two boys are pretty awesome. My brother used to do this warning when he first became a lawyer, just wait until your son is a teenager, he'll do something stupid and you'll be glad you have a lawyer at hand. He was already jaded by working every day with troublemakers, it has become his world. We could argue that the people he deals with are not all bad, should marijuana even be considered a drug? All that goes out the window because even with the gradual changes in a freer marijuana community as more and more states make it free, here it is still a jail worthy offense.
Back to my boys, though. Boy is now 24, never made that big mistake of hanging out with troublemakers, and better yet, he doesn't really like going out to party. This Friday, again, when people are out getting drunk, he is here at the house playing what I could best assume was a version of Dungeons and Dragons around the pool table which they use as their platform. It's a good handful of "nerdy" guys and gals and it all sounds like good clean fun. He is also still at school and he is finally sounding like he is closed to finishing, saying he is down to this spring semester and then one more next fall.
I can say the same about Javalina. He was finally off from school on Friday and after noticing we hadn't put up the new Christmas tree, Big boy volunteered all by himself. He came into bedroom and wanted me to look and help him a little bit. It has both clear and colored lights and the colored lights had weird plugs he couldn't figure out. We keep joking around with Boy that he should think about taking us out to dinner as his gift to us, and he is hemming and hawing trying to get out of it, but Javalina shows us his wallet with his WAM, walk around money, and he is up to $182 and he says I want to take us out to eat at Outback Steakhouse. We were both impressed because this is just money he has rounded up since his birthday. He has another wallet we keep for him with his "Florida vacation" money, so the boy knows how to save a buck.
Then of course, I have Wife as my third roommate. She comes in like a wrecking ball of energy when she shows up. This week, she was gone all week, since Sunday and when she is back, the whole house feels it. "Move, I need to check if the stuff I ordered has all been delivered online, after she gets the washing machine going, and she is looking at me and Javalina because we aren't ready to go and she is hungry. We need that energy to move us, otherwise, we would just sleep all day, not thinking on our own as to what is next to do.
Friday, December 21, 2018
12/21/18 About Fifteen Minutes and I Am On Vacation?
It seems to move like a glacier far away, but eventually any timeline reaches its point of interest. Here we go, boys are off, I'll go home and sleep some to make myself functional, then Wife will get in later tonight. I might try and stop for some pan dulce or donuts on the way home. Hell, I might even have some coffee in the morning. With Javalina home, I don't have to sleep and be ready to pick anybody up.
We do have to decorate the tree. Last weekend, I got up before everybody, took down the Halloween lights on the stair rails and replaced them with Christmas lights, but when I took out the tree, it just looked shitty and grey. It was once white and had built in lights. None of the lights wanted to light and I didn't feel like messing with it. We got lucky and found the trees at 50% off at At-Home, the store that used to be Garden Ridge. We actually got two trees, a bigger 7.5 foot tree and a rainbow colored tree that resembles a color pattern like a tye dyed shirt.
Work is down to a minimum, finally, with the people around, I doubt they will be calling me in for any OT. Our customers were called and told we would be shut down for two days, some will be shut down, others have a too bad attitude as they already sent work that is Hot as soon as it comes in, but I shouldn't have to worry about shit.
Anyways, three minutes to 7:00am, I am wrapping this up so I can get out of here on time, for once. Merry Christmas to all.
We do have to decorate the tree. Last weekend, I got up before everybody, took down the Halloween lights on the stair rails and replaced them with Christmas lights, but when I took out the tree, it just looked shitty and grey. It was once white and had built in lights. None of the lights wanted to light and I didn't feel like messing with it. We got lucky and found the trees at 50% off at At-Home, the store that used to be Garden Ridge. We actually got two trees, a bigger 7.5 foot tree and a rainbow colored tree that resembles a color pattern like a tye dyed shirt.
Work is down to a minimum, finally, with the people around, I doubt they will be calling me in for any OT. Our customers were called and told we would be shut down for two days, some will be shut down, others have a too bad attitude as they already sent work that is Hot as soon as it comes in, but I shouldn't have to worry about shit.
Anyways, three minutes to 7:00am, I am wrapping this up so I can get out of here on time, for once. Merry Christmas to all.
Thursday, December 20, 2018
12/20/18 Javalina's Last School Day Before Christmas Break?
Everyone has jumped my shit, "don't forget to pick up Javalina at 1:15pm from Gattitown at Southpark Meadows." I know I am home, but jeez, I am not there playing Mario Bros., I work nights and I am asleep, jerks. If I asked you to get up at 2:00am in the morning, you wouldn't just say no problem, it would take some effort. This is where I wish I could count on Boy to help out, but of course, he is busy working up a storm at his internship.
Just when I want to get mad at that Boy for frustrating me with his BS, he goes and buys me some burgers from McDonald's (forgets to put them in the fridge, but still). That was nice, but I am unsure how long they sat on the counter before I got home at 1:30am to eat them. My stomach got messed up, so he might have given me a bit of food poisoning, if they sat there from 7:00pm. The thought was still much appreciated. He has been off since last week and I am a bit jelly that he gets to hang out and stay up late while we have to continue being good.
Javalina starts his Christmas break at 1:15pm, so at least for two weeks I won't have to run him back and forth. I am taking two weeks off and tonight should be my last night, unless they want to pay me OT. Wife comes in tomorrow and she too will be off for two weeks, so it is setting up to be a great two weeks, if we could just get some real cold weather brewing for next week. I freaking hate when it is 80 degrees and it is Christmas morning. If I have to turn on the A/C, I'm gonna be pissed,
We have a couple more gifts to get, probably, and then we can focus on some food. I want ham, I don't know why, and I love the idea of eggnog, but I can't really drink it, it goes down like a soup, it is so thick.
Work used to be great at this time of year, back when I first started. We had a lot more people, and a lot of the ladies would bring cookies and cakes and all sorts of goodies. These days, a couple of people do, but it's not a "spread" like back in the day. Oh well, the good old days always sound better in retrospect.
Just when I want to get mad at that Boy for frustrating me with his BS, he goes and buys me some burgers from McDonald's (forgets to put them in the fridge, but still). That was nice, but I am unsure how long they sat on the counter before I got home at 1:30am to eat them. My stomach got messed up, so he might have given me a bit of food poisoning, if they sat there from 7:00pm. The thought was still much appreciated. He has been off since last week and I am a bit jelly that he gets to hang out and stay up late while we have to continue being good.
Javalina starts his Christmas break at 1:15pm, so at least for two weeks I won't have to run him back and forth. I am taking two weeks off and tonight should be my last night, unless they want to pay me OT. Wife comes in tomorrow and she too will be off for two weeks, so it is setting up to be a great two weeks, if we could just get some real cold weather brewing for next week. I freaking hate when it is 80 degrees and it is Christmas morning. If I have to turn on the A/C, I'm gonna be pissed,
We have a couple more gifts to get, probably, and then we can focus on some food. I want ham, I don't know why, and I love the idea of eggnog, but I can't really drink it, it goes down like a soup, it is so thick.
Work used to be great at this time of year, back when I first started. We had a lot more people, and a lot of the ladies would bring cookies and cakes and all sorts of goodies. These days, a couple of people do, but it's not a "spread" like back in the day. Oh well, the good old days always sound better in retrospect.
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
12/19/18 Last Minute Work?
Everyone knows Christmas is next week, why the freak are they acting like it's the end of the world and sending us so much work now? I feel like we're busier than normal which is good, I guess. I mean it never leads to a little bonus or even an attaboy, but I guess more work is good. I have gotten three days of OT out of this, so I am happy about that, it's just that I want to feel like I am completing a workload, like maybe they will stop too, I don't know. Maybe I am just tired and need some time off.
As much as I want this to be a restful two weeks, I have a feeling that it is going to be a pain in the ass with the upcoming Quince. I don't mind attending, but Javalina has to be involved to the point of learning some dance. We saw a small preview and with just 3-4 couples it looks complicated, and my mom mentioned there are fifteen couples walking with my niece, that just sounds like gridlock on the dance floor with every girl in a big poofy dress. At least Javalina is almost sounding like he is getting into it. His cousin said something to him over the phone and now he has made it a competition to show her he can learn everything quicker than everybody or something like that.
One of our co-workers is gone, for a death in the family. Another one is gone after today, he has an abundance of vacation days he needs to burn through. Our manager is dealing with family issues, so he is gone today or tomorrow. It will just be me and my trainer to look over the kingdom. I have offered to make myself available to work, if I can get paid my vacation time, like everyone else, and they just let me be creative with filling in the time on my timecard. For example, if I work on Wednesday but they let me put the time on Sunday night or even Monday night, that would work great for me. Working a day or two like this could fatten my check, help whoever is stuck working, and give me a breather from being at home with miss bossypants who sometimes thinks I am one of her "bobos" who needs to be lead by the hand and talked to like a little kid.
This blog sucks but I would rather be home eating ham and cookies than still be working right now. Two more nights this week, maybe three.
As much as I want this to be a restful two weeks, I have a feeling that it is going to be a pain in the ass with the upcoming Quince. I don't mind attending, but Javalina has to be involved to the point of learning some dance. We saw a small preview and with just 3-4 couples it looks complicated, and my mom mentioned there are fifteen couples walking with my niece, that just sounds like gridlock on the dance floor with every girl in a big poofy dress. At least Javalina is almost sounding like he is getting into it. His cousin said something to him over the phone and now he has made it a competition to show her he can learn everything quicker than everybody or something like that.
One of our co-workers is gone, for a death in the family. Another one is gone after today, he has an abundance of vacation days he needs to burn through. Our manager is dealing with family issues, so he is gone today or tomorrow. It will just be me and my trainer to look over the kingdom. I have offered to make myself available to work, if I can get paid my vacation time, like everyone else, and they just let me be creative with filling in the time on my timecard. For example, if I work on Wednesday but they let me put the time on Sunday night or even Monday night, that would work great for me. Working a day or two like this could fatten my check, help whoever is stuck working, and give me a breather from being at home with miss bossypants who sometimes thinks I am one of her "bobos" who needs to be lead by the hand and talked to like a little kid.
This blog sucks but I would rather be home eating ham and cookies than still be working right now. Two more nights this week, maybe three.
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
12/18/18 I Had To Threaten Wife In A Stupid Way?
Wife is not very good at math sometimes. She just wants to make our boys happy, but as much as we want to love and spoil them, we must also realize they can kind of be dicks. We've been talking about what to get them for Christmas this year and really what do you get kids once they own one of each game system, TVs taller than their mamas and enough furniture in their rooms to entertain a handful of friends on any given night?
Javalina goes with the obvious, more video games and cards to allow him access online so he can play with his friends. I say not bad. One stop at Best Buy and the boy is taken care of. The other goof ball has been going on and on about a certain round appliance to help him clean his room without him having to participate. Those things are way more expensive than I thought, but I figure it can be the main gift. Wife then tells him what else he wants and he says, instead of doing a paper list, he has his wish list on Amazon. Hmmph!!!
Robot Wife calls me over, she has it open and is counting down about 5-6 things, but the first one is like $490, then $200, and not much cheaper from there. He likes exotic board games from China, specially if they only made 5 and each has a special number associated with it. I walked away and she was like "uh, what should I do, order all this?" I told her "you can, but you best believe I will be buying a ton of other shit for Javalina to make up the difference. How the hell are you ok with spending $1000 on Boy and only $200 on Javalina. You hate it when he calls you out, that Boy is your favorite, but damit." She retreated pretty quickly, "fine fine!"
Boy is a never ending supply of "I need this..." Javalina has not gotten as fancy yet, I imagine he'll catch on. I would have a much easier time of the spending if it was for school, or maybe some nice clothes, some expensive shoes, to look more professional, I respect this kind of stuff. Sorry but board games that cost $300 are just too silly for me. Graduate already, my Boy, then you can buy all the junk out of China with your money, I bet at that point he'll get smarter about his wants and needs.
I really wanted to get Javalina a "dirt bike" although the ones from Honda and Yamaha are awesome, those are easily over $1400. We saw a chubby version of an old style scooter at Sam's for $400 and I was thinking I wanted to get that. Javalina actually said no. I don't understand that boy sometimes. either way, we have all the big ticket items bought, we just need a couple more small items to make it look like a pile, which we should be able to finish shopping this Saturday. Shit, Christmas is right around the corner. I just want to get there and relax for a couple weeks, without an agenda.
Javalina goes with the obvious, more video games and cards to allow him access online so he can play with his friends. I say not bad. One stop at Best Buy and the boy is taken care of. The other goof ball has been going on and on about a certain round appliance to help him clean his room without him having to participate. Those things are way more expensive than I thought, but I figure it can be the main gift. Wife then tells him what else he wants and he says, instead of doing a paper list, he has his wish list on Amazon. Hmmph!!!
Robot Wife calls me over, she has it open and is counting down about 5-6 things, but the first one is like $490, then $200, and not much cheaper from there. He likes exotic board games from China, specially if they only made 5 and each has a special number associated with it. I walked away and she was like "uh, what should I do, order all this?" I told her "you can, but you best believe I will be buying a ton of other shit for Javalina to make up the difference. How the hell are you ok with spending $1000 on Boy and only $200 on Javalina. You hate it when he calls you out, that Boy is your favorite, but damit." She retreated pretty quickly, "fine fine!"
Boy is a never ending supply of "I need this..." Javalina has not gotten as fancy yet, I imagine he'll catch on. I would have a much easier time of the spending if it was for school, or maybe some nice clothes, some expensive shoes, to look more professional, I respect this kind of stuff. Sorry but board games that cost $300 are just too silly for me. Graduate already, my Boy, then you can buy all the junk out of China with your money, I bet at that point he'll get smarter about his wants and needs.
I really wanted to get Javalina a "dirt bike" although the ones from Honda and Yamaha are awesome, those are easily over $1400. We saw a chubby version of an old style scooter at Sam's for $400 and I was thinking I wanted to get that. Javalina actually said no. I don't understand that boy sometimes. either way, we have all the big ticket items bought, we just need a couple more small items to make it look like a pile, which we should be able to finish shopping this Saturday. Shit, Christmas is right around the corner. I just want to get there and relax for a couple weeks, without an agenda.
Monday, December 17, 2018
12/17/18 One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure?
We went and did it today. We went and bought the cheapest washer we could find and so far, so good. We started having problems with our 5 or 6 year old machine about 6 months ago. I looked it up on You tube and frankly, judging by the description, it looked to be a mess to fix. I kind of kept ignoring the problem, as it did a loud metal on metal grinding noise when it went on its final dry cycle. With the wash room door closed, it wasn't so bad. Within the last month though, it started developing a slow leak, which is something to worry about.
What bothered me the most about all this is that our first washer we bought was about $300 and we used it for about fifteen years. We bought it when we moved into our first house in 1996 and moved it to our 2nd home when it eventually gave out. I had wanted to get matching front loading washer and dryers in cherry red, but talking to enough people convinced me that those front loaders seem to have problems of their own. I went with another top loader, but it was different in that it had no agitator, the thing in the middle that helps mix the clothes through the water. At first it was no big deal, but over time, shit got old. We were supposed to load the clothes against the drum, and not let it cross through the center part. If it didn't like how you loaded the clothes, it would give you a UL signal, which means "Unbalanced Load". About the only way to fix this was to stop the machine, pull the wet clothes out, and put them back in, hopefully, in a better balanced way. This totally pissed off Big Mama.
Between the hard grinding noise, the leak, and the constant unbalanced load, was finally enough for me to say "we need a new washer." We started by looking at Lowe's and they had some good prices, but I wanted cheaper. We looked at Sears, where we had bought most of our other appliances, we were shocked to find they were in the process of closing, but still, of the washers left, none was as well priced as Lowe's, We then tried Best Buy and saw a floor model someone had returned, marked down from $400, down to $279.99. This means this machine was cheaper than our original one, like 22 years ago. That is winner winner chicken dinner, if it works like it is supposed to. I only say that because Lowe's did have one for $50, but it said "this is for parts", it was clearly dropped and everything inside looked misaligned and broke. The guy that helped us at Best Buy said that the machine works but honestly, Amana, is a machine that comes back a lot. He said this one came back because the people who got it said it was louder than they expected. Wife had been looking at reviews of it too, online and that seemed to be a constant problem, that it was louder than it had to be. The guy said to take it, you can try it until Jan12, if you are unhappy, bring it back before then and get a full refund. I figured that between their guarantee that it would work, the three year warranty, which was only $69.99 and the cheap price of $279.99, the decision made itself.
With my two boys, we had it plugged in and washing the first batch of towels within a half hour of getting home. I left the door open and hung out in the garage, breaking down boxes with Javalina waiting to hear the rinse cycle, when it spins the fastest to dry the towels and I never heard it get loud. Our previous machine got so loud, even with the door closed to the washroom, we had to turn up the TV, this was nothing. Wife gave it a good test run, washing about 5-6 loads. I noticed a lot less fits in each load, but we don't have to load it all delicately, making sure stuff is decorated against the drum. We are back to normal, where we just dump the basket of dirty clothes in and mush it to go in. Sometimes, spending a little money makes you feel like a genius.
What bothered me the most about all this is that our first washer we bought was about $300 and we used it for about fifteen years. We bought it when we moved into our first house in 1996 and moved it to our 2nd home when it eventually gave out. I had wanted to get matching front loading washer and dryers in cherry red, but talking to enough people convinced me that those front loaders seem to have problems of their own. I went with another top loader, but it was different in that it had no agitator, the thing in the middle that helps mix the clothes through the water. At first it was no big deal, but over time, shit got old. We were supposed to load the clothes against the drum, and not let it cross through the center part. If it didn't like how you loaded the clothes, it would give you a UL signal, which means "Unbalanced Load". About the only way to fix this was to stop the machine, pull the wet clothes out, and put them back in, hopefully, in a better balanced way. This totally pissed off Big Mama.
Between the hard grinding noise, the leak, and the constant unbalanced load, was finally enough for me to say "we need a new washer." We started by looking at Lowe's and they had some good prices, but I wanted cheaper. We looked at Sears, where we had bought most of our other appliances, we were shocked to find they were in the process of closing, but still, of the washers left, none was as well priced as Lowe's, We then tried Best Buy and saw a floor model someone had returned, marked down from $400, down to $279.99. This means this machine was cheaper than our original one, like 22 years ago. That is winner winner chicken dinner, if it works like it is supposed to. I only say that because Lowe's did have one for $50, but it said "this is for parts", it was clearly dropped and everything inside looked misaligned and broke. The guy that helped us at Best Buy said that the machine works but honestly, Amana, is a machine that comes back a lot. He said this one came back because the people who got it said it was louder than they expected. Wife had been looking at reviews of it too, online and that seemed to be a constant problem, that it was louder than it had to be. The guy said to take it, you can try it until Jan12, if you are unhappy, bring it back before then and get a full refund. I figured that between their guarantee that it would work, the three year warranty, which was only $69.99 and the cheap price of $279.99, the decision made itself.
With my two boys, we had it plugged in and washing the first batch of towels within a half hour of getting home. I left the door open and hung out in the garage, breaking down boxes with Javalina waiting to hear the rinse cycle, when it spins the fastest to dry the towels and I never heard it get loud. Our previous machine got so loud, even with the door closed to the washroom, we had to turn up the TV, this was nothing. Wife gave it a good test run, washing about 5-6 loads. I noticed a lot less fits in each load, but we don't have to load it all delicately, making sure stuff is decorated against the drum. We are back to normal, where we just dump the basket of dirty clothes in and mush it to go in. Sometimes, spending a little money makes you feel like a genius.
Saturday, December 15, 2018
12/16/18 Doing The Ponch?
I never stay up like I did yesterday, the only one I know who always used to stay up late on the last day after their work week ended was my brother when he was living up here in Austin working nights. It was a curious feeling, I know I can hang until around 11:00am maybe noon, as it is not uncommon for me to stay up that late. But since I am always wary about being alert enough to pick up Javalina, I have to force myself to sleep, if I stay up until noon, I can still get almost 4 hours sleep, and I can function enough on that. Since Wife had taken the day off and we had kind of planned on doing some shopping, I still wanted to go out and hang out with her after I was called to go to work. To me, that just means extra money to pay down some of the things we are going to charge for the people in our lives.
By the time we ate at Mod Pizza, here in Southpark Meadows, my back was almost wanting to cramp up on me. Once I sat down, it hurt to get back up. I've been wearing tennis shoes again and they feel great, but I chose to go in Crocs in the morning, and my feet felt raw by 2:00pm walking around with no socks. After all that, I still wanted to take a quick look at the prices of the washers at Best Buy (you can see the store from Mod Pizza), they also had a couple machines in the $400-500 range. The only problem was that it was now 3:30pm and it was about time to go pick up our youngest deductible, so Wife dropped me off at the house, I barely remember pooping and showering and I was out like a light. I may have lifted my eyes open at 6:30, wondered why I was in bed, faintly heard Wife and Javalina making noise and fell back to sleep. I came down at 8:30pm and Wife had made a delicious "caldo", which is Spanish for soup with cabbage and hunks of steak, corn, rice, and a hearty beef broth. It totally hit the spot, even if both Wife and Javalina sat on either side of me, waking me up in between putting the spoon in my mouth. I finished eating and could do no better than lean back on the sofa and fall back to sleep.
At some point, Boy and his crew came down into the kitchen and got loud, quickly. Even though they do that, I love having the Boy and his gang o' nerds here because we don't have to worry about him drinking or doing other stupid shit. They tend to get together on Friday nights, they buy pizzas and crap at Sam's and have their little gaming sessions, whether on board games or with video games. I digress though, last night, it was just loud enough for Wife to suggest we go up to our room to watch TV. I said sure, even though as soon as I saw the bed, I was out again. Wife kept watching TV until about midnight, and I slept until then. Of course, as soon as she turned off the TV, I was ready to wake up. She laid down and put up her defenses, pillows all around so I don't go trying to grope her. I tore through the pillow fortress and was under her shirt before she started complaining to leave her alone so she could sleep. I said I just need to play with her boobs for a bit, she can keep her pants on (when you're a ball buster, you sleep in jeans).
I tossed and turned, got up at 2:30am to try and write yesterday's blog, but only got about halfway done. I found a slice of pizza in the fridge from Boy's get together, ate it, and probably ate some cookies and other crap. I tried writing but ended up falling back to sleep on the chair, woke up to random yelling on Youtube, it was the mink man calling his mink back to him. I gave up and went back to bed around 4:30am, and slept until 10:30am. It was a long stretch of being awake followed by a long stretch of being asleep. Let's see if it helps today.
By the time we ate at Mod Pizza, here in Southpark Meadows, my back was almost wanting to cramp up on me. Once I sat down, it hurt to get back up. I've been wearing tennis shoes again and they feel great, but I chose to go in Crocs in the morning, and my feet felt raw by 2:00pm walking around with no socks. After all that, I still wanted to take a quick look at the prices of the washers at Best Buy (you can see the store from Mod Pizza), they also had a couple machines in the $400-500 range. The only problem was that it was now 3:30pm and it was about time to go pick up our youngest deductible, so Wife dropped me off at the house, I barely remember pooping and showering and I was out like a light. I may have lifted my eyes open at 6:30, wondered why I was in bed, faintly heard Wife and Javalina making noise and fell back to sleep. I came down at 8:30pm and Wife had made a delicious "caldo", which is Spanish for soup with cabbage and hunks of steak, corn, rice, and a hearty beef broth. It totally hit the spot, even if both Wife and Javalina sat on either side of me, waking me up in between putting the spoon in my mouth. I finished eating and could do no better than lean back on the sofa and fall back to sleep.
At some point, Boy and his crew came down into the kitchen and got loud, quickly. Even though they do that, I love having the Boy and his gang o' nerds here because we don't have to worry about him drinking or doing other stupid shit. They tend to get together on Friday nights, they buy pizzas and crap at Sam's and have their little gaming sessions, whether on board games or with video games. I digress though, last night, it was just loud enough for Wife to suggest we go up to our room to watch TV. I said sure, even though as soon as I saw the bed, I was out again. Wife kept watching TV until about midnight, and I slept until then. Of course, as soon as she turned off the TV, I was ready to wake up. She laid down and put up her defenses, pillows all around so I don't go trying to grope her. I tore through the pillow fortress and was under her shirt before she started complaining to leave her alone so she could sleep. I said I just need to play with her boobs for a bit, she can keep her pants on (when you're a ball buster, you sleep in jeans).
I tossed and turned, got up at 2:30am to try and write yesterday's blog, but only got about halfway done. I found a slice of pizza in the fridge from Boy's get together, ate it, and probably ate some cookies and other crap. I tried writing but ended up falling back to sleep on the chair, woke up to random yelling on Youtube, it was the mink man calling his mink back to him. I gave up and went back to bed around 4:30am, and slept until 10:30am. It was a long stretch of being awake followed by a long stretch of being asleep. Let's see if it helps today.
12/15/18 Wife FInally Relaxed, And La Pryor Did Not Implode?
Wife and I are really the same in that we both don't like to miss work. I have a good reason, as I get paid by the hour, if I miss a day, I have to burn 12 hours at a time, and because of how the pay breaks down, if I want to keep my paycheck the same, if I were to miss a day on my long weeks, when I work four 12 hour days, I would have to add hours to keep my paycheck the same, it is a mess, so I rarely miss a day. Wife, on the other hand, works a standard eight hour day, or she should, but usually stays at work until around 6:00pm, when she goes in at 7:20am. This past week, she spent Monday in La Pryor, then Tuesday though Thursday in San Antonio, which means she comes and stays up here and drives to San Antonio in the mornings. It is awesome because she is around and we get to see more of her. After being here all week, she said I have to go back to La Pryor on Friday. I don't even argue with her anymore, but she does have 10 personal days she can take at anytime, and even though it is already December, she has yet to take a day off.
Thursday night it finally looked perfect in that I hadn't been called in for OT, and she was home and we were fixing to sit down for dinner like a normal family on a weeknight, which almost never happens. Then I got the call from my boss, if I wanted to go in and work OT. He said he had texted me, but the message never went through at 5:00pm. He was apologizing a lot for the last minute call but I had been expecting it all day just because I saw the volume of work we had to complete last week. There seemed to be no way to get it all done because we can only run our samples when the other company lets us use their tool during the day. I have full use at night because they do not have a night shift person.
She had just said, I am taking Friday off, when they called me in to work Thursday night, and she quickly tried to change her mind, but I think she was actually tired of running back and forth. I told her it'll be cool, we can go to Lowe's in the morning after we drop off Javalina and have some breakfast. I don't know why we keep going to Panera Bread. I like the idea of their pastries and some coffee, Wife ordered a ham and egg sandwich, then sat there confused as to why they only give her half a sandwich, looking at how the bread was cut. I got mine on a Ciabatta bread and it was much bigger and pretty delicious. The almond coffee bread was just more icing on the cake.
We then walked around Lowe's, I was surprised to see the Christmas section already being removed, all X-mas stuff was 50% off and the bins and stuff for spring cleaning were already making their presence known. Meanwhile, we have yet to put up our tree. I was even thinking this might be a good time to buy a new tree at half-off, but damn, they are still expensive and worse than that, they looked cheaply made. We were there awhile though, our washer needs replacing, and we considered getting one, they were having what looked to be a good sale, some of the washers in the $400-500 range looked good enough. I will no longer buy one with all the bells and whistles, the last one cost me $1200 and lasted half as long as the first one we bought for $300, back in 1996. We then left, walked around the mall, surprised as anything to see our Sears in the mall fixing to shut its doors. It seemed sad, it was where we bought all our big appliances, such as our various refrigerators, washers, dryers, and most of my tools and stuff in the garage. I had been a loyal customer since 1996 and assumed it would always be there. Oh well, even at sale prices, the washers left looked too pricey.
Wife walked off, I love looking at watches, so she went off to Victoria's Secret and I tried on a couple of used Rolexes just for fun before catching up with her. She bought a couple of gifts for her coworkers secret Santa or something and then we left. By then it was 2:00pm, we stopped for lunch at Mod Pizza closer to the house and by the time we finished, this fat boy was ready for bed. I slept like the dead until 8:30pm or so.
Thursday night it finally looked perfect in that I hadn't been called in for OT, and she was home and we were fixing to sit down for dinner like a normal family on a weeknight, which almost never happens. Then I got the call from my boss, if I wanted to go in and work OT. He said he had texted me, but the message never went through at 5:00pm. He was apologizing a lot for the last minute call but I had been expecting it all day just because I saw the volume of work we had to complete last week. There seemed to be no way to get it all done because we can only run our samples when the other company lets us use their tool during the day. I have full use at night because they do not have a night shift person.
She had just said, I am taking Friday off, when they called me in to work Thursday night, and she quickly tried to change her mind, but I think she was actually tired of running back and forth. I told her it'll be cool, we can go to Lowe's in the morning after we drop off Javalina and have some breakfast. I don't know why we keep going to Panera Bread. I like the idea of their pastries and some coffee, Wife ordered a ham and egg sandwich, then sat there confused as to why they only give her half a sandwich, looking at how the bread was cut. I got mine on a Ciabatta bread and it was much bigger and pretty delicious. The almond coffee bread was just more icing on the cake.
We then walked around Lowe's, I was surprised to see the Christmas section already being removed, all X-mas stuff was 50% off and the bins and stuff for spring cleaning were already making their presence known. Meanwhile, we have yet to put up our tree. I was even thinking this might be a good time to buy a new tree at half-off, but damn, they are still expensive and worse than that, they looked cheaply made. We were there awhile though, our washer needs replacing, and we considered getting one, they were having what looked to be a good sale, some of the washers in the $400-500 range looked good enough. I will no longer buy one with all the bells and whistles, the last one cost me $1200 and lasted half as long as the first one we bought for $300, back in 1996. We then left, walked around the mall, surprised as anything to see our Sears in the mall fixing to shut its doors. It seemed sad, it was where we bought all our big appliances, such as our various refrigerators, washers, dryers, and most of my tools and stuff in the garage. I had been a loyal customer since 1996 and assumed it would always be there. Oh well, even at sale prices, the washers left looked too pricey.
Wife walked off, I love looking at watches, so she went off to Victoria's Secret and I tried on a couple of used Rolexes just for fun before catching up with her. She bought a couple of gifts for her coworkers secret Santa or something and then we left. By then it was 2:00pm, we stopped for lunch at Mod Pizza closer to the house and by the time we finished, this fat boy was ready for bed. I slept like the dead until 8:30pm or so.
Friday, December 14, 2018
12/14/18 I May Be A Product Of A Large Family, But I Can't Stand Them?
Fuck, I hate a family with a bunch of little kids. You might want to feel for them, but those idiots chose to have that many kids. Yes, I have kids, but raising basically one at a time, we've never let them act like they own a restaurant and just let them run around, that is asshole behavior.
We went to Whataburger today and wow, the animals were out in full force. First of all, a family of Mexicans was in the process of getting their order together and the guy was really into discussing how Mexican the guy behind the counter was. The guy behind the counter was saying he came from somewhere south of the border but he had been here for 15-20 years, I say where are you, ICE? Not that I want anyone hauled away, but keep the line moving. I don't want to age while you figure out if the guy is brown enough to serve you fries. Meanwhile your kids are playing with the soda machine like it's the first time they drank out of a faucet. The youngest kid at 4-5 had a large cup of course filled to the rim, and probably weighed half the kids weight, without a lid. I was just waiting for the spill and surprised reaction. The fat mom never got up to help and corral the kids in.
If that wasn't bad enough, there was another lady with another four kids and I believe her partner worked there. These little animals might have been worse. First of all, the youngest shit kept running up and down the plastic bench that is almost the length of the seating area and it would make a tightening drum sound as the kid ran up and down the bench. Also, while she was distracted by her own shit, the two older ones just decided they were going to go out and play in traffic. Even Javalina was "should I say something?" I said "No!, If that a-hole hasn't noticed half her kids are outside, she can suck a dick.
I know my mom is going to get all grr, we were 4 siblings, and even Wife was the same with 6 people living under their roof. I guess the difference was we didn't go out in public much and we were a good ten years apart. By the time my younger brother and sister came around, I was a certified babysitter specializing in the Heimlich maneuver, CPR, and as savvy as a shark around water. This allowed me to do part time work as a "Manny" at the age of 8 or 9 so my mom could breath easier. I kid, of course, but I guess because we were raised in a small town, we didn't focus energy on annoying the people around us.
My brother in law has 4 kids spaced 1-2 years apart from each other, and wow, they carry energy. They are not bad kids, but they will get up and head to the restroom, whenever we visit and manage to go have dinner. This used to bug me so much, I complained loudly to them that "oh well, you got 4, when they steal and rape one of them, you'll still have three." Now at least they go in pairs, not by themselves, I still don't like it, but it is an improvement.
Maybe the kids at Whataburger seemed extra annoying because I didn't sleep much, or because I was expecting to be called in for some OT tonight and that didn't happen.
We went to Whataburger today and wow, the animals were out in full force. First of all, a family of Mexicans was in the process of getting their order together and the guy was really into discussing how Mexican the guy behind the counter was. The guy behind the counter was saying he came from somewhere south of the border but he had been here for 15-20 years, I say where are you, ICE? Not that I want anyone hauled away, but keep the line moving. I don't want to age while you figure out if the guy is brown enough to serve you fries. Meanwhile your kids are playing with the soda machine like it's the first time they drank out of a faucet. The youngest kid at 4-5 had a large cup of course filled to the rim, and probably weighed half the kids weight, without a lid. I was just waiting for the spill and surprised reaction. The fat mom never got up to help and corral the kids in.
If that wasn't bad enough, there was another lady with another four kids and I believe her partner worked there. These little animals might have been worse. First of all, the youngest shit kept running up and down the plastic bench that is almost the length of the seating area and it would make a tightening drum sound as the kid ran up and down the bench. Also, while she was distracted by her own shit, the two older ones just decided they were going to go out and play in traffic. Even Javalina was "should I say something?" I said "No!, If that a-hole hasn't noticed half her kids are outside, she can suck a dick.
I know my mom is going to get all grr, we were 4 siblings, and even Wife was the same with 6 people living under their roof. I guess the difference was we didn't go out in public much and we were a good ten years apart. By the time my younger brother and sister came around, I was a certified babysitter specializing in the Heimlich maneuver, CPR, and as savvy as a shark around water. This allowed me to do part time work as a "Manny" at the age of 8 or 9 so my mom could breath easier. I kid, of course, but I guess because we were raised in a small town, we didn't focus energy on annoying the people around us.
My brother in law has 4 kids spaced 1-2 years apart from each other, and wow, they carry energy. They are not bad kids, but they will get up and head to the restroom, whenever we visit and manage to go have dinner. This used to bug me so much, I complained loudly to them that "oh well, you got 4, when they steal and rape one of them, you'll still have three." Now at least they go in pairs, not by themselves, I still don't like it, but it is an improvement.
Maybe the kids at Whataburger seemed extra annoying because I didn't sleep much, or because I was expecting to be called in for some OT tonight and that didn't happen.
Thursday, December 13, 2018
12/13/18 Losing Another Member From Our Company?
Another group member is getting off this sometimes fun, sometimes manic tilt-a-whirl we call our job. He has reached the age at which one can retire, and because he has a lot of stuff going on outside of work, he is choosing to hang his gloves. It is a little strange, a year ago the company had four chemists, counting me (I barely count me), but after the last round of lay-offs, the youngest chemist gal headed on out for better opportunities, and now this guy is retiring. This leaves my direct supervisor and myself as chemists, not that it matters, just finding a connection with the guy retiring.
The group is supposed to be meeting at a place on SH-71 this afternoon, but I always feel weird
showing up to socialize with the group. I will probably pass this up, but I do wish the guy the best. I never really got to know him, but he seems nice enough.
So now I have seen people leave this job for retiring, from being layed-off, taking better/worse jobs, in the past, transferring to the bigger company, because the hubby can afford to have the person sitting at home ( usually a bad idea, my opinion), and the worse way still, passing away here in the building, but hey, we all have to leave one way or another.
I don't know how much longer we will get to call this our place. We hear shitty rumors, rarely do we get follow-up, last one I heard is pretty heavy, but I think this might be a couple years old. We also were told the last quarter was the first profitable one in a long while, although some people noted that was with us not paying for rent on this building, so I can't say how good/bad things are.
I have all of a sudden gotten two consecutive weekends of OT, and I think they could benefit having me come in and run some of the samples tonight, so we don't miss delivery to our customers, but that is up to more important people up top.
The guy leaving being a chemist might make some more work for me, to get me to see more OT. I doubt we will hire a replacement, so the work he used to do will be spread out amongst us who are still around. I say fine, if it leads to more money, boo if it is just extra work.
The group is supposed to be meeting at a place on SH-71 this afternoon, but I always feel weird
showing up to socialize with the group. I will probably pass this up, but I do wish the guy the best. I never really got to know him, but he seems nice enough.
So now I have seen people leave this job for retiring, from being layed-off, taking better/worse jobs, in the past, transferring to the bigger company, because the hubby can afford to have the person sitting at home ( usually a bad idea, my opinion), and the worse way still, passing away here in the building, but hey, we all have to leave one way or another.
I don't know how much longer we will get to call this our place. We hear shitty rumors, rarely do we get follow-up, last one I heard is pretty heavy, but I think this might be a couple years old. We also were told the last quarter was the first profitable one in a long while, although some people noted that was with us not paying for rent on this building, so I can't say how good/bad things are.
I have all of a sudden gotten two consecutive weekends of OT, and I think they could benefit having me come in and run some of the samples tonight, so we don't miss delivery to our customers, but that is up to more important people up top.
The guy leaving being a chemist might make some more work for me, to get me to see more OT. I doubt we will hire a replacement, so the work he used to do will be spread out amongst us who are still around. I say fine, if it leads to more money, boo if it is just extra work.
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
12/12/18 An Accidental I Love You?
This one is just kind of harmless and cute. We go and eat at Bill Miller about once a week after school. Both Javalina and I pretty much always order the tenders and fries. He gets a sweet tea and I get a Big Red or lately a Diet Pepsi. It is usually the same girl working the counter, so she about knows our routine and some days she even gets a little into our conversations, even though I haven't picked up her name.
Today, Wife joined us and we leave Wife at the counter while we get the biscuits from the little island, along with ketchup, butter, napkins, and knives, to spread the butter. If Wife goes for tacos, we get some salsa, whatever we need. We sat there and joked around for awhile, it was nice, I really wish she would get a job back here, so she could be around more often, but anyways. She brought up going to HEB to get some groceries or Target, and I said nope. I like going back home, showering, taking care of business in the bathroom and squeezing in a nap before I head to work.
Before we head out, we usually get a refill, no big deal, we just line up near the check out counter and usually the same girl that takes our orders gives us our refills. Javalina crowded the counter and I'm standing behind him so we don't take up all the space. He says something snarky like "get your drink old man" and I said "well, I'm waiting for you to move that big butt, you take up a lot of space." Wife was then excusing us to the girl for arguing kind of jokingly, then Javalina does what he does at home, turns to the girl and says "thanks for lunch, I love you!"
He had walked around Wife and I, he didn't mean it, it's something he says at the house after he eats, mostly to get out of washing his dishes, but then he runs up to his room. After it came out, I was like "did I hear that right?" Then he was fumbling, I meant "I love you, mom!" He walked out completely embarrassed saying "well, we aren't coming here for at least a month." I said, "nah, it was cute, she doesn't care, it was a little funny." He kept mumbling all the way home, as we had a good laugh.
Today, Wife joined us and we leave Wife at the counter while we get the biscuits from the little island, along with ketchup, butter, napkins, and knives, to spread the butter. If Wife goes for tacos, we get some salsa, whatever we need. We sat there and joked around for awhile, it was nice, I really wish she would get a job back here, so she could be around more often, but anyways. She brought up going to HEB to get some groceries or Target, and I said nope. I like going back home, showering, taking care of business in the bathroom and squeezing in a nap before I head to work.
Before we head out, we usually get a refill, no big deal, we just line up near the check out counter and usually the same girl that takes our orders gives us our refills. Javalina crowded the counter and I'm standing behind him so we don't take up all the space. He says something snarky like "get your drink old man" and I said "well, I'm waiting for you to move that big butt, you take up a lot of space." Wife was then excusing us to the girl for arguing kind of jokingly, then Javalina does what he does at home, turns to the girl and says "thanks for lunch, I love you!"
He had walked around Wife and I, he didn't mean it, it's something he says at the house after he eats, mostly to get out of washing his dishes, but then he runs up to his room. After it came out, I was like "did I hear that right?" Then he was fumbling, I meant "I love you, mom!" He walked out completely embarrassed saying "well, we aren't coming here for at least a month." I said, "nah, it was cute, she doesn't care, it was a little funny." He kept mumbling all the way home, as we had a good laugh.
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
12/11/18 Construction On Our Main Road?
I don't get the stupid shit the city does sometimes. This week, they decided to start a project on 1st and Slaughter Lane. It is usually a pain in the ass in the morning when we are all trying to drop off kids or get to work, and now they decided to remove one of the lanes, why? This is the kind of stupid shit that could very easily wait until the summer when at least there is no rush for the kids.
I think this is all one great project since they started working on IH-35 a couple years ago. A couple weeks ago they closed off the inside lanes on Slaughter Lane and shaved in more space for the people turning left behind the Wal-mart, leading into Southpark Meadows. What I am still wishing they would do, at least on the roads I drive, is cut in some inserts where the busses stop, so they get out of the way and let us hustle on by while those waiting to inherit the earth get on and off. I fucking hate city busses, I can't imagine stopping on one of the busiest roads to pick up one person, but wait, no one in the bus or the snake of cars behind is moving until this newest fare produces fifty cents or whatever. If that is not bad enough sometimes you think, I'll be cool and patient, only to realize the fucking driver is on break and that bus is not moving anywhere for 15-20 minutes.
Anyways, back to the tearing up of the intersection which I don't get. The concrete there is not wide enough to make a second turning lane, although that would be awesome. It is almost impossible to leave our neighborhood when Akins lets out at 4:20 or so as all 3,000 students slowly migrate back home. A couple of times I have been caught by Javalina staying after school for this or that and then wants to get picked up at that moment. It totally sucks to try and leave at that hour.
Normally, the traffic backs up for 2-3 light cycles and that is fine, yesterday with the construction project started, traffic was backed up twice as far, almost to the last place where one can turn left and avoid the mess. I took the turn, and thought, it'll be just as bad over there, but it wasn't. There were just enough cars turning left to allow me to go with the first group as I approached and then I went over to 1st and felt like I got ahead of 100 cars, like a genius!! More of these people will realize what some of us are doing and they are going to ruin it, but hopefully, this is a quick project, not that the city knows what that means.
I think this is all one great project since they started working on IH-35 a couple years ago. A couple weeks ago they closed off the inside lanes on Slaughter Lane and shaved in more space for the people turning left behind the Wal-mart, leading into Southpark Meadows. What I am still wishing they would do, at least on the roads I drive, is cut in some inserts where the busses stop, so they get out of the way and let us hustle on by while those waiting to inherit the earth get on and off. I fucking hate city busses, I can't imagine stopping on one of the busiest roads to pick up one person, but wait, no one in the bus or the snake of cars behind is moving until this newest fare produces fifty cents or whatever. If that is not bad enough sometimes you think, I'll be cool and patient, only to realize the fucking driver is on break and that bus is not moving anywhere for 15-20 minutes.
Anyways, back to the tearing up of the intersection which I don't get. The concrete there is not wide enough to make a second turning lane, although that would be awesome. It is almost impossible to leave our neighborhood when Akins lets out at 4:20 or so as all 3,000 students slowly migrate back home. A couple of times I have been caught by Javalina staying after school for this or that and then wants to get picked up at that moment. It totally sucks to try and leave at that hour.
Normally, the traffic backs up for 2-3 light cycles and that is fine, yesterday with the construction project started, traffic was backed up twice as far, almost to the last place where one can turn left and avoid the mess. I took the turn, and thought, it'll be just as bad over there, but it wasn't. There were just enough cars turning left to allow me to go with the first group as I approached and then I went over to 1st and felt like I got ahead of 100 cars, like a genius!! More of these people will realize what some of us are doing and they are going to ruin it, but hopefully, this is a quick project, not that the city knows what that means.
Monday, December 10, 2018
12/10/18 Half-Ass Recruiting Javalina To Play Football?
After enjoying a very lazy Saturday, my mom called about 10:30pm at night to say that some lady had just texted her and if her grandson, Javalina, would be interested in playing football with a team out of San Marcos. We called him and he mosey-ed on over to our bedroom, I had been folding clothes and Wife was in the middle of doing something or other in the bathroom but when we asked him, he promptly said "hell yeah! I mean I am a little rusty but I could do it." I then asked my mom how much, and said she would just get the lady's number and we could call her directly. I got excited at the thought of more football games and this time they be on the weekend when we could all go as a family. When we talked to the lady though, we quickly lost our excitement. She said they were in the middle of a tournament in Midland and they had another tournament scheduled for next week and one more for the last week in December.
I tried getting Wife to ask her how many games they play on a given weekend per tournament, but she really didn't answer the question. She also said there were only the two tournaments left but she was busy looking for more places they could join and go play. She said they had gone as far south as McAllen, close to Brownsville and currently they were in Midland which is way out in West Texas. That is a lot of ground to cover. The next question was a bummer, "we asked her how often they practice, she said they kids have been playing together so long, they don't really practice much, maybe once a week. That doesn't sound inviting for our son. She said this was the last bit of play they were going to have as a team, as next year they all go to high school.
So why invite my kid for basically two weekends of games left? I think they lost a key player or two on their line and saw my boy on my mom's FB and that is great, but come on. They wanted $120 for the jersey and pants, but it takes a couple weeks to get them, they come from Pakistan. The season is over in a couple weeks, dodos. Then they would like for us to buy him a helmet and shoulder pads, which again, if it was a full season, I might even go shopping for an RV to drive to the games, but for two games, shit, helmets run $200-300 and good shoulder pads are around $200. Again, for two weekends? BOO!!!
I tried getting Wife to ask her how many games they play on a given weekend per tournament, but she really didn't answer the question. She also said there were only the two tournaments left but she was busy looking for more places they could join and go play. She said they had gone as far south as McAllen, close to Brownsville and currently they were in Midland which is way out in West Texas. That is a lot of ground to cover. The next question was a bummer, "we asked her how often they practice, she said they kids have been playing together so long, they don't really practice much, maybe once a week. That doesn't sound inviting for our son. She said this was the last bit of play they were going to have as a team, as next year they all go to high school.
So why invite my kid for basically two weekends of games left? I think they lost a key player or two on their line and saw my boy on my mom's FB and that is great, but come on. They wanted $120 for the jersey and pants, but it takes a couple weeks to get them, they come from Pakistan. The season is over in a couple weeks, dodos. Then they would like for us to buy him a helmet and shoulder pads, which again, if it was a full season, I might even go shopping for an RV to drive to the games, but for two games, shit, helmets run $200-300 and good shoulder pads are around $200. Again, for two weekends? BOO!!!
Sunday, December 9, 2018
12/9/18 Watching A Scary Movie?
I will admit I try to never watch anything considered "scary" because I think about stuff too much and then I have dreams about stuff I would rather not. That being said, I was overruled on Friday when Girlie came over to hang out for the evening while her BF was at work. It had been a while since she had come over, as she recently started dating a new guy and things have been going good for them, as far as she says, but sometimes he gets caught in these long shifts, so she took the opportunity of my invite Thursday to come over for Chili on Friday and while she was here to wash a couple loads. With the weather shitty as it was, I wanted something warm that would go down smooth and warm us up from within. I had gone in the morning after dropping off Javalina at school to Target and got most everything needed to make the chili and I got it going by around 11:00am.
I went to sleep and woke up in time to pick him up before 4:00pm. When I got to the school, there were no kids around where there are usually a handful walking back and forth. I parked in the usual spot I do to get him thinking maybe I am going to have to call him. As soon as I parked, his chubby ass popped out of the side of the building where there was a bit of roof overhead. I could hear him mumbling "shit shit shit shit shit shit..." from a distance as he ran to the vehicle. I quickly turned the heater to an even warmer setting, the poor guy was drenched. I told him to get out of the clothes as soon as we got home and I gave him a cup of the chili to warm him up a bit. He was back to normal within a few minutes.
Boy's GF was there, as she surprised me when I went into his room to turn off the heater, I was muttering under my breath how he doesn't give a shit about the light bill and just leaves the heater on when he leaves, then she rustles in bed. I jumped nearly out of my skin, I had just looked out the window and his car was not there, so he wasn't there. She said "hi", I apologized for walking in the room, I was just going for the heater, she said Boy was supposed to be home soon, and that they were going to his company party later. I figured after all this and Javalina safely in the house, it was time for me to take a nap which I did, until about 7:00pm. Girlie showed up about then, she loved the chili, I do think I am getting better at it, I have now made it three times, this time I added pinto, red kidney, and black beans to 2 pounds of ground beef and 1 pound of ground pork. Even for the cans of diced tomatoes, I am using some diced tomatoes with additional flavors to mix in with the chili powders. Add some homemade cornbread and shredded cheese and the bowl is a winner.
While eating, we saw The House on Haunted Hill I believe was called and it was a creepy movie, for sure. Javalina apparently likes this type of movie, I do not, but they wanted to see it, so I just sat there and kept getting up to get more food or rink, or to clean the kitchen. The story was set up in 1971, based on true events, the story says. The house is infested by a witch spirit who killed her kids and a new family had moved in and was trying to repeat the shit. There was just enough boo here and quick flash of lights there to make it unsettling. As my boy said, it wasn't really scary, but there was plenty of "uhhh" moments, such as when the lady starts looking down the stairs to the basement and she suddenly gets shoved down and now she is in the dark. Another creepy moment was when they are looking for one of the kids that was dragged into a room, then with a UV light they follow the footprints to a large armoire, which was left behind by the last family and it seemed immovable, it had a secret door and a hiding place between the walls, all of this gave me the willys. They ended up doing an exorcism, the witch revealed herself and eventually, they defeated her, maybe.
I went to sleep and woke up in time to pick him up before 4:00pm. When I got to the school, there were no kids around where there are usually a handful walking back and forth. I parked in the usual spot I do to get him thinking maybe I am going to have to call him. As soon as I parked, his chubby ass popped out of the side of the building where there was a bit of roof overhead. I could hear him mumbling "shit shit shit shit shit shit..." from a distance as he ran to the vehicle. I quickly turned the heater to an even warmer setting, the poor guy was drenched. I told him to get out of the clothes as soon as we got home and I gave him a cup of the chili to warm him up a bit. He was back to normal within a few minutes.
Boy's GF was there, as she surprised me when I went into his room to turn off the heater, I was muttering under my breath how he doesn't give a shit about the light bill and just leaves the heater on when he leaves, then she rustles in bed. I jumped nearly out of my skin, I had just looked out the window and his car was not there, so he wasn't there. She said "hi", I apologized for walking in the room, I was just going for the heater, she said Boy was supposed to be home soon, and that they were going to his company party later. I figured after all this and Javalina safely in the house, it was time for me to take a nap which I did, until about 7:00pm. Girlie showed up about then, she loved the chili, I do think I am getting better at it, I have now made it three times, this time I added pinto, red kidney, and black beans to 2 pounds of ground beef and 1 pound of ground pork. Even for the cans of diced tomatoes, I am using some diced tomatoes with additional flavors to mix in with the chili powders. Add some homemade cornbread and shredded cheese and the bowl is a winner.
While eating, we saw The House on Haunted Hill I believe was called and it was a creepy movie, for sure. Javalina apparently likes this type of movie, I do not, but they wanted to see it, so I just sat there and kept getting up to get more food or rink, or to clean the kitchen. The story was set up in 1971, based on true events, the story says. The house is infested by a witch spirit who killed her kids and a new family had moved in and was trying to repeat the shit. There was just enough boo here and quick flash of lights there to make it unsettling. As my boy said, it wasn't really scary, but there was plenty of "uhhh" moments, such as when the lady starts looking down the stairs to the basement and she suddenly gets shoved down and now she is in the dark. Another creepy moment was when they are looking for one of the kids that was dragged into a room, then with a UV light they follow the footprints to a large armoire, which was left behind by the last family and it seemed immovable, it had a secret door and a hiding place between the walls, all of this gave me the willys. They ended up doing an exorcism, the witch revealed herself and eventually, they defeated her, maybe.
Saturday, December 8, 2018
12/8/18 Narcos: Mexico? (Netflix)
Say what you want, we all have to admit, Netflix knows how to make a good to great series. Narcos: Mexico follows the other Narco series which went after Pablo Escobar and then the "Gentlemen of Cali" in the 3rd season. This Mexico version seems to be its own thing and shows what the DEA was up against with drug trafficking in the 70's and early 80's. If we are to believe it as real, then it was just a couple of people to blame for how powerful the "gangs" became and a lot of those were assholes in political power.
The story mostly follows Kiki Camarillo who is pissed at being overlooked for a promotion here in the states, so he "volunteers to go work in the field office in Mexico. He soon is overwhelmed at the ineptness and overt display of shady police work in support of the drug lords. He cannot believe that after pursuing a main character and having him in their view, the powers that be call off the manhunt. In another instance, the same character is caught trying to leave the country in a private plane, the head Mexican police/investigator goes in the plane talks to him and comes out saying "this is not the guy we thought it was." There is a lot of foreshadowing that it is not going to go well for Kiki, who is a good guy, he just doesn't know when to quit.
If Kiki is the embodiment of good in this story, Felix has to represent all that is wrong with the world. It is bad enough that he starts the first Mexican drug cartel in Mexico, the way he does it is the slimiest way possible. First off, the first chance he gets to kill his boss, he does. Then his wife threatens to leave him, she wants to go back to Sinaloa, where they came from, and he won't have it. In the last scene with her, he tells her straight out "I don't need you, anymore." What kind of cold blooded shit is that? He then goes and sells out his brother in law who started the weed business with him, when he decided 30million a week wasn't enough, and even sells out Don Neto, who was from the old school and was kind of like his mentor and confidant.
One has to ask, once you have sold out your family, your friends, and your closest allies, why are you still doing what you are doing, this is what leads to you becoming a cartoon bad guy, without the comedy? I hated that this a-hole had so much power because without a suit he looks like he weighs 110 pounds. Powerful men are supposed to be big, I bought Pablo Escobar as a powerful man because he was husky, this guy looked like a teenager could kick his ass, maybe it was just the actor chosen, but he has a bit of a smirk that made him way too weasel-y for my taste.
The last episode had Felix back in power and the DEA starting a new regime, possibly acting more like snipers and men of action than what they had been doing before, just recording the activity of these troublemakers. A curious development was the treatment of Isabella, the beautiful Mexican connection to the Colombians, as she had asked and demanded to be taken serious and given a seat at the table, along with the other bosses. Felix decides to instead treat her like a child and cxcuses her from joining the biggest meeting of its time.
The story mostly follows Kiki Camarillo who is pissed at being overlooked for a promotion here in the states, so he "volunteers to go work in the field office in Mexico. He soon is overwhelmed at the ineptness and overt display of shady police work in support of the drug lords. He cannot believe that after pursuing a main character and having him in their view, the powers that be call off the manhunt. In another instance, the same character is caught trying to leave the country in a private plane, the head Mexican police/investigator goes in the plane talks to him and comes out saying "this is not the guy we thought it was." There is a lot of foreshadowing that it is not going to go well for Kiki, who is a good guy, he just doesn't know when to quit.
If Kiki is the embodiment of good in this story, Felix has to represent all that is wrong with the world. It is bad enough that he starts the first Mexican drug cartel in Mexico, the way he does it is the slimiest way possible. First off, the first chance he gets to kill his boss, he does. Then his wife threatens to leave him, she wants to go back to Sinaloa, where they came from, and he won't have it. In the last scene with her, he tells her straight out "I don't need you, anymore." What kind of cold blooded shit is that? He then goes and sells out his brother in law who started the weed business with him, when he decided 30million a week wasn't enough, and even sells out Don Neto, who was from the old school and was kind of like his mentor and confidant.
One has to ask, once you have sold out your family, your friends, and your closest allies, why are you still doing what you are doing, this is what leads to you becoming a cartoon bad guy, without the comedy? I hated that this a-hole had so much power because without a suit he looks like he weighs 110 pounds. Powerful men are supposed to be big, I bought Pablo Escobar as a powerful man because he was husky, this guy looked like a teenager could kick his ass, maybe it was just the actor chosen, but he has a bit of a smirk that made him way too weasel-y for my taste.
The last episode had Felix back in power and the DEA starting a new regime, possibly acting more like snipers and men of action than what they had been doing before, just recording the activity of these troublemakers. A curious development was the treatment of Isabella, the beautiful Mexican connection to the Colombians, as she had asked and demanded to be taken serious and given a seat at the table, along with the other bosses. Felix decides to instead treat her like a child and cxcuses her from joining the biggest meeting of its time.
Friday, December 7, 2018
12/7/18 I Agree With Sluggo?
I was on my way to pick up Javalina from school today and was listening to the alternative station on XM Radio. I believe Sluggo is the name of the DJ, not sure if I spelled it right, but he was saying it was his birthday and it being so close to the holidays, he was half-assing his work, not that his work is hard, he just has to play some music and banter a little.
I agree though. Us Americans go balls to the walls year round, meanwhile, we hear about Europe having these "going on holiday" period. When we were battling Dresden for who would have the newest Fab, 15-18 years ago, we heard a lot about this BS where the Germans get to take two months off in the summer. How come we don't fight for something equivalent to this? I understand that the kids get their summer off, hell, I would be happy if we got a month off in July, maybe staggered with our coworkers so we could all be gone, but not at the same time.
Another great time to be off is during the Christmas holidays, again, the kids get two weeks off, why can't we shut down the bulk of business for 2-3 weeks. This would be perfect, get a chance to reboot, maybe even make some life changes and try a new job. I am personally going to be off for two weeks, but that is new for me. I did it last year, partly out of being pissed at being fucked over on my pay. I am still feeling like I am walking with a hobble for that BS, but we gotta pick up the pieces and go on.
Anyways, I personally don't really work on my birthday, specially now that I am alone most of the night, As much as I enjoy Wife making more money nowadays, it came at a huge sacrifice, she had a teacher's schedule, in which she was off for almost two months, and that was great, even if I was working. I don't know, I guess I am in anticipation of my vacation break coming up, but this surprise month between Thanksgiving and Christmas is sort of weird. I know we've had period where there were only like two weeks between Turkey break and the Christmas gifts. This seems rather long. Oh well, it will be here and gone before we know it, but grrrr.
I agree though. Us Americans go balls to the walls year round, meanwhile, we hear about Europe having these "going on holiday" period. When we were battling Dresden for who would have the newest Fab, 15-18 years ago, we heard a lot about this BS where the Germans get to take two months off in the summer. How come we don't fight for something equivalent to this? I understand that the kids get their summer off, hell, I would be happy if we got a month off in July, maybe staggered with our coworkers so we could all be gone, but not at the same time.
Another great time to be off is during the Christmas holidays, again, the kids get two weeks off, why can't we shut down the bulk of business for 2-3 weeks. This would be perfect, get a chance to reboot, maybe even make some life changes and try a new job. I am personally going to be off for two weeks, but that is new for me. I did it last year, partly out of being pissed at being fucked over on my pay. I am still feeling like I am walking with a hobble for that BS, but we gotta pick up the pieces and go on.
Anyways, I personally don't really work on my birthday, specially now that I am alone most of the night, As much as I enjoy Wife making more money nowadays, it came at a huge sacrifice, she had a teacher's schedule, in which she was off for almost two months, and that was great, even if I was working. I don't know, I guess I am in anticipation of my vacation break coming up, but this surprise month between Thanksgiving and Christmas is sort of weird. I know we've had period where there were only like two weeks between Turkey break and the Christmas gifts. This seems rather long. Oh well, it will be here and gone before we know it, but grrrr.
Thursday, December 6, 2018
12/6/18 Did I Ruin Christmas?
I am not really ready to say it is my fault, but our house seems to have no Christmas magic in it. Wife says I blew it by telling Javalina last year "umm, you know all about the Santa thing, right? Why you two knuckleheads always seem to get a bunch of stuff when your friends don't?" I didn't outright say the magic words, but I implied the hell out of it. Sorry, but I don't want my freaking kid to be that derpy boy telling the other kids that he has to go to bed early or Santa will miss our house.
Add to that, Wife is all stressed out and doesn't want us giving out gifts unless the people really deserve it, or some such shit. I wouldn't dare tell her "no, don't give gifts to so and so. It's the holidays, whatever. We're also trying to get my family to do like hers, where the adults choose a name and then we only give to one adult plus the kids. It's a little Scrooged, but we are also spending a small fortune on this Quinceanera for our niece in January. I already dug deep for mariachis, and then we got hit up for a "surprise gift", Boy did, but we are helping him since he has no idea. I loved the idea of a pink fishing pole and some light tackle. Since it is church related, we can attach a little psalm or whatever about give a man/woman a fish and you feed him for a day, but teach him/her to fish and that person is fed for life. How perfect is that, specially for a "princess" who has everything already?
I guess I can break the lack of Christmas magic by going out of my way and decorating the house on Friday night. Wife is supposed to head out to Dallas tonight, and she won't be back until Saturday, so that should give me some alone time to do some work. The biggest thing to do is decorate the stairs in the front of the house with lights, garland, and assorted giant decorations. We had a couple trees last year, but the green one was on its last legs, I think this is the last year for my white tree. I had bought a separate tree to put all my "pervy" decorations, but nobody really comes around anymore, no sense doing all the extra work of doing two trees. Add to that, it should be raining hard come the weekend, so we won't be going anywhere in a hurry, it might just get done.
Add to that, Wife is all stressed out and doesn't want us giving out gifts unless the people really deserve it, or some such shit. I wouldn't dare tell her "no, don't give gifts to so and so. It's the holidays, whatever. We're also trying to get my family to do like hers, where the adults choose a name and then we only give to one adult plus the kids. It's a little Scrooged, but we are also spending a small fortune on this Quinceanera for our niece in January. I already dug deep for mariachis, and then we got hit up for a "surprise gift", Boy did, but we are helping him since he has no idea. I loved the idea of a pink fishing pole and some light tackle. Since it is church related, we can attach a little psalm or whatever about give a man/woman a fish and you feed him for a day, but teach him/her to fish and that person is fed for life. How perfect is that, specially for a "princess" who has everything already?
I guess I can break the lack of Christmas magic by going out of my way and decorating the house on Friday night. Wife is supposed to head out to Dallas tonight, and she won't be back until Saturday, so that should give me some alone time to do some work. The biggest thing to do is decorate the stairs in the front of the house with lights, garland, and assorted giant decorations. We had a couple trees last year, but the green one was on its last legs, I think this is the last year for my white tree. I had bought a separate tree to put all my "pervy" decorations, but nobody really comes around anymore, no sense doing all the extra work of doing two trees. Add to that, it should be raining hard come the weekend, so we won't be going anywhere in a hurry, it might just get done.
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
12/5/18 Javalina's Christmas Recital?
Tonight was our son's Christmas recital and I wish I could say everything went fine, but no, we live amongst too many stupid fucking Mexicans. It was bad enough that my son was a little nervous about how it was going to go tonight. I guess it is a good thing that these fucking excuses of so called parents are self centered, so I don't think they noticed if my son played a couple of wrong notes.
As usual, it seems like they can't turn on the A/C after hours, so halfway through and in a crowd, it starts getting warm. Second problem was my dad can't or won't climb a step, so we were stuck sitting in front of an especially stupid variety of human. Before the concert started, I noticed a big ole lady sitting on the bench behind me, I thought she might be the talking kind, but she didn't really have an audience. Cue the start of the first band and her family must have right there decided it was time to walk in and seat down. All these a-holes who were more concerned about themselves were suddenly sitting behind us. No kidding, as soon as the first song finished playing, not one but two of these apes hit play on their phones, I guess to make sure they had recorded correctly, but they were both playing back loud enough for the band to hear as they were trying to start the next song. I turned and shushed them, not that it helped.
There was an extra chair next to my dad, and all of a sudden while the bands were playing, she came over and stood in front of us. My mom motioned her to take the chair which was a horrible idea because she had three kids and I don't think she had ever tried to get them to behave. The smaller boy was ADD or something as he kept throwing himself on the older brother and then on the floor, butting against my dad, like he was just furniture. As the song finished, I told my mom in the direction of the lady "fuck some people don't know how to behave or control their fucking kids." She sat there five seconds more and decided to move it towards the door.
Finally, there was a creepy ped working his magic on a future victim for somebody who likes easy girls. This old fuck was telling his (I assumed granddaughter) to give him a kiss, she must have said no because then he went on and on about on Friday when he gets paid, he wasn't going to give her any money, so come on "give me a kiss." I turned and shushed this idiot too. I don't think anyone had ever told that Fucker to be quiet as he was shocked and got up and left, or something. Pretty much, everyone was talking, even Knucklehead Wife was all "look, we have people watching live on Snapchat!" I shushed her ass too.
The music has gotten a lot better and they brought out the jazz band, which I would love it if Javalina joined, I really loved jazz band back in the day. They also had steel drums played by kids, but they sounded like pros, it was such a great new live sound, for me. As I kind of mentioned, my folks showed up almost as a surprise, so that was fun. We went to eat at the Crawfish Shack, which is one of Javalina's favorite places.
As usual, it seems like they can't turn on the A/C after hours, so halfway through and in a crowd, it starts getting warm. Second problem was my dad can't or won't climb a step, so we were stuck sitting in front of an especially stupid variety of human. Before the concert started, I noticed a big ole lady sitting on the bench behind me, I thought she might be the talking kind, but she didn't really have an audience. Cue the start of the first band and her family must have right there decided it was time to walk in and seat down. All these a-holes who were more concerned about themselves were suddenly sitting behind us. No kidding, as soon as the first song finished playing, not one but two of these apes hit play on their phones, I guess to make sure they had recorded correctly, but they were both playing back loud enough for the band to hear as they were trying to start the next song. I turned and shushed them, not that it helped.
There was an extra chair next to my dad, and all of a sudden while the bands were playing, she came over and stood in front of us. My mom motioned her to take the chair which was a horrible idea because she had three kids and I don't think she had ever tried to get them to behave. The smaller boy was ADD or something as he kept throwing himself on the older brother and then on the floor, butting against my dad, like he was just furniture. As the song finished, I told my mom in the direction of the lady "fuck some people don't know how to behave or control their fucking kids." She sat there five seconds more and decided to move it towards the door.
Finally, there was a creepy ped working his magic on a future victim for somebody who likes easy girls. This old fuck was telling his (I assumed granddaughter) to give him a kiss, she must have said no because then he went on and on about on Friday when he gets paid, he wasn't going to give her any money, so come on "give me a kiss." I turned and shushed this idiot too. I don't think anyone had ever told that Fucker to be quiet as he was shocked and got up and left, or something. Pretty much, everyone was talking, even Knucklehead Wife was all "look, we have people watching live on Snapchat!" I shushed her ass too.
The music has gotten a lot better and they brought out the jazz band, which I would love it if Javalina joined, I really loved jazz band back in the day. They also had steel drums played by kids, but they sounded like pros, it was such a great new live sound, for me. As I kind of mentioned, my folks showed up almost as a surprise, so that was fun. We went to eat at the Crawfish Shack, which is one of Javalina's favorite places.
12/4/18 Boy Has The Mexicano In Him?
This past weekend, Boy spent it making tamales pretty much all weekend. From our perspective, we were betting anything he was just screwing around with the girlfriend, as we have made them before plenty of times and we can do a lot more than they did in one day.
They started as they usually do, with a run to Walmart, they were buying chiles, but it seemed to be the wrong kind. Every time my mom, grandma, Wife has added chiles to the tamale equation, it is those big dry reddish purple ones that seem to have no other use the rest of the year. They had some of those, but Boy was on a tear, cutting these red chiles in half and removing most of the seeds. When they were done, Friday night, they had what looked like spaghetti sauce in a huge jar and I thought "nice effort, but no." They were supposed to start at 9:00 am, I came home at 8:00 from working this past weekend and I was up, but didn't wake him, I thought Wife had knocked on his door. They got going, eventually.
They were gone all day and at night, came home with like two packages, which I thought "great, spent $50-100 and that is all you got? These were chicken and he was being confusing. We didn't know if they were for his coworkers or we could eat some, but since it was only a handful, we looked at each other and rolled our eyes. When you make tamales, there should be hundreds of them, the taste test shouldn't wipe them out.
In his usual Bullshit way, he said he needed to go help clean and he would come back in a bit. This was around 2:00 pm on Sunday and he also mentioned that the bean tamales needed to be cooked. I said "whatever, just bring your ass home at a decent hour, we know you're just over at your girl's space, you don't do shit." I was being short, because for the past month he says the same thing, "I'm going for a little while and then returns after midnight, on Sunday, when he has school the next day."
Wife had already gone to bed and I had already escalated to texting his GF and being ugly. He won't respond to my texts, yet like everyone reading this, he never puts his phone more than a foot away from him. Eventually, he showed up with bags of tamales, I was surprised even shocked. He said they still hadn't cooked them all, some went into the freezer still needing to get cooked, but I tried one, just to see, it tasted pretty good. Tonight, I went home looking for something to eat for dinner and there were all his packages of different tamales. I got two beans, two pork, and two chicken, and I have to say they were all quite good. Even the corn was a little different between the chicken and the pork. I don't know who exactly was in charge over there, I saw that Dirty Dog (now Domesticated Dog), had his grandma over there in some pics, so she may have guided them through the challenges. Either way, Boy will be called to help us, if we manage to try our hand at making some, over the holidays.
They started as they usually do, with a run to Walmart, they were buying chiles, but it seemed to be the wrong kind. Every time my mom, grandma, Wife has added chiles to the tamale equation, it is those big dry reddish purple ones that seem to have no other use the rest of the year. They had some of those, but Boy was on a tear, cutting these red chiles in half and removing most of the seeds. When they were done, Friday night, they had what looked like spaghetti sauce in a huge jar and I thought "nice effort, but no." They were supposed to start at 9:00 am, I came home at 8:00 from working this past weekend and I was up, but didn't wake him, I thought Wife had knocked on his door. They got going, eventually.
They were gone all day and at night, came home with like two packages, which I thought "great, spent $50-100 and that is all you got? These were chicken and he was being confusing. We didn't know if they were for his coworkers or we could eat some, but since it was only a handful, we looked at each other and rolled our eyes. When you make tamales, there should be hundreds of them, the taste test shouldn't wipe them out.
In his usual Bullshit way, he said he needed to go help clean and he would come back in a bit. This was around 2:00 pm on Sunday and he also mentioned that the bean tamales needed to be cooked. I said "whatever, just bring your ass home at a decent hour, we know you're just over at your girl's space, you don't do shit." I was being short, because for the past month he says the same thing, "I'm going for a little while and then returns after midnight, on Sunday, when he has school the next day."
Wife had already gone to bed and I had already escalated to texting his GF and being ugly. He won't respond to my texts, yet like everyone reading this, he never puts his phone more than a foot away from him. Eventually, he showed up with bags of tamales, I was surprised even shocked. He said they still hadn't cooked them all, some went into the freezer still needing to get cooked, but I tried one, just to see, it tasted pretty good. Tonight, I went home looking for something to eat for dinner and there were all his packages of different tamales. I got two beans, two pork, and two chicken, and I have to say they were all quite good. Even the corn was a little different between the chicken and the pork. I don't know who exactly was in charge over there, I saw that Dirty Dog (now Domesticated Dog), had his grandma over there in some pics, so she may have guided them through the challenges. Either way, Boy will be called to help us, if we manage to try our hand at making some, over the holidays.
Monday, December 3, 2018
12/3/18 Downsizing? (Netflix)
I remembered seeing ads for this movie about a year ago and I thought it was going to be some sort of goofy take on the whole shrinking society thing. I focused on Jason Sudeikis and Kristen Wiig, who usually make silly comedies, so I thought I want to watch this, but I am not in a hurry. I didn't even know Christoph Waltz was in this, he has quickly become one of my favorite actors, and of course Matt Damon always does fine work. The story starts in Norway or up there, where the peaceful white people live, and a scientist has just discovered how to shrink lab rats. It fast forwards and there is a big conference and the first "tiny people" are introduced to the world. This is treated just as news on a CNN type coverage here in the US and we see a young Damon looking with interest as he works delivering food. He lives with his mom, she looks to be on her last legs, complaining about fibromyalgia and all her shortcomings. Damon is a good son and takes care of his mother, we learn from the story, he was going to medical school but dropped out to care for her, and he ended up becoming an occupational therapist.
Fast forward a couple more years and he is still in the same house, still doing the same routine of coming in late in the evening with some food, but now he has a weak ass wife who has taken the place of his mom and she is complaining of neck pains and what not. At this point, I started feeling sorry for the Damon character, but is he living this life from his own choosing? Did he pick a partner who would put him right back to being the caretaker? The thought came about because just the night before, Wife was telling Boy, "you know you are dating your mother as we can tell your girlfriend is a Ball Buster?" I have always said the same thing that Wife and I work well because she is basically like my mother "she takes care of business."
Anyways, in the movie, they are having financial problems and one thing leads to another, there is a class reunion with one of his classmates becoming a "small" and then they go house hunting and determine they can't really afford what she wants. After this, they decide to look into becoming small. The allure is too much as their assets which total a paltry $150,000 converts to $12 million dollars in the tiny world. They could basically shrink themselves, move into a mansion and retire like millionaires. It seems too good to be true. They agree to it.
If anyone deserves to kill their wife, this seemed like a good enough reason, while they are separated into a men's and women's hallway, he goes through it, she doesn't. Like a pathetic asshole, she has a breakdown, even though this was mostly her idea, it was her ass that wanted to live nicer, she leaves him over the phone, as he is sitting there on the recovery bed, standing 4-5 inches tall. There is one sad scene of him in this huge mansion on a couple acres, then he is living in an apartment complex, and the kicker, he is right back to doing shit work, as his asshole wife left him with nothing, he has to work to pay his way. Life looks sad for him and it is, almost settling with the first single mother who will date him, but she decides he is too sorry to move along.
He decides to go to a party at his neighbors, this is where Waltz joins the movie, I love this guy. He is some sort of European, a little sleazy, a little charming, he talks a good talk, telling Damon how he likes him but he basically needs to man up and take charge of his life or it will keep walking all over him. Damon takes offense to this, but Waltz retorts with "the world needs assholes, we allow the shit to come out." Even Javalina liked this line. The movie is actually a little long, but it is in his penthouse apartment that he meets this Vietnam woman who escaped her country in a TV box and had become a bit of a celebrity, a few years back. She is a humanitarian and driven like you would not believe. They don't write characters like hers in the movies, she was like wow, even as she lost a leg in the ordeal of getting to America and she was the only survivor of like 17 "smalls" in that box.
The Damon character tries to help her, or her walking, he can tell her implant is poorly made, and she quickly sucks him into her world, as he tends to be that kind of guy, anyway. As bad as he seemed to be living, he soon finds the ghetto of "small" living. They are not even living under the special "bubble" that protects them from birds and insects, their is a break in the wall and they live in a shantytown under a large net with typical poor Mexican kids playing soccer in the dirt and the apartments looking like stripped plywood barely slapped together.
There is still a lot of storyline to go, maybe the movie was a little long, but I enjoyed it much more this way, than if it had been a stupid comedy, as I thought it was. Damon finally found love and a purpose, even if took him getting down to 4 inches tall. I loved it.
Fast forward a couple more years and he is still in the same house, still doing the same routine of coming in late in the evening with some food, but now he has a weak ass wife who has taken the place of his mom and she is complaining of neck pains and what not. At this point, I started feeling sorry for the Damon character, but is he living this life from his own choosing? Did he pick a partner who would put him right back to being the caretaker? The thought came about because just the night before, Wife was telling Boy, "you know you are dating your mother as we can tell your girlfriend is a Ball Buster?" I have always said the same thing that Wife and I work well because she is basically like my mother "she takes care of business."
Anyways, in the movie, they are having financial problems and one thing leads to another, there is a class reunion with one of his classmates becoming a "small" and then they go house hunting and determine they can't really afford what she wants. After this, they decide to look into becoming small. The allure is too much as their assets which total a paltry $150,000 converts to $12 million dollars in the tiny world. They could basically shrink themselves, move into a mansion and retire like millionaires. It seems too good to be true. They agree to it.
If anyone deserves to kill their wife, this seemed like a good enough reason, while they are separated into a men's and women's hallway, he goes through it, she doesn't. Like a pathetic asshole, she has a breakdown, even though this was mostly her idea, it was her ass that wanted to live nicer, she leaves him over the phone, as he is sitting there on the recovery bed, standing 4-5 inches tall. There is one sad scene of him in this huge mansion on a couple acres, then he is living in an apartment complex, and the kicker, he is right back to doing shit work, as his asshole wife left him with nothing, he has to work to pay his way. Life looks sad for him and it is, almost settling with the first single mother who will date him, but she decides he is too sorry to move along.
He decides to go to a party at his neighbors, this is where Waltz joins the movie, I love this guy. He is some sort of European, a little sleazy, a little charming, he talks a good talk, telling Damon how he likes him but he basically needs to man up and take charge of his life or it will keep walking all over him. Damon takes offense to this, but Waltz retorts with "the world needs assholes, we allow the shit to come out." Even Javalina liked this line. The movie is actually a little long, but it is in his penthouse apartment that he meets this Vietnam woman who escaped her country in a TV box and had become a bit of a celebrity, a few years back. She is a humanitarian and driven like you would not believe. They don't write characters like hers in the movies, she was like wow, even as she lost a leg in the ordeal of getting to America and she was the only survivor of like 17 "smalls" in that box.
The Damon character tries to help her, or her walking, he can tell her implant is poorly made, and she quickly sucks him into her world, as he tends to be that kind of guy, anyway. As bad as he seemed to be living, he soon finds the ghetto of "small" living. They are not even living under the special "bubble" that protects them from birds and insects, their is a break in the wall and they live in a shantytown under a large net with typical poor Mexican kids playing soccer in the dirt and the apartments looking like stripped plywood barely slapped together.
There is still a lot of storyline to go, maybe the movie was a little long, but I enjoyed it much more this way, than if it had been a stupid comedy, as I thought it was. Damon finally found love and a purpose, even if took him getting down to 4 inches tall. I loved it.
Sunday, December 2, 2018
12/2/18 Longhorns Big12 Championship Game?
Why the F do these games have to be in the morning? I knew since last week that the Horns were going to play against the Sooners for the Big12 championship, but I didn't bother checking what time until I was walking out this morning from work. I managed to get a very rare extra night of OT and I was not going to say no, even if I didn't feel 100%. Why do they have to play so early, I mean you can't plan a nice afternoon around this?
I still thought maybe I can make a day of it, I left work at 7:00am, stopped at HEB, bought a brisket so we could cook it slowly and maybe eat it after or towards the end of the game, silly me. I got home around 8:00am, promptly went upstairs and told Wife "hey, I bought a brisket, you want to come prepare it so we can eat it today or do you want to save it for Sunday, she had already said her plans were to stay home and not go much of anywhere this weekend. She reluctantly got up and we came down talking about how Javalina was thinking last night that it would be fun to go to breakfast when I got home in the morning, except he didn't tell me anything. I had bought eggs, bacon, breakfast sausage, and regular sausage to have an option of what we ate for breakfast. Wife did call him a couple times at while we were walking down, but he never got up, even as we heard his alarm go off.
We sat in the kitchen for a good 20 minutes talking and then Wife went to bed. I read a little on the computer and then went to bed, hoping to catch some of the game. I then woke up at 12:30 and thought "good, I slept a solid four hours, I can get up now." I peed and went downstairs. I managed to turn on the projector which I believe is on its last legs as we have to turn it on 4-5 times before it will stay on, and close the curtains to darken the room. We have all these blankets on the sofa right now, that it was just like moving to another bed, I didn't even catch the game coming back from whatever commercial, I was out again right before it went into halftime. Wife and Javalina were sitting with me sometime towards the end of the game, she had made croissants with eggs and sausage patties. It was all a gooey mess as the yolk ran down my fingers and I ate with one eye open, the other refusing to wake up. I honestly didn't wake up until the end of the game. I wanted to watch it, but I kind of knew Oklahoma had to win, for the playoff thing. We weren't going to get anything out of it, except knock out our best chance at a representative from the Big12, so why have this Championship game, everybody had already played everybody?
Honestly, I love the chance of making extra money with an OT night, but damn, I am getting old. I used to bounce into the weekend like it was no big deal, this one stole most of Saturday. It didn't help that it was a lazy day and the most we accomplished was going to stock up on candles at Bath and Bodyworks, as they had their annual $8.95 a candle sale (it had been $8 the previous years, fuckers). We came back and saw downsizing with Matt Damon while we ate our brisket and all I can say was wow, that was a great dinner, the brisket had hardly any fat, we ate it in tacos with some slices of avocado and there was also some sausage, but the brisket was top notch. I have to say the movie had a lot of interesting elements, as well as taking a clever look at humanity, which I'll have to write about next. Saturday was a good day.
I still thought maybe I can make a day of it, I left work at 7:00am, stopped at HEB, bought a brisket so we could cook it slowly and maybe eat it after or towards the end of the game, silly me. I got home around 8:00am, promptly went upstairs and told Wife "hey, I bought a brisket, you want to come prepare it so we can eat it today or do you want to save it for Sunday, she had already said her plans were to stay home and not go much of anywhere this weekend. She reluctantly got up and we came down talking about how Javalina was thinking last night that it would be fun to go to breakfast when I got home in the morning, except he didn't tell me anything. I had bought eggs, bacon, breakfast sausage, and regular sausage to have an option of what we ate for breakfast. Wife did call him a couple times at while we were walking down, but he never got up, even as we heard his alarm go off.
We sat in the kitchen for a good 20 minutes talking and then Wife went to bed. I read a little on the computer and then went to bed, hoping to catch some of the game. I then woke up at 12:30 and thought "good, I slept a solid four hours, I can get up now." I peed and went downstairs. I managed to turn on the projector which I believe is on its last legs as we have to turn it on 4-5 times before it will stay on, and close the curtains to darken the room. We have all these blankets on the sofa right now, that it was just like moving to another bed, I didn't even catch the game coming back from whatever commercial, I was out again right before it went into halftime. Wife and Javalina were sitting with me sometime towards the end of the game, she had made croissants with eggs and sausage patties. It was all a gooey mess as the yolk ran down my fingers and I ate with one eye open, the other refusing to wake up. I honestly didn't wake up until the end of the game. I wanted to watch it, but I kind of knew Oklahoma had to win, for the playoff thing. We weren't going to get anything out of it, except knock out our best chance at a representative from the Big12, so why have this Championship game, everybody had already played everybody?
Honestly, I love the chance of making extra money with an OT night, but damn, I am getting old. I used to bounce into the weekend like it was no big deal, this one stole most of Saturday. It didn't help that it was a lazy day and the most we accomplished was going to stock up on candles at Bath and Bodyworks, as they had their annual $8.95 a candle sale (it had been $8 the previous years, fuckers). We came back and saw downsizing with Matt Damon while we ate our brisket and all I can say was wow, that was a great dinner, the brisket had hardly any fat, we ate it in tacos with some slices of avocado and there was also some sausage, but the brisket was top notch. I have to say the movie had a lot of interesting elements, as well as taking a clever look at humanity, which I'll have to write about next. Saturday was a good day.
Saturday, December 1, 2018
12/1/18 There Is A Reason I Call My Son A Knucklehead?
This morning I had already decided I would go to the principal's office with my son to show the front office that we care about our son and we are there for him. I didn't have a plan of action, what could I do other than apologize, maybe beg that they don't cut his arms off if things went as bad as Wife seemed to think they should. Javalina said he would prefer I not get off, that he really thought the whole thing would blow over, and if I showed up, they might have to escalate things and call the other kids parent's in. I said "ok, but I am going to be waiting for your text, let me know what the principal says as soon as they finish talking to you. I very slowly left campus, thinking I should maybe just park in the parking lot and wait, if they called, I would be there. I left very cautiously, and within 5 minutes he called that the assistant principal said to just let it go and get to class, everyone involved had said it was an accident, so there was no reason to punish anyone.
He did run into the kid, he has him in Spanish class and they have known each other since third grade or something, he was saying. Javalina asked how he was and the kid said he was fine, and he had told the nurse and other administrators that it was an accident, and that they were cool. I asked "did you say "Let's hug it out, Bitch!", like they do in Entourage?" He was not familiar with the show and that term, so he looked at me weird. But he did say that they shook hands and they were cool.
Fast forward to after school, I go to pick up my boy, and there is a piece of PVC pipe, about five feet long, being wielded by a girl, she has it above her head and acting like she is the queen of the playground. as Javalina opened the door I said "is that the stick that got you in trouble?" He said no, the one they used was longer, but he said he had to stop himself, he grabbed the other end that the girl had and was about to do the SAME EXACT SHIT of spinning the girl to take it from her. As soon as he felt the power, he realized what he was doing and stopped. He said he chose to not take it, but rather to run away from the girl. I know it was all in good fun, but REALLY?!?! So while he was waiting for me to show up, he was avoiding this girl swinging this piece of plastic pipe which he could've taken at any point from her, but he didn't want to risk hurting someone else, and especially activating that swarm of bees that pretends to be his Mama, most of the time.
He did run into the kid, he has him in Spanish class and they have known each other since third grade or something, he was saying. Javalina asked how he was and the kid said he was fine, and he had told the nurse and other administrators that it was an accident, and that they were cool. I asked "did you say "Let's hug it out, Bitch!", like they do in Entourage?" He was not familiar with the show and that term, so he looked at me weird. But he did say that they shook hands and they were cool.
Fast forward to after school, I go to pick up my boy, and there is a piece of PVC pipe, about five feet long, being wielded by a girl, she has it above her head and acting like she is the queen of the playground. as Javalina opened the door I said "is that the stick that got you in trouble?" He said no, the one they used was longer, but he said he had to stop himself, he grabbed the other end that the girl had and was about to do the SAME EXACT SHIT of spinning the girl to take it from her. As soon as he felt the power, he realized what he was doing and stopped. He said he chose to not take it, but rather to run away from the girl. I know it was all in good fun, but REALLY?!?! So while he was waiting for me to show up, he was avoiding this girl swinging this piece of plastic pipe which he could've taken at any point from her, but he didn't want to risk hurting someone else, and especially activating that swarm of bees that pretends to be his Mama, most of the time.
Friday, November 30, 2018
11/30/18 Javalina Got Himself In Some Trouble?
I know my little animal needs an outlet for all this extra energy he carries. Football was perfect for him to hit some people and come home in a more relaxed state. I really need to get him in that boxing class, it's just lining up and remembering to take him over after school.
Yesterday, I picked him up and asked him the usual, which he was quick to say he had a good day and everything went ok, but he had something to tell me if I promised not to mention it to mom. I said I can't do that, as much as I am on your side and here for you, Mom and I are a team, I have to tell her. He sat there and stewed, I knew he wanted to tell me, but we all know how mama goes off the edge in a snap. I told him it would be a lot wiser for him to speak up "as a man" and inform us of what happened, if you wait and we get a call from a teacher or the principal, it will be that much worse, as it will be you being cowardly and your mom and I getting caught blindly and not knowing what to say.
That was enough to get the boy talking, he said he hit a kid on the nose and got blood all over the place, my immediate reaction was "what?!" He immediately said "no, let me explain." He then went on with "we found a piece of PVC pipe out on the lawn and a friend and I were playing like tug of war and holding on and spinning while holding on to the tube." All I could say was mmm-hmmm, go on.... "well, this kid came out of nowhere and before we knew it, we spun into him and we hit him in the face and I guess his nose started bleeding." Right at that moment, the principal was coming out and my other friend ran and I was left holding the pipe and I quickly apologized to the kid, who he says he knows and is one of his kind of friends. He said the principal saw that it wasn't on purpose and that we were playing around, but they still wanted to talk to me, so they said to come back in the morning.
My immediate reaction was "why did that kid walk into y'all's space? If you see two idiots spinning around and I know it was more like you were spinning Luis around, he weighs half what you weigh, why would the other kid walk into that?" He said they were on the upper level of this little hill thing, so it takes some effort to get up there, unless you are coming from the inside, as it leads out from the cafeteria there. This boy starts getting hyper around me I move away, he is thick and takes up space, I don't need his arms flailing and hitting me, much less if he is actually trying to spin on purpose, that kid must have not been paying attention. Wife acted as we expected, "you are grounded, no phone, no video games, this family could sue us, the school could suspend you, why was there a piece of pipe laying around, is the school liable? We had her on speaker and I had to walk away and decided to brush my teeth to come in to work.
He apologized as quickly as it happened, the principal saw and she knows it was not on purpose that the kid got hit. Yes, you could say he should know better as Wife said, but he is also only 13 and still an idiot child when it comes to restraint. He has this need to constantly prove he is the strongest kid around, so the spinning while holding onto the pipe seems normal to me, kind of like a tug of war on a rope.
I will be going in first thing in the morning, here in a couple hours actually when I drop him off at 8:00am to see what they needed to see him for in the morning. I can only hope he gets a talking to as a warning and be done with it. He has always been a good kid, never been in trouble so we shall see.
Yesterday, I picked him up and asked him the usual, which he was quick to say he had a good day and everything went ok, but he had something to tell me if I promised not to mention it to mom. I said I can't do that, as much as I am on your side and here for you, Mom and I are a team, I have to tell her. He sat there and stewed, I knew he wanted to tell me, but we all know how mama goes off the edge in a snap. I told him it would be a lot wiser for him to speak up "as a man" and inform us of what happened, if you wait and we get a call from a teacher or the principal, it will be that much worse, as it will be you being cowardly and your mom and I getting caught blindly and not knowing what to say.
That was enough to get the boy talking, he said he hit a kid on the nose and got blood all over the place, my immediate reaction was "what?!" He immediately said "no, let me explain." He then went on with "we found a piece of PVC pipe out on the lawn and a friend and I were playing like tug of war and holding on and spinning while holding on to the tube." All I could say was mmm-hmmm, go on.... "well, this kid came out of nowhere and before we knew it, we spun into him and we hit him in the face and I guess his nose started bleeding." Right at that moment, the principal was coming out and my other friend ran and I was left holding the pipe and I quickly apologized to the kid, who he says he knows and is one of his kind of friends. He said the principal saw that it wasn't on purpose and that we were playing around, but they still wanted to talk to me, so they said to come back in the morning.
My immediate reaction was "why did that kid walk into y'all's space? If you see two idiots spinning around and I know it was more like you were spinning Luis around, he weighs half what you weigh, why would the other kid walk into that?" He said they were on the upper level of this little hill thing, so it takes some effort to get up there, unless you are coming from the inside, as it leads out from the cafeteria there. This boy starts getting hyper around me I move away, he is thick and takes up space, I don't need his arms flailing and hitting me, much less if he is actually trying to spin on purpose, that kid must have not been paying attention. Wife acted as we expected, "you are grounded, no phone, no video games, this family could sue us, the school could suspend you, why was there a piece of pipe laying around, is the school liable? We had her on speaker and I had to walk away and decided to brush my teeth to come in to work.
He apologized as quickly as it happened, the principal saw and she knows it was not on purpose that the kid got hit. Yes, you could say he should know better as Wife said, but he is also only 13 and still an idiot child when it comes to restraint. He has this need to constantly prove he is the strongest kid around, so the spinning while holding onto the pipe seems normal to me, kind of like a tug of war on a rope.
I will be going in first thing in the morning, here in a couple hours actually when I drop him off at 8:00am to see what they needed to see him for in the morning. I can only hope he gets a talking to as a warning and be done with it. He has always been a good kid, never been in trouble so we shall see.
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