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.

11/29/18 Why Do People Think Socialism Is The RIght Way?

    I am by no means an expert at this, but I have heard enough that I have gotten curious and went looking for myself.  Socialism is a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.  That sounds a lot different than what we have here which is capitalism which is an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

    As someone who likes things fair and equal, yes, on the surface, I would say I like the idea of socialism, where everyone is equal and everyone gets an equal slice of the pie.  The problem comes when it is time to work hard, there is no motivation in this system to outdo your neighbor.  Why be creative, why try to come up with new technology if there is no reward.  We have a few examples of socialism at play and we can all say the soviet union failed in the 80's, Venezuela failed in the 90's or maybe even more recently, I was just watching a report on YouTube from within Venezuela where yes, gas is super cheap, but the people have to line up for food rations which only come every other week.  There is food at the stores, but the Venezuelan dollar has been trashed, it is worth nothing, so people can't really buy their own goods.

    We've all seen Cuba, another example, the people seem lovely, but the imagery always includes American cars from the 50's, probably near to when we closed our borders to them.  If Socialism is so great, why is most of Venezuela not doing better?  Why is Cuba not making its own cars?

    The truth is that for a country to be prosperous and creative, there must be free flowing knowledge and then there must be a reward, usually in the form of money, to create something that makes people's lives better.  I don't understand where millennials in college started thinking that sharing everything was for the better?  Just in a very small example, a friend of the family says she is for this socialist movement yet she is aiming her studies at the medical field.  I have to ask "why would you put yourself through a hard eight additional years in school so that you come out the other end and the government says "ok, teachers and doctors should make the same amount of money."  I know that teaching is a noble profession, but the knowledge a doctor has to gain has to be worth at least 4-5 times the pay of a teacher.  I have no disrespect for a teacher but no way are the two in the same field of play.

    I personally still believe in good old capitalism.  One buys what one can afford and that is how the system works.  It is by no means a perfect system, but I believe it is key to ensuring humans keep pushing forward.  We won't get off the planet and into the stars as travelers with a bunch of people who only care about working 4-5 hours a week and a good supply of weed.  

    It is all I have known to teach my boys, work harder than the next knucklehead and hopefully you will be rewarded for your efforts.  That is how life has worked for the most part.  

11/28/18 Anniversary Day?

    How fast time flies.  I have now been writing a daily blog for four solid years, this one starts my fifth year.  I have to admit it is a pain in the ass at times, but I do like that I am almost writing a daily history of what we have been through over the last few years.  A lot of my blogs are just descriptors of what we did on any given weekend or if there is anything of interest going on.  I have tried finding short cuts, saying I am just going to post a quote or even that I was going to use pictures, but in the end, it only feels like a blog when it tells something, preferably personal.

    The one to benefit the best from this is Javalina who I am chronicling every step as he goes through puberty.  I include Boy as well, but I don't even see him every day, so it is much harder to write about him.  Wife is three hours away any given day of the week, so I only know what she tells me, and I can't exactly shit on her staff as she tells me interesting tidbits, so our baby stays the star of the show.

    I still believe that some day I am going to take all these and make some hard cover books out of them, so each boy of ours can have a copy.  It might not get read by them, but maybe their kids would like to see what I thought of anything and everything.  I should really be adding more pics as it is fun to include an image of what one is trying to create, such as last week with Mr. Conner.

    Thank you all who read me regularly or even from time to time.  I always try to be honest and a little entertaining, if I insult somebody, it is probably myself.  I take no humor in attacking the defenseless or others who cannot justly speak their part.  With that, let's see what happens in the next twelve months, I might even become a full time supporter of MAGA, even if I know he is an idiot.

    Love you all, and best of luck.  Remember me, if you win one of those huge lotteries because I will, remember me, that is.

11/27/18 Some Days Just Suck?

    If we are meant to have great days where the weather is a perfect 75 and your teams all win and you eat your favorite food, then we must also have days where everything sucks.  I kind of had the feeling last night was going to be a shitty night and boy did it not disappoint.  I expect coming in to plenty of work, that in itself doesn't make me change my demeanor.  What puts my panty in a bunch is when the tools act up and I have to do stuff I don't normally do.  Maybe I should be further along in my training, but I do spend about 90% of my time alone, some things are learned through seeing and doing a couple of times.
    I was supposed to be set up so I could come in running samples on the analysis tool, but the tool was not completely set up, the vials to catch the samples were not put in place, so the samples fell basically to the ground.  This is where it gets iffy.  I was told to pick it up and make a sample of the ground.  This can then get subtracted as background noise, which works in theory, but feels like you're just screwing around picking up wet spots from the tool surface and treating it as a sample.  Add to that the handful of jobs due the day I came back or the next day and what can one do except try to not get overwhelmed.  The shift ended and I did as much as I could, so I don't feel bad about my contribution.  I even noticed the tool not working right and protecting it in a very manual way, so gold star for me, not that anyone really gives a shit.
    Eh, part of the reason I feel so grr about work is because I picked up a little bug, probably from my nephews over the weekend.  One of the perks of coming out of your protective bubble and getting with family is being exposed to everybody's cooties.  All I gotta do is power through for another couple weeks and get to the Christmas break.  I am so looking forward to just hanging out and sleeping late, it was so relaxing this past week.

11/26/18 How Was The Week Off Overall?

    I have to say there were many positives and negatives for this particular week that just passed.  I loved that my folks came up and stayed longer than their usual show up Friday leave in a hurry Sunday early to avoid traffic or driving at night.  It actually felt like we got more of a chance to lounge around together, drinking coffee, watching TV, and just being a little more normal, other than running around showing Austin and its entertainment things to my folks.  It was fun to go to the movies on Sunday night, even if the movie was a bit of a question mark.  I keep telling them they are some busy ass retired folk, because as usual they did have to leave in a hurry to go celebrate a birthday with my aunt.  I would have preferred my aunt come along and then nobody would have been in a rush, maybe.
    Still, making lemonade out of them leaving early, we did enjoy sleeping in on Tuesday and Wednesday, almost until the afternoon, which I always appreciate as it feels normal for me to sleep all day.  I have said it here, I don't sleep all that great at night, I am kind of scared of the dark, but never mind that.  Of course, sleeping in like that is great, but then you lose most of the day if you aren't going to be up all night and that had to happen Wednesday night because we had to get up early on Thanksgiving for our travels.
    I can't say I enjoyed getting in the car and travelling most of the day, but it was nice to eat dinner with my in-laws and then sitting with my family later that evening.  I would have liked to have made it earlier to my folks, but how can you rush a long and delicious dinner on the other side?  I did not understand at night why my sister was so bothered by the new term "Friendsgiving", as she blamed it on the millennials and called it a product of the self entitled.  I say whatever term you use, if people get together for the purpose of sharing a meal and a little love, then why not?  I tried joking with her a couple nights later that Boy had gone off to have an impromptu Friendsgiving with some friends in San Marcos and she just managed to accuse me for being a sucker and paying for everything, when in reality I didn't even know Boy was doing this until we called him that evening as to what time he was getting home.  He can do his own thing, specially after spending Thanksgiving and the day after with us, he is 24 and not a child anymore.  My brother was also kind of a spazz, I think the responsibilities of managing a quince are getting to him.  He was being heavily passive aggressive and just saying "wear whatever" to the point we don't know if he was joking or angry.  When I called him Saturday night, it sounded through his text like he broke a vesicle in his brain when I asked him about either a black suit or a navy blue tuxedo.  I know this is stressful  but there is still plenty of time to do the shit right, he just needs to let us know what's up.
    It was nice to get back home and have a couple days to just hang out and not have a rush about things, although we are nervously looking at the washer, knowing it will have to be replaced sooner rather than later.  We have a quick four weeks to get through and then I do believe I will take the two weeks off for the weeks of Christmas and New Year's.  Wife and I still argue a bit here and there.  Our biggest disagreement came over the driving "directions" which I was a dick about, a lil bit in SA.  Overall, we have a good time, if she didn't have so much "homework" as it seems with so much recorded crap that she seems to need to see, but I guess that gives me the time to sleep like I like to do, nowadays, so it all works out pretty good.

11/25/18 Running Out Of Vacation Days?

    I guess Saturday was as close to me having a day for me.  We slept pretty late, until noon.  I got up and attempted to write yesterday's blog but after having a slice of pecan pie, cake, and coconut crème pie.  I had a cup of coffee that I maybe took a sip from.  I woke around 2:00pm, Javalina was yelling at me to come upstairs and sleep on the bed.  I decided I might as well I hadn't written anything.  I quickly got under the covers and fell asleep.  Wife came out of the bathroom eventually, trying to fake me out that she was going to the store without me, I said go.  It was a thing she always does, as soon as I say cool, I'll be able to sleep a few more hours, she got comfortable and started trying to convince me to get up.
    I got up and we started the day at Zoe's Kitchen where I ordered the kabobs and veggies.  It was pretty good, the only reason we went there is Wife wanted to use her BOGO free coupon.  After we finished, Wife suggested she would drive us up to Bass Pro Shops since we missed it the night before.  Traffic was super thick and slow but we got up there right around 6:00pm.  Most of the boats were put away because Santa had set up his village in that area of the store, but there were still a handful of boats to look over.  We then had a good laugh as Wife thought (well thinks) that the surprise gift my niece gets should be a cute pink fishing pole along with some pink worms and even a pink tackle box.  Why not?  When you've been blessed with parents and family that have slowly bought you 90% of any and all paraphernalia you might find at the mall, I think this is clever and makes gift giving fun.  We spent another hour or so looking at guns and that sort of stuff, I held a Remington 870 Special Purpose Marine Magnum and it just felt right in my hands and the silvery finish had me falling in love with it immediately.  Turns out, the finish is a nickel alloy and is specially made for wet environments, such as carrying on a boat or hunting where rivers and streams are present.  This is a gun I could see adding to our collection in the near future.
    After deciding on some socks, we eventually left the store and Wife meandered to the Round Rock Outlet Mall and since it was only 8:00pm, I told Wife "sure, let's walk around, the night is about perfect."  This had Javalina doing another one of his routines where he starts saying no, for no other reason than being a whiny B.  I can't stand no for the sake of no, he eventually got off and he was fine walking around a little bit.  We bought some stuff and then we left, right around 10:00pm.
    We had decided that Zoe's Kitchen was dinner at 5:00pm, but on the way home Javalina was dying of hunger as he likes to say and was able to argue himself into a late night meal at Rosa's Tortilla Factory by the house.  It was good, I ordered the combination nachos, they both wanted tacos and got the same plate, I believe.  We had a good discussion with Javalina about being grateful for what he has and who he is.  Over the weekend, we got into this discussion with some family members who believe in some ignorant stuff.  I was trying to convince them that in life we must work hard to be independent because even if the family is doing well today, there is no guarantee for tomorrow.  They were not really interested in hearing me.  Javalina was then telling me he didn't like that we seem to work so hard and life is still not easy for us, with Mom so far away during the week and me having to work nights.  I told him that is just a temporary thing, the important thing is we are a strong team and for example, when I lost a huge chunk of my salary last year, Wife was able to step in and as a result, we didn't lose the house, or suffer any other way, other than me losing my truck.

11/24/18 Last Regular Season UT Game and A Long Day to Get Back Home?

    I woke up early Friday, thinking we were going to get on the road super early.  My mom had mentioned maybe leaving with my sister to San Antonio as early as 11:00am because her hubby was planning on making a day of it and getting new tires on one of their cars.  My other brother called to ask if my mom wanted to ride with him, he would be leaving later, around 3:00pm, to follow behind the school busses or something.  Once I knew my folks were not in a rush, it was much more relaxed and I wondered if maybe I could watch half the UT game before we got going.  The game was to start at 11:00am, and by then I had eaten some leftover turkey, tamales, and even some egg and sausage tacos.  The only thing I could manage was waddle my big ass to the sofa to "watch" the Longhorns with my eyes closed and snoring softly.  I could not believe waking up at halftime as my dad was moving about to see the score still at 7-0.  The 3rd quarter started and eventually the Horns were up by 21-0, for a second I thought great, stood up to go to the bathroom, I come back, they have scored a TD, and intercepted the ball in the 4th.  That didn't lead nowhere, UT scored another field goal, then Kansas scored another TD, and did an onside kick which the UT frontline guy managed to volley out of bounds, then the referee decided it needed to be re-kicked.  This time it bounced around like it tends to in an onside kick and Kansas wound up with it.  They stalled out but managed a field goal.  It looked like Texas might be in for a surprise loss at the last minute with Kansas lined up for another onside kick and the referees warming up their yellow flags, but UT got a good bounce and Lil Jordan Humphrey caught the ball and took a knee.  The rest was academic as UT was able to take a knee with Kansas out of timeouts.
    Wife basically let me sit and watch the whole game, so I couldn't be a dick at her folk's house and rush her.  She drove us, but before we left there was some drama as my brother came over saying he might not go to the football game which my mom had been waiting for him to give her a ride.  My dad and my other brother had 0 interest in going to the game, so my mom didn't want to drive alone.  We offered to drive her to the game and my sister could give her a ride back.  She worried she wouldn't fit in Boy's Edge, but Boy and the GF tucked themselves in the trunk area, it must be nice to be tiny.  At the last minute my brother came out and told my mom he was going to go, so we said our goodbyes and took off.
    As Boy's GF said, I close my eyes and the car becomes a space capsule which moves me to my next destination as I sleep.  I awoke just as we entered San Antonio and stopped for gas.  We gassed up and got to my in law's house where I was served some turkey sandwiches and desserts.  I stayed up for awhile but soon felt that nappy feeling and I was out.  We left before 10:00pm, I hoped to make it to Bass Pro Shops as I am slowly obsessing over getting a new boat, but we were too slow.  Wife got mixed around and started asking which way to go to get back home.  I yelled a little bit because I was already yelling at Javalina.  I don't mind not making it in time, but there is absolutely no reason to stop and check something out, what does a kid have a reason to say no.  I was correcting his shitty behavior to not be a whiny bitch, then I got caught up as Wife panicked about what to do on the road and I yelled at her "well you are headed to El Paso, any smart person would turn their car in the opposite direction to head back into town, every road in America is designed with turn arounds every mile or so, you can see the lights coming up."  Yeah, that put me in the driver's seat, no more space capsule for Fat Boy.  The road was a little longer than normal, but I guess that's how you learn.

11/23/18 Thanksgiving And A Birthday All In One?

    We pulled a Krull today and chased the sun all day long, it seemed.  Today was the first time in perhaps twenty years that we did not have Thanksgiving in our house.  My in-laws wanted to have the celebration in their house because Wife's youngest sister was working in the morning and initially her brother was on call.  Her brother ended up having his own turkey with his in-laws, so we did not see any of them.  Our day started around 10:00am, when Wife's alarm clock rang and woke her up.  I had woken at 9:30am and meant to go down and have a cup of coffee, but that didn't happen, I decided to play with my phone and fell right back to sleep.
    I got up, decided not to argue about leaving and just farted and jumped in the shower.  I was still the last one to be ready, but we did eventually get going about 11:20am.  A little side note, as much as Wife complains about me sleeping, she "meant to give me daytime Nyquil, but accidentally" gave me the nighttime variety for my little cough.  I was out before we hit the highway, but did wake up easy enough at Buc-ee's to go get a coffee and to fill up the car with gas.  We decided to go in Boy's Edge since his GF was going with us and it is a slightly bigger vehicle.  Wife got us to San Antonio while I slept a little bit more.  It had to be before 2:00pm, and we quickly did a prayer and then started seating for the meal.
    The meal was pretty standard, with turkey, ham, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry, and biscuits.  Everything was delicious and was followed by a bunch of different desserts, including a crème brule, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, cake, and some other funky bread type thing with fruit on top.  I was happy enough and full enough to just sit there and not do much, maybe take a nap, but we had promised my mom we would come down to Crystal City, so on the road we got.
    We got on the road at 5:00pm and got to Crystal, right at 7:00pm.  Everybody was done eating, but most of my relatives were still hanging around, so we sat and visited with my people the rest of the evening, until they all left, around midnight.  People might have stuck around longer but everyone is excited about the Javalinas playing in the next round of the playoffs and they are all going to San Antonio to watch them play.
    Javalina was celebrated at both houses, with a cheesake at my in-laws and then a wrapped something that resembled a calzone, also with pumpkin, which the boy loves.  As much as I would have loved being home and not being bothered, it was nice to visit with loved ones, even if for a few hours.  We head back tomorrow morning to enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend.  Wife and the boys are off until Monday morning and I go back to work on Monday night.

11/22/18 Conner Lives?

    Today was a lazy day, make no mistake about it.  we were going to go to the gun range but I woke up with a huge headache and wanted nothing to do with a bunch of loud banging noises.  Wife asked if I wanted to go with her to get some pies for our two stops tomorrow.  Not having anything better to do, I said sure.  We got showered and dressed and out we headed.  After grabbing a piece of gum and settling in my seat, I could not believe what I saw.  Conner, in his mangled form still lives.  I know him, he is deformed and can hardly stand straight but even a cone in his shape can only be pushed too far.  Look in the grass and Mr. Drummond is sitting there a mess half his width, no longer with his glorious girth, just some stripes looking like a frog that has felt the weight of a car once or twice.
    Even if Conner walks slightly sideways, I am happy he was able to settle the score with Mr. Drummond, but oh what have they sunk to now?  It doesn't look like they are part of any team now.  They are homeless cones, they kind that get left behind and start decomposing.  I hope for their own good that at least Conner and Connie can be salvaged by a road crew after that guard rail is fixed.  Drummond is too far gone, I don't think that even all the king's horses and all the king's men can put Mr. Drummond together again.

After watching this, I would say my day turned a little brighter than it was.  We bought some pies to share with my in-laws and some pies to share with my folks.  I don't know what else we are supposed to bring, but better something than nothing.  This was followed by eating a pizza at Mod Pizza which I really like and for some reason, Javalina always says no to, but he likes it after the fact.  A quick stop at HEB and back to the house for us.  It seemed like we could have sat to enjoy the rest of the night, but Wife still had energy to burn so we headed to Sam's and walked around, then headed to Half Price Books where like an addict, one book is too many and ten books is never enough.  I bought another Henry Miller novel which I will try to start reading tonight.

    We then sat and watched Pulp Fiction with Javalina and he was quite impressed with it, other than not liking how Vincent was killed, unable to defend himself.  My big Tom Turkey turns 14 tomorrow, it is actually after midnight, we already sang to him here, but we'll do better tomorrow with both families being around eventually.  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. 

11/21/18 Finally Had A Restful Day?

    Don't get me wrong, Mother, I enjoyed having my family here, but Tuesday was the first day we simply slept late, and did not get up until way after noontime.  I usually fret and wake up early to write a new blog for the day in the morning, but I did what I am doing now, writing in the middle of the night.  I woke up last night and wrote from 1:30am to about 4:00am, while watching some House Hunters and crap on TV.  This made sure and cleared my morning up from me having to be productive, so I was able to just relax and sleep, and I did.  It was quite easy with the room being as cold as it was.  Wife likes to leave a window open when it is cold, and since we are upstairs, there is no reason to worry about burglars, the windows downstairs are all alarmed.
    I couldn't handle it when I finally went to bed, I decided to close the window to try and hold whatever warmth we were putting into the room.  In the middle of the night I wake up every 1.5-2 hours, specially if I am drinking soda or tea.  The longer I stay in bed, the longer that span lengthens, until I can stay about 3-4 hours in bed at a time.  I don't know, but I do know that I felt pretty great when I finally got up at almost 2:00pm.  Wife called me that she was coming down to make breakfast, so I followed.  We ate some delicious tacos of eggs, bacon and beans, and within 10 minutes of watching whatever show, I was ready for an afternoon nap.  Wife said it was better to watch TV upstairs, so that I could get comfortable.  I did, she was trying to get us to watch  Superstore, I think, but I don't think I made it to the end.  I slept until about 5:00pm and woke only because it looked like it was already getting dark outside, so I jumped in the bathroom and showered.
    We thought of going to the Domain, or Bass Pro Shops, but it seemed too cold to walk around outside from shop to shop and just getting on Slaughter Lane, we realized how bad traffic was in town at 6:00pm.  I decided to head to Cabela's, telling Wife I kind of need a new jacket.  I have seen this one line that they carry, for fishermen or something, made out of Goretex material, but they are not very thick and starting out in the $300 range seems excessive.  I like that they go up to 6X, so I can find one that fits, usually.  We got there and found them, but I wasn't feeling them.  I like them in the loud colors, like yellow or fire engine red, black or dark blue just seems boring.
    We almost went to the movies, but the one we wanted to see was mostly sold out at that time frame, and I didn't want to head back, knowing I might be drowsy in a couple hours, since I was so alert at 7:00pm.  After Cabela's, we ate at Zaxby's which we really enjoy.  I had their cobb salad as I felt like I have been eating way too much cheese lately when I tried going to the potty, if you know what I mean.
    We were back home by 10:00pm, and once again Wife wanted to get back to her shows, as soon as she starts them, I am snoring, I don't know if she cursed me somehow, or I have just tired of so many recorded programs that we must keep up with, I don't like it.  I can't even show her stuff I find on Netflix because every waking moment is focused on catching up with shitty recorded stuff.
    At least this one wrote itself quickly.  I sat here at 1:00am, looked at few youtube videos, started writing, and I am done at 2:18am.  Yeaih me.

11/20/18 Long Weekend With Family?

    My folks left today after coming in on Friday night.  There was a short period it seems where we were doing more arguing than getting along, but lately it has been much better.  I do have to keep reminding my mom that what I say is sarcastic and she needs to ease up sometimes, but even then, she seems to be in better spirits lately.  Friday was a blur as my dad and brother arrived at a decent 7:00pm or so, but my mom was with my sister and her husband and kids following the Crystal City Javelinas playing a district game championship game which they won, for the first time since like the 1950s.
    They play again this Friday, in San Antonio, and I almost want to get into the spirit and go watch them play, I would feel like a hypocrite, as I have never really followed them before.  But anyways, Saturday we got up early, had tacos from Taco Cabana which my brother in law insisted on, I would've preferred home made food, but nobody is into cooking at home anymore.  We spent the rest of the time my sister was here at the mall, I am not sure what they bought, but my boys were liking some suits at Men's Wearhouse which seemed like they would be cheaper to get than some rented tuxedoes for $180, but I talked to my brother today and I don't think he has figured out what people are supposed to do.  My sister and her family had actually already excused themselves from us and they were getting going to leave out of town, when my mom suggested Longhorn Steakhouse, which of course sounded good to me.  I don't feel I had enjoyed a steak like that in quite a while.  I actually ordered the Delmonico steak which seemed like excess, except the taste was really something else.  We did eat like at 5:00pm, so it was only 7:00pm when my sister and family left for Crystal City.
    Sunday was much more relaxing, we hung out at the house, then we went to Best Buy for a bit since it is fixing to be Javalina's birthday on Thanksgiving Day.  He got a few video games for his birthday, and grandma gave him some bucks for his growing piggy bank.  We were at the movies promptly at 4:50pm for that showtime to see Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.  We managed to eat a couple miles up by the big HEB in Kyle, at a place where we have eaten pizza once or twice.  My mom was not that impressed, but still it was nice and warm and we all left with fool bellies.
    It has been really great being off all these days to be with my people.  Just siting around in the morning drinking coffee and cookies and stuff feels very normal when other people are doing it with you.  Normally, Wife has nothing to do with my coffee cup, so I am drinking alone.  My dad really is like a kid, he seems to need to go out every half an hour or so to smoke a cigarette, even after they find one kind of cancer on him, in his prostate which the doctor has assured him is very treatable and it tends to behave afterwards.  My mom sits by him constantly not wanting to get after him, but also not knowing what else to do with her man-child who wants to be left to his own devices, but that includes going outside and sometimes without even a jacket to avoid the cold.  My mom gets especially nervous when he gets a cold because the smoking already kicks his lung's ass.  He sounds all sorts of wheezy and scary when he does get any kind of sick, but you can't tell a man what to do.

11/19/18 Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald? (Movie)

    Up to this point, I have loved the JK Rowling universe.  This latest film didn't really do it for me.  It just didn't seem to be about the magic and the characters, it was all set up to be a slick deceit which got most of us, but to what end?  Newt Scamander is again the central character, for whatever reason, it seems it should have been Dumbledore of the Harry Potter fame, but he is tricked out of the equation by a very smart bad guy.  Johnny Depp, who we are all trained to love immediately, this time plays the bad guy and he basically comes up with a new -ism, like racism or ageism, he hates and or holds beneath him anyone who isn't a pure blood wizard.  It is already against the law and punishable by death for wizards and muggles (non wizards) to marry.  We are clued into this by the love between Jacob and Queenie who were more or less comedy relief in the first installment of this series.  Queenie has put a love spell on Jacob to get him to agree with her to marry.  Newt realizes this when they drop in to visit and upon waking up from the spell, he declines to marry her, he loves her, he just fears punishment from the wizarding world.  So she does as a woman scorned, and leaves, just poof, gone.
    This leaves Jacob available to join Newt on another adventure, this time to go to France to find and possibly fight Grindenwald, and locate Credence who both sides are trying to get because he is a powerful wizard who doesn't know his abilities yet.  Newt also finds out Tina, his love interest from the first movie is after Credence, she is still an auror.
   I didn't understand why Dumbledore charged Newt with this mission, there was nothing that made him the man for the job, he even seemed to disappear and just about forget meeting any new animals, other than the cool black cats that were used as guards and the lion festival creature, the movie was pretty thin with creatures.  Thinking about it, the movie reminded me of one of those Star Wars prequals where there was a ton of business dialogue which bores the crap out of the viewer but seems important in the moment.
    I fought silently and quietly with Javalina who sat next to me throughout the movie.  He originally sat between Wife and me as a buffer because he was small, but he is no longer that small, I may as well be sitting next to Wife, he wants to fight me for the armrest, he eats more popcorn than me, and then he elbows me every time I breath a little heavy because he thinks I might have fallen asleep.
    We saw the movie at EVO again and I really like it.  We got there at 4:50 and at Alamo Drafthouse, we might have missed the movie, but here it wasn't a big deal, even after stopping to get popcorn and soda and even going to the bathroom, we still walked in to a lit room and the trailers just starting.
    I have really enjoyed all the Rowling movies and there was a lot to like, like seeing Hogwarts in a different era and seeing a young Dumbldore and McGonagall working with a young generation of kids.  The coolest thing I probably liked was the statue that moved slowly to allow them to sneak into the wizarding street corner right in front of all the Muggles.  As I was told, this is a movie that is setting the landscape for a fight against good and evil, so even if it wasn't great, the next ones should have a lot more action and possibly violence.  I personally stayed awake but barely, there were a couple of soliloquys where I almost zoned out.

11/18/18 Good Family Day on Saturday?

    After waiting patiently on Friday for people to show up all night on Friday, people got up slowly on Saturday and that is fine by me.  I was up early as usual, getting out of bed at 7:45am so I could write whatever for yesterday.  The plan was to write and then go back to bed and try to sleep a couple more hours, but things did not work out that way.  Within an hour my mom was up saying I was snoring, I guess I fell asleep while trying to write.  Sometimes I sit and the words just come out like hot diarrhea and sometimes I can't write one word in an hour, I don't understand that.  This is why I try to get up and write whenever I feel it.
    I guess my nephew's heard grandma because they were down a few seconds after, screaming and hollering as boys do, as I'm told.  They were followed by their parents and now around 9:00am, it seemed everyone was up.  Before long, we were discussing breakfast ideas.  I had bought bacon and extra eggs, trying to save a couple bucks, but people love being on vacation and just buying breakfast seems more "fun," even Wife seems to prefer this when she is here on the weekends.  We all coughed up some money and my brother in law and sister went and got some McDonald's and some tacos from Taco Cabana.  It was nice to see Taco Cabana has barbacoa again, they had told me they weren't making it anymore a couple months ago.  We all ate by 11:00am and now I was looking to hide and sleep but that was going to be hard.
    Wife started talking about work or something and since it seemed to go on and on, I decided to make a quiet run and see how long before they noticed I was missing.  I landed on the bed at 11:30am in warm-ups and fully dressed, thinking I was getting busted right away.  I managed to sleep until noon, got up took off the warm-ups and slept until 12:30pm.  I never felt fully woken, but Wife came in and made me jump in the shower as everyone was waiting for me.  I showered and we headed to the mall.  It was nice and we hadn't walked the full mall in a while, but we don't have disposable income right now, so we just enjoyed walking around looking, had a coffee and gave my sister and mom some time to look,    
    We all finally got together around 5:00pm and fell out of the mall.  We were just kind of headed to the Best Buy while my sister was headed out of town.  My mom asked my sister if they had eaten and after they said no, we decided on Longhorn Steakhouse because everyone always wants steak.  We ate a very delicious meal and got home right at 7:00pm. My dad was watching the longhorns going through a ceremony, which I believe was the end of the senior day festivities, but I wasn't sure.  The game started a couple minutes later and just as I hate to say, that is when I fell asleep, hard.
    I woke up a few times  on the sofa, nobody fighting me for it, or otherwise, and man, it was nice.  Every time I saw the Longhorn score, they were leading by a little bit more,  eventually I went upstairs to bed, but realized it wasn't even 11:00pm  I slept until 1:00am, got up and came down to write this.  It is now 4:33am, I think I will go back to bed, at least my blog for Sunday is done.

11/17/18 Waiting For People Coming In Waves?

    Friday was a little weird with my family coming, but everyone coming in at different times.  I wasn't really sure until Thursday they were coming and Wife had been taking down all our Halloween clutter and laying it on the bed in the guest room upstairs.  She then told me my sister and her hubby and kids were coming, so I would have to put everything away in that room.  I managed to do all that, put sheets on the bed, and vacuum most of the rooms upstairs.  This was all done by about 1:30pm, I took a nap until 3:30pm, then headed out to get Javalina who already had two boys with him who were going to spend the night.

    We stopped at Target to get supplies, including a bunch of soda for the boys, pizzas, cookies, and the stuff to make chili, since my dad would be arriving early and he rarely likes leaving the house unless he needs more cigarettes.  We got home around 5:00pm, I put the ground beef for the chili in the skillet, browned it and then put it in the slow cooker, along with a can of pinto beans, red kidney beans, diced tomatoes, and two packets of chili mix.  I then had to wait to make my cornbread since Boy's GF arrived before him and had bought the materials to make a German chocolate cake, which she has done before and they are delicious.
    My dad then arrived around 6:00pm with my brother and Chloe the dog.  By then, my chili was ready and the cornbread came out about 5 minutes later.  They ate and enjoyed it.  Wife was in town about 7:30, but didn't get home until 8:00pm as she was stuck in traffic.  She then ate my magical chili to warm up.  We then had to wait for my mom, sister and the rest of her family.  I sat and watched some football with dad until he decided he was going to bed around 9:00pm.  I went up with Wife and promptly fell asleep on the bed.  My mom called that the game had finished and that Crystal City had won.  They were on their way, but didn't get here until almost midnight.  In the meantime, we watched one of our many shows, I napped some more, Wife watched more of her shows, I woke and showered.
    Between then and now, Boy's GF had offered hot chocolate, I had said yes, but then since I was napping, I missed out on the first round.  I then asked where my hot chocolate was after I woke up, she said she had discarded it, as it doesn't keep, it is milk based.  I told her to wait until my folks get here, it's be nice to have a warm drink for them as they have been outside all night.  They arrived and the hot chocolate came out almost at that point, and they enjoyed some German chocolate cake with it.
    That was about as much as we had for the night.  I cleaned up the chili bowl, washed all the extra cups and bowls so nothing sticky would remain for the next day, and followed Wife upstairs once again.  And that was the first night with company in a long while.

11/16/18 Blowing Javaolina's Mind?

    I was finally off on a Thursday night, as I am supposed to be every other week, but I kept having to go to work to complete the hours I would be out per football game.  I have returned to normal and I honestly love it.  Today, we had to go to his school for an AVID presentation.  It turned out to be mostly a dinner and we had just ate prior to going, so we walked around and within half an hour, had some info in hand about the possibilities of going to Akins.  He doesn't want to but I really liked what the career counselor said to us.
    We came home around 6:15pm and killed some time before I made some frozen patties into burgers.  While we ate, I decided to play some songs I was sure he had never paid attention to before.  In the morning we heard Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap by AC/DC and it reminded me of the first cassette I ever owned.  It had the song Big Balls.  If ever there was a double entendre song, this taught me a lot and quickly.  On a side note, it was given to me by one of the school bullies in junior high.  We had done a name exchange in one of the classes and when I heard he was giving me something, I thought, well, you're not getting shit this year.  The cassette may have been stolen and he may have been hearing it for awhile, but I still think of it as my first cassette, and what a great intro to music.  Javalina was all "hey" when he realized what he was hearing and then he broke into a big grin, knowing he was listening to a "dirty" song.  I kept it up with Prince's Little Nicky which has some dirty lines, the best being:

I met this girl named Nikki, I guess you could say she was a sex fiend 

I met her in a hotel lobby masturbating with a magazine...

Aerosmith's F.I.N.E. has some great cheek blushing lines:

I got a girlfriend with the hoochy coochy eyes

Cause in the pink she looks so fine

She got the Cracker Jack, now all I wants the prize, Honey heh heh yeah

    Then I thought I would really have fun with him and play him some music from Grandma's era that is just plain wrong.  How about Gary Puckett and the Union Gap's Young Girl, with lines like "you're much too young girl", "my love for you is way out of line.", "get out of here before I have the time to change my mind."  Ringo Starr's "You're Sixteen", it would be cute if the singer was under 20, but at 33 or so, Ringo saying "You're 16, you're beautiful and you're mine."  is just all sorts of freaks.  Finally, how about Mr. America, Bruce Springsteen "hey little baby is your daddy home, did he go and leave you all alone..", or "at night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet and a freight train running through the middle of my head, only you can cool my desires."  Javalina just kept saying no in a surprised fashion.

11/15/18 Movies To Shape Javalina?

    Since our boy is starting his adolescence and is no longer a baby, I have been trying to show him movies that impacted me, or had just a little bit more than some laughs and enetertainment.  I think some movies are important to know, the original movie to know is Star Wars, that is so important and helped us with important definitions of what it took to be good and evil, and the many sacrifices everyone has to make for the greater good.  Of course, Javalina is very familiar with it already, so no rush on that front.
    I think the whole Kevin Smith world starting with Clerks and especially Mallrats and Dogma are important.  None of this is as highly regarded as Star Wars, but there are important elements in Dogma, especially.  It deals with religion and the whole charade that it seems.  There is also a special  camaraderie between pairs of characters that transcends the screen bromances, such as Silent Bob and Jay who are real friends and Ben Affleck and Matt Damon who used to be tight, I don't know about now.  This was all comedy that was perfect for me in my early 20's, Smith just spoke our language and he referenced movies such as the John Hughes canon on juvenile experiences which again were right down our juvenile thoughts.
    Last week I went and bought a new Pulp Fiction, we had a copy, but I could not find it.  Luckily, movies are very cheap nowadays.  I found a Blue Ray copy at Half Price Book for $8, but then we had a 50% sale coupon for Veteran's Day and it came out to like $4.32.  I think this movie is very important, the way Tarantino cuts the movie and presents it out of order just seems weird the first time, but it works.
    I thought Matrix was important enough that he should see, but I already played it, we have a copy in our movie collection.  The 2nd and 3rd part are just not the same magic as the first one, but they do have a little, not that I think they are necessary.
    I loved the Fifth Element, it shows Bruce Willis at his best, even as I hear he is kind of hard to work with.  Boy bought a Blue Ray copy recently, and I think it holds up.  The whole bloated taxi cars floating in layers is a little ridiculous, but the rest of it was pretty cool.
    There are so many movies to consider, which is the fun of it.  We are molded by our experiences and if our experiences include these movies, then of course, they belong in the must watch, but we can only watch 1-2 on any given weekend.  This weekend is reserved for Pulp Fiction, and maybe Dogma, I am in the mood to rewatch it.

11/14/18 Cold Is To The Bone?

    We are in the middle of our first really cold spell and I am glad we prepared like we did, so far.  Javalina does not like to wear pants and so, goes most of the school year in shorts.  This weekend we went to the mall, which we hadn't gone in a good two months and we can tell it is getting shitty.  It starts with the assholes walking their dogs with them.  I refuse to believe that Jose with the pitbull has him in the mall because Killer is a service dog, come on.  Take that dog to the park and terrorize the hippies.  Aside from a couple of dogs, the mall is prepared for the holidays.  Javalina managed to find some jeans, we kept him at Levi's since they are good quality at a fair price.  I was surprised that they still cost $39.99.  It was another nice weekend where Boy joined us, and we got him some thermal shirts to wear under his normal stuff.  We offered him some shirts or even a pant or two, but he said he didn't need any.
    On to the actual school days and although Javalina put on the pants and looked the part of student heading out into the cold monday morning, he is still very much a knucklehead.  He chose a hoodie, complaining that he is already wearing two other shirts and he is inside most of the day.  I let it slide as it wasn't super cold monday morning.  It was colder in the afternoon with the wind blowing much more aggressively and there is our shining star, without said hoodie, standing in the blowing wind and cold.  This genius insists on wearing his hoodies when it is 95 degrees outside, yet when he should be wearing it, he whines that it's too hot.  What do you do with that?
    I am taking care of me, I have been wearing warm ups and multiple shirts.  Wife says I should get a bigger jacket, but all I do is drive to my building and run in.  I am in a room that is the same temperature year round.  Boy always dresses warmly and in layers, I don't worry about him like the other rock head who is constantly trying to prove how tough he is.
    Wife has been around quite a bit, it almost feels like normal at times, yesterday I even heated up her car when I got home.  I am really hoping she can find a job up here next year, this is year three and although we totally support what she is doing, I don't think she is being appreciated enough in the small town, financially.  They may not be able to pay what I feel she deserves, but for us to continue this lifestyle, I would like to see more compensation, just my two cents, otherwise come back and remind me what home cooking tastes like.  This brown beaner needs some homemade tortillas por favor.

11/13/18 Another Legend Leaves Us?

    I woke up to a picture of Stan Lee on whatever ap I opened on my phone this morning and my first thought was "he must have died, damn!"  Wife thought it was sad enough that she said she cried a tear or two when she finally heard later in the day.  I can't say that I did, he lived a long enough life, getting into his mid 90s, losing his wife of 69 years (you can't live with someone that long and then expect to carry on without them), providing us with so much entertainment through the years.
    I still remember his cameo in Mallrats, when he talked to a young Brodie about love and how important it was.  He explained how Hulk was created from losing a young love and it left him a "rage of emotions one minute and a normal man the next."  I am not sure if this was to move the story along or some partial truth to it, but hearing him talk about basically the toys we had grown up playing with was some sort of artist talking to the 4th wall.  Back then, we didn't have access to celebrities like we seem to today.  Now, with the likes of TMZ and everyone having a camera, we could see any female actress topless or in a bathroom, there is barely any separation between the mythical people that entertain us and the common man.
    I'm not going to sit here and lie that I was big into the comic book life, honestly, I spent more time reading Archie and Jughead comics in my youth than any superhero stuff, but the movies that lead from all those comics have been some kind of wonderful.  I think they have been responsible for pushing all this technology to have superior movie capabilities and surround sound systems at home.  Those battle scenes when HULK smashes or Captain America does his thing are best seen in the highest quality clarity you can afford, and DVD just doesn't cut it in today's world.
    It was cute, to have him do a cameo in all of the last 15-20 movies that came from his creations.  It almost seemed like he could have gone on forever, if not for the heartbreak of losing the love of his life in 2017.  I had great grandparents like that.  They were married for the longest time, and my great grandfather was still getting around even outside by himself one of the last times we saw them alive, but then our great grandmother passed away and he didn't last six months without her.
    What more could you ask of the man?  He left behind not a handful of characters but the list looks to be 100s of characters, with Spiderman and Hulk being among the most popular.  All I can say is thank you, Mr. Lee, you are and will continue to be an inspiration, and I hope you can finally Rest In Peace.

11/12/18 Bohemian Rhapsody? (Movie)

    The movie was great, I loved the not so humble beginnings of the band, and it was awesome to know that this was a band of smart people.  The guitarist was studying astrophysics, the drummer was almost a dentist, and even the bass player which they got after Freddy joined the band had an electric engineer's degree.
    The movie, of course, focused on the dynamic Freddie Mercury who I had no idea was of middle eastern descent, not that it matters.  According to the movie, he talked to the guys from his eventual band at the right time, as their lead singer had just quit.  The movie gives us this view that the relationship between him and his father was strained because his father expected him to be a more regular person working a regular job and being a good member of society.  It is never shown that the parents have a problem with his sexuality, but he did come from a very conservative home.
    I loved seeing the band working through their songs and being open to experimenting by swinging speakers and putting stuff on top of the piano wires to see what effect that would do to the noise.  This experimenting gave them a new sound and honestly their music holds up to this day.  If you catch Bohemian Rhapsody on the radio, you're going to listen to it until the end, it is such a great and unique song.  Then there are the thinly veiled "dirty" songs like Fat Bottomed Girls which are just perfect for driving and singing out loud.
    I had no idea there was a woman in his life, I had figured out he was gay at an early age by the fact that AIDS killed him.  We had a real good conversation with Javalina about all that, as Wife and I lived through that time period and it affected us all, for a time.  We don't hear much about AIDS/HIV nowadays, but in the late 80's, just as we were becoming sexually active, there was a fear for a few years that just having sex could lead to AIDS.  The conservatives/ bible thumping idiots must have been in heaven because they had the perfect fear tool for what they are always trying to prevent, people having sex for fun.  Nowadays, we know AIDS is a virus that can be transmitted by an exchange of bodily fluids, mostly blood, but I imagine there is some in the male ejaculate.  It is rare for people not in the gay community to contract AIDS, it happened on a few cases early in blood transfusions, but now they test for it.
    It was a shame to lose a bright star like Freddie Mercury who was creative with the music they made.  He loved being the center of attention, but he worked hard to create the music that got him and his band there.  I am glad he had people like Mary in his life that truly loved him and the guys in the band were also pretty laid back and put up with a lot of his "diva" behavior, showing up late to rehearsals and stuff.  Why are the leeches always so hard to identify for people like this?  The Paul Prenter character just seemed to skulk around the band, waiting to isolate and keep Mercury to himself.  I guess it was easy for him to "trick" Mercury because he was the one bringing the gay out of him by bringing the strange men over.  It was painful to see him leaving the band that made him famous because we could tell it was quietly orchestrated by this snake so he would remove the positive people from his life.  That Mary forced herself back into his life to break Prenter's hold on him was worthy of an act of someone who truly loved him, even if she couldn't love him in the traditional sense.  Prenter reminded me of a Wormtongue from LOTR, whispering bullshit to keep the king, er Queen from shining as brightly as he should.

11/11/18 Texas Sneaks Out With A Win?

    I wasn't going to watch this game, but I got lucky.  I was up at 9:00am and figured I would just get up and go nap before noon, as Wife would sleep until then.  Well, before I know it, it was 11:00am and Wife came down from the bedroom saying I had woke her and she never fell back to sleep.  I was going to complain about her not calling me up if she was just hanging out in bed, but eh, I was doing my own thing down here.  She started breakfast which was very nice.  She found some Spam with chorizo which she wanted to try, and I love Spam and I like chorizo, so why not?  Breakfast turned out great, Spam with some potato and eggs mixed together and then made into tacos was perfect.

    I wanted to nap before, but Javalina was making a spectacle out of a spider near the trash cans and that forced me to get off the sofa and go deal with the terrible monster.  It turned out to be a harmless Charlotte's Web type of spider, but we killed it, just in case.  After looking at Google, we determined it was in fact, harmless, but it was too late.  Wife then turned on the cable box and we saw a couple of our weekly recorded shows.  Javalina fell in love with American Housewife because of the hot older daughter with the slutty blonde hair and dark eyebrows, which I agree, she looks yummy.  After a couple shows, I fell asleep, but Wife couldn't complain because so did she.

    We woke up around 5:00pm and I told her if we are going to leave the house, we need to go shower now. Eventually, we left, close to 8:00pm  We planned on watching Bohemian Rhapsody at our newest favorite place, EVO, I like their seats for $8.50 vs. $13.50 at Alamo now that Boy is no longer giving us the discount seats.  I managed to watch the first half of the game before Wife tore me away from the TV and the Horns seemed to be in control, but not exactly putting Tech away.  We arrived at the EVO complex and they have a dining area which we went to and had a pizza there before the movie started.

    Javalina complained why the Horns didn't go for 2 pt. conversions after TD scores.  I told him it was much safer to do the PAT than to go for the 2 points.  I told him with about 10 minutes left, it is safer to get the extra point and keep it at 34-17.  Tech needs to score two TDs and a field goal just to tie, conservatively, it is the safe bet.  Before we finished discussing this, Tech managed to score a field goal.  I said see, if they had attempted to score 2 points and didn't, an onsides kick and they get the ball back, and then they only need one more score to steal the game.  It's not going to happen because Texas will run down the clock because they will still get one or two more possessions.  Enter the onsides kick as I went to the bathroom.  I come out two minutes later and Tech is about to score again, WTF!!!

    Our movie started at 10:15 and it was 10:05, I had to go from the restaurant to the movies, so I got to see Tech tie it and then we left with about two minutes left.  The movie was really good, but it was great to come out, look online and find the Horns were able to come up with one more score.  Why are they constantly giving up big leads to get us all wound up.  Wife and Javalina kept telling me not to scream at the TV because I wasn't home, but come on, what kind of shit.  They had a 17 point lead and it disappeared in a matter of minutes.  Oh well, they snuck away with the win.

11/10/18 Toxicology Report On Conner?

    It seems I did not commit murder on Conner, he may have committed suicide by jumping in front of me as I had thought.  His toxicology report showed he was high on diesel fumes and speed.  It seems he had been fighting with Connie for awhile.  She was trying to keep it on the down low, but she had taken an interest in a fellow by the name of Mr. Drummond, built like an upside down trash can, the guy was just massive and intimidating compared to poor pointy headed Conner.  To add insult to injury, Conner had been recently demoted from the highway team down to local roadways, so he was already separated from his family for a while.
    You may not think much of it, but when you are on a federal highway, you have certain rights in the position of Mr. Cone (Conner), such as you are kept in proper fitting reflective clothing, once a month they have to professionally steam clean you to look proper and shiny.  Once you are relegated to a city street, well, we all know how little respect we show to anything on the streets.  Most of us are distracted by our phones, our stereos, trying to get in front of the idiot in front of us, thinking how stupid the person we just passed is.  It is, unfortunately, a different world for those chosen to this line of work.  There is never enough money, locally, to steam clean and do any maintenance on the local guys, instead, they just rely on constant replacements.
    If you ask me, I don't think he meant to kill himself, hell it's Texas.  He probably thought, at this late of an hour, it'll be a man in a 4x4 lifted truck, the vehicle might not even touch me.  Alas, it was a man, but in a chick Korean SUV box with barely 6 inches of clearance underneath.  Conner probably thought if anything I can bend half my body after the blow and I'll be alright, but with only 6 inches to work with, he was pretty much dead as soon as he jumped.  He had gotten older and had a little paunch, not bad for a guy living a good life, but no where in shape to bend like the guys on the Matrix movie to avoid essentially the grim reaper in a cream colored death box.
    I write a poem, in your memory:

Oh Conner, you mighty little cone

to think that in the end, you died all alone,

it just breaks my heart

you were always a good one, I knew it from the start.

You never complained even while working through a freeze,

you reminded us all, "Hey in three months we'll be back in a warm breeze!"

You raised two good boys who in your line of work they were also attracted

keeping safe those fellow idiots who love to constantly be distracted.

Most of us will never understand the courage that your life took

but I am sitting wondering about writing about you in a book.

I think the world should know that cones aren't as insensitive as crummy rocks

I told Wife don't complain about your car's repairs, it's only one hundred bucks.

Think of the life that Conner is already going to miss

he never will even have a chance for his grandbaby (cones) to kiss.

11/9/18 About Tent Cities?

    One of my friends on Snapchat was going on about feeling bad because apparently, Austin has decided to clean up some area that was getting a bit thick with homeless people living in makeshift houses.  She was mostly upset because they were confiscating or taking all the "tent" houses down and disposing of them in the trash, she was saying it is not fair for the police to show up and just take what little possessions they own.
    I can't say that I enjoy this, but something needs to be done.  I have noticed that under the turnaround to get to work, at Ben White and Montopolis for about the past year and a half, people have sort of taken root there.  There are an assortmet of people who beg at the various corners, then turn around and sleep under the protection of the highway above.  I am betting it helps that the concrete absorbs heat all day and thus stays warm through most of the night, now that it is a little cooler.  Of course, there must be a good collection of good samaritans who give these people money, ensuring that they stay there indefinitely.
    This is the same thing over at Southpark Meadows, which is slowly becoming land of the homeless.  Stopping to get gas at the Walmart gas place at night, gives you about a 40-50% chance of getting hit for a couple bucks, or some change.  I don't feel safe and I am an oversized 400 pounder, I can't imagine a tiny 100 pound woman feels safer if she stops here.  I'm sorry, but if someone doesn't clean up Southpark Meadows, it is going to go the way of Highland Mall.  I used to love walking around Highland Mall, it was different enough to Barton, that it was worth the drive north once in a while.  As it got closer to them shutting down, they started letting teens hang out like they owned the place.  Sorry, but any area loaded with a bunch of kids just looking for their own amusement while trying to stay out of the summer heat does not help a bottom line.
    We are starting to go farther out rather than dealing with the bums in Southpark Meadows.  For example, the Whataburger is almost guarenteed that you will have to interact with some homeless person.  I'm sorry, but I don't even like interacting with well to do people, why would I want to talk to somebody who could use a couple bucks?  I had a 25% reduction in pay, mother f*cker, have I ever asked you for a little help?  There is another Whataburger if we go West on Slaughter Lane for about 3-4 miles, which isn't far at all, plus we haven't seen homeless that way.
    If you let them stay and don't tear down their shit, thy are going to think they own the place, I'm sorry but if you think that is good, wait 5-10 years and see where Southpark Meadows is at.  I don't think people will be shopping there if the homeless population keeps growing, an area can only carry so many.  I cannot be the only person looking to move further west because of this problem.
    I don't think that it is fair that we house these people either.  They already showed they don't want to work a forty hour shift, are they going to be given housing so they can hang out all day drinking or whatever people that don't work do?  This seems irresponsible as a taxpayer, I don't like this at all.  What little sympahy I had, washed away when I think of all the years I have been at work when I would rather be fucking around with my kids or even just laying around the house.
    If you think tent cities are a great idea, look at LA or any other big city and it is a huge problem.  If you can't afford to live here, leave for places with cheaper housing.

11/8/18 What To Do With Javalina Now?

    Football is over for our young athlete and he needs a release for his extra energy.  One of his coaches suggested he join the basketball team and we talked about it for a couple weeks but in the end he doesn't want to do that.  He said he has never really played it, so he knows he would be on the B team and still not start, and he is competitive, that would not be a good fit for him. 
    I like the idea of him playing basketball, I played a lot to loose weight in college, even in some intramural teams, it is fun but very fast and running back and forth can tire one out quickly.  This was the main reason I wanted him to play.  If anything, it would encourage his feet to move faster, maybe lose the Mosey nickname I like pissing him off with.  The problem is that they play so many games it might get to the point where I could not go to every game and I don't want him going anywhere feeling like we aren't available to support him, but football already had me missing so much and making time up every week, it would be worse for basketball.
    The other option we have is him going back to the boxing classes, which I loved him doing and he did not love going but always loved the feeling afterward.  Another good thing to this is that he is annoyingly always wanting to spar with me and I honestly don't like getting hit.  Dirty Dog loved putting on the gloves and going at it with him, but that is not me.  He did not like that the class is more of a get your heartbeat going for an hour than a learn to fight people.  I originally thought it would be one of those old style stand around a boxing ring and wait to get a black eye from the class bully, but it is nothing like that.  They told us some of the classes are like that, but the ones we can go to are more of a punch a bag, do some sit-ups, push-ups, run outside for a bit and repeat.  But he still managed to cover all the basic punches and everyone in the class stands in front of their own punching bag which I thought was still cool.  The only downside for me is that it does cost money, and at $89 a month, it is not cheap, which is why I have not joined.
    Anyways, both Wife and I feel that this would be good for the boy as without football he does nothing but lay around and eat.  That is not good because he can put on weight as fast as me, and I like him being big but I don't want it getting out of control.  Right now he looks pretty good, he is a lot of boy but he carries himself well.  Either way, this is all to keep him in shape for football next year, which is the sport he loves.  We did buy a couple of shot puts which it is almost time to break those out and start throwing the cannonball around.  He was pissed last year when he was sure he was going to make great strides in the last tournament after coming in 7th in a city competition, but the very last thing was cancelled.

11/7/18 Politician In The Family?

    Here is a new wrinkle to the old family layout.  My brother in law decided to run for school board council and he won a seat last night.  I don't know much, if any, of the responsibilities of the school board, and still it seems like a pain in the ass job to take on voluntarily.  I do know that "it took a village" to get him the win, as my folks have been going door to door and sitting at various functions basically selling him and making him seem like a good choice.  I thought it was funny that on the election day, they send out a picture and my dad and younger brother are both sitting there, like waiting to shake hands and kiss babies for votes, fully knowing that those two are Sour Patch Kids who would rather be hiding at home or anywhere else.
    To me, the job is thankless, you can do and do for people and the very first time you make an unpopular decision, the same a-holes who would pat you on the back for getting their kids free lunch would also threaten to scratch your car if you don't vote against the enforced dress code or whatever.  People can be so fickle, sometimes.  I am running short on time here at work, let me continue at home.
    The whole voting process was new to me, I hadn't paid attention before.  For this election, there were three seats up for renewals.  I thought you would only compete in whatever part of town those representatives were from, but I guess that is not how it works.  From the sheet that I saw there were five people running for the three seats.  I don't know if the results  were indeed true, but if they are, I hope for the best.

11/6/18 I Hardly Knew Ye, Conner?

    Sometimes you hear stories about hard working people and all the plans they made for the future, but then their life is cut short and all that is left is a pile of unfulfilled dreams  and plans.  This is one of those stories.  Conner was born deaf in one ear and was almost legally blind, but you never met a harder worker.  He was the kind of guy that would show up for work like no matter what was weighing on his mind.
    I've met a couple of Conner types over the years.  Full of pride, almost more proud of the color of his skin than what his job allows him to do.  I was never crazy about his attitude, once he sets himself up for a shift, he won't budge, you have to respect him, he wants to act like a cop, all he is lacking is a ticket book.  It seems almost perfect that he works, er worked for the state doing road construction.  These guys get high on power, and then nobody seems to monitor them, they take as long as they want to get their job done.  Once I admit this, I don't know what will happen, but at least I will have cleared my conscience.
    Last week, my rear window cracked and shattered on Thursday afternoon.  Luckily, Wife was here and I decided I would take her car to prevent more glass from cascading off.  I rarely drive Wife's car and so it goes, I was having trouble fidgeting with the stereo when out of the black of night, Conner jumped in front of me.  He had to have been hiding in the tall-ish grass and maybe things got too hard for him, he decided to end it all, but boom.  It happened too fast for me to react, I apologize to the whole family.  He is survived by his wife, Connie, Conner Jr, baby Conway, and the late Conway Lewis who also met his fate under the wheels of an 18-wheeler.
    I am still in shock, I have never taken out something so drastically.  One minute I am in  the middle of some happy 60's music after being in a depressed 70's folk music stuff, the next I am a murderer.  There are a couple of loopholes in the story.  First of all, Conners don't work alone, they always work with at least twenty relatives, all of them having that same look, you know what I am talking about.  Why was this particular Conner alone?  I think it was a planned suicide or maybe a murder by getting thrown into traffic.  Maybe Conner saw more than the headlights of America driving by.  Maybe he saw a drug deal gone wrong, or he was witness to a pimp slapping some hoes around.
    Either way, I hope you can forgive oh mighty street warrior.  Wife, I hope you can forgive me busting up your undercarriage, I mean your car's undercarriage, I didn't realize one of those guys would do much if any damage.  We didn't notice it Saturday or I would have at least looked under there.  All I can say is keep your eyes open, with all the construction, sometimes the cones get displaced, I hit one and it did some damage to Wife's car, even though it did not actually go under the car.

11/5/18 Back ToThe Bubble, Boys?

    Last week hurt, Oklahoma State brings it and the Horns know to expect it.  Gundy is looking every bit like the man he claimed to be and a formidable Horn slayer, regardless of whatever excuses we can muster (kids being suspended, game was after a bye...).  Come on guys, what happened to the fire in y'all's bellies?  After beating the real Oklahoma I think everyone relaxed and assumed we were back in the era of winning.  Nope, remember, you did start the season by getting beat by an outsider in Maryland that have now done it in back to back seasons, yet they are only doing mediocre in their respective conference.
    So what exactly happened?  Again, I did not really watch the game, as we went looking at houses, more on that next time.  After looking at a couple of places, we stopped at a random place for lunch and they had a TV, where we managed to see the first half of the game.  It was kind of a sloppy mess, people getting ejected, a lot of penalties, no real defense to speak of as both teams were just taking turns scoring.  We managed to listen to the end of the game on KVET, and I have to agree, if the offense scores 41 points, they should win.  A defense composed of choice kids from Texas and wherever else we want to look should be enough to stop any offense from scoring at will, but again we did have some important players go down with injuries on defense, so I guess that is our excuse.
    As Coach Herman said, the Longhorns are not out completely.  Things could still happen to put the Horns back on top, but at this moment, they are not in charge of their own destiny.  It is not like any week is easier either, as they play the Red Raiders this week, in Lubbock, at 6:30pm, under the lights.  The game should prove to be a good one, these two teams always play each other tough and they do tend to swap wins, so it is anybody's ballgame, but they are playing away, so I say that gives Tech a slight advantage.  In the last decade or so, when Tech has played Texas and Oklahoma back to back, they have won at least one of those games, so an upset is a possibility.
    I didn't expect Texas to compete for the national championship this year, I was hoping they would be competitive and keep it close with everyone and they have surpassed this goal.  Had things gone a little differently, they might even be in contention for loftier goals.  I am still ok with Coach Herman's job, we have a solid QB that plays like a leader and is pretty sturdy.  He should be around a couple more years, but they should be looking for his replacement if not this coming year, then definitely in the next one, so he can be an understudy during Ehlinger's senior season.  Please, no more daddy's boys that seem perfect playing in perfect worlds only to be exposed when they come to the real world.  I have hope that the next two years are going to be playoff qualifying, at least.  Going out on a 3 game win streak would be pretty cool, though.

11/4/18 Speaking of Neighborhood Association Being Fucking Useless?

    I might be a little riff raffy for the white genteel population that surrounds us and I don't do my best to keep the grass cut at all times, but I really expect that Boy and now Javalina, to handle the lawn mower once a week or every other week, but there is always a good excuse to stretch that out into a month or two before I realize it.
    That being said, I am paying for this house, part of the reason we are kind of broke all the time is because I insist on living in this nice house with perhaps more space than we need.  Even if some people don't like us here, we have every right to live here, even our boys stay inside most of the time, we don't bother anyone.  Over the last couple of years we are noticing a real downward slide of the tenants staying around us.  We had the guy who thought it was a great idea to threaten my neighbor.  My neighbor is a bit of a pain in the ass, but he was yelling at the new tenant across the street to clean up his yard of all the metal parts, or my neighbor suggesting he would go over and do it, meaning he would throw everything over the fence so it wouldn't be such an eyesore.  The new tenant yelled back that him coming on his yard would be a real good way of getting beat up.  Like I tell my kids, if words make you get physical, you are the animal in that confrontation.
    Now we have cars with loud mufflers and houses full of college students, and of course my Wife likes to point out that everyone that rents is on section 8 housing, which she might be doing it to make sure I turn hard republican, because bullshit do I enjoy working my ass off at night to be able to enjoy what I am buying only to have Joe Blow next door supported by our government and he barely works half the hours I work but gets to live in my Shangri-La.
    Wife says that there is a new initiative where they build low income housing next to well to do people to encourage the next generation of "welfare" kids to see how the people that get shit done do it.  The only way we do it is we shut the fuck up and get our asses to work every day.  I know plenty of low income people and any excuse is good enough to miss school, any reason is good enough to miss work, a little cough and the kids are staying home all week.  Even when my surgeon told me to stay in bed and don't even walk around so your leg can heal, I still wanted to get around on my own, and he had to scold me like a child to get me to miss a third week of work which I hated doing.
    Anyways, this is part of my new initiative wanting me to move further west.  I don't know that we can afford much more expensive than what we are paying but I certainly don't want to live where we have bums in our greenbelt behind us, skateboarding idiots running back and forth on our street, the thumping of bass down the street getting into our house, and the screaming of families fighting.  That is the fucking barrio, at least on the eastside we only paid $900 a month.  I expected it to be quieter and whiter for the privilege of paying almost $3000 a month.  I also understood that you got to live in the nice parts of town as a reward for working hard and sacrificing?  If we are going to be supported by the fucking local government, I wouldn't mind a waterfront house complete with a dock and a new boat.  How's about I pay $1000 a month, the city pays the rest?  Seems fair to me, so my kids can see more successful adults than their parents, I mean there's always someone to look up to.
    All the Neighborhood Association has done for us is take $530 a year for the last ten years and sent about two or three letters a year to cut our grass or take down our holiday decorations.  How are you doing in keeping the values of our houses when section 8 can get anyone living next door?  And people wonder why and how Trump has support.

11/3/18 Busted Window?

    I don't know if it was a Halloween prank gone awry, just something that happened from us slamming the rear door, or if someone wanted to waste my money, but I woke up Thursday afternoon to a busted rear window on my Excursion.  This is the second time this has happened and for a brief second I thought I would be forgiven the cost due to a lifetime warranty, but of course, when the company is responsible for keeping track of the warranty paperwork, it does not exist.  There is no way I am going to keep paperwork longer than a couple weeks. I could have turned the house upset down looking for the certificate but I wasn't even 100% sure Safelite did the work the first time, so I quickly moved past that part in the conversation.  I then asked how much is the work, including the glass and installation.  She started counting off items, $319 for the glass, clean up $9.99, new wiper blade, my choice $11.99 for standard, $18.99 for a superior type.
    I figured that was fair for such a large piece of glass and taking care of installing it while I poked my nose.  I was given a choice of them coming to me wherever my vehicle is parked but not until next Tuesday or I could go to their office location which they could see me on Friday at 1:00pm.  Since the window had shattered into thousands of tiny pieces and just driving to pick up my son, I doubled the hole in the glass as every jolt loosened more pieces, I chose to take it in on Friday to get it fixed as soon as possible.  The lady was nice enough, saying I could drop it off the day before, but the office closed at 5:00pm and we were talking at 4:55pm, which there is no way I could get there, or have a ride back home.  I asked her about dropping it off in the morning, which would be great, so my son could get me back home before heading to work and I could sleep in the meantime, I did work Thursday night making up time at work for the last two games I had the privilege to enjoy Javalina on the field.
    I dropped off the Excursion, and the technician was all gun-ho saying he was going to get on it next and it would be ready in an hour, I told him great but I probably won't have a ride and I need to go home and sleep.  He said he wouldn't text me since I was going to be asleep, but it would be ready by two, for sure.  I thanked him and my ride arrived just as I handed him the keys.  Boy was not available as he had to go to campus or maybe he had plans with his GF, so I called a friend and we had breakfast and since they didn't have anything better to do, we went and looked at some boats I've been curious about.
    There is this one place that sells flats boats here in town and I think I really would prefer one of these to a pontoon boat and the place did not disappoint.  They had plenty of boats to look at, and some of these flats boats which basically have no sides, so it's like fishing on a layer of pallets, but the middle console is elevated and on these, one can even climb up on it to get a better top down view of the water.  I really think I want one of these with a small enough length to fit in my garage so I can keep it close and not get shit from the neighborhood association.
    By the time I was done fantasizing on the different boats, they sent me a text that the Excursion was ready.  I went to pick it up and used that as a stopping point.  I got myself in bed and ended my morning adventure.

11/2/18 On Wednesday's Halloween?

    If we have a favorite holiday, it has to be Halloween, for both of us.  I like the scantily clad girls and costumes that show a little too much and Wife likes the fear factor and probably the idea of acting different for one night.  I decided to take the night off, we are closing in on the end of the year and I still have too many vacation hours, considering we are going to an unlimited Personal Time Off system here in the coming year (I think it is rather a stupid idea, but then again it benefits the company, so there you go).  Anyways, I usually take the night off either way, it is usually fun, even on a school night, we will sit outside and hand out candies.
    This Halloween was a little different in that most of the day, it was warm and soupy, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife it was so thick.  Right after we picked up Javalina from his last football practice/meeting, the weather finally turned and what were blue skies at 1:00 or 2:00pm, had all turned a dark grey.  From about 6:00pm to 7:30pm it rained almost hard enough to stop everybody.  But of course, there are some water can't stop.  Included in those, was our baby.  He wasn't even thinking of going out for candies, but Girlie's youngest brother called and asked if he was going to go trick or treating, I said he wasn't planning on it because he didn't have someone to go with, but if you come over, he'll go with you.  They went out around the block and got a good amount of candy, if not a thorough soaking.
    Aside from giving out candies, I also like to grill something simple, which usually means hotdogs and burgers, so we did that.  I also felt like some cheesey nachos with the Velveeta cheese melted in the slow cooker and breakfast sausage mixed in.  It is delicious.  Curiosity got the best of me and as I walked down the alcohol aisle, I saw some Four Loco drinks which I have heard mentioned from time to time.  I bought an Apple and a watermelon flavored but I could only take the one or two drinks, the Apple is horrid.  I want to like it, but I know most will go down the drain.  It is still sitting there on the table, looking at me with attitude, like a beefy linebacker, in its tall boy packaging and stout 23.5 ounces, blechhh!!
    It was nice to stay home for the night, I felt after screwing up a HOT job over the weekend and not being able to do anything about it, other than let others correct my fuck-up, being out a day gives me some distance from it.  I have to go in tomorrow night, where I normally would be off, to make up the time I have been watching my son at his games.  This will be the last one for this year, and I cannot believe that in the morning we are in November, so it is pretty much the season to be merry.  I heard on the 60's station that the Christmas dedicated channels fire up at midnight, Nov. 1st.

11/1/18 Football for Javalina? (Part 2)

    That last game was so full of everything good, for a fighter like our son.  First off, I didn't even mention he was named one of three captains, which is nice to be acknowledged, he works so hard to be a good player.  Along with this, he was named player of the week like the second or third game this season and he did manage to start on both sides fighting in those trenches, pushing the big boys back and forth.  Sometimes I want to think he is perhaps too soft or too nice, but I lined up with him as recently as two weeks ago and if I didn't tell him to go easy, he would have taken me down just trying to get around me.  Within his space he moves fast and strong, he just needs to get faster out in open space.
    The team came together maybe a little too late in the season, but I think the coaches did very good with what they had to work with.  The point where the coaches took control I feel was in the third to last game when one of the coaches came to the stands and talked to one of the dads.  He didn't embarass him and he kept his voice down, but I could hear him saying the players can only listen to one set of instructions, you can't be coaching your kid from the bleachers, he has to be part of a unit.      Javalina said it had been fustrating in the huddles earlier in the season because the running backs and receivers were pointing fingers at the linemen for not blocking, and the linemen were complaining that they weren't moving fast enough.  Somehow or other, that all stopped on the last two games.  I don't believe you can win until all the parts trust each other.  The last drive, when O.Henry could have scored, Javalina said that it was very positive in the huddle, it was more of a come on guys we can stop them, let's just get the ball back, nobody pointed fingers like earlier.
    It was nice after the game, Javalina wanted to go to Red Robin which was down the street, and he said "I am not being a smart-ass, but I want to say thank you for letting me do this and picking me up after practice."  We said of course, we want you to have good experiences, and I am still sorry for oversleeping yesterday, you know I never like to make you think you are alone.  He said he realized it was stupid of him to get mad at me and not talk to me when I finally got him.  I said I understood fully him being mad at me, but really boy, you know we live for you and your brother, that was just a little mess up.  He said it was fine, he knows my sleep is messed up.
    Big Bro did not join us as he was studying for a final, but we sat there after our burgers and talked about his plans.  He is still thinking of basketball, he doesn't like that he'll be on the B team since he has never played.  I told him it doesn't matter, it is just to help condition you for next year's football season.  Even if he doesn't do that, he has the boxing class starting up next week which I feel is good to strengthen his core, help build his arms and make his feet faster.
    I see him as a big hunk of clay that wants to be molded.  I also feel I have to step up, stop being such a lazy fucker and start liftng weights to motivate him.  I didn't want ot do it too early, but at this point, it is all preparation for freshman football next year.  Whether he ends up at Akins or Crockett, I expect big things from him, if only because he has the attitude and a love of the game which is making me more interested than I have been in a long time.