9/30/19 HEPA FIlters, Cleaner Air Or BS?

    I've never bought into the hype of needing cleaner air or cleaner water, or whatever nonsense.  If my government tells me the water coming out of the faucet is good enough to drink, even if it will light on fire, well, God bless them.  Recently, though, Wife has had a cough and been whiny like never before.  Shoot, anyone that knows her, knows she is built like a freaking bull and never goes down or gets sick.  The woman goes harder than anyone I know.  This weekend we came to the conclusion that she probably walks around with a higher testosterone count than me and is why she tends to be more aggressive than me in day to day situations.  I swear I am more patient and understanding with my boys than she is, so she jokes (ha ha?) that is why I am such a good mother.
    Saying all that, she has now been sick for like 3-4 weeks and I don't know where she got it from, but she started thinking that it might be the dog living in our house.  Girlie moved in a few months ago and after thinking about it for a few weeks, I caved and let them bring their dog with them.  I have not been a fan of having dogs in my house based on the experiences of my mom's dogs.  I love having my folks here, but every time they come, their dog treats my house like a toilet and poops all over.  I would be upset if the carpets were new, but at this point the house is going on twelve years and it really is time for new floors.  Using this thought process and knowing that starting next year I want to start replacing the floors in the house, I figured why not let another dog in the house, worst case, he shits here and there once in a while.  Fortunately, this is an awesome dog in that it is trained not to go in the house.  I did not expect such a big dog, it's a husky and it really is almost intimidating looking, but it is such a loving dog that you forget that.  It rarely barks and really just always wants to be petted all the time.
    All this to say that physically, the dog does not end up bothering me like I thought it might.  Wife is not as understanding, but then again she has woman superpowers and she says she can smell the dog, see the dog's hair, feel the dog's sadness (we don't think he gets enough attention from its owner), and now claims that the dog dander might be making her sick.  I told her BS because you are in mom's house during the week and their dog is there all the time inside the house.  You had not gotten sick before, but I guess things can change.
    Earlier tonight, I got bored and went to Lowe's, for nothing in particular, and bought a HEPA filter to put next to the bed for her sleeping comfort.  I am hoping it keeps her from coughing and hacking all night and thus, get a good night's sleep to make her strong again.  I got it home and turned it on next to us by the kitchen table.  It gives the air a little bit of a smell, almost like outside after a light rain, I like the smell.  It is too soon to tell if it makes a difference although Boy was sitting there with Sweetie (I started saying it sarcastically because he always calls her that, but it is starting to stick) saying "mmm, I can tell the air is cleaner, both my nostrils are working, to which she just responded, no, it's just in your head."  I don't know what I will think about it in a few weeks, but I do know that I am using more expensive filters in our A/C, used to be I would buy the cheapest filters, now I am buying the ones that block everything but radio frequencies, the description and abilities of the filters gets a little comical, but maybe.  The dog and them are out of here in two more months, so I guess we shall see.

9/29/19 Possible Refinance?

    This being a slow weekend and Wife not wanting to go anywhere had my mind wandering.  I had thought about the idea of refinancing and maybe borrowing some equity to pay off the last of our credit debt.  I had talked to Wife about doing this and she always automatically says no.  She doesn't want to stir the status quo, and wants to continue on the straight and narrow quietly.  My thought is that I have wanted to go to a 15 year note for awhile now.  We are at a point where we have taken care of most of our credit debt and if we could do this, then we could finish paying for our house before I turn 65.  I can't say we'll be here tomorrow or whether any of us will still be employed in the near future, but paying off the house sooner has to be a good thing.
    Looking up on Zillow, a website specializing in showing houses for sale with their theoretical valuations shows our house in the upper $480,000 range.  The county appraisal shows the value of our house in the $420,000s.  Being that we owe something in the $290,000, this should mean we can borrow a nice amount to pay off some other debts.  After explaining this to Wife, she sort of said she would ultimately trust me if I wanted to pursue this.  I started very simply by filling out the Lending Tree questionnaire online including putting my email and phone number.  Before I was done, I already had a call from a mortgage company, a real person.  I explained to him our situation and he said it shouldn't be any problem.  He also asked how much we would like to borrow in addition to the cost of the house.  While we talked he also looked at Zillow, the county appraisal, and a couple other websites which also had the valuation of our house in the $450,000 range.
    I know we shouldn't really have any debts, but then I had to pay for my leg therapy and skin graft, Boy got typhus a couple years ago, then mono earlier this year.  Wife is taking college classes and then there are just other situations, such as me deciding to buy Boy a 3D printer for his side projects which he continues to do, or the repairs I needed to do on my vehicle a year ago.  Speaking of, I have sworn to Wife that I will hold off on buying myself a new vehicle until we get our credit debt to 0 for a while.  I am hoping this will coincide with maybe the new Ford Bronco, which I just read on Car and Driver that it will have a retro squared look and come in a 4-door version.  This just makes me think it will look kind of like my Excursion which I have been driving around since 2004.  The Broncos should start appearing in the 2020 year which is just around the corner.

9/28/19 Slow Weekend?

    I finally feel like I came into a weekend prepared to get ahead of it.  I worked a long week, but I got up with the voice of Wife in my ears and quickly, even before picking up Javalina from school, changed the sheets on the bed, 4 weeks is probably too long for the sheets to be on the bed, they were starting to smell alive.  I then went down, got a load going in the wash, and then started sweeping the floor with 10 minutes before having to pick up my boy at 5:00pm.  This was followed by a quick Swiffer mop and then away to pick up.
    Javalina was ready and we stopped at Bill Miller for a quick lunch.  I have been trying to do Atkins and only had a salad.  While we sat there, I discussed with Javalina about cutting the grass, at least in the front and he pissed and moaned like a baby.  Of course, the front is kind of small and he was done cutting it in about 15 minutes.  I then followed behind trimming the edges.  All the while, I keep an ear out for the washer and keep moving loads, slowly but surely.  Javalina then pushed me to go for a run with him, I said I can't run with my bad knee and so he settled for me walking.  I did not want to do it, but I was glad afterwards, even if I was in pain the rest of the night.  I washed clothes until 1:00am or so, way after Wife got home.  The best part was that I did all the chores, so she had nothing to bust our balls over.
    Saturday morning was a little rough, I probably was up until 5:30am, I stayed up watching HGTV and ironing the boy's shirts until 3:00am and then went downstairs to attempt to write this, but only managed to sit there and fall asleep while watching some YouTube videos.  I went to bed at 5:30am because I knew we had to get up about noon for a 1:00pm appointment.  I got up at 10:00 am and attempted to write the blog then, but was a little distracted by Boy and his GF who were sitting here chatting away about nothing in particular.
    I then went upstairs and took a quick shower so I could get dressed for our appointment.  I always hate arriving and being greeted by dumb people.  Instead of just taking our name and figuring who we were seeing, the lady asked me who we were supposed to see.  Wife mentioned a name and of course the receptionist had no idea who I meant.  I then gave her my name and with that she was able to match us with a lady in her office.  This was the same lady who helped us last year.  We had a notice from the IRS that said we had a mistake on our taxes and we owed another $3200.  The lady did some magic on a form and said we were cool for now, until the IRS sends another letter, hopefully saying everything is cool.
    The only thing to do after is have lunch and we then picked up Javalina from the house and went out and enjoyed some Tarka which was very good, if a little pricey,

9/27/19 The Game That Wasn't?

    Last night was kind of weird as far as the football game was supposed to be.  There were new faces and I could feel an electricity amongst the players.  Javalina said he was excited because their true quarterback was finally eligible to play and although I thought it was him given the passes he was throwing, Javalina said the kid I thought was their starting quarterback was actually their 7th grade quarterback who had left last year for another school but is now back.  This kid was throwing 40 yard passes without much of a set up, just flinging them out there with his arm.  I remember in 7th grade, I walked amongst the team once and this little 7th grader was already taller than me and looked imposing.  I loved seeing him in there and the other quarterback, it just gives the team a chance to win, finally.
    But my blogs are usually about us and I have to mention Javalina in action while the team waited for the other team to not show up, the coach sent them over to an area where there was shade.  The quarterbacks were wowing us with their practice passes and just as I start looking for our boy, I see the husky crowd over there going at it in the shade, all the linemen.  Why am I not surprised when it turns out Javalina has all the other guys lined up to come and make contact with him.  He is constantly measuring himself against the other guys, I don't think he can help himself.  We asked him after wards why he was being a hero taking on everybody and he calmly said "I fell asleep in the meditation room and I wanted to shake myself awake, so I had some of my buddies come and hit me to try and tackle me."  Apparently, before the games, they are given a light snack/meal and taken to the locker areas where the coaches turn down the lights and make them contemplate for awhile.  He said they used to act a fool in the dark, but now a coach stays in there to make sure they stay calm.
    So back to the big picture, this was their bye week, yet Seguin who is on the schedule for next week wanted to push up their game, so we were told that is who they were playing.  Then they call that they aren't going to make it.  Who knows if the game will be put back on the books for next week or if they will officially have their bye next week.  It is now two weeks that they don't play, thanks to last week's threat of rain.  I guess we will see.  One more thing with our overly testosteroned boy, as we are sitting at Don Dario's enjoying a relatively rare and early middle of the week dinner, Wife was here to accompany us as a family, although Boy got stuck at work, Javalina can't sit still, he was all frustrated.  He kept complaining that he wanted to take on whoever and just wanted to make contact.  As a last thing, he moves everything out of the way and throws down the gauntlet, with a "Come on Dad, let's arm wrestle" there in the restaurant.  It is a good thing that I used to lift because this boy is dying to become the strong man in the house.  He gave me a good challenge, but I am still the alpha male in our house, for now.

9/26/19 Heroin/Meth Are Way Too Scary?

    I spent the night looking at videos with people doing meth and/or heroin on YouTube and I cannot understand how anyone who sees the results of what the drug does would be interested in even sampling these horrible drugs.  We see these pretty girls, full of so much potential, and all they can think of is where they can get their next fix.  Some of the clips were from a show called Intervention and they all do pretty much the same thing.  They beg on the family, which don't want to give up on their kid, the user is rude, threatening to do more harm to themselves unless they are given money for their next fix, they show them stealing, hanging out with "creepy older men", or straight up prostitution when they  have no other choice.  I understand once they are in the throes of addiction, but knowing it leaves you looking like shit before it kills you, why try it in the first place?
    I am not trying to be racist or whatever, but when looking at all these clips, it seems that heroin/meth is a white people thing.  I must have seen like 30 clips and I don't think I saw a black person tripping on either drug.
    The gross part was some of the clips have some people even only 2-4 years apart from before they were using the drug to a few years into using and they seem to have aged 40 years or more.  Their faces just collapse, they loose all their teeth, their skin gets all pock marked, I don't think they shower with their greasy hair.  Even worse, the houses they hang out to get high can be worse looking than the people, if that is possible.  Mattresses on the floor, walls all destroyed, trash all over, dishes all over, if there is a light source, it is always just a bulb in the ceiling.
    If that is not bad enough, they keep inventing newer and stronger drugs, like Fentanyl and bath salts and stuff called Flacca, all designed to give people a 1-2 minute high while ruining the person until death sounds like a good idea for most of them.  I don't know what a solution is for this, but I would say putting a light on what you look like after being on it, even for a short time, would deter some people.

9/25/19 Was It Keystone Cops?

    Yesterday, was the same as ever.  I picked up Javalina after football practice and we were discussing where to eat, nothing out of the ordinary, he was going on and on, when all of a sudden we could hear definite police siren type sounds, but I swear I couldn't find them.  We were at the intersection of William Cannon and 1st Street, which is the quickest way back home.  We were in the middle lane, and there was a city bus a little ahead of us in the right lane.  I told Javalina to shut up and find the coppers, last thing I want is to block them or hit them accidentally.
    All of a sudden, we heard the slide of tires, a honk and a double crash sound.  It turns out the cops were in the turning lane to turn left from our street (1st), but instead were trying to go straight with their sirens on and the traffic on William Cannon must not have heard or been impressed because not one but two lanes rammed into them.  Over on the William Cannon street, cars were going on the green light, even the middle turning lane was in full effect.  Somehow, the cop car rolled out there, the middle and turning lanes did not see/hear him and both of them ran into the brown "disguised" cop car.  This is really ridiculous, we are at a point where any Crown Victoria on the road is assumed to be a police cruiser, and people who actually choose to drive those cars are "assholes", knowing full well they look like police cars.
    There is no point to this, other than wanting to mention how dumb it seemed.  The cops were trying to hurry through the intersection at 5:30pm, rush hour, and bam!  There happened to be two cops in the car and the one in the passenger seat jumped off and pointed both of the cars that hit them to follow the cop car into the gas station in the corner.  What do you do at that point?  I was inclined to think it was the cops fault, I know they won't see it that way.  I would hate to be in that predicament.  Oh well, it wasn't us and we only lost maybe 20 seconds of our time.

9/24/19 Good Omens (Amazon Video)? Series

    This has to be the best series I've watched in the past year, I just loved it.  It mostly shows the lives of Aziraphale, an angel tasked with guarding the Garden of Eden and Crowley, a demon who started on earth as the snake that tempted Adam and Eve with the apple, originally called Crawly.  They have been working so long, 6,000 years doing opposing deeds that at some point they have a discussion and decide that if they both stop trying so hard, things will stay about even, which I found hilarious, if not a little far fetched, but it is british humor.
    Aziraphale answers to a group of angels every now and then, led by Archangel Gabriel, and it is just funny how an angel who has existed for eons is kind of goofy and lame.  Crowley answers to Beelzebub but everyone in hell just seems a little slow, and Crowley is a fast talking scammer type.  He finds ways to weasel out of doing any real work.  One of his biggest responsibilities was to deliver the Antichrist to a couple having a baby, but shenanigans ensue, of course.  After this, there is nothing to do but wait for the Antichrist to turn 12, which is when Armageddon is supposed to ensue.  Adam, the earth name for Satan's son is not reared by the people who would have made a mess of him, important political types, instead, he is raised by loving people in a small town, so it becomes hard for him to hone his evil as he should, even his hell hound which is sent from Hell to protect him is somehow pacified and made into a normal pup through happenstance.
    There is an arsenal of extras ensuring the end of the world is avoided, such as Witchfinder Sergeant Chadwell, who is a witch hunter on the verge of losing his mind, Anathema Device, a witch who can foretell the future with letters from her dead witch relative.  Newton Pulsifer, who joins Chadwell and becomes a witch hunter, but falls in love with the only witch he ever meets.  On the other side, the evil guys are well represented by the four horsemen: Death, Famine, War, and Pollution, who has replaced Pestilence, who retired after the discovery of penicillin.
    The series is only about six episodes, so it does not drag on for a long time.  It is just long enough to see the angel and demon friends in different scenarios through time, such as at the French Revolution, where Aziraphale is imprisoned as a traitor.  When Crowley asks him what he is doing in France, he meekly says he was hungry and really wanted French crepes.  I guess I just love the humor coming from two who should be enemies, but in the end, they are watching out for each other as they realize both heaven and hell do not care about earth, they want war.  The two of them have been on earth so long, it is a place they both love and will protect.

9/23/19 Running In Place, Still Falling Behind?

    They say it is always darkest before the light comes back, man, lately it feels that way with our finances.  We decided to get our shit together financially about four years ago.  We decided no more new cars, new toys (boats, RVs), we have even cut out vacations and for those who know us, even more than half of or credit cards we have paid off and gotten rid of.
    I keep feeling like the end is near, I would really like to get me a new truck, but of course, I don't really need it, the Excursion is still running fine, and with our new philosophy, we don't want to run out and just piss away money because as the dummies on FB say "you deserve it."  So, I will keep waiting until we see a theoretical excess of money left over from what we make.  We shouldn't be living on the edge where we spend every dime we make to survive month to month.  as much as we make, there should be some leftover, but because I have constantly wanted, we have been pushed to living this way.
    So, now we are as close as we can get to having accomplished this new lifestyle and we keep getting things (I guess life), in the way.  A couple months ago it was Boy getting mono which with E/R visits cost us about $2,000, and we have insurance.  Then it was Javalina who went in for a routine teeth cleaning only to find out he needed an "emergency root canal", that was another $891.  We said ok, luckily, I had gotten a bonus and Wife had gotten a bonus over the summer, these two things pretty much ate what we had as our buffer.  Last week, I had a little round scab, well it came off after I toweled myself dry and blood starts shooting out with force.  Not knowing what else to do, I ended up in the E/R, I haven't even gotten a bill, but you know it's going to be another chunk of change.  Now, after thinking no mas, we get it, we deserve or belong living paycheck to paycheck, the big IRS sent us a letter that we owe them more money, $3200, to be exact.  We might be able to dodge this one as we do use H&R Block and we do pay for their insurance where they take care of any overages.  I hope they come thru.
    Man, I am scared as to what else can happen negatively now?  I want to dream of either a new boat, the boys would rather we re-do the backyard with a "real concrete" pool, Wife yesterday said she wouldn't mind someday getting another RV, so basically we want a return to around 2008, but without the debt.
    I will just stay positive and not give up on our dream.  Wife is pursuing more school to make a move upwards, Boy is about done, so he should at least take over payment of his vehicle in the spring sometime.  Slowly, but surely, the clouds will lift and maybe by next summer, we will be enjoying some summer sun, maybe we can even afford a vacation by next year.

9/22/19 Longhorns Finally Beat The Other Okies At Home?

    It had been awhile, but the Horns finally beat Oklahoma State at home, after five consecutive losses.  I was kind of excited to watch this game, after all, I am injured and supposed to be spending time on my butt with my leg up.  The only problem with that is that I got up at 10:00am, after being up until 6:00am, so my sleep was already messed up.  Still, I made a day of it.  Javalina had about 3 boys over for a sleepover and by the time I woke, he had taken them for a run around the neighborhood and then he was showing them his routine for lifting weights.  None of the other three boys has lifted any weights, so they were mostly joking around and staying with like the 10 pound weights and the barbell, which added up to about 65 pounds.  I kind of think of Javalina as a lazy little shitter that could be a lot more motivated and lifting more seriously, but next to these boys, he is a contender, already lifting 100 pounds more than any of them.
    While they were goofing around, I did keep an eye on them, making sure they wouldn't do something stupid and hurt themselves, I offered them pancakes, which they devoured everything I made.  I like making pancakes now and then, it makes me feel pretty good to be able to make a breakfast for my peeps that they enjoy.  We didn't have bacon or sausage, but I used bolognas heated up on a pan, which we used to eat now and then growing up.  Wife came down about this time, maybe it was noon, and she chose to eat a bowl of soup since she is just starting to get over the cold she had last week.
After eating, I showered and she re-wrapped my leg.  I am not sure if it is going to shoot blood anymore, but I have been laying on the ground, to put my heart and overall body below the leg, which I elevate on the edge of the tub, and then when she takes the wrap off the leg, there is no downward pressure from my body, so I haven't bled like a faucet the last two days.  We then went to the HEB to get some food for the game.  I was hoping if I took a nap before game time, I would be fine and awake, but that is never enough.  We got back from the store, and I headed to the guestroom downstairs and laid down for about an hour to nap.  I got up at 6:00pm, Wife had already started the cheese and meat for the nachos, which was awesome.  I sat and looked for the game, closed all the curtains and got ready for the game.  I made it through the first quarter, the Horns were playing well, the other team scored a field goal, Texas came back after making an interception and scored a touchdown, and then I sort of faded.  I saw them make it into the half, muffing a kickoff and giving Oklahoma a chance to make it almost a tie.  I guess the halftime show put me out, I remember nothing after the 2nd quarter, when I woke, the news was on and I was alone downstairs, so I just re-winded the cable box and re-watched the last few minutes of the game.  It is great to see the Longhorns competing again on the big stage again.  I did fall asleep, but I also enjoyed all the gameday hype.

9/21/19 Modern Day Tale Of The Grasshopper And The Squirrel, Maybe?

    Growing up, I remember a book full of these stories used to teach us, hopefully, to do the right thing.  The most popular of these tales is probably the race between the Turtle and the Rabbit.  The Rabbit being much faster should have won the race of course, but the Turtle drove on and stayed focused on the task at hand,  The Rabbit, thinking itself superior and thus not respecting its opponent, lost focus, went off the trail and even took a long nap, only to find itself losing because he got so far behind the Turtle who just kept moving forward.
    So it goes with the Squirrel and the Grasshopper, but this one is about planning for the future.  Squirrel spent his days busy at work, always planning and saving for tomorrow.  Grasshopper, being of a different sort, preferred to play it cool and instead spent his free time sitting out in the sun chilling and having a good time.  When the weather changed and it got cooler, suddenly Grasshopper found himself kind of fucked because the party died down for the winter and there was nowhere to go in the freezing weather.  Squirrel, meanwhile, had plenty of food reserves to help him and his family get through the rough weather inside his warm home, he did not have to forage outside in the bad weather.
    This is how I felt last week when Girlie mentioned they (her and her BF) were going to celebrate their 1 year anniversary in San Francisco.  All I said was oh, hmm, that sounds cool.  But, I was left thinking "all I hear from you is that y'all are poor and I see that you get by on the bare minimum for food."  Also, I mean "you two are stuck living with us, mostly because I was nice enough to charge you way too little in rent thinking you were just staying for a month or two and the BF doesn't even have a car."  I mean the trip is a super fun idea and I certainly hope you have fun out there, but there are so many things that money could be used for.  You say you want privacy and your own place all the time, a better gift would have been a deposit on a 1 BR apartment, but whatever.
    I guess while "uncle Mando" as she likes to call me, has all the nuts, much like the Squirrel, I'll help them not die over the winter part of their lives (for her sake), but trips like these are such a ridiculous waste of money, we haven't dared while we have been getting our credit affairs in order the last few years and we make real salaries.  Even Wife chimes in on this with "we need at least $5000 to go on a nice Disney vacation and next time I want to have that upfront."
    The guy really should be smarter and use the money to get a car, what if they end up breaking up, what is the trip going to do for him?  In the end, it's his butt that doesn't have a nest full of nuts to lean on.  Girlie knows she can depend on my nuts for sustenance in Squirrel parlance.  I am not sure her Grasshopper has the wherewithal to transform into a Squirrel, but I guess some prefer to live in the moment and say fuck it to a long term plan.

9/20/19 He's A Bleeder?

    I ended up staying home Wednesday night, after my big bloody scare and running to the E/R.  The doctor said to take it easy, which I did.  I mostly slept, did a little writing, and watched youtube videos.  I did get up in the morning to take Javalina to school and he had to get there early so he could get his jersey, since it is game day, they wear their jerseys to classes all day.  This signifies to the rest of the school who the warriors are, the ones out here trying to represent them all in the field of battle.

    Today's game was supposed to be in north Austin, which I looked in the map from above and I was pretty sure it was by the school where they had the track and field competition that was rained out last year.  Well, this week finally showed chances of rain in the forecast, but I have yet to see actual rain coming down.  Twice, I have noticed the streets a little wet, but it hasn't rained on me yet.  But anyways, I get up at 3:30pm, Wife called that she was on her way, and I thought that would be a lot better.  My leg seems to have behaved all night, but I still didn't want to be out there alone.  I came down and ate, hoping it would give me the urge to go, I like to be empty when I leave the house, but nothing, so I proceeded to the scary part.  Luckily, Wife was home by then.  I took the bandages off and it looked like a calm little scab, I thought cool, I'll take a quick shower, put some lotion on the leg and wrap it up within a few minutes.  I showered, got out and made sure the towel didn't touch the area, and proceeded to the next step.  Long ago, my doctor suggested to not only towel dry, but to use the hair dryer to really dry the genital area to help with chafing and rashes.  I'm standing there blow drying the boys, Javalina called that the game was cancelled, so I start thinking maybe we can go walk the mall and just as I am going to tell Wife what she thinks of that, she says something like "Babe, look, your bleeding again."  I didn't even feel it but the stream was coming out again.  I grabbed a pad that was on the counter and applied pressure.  

    Since the doctor said just apply pressure and the bleeding will stop, I did.  Bent over, my leg wasn't even on the tub edge this time, I told Wife to get me more pads, which of course, the stuff I bought last night was downstairs, but she managed to find one more and then she gave me a wad of toilet paper.  I lifted one finger at a time and put all this on my leg.  I then told her to grab the wrap they put on me in the E/R and wrap it tight.  This stopped the bleeding immediately, it is 12 hours later and I haven't bled anymore, sitting here writing at 4:20am.  We finally went and picked Javalina at 5:00pm, he was pissed they didn't play and to my knowledge, it didn't even rain, but there were thunderstorms in the area.  We ate Bill Miller and went home.

9/19/19 Back To The Emergency Room?

    Like Boy said, even with our recent luck and we keep getting more money, we also keep finding stupid ways to spend it without gaining anything concrete.  First, it was Boy blowing through my bonus with all his bills after getting mono.  Then, it was Javalina with an emergency root canal that ate up Wife's bonus she got this summer of $1000.  Now, I am on the verge of selling my RV to a fellow worker through a coworker friend.  I have not even seen the money and yet I am sure the quick visit to the E/R tonight will strip me of most of that money.
    Last week I noticed a scab on my leg about 3 inches away from my nasty scar on my leg.  I wanted to mess with it, but I just never had time.  Today, while taking a shower for my last night of the week, I was drying with a towel like I always do and suddenly I saw a red arc, which was blood coming from an opening on my leg right where the scab had been.  In my mind I couldn't see such a big hole closing on its own now that it had started bleeding.  I imagined myself just losing blood to the point that I possibly passed out.  This scared me, and a lot.  If I pass out, at 415 pounds, my boys can't move me.  Even a team on an ambulance would have a bit of a hard time lifting me, if I didn't bleed out all the way, I saw a stream as thick as a straw going from my leg to the wall on the other side of the tub that wouldn't stop and what would you do?  I yelled as loud as I could for either of the boys.  I was standing there naked, just out of the shower, this is not how I was going to be found by some ambulance guys, freaking naked and brown, like a manatee out of water.
    I got Boy to grab some pads and a wrap and wrap my leg to see if that would help and allow me to move around enough to jump in the car.  Instead of starting from above the hole, he started from below, closer to the foot and as he wrapped tight, the blood shot out with more energy.  This was kind of scary, thinking the bleeding wouldn't stop until I was completely empty but once he got above it, it seemed to slow.  The wrap and my leg were now just red and sticky, like a syrup poured over and allowed to dry.  once it stopped, it seemed to stop completely, but what were my options?  Go to work and hope for the best, lay in bed for awhile wait and remove to see more blood gush on the bed or other furniture.  I just hate not knowing what's next.
    I hate the E/R, it is full of people at any hour, but luckily because I was losing blood and maybe because I have insurance, the nurse up front said I would be fast tracked and I was in a room within 15 minutes.  The nurse that came in did not want to remove the bandages, in case the blood would still come.  A few minutes later a very young doctor came in and took the bandages off.  To my surprise and even a little embarrassment, there was no blood or even a hole where I swear I saw a hole covered by a scab of skin.  He determined that the bleeding was from a varicose vein that was cut.  Wife always says my legs are too dry and that I should apply lotion on my skin.  I think today's bleeding was from that problem.  The doctor said if it happened again to apply pressure and wrap it.  They bandaged me up in clean wraps and sent me on my way.
    I felt pretty embarrassed after, but in the moment and seeing that much blood, I thought the best thing is to get help and not die an idiot death alone, trying to get to work.

9/18/19 Smartphones Can Be Good?

    I don't think this is what Steve Jobs meant for our society, with our phones in hand, we have somehow managed to isolate ourselves together.  Guys walk around with so much easy access to porn, they are getting bored of it.  Girls who were already absorbed with their looks have this device that allows them to spread their beauty to one and all across the land.  My folks come and visit and not only my mom is wholly connected, specially through Facebook, but my dad, who still needs for me to turn on the TV and cable box when he comes over has his own little tablet and he sits there and looks at basically stupid stuff for entertainment.  I am just as guilty, I am not saying I am better than anyone, but to what end?  Yeah, everyone screams "I am done with FB or the internet..." every once in a while, like most teenage boys saying this will be the last time I play with myself before New Year's Eve as a resolution to be better only to go back and punch the clown the next day when the urge strikes.
    Anyways, I was starting to think this was all just a waste of our time, but then my mom told me that my aunt got a fancy phone and it has changed her world.  She suffers from agoraphobia, which is a fear of leaving the house and being in public.  I don't think I have ever known her to leave her house, maybe she visited our house once when we were little, but even that I am not sure ever happened.  Anyways, the last time my folks were here and we were driving around to go eat or whatever, my mom got a call from her.  I thought it was the coolest thing, here is a person who is deathly afraid to go out, but through the use of social media, she can keep up with what we are doing, where we are at and potentially feel like she has seen a world bigger than her windows or even the television can show.
    This is the rare moment that I will say these little computers in our hands are doing someone actual good.  I only say because even when going to a nice restaurant, we can't sit there and be in the moment, most people have to be interacting with others who aren't even there and that seems rude to me.  I was kidding, guys don't get tired of porn, we just need to look for weirder and weirder porn when it seems we are bored, thank you internet.

9/17/19 Algebra Keeps Coming Back?

    Well, it's a good thing I really learned my algebra because it keeps coming up.  I remember helping Boy for many years, all through elementary and junior high, all the way through high school, until he finally got into some higher math that I suggested he look for help from his classmates.  It is starting over again.  Javalina is in an advanced algebra 2 class as a freshman and yesterday he admitted he was completely lost.  I really wish he would have said something sooner and even his grades deceived him, as of Friday he was still passing everything.  Now that this is the final week, I guess the teacher finally graded some papers and he is on the verge of failing.
    We got on his homework and it looks tricky but it isn't.  He is working on composite functions, taking one equation and fitting into another one.  I don't know what the teacher is doing, but Javalina kept saying is that it?  That is so easy, the way the teacher is explaining makes no sense.  He says he was ready to drop the class and move down to something easier.
    It feels good to break out the knowledge, and I think he is a little surprised that I understand his stuff, which I keep telling him I am the freaking smartest man in the world!!!  :) or at least the smartest person you know.  He has a hard time accepting this.
    Our internet was down yesterday afternoon, so it was tricky in that I couldn't double check my work, I always like finding examples to make sure I am doing things correctly, which I usually am.  All this just leaves me wondering, who is helping out all the other kids.  Parents aren't usually so eager to roll up their sleeves and do and explain the work with their kids, so who then?  So few go and ask for help in school, which is probably why we get less and less kids going into the higher math courses.

9/16/19 Summer Of Dead Batteries?

    If this summer and its freaking heat was hockey, it would have accomplished the rare hat trick on our cars this summer.  Last night, at 10:00pm, of course at 10:00pm, it wouldn't fail at 2:00pm when it is easy to deal with shit, Wife's car decided that the battery was no longer going to work.  Boy was merely trying to move it because his car was in front of Wife's in the driveway, but all he got were clicks and clacks.  I went out there to double check, he never drives her car, so I thought maybe he didn't do it right, but I got the same thing.
    First, it happened to Boy's car, and I handled it easily enough, then it happened to my Excursion and of course Ford decided I needed a new alternator, which whether I did or didn't, they paid for it because I was still under warranty from the last one.  Although these are the very last hot days of the year, I think it was time for the battery to die.  As I was told, they last about three years and we did get the Kia in 2016, so it was not surprising, just annoying that it happens on Sunday evening.  I guess the better way to look at it is that it didn't happen to Wife while on the road or at some dinky gas station at 5:00am, driving to work.
    I don't get why there are so many batteries to choose from.  They are all 12V and then there might be a difference in cranking amps at 500 or 700 or whatever, but we went to the Walmart here in Southpark Meadows and although there were like 20 different batteries, including a handful of marine rated ones, they didn't have the Maxx-124R.  Boy is much more used to relying on his phone and him and Sweetie were headed to Walmart to get some sandwich things, so I tagged along with them and he told me the Walmart on Ben White had 5 of the correct batteries in stock.  I was tempted to just one of the other ones, but oh well, they were driving.  I don't have a problem buying, or even replacing the battery, I just get a little nervous going in the motor and then uncovering other problems.  There was a time we just kept switching cars so we wouldn't get to this point, but I think we have grown up a bit.  The cost of the battery was only $93.80 and I get back like $12 if I bring the old one back, and replacing the batteries took two different sockets and some extension rods.  The one worry is that the positive wire fit very tight, the connecting posts were like lower on the original battery, the battery top was sunken down about a half inch where the posts were as a design, but the new one was not like that.  It still fit, but very snug, it should be alright.
    I tightened everything and checked the battery voltage, it read 12.25v.  I wanted to see if the alternator was charging and so I drove around the neighborhood.  I checked it after and the voltage was up to 12.50v, which tells me the alternator is ok and doing its job.  I guess Wife will get up in an hour (it is 3:40am) and drive into the night where we will really see if I know what I am doing, fingers crossed.

9/15/19 Baby Has Gone Dancing At Homecoming Dance?

    If the grey in my hair wasn't already telling me, how about our youngest is now old enough to not only be able to go, but he also wants to go to the dance at his high school tonight?  Even though Javalina and I are pretty close, we do have dinner and I pick him up every day from school, I was still caught by surprise with this news.  All I remember him saying about this weekend was that he was going to the House of Torment, which did just open on Friday the 13th.  That was cancelled at the last minute and then he said quietly I guess, that he had a dance to go to on Saturday.  Wife had already mentioned a dinner at my in-law's house for her sister's birthday, so this was going to make things interesting.  The Longhorns were also going to be playing, but that is the first thing to go when we get busy.
    I got up early on Saturday, about 9:00am and came down to enjoy the morning.  As usual, I was the first one up, which I enjoy the house nice and quiet, so I can enjoy my cup of coffee without having to get up fr anything.  Eventually Moro, Girlie's dog, came down and although I have been cool with opening the door to let him out to pee, he has been escaping every time he goes out, so I refuse to "help" the dog out.  He is a good dog and stands staring at the door, waiting for it to be opened, but I just did not feel like responding to his shenanigans today.  He had to wait a good while until his owner came down, he can go chasing after him, all he wants.
    Wife came down around noon and she sat there looking miserable and runny, I guess she picked up what was going around back at my mom's house, ughh, I hate getting sick, but here goes another season.  Wife almost decided not to go to see her folks, but she rallied in the end.  I got showered while the boys got dressed and we left around 2:30pm.  We still didn't get there until 4:40pm, with a stop at Wal-greens for a birthday card.  We arrived right after they ate, but the food was still in all its glorious set out.  I grabbed more brisket than I should have along with a big portion of potato salad and ribs, with sausage.  There were people coming and going, but I just sat there and made some sweet love to the meat on my plate, it was delicious slow cooked perfection, my sister in law's BF has mastered the slow cooking brisket process.  We sat there and ate some cake and celebrated until 6:40pm, which was our time to leave.  We all jumped in the car, which I tried my best to stay awake and converse with Wife, but with her being a little sick, she said she would rather we all go to sleep so she could play the radio loud.  I then awoke to the view of our house, we dropped off Javalina without going home for him to change.  This bothered me a bit because we talked about what he should wear and since it was a dance, he should definitely be wearing some shoes and since we spent good money on some blazers, at least for the night, drop the dopey hoodies and put on a proper blazer.  I also told him a long sleeve button shirt and a watch would help him look the part of a man, but all this was ignored over the savings of another 20 minutes.
    I guess all's well that end's well.  He was very happy after the dance and said that although it was a slow and boring start, he almost left the dance to go hang out at Dairy Queen, after we told him not to leave campus, once they got to dancing, he could not stop having a good time.  He said something about taking a girl's set of glasses and running out onto the dance floor and like a reverse Superman, once he put on the glasses, he said he felt like a different person and he didn't care if people looked at him or not.  He started dancing by himself and the girl joined him within a few seconds.  We asked if it was romantic, he said not really, it was just fun.  He danced with both of the girls he and his friend were going to meet there, one being the little distraction from his shotput days last year, so I think he likes her more than he will admit.  He said it didn't end there, he noticed some of his football buddies standing against the wall by themselves and he went out and pulled them into the dance floor, and even got a balloon and started a little game of "volleyball" to get more kids bopping and dancing around on the floor.  Then he added even some of the band kids he had met over the summer were there and saying hi to him, which I guess just made him feel like the life of the party.
    It was probably 11:30 when he called and we picked him up a few minutes later.  I had fallen asleep, shit on the road and even though I turned on the big screen to watch the game while we waitedd fr him, all I did was sleep in front of it.  I am glad I went to hear him tell of his evening.  As soon as we got home, he started showing me how he danced with the girls, by holding both her handsand saying back and forth, it was kind of cute.  This is all I want for my boys, to go out there and have good positive experiences.  It was a good night.

9/14/19 They Still Sell Barbies?

    Earlier in the week, Wife told me I was to go to Walmart on Thursday and buy her a new Barbie coming out, celebrating the Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead).  I just chuckled and said when, you know I need to sleep as it is Javalina's game day and I'll be having to drive to Manor and back alone.  Well, it turned out that Javalina had a late start today, classes weren't starting until 10:00am, I still don't understand why they do this, most parents work, we can't be stutter stepping and moving the time around when they want the kids in school or not.
    I should be staying until about 8:30am, but everybody is telling me that everyone else does whatever they need to do, to just go and not be so hard on myself.  Since I was just risking falling asleep this morning, I took off right at 8:00am and went straight to Walmart.  By the time I found a lady that looked like she knew how to put sentences together, she said I was the 3rd or 4th person that morning asking about the Barbie, but they did not have them.  I looked online and the story article on USA Today said they were to be released today.  It was Walmart, they could just be sitting on a pallet in the back somewhere, so I figured I'd try Target, which I consider a notch better anyway.  I talked to 2-3 store employees and they all talked to each other with their walkie talkies and nobody knew anything of the dolls, although they did hear they were supposed to get them.
    While at Target, I saw a big ole Barbie box and it had Maui from Moana, along with Moana as a pair and I had to buy the box for Wife.  The coaches have called Javalina Maui and I would be alright if that became his new nickname on the field, Maui is a demigod, after all.  The funniest thing is that the "doll" is wider than any doll I have ever seen.  He has the big crazy hair and is as wide as 2 twelve ounce cans side by side.  Wife got a kick when she saw it.
    I tried looking at Amazon and even E-bay after trying Target and Walmart online.  Ebay had several options for the doll, from $140 to $599.  It is supposed to retail for $79.99, those prices seem a little ridiculous.  I might go as high as $100, but more than that for a doll is crazy.  I don't know what to figure, I looked again at all the websites and nobody seems to be offering them, so I don't know why they announced they would be out today.  When a video game is announced out on a specific day, it is available to the public on that day.  I'll keep looking.

9/13/19 Manor Made My Men Melt?

    Everything up until kickoff was good about this game.  It was in Manor, which is about 40 minutes from the house, using the toll roads.  I love getting on the toll roads because they hardly have people on them and the speed limit is 80, roads for the rich indeed.  I was a little confused in my head about the weather, it said very clearly in the Excursion that it was 100 degrees when I left the house, but even after I got off and ended up sitting with the sun on my back, it was not that hot.  It felt more like 88 and then got cooler as it got darker.  As far as the game....
    The defense came out like gangbusters, stopping them on their first drive in 3 plays.  They punted and naturally, the guy catching the ball, didn't.  He fumbled it.  The defense stopped them again on four downs, so no punt.  On the first or second play, the running back fumbled the ball back to them, by then on about the 20 yard line, so they were able to score.  The fumbles continued, he either had the ball stripped or he lost it about five times.  The kid acting as the quarterback is not a quarterback and in this day and age you cannot fake it.  Javalina had his worst game and he admitted it.  After the game he said that he had tiny guys in front of him and they were too fast to try to block.  I told him little guys don't belong in the trenches, you have to fall on them to hurt them and get them the fuck out.  I don't mean in a cheating way, but linemen are supposed to be big and kind of slow, if the coach wants to sneak in 120 pounders, they should pay by having the 250 pounders fall on top of them a couple times.
    I hate to say anything about the referees, they do the game voluntarily, but man, it seemed like they favored the home boys.  There were obvious tripping calls, weird formation calls, even in the 8th grade game I was forced to sit through because I got bad information on start  times, I thought the referees were unfairly moving the ball every time they spotted a play.  I don't think it matters anyhow, until the team finds a decent quarterback, they are in trouble.  Javalina keeps saying the real quarterback is coming back but he is not clear on what that means.
    It was a little disheartening at IHOP after the game.  We talked about it on the drive from his school, Wife showed up as tomorrow she goes to Jourdanton and figured it was the same distance from either over there or here.  Boy also joined us, surprisingly, he wasn't with Sweetie.  I guess the frustration of losing week in and week out got to him and he started lashing out at us, but most savagely at Mama.  We weren't making fun of him because his mood was not that, we could tell he was hurting because there was nothing good in this game, I don't think he had a tackle and those tiny midgets used as defensive linemen sacked the QB so many times.  He ended up saying something like "what negative shit are you going to say about my grades now, mom?  It's all you do."
    Wife cannot take language like that.  It is disrespectful, for sure, but I understand that he is upset at himself and he probably feels overwhelmed.  I do not take it personally and I quickly got on him, reminding him that we are all here for you.  I go to every game, bought you all that extra weight equipment, I work out with you, your mom allowed the stuff to be put in the living room and she does everything she can to support you too.  Even your brother is here eating with you on a Thursday when you know he would rather be with Sweetie playing grab-ass.  We have done nothing wrong here and neither have you.  It is that you are on a bad team and without a quarterback who can make plays out there, you can't be successful.  I swear it was the first time I have seen him get tearful and maybe regretted attacking his mother.

9/12/19 Teaser Weather?

    The last two days have been the nicest since sometime last spring.  I am not saying it is time to let the old air conditioners rest, but soon.  We have had higher than normal chances of rain this week and they have resulted in afternoon showers.  Unfortunately for Javalina, his after school football practices have been cancelled the last two days, partially because of thunderstorms but also because of rain.  The funny part is that he calls me to go get him early on Monday and I am wondering why, It was cooler outside but everything was dry in our neighborhood.  By the time I got to his school, I could tell that they had seen some considerable rain as the streets were soaked and although it was 94 in our driveway, much cooler than lately, it was 80 over by his school, that is just awesome.
    I don't think the cooler weather is here to stay, today should be a warm one, but at least the forecast doesn't have 100's listed anymore.  I was starting to worry that our air conditioner might be going out as it was having trouble cooling the upstairs of our house, looking at the temperature, even around 1:00am sometimes it would still be holding unto 78, which is not as cool as it sounds.  The magic, where the room feels cool happens at 76 (at least on our thermometer), although I have been trying 75 and even 74 knowing I will pay for it when we get the light bill.  With the attic not absorbing that 100 plus temperature all afternoon, the last two nights have felt cold upstairs, to the point I might have to adjust the thermometer up, ahh, northern people problems.
    Along with the cooler weather I also noticed since I have been coming in to work at 8:00pm that the days are getting shorter.  By the time I am driving in at 8:10-8:20, the sun is about gone and I am arriving at work in the dark.  I know that a shorter day means less time for the sun to sit there and bake us out, so I welcome that with open arms.  I really want a cold front to come and get us into some 70s weather for highs, that is the best time of year.  I love saving some money by opening the windows and enjoying that night chilly air we are fixing to see.  That has to be one of the best benefits to leaving in a house where the bedrooms are all upstairs.  We can all open our windows and let the house breath.

9/11/19 Tragedy, All Grown Up?

    Time just marches on, that is for sure.  Today was the 18th "birthday" of the 9/11 tragedy, surely one for those alive remember where they were when we heard what hell 19 idiots accomplished.  Other than killing a bunch of innocent people, did they really accomplish anything?  For all their thoughts of revenge or that they would put America in its place, we have only been in their land pretty much killing and destroying anything that doesn't agree with "democracy" for the last 18 years.
    You almost have to feel bad for poor Saddam who was busily minding his own business killing his own people, but staying in his yard like a well trained dog.  Needing a villain after not being able to catch a 6ft 5in arab attached to a dialysis machine, we turned to a guy we installed in the first fucking place and made him out to be Satan.  All the powers that be promised us all these weapons of mass destruction.  I heard so much expert language from the republicans that worked here how the middle east would become Nirvana after we went in there and taught them how to live correctly.  Well, now that the milestone is a teenager and we've spent trillions of dollars bombing sand, are we safer?  Did we spread democracy?  Do the people in the middle east love us?  I was told I didn't know what I was talking about, that democracy would slowly spread and catch on.
    Nobody ever clarified, other than saying it wasn't about the oil, why Saudi Arabia did not even get a hand slapped for the fact that most of the plane thieves were from there.  W was a clown and more or less incompetent, who knew things could get worse from there?  Barrack talked like a great president, even if his biggest accomplishment was screwing up our medical insurance system.  I believed in care for all, but not with it coming from my wallet.  Regular Joe was fucked hard in this, we are paying so much more for so much less.  And then as a reward we got a guy that is pretty much a joke.  The president used to be this larger than life person who had served in the military and carried respect from being a good and honest man all his life.  Somehow, in three cycles since those horrible plane crashes, our president might just be the guy best able to hate on some minorities, while treating women like they belong barefoot and in the kitchen, while at the same time boasting obnoxious things like he could catch Bigfoot with his own hands, or battle a hurricane and bust it down to a cool front by snapping his fingers.  Stupid people will believe anything.

9//10/19 Javalina Is 1/3 Of The Way Through His Football Season?

    Seems like just yesterday we were talking about whether Akins or Crockett would be better for him and now here we are, four games down and eight more to go.  The games have been a little rough but this week they are getting an actual quarterback to run the offense.  He said the guy from the first scrimmage is back, he had not played because of an injury or something.
    Javalina has settled into his roles and though he still says he would rather focus on being a good offensive guard/lineman, he will continue to participate on defense as needed.  I keep telling him that defense can give you more notoriety.  Everybody loves watching a good quarterback sack, or even a tackle behind the line of scrimmage.  He was much more active this past game even as the team as a whole got destroyed, he played one of his best games with some very good solo tackles.
    I was worried he would have fallen behind the other linemen/big boys in lifting weights which correlates to power on the field.  He claims that the stronger guys are lifting about 135 or so, and that is about where I got him to during the summer.  He was barely doing sets of 5-8 reps when I was helping him but this last time he was getting up to 10 reps, which tells me he is getting stronger.  A new exercise he wanted to get into with the weights this weekend was the deadlift.  This is similar to a squat in that you bend down at the legs and most of the benefit is for the legs, glutes and back.  The difference between a squat where you put the barbell on the back of your shoulders and literally squat down until your legs bend 90 degrees and the deadlift is that the weights start on the ground, one has to bend down to grab them and then lift them up with a strong back and the force of your legs.
    Sunday, I was napping and he came and called me to spot him and give him feedback.  By the time I came down he said he was done with the weight on there.  It looked too easy for him, he was doing 205lbs.  I told him to add about 50 more pounds and then he tried it again.  This time it looked like he was doing something.  He was deadlifting 255, which is good because it is more than what he weighs.  After this I told him to stop as he was going to be all spaghetti legs the next day and he did say it felt funny running around.  I am just hoping he continues because he could have been much further along over the start of summer camp and ahead of all the boys.

9/9/19 What To Do With A Sick Kid?

    I had fallen asleep early, like at 10:30pm when wife went to bed on Sunday, thinking there was nothing going on except for a load in the dryer which I could get if I wanted to avoid wrinkled clothes or just leave it.  I got up thinking at was much later, but it was only 1:00am, still I went down to fold the clothes and check that everything was locked down and the boys asleep.  Surprisingly, the boys were asleep and the house was as quiet as it gets.  My only other thought being that it was still warm-ish upstairs.  Because of the 100 plus degree days, the house attic absorbs so much heat that it takes half the night for the temperatures upstairs to work back down to a comfortable 74/75.  77/78 doesn't seem that far off, but it really is a different world, on our thermostat, at least.  The only thing I can do is make sure the temps are set correctly, everyone denies it, but people adjust the thermostat down trying to make it cooler, it doesn't work that way though.  The thermostat downstairs is one of those "intelligent" things, but too often it sets the temperature downstairs to a balmy 78.  It is bad enough upstairs is fighting the attic heat, it doesn't help that the downstairs is also warmer than our sleeping target.
    But anyways, after sitting there for a while, trying to come up with another idea to write, Boy came down and started throwing up in the bathroom.  I asked what was the matter and he said something had done him wrong.  He said he thought it was the pizza rolls we ate from Double Dave's.  I said I didn't think there was anything wrong with them, I ate like 5 of them and they didn't react with me and most everything makes me run to the bathroom afterwards.  I told him to take some Pepto Bismol, which he was already headed for it, but it didn't seem to help.  I sat on the computer not being able to do much other than see him go to the bathroom and run up to bed.  After an hour, he just decided to sit here on the sofa.  After a while I looked through our medicine cabinet for something else and the only other thing I could see that might help was Alka Seltzer which covered the symptoms.  It is now 3:10am, probably about two hours since he started and either the Alka Seltzer has calmed his stomach down or he finally ran out of stuff to throw up.  He says he feels weak and sore from all the heaving and running back and forth.  He has to be empty by now, he says he has been throwing up and pooping diarrhea since he came down at 1:00am or so.  All I can do is sit with him here and listen.  Normally, I would have probably gone to bed by now.  At least I feel better that he is not down here throwing up by himself.  I thought of waking Wife up, but she has such a shitty early drive and there isn't much else she can do that I am not already doing, I am going to just power through this one by myself.  I think at this point he is done, it is just a matter of getting him up to bed and hoping he can get a few hours of sleep before class.

9/8/19 LSU Outlasts Longhorns In A Dual Of Quarterbacks, I Guess?

    We did everything we could have to prepare for the game Saturday night.  My folks are in town and that almost always means a trip to the mall, as my mom loves going to the mall about as much as I do.  Wife spent the day in classes at Texas State, so she was out of reach all day.  I got up super early, as usual, to walk Wife out to her car and to write.  While I did that, I thought it would be nice of me to let Girlie's dog out so he could pee and do whatever early.  I swear I kept an eye on him as I sat on the kitchen table I have a window with a view of the yard.  Before I knew it, the stupid dog got out of the fenced area and took off for a run.  I called the owners and they were so troubled, they made their way home around 10:00pm, they are not the greatest pet owners.  Just when I have told them and even walked around our side of the street to get to the gazebo in the greenbelt and even to the park where a group of people working out told me the dog was walking around there in the woods, the dog showed back up in the back yard like it wasn't ever gone.  He must have been gone for an hour and a half, maybe two hours, but it came back by 10:00am.
    My folks were up by then and I told my mom if she wanted to go tot the mall, I could get ready.  She said she felt lazy and if I was in a rush she would rather go alone later.  I said no, I would rather go take a nap, I was up until 2:00am and woke up at 6:30am.  I went to bed around 11:00am and slept until 1:30pm, when Javalina came and woke me.  We got out to the mall, he got a new case for his phone, his broke way too quickly, but Grandma treated him to a new case.  We then went to Dillard's, she wanted to buy my brother a couple shirts since he started working as a teacher, she wants him looking spiffy.  She bought me 2-3 shirts too, because it was my birthday a couple weeks ago.  We then gave her a chance to go look for herself and she got a few things and we made our way out of the mall.  We got to HEB by 4:00pm, got all sorts of meats for grilling and sodas and chips and dips.  I thought it was a good combo of food and snacks.  I started the grill before the game, so we could be eating earlier than normal for my dad who is always going on about his sugar levels and blames us for eating too late.
    I can't say much about the game, the first half was a mess, Texas could have scored twice but did not.  I was watching the first half attentively, but all we could see was Texas losing ground,w by halftime the score was 20-7.  We ate right before the half and then I had to go poop and shower.  I turned on the tiny TV in the bathroom and saw the Horns start to look like they would make a comeback.  I came back down and basically slept through the end of the game.  Wife told me to go upstairs and I went up not arguing and just slept for about two hours.  I woke after 1:00am to find my boys had gone to the movies together, so I stayed up writing my blog waiting for them.  They showed up around 1:30am and Javalina was wound up from the intensity of the "scary movie".

9/7/19 Parents Visiting And Even Taking A Deep Breath Is Nice?

    My folks came in Thursday early so they could get a chance to see Javalina play football.  I can't say it was a good game to go support as the Crockett boys were totally destroyed by Gonzalez, but they did see that at least Javalina is playing his role well.  He blocks and takes care of business on defense, where he had 2-3 solo tackles and another 2-3 assisted tackles.  The only time I saw them having success running through his side of the ball was when they double teamed him to get him out of the way.  Anyway, I already wrote the game blog yesterday,
    After the game we drove back and picked a pretty bruised up and beaten Javalina.  It was near 9:00pm and he just wanted to eat.  We went to Cheddar's on Boy's recommendation, who joined us after the game as he was stuck at his work, with Sweetie in tow, as he likes to call is GF.  With Wife and my parents, we had a full table to listen to and discuss the game with Javalina instead of just me like in the other games, so that made it nicer.  By the time we got home, it was closer to 10:30pm, we just made sure Javalina was ok, he was complaining of a hit he took near the bottom of his back which left the area sensitive.  He even said it awoke him at 5:00am, but the pain was mostly gone by the afternoon of the next day.
    I kind of wanted my parents to experience a normal day up here where they can slow down and even lay around relaxing.  Friday was a day like that.  I am off from Thursday through Sunday night, Wife took Friday off, so she was here Thursday, and Boy was mostly off, but he did disappear most of the day and came back late at night with what he is referring to a robot hand, which is supposed to be for his burger 'bot project at school.  Javalina had school, which I took him at 8:00am-ish, then stopped for some "pan dulce", horrible for my diabetic dad, but we like to eat it, and he should have better self control.  We kind of waited for him, I didn't even nap all morning, we left the house at noon, and went and ate at La Madelaine, I guess a French type of restaurant, which reminded me of the French section of Epcot world in Disney, which Wife said it was the same eatery.
    After this, which was sandwiches, but they were pretty good, we swung by and picked up Javalina, he had a dentist appointment at 2:30pm.  I decided to stay home and take my nap, I had already spent many hours with him there two weeks ago, it was Wife's turn.  They got back home close to 5:00pm and Wife took a nap until about 6:20pm.  Mom then joined us as Wife wanted to go shopping for some clothes for her.  I went just to get out of the house, but next door was a "man's clothing store."  5.11 sells clothing worn by cops and other super hero types.  They sell those army looking backpacks that Boy loves and even an assortment of knives and ropes and anything else that might make you feel like you deserve a beer somewhere after taking off their gear.  I ended up buying a few shirts for the boys.  I would have changed my whole wardrobe for me, but they stop at 2x and I need like a 4x.  Still, I really did like the stuff they were selling.
    We ended the night by getting some Popeye's Chicken and taking it home.  My dad, always swearing he won't eat after 7:00pm because of his sugar loved the chicken, it was pretty good.  After this, my folks seemed to be done, as was I.  I went up and promptly fell asleep, but did wake up at 11:40pm and came down for a couple more hours.  Wife stayed up a bit but was dead asleep by 11:00pm, as she had to leave the house by 7:00am to be in class all day Saturday.
    I hope my folks are enjoying a slower version of visiting with us.  Usually, it was show up Friday, got to the mall Saturday, eat a nice dinner somewhere and off early on Sunday.  I am supposed to grill for them tonight, Dad and I are watching the Longhorn game, I thought BBQ would be nice.

9/6/19 Gonzalez Grossly Grounded Crockett?

    The outcome was horrible, no point in dwelling on that, final score Gonzalez wins 56-0.  If I can point out some highlights though, I will say I enjoyed the drive up there to Gonzalez, yet another small town in the middle of nowhere that Wife tells me she used to visit back in her days of working at ACC.  Even though the houses looked old and maybe some needed a little TLC, I really liked this little gem of a city.  Driving in, we noticed it had all the usual McDonald's and restaurants you would want in a big city, but in a small town package.  The crowd was full of beautiful women and girls who were all decked out in bright cheerful school colors and pride.  Black, white, and Hispanic people were all seated in a mixture which should be more normal for us in the big city, but honestly it doesn't happen enough.  Like Wife said, she noticed a goofy white boy dressed in the common cowboy look, normal for a small town, but then he was throwing up gangster hand gestures, like he was cool (he wasn't).
    There seemed to be a lot of hometown pride which is hard to see in the big city.  The stadium was not sold out, but it was the biggest outcome I've seen in a long time for a football game that wasn't the "big varsity" boys playing.  The team even had JV cheerleaders, not that they are required, but it makes a football game seem more normal, when you have a batch of young girls cheering for their guys.
    As an added bonus, at least for Javalina, his grandparents were able to come and watch him play.  My mom and dad arrived around 2:00pm and were able to nap and shake the burden of the highway only to get back in their truck two hours later, which they volunteered, while Wife drove us.  We left at 4:30pm and we got there just as the teams were done stretching and going to their respective sides, shoot we sat down as they did the opening kickoff.  I would still have liked for the temperature to have been some 15-20 degrees cooler at kickoff, we did manage to find good seating in the shade, thanks to the big announcer's box way up at the top.  The heat refuses to go away, it was 103 degrees at kickoff.
    Javalina continues to improve, even as more kids join the team, he has been able to keep playing both sides of the ball.  He even had a few solo tackles, which was cool to have the announcer mention his name out loud.  He had a vicious tackle where he wrapped a guy and then he spun on the ground to take him down, he needs to make that a normal thing.  I was worried the caches might put him in as center, the normal starter had like 5 grossly overthrown hikes to the QB that he had to just chase and just land on them.  This resulted in like three safeties which is no Bueno for anybody.  I don't think they had a reception for any yards.  Maybe they had one first down, if that.  Javalina did mention the QB from the first scrimmage is coming back, not sure where he has been, but I do know we need one that can run this team.

9/5/19 Meet The Teachers At Crockett?

    I'm not sure which is better about knowing I have to do something.  Last night Wife told me it was teacher night, don't just pick up Javalina, get off and go and meet the teachers.  I was already on my way, I figured there was no saying "goddammit and trying to get out of it."  I just said alright, I'll see what I can do.  Of course, I pick up my boy and he is the same way I usually am.  He just wants to get in the car and go.  After a round of "do you want to call mama and argue with her or do you just want to get over this?", he settled down.
    It was actually nice.  I like the school and how it is laid out.  I imagine in the 70's this was state of the art, but it has really stood the test of time.  The school is kind of closed off to the outside, but it has an open courtyard in the middle with a bunch of trees, so it is all nicely shaded.  The bulk of the school seems to be laid around this square courtyard and wide walking areas that are covered from the sun.  So you are outside, but still inside.  Then the classrooms are in little groups shooting outward from within the courtyard into the inside of the building.  We went into three different legs upstairs to find his different classrooms and all the teachers already seemed to like my son saying he was really well mannered and a pleasure to have in their classroom.  I joked with them that if there is any problem, text Mama, she will straighten him out right away.  They laughed but said there shouldn't be any problems with him, they can tell.  I always like hearing my boys are good people outside of the house.
    We met the biology teacher and I asked her that I was worried because I had heard the religious idiots had gotten to the textbooks and added their thoughts on evolution etc.  She said she doesn't even use textbooks in class and no, not to worry about that, she is teaching science with Darwin and evolution and the big bang.  She was also real excited about football and that Javalina is playing.  She says she has most of the offensive line, and she loves their energy.
    The only weak step in the whole process, if any, was the AVID teacher who was trying to take one family at a time before we got there.  She was spending like ten minutes with the two kids before us, then when it was our turn, the group outside was like 6-7 families, so she just took everybody.  I said Boo, I want to be special too, mostly giving her a hard time.  We got whatever info, but it was weird that she wanted to be so private in the beginning.
    We were there about an hour, then we headed home.  Again, we tried looking for the coaches, I wanted to see the gym where he is lifting weights, see what condition the equipment is in, but no.  I guess special butterflies don't have to participate with the other teachers, no disrespect, but if my boy is going to get bruised and battered for your program, make yourself accessible.

9/4/19 Out Of Control Society?

    I don't understand why people come at me like I am a Democrat that supports this soft new liberal stance on everything.  I was sitting there getting there a cup of coffee and Energy Drink comes in telling me that taking guns away from people is the wrong thing.  I said I agree, at this point we would leave the bad people armed and the good people walking around waiting to be victimized.  I think at this point we need a large part of the population to take up arms and show them, cowboy style.

    These school shooters are fucking cowards who feel they have been wronged because little Slutty Sally wouldn't play with their penis or Johnny Knucklehead wasn't nice to him and he is going to make it right by killing some innocents.  There have been just too many school shootings that I don't think it is going to stop on its own.  If all the teachers (read it as the strong ones capable of handling a gun) carry some sort of defense might make the coward think that he might not even get to make a statement as a teacher might stop him before his plan unfolds.  This is too radical, I don't think this will happen for another twenty years, for me it helps that my son is in a school where there is already enough daily trouble that there is a police force on site.  This was kept on the downlow, but they had a lockdown the first week as a person was seen walking with a gun towards campus.  It turns out it was stupid person walking with a toy gun.  Why?  He should have gotten tazed for being that much of an idiot.

    I find it a little funny that for all of the hate that the ignorant right comes up against the bad hombres, colored people, or middle easterners, when you get down to it, the people causing this domestic terrorism outside of the school environments and that is what it is, it is the same old dude,  Mr. Angry White Dude.  I think it is the same person doing his shit at a younger age, but rarely are these killers Hispanic, Black, or from other countries.  It's just homegrown dudes who never figured out how to talk to women, people that know just a little too much and thus think they can solve problems with some bullets.  Mr. Energy Drink didn't like my idea of arming everyone, so then what?  Keep waiting for them to get tired of shooting up public venues.  

9/3/19 Mortal Engines? (Movie Hulu)

    I saw ads for this movie last year and was super excited to see what it was going to be.  Man, it was sort of a disappointment.  People live on moving cities and the idea is they go about devouring or fighting each other, which they call Municipal Darwinism.  London of course is supposed to be our hero, full of white people and doing what they do best, conquer at will.  There is a power struggle going on between the current Mayor and Thaddeus Valentine, who is head of the guild of Historians.  He is sneakily working on an old weapon, collecting bits and pieces from the lands that they consume.  Eventually, things get interesting when a scarred young girl manages to get on board London and attempts to murder Thaddeus.  She runs around the ship with a young guy chasing her, he manages to catch her and she tells him that Thaddeus killed her mother and is a bad guy.  When he repeats this to Thaddeus, he kicks the kid of the rails and into a chute which gets them off the London vehicle.
    The most interesting thing in the movie is that the girl, Hester, is raised by an actual monster.  A creature brought back from the dead for the purpose of killing.  He sort of raised her from the age of 8 and has a weird connection to her.  When she is "grown", he offers to make her a "stalker" like himself, which she doesn't necessarily want because she has to die "for a little bit" (maybe the only funny line in the movie).  My brother took this movie very seriously in that it showed the power dynamic between white culture and how the Chinese and Indians are the next in line to be in control.  China (or what I understood to be China) was not doing things on mobil cities, but living like we are supposed to, on ground.  They have a massive wall that has never been breached, but the new super tool might change that.
    I thought it was curious that Tom, the young guy had been kicked out of London and was now on the other side, who had been warned that London was coming, so they were sending their planes to attack, was somehow pissy that many people he knew were going to get killed by those planes.  I thought "Asshole, London is coming this way, It's not like China is looking for trouble, be mad at your city."  While en route, the upper class people are out on their garden grounds clapping and cheering on the attack and the new weapon which seems like the cat's pajamas.
    The visual effects were awesome, but the storyline was a little lame, even going as far as almost saying "Hester, I am your father." when the scarred girl gets a second chance to kill the horrible Thaddeus.  The girl being raised by the "stalker" was an interesting plot twist, but it all seemed a jumbled mess.  He raised her from a young age and then wanted to turn her into his wife or something, which even for a monster is creepy, and he basically died of a broken heart when he finds out she loves the pretty boy (big surprise there).

9/2/19 Labor Day Weekend?

    We know we back in school now.  This is the first of many little breaks that the schools have.  Javalina, and Wife have the day off, so it was a long weekend for them.  I am working, because I am greedy.  I was told I had a choice because the holiday is on Monday and my workweek starts on Monday night.  Usually, there isn't much work, so I don't mind showing up.
    We talked of doing this and that, we almost headed up to the coast to see some lots, but I decided that was a bad idea.  I don't want to fall in love with some spot I am not planning on buying for another year or two.  Who's to say it would still be available?  Plus, with a looming hurricane in the Atlantic and headed yet again to Florida, do I want something a hurricane might take away from me?
    Boy showed up sometime Sunday afternoon from his latest comic convention, I went down for my afternoon nap at 3:00pm and he was here at 5:30pm, when I woke.  We chatted about his trip for a bit, how the Kubone hat/helmet was a complete hit as countless people stopped them to try and take pictures with them.. He said this would be the last convention for awhile and I hope so.  He really needs to focus on his classes and finish that out.  I can see the degree on the boy, but it doesn't count until the school sees it.
    I decided to accept that we have an old fence that needs work and I went and bought more pickets, even though I replaced about 15 now.  I bought another 5 and they go fast.  Two more had already fallen plus there are a handful that are broken but still screwed in tight.  I replaced the most important looking ones as the HOA has a hard on for my fence right now.  I plan on replacing the fence, but at my schedule, not theirs.  I can do the work, but I am not doing it in 100 degree heat.  It'll be done maybe in the spring before the humidity gets ugly.
    Staying in the back yard, I have been ignoring the pool for sometime, just as I wrote that a baby squirrel fell into the pool making waves and splashing which Wife noticed.  We went outside to see it climb out from a hose and start climbing back up the palm tree from which it fell out of.  They squeek pretty loud for their size.  The pool water has been a light green most of the summer, I just hate going out there and dealing with it when nobody cares to get in.  Ehh, a new fill up of chlorine pucks and running the pump a couple days and it should clean right up.  I just need to spend the five minutes geting it going.
   And finally, my brother in law talked to a realtor friend of his and said we could put our land up for $19,000.  I am including the RV, mostly because I don't want to deal with it anymore.  If anything, I'll sell to my nephew for $1000, I just don't want any loose ends right now.  You too can have it for $1000, just so you know.

9/1/19 Longhorns Off To A Good Start?

    I have to admit I was heavily distracted while attempting to watch the Longhorns last night.  We just never get together in the living room to watch TV on the projector anymore.  That changes during football season, because that is what the big screen was bought for.  The problem is that the projector has just seen better days.  It needs a new bulb every 1500 hours or with us, about every year and a half.  Today, when Wife sort of poked at me that I wasn't going to be able to watch my game on the big screen because of the mess in the living room and then the fact that the projector is dead.  It will start, like an old cranky car, if you hit start enough times, the bulb eventually heats up and it will run.  After I had Javalina start it about five times it stayed on, but there was a whirring noise that did not want to go away.  I threw my hands in the air and told Wife, "Time for a new one."
    We headed to Best Buy at 3:30pm and actually did pretty good.  Instead of trying to go fancy, I went cheap and did not even go where the 4K projectors were.  I aimed for the regular projectors which were still all 1080p and that is supposed to be good enough for most.  We walked out of there with a decently priced projector of only $699, but in the old days, this would have been a $3000 purchase.
    We took this home and I promptly got to bringing down the other one and installing this one up on the ceiling.  The game started somewhere during this, but at least I thought enough to tell Javalina to clean the grill so Wife could start grilling.  The projector looked absolutely beautiful with an image so bright I thought I would have to turn it down, because we were used to the others dimmer images.  I had to do all sorts of adjustments, turn image top side down, bring whole image down about three inches and the hardest one was that the left side was higher than the right side by like two inches.
    The game got to halftime before I was done adjusting everything and by then the Longhorns had a commanding lead of poor Louisiana Tech, who could not score until the 4th quarter and probably against a lot of the 2nd string.  This is the first time under Coach Herman that the Horns win their opener and it could be signaling a sign of good things coming.  A lot depends on the game next week, which is a big one against LSU who always is ranked near the top.
    Texas overall was solid under the strong arm of Ehlinger.  There is some concern in the running game because most or all of the scholarship backs were out of commission at the start of the game, but Ingram managed 76 yards which seems like a good start.  The defense was decimated after last year and as a result saw 22 different people get a chance to play on that side of the ball, but the starting team was solid, holding them to 0 points for three quarters.
    I can only imagine the humidity and heat in that stadium with over 100,000 people in attendance had to be suffocating, I just hope fall shows up and cools shit down.