3/31/19 The Laughing And The Crying?

    It was a long day with plenty of ups and downs.  It started with a big ole down because Boy is not a cool and relaxed fellow.  Maybe I am the one that isn't a cool fellow, but this was a very important day for Wife and the last thing I wanted was Boy showing up late because of something on the road, like an accident.  After exchanging a couple of unpleasantries, Wife told me to leave it at that, she would have a talk with him later, so I did.
    We got there just in time to get involved bringing in all the heavy slow cookers full of brisket and rice and beans and everything in between to make a meal away from home a success.  It was nice to find out that my sister in law's coworkers wanted to donate their assistance serving the food.  Basically, we just got it inside to the tables set up for serving and the rest was taken care of by them.  We left the house at 9:00am and got there probably by 10:40am.  Boy then showed up an hour later, mostly because of us being annoying in the first place, around 11:30am.  He still wanted to show how it wasn't a big deal and that he was still early.  I told him we got lucky that there wasn't much to do, thanks to those ladies taking care of all the stuff with the food.  They were still useful in getting chips and salsa to all the tables.
    My in-laws were scheduled to arrive at 12:30pm, and luckily, my parents arrived at 12:27pm.  My parents came into the room as we were gathered by the door to scream "surprise!", which I was just glad my parents made it in time.  My brother had gotten there 20 minutes earlier with his family and even  my niece's new BF.
    I don't know how they managed it, but between Wife and her two sisters and brother, they turned this big white room into a beautiful tribute to their parents, complete with as many friends and family as they could motivate to travel.  The actual decorations were mostly from my brother in law's family as they do some professional hosting, they had all this stuff for free use and they even showed up to help decorate the night before.  I believe the cakes, which were two 3 level cakes in german chocolate and white wedding cake, were free/donated by another aunt of my brother in law's wife.
    I labeled this the laughing and the crying because those were the two main reactions to the various little speeches we all attempted.  After yelling surprise and eating a real good meal of brisket and all the sides, we saw a 20-30 minute video of my in-laws through the years as more and more kids, then grandkids were added in.  My older sister in law's husband started the speeches and he kept it very broad and focused to the 50 years of celebration.  I was next and after an initial small panic attack, where I almost lost it to crying, it is hard to tell people you genuinely love them and appreciate them and then try to come up with the words of why you feel this.  I prepared by writing my speech, and after hearing some laughter to the jokes I had added in, I felt more emboldened and was able to get through my commitment.  I felt like the weight of the world was off me as I walked to the back of the room where I prefer to lurk.
    Other people kept getting called up to talk and my two boys were caught unprepared.  Javalina was even joking he would read my speech, but only on the condition he would call me a "little bitch" for chickening out.  It was funny that Wife talks all the time in all sorts of capacities and rooms full of as many as 300-400 people and never has a problem, but she was crying and being emotional the whole time she said her piece.  She stood holding the mike as both boys went up there and Javalina took the mike stumbled for a second but came back with a thank you for having him over every summer and his grandma making him his favorite pan of chicken embueltos, which was funny and in line with the other boys mentioning nuggets and other foods.  Boy, on the other hand, was like the little robot that ran out of oil.  He froze hard and boom, Niagara Falls.  He fell into a heap in his mama's arms crying out loud and that turned the room into a crying beautiful mess.  It was a very rare moment of seeing Boy reacting with real raw emotions.  This was the highs and lows for me.  After the various other people saying thank you and I Love You to my in-laws, the party wound down, we cleaned up and headed to their house around 4-5pm.  I sat in the car and immediately fell asleep.  We got there and all I did was run over to their bed and laid down and slept until about 7:30pm.  I woke, ate some more brisket, heard a bunch more stories, saw them open their gifts and we left around 10:00pm.
    It was really a perfect and beautiful event.  I tried to be on my best behavior, and did not argue or complain to Wife about my normal shit.  Her parents were over the moon, caught by surprise at the effort the kids put on for them.  I want to grumble, but we are going back in the morning for brunch.  I woke up at 2:30am to write this and it is now almost 4:00am as I keep zoning out and coming to.  I guess it is a significant celebration to get to 50 years, my folks will be there in two more years, hopefully, shoot, we are halfway there, we celebrate 25 years this December.  Time flies when you are living life.

3/30/19 Prepping For The Big Party?

    I can't say what is going on this weekend, but we have been busy.  I am personally using it to introduce the family formally to the grown up version of Javalina.  We took him shopping at Men's Wearhouse for the first time and got him a jacket, shirts, ties, and he had already chosen a new pair of boots and a real nice two tone pair of dress shoes.  This, with his loss of almost 40 pounds from the start of the year and that crazy hair, has him looking very much like a young adult instead of a child in shorts and a t-shirt.
    Boy has always had a flair for dressing up, but we also bought him a new jacket, shirts and ties for the occasion, so he too will be looking like a sharp dressed man.  I don't think the extended family has met his girlfriend, so this will be again, a great opportunity to show him off a bit in the best light.
    I am writing this at work at the end of my Thursday night shift because I have a feeling the next 40 hours are going to be a blur.  Wife isn't getting home until late, she is helping to get the place ready tonight, so I will have to contend with getting any last minute things, such as I am thinking I want a new pair of shoes for myself.  Although we did choose a cool jacket for Javalina, they were supposed to send it to the store close to the house, but after calling Wednesday and raising hell over the handling of what they told me would take a couple of days to get there, I don't know.  They have told me it is on the truck for delivery today, so I have to wait until today to see if he is going to have that nice look put together.
    Wife also mentioned if I could stop and get some Mexican sweet bread for after the occasion, so I will have to run around a bit too.  I would like for Boy to wash his SUV, so it looks clean for Saturday, but man, he is some kind of lazy for doing stuff outside.
    I have to do a small speech which is the main thing making me not just sit back and enjoy this.  I did already write something that I think is funny and heartwarming, we'll see how it goes over.  I am mostly sarcastic and this will be an older crowd, I think.  Oh well, the people who want me to talk know me, so it is on them.
    It is now 7:30am, Saturday morning, it came too fast.  Last night, at 1:00am, we asked Javalina to try on his crispy new black dress shirt and although the measurements for the neck and arms are right, it is a slim fit and fits him way too snug.  He is going to have to wear his older black shirt which pisses me off, but the party has to go on.  He also spent half an hour finding his new belt, had no idea about his dress socks, and his dressy jeans were balled up on the floor.  That handsome young man is still very much a husky ball of clay that needs a lot of teaching on how to care for his clothes.  At least Boy had everything at the ready and had tried on everything earlier.  Here we go, long ass day starts right now.

3/29/19 Javalina's First Track Meet?

    I have to say that I really liked the first track meet of the season.  I got a chance to watch my boy in his environment.  He seems to be having fun all the time and seems to get along with everyone.  We could not have asked for a prettier day, as far as weather to be outside.  There was a slight wind that kept things cool and enough cloud cover to keep the sun at bay.  I got there probably at 5:15pm by the time I found a parking spot and walked all the way across the track to where the pads for shotput and discus are located.  By the way, those are the only sports Javalina competes in and that is fine by me.
    There were only three schools competing, I guess this is a tune up meet.  I think it was Gorzycki which is the upper middle class, mostly white kids, Ann Richards which is an all girls school, and Bedichek which is about 90% Hispanic.  Right off the bat, I was bothered by the fact that each kid from Gorzycki seemed to have their own shotput in their hands to warm-up.  The Bedichek kids are all sharing the one shotput and if we are going to go there.  I don't like their practices when I show up.  All the boys and girls are lined up, the coach is about 20 feet away and the kids are mostly playing grab-ass in the line.  I say grab-ass because Javalina has come home and said the girls are wanting to braid his hair, one likes to poke him in the stomach, and then there is the girl he mentioned that told him he is thick and she liked his butt enough to give it a squeeze.  How much learning is going to happen in this scenario?
    Anyways, he has a lot of room for improvement.  His coach had just told me the day before that he could throw the discus about 80 feet, but he scratched to both sides and the third throw was just a scared throw that didn't go 30 feet.  He really leans to the shotput more and his best was near 27 feet, so I was expecting something closer to 30 feet but I didn't think about all the relearning since this is something they only do a couple of weeks a year.  His best throw was only 25ft 4in.  This was from a standing position, barely any rotation and hardly any legs involved.  A short, small guy came in and just smoked everybody, throwing something like 35 feet, but his technique was very refined.  I wouldn't be surprised if he has a private coach.
    Overall, I am going to say Javalina has a ways to go if he wants to place, but his mouthy confidence is telling us he will be throwing over 40 feet by the end of the season.  I need his extra efforts and spare time go to making sure his body catches up to that big mouth.  I was the same way, always talking shit about how great I was, but I backed it up with extra hours of practicing by myself on the saxophone.  This boy sells himself as a demi-god and his alter ego walks with a bald eagle at the ready within striking distance.  I love his confidence, now we need his actions to match.

3/28/19 Bend Over Panera Bread?

    Panera Bread is a hip, cool, little restaurant that popped up on my radar about two years ago.  We first went to try it while I was recovering from my leg injury almost two years ago.  The food was something akin to making your own sandwich at home but with nicer bread, I guess.  I thought overall, it was clean but a little pricey for a sandwich place.  We were lucky in that the one we go to is on Slaughter but way west, I think into Circle C so the "rich" to "poor" ratio has to be 1000 to 1.  I just don't see the poor and/or homeless walking their HEB carts all the way over there, even for a free sandwich.  Why should they?  Plenty of "nice" (I really mean stupid) people will bring them money and food if they just stand on a street corner.  I am still contemplating moving because you can't go anywhere in Southpark Meadows without seeing a handful of them meandering like zombies on the Walking Dead.
    It seems that Panera Bread is now in trouble because maybe their heart was in the right place, they just didn't realize that moochers are never ending and just as I realized a couple years ago that helping the poor is like thinking that cutting your grass once will make your lawn look great all year.  The poor are one group and they can be alright as long as they are trying and still have a roof over their head, I kind of respect them.  The section 8 group is different, they are mooching off the government and again, if there is a goal maybe some schooling and there are some goals to get out of the situation, I say cool.  The homeless and the rest of the section 8 people that are happy to just take and take without giving back, they are what is bringing society down.  Panera Bread found this out in places like Portland where people have almost given up and are just looking to get by even if that means living on the street.
    The ridiculous part is that Panera Bread thought it would be a good experience for the haves and have-nots to mingle in line together.  This line of thinking is just stupid.  If I approach a restaurant and it looks full of stinky bums, I am not going to eat there and I might not ever go back.  The last time I tolerated sitting next to a bum was at Whataburger a few years ago with my family and for my efforts, the bum dropped his beer can which exploded and gave me a nice refreshing shower of what would have been his afternoon drink all over my back.  The only good thing is that I am so fat and wide that I shielded my Wife and boys from getting beer on them, and the manager came over and gave us our meal for free and kicked out the bum.
    I don't think Panera really meant to help the homeless, they set up shop only in upper middle class areas, like Circle C.  If they were interested in reaching for the poor, build on the east side I-35 anywhere here in Austin.  But then your parking lots wouldn't be filled with BMWs, Mini Coopers, Volvos, and Jags.  They would be filled with old Fords and Dodges and guys named Jose using tape to keep their cars together while they picked up a free sandwich on the way home.

3/27/19 This Is When I Get Called An Asshole?

    I honestly don't like to argue but stuff comes up and when pushed into a corner, I tend to snap back curt and to the point.  Wife just called and had an argument with me that did not need to happen.  It was already 10:30pm, she is driving to La Pryor in the morning and I was so busy until about a half hour ago that I never called or texted.  I figured since she didn't either she was busy or maybe fell asleep early as she sometimes does.  Why should I wake her just to say "uhh, I love you, goodnight."  We aren't freaking 12 year olds that need constant attention.
    But she does one of these manic calls, specially when she is tired.  She texted and called within a minute apart.  Here in the lab, the phone rarely rings, but texts come in pretty good as we have text chats all the time.  I was sitting watching a Netflix movie and running the tool with my phone propped up right next to the computer so I can see the light if I get text.  She called me and I returned the call within a few seconds.  She picks up but in those few seconds she has managed to get in the shower and now she can't hear me.  Her message was "I am going to sleep", so she should have been in bed.  Of course, I am on her speaker phone and it's a lot of "I can't hear you" and "what?" and me getting louder and louder.  Basically, earlier in the week the shower door started getting weird and loose.  "She has to tell me I can't close it, I am going to leave it open."  This is where I get mad because what are your choices?  Of course, leave it open.  It's not like you are going to break out a screw driver and knife and reseal the door, that is my job.  It was just a lot of yelling at me for no reason.
    Then to show she is frustrated because Boy "NEEDED TO DO HIS TAXES RIGHT NOW!!!!", she spent hours looking for paperwork.  This isn't my fault, but it tired her out.  I understand that, I said "go to bed, you're tired, that shit should have waited until the weekend."  That falls on deaf ears because she is like a paper shredder, once she starts, she can't stop until she finishes.  It is great until she runs out of energy, then she lashes out, but not at her babies.
    Just to give me one more kick for not being there when she wanted me there, Javalina asks if I am going to attend his track meet on Thursday and she does this formal fucking bullshit like she doesn't know "Oh, I don't know, your father works at night, I have no idea what he is going to do, maybe if we pray to the gods we can get an answer."  This truly pisses me off because I have NEVER missed an event that either of my boys have done that a parent should attend.  Plus, we had just asked the coach after practice where the event was going to be and at what time and if it was OK for me to take him home after he is done with his events since I work nights and have to get going as soon as possible.  She was standing right next to me when I talked to the coach, I don't know why the vague "oh, it's a mystery what your father does but I do hope he can at least pick you up during his lunch break maybe at midnight."  This is when I feel like kicking Wife in the butt because I find this insulting.  I have been training him during the off season lifting weights, I bought him his own shotputs (plural) and disci (plural), you don't think I want to see the fruits of my labor.  I want to see my beast take charge out there.  Wondering if I am going makes me sound like a shit dad and then to top it off asking "Are you going to feed him?"  Look at us, we don't look like the kind of people that skip meals.
    I know this call was just wanting to unleash on someone as you are way past your tiredness, but fuck, all I do is work and tend to the house, don't shit on me.  You know I will fix the shower door as soon as I have time.  Javalina will have me out there watching him and I will feed him one way or another.

3/26/19 Shitty Start Outside?

    If there is one thing I like about the mornings it is that Javalina does not need to be yelled and shaken and threatened to wake up like Boy used to need.  He sets his own alarm and gets up at 6:00am.  I don't take him to school until 7:50am, but he insists on getting up that early so he can shower, eat breakfast and hang out watching videos on YouTube or whatever else strikes his fancy.  Monday mornings are kind of a wasted time for me.  I almost have to stay up late on Sunday night, which is when I do the last of the washing and ironing and what not.  When I do like Wife likes and go to sleep with her, I wake up early Monday and have a hard time staying in bed during the morning.  Anyway, I was up until 5:00am last night, napped for an hour, woke up to make sure Javalina was up, then slept until 7:45am, took him to school, which is where our story picks up.
    I understand a 25 year old idiot making bad decisions on a weekend night, passing on the shoulder, not stopping at an intersection, but what about a mom in her late 30's, shouldn't that asshole know better than to take chances on the road?  Coming out of our community, I saw a mom in a Hyundai SUV on a side road to mine and I thought "Sorry, I beat you, line up behind me."  It is a real pain in the ass in the mornings to make a left turn out of our community because Akins High School is tot he right and people just drive a little aggressively down 1st Street.  I was waiting for my shot, but a car stopped in the middle lane to turn across the street from us into the apartment complex on the other side.  I know full well that that sumbitch has the right of way, but Ahole mama was having none of it.  She went on my right side and put her left turn blinker which made me almost short circuit because I can't handle shit like that.  The last thing I want to do is be involved in a ridiculous accident.  I didn't even have a chance to react, she blasted out into the middle of the road almost getting hit by cars going to the right and she cut in front of the sumbitch still waiting in the middle to turn into the apartments.  The really funny part is that I took off a couple of seconds later and without speeding still caught up to her by the next light, so what was her point?  That is one of the stupidest things I have seen on the road.
    Not to be outdone, another moron in the school parking lot came in all aggressive on my lane, jumped over as Javalina made it across and jumped over back in front of me like the cops were chasing him.  Ask anyone, I am not a lazy or slow driver, I am pretty aggressive myself, but I don't know what these people were on.  When I brought it up to Wife, she had a very smart answer.  She told me it was the end of Spring Break, parents were rushing to get rid of their shitty kids and drop them off so they could get back to being themselves.  I am paraphrasing because Wife believes people are inherently good.
    I was just glad to get to Target which is very close to the house and then finally home to get out of all that idiot traffic.

3/25/19 End Of Spring Break?

    Well, we celebrated Boy's birthday for two weekends and we went out of town more than we usually do, but in the end, Wife ran off to get more learning for work and the boys and I finally cleaned the yard the way we should have on our first day off.  It was a rough ending to a pretty good time off.
    Spring Break this year was a mixed bag and it really felt like it lasted almost two weeks.  I honestly don't know where Wife kept pulling $100s from, but we managed to eat all over the place and isn't that about half the fun anyway?  Her spring break was off by a week, as compared to the boys here in central Texas.  I don't know if that was done on purpose by the schools so that not everybody is off at the same time in a state as big as ours, or if the small towns didn't get the memo and move and re-align to what was going on over here.  We ended up taking it in stride and since Wife was off while the boys were still going to school, she came up and maybe saw a sick kid and licked him before she got to the house as she was pretty much sick for the first 4-5 days she was sick and mostly stayed in bed.  I was still working, so that was fine by me.  She goes at 100% all the time, driving back and forth that we all figured she needed the break and the chance to sleep extra.
    She started feeling better by Thursday and into Friday which is when I started my week off, so we were able to run around enjoying morning breakfasts after dropping off Javalina on his final days before his spring break started.  She had to go back to work on Monday and I managed to make lemonade by going with her and making it seem like that was our vacation getaway.  Javalina and I went to my folk's house while she worked Monday and Tuesday.  Boy had stayed in Austin because he worked most of the week even though he was off.  We came back on Wednesday, Wife had to attend one more conference thing in San Antonio but we were back home and we slept in the rest of the week and I did what I am doing now all week, wake up in the middle of the night and come down to write and goof around on the computer all night, like the night shifter I am.  After a couple of days off that Wife took to hang out with us, she found herself having to go to Dallas on what was supposed to be our last day off together.  We all got up at 8:30am as we had decided we would eat breakfast together before she left, and we did at Luby's.  It felt more like a punishment because we had kind of stayed up the night before and none of us really wanted to be up that early.
    After Wife left around 11:00am, I went back to sleep and the boys went to their rooms to nap/hangout, but I eventually woke at 3:00pm and we hit the yard hard.  Both boys got on the two lawn mowers and I took out the electric trimmer I bought a while back.  We cut the grass as it really needed it.  It went great with both boys cutting grass at the same time.  Boy cut the front and Javalina started on the back.  When Boy finished the front, he went and helped his younger bro with the back which was overgrown and pretty much up to our knees.  It was Boy's actual birthday and he already had extra friends here by the time we finished, so he took off as fast as he could.  Luckily, Javalina does not have a social life yet, and he stayed behind to help me.  I trimmed most of the yard along the fence which they did not do the greatest job.  Both of them seemed scared to get the mower too close to the fence. so I had a fat part of the yard to get through.  Eventually I did and then we fixed about 15-20 slats on the fence that were loose or had fallen.  I had bought about 6 new slats like two months ago and finally installed them.
    I finished my day of cleaning by filling the trash cans with crap from the garage, mostly boxes from Boy's out of control Amazon buying.  There were about ten tubes from different times he has ordered posters and it felt great to finally throw all those stupid things away.  Javalina and I celebrated by getting Panda for him and Jack in the Box for me.  We talked to Wife while we were in line ordering our food in the car, she was in her room by 8:30-9:00pm.  We ate and I finished washing clothes and here I am at almost 5:00am.  The yard is as clean and nice as it gets, all the clothes is washed and I even ironed all the shirts the boys wear and we are ready to start the last leg of the school year.  Next big rest is at the end of May for the boys.  I won't take another week off until the week of 4th of July.

3/24/19 Celebrating Boy's Birthday?

    Wife wanted to celebrate Boy's birthday a little better this year since he is turning 25 and it seems like a milestone, it being a quarter of a century.  He did pretty good on his own last week when he had friends in from Dallas and in town and they went racing miniature race cars at COTA (Circuit of the Americas), then did karaoke in a Mario Brothers themed room.  We only know all this through the beauty of Snapchat where they recorded their activities throughout the night.
    This weekend was our turn to celebrate with our son since last week was with his friends.  Wife and I discussed it and ultimately, she thought it would be better to meet in San Antonio since it is closer for my parents and her parents live there.  Since I will eat almost anywhere, I said lady's choice and although our first agreement was El Chaparral, we settled on Canyon Café at The Quarry.  We have eaten there a couple times over the last ten years and we are always impressed at how good the food is.
    The day for me started around 2:00pm when Wife woke me.  I had gone to bed early last night but then woke up at midnight to watch a movie with Wife, then another with Javalina.  Wife started watching the Motley Crue movie which was surprisingly interesting and then I had wanted Javalina to see The 40 Year Old Virgin which he saw most of it coming back and forth to our room.  I then came down stairs to write around 3:00am and stayed on the kitchen table until 6:30am as has been my habit all week.  It was good that we didn't have better plans as I just slept until the last minute.
    It was a pretty good afternoon, I took my little electronic muscle stimulator to show my dad who I knew would get a kick out of it.  When we got there, I installed it on his shoulders and he stayed there happily zapping away while we went and walked around Pottery Barn waiting for 6:00pm.  By the time we got back 20 minutes later, dad had played enough with the machine and asked me to take it off.  I then put it on my mom as I knew she would be skeptical about it working like I was describing.  We sat around outside as the weather was about perfect, overcast and in the mid 70's.
    We probably went in and sat down around 6:15pm, we were dragging ass waiting for Wife's family who were dragging a little ass.  We finally sat down and eventually everyone that was coming made it, probably by 7:00pm.  They were having a sale on their margaritas and I ordered one, which I rarely drink, but this one was yummy, mango flavored.  The food itself was delicious, I ordered a sirloin and it came with spinach and mashed potatoes.  Wife ended up giving me a taco of her carnitas from her plate, and Boy gave me about a third of his salmon with yams underneath it.  Everything I ate was very good.
    We were done by 8:00pm eating and Wife was trying to rush us because we saw some signs that said they were going to be closing the highway at 9:00pm.  We took a bunch of pictures outside and then we all headed off in our different directions.  We stopped at Buc-ee's for gas and to waste another half hour before getting home around 10:20-10:30.  We were too full to go upstairs and to bed so we sat at the kitchen table and ate some more cake and watched a couple of our shows that we record weekly.  Happy Birthday Mijo, we love you.  Hope you enjoyed your time with your family.

3/23/19 Another Boat Show?

    Last night, I was going through one of my boat magazines to look for web addresses to look at boats online.  Regal boats was one I had looked at before, but I wanted to look at it again.  When I did, it mentioned a few upcoming boat shows, including one in San Antonio.  I whined to Wife that we should go, even as she had planned for us to spend the day working on the yard.  Who wants to do that on a beautiful day?
    I still managed to wake up at 2:30am, come downstairs and spend the next 4 hours messing around typing and watching videos on YouTube.  I went to bed around 6:15 or so as the light was starting to show outside.  I was just hoping Wife would forget I wanted to go somewhere so I could sleep.  She harassed me a bit at 10:30am to which I said "Shh, let me sleep."  I finally woke up at 12:30pm, but had to go change the oil on her car.  I did that and luckily, it did not take long, we were on our way to San Antonio about 3:00pm.
    I love these shows because along with the boats and RVs (this show had both), there are booths with all sorts of interesting things.  Today, I "fell" for the pitch being done by an electronic muscle stimulator.  I had seen it before at other shows but had not bothered, but today as soon as we walked in Wife said I am going to go this way, and then Javalina said I am going to go that way, and within ten minutes of walking in, I was on my own.  I would have been pissed normally, but it gave me a chance to walk at my own pace and look at things that caught my attention.  Since I always have a sore right shoulder, I thought the muscle stimulator might be good to have.  It attaches through these little sticky pads and then the little box sends an electronic signal that makes the muscle underneath the pads contract.  I would not believe it works, except I tried it.  I got Wife to come back and try it even though she never wants to try anything that touches her skin.  I could see her shoulders lifting up and then falling, just like mine when he applied the sticky pads to her shoulders.  Javalina could not get enough of playing with this thing, he kept freaking out how his arm felt out of control.
    As far as the boats, of course I oved them, but they are really getting out of control as far as costs.  How can they consistently be going up in price?  Who can afford them?  The market has to be shrinking, there was a 16ft Bayliner entry level boat, and it was selling for $19,000 with a 60 horsepower engine.  We bought an 18 ft Bayliner entry level back in 1998 for $11,500 with a 120 horsepower engine.  We almost did go ahead and buy a couple of Seadoo PWC.  They were knocked down from over $8000 to $5999, for the boat show.  We spent a lot of time talking with the guys there and it was really hard to walk away from the deal.  In the end, I decided not to do anything mostly because we have a game plan to get out of debt and this would have been a frivolous expense.  The main reason I said no was because the sales guy himself said Javalina can't technically drive one alone until after he is 16, which he is 14 until November.  Wife had already said she wouldn't be interested in driving the second unit, so when would I have a partner to ride with?  Boy has already told me 1000 times he is not interested in anything like this.  I will just wait until Javalina is old enough, which will line up with a better time frame for us to get right, financially.

3/22/19 Dressing Up My Boys?

    Today started out kind of slow.  We went to the dentist and Javalina got his permanent crown installed over the tooth that had been bothering him.  Right before that, we ate at Double Dave's Pizza Buffet which is right next door.  Javalina, like the grown up that he is trying to become got nervous as his appointment time was approaching at 1:30pm that he walked over on his own.  I was enjoying a last sweet slice of cinnamon apple glazed pizza with Wife and walked over maybe three minutes later.  The dentist and staff did their work and we were home by 2:30 or so and having nothing better to do, we slept until almost 6:00pm.  It has been a really restful Spring Break for me.  I might go somewhere but I'll take a nap as soon as we get back home.
    When I woke I remembered Wife was saying we were having a celebration next week, it is supposed to be a surprise, so I won't say much else, not being sure who reads this.  I had found a shirt a few days ago but still needed pants and I remembered that Men's Wearhouse said they went all the way to size 64, if need be. I invited Boy to join us but he had just got home from work, and he said no.  I cracked some jokes about him not being able to breath outside of the house without his GF and that got him going, saying I was going to buy him a suit since I was offering.
    We got to Men's Wearhouse at the mall around 7:30pm and time just flew.  We waited for our guy, Peter, to help us.  He has been helping us since Boy started dressing up back in high school, going back almost 10 years.  Boy being a slender frame pretty much looks good in anything and even though he started trying on some silly jackets, finally settled on a velvety dark turquoise/black jacket with a high sheen black shirt and instead of a tie, opted for a pocket square for a touch of brighter color.  He then chose to wear some dress jeans with this and ran to Buckle with Momma to go get a new pair.  I was excited to see what Javalina would do, whether go conservative and black or go with some color and all I can say is that boy is like his dad with liking the loud colors.  He chose a red jacket with a black collar that just puts a spotlight on him.  To tone it down a bit, he chose a black shirt similar to Boy's shirt.  I bought both of them another dress shirt for any upcoming special occasion and they both got ties just because.  It felt good to see the boys, Javalina especially, since he is just starting to dress like a young adult.  He insisted that whatever he got was going to work with the two tone shoes he just got on Saturday.
    While they went to Buckle, I went to Dillard's and found some dress pants to match the shirt I had found on Saturday night, Men's Wearhouse did not have anything that worked on my big ass.  I think I still need a new pair of shoes, so the plan is to go find them tomorrow.  As we were leaving Dillard's at closing time, they were putting up their additional 40% off on sale stuff.  We have had great luck in the past finding good stuff, so unless we find something better to do, I am sure we'll be looking for those sales.

3/21/19 Chuckling Over The Newest Scandal?

    I was surprised to hear that rich people can't buy their kids into good schools.  Who knew?  Even on Black-ish which is on TV, the doctor mom makes a considerable donation to get ole Dum-Dum to  California University, which to add some realism, she has just embarrassed herself by getting caught cheating (because she didn't deserve to be there) in the second season.  I mean universities need all the money they can pull in (he says sarcastically), it isn't about teaching the area student core so they go out and help their surrounding community.  That is the only reason it makes sense to me that a place like UT allows students from out of the country to come and study here but charges them two or three times what the local yokels pay.  A smart person in admissions would then figure that it is more profitable to accept more kids from the outside, even if when they finish they take all that fresh knowledge back to their home country.  If it isn't about money, how does a University in the middle of Texas benefit to train a couple of generations of engineers and scientists who are mostly headed back to China and India?  Shouldn't they be trying to keep that knowledge here?  I want to see the universities training diverse student populations, but I feel it is in the interest of the US to keep it limited to American kids.  This might sound awful Trump-ish, but yes, each University has only so many resources, why give them to a kid headed on the first jet back overseas as soon as he gets his degree?
    So what will the punishment actually be for these privileged brats?  I expect about as much punishment as Trump faced for saying "Grab Them By The P*ssy."  Rich people have a way of being above the law.  I am glad that whole BS of the 50's and 60's where morons would burn books because they were of the devil are gone, but those people were good at expressing outrage over something that didn't matter.  Those people might be livid over this but in reality, nobody cares about this scandal, I am only writing about it in jest.  I know it will not go anywhere.
    I do find it interesting that when minorities were starting to get a little advantage that the Hopwood case happened, which ensured people couldn't have an advantage because of race.  Keep them beaners and blacks down, right?  Who is going to scream bloody murder now to keep overprivileged whites out of academia so that real qualified candidates can try for a better life?  The real shame seems to be like this example of some privileged a-hole taking a spot on the UCLA women's soccer team with no experience whatsoever.  All the other athletes on the team were either on the US or canadian Olympic soccer team and then this yahoo.  The coach and everyone else who enjoyed those extra dollars should be fired and maybe an I for idiot tattooed on their forehead, but again, nothing will happen.

3/20/19 There's No Place Like Home?

    I really enjoyed going to my folk's this weekend, specially with no agenda.  It was like being a kid again, almost.  We arrived a little later than I wanted on Sunday night but we were still greeted with BBQ, so we filled up on fajita tacos and stuff.  Wife had to work Monday morning, but my Mom did what moms do, and whipped up a pretty good breakfast with eggs, biscuits, turkey bacon, raisin bread for Javalina and coffee.  Javalina and I were a little apprehensive on the turkey bacon, but in the end, we couldn't tell the difference too badly.
    At noon I went with Dad to see where he was going for his radiation treatments, and we were back by 3:00pm.  I believe I napped after that while we waited for Wife to get back home from her work.  My folks thought it would be nice to treat us to dinner at Richardo's, and although I normally hate leaving the house, this was perfect as there was no crowd, only a couple of families eating at the same time.  Wife did stress me because the restaurant is next to the junior college building downtown and she was telling me that all the cars there were for people eating in the restaurant.  Since it was 7:00pm, I kind of believed her, but luckily for me at least, the restaurant was mostly empty.  We had fajitas the night before and even on the weekend as Boy had cooked fajitas with his friends for his party Saturday night.  I chose the 1 pound burger and it really took me to my limits.  It was great, with bacon, avocado, and the basket of fries, man...
    We went and visited my aunt for a while after, followed by a quick trip to the dairy for a blizzard before going back home where my brother and sister were waiting for us with their kids.  I was a little bothered they didn't join us but I understand people are busy with life, all the kiddos have practice in basketball, or baseball, or whatever is going on in their lives so everyone stays busy during the week.  After everyone left, I laid with Wife for a few minutes while she fell asleep but then I stayed up again until 5:00am.  I mostly do it so she can sleep a restful night and not have me bothering her with my getting up every couple of hours to pee.
    Today, I finally got up at 10:30am and my mom offered to go get chicken from Golden Chick as that is what Javalina had told her he wanted to eat.  I was still drinking my cup of coffee when she came back, but that was fine.  I managed to eat, watch a couple of YouTube videos before taking a nap.  I woke around 3:30pm thinking I should shower in case Wife showed up, but she did not.  Mom ended up making dinner at 5:00pm, which was another big feeding for us, this time her burgers that are so good.  Wife calls them chicken fried burgers as mom covers the burger patties in flour before cooking them, but they turn out great.
    At this point, we just kind of hung out outside watching the kids act the fool playing some sort of football while we waited for Wife to get back from work.  She finally showed up at 7:00pm and we left around 7:30pm.  My parents could not have been better hosts, feeding us constantly and providing not one but two bedrooms so even Javalina had a room to go hide in.  Everything was great, but there is something about getting home after a couple days away.  I just love having multiple bathrooms where I know there is no pressure if I want to sit on my toilet for an hour.  Plus Boy didn't make the trip and I never like it when we are split up when I am off.  I already miss a lot of time with them because I work nights.  Wife has the end of the week off, so at least for a few days, everything should be great.

3/19/19 Going With Dad To His Cancer Treatments?

    Cancer is probably the scariest words in the English language and nobody wants to hear it coming to them, specially from a doctor.  About a year ago my dad started a comprehensive evaluation which was meant to check everything about him.  I don't know if this was initiated by my mom or by the fact that he had just been labeled 100% disabled as a military veteran.  The first big hurdle was his heart and we all had to hold our breath after one of the doctors thought one of his tests looked iffy, only to turn around and say he had the heart of a middle aged man at least as far as blockage goes.
    Just when it all seemed too good to be true where even his lungs were ruled ok even when he had been smoking since the age of 13 and was about a two pack a day smoker, it was the ole finger in the butt that found that this man of steel did indeed have a weakness.  As I have heard time after time, if a man lives long enough, he will end up getting prostate cancer and dad was no different, at the age of 70, he was told he has cancer in the prostate, the most common cancer for men.
    Once diagnosed, it seemed to take forever to get started with a treatment plan.  He was given several choices, including radiation 5 times a week for 40 days, an installment of radioactive pellets by the prostate which would be installed and they would do their thing and then removed after a certain amount of time, or a freezing procedure which would freeze and kill off the area deemed "cancerous".  Dad chose the oldest most reliable procedure which is the 5 times a week for 40 days procedure and after a good while which got us through the end of the year in 2018, he finally started at the end of January.  He had explained the procedure through the phone and in person over the last few weeks, and since I am in town this week, I decided to go with him to see as much as I could.
    I want to say that even though I am not a fan of my younger brother not working continuously, I am glad he is around to keep dad company even though the two of them are like oil and water.  At their best, they get along and my brother does what he has to in order to help the old Fart, but there is a lot of holding back because Dad knows how to get under people's skin yet my brother is as big as me and he could literally shake Dad into a broken bag of bones.  Somewhere in their communication though, there is love and all their "chingados" and "dammits" are a lot of hot air.
    The hospital/clinic was a very new-ish feeling building with a good sized waiting area, complete with a coffee maker and even a toaster oven, I guess if we were going to be there awhile.  For Dad's appointment, we got there around 12:50pm and he went in by 1:15pm or so.  I was fine sitting there taking it all in, even thought it kind of cool when Dad came over and opened the wheelchair they keep by the door and he sat on it and rolled back and forth for a bit while we sat there and waited.  He was called in and I got more and more comfortable in that big creamy leather chair and before I knew it, I fell asleep.  Next thing I knew, Dad was coming out from the back area and my brother snapped to attention and told me "hey, it's time to go, wake up."  It took me a minute to snap and figure where I was, but I got up and jumped in the truck right at 2:00pm.  My brother started driving and got as far as the HEB to get some gas, and then my dad said he felt good enough to drive, which he did.  I did what I do best and fell asleep as soon as we got to the outskirts of town.
    The doctor had told my dad he has treated something like 10,000 cases and they all have gone well, unless the client does not give up smoking.  There is a connection with smoking and continued probability of cancer growing back, but after his fall in January which had him in the hospital for about eight days, he got scared into giving them up.  Last time we had seen each other, he was going on 61 days of no smoking, so hopefully there will be no complications after next week when he gets done.

3/18/19 Going Home For Spring Break?

    That makes a nice title and I am comfortable enough at my folk's home, but at this point, my home is in Austin.  Boy didn't even make the trip with us, so we aren't even traveling as a family right now, just three vagabonds bound to each other by title and blood.  All joking aside, Wife just ended her Spring Break while Javalina and Boy are starting theirs.  I had assumed Wife was on the same page as the boys, so I asked off for this week about a month ago.  Since Wife has to return to work, we had a couple of choices:  we could have stayed home and waited for her to return, go with her and hang out at my folk's while she goes to work, or the boys and I could have taken off on a man's vacation to parts unknown, maybe the desert, rent a 4x4 and live off the land for a couple days.
    The first one would have been no different from our day to day, and I would have slept the days away until she returned and probably while she was there too.  The third one is a pipe dream.  There is no way we would go on vacation without Wife.  I am a weenie and I would be scared to a hotel room the first time something made a noise in the dark.  So the only real option was to travel light and visit parts known.  We even managed to fudge that up as my siblings waited as long as they could but they left at 8:15pm or so to get the kids ready for bed and we got here around 8:30pm.  It always wants to feel different, but then it doesn't.  The kitchen was gutted in the past year or two and looks entirely different, yet the room next to it is where Wife sleeps and all her clothes and our stuff is in there, so that is comforting.  The bathroom too has also been redone, even the throne is different, and they finally installed one for a bigger ass which I am overjoyed with.  I had been asking for this for a long time.  I am just glad I went with them and helped my dad choose the right one, finally.  The rest of the house looks fairly the same, which is good, for nostalgia's sake.  I am on the fence about the gaudy poster sized frames of my sister and my brother in their wedding outfits, but I guess you get that or the shotgun imprint on your back when the wife-to-be is knocked up and the size of a Winnebago.  Don't worry, we are on the wall in a little 3x5 pic hidden amongst the grandkids, I think.  I kid, I kid, there is no 3x5 pic, my bad.  But anyways...
    It will be nice to be away from Austin, even for a couple days.  My folks already mentioned going to eat tomorrow at Richardo's, which is a restaurant owned by our cousin.  I am not a fan of going out down here as I hate running into people who I don't remember from basically 30 years ago, but I guess for my folks.  I guess now I have to decide how late do I stay up?  Wife will be working until 5:00-ish, I will probably be getting up every couple of hours anyway to pee, and I hate bothering Wife when she needs to sleep.  Ehh, guess I'll catch up on some YouTube time.

3/17/19 Breakfast At Luby's?

    We have a Luby's down the street, about a mile or two from the house.  Given the choice between there or Fuddrucker's, which is attached to the same building, we choose the burger place 90% of the time.  Luby's food is good enough, it just adds up and tends to be expensive for essentially cafeteria food.  They do offer their "Luann platter", but it sucks.  I ordered it one time and the lady cut my already small square fish in half which left me with enough food for a toddler and I said unacceptable.  These are just some reasons we don't normally eat at Luby's as often as we eat at other places.
    About two weeks ago, Wife got an advertisement for All-you-can-eat buffet for $7.99, which seemed sketchy and too cheap to be good.  Another catch is that the breakfast is offered only on Saturday and Sunday from 8:00am to 10:30am.  We missed it both days last week as Wife was a little sick.  Yesterday, we finally got our poop together and made it there at about 9:45am.  We got lucky in that there was no line and we walked right up to the food.  The restaurant itself looked like it had been full, but was now at the tail end of a big push.  Many of the tables were moved around and still looked sticky but we found a few clean ones to sit and enjoy our food.
    The choices kind of surprised me as they had waffles, biscuits, pancakes French toast, and chicken and waffles in the first section with choices of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, maple syrup and even gravy for flavoring.  The next section was eggs, eggs with sausage, eggs over easy, huevos rancheros, potato wedges, barbacoa, tortillas, bacon, sausage, sausage links, and even ham.  There were also little boxes of cereals for the kids fruit cups with mixed fruits and pineapples, and even some of their slices of pies which they normally have for desserts.
    I had two plates loaded on my first trip.  I tried the French toast, with apple chunks in syrup, eggs and two huge cuts of ham on 1 plate plus barbacoa, bacon, sausage links and regular sausage.  Wife had one plate and so did Javalina.  If there was something to complain about is that we had to eat the barbacoa with corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas that we are more used to.  Everything else was good enough for me, specially that the whole deal was $7.99.  I guess the drink was extra, I chose a Coke Zero and had about three glasses of it, but we could have gone with water for free.
    I did choose to go for a 2nd round mostly because it was buffet, and I had a half waffle with a piece of chicken tender on top.  It is a thing in some restaurants and it actually works, I thought it was good with a little syrup over them.  Finally, for dessert, I had a cup of pineapple chunks.  I have to say it was nice and much cleaner from the Golden Corral which also offers a breakfast buffet, but even though it was a month old when we went, it got run amok with too many people and it looked run down way too fast.  So far though, Luby's is standing up to their breakfast rush and I think we will be eating there now and then.

3/16/19 Where Does Trust Come From?

    Wife and I have been together now over 30 years.  The idea of not having her around at this point is that it will only happen when the Grim Reaper takes one of us away.  The whole idea of trust and "what is she doing over there three hours away?" is a game for the young.  I am so busy during the week, I barely pay attention to her when she calls.  I mean, I hear the words, but it's not like when you are 16 and thinking in your head, "Is she with another guy?"  At some point you just move on from that, I don't know if it is getting older or just your focus changes to other matters.
    I got a call from a friend last night that she was done with her guy because he had lied about having another girl around and she could not trust him anymore.  I offered her a room for the night, but she said she could wait it out until today, but she would probably go to her mother's place.  To my surprise, I woke up to a couple of texts from the guy.  I texted back a hello and he proceeded to fill me in on his side of the story.  I honestly believe him, he is what I always term a "good guy", whatever that means.  To me, it says, he doesn't get drunk, he is focused on school and his future, and he has never really played the field.  He unloaded a bunch of issues on me, I guess he needed to talk to someone, but regarding the "girl" he had over, she was over with her boyfriend which my friend did not tell me about, whether she knew or not.
    It sucks for the guy in this scenario that he has never had trust in the first place, even though he has never done wrong, to my knowledge.  She caries baggage from dating too many idiots and is basically putting all the old trash on the new guy.  I am not sure if this comes solely from her, or if her mom is helping to make the guy look bad, but she also had a girlfriend over last night and there was alcohol involved which leads me to think that her brain got filled with bad images of worst situations.  I don't think the guy would willingly text/call me except that he is at his wit's end.  I told him to just relax and get a good night's sleep, he had been up the last two nights without much sleep.  Then I told him if she is using this as an excuse to end the relationship, there isn't much you can do about that.  If it is a misunderstanding, we'll (Wife and I) get it out of her and push her back in your direction.
    I told him if I could give him any advice for this or any future relationship is to be the man in the relationship.  Do not be a "Yes Dear." type of guy, they never win in the end that I have seen.  When you give the reins completely to a woman, she grows heavy with power and then fails.  I have seen it in relationships in friends, coworkers, and family.  The pussiest of pussy replies is "I do all the work so she can have an easier life and more time to herself."  What for?  So she can fill that dingbat brain with bad ideas?  Keep them busy wondering what your next move is, like a kitty cat chasing that laser light around the room.  Otherwise, they just focus their energy on how they can fuck up your wonderful day.

3/15/19 Boy's Work Ethic Makes Me Proud?

    I have been trying to teach my boys that the only way to succeed in this world is to work harder than any competition.  I sometimes loose my cool when it seems my words fall on deaf ears and even today as we kept arguing over the thing that pissed me off this weekend, I don't feel I am wrong as we have chosen to live in this part of the world where success and the good life abound everywhere but only if you stand out and make yourself worthy of it.
    About a year ago Boy started an internship at his current company and I don't think he was getting paid the first semester, but he kept working at Alamo Drafthouse, which was good for us, we loved getting free tickets to the movies about twice a month or more if there were good movies playing.  The internship wound down but they liked his ambition and "get it done" attitude so they offered him a position to continue working but at a very meager $13 an hour which was close to what he had been making at Alamo.  He took a risk and quit working at the theater which lasted a good five years, from the time he graduated high school.  I say risk but they did tell him he could go back anytime, as they loved him as an employee who showed up ready to work.
The current job had been good to him, letting him have free rein in setting up one of their labs, where he was responsible for ordering all the equipment and then letting him work there fine tuning and assembling the product they make until he had a couple of run-ins with his current boss.  The last confrontation involved his boss throwing his dyslexia at him and telling my son he wasn't cut out for working in this field.  Honestly, to my surprise, he stood his ground and sent his boss to HR where he got a talking to and my son basically got the old apology of "well, things got stressful and I didn't mean what I said, blah blah blah..."  It is probably better that it went down this way, because Mama bear would still be holding this man's balls to the fire, she is even more adept and knowledgeable of the rights of people with disabilities, but I digress.
    Today, when I went home for lunch and we were all a little more relaxed about arguing he let us know he got another promotion at work.  He will be working under a different supervisor and he is getting a substantial raise to $24 an hour.  All I could say was wow and congratulations.  He said it kicks in when his current contract ends at the end of May.  If that wasn't good enough, they told him to expect another raise around December after he graduates.  At $24 an hour, he will be making the equivalent of $50,000 a year, not bad for a kid still going to school, which I am hoping reaches to around $90,000 or so when he does graduate.

3/14/19 What Exactly Does "My Body, My Rights" Mean Anyways?

    Let's just suppose someone tells you this, how much weight do the words have?  If you are unconnected to the person, I suppose they mean exactly what they sound like, but what if you have a connection, can you whack an idiot for doing idiot shit?  I don't want to name names but few things are as incendiary to me as acting like you're smarter than me in the first fucking place.  To put my children in harm's way and you to act like you have it under control, that asshole better be puckered in and don't make any mistakes because I will call you on it the second you make a mistake, and everybody does.
    To come from it from a different direction, "Is anyone perfect?"  No, no one is.  I saw what I perceived to be a wrong and addressed it, do I not have a right to ask questions and tell an idiot "Don't be an idiot."  We could say no, I have no right to question people I did not create, fair enough, but what if their actions put into play circumstances that would involve my brethren that I have so judiciously raised to affect the world positively, not change fucking diapers like a mook.  Any idiot can be put to raise more idiots, there is nothing impressive about that.
    If you are wrong and then we are involved because we have now grown our family because of ignorance, then what?  Can you take it back, so that it is still "your body, your rights?"  If it seems like I am alluding to something, yes I am, and yes, it will be discussed, but I can only do that when I am off, so I get to sit here and stew over this stupid shit all week.  I thought this was something we had already discussed and gotten past, but now I see that I may have been lied to just to shut me up the first time.

3/13/19 Picked Up The Bari Sax Yesterday?

    Javalina  had his UIL concert yesterday and they scored better than last year with a couple of 2s and a 3.  Last year they got 4s all across.  Since Wife is off for the week, she went and watched them perform.  She tried getting me to go, but it would have meant taking a shower at 1:00pm, heading out of the house at 2:00pm to make it to the venue before 3:00pm.  Then I would have lost all my chances to sleep enough for my night at work.  Since I just saw him play last week, I told him I wouldn't be going.  He gave me a little shit, but he came around quickly.
    Anyways, he came home with Wife and as a result, he brought his big Bari Sax home.  While we were eating lunch at Poke Joe's, he was talking all sorts of crap about him being the best, and now Wife cut him off that until he starts putting in hours like I used to do, he will just be ok, and not quite a demi god, as he likes to call himself, half jokingly.  He did not like this and issued me a challenge that when we got home he wanted to hear me play, assured that I have just forgotten everything and I was just going to embarrass myself.  I just laughed at him.
    When we got home, the first thing I did was clean the mouthpiece, they tend to get skunky from all the saliva that runs through them, gross but just part of being a musician.  Once I washed out the mouthpiece for a good five minutes, I installed a new reed which I don't know how he was even playing, at a competition no less, with probably the same reed he started the year with.  I liked having a couple reeds going in case one went bad.  It takes a few sessions playing on one to break one in.  At first they are real stiff and they have a hard time vibrating correctly, especially to get the lower notes.  I played a scale first and sure enough, it was hard getting those low breathy notes, it kept wanting to kick over to the higher octave.  I wasn't sure if that was me or the new reed, but after a couple minutes I felt it all coming back.
    He then said to put on any song on my phone and he would play it.  I did and then he complained that it had too many words.  I told him to listen for the melody in the background, but I don't think he understood or knows how to do this.  I hummed it a little and within a few minutes had figured out the notes and started playing along with the song.  He tried telling me I was off but he knew he picked a losing battle there.  I felt a little bad for him, but I felt good that I was able to play that easy.

3/12/19 Time Off To Rest Or Repair?

    We are now in March and Wife is in the meat of her Spring Break, but as usually happens, she goes so hard on the days she works that when it is time to take a few days off, she gets sick.  This has now happened a couple times.  I think she would be better off listening to me and taking a day off each month whether she needs to or not.  Nobody is thanking you at the end of the year for having most of your sick days still intact.
    I don't have as much of the same problem because I work a 12 hour shift and am set up around working 3 days one week and then 4 days the next.  This means every other week I have either 4 days off or 3 days off, which is very nice.  Wife, on the other hand, works 5 days a week and she has to start it by taking that long drive from Austin to La Pryor on Monday mornings.  Her week does not end until again, she takes another three hour drive to get her back to Austin.  I occasionally tell her "Why don't you take this coming Friday off?" "I can't", she always says "there's a meeting and I must get my 2 cents in there." Or "No! This coming Friday we have to do blah blah which determines whether the school gets federal money or not."
    I can't win with her, so I don't usually try, but then when she is given time off like Spring Break or even Thanksgiving where she gets a week, first she needs to be sick a couple days, then she feels better when it is time to get back to work.
    I am worried because I took a sip from her tea yesterday, she was kind of saying she was feeling a little tired, but not admitting to being sick.  This didn't happen until Monday night when I called to see what was going on at 10:00pm.  She said nothing and that she was fixing to go to bed.  I said "really? Because most nights you are here you stay up until 3:00am, but now that I will be home around 1:00am, you are going to be asleep?  That sux!"
    The way shit works this little bug will manifest itself come Friday afternoon just as I am starting my week off.  I haven't been sick all winter so I am sure that I am due.  Oh well, at least I will have some down time and an excuse to stay in bed.

3/11/19 Sometimes Saying No Is Alright?

    I honestly hate saying no to people, it feels to me like I am rejecting them somehow.  I have told that to Javalina who says "yeah right, you tell us no all the time."  To which I have to say "yeah, you and your brother have no limits to how much you ask for, but generally, if you ask for something, I will eventually get it." "Jerk."
    This weekend my folks, and my sister and her family were in San Antonio having a mini vacation getaway and they wanted us to join them.  Nobody gave me prior notice and Wife had already made plans for Saturday to go visit her folks for the day, so Saturday was out of the question, which sucked because I have been wanting to go to the Zoo and that is where they were Saturday afternoon.  When Wife left with her family to see some play with one of her brother's kids, I texted my mom, thinking if they were over in that side of town maybe I could have joined them for dinner, but they stayed late at the zoo and then they headed to their hotel, so I hung back and killed time at Bass Pro Shops.
    I had told my mom that we would be available on Sunday to go to Fiesta Texas on Sunday, but being that Wife didn't get done with that play until after 9:00pm, and we didn't get home until 11:00pm, I didn't want to go lay down to come straight back to the same spot I had been the night before, so I said no.  I felt shitty saying no, but I did wake with a sore right shoulder, probably from sleeping in the car on the way back to Austin and we are not on Spring Break, meaning Javalina has school here in less than an hour.  I am also working a full week and sorry, but I like a day of rest to hang out in my house and not run around so much.
    It was good that we opted not to go too, because my Excursion has begun making a dull grinding noise, I think it's the brakes needing replacements, they had told me they were pretty bare last time I got an oil change, so I assume it is that.  Either way, we dropped it off at Ford yesterday afternoon.  I am hoping they can replace the brakes and give it its yearly inspection in a day or two.  We also need to take Wife's car in, it is making a rattling noise that sounds loud as hell when we are talking over the phone.  So yes, I would have liked making my mom happy by showing up, sometimes I gotta be selfish and think of me.  We saw them last week here in town and we are going down there next week, so I think we are seeing them enough lately.
    Plus, if they wanted to see us, they could always come up and stay here for free instead of spending good money at some hotels.  We may not provide continental breakfast but the beds are king sized, the rooms private and the coffee is free, usually.  Plus we don't charge for small pets.

3/10/19 Surprise Trip Down Memory Lane?

    We went to my in-law's house in San Antonio Saturday primarily for my father-in-laws 76th birthday.  Wife thought she would sneak in a viewing of a play in which one of her nephews was coming out in, but I shook that off.  While we were there, Javalina started talking about how he is the greatest bari sax player and how he is the best at football and pretty soon he is going to show the world his strength on the shot put.  This little boy does not lack confidence, he can talk about his greatness for days.  He even has an imaginary bald eagle that lands on his forearm when he tells a heroic story.
    What was awesome was that my sister in law started telling him how I was really the best bari sax player.  She apparently was aware of the hours of sacrifice I did practicing after school and taking my sax home and then she mentioned that they had videos of us performing.  They still have a VCR plugged into their flat screen TV in the living room and before we knew it, we were all sucked in and watching the good old days.  She could not find one where I was playing the sax, but she did find our wedding video and that was fun to see.  My parents are basically my age right now, we looked like kids, Wife's younger sister was a little kid, probably in 4th or 5th grade.
    Javalina said it looked like I lifted weights back then, even through a suit.  I told him I did and at that point I probably weighed what he weighs right now.  I was around 220 pounds back then, the fittest I have ever been.  My lawyer brother is prominently pictured right next to me as the "best man" and he looks like he weighs around 150 pounds, not the beefy boys we have both become.  It was funny that Javalina said "Mom, you look the same in size."  she was pregnant with Boy, about 6 months.  Like I said, this boy is a whippersnapper at talking shit.  I wish the quality of the video was better, my Grandma was all over the place, dancing in one of her shiny sequined dresses, it was a good night and we are still going strong.
    As far as the party, it was low key, her brother wasn't even there with the 4 noisy kids.  We ate various kinds of enchiladas, with cheese and with chicken, then we had some cakes that Boy's GF made the night before.  She makes a mean homemade German Chocolate Cake!
    At 5:30, they started talking about going to a play, and I said no thanks once I realized we were not going to get out of it as a family.  I told Wife to go with her folks and I would go and hang out at Bass Pro Shops which is in the same area of town.  This was like the third time I had been promised a trip there to look at boats and this was my escape to make it to the store.  I was there from probably 6:00pm until 8:40 or so just enjoying the store without rushing, like when Wife goes with me.  She normally lets me enjoy it for half an hour before she starts acting bored.  It was all good, and we made it home by 11:00pm

3/9/19 Grown-ish Pisses Me Off So Much?

    I finally started watching Black-ish this year after Wife told me she was watching it on Hulu.  I had tried to get her to watch it when it started but she wasn't into it.  I have always liked Anthony Anderson ever since he was playing the fool in Barbershop, stealing an ATM.  He has grown into this perfect awesome dad, which I say that because my family likes to say I am like him in that he cries and gets his feelings hurt when his wife and kids act like jerks to him.  He is always just trying to do the best for them.  Even then, I couldn't really stand the character of the oldest daughter, Zoey, as she just walked in and out of scenes kind of mouth half open not saying anything, looking hot (but useless), and barely adding anything positive other than reminding us she was attractive.
    So, of course, she gets her own show, and surprise, the character has remained the same.  Zoey is now in college and she is far enough away that instead of popping in and out of the regular show, she has her own, with her own cast, and they even managed to bring Charlie, one of Andre's coworkers and funny guys and made him a dean at her school.  I have not seen all the episodes, but what I have seen has her in constant drama with her roommates who one drinks too much and acts stupid and the other fucks anything that moves male or female and acts stupid.  Zoey is supposed to be the normal one, but she has settled in with a fruity artsy "been to France", so he is worldly and smokes clove cigarettes and weed.  This would be fine if she came from an abusive household, or if there was chaos in her world, but we saw that she grew up spoiled and in private school.  This behavior is unacceptable plus she insists on partying over studying.  I know I sound like a joykill, but I have been there, and I came out the other end with a degree, she would have, in reality, been kicked out for being a cheater.  We saw the night before a chemistry final she chose to party, even with her best friends not even at the party, then trying to take a test she was ill prepared for, in a desperate attempt to save herself, she copies from the guy in front of her.
    After not picking up the phone a couple times, Andre (daddy) shows up worried about his daughter with Grandpa (played perfectly by Laurence Fishburne) and even after the idiot boyfriend realizes who they are, doesn't square himself up, maybe run and get some jeans, nah, he continues hanging out in his robe like he is home on a Saturday afternoon.
    I guess she pisses me off because we get to see someone who is handed everything here by her  parents that expect her to be enjoying herself but still succeeding and instead she seems to spend her days dealing with one little useless drama followed by another.  The last thing Daddy told her was that he was cutting her off, but then in a preview of next season, we see Junior has finally gone off to college and it looks like he has followed her and the shenanigans will continue.

3/8/19 Preview Of A Week Of Wife?

    Wife was here Thursday night in a weird whirlwind dream feel for me, but it was nice to have the big girl around to make us feel like a family.  She had not said anything, and it wasn't until Tuesday or Wednesday that she told me she had a thing to do in San Antonio and would spend the night over here.  I am off every other Thursday and through the weekend and Yesterday was one of those Thursdays.  Since work was really slow this past week, I managed to leave work Thursday morning well rested and ready for the weekend.
    I came home, dropped off Javalina, then I decided to take a jacket I just bought to the cleaners to get adjusted.  The holes where my hands would come out are huge, even with two buttons there two close it up, it still remains big so that my hand hides inside.  Since I really have big hands, I thought of adding an extra grommet to button the cuff tighter and have the size of my hand keep the jacket from coming down.  They are snap button things, I think they are called grommets, but anyway, they are only $4 a piece, so for less than $10, the jacket should fit that much better.
    After this, I had been thinking of brisket and decided to go to Valentina's on Manchaca.  The two tacos I bought to go came out to $13, which is a bit much, but I really wanted them and I was eating alone, so I didn't have to double the cost to feed my kiddos, yeaih me!  I ate my food with a Pepsi at home and maybe the soda made me hyper, I could not sleep, and I wasn't in the mood to watch my usual adult entertainment.  I just laid there with nervous energy, waking up every hour to play Words With Friends on my phone or look at houses on Zillow or glance at the porn playing on the laptop.  Eventually, Wife showed up before we had to go get Javalina from school, but Girlie had texted to please pick her up.  We picked her up then ran over to get the boy.  Wife had a BOGO from Potbelly, so we went to get that even though she had boiled eggs to make tuna.  Since our diet has been screwed all week, I half jokingly said you should get some donuts, and she made a hard turn to hit Dunkin Donuts on our way home.
    The rest of the evening was spent in the kitchen where she finished putting the tuna together, and hearing and watching Javalina be silly.  I was watching YouTube videos with painful gym accidents and some involved that oversized ball that helps strengthen the core, and Javalina was adamant he could show us proper form only to see him falling on his butt.  He can be a funny guy when he is being silly.
    After a long day of not doing much other than gorging on carbs, I was ready to fall asleep by 10:00pm, which in turn is why I was up when Wife left at 4:00am.  Here I am now... should I sleep or should I stay awake???

3/7/19 Small Town Dad?

    I don't know this man, but one sentence from my Wife and it made me tear up a little.  Wife works three hours away as I have said repeatedly.  I don't get tired of patting myself on the back, saying what a great dad I am, always around for my boys and blah blah blah, put the words on a bow, and the violin will play all the songs of greatness you want to hear.  This is not about me, but possibly another great man.
    Wife works in La Pryor and since she showed up they have been doing a daddy/daughter dance sometime around now and a mother/son dance, only to keep things equal, I guess.  She was bringing it up this weekend and asking me if I wanted to go to the dollar store to find anything pink to decorate the walls of the gym or wherever they hold the dance.  Since it doesn't affect me, I just shrug and say eh.  Why should I want to go to the dollar store, I hate it and it's not like I am buying anything that will help me?  Well Wife still managed to go, probably down there with a coworker, I don't have to ask, I just know nothing really stops my bull of a wife once she gets something going.
    The dance went off as a hit, they made a chunk of change which is always good, then she tells me just randomly that one of the fathers is working in Oklahoma, but he got in his truck and raced down to make it on time so he could spend it with his daughter, buy her the little flowers they had there, make her feel as special as she must be, and then he was wondering if they had any food to sell because as soon as he left the building he was headed back to Oklahoma so he could work in the morning.  I don't know about you, but I call that man a hero.  There is no way around it, Oklahoma is at least 7-8 hours one way.  He had to have left at 10:00am to get here by 5:00pm and hauling ass, only to turn around at 8:00pm and head back in the opposite direction.
    I imagine a roughneck since that is the only work I see someone from La Pryor going to Oklahoma for oil field work.  He has to have that little smell of oil in his veins that my dad always had when he worked in that line of work, not a bad smell, but almost like he just put gas in the car and got some on his shoes.  Even after a shower, these guys are never clean, this kind of work does not let you forget who you belong to, that black gold is in every crevice and nook on this man's body, but all that aside, instead of standing around with a six pack after a hard days work, he did the real important work of showing up when his daughter needed him.  Anything else going on doesn't matter, you know this little girl lit up like the 4th of July when she saw her favorite man.  Even with his favorite camo baseball cap and Wranglers that haven't been washed in a week, she still sees the best looking dad in that building.  Bravo!, good man, Bravo!

3/6/19 Band Recital Pre Contest?

    Javalina had a surprising band recital, so much so that if Wife hadn't told me, we might have missed it.  He acted surprised when I asked him about it.  He has been so focused on the start of track and field that he says he can't focus on anything else.  Today was the second day track and field has been postponed, due to the cold though, I think.
    I was half awake at 4:00pm today because he had said he was going to practice with the shot putters after school and then have the recital at 6:00pm.  I figured he might call early to go get him and he did, like by 4:05pm.  I slid on some warm ups and a shirt and I was on my way.  Since I had thought he was going to be busy, I did not get meat out to defrost, so we ate out, at Pollo Loco or something like that.  It wasn't too bad, it replaced the Hardee's there on Slaughter and First.  The only problem I had eating there was the $26 price tag for two plates of Mexican food.  We got back home about 4:50pm and both headed to our respective showers to get ready.  I woke up around noon worried about having to iron his clothes in a rush, so I did it then.  His shirt and pant were both ironed and ready to go, thanks to my super powers.
    We left and arrived at his school at around 6:05pm.  He ran in to get with his group to do whatever you do prior to performing.  I stayed in the Excursion and continued talking with Wife for awhile longer.  She had been up here most weeks for at least a day or two almost all year, suddenly, these last two weeks, she has been in La Pryor all week, so it definitely feels different, but back to the performance.
    I still feel that the first two bands could be combined to make one bigger band.  It was hard to appreciate the first band which was like 3 flutes, 2 clarinets, 1 saxophone, 1 trumpet and maybe 2 drummers.  I just don't get it.  Javalina is in the 2nd band and he is pissed about it because he says the only reason he is not with the best band is because of the Einstein program and how his classes fit.  I have to say, they are much improved over last year.  His band and the Wind Ensemble, which is the lead group sounded respectable.
    He asked me what score I would give them and I have to agree with what they got, mostly 2's.  They weren't great to say earn a 1, but I didn't hear to many mistakes and it did sound like music.  The difference between 6th grade when they started and now is world's apart.  The band directors for Crockett High School were there acting as judges, since they compete next week and I went to get a packet from them afterward and when they asked me which one was my kid I said so and so and they both said "oh, we know him!  He is a character, such a good kid, we already love him."  As a parent, it is nice to hear stuff like that.  I had him home by 7:50pm and I was at work 20 minutes later.

3/5/19 Better Things? (Hulu Series)

    I recently started watching Better Things which is supposed to be a kind of documentary of Pamela Adlon's life and if it is, she has some asshole daughters.  I have been asking around trying to figure out if the girls who range from 17, down to about 8 are assholes because they are girls with no father figure or are they spoiled because they are the daughters of a celebrity?
    It bugs me that they call their mom by her first name, which on the show is Sam.  Another annoying feature of the girls is anytime the stress level goes up, the older daughter panics, the middle daughter yells to call dad (while she hasn't figured out he is a useless piece of shit), and the young one cries like she is 3 years old.  The older one should start acting like she is almost an adult but she spends all her time brooding and making faces at her mother like she can't stand her.  I don't understand the dynamic, other than she is a single mother and she stays busy working, she seems to be all involved with her kids, yet every scene shows some form of disrespect or another.  I would not stand for this, first of all, call me dad or get a job and fend for yourself, Asshole.  Second of all, tow the family line.  There is a scene where Sam is invited to attend Mormom mass and she is against it, mostly because of her assumptions that they hate the gays, and while she is trying to make excuses that she is busy Sunday mornings, the middle daughter comes out of her room and yells downstairs, "Sam has nothing to do on Sundays, right?"  Leaving her with no excuse but to attend mass.  That was just a dick move.
    Another quirky thing is how Sam treats her mother.  I guess she was kind enough to buy her the house next door, but she doesn't ever seem to want to listen to her.  She treats her like a second class citizen.  Maybe her mom was a monster when they were growing up, she does seem very passive aggressive, a tad racist, ignorant, yet they don't outright say it, so it makes it hard to be pro Sam all the time.
    I have been a longtime fan of Pamela Adlon, her most famous role is as the voice of Bobby Hill on King of The Hill, but she has been around since Grease 2, she played the little sister to one of the Pink Ladies, Delores.  I feel like I am missing something because I went into the show liking her, but it has been hard to not have a little anger at the way she treats her mom and the way she lets her shitty kids act, but maybe I'm missing something.

3/4/19 How Is The Diet Going?

    The diet is still going, but at a slower pace, thanks to life and cake.  The first month we were all gung-ho and Javalina especially took it seriously and he was jumping on my shit, big time.  As I said, we both lost a good 30 pounds that first month, from about January 8th until February the 6th.  Then the parties and excuses started.  It was Wife's birthday, and her family made her a little party, so we went and although the food was under control with the carbs, there were two cakes and ice cream.  Four days later, there was Valentine's Day, and we have just been flush with sweets.  The following weekend, Boy's GF wanted to make some pineapple upside down cakes for us.  I can't help myself, I sat with the 9 inch diameter cake in front of me and ate it in one sitting.
    We are mostly good during the week, sticking to our diets and eating just steaks and salads, and working out the best we can with our weights.  By this Friday before my parents showed up, I was feeling pretty good at 392, and Javalina was at 220.  For some reason Boy decided he was going to treat us to a cake, even after we went to Central Market and got sweets of our own.  This is not what we would have done normally now, but we did have company.
    The most pleasant thing about all this losing weight, was seeing Javalina go from wearing size 42 pants at the start of the year to this weekend, when he was able to fit into a size 38 pant.  That is a huge change and I do hope he can keep it off.  I don't want to go trying on different sizes and patting myself on the back, but by this summer I do want to be back around 350.  That sounds like a lot to most of you, but I could jog and bike at that weight and I want to loose weight at a slower pace to avoid that saggy skin I see on some people who have lost 100 pounds and end up with extra skin on Youtube.
What are you going to do to keep the weight off?  I am very pro exercise, I just got that injury on my leg which messed me up for almost a full year.  Unless I get another random lawn mower injury, I fully expect to continue pushing Javalina to do newer and exciting things outside.  We have still to master the bicycle which would open up miles and miles of new experiences.  I still think one day, we will own a kayak for each of us and that will be another form of exercise we can share in together.
    So yes, we lost a great 30 pounds the first month and maybe 8 pounds the next month, if we can keep this up, I will be happy.  By the end of June, I could still be approaching my goal of 350.  Easiest thing I can say to y'all is cut the bread and rice, those are just filler.  I still think it is better to drink diet sodas instead of regular soda, even as the experts disagree on this one.

3/3/19 Parent's Visit Once Again?

    It was a little touch and go for awhile, luckily my dad has made a full recovery and he is back to his ole ornery self, which is great in that he is fully mobile and self sufficient.  When he had his fall back in January, we were even told by his physical therapist that he might need at least a cane to walk, but he is moving and complaining like he always did.
    They showed up Friday, a little earlier than normal, to which I invited them to join us going to Central Market.  My mom is always ready to join, my dad was happy enough to stay home, he doesn't like leaving the house and especially eating like we do, late at night, so he always stays home.  My folks had already eaten coming into town, so I wasn't thinking of dinner, just some pastries for the morning to enjoy our coffee.  Javalina started whining that he was hungry though, so after we left, we stopped and got him some Panda Express.  Wife and I were still kind of full from the buffet at noon, so we didn't have a full on dinner, although I did enjoy some of the breads we bought.
    As has become usual, I got up right at 7:00am Saturday morning.  I figured my dad would already be up, but it took him another 2 hours to come out of the room.  I sat and tried to write, but sometimes it just doesn't work.  Once everyone was up, it becomes impossible to write and hold conversation.  We always seem to end up at the mall, my mom likes looking for anything interesting, sometimes for her, sometimes for one of us.  This weekend they were having quite a lot of sales, specially to get rid of the winter stuff.  My mom ran off as soon as we walked in through Dillard's in a very weird sneaky way, just waving goodbye and not saying anything.  She called 20-30 min later and by then had a new jacket she was wearing, saying she had gotten a great deal on it.  I bought a jacket too.  I had seen it a week or 2 earlier at Dillard's and it looked expensive, but it was marked down to $138.  Wife said it looked too tight on me and that I would get made fun of, I know like I'm still in 3rd grade or something.  It was still there, but now it had an additional 40% off and I have lost a few more pounds that she said it looked better on me, not sure if the price drop made it more appealing for her, but at $80 when it started around $300 sounds good to me.
    We left the mall a little hungry but not starving and we couldn't decide where to eat.  Javalina wanted Longhorn Steakhouse, I was ok with it, but my guests didn't seem excited about it.  We made a list while we drove, settled on Logan's, if I could manage the long 5 minute drive from Slaughter over to Cabela's, which I did.  We got there and they said it would be an hour before we ate, so we had seen Freddy's next door which is a burger place we hadn't tried.  We decided it would be quicker and we were sitting down and eating within 5-10 minutes.  It was not sit down service, but it was quick, my mom loved the burgers and then we tried their ice cream which Javalina said was delicious.
    Sunday morning I slept in until 9:00am, got up and was moving a tad slow, another day of not much writing.  After sitting here in the kitchen with dad, Wife texted if we were going to go eat, my mom said sure and since I felt like breakfast and they love Cracker Barrel, I suggested it.  By then, it was blowing cold, we had been expecting an arctic front and it started arriving, with the air getting much colder.  It took a good 40 minutes of waiting to get our table, but we finally ate and then my folks were off.
    It was a good weekend overall.  My dad is more than halfway through with his radiation treatments and so far he says he feels normal and actually better than normal since he quit smoking.  He says this weekend, it has been 61 days that he quit.  His hospital visit was my motivation to get on a diet, once again, so his fall has helped not only him, but all of us in Austin.  I just don't want to see myself in that weakened state where someone has to bathe me because I'm too much of a fat ass and at 430 pounds, it seems I was on my way.  Javalina got all motivated and has also lost almost 40 pounds.  Wife has lost maybe half as much as we have, but it is still better to be losing slowly than gaining slowly.

3/2/19 Up All Day On About Two Hours Sleep?

    Friday was a rough day for me.  I worked Thursday night until 7:20am, came home to find Javalina still asleep at 7:40am, even though he knew he had a dentist appointment at 8:30am.  I tried yelling at him from downstairs to wake but it wasn't working.  You tell these boys they don't have school, and they will stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning.  I went in his room and since he has a king sized bed, I fell onto the empty side and said "hey" until he stirred.  He realized I was on his bed and tried to tell me to beat it because it is his room.  This is the same little shit that has come and taken my spot on my bed and made me sleep in his room and the same little shit that comes into the restroom while I am mid poop to tell me nonsense about his belt or his shoes.  He does not get privacy when he does not give privacy.  I kept bugging him, maybe even in my sleep because next thing I knew, he was standing and showered and I was asleep. He woke me at 8:15am, all scared that we were going to be late.
    He went in about a minute after we got there which was great.  The dentist looked at some x-rays and said the cavity might be too close to the nerve and he might have to do a root canal.  He said he would go real slow and try not to remove more than he had to.  While this was going on, Boy also had an appointment at 10:00am, which he decided he would drive himself.  After he showed up, I kept bouncing between rooms every 10-15 min.  Javalina, even with his mouth full of dentist and metal gear was still conversing, best Boy could give me once he sat on the dentist chair was a thumbs up. Because Boy started later, he finished later, and on top of that, after getting his procedure done, he also had a cavity filled.
    Since he seemed comfortable and I didn't feel like I needed to hold his hand, when Wife showed up, it was easy for us to go eat buffet pizza next door at Double Dave's.  I had been holding out, and didn't want to ruin the whole weekend by eating carbs, but it happened.  By the way, Wife was supposed to be at work in La Pryor, her boss gave her the go ahead to leave and she was planning to stop with her sister in San Antonio, but she was too worried about her babies getting their teeth worked on that she got in that little butt plug of a car and flew here in record time.  I don't know how, but she was here by noon.
    By the time we finished our first plate of pizza at Double Dave's, Boy was done, he came over, and took mama with him to pay while me and Javalina stayed at Double Dave's eating.  Boy then joined us and we had a nice lunch there.  The boys slept through the afternoon and I managed to nap for about two hours before Girlie called to see if I could give her a ride home from work at 4:30.  Of course, I said we would be there.  Wife and I went and picked her up while the boys both napped after their procedures.  Wife decided she wanted some ice cream and we stopped for a milkshake and banana splits.  It was awesome as the owner took a stand against a twit of a girl who was coming in with her dog and he said no.  She said it's my service dog and he said "show me the paperwork."  She said "fuck you" and stormed off.  We need more heroes like this fine man.  I hate seeing dogs in stores.
    We then got home and the boys slowly woke up and eventually Girlie's BF came and picked her up and later my folks got here.

3/1/19 What If My Boys Smoked Pot?

    Girlie called today asking if I could give her a ride home.  She crashed and totaled her car about a month ago and is now carless until she figures out what to do.  Anyways, while we were driving, she brought up that her brother had a couple interviews at Whataburger and HEB and some other places.  She was hoping he would get a job, so he could help out more with the rent.  I asked what about school, she said he had done all the requirements and had finished, he is even allowed to walk with the graduating class in May.  I said that is great, considering he looks stoned half the time, jokingly, but not really.
    We dropped her off and after a couple minutes, Javalina asked me "what would you do if you found out Boy smoked pot?"  I would be upset, for sure, but it depends.  Are we talking about trying it once on a Christmas Party, or smoking it regularly, like every weekend?  He said well, either way?  I can't get too mad if it is curiosity and you try it once or twice, but a fucking junkie who smokes it daily?  To me, that is a waste of a fucking human.  I know, there are some people with huge brain capacities who will prove that you can do amazing things, even high, for example, Kevin Smith was going on and on about getting high before I stopped listening to his podcast.  He kind of turned me off, because he might have had success, and I am/was a great fan of his movies like Clerks and Mallrats, but honestly, most people border on or near stupid and smoking dope does not help these people.  They don't need a smart person making excuses how they are going to write the next big screenplay or whatever because Kevin was able to do it.  My personal joke when I hear so and so is smoking weed is "He/she doesn't have enough brain cells to spare, what do they expect will be the outcome?  You'll come out enlightened?  No, you'll come out a minimum wager."
    I don't have anything against a doper, fine waste your life, it doesn't bother me and they are usually harmless and funny, but for my sons who I imagine on a path better than mine and with every want and need taken care of for them, I expect them to reach further than I ever could.  So although I don't mind someone who decides they are going to waste their potential and just get by, I don't think I would be comfortable to support one of my idiot kids self destructing this way.
    I understand that a teen who partakes in this is trying to mask some pain or using it to cope with a difficult situation, but I really believe it leaves teenagers stunted and they never quite get to the next level.  The other way to cope with a shitty situation is to use it to motivate you and make you stronger and/or better.  For example, Javalina is hell bent on being the strongest shot putter.  He walked away pissed last year that he wasn't better.  As soon as football ended, we started lifting weights and doing exercises that focus on the shoulders.  We throw a 20 pound medicine ball to each other and also a 10 pound one, but the 20 pounder is more fun.  I am being his coach/trainer with the weights because I secretly don't want him to become stronger than me, that is just the type of person I am.  He will best me one day, but I am going to put up a fight.  He will have to bench press more than 300 pounds before he calls himself stronger than Dad.  To be king of my house, you gots to be a beast, bullshit ain't gonna cut it.
    I know I sort of got sideways there at the end, but I have never worried about my boys going the wrong way because we stay engaged in their lives, almost too much, but it is the only way I can do the job.  And yes, my competitive side says I am the best father in the world.  I engage, support, encourage, build up, mentor, and when I have to, kick knucklehead ass, all in my best effort to make better humans than I ever could be.