Maybe this is because we live in Texas and this is football central, but I believe all boys should play football, at least in junior high. There is more to participating than the game itself, it is hard to describe and maybe it sounds lame, but I remember up until 7th grade, I used to be what nice people would say a sensitive boy, a-holes would just call me a big ole puss. I used to get intimidated by the fear of confrontation, that I would get beat up, that I would find myself in a situation where I pissed a classmate off and he (or even she) would kick my ass. As a result, I would cry all the time, now that I look back at it, it was silly, but it really didn't stop until I played football. I learned that because I was a husky kid, someone weighing 100 pounds could come at me and I could stop them in their tracks and usually they would end up hurting. I also found out a lot of the "tough" guys were all talk and they didn't like getting hit. All of a sudden, I felt like I didn't have to fear life, and because you're playing with all these other guys, you become part of the group, not that we were a gang, but teammates don't tend to mess with each other and they tend to have your back.
I am glad I made both boys play. Boy was never into it and honestly, they were not very good. It didn't matter, he became part of that squad and those boys were his friends. All the Del Valle boys that used to come to the house played football in 7th and 8th grade so I credit football for giving Boy a social life back then.
Javalina, is into it. He was ok in 7th grade, but starting in 8th grade, it is all he has obsessed over. He was playing both sides of the ball, starting as a guard and then playing nose guard and defensive tackle. He is a beefy boy and he doesn't even care about the football. He loves going 1 on one against other big boys to see who wins the shoving match, and according to him, he rarely lost. The main reason I bring this up is because he thinks he saw an old nemesis yesterday. There was a kid who kind of tried to bully him in 6th grade, which he took to call "No Neck". I think the kid was special ed (but still two years older), looking at him once from behind, he had that slow look about him.
When I picked him up, he had stayed late for band practice and supposedly there was supposed to be a meeting for the Track and Field kids which he has already been training for the shot put as it is his goal to be the best in the city, he was pissed and talking all sorts of shit. He says he was pretty sure it was that (many curse words), but he looked different, like he lost weight. He wanted to confront him but decided to just leave it alone unless he came towards him. I like his intensity, but I did remind him that if he got in a fight, he could get suspended and then all that training for the shot put would be wasted. Still, it kept him hyped up through our workout, so that was good.
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
2/27/19 Truck Meat?
I know we should know better, but dammit, we are idiots sometimes. Wife and I were driving around Sunday afternoon and decided to stop at the mall to buy Boy some new shoes. We actually saw the shoes at the RV Expo, the shoe company is called Penny Luck, and they have a couple of things going for them. First, their shoes are color coded for the different branches of the military, like olive green for the Army, grey for the Navy and Air Force, and then tan/brown for the Marines or something like that. I really liked the green boots, in honor of both our fathers who both serves in the Army, but I just don't dress up. In comes Boy, he had just told Wife he would like some new boots, his daily ones were getting a bit ragged looking.
The boys had both stayed home while we went and looked at that Thunderbird on Sunday, so we called them to meet us at the mall, and while we were coasting in, we saw a big refrigerated truck with a huge banner and a tent selling steaks and other cuts of meat. The big sign said 20 filets for $59. "Hmm", we both thought. "Let's check it out." There was a person in front of us, so we stood there maybe 5 minutes before being shown what was up, but the steaks were packaged very well. The 20 filets came in two boxes and 5 per row each vacuum sealed for freshness. The guy said that the real special was this other box which he was almost out of, it being Sunday. They had been there all weekend, with KVET, the country station playing from there on Saturday. The big box had like five or six boxes. Another one with another 10 filets, one with 8 peppered sirloins, 2 with hamburger patties, again, like ten per box, and a box of 2 huge T-bones. He sold it with 60 pieces of meat for $189. Of course, he focused on the T-bones and sirloins as he is selling us this, saying the original price is $389, they were cutting $100 for the KVET promotion, now he just wanted to finish the stuff in the truck, so he took off an additional $100. Some quick math got me to about $3.00 and change per hunk of meat and that didn't sound too bad.
We got them home and they looked good and all, but then I told Wife to cook a few of each to see what was up. We would eat the leftovers the next day. I am not sure if it was because they were frozen, but those filets got awful small, they started out normal size, but by the time they were cooked, they were down to needing 2 of them in a tortilla. The flavor was also just so-so, which makes me think the meat came from some low quality dopey looking cows.
They did seem to get a little bigger when I cooked them yesterday. The burgers are huge in the packet, I squished them down to make it twice as big around and by the time they were done cooking, they were still big enough to fit in a normal sized bun. Maybe it did have to do with them being frozen.
I figured we spend about $200 a week on food and this was supposed to benefit some Feed The Homeless program, not that I am a fan, but if it helps me and them at the same time, well cool. We still have a bunch of meat in the freezer, so I am not ready to say it was a total scam, but we really need to learn to back away and not get caught up just because we see something different. We should be smarter by now.
The boys had both stayed home while we went and looked at that Thunderbird on Sunday, so we called them to meet us at the mall, and while we were coasting in, we saw a big refrigerated truck with a huge banner and a tent selling steaks and other cuts of meat. The big sign said 20 filets for $59. "Hmm", we both thought. "Let's check it out." There was a person in front of us, so we stood there maybe 5 minutes before being shown what was up, but the steaks were packaged very well. The 20 filets came in two boxes and 5 per row each vacuum sealed for freshness. The guy said that the real special was this other box which he was almost out of, it being Sunday. They had been there all weekend, with KVET, the country station playing from there on Saturday. The big box had like five or six boxes. Another one with another 10 filets, one with 8 peppered sirloins, 2 with hamburger patties, again, like ten per box, and a box of 2 huge T-bones. He sold it with 60 pieces of meat for $189. Of course, he focused on the T-bones and sirloins as he is selling us this, saying the original price is $389, they were cutting $100 for the KVET promotion, now he just wanted to finish the stuff in the truck, so he took off an additional $100. Some quick math got me to about $3.00 and change per hunk of meat and that didn't sound too bad.
We got them home and they looked good and all, but then I told Wife to cook a few of each to see what was up. We would eat the leftovers the next day. I am not sure if it was because they were frozen, but those filets got awful small, they started out normal size, but by the time they were cooked, they were down to needing 2 of them in a tortilla. The flavor was also just so-so, which makes me think the meat came from some low quality dopey looking cows.
They did seem to get a little bigger when I cooked them yesterday. The burgers are huge in the packet, I squished them down to make it twice as big around and by the time they were done cooking, they were still big enough to fit in a normal sized bun. Maybe it did have to do with them being frozen.
I figured we spend about $200 a week on food and this was supposed to benefit some Feed The Homeless program, not that I am a fan, but if it helps me and them at the same time, well cool. We still have a bunch of meat in the freezer, so I am not ready to say it was a total scam, but we really need to learn to back away and not get caught up just because we see something different. We should be smarter by now.
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
2/26/19 2nd Round, Should I?
I am still mucking around with the idea of a back-up car. I thought we had talked ourselves out of it, but the guy from the original place called me back Monday afternoon to tell me that the other family that had shown interest in the Mini Countryman did not qualify for a loan. I can honestly say that car looked like a good buy. I didn't see any scratches on it, the color of blue just shown vibrantly on it, the leather inside was new looking, like the car had been used by a single gal who didn't party. Other than the leather inside and sun roof in front and back, it also had low profile tires with what looked like oversized rims. I looked in Autotrader and for all the 2014s I saw, this one was the cheapest. The only concern I had was that it has 61,000 miles, but then the dealership has a lifetime warranty on the power train for as long as you own the car.
Some of the problems I have are that Wife is stepping out of it. I cannot involve her, she doesn't want to do anything affecting her credit until we are done with our fiasco. I don't have a problem attempting to get the car under my name, but I already have two cars under my name and the law only allows the two. In order for me to attempt to get the car, I am going to need a cosigner. I asked them if I could use my son, they asked how old he was (24), then they said yes. So now I have to decide if I want him to join us in our credit games.
Another problem is simply logistics, because they are so far up north I dread taking the drive up there just to test drive a car. Saturday, we were dragging ass (and staying up north) on the hopes he would call back, but he didn't. To top it off, Javalina says he needs a car to start learning how to drive. I think the Mini would be a perfect car for him to learn to drive on, as it is not too big and not too small. It is lifted up a bit off the ground, so it has a sporty cool stance.
Ultimately, I don't think the $220 a month is going to kill us and having a back up car is just a good idea, especially right now with Wife working out of town and me left alone to care for Javalina and run him back and forth to places. On the other hand, an extra $300 a month, once you add insurance, would also be fun to have. I think I am going to sleep on it and make my decision later.
2014 Mini Countryman:
Some of the problems I have are that Wife is stepping out of it. I cannot involve her, she doesn't want to do anything affecting her credit until we are done with our fiasco. I don't have a problem attempting to get the car under my name, but I already have two cars under my name and the law only allows the two. In order for me to attempt to get the car, I am going to need a cosigner. I asked them if I could use my son, they asked how old he was (24), then they said yes. So now I have to decide if I want him to join us in our credit games.
Another problem is simply logistics, because they are so far up north I dread taking the drive up there just to test drive a car. Saturday, we were dragging ass (and staying up north) on the hopes he would call back, but he didn't. To top it off, Javalina says he needs a car to start learning how to drive. I think the Mini would be a perfect car for him to learn to drive on, as it is not too big and not too small. It is lifted up a bit off the ground, so it has a sporty cool stance.
Ultimately, I don't think the $220 a month is going to kill us and having a back up car is just a good idea, especially right now with Wife working out of town and me left alone to care for Javalina and run him back and forth to places. On the other hand, an extra $300 a month, once you add insurance, would also be fun to have. I think I am going to sleep on it and make my decision later.
2014 Mini Countryman:
Monday, February 25, 2019
2/25/19 Finally Test Drove A Tiny Two Seater?
Wife got the car bug in me on Saturday with her idea of us getting a cheap car in the $200 a month payment for a "just in case" situation. After being mildly disappointed with the dealership advertising the low prices on TV, which got us all excited in the first place, we discussed what the price range would be and what kind of car. This got me spending a couple hours Sunday morning looking at Autotrader.com and a couple other sites. Since the car would be mostly for me and taking care of Javalina getting to school. This got me thinking of the two-seaters I have always liked and before long, I found myself first looking at the BMW Z4 which I put as my total dream car if I wasn't a big ole fat ass. The Z4 reminds me of an MG Midget which my Dad's friend kept in his gas station so I would always glance at it and thought it was the coolest thing as it was small enough for me to drive when I first started thinking of driving. I never did see that car move around and I have no idea what happened to it, but it left me with a taste for those miniature sized 2 seaters.
The reality is I tried to seat in one, it was actually the Pontiac Solstice, and after getting a leg in and my butt touching the seat, it was checkmate to the car. I would have had to bend my neck down another 4-5 inches to get in and I was not that limber. After giving up on the truly small cars, for now, I thought of my other options and after looking at the Jaguar convertibles (too expensive), the Chevy Corvette (too Chevy), and I do like the Ford Mustangs, but Wife has never. They are type of cars Bros drive to look cool. I then remembered the Ford Thunderbird which has not been made in a couple of years, but many exist.
I even found two at the same dealership on Research at Covert Ford. We went out there and I was 80% sure I was going to bring one of them home. Shoot, at $9500, why not? Then problems. First of all, the 2004, which I liked more with the white leather seats would not start. I figured the 2002 could work if the test drive went well. But I still haven't figured out how to get in and not look like you're making fun of yourself. The car seat is about a foot off the ground, so the first thing is to almost squat and throw your butt to hopefully catch part of the seat. With the door open completely, pretzel the right leg in towards you until the shoe passes the door frame and then stretch the leg once inside. at this point I slid almost onto my lower back and bent my neck back and to the left as far as it would go, it felt like putting on a helmet where your ear gets almost rubbed off, but only on the right side. Once my head was in, it did get kind of comfortable, although the top of my head was touching the ceiling. I folded my other leg in and closed the door. The feeling was what I think it'll feel like when Wife gets her way and we are both buried in the same coffin. It was a little claustrophobic and the thud (good seals) made it feel like we were alone.
At this point, I might as well turn it on and when I did it felt like we were sitting on top of that V8, with a very manly roar and a dum dum dum dum dum of a car that is more confidant than me. The one thing I did not like/trust was how it got into gear, like it fell into reverse with a loud clunk, but other wise it was like the car dared me to take my foot off the brake so it could take me for a ride. We gently got up to the entrance and once it was clear, it took off like the car had been waiting to make its getaway. It drove very nice and confidently, but the whole procedure of getting in and out was just too much. Before we took off for the test drive, for example, I drove to the front to get my license, the salesman took it to make a copy, I told Wife to run in and get it. I had just climbed in, I was not going to get out and risk further neck trauma before I even experience the car on the open road. Wife complained that her back hurt when she squeezed her head in and she is like 8 inches shorter than me. I was trying to save face and told her not to be a weenie while I was scared to get off for fear of not being able to duplicate the procedure to get in.
The car drove very well, but we did not feel good inside of it. I think we will need a bigger 2-seater before I ever decide to get a toy of this variety. For now, let's just hope the Excursion keeps running like a champ.
2002 Ford Thunderbird Convertible: (example of what we test drove, at $9500)
What I really need though
Jaguar F-Type S Convertible: (a tad too expensive, at $66,000, for a 2017)
The reality is I tried to seat in one, it was actually the Pontiac Solstice, and after getting a leg in and my butt touching the seat, it was checkmate to the car. I would have had to bend my neck down another 4-5 inches to get in and I was not that limber. After giving up on the truly small cars, for now, I thought of my other options and after looking at the Jaguar convertibles (too expensive), the Chevy Corvette (too Chevy), and I do like the Ford Mustangs, but Wife has never. They are type of cars Bros drive to look cool. I then remembered the Ford Thunderbird which has not been made in a couple of years, but many exist.
I even found two at the same dealership on Research at Covert Ford. We went out there and I was 80% sure I was going to bring one of them home. Shoot, at $9500, why not? Then problems. First of all, the 2004, which I liked more with the white leather seats would not start. I figured the 2002 could work if the test drive went well. But I still haven't figured out how to get in and not look like you're making fun of yourself. The car seat is about a foot off the ground, so the first thing is to almost squat and throw your butt to hopefully catch part of the seat. With the door open completely, pretzel the right leg in towards you until the shoe passes the door frame and then stretch the leg once inside. at this point I slid almost onto my lower back and bent my neck back and to the left as far as it would go, it felt like putting on a helmet where your ear gets almost rubbed off, but only on the right side. Once my head was in, it did get kind of comfortable, although the top of my head was touching the ceiling. I folded my other leg in and closed the door. The feeling was what I think it'll feel like when Wife gets her way and we are both buried in the same coffin. It was a little claustrophobic and the thud (good seals) made it feel like we were alone.
At this point, I might as well turn it on and when I did it felt like we were sitting on top of that V8, with a very manly roar and a dum dum dum dum dum of a car that is more confidant than me. The one thing I did not like/trust was how it got into gear, like it fell into reverse with a loud clunk, but other wise it was like the car dared me to take my foot off the brake so it could take me for a ride. We gently got up to the entrance and once it was clear, it took off like the car had been waiting to make its getaway. It drove very nice and confidently, but the whole procedure of getting in and out was just too much. Before we took off for the test drive, for example, I drove to the front to get my license, the salesman took it to make a copy, I told Wife to run in and get it. I had just climbed in, I was not going to get out and risk further neck trauma before I even experience the car on the open road. Wife complained that her back hurt when she squeezed her head in and she is like 8 inches shorter than me. I was trying to save face and told her not to be a weenie while I was scared to get off for fear of not being able to duplicate the procedure to get in.
The car drove very well, but we did not feel good inside of it. I think we will need a bigger 2-seater before I ever decide to get a toy of this variety. For now, let's just hope the Excursion keeps running like a champ.
2002 Ford Thunderbird Convertible: (example of what we test drove, at $9500)
What I really need though
Jaguar F-Type S Convertible: (a tad too expensive, at $66,000, for a 2017)
Sunday, February 24, 2019
2/24/19 Saturday Was A Great Day?
My posse finally let me have a day my way, it was great from start to finish. I got up at 6:30am on my own and came downstairs to write yesterday's blog and drink a cup of coffee. I was done within an hour or so and did what I normally do, watch YouTube videos, paid some bills and ate a piece of cake while everyone slept. About 10:00am, I got bored and went upstairs, Wife had told me we could go to the RV show if we went early. I wasn't 100% that I wanted to go, but we didn't have anything better, so I woke her. She will normally sleep until noon or 1:00pm if left alone and I try to understand as during the week she is a beast, traveling back and forth from Austin and La Pryor, sometimes both ways in one day. She agreed to get up but I remembered I had bought Boy a work table with drawers and peg board, pretty nice but needed assembly.
I went to work while Wife showered and it took me maybe an hour and a half, but now Boy has a pretty good working area in one of the guest rooms for his printers and whatever else is required. While Wife was in the bathroom, she plays the TV in there, it doesn't have cable, so she is forced to watch the local channels which works in the mornings to watch the news and weather, but they were giving one of those long commercials from Nyle Maxwell Used cars in North Austin that they had a bunch of cars for sale between 100 and 200 a month, no cash down and with lifetime warranties. This sounded pretty good, so I agreed we should go check it out, some of the cars looked pretty good, like a Ford Escape and a Mini Countryman.
We got out there and the lot was smaller than I figured and there were maybe 2-3 cars I would have chosen but we got a dud of a salesman. He didn't seem aware of the commercial as his first response to my "what cars are for $200, like in the commercial?" He says "I don't know but you'll need a good 20% down to get that." I said "no, the commercial said no money down." He seemed confused and then said well, it'll depend on your credit, which the commercial also said "no credit? Bad credit? No problem." They still had the Mini Countryman, which I really liked, but he said another family was doing their credit to try and get it. He took my phone number and said he would call if they didn't qualify, but so far, no call. It's ok, we want a back-up vehicle in case one day my car doesn't start and I need to go get Javalina from school or something like that. We don't Need Need another car right this minute, and maybe I have finally matured as we didn't run to another dealership and got stupid. We just stepped back and said "oh well, a better deal will come to us."
We did wait up north a bit, hoping the guy would text me, while we ate at a nearby McDonald's, but after we were done, we headed back, but I told Wife to cut through Anderson Lane and stop at a store where they sell Murphy beds. I've had this idea for a long time, murphy beds stand up on their ends and thus give you most of the room's floor space. Boy wants this for the guest room as we have agreed to let him use the room as his work space for his printers. He does have another printer in the garage, but this is a giant paper printer like one would use to make CAD layouts or poster size prints which he got at one of the local Goodwills.
Usually, this is a good day for us, but we also walked into the Camera store there in the same block and then the Sprint store. They were out of phones as I was pretty willing to get a new phone right then and there. After this I told Wife, let's do it, let's go to the RV show downtown. It is kind of a pain in the ass with parking, but Wife has so many conferences downtown that she already knows where to go. We walked around for a couple hours, we got to the thing at 6:00pm and were there until almost 8:00pm when they closed. We were then looking for a place for dinner and although we said how about this and that, we couldn't decide until we all settled for Rosa's Tortilla Factory, not the greatest, but we had pizza Friday, and burgers earlier that day. I like Don Dario's, but I hate the freaking loud live music on the weekends.
We walked in the house at 9:40pm and I was asleep by 9:42pm. I slept for an hour and then I got up as Wife was just getting comfortable in the bedroom to watch TV. I got up and saw like three shows with her until I fell asleep again.
I went to work while Wife showered and it took me maybe an hour and a half, but now Boy has a pretty good working area in one of the guest rooms for his printers and whatever else is required. While Wife was in the bathroom, she plays the TV in there, it doesn't have cable, so she is forced to watch the local channels which works in the mornings to watch the news and weather, but they were giving one of those long commercials from Nyle Maxwell Used cars in North Austin that they had a bunch of cars for sale between 100 and 200 a month, no cash down and with lifetime warranties. This sounded pretty good, so I agreed we should go check it out, some of the cars looked pretty good, like a Ford Escape and a Mini Countryman.
We got out there and the lot was smaller than I figured and there were maybe 2-3 cars I would have chosen but we got a dud of a salesman. He didn't seem aware of the commercial as his first response to my "what cars are for $200, like in the commercial?" He says "I don't know but you'll need a good 20% down to get that." I said "no, the commercial said no money down." He seemed confused and then said well, it'll depend on your credit, which the commercial also said "no credit? Bad credit? No problem." They still had the Mini Countryman, which I really liked, but he said another family was doing their credit to try and get it. He took my phone number and said he would call if they didn't qualify, but so far, no call. It's ok, we want a back-up vehicle in case one day my car doesn't start and I need to go get Javalina from school or something like that. We don't Need Need another car right this minute, and maybe I have finally matured as we didn't run to another dealership and got stupid. We just stepped back and said "oh well, a better deal will come to us."
We did wait up north a bit, hoping the guy would text me, while we ate at a nearby McDonald's, but after we were done, we headed back, but I told Wife to cut through Anderson Lane and stop at a store where they sell Murphy beds. I've had this idea for a long time, murphy beds stand up on their ends and thus give you most of the room's floor space. Boy wants this for the guest room as we have agreed to let him use the room as his work space for his printers. He does have another printer in the garage, but this is a giant paper printer like one would use to make CAD layouts or poster size prints which he got at one of the local Goodwills.
Usually, this is a good day for us, but we also walked into the Camera store there in the same block and then the Sprint store. They were out of phones as I was pretty willing to get a new phone right then and there. After this I told Wife, let's do it, let's go to the RV show downtown. It is kind of a pain in the ass with parking, but Wife has so many conferences downtown that she already knows where to go. We walked around for a couple hours, we got to the thing at 6:00pm and were there until almost 8:00pm when they closed. We were then looking for a place for dinner and although we said how about this and that, we couldn't decide until we all settled for Rosa's Tortilla Factory, not the greatest, but we had pizza Friday, and burgers earlier that day. I like Don Dario's, but I hate the freaking loud live music on the weekends.
We walked in the house at 9:40pm and I was asleep by 9:42pm. I slept for an hour and then I got up as Wife was just getting comfortable in the bedroom to watch TV. I got up and saw like three shows with her until I fell asleep again.
Saturday, February 23, 2019
2/23/19 Ignoring Teeth Is Expensive?
If I can pass on any good information, it would be to take your kids to the freaking dentist. We have always been lax about this, not because we don't have dental insurance, we have always had some. It just seems to slide past the usual things we worry about until they complain. Well, Javalina complained, so we made it a priority and now we are going to pay out the old keister.
He has been complaining of a problem on the left backside and at first we thought it was a cavity, but the pain would come and go and a cavity would not do that. It turns out he had a pocket or something we were told in January when we took him the first time as an emergency. We went in again for his first appointment and the dentist said his crown has gotten old and needs a replacement to a more permanent one. That is going to cost almost $600. He has a second crown which he suggested needs replacing, but because the insurance Wife has is shitty, it only covers 50% up to the first $1000 and then it leaves the rest up to us, the second crown would cost us over $900, so we will be waiting until the new year to do that one, which he isn't complaining about, yet. He also needs his wisdom teeth removed and that is going to be another $1000. That is the cheaper of the two kids.
Boy, who is older and less caring of his teeth was not even touched by the dental hygienist. He is going to need a scaling procedure which is going to attack the tartar buildup below the gum-line. I did not understand why he (the hygienist) wouldn't scrub on the parts he could see, he just said it would be a waste of time to do that, considering how bad it is below the gum-line, it needs the scaling procedure. Cleaning the parts you can see would be a waste of time. This cleaning procedure is quickly going to get us over the $1000 limit for the year, and the process itself is going to be around $960. Then he needs his wisdom teeth removed more urgently than Javalina because he has pockets where the bottom teeth are coming in sideways and this contributes to the funky smells apart from him having a hatred of toothbrushes. If the scaling procedure works which we will have to be doing it every 3-4 months, then his bones below the gum-line might improve and strengthen to attempt to drill in the permanent tooth he lost back in high school. This all will possibly only work if he commits to start spending time on his mouth, but we will have to spend within the next month or two almost $1200 on Javalina and over $2300 on Boy. He tells us very calmly "if I was a full time employee, I would have 100% dental coverage." This only makes me look at him and whisper "hurry your ass up and graduate, Fool."
He has been complaining of a problem on the left backside and at first we thought it was a cavity, but the pain would come and go and a cavity would not do that. It turns out he had a pocket or something we were told in January when we took him the first time as an emergency. We went in again for his first appointment and the dentist said his crown has gotten old and needs a replacement to a more permanent one. That is going to cost almost $600. He has a second crown which he suggested needs replacing, but because the insurance Wife has is shitty, it only covers 50% up to the first $1000 and then it leaves the rest up to us, the second crown would cost us over $900, so we will be waiting until the new year to do that one, which he isn't complaining about, yet. He also needs his wisdom teeth removed and that is going to be another $1000. That is the cheaper of the two kids.
Boy, who is older and less caring of his teeth was not even touched by the dental hygienist. He is going to need a scaling procedure which is going to attack the tartar buildup below the gum-line. I did not understand why he (the hygienist) wouldn't scrub on the parts he could see, he just said it would be a waste of time to do that, considering how bad it is below the gum-line, it needs the scaling procedure. Cleaning the parts you can see would be a waste of time. This cleaning procedure is quickly going to get us over the $1000 limit for the year, and the process itself is going to be around $960. Then he needs his wisdom teeth removed more urgently than Javalina because he has pockets where the bottom teeth are coming in sideways and this contributes to the funky smells apart from him having a hatred of toothbrushes. If the scaling procedure works which we will have to be doing it every 3-4 months, then his bones below the gum-line might improve and strengthen to attempt to drill in the permanent tooth he lost back in high school. This all will possibly only work if he commits to start spending time on his mouth, but we will have to spend within the next month or two almost $1200 on Javalina and over $2300 on Boy. He tells us very calmly "if I was a full time employee, I would have 100% dental coverage." This only makes me look at him and whisper "hurry your ass up and graduate, Fool."
Thursday, February 21, 2019
2/22/19 Why Are We Still At War?
I know we aren't supposed to think about the war machine in full effect killing the bad guys in a far away land we have never seen and probably will never get a chance to visit. Given that though, the next question has to be why are we still there? Yes the official fighting may have ended, but we still have about 20,000 troops there along with another 4,500 private military contractors. I mean back in the early 2000's when I kept arguing with my coworkers who supported the war, they insisted it wasn't about the oil. I still think that is the only reason to be there.
I am not a supporter of ISIS or whatever they are calling themselves these days, I love that if we have to be at war, my army is bigger than yours, for sure. We know this, but those poor naïve souls that insist on fighting our guys, do they realize it is a fool hardy mission to stand against what America brings? I am basically writing this because I saw a couple videos on YouTube that compare and contrast the US military Vs the locals over there. It seems they found a GoPro on a dead ISIS Jihadi and the way they operate is like children playing Army compared to what the US does.
In their video from the GoPro, we see a group of 4-5 Jihadists hiding on a hill and shooting at some American forces over in the next hill or something. It is essentially one guy yelling to not dishearten, that they will overcome. All they have to do is keep fighting and show courage. Something about do not let the heart leave your chest and keep holding your gun up and pointed at the enemy. Eventually, they decide it is time to get out of there and he is yelling at them to head to the truck a few feet away. Before he makes it there, he gets shot and that causes his unit to scamper faster and leave him to die.
Contrast that with the US side and there are a maybe twenty guys taking shots from a hilltop but they just wait patiently while they open fire from a machine gun on top of a Humvee which is only a diversion while a Hornet flies by and about blows up the mountain to take care of a few bad guys. There was another video where a group of about 7 jihadis were loading up an SUV and the whole time they are being monitored by US troops on a helicopter with various types of Infrared and other optical effects to see in the dark. Technology these poor desert dwellers can't even begin to understand. When it is time and they have communicated everything to their superiors, only then do they eliminate all the bad guys on the screen with a couple of blasts from their 30mm cannons.
There is just a huge discrepancy between the two sides in technology. The US brings in the latest weapons that exist while the Jihadists are fighting in shoes missing laces with machine guns they must pick up off other dead bodies. There is nothing fair about this war. While the US has killed as many as 600,000 Iraqis and something like 70,000 Afghani rebels, not to mention the civilian casualties. The US has lost about 4500 troops since 2002. I am not sure what my point was when I started writing this, obviously, we have no intention of leaving either country. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, where 19 of the 21 hijackers came from, walked away free of any retribution.
I am not a supporter of ISIS or whatever they are calling themselves these days, I love that if we have to be at war, my army is bigger than yours, for sure. We know this, but those poor naïve souls that insist on fighting our guys, do they realize it is a fool hardy mission to stand against what America brings? I am basically writing this because I saw a couple videos on YouTube that compare and contrast the US military Vs the locals over there. It seems they found a GoPro on a dead ISIS Jihadi and the way they operate is like children playing Army compared to what the US does.
In their video from the GoPro, we see a group of 4-5 Jihadists hiding on a hill and shooting at some American forces over in the next hill or something. It is essentially one guy yelling to not dishearten, that they will overcome. All they have to do is keep fighting and show courage. Something about do not let the heart leave your chest and keep holding your gun up and pointed at the enemy. Eventually, they decide it is time to get out of there and he is yelling at them to head to the truck a few feet away. Before he makes it there, he gets shot and that causes his unit to scamper faster and leave him to die.
Contrast that with the US side and there are a maybe twenty guys taking shots from a hilltop but they just wait patiently while they open fire from a machine gun on top of a Humvee which is only a diversion while a Hornet flies by and about blows up the mountain to take care of a few bad guys. There was another video where a group of about 7 jihadis were loading up an SUV and the whole time they are being monitored by US troops on a helicopter with various types of Infrared and other optical effects to see in the dark. Technology these poor desert dwellers can't even begin to understand. When it is time and they have communicated everything to their superiors, only then do they eliminate all the bad guys on the screen with a couple of blasts from their 30mm cannons.
There is just a huge discrepancy between the two sides in technology. The US brings in the latest weapons that exist while the Jihadists are fighting in shoes missing laces with machine guns they must pick up off other dead bodies. There is nothing fair about this war. While the US has killed as many as 600,000 Iraqis and something like 70,000 Afghani rebels, not to mention the civilian casualties. The US has lost about 4500 troops since 2002. I am not sure what my point was when I started writing this, obviously, we have no intention of leaving either country. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, where 19 of the 21 hijackers came from, walked away free of any retribution.
2/21/19 Suicide Is A Solution?
My mom just called this afternoon to see of I knew so and so, they were a classmate of Wife and they just committed suicide. Mom, of course said "aww, how sad" and all the usual blah blah blah. I didn't know the person but I don't feel like my mom. Life is hard and if you aren't cut out for it, then there is nothing wrong with taking yourself out. This may sound ugly but what if they stick around and then one night they decide to go out for a drive on pills or drunk and crash into your vehicle or take out a bus full of nuns or whatever generic car full of good people? Best they do the deed to themselves in the comfort of their home.
Now, if they have kids, then it becomes different because you aren't supposed to be living for yourself but for the betterment of your kids. At this point I don't consider my life my own, I am something akin to good dirt or fertilizer for my two boys to grow healthy and strong. It is the parents responsibility for the kids to grow up and be productive members of society. If I just thought "am I happy or sad?" without taking into account the fact that I have kids, then I am a selfish clod who doesn't have any depth of understanding. I don't know this person and I am not thinking of others who have done the same, but leaving your young ones to fend for themselves is the worst part of committing this act, fuck all the BS of going to hell or whatever other fairy tales we grow up hearing.
I don't understand that one guy, Chen Si, who stands sentry at a bridge in China and has saved something like 300 people from jumping to their deaths. What if they return home and get drunk and decide "ok, I'll kill myself by burning the house down with my family in it." Which is better? Would old Chen feel as heroic if they told him how some of these people take their lives later on? One good story while on a bridge isn't going to change the life of someone intent on ending themselves.
We live in a time where we can get real help, by opening up to a therapist, opening up to friends, going to a shelter if there is abuse at home, but the victim has to be the strong one, they have to want a change. I still remember when I started dating Wife back in high school, other people dating and being in miserable relationships, but they wouldn't end them and then they would get married and you would hear about abuse. Come on, that should have been nipped in the bud right from the beginning, where were the parents saying "No, that is a god dam idiot, stop dating him?" Again, circle of life, parents have to get involved. Twice, while Boy was dating otherwise very cute girls I told him, nope, this one is going nowhere, end it. He might not have done it right away, but he knew we weren't happy with him dating nutty. And yes, I believe that most of the time people look for suicide as a solution, they are trying to get away from an asshole in their lives that has consumed them.
Sorry if I seem callous, but if you are feeling overwhelmed, please start with the bravest thing you can do and reach out, if everyone around you sucks and most people do, call:
Now, if they have kids, then it becomes different because you aren't supposed to be living for yourself but for the betterment of your kids. At this point I don't consider my life my own, I am something akin to good dirt or fertilizer for my two boys to grow healthy and strong. It is the parents responsibility for the kids to grow up and be productive members of society. If I just thought "am I happy or sad?" without taking into account the fact that I have kids, then I am a selfish clod who doesn't have any depth of understanding. I don't know this person and I am not thinking of others who have done the same, but leaving your young ones to fend for themselves is the worst part of committing this act, fuck all the BS of going to hell or whatever other fairy tales we grow up hearing.
I don't understand that one guy, Chen Si, who stands sentry at a bridge in China and has saved something like 300 people from jumping to their deaths. What if they return home and get drunk and decide "ok, I'll kill myself by burning the house down with my family in it." Which is better? Would old Chen feel as heroic if they told him how some of these people take their lives later on? One good story while on a bridge isn't going to change the life of someone intent on ending themselves.
We live in a time where we can get real help, by opening up to a therapist, opening up to friends, going to a shelter if there is abuse at home, but the victim has to be the strong one, they have to want a change. I still remember when I started dating Wife back in high school, other people dating and being in miserable relationships, but they wouldn't end them and then they would get married and you would hear about abuse. Come on, that should have been nipped in the bud right from the beginning, where were the parents saying "No, that is a god dam idiot, stop dating him?" Again, circle of life, parents have to get involved. Twice, while Boy was dating otherwise very cute girls I told him, nope, this one is going nowhere, end it. He might not have done it right away, but he knew we weren't happy with him dating nutty. And yes, I believe that most of the time people look for suicide as a solution, they are trying to get away from an asshole in their lives that has consumed them.
Sorry if I seem callous, but if you are feeling overwhelmed, please start with the bravest thing you can do and reach out, if everyone around you sucks and most people do, call:
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1-800-273-8255
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
2/20/19 Did I Experience Much Racism Growing Up?
Luckily, I can say no to this question that was posed to me earlier today. This is after talking about our shitty time at Land Rover over the weekend with a coworker. I then had the fortunate opportunity that I grew up in a vacuum of sorts. Crystal City was the center of the Raza Unida movement in the 60's. This prompted the local farmers who were the remaining/majority of the white population to send their kids to the surrounding schools. I don't want to get into the specifics, but the Hispanic population grew partly because of the success of the city being "the spinach capitol of the world". This title required manual labor to bring the crop to table and by the 60's, Hispanics outnumbered the white population significantly. There were city politics at play, but more importantly for us going to school, in the late 60's, there was a walkout over the unfair process where I believe the cheerleaders were voted in and there were no Hispanic cheerleaders chosen even though Hispanics were the clear majority, population wise.
By the time I went to school in the later 70's and 80's, there might be a family or two of white kids, but they were always considered the outsiders, maybe a new teacher was trying out the school and they would bring their kids in. This scenario never lasted long, other than an occasional coach or something. As a result, the population of students had to be about 98-99% Hispanic. We would go to San Antonio a couple times a year for school clothes shopping or Christmas shopping, and I believe my mom would shield us from anything that might be a situation of possible racism. if we went in a store and it didn't seem friendly, we were out. I remember car shopping a couple times and it seemed weird that my parents would request a Hispanic. This has kind of stuck with me in that I will go back again and again until I get a salesman I like, not necessarily brown, but it can help. It hurts me to know some duffus is going to get my commission simply because he is outside first. It doesn't have to be a Hispanic for me, I will take an attractive chick with big assets anytime.
Coming to UT in 1991 was a culture shock for me. I had to get used to talking English most of the time. Even the few Hispanics we would meet spoke mostly English. I have honestly had a hard time differentiating racism from just talking to stupid people, and I know they go hand in hand. My siblings pretty much call any interaction that doesn't favor them a racist event and then they'll laugh at me because I don't see it their way, calling me naive. Racism does come from a place of ignorance, but sometimes people are just stupid. Sometimes, people grow up like us, where we don't have a lot of experience with other cultures and what we know is only from TV.
I used to think it sucked because I was born in Corpus Christi that we didn't stay there, but I think growing up in Crystal City gives me a special perspective. I didn't grow up weary of the "white man" because there were none around to fear.
By the time I went to school in the later 70's and 80's, there might be a family or two of white kids, but they were always considered the outsiders, maybe a new teacher was trying out the school and they would bring their kids in. This scenario never lasted long, other than an occasional coach or something. As a result, the population of students had to be about 98-99% Hispanic. We would go to San Antonio a couple times a year for school clothes shopping or Christmas shopping, and I believe my mom would shield us from anything that might be a situation of possible racism. if we went in a store and it didn't seem friendly, we were out. I remember car shopping a couple times and it seemed weird that my parents would request a Hispanic. This has kind of stuck with me in that I will go back again and again until I get a salesman I like, not necessarily brown, but it can help. It hurts me to know some duffus is going to get my commission simply because he is outside first. It doesn't have to be a Hispanic for me, I will take an attractive chick with big assets anytime.
Coming to UT in 1991 was a culture shock for me. I had to get used to talking English most of the time. Even the few Hispanics we would meet spoke mostly English. I have honestly had a hard time differentiating racism from just talking to stupid people, and I know they go hand in hand. My siblings pretty much call any interaction that doesn't favor them a racist event and then they'll laugh at me because I don't see it their way, calling me naive. Racism does come from a place of ignorance, but sometimes people are just stupid. Sometimes, people grow up like us, where we don't have a lot of experience with other cultures and what we know is only from TV.
I used to think it sucked because I was born in Corpus Christi that we didn't stay there, but I think growing up in Crystal City gives me a special perspective. I didn't grow up weary of the "white man" because there were none around to fear.
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
2/19/19 Back On Ketosis?
That is Wife's favorite new word, ketosis. It annoys her to hear it said out loud, but that is what we aim for. After two weekends of gluttony, I think we are back in control. It was a rough patch getting through her birthday and then Valentine's Day. Last weekend was a lot harder, and then for this weekend I had just told Javalina to ease up, we were going to fall of the diet, there were just too many distractions for it not to happen. Sure enough, Javalina had a sleepover which we got pizzas for, and then we ate outat ChickFilA Saturday afternoon and that meant fries, and again on Sunday we ate at Cheddar's and again I got fries with my hamburger.
Yesterday, I got up at 1:00pm and took Javalina and myself to Target. We bought our steaks and salads to get us through the week like I like and I feel the difference. Eating a high carb meal puts me to sleep or at the least, makes me drowsy. An Atkins friendly meal does not put me to sleep so easily. Javalina was saying that he can tell and maybe it's because I have lost some weight that I am not falling apart so often, and I can stay awake without my naps.
For our workouts, Javalina went and got a 40 lb weighted vest which he will use on his jumping exercises and when he goes jogging. Along with that I got some of those ropes that stretch for resistance training. He especially loved using the 60 pound rope and crossing it behind his back to throw punches in front of him.
I am going to try and stay on Atkins for another month and see if I can loose another 25-30 pounds. It would be awesome to get back to 350pounds and work down from there.
Yesterday, I got up at 1:00pm and took Javalina and myself to Target. We bought our steaks and salads to get us through the week like I like and I feel the difference. Eating a high carb meal puts me to sleep or at the least, makes me drowsy. An Atkins friendly meal does not put me to sleep so easily. Javalina was saying that he can tell and maybe it's because I have lost some weight that I am not falling apart so often, and I can stay awake without my naps.
For our workouts, Javalina went and got a 40 lb weighted vest which he will use on his jumping exercises and when he goes jogging. Along with that I got some of those ropes that stretch for resistance training. He especially loved using the 60 pound rope and crossing it behind his back to throw punches in front of him.
I am going to try and stay on Atkins for another month and see if I can loose another 25-30 pounds. It would be awesome to get back to 350pounds and work down from there.
Monday, February 18, 2019
2/18/19 Weekend Was Typical?
This was a weekend with no obligations of any type. We didn't have to go anywhere out of town or do anything too time wasting, such as clean the yard because of our HOA. Saturday was an eye opener at Land Rover, but it wasn't totally surprising, the elite lifestyle will always elude us and I guess we should be happy with where we are. After that little bruise of the ego, Wife wanted to go eat and I was fine with that. First of all, we had gotten up early to go meet the lady who donates the small blankets that Wife passes out to kids at her school. We meet her about once a quarter and we get maybe 60-70 little blankets.
Javalina had a sleepover and when we came back around 2:00pm, he still looked like crap. He stayed up all night, but had slept probably 3-4 hours by the time we came back home. He was still not rested and his demeanor was not pleasant. Wife invited Boy and his GF to join us for lunch and they said sure but they had some ideas about going out to dinner at 8:00pm. Now do the math, if we are leaving the house at 3:00pm to go eat at an Olive Garden or something, how is that tiny belly of both Boy and his 100 pound GF going to have room for another meal 2-3 hours later? Some things make no sense.
I got an itch to want to go to woods Fun Center where they sell the Seadoo jetskis, I still really want one. They still did not have the Fish and Ski model which is what I wanted to see, but I love that store, so many things pop into my head, such as we should buy some land to run around on these dirt bikes and stuff. The main idea that cropped up was that for the price of the Fish and Ski $14,999, I could basically buy two entry level jetskis at even $7999. There are cheaper units, but I am a big boy that needs a certain size to float. We left because Wife got in a hurry to go eat because Boy had a dinner date. In my head, the minute you decide to ride with us, you are on a date with us. It pissed me off, because instead of eating a decent meal at Olive Garden or even Cheddar's, we ate at Chick-Fil-A, which I love, but it isn't a real dinner, it is a snack. We changed our plans for Boy, and of course, they didn't even go out at 8:00pm because they were still full. My Wife's efforts to please everyone but me, pleased no one, but she would only get mad if I "mansplained" this to her.
Sunday was much calmer as I said no from the get go. No Boy, I will not dance to that idiot's schedule, sorry. We went to Best Buy, Javalina bought two video games with some of his Christmas money. He got like $350 in Best Buy gift cards, so he could get whatever he wanted. We had to go to the Best Buy in Bee Caves as they were out of whatever new game he wanted. Because we were out there, we stumbled on a store which sells stuff for patios made out of teak wood. Some of the stuff was not for me, with the wood looking old and beat up, but some of the dining tables made out of new tree trunks looked beautiful. The guy in charge said he was getting a fifteen foot long table made from the trunk of a teak tree. His 7 foot example was nice enough and at $2200 with two matching benches didn't seem crazily priced. I bought some cute table pieces just because they were odd, chubby females doing yoga standing about 6-7 inches tall.
Our final stop was at Dick's Sporting Goods, Javalina has been wanting a weighted vest to wear while jogging and even working out. He says he wants to be the strongest lineman starting out in August, so he is really pushing the working out. Grandma sent him $40 for Valentines in a card and I told him let's go half and half, the vest with capacity for 40 pounds was $74.99. We also got some rubber cables for resistance training and then we ended the day by eating at Cheddar's. We had to be nice and invite Boy, he joined us with his GF and we had a fine meal which put me out for the night. We got home by 9:00pm and I was already out in the car. It was a pretty good weekend, overall.
Javalina had a sleepover and when we came back around 2:00pm, he still looked like crap. He stayed up all night, but had slept probably 3-4 hours by the time we came back home. He was still not rested and his demeanor was not pleasant. Wife invited Boy and his GF to join us for lunch and they said sure but they had some ideas about going out to dinner at 8:00pm. Now do the math, if we are leaving the house at 3:00pm to go eat at an Olive Garden or something, how is that tiny belly of both Boy and his 100 pound GF going to have room for another meal 2-3 hours later? Some things make no sense.
I got an itch to want to go to woods Fun Center where they sell the Seadoo jetskis, I still really want one. They still did not have the Fish and Ski model which is what I wanted to see, but I love that store, so many things pop into my head, such as we should buy some land to run around on these dirt bikes and stuff. The main idea that cropped up was that for the price of the Fish and Ski $14,999, I could basically buy two entry level jetskis at even $7999. There are cheaper units, but I am a big boy that needs a certain size to float. We left because Wife got in a hurry to go eat because Boy had a dinner date. In my head, the minute you decide to ride with us, you are on a date with us. It pissed me off, because instead of eating a decent meal at Olive Garden or even Cheddar's, we ate at Chick-Fil-A, which I love, but it isn't a real dinner, it is a snack. We changed our plans for Boy, and of course, they didn't even go out at 8:00pm because they were still full. My Wife's efforts to please everyone but me, pleased no one, but she would only get mad if I "mansplained" this to her.
Sunday was much calmer as I said no from the get go. No Boy, I will not dance to that idiot's schedule, sorry. We went to Best Buy, Javalina bought two video games with some of his Christmas money. He got like $350 in Best Buy gift cards, so he could get whatever he wanted. We had to go to the Best Buy in Bee Caves as they were out of whatever new game he wanted. Because we were out there, we stumbled on a store which sells stuff for patios made out of teak wood. Some of the stuff was not for me, with the wood looking old and beat up, but some of the dining tables made out of new tree trunks looked beautiful. The guy in charge said he was getting a fifteen foot long table made from the trunk of a teak tree. His 7 foot example was nice enough and at $2200 with two matching benches didn't seem crazily priced. I bought some cute table pieces just because they were odd, chubby females doing yoga standing about 6-7 inches tall.
Our final stop was at Dick's Sporting Goods, Javalina has been wanting a weighted vest to wear while jogging and even working out. He says he wants to be the strongest lineman starting out in August, so he is really pushing the working out. Grandma sent him $40 for Valentines in a card and I told him let's go half and half, the vest with capacity for 40 pounds was $74.99. We also got some rubber cables for resistance training and then we ended the day by eating at Cheddar's. We had to be nice and invite Boy, he joined us with his GF and we had a fine meal which put me out for the night. We got home by 9:00pm and I was already out in the car. It was a pretty good weekend, overall.
Sunday, February 17, 2019
2/17/19 Land Rover/Jaguar Reminded Us We Ain't Nothing But Brown Trash?
First of all, I know, we usually stay in our lane, as they say. I have only ever shopped for Fords, Chrysler/Dodges, and then most recently Wife liked the Kia brands. We should have known better than to go looking at high end brands because clearly even the salesmen are higher end and they don't deal with brown shit stained Mexicans. We saw a Land Rover at the mall a few weeks ago and then while looking online at their website I saw that one of their SUVs comes in a convertible form, and we have always loved the idea of convertibles. Since it is an SUV, we figured it would be a little larger than most tiny convertibles we normally see. Because of this, I had the curiosity bug in me and then we learned that they sell both Land Rover and Jaguar at the same location. When Wife was first starting to drive after graduating high school, her dad got ahold of a Beautiful XJR, it was long and a baby blue reminiscent of a shark , just low and sexy and sleek. I have always thought babe belongs in that type of car.
Enter reality. We got off at the dealership and looked around the first few cars and it took a second to realize we were looking at used cars, we were parked next to a Bentley and behind us was a most beautiful blue Jaguar that I couldn't figure the model. I would have been intimidated except that I had looked at the prices online of what I had in mind and they are in the affordable range, not that we were buying yesterday. The Land Rovers we were wanting to see were under $60,000 and the Jaguar E-Pace, their newer smaller SUV starts in the low $50,000s. I've bought trucks that cost more than that. After looking at most of the vehicles they had up front I was confused as they were all used, a salesman approached and when I told him what we wanted to see, he pointed down the line at used vehicles and I said "ugh, no. I want to see the new models unless you only sell used here." He said he only dealt with used vehicles, but to go inside and we would be helped. They keep their new inventory in the garage thing, a 2-3 story parking garage to the side of the building.
Normally, I don't even like dealing with a salesman, specially since we weren't buying, but the cars were in a "facility" and I wasn't sure if we could just walk it without supervision. We walked inside the showroom floor and it was nice. They had 2-3 Jags and they were nice, I have always liked the lines on a Jag, they make a good looking car, their reliability is what is usually in question. The Land Rover is a different animal as it is supposed to be the richer cousin to the Jeep and in my mind, Land Rovers are used in Africa to chase after lions and other manly stuff like that, at least historically in the movies. Nostalgia aside, we kept walking through the showroom, they had another 4 Land Rovers from expensive to more expensive and it was a ghost town of customers, no one was there except for us and maybe 6-7 employees that we saw at their desks.
It has been awhile, but we know how this shit works. We were certainly not going to go beg for attention, you show up and somebody, I don't care if lowest man on the totem pole approaches, someone is supposed to say hello, but after being inside the building and looking at every model inside and out and even the accessories on the walls, we didn't get one "may we help you or we'll get Juan to come and help you fine brown folk." I felt Wife shut down and all I could ask her was "Have you had enough of this shit?" She said "yup, time to go."
I know, the few white coworkers of mine that still read this will say "well, maybe they were busy with customers on the phone." Come on, even when you go to Best Buy, you will be harassed by a few salesmen. We can't set foot at any of the motor mile dealerships before we are swarmed by 1-2 salesmen. I am sure part of the training for BMW as they moved down south on I-35 was to teach them whenever you see brown people, ask them if you can help them, not all brown people are here to clean, some of them are going to be customers, and believe it or not, some will buy new. They are not all "bad hombres" looking for transport vehicles to fill with drugs and carry them across the border.
Again, this is another first world problem, my dream vehicle is a loaded F-250, so I lose nothing from yesterday, but my fascination with getting Wife back into a Jag ended yesterday, those salesmen can shove their fancy key fobs up their asses and unlock their cars by farting their rose smelling farts that they probably produce. Why do salesmen act like their better than the customer? The fucks are doing that job because they can't do much of anything else. I wish no ill will on anyone, but it was confusing to me. We were showered and fairly dressed, I was in my clean Polo warm-ups and a sweater, it was a cool day. Wife was dressed like she does, we had met up with a lady she works with, so she was more dressed up than normal. Maybe the Kia Soul identified us as cheap or maybe they just suck. As we walked out, the used car salesman was standing there and I told him "well, I guess they did rock, paper, scissors and nobody lost the chance to come and deal with the brown people" as I motioned with my hand the kids game of rock-paper-scissors. We just kept walking, and I doubt we shall ever go back.
Enter reality. We got off at the dealership and looked around the first few cars and it took a second to realize we were looking at used cars, we were parked next to a Bentley and behind us was a most beautiful blue Jaguar that I couldn't figure the model. I would have been intimidated except that I had looked at the prices online of what I had in mind and they are in the affordable range, not that we were buying yesterday. The Land Rovers we were wanting to see were under $60,000 and the Jaguar E-Pace, their newer smaller SUV starts in the low $50,000s. I've bought trucks that cost more than that. After looking at most of the vehicles they had up front I was confused as they were all used, a salesman approached and when I told him what we wanted to see, he pointed down the line at used vehicles and I said "ugh, no. I want to see the new models unless you only sell used here." He said he only dealt with used vehicles, but to go inside and we would be helped. They keep their new inventory in the garage thing, a 2-3 story parking garage to the side of the building.
Normally, I don't even like dealing with a salesman, specially since we weren't buying, but the cars were in a "facility" and I wasn't sure if we could just walk it without supervision. We walked inside the showroom floor and it was nice. They had 2-3 Jags and they were nice, I have always liked the lines on a Jag, they make a good looking car, their reliability is what is usually in question. The Land Rover is a different animal as it is supposed to be the richer cousin to the Jeep and in my mind, Land Rovers are used in Africa to chase after lions and other manly stuff like that, at least historically in the movies. Nostalgia aside, we kept walking through the showroom, they had another 4 Land Rovers from expensive to more expensive and it was a ghost town of customers, no one was there except for us and maybe 6-7 employees that we saw at their desks.
It has been awhile, but we know how this shit works. We were certainly not going to go beg for attention, you show up and somebody, I don't care if lowest man on the totem pole approaches, someone is supposed to say hello, but after being inside the building and looking at every model inside and out and even the accessories on the walls, we didn't get one "may we help you or we'll get Juan to come and help you fine brown folk." I felt Wife shut down and all I could ask her was "Have you had enough of this shit?" She said "yup, time to go."
I know, the few white coworkers of mine that still read this will say "well, maybe they were busy with customers on the phone." Come on, even when you go to Best Buy, you will be harassed by a few salesmen. We can't set foot at any of the motor mile dealerships before we are swarmed by 1-2 salesmen. I am sure part of the training for BMW as they moved down south on I-35 was to teach them whenever you see brown people, ask them if you can help them, not all brown people are here to clean, some of them are going to be customers, and believe it or not, some will buy new. They are not all "bad hombres" looking for transport vehicles to fill with drugs and carry them across the border.
Again, this is another first world problem, my dream vehicle is a loaded F-250, so I lose nothing from yesterday, but my fascination with getting Wife back into a Jag ended yesterday, those salesmen can shove their fancy key fobs up their asses and unlock their cars by farting their rose smelling farts that they probably produce. Why do salesmen act like their better than the customer? The fucks are doing that job because they can't do much of anything else. I wish no ill will on anyone, but it was confusing to me. We were showered and fairly dressed, I was in my clean Polo warm-ups and a sweater, it was a cool day. Wife was dressed like she does, we had met up with a lady she works with, so she was more dressed up than normal. Maybe the Kia Soul identified us as cheap or maybe they just suck. As we walked out, the used car salesman was standing there and I told him "well, I guess they did rock, paper, scissors and nobody lost the chance to come and deal with the brown people" as I motioned with my hand the kids game of rock-paper-scissors. We just kept walking, and I doubt we shall ever go back.
Saturday, February 16, 2019
2/16/19 Stupidity In Progress, Paying Citizens To Be Citizens?
I may be wrong, apparently I have been wrong all along about Trump as he is turning out to be one of the great ones, alongside Lincoln and Washington, but this is not about President Tweet. I just came down to write my blog and I had a nice generic topic already thought out in my head, but I read an article that in Stockton, California, they are sending debit cards to a select group of its population loaded with $500 and they will continue to get the $500 free for 18 months to do with whatever they want. Now, my opinion is that of course this money will be squandered on useless shit like going out, beer, partying. Hell, I was going to talk about working a little OT and getting a few hundred bucks extra and how it feels like we can breeze and enjoy going out to a Pappadeoux or something else nice but expensive. That has got to be the same thing these people are feeling minus the extra sweat equity that I put into getting my extra money. It almost seems unfair, but there is no reason to get mad because there is no way this program will work.
As much as I was a full on liberal and sided with these people and helping those in need, I have learned through the years that many in need refuse to help themselves and instead put efforts into sinking deeper in their own holes. instead of going to school to improve their lives, they have more kids than they can support. Instead of focusing on the kids they have, they go out and party when they have a little extra money and get fired from jobs they were barely holding on to. I have seen these type of people quit decent jobs so they can do something stupid like go on vacation and then struggle when they come back because they don't have a job.
I am not even blaming "those" type of people, give me $500 and you can bet I'll find stupid shit to buy. I have an itch right now that Javalina needs a $500 watch because he said he liked it, I want to buy a $300 bottle of liquor because it was behind a locked glass case in the liquor store and we don't even drink. I want to get a squat rack that is like $600 because Javalina and I are training for his football season. I haven't bought myself new Oakleys in three years and Boy took my last pair and kept them and those run at least $250. I am not making this list to say poor me as my brother likes to interpret, but normal people have wants and if the government started giving me free money, I might start treating myself first to a couple of wants before I did what they think I should do like increase my savings. This doesn't even take into account I am driving around in a 15 year old vehicle, if the money lasted longer than 18 months, I would blow it all and then some on a new truck, just saying.
But I was wrong about President "grab them by the p**sy", so I could be wrong about society. There is a world somewhere that you give Joe Six-Pack $500 and he starts a savings for his 3-4 kids to go to college. There is a world where Mama Martini takes the money and enrolls in some classes at the local college and makes herself more productive to society. We are living in a new world that I do not understand now.
As much as I was a full on liberal and sided with these people and helping those in need, I have learned through the years that many in need refuse to help themselves and instead put efforts into sinking deeper in their own holes. instead of going to school to improve their lives, they have more kids than they can support. Instead of focusing on the kids they have, they go out and party when they have a little extra money and get fired from jobs they were barely holding on to. I have seen these type of people quit decent jobs so they can do something stupid like go on vacation and then struggle when they come back because they don't have a job.
I am not even blaming "those" type of people, give me $500 and you can bet I'll find stupid shit to buy. I have an itch right now that Javalina needs a $500 watch because he said he liked it, I want to buy a $300 bottle of liquor because it was behind a locked glass case in the liquor store and we don't even drink. I want to get a squat rack that is like $600 because Javalina and I are training for his football season. I haven't bought myself new Oakleys in three years and Boy took my last pair and kept them and those run at least $250. I am not making this list to say poor me as my brother likes to interpret, but normal people have wants and if the government started giving me free money, I might start treating myself first to a couple of wants before I did what they think I should do like increase my savings. This doesn't even take into account I am driving around in a 15 year old vehicle, if the money lasted longer than 18 months, I would blow it all and then some on a new truck, just saying.
But I was wrong about President "grab them by the p**sy", so I could be wrong about society. There is a world somewhere that you give Joe Six-Pack $500 and he starts a savings for his 3-4 kids to go to college. There is a world where Mama Martini takes the money and enrolls in some classes at the local college and makes herself more productive to society. We are living in a new world that I do not understand now.
Friday, February 15, 2019
2/15/19 Dexter (Netflix)?
I know I am late to this party, but I needed something new and edgy to watch and keep me entertained and I found it in Dexter. Dexter is an older show that ran from 2006-2013, but it is new to me on Netflix. The series follows Dexter, a blood splatter analyst (if there is such a job title) working in Miami. First of all, Miami is a beautiful place to film, I am liking that area more and more and if I weren't so tied down to Texas with all my family here, it is a place I would consider moving to.
By day Dexter works for the local police force and helps in investigations of murder and helps to track down serial killers and people like that. At night, he lets out his inner demons occasionally and when the system fails to punish a would/should be criminal, he takes care of business. It turns out he has always has a lust for killing, he was adopted at a young age and his step-dad caught on and with his help, Dexter was able to cope and survive in a world he didn't always understand. His step-dad was a cop also, and he taught Dexter that since he has a need to kill at times, he should focus his skills on the dirt bags of society. When the system fails and releases killers and they go right back to doing what they do, Dexter takes care of them, on the down low.
I am only up to episode 10 of the first season and it has already had me on the tip of my chair as to what is going to happen next. He has a girlfriend who doesn't require a sex life and that works for him since he is awkward with intimacy. He also has a sister who works in the police force with him and they have a good relationship. One of the sargeant's hates him, or he gives the guy the creeps, but most of the other co-workers get along fine with him. He lives a simple clean life and owns the kind of boat I would love to have.
I like the idea of Dexter types really existing and taking care of trash people. It is said 5% of the people cause 80% of the problems in a society. If these jerk-offs knew they could be deleted and most of America would be happy, they might behave better.
By day Dexter works for the local police force and helps in investigations of murder and helps to track down serial killers and people like that. At night, he lets out his inner demons occasionally and when the system fails to punish a would/should be criminal, he takes care of business. It turns out he has always has a lust for killing, he was adopted at a young age and his step-dad caught on and with his help, Dexter was able to cope and survive in a world he didn't always understand. His step-dad was a cop also, and he taught Dexter that since he has a need to kill at times, he should focus his skills on the dirt bags of society. When the system fails and releases killers and they go right back to doing what they do, Dexter takes care of them, on the down low.
I am only up to episode 10 of the first season and it has already had me on the tip of my chair as to what is going to happen next. He has a girlfriend who doesn't require a sex life and that works for him since he is awkward with intimacy. He also has a sister who works in the police force with him and they have a good relationship. One of the sargeant's hates him, or he gives the guy the creeps, but most of the other co-workers get along fine with him. He lives a simple clean life and owns the kind of boat I would love to have.
I like the idea of Dexter types really existing and taking care of trash people. It is said 5% of the people cause 80% of the problems in a society. If these jerk-offs knew they could be deleted and most of America would be happy, they might behave better.
Thursday, February 14, 2019
2/14/19 Valentine's Day?
Today is barely a holiday, I mean the kids don't get a day off. I hate to be negative because this is really more a holiday for young love or people who fuck up and are trying to make good. Maybe I am just a tad cynical because not only am I working, but Wife is three hours away, even if she was here the rest of the week for a conference. To add insult to injury, as they say, we are supposedly dieting and this type of holiday helps no one.
For starters, Boy spent last night baking cookies and the same thing from the GF. The GF said she was bringing Tiramisu over and who can resist home made goodies? We already went yesterday and got a small cake for the house, so someone has to eat that. The boys got a chocolate valentine from Wife this morning before she left, so I might even encounter some of that. Who am I kidding, I love the chocolates that go around for Valentines. Wife usually gets me a box of those chocolate covered caramels with pecans, pecan delights, or something like that. Man, that shit is good!
Since she is out of town and Javalina has a sleepover tomorrow night, we are waiting until Saturday to go have our "romantic" dinner, which again, what do we do, all the good and delicious places are loaded with carbs. I imagine another blown weekend where we fall off our diets and we get off (my new favorite word) ketosis. FYI, Wife hates hearing the word, so I use it every chance I get, to poke at her.
I find it kind of lame that at school the boys never really exchanged valentines like we used to do when we were little. Not that I ever got anything of interest, just saying the experience seems like a rite of passage, but maybe not. I remember having a Valentine's party in 5th grade and somehow I was allowed to bring my brother from 2nd grade to the party, I don't know why that memory comes at me quite a lot, but I guess it was a weird thing to do and I still recall running and messing around under the tables chasing him and stuff.
Anyways, some of you like this holiday, and to you well, Happy Valentine's Day. To the rest of you, remember, candy is 50% off the next day. That is when I would normally strike.
For starters, Boy spent last night baking cookies and the same thing from the GF. The GF said she was bringing Tiramisu over and who can resist home made goodies? We already went yesterday and got a small cake for the house, so someone has to eat that. The boys got a chocolate valentine from Wife this morning before she left, so I might even encounter some of that. Who am I kidding, I love the chocolates that go around for Valentines. Wife usually gets me a box of those chocolate covered caramels with pecans, pecan delights, or something like that. Man, that shit is good!
Since she is out of town and Javalina has a sleepover tomorrow night, we are waiting until Saturday to go have our "romantic" dinner, which again, what do we do, all the good and delicious places are loaded with carbs. I imagine another blown weekend where we fall off our diets and we get off (my new favorite word) ketosis. FYI, Wife hates hearing the word, so I use it every chance I get, to poke at her.
I find it kind of lame that at school the boys never really exchanged valentines like we used to do when we were little. Not that I ever got anything of interest, just saying the experience seems like a rite of passage, but maybe not. I remember having a Valentine's party in 5th grade and somehow I was allowed to bring my brother from 2nd grade to the party, I don't know why that memory comes at me quite a lot, but I guess it was a weird thing to do and I still recall running and messing around under the tables chasing him and stuff.
Anyways, some of you like this holiday, and to you well, Happy Valentine's Day. To the rest of you, remember, candy is 50% off the next day. That is when I would normally strike.
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
2/13/19 Russian Doll (Netflix Series)?
I am still unsure if this can come back for a second season, most of the storyline was wrapped up pretty good in the first season which consisted of 8 perfectly paced episodes. I was unsure what this show might be about, but I have always liked Natasha Lyonne, since popping up in the American Pie movies and acting like the movie's sex expert. Actually, I just looked at her IMDB page and she has been in stuff we have seen since she was as young as six when she came out in Pee-Wee's Playhouse, but back to the present.
The series/show has a little Groundhog Day in it in that the main character, Nadia, keeps dying and then repeating the day from the moment when she is in a funky bathroom at a party held for her birthday by one of her best friends. We gather from the discussions she has that her mother was 36 when she killed herself, and this is her 36th birthday party, so there is some relation to that, maybe. The building where the party is being held used to be an old jewish kids school, so that is investigated. She also smokes a pot cigarette which is laced with cocaine, which in reality was Ketamine, or Special K. She investigates all these leads before discovering there is another male experiencing the same phenomenon.
The male is almost robotic in nature, for all of Nadia's quirks and grunginess, he is the opposite, very composed, works out, and is apparently obsessed with self help audio tapes. He is in the process of asking his girlfriend to marry him, when he dies, so he is repeating that every time. I thought it was cool that his girlfriend was Dayanara, from Orange Is The New Black. There is a lot going on with the characters and several characters are in both of their lives before they meet, so it almost seems they were destined to meet.
Each episode has the two young adults falling in love slowly and cautiously to prevent mad chaos. I don't want to give up the ending but it really is a good show and I believe I binged it in two nights.
Other review places are calling it the best new show in 2019 and giving it critical acclaim, meaning everyone with half a brain has liked it.
The series/show has a little Groundhog Day in it in that the main character, Nadia, keeps dying and then repeating the day from the moment when she is in a funky bathroom at a party held for her birthday by one of her best friends. We gather from the discussions she has that her mother was 36 when she killed herself, and this is her 36th birthday party, so there is some relation to that, maybe. The building where the party is being held used to be an old jewish kids school, so that is investigated. She also smokes a pot cigarette which is laced with cocaine, which in reality was Ketamine, or Special K. She investigates all these leads before discovering there is another male experiencing the same phenomenon.
The male is almost robotic in nature, for all of Nadia's quirks and grunginess, he is the opposite, very composed, works out, and is apparently obsessed with self help audio tapes. He is in the process of asking his girlfriend to marry him, when he dies, so he is repeating that every time. I thought it was cool that his girlfriend was Dayanara, from Orange Is The New Black. There is a lot going on with the characters and several characters are in both of their lives before they meet, so it almost seems they were destined to meet.
Each episode has the two young adults falling in love slowly and cautiously to prevent mad chaos. I don't want to give up the ending but it really is a good show and I believe I binged it in two nights.
Other review places are calling it the best new show in 2019 and giving it critical acclaim, meaning everyone with half a brain has liked it.
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
2/12/19 Can't Mess With A Good Diet?
I guess we all think we're special and that the rules don't apply to us. While watching several episodes of My 600 pound Life, I am almost amazed that after losing a couple pounds they think they can go back to their old habits and it'll be alright. Since Wife is around and as I keep saying, we are not currently in ketosis, might as well enjoy a lunch at a regular venue. I pretty much fell for the same trap. I have been doing great, losing about a pound a day, why would I want to fuck with that? For a piece of cake, apparently it doesn't take much to buy my cheap ass. All of a sudden, it is Monday after a "party weekend" and we got 3 2-liter bottles of regular soda, 2 $20 cakes I don't want to just throw away, and cookies, chips, and whatever else fatties enjoy. Man, what we don't spend on drugs, we sure spend on in food.
I had half a cookie at 7:00am when I got up to make sure the boys got up, I then went right back to sleep since I work Monday night. Once I got up, I ate another cookie or two and we went to eat at Bill Miller I kept saying "we are not in ketosis anyway, so it doesn't matter." Javalina was a little disgusted with the both of us and I have to say I was too afterwards. Pizza is one thing, on a Saturday night, but the tenders and the fries weren't even fresh. I still gulped it all down with a stale ass biscuit that did nothing for me, I don't think I enjoyed it, it was just out of habit. We then got home and of course, we didn't have time to work out, my stomach felt horrible and going to the bathroom did not solve my problems. I went again during my lunch hour and had another episode and I still feel like gurgling in my intestines at 6:30am.
The best thing would be to just throw away all the crap and focus on eating the BBQ we made Sunday night. I might have to send Wife down to my mom's house, she is basically my drug dealer with food. I can be good with Javalina, but with her, I just want to eat crap. I guess it is good to feel this way, the food didn't reward me yesterday, so I don't want to do it again. I was very happily pooping once a day all through January and that agrees with me, so I guess it is back to the diet today. I am worried about Valentine's Day though.
I had half a cookie at 7:00am when I got up to make sure the boys got up, I then went right back to sleep since I work Monday night. Once I got up, I ate another cookie or two and we went to eat at Bill Miller I kept saying "we are not in ketosis anyway, so it doesn't matter." Javalina was a little disgusted with the both of us and I have to say I was too afterwards. Pizza is one thing, on a Saturday night, but the tenders and the fries weren't even fresh. I still gulped it all down with a stale ass biscuit that did nothing for me, I don't think I enjoyed it, it was just out of habit. We then got home and of course, we didn't have time to work out, my stomach felt horrible and going to the bathroom did not solve my problems. I went again during my lunch hour and had another episode and I still feel like gurgling in my intestines at 6:30am.
The best thing would be to just throw away all the crap and focus on eating the BBQ we made Sunday night. I might have to send Wife down to my mom's house, she is basically my drug dealer with food. I can be good with Javalina, but with her, I just want to eat crap. I guess it is good to feel this way, the food didn't reward me yesterday, so I don't want to do it again. I was very happily pooping once a day all through January and that agrees with me, so I guess it is back to the diet today. I am worried about Valentine's Day though.
Monday, February 11, 2019
2/11/19 Wife's Birthday Weekend?
I think Wife was happy with her birthday weekend. She was here Thursday night, so we got to stretch Friday afternoon, which we didn't do much other than eat the chili I made and I introduced her to a new show, Russian Doll, on Netflix and we sat and saw it from start to finish in two sittings.
Saturday, we were up early, so we could go to San Antonio to celebrate with her peeps, which is always nice as they like to cook and make a fuss, so it takes the burden off my hands. Javalina and I had gone to the mall Thursday after we picked up Girlie, who needed a ride from work after she was involved in a four car pile-up which totaled her car. She works close to the mall and that reminded me I better step up and get her a decent gift, otherwise I look bad when everyone is giving her gifts. We got her a purse from me and the matching wallet from Javalina. Boy makes his own money, so I figured he could get his own gift. He and his GF got her a thing of balloons and an orchid, that I saw. I personally don't like plants because it is something else to try and keep alive.
The Chinese food was good but once we were off ketosis, it became very easy to jump and order some pizzas for dinner, we had eaten at my in-laws at 1:00pm or so. The pizza was like at 8:00pm and it was great.
Sunday morning I got up super early and came down to write and drink coffee. After awhile, I decided to go get stuff at HEB for breakfast. I chose barbacoa, which we enjoy on a Sunday morning or really anytime we can get it. Along with that, Wife made some eggs, and chorizo with beans. It turned into a great breakfast feast which we enjoyed together along with Boy's GF. While at the store, I also got meat to BBQ at night, but I knew we were going to need some cake which we would get at either Whole Foods or Central Market. Wife decided on an Italien cream cake and a chocolate birthday cake, as they are called, but both were the smaller versions.
While we were waiting and grilling, we got a package from Tiff's Treats. They deliver cookies that are still warm which makes them soft and crumbly. Girlie ordered them and this time they came with a small container of cookies and cream ice cream. She showed up a short time later and we had a decent time Boy recollecting his story of discrimination at work, and Javalina just talking shit as he often does. We ate BBQ around 9:00pm and the cake probably close to 10:00pm. What else can you ask for on her birthday, she got to sleep in until almost 1:00pm, and then two of our favorite meals cooked at home. I would call it a very good weekend, other than we did not make it to the boat store as I was promised, again.
Saturday, we were up early, so we could go to San Antonio to celebrate with her peeps, which is always nice as they like to cook and make a fuss, so it takes the burden off my hands. Javalina and I had gone to the mall Thursday after we picked up Girlie, who needed a ride from work after she was involved in a four car pile-up which totaled her car. She works close to the mall and that reminded me I better step up and get her a decent gift, otherwise I look bad when everyone is giving her gifts. We got her a purse from me and the matching wallet from Javalina. Boy makes his own money, so I figured he could get his own gift. He and his GF got her a thing of balloons and an orchid, that I saw. I personally don't like plants because it is something else to try and keep alive.
The Chinese food was good but once we were off ketosis, it became very easy to jump and order some pizzas for dinner, we had eaten at my in-laws at 1:00pm or so. The pizza was like at 8:00pm and it was great.
Sunday morning I got up super early and came down to write and drink coffee. After awhile, I decided to go get stuff at HEB for breakfast. I chose barbacoa, which we enjoy on a Sunday morning or really anytime we can get it. Along with that, Wife made some eggs, and chorizo with beans. It turned into a great breakfast feast which we enjoyed together along with Boy's GF. While at the store, I also got meat to BBQ at night, but I knew we were going to need some cake which we would get at either Whole Foods or Central Market. Wife decided on an Italien cream cake and a chocolate birthday cake, as they are called, but both were the smaller versions.
While we were waiting and grilling, we got a package from Tiff's Treats. They deliver cookies that are still warm which makes them soft and crumbly. Girlie ordered them and this time they came with a small container of cookies and cream ice cream. She showed up a short time later and we had a decent time Boy recollecting his story of discrimination at work, and Javalina just talking shit as he often does. We ate BBQ around 9:00pm and the cake probably close to 10:00pm. What else can you ask for on her birthday, she got to sleep in until almost 1:00pm, and then two of our favorite meals cooked at home. I would call it a very good weekend, other than we did not make it to the boat store as I was promised, again.
Sunday, February 10, 2019
2/10/19 Happy Birthday, Wife!
Today is actually Wife's birthday, even if we celebrated it yesterday at my in-law's. THe party turned out quite nice, the sisters got together and pretty much made everything by the time we showed up. They had offered us a low carb version of Chinese food, but that is almost impossible. Still, the effort was there, if we were strong enough to have stuck to the diet. There was chicken and broccoli, and fried skinless chicken to eat with some green beans. I saw Javalina putting Srirachi or however you spell that to make it have some kick and it helped. After this, we did eat cake and it was a pretty round pink cake with chocolate melting all along t he upper edge seam and melting down the sides. I thought it was too sweet, but maybe because we haven't had sweets in a month, hell, I still ate two slices. This was enough as Boy got into his serious conversation about his boss referencing his dyslexia and he told that story to his grandparents, I went and took a nap for about an hour. Oh yeah, before that, she did open presents from everyone. I know our gift is not original, but she is very hard to shop for, so we got her another purse and matching wallet. I like the sturdy leather and craftsmanship of the Brahmin bags, so we got her another one of those, which she might have 3-4 now.
We left around 5:00pm, I could not believe how cold it was, just stopping to gas up felt like I was exposed to the winds of the tundra, but we got back and it was way too early to call it a night, even if I did sleep all the way back. We went ahead and ordered pizza. We did the math that we were not in ketosis anymore, due to eating cake, so we might as well enjoy it. We went and got Pizzas from Little Caesar's and I have to say it was delicious. We stayed up until around 11:30pm downstairs watching our regular shows and then Wife said she was going to take a shower. I took the rest of the night to continue cleaning around the pool table, which has been a mess since we were going to move out, three years ago. We still had bins and boxes in the corner with stuff that had been hanging on the walls. I also took the liberty of hanging Boy's framed posters and art. He has fancied himself a collector of artwork and I get to enjoy his work by hanging them on my walls. He already has too many hanging in his room and I was able to hang about 10 more on the walls around the pool table. He still has another 15-20 posters stacked on the pool table where he flattens them, because they all come delivered in tubes, they get funky want to bend into tube shapes. This was something Wife wanted, for us to clean the front room, I need to continue with the next room where he has begun putting his 3D printers and all their crap, which looks messy. I have some ideas to clean this up.
As for today, I foresee more cake this afternoon, but then tomorrow we go back to our diet for another month of hard disciplined dieting. Next month will be Spring Break that is going to make us stumble, but that is alright.
We left around 5:00pm, I could not believe how cold it was, just stopping to gas up felt like I was exposed to the winds of the tundra, but we got back and it was way too early to call it a night, even if I did sleep all the way back. We went ahead and ordered pizza. We did the math that we were not in ketosis anymore, due to eating cake, so we might as well enjoy it. We went and got Pizzas from Little Caesar's and I have to say it was delicious. We stayed up until around 11:30pm downstairs watching our regular shows and then Wife said she was going to take a shower. I took the rest of the night to continue cleaning around the pool table, which has been a mess since we were going to move out, three years ago. We still had bins and boxes in the corner with stuff that had been hanging on the walls. I also took the liberty of hanging Boy's framed posters and art. He has fancied himself a collector of artwork and I get to enjoy his work by hanging them on my walls. He already has too many hanging in his room and I was able to hang about 10 more on the walls around the pool table. He still has another 15-20 posters stacked on the pool table where he flattens them, because they all come delivered in tubes, they get funky want to bend into tube shapes. This was something Wife wanted, for us to clean the front room, I need to continue with the next room where he has begun putting his 3D printers and all their crap, which looks messy. I have some ideas to clean this up.
As for today, I foresee more cake this afternoon, but then tomorrow we go back to our diet for another month of hard disciplined dieting. Next month will be Spring Break that is going to make us stumble, but that is alright.
Saturday, February 9, 2019
2/9/19 Never A Good Time To Diet?
It is barely the start of week 2 in February and we have already had three and maybe four big events to shoot the bird at dieting. First of all, we had my sister in law's birthday party which we went to and we were bombarded with carbs, which we were savvy enough to not pigout, but I did eat some cake. The next weekend was my nieces quince and again there was a candy bar and still, we managed to dodge that bullet, but I did eat some cake. Last week was the Super Bowl and we are not big football fans, but we usually watch it and make a big meal out of it. We managed to grill, but since it was just us, we kept it to mostly meat and really no carbs.
We are at another event, this weekend is Wife's birthday, Sunday, specifically, but we are going again to my in-law's in San Antonio as they have offered to cook a meal for her, they are even insisting it will be Atkins friendly and not loaded with carbs. The big problem is that we finally got another cold spell and when the weather craps out, I want to just bundle up and eat sweets and junk. Last night (Friday), I wanted pizza bad, but we got through the day on my chili, which I made in the afternoon and we ate around 5:00pm. I had been wanting to make chili, now that I figured out it's easy and I can claim it as one of my meals I make for my people but the carbs on the beans seemed too high. This week I found a 3 bean combo of black, pinto and red beans that only had 4.0g per serving. That is good enough for us. I ended up taking a nap around 6:00pm and didn't wake until 8:00pm, which is fine as I had woken up at 6:00am and spent the day cleaning up all of Boy's posters or artwork as he prefers to call it. I also started tearing down the pile in the corner over by the pool table. It turns out there were bins and boxes full of the stuff we had on the walls, such as all my whips and paddles and all of our small photo frames, which I will continue to work on.
We did unfortunately missed my dad's birthday which would have been another chance to stumble on some cake, and we have Valentine's coming up, which will be in a Thursday I work, so we should skate by that pretty easily. Wife is scheduled to be in Crystal, so it's not like we are going to make a big deal out of it.
But all this sacrifice is worth it as in a short 31 days I have gone from 430pounds to now 397 which I checked myself last night. If I can continue for another two months, I should be where I was before I got my big cut on my leg and at 350pounds, I was as active as anybody I know, plus I have a game plan of keeping up with Javalina and being his tackling dummy, so I got to keep working it. Plus, if I can get down to the 200's, I might even get the green light to buy one of those tiny sports cars I love so much, I'll even take the new Miata, as long as I can fit.
We are at another event, this weekend is Wife's birthday, Sunday, specifically, but we are going again to my in-law's in San Antonio as they have offered to cook a meal for her, they are even insisting it will be Atkins friendly and not loaded with carbs. The big problem is that we finally got another cold spell and when the weather craps out, I want to just bundle up and eat sweets and junk. Last night (Friday), I wanted pizza bad, but we got through the day on my chili, which I made in the afternoon and we ate around 5:00pm. I had been wanting to make chili, now that I figured out it's easy and I can claim it as one of my meals I make for my people but the carbs on the beans seemed too high. This week I found a 3 bean combo of black, pinto and red beans that only had 4.0g per serving. That is good enough for us. I ended up taking a nap around 6:00pm and didn't wake until 8:00pm, which is fine as I had woken up at 6:00am and spent the day cleaning up all of Boy's posters or artwork as he prefers to call it. I also started tearing down the pile in the corner over by the pool table. It turns out there were bins and boxes full of the stuff we had on the walls, such as all my whips and paddles and all of our small photo frames, which I will continue to work on.
We did unfortunately missed my dad's birthday which would have been another chance to stumble on some cake, and we have Valentine's coming up, which will be in a Thursday I work, so we should skate by that pretty easily. Wife is scheduled to be in Crystal, so it's not like we are going to make a big deal out of it.
But all this sacrifice is worth it as in a short 31 days I have gone from 430pounds to now 397 which I checked myself last night. If I can continue for another two months, I should be where I was before I got my big cut on my leg and at 350pounds, I was as active as anybody I know, plus I have a game plan of keeping up with Javalina and being his tackling dummy, so I got to keep working it. Plus, if I can get down to the 200's, I might even get the green light to buy one of those tiny sports cars I love so much, I'll even take the new Miata, as long as I can fit.
Friday, February 8, 2019
2/8/19 Not No More?
I am so proud of Boy, he handled himself like a champ when many would have run and folded into tears. We are in a new era and the bullshit won't fly anymore. This started out earlier in the week when some product they were supposed to ship out was being checked last minute by my son at his company. It was noted his boss had made changes in a non-standard way that affected how the computers they use to read this and that affects things. I honestly don't understand half the language he is saying when he talks about "bombs" and top down entries versus manual entries and whatever as it pertains to whatever product they are making, but as a result of the last minute shenanigans of his boss, he had to spend Tuesday and Wednesday inventorying every part going into the new product which was to be sent out for assembly in California or something.
As things happen, his boss was on vacation for a couple days while this was going on, so my son was trying to clean up his mess for the company's sake. When he got back, his boss then took to attacking my son for the time he had spent manually checking everything. He tried to explain that because he had entered some things manually it confused the program that does things electronically and the only thing to do was check every part manually. His boss would not accept even the tiniest amount of blame for throwing a wrench into the whole operation, but instead was looking to blame my son, I guess this would be easy because he is still an intern and the boss has been working in the field since the 90's. My son had already told us that the boss is rather incompetent and that management has already told him he should be looking for employment elsewhere, to which the dingleberry said "nah, I am comfortable here."
To try and finally win the argument, even if he has to proverbially "throw the baby out with the bathwater." is he told my boy that "since he has dyslexia and a couple of the serial numbers were read incorrectly, maybe this isn't the right field for him, this field requires you to be accurate in a capacity that you cannot." I'm sorry but I work with long numbers all the time too and I am not dyslexic nor my coworkers and numbers get written down wrong all the time. You can't spend hours writing down strings of numbers and not have mistakes, it is one of the most mentally exhausting things to do, specially when computers would have done this if your ass had done things right in the first place. Instead of backing down and feeling shame, my boy went to HR and reported his dumb ass for bringing up his dyslexia, which is a handicap and cannot be used against him. For those of you that don't get it, it's like telling someone in a wheelchair "you shouldn't work in this office because your wheelchair slows me down."
Boy was upset last night to the point of not going in to work today (Friday), and that is fine, we all need a break now and then. This is the same idiot boss that just because he is Hispanic, has assumed that Boy comes from a poor family and the boss is doing wonders for all of us in helping to lift my son up out of poverty. Excuse me, but Boy has lived a pretty good life with nary a thought about things he doesn't have. I'm sorry, but dinosaurs aren't good for anything but becoming extinct and this old fuck has got to go and find himself a nice tar pit and go for a swim.
As things happen, his boss was on vacation for a couple days while this was going on, so my son was trying to clean up his mess for the company's sake. When he got back, his boss then took to attacking my son for the time he had spent manually checking everything. He tried to explain that because he had entered some things manually it confused the program that does things electronically and the only thing to do was check every part manually. His boss would not accept even the tiniest amount of blame for throwing a wrench into the whole operation, but instead was looking to blame my son, I guess this would be easy because he is still an intern and the boss has been working in the field since the 90's. My son had already told us that the boss is rather incompetent and that management has already told him he should be looking for employment elsewhere, to which the dingleberry said "nah, I am comfortable here."
To try and finally win the argument, even if he has to proverbially "throw the baby out with the bathwater." is he told my boy that "since he has dyslexia and a couple of the serial numbers were read incorrectly, maybe this isn't the right field for him, this field requires you to be accurate in a capacity that you cannot." I'm sorry but I work with long numbers all the time too and I am not dyslexic nor my coworkers and numbers get written down wrong all the time. You can't spend hours writing down strings of numbers and not have mistakes, it is one of the most mentally exhausting things to do, specially when computers would have done this if your ass had done things right in the first place. Instead of backing down and feeling shame, my boy went to HR and reported his dumb ass for bringing up his dyslexia, which is a handicap and cannot be used against him. For those of you that don't get it, it's like telling someone in a wheelchair "you shouldn't work in this office because your wheelchair slows me down."
Boy was upset last night to the point of not going in to work today (Friday), and that is fine, we all need a break now and then. This is the same idiot boss that just because he is Hispanic, has assumed that Boy comes from a poor family and the boss is doing wonders for all of us in helping to lift my son up out of poverty. Excuse me, but Boy has lived a pretty good life with nary a thought about things he doesn't have. I'm sorry, but dinosaurs aren't good for anything but becoming extinct and this old fuck has got to go and find himself a nice tar pit and go for a swim.
Thursday, February 7, 2019
2/7/19 Almost Missed My Dad's Birthday Yesterday?
I feel a little bad, but what can you do? Wife mentioned and reminded me to call my dad during the day, but it is such a rushed time in the afternoon, we really don't even have time to sit and discuss anything. I got up at 4:15pm, I had to change quickly because Javalina was at tutoring until 4:30pm. We didn't even get to work out together last night because as soon as we got home, Wife was telling him to get on his make-up work for Geometry and your dad is here to help you. I am expected to be fully versed and ready on whatever either of the boys are doing math wise and explain it to them. Sometimes, I have no idea. They don't even give the children books to refer to anymore.
While I was helping him with his Geometry, I was also cooking lunch, some sirloin steaks that are just better than any burger, so I am not complaining, but they do take a little time. I finished eating by 6:15pm and although it was time to shower for work, Boy and his GF walked in and she had a story she said I would appreciate about some idiot scientist who decided he has cracked the code on genetic splicing and wanted to prove it by taking his own saliva mixing this and that and injecting himself with it. Something about this dude is/was selling these packs to regular people so they could make genetic repairs, like it is as easy as changing a DVD to watch a different movie. He ended up dying by his own infection or something. It was quite interesting, but it only slowed me down from getting to work. As if that wasn't bad enough, we have been having these real HOT jobs from all sorts of different companies, and I would say great, but the work has been landing on me because I am here at night and I get no more for the wear and tear of rushing these jobs. A guy was calling me at 6:40pm, I had just walked in the bath to take a shower, I told him that. He calls me ten minutes later asking if I am at work yet, I blurted out "Dude, I just got out of the shower!" He just said ok, ok, I'll be waiting here. I then got to work and had to deal with that and while I was sitting there finally relaxing running samples, Wife calls me to say goodnight and ask if I had talked to my father. I said shit and hung up with her.
Good thing my dad is a big Spurs fan and they were playing a late game, he was still up. We talked for a few minutes about the game and how he is doing with his radiation treatment. He said things are going great and that today they had managed to go to the doctor and come back to Crystal in 2 hours. The doctor is 45 minutes away, so that was pretty quick. I am glad he bounced back from the apparent pneumonia and he is still claiming he has given up smoking. I would like the old fart to stick around another while, and even take him fishing on my next boat, yes there will be another one in a couple years. Life just needs to line up a certain way and stop with the BS.
While I was helping him with his Geometry, I was also cooking lunch, some sirloin steaks that are just better than any burger, so I am not complaining, but they do take a little time. I finished eating by 6:15pm and although it was time to shower for work, Boy and his GF walked in and she had a story she said I would appreciate about some idiot scientist who decided he has cracked the code on genetic splicing and wanted to prove it by taking his own saliva mixing this and that and injecting himself with it. Something about this dude is/was selling these packs to regular people so they could make genetic repairs, like it is as easy as changing a DVD to watch a different movie. He ended up dying by his own infection or something. It was quite interesting, but it only slowed me down from getting to work. As if that wasn't bad enough, we have been having these real HOT jobs from all sorts of different companies, and I would say great, but the work has been landing on me because I am here at night and I get no more for the wear and tear of rushing these jobs. A guy was calling me at 6:40pm, I had just walked in the bath to take a shower, I told him that. He calls me ten minutes later asking if I am at work yet, I blurted out "Dude, I just got out of the shower!" He just said ok, ok, I'll be waiting here. I then got to work and had to deal with that and while I was sitting there finally relaxing running samples, Wife calls me to say goodnight and ask if I had talked to my father. I said shit and hung up with her.
Good thing my dad is a big Spurs fan and they were playing a late game, he was still up. We talked for a few minutes about the game and how he is doing with his radiation treatment. He said things are going great and that today they had managed to go to the doctor and come back to Crystal in 2 hours. The doctor is 45 minutes away, so that was pretty quick. I am glad he bounced back from the apparent pneumonia and he is still claiming he has given up smoking. I would like the old fart to stick around another while, and even take him fishing on my next boat, yes there will be another one in a couple years. Life just needs to line up a certain way and stop with the BS.
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
2/6/19 Is The Blog Going To Die?
When I started this in 2014, I really meant it to be a sort of diary my boys could look back at and see what I thought about various things. Occasionally, I find that they read one, or if I tell them I wrote about them, then they will more than likely go see what I had to say about them. In the last two weeks, I have been getting notices that Google+ and other things are not going to be supported coming in March. I am not sure if that is geek language meaning the blog landscape is going away or if just some of the features will disappear. In the meantime I will start printing all these pages at home, I am well over 1500 separate continuous days and it would suck if everything just disappears. Best case scenario, only a few functions go away and the blog lives on, worst case, it all goes away and I'll have to decide if I want to continue. I know some of them suck or are light on material, but you try writing every day, even when you are busy traveling, or extra busy at work.
I'd like to print these, but at 1500 pages and growing, it would cost me a pretty penny. I might, maybe just a couple books printed, one for each Boy, something like that. I had looked into it and there is a place that binds books in leather for about $300 a book. I saw that a couple years ago and if anything, they would look nice on a bookshelf, specially if I did it for a couple of years and gave them multiple books spanning 10-20 years. We'll see, I might also see this end of the Google blog as my escape and say F**k it, I'm free.
I'd like to print these, but at 1500 pages and growing, it would cost me a pretty penny. I might, maybe just a couple books printed, one for each Boy, something like that. I had looked into it and there is a place that binds books in leather for about $300 a book. I saw that a couple years ago and if anything, they would look nice on a bookshelf, specially if I did it for a couple of years and gave them multiple books spanning 10-20 years. We'll see, I might also see this end of the Google blog as my escape and say F**k it, I'm free.
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
2/5/19 Where Is Winter?
I know these are first world problems, but where is winter? This is like the second or third year in a row where the cold season has amounted to a couple of cool weekends in December and then not much more. We used to get the really brutal cold fronts in January and sometimes in February. I remember most of our RV trips during spring break that it was just too cold to even think about getting in the water, yet we have had many weekends since Christmas where we could have been at least sitting on a pier feeding the fish with shrimp.
It seems like Spring is about here because we have started with that ugly morning fog. Wife left here in what was supposed to be 0% visibility, but looking out our windows, they were wrong. Wife did say it got bad before she arrived at work, 200 miles away. She was wanting me to warn Boy, yet we never really got the bad fog the news warned us about.
I keep saying this is the year we get back into spending time outside, maybe doing a little fishing. I would really love a boat to do this, but I am willing to start on a pier or the lake edge. What has sounded interesting is to go below Lake Canyon and try to catch some of those trout that are released there. They are supposed to be fun to catch, specially with a fly rod. At this point, I am almost willing to settle for a lame ass canoe, I just really want to get back near the water.
Wife was telling me that we were going to get into the 80's this week, which meant turning on the A/C, but I looked and we might dodge that bullet for another week at least. I would much rather have the windows open than run the A/C, our light bill just goes crazy in the summer, I don't want that to start in February.
Maybe it is just a fluke, but I think this might be part of the global warming phenomenon that certain people don't want to believe in. It doesn't mean it is going to be warmer in any given place, it means the weather patterns are affected and changed, but we'll see. Under Trump, I have been consistently wrong, so I am sure it will turn out to be the cows farting too much or something else at fault, certainly not us.
It seems like Spring is about here because we have started with that ugly morning fog. Wife left here in what was supposed to be 0% visibility, but looking out our windows, they were wrong. Wife did say it got bad before she arrived at work, 200 miles away. She was wanting me to warn Boy, yet we never really got the bad fog the news warned us about.
I keep saying this is the year we get back into spending time outside, maybe doing a little fishing. I would really love a boat to do this, but I am willing to start on a pier or the lake edge. What has sounded interesting is to go below Lake Canyon and try to catch some of those trout that are released there. They are supposed to be fun to catch, specially with a fly rod. At this point, I am almost willing to settle for a lame ass canoe, I just really want to get back near the water.
Wife was telling me that we were going to get into the 80's this week, which meant turning on the A/C, but I looked and we might dodge that bullet for another week at least. I would much rather have the windows open than run the A/C, our light bill just goes crazy in the summer, I don't want that to start in February.
Maybe it is just a fluke, but I think this might be part of the global warming phenomenon that certain people don't want to believe in. It doesn't mean it is going to be warmer in any given place, it means the weather patterns are affected and changed, but we'll see. Under Trump, I have been consistently wrong, so I am sure it will turn out to be the cows farting too much or something else at fault, certainly not us.
Monday, February 4, 2019
2/4/19 Update On Our Dieting?
I am happy to report that our dieting efforts are still giving us great results. As of this morning, I weighed myself and the scale showed 401.6. We only started on January 8, so it is still not quite a month and I feel these has been a great start. What I find almost amazing is that Javalina did not want to weight himself in the beginning, the last time we saw his weight at the doctor he was around 257, but last night he finally weighed himself and he is down to 230. I have lost 28 pounds and he has lost at least 27 pounds. It makes sense that we are eating almost the same exact meals because we are always together. I am so glad this Atkins approach works.
I found myself almost scared, but unwilling to stop eating the way I was, specially through the 2 week holiday I took for Christmas. Every morning, I would wake up, load a plate with whatever cookies, pies, cake, donuts we had and I would enjoy this by myself. Then Wife would come downstairs and make breakfast and of course, I would eat again. It was a little hard at first to let go of the sweets, it seems I was almost waiting and hoping to be labeled a diabetic before I was willing to cut the sweets out. By doing it this way, hopefully, I can keep the insulin shots far down the line. I know I am still 400+, but Javalina is such an inspiring little bulldog, he does not let up. He even has his own little nicknames for us, Boy has gotten a little thicker now that he is dating, so he calls him "chiquito gordito", he calls me the "duble grande", something about being double his "grande" size. He does not like to miss working out after school. Sometimes, we need to do stuff, sometimes I just don't feel up to it, he harasses me until I say fine, let's do a little bit. Before we know it, we have gone through our routine. I especially like throwing the 20 pound medicine ball back and forth, it just shakes your insides awake.
I thought it was going to be way expensive, always buying meat and salads, but since we don't eat out anymore, it kind of replaces itself. For the two of us, it would normally be $15-$20 to eat anywhere we normally eat, but I can grab two New York Strips for like $12, and add some salad from a giant $4 bag and that is cheaper than Whataburger, maybe not Bill Miller, but we are also not eating everything fried, which has to be a good thing.
The best thing I have found in all of this, is the sugar free Jello with cool whip. The jello has no carbs and the whipped topping has like 2g. Whenever I need a sweet fix, this has worked perfectly. I would like to get down to at least 350 on the strict Atkins before I try to add in more fruits and maybe a pizza once a month. We tried the pizzas with cauliflower based bread and I found it to be a little gross although Wife and Javalina thought it was ok. I really love good crusty pizza though and this did not get crispy. We cannot go back to the donuts and non-stop sugar loading, I have to show more discipline.
Javalina started watching the documentary medical show "My 600 Pound Life" or something like that on Hulu and he got me watching it. If anything, I really don't want to get there. I am glad we hit the brakes when we did. Some of these people are bedridden, some can't clean themselves, can't feed themselves. I feel bad for them, but we all get ourselves into the place we find ourselves, we have nobody to blame. Here's hoping next time I update, I can say I am no longer a 400 pounder.
I found myself almost scared, but unwilling to stop eating the way I was, specially through the 2 week holiday I took for Christmas. Every morning, I would wake up, load a plate with whatever cookies, pies, cake, donuts we had and I would enjoy this by myself. Then Wife would come downstairs and make breakfast and of course, I would eat again. It was a little hard at first to let go of the sweets, it seems I was almost waiting and hoping to be labeled a diabetic before I was willing to cut the sweets out. By doing it this way, hopefully, I can keep the insulin shots far down the line. I know I am still 400+, but Javalina is such an inspiring little bulldog, he does not let up. He even has his own little nicknames for us, Boy has gotten a little thicker now that he is dating, so he calls him "chiquito gordito", he calls me the "duble grande", something about being double his "grande" size. He does not like to miss working out after school. Sometimes, we need to do stuff, sometimes I just don't feel up to it, he harasses me until I say fine, let's do a little bit. Before we know it, we have gone through our routine. I especially like throwing the 20 pound medicine ball back and forth, it just shakes your insides awake.
I thought it was going to be way expensive, always buying meat and salads, but since we don't eat out anymore, it kind of replaces itself. For the two of us, it would normally be $15-$20 to eat anywhere we normally eat, but I can grab two New York Strips for like $12, and add some salad from a giant $4 bag and that is cheaper than Whataburger, maybe not Bill Miller, but we are also not eating everything fried, which has to be a good thing.
The best thing I have found in all of this, is the sugar free Jello with cool whip. The jello has no carbs and the whipped topping has like 2g. Whenever I need a sweet fix, this has worked perfectly. I would like to get down to at least 350 on the strict Atkins before I try to add in more fruits and maybe a pizza once a month. We tried the pizzas with cauliflower based bread and I found it to be a little gross although Wife and Javalina thought it was ok. I really love good crusty pizza though and this did not get crispy. We cannot go back to the donuts and non-stop sugar loading, I have to show more discipline.
Javalina started watching the documentary medical show "My 600 Pound Life" or something like that on Hulu and he got me watching it. If anything, I really don't want to get there. I am glad we hit the brakes when we did. Some of these people are bedridden, some can't clean themselves, can't feed themselves. I feel bad for them, but we all get ourselves into the place we find ourselves, we have nobody to blame. Here's hoping next time I update, I can say I am no longer a 400 pounder.
Sunday, February 3, 2019
2/3/19 Never Goes As Planned?
This was supposed to be a restful weekend, but do things ever go as planned? While picking up Javalina, I decided I was going to Home Depot to buy a piece of finished plywood board. The idea I had was to make shelves in one of the lower kitchen cabinets to store all of our pans and baking sheets. From the one 24x48 sheet, I was able to make two levels of 22sq in each. I consider this something of an urgent undertaking, as Boy and his GF have taken to cooking regularly in the house and that is fine, but man, they have never met a pan they don't need to get dirty. Everything in their path has to be involved and then afterwards, everything has to be washed. I figure if I get the stuff away from their current storage, in the oven, they won't be so inclined to take everything out and dirty it.
Before I got home, though. I got a call from my supervisor that we were getting some NIQ work to do overnight, if I was interested. NIQ means Next In Queue, which means it gets done ahead of everyone else's. I had stayed up late and had not had much thought about working OT, so it caught me a little by surprise, but I never say to extra money. I was told the wafers to process wouldn't be ready until around 9:00pm. I was then able to come home with Javalina, work out and eat our sirloin steak and salads. I had hoped to come home early to see Wife as she was coming back to town, but once I got busy, I stayed busy all night long. I didn't get done until after 5:00am, and then came home hungry and not sleepy. I went to sleep around 7:00am, and then got up with Wife at 11:00am. We both showered and came down for a great breakfast of leftover rotisserie chicken which she disassembled and turned into shredded chicken with some sort of sauce and put them over some omelettes, it was delicious. We ended up napping after, then we went and saw the Ford Ranger, which was kind of cool, but certainly not worth the $44,900 when a larger F-150 is sitting next to it for $45,130 or something like that. I sat in the Ranger and it was a snug fit. I was surprised I fit at all.
After this, we went to the mall, I picked up my two watches I took in for repairs and then we went to HEB to get meat and groceries before the super bowl crowds of Sunday. Sunday will be my day of rest. I am writing this on Sunday at 11:30am. I got up at 8:30am, after staying up until 2:00am doing those two shelves for the pans and stuff. I think I should go take a nap, I don't think Wife has even gotten up, so that is probably where I should be.
Before I got home, though. I got a call from my supervisor that we were getting some NIQ work to do overnight, if I was interested. NIQ means Next In Queue, which means it gets done ahead of everyone else's. I had stayed up late and had not had much thought about working OT, so it caught me a little by surprise, but I never say to extra money. I was told the wafers to process wouldn't be ready until around 9:00pm. I was then able to come home with Javalina, work out and eat our sirloin steak and salads. I had hoped to come home early to see Wife as she was coming back to town, but once I got busy, I stayed busy all night long. I didn't get done until after 5:00am, and then came home hungry and not sleepy. I went to sleep around 7:00am, and then got up with Wife at 11:00am. We both showered and came down for a great breakfast of leftover rotisserie chicken which she disassembled and turned into shredded chicken with some sort of sauce and put them over some omelettes, it was delicious. We ended up napping after, then we went and saw the Ford Ranger, which was kind of cool, but certainly not worth the $44,900 when a larger F-150 is sitting next to it for $45,130 or something like that. I sat in the Ranger and it was a snug fit. I was surprised I fit at all.
After this, we went to the mall, I picked up my two watches I took in for repairs and then we went to HEB to get meat and groceries before the super bowl crowds of Sunday. Sunday will be my day of rest. I am writing this on Sunday at 11:30am. I got up at 8:30am, after staying up until 2:00am doing those two shelves for the pans and stuff. I think I should go take a nap, I don't think Wife has even gotten up, so that is probably where I should be.
Saturday, February 2, 2019
2/2/19 The New Ford Ranger?
It seemed like such an easy thing to do. Update it with a look reminiscent of the F150 and F250 with a square jaw up front and people would be lining up to buy this miniature version, but! I guess they took queues from the lame European vehicles. They may be smarter and sleeker and able to maintain weights of 120 pounds for men, but we are Americans. Even our small trucks should have a look of largeness. I have only seen pictures and videos, they just started showing up in local dealerships, so I already told Wife I wanted to go see one up close.
I have a certain nostalgia for the little truck as it was my first vehicle. I found one very basic, but still brand new back in 1991 for the grand price of $7995. I begged my parents to take me to San Antonio to go look at them as I was on my way up here to Austin and I didn't have my own vehicle. I think maybe I had $500 for a down payment and we (my folks mostly) paid $223 a month for 5 years. That little truck was still running last I heard, on its third or fourth owner. I loved it before I became a family man. Of course, mine was the single cab with seating across for two and a skeleton in the middle, but we frequently filled it up, sometimes up to four people, those were fun times.
Nostalgia aside, the new version better impress in person because the Lariat version, with leather and loaded was showing a price tag of $44,995 a couple days ago. I am sure one can buy an F-150 for less than that, even the Lariat F-150s have been close to that price point. Ford needs to get their shit together. Recently, I even saw nice looking F-250s with gas engines, not diesel, for $38,999. I'm just saying with those prices, why is someone in the US and more so Texas, going to buy the little guy when the bigger one is in the same price range?
At least they got a small truck in the game, Chevy and Toyota have been enjoying good sales without the competition and I am sure the look will transform slowly over time to resemble the bigger trucks. I do have a bias as I love the F-250 truck, and I have noticed that now GMC is kind of trying to copy the look. Their trucks are looking nicer.
I have a certain nostalgia for the little truck as it was my first vehicle. I found one very basic, but still brand new back in 1991 for the grand price of $7995. I begged my parents to take me to San Antonio to go look at them as I was on my way up here to Austin and I didn't have my own vehicle. I think maybe I had $500 for a down payment and we (my folks mostly) paid $223 a month for 5 years. That little truck was still running last I heard, on its third or fourth owner. I loved it before I became a family man. Of course, mine was the single cab with seating across for two and a skeleton in the middle, but we frequently filled it up, sometimes up to four people, those were fun times.
Nostalgia aside, the new version better impress in person because the Lariat version, with leather and loaded was showing a price tag of $44,995 a couple days ago. I am sure one can buy an F-150 for less than that, even the Lariat F-150s have been close to that price point. Ford needs to get their shit together. Recently, I even saw nice looking F-250s with gas engines, not diesel, for $38,999. I'm just saying with those prices, why is someone in the US and more so Texas, going to buy the little guy when the bigger one is in the same price range?
At least they got a small truck in the game, Chevy and Toyota have been enjoying good sales without the competition and I am sure the look will transform slowly over time to resemble the bigger trucks. I do have a bias as I love the F-250 truck, and I have noticed that now GMC is kind of trying to copy the look. Their trucks are looking nicer.
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